that which ordereth his Work is Wisdom and that which perfecteth his Work is Power All things which God in their times and seasons hath brought forth were eternally and before all times in God as a work unbegun is in the Artificer which afterward bringeth it unto effect Therefore whatsoever we do behold now in this present World it was inwrapped within the Bowels of Divine Mercy written in the Book of Eternal Wisdom and held in the hands of Omnipotent Power the first Foundations of the World being as yet unlaid So that all things which God hath made are in that respect the Off-spring of God they are in him as effects in their highest cause he likewise actually is in them the assistance and influence of his Deity is their life Let hereunto saving efficacy be added and it bringeth forth a special Off-spring amongst men containing them to whom God hath himself given the gracious and amiable name of Sons We are by Nature the Sons of Adam When God created Adam he created us and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the Root out of which they spring The Sons of God we neither are all nor any one of us otherwise then onely by grace and favor The Sons of God have Gods own Natural Son as a second Adam from Heaven whose Race and Progeny they are by Spiritual and Heavenly Birth God therefore loving eternally his Son he must needs eternally in him have loved and preferred before all others them which are spiritually sithence descended and sprung out of him These were in God as in their Saviour and not as in their Creator onely It was the purpose of his saving Goodness his saving Wisdom and his saving Power which inclined it self towards them They which thus were in God eternally by their intended admission to life have by vocation or adoption God actually now in them as the Artificer is in the Work which his hand doth presently frame Life as all other gifts and benefits groweth originally from the Father and cometh not to us but by the Son nor by the Son to any of us in particular but through the Spirit For this cause the Apostle wisheth to the Church of Corinth The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost Which three St. Peter comprehendeth in one The participation of Divine Nature We are therefore in God through Christ eternally according to that intent and purpose whereby we are chosen to be made his in this present World before the World it self was made We are in God through the knowledge which is had of us and the love which is born towards us from everlasting But in God we actually are no longer then onely from the time of our actual Adoption into the Body of his true Church into the Fellowship of his Children For his Church he knoweth and loveth so that they which are in the Church are thereby known to be in him Our being in Christ by Eternal fore-knowledge saveth us not without our Actual and Real Adoption into the Fellowship of his Saints in this present World For in him we actually are by our actual incorporation into that Society which hath him for their Head and doth make together with him one Body he and they in that respect having one name for which cause by vertue of this Mystical Conjunction we are of him and in him even as though our very flesh and bones should be made continuate with his We are in Christ because he knoweth and loveth us even as parts of himself No man actually is in him but they in whom he actually is For he which hath not the Son of God hath not Life I am the Vine and ye are the Branches He which abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit but the Branch severed from the Vine withereth We are therefore adopted Sons of God to Eternal Life by Participation of the onely begotten Son of God whose Life is the Well-spring and cause of ours It is too cold an interpretation whereby some men expound our Being in Christ to import nothing else but onely That the self-same Nature which maketh us to be Men is in him and maketh him Man as we are For what man in the World is there which hath not so far forth communion with Jesus Christ It is not this that can sustain the weight of such sentences as speak of the Mystery of our Coherence with Jesus Christ. The Church is in Christ as Eve was in Adam Yea by Grace we are every of us in Christ and in his Church and in his Church as by Nature we were in those our first Parents God made Eve of the Rib of Adam And his Church he frameth out of the very Flesh the very wounded and bleeding side of the Son of Man His Body crucified and his Blood shed for the Life of the World are the true Elements of that Heavenly Being which maketh us such as himself is of whom we come For which cause the words of Adam may be fitly the words of Christ concerning his Church Flesh of my Flesh and Bone of my Bones a true Nature extract out of my own Body So that in him even according to his Manhood we according to our Heavenly Being are as Branches in that Root out of which they grow To all things he is Life and to men Light as the Son of God to the Church both Life and Light Eternal by being made the Son of Man for us and by being in us a Saviour whether we respect him as God or as Man Adam is in us as an original cause of our Nature and of that corruption of Nature which causeth death Christ as the cause original of Restauration to Life The person of Adam is not in us but his nature and the corruption of his nature derived into all men by Propagation Christ having Adams nature as we have but incorrupt deriveth not nature but incorruption and that immediately from his own Person into all that belong unto him As therefore we are really partakers of the body of Sin and Death received from Adam so except we be truly partakers of Christ and as really possessed of his Spirit all we speak of Eternal Life is but a dream That which quickneth us is the Spirit of the Second Adam and his Flesh that wherewith he quickneth That which in him made our Nature uncorrupt was the Union of his Deity with our Nature And in that respect the sentence of Death and Condemnation which onely taketh hold upon sinful flesh could no way possibly extend unto him This caused his voluntary death for others to prevail with God and to have the force of an Expiatory Sacrifice The Blood of Christ as the Apostle witnesseth doth therefore take away sin because through the Eternal Spirit he offered himself unto God without spot That
to tye that unto him by way of excellency which in meaner degrees is common to others it doth not exclude any other utterly from being termed Head but from being intituled as Christ is the Head by way of the very highest degree of excellency Not in the communication of Names but in the confusion of things there is errour Howbeit if Head were a Name that could not well be nor never had been used to signifie that which a Magistrate may be in relation to some Church but were by continual use of speech appropriated unto the onely thing it signifieth being applyed unto Jesus Christ then although we must carry in our selves a right understanding yet ought we otherwise rather to speak unless we interpret our own meaning by some clause of plain speech because we are else in manifest danger to be understood according to that construction and sense wherein such words are personally spoken But here the rarest construction and most removed from common sense is that which the Word doth import being applyed unto Christ that which we signifie by it in giving it to the Magistrate it is a great deal more familiar in the common conceit of men The word is so fit to signifie all kindes of Superiority Preheminence and Chiefty that nothing is more ordinary than to use it in vulgar speech and in common understanding so to take it If therefore Christian Kings may have any preheminence or chiefty above all others although it be less than that which Theodore Beza giveth who placeth Kings amongst the principal Members whereunto publick Function to the Church belongeth and denyeth not but that of them which have publick Fonction the Civil Magistrates power hath all the rest at command in regard of that part of his Office which is to procure that Peace and good 〈…〉 especially kept in things concerning the first Table if even hereupon they term him the Head of the Church which is his Kingdom it should not seem so unfit a thing Which Title surely we could not communicate to any other no not although it should at our hands be exacted with torments but that our meaning herein is made known to the World so that no man which will understand can easily be ignorant that we do not impart unto Kings when we term them Heads the honor which is properly given to our Lord and Saviour Christ when the blessed Apostle in Scripture doth term him the Head of the Church The power which we signifie in that name differeth in three things plainly from that which Christ doth challenge First it differeth in order because God hath given to his Church for the Head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Farr above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not in this World only but also in that which is to come Whereas the Power which others have is subordinate unto his Secondly again as he differeth in order so in measure of Power also because God hath given unto him the ends of the Earth for his Possesion unto him Dominion from Sea to Sea unto him all power both in Heaven and Earth unto him such Soveraignty as doth not only reach over all places persons and things but doth rest in his own only Person and is not by any succession continued he reigneth as Head and King nor is there any kinde of law which tyeth him but his own proper will and wisdom his power is absolute the same joyntly over all which it is severally over each not so the Power of any other Headship How Kings are restrained and how their Power is limited we have shewed before so that unto him is given by the title of Headship ever the Church that largeness of Power wherein neither Man nor Angel can be matched not compared with him Thirdly the last and greatest difference between him and them is in the very kinde of their Power The Head being of all other parts of the Body most divine hath dominion over all the rest it is the fountain of sense of motion the throne where the guide of the Soul doth reign the Court from whence direction of all things human proceedeth Why Christ is called the Head of the Church these Causes themselves do yield As the Head is the chiefest part of a man above which there is none alwayes joyned with the Body so Christ the highest in his Church is alwayes knit to it Again as the Head giveth sense and motion unto all the Body so he quickneth us and together with understanding of heavenly things giveth strength to walk therein Seeing therefore that they cannot affirm Christ sensibly present or alwayes visibly joyned unto his Body the Church which is on Earth in as much as his Corporal residence is in Heaven again seeing they do not affirm it were intolerable if they should that Christ doth personally administer the external Regiment of outward Actions in the Church but by the secret inward influence of his Grace giveth Spiritual life and the strength of ghostly motions thereunto Impossible it is that they should so close up their eyes as not to discern what odds there is between that kinde of operation which we imply in the Headship of Princes and that which agreeth to our Saviours dominion over the Church The Headship which we give unto Kings is altogether visibly exercised and ordereth only the external frame of the Church-affairs here amongst us so that it plainly differeth from Christ's even in very nature and kinde To be in such sort united unto the Church as he is to work as he worketh either on the whole Church or upon any particular Assembly or in any one man doth neither agree nor hath any possibility of agreeing unto any one besides him Against the first distinction or difference it is to be objected That to entitle a Magistrate head of the Church although it be under Christ is not absurd For Christ hath a two-fold Superiority ever his and even Kingdoms according to the one he hath a Superior which is his Father according to the other none had immediate Authority with his Father that is to say of the Church he is Head and Governor onely as the Son of Man Head and Governor of Kingdoms onely as the Son of God In the Church as Man he hath Officers under Him which Officers are Ecclesiastical Persons As for the Civil Magistrate his Office belongeth unto Kingdoms and to Common-wealths neither is he there an under or subordinate Head considering that his Authority cometh from God simply and immediately even as our Saviour Christ's doth Whereunto the sum of our Answer is First that as Christ being Lord or Head over all doth by vertue of that Soveraignty rule all so he hath no more a Superiour in governing his Church than in exercising Soveraign Dominion upon the rest of the World besides Secondly That all Authority as well Civil as Ecclesiastical is subordinate unto him And Thirdly the
a Minister to Preach Christ crucified In regard whereof not onely worldly things but things otherwise precious even the Discipline it self is vile and base Whereas now by the heat of Contention and violence of Affection the Zeal of Men towards the one hath greatly decayed their love to the other Hereunto therefore they are to be exhorted to Preach Christ crucified the Mortification of the Flesh the Renewing of the Spirit not those things which in time of Strife seem precious but Passions being allayed are vain and childish GEO. CRANMER This Epitaph was long since presented to the World in Memory of Mr. Hooker by Sir William Cooper who also built him a fair Monument in Borne-Church and acknowledges him to have been his Spiritual Father THough nothing can be spoke worthy his Fame Or the Remembrance of that precious Name Iudicious Hooker though this cost be spent On him that hath a Lasting Monument In his own Books yet ought we to express If not his Worth yet oue Respectfulness Church Ceremonies he maintaiu'd Then Why Without all Ceremony should he die Was it because his Life and Death should be Both equal Patterns of Humility Or that perhaps this onely glorious one Was above all to ask Why had he none Yet he that lay so long obscurely low Doth now preferr'd to greater Honors go Ambitious men Learn hence to be more wise Humility is the true way to rise And God in me this Lesson did Inspire To bid this humble Man Friend sit up higher TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD my very good Lord the Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY his Grace Primate and Metropolitan of all ENGLAND MOst Reverend in Christ the long continued and more then ordinary favor which hither to your Grace hath been pleased to shew towards me may justly claim at my hands some thankful acknowledgment thereof In which consideration as also for that I embrace willingly the ancient received course and conveniency of that Discipline which teacheth inferior Degrees and Orders in the Church of God to submit their Writings to the same Authority from which their allowable dealings whatsoever in such affairs must receive approbation I nothing fear but that your accustomed clemency will take in good worth the offer of these my simple and mean Labors bestowed for the necessary justification of Laws heretofore made questionable because as I take it they were not perfectly understood For surely I cannot finde any great cause of just complaint that good Laws have so much been wanting unto us as we to them To seek Reformation of evil Laws is a commendable endeavor but for us the more necessary is a speedy redress of our selves We have on all sides lost much of our first fervency towards God and therefore concerning our own degenerated ways we have reason to exhort with St. Gregory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us return again unto that which we sometime were but touching the exchange of Laws in Practice with Laws in Device which they say are better for the State of the Church if they might take place the farther we examine them the greater cause we finde to conclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although we continue the same we are the harm is not great These fervent Reprehenders of things established by Publick Authority are always confident and bold spirited men But their confidence for the most part riseth from too much credit given to their own wits for which cause they are seldom free from Error The Errors which we seek to reform in this kinde of men are such as both received at your own hands their first wound and from that time to this present have been proceeded in with that Moderation which useth by Patience to suppress boldness and to make them conquer that suffer Wherein considering the nature and kinde of these Controversies the dangerous sequels whereunto they were likely to grow and how many ways we have been thereby taught Wisdom I may boldly aver concerning the first that as the weightiest conflicts the Church hath had were those which touched the Head the Person of our Savior Christ and the next of importance those questions which are at this day between us and the Church of Rome about the Actions of the Body of the Church of God so these which have lastly sprung up from Complements Rites and Ceremonies of Church Actions are in truth for the greatest part such silly things that very easiness doth make them hard to be disputed of in serious manner Which also may seem to be the cause why divers of the Reverend Prelacy and other most judicious men have especially bestowed their pains about the Matter of Jurisdiction Notwithstanding led by your Graces example my self have thought it convenient to wade through the whole Cause following that method which searcheth the Truth by the causes of Truth Now if any marvel how a thing in it self so weak could import any great danger they must consider not so much how small the spark is that flieth up as how apt things about it are to take fire Bodies Politick being subject as much as Natural to dissolution by divers means there are undoubtedly more estates overthrown through diseases bred within themselves then through violence from abroad because our manner is always to cast a doubtful and a more suspicious eye towards that over which we know we have least power And therefore the fear of External dangers causeth forces at home to be the more united It is to all sorts a kinde of Bridle it maketh vertuous Mindes watchful it holdeth contrary Dispositions in suspense and it setteth those Wits on work in better things which could be else imployed in worse whereas on the other side domestical Evils for that we think we can master them at all times are often permitted to run on forward till it be too late to recal them In the mean while the Commonwealth is not onely through unsoundness so far impaired as those evils chance to prevail but farther also through opposition arising between the unsound parts and the sound where each endeavoreth to draw evermore contrary ways till destruction in the end bring the whole to ruine To reckon up how many Causes there are by force whereof Divisions may grow in a Commonwealth is not here necessary Such as rise from variety in Matter of Religion are not onely the farthest spred because in Religion all men presume themselves interessed alike but they are also for the most part hotlier prosecuted and pursued then other strifes for as much as coldness which in other Contentions may be thought to proceed from Moderation is not in these so favorably construed The part which in this present quarrel striveth against the Current and Stream of Laws was a long while nothing feared the wisest contented not to call to minde how Errors have their effect many times not proportioned to that little appearance of Reason whereupon they would seem built but rather to the vehement affection or
the Church of Rome even at this very hour Is conformity with Rome in such things a blemish unto the Church of England and unto Churches abroad an ornament Let them if not for the reverence they owe unto this Church in the bowels whereof they have received I trust that precious and blessed vigor which shall quicken them â—â— eternal life yet at the least wise for the singular affection which they do bear towards others take heed how they strike lest they wound whom they would not For undoubtedly it cutteth deeper then they are aware of when they plead that even such Ceremonies of the Church of Rome as contain in them nothing which is not of it self agreeable to the Word of God ought nevertheless to be abolished and that neither the Word of God nor reason nor the examples of the eldest Churches do permit the Church of Rome to be therein followed Hereticks they are and they are our Neighbours By us and amongst us they lead their lives But what then therefore is no ceremony of theirs lawful for us to use We must yield and will that none are lawful if God himself be a Precedent against the use of any But how appeareth it that God is so Hereby they say it doth appear in that God severed his people from the Heathens but specially from the Egyptians and such Nations as were neerest Neighbours unto them by forbidding them to do those things which were in themselves very lawful to be done yea very profitable some and incommodious to be sorburn such things it pleased God to forbid them only because those Heathens did them with whom conformity in the same thing might have bred infection Thus in shaving cutting apparel-wearing yea in sundry kinds of meats also Swines-flesh Conies and such like they were forbidden to do so and so because the Gentiles did so And the end why God forbade them such things waâ— to sever them for fear of infection by a great and an high wall from other Nations as S. Paul teacheth The cause of more careful separation from the nearest Nations was the greatness of danger to be especially by them infected Now Papists are to us as those Nations were unto Israel Therefore if the wisdom of God be our Guide we cannot allow conformity with them no not in any such indifferent Ceremonies Our direct answer hereunto is that for any thing here alleadged we may still doubt whether the Lord in such indifferent Ceremonies as those whereof we dispute did frame his People of set purpose unto any utter dissimilitude either with Egyptians or with any other Nation else And if God did not forbid them all such indifferent Ceremonies then our conformity with the Church of Rome in some such is not hitherto as yet disproved although Papists were unto us as those Heathens were unto Israel After the doings of the Land of Egypt wherein you dwelt ye shall not do saith the Lord and after the manner of the land of Canaan whither I will bring you shall ye not do neither walk in their Ordinances Do after my judgements and keep my Ordinances to walk therein I am the Lord your God The Speech is indefinite ye shall not be like them It is not general ye shall not be like them in anything or like unto them in any thing indifferent or like unto them in any indifferent ceremony of theirs Seeing therefore it is not set down how far the bounds of his speech concerning dissimilitude should reach how can any man assure us that it extendeth farther than to those things only wherein the Nations there mentioned were Idolatrous or did against that which the Law of God commandeth Nay doth it not seem a thing very probable that God doth purposely add Do after my judgement as giving thereby to understand that his meaning in the former sentence was but to bar similitude in such things as were repugnant unto the Ordinances Laws and Statutes which he had given Egyptians and Canaanites are for example sake named unto them because the Customs of the one they had been and of the other they should be best acquainted with But that wherein they might not be like unto either of them was such peradventure as had been no whit less unlawfull although those Nations had never been So that there is no necessity to think that God for fear of infection by reason of nearness forbad them to be like unto the Canaanites or the Egyptians in those things which otherwise had been lawful enough For I would know what one thing was in those Nations and is here forbidden being indifferent in it self yet forbidden only because they used it In the Laws of Israel we find it written Ye shall not cut round the corners of your Heads neither shalt thou tear the tafis of thy Board These things were usual amongst those Nations and in themselves they are indifferent But are they indifferent being used as signs of immoderate and hopeless lamentation for the dead In this sense it is that the Law forbiddeth them For which cause the very next words following are Ye shall not cut your Flesh for the dead nor make any print of a mark upon you I am the Lord. The like in Leviticus where speech is of mourning for the dead They shall not make bald parts upon their Head nor shave off the locks of their Beard nor make any cutting in their Flesh. Again in Deut. Ye are the Children of the Lord your God ye shall not cut your selves nor make you Baldness between your eyes for the Dead What is this but in effect the same which the Apostle doth more plainly express saying Sorrow not as they do who have no hope The very light of Nature it self was able to see herein a fault that which those Nations did use having been also in use with others the ancient Roman laws do forbid That shaving therefore and cutting which the Law doth mention was not a matter in it self indifferent and forbidden only because it was in use amongst such Idolaters as were Neighbours to the people of God but to use it had a been crime though no other people or Nation under Heaven should have done it saving only themselves As for those Laws concerning attires There shall no garment of Linnen and VVollen come upon thee as also those touching food and diet wherein Swines-flesh together with sundry other meats are forbidden the use of these things had been indeed of it self harmless and indifferent so that hereby it doth appear how the Law of God forbad in some special consideration such things as were lawful enough in themselves But yet even here they likewise fail of that they intend For it doth not appear that the consideration in regard whereof the Law forbiddeth these things was because those Nations did use them Likely enough it is that the Canaanites used to feed as well on Sheep as on Swines-flesh and therefore if
therefore That to save the World it was of necessity the Son of God should be thus incarnate and that God should so be in Christ as hath been declared 55. Having thus far proceeded in speech concerning the Person of Jesus Christ his two Natures their Conjunction that which he either is or doth in respect of both and that which the one receiveth from the other sith God in Christ is generally the Medicine which doth cure the World and Christ in as is that Receipt of the same Medicine whereby we are every one particularly cured In as much as Christs Incarnation and Passion can be available to no mans good which is not made partaker of Christ neither can we participate him without his Presence we are briefly to consider how Christ is present to the end it may thereby better appear how we are made partakers of Christ both otherwise and in the Sacraments themselves All things are in such sort divided into Finite and Infinite that no one Substance Nature or Quality can be possibly capable of both The World and all things in the World are stinted all effects that proceed from them all the powers and abilities whereby they work whatsoever they do whatsoever they may and whatsoever they are is limited Which limitation of each Creature is both the perfection and also the perservation thereof Measure is that which perfecteth all things because every thing is for some end neither can that thing be available to any end which is not proportionable thereunto and to proportion as well excesses as defects are opposite Again for as much as nothing doth perish but onely through excess or defect of that the due proportioned measure whereof doth give perfection it followeth That measure is likewise the preservation of all things Out of which premises we may conclude not onely that nothing created can possibly be unlimited or can receive any such accident quality or property as may really make it infinite for then should it cease to be a Creature but also that every Creatures limitation is according to his own kinde and therefore as oft as we note in them any thing above their kinde it argueth That the same is not properly theirs but groweth in them from a cause more powerful then they are Such as the Substance of each thing is such is also the Presence thereof Impossible it is that God should withdraw his Presence from any thing because the very Substance of God is infinite He filleth Heaven and Earth although he take up no room in either because his Substance is immaterial pure and of us in this World so incomprehensible that albeit an part of us be ever absent from him who is present whole unto every particular thing yet his Presence with us we no way discern further then onely that God is present which partly by Reason and more perfectly by Faith we know to be firm and certain Seeing therefore that Presence every where is the sequel of an infinite and incomprehensible Substance for what can be every where but that which can no where be comprehended To enquire whether Christ be every where is to enquire of a Natural Property a Property that cleaveth to the Deity of Christ. Which Deity being common unto him with none but onely the Father and the Holy Ghost it followeth That nothing of Christ which is limited that nothing created that neither the Soul nor the Body of Christ and consequently not Christ as Man or Christ according to his Humane Nature can possibly be every where present because those phrases of Limitation and Restraint do either point out the principal subject whereunto every such attribute adhereth or else they intimate the radical cause out of which it groweth For example when we say that Christ as Man or according to his Humane Nature suffered death we show what Nature was the proper subject of Mortality When we say that as God or according to his Deity he conquered Death we declare his Deity to have been the cause by force and vertue whereof lie raised himself from the Grave But neither is the Manhood of Christ that subject whereunto Universal Presence agreeth neither is it the cause original by force whereof his Person is enabled to be everywhere present Wherefore Christ is essentially present with all things in that he is very God but not present with all things as Man because Manhood and the parts thereof can neither be the cause nor the true subject of such Presence Notwithstanding somewhat more plainly to shew a true immediate reason wherefore the Manhood of Christ can neither be every where present nor cause the Person of Christ so to be we acknowledge that of St. Augustine concerning Christ most true In that he is personally the Word he created all things in that he it naturally Man he himself is created of God and it doth not appear that any one Creature hath Power to be present withall Creatures Whereupon nevertheless it will not follow that Christ cannot therefore be thus present because he is himself a Creature for as much as onely Infinite Presence is that which cannot possibly stand with the Essence or Being of any Creature as for Presence with all things that are sith the whole Race Mass and Body of them is Finite Christ by being a Creature is not in that respect excluded from possibility of Presence with them That which excludeth him therefore as Man from so great largeness of Presence is onely his being Man a Creature of this particular kinde whereunto the God of Nature hath set those bounds of restraint and limitation beyond which to attribute unto it any thing more then a Creature of that sort can admit were to give it another Nature to make it a Creature of some other kinde then in truth it is Furthermore if Christ in that he is Man be every where present seeing this cometh not by the Nature of Manhood it self there is no other way how it should grow but either by the Grace of Union with Deity or by the Grace of Unction received from Deity It hath been already sufficiently proved that by Force of Union the Properties of both Natures are imparted to the Person onely in whom they are and not what belongeth to the one Nature really conveyed or translated into the other it hath been likewise proved That Natures united in Christ continue the very same which they are where they are not united And concerning the Grace of Unction wherein are contained the Gifts and Vertues which Christ as Man hath above men they make him Really and Habitually a Man more excellent then we are they take not from him the Nature and Substance that we have they cause not his Soul nor Body to be of another kinde then ours is Supernatural endowments are an advancement they are no extinguishment of that Nature whereto they are given The Substance of the Body of Christ hath no Presence neither can have but onely
Which Labyrinth as the other sort doth justly shun so the way which they take to the same Inâ— is somewhat more short but no whit more certain For through Gods Omnipotent Power they imagine that Transubstantiation followeth upon the words of Consecration and upon Transubstantiation the Participation of Christs both Body and Blood in the onely shape of Sacramental Elements So that they all three do plead Gods Omnipotency Sacramentaries to that Alteration which the rest confess he accomplisheth the Patrons of Transubstantiation over and besides that to the change of one substance into another the Followers of Consubstantiation to the kneading of both Substances as it were into one lump Touching the sentence of Antiquity in this cause first For as much as they knew that the force of this Sacrament doth necessarily presuppose the Verity of Christs both Body and Blood they used oftentimes the same as an Argument to prove That Christ hath as truly the substance of Man as of God because here we receive Christ and those Graces which flow from him in that he is Man So that if he have no such Being neither can the Sacrament have any such meaning as we all confess it hath Thus Tertullian thus Irenaeus thus Theodoret disputeth Again as evident it is how they teach that Christ is personally there present yea present whole albeit a part of Christ be corporally absent from thence that Christ assisting this Heavenly Banquet with his Personal and true Presence doth by his own Divine Power add to the Natural Substance thereof Supernatural Efficacy which addition to the Nature of those consecrated Elements changeth them and maketh them that unto us which otherwise they could not be that to us they are thereby made such Instruments as mystically yet truly invisibly yet really work our Communion or Fellowship with the Person of Jesus Christ as well in that he is Man as God our Participation also in the Fruit Grace and Efficacy of his Body and Blood whereupon there ensueth a kinde of Transubstantiation in us a true change both of Soul and Body an alteration from death to life In a word it appeareth not that of all the ancient Fathers of the Chruch any one did ever conceive or imagine other then onely a Mystical Participation of Christs both Body and Blood in the Sacrament neither are their speeches concerning the change of the Elements themselves into the Body and Blood of Christ such that a man can thereby in Conscience assure himself it was their meaning to perswade the World either of a Corporal Consubstantiation of Christ with those Sanctified and Blessed Elements before we receive them or of the like Transubstantiation of them into the Body and Blood of Christ. Which both to our Mystical Communion with Christ are so unnecessary that the Fathers who plainly hold but this Mystical Communion cannot easily be thought to have meant any other change of Sacramental Elements then that which the same Spiritual Communion did require them to hold These things considered how should that Minde which loving Truth and seeking Comfort out of Holy Mysteries hath not perhaps the leisure perhaps nor the wit nor capacity to tread out so endless Mazes as the intricate Disputes of this cause have led men into how should a vertuously disposed minde better resolve with it self then thus Variety of Iudgments and Opinions argueth obscurity in those things whereabout they differ But that which all parts receive for Truth that which every one having sifted is by no one denied or doubted of must needs be matter of infallible certainly Whereas therefore there are but three Expositions made of This is my Body The first This is in it self before participation really and truly the Natural Substance of my Body by reason of the coexistence which my Omnipotent Body hath with the sanctified Element of Bread which is the Lutherans Interpretation The second This is in itself and before participation the very true and Natural Substance of my Body by force of that Deity which with the words of Consecration abolisheth the Substance of Bread and substituteth in the place thereof my Body which is the Popish construction The last This Hallowed Food through concurrence of Divine Power is in verity and truth unto faithful Receivers instrumentally a cause of that Mystical Participation whereby as I make my self wholly theirs so I give them in hand an actual possession of all such saving Grace as my Sacrificed Body can yield and as their Souls do presently need This is to them and in them my Body Of these three rehearsed Interpretations the last hath in it nothing but what the rest do all approve and acknowledge to be most true nothing but that which the words of Christ are on all sides confest to inforce nothing but that which the Church of God hath always thought necessary nothing but that which alone is sufficient for every Christian man to believe concerning the use and force of this Sacrament Finally Nothing but that wherewith the Writings of all Antiquity are consonant and all Christian Confessions agreeable And as Truth in what kinde soever is by no kinde of Truth gain-said so the minde which resteth it self on this it never troubled with those perplexities which the other do both finde by means of so great contradiction between their opinions and true principles of Reason grounded upon Experience Nature and Sense Which albeit with boysterous courage and breath they seem oftentimes to blow away yet whoso observeth how again they labor and sweat by subtilty of wit to make some shew of agreement between their peculiar conceits and the general Edicts of Nature must needs perceive they struggle with that which they cannot fully master Besides sith of that which is proper to themselves their Discourses are hungry and unpleasant full of tedious and irksome labor heartless and hitherto without Fruit on the other side read we them or hear we others be they of our own or of ancienter times to what part soever they be thought to incline touching that whereof there is controversie yet in this where they all speak but one thing their Discourses are Heavenly their Words sweet as the Honey-Comb their Tongues melodiously tuned Instruments their Sentences meer Consolation and Ioy Are we not hereby almost even with voice from Heaven admonished which we may safeliest cleave unto He which hath said of the one Sacrament Wash and be clean hath said concerning the other likewise Eat and live If therefore without any such particular and solemn warrant as this is that poor distressed Woman coming unto Christ for health could so constantly resolve her self May I but touch the skirt of his Garment I shall be whole what moveth us to argue of the manner how Life should come by Bread our duty being here but to take what is offered and most assuredly to rest perswaded of this that can we but eat we are safe When I behold with
Church-Governours to their rooms of Prelacy Fifthly judicial authority higher then others are capable of And sixthly exemption from being punishable with such kind of Censures as the platform of Reformation doth teach that they ought to be subject unto What the Power of Dominion is VVIthout order there is no living in publick Society because the want thereof is the mother of confusion whereupon division of necessity followeth and out of division destruction The Apostle therefore giving instruction to publike Societies requireth that all things be orderly done Order can have no place in things except it be settled amongst the persons that shall by office be conversant about them And if things and persons be ordered this doth imply that they are distinguished by degrees For order is a gradual disposition The whole world consisting of parts so many so different is by this only thing upheld he which framed them hath set them in order The very Deity it self both keepeth and requireth for ever this to be kept as a Law that wheresoever there is a coagmentation of many the lowest be knit unto the highest by that which being interjacent may cause each to cleave to the other and so all to continue one This order of things and persons in publike Societies is the work of Policie and the proper instrument thereof in every degree is power power being that hability which we have of our selves or receive from others for performance of any action If the action which we have to perform be conversant about matters of meer Religion the power of performing it is then spiritual And if that power be such as hath not any other to over-rule it we term it Dominion or Power Supream so far as the bounds thereof extend When therefore Christian Kings are said to have Spiritual Dominion or Supream Power in Ecclesiastical affairs and causes the meaning is that within their own Precincts and Territories they have an authority and power to command even in matters of Christian Religion and that there is no higher nor greater that can in those cases overcommand them where they are placed to raign as Kings But withal we must likewise note that their power is termed supremacy as being the highest not simply without exception of any thing For what man is so brain-sick as not to except in such speeches God himself the King of all Dominion Who doubteth but that the King who receiveth it must hold it of and order the Law according to that old axiom Altribuat Rex legi quod lex attribuit es potestatem And again Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo lege Thirdly whereas it is altogether without reason That Kings are judged to have by vertue of their Dominion although greater power then any yet not than all the state of those Societies conjoyned wherein such Soveraign rule is given them there is not any thing hereunto to the contrary by us affirmed no not when we grant supream Authority unto Kings because Supremacy is not otherwise intended or meant to exclude partly sorraign powers and partly the power which belongeth in several unto others contained as parts in that politick body over which those Kings have Supremacy Where the King hath power of Dominion or Supream power there no forrain State or Potentate no State or Potentate Domestical whether it consisteth of one or many can possibly have in the same affairs and causes Authority higher than the King Power of Spiritual Dominion therefore is in causes Ecclesiastical that ruling Authority which neither any forraign State not yet any part of that politick body at home wherein the same is established can lawfully over-rule It hath been declared already in general how the best established dominion is where the Law doth most rule the King the true effect whereof particularly is found as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil affairs In these the King through his Supream Power may do sundry great things himself both appertaining to Peace and War both at home and by command and by commerce with States abroad because the Law doth so much permit Sometimes on the other side The King alone hath no right to do without consent of his Lords and Commons in Parliament The King himself cannot change the nature of Pleas nor Courts no not so much as restore blood because the Law is a hath unto him the positive Laws of the Realm have a priviledg therein and restrain the Kings power which positive Laws whether by custom or otherwise established without repugnancy to the Laws of God and nature ought not less to be in force even in supernatural affairs of the Church whether in regard of Ecclesiastical Laws we willingly embrace that of Ambrose Imperator bonus intrae Ecclesiam non supra Ecclesiam est Kings have Dominion to exercise in Ecclesiastical causes but according to the Laws of the Church whether it be therefore the nature of Courts or the form of Pleas or the kind of Governours or the order of proceeding in whatsoever business for the received Laws an Lib 〈…〉 o the Church the King hath Supream Authority and power but against them never What such positive Laws hath appointed to be done by others than the King or by others with the King and in what form they have appointed the doing of it the same of necessity must be kept neither is the Kings sole Authority to alter it yet as it were a thing unreasonable if in civil affairs the King albeit the whole universal body did joyn with him should do any thing by their absolute power for the ordering of their state at home in prejudice of those ancient Laws of Nations which are of force throughout all the World because the necessary commerce of Kingdoms dependeth on them So in principal matters belonging to Christian Religion a thing very scandalous and offensive it must needs be thought if either Kings or Laws should dispose of the Law of God without any respect had unto that which of old hath been reverently thought of throughout the World and wherein there is no Law of God which forceth us to swerve from the ways wherein so many and holy Ages have gone Wherefore not without good consideration the very Law it self hath provided That Iudges Ecclesiastical appointed under the Kings Commission shall not adjudg for heresie anything but that which heretofore hathbeen adjudged by the Authority of the Cononical Scriptures or by the first four general Counbels or lysome other general Council wherein the same hath been declared heresie by the express words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such at hereafter shall be determined to be heresie by the high Court of Parliament of this Realm with the assent of the Clergy in the Convocation An. 1. Reg. Eliz. By which words of the Law Who doth not plainly see how that in one branch of proceeding by vertue of the Kings supream authority the credit which those four first general Councels have throughout
any longer under him but he together with them under God receiving the joyes of everlasting triumph that so God may be in all all misery in all the Wicked through his Justice in all the Righteous through his love all felicity and blisse In the mean while he reigneth over the World as King and doth those things wherein none is Superiour unto him whether we respect the works of his Providence and Kingdom or of his Regiment over the Church The cause of Errour in this point doth seem to have been a misconceit that Christ as Mediatour being inferiour to his Father doth as Mediatour all Works of Regiment over the Church when in truth Regiment doth belong to his Kingly Office Mediatourship to his Priestly For as the High-Priest both offered Sacrifices for expiation of the Peoples sins and entred into the holy Place there to make intercession for them So Christ having finished upon the Cross that part of his Priestly Office which wrought the propitiation for our Sinnes did afterwards enter into very Heaven and doth there as Mediatour of the New Testament appear in the sight of God for us A like sleight of Judgement it is when they hold that Civil Authority is from God but not immediately through Christ nor with any subordination to God nor doth any thing from God but by the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny it not to be said of Christ in the Old Testament By me Princes rule and the Nobles and all the Iudges of the Earth In the New as much is taught That Christ is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Wherefore to the end it may more plainly appear how all Authority of Man is derived from God through Christ and must by Christian men be acknowledged to be no otherwise held then of and under him we are to note that because whatsoever hath necessary being the Son of God doth cause it to be and those things without which the World cannot well continue have necessary being in the World a thing of so great use as Government cannot choose but be originally from Him Touching that Authority which Civil Magistrates have in Ecclesiastical Affairs it being from God by Christ as all other good things are cannot chuse but be held as a thing received at his hands and because such power is of necessity for the ordering of Religion wherein the essence and very being of the Church consisteth can no otherwise slow from him than according to that special care which he hath to govern and guide his own People it followeth that the said Authority is of and under him after a more special manner in that he is Head of the Church and not in respect of his general Regency over the World All things saith the Apostle speaking unto the Church are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is God's Kings are Christ's as Saints because they are of the Church if not collectively yet divisively understood It is over each particular Person within that Church where they are Kings Surely Authority reacheth both unto all mens persons and to all kindes of causes also It is not denyed but that they may have and lawfully exercise it such Authority it is for which and for no other in the World we term them Heads such Authority they have under Christ because he in all things is Lord overall and even of Christ it is that they have received such Authority in as much as of him all lawful Powers are therefore the Civil Magistrate is in regard of this Power an under and subordinate Head of Christ's People It is but idle where they speak That although for several Companies of Men there may be several Heads or Governours differing in the measure of their Authority from the Chiefest who is Head over all yet it cannot be in the Church for that the reason why Head-Magistrates appoint others for such several places it Because they cannot be present every where to perform the Office of an Head But Christ is never from his Body nor from any Part of it and therefore needeth not to substitute any which may be Heads some over one Church and some over another Indeed the consideration of Man's imbecillity which maketh many Heads necessary where the burthen is too great for one moved Iethro to be a Perswader of Moses that a number of Heads of Rulers might be instituted for discharge of that duty by parts which in whole he saw was troublesome Now although there be not in Christ any such defect or weakness yet other causes there be divers more than we are able to search into wherefore it might seem unto him expedient to divide his Kingdom into many Provinces and place many Heads over it that the Power which each of them hath in particular with restraint might illustrate the greatness of his unlimited Authority Besides howsoever Christ be Spiritually alwayes united unto every part of his Body which is the Church Nevertheless we do all know and they themselves who alledge this will I doubt not confess also that from every Church here visible Christ touching visible and corporal presence is removed as farr as Heaven from the Earth is distant Visible Government is a thing necessary for the Church and it doth not appear how the exercise of visible Government over such Multitudes every where dispersed throughout the World should consist without sundry visible Governours whose Power being the greatest in that kinde so farr as it reacheth they are in consideration thereof termed so farr Heads Wherefore notwithstanding the perpetual conjunction by vertue whereof our Saviour alwayes remaineth spiritually united unto the parts of his Mystical Body Heads indeed with Supream Power extending to a certain compasse are for the exercise of a visible Regiment not unnecessary Some other reasons there are belonging unto this branch which seem to have been objected rather for the exercise of mens wits in dissolving Sophismes than that the Authors of them could think in likelyhood thereby to strengthen their cause For example If the Magistrate be Head of the Church within his own Dominion then is he none of the Church For all that are of the Church make the Body of Christ and every one of the Church fulfilleth the place of one member of the Body By making the Magistrate therefore Head we do exclude him from being a Member subject to the Head and so leave him no place in the Church By which reason the name of a Body Politick is supposed to be alwayes taken of the inferiour sort alone excluding the Principal Guides and Governors contrary to all Mens customes of speech The Errour ariseth by misconceiving of some Scripture-sentences where Christ as the Head and the Church as the Body are compared or opposed the one to the other And because in such comparisons ooppositions the Body is taken for those only parts which are subject unto the Head they imagine that who so is the Head of any
Church he is therefore even excluded from being a part of that Church That the Magistrate can be none of the Church if so we make him the Head of the Church in his own Dominions A chief and principal part of the Church therefore Next this is surely a strange conclusion A Church doth indeed make the Body of Christ being wholly taken together and every one in the same Church fulfilleth the place of a Member in the Body but not the place of an inferiour Member the which hath Supream Authority and Power over all the rest Wherefore by making the Magistrate Head in his own Dominions we exclude him from being a Member subject unto any other Person which may visibly there rule in place of a Superiour or Head over him but so farr are we off from leaving him by this means no place in the Church that we do grant him the hief place Indeed the Heads of those visible Bodies which are many can be but parts inferiour in that Spiritual Body which is but one yea they may from tâ—â—s be excluded clean who notwithstanding ought to be honoured as possessing in order the highest rooms But for the Magistrate to be termed in his Dominions an Head doth not barr him from being any way a Part or Member of the Church of God As little to the purpose are those other Cavils A Church which hath the Magistrate for Head is perfect man without Christ So that the knitting of our Saviour thereunto should be an addition of that which is too much Again If the Church be the Body of Christ and of the Civil Magistrate it shall have two heads which being monstrous is to the great dishonour of Christ and his Church Thirdly If the Church be planted in a popular estate then forasmuch as all govern in common and all have Authority all shall be Heads there and no Body at all which is another Monster It might be seared what this birth of so many Monsters together might portend but that we know how things natural enough in themselves may seem monstrous through misconceit which errour of minde is indeed a Monster and the skilful in Nature's mysteryes have used to term it the Wombe of Monsters if any be it is that troubled Understanding wherein because things lye confusedly mixt together what they are it appeareth not A Church perfect without Christ I know not how a man shall imagin unless there may be either Christianity without Christ or else a Church without Christianity If Magistrates be Heads of the Church they are of necessity Christians then is their Head Christ. The adding of Christ universal Head over all unto Magistrates particular Headship is no more superfluous in any Church than in other Societyes each is to be both severally subject unto some Head and to have a Head also general for them all to be subject unto For so in Armys in Civil Corporations we see it fareth A Body Politick in such respects is not like a Natural Body in this more Heads than one is superfluous in that not It is neither monstrous nor yet uncomely for a Church to have different Heads for if Christian Churches be in number many and every of them a perfect Body by it self Christ being Lord and Head over all Why should we judge it a thing more monstrous for one Body to have two Heads than one Head so many Bodyes Him that God hath made the Supream Head of the whole Church the Head not only of that Mystical Body which the eye of man is not able to discern but even of every Christian Politick Society of every visible Church in the World And whereas Lastly it is thought so strange that in Popular States a Multitude to it self should be both Body and Head all this Wonderment doth grow from a little over-sight in deeming that the Subject wherein Headship ought to reside should be evermore some one Person which thing is not necessary For in the collective Body that hath not derived as yet the Principality of power into some one or few the whole of necessity must be Head over each part otherwise it could not have power possibly to make any one certain Person head inasmuch as the very power of making a Head belongeth unto Headship These supposed Monsters we see therefore are no such Giants as that there should need any Hercules to tame them The last difference which we have between the Title of Head when we give it unto Christ and when we give it to other Governours is that the kinde of Dominion which it importeth is not the same in both Christ is Head as being the Fountain of Life and Ghostly nutriment the Well-spring of Spiritual Blessings powred into the Body of the Church they Heads as being the principal instruments for the Churches outward Government he Head as Founder of the House they as his chiefest Overseers Against this is exception especially taken and our Purveyours are herein said to have their provision from the Popish Shambles for by Fighius and Harding to prove that Christ alone is not Head of the Church this distinction they say is brought that according to the inward influence of Grace Christ only is Head but according to the outward Government the being of Head is a thing common to him with others To raise up Falshoods of old condemned and bring it for confirmation of any thing doubtful which already hath sufficiently been proved an error and is worthily so taken this would justly deserve censuring But shall manifest truth therefore be reproached because men convicted in some things of manifest untruth have at any time thought or alledged it If too much eagerness against their Adversaries had not made them forget themselves they might remember where being charged as Maintainers of those very things for which others before them have been condemned of Heresie yet lest the name of any such Heretick holding the same which they do should make them odious they stick not frankly to confess That they are not afraid to consent in some points with Iews and Turks which defence for all that were a very weak Buckler for such as should consent with Jews and Turks in that which they have been abhorted and hated for in the Church But as for this distinction of Headship Spiritual and Mystical of Jesus Christ ministerial and outward in others besides Christ what cause is there to mislike either Harding or Pighins or any other besides for it That which they have been reproved for is not because they did therein utter an untruth but such a Truth as was not sufficient to bear up the Cause which they did thereby seek to maintain By this distinction they have both truly and sufficiently proved that the name of Head importing Power and Dominion over the Church might be given to others besides Christ without prejudice to any part of his honor That which they should have made manifest was The name of Head importing the power of universal
necessary for decision of Controversies rising between man and man and for correction of faults committed in the Affairs of God unto the due execution whereof there are three things necessary Laws Judges and Supream Governours of Judgements What Courts there shall be and what causes shall belong unto each Court and what Judges shall determine of every cause and what Order in all Judgements shall be kept of these things the Laws have sufficiently disposed so that his duty who sitteth in any such Court is to judge not of but after the same Law Imprimis illud observare debet Iudex ne aliter judicet quam legibus constitutionibus aut moribus proditum est ut Imperator Iustinianaus which Laws for we mean the positive Laws of our Realm concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs if they otherwise dispose of any such thing than according to the Law of Reason and of God we must both acknowledge them to be amiss and endeavour to have them reformed But touching that point what may be objected shall after appear Our Judges in Causes Ecclesiastical are either Ordinary or Commissionary Ordinary those whom we term Ordinaries and such by the Laws of this Land are none but Prelates onely whose Power to do that which they do is in themselves and belonging to the nature of their Ecclesiastical calling In Spiritual Causes a Lay-Person may be no Ordinary a Commissionary Judge there is no lett but that he may be and that our Laws do evermore referr the ordinary Judgement of Spiritual Causes unto Spiritual Persons such as are termed Ordinaries no man which knoweth any thing of the Practice of this Realm can easily be ignorant Now besides them which are Authorized to judge in several Territories there is required an universal Power which reacheth over all imparting Supream Authority of Government over all Courts all Judges all Causes the operation of which Power is as well to strengthen maintain and uphold particular Jurisdictions which haply might else be of small effect as also to remedy that which they are not able to help and to redress that wherein they at any time do otherwise than they ought to do This Power being sometime in the Bishop of Rome who by sinister Practises had drawn it into his hands was for just considerations by Publick consent annexed unto the Kings Royal Seat and Crown from thence the Authors of Reformation would translate it into their National Assemblies or Synods which Synods are the onely helps which they think lawful to use against such Evils in the Church as particular Jurisdictions are not sufficient to redress In which Cause our Laws have provided that the Kings supereminent Authority and Power shall serve As namely when the whole Ecclesiastical State or the Principal Persons therein do need Visitation and Reformation when in any part of the Church Errours Schismes Herusies Abuses Offences Contempts Enormities are grown which men in their several Jurisdictions either do not or cannot help Whatsoever any Spiritual Authority and Power such as Legates from the See of Rome did sometimes exercise hath done or might heretofore have done for the remedies of those Evils in lawful sort that is to say without the violation of the Laws of God or Nature in the deed done as much in every degree our Laws have fully granted that the King for ever may do not onely be setting Ecclesiastical Synods on work that the thing may be their Act and the King their Motioner unto it for so much perhaps the Masters of the Reformation will grant but by Commissions few or many who having the Kings Letters Patents may in the vertue thereof execute the premises as Agents in the right not of their own peculiar and ordinary but of his supereminent Power When men are wronged by inferiour Judges or have any just cause to take exception against them their way for Redress is to make their Appeal and Appeal is a present delivery of him which maketh it out of the hands of their Power and Jurisdictions from whence it is made Pope Alexander having sometimes the King of England at advantage caused him amongst other things to agree that as many of his Subjects as would might have appeal to the Court of Rome And thus saith one that whereunto a mean Person at this day would scorn to submit himself so great a King was content to he subject to Notwithstanding even when the Pope saith he had so great Authority amongst Princes which were farr off the Romans he could not frame to obedience nor was able to obtain that himself might abide at Rome though promising not to meddle with other than Ecclesiastical Affairs So much are things that terrifie more feared by such as behold them aloof off than at hand Reformers I doubt not in some Causes will admit Appeals but Appeals made to their Synods even as the Church of Rome doth allow of them so they be made to the Bishop of Rome As for that kinde of Appeal which the English Laws do approve from the Judge of any certain particular Court unto the King as the onely Supream Governour on Earth who by his Delegates may give a final definitive Sentence from which no farther Appeal can be made Will their Plat-form allow of this Surely forasmuch as in that estate which they all dream of the whole Church must be divided into Parishes in which none can have greater or less Authority and Power than another again the King himself must be but a common Member in the Body of his own Parish and the causes of that onely Parish must be by the Officers thereof determinable In case the King had so much favour or preferment as to be made one of those Officers for otherwise by their positions he were not to meddle any more than the meanest amongst his Subjects with the Judgement of any Ecclesiastical Cause how is it possible they should allow of Appeals to be made from any other abroad to the King To receive Appeals from all other Judges belongeth to the highest in power of all and to be in power over All as touching Judgment in Ecclesiastical Causes this as they think belongeth onely to Synods Whereas therefore with us Kings do exercise over all Things Persons and Causes Supream Power both of voluntary and litigious Jurisdictionsâ— so that according to the one they incite reform and command according to the other they judge universally doing both in farr other sort than such as have ordinary Spiritual power oppugned we are herein by some colourable shew of Argument as if to grant thus much to any Secular Person it were unreasonable For sith it is say they apparent out of the Chronicles that judgement in Church-matters pertaineth to God Seeing likewise it is evident out of the Apostles that the High-Priest is set over those matters in Gods behalf It must needs follow that the Principality or direction of the Iudgment of them is by Gods ordinance appertaining to the High-Priest and
in Sir Thomas Bodlies Library in that of Doctor Andrews late Bishop of Winton in the late Lord Conwayes in the Archbishop of Canterburies and in the Bishop of Armaghs and in many others and most of these pretended to be the Authors own hand but much disagreeing being indeed altered and diminisht as Men have thought fittest to make Mr. Hookers Judgment suit with their Fancies or give authority to their corrupt designs and for proof of a part of this take these following testimonies Doctor Barnard sometime Chaplain to Doctor Usher late Lord Archbishop of Armagh hath declar'd in a late Book called Clavi Trabales Printed by Richard Hodgkinson Anno 1661. that in his search and examination of the said Bishops Manuscripts he there found the three written Books which were the supposed sixth seventh and eighth of Mr. Hookers Books of Ecclesiastical Polity and that in the said three Books now printed as Mr. Hookers there are so many Omissions that they amount to many Paragraphs and which cause many incoherencies the Omissions are by him set down at large in the said Printed Book to which I refer the Reader for the whole but think fit in this place to insert this following short part of them First as there could be in Natural Bodies no Motion of any thing unless there were some first which moved all things and continued Unmoveable even so in Politick Societies there must be some unpunishable or else no Man shall suffer punishment for sith punishments proceed always from Superiors to whom the administration of Iustice belongeth which administration must have necessarily a Fountain that deriveth it to all others and receiveth not from any because otherwise the course of Iustice should go infinitely in a Circle every Superiour having his Superiour without end which cannot be therefore a well spring it followeth there is a Supreme head of Iustice whereunto all are subject but it self in subjection to none Which kinde of Preheminency if some ought to have in a Kingdom who but the King shall have it Kings therefore or no man can have lawfull power to Iudge If Private men offend there is the Magistrate over them which Iudgeth if Magistrates they have their Prince if Princes there is Heaven a Tribunal before which they shall appear on Earth they are not accomptable to any Here says the Doctor it breaks off abruptly And I have these words also attested under the hand of Mr. Fabian Phillips a man of note for his useful Books I will make Oath if I shall be required that Doctor Sanderson the late Bishop of Lincoln did a little before his Death affirm to me he had seen a Manuscript affirmed to him to be the hand-writing of Mr. Richard Hooker in which there was no mention made of the King or Supreme Governors being accomptable to the People this I will make Oath that that good Man attested to me Fabian Phillips So that there appears to be both Omissions and Additions in the said last three printed Books and this may probably be one Reason why Doctor Sanderson the said Learned Bishop whose writings are so highly and justly valued gave a strict charge near the time of his Death or in his last Will that nothing of his that was not already Printed should be Printed after his Death It is well known how high a value our Learned King Iames put upon the Books writ by Mr. Hooker as also that our late King Charls the Martyr for the Church valued them the second of all Books testified by his commending them to the reading of his Son Charls that now is our Gratious King and you may suppose that this Charls the First was not a stranger to the pretended three Books because in a discourse with the Lord Say when the said Lord required the King to grant the truth of his Argument because it was the Judgement of Mr. Hooker quoting him in one of the three written Books the King replyed they were not allowed to be Mr Hookers Books but however he would allow them to be Mr. Hookers and consent to what his Lordship proposed to prove out of those doubtful Books if he would but consent to the Iudgment of Mr. Hooker in the other five that were the undoubted Books of Mr. Hooker In this Relation concerning these three doubtful Books of Mr. Hookers my purpose was to enquire then set down what I observ'd and know which I have done not as an engaged Person but indifferently and now leave my Reader to give Sentence for their Legitimation as to himself but so as to leave others the same Liberty of believing or disbelieving them to be Mr. Hookers and 't is observable that as Mr. Hooker advis'd with Doctor Spencer in the design and manage of these Books so also and chiefly with this dear Pupil George Cranmer whose Sister was the Wife of Doctor Spencer of which this following Letter may be a Testimony and doth also give authority to some things mentioned both in this Appendix and in the Life of Mr. Hooker and is therefore added GEORGE CRANMERS LETTER UNTO Mr. RICHARD HOOKER February 1598. WHat Posterity is likely to judge of these matters concerning Church Discipline we may the better conjecture if we call to mind what our own Age within few years upon better Experience hath already judged concerning the same It may be remembred that at first the greatest part of the Learned in the Land were either eagerly affected or favourably inclined that way The Books then written for the most part savoured of the Disciplinary Stile it sounded everywhere in Pulpits and in common phrase of mens speech the contrary part began to fear they had taken a wrong course many which impugned the Discipline yet so impugned it not as not being the better form of Government but as not being so convenient for our State in regard of dangerous Innovations thereby like to grow one man alone there was to speak of whom let no suspition of flattery deprive of his deserved Commendation wâ—o in the defiance of the one part and courage of the other stood in the gap and gave others respite to prepare themselves to the defence which by the sudden eagerness and violence of their Adversaries had otherwise been prevented wherein God hath made good unto him his own Impress Vincit qui patitur for what contumelious indignities he hath at their hands sustained the world is witness and what reward of Honour above his Adversaries God hath bestowed upon him themselves though nothing glad thereof must needs confess Now of late years the heat of men towards the Discipline is greatly decayed their Judgements begin to sway on the other side the Learned have weighed it and found it light wise men conceive some fear left it prove not only not the best kind of Government but the very bane and destruction of all Government The cause of this Change in Mens Opinions may be drawn from the general nature of Error disguised and
of all these Inferences being this That in our Church there is no means of Salvation is out of the Reformers Principles most clearly to be proved For wheresoever any Matter of Faith unto Salvation necessary is denied there can be no means of Salvation But in the Church of England the Discipline by them accounted a Matter of Faith and necessary to Salvation is not onely denied but impugned and the Professors thereof oppressed Ergo. Again but this Reason perhaps is weak Every true Church of Christ acknowledgeth the whole Gospel of Christ the Discipline in their opinion is a part of the Gospel and yet by our Church resisted Ergo. Again The Discipline is essentially united to the Church By which term Essentially they must mean either an essential part or an essential property Both which ways it must needs be That where that Essential Discipline is not neither is there any Church If therefore between them and the Brownists there should be appointed a Solemn Disputation whereof with us they have been oftentimes so earnest challengers It doth not yet appear what other answer they could possibly frame to these and the like Arguments wherewith they might be pressed but fairly to deny the Conclusion for all Premises are their own or rather ingenuously to reverse their own Principles before laid whereon so soul absurdities have been so firmly built What further proofs you can bring out of their high words magnifying the Discipline I leave to your better remembrance But above all points I am desirous this one should be strongly inforced against them because it wringeth them most of all and is of all others for ought I see the most unanswerable you may notwithstanding say That you would be heartily glad these their Positions might so be salved as the Brownists might not appear to have issued out of their Loyns but until that be done they must give us leave to think that they have cast the Seed whereout these Tares are grown Another sort of Men there are which have been content to run on with the Reformers for a time and to make them poor instruments of their own designs These are a sort of Godless Politicks who perceiving the Plot of Discipline to consist of these two parts The overthrow of Episcopal and erection of Presbyterial Authority and that this latter can take no place till the former be remov'd are content to joyn with them in the Destructive part of Discipline bearing them in hand that in the other also they shall finde them as ready But when time shall come it may be they would be as loth to be yoaked with that kinde of Regiment as now they are willing to be released from this These Mens ends in all their actions is Distraction their pretence and colour Reformation Those things which under this colour they have effected to their own good are 1. By maintaining a contrary Faction they have kept the Clergy always in aw and thereby made them more pliable and willing to buy their Peace 2. By maintaining an opinion of Equality among Ministers they have made way to their own purposes for devouring Cathedral Churches and Bishops Livings 3. By exclaiming against abuses in the Church they have carried their own corrupt dealings in the Civil State more covertly for such is the nature of the multitude they are not able to apprehend many things at once so as being possessed with a dislike or liking of any one thing many other in the meantime may escape them without being perceived 4. They have sought to disgrace the Clergy in entertaining a conceit in mens minds and confirming it by continual practice that Men of Learning and specially of the Clergy which are imployed in the chiefest kinde of Learning are not to be admitted of sparingly admitted to Matters of State contrary to the practice of all well-governed Commonwealths and of our own till these late years A third sort of Men there are though not descended from the Reformers yet in part raised and greatly strengthned by them namely the cursed crew of Atheists This also is one of those Points which I am desirous you should handle most effectually and strain your self therein to all points of motion and affection as in that of the Brownists to all strength and sinews of Reason This is a sort most damnable and yet by the general suspition of the World at this day most common The causes of it which are in the parties themselves although you handle in the beginning of the Fift Book yet here again they may be touched but the occasions of help and furtherance which by the Reformers have been yielded unto them are as I conceive two Senseless Preaching and disgracing of the Ministry For how should not men dare to impugn that which neither by force of Reason nor by Authority of Persons is maintained But in the parties themselves these two causes I conceive of Atheism 1. More abundance of Wit then Judgment and of Witty then Judicious Learning whereby they are more inclined to contradict any thing then willing to be informed of the truth They are not therefore Men of sound Learning for the most part but Smatterers neither is their kinde of Dispute so much by force Argument as by Scoffing Which humor of Scoffing and turning Matters most serious into merriment is now become so common as we are not to marvel what the Prophet means by the â—eat of Scorners nor what the Apostles by foretelling of Scorners to come our own Age hath verified their speech unto us which also may be an Argument against these Scoffers and Atheists themselves seeing it hath been so many Ages ago foretold That such Men the latter days of the World should afford which could not be done by any other Spirit save that whereunto things future and present are alike And even for the main question of the Resurrection whereat they stick so mightily was it not plainly foretold that men should in the latter times say Where is the promise of his coming Against the Creation the Ark and divers other Points exceptions are said to be taken the ground whereof is superfluity of Wit without ground of Learning and Judgment A second cause of Atheism is Sensuality which maketh men desirous to remove all stops and impediments of their wicked life amongst which because Religion is the chiefest so as neither in this life without shame they can persist therein nor if that be true without Torment in the life to come they whet their Wits to annihilate the Joys of Heaven wherein they see if any such be they can have no part and likewise the pains of Hell wherein their portion must needs be very great They labor therefore not that they may not deserve those pains but that deserving them there may be no such pains to seize upon them But what conceit can be imagined more base then that man should strive to perswade himself even against the secret instinct no doubt of his own
Minde that his Soul is as the Soul of a Beast Mortal and corruptible with the Body Against which barbarous Opinion their own Atheism is a very strong Argument For were not the Soul a Nature separable from the Body how could it enter into discourse of things meerly Spiritual and nothing at all pertaining to the Body Surely the Soul were not able to conceive any thing of Heaven no nor so much as to dispute against Heaven and against God if there were nor in it somewhat Heavenly and derived from God The last which have received strength and encouragement from the Reformers are Papists against whom although they are most bitter enemies yet unwittingly they have given them great advantage For what can any enemy rather desire then the breach and dissention of those which are Confederates against him Wherein they are to remember That if our Communion with Papists in some few Ceremonies do so much strengthen them as is pretended How much more doth this Division and Rent among our selves especially seeing it is maintained to be not in light Matters onely but even in Matter of Faith and Salvation Which over-reaching Speech of theirs because it is so open to advantage for the Barrowist and the Papist we are to wish and hope for that they will acknowledge it to have been spoken rather in heat of affection then with soundness of judgment and that through their exceeding love that Creature of Discipline which themselves have bred nourished and maintained their mouth in commendation of her did soon overflow From hence you may proceed but the means of connexion I leave to your self to another Discourse which I think very meet to be handled either here or els where at large the parts whereof may be these 1. That in this cause between them and us Men are to sever the proper and essential Points in Controversie from those which are accidental The most essential and proper are these two Overthrow of Episcopal Erection of Presbyterial Authority But in these two Points whosoever joyneth with them is a counted of their number whosoever in all other Points agreeth with them yet thinketh the Authority of Bishops not unlawful and of Elders not necessary may justly be severed from their retinue Those things therefore which either in the Persons or in the Laws and Orders themselves are faulty may be complained on acknowledged and amended yet they no whit the nearer their main purpose For what if all Errors by them supposed in our Liturgy were amended even according to their own hearts desire if Non-Residence Pluralities and the like were utterly taken away are their Lay-Elders therefore presently authorised or their Soveraign Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction established But even in their complaining against the outward and accidental Matters in Church-Government they are many ways faulty 1. In their end which they propose to themselves For in declaiming against abuses their meaning is not to have them redressed but by disgracing the present State to make way for their own Discipline As therefore in Venice if any Senator should discourse against the Power of their Senate as being either too Soveraign or too weak in Government with purpose to draw their Authority to a Moderation it might well be suffered but not so if it should appear he spake with purpose to induce another State by depraving the present So in all Causes belonging either to Church or Commonwealth we are to have regard what minde the Complaining part doth bear whether of Amendment or Innovation and accordingly either to suffer or suppress it Their Objection therefore is frivolous Why may not Men speak against Abuses Yes but with desire to cure the Part affected not to destroy the Whole 2. A second fault is in their manner of Complaining not onely because it is for the most part in bitter and reproachful terms but also it is to the common people Who are Iudges incompetent and insufficient both to determine any thing amiss and for want of skill and authority to amend it Which also discovereth their intent and purpose to be rather destructive then corrective 3. Thirdly Those very Exceptions which they take are frivolous and impertinent Some things indeed they accuse as impious which if they may appear to be such God forbid they should be maintained Against the rest it is onely alleged That they are idle Ceremonies without use and that better and more profitable might be devised wherein they are doubly deceiv'd For neither is it a sufficient Plea to say This must give place because a better may be devised because in our judgments of better and worse we oftentimes conceive amiss when we compare those things which are in device with those which are in practice For the Imperfections of the one are hid till by time and tryal they be discovered the others are already manifest and open to all But last of all which is a Point in my Opinion of great regard and which I am desirous to have enlarg'd they do not see that for the most part when they strike at the State Ecclesiastical they secretly wound the Civil State For Personal Faults What can be said against the Church which may not also agree to the Commonwealth In both Statesmen have always been and will be always Men sometimes blinded with Error most commonly perverted by Passions Many unworthy have been and are advanced in both many worthy not regarded And as for abuses which they pretend to be in the Laws themselves when they inveigh against Non-Residence do they take it a matter lawful or expedient in the Civil State for a Man to have a great and gainful Office in the North himself continually remaining in the South He that hath an Office let him attend his Office When they condemn Plurality of Livings Spiritual to the Pit of Hell what think they of Infinite of Temporal Promotions By the Great Philosopher Pol. lib. 2. cap. 9. it is forbidden as a thing most dangerous to Commonwealths that by the same Man many great Offices should be exercised When they deride our Ceremonies as vain and frivolous were it hard to apply their Exceptions even to those Civil Ceremonies which at the Coronation in Parliament and all Courts of Iustice are used Were it hard to argue even against Circumcision the Ordinance of God as being a cruel Ceremony Against the Passover as being ridiculous should be giâ—t a staff in their hand to eat a Lamb To conclude You may exhort the Clergy or what if you direct your Conclusion not to the Clergy in general but onely to the Learned in or of both Universities You may exhort them to a due consideration of all things and to a right esteem and valuing of each thing in that degree wherein it ought to stand For it oftentimes falleth out that what Men have either devised themselves or greatly delighted in the price and the excellency thereof they do admire above desert The chiefest labor of a Christian should be know of
fancy which is cast towards them and proceedeth from other Causes For there are divers Motives drawing men to favor mightily those Opinions wherein their Perswasions are but weakly setled and if the Passions of the Minde be strong they easily sophisticate the Understanding they make it apt to believe upon very slender warrant and to imagine infallible Truth where scarce any probable shew appeareth Thus were those poor seduced Creatures Hacquet and his other two adherents whom I can neither speak nor think of but with much commisseration and pity Thus were they trained by fair ways first accompting their own extraordinary love to his Discipline a token of Gods more then ordinary love towards them From hence they grew to a strong conceit that God which had moved them to love his Discipline more then the common sort of men did might have a purpose by their means to bring a wonderful work to pass beyond all mens expectation for the advancement of the Throne of Discipline by some Tragical Execution with the particularities whereof it was not safe for their Friends to be made acquainted of whom they did therefore but covertly demand what they thought of extraordinary Motions of the Spirit in these days and withal request to be commended unto God by their Prayers whatsoever should be undertaken by Men of God in meer Zeal to his Glory and the good of his distressed Church With this unusual and strange course they went on forward till God in whose heaviest worldly Judgments I nothing doubt but that there may lie hidden Mercy gave them over their own Inventions and left them made in the end an example for Head-strong and Inconsiderate Zeal no less fearful then Achitophel for Proud and Irreligious Wisdom If a spark of Error have thus far prevailed falling even where the Wood was green and farthest off to all mens thinking from any inclination unto furious Attempts must not the peril thereof be greater in men whose mindes are of themselves as dry sewel apt beforehand unto Tumults Seditions and Broyls But by this we see in a Cause of Religion to how desperate adventures men will strain themselves for relief of their own part having Law and Authority against them Furthermore Let not any man think that in such Divisions either part can free it self from inconveniencies sustained not onely through a kinde of Truce which Vertue on both sides doth make with Vice during War between Truth and Error but also in that there are hereby so fit occasions ministred for men to purchase to themselves welwillers by the colour under which they oftentimes prosecute quarrels of Envy or Inveterate Malice and especially because Contentions were as yet never able to prevent two Evils The one a mutual exchange of unseemly and unjust disgraces offered by men whose Tongues and Passions are out of rule the other a common hazard of both to be made a prey by such as study how to work upon all Occurents with most advantage in private I deny not therefore but that our Antagonists in these Controversies may peradventure have met with some not unlike to Ithacius who mightily bending himself by all means against the Heresie of Priscillian the hatred of which one Evil was all the Vertue he had became so wise in the end That every man careful of Vertuous Conversations studious of Scripture and given unto any abstinence in Diet was set down in his Kalender of suspected Priscillianists for whom it should be expedient to approve their soundness of Faith by a more licencious and loose behavior Such Proctors and Patrons the Truth might spare Yet is not their grossness so intolerable as on the contrary side the scurrilous and more then Satyrical immodesty of Martinism the first published Schedules whereof being brought to the hands of a grave and a very Honorable Knight with signification given that the Book would refresh his spirits he took it saw what the Title was read over an unsavory sentence or two and delivered back the Libel with this Answer I am sorry you are of the minde to be solaced with these sports and sorrier you have herein thought mine affection to be like your own But as these sores on all hands lie open so the deepest wounds of the Church of God have been more softly and closely given It being perceived that the Plot of Discipline did not onely bend it self to reform Ceremonies but seek farther to erect a popular authority of Elders and to take away Episcopal Jurisdiction together with all other Ornaments and means whereby any difference or inequality is upheld in the Ecclesiastical Order towards this destructive part they have found many helping hands divers although peradventure not willing to be yoked with Elderships yet contented for what intent God doth know to uphold opposition against Bishops not without greater hurt to the course of their whole proceedings in the business of God and Her Majesties service then otherwise much more weighty Adversaries had been able by their own power to have brought to pass Men are naturally better contented to have their commendable actions supprest then the contrary much divulged And because the Wits of the multitude are such that many things they cannot lay hold on at once but being possest with some notable either dislike or liking of any one thing whatsoever sundry other in the mean time may escape them unperceived Therefore if men desirous to have their Vertues noted do in this respect grieve at the same of others whose glory obscureth and darkness theirs it cannot be chosen but that when the ears of the people are thus continually beaten with exclamations against abuses in the Church these tunes come always most acceptable to them whose odious and corrupt dealings in secular affairs both pass by that mean the more covertly and whatsoever happen do also the least feel that scourge of vulgar imputation which notwithstanding they most deserve All this considered as behoveth the sequel of duty on our part is onely that which our Lord and Saviour requireth harmless Discretion the wisdom of Serpents tempered with the innocent meekness of Doves For this World will teach them wisdom that have capacity to apprehend it Our wisdom in this case must be such as doth not propose to it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our own particular the partial and immoderate desire whereof poysoneth wheresoever it taketh place But the scope and mark which we are to aim at is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the publick and common good of all for the easier procurement whereof our diligence must search out all helps and furtherances of direction which Scriptures Counsels Fathers Histories the Laws and Practices of all Churches the mutual Conference of all Mens Collections and Observations may afford Our industry must even anatomize every Particle of that Body which we are to uphold sound and because be it never so true which we teach the World to believe yet if once their affections begin to be alienated a
which Admonitions all that I mean to say is but this There will come a time when three words uttered with Charity and Meekness shall receive a far more blessed Reward then three thousand Volumns written with disdainful sharpness of Wit But the manner of Mens Writings must not alienate our hearts from the Truth if it appear they have the Truth as the Followers of the same Defender do think he hath and in that perswasion they follow him no otherwise then himself doth Calvin Beza and others with the like perswasion that they in this cause had the Truth We being as fully perswaded otherwise it resteth that some kinde of tryal be used to finde out which part is in error 3. The first mean whereby Nature teacheth men to judge good from evil as well in Laws as in other things is the force of their own discretion Hereunto therefore St. Paul referreth oftentimes his own speech to be considered of by them that heard him I speak as to them which have understanding Judge ye what I say Again afterward Judge in your selves is it comly that a woman pray uncovered The exercise of this kinde of judgment our Saviour requireth in the Iews In them of Berea the Scripture commendeth it Finally Whatsoever we do if our own secret judgment consent not unto it as fit and good to be done the doing of it to us is sin although the thing it self be allowable St. Pauls rule therefore generally is Let every man in his own minde be fully perswaded of that thing which he either alloweth or doth Some things are so familiar and plain that Truth from Falshood and Good from Evil is most easily discerned in them even by men of no deep capacity And of that nature for the most part are things absolutely unto all Mens salvation necessary either to he held or denied either to be done or avoided For which cause St. Augustine acknowledgeth that they are not onely set down but also plainly set down in Scripture So that he which heareth or readeth may without any great difficulty understand Other things also there are belonging though in a lower degree of importance unto the offices of Christian men Which because they are more obscure more intricate and hard to be judged of therefore God hath appointed some to spend their whole time principally in the study of things Divine to the end that in these more doubtful cases their understanding might be a light to direct others If the understanding power or faculty of the Soul be saith the Grand Physitian like unto bodily sight not of equal sharpness in all What can be more convenient then that even as the dark-sighted man is directed by the clear about things visible so likewise in matters of deeper discourse the wise in heart do shew the simple where his way lieth In our doubtful Cases of Law what man is there who seeth not how requisite it is that Professors of skill in that Faculty be our Directors so it is in all other kindes of knowledge And even in this kinde likewise the Lord hath himself appointed That the Priests lips should preserve knowledge and that other men should seek the truth at his mouth because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Gregory Nazianzen offended at the peoples too great presumption in controlling the judgment of them to whom in such cases they should have rather submitted their own seeketh by earnest entreaty to stay them within their bounds Presume not ye that are Sheep to make your selves Guides of them that should guide you neither seek ye to overslip the fold which they about you have pitched It sufficeth for your part if ye can well frame your selves to be ordered Take not upon you to judge your selves nor to make them subject to your Laws who should be a Law to you for God is not a God of Sedition and Confusion but of Order and of Peace But ye will say that if the Guides of the people be blinde the common sort of men must not close up their own eyes and be led by the conduct of such If the Priest be partial in the Law the flock must not therefore depart from the ways of sincere Truth and in simplicity yield to be followers of him for his place sake and office over them Which thing though in it self most true is in your defence notwithstanding weak because the matter wherein ye think that ye see and imagine that your ways are sincere is of far deeper consideration then any one amongst Five hundred of you conceiveth Let the vulgar sort among you know that there is not the least branch of the Cause wherein they are so resolute but to the tryal of it a great deal more appertaineth then their conceit doth reach unto I write not this in disgrace of the simplest that way given but I would gladly they knew the nature of that cause wherein they think themselves throughly instructed and are not by means whereof they daily run themselves without feeling their own hazzard upon the dint of the Apostles sentence against evil speakers as touching things wherein they are ignorant If it be granted a thing unlawful for private men not called unto Publick Consultation to dispute which is the best State of Civil Policy with a desire of bringing in some other kinde them that under which they already live for of such Disputes I take it his meaning was If it be a thing confest that of such Questions they cannot determine without rashness in as much as a great part of them consisteth in special Circumstances and for one kinde as many Reasons may be brought as for another Is there any reason in the World why they should better judge what kinde of Regiment Ecclesiastical is the fittest For in the Civil State more insight and in those affairs more experience a great deal must needs be granted them then in this they can possibly have When they which write in defence of your Discipline and commend it unto the Highest not in the least cunning manner are forced notwithstanding to acknowledge That with whom the Truth is they know not they are not certain what certainly or knowledge can the multitude have thereof Weigh what doth move the common sort so much to favor this Innovation and it shall soon appear unto you that the force of particular Reasons which for your several Opinions are alleaged is a thing whereof the multitude never did nor could so consider as to be therewith wholly carried but certain general Inducements are used to make saleable your Cause in gross And when once men have cast a fancy towards it any slight Declaration of Specialties will serve to lead forward mens inclineable and prepared mindes The method of winning the peoples affection unto a general liking of the Cause for so ye term it hath been this First in the hearing of the multitude the faults especially of
World whereby the one sort are named The Brethren the Godly and so forth the other Worldlings Time-servers Pleasers of Men not of God with such like From hence they are easily drawn on to think it exceeding necessary for fear of quenching that good Spirit to use all means whereby the same may be both strengthned in themselves and made manifest unto others This maketh them diligent bearers of such as are known that way to incline this maketh them eager to take and seek all occasions of secret Conference with such this maketh them glad to use such as Counsellors and Directors in all their dealings which are of weight as Contracts Testaments and the like this maketh them through an unweariable desire of receiving instruction from the Masters of that Company to cast off the care of those very affairs which do most concern their estate and to think that then they are like unto Mary commendable for making choice of the better part Finally This is it which maketh them willing to charge yea oftentimes even to over-charge themselves for such Mens sustenance and relief least their zeal to the Cause should any way be unwitnessed For what is it which poor beguiled souls will not do through so powerful incitements In which respect it is also noted that most labor hath been bestowed to win and retain towards this Cause them whose judgments are commonly weakest by reason of their sex And although not Women loaden with sins as the Apostle St. Paul speaketh but as we verily esteem of them for the most part Women propense and inclinable to holiness be otherwise edified in good things rather then carried away as captives into any kinde of sin and evil by such as enter into their houses with purpose to plant there a zeal and a love towards this kinde of Discipline yet some occasion is hereby ministred for Men to think that if the Cause which is thus furthered did gain by the soundness of proof whereupon it doth build it self it would not most busily endeavor to prevail where least ability of judgment is And therefore that this so eminent industry in making Proselytes more of that sex then of the other groweth for that they are deemed apter to serve as instruments and helps in the Cause Apter they are through the eagerness of their affection that maketh them which way soever they take diligent in drawing their Husbands Children Servants Friends and Allies the same way Apter through that natural inclination unto pity which breedeth in them a greater readiness then in men to be bountiful towards their Preachers who suffer want Apter through sundry opportunities which they especially have to procure encouragements for their Brethren Finally Apter through a singular delight which they take in giving very large and particular intelligence how all near about them stand affected as concerning the same Cause But be they Women or be they Men if once they have tasted of that Cup let any man of contrary opinion open his mouth to perswade them they close up their ears his Reasons they weigh not all is answered with rehearsal of the words of John We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us As for the rest Ye are of the World for this Worlds pomp and vanity it is that ye speak and the World whose ye are heareth you Which cloke sitteth no less fit oâ— the lack of their Cause then of the Anabaptists when the Dignity Authority and Honor of Gods Magistrates is upheld against them Shew these eagerly-affected men their inability to judge of such matters their answer is God hath chosen the simple Convince them of Folly and that so plainly that very children upbraid them with it they have their bucklers of like defence Christs own Apostle was accounted mad The best men evermore by the sentence of the World have been judged to be out of their right mindes When instruction doth them no good let them feel but the least degree of most mercifully tempered Severity they fasten on the head of the Lords Vicegerents here on Earth whatsoever they any where finde uttered against the cruelty of Blood-thirsty men and to themselves they draw all the Sentences which Scripture hath in the favor of Innocency persecuted for the Truth yea they are of their due and deserved sufferings no less proud then those ancient disturbers to whom St. Augustine writeth saying Martyrs rightly so named are they not which suffer for their disorder and for the ungodly breach they have made of Christian Unity but which for Righteousness sake are persecuted For Agar also suffered persecution at the hands of Sara wherein she which did impose was holy and she unrighteous which did bear the burthen In like sort with the Theeves was the Lord himself crucified but they who were matcht in the pain which they suffered were in the cause of their sufferings dis-joyned If that must needs be the true Church which doth endure persecution and not that which persecuteth let them ask of the Apostle what Church Sara did represent when she held her Maid in affliction For even our Mother which is free the Heavenly Ierusalem that is to say The true Church of God was as he doth affirm prefigured in that very Woman by whom the Bond-maid was so sharply handled Although if all things be throughly skanned she did in truth more persecute Sara by proud resistance then Sara her by severity of punishment These are the paths wherein ye have walked that are of the ordinary sort of men these are the very steps ye have trodden and the manifest degrees whereby ye are of your Guides and Directors trained up in that School A custom of inuring your ears with reproof of faults especially in your Governors and use to attribute those faults to the kinde of Spiritual Regiment under which ye live boldness in warranting the force of their Discipline for the cure of all such evils a slight of framing your conceits to imagine that Scripture every where favoreth that Discipline perswasion that the cause why ye finde it in Scripture is the illumination of the Spirit that the same Spirit is a Seal unto you of your nearness unto God that ye are by all means to nourish and witness it in your selves and to strengthen on every side your mindes against whatsoever might be of force to withdraw you from it 4. Wherefore to come unto you whose judgment is a Lanthorn of Direction for all the rest you that frame thus the peoples hearts not altogether as I willingly perswade my self of a politick intent or purpose but your selves being first over-borne with the weight of greater mens judgments on your shoulders is laid the burthen of upholding the cause by Argument For which purpose Sentences out of the Word of God ye alledge divers but so that when the same are aiscust thus it always in a manner falleth out That what things by vertue thereof ye urge upon us as altogether
noted seldom or never absent from thence at the time of those great Assemblies and the favor of proposing there in convenient sort whatsoever ye can object which thing my self have known them to grant of Scholastical courtesie unto Strangers neither hath as I think nor ever will I presume be denied you If your Suit be to have some great extraordinary confluence in expectation whereof the Laws that already are should sleep and have no power over you till in the hearing of thousands ye all did acknowledge your error and renounce the further prosecution of your cause Haply they whose authority is required unto the satisfying of your demand do think it both dangerous to admit such concourse of divided mindes and unmeet that Laws which being once solemnly established are to exact obedience of all men and to constrain thereunto should so far stoop as to hold themselves in suspence from taking any effect upon you till some disputer can perswade you to be obedient A Law is the Deed of the whole Body Politick whereof if ye judge your selves to be any part then is the Law even your Deed also And were it reason in things of this quality to give men audience pleading for the overthrow of that which their own very deed hath ratified Laws that have been approved may be no man doubteth again repealed and to that end also disputed against by the Authors thereof themselves But this is when the whole doth deliberate what Laws each part shall observe and not when a part refuseth the Laws which the whole hath orderly agreed upon Notwithstanding for as much as the cause we maintain is God be thanked such as needeth not to shun any tryal might it please them on whose approbation the matter dependeth to condescend so far unto you in this behalf I wish heartily that proof were made even by solemn conference in orderly and quiet sort whether you would your selves be satisfied or else could by satisfying others draw them to your party Provided alway first In as much as ye go about to destroy a thing which is in force and to draw in that which hath not as yet been received to impose on us that which we think not our selves bound unto and to overthrow those things whereof we are possessed that therefore ye are not to claim in any conference other then the Plaintiffs or Opponents part which must consist altogether in proof and confirmation of two things The one that our Orders by you condemned we ought to abolish the other that yours we are bound to accept in the stead thereof Secondly Because the Questions in Controversie between us are many if once we descend into particulars That for the easier and more orderly proceeding therein the most general be first discussed nor any Question left off nor in each Question the prosecution of any one Argument given over and another taken in hand till the issue whereunto by Replies and Answers both parts are come be collected read and acknowledged as well on the one side as on the other to be the plain conclusion which they are grown unto Thirdly For avoiding of the manifold inconveniences whereunto ordinary and extemporal Disputes are subject as also because if ye should singly dispute one by one as every mans own wit did best serve it might be conceived by the rest that haply some other would have done more the chiefest of you do all agree in this action that when ye shall then chuse your speaker by him that which is publickly brought into Disputation be acknowledged by all your consents not to be his allegation but yours such as ye all are agreed upon and have required him to deliver in all your names The true Copy whereof being taken by a Notary that a reasonable time be allowed for return of Answer unto you in the like form Fourthly Whereas a number of Conferences have been had in other causes with the less effectual success by reason of partial and untrue reports published afterwards unto the World That to prevent this evil there be at the first a Solemn Declaration made on both parts of their Agreement to have that very Book and no other set abroad wherein their present authorized Notaries do write those things fully and onely which being written and there read are by their own open testimony acknowledged to be their own Other circumstances hereunto belonging whether for the choice of time place and language or for prevention of impertinent and needless speech or to any end and purpose else they may be thought on when occasion serveth In this sort to broach my private conceit for the ordering of a publick action I should be loth albeit I do it not otherwise then under correction of them whose gravity and wisdom ought in such cases to over-rule but that so venturous boldness I see is a thing now general and am thereby of good hope that where all men are licenced to offend no man will shew himself a sharp Accuser 6. What success God may give unto any such kinde of Conference or Disputation we cannot tell But of this we are right sure that Nature Scripture and Experience it self have all taught the World to seek for the ending of Contentions by submitting itself into some judicial and definitive Sentence whereunto neither part that contendeth may under any pretence or colour refuse to stand This must needs be effectual and strong as for other means without this they seldom prevail I would therefore know whether for the ending of these irksome strifes wherein you and your Followers do stand thus formally divided against the authorized Guides of this Church and the rest of the people subject unto their Charge whether I say ye be content to refer your Cause to any other higher judgment then your own or else intend to persist and proceed as ye have begun till your selves can be perswaded to condemn your selves If your Determination be this we can be but sorry that ye should deserve to be reckoned with such of whom God himself pronounceth The way of Peace they have not known Ways of peaceable Conclusion there are but these two certain the one a sentence of Iudicial Decision given by authority thereto appointed within our selves the other the like kinde of sentence given by a more Universal authority The former of which two ways God himself in the Law prescribeth and his Spirit it was which directed the very first Christian Churches in the World to use the Latter The Ordinance of God in the Law was this If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment between blood and blood between plea c. then shalt thou arise and go up unto the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse and thou shalt come unto the Priests of the Levites and unto the Judge that shall be in those days and ask and they shall shew thee the sentence of Judgment and thou shalt do according to that thing
in this case ye are all bound for the time to suspend and in otherwise doing ye offend against God by troubling his Church without any just or necessary cause Be it that there are some reasons inducing you to think hardly of our Laws Are those reasons demonstrative are they necessary or but meer probabilities onely An Argument necessary and demonstrative is such as being proposed unto any man and understood she minde cannot chase but invardly assent Any one such reason dischargeth I grant the Gonscience and setteth it at full liberty For the publick approbation given by the Body of this whole Church unto those things which are established doth make it but probable that they are good And therefore unto a necessary proofe that they are not good it must give place But if the skilfullest amongst you can shew that all the Books ye have hitherto written be able to afford any one argument of this nature let the instance be given As for probabilities What thing was there ever set down so agreeable with sound reason but some probable shew against it might be made It is meet that when publickly things are received and have taken place General Obedience thereunto should cease to be exacted in case this or that private person led with some probable conceit should make open Protostation Peter or John disallow them and pronounce them naught In which case your answer will be That concerning the Laws of our Church they are not onely condemned in the opinion of a private man but of thousands year and even of those amongst which divers are in publick charge and authority At though when publick consent of the whole hath established any thing every mans judgment being thereunto compared were not private howsoever his calling be to some kinde of publick charge So that of Peace and Quietness there is not any way possible unless the probable voice of every intire Society or Body Politick over-rule all private of like nature in the same Body Which thing effectually proveth That God being Author of Peace and not of Confusion in the Church must needs be Author of those mens peaceable resolutions who concerning these things have determined with themselves to think and do as the Church they are of decreeth till they see necessary cause enforcing them to the contrary 7. Nor is mine own intent any other in these several Books of discourse then to make it appear unto you that for the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Land we are led by great reason to observe them and ye by no necessity bound to impugne them It is no part of my secret meaning to draw you hereby into hatred or to set upon the face of this cause any fairer gloss then the naked truth doth afford but my whole endeavor is to resolve the Conscience and to shew as near as I can what in this Controversie the Heart is to think if it will follow the light of sound and sincere judgment without either cloud of prejudice or mist of passionate affection Wherefore seeing that Laws and Ordinances in particular whether such as we observe or such as your selves would have established when the minde doth sift and examine them it must needs have often recourse to a number of doubts and questions about the nature kindes and qualities of Laws in general whereof unless it be throughly informed there will appear no certainty to stay our perswasion upon I have for that cause set down in the first place an Introduction on both sides needful to be considered declaring therein what Law is how different kindes of Laws there are and what force they are of according unto each kinde This done because ye suppose the Laws for which ye strive are found in Scripture but those not against which we strive And upon this surmise are drawn to hold it as the very main Pillar of your whole cause That Scripture ought to be the onely rule of all our actions and consequently that the Church Orders which we observe being not commanded in Scripture are offensive and displeasant unto God I have spent the second Book in sifting of this point which standeth with you for the first and chiefest principle whereon ye build Whereunto the next in degree is That as God will have always a Church upon Earth while the World doth continue and that Church stand in need of Government of which Government it behoveth himself to be both the Author and Teacher So it cannot stand with duty That man should ever presume in any wise to change and alter the same and therefore That in Scripture there must of necessity be found some particular Form of Ecclesiastical Polity the Laws whereof admit not any kinde of alteration The first three Books being thus ended the fourth proceedeth from the general Grounds and Foundations of your cause unto your general Accusations against us as having in the orders of our Church for so you pretend Corrupted the right Form of Church Polity with manifold Popish Rites and Ceremonies which certain Reformed Churches have banished from amongst them and have thereby given us such example as you think we ought to follow This your Assertion hath herein drawn us to make search whether these be just Exceptions against the Customs of our Church when ye plead that they are the same which the Church of Rome hath or that they are not the same which some other Reformed Churches have devised Of those four Books which remain and are bestowed about the Specialties of that Cause which little in Controversie the first examineth the causes by you alledged wherefore the publick duties of Christian Religion as our Prayers our Sacraments and the rest should not be ordered in such sort as with us they are nor that power whereby the persons of men are consecrated unto the Ministry be disposed of in such manner as the Laws of this Church do allow The second and third are concerning the power of Iurisdiction the one Whether Laymen such as your Governing Elders are ought in all Congregations for ever to be invested with that power The other Whether Bishops may have that power over other Pastors and therewithal that honor which with us they have And because besides the Power of Order which all consecrated persons have and the Power of Iurisdiction which neither they all nor they onely have There is a third power a Power of Ecclesiastical Dominion communicable as we think unto persons not Ecclesiastical and most fit to be restrained unto the Prince our Soveraign Commander over the whole Body Politick The eighth Book we have allotted unto this Question and have sifted therein your Objections against those preeminences Royal which thereunto appertain Thus have I laid before you the Brief of these my Travels and presented under your view the Limbs of that Cause litigious between us the whole intire Body whereof being thus compact it shall be no troublesome thing for any man to finde each particular Controversies resting place
and the coherance it hath with those things either on which it dependeth or which depend on it 8. The case so standing therefore my Brethren as it doth the wisdom of Governors ye must not blame in that they further also forecasting the manifold strange and dangerous innovations which are more then likely to follow if your Discipline should take place have for that cause thought it hitherto a part of their duty to withstand your endeavors that way The rather for that they have seen already some small beginnings of the fruits thereof in them who concurring with you in judgment about the necessity of that Discipline have adventured without more ado to separate themselves from the rest of the Church and to put your speculations in execution These mens hastiness the warier sort of you doth not commend ye wish they had held themselves longer in and not so dangerously flown abroad before the feathers of the Cause had been grown their Error with merciful terms ye reprove naming them in great commiseration of minds your poor Brethren They on the contrary side more bitterly accuse you as their false Brethren and against you they plead saying From your Brests it is that we have sucked those things which when ye delivered unto us ye termed that heavenly sincere and wholesom Milk of Gods Word howsoever ye now abhor as poyson that which the vertue thereof hath wrought and brought forth in us Ye sometime our Companions Guides and Familiars with whom we have had most sweet Consultations are now become our professed Adversaries because we think the Statute-Congregation in England to be no true Christian Churches because we have severed our selves from them and because without their leave or licence that are in Civil Authority we have secretly framed our own Churches according to the Platform of the Word of God For of that point between you and us there is no Controversie Also what would ye have us to do At such time as ye were content to accept us in the number of your own your Teaching we heard weread your Writings And though we would yet able we are not to forget with what zeal ye have ever profest That in the English Congregations for so many of them as be ordered according unto their own Laws the very Publick Service of God is fraught as touching Matter with heaps of intolerable Pollutions and as concerning Form borrowed from the Shop of Antichrist hateful both ways in the eyes of the most Holy the kinde of their Government by Bishops and Archbishops Antichristian that Discipline which Christ hath essentially tied that is to say so united unto his Church that we cannot account it really to be his Church which hath not in it the same Discipline that very Discipline no less there despised then in the highest Throne of Antichrist All such parts of the Word of God as do any way concern that Discipline no less unsoundly taught and interpreted by all authorized English Pastors then by Antichrists Factors themselves At Baptism Crossing at the Supper of the Lord. Kneeling at both a number of other the most notorious Badges of Antichristian Recognisance usual Being moved with these and the like your effectual discourses whereunto we gave most attentive ear till they entred even into our souls and were as fire within our bosoms We thought we might hereof be bold to conclude That sith no such Antichristian Synagogue may be accounted a true Church of Christ ye by accusing all Congregations ordered according to the Laws of England as Antichristian did mean to condemn those Congregations as not being any of them worthy the name of a true Christian Church Ye tell us now it is not your meaning But what meant your often threatnings of them who professing themselves the inhabitants of Mount Sion were too loth to depart wholly as they should out of Babylon Whereat our hearts being fearfully troubled we durst not we durst not continue longer so near her confines lest her plagues might suddenly overtake us before we did cease to be partakers with her sins for so we could not chuse but acknowledge with grief that we were when they doing evil we by our presence in their Assemblies seemed to like thereof or at leastwise not so earnestly to dislike as became men heartily zealous of Gods glory For adventuring to erect the Discipline of Christ without the leave of the Christian Magistrate haply ye may condemn us as fools in that we hazard thereby our estates and persons further then you which are that way more wise think necessary But of any offence or sin therein committed against God with what conscience can you accuse us when your own positions are That the things we observe should every of them be dearer unto us then ten thousand lives that they are the peremptory Commandments of God that no mortal man can dispense with them and that the Magistrate grievously sinneth in not constraining thereunto Will ye blame any man for doing that of his own accord which all men should be compelled to do that are not willing of themselves When God commandeth shall we answer that we will obey if so be Cesar will grant us leave Is Discipline an Ecclesiastical Matter or a Civil If an Ecclesiastical is must of necessity belong to the duty of the Minister and the Minister ye say holdeth all his Authority of doing whatsoever belongeth unto the Spiritual Charge of the House of God even immediately from God himself without dependency upon any Magistrate Whereupon it followeth as we suppose that the hearts of the people being willing to be under the Scepter of Christ the Minister of God into whose hands the Lord himself hath put that Scepter is without all excuse if thereby he guide them not Nor do we finde that hitherto greatly ye have disliked those Churches abroad where the people with direction of their godly Ministers have even against the will of the Magistrate brought in either the Doctrine or Discipline of Iesus Christ For which cause we must now think the very same thing of you which our Saviour did sometime utter concerning false-hearted Scribes and Pharisees They say and do not Thus the foolish Barrowist deriveth his Schism by way of Conclusion as to him it seemeth directly and plainly out of your principles Him therefore we leave to be satisfied by you from whom he hath sprung And if such by your own acknowledgment be persons dangerous although as yet the alterations which they have made are of small and tender growth the changes likely to ensue throughout all States and Vocations within this Land in case your desire should take place must be thought upon First Concerning the Supream Power of the Highest they are no small Prerogatives which now thereunto belonging the Form of your Discipline will constrain it to resign as in the last Book of this Treatise we have shewed at large Again it may justly be feared whether our English
Nobility when the Matter came in tryal would contentedly suffer themselves to be always at the Call and to stand to the sentence of a number of mean persons assisted with the presence of their poor Teacher a man as sometimes it hapneth though better able to speak yet little or no whit apter to judge then the rest From whom be their dealings never so absurd unless it be by way of Complaint to a Synod no Appeal may be made unto any one of higher Power is as much as the Order of your Discipline admitteth no standing in Equality of Courts no Spiritual Iudge to have any ordinary Superior on Earth but as many Supremacies as there are Parishes and several Congregations Neither is it altogether without cause that so many do fear the overthrow of all Learning as a threatned sequel of this your Intended Discipline For if the Worlds Preservation depend upon the multitude of the wise and of that sort the number hereafter be not likely to wax over-great when that therewith the son of Syrach professeth himself at the heart grived men of understanding are already so little set by How should their mindes whom the love of so precious a Iewel filleth with secret jealousie even in regard of the lest things which may any way hinder the flourishing estate thereof chuse but misdoubt lest this Discipline which always you match with Divine Doctrine as her natural and true Sister be found unto all kindes of knowledge a Step-mother seeing that the greatest worldly hopes which are proposed unto the chiefest kinde of Learning ye seek utterly to extirpate as Weeds and have grounded your Platform on such Propositions as do after a sort undermine those most renowned Habitations where through the goodness of Almighty God all commendable Arts and Sciences are with exceeding great industry hitherto and so may they for ever continue studied proceeded in and profest To charge you as purposely bent to the overthrow of that wherein so many of you have attained no small perfection were injurious Onely therefore I wish that your selves did well consider how opposite certain of your Positions are unto the state of Collegiate Societies whereon the two Universities consist Those Degrees which their Statutes binde them to take are by your Laws taken away your selves who have sought them ye so excuse as that ye would have men to think ye judge them not allowable but tolerable onely and to be borne with for some help which ye finde in them unto the furtherance of your purposes till the corrupt estate of the Church may be better reformed Your Laws forbidding Ecclesiastical Persons utterly the exercise of Civil Power must needs deprive the Heads and Masters in the same Colledges of all such Authority as now they exercise either at home by punishing the faults of those who not as children to their Parents by the Law of Nature but altogether by Civil Authority are subject unto them or abroad by keeping Courts amongst their Tenants Your Laws making permanent inequality amongst Ministers a thing repugnant to the Word of God enforce those Colledges the Seniors whereof are all or any part of them Ministers under the Government of a Master in the same Vocation to chuse as oft as they meet together a new President For if so ye judge it necessary to do in Synods for the avoiding of permanent inequality amongst Ministers the same cause must needs even in these Collegiate Assemblies enforce the like Except peradventure ye mean to avoid all such absurdities by dissolving those Corporations and by bringing the Universities unto the Form of the School of Geneva Which thing men the rather are inclined to look for in as much as the Ministery wherein to their Founders with singular Providence have by the same Statutes appointed them necessarily to enter at a certain time your Laws binde them much more necessarily to forbear till some Parish abroad call for them Your opinion concerning the Law Civil is That the knowledge thereof might be spared as a thing which this Land doth not need Professors in that kinde being few ye are the bolder to spurn at them and not to dissemble your mindes as concerning their removal In whose Studies although my self have not much been conversant nevertheless exceeding great cause I see there is to wish that thereunto more encouragement were given as well for the singular Treasures of Wisdom therein contained as also for the great use we have thereof both in Decision of certain kindes of causes arising daily within our selves and especially for Commerce with Nations abroad whereunto that knowledge is most requisite The Reasons wherewith ye would perswade that Scripture is the onely rule to frame all our actions by are in every respect as effectual for proof that the same it the onely Law whereby to determine all our Civil Controversies And then what doth let but that as those men may have their desire who frankly broach it already That the Work of Reformation will never be perfect till the Law of Iesus Christ be received alone so Pleaders and Counsellors may bring their Books of the Common Law and bestow them as the Students of curious and needless Arts did theirs in the Apostles time I leave them to scan how for thosewords of yours may reach wherein ye declare That where as now many houses lie waste through inordinate Suits of Law This one thing will shew the excellency of Discipline for the Wealth of the Realm and quiet of Subjects That the Church is to censure such a Party who is apparently troublesome and contentious and without REASONABLE CAUSE upon a meer Will and Stomach doth vex and molest his Brother and trouble the Country For mine own part I do not see but that it might very well agree with your Principles if your Discipline were fully planted even to send out your Writs of Surcease unto all Courts of England besides for the most things handled in them A great deal further I might proceed and descend lower but for as much as against all these and the like difficulties your answer is That we ought to search what things are consonant to Gods Will not which be most for our own ease and therefore that your Discipline being for such is your Error the absolute Commandment of Almighty God it must be received although the World by receiving it should be clean turned upside down Herein lieth the greatest danger of all For whereas the name of Divine Authority is used to countenance these things which are not the Commandments of God but your own Erroneous Collections on him ye must father whatsoever ye shall afterwards be led either to do in withstanding the Adversaries of your Cause or to think in maintenance of your doings And what this may be God doth know In such kindes of Error the Minde once imagining it self to seek the execution of Gods Will laboreth forthwith to remove both things and persons which any way
rest their manner was to term disdainfully Scribes and Pharisees to account their Calling an Humane Creature and to detain the people as much as might be from hearing them As touching Sacraments Baptism administred in the Church of Rome they judged to be but an execrable Mockery and no Baptism both because the Ministers thereof in the Papacy are wicked Idolaters lewd Persons Thieves and Murderers cursed Creatures ignorant Beasts and also for that to baptize is a proper action belonging unto none but the Church of Christ whereas Rome is Antichrists Synagogue The custom of using God-fathers and God-mothers at Christnings they scorned Baptism of Infants although confest by themselves to have been continued even sithence the very Apostles own times yet they altogether condemned partly because sundry errors are of no less antiquity and partly for that there is no Commandment in the Gospel of Christ which saith Baptize Infants but he contrariwise in saying Go Preach and Baptize doth appoint that the Minister of Baptism shall in that action first administer Doctrine and then Baptism as also in saying Whosoever doth believe and is baptized be appointeth that the party to whom Baptism is administred shall first believe and then be baptized to the end that Believing may go before this Sacrament in the Receiver no otherwise then Preaching in the Giver sith equally in both the Law of Christ declareth not onely what things are required but also in what order they are required The Eucharist they received pretending our Lord and Saviour example after Supper And for avoiding all those impieties which have been grounded upon the Mystical words of Christ This is my Body This is my Blood they thought it not safe to mention either Body or Blood in that Sacrament but rather to abrogate both and to use no words but these Take eat declare the death of our Lord. Drink shew forth our Lords death In Rites and Ceremonies their Profession was hatred of all Conformity with the Church of Rome For which cause they would rather endure any torment then observe the solemn Festivals which others did in as much as Antichrist they said was the first inventer of them The pretended end of their Civil Reformation was That Christ might have dominion over all that all Crowns and Scepters might be thrown down at his feet that no other might raign over Christian men but he no Regiment keep them in aw but his Discipline amongst them no Sword at all be carried besides his the Sword of Spiritual Excommunication For this cause they labored with all their might in over-turning the Seats of Magistracy because Christ hath said Kings of Nations in abolishing the execution Iustice because Christ hath said Resist not evil in forbidding Oaths the necessary means of Iudicial tryal because Christ hath said Swear not at all Finally in bringing in Community of Goods because Christ by his Apostles hath given the World such example to the end that men might excel one another not in Wealth the Pillar of Secular Authority but in Vertue These men at the first were onely pitied in their Error and not much withstood by any the great Humility Zeal and Devotion which appeared to be in them was in all mens opinion a pledge of their harmless meaning The hardest that men of sound understanding conceived of them was but this O quam honestâ voluntate miseri errant With how good a meaning these poor Souls do evil Luther made request unto Frederick Duke of Saxony that within his Dominion they might be favorably dealt with and spared for that their Error exempted they seemed otherwise right good men By means of which merciful Toleration they gathered strength much more then was safe for the State of the Commonwealth wherein they lived They had their secret Corner-meetings and Assemblies in the night the people flocked unto them by thousands The means whereby they both allured and retained so great multitudes were most effectual First A wonderful shew of zeal towards God wherewith they seemed to be even rapt in every thing they spake Secondly An hatred of sin and a singular love of integrity which men did think to be much more then ordinary in them by reason of the custom which they had to fill the ears of the people with Invectives against their authorized Guides as well Spiritual as Civil Thirdly The bountiful relief wherewith they eased the broken estate of such needy Creatures as were in that respcit the more apt to be drawn away Fourthly A tender compassion which they were thought to take upon the miseries of the common sort over whose heads their manner was even to pour down showres of tears in complaining that no respect was had unto them that their goods were devoured by wicked Cormorants their persons had in contempt all Liberty both Temporal and Spiritual taken from them that it was high time for God now to hear their groans and to send them deliverance Lastly A cunning slight which they had to stroke and smoothe up the mindes of their followers as well by appropriating unto them all the favorable Titles the good words and the gracious promises in Scripture as also by casting the contrary always on the heads of such as were severed from that retinue Whereupon the peoples common aeclamation unto such deceivers was These are verily the Men of God these are his true and sincere Prophets If any such Prophet or Man of God did suffer by order of Law condign and deserved punishment were it for Fellony Rebellion Murder or what else that people so strangely were their hearts inchanted as though Blessed St. Stephen had been again Martyred did lament that God took away his most dear servants from them In all these things being fully perswaded that what they did it was obedience to the Will of God and that all men should do the like there remained after speculation Practice whereby the whole World thereunto if it were possible might be framed This they saw could not be done but with mighty opposition and resistence against which to strengthen themselves they secretly entred into a League of Association And peradventure considering that although they were many yet long Wars would in time waste them out they began to think whether it might not be that God would have them do for their speedy and mighty increase the same which sometime Gods own chosen people the people of Israel did Glad and fain they were to have it so which very desire was it self apt to breed bâ—th an opinion of possibility and a willingness to gather Arguments of likelihood that so God himself would have it Nothing more clear unto their seeming then that a New Jerusalem being often spoken of in Scipture they undoubtedly were themselves that New Jerusalem and the Old did by way of a certain Fegurative resemblance signifie what they should both be and do
Here they drew in a Sea of Matter by amplifying all things unto their own Company which are any where spoken concerning Divine Favors and Benefits bestowed upon the Old Commonwealth of Israel concluding that as Israel was delivered out of Egypt so they spiritually out of the Egypt of this Worlds servile thraldom unto Sin and Superstition As Israel was to root out the Idolatrous Nations and to plant instead of them a people which feared God so the same Lords good will and pleasure was now that these new Israelites should under the conduct of other Joshua's Sampsons and Gideons perform a work no less miraculous in casting out violently the wicked from the Earth and establishing the Kingdom of Christ with perfect liberty And therefore as the cause why the Children of Israel took unto one Man many Wives might be lest the casualties of War should any way hinder the promise of God concerning their multitude from taking effect in them so it was not unlike that for the necessary propagation of Christs Kingdom under the Gospel the Lord was content to allow as much Now whatsoever they did in such sort collect out of Scripture when they came to justifie or perswade it unto others all was the Heavenly Fathers appointment his commandment his will and charge Which thing is the very point in regard whereof I have gathered his Declaration For my purpose herein is to shew that when the mindes of men are once erroneously perswaded that it is the Will of God to have those things done which they fancy then Opinions are as Thorns in their sides never suffering them to take rest till they have brought their speculations into practise The lets and impediments of which practice their restless desire and study to remove leadeth them every day forth by the hand into other more dangerous opinions sometimes quite and clean contrary to their first pretended meanings So as what will grow out of such Errors as go masked under the clâ—ak of Divine Authority impossible it is that ever the wit of man should imagine till time have brought forth the fruits of them For which cause it behoveth Wisdom to fear the sequels thereof even beyond all apparent cause of fear These men in whose mouths at the first sounded nothing but onely Mortification of the Flesh were come at the lenght to think they might lawfully have their six or seven Wives apiece They which at the first thought Iudgment and Iustice it self to be merciless cruelty accounted at the length their own hands sanctified with being imbrued in Christian blood They who at the first were wont to beat down all Dominion and to urge against poor Constables Kings of Nations had at the length both Consuls and Kings of their own erection amongst themselves Finally they which could not brook at the first that any man should seek no not by Law the recovery of Goods injuriously taken or withheld from him were grown at the last to think they could not offer unto God more acceptable Sacrifice then by turning their Adversaries clean out of house and home and by enriching themselves with all kinde of spoil and pillage Which thing being laid to their charge they had in a readiness their answer That now the time was come when according to our Saviours promise The meek ones must inherit the Earth and that their title hereunto was the same which the righteous Israelites had unto the goods of the wicked Egyptians Wherefore sith the World hath had in these men so fresh experience how dangerous such active Errors are it must not offend you though touching the sequel of your present misperswasions much more be doubted then your own intents and purposes do haply aim at And yet your words already are somewhat when ye affirm that your Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons ought to be in this Church of England Whether Her Majesty and our State will or no When for the animating of your Confederates ye publish the Musters which ye have made of your own Bands and proclaim them to amount to I know not how many thousands when ye threaten that sith neither your Suits to the Parliament nor Supplications to our Convocation-House neither your Defences by Writing nor Challenges of Disputation in behalf of that Cause are able to prevail we must blame our selves if to bring in Discipline some such means hereafter be used as shall cause all our hearts to ake That things doubtful are to be construed in the better part is a Principle not safe to be followed in Matters concerning the Publick State of a Commonweal But howsoever these and the like Speeches be accounted as Arrows idlely shot at random without either eye had to any Mark or regard to their lighting place hath not your longing desire for the practice of your Discipline brought the Matter already unto this demurrer amongst you whether the people and their Godly Pastors that way affected ought not to make Separation from the rest and to begin the Exercise of Discipline without the License of Civil Powers which License they have sought for and are not heard Upon which question as ye have now divided your selves the warier sort of you taking the one part and the forwarder in zeal the other so in case these earnest Ones should prevail what other sequel can any wise man imagine but this that having first resolved that Attempts for Discipline without Superiors are lawful it will follow in the next place to be disputed What may be attempted against Superiors which will not have the Scepter of that Discipline to rule over them Yea even by you which have staid your selves from running head-long with the other sort somewhat notwithstanding there hath been done without the leave or liking of your lawful Superiors for the exercise of a part of your Discipline amongst the Clergy thereunto addicted And lest Examination of Principal Parties therein should bring those things to light which might hinder and let your proceedings behold for a Bar against that impediment one Opinion ye have newly added unto the rest even upon this occasion an Opinion to exempt you from taking Oaths which may turn to the molestation of your Brethren in that cause The next Neighbor Opinions whereunto when occasion requireth may follow for Dispensation with Oaths already taken if they afterwards be found to import a necessity of detecting ought which may bring such good men into trouble or damage whatsoever the cause be O merciful God what mans wit is there able to sound the depth of those dangerous and fearful evils whereinto our weak and impotent nature is inclineable to sink it self rather theâ— to shew an acknowledgment of Error in that which once we have unadvisedly taken upon us to defend against the stream as it were of a contrary publick resolution Wherefore if we any thing respect their Error who being perswaded even as ye are have gone further upon that perswasion then ye allow if we
further made known such Supernatural Lawsâ— as do serve for Mens direction 12. The cause why so many Natural or Rational Laws are set down in holy Scripture 13. The benefit of having Divine Laws written 14. The sufficiency of Scripture unto the end for which it was instituted 15. Of Laws Positive contained in Scripture the Mutability of certain of them and the general use of Scripture 16. A Conclusion shewing how all this belongeth to the Cause in question HE that goeth about to perswade a multitude that they are not so well-governed as they ought to be shall never want attentive and favorable Hearers because they know the manifold defects whereunto every kinde of Regiment is subject but the secret lets and difficulties which in publick proceedings are innumerable and inevitable they have not ordinarily the judgment to consider And because such as openly reprove supposed disorders of State are taken for Principal Friends to the Common Benefit of all and for men that carry singular Freedom of Minde Under this fair and plausible colour whatsoever they utter passeth for good and currant That which wanteth in the weight of their Speech is supplied by the aptness of Mens mindes to accept and believe it Whereas on the other side if we maintain things that are established we have not onely to strive with a number of heavy prejudices deeply rooted in the hearts of men who think that herein we serve the time and speak in favor of the present State because thereby we either hold or seek preferment but also to bear such Exceptions as Mindes so avetted before-hand usually take against that which they are loth should be poured into them Albeit therefore much of that we are to speak in this present Cause may seem to a number perhaps tedious perhaps obscure dark and intricate for many talk of the Truth which never sounded the depth from whence it springeth And therefore when they are led thereunto they are soon weary as men drawn from those beaten paths wherewith they have been inured yet this may not so far prevail as to cut off that which the matter it self requireth howsoever the nice humor of some be therewith pleased or no. They unto whom we shall seem tedious are in no wise injured by us because it is in their own hands to spare that labor which they are not willing to endure And if any complain of obscurity they must consider that in these Matters it cometh no otherwise to pass then in sundry the works both of Art and also of Nature where that which hath greatest force in the very things we see is notwithstanding itself oftentimes not seen The stateliness of Houses the goodliness of Trees when we behold them delighteth the eye but that Foundation which beareth up the one that Root which ministreth unto the other nourishment and life is in the bosome of the Earth concealed and if there be occasion at any time to search into it such labor is then more necessary then pleasant both to them which undertake it and for the lookers on In like manner the use and benefit of good Laws all that live under them may enjoy with delight and comfort albeit the grounds and first original causes from whence they have sprung be unknown as to the greatest part of men they are But when they who withdraw their obedience pretend That the Laws which they should obey are corrupt and vicious For better examination of their quality it behoveth the very Foundation and Root the highest Well-Spring and Fountain of them to be discovered Which because we are not oftentimes accustomed to do when we do it the pains we take are more needful a great deal then acceptable and the Matters which we handle seem by reason of newness till the minde grow better acquainted with them dark intricate and unfamiliar For as much help whereof as may be in this case I have endeavored throughout the Body of this whole Discourse that every former part might give strength unto all that follow and every latter bring some light unto all before So that if the judgments of men do but hold themselves in suspence as touching these first more General Meditations till in order they have perused the rest that ensue what may seem dark at the first will afterwards be found more plain even as the latter particular decisions will appear I doubt not more strong when the other have been read before The Laws of the Church whereby for so many Ages together we have been guided in the Exercise of Christian Religion and the Service of the true God our Rites Customs and Orders of Ecclesiastical Government are called in question We are accused as men that will not have Christ Jesus to rule over them but have wilfully cast his Statutes behinde their backs hating to be reformed and made subject unto the Scepter of his Discipline Behold therefore we offer the Laws whereby we live unto the General Tryal and Judgment of the whole World heartily beseeching Almighty God whom we desire to serve according to his own Will that both we and others all kinde of Partial affection being clean laid aside may have eyes to see and hearts to embrace the things that in his sight are most acceptable And because the Point about which we strive is the Quality of our Laws our first entrance hereinto cannot better be made then with consideration of the Nature of Law in general and of that Law which giveth Life unto all the rest which are commendable just and good namely the Law whereby the Eternal himself doth work Proceeding from hence to the Law first of Nature then of Scripture we shall have the easier access unto those things which come after to be debated concerning the particular Cause and Question which we have in hand 2. All things that are have some operation not violent or casual Neither doth any thing ever begin to exercise the same without some fore-conceived end for which it worketh And the end which it worketh for is not obtained unless the Work be also fit to obtain it by for unto every end every operation will not serve That which doth assign unto each thing the kinde that which doth moderate the force and power that which doth appoint the form and measure of working the same we term a Law So that no certain end could ever be attained unless the Actions whereby it is attained were regular that is to say Made suitable fit and correspondent unto their end by some Canon Rule or Law Which thing doth first take place in the Works even of God himself All things therefore do work after a sort according to Law all other things according to a Law whereof some Superiors unto whom they are subject is Author onely the Works and Operations of God have him both for their Worker and for the Law whereby they are wrought The Being of God is a kinde of Law to his working for that Perfection
cuncta ne dubites Let no man doubt but that every thing is well done because the World is rule by so good a Guide as transgresseth not his own Law then which nothing can be more absolute perfect and just The Law whereby he worketh is Eternal and therefore can have no shew or colour of mutability For which cause a part of that Law being opened in the Promises which God hath made because his Promises are nothing else but Declarations what God will do for the good of men touching those Promises the Apostle hath witnessed That God may as possibly deny himself and not be God as fail to perform them And concerning the Counsel of God he termeth it likewise a thing Unchangeable the Counsel of God and that Law of God whereof now we speak being one Nor is the freedom of the Will of God any whit abated let or hindred by means of this because the Imposition of this Law upon himself is his own free and voluntary act This Law therefore we may name Eternal being that order which God before all Ages hath fet down with himself for himself to do all things by 3. I am not ignorant that by Law Eternal the Learned for the most part do understand the Order not which God hath eternally purposed himself in all his Works to observe but rather that which with himself he hath set down as expedient to be kept by all his Creatures according to the several conditions wherewith he hath endued them They who thus are accustomed to speak apply the name of Law unto that onely rule of working which Superior Authority imposeth whereas we somewhat more enlarging the sense thereof term any kinde of Rule or Canon whereby Actions are framed a Law Now that Law which as it is laid up in the bosom of God they call Eternal receiveth according unto the different kinde of things which are subject unto it different and sundry kindes of names That part of it which ordereth Natural Agents we call usually Natures Law that which Angels do clearly behold and without any swerving observe is a Law Celestial and Heavenly the Law of Reason that which bindeth Creatures reasonable in this World and with which by reason they most plainly perceive themselves bound that which bindeth them and is not known but by special Revelation from God Divine Law Humane Law that which out of the Law either of Reason or of God Men probably gathering to be expedient they make it a Law All things therefore which are as they ought to be are conformed unto this Second Law Eternal and even those things which to this Eternal Law are not conformable are notwithstanding in some sort ordered by the First Eternal Law For what good or evil is there under the Sun what action correspondent or repugnant unto the Law which God hath imposed upon his Creatures but in or upon it God doth work according to the Law which himself hath eternally purposed to keep that is to say The First Eternal Law So that a twofold Law Eternal being thus made it is not hard to conceive how they both take place in all things Wherefore to come to the Law of Nature albeit thereby we sometimes mean that manner of working which God hath set for each created thing to keep yet for as much as those things are termed most properly Natural Agents which keep the Law of their kinde unwittingly as the Heavens and Elements of the World which can do no otherwise then they do And for as much as we give unto Intellectual Natures the name of Voluntary Agents that so we may distinguish them from the other expedient it will be that wesever the Law of Nature observed by the one from that which the other is tied unto Touching the former their strict keeping of one Tenure Statute and Law is spoken of by all but hath in it more then men have as yet attained to know or perhaps ever shall attain seeing the travel of wading herein is given of God to the Sons of Men that perceiving how much the least thing in the World hath in it more then the wisest are able to reach unto the may by this means learn humility Moses in describing the Work of Creation attributeth speech unto God God said Let there be light Let there be a Firmament Let the Waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place Let the Earth bring forth Let there be Lights in the Firmament of Heaven Was this onely the intent of Moses to signifie the infinite greatness of Gods Power by the easiness of his accomplishing such effects without travel pain or labor Surely it seemeth that Moses had herein besides this a further purpose ' namely first to teach that God did not work as a necessary but a voluntary Agent intending beforehand and decreeing with himself that which did outwardly proceed from him Secondly to shew that God did then institute a Law natural to be observed by Creatures and therefore according to the manner of Laws the Institution thereof is described as being established by solemn injunction His commanding those things to be which are and to be in such sort as they are to keep that tenure and course which they do importeth the establishment of Natures Law This Worlds first Creation and the preservation since of things created what is it but onely so far forth a manifestation by execution what the Eternal Law of God is concerning things natural And as it cometh to pass in a Kingdom rightly ordered that after a Law is once published it presently takes effect far and wide all States framing themselves thereunto even so let us think it fareth in the Natural course of the World Since the time that God did first proclaim the Edicts of his Law upon it Heaven and Earth have hearkned unto his voice and their labor hath been to do his will He made a Law for the Rain He gave his Decree unto the Sea that the Waters should not pass his Commandment Now if Nature should intermit her course and leave altogether though it were but for a while the observation of her own Laws if those Principal and Mother Elements of the World whereof all things in this lower World are made should lose the qualities which now they have if the frame of that Heavenly Arch erected over our Heads should loosen and dissolve it self if Celestial Spheres should forget their wonted motions and by irregular volubility turn themselves any way as it might happen if the Prince of the Lights of Heaven which now as a Gyant doth run his unwearied course should as it were through a languishing faintness begin to stand and to rest himself if the Moon should wander from her beaten way the times and seasons of the year blend themselves by disordered and confused mixture the Winds breathe out their last gasp the Clouds yield no Rain the Earth be defeated of Heavenly influence the Fruits of the
will not make any curious or deep inquiry to touch them now and then it shall be sufficient when they are so near at hand that easily they may be conceived without any far removed discourse That way we are contented to prove which being the worse in it self is notwithstanding now by reason of common imbecillity the fitter and likelier to be brooked Signs and tokens to know good by are of sundry kindes some more certain and some less The most certain token of evident Goodness is if the general perswasion of all men do so account it And therefore a common received Error is never utterly overthrown till such times as we go from Signs unto Causes and shew some manifest Root or Fountain thereof common unto all whereby it may clearly appear how it hath come to pass that so many have been overseen In which case surmises and slight probabilities will not serve because the universal consent of men is the perfectest and strongest in this kinde which comprehendeth onely the signs and tokens of Goodness Things casual do vary and that which a man doth but chance to think well of cannot still have the like hap Wherefore although we know not the cause yet thus much we may know that some necessary cause there is whensoever the judgments of all men generally or for the most part run one and the same way especially in matters of that discourse For of things necessarily and naturally done there is no more affirmed but this They keep either always or for the most part one Tenure The general and perpetual voice of men is as the Sentence of God himself For that which all men have at all times learned Nature her self must needs have taught and God being the Author of Nature her voice is but his Instrument By her from him we receive whatsoever in such sort we learn Infinite duties there are the goodness whereof is by this rule sufficiently manifested although we had no other warrant besides to approve them The Apostle St. Paul having speech concerning the Heathen saith of them They are a Law unto themselves His meaning is that by force of the Light of Reason wherewith God illuminateth every one which cometh into the World Men being enabled to know truth from falshood and good from evil do thereby learn in many things what the Will of God is which will himself not revealing by any extraordinary means unto them but they by natural discourse attaining the knowledge thereof seem the Makers of those Laws which indeed are his and they but onely the finders of them out A Law therefore generally taken is a directive rule unto goodness of operation The rule of Divine Operations outward is the definitive appointment of Gods own Wisdom set down within himself The rule of Natural Agents that work by simple necessity is the determination of the Wisdom of God known to God himself the Principal Director of them but not unto them that are directed to execute the same The rule of Natural Agents which work after a sort of their own accord as the Beasts do is the judgment of common sense or fancy concerning the sensible goodness of those objects wherewith they are moved The rule of Ghostly or Immaterial Natures as Spirits and Angels is their intuitive intellectual judgment concerning the amiable beauty and high goodness of that object which with unspeakble joy and delight doth set them on work The rule of Voluntary Agents on Earth is the sentence that Reason giveth concerning the goodness of those things which they are to do And the sentences which Reason giveth are some more some less general before it come to define in particular actions what is good The main principles of Reason are in themselves apparent For to make nothing evident of it self unto Mans understanding were to take away all possibility of knowing any thing And herein that of Theophrastus is true They that seek a reason of all things do utterly overthrow Reason In every kinde of Knowledge some such grounds there are as that being proposed the Minde doth presently embrace them as tree from all possibility of Error clear and manifest without proof In which kinde Axioms or Principles more general are such as this That the greater good is to be chosen before the less If therefore it should be demanded what reason there is why the will of man which doth necessarily shun harm and covet whatsoever is pleasant and sweet should be commanded to count the pleasures of sin Gall and notwithstanding the bitter Accidents wherewith Vertuous Actions are compast yet still to rejoyce and delight in them Surely this could never stand with Reason but that Wisdom thus prescribing groundeth her Laws upon an infallible rule of Comparison which is That small difficulties when exceeding great good is sure to ensue and on the other side momentany benefits when the hurt which they draw after them is unspeakable are not at all to be respected This rule is the ground whereupon the Wisdom of the Apostle buildeth a Law enjoyning Patience unto himself The present lightness of our affliction worketh unto us even with abundance upon abundance an eternal weight of glory while we look not on the things which are seen but on the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Therefore Christianity to be embraced whatsoever calamities in those times it was accompanied withal Upon the same ground our Saviour proveth the Law most reasonable that doth forbid those crimes which men for gains sake fall into For a man to win the World if it be with the loss of his Soul what benefit or good is it Axioms less general yet so manifest that they need no farther proof are such as these God to be worshipped Parents to be honored Others to be used by us as we our selves would be by them Such things as soon as they are alledged all men acknowledge to be good they require no proof or further discourse to be assured of their goodness Notwithstanding whatsoever such principle there is it was at the first found out by discourse and drawn from out of the very Bowels of Heaven and Earth For we are to note that things in the World are to us discernable not onely so far forth as serveth for our vital preservation but further also in a twofold higher respect For first if all other uses were utterly taken away yet the Minde of Man being by Nature speculative and delighted with contemplation in it self they were to be known even for meer Knowledge and Understandings sake Yea further besides this the knowledge of every the least thing in the World hath in it a second peculiar benefit unto us in as much as it serveth to minister Rules Canons and Laws for Men to direct those actions by which we properly term Humane This did the very Heathens themselves obscurely insinuate by making Themis
Whereas now which soever be received there is no Law of Reason transgrest because there is probable reason why either of them may be expedient and for either of them more then probable reason there is not to be found Laws whether mixtly or meerly Humane are made by Politick Societies some onely as those Societies are civilly united some as they are spiritually joyned and make such a Body as we call the Church Of Laws Humane in this latter kinde we are to speak in the Third Book following Let it therefore suffice thus far to have touched the force wherewith Almighty God hath graciously endued our Nature and thereby enabled the same to findeâ—out both those Laws which all Men generally are for ever bound to observe and also such as are most fit for their behoof who lead their lives in any ordered State of Government Now besides that Law which simply concerneth men as Men and that which belongeth unto them as they are Men linked with others in some Form of Politick Society there is a third kinde of Law which toucheth all such several Bodies Politick so far forth as one of them hath Publick Commerce with another And this third is The Law of Nations Between Men and Beasts there is no possibility or Sociable Communion because the Welspring of that Communion is a Natural delight which Man hath to transfuse from himself into others and to receive from others into himself especially those things wherein the excellency of this kinde doth most consist The chiefest Instrument of Humane Communion therefore is Speech because thereby we impart mutually one to another the Conceits of our Reasonable Understanding And for that cause seeing Beasts are not hereof capable for as much as with them we can use no such Conference they being in degree although above other Creatures on Earth to whom Nature hath denied sense yet lower then to be sociable Companions of Man to whom Nature hath given Reason It is of Adam said that amongst the Beasts he sound not for himself any meet companion Civil Society doth more content the Nature of Man then any private kinde of solitary living because in Society this good of Mutual Participation is so much larger then otherwise Herewith notwithstanding we are not satisfied but we covet if it might be to have a kinde of Society and Fellowship even with all mankinde Which thing Socrates intending to signifie professed himself a Citizen not of this or that Commonwealth but of the World And an effect of that very natural desire in us a manifest token that we wish after a sort an Universal Fellowship with all Men appeareth by the wonderful delight men have some to visit foreign Countreys some to discover Nations not heard of in former Ages we all to know the Affairs and Dealings of other People yea to be in League of Amity with them And this not onely for Trafficks sake or to the end that when many are confederated each may make other the more strong but for such cause also as moved the Queen of Sheba to visit Solomon and in a word because Nature doth presume that how many Men there are in the World so many Gods as it were there are or at leastwise such they should be towards Men. Touching Laws which are to serve Men in this behalf even as those Laws of Reason which Man retaining his original Integrity had been sufficient to direct each particular person in all his Affairs and Duties are not sufficient but require the access of other Laws now that Man and his Off-spring are grown thus corrupt and sinful Again as those Laws of Polity and Regiment which would have served Men living in Publick Society together with that harmless disposition which then they should have had are not able now to serve when Mens iniquity is so hardly restrained within any tolerable bounds In like manner the National Laws of Natural Commerce between Societies of that former and better quality might have been other then now when Nations are so prone to offer violence injury and wrong Hereupon hath grown in every of these three kindes that distinction between Primary and Secondary Laws the one grounded upon sincere the other built upon depraved Nature Primary Laws of Nations are such as concern Embassage such as belong to the courteous entertainment of Foreigners and Strangers such as serve for Commodious Traffick and the like Secondary Laws in the same kinde are such as this present unquiet World is most familiarly acquainted with I mean Laws of Arms which yet are much better known then kept But what matter the Law of Nations doth contain I omit to search The strength and vertue of that Law is such that no particular Nation can lawfully prejudice the same by any their several Laws and Ordinances more then a Man by his private resolutions the Law of the whole Commonwealth or State wherein he liveth For as Civil Law being the Act of a whole Body Politick doth therefore over-rule each several part of the same Body so there is no reason that any one Commonwealth of it self should to the prejudice of another anaihilate that whereupon the whole World hath agreed For which cause the Lacedemonians forbidding all access of strangers into their coasts are in that respect both by Josephus and Theodores deservedly blamed as being enemies to that Hospitality which for common Humanities sake all the Nations on Earth should embrace Now as there is great cause of Communion and consequently of Laws for the maintenance of Communion amongst Nations So amongst Nations Christian the like in regard even of Christianity hath been always judged needful And in this kinde of correspondence amongst Nations the force of General Councils doth stand For as one and the same Law Divine whereof in the next place we are to speak is unto all Christian Churches a rule for the chiefest things by means whereof they all in that respect make one Church as having all but One Lord one Faith and one Baptism So the urgent necessity of Mutual Communion for Preservation of our Unity in these things as also for Order in some other things convenient to be every where uniformly kept maketh it requisite that the Church of God here on Earth have her Laws of Spiritual Commerce between Christian Nations Laws by vertue whereof all Churches may enjoy freely the use of those Reverend Religious and Sacred Consultations which are termed Councils General A thing whereof Gods own Blessed Spirit was the Author a thing practised by the holy Apostles themselves a thing always afterwards kept and observed throughout the World a thing never otherwise then most highly esteemed of till Pride Ambition and Tyranny began by factious and vile Endeavors to abuse that Divine Invention unto the furtherance of wicked purposes But as the just Authority of Civil Courts and Parliaments is not therefore to be abolished because sometimes there is cunning used to frame them according
hast made me wiser then mine enemies Again I have had more understanding then all my Teachers because thy Testimonies are my Meditations What pains would not they have bestowed in the study of these Books who travelled Sea and Land to gain the treasure of some few days talk with men whose wisdom the World did make any reckoning of That little which some of the Heathens did chance to hear concerning such matter as the Sacred Scripture plentifully containeth they did in wonderful sort affect their speeches as oft as they make mention thereof are strange and such as themselves could not utter as they did other things But still acknowledged that their wits which did every where else conquer hardness were with profoundness here over-matched Wherefore seeing that God hath endued us with Sense to the end that we might perceive such things as this present life doth need and with reason left that which Sense cannot reach unto being both now and also in regard of a future estate hereafter necessary to be known should lie obscure Finally with the Heavenly support of Prophetical Revelation which doth open those hidden Mysteries that Reason could never have been able to finde out or to have known the necessity of them unto our everlasting good Use we the precious gifts of God unto his glory and honor that gave them seeking by all means to know what the Will of our God is what righteous before him in his sight what holy perfect and good that we may truly and faithfully do it 16. Thus far therefore we have endeavored in part to open of what nature and force Laws are according unto their several kindes The Law which God with himself hath eternally set down to follow in his own works The Law which he hath made for his Creatures to keep The Law of natural and necessary Agents The Law which Angels in Heaven obey The Law whereunto by the Light of Reason Men finde themselves bound in that they are Men The Law which they make by composition for Multitudes and Politick Societies of Men to be guided by The Law which belongeth unto each Nation The Law that concerneth the Fellowship of all And lastly The Law which God himself hath supernaturally revealed It might peradventure have been more popular and more plausible to vulgar ears if this first discourse had been spent in extolling the force of Laws in shewing the great necessity of them when they are good and in aggravating their offence by whom Publick Laws are injuriously traduced But for as much as with such kinde of matter the Passions of Men are rather stirred one way or other then their knowledge any way set forward unto the tryal of that whereof there is doubt made I have therefore turned aside from that beaten path and chosen though a less easie yet a more profitable way in regard of the end we propose Lest therefore any man should marvel whereunto all these things tendâ— the drift and purpose of all is this even to shew in what manner as every good and perfect gift so this very gift of good and perfect Laws is derived from the Father of Lights to teach men a reason why just and reasonable Laws are of so great force of so great use in the World and to inform their mâ—ndes with some method of reducing the Laws whereof there is present controversie unto their first original causes that so it may be in every particular Ordinance thereby the better discerned whether the same be reasonable just and righteous or no. Is there any thing which can either be thorowly understood or soundly judged of till the very first causes and principles from which originally it springeth be made manifest If all parts of knowledge have been thought by wise men to be then most orderly delivered and proceeded in when they are drawn to their first original seeing that our whole question concerneth the quality of Ecclesiastical Laws let it not seem a labor superfluous that in the entrance thereunto all these several kindes of Laws have been considered in as much as they all concur as principles they all have their forcible operations therein although not all in like aprent and manifest manner By means whereof it cometh to pass that the force which they have is not observed of many Easier a great deal it is for Men by Law to be taught what they ought to do then instructed how to judge as they should do of Law the one being a thing which belongeth generally unto all the other such as none but the wiser and more judicious sort can perform Yea the wisest are always touching this point the readiest to acknowledge that soundly to judge of a Law is the weightiest thing which any man can take upon him But if we will give judgment of the Laws under which we live first let that Law Eternal be always before our eyes as being of principal force and moment to breed in religious mindes a dutiful estimation of all Laws the use and benefit whereof we see because there can be no doubt but that Laws apparently good are as it were things copied out of the very Tables of that High Everlasting Law even as the Book of that Law hath said concerning it self By me Kings reign and by me Princes decree Iustice. Not as if Men did behold that Book and accordingly frame their Laws but because it worketh in them because it discovereth and as it were readeth it self to the World by them when the Laws which they make are righteous Furthermore although we perceive not the goodness of Laws made nevertheless sith things in themselves may have that which we peradventure discern not Should not this breed a fear into our hearts how we speak or judge in the worse part concerning that the unadvised disgrace whereof may be no mean dishonor to him towards whom we profess all submission and aw Surely there must be very manifest iniquity in Laws against which we shall be able to justifie our contumelious Invectives The chiefest root whereof when we use them without cause is ignorance how Laws inferior are derived from that supream or highest Law The first that receive impression from thence are Natural agents The Law of whose operations might be haply thought less pertinent when the question is about Laws for Humane actions but that in those very actions which most spiritually and supernaturally concern men the Rules and Axioms of Natural operations have their force What can be more immediate to our Salvation then our perswasion concerning the Law of Christ towards his Church What greater assurance of love towards his Church then the knowledge of that Mystical Union whereby the Church is become as near unto Christ as any one part of his flesh is unto other That the Church being in such sort his he must needs protect it what proof more strong then if a manifest Law so require which Law it is not possible for
Christ to violate And what other Law doth the Apostle for this alledge but such as is both common unto Christ with us and unto us with other things Natural No man hateth his own flesh but doth love and cherish it The Axioms of that Law therefore whereby Natural agents are guided have their use in the Moral yea even in the Spiritual actions of men and consequently in all Laws belonging unto men howsoever Neither are the Angels themselves so far severed from us in their kinde and manner of working but that between the Law of their Heavenly operations and the Actions of men in this our state of mortality such correspondence there is as maketh it expedient to know in some sort the one for the others more perfect direction Would Angels acknowledge themselves Fellow-servants with the Sons of Men but that both having One Lord there must be some kinde of Law which is one and the same to both whereunto their obedience being perfecter is to our weaker both a Pattern and a Spur Or would the Apostles speaking of that which belongeth unto Saints as they are linked together in the Bond of Spiritual Society so often make mention how Angels are therewith delighted if in things publickly done by the Church we are not somewhat to respect what the Angels of Heaven do Yea so far hath the Apostle St. Paul proceeded as to signifie that even about the outward Orders of the Church which serve but for comeliness some regard is to be had of Angels who best like us when we are most like unto them in all parts of decent demeanor So that the Law of Angels we cannot judge altogether impertinent unto the affairs of the Church of God Our largeness of speech how men do finde out what things Reason bindeth them of necessity to observe and what it guideth them to chuse in things which are left as Arbitary the care we have had to declare the different Nature of Laws which severally concern all men from such as belong unto men either civilly or spiritually associated such as pertain to the Fellowship which Nations or which Christian Nations have amongst themselves and in the last place such as concerning every or any of these God himself hath revealed by his holy Word all serveth but to make manifest that as the Actions of men are of sundry distinct kindes so the Laws thereof must accordingly be distinguished There are in men operations some Natural some Rational some Supernatural some Politick some finally Ecclesiastical Which if we measure not each by his own proper Law whereas the things themselves are so different there will be in our understanding and judgment of them confusion As that first Error sheweth whereon our opposites in this cause have grounded themselves For as they rightly maintain that God must be glorified in all things and that the actions of men cannot tend unto his glory unless they be framed after his Law So it is their Error to think that the onely Law which God hath appointed unto men in that behalf is the Sacred Scripture By that which we work naturally as when we breath sleep move we set forth the glory of God as Natural agents do albeit we have no express purpose to make that our end nor any advised determination therein to follow a Law but do that we do for the most part not as much as thinking thereon In reasonable and Moral actions another Law taketh place a Law by the observation whereof we glorifie God in such sort as no Creature else under Man is able to do because other Creatures have not judgment to examine the quality of that which is done by them and therefore in that they do they neither can accuse not approve themselves Men do both as the Apostle teacheth yea those men which have no written Law of God to shew what is good or evil carry written in their hearts the Universal Law of Mankinde the Law of Reason whereby they judge as by a Rule which God hath given unto all Men for that purpose The Law of Reason doth somewhat direct Men how to honor God as their Creator but how to glorifie God in such sort as is required to the end he may be an Everlasting Saviour this we are taught by Divine Law which Law both ascertaineth the truth and supplieth unto us the want of that other Law So that in Moral actions Divine Law helpeth exceedingly the Law of Reason to guide Mans life but in Supernatural it alone guideth Proceed we further Let us place Man in some Publick Society with others whether Civil or Spiritual and in this case there is no remedy but we must add yet a further Law For although even here likewise the Laws of Nature and Reason be of necessary use yet somewhat over and besides them is necessary namely Humane and Positive Law together with that Law which is of commerce between Grand Societies the Law of Nations and of Nations Christian. For which cause the Law of God hath likewise said Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers The Publick Power of all Societies is above every Soul contained in the same Societies And the principal use of that Power is to give Laws unto all that are under it which Laws in such case we must obey unless there be reason shewed which may necessarily inforce That the Law of Reason or of God doth enjoyn the contrary Because except our own private and but probable resolutions be by the Law of Publick Determinations over-ruled we take away all possibility of sociable life in the World A plainer example whereof then our selves we cannot have How cometh it to pass that we are at this present day so rent with mutual contentions and that the Church is so much troubled about the Polity of the Church No doubt if men had been willing to learn how many Laws their actions in this life are subject unto and what the true force of each Law is all these controversies might have died the very day they were first brought forth It is both commonly said and truly That the best men otherwise are not always the best in regard of Society The reason whereof is for that the Law of Mens actions is one if they be respected onely as Men and another when they are considered as parts of a Politick Body Many men there are then whom nothing is more commendable when they are singled And yet in Society with others none less fit to answer the duties which are looked for at their hands Yea I am perswaded that of them with whom in this cause we strive there are whose betters among men would be hardly found if they did not live amongst men but in some Wilderness by themselves The cause of which their disposition so unframable unto Societies wherein their live is for that they discern not aright what place and force these several kindes of Laws ought to have in all their
case our Apology shall not need to be very long 3. The mixture of those things by speech which by Nature are divided is the Mother of all Error To take away therefore that Error which Confusion breedeth distinction is requisite Rightly to distinguish is by conceit of minde to sever things different in Nature and to discern wherein they differ So that if we imagine a difference where there is none because we distinguish where we should not it may not be denied that we misdistinguish The only trial whether we do so yea or no dependeth upon comparison between our conceit and the nature of things conceived Touching matters belonging to the Church of Christ this we conceive that they are not of one sute Some things are meerly of Faith which things it doth suffice that we know and believe some things not onely to be known but done because they concern the actions of men Articles about the Trinity are matters of meer Faith and must be believed Precepts concerning the Works of Charity are matters of Action which to know unless they be practised is not enough This being so clear to all mens understanding I somewhat marvel that they especially should think it absurd to oppose Church Government a plain matter of Action unto matters of Faith who know that themselves divide the Gospel into Doctrine and Discipline For if matters of Discipline be rightly by them distinguished from matters of Doctrine why not matters of Government by us as reasonably set against matters of Faith Do not they under Doctrine comprehend the same which we intend by matters of Faith Do not they under Discipline comprise the Regiment of the Church When they blame that in us which themselves follow they give men great cause to doubt that some other thing then judgment doth guide their speech What the Church of God standeth bound to know or do the same in part Nature teacheth And because Nature can teach them but onely in part neither so fully as is requisite for mans salvation not so easily as to make the way plain and expedite enough that many may come to the knowledge of it and so be saved therefore in Scripture hath God both collected the most necessary things that the School of Nature teacheth unto that end and revealeth also whatsoever we neither could with safety be ignorant of nor at all be instructed in but by Supernatural Revelation from him So that Scripture containing all things that are in this kinde any way needful for the Church and the principal of the other sort This is the next thing wherewith we are charged as with an Error We teach that whatsoever is unto Salvation termed necessary by way of excellency whatsoever it standeth all men upon to know or do that they may be saved whatsoever there is whereof it may truly be said This not to believe is eternal death and damnation or This every soul that will live must duly observe Of which sort the Articles of Christian Faith and the Sacraments of the Church of Christ are All such things if Scripture did not comprehend the Church of God should not be able to measure out the length and the breadth of that way wherein for ever she is to walk Hereticks and Schismaticks never ceasing some to abridge some to enlarge all to pervert and obscure the same But as for those things that are accessary hereunto those things that so belong to the way of Salvation as to alter them is no otherwise to change that way then a path is changed by altering onely the uppermost face thereof which be it laid with Gravel or set with Grass or paved with stones remaineth still the same path In such things because discretion may teach the church what is convenient we hold not the Church further tied herein unto Scripture then that against Scripture nothing be admitted in the Church lest that path which ought always to be kept even do thereby come to be overgrown with Brambles and Thorns If this be unfound wherein doth the point of unsoundness lie Is it not that we make some things necessary some things accessory and appendent onely For our Lord and Saviour himself doth make that difference by terming Judgment and Mercy and Fidelity with other things of like nature The greater and weightier matters of the Law Is it then in that we account Ceremonies wherein we do not comprise Sacraments or any other the like substantial duties in the exercise of Religion but onely such External Rites as are usually annexed unto Church actions is it an oversight that we reckon these things and matters of Government in the number of things accessory not things necessary in such sort as hath been declared Let them which therefore think as blameable consider well their own words Do they not plainly compare the one unto Garments which cover the Body of the Church the other unto Rings Bracelets and Jewels that onely adorn it The one to that Food which the Church doth live by the other to that which maketh her Diet liberal dainty and more delicious Is dainty fare a thing necessary to the sustenance or to the cloathing of the Body rich attire If not how can they urge the necessity of that which themselves resemble by things not necessary Or by what construction shall any man living be able to make those comparisons true holding that distinction untrue which putteth a difference between things of External Regiment in the Church and things necessary unto Salvation 4. Now as it can be to Nature no injury that of her we say the same which diligent beholders of her works have observed namely that she provideth for all living Creatures nourishment which may suffice that she bringeth forth no kinde of Creature whereto she is wanting in that which is needful Although we do not so far magnifie her exceeding bounty as to affirm that she bringeth into the World the Sons of Men adorned with gorgeous attire or maketh costly buildings to spring up out of the Earth for them So I trust that to mention what the Scripture of God leaveth unto the Churches discretion in some things is not in any thing to impair the honor which the Church of God yieldeth to the sacred Scriptures perfection Wherein seeing that no more is by us maintained then onely that Scripture must needs teach the Church whatsoever is in such sort necessary as hath been set down and that it is no more disgrace for Scripture to have left a number of other things free to be ordered at the discretion of the Church then for Nature to have lest it unto the wit of man to devise his own attire and not to look for it as the Beasts of the field have theirs If neither this can import nor any other proof sufficient be brought forth that we either will at any time or ever did affirm the sacred Scripture to comprehend no more then onely those bare necessaries if we
not opposit by holding that Grace hath use of Nature Secondly Philosophy we are warned to take heed of not that Philosophy which is true and sound Knowledge attained by Natural discourse of Reason but that Philosophy which to bolster Heresie or Error casteth a fraudulent shew of Reason upon things which are indeed unreasonable and by that mean as by a stratagem spoileth the simple which are not able to withstand such cunning Take heed lest any spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit He that exhorteth to beware of an enemies policy doth not give counsel to be impolitick but rather to use all prudent foresight and circumspection lest our simplicity be over-reached by cunning sleights The way not to be inveighled by them that are so guileful through skill is throughly to be instructed in that which maketh skilful against guile and to be armed with that true and sincere Philosophy which doth teach against that deceitful and vain which spoileth Thirdly But many great Philosophers have been very unsound in belief and many sound in belief have been also great Philosophers Could Secular Knowledge bring the one sort unto the love of Christian Faith Nor Christian Faith the other sort out of love with Secular Knowledge The harm that Hereticks did they did it unto such as were unable to discern between sound and deceitful reasoning and the remedy against it was ever the skill which the Ancient Fathers had to discry and discover such deceit Insomuch that Cresconius the Heretick complained greatly of St. Augustine as being too full of Logical subtilties Heresie prevaileth onely by a counterfeit shew of Reason whereby notwithstanding it becometh invincible unless it be convicted of Fraud by manifest Remonstrance clearly true and unable to be withstood When therefore the Apostle requireth hability to convict Hereticks can we think he judgeth it a thing unlawful and not rather needful to use the Principal Instrument of their Conviction the Light of Reason It may not be denied but that in the Fathers writings there are sundry sharp invectives against Hereticks even for their very Philosophical reasonings The cause whereof Tertullian confesseth not to have been any dislike conceived against the kinde of such reasonings but the end We may saith he even in matters of God be made wiser by Reasons drawn from the Publick Perswasions which are grafted in Mens mindes So they be used to further the Truth not to bolster Error so they make with not against that which God hath determined For there are some things even known by Nature as the Immortality of the Soul to many our God unto all I will therefore my self also use the sentence of some such as Plato pronouncing every Soul Immortal I my self too will use the secret acknowledgment of the communalty bearing Record of the God of gods But when I hear men alledge That which is dead is dead and While thou art alive be alive and After death an end of all even of death it self Then will I call to minde both that the heart of the people with God is accounted dust and that the very Wisdom of the World is pronounced Folly If then an Heretick flie also unto such vicious popular and secular conceits my answer unto him shall be Thou Heretick avoid the Heathen although in this ye be one that ye both belie God yet thou that dost his under the Name of Christ differest from the Heathen in that thou seemest to thy self a Christian. Leave him therefore his conceits seeing that neither will be learn thine Why dost thou having sight trust to a blind guide Thou which hast put on Christ take raiment of him that is naked If the Apostle have armed thee why dost thou borrow a strangers shield Let him rather learn of thee to acknowledge then thou of him to renounce the Resurrection of the Flesh. In a word the Catholick Fathers did good unto all by that Knowledge whereby Hereticks hindering the Truth in many might have furthered therewith themselves but that obstinately following their own ambitious or otherwise corrupted affections instead of framing their wills to maintain that which Reason taught they bent their wits to finde how Reason might seem to teach that which their Wills were set to maintain For which cause the Apostle saith of them justly that they are for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men condemned even in and of themselves For though they be not all perswaded that it is truth which they withstand yet that to be error which they uphold they might undoubtedly the sooner a great deal attain to know but that their study is more to defend what once they have stood in then to finde out sincerely and simply what truth they ought to persist in for ever Fourthly there is in the World no kinde of knowledge whereby any part of Truth is seen but we justly account it precious yea that Principal Truth in comparison whereof all other knowledge is vile may receive from it some kinde of light whether it be that Egyptian and Caldean wisdom Mathematical wherewith Moses and Daniel were furnished or that Natural Moral and Civil wisdom wherewith Solomon excelled all Men or that Rational and Oratorial wisdom of the Grecians which the Apostle St. Paul brought from Tarsus or that Judaical which he learned in Ierusalem sitting at the feet of Gamaliel To detract from the dignity thereof were to injure even God himself who being that Light which none can approach unto hath sent out these lights whereof we are capable even as so many sparkles resembling the Bright Fountain from which they rise But there are that bear the title of Wisemen and Scribes and great Disputers of the World and are nothing indeed less then what in shew they most appear These being wholy addicted unto their own wills use their wit their learning and all the wisdom they have to maintain that which their obstinate hearts are delighted with esteeming in the frantick error of their mindes the greatest madness in the World to be Wisdom and the highest Wisdom foolishness Such were both Jews and Grecians which professed the one sort Legal and the other Secular skill neither enduring to be taught the Mystery of Christ Unto the glory of whose most blessed Name who so study to use both their Reason and all other Gifts as well which Nature as which Grace hath endued them with let them never doubt but that the same God who is to destroy and confound utterly that wisdom falsly so named in others doth make reckoning of them as of true Scribes Scribes by Wisdom instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven Scribes against that Kingdom hardned in a vain opinion of Wisdom which in the end being proved folly must needs perish true Understanding Knowledge Judgment and Reason continuing for evermore Fifthly Unto the Word of God being in respect of that end for which God ordained it perfect exact and absolute in it self we do not add Reason
therein we ought to have followed The Matter contained in this Fourth Book 1. HOw great use Ceremonies have in the Church 2. The First thing they blame in the kinde of our Ceremonies is that we have not in them ancient Apostolical simplicity but a greater pomp and stateliness 3. The second that so many of them are the same which the Church of Rome useth and the Reasons which they bring to prove them for that cause blame-worthy 4. How when they go about to expound what Popish Ceremonies they mean they contradict their own Argument against Popish Ceremonies 5. An Answer to the Argument whereby they would prove that sith we allow the customs of our Fathers to be followed we therefore may not allow such customs as the Church of Rome hath because we cannot account of them which are in that Church as of our Fathers 6. To their Allegation that the course of Gods own wisdom doth make against our conformity with the Church of Rome in such things 7. To the example of the eldest Church which they bring for the same purpose 8. That it is not our best Politie as they pretend it is for establishment of sound Religion to hâ—ve in these things no agreement with the Church of Rome being unsound 9. That neither the Papists upbraiding us as furnished out of their store nor any hope which in that respect they are said to conceive doth make any more against our Ceremonies then the former Allegations have done 10. The grief which they say godly Brethren conceive at such Ceremonies as we have câ—â—â—men with the Church of Rome 11. The third thing for which they reprove a great part of our Ceremonies is for that as we have them from the Church of Rome so that Church had them from the Jews 12. The fourth for that sundry of them have been they say abused unto Iâ—â—aery and arâ— by that mean become scandalous 13. The fifth for that we retain them still notwithstanding the example of certain Churches reformed before us which have cast them out 14. A Declaration of the proceedings of the Church of England â—or the establisement of things as they are SUch was the ancient simplicity and softness of spirit which sometimes prevailed in the World that they whose words were even as Oracles amongst men seemed evermore loth to give sentence against any thing publiquely received in the Church of God except it were wonderful apparently evil for that they did not so much encline to that seventy which delighteth to reprove the least things in seeth amiss as to that Charity which is unwilling to behold any thing that duty bindeth it to reprove The state of this present Age wherein Zeal hath drowned Charity and Skill Meekness will not now suffer any man to marvel whatsoever he shall hear reproved by whomsoever Those Rites and Ceremonies of the Church therefore which are the self-same now that they were when Holy and Vertuous men maintained them against profane and deriding Adversaries her own children have at this day in deâ—ision Whether justly or no it shall then appear when all things are heard which they have to alledge against the outward received Orders of this Church Which inasmuch as themselves do compare unto Mint and Cummin granting them to be no part of those things which in the matter of Polity are weightier we hope that for small things their strife will neither be earnest noâ— long The fifting of that which is objected against the Orders of the Church in particular doth not belong unto this place Here we are to discuss onely those general exceptions which have been taken at any time against them First therefore to the end that their nature and use whereunto they serve may plainly appear and so afterwards their quality the better be discerned we are to note that in every grand or main publique duty which God requireth at the hands of his Church there is besides that matter and form wherein the essence thereof consisteth a certain outward fashion whereby the same is in decent sort administred The substance of all religious actions is delivered from God himself in few words For example sake in the Sacraments Unto the Element let the Word be added and they both do make a Sacrament saith S. Augustine Baptism is given by the Element of Water and that prescript form of words which the Church of Christ doth use the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is administred in the Elements of Bread and Wine if those mystical words be added thereunto But the due and decent form of administring those holy Sacraments doth require a great deal more The end which is aimed at in setting down the outward form of all religious actions is the edification of the Church Now men are edified when either their understanding is taught somewhat whereof in such actions it behoveth all men to consider or when their hearts are moved with any affection suitable thereunto when their mindes are in any sort stirred up unto that reverence devotion attention and due regard which in those cases seemeth requisite Because therefore unto this purpose not onely speech but sundry sensible means besides have always been thought necessary and especially those means which being object to the eye the liveliest and the most apprehensive sense of all other have in that respect seemed the sittest to make a deep and strong impression from hence have risen not only a number of Prayers Readings Questionings Exhortings but even of visible signs also which being used in perfomance of holy actions are undoubtedly most effectual to open such matter as men when they know and remember carefully must needs be a great deal the better informed to what effect such duties serve We must not think but that there is some ground of Reason even in Nature whereby it cometh to pass that no Nation under Heaven either doth or ever did suffer publike actions which are of weight whether they be Civil and Temporal or else Spiritual and Sacred to pass without some visible solemnity The very strangeness whereof and difference from that which is common doth cause Popular eyes to observe and to mark the same Words both because they are common and do not so strongly move the phansie of man are for the most part but slightly heard and therefore with singular wisdom it hath been provided that the deeds of men which are made in the presence of Witnesses should pass not only with words but also with certain sensible actions the memory whereof is far more easie and durable then the memory of speech can be The things which so long experience of all Ages hath confirmed and made profitable let not us presume to condemn as follies and toys because we sometimes know not the cause and reason of them A wit disposed to scorn whatsoever it doth not conceive might ask wherefore Abraham should say to his servant Put thy hand under my thigh and swear was it not sufficient
way to keep his People from infection oâ— Idolaty and Superstition by severing them from Idolaters in outward Ceremonies and therefore hath forbidden them to do things which are in themselves very lawful to be done And â—urther where as the Lord was careful to sever them by Ceremonies from other Nations yet was he not so careful to sever them from any as from the Egyptians amongst whom they lived and from those Nations which were next Neighbours to them because from them was the greatest fear of infection So that following the course which the wisdom of God doth teach it were more safe for us to conform our indifferent Ceremonies to the Turks which are far off then to the Papists which are so near Touching the example of the eldest Churches of God in one Councel it was decreed that Christians should not deck their houses with Bay-leaves and green boughs because the Pagans did use so to do and that they should not rest from their labours those days that the Pagans did that they should not keep the first day of every month as they did Another Council decreed that Christians should not celebrate Feasts on the Birth-dayes of the Martyrs because it was the manner of the Heathen O saith Tertullian better is the Religion of the Heathen for they use no solemnity of the Christians neither the Lords day neither the Pentecost and if they knew them they would have nothing to do with them for they would be afraid lest they should seem Christians but we are not afraid to be called Heathens The same Tertullian would not have Christians to sit after they had payed because the Idolaters did so Whereby it appeareth that both of Particular men and of Counsels in making or abolishing of Ceremonies heed had been taken that the Christians should not be like the Idolaters no not in those things which of themselves are most indifferent to be used or not used The same conformity is not lesse opposite unto reason first inasmuch as contraries must be cured by their contraries and therefore Popery being Antichristianity is not healed but by establishment of Orders thereunto opposite The way to bring a drunken man to sobriety it to carry him as far from excess of drink as may be To rectifie a crooked stick we bend it on the contrary side as far as it was at the first on that side from whence we draw it and so it cometh in the end to a middle between both which is perfect straightness Utter inconformity therefore with the Church of Rome in these things is the best and surest Policy which the Church can use While we use their Ceremonies they take occasion to blaspheme saying that our Religion cannot stand by it self unless it lean upon the staff of their Ceremonies They hereby conceive great hope of having the rest of their Popery in the end which hope causeth them to be more frozen in their wickedness Neither is it without cause that they have this hope considering that which M. Bucer noteth upon the eighteenth of S. Matthew that where these things have been left Popery hath returned but on the other part in places which have been cleansed of these things it hath not yet been seen that it hath had any entrance None make such clamours for these Ceremonies as the Papists and those whom they suborn a manifest token how much they triumph and joy in these things They breed grief of minde in a number that are godly minded and have Antichristianity in such detestation that their minds are Martyred with the very sight of them in the Church Such godly Brethren we ought not thus to grieve with unprofitable Ceremonies yea Ceremonies wherein there is not only no profit but also danger of great hurt that may grow to the Church by infection which Popish Ceremonies are means to breed This in effect is the sum and substance of that which they bring by way of opposition against those Orders which we have common with the Church of Rome these are the reasons wherewith they would prove our Ceremonies in that respect worthy of blame 4. Before we answer unto these things we are to cut off that whereunto they from whom these Objections proceed do oftentimes fly for defence and succour when the force and strength of their Argument is elided For the Ceremonies in use amongst us being in no other respect retained saving onely for that to retain them is to our seeming good and profitable yea so profitable and so good that if we had either simply taken them clean away or else removed them so as to place in their stead others we had done worse the plain and direct way against us herein had been onely to prove that all such Ceremonies as they require to be abolished are retained by us to the hurt of the Church or with lesse benefit then the abolishment of them would bring But forasmuch as they saw how hardly they should be able to perform this they took a more compendious way traducing the Ceremonies of our Church under the name of being Popish The cause why this way seemed better unto them was for that the name of Popery is more odious then very Paganism amongst divers of the more simple sort so whatsoever they hear named Popish they presently conceive deep hatred against it imagining there can be nothing contained in that name but needs it must be exceeding detestable The ears of the People they have therefore filled with strong clamours The Church of England is fraught with Popish Ceremonies they that favour the cause of Reformation maintain nothing but the sincerity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ All such as withstand them fight for the Laws of his sworn enemy uphold the filthy reliques of Antichrist and are defenders of that which is Popish These are the notes wherewith are drawn from the hearts of the multitude so many sighs with these tunes their minds are exasperated against the lawful Guides and Governours of their souls these are the voices that fill them with general discontentment as though the bosom of that famous Church wherein they live were more noysom then any dungeon But when the Authors of so scandalous incantations are examined and called to account how can they justifie such their dealings when they are urged directly to answer whether it be lawful for us to use any such Ceremonies as the Church of Rome useth although the same be not commanded in the Word of God being driven to see that the use of some such Ceremonies must of necessity be granted lawful they go about to make us believe that they are just of the same Opinion and that they only think such Ceremonies are not to be used when they are unprofitable or when as good or better may be established Which Answer is both idle in regard of us and also repugnant to themselves It is in regard of us very vain to make this answer because they
know that what Ceremonies we retain common unto the Church of Rome we therefore retain them for that we judge them to be profitable and to be such that others instead of them would be worse So that when they say that we ought to abrogate such Romish Ceremonies as are unprofitable or else might have other more profitable in their stead they trisle and they beat the Air about nothing which toucheth us unless they mean that we ought to abrogate all Romish Ceremonies which in their judgment have either no use or less use than some other might have But then must they shew some commission whereby they are authorized to sit as Judges and we required to take their judgment for good in this case Otherwise their sentences will not be greatly regarded when they oppose their Me thinketh unto the Orders of the Church of England as in the Question about Surplesses one of them doth If we look to the colour black methinks is the more decent if to the form a garment down to the foot hath a great deal more comeliness in it If they think that we ought to prove the Ceremonies commodious which we have retained they do in this Point very greatly deceive themselves For in all right and equity that which the Church hath received and held so long for good that which publike approbation hath ratified must carry the benefit of presumption with it to be accounted meet and convenient They which have stood up as yesterday to challenge it of defect must prove their challenge If we being Defendents do answer that the Ceremonies in question are godly comely decent profitable for the Church their reply is childish and unorderly to say that we demand the thing in question and shew the poverty of our cause the goodness whereof we are fain to beg that our Adversaries would grant For on our part this must be the Answer which orderly proceeding doth require The burden of proving doth rest on them In them it is frivolous to say we ought not to use bad Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and presume all such bad as it pleaseth themselves to dislike unless we can perswade them the contrary Besides they are herein opposite also to themselves For what one thing is so common with them as to use the custome of the Church of Rome for an Argument to prove that such and such Ceremonies cannot be good and profitable for us inasmuch as that Church useth them Which usual kind of disputing sheweth that they do not disallow onely those Romish Ceremonies which are unprofitable but count all unprofitable which are Romish that is to say which have been devised by the Church of Rome or which are used in that Church and not prescribed in the Word of God For this is the onely limitation which they can use sutable unto their other Positions And therefore the cause which they yield why they hold it lawful to retain in Doctrine and in Discipline some things as good which yet are common to the Church of Rome is for that those good things are perpetual Commandments in whose place no other can come but Ceremonies are changeable So that their judgement in truth is that whatsoever by the Word of God is not changeable in the Church of Rome that Churches using is a cause why Reformed Churches ought to change it and not to think it good or profitable And lest we seem to father any thing upon them more then is properly their own let them read even their own words where they complain That we are thus constrained to be like unto the Papists in any their Ceremonies yea they urge that this cause although it were alone ought to move them to whom that belongeth to do them away forasmuch as they are their Ceremonies and that the Bishop of Salisbury doth justifie this their complaint The clause is untrue which they add concerning the Bishop of Salisbury but the sentence doth shew that we do them no wrong in setting down the state of the question between us thus Whether we ought to abolish out of the Church of England all such Orders Rites and Ceremonies as are established in the Church of Rome and are not prescribed in the Word of God For the Affirmative whereof we are now to answer such proofs of theirs as have been before alledged 5. Let the Church of Rome be what it will let them that are of it be the people of God and our Fathers in the Christian Faith or let them be otherwise hold them for Catholicks or hold them for Hereticks it is not a thing either one way or other in this present question greatly material Our conformity with them in such things as have been proposed is not proved as yet unlawful by all this S. Augustine hath said yea and we have allowed his saying That the custome of the people of God and the decrees of our forefathers are to be kept touching those things whereof the Scripture hath neither one way nor other given us any charge What then Doth it here therefore follow that they being neither the people of God nor our Forefathers are for that cause in nothing to be followed This Consequent were good if so be it were granted that only the custom of the people of God and the Decrees of our forefathers are in such case to be observed But then should no other kind of latter Laws in the Church be good which were a gross absurdity to think S. Augustines speech therefore doth import that where we have no divine Precept if yet we have the custom of the people of God or a Decree of our forefathers this is a Law and must be kept Notwithstanding it is not denied but that we lawfully may observe the positive constitutions of our own Churches although the same were but yesterday made by our selves alone Nor is there any thing in this to prove that the Church of England might not by Law receive Orders Rites or Customs from the Church of Rome although they were neither the people of God nor yet our forefathers How much lesse when we have received from them nothing but that which they did themselves receive from such as we cannot deny to have been the people of God yea such as either we must acknowledge for our own forefathers or else disdain the race of Christ 6. The Rites and Orders wherein we follow the Church of Rome are of no other kind that such as the Church of Geneva it self doth follow them in We follow the Church of Rome in mo things yet they in some things of the same nature about which our present controversie is so that the difference is not in the kind but in the number of Rites onely wherein they and we do follow the Church of Rome The use of Wafer-cakes the custom of Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptism are things not commanded nor forbidden in the Scripture things which have been of old and are retained in
this were predominant We have most heartily to thank God therefore that they amongst us to whom the first consultations of causes of this kind fell were men which aiming at another mark namely the glory of God and the good of this his Church took that which they judged thereunto necessary not rejecting any good or convenient thing only because the Church of Rome might perhaps like it If we have that which is meet and right although they be glad we are not to envy them this their solace we do not think it a duty of ours to be in every such thing their Tormentors And wherein it is said that Popery for want of this utter extirpation hath in some places takenroot and flourished again but hath not been able to re-establish it self in any place after provision made against it by utter evacuation of all Romish Ceremonies and therefore as long as we hold any thing like unto them we put them in some more hope than if all were taken away as we deny not but this may be true so being of two evils to choose the less we hold it better that the Friends and Favourers of the Church of Rome should be in some kind of hope to have a corrupt Religion restored then both we and they conceive just fear lest under colour of rooting out Popery the most effectual means to bear up the state of Religion be removed and so a way made either for Paganism or for extreme Barbarity to enter If desire of weakning the hope of others should turn us away from the course we have taken how much more the care of preventing our own fear with-hold us from that we are urged unto Especially seeing that our own fear we know but we are not so certain what hope the Rites and Orders of our Church have bred in the hearts of others Fort it is no sufficient Argument therefore to say that in maintaining and urging these Ceremonies none are so clamorous as Papists and they whom Papists suborn this speech being more hard to justifie than the former and so their proof more doubtfull then the thing it self which they prove He that were certain that this is true must have marked who they be that speak for Ceremonies he must have noted who amongst them doth speak oftenest or is most earnest he must have been both acquainted thorowly with the Religion of such and also privy to what conferences or compacts are passed in secret between them and others which kind of notice are not wont to be vulgar and common Yet they which alleadge this would have it taken as a thing that needeth no proof a thing which all men know and see And if so be it were granted them as true what gain they by it Sundry of them that be Popish are eager in maintenance of Ceremonies Is it so strange a matter to find a good thing furthered by ill men of a smister intent and purpose whose forwardness is not therefore a bridle to such as favour the same cause with a better and sincerer meaning They that seek as they say the removing of all Popish Orders out of the Church and reckon the state of Bishops in the number of those Orders do I doubt not presume that the cause which they prosecute is holy Notwithstanding it is their own ingenuous acknowledgement that even this very cause which they term so often by an excellency The Lords Cause is gratissima most acceptable unto some which hope for prey and spoyl by it and that our Age hath store of such and that such are the very Sectaries of Dionysius the famous Atheist Now if hereupon we should upbraid them with Irreligious as they do us with Superstitious favourers if we should follow them in their own kind of Pleading and say that the most clamorous for this pretended Reformation are either Atheists or else Proctors suborned by Atheists the Answer which herein they would make unto us let them apply unto themselves and there an end For they must not forbid us to presume our cause in defence of our Church-orders to be as good as theirs against them till the contrary be made manifest to the World 10. In the mean while sorry we are that any good and godly mind should be grieved with that which is done But to remedy their grief lyeth not so much in us as in themselves They do not wish to be made glad with the hurt of the Church and to remove all out of the Church whereat they shew themselves to be sorrowful would be as we are perswaded hurtful if not pernicious thereunto Till they be able to perswade the contrary they must and will I doubt not find out some other good mean to chear up themselves Amongst which means the example of Geneva may serve for one Have not they the old Popish custom of using God-fathers and God-mothers in Baptism the old Popish custom of administring the blessed Sacrament of the holy Eucharist with Wafer-cakes These things then the Godly there can digest Wherefore should not the Godly here learn to do the like both in them and in therest of the like nature Some further mean peradventure it might be to asswage their grief if so be they did consider the revenge they take on them which have been as they interpret it the workers of their continuance in so great grief so long For if the maintenance of Ceremonies be a corrosive to such as oppugn them undoubtedly to such as maintain them it can be no great pleasure when they behold how that which they reverence is oppugned And therefore they that judge themselves Martyrs when they are grieved should think withal what they are whom they grieve For we are still to put them in mind that the cause doth make no difference for that it must be presumed as good at the least on our part as on theirs till it be in the end decided who have stood for Truth and who for Error So that till then the most effectual medicine and withal the most sound to ease their grief must not be in our opinion the taking away of those things whereat they are grieved but the altering of that perswasion which they have concerning the same For this we therefore both pray and labour the more because we are also perswaded that it is but conceit in them to think that those Romish Ceremonies whereof we have hitherto spoken are like leprous Clothes infectious to the Church or like soft and gentle Poysons the venom whereof being insensibly penicious worketh death and yet is never felt working Thus they say but because they say it only and the World hath not as yet had so great experience of their Art in curing the Diseases of the Church that the bare authority of their word should perswade in a cause so weighty they may not think much if it be required at their hands to shew First by what means so deadly Infection can grow from
the impotent and not please ourselves It was a weakness in the Christian Jews and a maim of judgment in them that they thought the Gentiles polluted by the eating of those meats which themselves were afraid to touch for fear of transgressing the Law of Moses yea hereat their hearts did so much rise that the Apostle had just cause to fear lest they would rather forsake Christianity then endure any fellowship with such as made no conscience of that which was unto them abominable And for this cause mention is made of destroying the weak by meats and of dissolving the work of God which was his Church a part of the Living Stones whereof were believing Jews Now those weak Brethren before mentioned are said to be as the Jews were and our Ceremonies which have been abused in the Church of Rome to be as the scandalous Meats from which the Gentiles are exhorted to abstain in the presence of Jews for fear of averting them from Christian Faith Therefore as Charity did binde them to refrain from that for their Brethrens sake which otherwise was lawful enough for them so it bindeth us for our Brethrens sake likewise to abolish such Ceremonies although we might lawfully else retain them But between these two cases there are great odds For neither are our weak Brethren as the Jews nor the Ceremonies which we use as the meats which the Gentiles used The Jews were known to be generally weak in that respect whereas contrariwise the imbecillity of ours is not common unto so many that we can take any such certain notice of them It is a chance if here and there some one be found and therefore seeing we may presume men commonly otherwise there is no necessity that our practice should frame it self by that which the Apostle doth prescribe to the Gentiles Again their use of meats was not like unto our Ceremonies that being a matter of private action in common life where every man was free to order that which himself did but this a publick constitution for the ordering of the Church And we are not to look that the Church should change her publick Laws and Ordinances made according to that which is judged ordinarily and commonly fittest for the whole although it chance that for some particular men the same be found inconvenient especially when there may be other remedy also against the sores of particular incoveniences In this case therefore where any private harm doth grow we are not to reject instruction as being an unmeet plaister to apply unto it neither can we say that he which appointeth Teachers for Physicians in this kinde of evil is As if a man would set one to watch a childe all day long lest he should hurt himself with a Knife whereas by taking away the Knife from him the danger is avoided and the service of the man better employed For a Knife may be taken from a childe without depriving them of the benefit thereof which have years and discretion to use it But the Ceremonies which Children do abuse if we remove quite and clean as it is by some required that we should then are they not taken from Children onely but from others also which is as though because Children may perhaps hurt themselves with Knives we should conclude that therefore the use of Knives is to be taken quite and clean even from men also Those particular Ceremonies which they pretend to be so scandalous we shall in the next Book have occasion more throughly to sift where other things also traduced in the publick duties of the Church whereunto each of these appertaineth are together with these to be touched and such Reasons to be examined as have at any time been brought either against the one or the other In the mean while against the conveniency of curing such evils by instruction strange it is that they should object the multitude of other necessary Matters wherein Preachers may better bestow their time then in giving men warning not to abuse Ceremonies A wonder it is that they should object this which have so many years together troubled the Church with quarrels concerning these things and are even to this very hour so earnest in them That if they write or speak publickly but five words one of them is lightly about the dangerous estate of the Church of England in respect of abused Ceremonies How much happier had it been for this whole Church if they which have raised contention therein about the abuse of Rites and Ceremonies had considered in due time that there is indeed store of Matters fitter and better a great deal for Teachers to spend time and labor in It is through their importunate and vehement Asteveâ—ations more then through any such experience which we have had of our own that we are enforced to think it possible for one or other now and then at leastwise in the prime of the Reformation of our Church to have stumbled at some kinde of Ceremonies Wherein for as much as we are contented to take this upon their credit and to think it may be sith also they further pretend the same to be so dangerous a Snare to their Souls that are at any time taken therein they must give our Teachers leave for the saving of those Souls be they never so few to intermingle sometime with other more necessary things Admonition concerning these not unnecessary Wherein they should in reason more easily yield this leave considering that hereunto we shall not need to use the hundredth part of that time which themselves think very needful to bestow in making most bitter Invectives against the Ceremonies of the Church 13. But to come to the last point of all The Church of England is grievously charged with forgetfulness of her duty which duty had been to traine her self unto the Pattern of their Example that went before her in the Work of Reformation For as the Churches of Christ ought to be most unlike the Synagogue of Antichrist in their indifferent Ceremonies so they ought to be most like one unto another and for preservation of Unity to have as much as possible may be all the same Ceremonies And therefore St. Paul to establish this order in the Church of Corinth that they should make their gatherings for the Poor upon the first day of the Sabbath which is our Sunday alledgeth this for a Reason That he had so ordained in other Churches Again As children of one Father and Servants of one Family so all Churches should not onely have one Diet in that they have one Word but also wear as it were one Livery in using the same Ceremonies Thirdly This Rule did the Great Council of Nice follow when it ordained That where certain at the Feast of Pentecost did pray Kneeling they should pray Standing The reason whereof is added which is That one Custom ought to be kept throughout all Churches It is true That the diversity of Ceremonies
and the Church of Christ in this present World 57. The necessity of Sacrament unto the Participation of Christ. 58. The Substance of Baptism the Rites or Solemnities thereunto belonging and that the Substance thereof being kept other things in Baptism may give place to necessity 59. The Ground in Scripture whereupon a necessity of outward Baptism hath been built 60. What kinde of necessity in outward Baptism hath been gathered by the words of our Saviour Christ and what the true necessity thereof indeed is 61. What things in Baptism have been dispensed with by the Father respecting necessity 62. Whether Baptism by Women be true Baptism good and affected to them that receive it 63. Of Interrogatories in Baptism touching Faith and the purpose of a Christian life 64. Interrogatories proposed unto Infants in Baptism and answered aâ— in their names by God-fathers 65. Of the Cross in Baptism 66. Of Confirmation after Baptism 67. Of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. 68. Of faults noted in the Form of Administring that holy Sacrament 69. Of Festival days and the natural ceases of their convenient Institution 70. The manner of celebrating Festival days 71. Exceptious against our keeping of other Festival days besides the Sabbath 72. Of Days appointed as well for ordinary as for extraordinary Fasts in the Church of God 73. The Celebration of Matrimony 74. The Churching of Woman 75. The Rites of Burial 76. Of the Nature of that Ministry which serveth for performance of Divine Duties in the Church of God and how happiness not eternal onely but also Temporal doth depend upon it 77. Of Power given unto Men to execute that Heavenly Office of the Gift of the Holy Ghost is Ordination and whether conveniently the Power of Order may be sought or sued for 78. Of Degrees whereby the Power of Order is distinguished and concerning the Attire of Ministers 79. Of Oblations Foundations Endowments Tithes all intended for Perpetuity of Religion which purpose being chiefly fulfilled by the Clergâ—es certain and sufficient maintenance must needs by Alienation of Church-Livings be made frustrate 80. Of Ordinatious lawful without Title and without any Popular Election precedent but in no case without regard of due Information what their quality is that enter into holy Orders 81. Of the Learning that should be in Ministers their Residence and the number of their Livings FEw there are of so weak capacity but publick evils they easily espie fewer so patient as not to complain when the grievous inconveniences thereof work sensible smart Howbeit to see wherein the harm which they feel consisteth the Seeds from which it sprang and the method of curing it belongeth to a skill the study whereof is so full of toyl and the practise so beset with difficulties that wary and respective men had rather seek quietly their own and wish that the World may go well so it be not long of them them with pain and hazard make themselves advisers for the common good We which thought it at the very first a sign of cold Affection towards the Church of God to prefer private case before the labor of appeasing publick disturbance must now of necessity refer events to the gracious providence of Almighty God and in discharge of our duty towards him proceed with the plain and unpartial defence of a Common Cause Wherein our endeavor is not so much to overthrow them with whom we conted as to yield them just and reasonable causes of those things which for want of due consideration heretofore they misconceived accusing Laws for Mens over-sights importing evils grown through personal defects unto that which is not evil framing unto some Sores unwholsome Plaisters and applying othersome where no sore is To make therefore our beginning that which to both parts is most acceptable We agree That pure and unstained Religion ought to be the highest of all cares appertaining to Publick Regiment as well in regard of that aid and protection which they who faithfully serve God confess they receive at his merciful hands as also for the force which Religion hath to qualifie all sorts of Men and to make them in publick affairs the more serviceable Governors the apter to rule with Conscience Inferiors for Conscience sake the willinger to obey It is no peculiar conceit but a matter of sound consequence that all duties are by so much the better performed by how much the Men are more Religious from whose Abilities the same proceed For if the course of Politick affairs cannot in any good sort go forward without fit Instruments and that which sitteth them be their Vertues Let Polity acknowledge it self indebted to Religion Godliness being the chiefest top and Well-spring of all true vertues even as God is of all good things So natural is the Union of Religion with Justice that we may boldly deem there is neither where both are not For how should they be unseignedly just whom Religion doth not cause to be such or they Religious which are not found such by the proof of their just actions If they which employ their labor and travel about the publick administration of Justice follow it onely as a trade with unquenchable and unconscionable thirst of gain being not in heart perswaded that Justice is Gods own Work and themselves his Agents in this business the Sentence of Right Gods own verdict and themselves his Priests to deliver it Formalities of Justice do but serve to smother right and that which was necessarily ordained for the common good is through shameful abuse made the cause of common misery The same Piety which maketh them that are in authority desirous to please and resemble God by Justice inflameth every way Men of action with Zeal to do good as far as their place will permit unto all For that they know is most Noble and Divine Whereby if no natural nor casual inability cross their desires they always delighting to inure themselves with actions most beneficial to others cannot but gather great experience and through experience the more wisdom because Conscience and the fear of swerving from that which is right maketh them diligent observers of circumstances the loose regard whereof is the Nurse of Vulgar Folly no less then Solomons attention thereunto was of natural furtherances the most effectual to make him eminent above others For he gave good heed and pierced every thing to the very ground and by that means became the Author of many Parables Concerning Fortitude sith evils great and unexpected the true touchstone of constant mindes do cause oftentimes even them to think upon Divine power with fearfullest suspitions which have been otherwise the most secure despisers thereof how should we look for any constant resolution of minde in such cases saving onely where unfeigned affection to God-ward hath bred the most assured confidence to be assisted by his hand For proof whereof let but the Acts of the ancient Jews be indifferently
lost and that without all hope of recovery This is the true cause of odds between Sermons and other kindes of wholesome Instruction As for the difference which hath been hitherto so much defended on the contrary side making Sermons the only ordinary means unto Faith and eternal Life sith this hath neither evidence of Truth nor proof sufficient to give it warrant a cause of such quality may with fart better grace and conveniency aske that pardon which common humanity doth easily grant than claim in challenging manner that assent which is as unwilling when reason guideth it to be yielded where it is not as with-held where it is apparently due All which notwithstanding as we could greatly wish that the rigour of this their opinion were allayed and mittigated so because we hold it the part of religious ingenuity to honour vertue in whomsoever therefore it is our most hearty desire and shall be always our Prayer unto Almighty God that in the self-same fervent zeal wherewith they seem to effect the good of the Souls of men and to thirst after nothing more than that all men might by all means be directed in the way of life both they and we may constantly persist to the Worlds end For in this we are not their Adversaries though they in the other hitherto have been ours 23. Between the Throne of God in Heaven and his Church upon Earth here militant if it be so that Angels have their continual intercourse where should we finde the same more verified than in those two ghostly Exercises the one Doctrine the other Prayer For what is the Assembling of the Church to learn but the receiving of Angels descended from above What to pray but the sending of Angels upwards His Heavenly Inspirations and our holy Desires are as so many Angels of intercourse and commerce between God and us As Teaching bringeth us to know that God is our supream Truth so Prayer testifieth that we acknowledge him our soveraign Good Besides sith on God as the most High all inferiour Causes in the World are dependant and the higher any Cause is the more it coveteth to impart vertue unto things beneath it how should any kinde of service we do or can do finde greater acceptance than Prayer which sheweth our concurrence with him in desiring that wherewith his very Nature doth most delight Is not the name of Prayer usual to signifie even all the service that ever we do unto God And that for no other cause as I suppose but to shew that there is in Religion no acceptable Duty which devout Invocation of the name of God doth not either presuppose or inferr Prayers are those Calves of Mens lips those most gracious and sweet odours those rich Presents and Gifts which being carried up into Heaven do best restifie our dutiful affection and are for the purchasing of all favour at the hands of God the most undoubted means we can use On others what more easily and yet what more fruitfully bestowed than our Prayers If we give Counsel they are the simpler onely that need it if Almes the poorer only are relieved but by Prayer we do good to all And whereas every other Duty besides is but to shew it self as time and opportunity require for this all times are convenient when we are not able to do any other things for mens behoof when through maliciousness or unkindness they vouchsafe not to accept any other good at our hands Prayer is that which we always have in our power to bestow and they never in theirs to refuse Wherefore God fotbid saith Samuel speaking unto a most unthankful People a People weary of the benefit of his most vertuous Government over them God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and cease to pray for you It is the first thing wherewith a righteous life beginneth and the last wherewith it doth end The knowledge is small which we have on Earth concerning things that are done in Heaven Notwithstanding thus much we know even of Saints in Heaven that they pray And therefore Prayer being a work common to the Church as well Triumphant as Militant a work common unto Men with Angels what should we think but that so much of our Lives is celestial and divine as we spend in the exercise of Prayer For which cause we see that the most comfortable Visitations which God hath sent men from above have taken especially the times of Prayer as their most natural opportunities 24. This holy and religious duty of Service towards God concerneth us one way in that we are men and another way in that we are joined as parts to that visible Mystical Body which is his Church As men we are at our own choice both for time and place and form according to the exigence of our own occasions in private But the service which we do as Members of a Publick Body is publick and for that cause must needs be accompted by so much worthier than the other as a whole society of such condition exceedeth the worth of any one In which consideration unto Christian Assemblies there are most special Promises made St. Paul though likely to prevail with God as much as any one did notwithstanding think it much more both for God's glory and his own good if Prayers might be made and thanks yielded in his behalf by a number of men The Prince and People of Niniveh assembling themselves as a main Army of Supplicants it was not in the power of God to withstand them I speak no otherwise concerning the force of Publick Prayer in the Church of God than before me Tertullian hath done We come by Troops to the Place of Assembly that being banded as it were together we may be Sapplicants enough to besiege God with our Prayers These Forces are unto him acceptable When we publickly make our Prayers it cannot be but that we do it with much more comfort than in private for that the things we aske publickly are approved as needful and good in the Judgement of all we hear them sought for and desired with common consent Again thus much help and furtherance is more yielded in that if so be our zeal and devotion to God-ward be slack the alacrity and fervour of others serveth as a present spurt For even Prayer it self saith Saint Basil when it hath not the consort of many voyces to strengthen it is not it self Finally the good which we do by Publick Prayer is more than in private can be done for that besides the benefit which is here is no less procured to our selves the whole Church is much bettered by our good example and consequently whereas secret neglect of our duty in this kinde is but only our own hurt one man's contempt of the Common Prayer of the Church of God may be and oftentimes is most hurtful unto many In which considerations the Prophet David so often voweth
telleth them that if they did suffer notorious Maleâ—actors to come to the Table of our Lord and not put them by it would be as heavily revenged upon them as if themselves had shed his Blood that for this purpose God had called them to the rooms which they held in the Church of Christ that this they should reckon was their Dignity this their Safety this their whole Crown and Glory and therefore this they should carefully intend and not when the Sacrament is administred imagine themselves called only to walk up and down in a White and shining Garment Now whereas these speeches of Ierome and Chrysostom do seem plainly to allude unto such Ministerial Garments as were then in use To this they answer that by Ierom nothing can be gathered but only that the Ministers came to Church in handsome Holy-day apparel and that himself did not think them bound by the Law of God no go like Slovens but the Weed which we mean he defendeth not That Chrysostome meaneth the same which we defend but seemeth rather to reprehend than allow it as we do Which Answer wringeth out of Ierome and Chrysostome that which their words will not gladly yield They both speak of the same Persons namely the Clergy and of their Weed at the same time when they administer the blessed Sacrament and of the self-same kinde of Weed a white Garment so far as we have wit to conceive and for any thing we are able to see their manner of speech is not such as doth argue either the thing it self to be different whereof they speak or their Judgment concerning it different although the one do only maintain it against Pelagius as a thing not therefore unlawful because it was fair or handsom and the other make it a matter of small commendation in it self if they which wear it do nothing else but weare the Robes which their Place requireth The honesty dignity and estimation of White Apparel in the Eastern part of the World is a token of greater fitness for this sacred use wherein it were not convenient that any thing basely thought of should be suffered Notwithstanding I am not bent to stand stiffely upon these Probabilities that in Ierom's and Chrysostom's time any such Attire was made several to this purpose Yet surely the words of Solomon are very impertinent to prove it an Ornament therefore not several for the Ministers to execute their Ministry in because men of credit and estimation wore their ordinary Apparel white For we know that when Solomon wrote those words the several Apparel for the Ministers of the Law to execute their Ministry in was such The Wise man which seared God from his heart and honoured the Service that was done unto him could not mention so much as the Garment of Holiness but with effectual signification of most singular reverence and love Were it not better that the love which men bear to God should make the least things which are imployed in his Service amiable than that their over-scrupulous dislike of so mean a thing as a Vestment should from the very Service of God with-draw their hearts and affections I term it rather a mean thing a thing not much to be respected because even they so account now of it whose first Disputations against it were such as if Religion had scarcely any thing of greater waight Their Allegations were then That if a man were assured to gain a thousand by doing that which may offend any one Brother or be unto him a cause of falling he ought not to do it That this Popish Apparel the Surplice especially hath been by Papists abominably abused That it hath been a mark and a very Sacrament of Abomination That remaining it serveth as a Monument of Idolatry and not only edifieth not but as a dangerous and scandalous Ceremony doth exceeding much harm to them of whose good we are commanded to have regard that it causeth men to perish and make shipwrack of Conscience for so themselves profess they mean when they say the weak are offended herewith that it hardneth Papists hindreth the weak from profiting in the knowledge of the Gospel grieveth godly mindes and giveth them occasion to think hardly of their Ministers that if the Magistrates may command or the Church appoint Rites and Ceremonies yet seeing our abstinence from things in their own nature indifferent if the weak Brother should be offended is a flat Commandement of the Holy Ghost which no Authority either of Church or Common-wealth can make void therefore neither may the one nor the other lawfully ordain this Ceremony which hath great incommodity and no profit great offence and no edifying That by the Law it should have been burnt and consumed with fire as a thing infected with Leprosie That the Example of Ezekiah beating to powder the Brazen Serpent and of Paul abrogating those abused Feasts of Charity inforceth upon us the duty of abolishing altogether a thing which hath been and is so offensive Finally That God by his Prophet hath given an express Commandement which in this case toucheth us no less than of old it did the Jews ' Ye shall pollute the covering of the Images of Silver and the rich ornament of your Images of Gold and cast them away as a stained ragg thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence These and such like were their first Discourses touching that Church-Attire which with us for the most part is usual in Publick Prayer our Ecclesiastical Laws so appointing as well because it hath been of reasonable continuance and by special choice was taken out of the number of those holy Garments which over and besides their mystical reference served for comeliness under the Law and is in the number of those Ceremonies which may with choice and discretion be used to that purpose in the Church of Christ as also for that it suiteth so fitly with that lightsom affection of joy wherein God delighteth when his Saints praise him and so lively resembleth the glory of the Saints in Heaven together with the beauty wherein Angels have appeared unto men that they which are to appear for men in the presence of God as Angels if they were left to their own choice and would chuse any could not easily devise a Garment of more decency for such a Service As for those fore-rehearsed vehement allegations against it shall we give them credit when the very Authors from whom they came confess they believe not their own sayings For when once they began to perceive how many both of them in the two Universities and of others who abroad having Ecclesiastical charge do favour mightily their Cause and by all means set it forward might by persisting in the extremity of that Opinion hazard greatly their own Estates and so weaken that part which their Places do now give them much opportunity to strengthen they asked counsel as it seemed from some abroad who
then their calculation be true for so they reckon that a full third of our Prayers be allotted unto earthly benefits for which our Saviour in his platform hath appointed but one Petition amongst seven the difference is without any great disagreement we respecting what men are and doing that which is meer in regard of the common imperfection our Lord contrariwise proposing the most absolute proportion that can be in mens desires the very highest mark whereat we are able to aime For which cause also our custom is both to place it in the front of our Prayers as a Guide and to adde it in the end of some principal limbs or parts as a complement which fully perfecteth whatsoever may be defective in the rest Twice we rehearse it ordinarily and oftner as occasion requireth more solemnity or length in the form of Divine Service not mistrusting till these new curiosities sprang up that ever any man would think our labour herein mis-spent the time wastfully consumed and the Office it self made worse by so repeating that which otherwise would more hardly be made familiar to the simpler sort for the good of whose Souls there is not in Christian Religion any thing of like continual use and force throughout every hour and moment of their whole lives I mean not only because Prayer but because this very Prayer is of such efficacy and necessity for that our Saviour did but set men a bare example how to contrive or devise Prayers of their own and no way binde them to use this is no doubt as Errour Iohn the Baptist's Disciples which had been always brought up in the bosom of God's Church from the time of their first Infancy till they came to the School of Iohn were not so brutish that they could be ignorant how to call upon the Name of God but of their Master they had received a form of Prayer amongst themselves which form none did use saving his Disciples so that by it as by a mark of special difference they were known from others And of this the Apostles having taken notice they request that as Iohn had taught his so Christ would likewise teach them to pray Tertullian and Saint Augustin do for that cause term it Orationem legitimam the Prayer which Christ's own Law hath tyed his Church to use in the same Prescript form of words wherewith he himself did deliver it and therefore what part of the World soever we fall into if Christian Religion have been there received the ordinary use of this very Prayer hath with equal continuance accompanied the same as one of the principal and most material duties of honour done to Jesus Christ. Seeing that we have saith Saint Cyprian an Advocate with the Father for our Sins when we that have sinned come to seek for pardon let us alledge unto God the words which our Advocate hath taught For sith his promise is our plain warrant that in his Name what we aske we shall receive must we not needs much the rather obtain that for which we sue if not only his Name do countenance but also his Speech present our requests Though men should speak with the tongues of Angels yet words so pleasing to the ears of God as those which the Son of God himself hath composed were not possible for men to frame He therefore which made us to live hath also taught us to pray to the end that speaking unto the Father in the Sonn 's own prescript without scholy or gloss of ours we may be sure that we utter nothing which God will either disallow or deny Other Prayers we use may besides this and this oftner than any other although not tyed so to do by any Commandement of Scripture yet moved with such considerations as have been before set down the causeless dislike where of which others have conceived is no sufficient reason for us as much as once to forbear in any place a thing which uttered with true devotion and zeal of heart affordeth to God himself that glory that aide to the weakest sort of men to the most perfect that solid comfort which is unspeakable 36. With our Lords Prayer they would finde no fault so that they might perswade us to use it before or other Sermons only because so their manner is and not as all Christian people have been of old accustomed insert it so often into the Liturgy But the Peoples custom to repeat any thing after the Minister they utterly mislike Twice we appoint that the words which the Minister first pronounceth the whole Congregation shall repeat after him As first in the publick Confession of Sins and again in rehearsal of our Lord's Prayer presently after the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood received A thing no way offensive no way unfit or unseemly to be done although it had been so appointed ofner than with us it is But surely with so good reason it standeth in those two places that otherwise to order it were not in all respects so well Could there be any thing devised better then that we all at our first access unto God by Prayer should acknowledge meekly our sins and that not onely in heart but with tongue all which are present being made ear-witnesses even of every mans distinct and deliberate assent unto each particular branch of a common Indictment drawn against our selves How were it possible that the Church should any way else with such ease and certainty provide that none of her Children may as Adam dissemble that wretchedness the penitent confession whereof is so necessary a Preamble especially to Common Prayer In like manner if the Church did ever devise a thing fit and convenient what more then this that when together we have all received those Heavenly Mysteries wherein Christ imparteth himself unto us and giveth visible testification of our blessed communion with him we should in hatred of all Heresies Factions and Schisms the Pastor as a Leader the people as willing followers of him step by step declare openly our selves united as Brethren in one by offering up with all our hearts and tongues that most effectual Supplication wherein he unto whom we offer it hath himself not onely comprehended all our necessities but in such sort also framed every Petition as might most naturally serve for many and doth though not always require yet always import a multitude of speakers together For which cause Communicants have ever used it and we at that time by the form of our very utterance do shew we use it yea every word and syllable of it as Communicants In the rest we observe that custom whereunto St. Paul alludeth and whereof the Fathers of the Church in their Writings make often mention to shew indefinitely what was done but not universally to binde for ever all Prayers unto one onely fashion of utterance The Reasons which we have alledged induce us to think it still a good work which they in their pensive
care for the well bestowing of time account waste As for unpleasantness of sound if it happen the good of Mens souls doth either deceive our ears that we note it not or arm them with patience to endure it We are not so nice as to cast away a sharp Knife because the edge of it may sometimes grate And such subtile opinions as few but Utopians are likely to fall into we in this climate do not greatly fear 37. The complaint which they make about Psalms and Hymns might as well be over-past without any answer as it is without any cause brought forth But our desire is to content them if it may be and to yield them a just reason even of the least things wherein undeservedly they have but as much as dreamed or suspected that we do amiss They seem sometimes so to speak as if greatly offended them that such Hymns and Psalms as are Scripture should in Common Prayer be otherwise used then the rest of the Scripture is wont sometime displeased they are at the artificial Musick which we adde unto Psalms of this kinde or of any other nature else sometime the plainest and the most intelligible rehearsal of them yet they savor not because it is done by Interlocution and with a mutual return of Sentences from side to side They are not ignorant what difference there is between other parts of Scripture and Psalms The choice and flower of all things profitable in other Books the Psalms do both more briefly contain and more movingly also express by reason of that Poetical Form wherewith they are written The Ancients when they speak of the Book of Psalms use to fall into large Discourses shewing how this part above the rest doth of purpose set forth and celebrate all the considerations and operations which belong to God it magnifieth the holy Meditations and Actions of Divine Men it is of things heavenly an Universal Declaration working in them whose hearts God inspireth with the due consideration thereof an habit or disposition of minde whereby they are made fit Vessels both for receipt and for delivery of whatsoever spiritual perfection What is there necessary for man to know which the Psalms are not able to teach They are to beginners an easie and familiar Introduction a mighty Augmentation of all Vertue and Knowledge in such as are entred before a strong confirmation to the most perfect amongst others Heroical Magnanimity exquisite Justice gave Moderation exact Wisdom Repentance unfeigned unwearied Patience the Mysteries of God the Sufferings of Christ the Terrors of Wrath the Comforts of Grace the Works of Providence over this World and the promised Joys of that World which is to come all good necessarily to be either known or done or had this one Celestial Fountain yieldeth Let there be any grief or disease incident nuto the Soul of Man any wound or sickness named for which there is not in this Treasure-house a present comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found Hereof it is that we covet to make the Psalms especially familiar unto all This is the very cause why we iterate the Psalms oftner then any other part of Scripture besides the cause wherefore we inure the people together with their Minister and not the Minister alone to read them as other parts of Scripture he doth 38. Touching Musical Harmony whether by Instrument or by Voice it being but of high and low in sounds a due proportionable disposition such notwithstanding is the force thereof and so pleasing effects it hath in that very part of man which is most Divine that some have been thereby induced to think that the Soul it self by Nature is or hath in it Harmony A thing which delighteth all Ages and beseemeth all States a thing as seasonable in grief as in joy as decent being added unto actions of greatest weight and solemnity as being used when men most sequester themselves from action The reason hereof is an admirable faculty which Musick hath to express and represents to the minde more inwardly then any other sensible mean the very standing rising and falling the very steps and inflections every way the turns and varieties of all Passions whereunto the minde is subject yea so to imitate them that whether it resemble unto us the same state wherein our mindes already are or a clean contrary we are not more contentedly by the one confirmed then changed and led away by the other In Harmony the very Image and Character even of Vertue and Vice is perceived the minde delighted with their Resemblances and brought by having them often iterated into a love of the things themselves For which cause there is nothing more contagious and pestilent then some kindes of Harmony then some nothing more strong and potent unto good And that there is such a difference of one kinde from another we need no proof but our own experience in as much as we are at the hearing of some more inclined unto sorrow and heaviness of some more mollified and softned in minde one kinde apter to stay and settle us another to move and stir our affections There is that draweth to a marvelous grave and sober mediocrity there is also that carrieth as it were into extasies filling the minde with an heavenly joy and for the time in a manner severing it from the body So that although we lay altogether aside the consideration of Ditty or Matter the very Harmony of sounds being framed in due sort and carried from the Ear to the Spiritual faculties of our Souls is by a Native Puissance and Efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect temper whatsoever is there troubled apt as well to quicken the spirits as to allay that which is too eager sovereign against melancholly and despair forcible to draw forth tears of devotion if the minde be such as can yield them able both to move and to moderate all affections The Prophet David having therefore singular knowledge not in Poetry alone but in Musick also judged them both to be things most necessary for the House of God left behinde him to that purpose a number of divinely indited Poems and was farther the Author of adding unto Poetry melody a publick Prayer melody both Vocal and Instrumental for the raising up of Mens hearts and the sweetning of their affections towards God In which consideration the Church of Christ doth likewise at this present day retain it as an ornament to Gods service and an help to our own devotion They which under pretence of the Law Ceremonial abrogated require the abrogation of Instrumental Musick approving nevertheless the use of Vocal melody to remain must shew some reason wherefore the one should be thought a Legal Ceremony and not the other In Church Musick curiosity and oftentation of Art wanton or light or unsuitable harmony such as onely pleaseth the ear and doth not naturally serve to the very kinde and degree of those impressions which the matter
finde by daily experience that those calamities may be nearest at hand readiest to break in suddenly upon us which we in regard of times or circumstances may imagine to be farthest off Or if they do not indeed approach yet such miseries as being present all men are apt to bewail with tears the wise by their Prayers should rather prevent Finally if we for our selves had a priviledge of immunity doth not true Christian Charity require that whatsoever any part of the World yea any one of all our Brethren elswhere doth either suffer or fear the same we account as our own burthen What one Petition is there found in the whole Litany whereof we shall ever be able at any time to say That no man living needeth the grace or benefit therein craved at Gods hands I am not able to express how much it doth grieve me that things of Principal Excellency should be thus bitten at by men whom God hath endued with graces both of Wit and Learning for better purposes We have from the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ received that brief Confession of Faith which hath been always a badge of the Church a mark whereby to discern Christian men from Infidels and Jews This Faith received from the Apostles and their Disciples saith Ireneus the Church though dispersed throughout the World doth notwithstanding keep as safe as if it dwels within the Walls of some one house and as uniformly hold as if it had but one onely heart and soul this as consonantly it Preacheth teacheth and delivereth as if but one tongue did speak for all At one Sun shineth to the whole World so there is no Faith but this one published the brightness whereof must enlighten all that come to the knowledge of the Truth This rule saith Tertullian Christ did institute the stream and current of this rule hath gone as far it hath continued as long as the very promulgation of the Gospel Under Constantine the Emperor about Three hundred years and upward after Christ Arius a Priest in the Church of Alexandria a suttle-witted and a marvellous fair-spoken man but discontented that one should be placed before him in honor whose superior he thought himself in desert became through envy and stomack prone unto contradiction and hold to broach at the length that Heresie wherein the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ contained but not opened in the former Creed the coequality and coeternity of the Son with the Father was denied Being for this impiety deprived of his place by the Bishop of the same Church the punishment which should have reformed him did but increase his obstinacy and give him occasion of laboring with greater earnestness elswhere to intangle unwary mindes with the snares of his damnable opinion Arius in short time had won to himself a number both of Followers and of great Defenders whereupon much disquietness on all sides ensued The Emperor to reduce the Church of Christ unto the Unity of sound Belief when other means whereof tryal was first made took no effect gathered that famous Assembly of Three hundred and eighteen Bishops in the Council of Nice where besides order taken for many things which seemed to need redress there was with common consent for the setling of all mens mindes that other Confession of Faith set down which we call the Nicene Creed whereunto the Arians themselves which were present subscribed also not that they meant sincerely and indeed to forsake their error but onely to escape deprivation and exile which they saw they could not avoid openly persisting in their former opinions when the greater part had concluded against them and that with the Emperors Royal Assent Reserving therefore themselves unto future opportunities and knowing that it would not boot them to stir again in a matter so composed unless they could draw the Emperor first and by his means the chiefest Bishops unto their part till Constantines death and somewhat after they always professed love and zeal to the Nicene Faith yet ceased not in the mean while to strengthen that part which in heart they favored and to infest by all means under colour of other quarrels their greatest Adversaries in this cause Amongst them Athanasius especially whom by the space of Forty six years from the time of his Consecration to succeed Alexander Archbishop in the Church of Alexandria till the last hour of his life in this World they never suffered to enjoy the comfort of a peaceable day The heart of Constantine stoln from him Constantius Constantines Successor his scourge and torment by all the ways that malice armed with Soveraign Authority could devise and use Under Iulian no rest given him and in the days of Valentinian as little Crimes there were laid to his charge many the least whereof being just had bereaved him of estimation and credit with men while the World standeth His Judges evermore the self-same men by whom his accusers were suborned Yet the issue always on their part shame on his triumph Those Bishops and Prelates who should have accounted his cause theirs and could not many of them but with bleeding hearts and with watred checks behold a person of so great place and worth constrained to endure so soul indignities were sure by bewraying their affection towards him to bring upon themselves those molestations whereby if they would not be drawn to seem his Adversaries yet others should be taught how unsafe it was to continue his friends Whereupon it came to pass in the end that very few excepted all became subject to the sway of time other odds there was none amongst them saving onely that some fell sooner away some latter from the soundness of Belief some were Leaders in the Host of Impiety and the rest as common Soldiers either yielding through fear or brought under with penury or by flattery ensnared or else beguiled through simplicity which is the fairest excuse that well may be made for them Yes that which all men did wonder at Osius the ancientest Bishop that Christendom then had the most forward in defence of the Catholick cause and of the contrary part most feared that very Osius with whose hand the Nicene Creed it self was set down and framed for the whole Christian World to subscribe unto so far yielded in the end as even with the same hand to ratifie the Arians Confession a thing which they neither hoped to see nor the other part ever feared till with amazement they saw it done Both were perswaded that although there had been for Osius no way but either presently subscribe or die his answer and choice would have been the same that Eleazars was It doth not become our age to dissemble whereby many young persons might think that Osius in hundred years old and upward were now gone to another Religion and so through mine hypocrisie for a little time of transitory life they might be deceived by me and I procure malediction and reproach to my old
at all times edefie and instruct the attentive hearer Or is our Faith in the Blessed Trinity a matter needless to be so oftentimes mentioned and opened in the principal part of that duty which we ow to God our Publick Prayer Hath the Church of Christ from the first beginning by a secret Universal Instinct of Gods good Spirit always tied it self to end neither Sermon nor almost any speech of moment which hath concerned Matters of God without some special words of honor and glory to that Trinity which we all adore and is the like conclusion of Psalms become now at length an eye-sore or a galling to their ears that hear it Those flames of Arianism they say are quenched which were the cause why the Church devised in such sort to confess and praise the glorious Deity of the Son of God Seeing therefore the sore is whole why retain we as yet the Plaâ—ster When the cause why any thing was ordained doth once cease the thing it self should cease with it that the Church being eased of unprofitable labors needful offices may the better be attended For the doing of things unnecessary is many times the cause why the most necessary are not done But in this case so to reason will not serve their turns For first the ground whereupon they build is not certainly their own but with special limitations Few things are so restrained to any one end or purpose that the same being extinct they should forthwith utterly become frustrate Wisdom may have framed one and the same thing to serve commodiously for divers ends and of those ends any one be sufficient cause for continuance though the rest have ceased even as the Tongue which Nature hath given us for an Instrument of speech is not idle in dumb persons because it also serveth for taste Again if time have worn out or any other mean altogether taken away what was first intended uses not thought upon before may afterwards spring up and be reasonable causes of retaining that which other considerations did formerly procure to be instituted And it cometh sometime to pass that a thing unnecessary in it self as touching the whole direct purpose whereto it was meant or can be applied doth notwithstanding appear convenient to be still held even without use lest by reason of that coherence which it hath with somewhat most necessary the removal of the one should indamage the other And therefore men which have clean lost the possibility of sight keep still their eyes nevertheless in the place where Nature set them As for these two Branches whereof our Question groweth Arianism was indeed some occasion of the one but a cause of neither much less the onely intire cause of both For albeit conflict with Arians brought forth the occasion of writing that Creed which long after was made a part of the Church Liturgy as Hymns and Sentences of Glory were a part thereof before yet cause sufficient there is why both should remain in use the one as a most Divine Explication of the chiefest Articles of our Christian Belief the other as an Heavenly acclamation of joyful applause to his praises in whom we believe neither the one nor the other unworthy to he heard souncing as they are in the Church of Christ whether Arianism live or die Against which poyson likewise if we think that the Church at this day needeth not those ancient preservatives which ages before us were so glad to use we deceive our selves greatly The Weeds of Heresie being grown unto such ripeness as that was do even in the very cutting down scatter oftentimes those seeds which for a while lie unseen and buried in the Earth but afterward freshly spring up again no less pernicious them at the first Which thing they very well know and I doubt not will easily confess who live to their great both toil and grief where the blasphemies of Arians Samosatenians Tritheits Eutychians and Maccdonians are renewed by them who to hatch their Heresie have chosen those Churches as fittest Nests where Athanasius Creed is not heard by them I say renewed who following the course of extream Reformation were wont in the pride of their own proceedings to glory that whereas Luther did but blow away the Roof and Zwinglius batter but the Walls of Popish Superstition the last and hardest work of all remained which was to raze up the very ground and foundation of Popery that doctrine concerning the Deity of Christ which Satanasius for so it pleased those impious forsaken Miscreants to speak hath in this memorable Creed explained So manifestly true is that which one of the Ancients hath concerning Arianism Mortuis authoribus hujus veneni scelerata tamen eorum doctrina non moritur The Authors of this venom being dead and gone their wicked doctrine notwithstanding continueth 43. Amongst the heaps of these Excesses and Superfluities there is espied the want of a principal part of duty There are no thanksgivings for the benefits for which there are Petitions in our Book of Prayer This they have thought a point material to be objected Neither may we take it in evil part to be admonished what special duties of thankfulness we ow to that merciful God for whose unspeakable Graces the onely requital which we are able to make is a true hearty and sincere acknowledgement how precious we esteem such benefits received and how infinite in goodness the Author from whom they come But that to every Petition we make for things needful there should be some answerable sentence of thanks provided particularly to follow such requests obtained either it is not a matter so requisite as they pretend or if it be wherefore have they not then in such order framed their own Book of Common Prayer Why hath our Lord and Saviour taught us a form of Prayer containing so many Petitions of those things which we want and not delivered in like sort as many several forms of Thanksgiving to serve when any thing we pray for is granted What answer soever they can reasonably make unto these demands the same shall discover unto them how causeless a censure it is that there are not in our Book Thanksgivings for all the benefits forwhiâ—â— there are Petitions For concerning the Blessings of God whether they tend unto this life or the life to come there is great cause why we should delight more if giving thanks then in making requests for them in as much as the one hath penâ—â—veness and fear the other always joy annexed the one belongeth unto them that seek the other unto them that have found happiness they that pray do but yet sow they that give thanks declare they have reaped Howbeit because there are so many Graces whereof we stand in continual need Graces for which we may not cease daily and hourly to sue Graces which are in bestowing always but never come to be sully had in this present life and therefore when all things here have an end
himself should suffer To say He knew not what weight of sufferances his Heavenly Father had measured unto him is somewhat hard harder that although he knew them notwithstanding for the present time they were forgotten through the force of these unspeakable pangs which he then was in The one against the plain express words of the holy Evangelist He knew all things that should come upon him the other less credible if any thing may be of less credit then what the Scripture it self gain-sayeth Doth any of them which wrote his sufferings make report that memory failed him Is there in his words and speeches any sign of defect that way Did not himself declare before whatsoever was to happen in the course of that whole tragedy Can we gather by any thing after taken from his own mouth either in the place of publick judgment or upon the Altar of the Cross that through the bruising of his Body some part of the treasures of his Soul were scattered and slipt from him If that which was perfect both before and after did fail at this onely middle instant there must appear some manifest cause how it came to pass True it is that the pangs of his heaviness and grief were unspeakable and as true That because the mindes of the afflicted do never think they have fully conceived the weight or measure of their own wo they use their affection as a whetstone both to wit and memory these as Nurses do feed grief so that the weaker his conceit had been touching that which he was to suffer the more it must needs in that hour have helped to the mitigation of his anguish But his anguish we see was then at the very highest whereunto it could possibly rise which argueth his deep apprehension even to the last drop of the Gall which that Cup contained and of every circumstance wherein there was any force to augment heaviness but above all things the resolute determination of God and his own unchangeable purpose which he at that time could not forget To what intent then was his Prayer which plainly testifieth so great willingness to avoid death Will whether it be in God or Man belongeth to the Essence or Nature of both The Nature therefore of God being one there are not in God divers Wills although the God-head be in divers persons because the power of willing is a natural not a personal propriety Contrariwise the Person of our Saviour Christ being but one there are in him two Wills because two Natures the Nature of God and the Nature of Man which both do imply this Faculty and Power So that in Christ there is a Divine and there is an Humane will otherwise he were not both God and Man Hereupon the Church hath of old condemned Monothelites as Hereticks for holding That Christ had but one Will. The Works and Operations of our Saviours Humane will were all subject to the Will of God and framed according to his Law I desire to do thy Will O God and thy Law is within mine heart Now as Mans will so the Will of Christ hath two several kindes of operation the one Natural or necessary whereby it desireth simply whatsoever is good in it self and shunneth as generally all things which hurt the other Deliberate when we therefore embrace things as good because the eye of understanding judgeth them good to that â—â—d which we simply desire Thus in it self we desire health Physick onely for healths sake And in this sort special Reason oftentimes causeth the Will by choice to prefer one good thing before another to leave one for anothers sake to forgo meaner for the attainment of higher desires which our Saviour likewise did These different inclinations of the Will considered the reason is easie how in Christ there might grow desires seeming but being not indeed opposite either the one of them unto the other or either of them to the Will of God For let the manner of his speech be weighed My Soul is now troubled and what should I say Father save me out of this hour But yet for this very cause I am come into this hour His purpose herein was most effectually to propose to the view of the whole World two contrary Objects the like whereunto in force and efficacy were never presented in that manner to any but onely to the Soul of Christ. There was presented before his eyes in that fearful hour on the one side Gods heavy indignation and wrath towards mankinde as yet unappeased death as yet in full strength Hell as yet never mastered by any that came within the confines and bounds thereof somewhat also peradventure more then is either possible or needful for the wit of man to finde out finally Himself flesh and blood left alone to enter into conflict with all these On the other side a World to be saved by One a pacification of wrath through the dignity of that Sacrifice which should be offered a conquest over death through the power of that Deity which would not suffer the Tabernacle thereof to see corruption and an utter disappointment of all the forces of infernal powers through the purity of that Soul which they should have in their hands and not be able to touch Let no man marvel that in this case the Soul of Christ was much troubled For what could such apprehensions breed but as their nature is inexplicable Passions of minde desires abhorring what they embrace and embracing what they abhor In which Agony how should the tongue go about to express what the soul endured When the griefs of Iob were exceeding great his words accordingly to open them were many howbeit still unto his seeming they were undiscovered Though my talk saith Iob be this day in bitterness yet my plague is greater then my groaning But here to what purpose should words serve when nature hath more to declare then groans and strong cries more then streams of bloody sweats more then his doubled and tripled Prayers can express who thrice putting forth his hand to receive that Cup besides which there was no other cause of his coming into the World he thrice pulleth it back again and as often even with tears of blood craveth If it be possible O Father or if not even what thine own good pleasure is for whose sake the Passion that hath in it a bitter and a bloody conflict even with Wrath and Death and Hell is most welcome Whereas therefore we finde in God a will resolved that Christ shall suffer and in the Humane will of Christ two actual desires the one avoiding and the other accepting death Is that desire which first declareth it self by Prayer against that wherewith he concludeth Prayer or either of them against his minde to whom Prayer in this case seeketh We may judge of these diversities in the Will by the like in the Understanding For as the intellectual part doth not cross it self by conceiving man to be
our Lords admonition Pray that ye enter not into temptation When himself pronounceth them blessed that should for his Names sake be subject to all kindes of ignominy and opprobrious malediction was it his purpose that no man should ever pray with David Lord remove from me shame and contempt In those tribulations saith St. Augustine which may hurt as well as profit we must say with the Apostle What we should ask as we ought we know not yet because they are tough because they are grievous because the sense of our weakness flieth them we pray according to the general desire of the will of man that God would turn them away from us owing in the mean while this devotion to the Lord our God that if he remove them not yet we do not therefore imagine our selves in his sight despised but rather with godly sufferance of evils expect greater good at his merciful hands For thus is vertue in weakness perfected To the flesh as the Apostle himself granteth all affliction is naturally grievous Therefore Nature which causeth to fear teacheth to pray against all adversity Prosperity in regard of our corrupt inclination to abuse the blessings of Almighty God doth prove for the most part a thing dangerous to the Souls of Men. Very Ease it self is death to the wicked and the prosperity of fools slayeth them Their Table is a Snare and their Felicity their utter overthrow Few men there are which long prosper and sin not Howbeit even as these ill effects although they be very usual and common are no bar to the hearty prayers whereby most vertuous mindes with peace and prosperity always where they love because they consider that this in it self is a thing naturally desired So because all adversity is in it self against nature what should hinder to pray against it although the providence of God turn it often unto the great good of many men Such Prayers of the Church to be delivered from all adversity are no more repugnant to any reasonable disposition of mens mindes towards death much less to that blessed Patience and meek Contentment which Saints by Heavenly inspiration have to endure what cross or calamity soever it pleaseth God to lay upon them then our Lord and Saviours own Prayer before his Passion was repugnant unto his most gracious resolution to die for the sins of the whole World 49. In praying for deliverance from all adversity we seek that which Nature doth wish to it self but by intreating for Mercy towards all we declare that Affection wherewith Christian Charity thirsteth after the good of the whole World we discharge that duty which the Apostle himself doth impose on the Church of Christ as a commendable office a sacrifice acceptable in Gods sight a service according to his heart whose desire is to have all men saved A work most suitable with his purpose who gave himself to be the price of redemption for all and a forcible mean to procure the conversion of all such as are not yet acquainted with the Mysteries of that Truth which must save their Souls Against it there is but the bare shew of this one Impediment that all mens salvation and many mens eternal condemnation or death are things the one repugnant to the other that both cannot be brought to pass that we know there are Vessels of Wrath to whom God will never extend mercy and therefore that wittingly we ask an impossible thing to be had The truth is that as life and death mercy and wrath are matters of meer understanding or knowledge all mens salvation and some mens endless perdition are things so opposite that whosoever doth affirm the one must necessarily deny the order God himself cannot effect both or determine that both shall be There is in the knowledge both of God and Man this certainty That life and death have divided between them the whole Body of mankinde What portion either of the two hath God himself knoweth for us he hath left no sufficient means to comprehend and for that cause neither given any leave to search in particular who are infalliby the heirs of the Kingdom of God who cast-aways Howbeit concerning the state of all men with whom we live for onely of them our Prayers are meant we may till the Worlds end for the present always presume That as far as in us there is power to discern what others are and as far as any duty of ours dependeth upon the notice of their condition in respect of God the safest Axioms for Charity to rest it self upon are these He which believeth already is and he which believeth not as yet may be the childe of God It becometh not us during life altogether to condemn any man seeing that for any thing we know there is hope of every mans forgiveness the possibility of whose repentance is not yet cut off by death And therefore Charity which hopeth all things prayeth also for all Men. Wherefore to let go Personal Knowledge touching Vessels of Wrath and Mercy what they are inwardly in the sight of God it skilleth not for us there is cause sufficient in all men whereupon to ground our Prayers unto God in their behalf For whatsoever the Minde of Man apprehencieth as good the Will of Charity and Love is to have it inlarged in the very uttermost extent that all may enjoy it to whom it can any way add perfection Because therefore the father a good thing doth reach the nobler and worthier we reckon it our Prayers for all mens good no less then for our own the Apostle with very fit terms commendeth as being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a work commendable for the largeness of the affection from whence it springeth even as theirs which have requested at Gods hands the salvation of many with the loss of their own Souls drowning as it were and over-whelming themselves in the abundance of their love towards others is proposed as being in regard of the rareness of such affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then excellent But this extraordinary height of desire after other mens salvation is no common mark The other is a duty which belongeth unto all and prevaileth with God daily For as it is in it self good so God accepteth and taketh it in very good part at the hands of faithful men Our Prayers for all men do include both them that shall finde mercy and them also that shall finde none For them that shall no man will doubt but our Prayers are both accepted and granted Touching them for whom we crave that mercy which is not to be obtained let us not think that our Saviour did mis-instruct his Disciples willing them to pray for the peace even of such as should be uncapable of so great a blessing or that the Prayers of the Prophet Ieremy offended God because the answer of God was a resolute denial of favor to them for whom Supplication was made And if any
same Conjunction so much altered as not to stay within those limits which our Substance is bordered withal nor the state and quality of our Substance so unaltered but that there are in it many glorious effects proceeding from so near Copulation with Deity God from us can receive nothing we by him have obtained much For albeit the Natural Properties of Deity be not communicable to Mans nature the Supernatural Gifts Graces and Effects thereof are The honor which our Flesh hath by being the Flesh of the Son of God is in many respects great If we respect but that which is common unto us with him the Glory provided for him and his in the Kingdom of Heaven his Right and Title thereunto even in that he is Man differeth from other mens because he is that Man of whom God is himself a part We have right to the same Inheritance with Christ but not the same right which he hath his being such as we cannot reach and ours such as he cannot stoop unto Furthermore to be the Way the Truth and the Life to be the Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Resurrection to be the Peace of the whole World the Hope of the Righteous the Heir of all things to be that Supream Head whereunto all Power both in Heaven and in Earth is given These are not Honors common unto Christ with other Men they are Titles above the dignity and worth of any which were but a meer Man yet true of Christ even in that he is Man but Man with whom Deity is personally joyned and unto whom it hath added those excellencies which makes him more then worthy thereof Finally Sith God hath deified our Nature though not by turning it into himself yet by making it his own inseparable Habitation we cannot now conceive how God should without Man either exercise Divine Power or receive the glory of Divine Praise For Man is in both an Associate of Deity But to come to the Grace of Unction Did the parts of our Nature the Soul and Body of Christ receive by the influence of Deity wherewith they were matcht no ability of Operations no Vertue or quality above Nature Surely as the Sword which is made fiery doth not onely cut by reason of the sharpness which simply it hath but also burn by means of that heat which it hath from fire so there is no doubt but the Deity of Christ hath enabled that Nature which it took of Man to do more then Man in this World hath power to comprehend for as much as the bare Essential Properties of Deity excepted he hath imparted unto it all things he hath replenished it with all such Perfections as the same is any way apt to receive at the least according to the exigence of that oeconomy or service for which it pleased him in Love and Mercy to be made Man For as the Parts Degrees and Offices of that Mystical Administration did require which he voluntarily undertook the Beams of Deity did in operation always accordingly either restrain or enlarge themselves From hence we may somewhat conjecture how the Powers of that Soul are illuminated which being so inward unto God cannot chuse but be privy unto all things which God worketh and must therefore of necessity be endued with knowledge so far forth Universal though not with infinite knowledge peculiar to Deity itself The Soul of Christ that saw in this life the Face of God was here through so visible presence of Deity filled with all manner of Graces and Vertues in that unmatchable degree of Perfection for which of him we read it written That God with the Oyl of Gladness anointed him above his fellows And as God hath in Christ unspeakably glorified the Nobler so likewise the meaner part of our Nature the very Bodily Substance of Man Where also that must again be remembred which we noted before concerning the degrees of the influence of Deity proportionable unto his own purposes intents and counsels For in this respect his Body which by Natural condition was corruptible wanted the gift of Everlasting immunity from Death Passion and Dissolution till God which gave it to be slain for sin had for Righteousness sake restored it to life with certainty of endless continuance Yea in this respect the very glorified Body of Christ retained in it the skars and marks of former mortality But shall we say that in Heaven his glorious Body by vertue of the same cause hath now power to present it self in all places and to be every where at once present We nothing doubt but God hath many ways above the reach of our capacities exalted that Body which it hath pleased him to make his own that Body wherewith he hath saved the World that Body which hath been and is the Root of Eternal Life the Instrument wherewith Deity worketh the Sacrifice which taketh away sin the Price which hath ransomed Souls from Death the Leader of the whole Army of Bodies that shall rise again For though it had a beginning from us yet God hath given it vital efficacy Heaven hath endowed it with celestial power that vertue it hath from above in regard whereof all the Angels of Heaven adore it Notwithstanding a Body still it continueth a Body consubstantial with our Bodies a Body of the same both Nature and Measure which it had on Earth To gather therefore into one sum all that hitherto hath been spoken touching this point there are but four things which concur to make compleat the whole state of our Lord Jesus Christ his Deity his Manhood the Conjunction of both and the distinction of the one from the other being joyned in one Four principal Heresies there are which have in those things withstood the truth Arians by bending themselves against the Deity of Christ Apollinarians by maiming and misinterpreting that which belongeth to his Humane Nature Nestorians by renting Christ asunder and dividing him into two persons the followers of Eutiches by confounding in his Person those Natures which they should distinguish Against these there have been four most famous Ancient General Councils the Council of Nice to define against Arians against Apollinarians the Council of Constantinople the Council of Ephesus against Nestorians against Eutichians the Calcedon Council In four words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly perfectly indivisibly distinctly The first applied to his being God and the second to his being Man the third to his being of both One and the fourth to his still continuing in that One both We may fully by way of Abridgment comprize whatsoever Antiquity hath at large handled either in Declaration of Christian Belief or in Refutation of the soresaid Heresies Within the compass of which four heads I may truly affirm That all Heresies which touch but the Person of Jesus Christ whether they have risen in these latter days or in any age heretofore may be with great facility brought to confine themselves We conclude
which sanctified our Nature in Christ that which made it a Sacrifice available to take away sin is the same which quickneth it raised it out of the Grave after Death and exalted it unto Glory Seeing therefore that Christ is in us as a quickning Spirit the first degree of Communion with Christ must needs consist in the Participation of his Spirit which Cyprian in that respect well termeth Germanissimam Societatem the highest and truest Society that can be between man and him which is both God and Man in one These things St. Cyril duly considering reproveth their speeches which â—aught that onely the Deity of Christ is the Vine whereupon we by Faith do depend as Branches and that neither his Flesh not our Bodies are comprised in this resemblance For doth any man doubt but that even from the Flesh of Christ our very Bodies do receive that Life which shall make them glorious at the latter day and for which they are already accounted parts of his Blessed Body Our corruptible bodies could never live the life they shall live were it not that here they are joyned with his Body which is incorruptible and that his is in ours as a cause immortality a cause by removing through the Death and Merit of his own Flesh that which hindered the life of ours Christ is therefore both as God and as Man that true Vine whereof we both spiritually and corporally are Branches The mixture of his Bodily Substance with ours is a thing which the Ancient Fathers disclaim Yet the mixture of his Flesh with ours they speak of to signifie what our very bodies through Mystical Conjunction receive from that vital efficacy which we know to be in his and from bodily mixtures they borrow divers Similitudes rather to declare the Truth then the manner of coherence between his sacred and the sanctified Bodies of Saints Thus much no Christian Man will deny That when Christ sanctified his own Flesh giving as God and taking as Man the Holy Ghost he did not this for himself onely but for our sakes that the Grace of Sanctification and Life which was first received in him might pass from him to his whole Race as Malediction came from Adam unto all mankinde Howbeit because the Work of his Spirit to those effects is in us prevented by Sin and Death possessing us before it is necessity that as well our present Sanctification unto newness of life as the future of Restauration of our Bodies should presuppose a participation of the Grace Efficacy Merit or Vertue of his Body and Blood without which Foundation first laid there is no place for those other operations of the Spirit of Christ to ensue So that Christ imparteth plainly himself by degrees Iâ— pleaseth him in Mercy to account himself incompleat and maimed without us But most assured we are that we all receive of his Fulness because he is in us as a moving and working Cause from which many blessed effects are really found to ensue and that in sundry both kindes and degrees all tending to eternal happiness It must be confest that of Christ working as a Creator and a Governor of the World by providence all are partakers not all partakers of that Grace whereby he inhabiteth whom he saveth Again as he dwelleth not by Grace in all so neither doth he equally work in all them in whom he dwelleth Whence is it saith St. Augustine that some be holier then others are but because God doth dwell in some more plentifully then in others And because the Divine Substance of Christ is equally in all his Humane Substance equally distant from all it appeareth that the participation of Christ wherein there are many degrees and differences must needs consist in such effects as being derived from both Natures of Christ really into us are made our own and we by saving them in us are truly said to have him from whom they come Christ also more or less to inhabit and impart himself as the Graces are fewer or more greater or smaller which really flow into us form Christ. Christ is whole with the whole Church and whole with every part of the Church as touching his Person which can no way divide it self or be possest by degrees and portions But the Participation of Christ importeth besides the Presence of Christs Person and besides the Mystical Copulation thereof with the Parts and Members of his whole Church a true actual influence of Grace whereby the life which we live according to godliness is his and from him we receive those perfections wherein our eternal happiness consisteth Thus we participate Christ partly by imputation as when those things which he did and suffered for us are imputed unto us for Righteousness Partly by habitual and real infusion as when Grace is inwardly bestowed while we are on Earth and afterwards more fully both our Souls and Bodies make like unto his in Glory The first thing of his so infused into our hearts in this life is the Spirit of Christ whereupon because the rest of what kinde soever do all both necessarily depend and infallibly also easue therefore the Apostles term it sometime the Seed of God sometime the Pledge of our Heavenly Inheritance sometime the Hansel or Earnest of that which is to come From hence it is that they which belong to the Mystical Body of our Saviour Christ and be in number as the Stars of Heaven divided successively by reason of their mortal condition into many Generations are notwithstanding coupled every one to Christ their Head and all unto every particular person amongst themselves in as much as the same Spirit which anointed the Blessed Soul of our Saviour Christ doth so formalize unite and actuate his whole Race as if both he and they were so many Limbs compacted into one Body by being quickned all with one and the same Soul That wherein we are Partakers of Jesus Christ by Imputation agreeth equally unto all that have it For it consisteth in such Acts and Deeds of his as could not have longer continuance then while they were in doing nor at that very time belong unto any other but to him from whom they come and therefore how men either then or before or fithence should be made Partakers of them there can be no way imagined but onely by Imputation Again a Deed must either not be imputed to any but rest altogether in him whose it is or if at all it be imputed they which have it by Imputation must have it such as it is whole So that degrees being neither in the Personal Presence of Christ nor in the Participation of those effects which are ours by Imputation onely it resteth that we wholly apply them to the Participation of Christs infused Grace although even in this kinde also the first beginning of Life the Seed of God the First-fruits of Christs Spirit be without latitude For we have hereby onely the being of
of things absent neither for naked signs and testimonies assuring us of Grace received before but as they are indeed and in verity for means effectual whereby God when we take the Sacraments delivereth into our hands that Grace available unto Eternal Life which Grace the Sacraments represent or signifie There have grown in the Doctrine concerning Sacraments many difficulties for want of distinct Explication what kinde or degree of Grace doth belong unto each Sacrament For by this it hath come to pass that the true immediate cause why Baptism and why the Supper of our Lord is necessary few do rightly and distinctly consider It cannot be denied but sundry the same effects and benefits which grow unto men by the one Sacrament may rightly be attributed unto the other Yet then doth Baptism challenge to it self but the inchoation of those Graces the consummation whereof dependeth on Mysteries ensuing We receive Christ Jesus in Baptism once as the first beginner in the Eucharist often as being by continual degrees the finisher of our Life By Baptism therefore we receive Christ Jesus and from him that saving Grace which is proper unto Baptism By the other Sacrament we receive him also imparting therein himself and that Grace which the Eucharist properly bestoweth So that each Sacrament having both that which is general or common and that also which is peculiar unto it self we may hereby gather that the Participation of Christ which properly belongeth to any one Sacrament is not otherwise to be obtained but by the Sacrament whereunto it is proper 58. Now even as the Soul doth Organize the Body and give unto every Member thereof that substance quantity and shape which Nature seeth most expedient so the inward Grace of Sacraments may teach what serveth best for their outward form a thing in no part of Christian Religion much less here to be neglected Grace intended by Sacraments was a cause of the choice and is a reason of the fitness of the Elements themselves Furthermore seeing that the Grace which here we receive doth no way depend upon the Natural force of that which we presently behold it was of necessity That words of express Declaration taken from the very mouth of our Lord himself should be added unto visible Elements that the one might infallibly teach what the other do most assuredly bring to pass In writing and speaking of the Blessed Sacrament we use for the most part under the name of their Substance not onely to comprise that whereof they outwardly and sensibly consist but also the secret Grace which they signifie and exhibit This is the reason wherefore commonly in definitions whether they be framed larger to augâ—ment or stricter to abridge the number of Sacraments we finde Grace expresly mentioned as their â—â—â—â— Essential Form Elements as the matter whereunto that Form doth adjoyn it sâ—â— But if that be separated which is secret and that considered alone which is seen as of necessity it must in all those speeches that make distinction of Sacraments from Sacramental Grace the name of a Sacrament in such speeches can imply no more then what the outward substance thereof doth comprehend And to make compleat the outward substance of a Sacrament there is required an outward Form which Form Sacramental Elements receive from Sacramental words Hereupon it groweth that many times there are three things said to make up the Substance of a Sacrament namely the Grace which is thereby offered the Element which shadoweth or signifieth Grace and the Word which expresseth what is done by the Element So that whether we consider the outward by it self alone or both the outward and inward substance of any Sacraments there are in the one respect but two essential parts and in the other but three that concur to give Sacraments their full being Furthermore because definitions are to express but the most immediate and nearest parts of Nature whereas other principles farther off although not specified in defining are notwithstanding in Nature implied and presupposed we must note that in as much as Sacraments are actions religious and mystical which Nature they have not unless they proceed from a serious meaning and what every mans private minde is as we cannot know so neither are we bound to examine Therefore always in these cases the known intent of the Church generally doth suffice and where the contrary is not manifest we may presume that he which outwardly doth the work hath inwardly the purpose of the Church of God Concerning all other Orders Rites Prayers Lessons Sermons Actions and their Circumstances whatsoever they are to the outward Substance of Baptism but things accessory which the wisdom of the Church of Christ is to order according to the exigence of that which is principal Again Considering that such Ordinances have been made to adorn the Sacrament not the Sacrament to depend upon them seeing also that they are not of the Substance of Baptism and that Baptism is far more necessary then any such incident rite or solemnity ordained for the better Administration thereof if the case be such as permitteth not Baptism to have decent Complements of Baptism better it were to enjoy the Body without his Furniture then to wait for this till the opportunity of that for which we desire it be lost Which Premises standing it seemeth to have been no absurd Collection that in cases of necessity which will not suffer delay till Baptism be administred with usual solemnities to speak the least it may be tolerably given without them rather then any man without it should be suffered to depart this life 59. They which deny that any such case of necessity can fall in regard whereof the Church should tolerate Baptism without the decent Rites and Solemnities thereunto belonging pretend that such Tolerations have risen from a false interpretaon which certain men have made of the Scripture grounding a necessity of External Baptism upon the words of our Saviour Christ Unless a man be born again of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For by Water and the Spirit we are in that place to understand as they imagine no more then if the Spirit alone had been mentioned and Water not spoken of Which they think is plain because elswhere it is not improbable that the Holy Ghost and Fire do but signifie the Holy Ghost in operation resembling Fire Whereupon they conclude That seeing Fire in one place may be therefore Water in another place is but a Metaphor Spirit the interpretation thereof and so the words do onely mean That unless a man be born again of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I hold it for a most infallible rule in Expositions of Sacred Scripture that were a literal construction will stand the farthest from the Letter is commonly the worst There is nothing more dangerous then this licentious and deluding Art which changeth the meaning
main the Substance the Form of Baptism in which respect the Church did neither simply disannul nor absolutely ratifie Baptism by Hereticks For the Baptism which Novarianists gave stood firm whereas they whom Samosotenians had baptized were rebaptized It was likewise ordered in the Council of Arles That if any Arian did reconcile himself to the Church they should admit him without new Baptism unless by examination they found him not baptized in the Name of the Trinity Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria maketh report how there live under him a man of good reputation and of very ancient continuance in that Church who being present at the Rites of Baptism and observing with better consideration then ever before what was there done came and with weeping submission craved of his Bishop not to deny him Baptism the due of all which profess Christ seeing it had been so long sithence his evil hap to be deceived by the fraud of Hereticks and at their hands which till now he never throughly and duly weighed to take a Baptism full fraught with blasphemous impieties a Baptism in nothing like unto that which the true Church of Christ useth The Bishop was greatly moved thereat yet durst not adventure to Rebaptize but did the best he could to put him in good comfort using much perswasion with him not to trouble himself with things that were past and gone nor after so long continuance in the Fellowship of Gods people to call now in question his first entrance The poor man that law himself in this sort answered but not satisfied spent afterwards his life in continual perplexity whereof the Bishop remained fearful to give release perhaps too fearful if the Baptism were such as his own Declaration importeth For that the substance whereof was rotten at the very first is never by tract of time able to recover soundness And where true Baptism was not before given the case of Rebaptization is clear But by this it appeareth that Baptism is not void in regard of Heresie and therefore much less through any other Moral defect in the Minister thereof Under which second pretence Doâ—atists notwithstanding took upon them to make frustrate the Churches Baptism and themselves to Rebaptize their own sry For whereas some forty years after the Martyrdom of Blessed Cyprian the Emperor Dioclesian began to persecute the Church of Christ and for the speedier abolishment of their Religion to burn up their Sacred Books there were in the Church it self Traditors content to deliver up the Books of God by composition to the end their own lives might be spared Which men growing thereby odious to the rest whose constancy was greater it fortuned that after when one Caecilian was ordained Bishop in the Church of Carthage whom others endeavored in vain to defeat by excepting against him as a Traditor they whose accusations could not prevail desperately joyned themselves in one and made a Bishop of their own crue accounting from that day forward their Faction the onely true and sincere Church The first Bishop on that part was Majorinus whose Successor Donatus being the first that wrote in defence of their Schism the Birds that were hatched before by others have their names from him Arians and Donatists began both about one time Which Heresies according to the different strength of their own sinews wrought as hope of success led them the one with the choicest wits the other with the multitude so far that after long and troublesome experience the perfectest view men could take or both was hardly able to induce any certain determinate resolution whether Error may do more by the curious subtilty of sharp Discourse or else by the meer appearance of zeal and devout affection the latter of which two aids gave Donatists beyond all mens expectation as great a sway as ever any Schism or Heresie had within that reach of the Christian World where it bred and grew the rather perhaps because the Church which neither greatly feared them and besides had necessary cause to bend it self against others that aimed directly at a far higher mark the Deity of Christ was contented to let Donatists have their course by the space of Threescore years and above even from Ten years before Constantine till the time that Optatus Bishop of Nilevis published his Books against Parmenian During which term and the space of that Schisms continuance afterwards they had besides many other Secular and Worldly means to help them forward these special advantages First the very occasion of their breach with the Church of God a just hatred and dislike of Traditors seemed plausible they easily perswaded their hearers that such men could not be holy as held communion and fellowship with them that betrayed Religion Again when to dazle the eyes of the simple and to prove that it can be no Church which is not holy they had in shew and sound of words the glorious pretence of the Creed Apostolick I believe the holy Catholick Church We need not think it any strange thing that with the multitude they gain credit And avouching that such as are not of the true Church can administer no true Baptism they had for this point whole Volums of St. Cyprians own writing together with the judgment of divers Affrican Synods whose sentence was the same with his Whereupon the Fathers were likewise in defence of their just cause very greatly prejudiced both for that they could not inforce the duty of mens communion with a Church confest to be in many things blame-worthy unless they should oftentimes seem to speak as half-defenders of the faults themselves or at the least not so vehement accusers thereof as their adversaries And to withstand itâ—ration of Baptism the other Branch of the Donatists Heresie was impossible without manifest and profest rejection of Cyprian whom the World universally did in his life time admire as the greatest among Prelates and now honor as not the lowest in the Kingdom of Heaven So true we finde it by experience of all Ages in the Church of God that the teachers error is the peoples tryal harder and heavier by so much to bear as he is in worth and regard greater that mis-perswadeth them Although there was odds between Cyprians cause and theirs he differing from others of sounder understanding in that point but not dividing himself from the Body of the Church by Schism as did the Donatists For which cause saith Vincentius Of one and the same opinion we judge which may seem strange the Authors Catholick and the followers heretical we acquit the Masters and condemn the Scholars they are Heirs of Heaven which have writen those Books the defenders whereof are trodden down to the pit of Hell The Invectives of Catholick Writers therefore against them are sharp the words of Imperial Edicts by Honorius and Theodosius made to bridle them very bitter the punishments severe in revenge of their folly Howbeit for fear as we may conjecture lest much
efficient cause in the work of Baptism What if the Ministers Vocation be a Matter of perpetual necessity and not a Ceremony variable as times and occasions require What if his calling be a principal part of the Institution of Christ Doth it therefore follow that the Ministers authority is of the Substance of the Sacrament and as incident into the nature thereof as the Matter and the Form it self yea more incident For whereas in case of necessity the greatest amongst them professeth the change of the Element of Water lawful and others which like not so well this opinion could be better content that voluntarily the words of Christs Institution were altered and Men baptized in the Name of Christ without either mention made of the Father or of the Holy Ghost nevertheless in denying that Baptism administred by private persons ought to be reckoned of as a Sacrament they both agree It may therefore please them both to consider That Baptism is an Action in part Moral in part Ecclesiastical and in part Mystical Moral as being a duty which men perform towards God Ecclesiastical in that it belongeth unto Gods Church as a publick duty Finally Mystical if we respect what God doth thereby intend to work The greatest Moral perfection of Baptism consisteth in mens devout obedience to the Law of God which Law requireth both the outward act or thing done and also that Religious affection which God doth so much regard that without it whatsoever we do is â—tateful in his sight who therefore is said to respect Adverbs more then Verbs because the end of his Law in appointing what we shall do is our own Perfection which Perfection consisteth chiefly in the vertuous disposition of the Minde and approveth it self to him not by doing but by doing well Wherein appeareth also the difference between Humane and Divine Laws the one of which two are content with Opus operatum the other require Opus operantis the one do but claim the Deed the other especially the Minde So that according to Laws which principally respect the heart of Men Works of Religion being not religiously performed cannot Morally be perfect Baptism as an Ecclesiastical work is for the manner of performance ordered by divers Ecclesiastical Laws providing That as the Sacrament it self is a gift of no mean worth so the Ministery thereof might in all circumstances appear to be a Function of no small regard All that belongeth to the Mystical Perfection of Baptism outwardly is the Element the Word and the serious Application of both unto him which receiveth both whereunto if we add that secret reference which this action hath to liâ—e and remission of sins by vertue of Christs own compact solemnly made with his Church to accomplish fully the Sacrament of Baptism there is not any thing more required Now put the Question Whether Baptism Administred to Infants without my Spiritual Calling be unto them both a true Sacrament and an effectual instrument of Grace or else an act of no more account then the ordinary Washings are The sum of all that can be said to defeat such Baptism is That those things which have no Being can work nothing and that Baptism without the power of Ordination is as a Judgment without sufficient Jurisdiction void frustrate and of no effect But to this we answer That the Fruit of Baptism dependeth onely upon the Covenant which God hath made That God by Covenant requireth in the elder sort Faith and Baptism in Children the Sacrament of Baptism alone whereunto he hath also given them right by special priviledge of Birth within the bosom of the holy Church That infants therefore which have received Baptism compleat as touching the Mystical Perfection thereof are by vertue of his own Covenant and Promise cleansed from all sin for as much as all other Laws concerning that which in Baptism is either Moral or Ecclesiastical do binde the Church which giveth Baptism and not the Infant which receiveth it of the Church So that if any thing be therein amiss the harm which groweth by violation of holy Ordinances must altogether rest where the Bonds of such Ordinances hold For that in actions of this nature it fareth not as in Jurisdictions may somewhat appear by the very opinion which men have of them The nullity of that which a Judge doth by way of Authority without Authority is known to all men and agreed upon with full consent of the whole World every man receiveth it as a general Edict of Nature whereas the nullity of Baptism in regard of the like defect is onely a few mens new ungrounded and as yet unapproved imagination Which difference of generality in mens perswasions on the one side and their paucity whose conceit leadeth them the other way hath risen from a difference easie to observe in the things themselves The exercise of unauthorised Jurisdiction is a grievance unto them that are under it whereas they that without Authority presume to Baptize offer nothing but that which to all men is good and acceptable Sacraments are food and the Ministers thereof as Parents or as Nurses at whose hands when there is necessity but no possibility of receiving it if that which they are not present to do in right of their Office be of pity and compassion done by others shall this be thought turn Celestial Bread into Gravel or the Medicine of Souls into Poyson Jurisdiction is a yoke which Law hath imposed on the necks of men in such sort that they must endure it for the good of others how contrary soever it be to their own particular appetites and inclinations Jurisdiction bridleth men against their wills that which a Judge doth prevails by vertue of his very Power and therefore not without great reason except the Law hath given him Authority whatsoever he doth vanisheth Baptism on the other side being a favor which it pleaseth God to bestow a benefit of Soul to us that receive it and a Grace which they that deliver are but as meer Vessels either appointed by others or offered of their own accord to this Service of which two if they be the one it is but their own honor their own offence to be the other Can it possibly stand with Equity and Right That the faultiness of their presumption in giving Baptism should be able to prejudice us who by taking Baptism have no way offended I know there are many Sentences found in the Books and writings of the Ancient Fathers to prove both Ecclesiastical and also Moral defects in the Minister of Baptism a bar to the Heavenly benefit thereof Which Sentences we always so understand as Augustine understood in a case of like nature the words of St. Cyprian When Infants baptized were after their Parents revolt carried by them in arms to the Stews of Idols those wretched Creatures as St. Cyprian thought were not onely their own ruine but their Childrens also Their Children whom this their Apostasie prophaned did lose
Exposition which are not inclinable to think that Moses was matched like Socrates nor that Circumcision could now in Eleazar be strange unto her having had Gersons her elder son before circumcised nor that any occasion of châ—ler could rise from a spectacle of such misery as doth naturally move Compassion and not Wrath nor that Zipporah was so impious as in the visible presence of Gods deserved Anger to storm at the Ordinance and Law of God not that the words of the History it self can inforce any such affection but do onely declare how after the act performed she touched the feet of Moses saying Sponsus tu mihi as sanguinum Thou art unto me an Husband of Blood which might be very well the one done and the other spoken even out of the slowing abundance of commiseration and love to signifie with hands laid under his feet That her tender affection towards him had caused her thus to forget Woman-hood to lay all Motherly affection aside and to redeem her Husband out of the hands of Death with effusion of Blood The sequel thereof take it which way you will is a plain Argument That God was satisfied with that she did as may appeal by his own Testimony declaring How there followed in the person of Moses present release of his grievous punishment upon her speedy discharge of that duty which by him neglected had offended God even as after execution of Justice by the hands of Phineas the Plague was immediately taken away which former impunity of sin had caused In which so manifest and plain cases not to make that a reason of the event which God himself hath set down as a reason were falsly to accuse whom he doth justifie and without any cause to traduce what we should allow yet seeing they which will have it a breach of the Law of God for her to circumcise in that necessity are not able to deny but Circumcision being in that very manner performed was to the innocent Childe which received it true Circumcision why should that defect whereby Circumcision was so little wealmed be to Baptism a deadly wound These Premises therefore remaining as hitherto they have been laid because the Commandment of our Saviour Christ which committeth joyntly to Publick Ministers both Doctrine and Baptism doth no more by linking them together import That the Nature of the Sacrament dependeth on the Ministers Authority and Power to Preach the Word then the force and vertue of the Word doth on Licence to give the Sacrament and considering that the Work of External Ministery in Baptism is onely a pre-eminence of honor which they that take to themselves and are not thereunto called as Aaron was do but themselves in their own persons by means of such usurpation Incur the just blame of disobedience to the Law of God father also in as much as it standeth with no reason That Errors grounded on a wrong interpretation of other Mens Deeds should make frustrate whatsoever is misconceived and that Baptism by Women should cease to be Baptism as oft as any Man will thereby gather That Children which die unbaptized are damned which opinion if the Act of Baptism administred in such manner did inforce it might be sufficient cause of disliking the same but none of defeating or making it altogether void Last of all whereas general and full consent of the godly-learned in all ages doth make for Validity of Baptism yea albeit administred in private and even by Women which kinde of Baptism in case of necessity divers Reformed Churches do both allow and defend some others which do not defend tolerate few in comparison and they without any just cause do utterly disannul and annihilate Surely howsoever through defect on either side the Sacrament may be without Fruit as well in some cases to him which receiveth as to him which giveth it yet no disability of either part can so far make it frustrate and without effect as to deprive it of the very Nature of true Baptism having all things else which the Ordinance of Christ requireth Whereupon we may consequently infer That the Administration of this Sacrament by private persons be it lawful or unlawful appeareth not as yet to be meerly void 63. All that are of the Race of Christ the Scripture nameth them Children of the Promise which God hath made The Promise of Eternal Life is the Seed of the Church of God And because there is no attainment of life but through the onely begotten Son of God nor by him otherwise then being such as the Creed Apostolick describeth it followeth That the Articles thereof are Principles necessary for all men to subscribe unto whom by Baptism the Church receiveth into Christs School All Points of Christian Doctrine are either demonstrable Conclusions or demonstrative Principles Conclusions having strong and invincible Proofs as well in the School of Jesus Christ as elswhere And Principles be Grounds which require no Proof in any kinde of Science because it sufficeth if either ther certainty be evident in it self or evident by the light of some higher knowledge and in it self such as no mans knowledge is ever able to overthrow Now the principles whereupon we do build our souls have their evidence where they had their original and as received from thence we adore them we hold them in reverend admiration we neither argue nor dispute about them we give unto them that assent which the Oracles of God require We are not therefore ashamed of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ because miscreants in scorn have upbraided us That the highest point of our Wisdom is Belief That which is true and neither can be disceined by Sense not concluded by meer Natural Principles must have Principles of revealed Truth whereupon to build it self and an habit of Faith in us wherewith Principles of that kinde are apprehended The Mysteries of our Religion are above the reach of our Understanding above discourse of Mans Reason above all that any Creature can comprehend Therefore the first thing required of him which standeth for admission into Christs Family is Belief Which Belief consisteth not so much in knowledge as in acknowledgment of all things that Heavenly Wisdom revealeth the Affection of Faith is above her reach her Love to God-ward above the comprehension which the hath of God And because onely for Believers all things may be done He which is Goodness it self loveth them above all Deserve we then the love of God because we believe in the Son of God What more opposite then Faith and Pride When God had created all things he looked upon them and loved them because they were all as himself had made them So the true Reason wherefore Christ doth love Believers is Because their belief is the gift of God a gift then which flesh and blood in this World cannot possibly receive a greater And as to love them of whom we receive good things is Duty because they
for such their particular Invocations and Benedictions as no Man I suppose professing truth of Religion will easily think to have been without Fruit. No there is no cause we should doubt of the benefit but surely great cause to make complaint of the deep neglect of this Christian duty almost with all them to whom by tight of their place and calling the same belongeth Let them not take it in evil part the thing is true their small regard hereunto hath done harm in the Church of God That which Error rashly uttereth in disgrace of good things may peradventure be sponged out when the print of those evils which are grown through neglect will remain behinde Thus much therefore generally spoken may serve for answer unto their demands that require us to tell them Why there should be any such confirmation in the Church seeing we are not ignorant how earnestly they have protested against it and how directly although untruly for so they are content to acknowledge it hath by some of them been said To be first brought in by the seigned Decretal Epistles of the Popes or why it should not be utterly abolished seeing that no one title thereof can be once found in the whole Scripture except the Epistle to the Hebrews be Scripture And again seeing that how free soever it be now from abuse if we look back to the times past which wise men do always more respect then the present it hath been abused and is found at the length no such profitable Ceremony as the whole silly Church of Christ for the space of these Sixteen hundred years hath through want of experience imagined Last of all Seeing also besides the cruelty which is shewed towards poor Country people who are fain sometimes to let their Ploughs stand still and with increble wearisome toyl of their feeble bodies to wander over Mountains and through Woods it may be now and then little less then a whole half score of miles for a Bishops blessing which if it were needful might as well be done at home in their own Parishes rather then they is purchase it with so great loss and so intolerable pain There are they say in Confirmation besides this Three terrible points The first is Laying on of hands with pretence that the same is done to the example of the Apostles which is not onely as they suppose a manifest untruth for all the World doth know that the Apostles did never after Baptism lay hands on any and therefore Saint Luke which saith they did was much deceived But farther also we thereby teach men to think Imposition of Hands a Sacrament belike because it is a principle ingrafted by common Light of Nature in the Mindes of Men that all things done by Apostolick example must needs be Sacrament The second high point of danger is That by tying Confirmation to the Bishop alone there is great cause of suspition given to think that Baptism is not so precious a thing as Confirmation For will any man think that a Velvet Coat is of more price then a Linnen Coyf knowing the one to be an ordinary Garment the other an Ornament which onely Sergeants at Law do wear Finally To draw to an end of perils the last and the weightiest hazard is where the Book it self doth say That Children by Imposition of Hands and Prayer may receive strength against all temptation Which speech as a two-edged sword doth both ways dangerously wound partly because it ascribeth Grace to Imposition of Hands whereby we are able no more to assure our selves in the warrant of any promise from God that his Heavenly Grace shall be given then the Apostle was that himself should obtain Grace by the bowing of his knees to God and partly because by using the very word strength in this matter a word so apt to spred infection we maintain with Popish Evangelists an old forlorn distinction of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon Christs Apostles before his Ascension into Heaven and augmented upon them afterwards a distinction of Grace infused into Christian men by degrees planted in them at the first by Baptism after cherished watred and be it spoken without offence strengthned as by other vertuous Offices which Piety and true Religion teacheth even so by this very special Benediction whereof we speak the Rite or Ceremony of Confirmation 67. The Grace which we have by the holy Eucharist doth not begin but continue life No man therefore receiveth this Sacrament before Baptism because no dead thing is capable of nourishment That which groweth must of necessity first live If our Bodies did not daily waste Food to restore them were a thing superfluous And it may be that the Grace of Baptism would serve to Eternal Life were it not that the state of our Spiritual Being is daily so much hindered and impaired after Baptism In that life therefore where neither Body nor Soul can decay our Souls shall as little require this Sacrament as our Bodies corporal nourishment But as long as the days of our warfare last during the time that we are both subject to diminution and capable of augmentation in Grace the Words of our Lord and Saviour Christ will remain forceable Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you Life being therefore proposed unto all men as their end they which by Baptism have laid the Foundation and attained the first beginning of a new life have here their nourishment and food prescribed for continuance of life in them Such as will live the Life of God must eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man because this is a part of that diet which if we want we cannot live Whereas therefore in our Infancy we are incorporated into Christ and by Baptism receive the Grace of his Spirit without any sense or feeling of the gift which God bestoweth in the Eucharist we so receive the gift of God that we know by Grace what the Grace is which God giveth us the degrees of our own Increase in holiness and vertue we see and can judge of them we understand that the strength of our life begun in Christ is Christ that his Flesh is Meat and his Blood drink not by surmised imagination but truly even so truly that through Faith we perceive in the Body and Blood sacramentally presented the very taste of Eternal Life the Grace of the Sacrament is here as the food which we eat and drink This was it that some did exceedingly fear lest Zwinglius and Occolampadius would bring to pass that men should account of this Sacrament but onely as of a shadow destitute empty and void of Christ. But seeing that by opening the several opinions which have been held they are grown for ought I can see on all sides at the length to a general agreement concerning that which alone is material namely The Real Participation of Christ and of
Life in his Body and Blood by means of this Sacrament Wherefore should the World continue still distracted and rent with so manifold Contentions when there remaineth now no Controversie saving onely about the subject where Christ is Yea even in this point no side denieth but that the Soul of Man is the receptacle of Christs presence Whereby the question is yet driven to a narrower issue nor doth any thing rest doubtful but this Whether when the Sacrament is administred Christ be whole within Man onely or else his Body and Blood be also externally seated in the very Consecrated Elements themselves Which opinion they that defend are driven either to Consubstantiate and Incorporate Christ with Elements Sacramental or to Transubstantiate and change their substance into his and so the one to hold him really but invisibly moulded up with substance of those Elements the other to hide him under the onely visible shew of Bread and Wine the substance whereof as they imagine is abolished and his succeeded in the same room All things considered and compared with that success which Truth hath hitherto had by so bitter Conflicts with Errors in this point Shall I wish that men would more give themselves to meditate with silence what we have by the Sacrament and less to dispute of the manner how If any man suppose that this were too great stupidity and dulness let us see whether the Apostles of our Lord themselves have not done the like It appeareth by many examples that they of their own disposition were very scrupulous and inquisitive yea in other cases of less importance and less difficulty always apt to move questions How cometh it to pass that so few words of so high a Mystery being uttered they receive with gladness the gift of Christ and make no shew of doubt or scruple The reason hereof is not dark to them which have any thing at all observed how the powers of the minde are wont to stir when that which we infinitely long for presenteth it self above and besides expectation Curious and intricate speculations do hinder they abate they quench such inflamed motions of delight and joy as Divine Graces use to raise when extraordinarily they are present The minde therefore feeling present joy is always marvellous unwilling to admit any other cogitation and in that case casteth off those disputes whereunto the intellectual part at other times easily draweth A manifest effect whereof may be noted if we compare with our Lords Disciples in the Twentieth of Iohn the people that are said in the Sixth of Iohn to have gone after him to Capernaum These leaving him on the one side the Sea of Tiberias and finding him again as soon as themselves by ship were arrived on the contrary side whither they knew that by ship he came not and by Land the journey was longer then according to the time he could have to travel as they wondered so they asked also Rabbi when camest thou hither The Disciples when Christ appeared to them in far more strange and miraculous manner moved no question but rejoyced greatly in that they saw For why The one sort beheld onely that in Christ which they knew was more then natural but yet their affection was not rapt therewith through any great extraordinary gladness the other when they looked on Christ were not ignorant that they saw the Well-spring of their own Everlasting felicity the one because they enjoyed not disputed the other disputed not because they enjoyed If then the presence of Christ with them did so much move Judge what their thoughts and affections were at the time of this new presentation of Christ not before their Eyes but within their Souls They had learned before That his Flesh and Blood are the true cause of Eternal Life that this they are not by the bate force of their own substance but through the dignity and worth of His Person which offered them up by way of Sacrifice for the Life of the whole World and doth make them still effectual thereunto Finally that to us they are Life in particular by being particularly received Thus much they knew although as yet they understood not perfectly to what effect or issue the same would come till at the length being assembled for no other cause which they could imagine but to have eaten the Passover onely that Moses appointed when they saw their Lord and Master with hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven first bless and consecrate for the endless good of all Generations till the Worlds end the chosen Elements of Bread and Wine which Elements made for ever the Instruments of Life by vertue of his Divine Benediction they being the first that were commanded to receive from him the first which were warranted by his promise that not onely unto them at the present time but to whomsoever they and their Successors after them did duly administer the same those Mysteries should serve as Conducts of Life and Conveyances of his Body and Blood unto them Was it possible they should hear that voice Take eat This is my Body Drink ye all of this This is my Blood Possible that doing what was required and believing what was promised the same should have present effect in them and not fill them with a kinde of fearful admiration at the Heaven which they saw in themselves They had at that time a Sea of Comfort and Joy to wade in and we by that which they did are taught that this Heavenly Food is given for the satisfying of our empty Souls and not for the exercising of our curious and subtile wits If we doubt what those admirable words may import let him be our Teacher for the meaning of Christ to whom Christ was himself a School-master let our Lords Apostle be his Interpreter content we our selves with his Explication My Body The Communion of my Body My Blood The Communion of my Blood Is there any thing more expedite clear and easie then that as Christ is termed our Life because through him we obtain life so the parts of this Sacrament are his Body and Blood for that they are so to us who receiving them receive that by them which they are termed The Bread and Cup are his Body and Blood because they are causes instrumental upon the receit whereof the Participation of his Body and Blood ensueth For that which produceth any certain effect is not vainly nor improperly said to be that very effect whereunto it tendeth Every cause is in the effect which groweth from it Our Souls and Bodies quickned to Eternal Life are effects the cause whereof is the Person of Christ His Body and Blood are the true Well-spring out of which this Life floweth So that his Body and Blood are in that very subject whereunto they minister life Not onely by effect or operation even as the influence of the Heavens is in Plants Beasts Men and in every thing which they quicken but also by a far more Divine and
Mystical kinde of Union which maketh us one with him even as He and the Father are one The Real Presence of Christs most Blessed Body and Blood is not therefore to be sought for in the Sacrament but in the worthy Receiver of the Sacrament And with this the very order of our Saviours words agreeth first Take and eat then This is my Body which was broken for you First Drink ye all of this then followeth This is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins I see not which way it should be gathered by the Words of Christ when and where the Bread is his Body or the Cup his Blood but onely in the very Heart and Soul of him which receiveth them As for the Sacraments they really exhibite but for ought we can gather out of that which is written of them they are not really nor do really contain in themselves that Grace which with them or by them it pleaseth God to bestow If on all sides it be confest That the Grace of Baptism is poured into the Soul of Man that by Water we receive it although it be neither seated in the Water nor the Water changed into it what should induce men to think that the Grace of the Eucharist must needs be in the Eucharist before it can be in us that receive it The fruit of the Eucharist is the Participation of the Body and Blood of Christ. There is no sentence of holy Scripture which saith That we cannot by this Sacrament be made partakers of his Body and Blood except they be first contained in the Sacrament or the Sacrament converted into them This is my Body and This is my Blood being words of promise sith we all agree That by the Sacrament Christ doth really and truly in us perform his promise why do we vainly trouble our selves with so fierce Contentions whether by Consubstantiation or else by Transubstantiation the Sacrament it self be first possessed with Christ or no A thing which no way can either further or hinder us howsoever it stand because our Participation of Christ in this Sacrament dependeth on the co-operation of his Omnipotent Power which maketh it his Body and Blood to us whether with change or without alteration of the Element such as they imagine we need not greatly to care or inquire Take therefore that wherein all agree and then consider by it self what cause why the rest in question should not rather be left as superfluous then urged as necessary It is on all sides plainly confest first That this Sacrament is a true and a real Participation of Christ who thereby imparteth himself even his whole intire Person as a Mystical Head unto every Soul that receiveth him and that every such Receiver doth thereby incorporate or unite himself unto Christ as a Mystical Member of him yea of them also whom he acknowledgeth to be his own Secondly That to whom the Person of Christ is thus communicated to them he giveth by the same Sacrament his holy Spirit to sanctifie them as it sanctifieth him which is their Head Thirdly That what merit force or vertue soever there is in his Sacrificed Body and Blood we freely fully and wholly have it by this Sacrament Fourthly That the effect thereof in us is a real transmutation of our Souls and Bodies from sin to righteousness from death and corruption to immortality and life Fifthly That because the Sacrament being of it self but a corruptible and earthly Creature must needs be thought an unlikely Instrument to work so admirable effects in Man we are therefore to rest our selves altogether upon the strength of his glorious power who is able and will bring to pass That the Bread and Cup which he giveth us shall be truly the thing he promiseth It seemeth therefore much amiss that against them whom they term Sacramentaries so many invective Discourses are made all ranning upon two points That the Eucharist is not bare a Sign or Figure onely and that the efficacy of his Body and Blood is not all we receive in this Sacrament For no man having read their Books and Writings which are thus traduced can be ignorant that both these Assertions they plainly confess to be most true They do not so interpret the words of Christ as if the name of his Body did import but the figure of his Body and to be were onely to signifie his Blood They grant that these holy Mysteries received in due manner do instrumentally both make us partakers of the Grace of that Body and Blood which were given for the Life of the World and besides also impart unto us even in true and real though mystical manner the very Person of our Lord himself whole perfect and intire as hath been shewed Now whereas all three opinions do thus far accord in one that strong conceit which two of the three have imbraced as touching a Literal Corporal and Oral Manducation of the very Substance of his Flesh and Blood is surely an opinion no where delivered in holy Scripture whereby they should think themselves bound to believe it and to speak with the softest terms we can use greatly prejudiced in that when some others did so conceive of eating his Flesh our Saviour to abate that error in them gave them directly to understand how his Flesh so eaten could profit them nothing because the words which he spake were Spirit that is to say they had a reference to a Mystical Participation which Mystical Participation giveth life Wherein there is small appearance of likelihood that his meaning should be onely to make them Marcionites by inversion and to teach them that as Marcion did think Christ seemed to be Man but was not so they contrariwise should believe That Christ in Truth would so give them as they thought his Flesh to eat but yet left the horror thereof should offend them he would not seem to do that he did When they which have this opinion of Christ in that Blessed Sacrament go about to explain themselves and to open after what manner things are brought to pass the one sort lay the Union of Christs Deity with his Manhood as their first foundation and ground From thence they infer a power which the Body of Christ hath thereby to present it self in all places out of which Ubiquity of his Body they gather the presence thereof with that sanctified Bread and Wine of our Lords Table The Conjunction of his Body and Blood with those Elements they use as an Argument to shew how the Bread may as well in that respect be termed his Body because his Body is therewith joyned as the Son of God may be named Man by reason that God and Man in the Person of Christ are united To this they add how the Words of Christ commanding us to eat must needs import That as he hath coupled the Substance of his Flesh and the Substance of Bread together so we together should receive both
them is the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ whose Name in the Service of our Communion we celebrate with due honor which they in the Error of their Mass prophane As therefore on our part to hear Mass were an open departure from that sincere Profession wherein we stand so if they on the other side receive our Communion they give us the strongest pledge of fidelity that man can demand What their hearts are God doth know But if they which minde treachery to God and Man shall once apprehend this advantage given them whereby they may satisfie Law in pretending themselves conformable for what can Law with Reason or Justice require more and yet be sure the Church will accept no such offer till their Gospel-like behavior be allowed after that our own simplicity hath once thus fairly eased them from the sting of Law it is to be thought they will learn the Mystery of Gospel-like behavior when leisure serveth them And so while without any cause we fear to profane Sacraments we shall not onely defeat the purpose of most wholesome Laws but lose or wilfully hazard those Souls from whom the likeliest means of full and perfect recovery are by our indiscretion with-held For neither doth God thus binde us to dive into mens consciences nor can their fraud and deceit hurt any man but themselves To him they seem such as they are but of us they must be taken for such as they seem In the Eye of God they are against Christ that are not truly and sincerely with him in our eyes they must be received as with Christ that are not to outward shew against him The case of impenitent and notorious sinners is not like unto theirs whose onely imperfection is Error severed from Pertinacy Error in appearance content to submit it self to better instruction Error so far already cured as to crave at our hands that Sacrament the hatâ—ed and utter refusal whereof was the weightiest point wherein heretofore they swerved and went astray In this case therefore they cannot reasonably charge us with remiss dealing or with carelesness to whom we impart the Mysteries of Christ but they have given us manifest occasion to think it requisit that we earnestly advise rather and exhort them to consider as they ought their sundry over-sights First In equalling undistinctly Crimes with Errors as touching force to make uncapable of this Sacrament Secondly In suffering indignation at the faults of the Church of Rome to blinde and with-hold their judgments from seeing that which withal they should acknowledge concerning so much nevertheless still due to the same Church as to be held and reputed a part of the House of God a Limb of the Visible Church of Christ Thirdly In imposing upon the Church a burthen to enter farther into mens hearts and to make a deeper search of their Consciences then any Law of God or Reason of Man inforceth Fourthly and lastly In repelling under colour of longer tryal such from the Mysteries of Heavenly Grace as are both capable thereof by the Laws of God for any thing we hear to the contrary and should in divers considerations be cherished according to the merciful Examples and Precepts whereby the Gospel of Christ hath taught us towards such to shew compassion to receive them with lenity and all meekness if any thing be shaken in them to strengthen it not to quench with delays and jealousies that feeble smoke of Conformity which seemeth to breathe from them but to build wheresoever there is any Foundation to add Perfection unto slender beginnings and that as by other offices of Piety even so by this very Food of Life which Christ hath left in his Church not onely for preservation of strength but also for relief of weakness But to return to our own selves in whom the next thing severely reproved is the Paucity of Communicants If they require at Communions frequency we wish the same knowing how acceptable unto God such service is when multitudes cheerfully concur unto it if they encourage men thereunto we also themselves acknowledge it are not utterly forgetful to do the like if they require some publick coaction for remedy of that wherein by milder and softer means little good is done they know our Laws and Statutes provided in that behalf whereunto whatsoever convenient help may be added more by the wisdom of man what cause have we given the World to think that we are not ready to hearken to it and to use any good means of sweet compulsion to have this high and heavenly Banquet largely furnished Onely we cannot so far yield as to judge it convenient that the holy desire of a competent number should be unsatisfied because the greater part is careless and undisposed to joyn with them Men should not they say be permitted a few by themselves to communicate when so many are gone away because this Sacrament is a token of our conjunction with our Brethren and therefore by communicating apart from them we make an apparent shew of distraction I ask then on which side Unity is broken whether on theirs that depart or on theirs who being left behinde do communicate First In the one it is not denied but that they may have reasonable causes of departure and that then even they are delivered from just blame Of such kinde of causes two are allowed namely danger of impairing health and necessary business requiring our presence otherwhere And may not a third cause which is unfitness at the present time detain us as lawfully back as either of these two True it is that we cannot hereby altogether excuse our selves for that we ought to prevent this and do not But if we have committed a fault in not preparing our mindes before shall we therefore aggravate the same with a worse the crime of unworthy participation He that abstaineth doth want for the time that Grace and Comfort which Religious Communicants have but he that eateth and drinketh unworthily receiveth death that which is life to others turneth in him to poyson Notwithstanding whatsoever be the cause for which men abstain were it reason that the fault of one part should any way abridge their benefit that are not faulty There is in all the Scripture of God no one syllable which doth condemn communicating a tâ—ngst a few when the rest are departed from them As for the last thing which is our imparting this Sacrament privately unto the sick whereas there have been of old they grant two kindes of necessity wherein this Sacrament might be privately administred of which two the one being erroniously imagined and the other they say continuing no longer in use there remaineth unto us no necessity at all for which that custom should be retained The falsly surmised necessity is that whereby some have thought all such excluded from possibility of salvation as did depart this life and never were made partakers of the holy Eucharist The other case of necessity was
the days of whose departure out of the World are to the Church of Christ as the Birth and Coronation days of Kings or Emperors therefore especial choice being made of the very flower of all occasions in this kinde there are annual selected times to meditate of Christ glorified in them which had the honor to suffer for his sake before they had age and ability to know him glorified in them which knowing him as Stephen had the sight of that before death whereinto so acceptable death did lead glorified in those Sages of the East that came from far to adore him and were conducted by strange light glorified in the second Elias of the World sent before him to prepare his way glorified in every of those Apostles whom it pleased him to use as Founders of his Kingdom here glorified in the Angels as in Michael glorified in all those happy Souls that are already possessed of Heaven Over and besides which number not great the rest be but four other days heretofore annexed to the Feast of Easter and Pentecost by reason of general Baptism usual at those two Feasts which also is the cause why they had not as other days any proper name given them Their first Institution was therefore through necessity and their present continuance is now for the greater honor of the Principals whereupon they still attend If it be then demanded Whether we observe these times as being thereunto bound by force of Divine Law or else by the onely Positive Ordinances of the Church I answer to this That the very Law of Nature it self which all men confess to be Gods Law requireth in general no less the Sanctification of Times then of Places Persons and Things unto Gods honor For which cause it hath pleased him heretofore as of the rest so of times likewise to exact some parts by way of perpetual homage never to be dispensed withal nor remitted Again To require some other parts of time with as strict exaction but for less continuance and of the rest which were left arbibitrary to accept what the Church shall in due consideration consecrate voluntarily unto like Religious uses Of the first kinde amongst the Jews was the Sabbath-day of the second Those Feasts which are appointed by the Law of Moses the Feast of Dedication invented by the Church standeth in the number of the last kinde The Moral Law requiring therefore a seventh part throughout the age of the whole World to be that way employed although with us the day be changed in regard of a new Revolution begun by our Saviour Christ yet the same proportion of time continueth which was before because in reference to the benefit of Creation and now much more of Renovation thereunto added by him which was Prince of the World to come we are bound to accompt the Sanctification of one day in seven a duty which Gods Immutable Law doth exact for ever The rest they say we ought to abolish because the continuance of them doth nourish wicked Superstition in the mindes of men besides they are all abused by Papists the enemies of God yea certain of them as Easter and Pentecost even by the Jews 71. Touching Jews their Easter and Pentecost have with ours as much affinity as Philip the Apostle with Philip the Macedonian King As for imitation of Papists and the breeding of Superstition they are now become such common guests that no man can think it discourteous to let them go as they came The next is a rare Observation and Strange you shall finde if you mark it as it doth deserve to be noted well that many thousands there are who if they have vertuously during those times behaved themselves if their devotion and zeal in Prayer have been fervent their attention to the Word of God such as all Christian men should yield imagine that herein they have performed a good duty which notwithstanding to think is a very dangerous Error in as much as the Apostle Saint Paul hath taught That we ought not to keep our Easter as the Jews did for certain days but in the Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and of Truth to feast continually Whereas the restraint of Easter to a certain number of days causeth us to rest for a short space in that near consideration of our duties which should be extended throughout the course of our whole lives and so pulleth out of our mindes the Doctrine of Christs Gospel â—re we be aware The Doctrine of the Gospel which here they mean or should mean is That Christ having finished the Law there is no Jewish Paschal Solemnity nor abstinence from sour Bread now required at our hands there is no Leaven which we are bound to cast out but malice sin and wickedness no Bread but the food of sincere Truth wherewith we are tied to celebrate our Passover And seeing no time of sin is granted us neither any intermission of sound belief it followeth That this kinde of feasting ought to endure always But how are standing Festival Solemnities against this That which the Gospel of Christ requireth is the perpetuity of vertuous duties not perpetuity of exercise or action but disposition perpetual and practice as oft as times and opportunities require Just valiant liberal temperate and holy men are they which can whensoever they will and will whensoever they ought execute what their several perfections import If Vertues did always cease to be when they cease to work there should be nothing more pernicious to Vertue then Sleep Neither were it possible that men as Zachary and Elizabeth should in all the Commandments of God walk unreprovable or that the Chain of our Conversation should contain so many Links of Divine Vertues as the Apostles in divers places have reckoned up if in the exercise of each vertue perpetual continuance were exacted at our hands Seeing therefore all things are done in time and many offices are not possible at one and the same time to be discharged duties of all forms must have necessarily their several successions and seasons In which respect the School-men have well and soundly determined That Gods Affirmative Laws and Precepts the Laws that enjoyn any actual duty as Prayer Alms and the like do binde us ad semper velle but not ad semper agere we are tyed to iterate and resume them when need is howbeit not to continue them without any intermission Feasts whether God himself hath ordained them or the Church by that Authority which God hath given they are of Religion such publick services as neither can nor ought to be continued otherwise then onely by iteration Which iteration is a most effectual mean to bring unto full maturity and growth those Seeds of Godliness that these very men themselves do grant to be sown in the hearts of many Thousands during the while that such Feasts are present The constant habit of well-doing is not gotten without the custom of doing well neither can Vertue be made perfect but by
after one certain manner exercised But Yearly or Weekly Fasts such as ours in the Church of England they allow no farther then as the Temporal State of the Land doth require the same for the maintenance of Sea-faring-men and preservation of Cattle because the decay of the one and the waste of the other could not well be prevented but by a Politick Order appointing some such usual change of Diet as ours is We are therefore the rather to make it manifest in all mens eyes That Set-times of Fasting appointed in Spiritual Considerations to be kept by all sorts of men took not their beginning either from Montanus or any other whose Heresies may prejudice the credit and due estimation thereof but have their ground in the Law of Nature are allowable in Gods sight were in all ages heretofore and may till the Worlds end be observed not without singular use and benefit Much hurt hath grown to the Church of God through a false imagination that Fasting standeth men in no stead for any spiritual respect but onely to take down the frankness of Nature and to tame the wildeness of flesh Whereupon the World being bold to surfeit doth now blush to fast supposing that men when they fast do rather bewray a Disease then exercise a Vertue I much wonder what they who are thus perswaded do think what conceit they have concerning the Fasts of the Patriarks the Prophets the Apostles our Lord Jesus Christ himself The affections of Joy and Grief are so knit unto all the actions of mans life that whatsoever we can do or may be done unto us the sequel thereof is continually the one or the other affection Wherefore considering that they which grieve and joy as they ought cannot possibly otherwise live then as they should the Church of Christ the most absolute and perfect School of all Vertue hath by the speciall direction of Gods good Spirit hitherto always inured men from their infancy and partly with days of Festival Exercise for the framing of the one affection partly with times of a contrary sort for the perfecting of the other Howbeit over and besides this we must note that as Resting so Fasting likewise attendeth sometimes no less upon the Actions of the higher then upon the Affections of the lower part of the minde Fasting saith Tertullian is a work of reverence towards God The end thereof sometimes elevation of minde sometime the purpose thereof clean contrary The cause why Moses in the Mount did so long fast was meer divine Speculation the cause why David Humiliation Our life is a mixture of good with evil When we are partakers of good things we joy neither can we but grieve at the contrary If that befal us which maketh glad our Festival Solemnities declare our rejoycing to be in him whose meer undeserved Mercy is the Author of all happiness if any thing be either imminent or present which we shun our Watchings Fastings Cryes and Tears are unfeigned Testimonies that our selves we condemn as the onely causes of our own misery and do all acknowledge him no less inclinable then able to save And because as the memory of the one though past reneweth gladness so the other called again to minde doth make the wound of our just remorse to bleed anew which wound needeth often touching the more for that we are generally more apt to Kalendar Saints then sinners days therefore there is in the Church a care not to iterate the one alone but to have frequent repetition of the other Never to seek after God saving onely when either the Crib or the Whip doth constrain were brutish servility and a great derogation to the worth of that which is most predominant in men if sometime it had not a kinde of voluntary access to God and of conference as it were with God all these inferior considerations laid aside In which sequestration for as much as higher cogitations do naturally drown and bury all inferior cares the minde may as well forget natural both food and sleep by being carried above it self with serious and heavenly Meditation as by being cast down with heaviness drowned and swallowed up of sorrow Albeit therefore concerning Jewish Abstinence from certain kindes of meats as being unclean the Apostle doth reach That the Kingdom of Heaven is not meat nor drink that food commendeth us not unto God whether we take it or abstain from it that if we eat we are not thereby the more acceptable in his sight nor the less if we eat not His purpose notwithstanding was far from any intent to derogate from that Fasting which is no such scrupulous Abstinence as onely refuseth some kindes of meats and drinks lest they make them unclean that taste them but an Abstinence whereby we either interrupt or otherwise abridge the careof our bodily sustenance to shew by this kinde of outward exercise the serious intention of our mindes fixed on Heavenlier and better desires the earnest hunger and thirst whereof depriveth the body of those usual contentments which otherwise are not denied unto it These being in Nature the first causes that induce fasting the next thing which followeth to be considered is the ancient practice thereof amongst the Jews Touching whose private voluntary Fasts the Precept which our Saviour gave them was When ye fast look not sour as Hypocrites For they dis-figure their faces that they might seem to men to fast Verily I say unto you they have their reward When thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face that thou seem not unto men to fast but unto thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret will reward thee openly Our Lord and Saviour would not teach the manner of doing much less propose a reward for doing that which were not both holy and acceptable in Gods sight The Pharisees weekly bound themselves unto double Fasts neither are they for this reproval Often Fasting which was a vertue in Iohns Disciples could not in them of it self be a vice and therefore not the oftenness of their Fasting but their hypocrisie therein was blamed Of publick enjoyned Fasts upon causes extraordinary the examples in Scripture are so far frequent that they need no particular rehearsal Publick extraordinary Fastings were sometimes for one onely day sometimes for three sometimes for seven Touching Fasts not appointed for any such extraordinary causes but either yearly or monethly or weekly observed and kept First Upon the nineth day of that moneth the tenth whereof was the Feast of Expiation they were commanded of God that every Soul year by year should afflict it self Their yearly Fasts every fourth moneth in regard of the City of Ierusalem entred by the Enemy every fifth for the memory of the overthrow of their Temple every seventh for the treacherous destruction and death of Gedaliah the very last stay which they had to lean unto in their greatest misery every tenth in remembrance
great matter Finally Seeing that both are Ordinances were devised for the good of Man and yet not Man created purposely for them as for other Offices of Vertue whereunto Gods immutable Law for ever tieth it is but equity to wish or admonish that where by uniform order they are not as yet received the example of Victors extremity in the one and of Iohns Disciples curiosity in the other be not followed yea where they are appointed by Law that notwithstanding we avoid Judaism and as in Festival days mens necessities for matter of labour so in times of Fasting regard be had to their imbecillities lest they should suffer harm doing good Thus therefore we see how these two Customes are in divers respects equal But of Fasting the use and exercise though less pleasant is by so much more requisite than the other as grief of necessity is a more familiar guest then the contrary passion of mind albeit gladness to all men be naturally more welcome For first We our selves do many â—o things amiss than well and the fruit of our own ill doing is remorse because nature is conscious to it self that it should do the contrary Again forasmuch as the world over-aboundeth with malice and few are delighted in doing good unto other men there is no man so seldom crost as pleasured at the hands of others whereupon it cannot be chosen but every mans Woes must double in that respect the number and measure of his delights Besides concerning the very choice which oftentimes we are to make our corrupt inclination well considered there is cause why our Saviour should account them the happiest that do most mourn and why Solomon might judge it better to frequent mourning then Feasting-houses not better simply and in it self for then would Nature that way incline but in regard of us and our common weakness better Iob was not ignorant that his Childrens Banquets though teâ—diÌ„g to amity needed Sacrifice Neither doth any of us all need to be taught that in things which delight we easily swerve from mediocrity and are not easily led by a right direct line On the other side the Sores and Diseases of mind which inordinante pleasure breedeth are by Dolour and Grief cured For which cause as all offences use to seduce by pleasing so all punishments endeavour by vexing to reform transgressions We are of our own accord apt enough to give entertainment to things delectable but patiently to lack what flesh and blood doth desire and by Vertue to forbear what by Nature we covet this no man attaineth unto but with labour and long practice From hence it riseth that in former Ages abstinence and Fasting more then ordinary was always a special branch of their praise in whom it could be observed and known were they such as continually gave themselves to austere life of men that took often occasions in private vertuous respects to lay Solomons counsel aside Eat thy bread with joy and to be followers of Davids Example which saith I humbled my soul with fasting or but they who otherwise worthy of no great commendation have made of hunger some their Gain some their Physick some their Art that by mastering sensual Appetites without constraint they might grow able to endure hardness whensoever need should require For the body accustomed to emptiness pineth not away so soon as having still used to fill it self Many singular Effects there are which should make Fasting even in publick Considerations the rather to be accepted For I presume we are not altogether without experience how great their advantage is in martial Enterprizes that lead Armies of men trained in a School of Abstinence It is therefore noted at this day in some that patience of hunger and thirst hath given them many Victories in others that because if they want there is no man able to rule them not they in plenty to moderate themselves he which can either bring them to hunger or overcharge them is sure to make them their own overthrow What Nation soever doth feel these dangerous inconveniences may know that sloth and fulness in peaceable times at home is the cause thereof and the remedy a strict Observation of that part of Christian Discipline which teacheth men in practice of Ghostly warfare against themselves those things that afterwards may help them justly assaulting or standing in lawful defence of themselves against others The very purpose of the Church of God both in the number and in the order of her Fasts hath been not only to preserve thereby throughout all Ages the remembrance of miseries heretofore sustained and of the causes in our selves out of which they have risen that men considering the one might fear the other the more but farther also to temper the mind lest contrary affections coming in place should make it too profuse and dissolute in which respect it seemeth that Fasts have been set as Ushers of Festival days for prevention of those disorders as much as might be wherein notwithstanding the World always will deserve as it hath done blame because such evils being not possible to be rooted out the most we can do is in keeping them low and which is chiefly the fruit we look for to create in the minds of men a love towards a frugal and severe life to undermine the Palaces of wantonness to plant Parsimony as Nature where Riotousness hath been studied to harden whom pleasure would melt and to help the tumours which always Fulness breedeth that Children as it were in the Wool of their Infancy dyed with hardness may never afterwards change colour that the poor whose perpetual Fasts are of Necessity may with better contentment endure the hunger which Vertue causeth others so often to chuse and by advice of Religion it self so far to esteem above the contrary that they which for the most part do lead sensual and easie lives they which as the Prophet David describeth them are not plagued like other men may by the publick spectacle of all be still put in mind what themselves are Finally that every man may be every mans daily guide and example as well by fasting to declare humility as by praise to express joy in the sight of God although it have herein befallen the Church as sometimes David so that the speech of the one may be truly the voice of the other My soul fasted and even that was also turned to my reproof 73. In this world there can be no Society durable otherwise then only by propagation Albeit therefore single Life be a thing more Angelical and Divine yet sith the replenishing first of Earth with blessed Inhabitants and then of Heaven with Saints everlastingly praising God did depend upon conjunction of Man and Woman he which made all things compleat and perfect saw it could not be good to leave men without any Helper unto the sore-alledged end In things which some farther and doth cause to be desired choice
seeketh rather proportion then absolute perfection of goodness So that Woman being created for mans sake to be his Helper in regard of the end before mentioned namely the having and bringing up of Children whereunto it was not possible they could concur unless there were subalternation between them which subalternation is naturally grounded upon inequality because things equall in every respect are never willingly directed one by another Woman therefore was even in her first estate framed by Nature not only after in time but inferiour in excellency also unto Man howbeit in so due and sweet proportion as being presented before our eyes might be sooner perceived then defined And even herein doth lie the Reason why that kind of love which is the perfectest ground of Wedlock is seldome able to yield any reason of it self Now that which is born of Man must be nourished with far more travel as being of greater price in Nature and of slower pace to perfection then the Off-spring of any other Creature besides Man and Woman being therefore to joyn themselves for such a purpose they were of necessity to be linked with some straight and insoluble knot The bond of Wedlock hath been always more or less esteemed of as a thing Religious and Sacred The Title which the very Heathens themselves do thereunto oftentimes give is Holy Those Rites and Orders which were instituted in the Solemnization of Marriage the Hebrews term by the Name of Conjugal Sanctification Amongst our selves because sundry things appertaining unto the Publick Order of Matrimony are called in Question by such as know not from whence those Customs did first grow to shew briefly some true and sufficient Reason of them shall not be superfluous although we do not hereby intend to yield so far unto Enemies of all Church-Orders saving their own as though every thing were unlawful the true Cause and Reason whereof at the first might hardly perhaps be now rendred Wherefore to begin with the times wherein the liberty of Marriage is restrained There is saith Solomon a time for all things a time to laugh and a time to mourn That duties belonging unto Marriage and Offices appertaining to Pennance are things unsuitable and unfit to be matched together the Prophets and Apostles themselves do witness Upon which ground as we might right well think it marvellous absurd to see in a Church a Wedding on the day of a publick Fast so likewise in the self-same consideration our Predecessors thought it not amiss to take away the common liberty of Marriages during the time which was appointed for preparation unto and for exercise of General Humiliation by Fasting and praying weeping for sins As for the delivering up of the woman either by her Father or by some other we must note that in ancient times all women which had not Husbands nor Fathers to govern them had their Tutors without whose Authority there was no act which they did warrantable And for this cause they were in Marriage delivered unto their Husbands by others Which custome retained hath still this use that it putteth Women in mind of a duty whereunto the very imbecillity of their nature and Sex doth bind them namely to be always directed guided and ordered by others although our Positive Laws do not tie them now as Pupils The custome of laying down Money seemeth to have been derived from the Saxons whose manner was to buy their Wives But seeing there is not any great cause wherefore the memory of that custome should remain it skilleth not much although we suffer it to lie dead even as we see it in a manner already worn out The Ring hath been always used as an especial pledge of Faith and Fidelity Nothing more fit to serve as a token of our purposed endless continuance in that which we never ought to revoke This is the cause wherefore the Heathens themselves did in such cases use the Ring whereunto Tertullian alluding saith That in ancient times No Woman was permitted to wear gold saving only upon one finger which her Husband had fastened unto himself with that Ring which was usually given for assurance of future Marriage The cause why the Christians use it as some of the Fathers think is either to testifie mutual love or rather to serve for a pledge of conjunction in heart and mind agreed upon between them But what right and custome is there so harmless wherein the wit of man bending it self to derision may not easily find out somewhat to scorn and jest at He that should have beheld the Jews when they stood with a four-cornered Garment spread over the heads of Espoused Couples while their Espousals were in making He that should have beheld their praying over a Cup and their delivering the same at the Marriage-feast with set Forms of Benediction as the Order amongst them was might being lewdly affected take thereat as just occasion of scornful cavil as at the use of the Ring in Wedlock amongst Christians But of all things the most hardly taken is the uttering of these words With my body I thee worship In which words when once they are understood there will appear as little cause as in the rest for any wise man to be offended First therefore inasmuch as unlawful copulation doth pollute and dishonour both parties this Protestation that we do worship and honour another with our bodies may import a denial of all such Lets and Impediments to our knowledge as might cause any stain blemish or disgrace that way which kind of construction being probable would easily approve that speech to a peaceable and quiet mind Secondly in that the Apostle doth so expresly affirm that parties unmarried have not any longer entire power over themselves but each hath interest in others person it cannot be thought an absurd construction to say that worshipping with the body is the imparting of that interest in the body unto another which none before had save only our selves But if this were the natural meaning the words should perhaps be as requisite to be used on the one side as on the other and therefore a third sense there is which I rather rely upon Apparent it is that the ancient difference between a lawful Wife and a Concubine was only in the different purpose of man betaking himself to the one or the other If his purpose were only fellowship there grew to the Woman by this means no worship at all but the contrary In professing that his intent was to add by his person honour and worship unto hers he took her plainly and cleerly to Wife This is it which the Civil Law doth mean when it maketh a Wife to differ from a Concubine in dignity a Wife to be taken where Conjugal honour and affection do go before The worship that grew unto her being taken with declaration of this intent was that her children became by this mean legitimate and free her self was
presume him as willing to forego for our benefit as alwayes to use and convert to our benefit whatsoever our Religion hath honoured him withall But surely under the name of that which may be many things that should not be are often done By means whereof the Church most commonly for Gold hath Flanel and whereas the usual Saw of old was Glaucus his change the Proverb is now A Church-bargain And for fear left Covetousness alone should linger out the time too much and not be able to make havock of the House of God with that expedition which the mortal enemy thereof did vehemently wish he hath by certain strong inchantments so deeply bewitcht Religion it self as to make it in the end an earnest Sollicitour and an eloquent Perswader of Sacriledge urging confidently that the very best service which men of Power can do to Christ is without any more Ceremony to sweep all and to leave the Church as hare as in the day it was first born that fulness of bread having made the Children of the Houshold wanton it is without any scruple to be taken away from them and thrown to Doggs that they which laid the prices of their Lands as offerings at the Apostles feet did but sow the seeds of Superstition that they which indowed Churches with Lands poysoned Religion that Tythes and Oblations are now in the sight of God as the sacrificed bloud of Goats that if we give him our hearts and affections our goods are better bestowed otherwise that Polycarp's Disciple should not have said We offer unto God our goods as tokens of thankfulness for that we receive neither Origen He which worshippeth God must by Gifts and oblations acknowledge him the Lord of all In a word that to give unto God is errour reformation of errour to take from the Church that which the blindness of former Ages did unwisely give By these or the like suggestions received with all joy and with like sedulity practised in certain parts of the Christian world they have brought to passe that as David doth say of Man so it is in hazard to be verified concerning the whole Religion and Service of God The time thereof may peradventure fall out to be threescore and ten years or if strength do serve unto fourscore what followeth is likely to be small joy for them whatsoever they be that behold it Thus have the best things been overthrown not so much by puissance and might of Adversaries as through defect of counsel in them that should have upheld and defended the same 80. There are in a Minister of God these four things to be considered his Ordination which giveth him power to meddle with things sacred the charge or portion of the Church allotted unto him for exercise of his Office the performance of his Duty according to the exigence of his Charge and lastly the maintenance which in that respect he receiveth All Ecclesiastical Lawes and Canons which either concern the bestowing or the using of the power of Ministerial Order have relation to these four Of the first we have spoken before at large Concerning the next for more convenient discharge of Eclcesiastical Duties as the body of the People must needs be severed by divers Precincts so the Clergy likewise accordingly distributed Whereas therefore Religion did first take place in Cities and in that respect was a cause why the name of Pagans which properly signifieth a Countrey people came to be used in common speech for the same that Infidels and Unbelievers were it followed thereupon that all such Cities had their Ecclesiastical Colledges consisting of Deacons and of Presbyters whom first the Apostles or their Delegates the Evangelists did both ordain and govern Such were the Colledges of Ierusalem Antioch Ephesus Rome Corinth and the rest where the Apostles are known to have planted our Faith and Religion Now because Religion and the cure of Souls was their general charge in common over all that were near about them neither had any one Presbyter his several Cure apart till Evaristus Bishop in the See of Rome about the year 112. began to assign Precincts unto every Church or Title which the Christians held and to appoint unto each Presbyter a certain compasse whereof himself should take charge alone the commodiousnesse of this invention caused all parts of Christendom to follow it and at the length amongst the rest our own Churches about the year 636. became divided in like manner But other distinction of Churches there doth not appear any in the Apostles Writings save onely according to those Cities wherein they planted the Gospel of Christ and erected Ecclesiastical Colledges Wherefore to ordain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 throughout every City and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 throughout every Church doe in them signifie the same thing Churches then neither were nor could be in so convenient sort limited as now they are first by the bounds of each state and then within each state by more particular Precincts till at the length we descend unto several Congregations termed Parishes with farr narrower restraint than this Name at the first was used And from hence hath grown their errour who as oft as they read of the duty which Ecclesiastical Persons are now to perform towards the Church their manner is alwayes to understand by that Church some particular Congregation of Parish Church They suppose that there should now be no man of Ecclesiastical Order which is not tyed to some certain Parish Because the names of all Church-Officers are words of relation because a Shepheard must have his Flock a Teacher his Scholars a Minister his Company which he ministreth unto therefore it seemeth a thing in their eyes absurd and unreasonable that any man should be ordained a Minister otherwise than onely for some particular Congregation Perceive they not how by this meane they make it unlawful for the Church to imploy men at all in converting Nations For if so be the Church may not lawfully admit to an Ecclesiastical Function unlesse it tye the party admitted unto some particular Parish then surely a thanklesse labour it is whereby men seek the Conversion of Infidels which know not Christ and therefore cannot be as yet divided into their special Congregations and Flocks But to the end it may appear how much this one thing amongst many more hath been mistaken there is first no Precept requiring that Presbyters and Deacons be made in such sort and not otherwise Albeit therefore the Apostles did make them in that order yet is not their Example such a Law as without all exception bindeth to make them in no other order but that Again if we will consider that which the Apostles themselves did surely no man can justly say that herein we practise any thing repugnant to their example For by them there was ordained onely in each Christian City a Colledge of Presbyters and Deacons to administer holy things Evaristus did a hundred years after
the Children of disobedience On the other to lovers of righteousness all grace and benediction Yet between these extreams that eternal God from whose unspotted justice and undeserved mercy the lot of each inheritance proceedeth is so inclinable rather to shew compassion then to take revenge that all his speeches in holy Scripture are almost nothing else but entreaties of men to prevent destruction by amendment of their wicked lives All the works of his providence little other then meer allurements of the just to continue stedfast and of the unrighteous to change their course All his dealings and proceedings towards true Converts as have even filled the grave writings of holy men with these and the like most sweet sentences Repentance if I may so speak stoppeth God in his way when being provoked by crimes past he cometh to revenge them with most just punishments Yea it tyeth as it were the hands of the Avenger and doth not suffer him to have his will Again The merciful eye of God towards Men hath no power to withstand Penitency at what time soever it comes in presence And again God doth not take it so in evil part though we wound that which he hath required us to keep whole as that after we have taken hurt there should be in us no desire to receive his help Finally lest I be carried too far in so large a Sea There was never any Man condemned of God but for neglect nor justified except he had care of Repentance From these considerations setting before our eyes our inexcusable both unthankfulness in disobeying so merciful foolishness in provoking so powerful a God there ariseth necessarily a pensive and corrosive desire that we had done otherwise a desire which suffereth us to foreslow no time to feel no quietness within our selves to take neither sleep nor food with contentment never to give over Supplications Confessions and other penitent Duties till the light of Gods reconciled favour shine in our darkned soul. Fulgentius asking the question Why Davids confession should be held for effectual Penitence and not Saul's answereth that the one hated Sin the other feared only punishment in this world Sauls acknowledgement of Sin was Fear David's both fear and also love This was the Fountain of Peters Tears this the Life and Spirit of Davids eloquence in those most admirable Hymns intituled Penitential where the words of sorrow for Sin do melt the very Bowels of God remitting it and the Comforts of Grace in remitting Sin carry him which sorrowed rapt as it were into Heaven with extasies of joy and gladness The first motive of the Ninevites unto Repentance was their belief in a Sermon of Fear but the next and most immediate an Axiom of Love Who can tell whether God will turn away his fierce wrath that we perish notâ— No conclusion such as theirs Let every man turn from his evil way but out of premisses such as theirs were Fear and Love Wherefore the Well-spring of Repentance is Faith first breeding Fear and then Love which Love causes hope hope resolution of Attempt I will go to my Father and say I have sinned against Heaven and against thee that is to say I will do what the Duty of a Convert requireth Now in a Penitent's or Convert's duty there are included first the aversion of the will from Sin secondly the submission of our selves to God by supplication and Prayer thirdly the purpose of a new life testified with present works of amendment Which three things do very well seem to be comprised in one definition by them which handle Repentance as a vertue that hateth bewaileth and sheweth a purpose to amend Sin We offend God in thought word and deed To the first of which three they make Contrition to the second Confession and to the last our works of Satisfaction answerable Contrition doth not here import those sudden Pangs and Convulsions of the mind which cause sometimes the most forsaken of God to retract their own doings it is no Natural passion or anguish which riseth in us against our wills but a deliberate aversion of the Will of Man from Sin which being alwaies accompanied with grief and grief oftentimes partly with tears partly with other external signs it hath been thought that in these things Contrition doth chiefly consist whereas the chiefest thing in Contrition is that alteration whereby the Will which was before delighted with Sin doth now abhorr and shun nothing more But forasmuch as we cannot hate Sin in our selves without heaviness and grief that there should be in us a thing of such hatefull quality the Will averted from Sin must needs make the affection suitable yea great reason why it should so do For since the Will by conceiving Sin hath deprived the Soul of Life and of life there is not recovery without Repentance the death of Sin Repentance not able to kill Sin but by withdrawing the Will from it the Will unpossible to be withdrawn unless it concur with a contrary affection to that which accompanied it before in evill Is it not clear that as an inordinate delight did first begin sin so Repentance must begin with a just sorrow a sorrow of heart and such a sorrow as renteth the heart neither a feigned nor sleight sorrow not feigned blest it increase Sin nor sleight lest the pleasures of Sin over-match itâ—â—â—ef Wher ore of Grace the highest cause from which Mans Penitency doth proceed of Faith Fear Love Hope what force and efficiency they have in Repentance of Parts and Duties thereunto belonging comprehended in the Schoolmens definitions finally of the first among those Duties Contrition which disliketh and bewaileth iniquity let this suffice And because God will have Offences by Repentance not only abhorred within our selves but also with humble Supplication displayed before Him and a testimony of amendment to be given even by present works worthy Repentance in that they are contrary to those we renounce and disclaim Although the vertue of Repentance do require that her other two parts Consession and Satisfaction should here follow yet seeing they belong as well to the Discipline as to the vertue of Repentance and only differ for that in the one they are performed to Man in the other to God alone I had rather distinguish them in joynt-handling then handle them apart because in quality and manner of practise they are distinct Of the Discipline of Repentance instituted by Christ practised by the Fathers converted by the School-men into a Sacrament and of Confession that which belongeth to the vertue of Repentance that which was used among the Iews that which the Papacy imagineth a Sacrament and that which Antient Discipline practised 1. OUr Lord and Saviour in the sixteenth of St. Matthews Gospel giveth his Apostles Regiment in General over Gods Church For they that have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are thereby signified to be Stewards of the House of God under whom they Guide Command Judge and
satisfied if they accept it as sufficient and require no more Otherwise we satisfie not although we do satisfie For so between man and man it oftentimes falleth out but between man and God never It is therefore true that our Lord Jesus Christ by one most precious and propitiatory Sacrifice which was his Body a Gift of infinite worth offered for the Sins of the whole World hath thereby once reconciled us to God purchased his general free pardon and turned Divine indignation from mankinde But we are not for that cause to think any office of Penitence either needless or fruitless on our own behalf For then would not God require any such Duties at our hands Christ doth remain everlastingly a gracious Intercessour even for every particular Penitent Let this assure us that God how highly soever displeased and incensed with our Sins is notwithstanding for his sake by our Tears pacified taking that for Satisfaction which is due by us because Christ hath by his Satisfaction made it acceptable For as he is the High Priest of our Salvation so he hath made us Priests likewise under him to the end we might offer unto God praise and thankfulness while we continue in the way of life and when we sin the satisfactory or propitiatory sacrifice of a broken and a contrite Heart There is not any thing that we do that could pacifie God and clear us in his sight from sin if the goodness and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ were not whereas now beholding the poor offer of our religions endeavours meekly to submit our selves as often as we have offended he regardeth with infinite mercy those services which are as nothing and with words of comfort reviveth our afflicted mindes saying It â— I even I that taketh away thine Iniquities for mine own sake Thus doth Repentance satisfie God changing his wrath and indignation unto mercy Anger and mercy are in us Passions but in him not so God saith Saint Basil is no wayes passionate but because the punishments which his judgment doth inflict are like effect of indignation severe and grievous to such as suffer them therefore we term the revenge which he taketh upon Sinners anger and the withdrawing of his plagues mercy His wrath saith St. Augustin is not as ours the trouble of a minde disturbed and disquieted with things amiss but a ralm unpassionate and just assignation of dreadful punishment to be their portion which have disobeyed his mercy a free determination of all felicity and happiness unto men except their sins remain as a bar between it and them So that when God doth cease to be angry with sinful men when he receiveth them into favour when he pardoneth their offences and remembreth their iniquities no more for all these signifie but one thing it must needs follow that all punishments before due is revenge of sinne whether they be Temporal or Eternal are remitted For how should God's indignation import only man's punishment and yet some punishment remain unto them towards whom there is now in God no indignation remaining God saith Tertullian takes Penitency at mens hands and men at his in lieu thereof receive impunity which notwithstanding doth not prejudice the chastisements which God after pardon hath laid upon some Offenders as on the people of Israel on Moses on Miriam on David either for their own more sound amendment or for example unto others in this present world for in the World to come punishments have unto these intents no use the dead being not in case to be better by correction nor to take warning by executions of God's Justice there seen but assuredly to whomsoever he remitteth sinne their very pardon is in it self a full absolute and perfect discharge for revengeful punishment which God doth now here threaten but with purpose of revocation if men repent no where inflict but on them whom impenitency maketh obdurate Of the one therefore it is said Though I tell the wicked Thou shalt dye the death yet if he turneth from his sinne and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live and not dye Of the other Thou according to thine hardness and heart that will not repent treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and evident appearance of the judgement of God If God be satisfied and do pardon sinne our justification restored is as perfect as it was at the first bestowed For so the Prophet Isaiah witnesseth Though your sinnes were as crimson they shall be made as white as snow though they were as scarlet they shall be as white as wool And can we doubt concerning the punishment of Revenge which was due to sinne but that if God be satisfied and have forgotten his wrath it must be even as Saint Augustine reasoneth What God hath covered he will not observe and what he observeth not he will not punish The truth of which Doctrine is not to be shifted off by restraining it unto eternal punishment alone For then would not David have said They are blessed to whom God imputeth not sinne Blessednesse having no part or fellowship at all with malediction Whereas to be subject to Revenge for Sinne although the punishment be but temporal is to be under the curse of the Law wherefore as one and the same Fire consumeth Stubble and refineth Gold so if it please God to lay punishment on them whose sinnes he hath forgiven yet is not this done for any destructive end of wasting and eating them out as in plagues inflicted upon the Impenitent neither is the punishment of the one as of the other proportioned by the greatness of sinne past but according to that future purpose whereunto the goodness of God referreth it and wherein there is nothing meant to the Sufferer but furtherance of all happiness now in grace and hereafter in glory Saint Augustin to stop the mouths of Pelagians arguing That if God had imposed death upon Adam and Adam's posterity as a punishment of sinne death should have ceased when God procured Sinners their pardon Answereth first It is no marvel either that bodily death should not have hapned to the first man unlesse he had first sinned death as punishment following his sinne or that after sinne is forgiven death notwithstanding befalleth the Faithful to the end that the strength of righteousness might be exercised by overcoming the fear thereof So that justly God did inflict bodily death on man for committing Sinne and yet after Sinne forgiven took it not away that his Righteousness might still have whereby to be exercised He fortifieth this with David's example whose sinne he forgave and yet afflicted him for exercise and tryal of his humility Briefly a general axiome he hath for all such chastisements Before forgiveness they are the punishment of Sinners and after forgiveness they are exercises and tryals of Righteous men Which kinde of proceeding is so agreeable with God's nature and man's comfort that it
which they are called Seals of God's Truth The Spirit affixed unto those Elements and Words power of operation within the Soul most admirable divine and impossible to be exprest For so God hath instituted and ordained that together with due administration and receit of Sacramental signs there shall proceed from himself Grace effectual to Sanctifie to Cure to Comfort and whatsoever else is for the good of the Souls of Men. Howbeit this opinion Thomas rejecteth under pretence that it maketh Sacramental Words and Elements to be in themselves no more than signes whereas they ought to be held as causes of that they signifie He therefore reformeth it with this addition that the very sensible parts of the Sacraments do Instrumentally effect and produce not Grace for the Schoolmen both of these times and long after did for the most part maintain it untrue and some of them unpossible that sanctifying Grace should efficiently proceed but from God alone and that by immediate creation as the substance of the Soul doth but the phantasie which Thomas had was that sensible things through Christ's and the Priest's Benediction receive a certain supernatural transitory force which leaveth behinde it a kinde of preparative quality or beauty within the Soul whereupon immediately from God doth ensue the Grace that justifieth Now they which pretend to follow Thomas differ from him in two points For first they make Grace an immediate effect of the outward signe which he for the dignity and excellency thereof was afraid to do Secondly Whereas he to produce but a preparative quality in the Soul did imagine God to create in the Instrument a supernatural Gift or hability They confesse that nothing is created infused or any way inherent either in the Word or in the Elements nothing that giveth them Instrumental efficacy but Gods mere motion or application Are they able to explain unto us or themselves to conceive what they mean when they thus speak For example let them teach us in the Sacrament of Baptisme what it is for Water to be moved till it bring forth Grace The application thereof by the Minister is plain to sense The force which it hath in the minde as a moral instrument of Information or Instruction we know by reason and by Faith we understand how God doth assist it with his Spirit Whereupon ensueth the Grace which Saint Cyprian did in himself observe saying After the bathe of Regeneration having scowred out the stained foulnesse of former life supernatural light had entrance into the Breast which was purified and cleansed for it After that a second nativity had made another man by inward receipt of the Spirit from Heaven things doubtful began in marvellous manner to appear certain that to be open which lay hid Darknesse to shine like the clear light former hardnesse to be made facility impossibility casinesse Insomuch as it might be discerned how that was earthly which before had been carnally bred and lived given over unto Sinnes That now God's own which the Holy Ghost did quicken Our Opinion is therefore plain unto every man's understanding We take it for a very good speech which Bonaventure hath uttered in saying Heed must be taken that while we assigne too much to the bodily signes in way of their Commendation we withdraw not the honour which is due to the Cause which worketh in them and the Soul which receiveth them Whereunto we conformably teach that the outward signe applyed hath of it self no natural efficacy towards Grace neither doth God put into it any supernatural inherent Vertue And as I think we thus farre avouch no more than they themselves confesse to be very true If any thing displease them it is because we adde to these Premises another assertion That with the outward signe God joyneth his Holy Spirit and so the whole Instrument of God bringeth that to passe whereunto the baser and meaner part could not extend As for operations through the motions of signes they are dark intricate and obscure perhaps possible howbeit not proved either true or likely by alledging that the touch of our Saviour's Garment restored Health Clay Sight when he applyed it Although ten thousand such Examples should be brought they overthrow not this one Principle That where the Instrument is without inherent the Effect must necessarily proceed from the onely Agents adherent power It passeth a man's conceit how water should be carried into the Soul with any force of Divine motion or Grace proceed but merely from the influence of God's Spirit Notwithstanding if God himself teach his Church in this case to believe that which he hath not given us capacity to comprehend how incredible soever it may seem yet our Wits should submit themselves and Reason give place unto Faith therein But they yield it to be no question of Faith how Grace doth proceed from Sacraments if in general they be acknowledged true instrumental Causes by the Ministry whereof men receive Divine Grace And that they which impute Grace to the onely operation of God himself concurring with the external sign do no lesse acknowledge the true efficacy of the Sacrament then they that ascribe the same to the quality of the sign applyed or to the motion of God applying and so farr carrying it till Grace be not created but extracted out of the natural possibility of the Soul Neverthelesse this last Philosophical imagination if I may call it Philosophical which useth the terms but overthroweth the rules of Philosophy and hath no Article of Faith to support it but whatsoever it be they follow it in a manner all they cast off the first opinion wherein is most perspicuity and strongest evidence of certain truth The Councel of Florence and Trent defining that Sacraments contain and conferr Grace the sense whereof if it liked them might so easily conform it self with the same opinion which they drew without any just cause quite and clean the other way making Grace the issue of bare words in such Sacraments as they have framed destitute of any visible Element and holding it the off-spring as well of Elements as of Words in those Sacraments where both are but in no Sacrament acknowledging Grace to be the fruit of the Holy Ghost working with the outward signe and not by it in such sort as Thomas himself teacheth That the Apostles Imposition of Hands caused not the comming of the Holy Ghost which notwithstanding was bestowed together with the exercise of that Ceremony Yea by it saith the Evangelist to wit as by a mean which came between the true Agent and the Effect but not otherwise Many of the Antient Fathers presupposing that the Faithful before Christ had not till the time of his comming that perfect Life and Salvation which they looked for and we possesse thought likewise their Sacraments to be but prefigurations of that which ours in present do exhibit For which cause the Florentine Councel comparing the one with the
other saith That the old did onely shadow Grace which was afterward to be given through the passion of Iesus Christ. But the after-wit of latter daies hath found out another more exquisite distinction That Evangelical Sacraments are causes to effect Grace through motions of signes legal according to the same signification and sense wherein Evangelical Sacraments are held by us to be God's Instruments for that purpose For howsoever Bellarmine hath shrunk up the Lutherans sinews and cut off our Doctrine by the skirts Allen although he terms us Hereticks according to the usual bitter venom of his first style doth yet ingenuously confess That the old School-mens Doctrine and ours is one concerning Sacramental efficacy derived from God himself assisting by promise those outward signes of Elements and Words out of which their School-men of the newer mint are so desirous to hatch Grace Where God doth work and use these outward means wherein he neither findeth nor planteth force and aptnesse towards his intended purpose such means are but signes to bring men to the consideration of his Omnipotent Power which without the use of things sensible would not be marked At the time therefore when he giveth his Heavenly Grace he applyeth by the hands of his Ministers that which betokeneth the same nor only betokeneth but being also accompanied for ever with such Power as doth truly work is in that respect termed God's Instrument a true efficient cause of Grace a cause not in it self but onely by connexion of that which is in it self a cause namely God's own Strength and Power Sacraments that is to say the outward signes in Sacraments work nothing till they be blessed and sanctified by God But what is God's Heavenly Benediction and Sanctification saving onely the association of his Spirit Shall we say that Sacraments are like Magical signes if thus they have their effect Is it Magick for God to manifest by things sensible what he doth and to do by his most glorious Spirit really what he manifesteth in his Sacraments The delivery and administration whereof remaineth in the hands of mortal men by whom as by personal Instruments God doth apply signes and with signes inseparably joyn his Spirit and through the power of his Spirit work Grace The first is by way of concomitance and consequence to deliver the rest also that either accompany or ensue It is not here as in Cases of mutual Commerce where divers Persons have divers acts to be performed in their own behalf a Creditor to shew his Bill and a Debtor to pay his Money But God and Man doe here meet in one Action upon a Third in whom as it is the work of God to create Grace so it is his work by the hand of the Ministry to apply a sign which should betoken and his work to annex that Spirit which shall effect it The Action therefore is but one God the Author thereof and Man a Co-partner by him assigned to work for with and under him God the Giver of Grace by the outward Ministery of man so farr forth as he authorizeth man to apply the Sacraments of Grace in the Soul which he alone worketh without either Instrument or Co-agent Whereas therefore with us the remission of Sinne is ascribed unto God as a thing which proceedeth from him only and presently followeth upon the vertue of true Repentance appearing in man that which we attribute to the vertue they do not only impute to the Sacrament of Repentance but having made Repentance a Sacrament and thinking of Sacraments as they do they are enforced to make the Ministry of the Priests and their Absolution a cause of that which the sole Omnipotency of God worketh And yet for my own part I am not able well to conceive how their Doctrine That human Absolution is really a cause out of which our Deliverance from Sinne doth ensue can cleave with the Council of Trent defining That Contrition perfected with Charity doth at all times it self reconcile offenders to God before they come to receive actually the Sacrament of Penance How it can stand with those Discourses of the learned Rabbies which grant That whosoever turneth unto God with his whole heart hath immediately his Sinnes taken away That if a man he truly converted his Pardon can neither be denyed nor delayed It doth not stay for the Priest's Absolution but presently followeth Surely if every contrite Sinner in whom there is Charity and a sincere conversion of Heart have Remission of Sinnes given him before he seek it at the Priest's hands if reconciliation to God be a present and immediate sequel upon every such Conversion or Change It must of necessity follow seeing no man can be a true Penitent or Contrite which doth not both love God and sincerely abhor Sinne that therefore they all before Absolution attain Forgivenesse whereunto notwithstanding Absolution is pretended a Cause so necessary that Sinne without it except in some rare extraordinary Case cannot possibly be remitted Shall Absolution be a Cause producing and working that Effect which is alwayes brought forth without it and had before Absolution be thought of But when they which are thus before-hand pardoned of God shall come to be also assoiled by the Priest I would know what force his Absolution hath in this case Are they able to say here that the Priest doth remit any thing Yet when any of ours ascribeth the Work of Remission to God and interpreteth the Priests Sentence to be but a solemn Declaration of that which God himself hath already performed they scorn at it they urge against it that if this were true our Saviour Christ should rather have said What is loosed in Heaven ye shall loose on Earth then as he doth Whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall in Heaven be loosed As if he were to learn of us how to place his words and not we to crave rather of him a sound and right understanding lest to his dishonour and our own hurt we mis-expound them It sufficeth I think both against their constructions to have proved that they ground an untruth on his speech and in behalf of our own that his words without any such transposition do very well admit the sense we give them which is that he taketh to himself the lawfull proceedings of Authority in his Name and that the Act of Spiritual Authority in this case is by Sentence to acquit or pronounce them free from sinne whom they judge to be sincerely and truly penitent which Interpretation they themselves do acknowledge though not sufficient yet very true Absolution they say declareth indeed but this is not all for it likewise maketh innocent which addition being an untruth proved our truth granted hath I hope sufficiency without it and consequently our opinion therein neither to be challenged as untrue nor as unsufficient To rid themselves out of these Bryars and to make Remission of Sinnes an effect of Absolution notwithstanding that which hitherto hath been said
much concerning that Local Compass which was antiently set out to Bishops within the bounds and limits whereof we finde that they did accordingly exercise that Episcopal Authority and power which they had over the Church of Christ. IX The first whom we read to have bent themselves against the Superiority of Bishops were Aerius and his Followers Aerius seeking to be made a Bishop could not brook that Eustathius was thereunto preferred before him Whereas therefore he saw himself unable to rise to that greatness which his ambitious pride did affect his way of revenge was to try what Wit being sharpned with envy and malice could do in raising a new seditious opinion that the Superiority which Bishops had was a thing which they should not have that a Bishop might not ordain and that a Bishop ought not any way to be distinguished from a Presbyter For so doth St. Augustin deliver the opinion of Aerius Epiphanius not so plainly nor so directly but after a more Rhetorical sort His Speech was rather furious than convenient for man to use What is saith he a Bishop more than a Presbyter The one doth differ from the other nothing For their Order as one their Honour one one their Dignity A Bishop imposeth his hands so doth a Presbyter A Bishop baptizeth the like doth a Presbyter The Bishop is a Minister of Divine Service a Presbyter is the same The Bishop sitteth as a Iudge in a Throne even the Presbyter fitteth also A Presbyter therefore doing thus far the self-same thing which a Bishop did it was by Aerius inforced that they ought not in any thing to differ Are we to think Aerius had wrong in being judged an Heretick for holding this opinion Surely if Heresie be an error falsely fathered upon Scriptures but indeed repugnant to the truth of the Word of God and by the consent of the universal Church in the Councils or in her contrary uniform practice throughout the whole world declared to be such and the opinion of Aerius in this point be a plain error of that nature there is no remedy but Aerius so schismatically and stifly maintaining it must even stand where Epiphanius and Augustin have placed him An error repugnant unto the truth of the Word of God is held by them whosoever they be that stand in defence of any Conclusion drawn erroneously out of Scripture and untruely thereon fathered The opinion of Aerius therefore being falsely collected out of Scripture must needs be acknowledged an error repugnant unto the truth of the Word of God His opinion was that there ought not to be any difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter His grounds and reasons for this Opinion were Sentences of Scripture Under pretence of which Sentences whereby it seemed that Bishops and Presbyters at the first did not differ it was concluded by Aerius that the Church did ill in permitting any difference to be made The Answer which Epiphanius maketh unto some part of the proofs by Aerius alleged was not greatly studied or labored for through a contempt of so base an error for this himself did perceive and profess yieldeth he thereof expresly this reason Men that have wit do evidently see that all this is meer foolishness But how vain and ridiculous soever his opinion seemed unto wise men with it Aerius deceived many for which cause somewhat was convenient to be said against it And in that very extemporal slightness which Epiphanius there useth albeit the answer made to Aerius be in part but raw yet ought not hereby the Truth to finde any less favour than in other Causes it doth where we do not therefore judge Heresie to have the better because now and then it alledgeth that for it self which Defenders of Truth do not always so fully answer Let it therefore suffice that Aerius did bring nothing unanswerable The weak Solutions which the one doth give are to us no prejudice against the Cause as long as the others oppositions are of no greater strength and validity Did not Aerius trow you deserve to be esteemed as a new Apollos mighty and powerful in the Word which could for maintenance of his Cause bring forth so plain Divine Authorities to prove by the Apostles own Writings that Bishops ought not in any thing to differ from other Presbyters For example where it is said that Presbyters made Timothy Bishop is it not clear that a Bishop should not differ from a Presbyter by having power of Ordination Again if a Bishop might by Order be distinguished from a Presbyter would the Apostle have given as he doth unto Presbyters the Title of Bishops These were the invincible demonstrations wherewith Aerius did so fiercely assault Bishops But the Sentence of Aerius perhaps was only that the difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter hath grown by the order and custom of the Church the Word of God not appointing that any such difference should be Well let Aerius then finde the favour to have his Sentence so construed yet his fault in condemning the order of the Church his not submitting himself unto that Order the Schism which he caused in the Church about it who can excuse No the truth is that these things did even necessarily ensue by force of the very opinion which he and his followers did hold His conclusion was That there ought to be no difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop His proofs those Scripture-sentences which make mention of Bishops and Presbyters without any such distinction or difference So that if between his Conclusion and the Proofs whereby he laboured to strengthen the same there be any shew of coherence at all we must of necessity confess that when Aerius did plead There is by the Word of God no difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop his meaning was not only that the Word of God it self appointeth nor but that it enforceth on us the duty of not appointing nor allowing that any such difference should be made X. And of the self-same minde are the Enemies of Government by Bishops even at this present day They hold as Aerius did that if Christ and his Apostles were obeyed a Bishop should not be permitted to ordain that between a Presbyter and a Bishop the Word of God alloweth not any inequality or difference to be made that their Order their Authority their Power ought to be one that it is but by usurpation and corruption that the one sort are suffered to have rule of the other or to be any way superiour unto them Which opinion having now so many Defenders shall never be able while the World doth stand to finde in some believing Antiquity as much as one which hath given it countenance or born any friendly affection towards it Touching these men therefore whose desire is to have all equal three ways there are whereby they usually oppugn the received Order of the Church of Christ. First by disgracing the inequality of Pastors as a new
that the affairs of Christians should be brought into publick judgement Howbeit not without comfort in our Lord are these travels undertaken by us for the hopes sake of eternal life to the end that with patience we may reap fruit So farr is Saint Augustin from thinking it unlawful for Pastors in such sort to judge Civil Causes that he plainly collecteth out of the Apostles words a necessity to undertake that duty yea himself he comforteth with the hope of a blessed reward in lieu of travel that way sustained Again even where whole Christian Kingdoms are how troublesome were it for Universities and other greater Collegiate Societies erected to serve as Nurseries unto the Church of Christ if every thing which civilly doth concern them were to be carried from their own peculiar Governors because for the most part they are as fittest it is they should be Persons Ecclesiastical Calling It was by the wisdom of our famous Predecessors foreseen how unfit this would be and hereupon provided by grant of special Charters that it might be as now it is in the Universities where their Vice-Chancellors being for the most part Professors of Divinity are nevertheless Civil Judges over them in the most of their ordinary Causes And to go yet some degrees further A thing impossible it is not neither altogether unusual for some who are of royal blood to be consecrated unto the Ministry of Jesus Christ and so to be Nurses of God's Church not only as the Prophet did fore-tell but also as the Apostle Saint Paul was Now in case the Crown should by this mean descend unto such Persons perhaps when they are the very last or perhaps the very best of their Race so that a greater benefit they are not able to bestow upon a Kingdom than by accepting their right therein shall the sanctity of their Order deprive them of that honour whereunto they have right by blood or shall it be a barr to shut out the publick good that may grow by their vertuous Regiment If not then must they cast off the Office which they received by Divine Imposition of hands or if they carry a more religious opinion concerning that heavenly Function it followeth that being invested as well with the one as the other they remain God's lawfully anointed both ways With men of skill and mature judgement there is of this so little doubt that concerning such as at this day are under the Archbishops of Ments Colen and Travers being both Archbishops and Princes of the Empire yea such as live within the Popes own Civil Territories there is no cause why any should deny to yield them civil obedience in any thing which they command not repugnant to Christian Piety yea even that civilly for such as are under them not to obey them were the part of seditious Persons Howbeit for Persons Ecclesiastical thus to exercise Civil Dominion of their own is more than when they onely sustain some Publick Office or deal in some business Civil being thereunto even by Supream Authority required As Nature doth not any thing in vain so neither Grace Wherefore if it please God to bless some Principal Attendants on his own Sanctuary and to endue them with extraordinary parts of excellency some in one kinde some in another surely a great derogation it were to the very honour of him who bestowed so precious Graces except they on whom he hath bestowed them should accordingly be imployed that the fruit of those Heavenly Gifts might extend it self unto the Body of the Common-wealth wherein they live which being of purpose instituted for so all Common-wealths are to the end that all might enjoy whatsoever good it pleaseth the Almighty to endue each one with must needs suffer loss when it hath not the gain which eminent civil hability in Ecclesiastical Persons is now and then found apt to afford Shall we then discommend the People of Milan for using Ambrose their Bishop as an Ambassadour about their Publick and Politick Affairs the Jews for electing their Priests sometimes to be Leaders in Warr David for making the High Priest his Chiefest Counsellour of State Finally all Christian Kings and Princes which have appointed unto like services Bishops or other of the Clergy under them No! they have done in this respect that which most sincere and religious wisdom alloweth Neither is it allowable only when either a kinde of necessity doth cast Civil Offices upon them or when they are thereunto preferred in regard of some extraordinary fitness but further also when there are even of right annexed unto some of their places or of course imposed upon certain of their Persons Functions of Dignity and Account in the Common-wealth albeit no other consideration be had therein save this that their credit and countenance may by such means be augmented A thing if ever to be respected surely most of all now when God himself is for his own sake generally no where honoured Religion almost no where no where religiously adored the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments of Christ a very cause of disgrace in the eyes both of high and low where it hath not somewhat besides it self to be countenanced with For unto this very pass things are come that the glory of God is constrained even to stand upon borrowed credit which yet were somewhat the more tolerable if there were not that disswade to lead iâ— him No practise so vile but pretended Holynesse is made sometimes a Cloak to hide it The French King Philip Valois in his time made an Ordinance that all Prelates and Bishops shuâ—â—ld be clean excluded from Parliaments where the Affairs of the Kingdom were handled pretending that a King with good Conscience cannot draw Pastors having Cure of Souls from so weighty a business to trouble their Heads with Consultations of State But irreligious intents are not able to hide themselves no not when Holiness is made their Cloak This is plain and simple truth That the counsels of wicked men hate always the presence of them whose vertue though it should not be able to prevail against their purposes would notwithstanding be unto their minds a secret corrosive and therefore till either by one shift or another they can bring all things to their own hands alone they are not secure Ordinances holler and better there stand as yet in force by the grace of Almighty God and the works of his Providence amongst us Let not Envy so far prevail as to make us account that a Blemish which if there be in us any spark of sound Judgement or of religious Conscience we must of necessity acknowledge to be one of the chiefest Ornaments unto this Land By the antient Laws whereof the Clergy being held for the chief of those Three Estates which together make up the entire Body of this Common-wealth under one Supreme Head and Governour it hath all this time ever born a sway proportionable in the Weighty Affairs of the Land wise and vertuous Kings condescending
But in case there were no such appointed to sit and to hear both what would then he end of their quarrels They will answer perhaps That for purposes their Synids shall serve Which is as if in the Common-wealth the higher Magistrates being removed every Township should be a State altogether free and independent and the Controversies which they cannot end speedily within themselves to the contentment of both parties should be all determined by Solemn Parliaments Mercipul God! where is the light of Wit and Judgement which this age doth so much vaunt of and glory in when unto these such odd imaginations so great not only assent but also applause is yielded 6. As for those in the Clergy whose Place and Calling is lower were iâ— not that their eyes are blinded lest they should see the thing that of all others is for their good most effectal somewhat they might consider the benefit which they enjoy by having such in Authority over them as are of the self-same Profession Society and Body with them such as have trodden the same steps before such as know by their own experience the manifold intolerable contempts and indignities which faithful Pastors intermingled with the multitude are constrained every day to suffer in the exercise of their Spiritual Charge and Function unless their Superiours taking their Causes even to heart be by a kinde of sympathy drawn to relieve and aid them in their vertuous proceedings no less effectually than loving Parents their dear Children Thus therefore Prelacy being unto all sorts so beneficial ought accordingly to receive honor at the hands of all But we have just cause exceedingly to fear that those miserable times of confusion are drawing on wherein the people shall be oppressed one of another inasmuch as already that which prepareth the way thereunto is come to pass Children presume against the Antient and the Vile against the Honorable Prelacy the temperature of excesses in all Estates the glew and soder of the Publick weal the ligament which tieth and connecteth the limbs of this Bodie Politick each to other hath instead of deserved Honor all extremity of Disgrace the Foolish every where plead that unto the wise in heart they owe neither service subjection not honor XIX Now that we have laid open the causes for which Honor is due unto Prelates the next thing we are to consider is What kindes of Honor be due The good Government either of the Church or the Common-wealth dependeth scarcely on any one external thing so much as on the Publick Marks and Tokens whereby the estimation on that Governours are in is made manifest to the eyes of men True it is that Governors are to be esteemed according to the excellency of their vertues the more vertous they are the more they ought to be honored if respect be had unto that which every man should voluntarily perform unto his Superiors But the question is now of that Honor which Publick Order doth appoint unto Church-Governors in that they are Governors the end whereof is to give open sensible testimony that the Place which they hold is judged publickly in such degree beneficial as the marks of their excellency the Honors appointed to be done unto them do import Wherefore this honor we are to do them without presuming our selves to examine how worthy they are and withdrawing it if by us they be thought unworthy It is a note of that publick judgement which is given of them and therefore not tolerable that men in private should by refusal to do them such honor reverse as much as in them lyeth the Publick judgement If it deserve so grievous punishment when any particular Person adventureth to deface those marks whereby is signified what value some small piece of Coyn is publickly esteemed at is it sufferable that Honors the Character of that estimation which publickly is had of Publick Estates and Callings in the Church or Common-wealth should at every man's pleasure be cancelled Let us not think that without most necessary cause the same have been thought expedient The first Authors thereof were wise and judicious men they knew it a thing altogether impossible for each particular in the multitude to judge what benefit doth grow unto them from their Prelates and thereunto uniformly to yield them convenient honor Wherefore that all sorts might be kept in obedience and awe doing that unto their Superiors of every degree not which every man 's special fancy should think meet but which being before-hand agreed upon as meet by publick Sentence and Decision might afterwards stand as a rule for each in particular to follow they found that nothing was more necessary than to allet unto all degrees their certain honor as marks of publick judgement concerning the dignity of their Places which mark when the multitude should behold they might be thereby given to know that of such or such restimation their Governors are and in token thereof do carry those notes of excellency Hence it groweth that the different notes and signs of Honor do leave a correspondent impression in the mindes of common Beholders Let the people be asked Who are the chiefest in any kinde of Calling who whost to be listned unto who of greatest account and reputation and see if the very discourse of their mindes lead them not unto those sensible marks according to the difference whereof they give their suitable judgement esteeming them the worthiest persons who carry the principal note and publick mark of Worthiness If therefore they see in other estates a number of tokens sensible whereby testimony is given what account there is publickly made of them but no such thing in the Clergy what will they hereby or what can they else conclude but that where they behold this surely in that Common-wealth Religion and they that are conversant about it are not esteemed greatly beneficial Whereupon in time the open contempt of God and Godliness must needs ensue Qui bona fide Dcos colit amat Sacerdotes saith Papenius In vain doth that Kingdom or Common-wealth pretend zeal to the honor of God which doth not provide that his Clergy also may have honor Now if all that are imployed in the service of God should have one kinde of honor what more confused absurd and unseemly Wherefore in the honor which hath been allotted unto God's Clergy we are to observe how not only the kindes thereof but also in every particular kinde the degrees do differ The honor which the Clergy of God hath hitherto enjoyed consisteth especially in prcheminence of Title Place Ornament Attendance Priviledge Endowment In every of which it hath been evermore judge meet that there should be no small odds between Prelates and the inferior Clergy XX. Concerning Title albeit even as under the Law all they whom God had sesevered to offer him Sacrifice were generally termed Priests so likewise the name of Pastor or Presbyter be now common unto all that serve him in the
the Christian Clergy likewise Priests for their maintenance had those first-fruits of Cattel Coin Wine Oyl and other Commodities of the Earth which the Jews were accustomed yearly to present God with They had the price which was appointed for men to pay in lieu of the first-born of their Children and the price of the first born also amongst Cattel which were unclean They had the vowed Gifts of the People or the prices if they were redeemable by the Donors after vow as some things were They had the free and un-vowed Oblations of men They had the remainder of things sacrificed With Tythes the Levites were maintained and with the tythe of their Tythes the High-Priest In a word if the quality of that which God did assign to his Clergy be considered and their manner of receiving it without labour expence or charge it will appear that the Tribe of Levi being but the twelfth part of Israel had in effect as good as four twelfth parts of all such Goods as the holy Land did yield So that their Worldly Estate was four times as good as any other Tribes in Israel besides But the High-Priest's condition how ample to whom belonged the Tenth of all the Tythe of this Land especially the Law provicing also that as the people did bring the best of all things unto the Priests and Levites so the Levite should deliver the choice and flower of all their Commodities to the High-Priest and so his Tenth-part by that mean be made the very best part amongst ten by which proportion if the Levites were ordinarily in all not above thirty thousand men whereas when David numbred them he found almost thirty eight thousand above the age of thirty years the High-Priest after this very reckoning had as much as three or four thousand others of the Clergy to live upon Over and besides all this lest the Priests of Egypt holding Lands should seem in that respect better provided for than the Priests of the true God it pleased him further to appoint unto them forty and eight whole Cities with Territories of Land adjoyning to hold as their own free Inheritance for ever For to the end they might have all kinde of encouragement not onely to do what they ought but to take pleasure in that they did albeit they were expresly forbidden to have any part of the Land of Canaan laid out whole to themselves by themselves in such sort as the rest of the Tribes had forasmuch as the will of God was rather that they should throughout all Tribes be dispersed for the easier access of the People unto knowledge Yet were they not barred altogether to hold Land nor yet otherwise the worse provided for in respect of that former restraint for God by way of special preheminence undertook to feed them at his own Table and out of his own proper Treasury to maintain them that want and penury they might never feel except God himself did first receive injury A thing most worthy our consideration is the wisdom of God herein for the Common sort being prone unto envy and murmur little considereth of what necessity use and importance the sacred duties of the Clergy are and for that Cause hardly yieldeth them any such honor without repining and grudging thereat they cannot brook it that when they have laboured and come to reap there should so great a portion go out of the fruit of their Labours and he yielded up unto such as sweat nor for it But when the Lord doth challenge this as his own due and require it to be done by way of homage unto him whose mere liberality and goodness had raised them from a poor and servile estate to place them where they had all those ample and rich possessions they must be worse than Brute beasts if they would storm at any thing which He did receive at their hands And for him to bestow his own on his own Servants which liberty is not denied unto the meanest of men what man liveth that can think it other than most reasonable Wherefore no cause there was why that which the Clergy had should in any man's eye seem too much unless God himself were thought to be of an over-having disposition This is the mark whereat all those speeches drive Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his Brethren the Lord is his inheritance again To the Tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance the Sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel an inheritance of Levi again The tyths of the which they shall offer as an offering unto the Lord I have given the Levites for an inheritance and again All the heave-offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel shall offer unto the Lord I have given thee and thy sons and thy daughters with thee to be a duty for ever it is a perpetual Covenant of salt before the Lord. Now that if such provision be possible to be made the Christian Clergy ought not herein to be inferior unto the Jewish What sounder proof than the Apostles own kinde of Argument Do ye not know that they which minister about the holy things eat of the things of the Temple and they which partake of the Altar are partakers with the Altar So even So hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel Upon which words I thus conclude that if the People of God do abound and abounding can so farr forth finde in their hearts to shew themselves towards Christ their Saviour thankful as to honor him with their riches which no Law of God or Nature forbiddeth no less than the antient Jewish people did honor God the plain Ordinance of Christ appointeth as large and as ample proportion out of his own treasure unto them that serve him in the Gospel as ever the Priests of the Law did enjoy What further proof can we desire It is the blessed Apostles testimony That even so the Lord hath ordained Yea I know not whether it be sound to interpret the Apostle otherwise than that whereas he judgeth the Presbyters which rule well in the Church of Christ to be worthy of double honor he means double unto that which the Priests of the Law received For if that Ministry which was of the Letter were so glorious how shall not the Ministry of the Spirit be more glorious If the Teachers of the Law of Moses which God delivered written with Letters in Tables of Stone were thought worthy of so great honor how shall not the Teachers of the Gospel of Christ be in his sight most worthy the Holy Ghost being sent from Heaven to ingrave the Gospel on their Hearts who first taught it and whose Successors they that teach it at this day are So that according to the Ordinance of God himself their Estate for worldly maintenance ought to be no worse than is granted unto other sorts of men each according to
of that courage to follow learning which hath already so much failed through the onely diminution of her chiefest rewards Bishopricks Surely wheresoever this wicked intendment of overthrowing Cathedral Churches or of taking away those Livings Lands and Possessions which Bishops hitherto have enjoyed shall once prevail the hand maids attending thereupon will be Paganism and extreme Barbarity In the Law of Moses how careful provision is made that goods of this kind might remain to the Church for ever Ye shall not make common the holy things of the children of Israel lest ye dye saith the Lord. Touching the fields annexed unto Levitical Cities the Law was plain they might not be sold and the reason of the Law this for it was their possession for ever He which was Lord and owner of it his will and pleasure was that from the Levites it should never pass to be enjoyned by any other The Lords own portion without his own Commission and Grant how should any man justly hold They which hold it by his appointment had it plainly with this condition They shall not sell of it neither change it nor alienate the first-fruits of the Land for it is holy unto the Lord. It falleth sometimes out as the Prophet Habbakkuk noteth that the very prey of Savage Beasts becometh dreadful unto themselves It did so in Iudas Achan Nebuchadnezzar their evil-purchased goods were their snare and their prey their own terror A thing no where so likely to follow as in those goods and possessions which being laid where they should not rest have by the Lords own testimony his most bitter curse their undividable companion These perswasions we use for other mens cause not for theirs with whom God and Religion are parts of the abrogated Law of Ceremonies Wherefore not to continue longer in the cure of a Sore desperate there was a time when the Clergy had almost as little as these good people wish But the Kings of this Realm and others whom God had blest considered devoutly with themselves as David in like case sometimes had done Is it meet that we at the hands of God should enjoy all kindes of abundance and Gods Clergy suffer want They considered that of Solomon Honor God with thy substance and the chiefest of all thy revenue so shall thy barns be filled with corn and thy vessels shall run over with new wine They considered how the care which Iehoshaphat had in providing that the Levites might have encouragement to do the work of the Lord chearfully was left of God as a fit pattern to be followed in the Church for ever They considered what promise our Lord and Saviour hath made unto them at whose hands his Prophets should receive but the least part of the meanest kind of friendliness though it were but a draught of water Which promise seemeth not to be taken as if Christ had made them of any higher courtesie uncapable and had promised reward not unto such as give them but that but unto such as leave them but that They considered how earnest the Apostle is that if the Ministers of the Law were so amply provided for less care then ought not to be had of them who under the Gospel of Jesus Christ possess correspondent rooms in the Church they considered how needful it is that they who provoke all others unto works of Mercy and Charity should especially have wherewith to be examples of such things and by such meons to win them with whom other means without those do commonly take very small effect In these and the like considerations the Church-Revenues were in ancient times augmented our Lord thereby performing manifestly the promise made to his servants that they which did leave either Father or Mother or Lands or goods for his sake should receive even in this World an hundred fold For some hundreds of years together they which joyned themselves to the Church were fain to relinquish all worldly emoluments and to endure the hardness of an afflicted estate Afterward the Lord gave rest to his Church Kings and Princes became as Fathers thereunto the hearts of all men inclined towards it and by his providence there grew unto it every day earthly possessions in more and more abundance till the greatness thereof bred envy which no diminutions are able to satisfie For as those ancient Nursing Fathers thought they did never bestow enough even so in the eye of this present age as long as any thing remaineth it seemeth to bee too much Our Fathers we imitate inperversum as Tertullian speaketh like them we are by being in equal degree the contrary unto that which they were Unto those earthly blessings which God as then did with so great abundance pour down upon the Ecclesiastical state we may in regard of most neer resemblance apply the self same words which the Prophet hath God blessed them exceedingly and by this very mean turned the hearts of their own Brethren to hate them and to deal politiquely with his servants Computations are made and there are huge sums set down for Princes to see how much they may amplifie and enlarge their own treasure how many publique burthens they may ease what present means they have to reward their servants about them if they please but to grant their assent and to accept of the spoil of Bishops by whom Church-goods are but abused unto pomp and vanity Thus albeit they deal with one whose princely vertue giveth them small hope to prevail in impious and sacrilegious motions yet shame they not to move her Royal Majesty even with a suit not much unlike unto that wherewith the Jewish High-Priest tried Iudas whom they sollicited unto Treason against his Master and proposed unto him a number of silver-pence in lien of so vertuous and honest a service But her sacred Majesty disposed to be always like her self her heart so far estranged from willingness to gain by pillage of that estate the only awe whereof under God she hath been unto this present hour as of all other parts of this noble Common-wealth whereof she hath vowed her self a Protector till the end of her days on earth which if nature could permit we wish as good cause we have endless this her gracious inclination is more then a seven times sealed warrant upon the same assurance whereof touching time and action so dishonourable as this we are on her part most secure not doubting but that unto all posterity it shall for ever appear that from the first to the very last of her Soveraign proceedings there hath not been one authorized deed other then consonant with that Symmachus saith Fiscus bonitum Principum non sacer dotum damnis sed hastium spoliis angeatur consonant with that imperial law Ea qua ad be atissima ecclesia jur a pâ—rtinent tanquam ipsamâ— sacro sanctam religiosam Ecclesiam intactu convenit vener abiliter aâ—stodiri ut â—icâ—â— ipsâ—religionis â—idei mater perpetua
all Churches and evermore had was judged by the making of the aforesaid Act a just cause wherefore they should be mentioned in that case as a requisite part of that rule wherewith Dominion was to be limited But of this we shall further consider when we come unto that which Soveraign Power may do in making Ecclesiastical Laws Unto which Supream Power in Kings two kinds of adversaries there are which have opposed themselvs one sort defending That Supream power in causes Ecclesiastical throughout the world appertaineth of Divine Right to the Bishop of Rome Another sort That the said power belongeth in every national Church unto the Clergy thereof assembled We which defend as well against the one as against the other That Kings within their own Precincts may have it must shew by what right it must come unto them First unto me it seemeth almost out of doubt controversie that every independent multitude before any certain form of Regiment established hath under God Supream Authority full Dominion over it self even as a man not tyed with the band of subjection as yet unto any other hath over himself the like power God creating mankind did endue it naturally with power to guide it self in what kind of Society soever he should chuse to live A man which is born Lord of himself may be made an others servant And that power which naturally whole societies have may be derived unto many few or one under whom the rest shall then live in subjection Some multitudes are brought into subjection by force as they who being subdued are fain to submit their necks unto what yoak it pleaseth their Conquerors to lay upon them which Conquerors by just and lawful Wars do hold their power over such multitudes as a thing descending unto them Divine Providence it self so disposing For it is God who giveth victory in the day of War and unto whom Dominion in this sort is derived the same they enjoy according to the Law of Nations which Law authorizeth Conquerours to reign as absolute Lords over them whom they vanquish Sometimes it pleaseth God himself by special appointment to chuse out and nominate such as to whom Dominion shall be given which thing he did often in the Common-wealth of Israel They which in this sort receive power immediately from God have it by meer Divine Right they by humane on whom the same is bestowed according to mens discretion when they are left freely by God to make choice of their own Governours By which of these means soever it happen that Kings or Governors be advanced unto their Estates we must acknowledg both their lawful choice to be approved of God and themselves to be Gods Lievtenants and cofess their Power which they have to be his As for Supream Power in Ecclesiastical affairs the Word of God doth no where appoint that all Kings should have it neither that any should not have it for which cause it seemeth to stand altogether by humane Right that unto Christian Kings there is such Dominion given Again on whom the same is bestowed at mens discretions they likewise do hold it by Divine Right If God in his revealed Word hath appointed such Power to be although himself extraordinarily bestow it not but leave the appointment of persons to men yea albeit God do neither appoint nor assign the person nevertheless when men have assigned and established both Who doth doubt but that sundry duties and affairs depending thereupon are prescribed by the Word of God and consequently by that very right to be exacted For example sake the power which Romane Emperors had over foreign Provinces was not a thing which the Law of God did ever Institute Neither was Tiberius Caesar by especial Commission from Heaven therewith invested and yet paiment of Tribute unto Caesar being now made Emperor is the plain Law of Jesus Christ unto Kings by humane Right Honor by very Divine Right is due mans Ordinances are many times proposed as grounds in the Statutes of God And therefore of what kind soever the means be whereby Governors are lawfully advanced to their States as we by the Laws of God stand bound meekly to acknowledg them for Gods Lieutenants and to confess their Power his So by the same Law they are both authorized and required to use that Power as far as it may be in any State available to his Honor. The Law appointeth no man to be a husband but if a man hath betaken himself unto that condition it giveth him power Authority over his own Wife That the Christian world should be ordered by the Kingly Regiment the Law of God doth not any where command and yet the Law of God doth give them which once are exalted unto that place of Estate right to exact at the hands of their Subjects general obedience in whatsoever affairs their power may serve to command and God doth ratifie works of that Soveraign Authority which Kings have received by men This is therefore the right whereby Kings do hold their power but yet in what sort the same doth rest and abide in them it somewhat behoveth further to search where that we be not enforced to make overlarge discourses about the different conditions of Soveraign or Supream Power that which we speak of Kings shall be in respect of the State and according to the nature of this Kingdom where the people are in no subjection but such as willingly themselves have condescended unto for their own most behoo◠and security In Kingdoms therefore of this quality the highest Governor hath indeed universall Dominion but with dependency upon that whole entire body over the several parts whereof he hath Dominion so that it standeth for an Axiom in this case The King is Major singulis universis minor The Kings dependency we do not construe as some have done who are of opinion that no mans birth can make him a King but every particular person advanced to such Authority hath at his entrance into his Raign the same bestowed on him as an estate in condition by the voluntary deed of the people in whom it doth lie to put by any one and to preferr some other before him better liked of or judged fitter for the place and that the party so rejected hath no injury done unto him no although the same be done in a place where the Crown doth go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by succession and to a person which is capital and hath apparently if blood be respected the nearest right They plainly affirm in all well appointed Kingdoms the custom evermore hath been and is that children succeed not their Parents till the people after a sort have created them anew neither that that they grow to their Fathers as natural and proper Heirs but are then to be reckoned for Kings when at the hands of such as represent the Kings Majesty they have by a Scepter and a Diadem received as it were the investure of Kingly power Their
very words are That where such power is sealed into a family or kindred the Stock it self is thereby chosen but not the twig that springeth of it The next of the Stock unto him that raigneth are not through nearness of blood made Kings but rather set forth to stand for the Kingdom where Regal Dominion is hereditary it is notwithstanding if we look to the persons which have it altogether elective To this purpose are selected heaps of Scriptures concerning the Solemn Coronation or Inauguration of Saul of David of Solomon and others by the Nobles Ancients and people of the Common-weal of Israel as if these solemnities were a kind of deed whereby the right of Dominion is given Which strange untrue and unnatural conceits set abroad by seeds-men of Rebellion onely to animate unquiet spirits and to feed them with possibility of aspiring to Thrones if they can win the hearts of the people what hereditary title soever any other before them may have I say unjust and insolent positions I would not mention were it not thereby to make the countenance of truth more orient for unless we will openly proclaim defiance unto all law equity and reason we must there is no remedy acknowledge that in kingdoms hereditary birth giveth right unto Soveraign Dominion and the death of the predecessor putteth the successor by blood in seisin Those publick solemnities before specified do but serve for an open testification of the Inheritors right or belong unto the form of inducting him into possession of that thing he hath right unto therefore in case it doth happen that without right of blood a man in such wise be possessed all these new elections and investings are utterly void they make him no indefeasable estate the inheritor by blood may disposses him as an usurper The case thus standing albeit we judge it a thing most true that Kings even inheritors do hold their right in the Power of Dominion with dependency upon the whole Body politick over which they have Rule as Kings yet so it may not be understood as if such dependency did grow for that every supream Governor doth personally take from thence his power by way of gift bestowed of their own free accord upon him at the time of his entrance into the said place of his soveraign Government But the cause of dependency is that first Original conveyance when power was derived from the whole into One to pass from him unto them whom out of him nature by lawful births should produce and no natural or legal inability make uncapable Neither cab any man with reason think but that the first institution of Kings a sufficient consideration wherefore their power should always depend on that from which it did always flow by Original influence of power from the body into the King is the cause of Kings dependency in Power upon the body By dependency we mean subordination and subjection A manifest token of which dependency may be this as there is no more certain Argument that Lands are held under any as Lords then if we see that such lands is defect of heirs fall unto them by escheat In like manner it doth follow rightly that seeing Dominion when there is none to inherit it returneth unto the body therefore they which before were inheritors thereof did hold it with dependency upon the body so that by comparing the body with the head as touching power it seemeth always to reside in both fundamentally and radicially in the one in the other derivatively in the one the Habit in the other the Act of Power May a body politick then at all times withdraw in whole or in part the influence of Dominion which passeth from it if inconveniencies do grow thereby It must be presumed that supream Governors will not in such case oppose themselves and be stiff in detaining that the use whereof is with publick detriment but surely without their consent I see not how the body by any just means should be able to help it self saving when Dominion doth escheat such things therefore must be thought upon before hand that Power may be limited ere it be granted which is the next thing we are to consider In what Measure IN power of Dominion all Kings have not an equal latitude Kings by conquest make their own Charter so that how large their power either Civil or Spiritual is we cannot with any certainty define further then onely to set them in the line of the Law of God and Nature for bounds Kings by Gods own special appointment have also that largeness of power which he doth assign or permit with approbation touching Kings which were first instituted by agreement and composition made with them over whom they raign how far their power may extend the Articles of Compact between them is to shew not only the Articles of Compact at the first beginning which for the most part are either clean worm out of knowledg or else known to very few but whatsoever hath been after in free and voluhtary manner condiscended unto whether by express consent whereof positive laws are witnesses or else by silent allowance famously notified through custome reaching beyond the memory of man By which means of after Agreement it cometh many times to pass in Kingdoms that they whose ancient predecessors were by violence and force made subject do by little and little grow into that sweet form of Kingly Government which Philosophers define Regency willingly sustained and indued with Chiefly of power in the greatest things Many of the ancients in their writings do speak of Kings with such high and ample terms as if universality of Power even in regard of things and not of persons did appertain to the very being of a King The reason is because their speech concerning Kings they frame according to the state of those Monarchs to whom unlimited authority was given which some not observing imagine that all Kings even in that they are Kings ought to have whatsoever power they judge any Soveraign Ruler lawfully to have enjoyed But the most judicious Philosopher whose eye scarce any things did escape which was to be found in the bosome of nature he considering how far the power of one Soveraign Ruleâ— may be different from another Regal Authority noteth in Spartan Kings That of all others they were most tied to Law and so the most restrained power A King which hath not supream power in the greatest things is rather intituled a King then invested with reall Soveraignty We cannot properly term him a King of whom it may not be said at the least wise as touching certain the chiefest affairs of the State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his right in them is to have rule not subject to any other predominancy I am not of opinion that simply in Kings the most but the best limited power is best both for them and the people the most limited is that which may deal in fewest things the â—eâ—t that which
part and impute their general acknowledgment of the lawfullness of Kingly Power unto the force of truth presenting it self before them sometimes above their particular contrarieties oppositions denyals unto that errour which having so fully possest their minds casteth things inconvenient upon them of which things in their due place Touching that which is now in hand weare on all sides fully agreed First that there is not any restraint or limitation of matter for regal Authority and Power to be conversant in but of Religion onely and of whatsoever cause thereunto appertaineth Kings may lawfully have change they lawfully may therein exercise Dominion and use the temporal Sword Secondly that some kind of actions conversant about such affairs are denyed unto Kings As namely Actions of Power and Order and of Spiritual Jurisdiction which hath with it inseparably joyned Power to Administer the Word and Sacraments power to Ordain to Judge as an Ordinary to bind and loose to Excommunicate and such like Thirdly that even in those very actions which are proper unto Dominion there must be some certain rule whereunto Kings in all their proceedings ought to be strictly tyed which rule for proceeding in Ecclesiasticall affairs and causes by Regal Power hath not hitherto been agreed upon with such uniform consent and certainty as might be wished The different sentences of men herein I will now go about to examine but it shall be enough to propose what Rule doth seem in this case most reasonable The case of deriving Supream Power from a whole intire multitude into some special part thereof as partly the necessity of expedition in publick affairs partly the inconvenience of confusion and trouble where a multitude of Equals dealeth and partly the dissipation which must needs ensue in companies where every man wholly seeketh his own particular as we all would do even with other mens hurts and haply the very overthrow of themselves in the end also if for the procurement of the common good of all men by keeping every several man is order some were not invested with Authority over all and encouraged with Prerogative-Honour to sustain the weighty burthen of that charge The good which is proper unto each man belongeth to the common good of all as part to the whole perfection but these two are things different for men by that which is proper are severed united they are by that which is common Wherefore besides that which moveth each man in particular to seek his own private good there must be of necessity in all publick Societies also a general mover directing unto common good and framing every mans particular unto it The end whereunto all Government was instituted was Bonum publicum the Universal or Common good Our question is of Dominion for that end and purpose derived into one such as all in one publick State have agreed that the Supream charge of all things should be committed unto one They I say considering what inconveniency may grow where States are subject unto sundry Supream Authorities have for fear of these inconveniencies withdrawn from liking to establish many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude of Supream Commanders is troublesome No Nan saith our Saviour can serve two Masters surely two supream Masters would make any ones service somewhat uneasie in such cases as might fall out Suppose that to morrow the Power which hath Dominion in Justice require thee at the Court that which in War at the Field that which in Religion at the Temple all have equal Authority over thee and impossible it is that then in such case thou shouldst be obedient unto all By chusing any one whom thou wilt obey certain thou art for thy disobedience to incur the displeasure of the other two But there is nothing for which some comparable reason or other may not be found are we able to shew any commendable State of Government which by experience and practice hath felt the benefit of being in all causes subject unto the Supream Authority of one Against the policy of the Israelites I hope there will no man except where Moses deriving so great a part of his burthen in Government unto others did notwithstanding retain to himself Universal Supremacy Iehosaphat appointing one to be chosen in the affairs of God and another in the Kings affair's did this as having Dominion over them in both If therefore from approbation of Heaven the Kings of Gods own chosen people had in the affairs of Jewish Religion Supream Power why not Christian Kings the like also in Christian Religion First unless men will answer as some have done That the Jews Religion was of far less perfection and dignity then ours our being that truth whereof theirs was but a shadowish prefigurative resemblance Secondly That all parts of their Religion their Laws their Sacrifices and their Rights and Ceremonies being fully set down to their hands and needing no more but only to be put in execution the Kings might well have highest Authority to see that done whereas with us there are a number of Mysteries even in Belief which were not so generally for them as for us necessary to be with sound express acknowledgement understood A number of things belonging to external Government and our manner of serving God not set down by particular Ordinances and delivered to us in writing for which cause the State of the Church doth now require that the Spiritual Authority of Ecclesiastical persons be large absolute and not subordinate to Regal power Thirdly That whereas God armeth Religion Iewish as Christian with the Temporal sword But of Spiritual punishment the one with power to imprison to scourge to put to death The other with bare authority to Censure and excommunicate There is no reason that the Church which hath no visible sword should in Regiment be subject unto any other power then only unto theirs which have authority to bind and loose Fourthly That albeit whilst the Church was restrained unto one people it seemed not incommodious to grant their King the general Chiefty of Power yet now the Church having spread it self over all Nations great inconveniences must therby grow if every Christian King in his several Territory shall have the like power Of all these differences there is not one which doth prove it a thing repugnant to the Law either of God or of Nature that all Supremacy of external Power be in Christian Kingdoms granted unto Kings thereof for preservation of quietness unity order and peace in such manner as hath been shewed Of the Title of Headship FOr the Title or State it self although the Laws of this Land have annexed it to the Crown yet so far◠we should not strive if so be men were nice and scrupulous in this behalf only because they do wish that for reverence to Christ Jesus the Civil Magistrate did rather use some other form of speech wherewith to express that Soveraign Authority which he lawfully hath overall both
them who use but that Power which Laws have given them unless men can shew that there is in those Laws some manifest iniquity or injustice Whereas therefore against the force Judicial and Imperial which Supream Authority hath it is alledged how Constantine termeth Church-Officers Over-seers of things within the Church himself of those without the Church how Augustine witnesseth that the Emperor not daring to judge of the Bishop's Cause committed it to the Bishops and was to crave paâ—â—â—on of the Bishops for that by the Donatists importunity which made no end to appealing unto him he was being weary of them drawn to give sentence in a matter of theirs how Hilary beseecheth the Emperor Constance to provide that the Governors of his Provinces should not presume to take upon them the Judgement of Ecclesiastical Causes to whom onely Common-wealth matters belonged how Ambrose affirmeth that Palaces belong unto the Emperor Churches to the Minister That the Emperor hath the authority over the Common-walls of the City and not in holy things for which cause he never would yield to have the Causes of the Church debated in the Princes Consistories but excused himself to the Emperor Valentinian for that being convented to answer concerning Church-matters in a Civil Court he came not We may by these testimonies drawn from Antiquity if wellst to consider them discern how requisite it is that Authority should always follow received Laws in the manner of proceeding For inasmuch as there was at the first no certain Law determining what force the principal Civil Magistrates authority should be of how farr it should reach and what order it should observe but Christian Emperors from time to time did what themselves thought most reasonable in those affairs by this means it cometh to passe that they in their practise vary and are not uniform Vertuous Emperors such as Constantine the Great was made conscience to swerve unnecessarily from the custom which had been used in the Church even when it lived under Infidels Constantine of reverence to Bishops and their Spiritual Authority rather abstained from that which himself might lawfully do than was willing to claim a Power not fit or decent for him to exercise The Order which hath been before he ratifieth exhorting the Bishops to look to the Church and promising that he would do the Office of a Bishop over the Common-wealth which very Constantine notwithstanding did not thereby so renounce all Authority in judging of Special Causes but that sometime he took as St. Augustine witnesseth even personal cognition of them howbeit whether as purposing to give therein judicially any Sentence I stand in doubt for if the other of whom St. Augustine elsewhere speaketh did in such sort judge surely there was cause why he should excuse it as a thing not usually done Otherwise there is no lett but that any such great Person may hear those Causes to and fro debated and deliver in the end his own opinion of them declaring on which side himself doth judge that the truth is But this kinde of Sentence bindeth no side to stand thereunto it is a Sentence of private perswasion and not of solemn jurisdiction albeit a King or an Emperour pronounce it Again on the contrary part when Governours infected with Heresie were possessed of the Highest Power they thought they might use it as pleased themselves to further by all means that opinion which they desired should prevail they not respecting at all what was meet presumed to command and judge all men in all Causes without either care of orderly proceeding or regard to such Laws and Customs as the Church had been wont to observe So that the one sort feared to do even that which they might and that which the other ought not they boldly presumed upon the one sort of modesty excused themselves where they scarce needed the other though doing that which was inexcusable bare it out with main power not enduring to be told by any man how farr they roved beyond their bounds So great odds was between them whom before we mentioned and such as the younger Valentinian by whom St. Ambrose being commanded to yield up one of the Churches under him unto the Arrians whereas they which were sent on his Message alledged That the Emperour did but use his own right forasmuch as all things were in his power The Answer which the holy Bishop gave them was That the Church is the House of God and that those things that are Gods are not to be yielded up and disposed of it at the Emperors will and pleasure His Palaces he might grant to whomsoever he pleaseth but Gods own Habitation not so A cause why many times Emperours do more by their absolute Authority than could very well stand with reason was the over-great importunity of wicked Hereticks who being Enemies to Peace and Quietness cannot otherwise than by violent means be supported In this respect therefore we must needs think the state of our own Church much better settled than theirs was because our Lawes have with farr more certainty prescribed bounds unto each kinde of Power All decision of things doubtful and correction of things amiss are proceeded in by order of Law what Person soever he be unto whom the administration of Judgment belongeth It is neither permitted unto Prelates nor Prince to judge and determine at their own discretion but Law hath prescribed what both shall do What Power the King hath he hath it by Law the bounds and limits of it are known the intire Community giveth general order by Law how all things publickly are to be done and the King as the Head thereof the Highest in Authority over all causeth according to the same law every particular to be framed and ordered thereby The whole Body Politick maketh Laws which Laws gave Power unto the King and the King having bound himself to use according unto Law that power it so falleth out that the execution of the one is accomplished by the other in most religious and peaceable sort There is no cause given unto any to make supplication as Hilary did that Civil Governors to whom Common-wealth-matters only belong may not presume to take upon them the Judgement of Ecclesiastical causes If the cause be Spiritual Secular Courts do not meddle with it we need not excuse our selves with Ambrose but boldly and lawfully we may refuse to answer before any Civil Judge in a matter which is not Civil so that we do not mistake either the nature of the Cause or of the Court as we easily may do both without some better direction than can be by the rules of this new-found Discipline But of this most certain we are that our Laws do neither suffer a Spiritual Court to entertain those Causes which by the Law are Civil nor yet if the matter be indeed Spiritual a mere Civil Court to give Judgement of it Touching Supream Power therefore to command all men and in all manner
of causes of Judgement to be highest let thus much suffice as well for declaration of our own meaning as for defence of the truth therein The cause is not like when such Assemblies are gathered together by Suream Authority concerning other affairs of the Church and when they meet about the making of Ecclesiastical Laws or Statutes For in the one they are onely to advise in the other to decree The Persons which are of the one the King doth voluntarily assemble as being in respect of quality fit to consult withal them which are of the other he calleth by prescript of Law as having right to be thereunto called Finally the one are but themselves and their Sentence hath but the weight of their own Judgment the other represent the whole Clergy and their voyces are as much as if all did give personal verdict Now the question is Whether the Clergy alone so assembled ought to have the whole power of making Ecclesiastical Laws or else consent of the Laity may thereunto be made necessary and the King's assent so necessary that his sole denial may be of force to stay them from being Laws If they with whom we dispute were uniform strong and constant in that which they say we should not need to trouble our selves about their Persons to whom the power of making Laws for the Church belongs for they are sometime very vehement in contention that from the greatest thing unto the least about the Church all must needs be immediately from God And to this they apply the pattern of the antient Tabernacle which God delivered unto Moses and was therein so exact that there was not left as much as the least pin for the wit of man to devise in the framing of it To this they also apply that streight and severe charge which God soosten gave concerning his own Law Whatsoever I command you take heed ye do it Thou shalt put nothing thereto thou shalt take nothing from it Nothing whether it be great or small Yet sometimes bethinking themselves better they speak as acknowledging that it doth suffice to have received in such sort the principal things from God and that for other matters the Church had sufficient authority to make Laws whereupon they now have made it a question What Persons they are whose right it is to take order for the Churches affairs when the institution of any new thing therein is requisite Law may be requisite to be made either concerning things that are onely to be known and believed in or else touching that which is to be done by the Church of God The Law of Nature and the Law of God are sufficient for declaration in both what belongeth unto each man separately as his Soul is the Spouse of Christ yea so sufficient that they plainly and fully shew whatsoever God doth require by way of necessary introduction unto the state of everlasting bliss But as a man liveth joyned with others in common society and belongeth to the outward Politick Body of the Church albeit the same Law of Nature and Scripture have in this respect also made manifest the things that are of greatest necessity nevertheless by reason of new occasions still arising which the Church having care of Souls must take order for as need requireth hereby it cometh to pass that there is and ever will be so great use even of Human Laws and Ordinances deducted by way of discourse as a conclusion from the former Divine and Natural serving as Principals thereunto No man doubteth but that for matters of Action and Practice in the Affairs of God for manner in Divine Service for order in Ecclesiastical proceedings about the Regiment of the Church there may be oftentimes cause very urgent to have Laws made but the reason is not so plain wherefore Human laws should appoint men what to believe Wherefore in this we must note two things 1. That in matters of opinion the Law doth not make that to be truth which before was not as in matter of Action is causeth that to be a duty which was not before but manifesteth only and giveth men notice of that to be truth the contrary whereunto they ought not before to have believed 2. That opinions do cleave to the understanding and are in heat assented unto it is not in the power of any Human law to command them because to prescribe what men shall think belongeth only unto God Corde creditur ore fit confessio saith the Apostle As opinions are either fit or inconvenient to be professed so man's laws hath to determine of them It may for Publick unities sake require mens professed assent or prohibit their contradiction to special Articles wherein as there haply hath been Controversie what is true so the same were like to continue still not without grievous detriment unto a number of Souls except Law to remedy that evil should set down a certainty which no man afterwards is to gain-say Wherefore as in regard of Divine laws which the Church receiveth from God we may unto every man apply those words of wisdom in Solomon My Son keep thou thy Fathers Precepts Conserva Fili mi praecepta Patris tui even so concerning the Statutes and Ordinances which the Church it self makes we may add thereunto the words that follow Etut dimitt as legem Matris tuae And forsake thou not thy Mothers law It is a thing even undoubtedly natural that all free and Independent Societies should themselves make their own Laws and that this power should belong to the whole not to any certain part of a Politick body though haply some one part may have greater sway in that action than the rest which thing being generally fit and expedient in the making of all Laws we see no cause why to think otherwise in Laws concerning the service of God which in all well-order'd States and Common-wealths is the first thing that Law hath care to provide for When we speak of the right which naturally belongeth to a Common-wealth we speak of that which must needs belong to the Church of God For if the Common-wealth be Christian if the People which are of it do publickly embrace the true Religion this very thing doth make it the Church as hath been shewed So that unless the verity and purity of Religion do take from them which embrace it that power wherewith otherwise they are possessed look what authority as touching laws for Religion a Common-wealth hath simply it must of necessity being of the Christian Religion It will be therefore perhaps alledged that a part of the verity of Christian Religion is to hold the power of making Ecclesiastical Laws a thing appropriated unto the Clergy in their Synods and whatsoever is by their only voyces agreed upon it needeth no further approbation to give unto it the strength of a Law as may plainly appear by the Canons of that first most venerable Assembly where those things the Apostle and Iames had concluded
therefore addeth reasons such as they are as namely how he purposed at the first to take another course and that was this Publickly to deliver the truth of such Doctrine as I had otherwise taught and at convenient opportunity to conferr with me upon such points Is this the rule of Christ If thy Brother offend openly in his speech controll it first with contrary speech openly and conferr with him afterwards upon it when convenient opportunity serveth Is there any Law of God or Man whereupon to ground such a Resolution any Church extant in the World where Teachers are allowed thus to doe or to be done unto He cannot but see how weak an allegation it is when he bringeth in his following this course first in one matter and so afterwards in another to approve himself now following it again For if the purpose of doing of a thing so uncharitable be a fault the deed is a greater fault and doth the doing of it twice make it the third time fit and allowable to be done The weight of the Cause which is his third defence relieveth him as little The weightier it was the more it required considerate advice and consultation the more it stood him upon to take good heed that nothing were rashly done or spoken in it But he meaneth weighty in regard of the wonderful danger except he had presently withstood me without expecting a time of Conference This Cause being of such moment that might prejudice the Faith of Christ encourage the ill-affected to continue still in their damnable wayes and other weak in Faith to suffer themselves to be seduced to the destruction of their Souls he thought it his bounden duty to speak before he talked with me A man that should read this and not know what I had spoken might imagine that I had at the least denied the Divinity of Christ. But they which were present at my speech and can testifie that nothing passed my lips more than is contained in their Writings whom for soundnesse of Doctrine Learning and Judgment Mr. Travers himself doth I dare say not onely allow but honour they which heard and do know that the Doctrine here signified in so fearful manner the Doctrine that was so dangerous to the Faith of Christ that was so likely to encourage ill-affected men to continue still in their damnable wayes that gave so great cause to tremble for fear of the present destruction of Souls was onely this I doubt not but God was merciful to save thousands of our Fathers living heretofore in the Popish Superstition in as much as they sinned ignorantly and this spoken in a Sermon the greatest part whereof was against Popery they will hardly be able to discern how CHRISTIANITY should herewith be so grievously shaken 21. Whereby his fourth excuse is also taken from him For what doth it boot him to say The time was short wherein he was to preach after me when his Preaching of this matter perhaps ought surely might have been either very well omitted or at least more conveniently for a while deferred even by their Judgements that cast the most favourable aspect towards these his hasty proceedings The poyson which men had taken at my hands was not so quick and strong in operation as in eight dayes to make them past cure by eight dayes delay there was no likelihood that the force and power of his Speech could dye longer meditation might bring better and stronger proofs to minde than extemporal dexterity could furnish him with And who doth know whether Time the onely Mother of sound Judgement and discreet dealing might have given that action of his some better ripeness which by so great festination hath as a thing born out of time brought small joy unto him that begat it Doth he think it had not been better that neither my speech had seemed in his eyes as an Arrow sticking in a thigh of Flesh nor his own as a Childe whereof he must needs be delivered by an hour His last way of disburthening himself is by casting his Load upon my Back as if I had brought him by former Conferences out of hope that any fruit should ever come of conferring with me Loth I am to rip up those Conferences whereof he maketh but a slippery and loose relation In one of them the question between us was Whether the perswasion of Faith concerning remission of sinnes eternal life and whatsoever God doth promise unto man be as free from doubting as the perswasion which we have by sense concerning things tasted felt and seen For the Negative I mentioned their example whose Faith in Scripture is most commended and the experience which all faithful men have continually had of themselves For proof of the Affirmative which he held I desiring to have some reason heard nothing but all good Writers oftentimes inculâ—aâ—ed At the length upon request to see some one of them Peter Martyr's Common places were brought where the leaves were turned down at a place sounding to this effect That the Gospel doth make Christians more vertuous than moral Philosophy doth make Heat hens which came not near the questions by many miles 22. In the other Conference he questioned about the matter of Reprobation misliking first that I had termed God a permissive and no positive cause of the evil which the Schoolmen do call malum cuspae Secondly that to their Objection who say If I be elected do what I will I shall be saved I had answered that the will of God in this thing is not absolute but conditional to save his Elect believing fearing and obediently serving him Thirdly that to stop the mouths of such as grudge and repine against God for rejecting Cast aways I had taught that they are not rejected no not in the purpose and counsel of God without a foreseen worthinesse of rejection going though not in time yet in orderâ— beforeâ— For if God's electing do in orderâ— as needs it must presuppose the foresight of their being that are elected though they be elected before they be nor onely the positive foresight of their being but also the permissive of their being miserable because Election is through mercy and mercy doth always presuppose misery it followeth that the very Chosen of God acknowledge to the praise of the riches of his exceeding free compassion that when he in his secret determination set it down Those shall live and not dye they lay as ugly spectacles before him as Lepers covered with dung and mine as ulcers putrified in their Fathers â—oyns miserable worthy to be had in detestation and shall any forsaken Creature be able to say unto God Thou didst plunge me into the depth and assign me unto endless torments onely to satisfie thine own will finding nothing in me for which I could seem in thy sight so well worthy to feel everlasting flames 23. When I saw that Mr. Travers carped at these things onely because they lay not open I promised at some convenient time to
men And fearing left that such questions as these if voluntarily they should be too farr waded in might seem worthy of that rebuke which our Saviour thought needfull in a case not unlike What is this unto thee When I was forced much beside my expectation to render a reason of my speech I could not but yield at the Call of others and proceed so farr as Duty bound me for the fuller satisfying of mindes Wherein I have walked as with Reverence so with Fear with Reverence inregard of our Fathers which lived in former times not without Fear considering them that are alive 38. I am not ignorant how ready men are to feed and sooth up themselves in evil Shall I will the man say that loveth the present World more than he loveth Christ shall I incurr the high displeasure of the mightiest upon Earth Shall I hazard my Goods endanger my Estate put my self into jeopardy rather than to yield to that which so many of my Fathers imbraced and yet found favour in the sight of God Curse ye Meroz saith the Lord curse bar Inhabitants because they helped not the Lord they helped him not against the Mighty If I should not onely not help the Lord against the Mighty but help to strengthen them that are mighty against the Lord worthily might I fall under the burthen of that Curse worthy I were to bear to bear my own Judgement But if the Doctrine which I reach be a flower gathered in the Garden of the Lord a part of the saying Truth of the Gospel from whence notwithstanding poysonous Creatures do suck-venom I can but wish it were otherwise and content my self with the lord that hath befallen me the rather because it hath not befallen me alone Saint Paul taught a Truth and a comfortable truth when he taught that the greater our misery is in respect of our Iniquities the readier is the mercy of God for our release If we seek unto him the more we have sinned the more praise and glory and honour unto him that pardoneth our sinne But mark what sewd Collections were made hereupon by some Why then am I condemned for a Sinner And the Apostle as we are blamed and as some affirm that we say Why doe we not evil that good may come of it he was accused to teach that which ill-disposed People did gather by his teaching though it were clean not onely besides but against his meaning The Apostle addeth Their Condemnation which thus doe is just I am not hasty to apply Sentences of Condemnation I wish from mine Heart their Conversion whosoever are thus perversly affected For I must needs say Their Case is fearful their Estate dangerous which harden themselves presuming on the mercy of God towards others It is true that God is merciful but let us beware of presumptuous sinnes God delivered Ionah from the bottome of the Sea will you therefore cast your selves head-long from the tops of Rocks and say in your Hearts God shall deliver us He pitieth the Blinde that would gladly see but will he pity him that may see and hardeneth himself in blindenesse No Christ hath spoken too much unto you to claim the priviledge of your Fathers 39. As for us that have handled this Cause concerning the condition of our Fathers whether it be this thing or any other which we bring unto you the Counsel is good which the Wise man giveth Stand thou fast in thy sure understanding in the way and knowledge of the Lord and have but one manner of word and follow the Word of peace and righteousnesse As a loose tooth is a grief to him that eateth so doth a wavering and unstable word in speech that tendeth to instruction offend Shall a wise man speak words of the winde saith Eliphaz leight unconstant unstable words Surely the wisest may speak words of the winde such is the untoward Constitution of our nature that we doe neither so perfectly understand the way and knowledge of the Lord nor so stedfastly imbrace it when it is understood nor so graciously utter it when it is imbraced not so peaceably maintain it when it is uttered but that the best of us are over-taken sometime through blindenesse sometime through hastinesse sometime through impatience sometimes through other passions us the minde whereunto God doth know we are too subject We must therefore be contented both to pardon others and to crave that others may pardon us for such things Let no man that speaketh as a man think himself while he liveth alwayes freed from scapes and over-sights in his speech The things themselves which I have spoken unto you are sound howsoever they have seemed otherwise unto some at whose hands I have in that respect received Injury I willingly forget it although indeed considering the benefit which I have reaped by this necessary speech of Truth I rather incline to that of the Apostle They have not injured me at all I have cause to wish them as many Blessings in the Kingdom of Heaven as they have forced me to utter words and syllables in this Cause wherein I could not be more sparing of speech than I have been It becommeth no man saith Saint Ierom to be patient in the crime of Heresie Patient as I take it we should be alwayes though the crime of Heresie were intended but silent in a thing of so great Consequence I could not beloved I durst not be especially the love which I bear to the truth of Christ Jesus being hereby somewhat called in question Whereof I beseech them in the meeknesse of Christ that have been the first original cause to consider that a Watch-man may cry an Enemy when indeed a Friend commeth In which Cause as I deem such a Watch-man more worthy to be loved for his Care than mis-liked for his Errour So I have judged it my own part in this as much as in me lyeth to take away all suspition of any unfriendly intent or meaning against the Truth from which God doth know my heart is free 40. Now to you Beloved which have heard these things I will use no other words of admonition than those that are offered me by St. Iames My Brethren have not the Faith of our glorious Lord Iesus in respect of Persons Ye are not now to learn that as of it self it is not hurtful so neither should it be to any scandalous and offensive in doubtful cases to hear the different judgments of men Be it that Cephas hath hath one interpretation and Apollos hath another that Paul is of this minde and Barnabas of that if this offend you the fault is yours Carry peaceable mindes and you may have comfort by this variety Now the God of Peace give you peaceable mindes and turn it to your everlasting comfort A LEARNED SERMON OF THE NATURE OF PRIDE HABAK. 2. 4. His mind swelleth and is not right in him But the Iust by his Faith shall live THE nature of Man being much more delighted to
declining or swarving aside which absolute perfection when did God ever finde in the Sons of mere mortal men Doth it not follow that all Flesh must of necessity fall down and confess We are not dust and ashes but worse our mindes from the highest to the lowest are not right If not right then undoubtedly not capable of that blessedness which we naturally seek but subject unto that which we most abhorr Anguish Tribulation Death Wo endless Misery For whatsoever misseth the way of Life the issue thereof cannot be but Perdition By which reason all being wrapped up in sinne and made thereby the Children of Death the mindes of all men being plainly convicted not to be right shall we think that God hath indued them with so many excellencies more not onely than any but then all the Creatures in the World besides to leave them in such estate that they had been happier if they they had never been Here commeth necessarily in a new way unto Salvation so that they which were in the other perverse may in this be found strait and righteous That the way of Nature this the way of Grace The end of that way Salvation merited presupposing the righteousness of mens works their Righteousness a natural hability to do them that hability the goodness of God which created them in such perfection But the end of this way Salvation bestowed upon men as a Gift presupposing not their righteousness but the forgiveness of their unrighteousness Justification their Justification not their natural ability to do good but their hearty sorrow for their not doing and unfeigned belief in him for whose sake not-doers are accepted which is their Vocation their Vocation the Election of God taking them out from the number of lost Children their Election a Mediator in whom to be elect This Mediation inexplicable Mercy his Mercy their Misery for whom he vouchsafed to make himself a Mediator The want of exact distinguishing between these two wayes and observing what they have common what peculiar hath been the cause of the greatest part of that confusion whereof Christianity at this day laboureth The lack of diligence in searching laying down and inuring mens mindes with those hidden grounds of Reason whereupon the least particular in each of these are most firmly and strongly builded is the onely reason of all those scruples and uncertainties wherewith we are in such sort intangled that a number despair of ever discerning what is right or wrong in any thing But we will let this matter rest whereinto we stepped to search out a way how some mindes may be and are right truly even in the sight of God though they be simply in themselves not right Howbeit there is not onely this difference between the just and impious that the minde of the one is right in the sight of God because his obliquity is not imputed the other perverse because his sin is unrepented of but even as lines that are drawn with a trembling hand but yet to the point which they should are thought ragged and uneven nevertheless direct in comparison of them which run clean another way so there is no incongruity in terming them right-minded men whom though God may charge with many things amiss yet they are not as those hideous and ugly Monsters in whom because there is nothing but wilful opposition of minde against God a more than tolerable deformity is noted in them by saying that their mindes are not right The Angel of the Church of Thyatyra unto whom the Son of God sendeth this greeting I know thy works and thy love and service and faith notwithstanding I have a few things against thee was not as he unto whom Saint Peter Thou hast no fellowship in this business for thy heart is not right in the sight of God So that whereat the orderly disposition of the minde of man should be this Perturbation and sensual Appetites all kept in awe by a moderate and sober will in all things frained by Reason Reason directed by the Law of God and Nature this Babylonian had his minde as it were turned upside down In him unreasonable cecity and blindnesse trampled all Laws both of God and Nature under seet Wilfulness tyrannized over Reason and Brutish Sensuality over Will An evident token that his out-rage would work his overthrow and procure his speedy ruine The Mother whereof was that which the Prophet in these words signified His minde doth swell Immoderate swelling a token of very eminent breach and of inevitable destruction Pride a vice which cleaveth so fast unto the hearts of men that if we were to strip our selves of all faults one by one we should undoubtedly finde it the very last and hardest to put off But I am not here to touch the secret itching humour of vanity wherewith men are generally touched It was a thing more than meanly inordinate wherewith the Babylonian did swell Which that we may both the better conceive and the more easily reap profit by the nature of this vice which setteth the whole World out of course and hath put so many even of the wisest besides themselves is first of all to be inquired into Secondly the dangers to be discovered which it draweth inevitably after it being not cured And last of all the ways to cure it Whether we look upon the gifts of Nature or of Grace or whatsoever is in the World admired as a part of man's excellency adorning his Body beautifying his Minde or externally any way commending him in the account and opinion of men there is in every kinde somewhat possible which no man hath and somewhat had which few men can attain unto By occasion whereof there groweth disparagement necessarily and by occasion of disparagement Pride through mens ignorance First therefore although men be not proud of any thing which is not at lest in opinion good yet every good thing they are not proud of but onely of that which neither is common unto many and being desired of all causeth them which have it to be honoured above the rest Now there is no man so void of brain as to suppose that Pride consisteth in the bare possession of such things for then to have Vertue were a Vice and they should be the happiest men who are most wretched because they have least of that which they would have And though in speech we do intimate a kinde of vanity to be in them of whom we say They are Wise men and they know it yet this doth not prove That every Wiseman is proud which doth not think himself to be blockish What we may have and know that we have it without offence do we then make offensive when we take joy and delight in having it What difference between men enriched with all aboundance of earthly and heavenly Blessings and Idols gorgeously attired but this The one takes pleasures in that which they have the other none If we may be possest with Beauty Strength Riches Power Knowledge
Apostle speaks not as Baronius would have it washed from sins with holy water but pure that is holy free from the pollution of sin as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie You may also see here refused those calumnies of the Papists that we abandon all religious Rites and godly duties as also the confirmation of our Doctrine touching certainty of Faith and so of Salvation which is so strongly denied by some of that Faction that they have told the world S. Paul himself was uncertain of his own salvation What then shall we say but pronounce a wo to the most strict observers of St. Francis rules and his Canonical Discipline though they make him even equal with Christ and the most meritorious Monk that ever was registred in their Kalender of Saints But we for our comfort are otherwise taught out of the holy Scripture and therefore exhorted to build our selves in our most holy Faith that so when our earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be destroyed we may have a Building given of God a house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens This is that which is most piously and feelingly taught in these few leaves so that you shall read nothing here but what I perswade my self you have long practiâ—ed in the constant course of your life It remaineth only that you accept of these Labours tendred to you by him who wisheth you the long joys of this world and the eternal of that which is to come Oxon. from Corp. Christi Colledge this 13. of Ianuary 1613. TWO SERMONS Upon Part of Saint Judes Epistle The First Sermon Epist. JUDE Verse 17 18 19 20 21. But ye beloved remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ How that they told you that there should be Mockers in the last time which should walk after their own ungodly lusts These are makers of Sects fleshly having not the Spirit But ye beloved edifie your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost And keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternal life THE occasions whereupon together with the end wherefore this Epistle was written is opened in the front and entry of the same There were then as there are now many evil and wickedly disposed Persons not of the Mystical Body yet within the visible bounds of the Church men which were of old ordained to condemnation ungodly men which turned the grace of our God into wantonness and denyed the Lord Jesus For this cause the Spirit of the Lord is in the hand of Iude the Servant of Iesus and Brother of Iames to exhort them that are called and sanctified of God the Father that they would earnestly contend to maintain the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Which Faith because we cannot maintain except we know perfectly first against whom secondly in what sort it must be maintained therefore in the former three verses of that parcel of Scripture which I have read the Enemies of the Crosse of Christ are plainly described and in the latter two they that love the Lord Jesus have a sweet Lesson given them how to strengthen and stablish themselves in the Faith Let us first therefore examine the description of these Reprobates concerning Faith and afterwards come to the words of the Exhortation wherein Christians are taught how to rest their hearts on God's eternal and everlasting Truth The description of these godless Persons is two-fold general and special The general doth point them out and shew what manner of men they should be The Particular pointeth at them and saith plainly These are they In the general description we have to consider of these things First when they were described They were told of before Secondly the men by whom they were described They were spoken of by the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ. Thirdly the days when they should be manifest unto the World they told you They should be in the last time Fourthly their disposition and whole demeanour Mockers and Walkers after their own ungodly lusts 2. In the third to the Philippians the Apostle describeth certain They are men saith he of whom I have told you often and now with tears I tell you of them their God is their belly their glory and rejoycing is in their own shame they minde earthly things These were Enemies of the Crosse of Christ Enemies whom he saw and his eyes gusht out with tears to behold them But we are taught in this place how the Apostles spake also of Enemies whom as yet they had not seen described a family of men as yet unheard of a generation reserved for the end of the World and for the last time they had not only declared what they heard and saw in the days wherein they lived but they have prophesied also of men in time to come And you do well said St. Peter in that ye take heed to the words of Prophesie so that ye first know this that no Prophesie in the Scripture cometh of any man 's own resolution No Prophesie in Scripture cometh of any man 's own resolution For all Prophesie which is in Scripture came by the secret inspiration of God But there are Prophesies which are no Scripture yea there are Prophesies against the Scripture My Brethren beware of such Prophesies and take heed you heed them not Remember the things that were spoken of before but spoken of before by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Take heed to Prophesies but to Prophesies which are in Scripture for both the manner and matter of those Prophesies do shew plainly that they are of God 3. Touching the manner how men by the spirit of Prophesie in holy Scripture have spoken and written of things to come we must understand that as the knowledge of that they spake so likewise the utterance of that they knew came not by these usual and ordinary means whereby we are brought to understand the mysteries of our Salvation and are wont to instruct others in the same For whatsoever we know we have it by the hands and Ministry of men which lead us along like Children from a letter to a syllable from a syllable to a word from a word to a line from a line a to a sentence from a sentence to a side and so turn over But God himself was their Instructor he himself taught them partly by Dreams and Visions in the Night partly by Revelations in the Day taking them aside from amongst their Brethren and talking with them as a man would talk with his Neighbour in the way This they became acquainted even with the secret and hidden Counsels of God they saw things which themselves were not able to utter they behold that whereat men and Angels are astonished They understood in the beginning what should come to passe in the last dayes 4. God
the perfection of any thing whereby he might speak all things that are to be spoken to it neither yet be free from error in those things which he speaketh or giveth out And therefore this argument neither affirmatively nor negatively compelleth the hearer but only induceth him to some liking or disliking of that for which it is brought and is rather for an Orator to perswade the simpler sort then for a Disputer to enforce him that is learned 1 Cor. 1 â—1 Ioh â— 34 Deut. 19.15 Matth. 18. 16. T. C. la. p. 10. Although this kinde of Argument of Authority of men is good neither in humane nâ—r divine sciences yet it hath some small force in humane sciences for if such as naturally and in that he is a man he may come to some ripeness of judgement in those sâ—â—ences which in divine maturi hath no force at all as of him which naturally and as he is a man can no more judge of them then a blinde man of colours yea so far is it from drawing crolit If it be barely spoken wâ—thout Reason and testimony of Scripture that it eaâ—rieth also a suâ—pition of untruth whatsoever proceedeth from him which the Apostle did well note when to signifie a thing corruptly spoken and against the truth he saith that it is spoken according to man Rom. 3. He saith not as a wicked and flying man but simply as a man And although this corruption be reformed in many yet for so mâ—ch as in whom the knowledge of the truth is most advanced there remaineth both ignorance and disordered affâ—ctions whereof either of them turneth him from speaking of the truth no mans authority with the Church especially and those that are called and perswaded of the Authority of the Word of God can bring any assurance unto the Conscience T. C. l. 2 p. 21. Of divers sentences of the Fathers themselves whereby some have likened them to brute Beasts without Reason which suffer themselves to be led by the judgement and authority of others some have preferred the judgement of one simple rude man alledging reason unto companies of learned men I will conteâ— my self at this time with two or three Sentences Irâ—neuo saith whatsoever is to be shewed in the Scripture cannot be shewed but out of the â—cripture themselves l. 3 cap. 12 Ierome saith No man â—s he never so holy or eloquent hath any authority after the Apostles in Psal. 86. Augustinâ— saith That he will believe none how godly and learned soever he be unless he confirm his sentence by the Scriptures or by some reason nor contrary to them Ep. 18. And in another place Hear this The Lord saith hear not this Donâ—ius saith â—â—gatus saith Vincentius saith Hilarius saith Ambrose saith Augustine saith but hearken unto thâ— the Lord saith Ep 8. And again having to do with an Arrian he affirmeth that neither he ought to bring forth the Council of Niâ—e nor the other the Council of Arimiâ—e thereby to bring prejudice each to other neither outhâ— the Arrian to be holden by the authority of the one nor himself by the authority of the other but by the Scriptures which are witnesses proper â—â— neither but common to both matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason ought to be debated Cont. Max. Atrian p. 14. cap. And in another â—â—ce against Petil. the Donarist he saith Let not these words he heard between us I say You say let us hear this Thus â—aith the Lord. And by and by speaking of the Scriptures he saith There let us seek the Church there let us try the cause De unit Eccles. cap. 3. Hereby it is manifest that the argument of the authority of man affirmatively in nothing worth Matth. 17.10 T. C. lib. 2. 2â— It at any time it hapned unto Augustine as it did against the Donatists and others to alledge the authority of the ancient Fathers which had been heiuâ—e him yet this was not done before he had laid a sure foundation of his cause in the Scriptures and that also being provoked by the adversaries of the truth who hare themselves high of some Council or of some man of name that had â—avorcil that part A Declaration what the truth is in this matter Matth. 86. 40. Ephis 5. 29. Matth 5. 46. 1 â—ian 5. 8. Matth. 1â— 42. Acts 4. 31. 1 Thes. 2. 7 9. T. C. lib. p. 6. Where this Doctrine is accused of bringing men to despair it hath wrong For when doubting is the way to despair against which this Doctrine offereth the remedy it must needâ— be that it bringeth comfort and joy to the conscience of man Luke 7. â— What the Church is and in what respect Laws of Pulky are thereunto necessarily required John 10. 22. and 1.47 and 21. 15. 1 Tim. 1 5. a Ephes. 2. 16. That he might r. o n cise both unto God in one body Ephes. 3. 16. That the Genries should be in their â—â— also and of the â—â—â—â—bâ—dâ— â—ile T. p. 3. 7. art 3 1 Cor. 12. 13. Ephes. 4. 5. Acts. 2.36 John 13 13. Col. 3. 21. and 2. 1. b 1 Cer. 1. 23. Vide Tanilum lib. An sal 15. Not qussitissturis â—â—â—it assâ—â—iâ— quos per flagiria invites vulgus Christianes appellabat Auâ—ior nominis ejus Christus qui Tiberio 〈…〉 pâ—â—â—â—â—â—rem Pâ—ntion Pilatum 〈…〉 â—rat Repressâ—g in pâ—esers exitiabilu superstitio râ—â—sâ—â—â— erumpehat â—â—â— and per Iudsam originem ejus mali jed per urhem â—â—iâ—m quo cuâ—cta undique atrocia aus pâ—denda â—â—â—â—â—â— â—â—l broâ—â—â—â—â— John 15. 21. â—â—d 86. 2. 4. Apec 2. 13. Tâ—cul de Virgin Veland Iter. Advers Haâ—es lib. â— 1. cap. 2. c. Acts 8. 38. 22. 16. 2. 41. Matth. 13.47 13. 24. Exod. 23. â—â— 106.19 20. 2 Kings 18 4. Jere 11.14 2 Kings 23. 17. lâ—i 17. 3. 1. 4. 60. 15. Jere. 13. 11. 1 Kings 13. 8. Jere. 13. 11. 1 Kings 19. 18. â—â—â—uâ—a In Concil Car. Matth 7. 24. 16. 18. â—â— 19. Sâ—â—â—â—â—ium in â—â—â—â— Con. il Matth. 12. 30. In Conâ—iâ—◠〈…〉 Vide Hâ—â—â—â— Dial. Atâ—â—â— Lucifâ—â—â—a 2 Chre. 13. Hos. 14. 15 17. Josh. 14. 15. Rom. 11.28 Calvin Epish 1. Epist. 283. Epist. 285. Tertul. Exhort ad Caslie Ubi tres Ecclesia est licet laici Acts. 2. 47. Whether it be necessary that some particular Form of Church-Polity be set down in Scripture sith the things that belong particularly unto any such Form are not of necessary to Salvation Tertul. de hibitu mul. AErouli sine necesse est quae Del non lunt Rom. 2. 15. Lact. lib. 6. c. 8. Ille legis hujus inventor disceptater lator Cic. 3. de Repub * Two things misliked the one that we distinguish matters of Discipline or Church Government from matters of Faith and necessary unto Salvation The other that we are injurious to the Scripture of God in abridging the large and rich Continks thereof Their words are these You which
distinguish between these and say that matters of Faith and necessary unto Salvation may not be tolerated in the Church unless they be expresly contained in the Word of God or manifestly gathered but that Ceremonies Order Discipline Government in the Church may not be received against the Word of God and consequently may be received if there be no word against them although there be none for them You I say distinguishing or dividing after this sort do prove your self an evil divider As though matters of Discipline and kinde of Government were not matters necessary to Salvation and of Faith It is no small injury which you do unto the Word of God to pin it in so narrow room as that it should be able to direct us but in the Principal Points of our Religion or as though the Substance of Religion or some rude and unfashioned matter of Building of the Church were uttered in them and those things were left out that should pertain to the Form and Fashion of it or as if there were in the Scriptures onely to cover the Churches nakedness and not also Chains and Bracelets and Rings and other Jewels to adorn her and set her out or that to conclude There were sufficient to quench her thirst and kill her hunger but not to minister unto her a more liberal and as it were a more delicious and dainty diet These things you seem to say when you say that matters necessary to Salvation and of Faith are contained in Scripture especially when you oppose these things to Ceremonies Order Discipline and Goverment T. C. lib. 1. pag. 26. That Matters of Discipline are different from Matters of Faith and Salvation and that they themselves so teach which are our Reprovers T. C. lib. 2. pag. 1 We offer to shew the Discipline to be a part of the Gospel And again p. 5. I speak of the Discipline as of a part of the Gospel If the Discipline be one part of the Gospel what other part can they assign â—â—â— Doctrine to answer in Division to the Discipline Matth 23. 23. * The Government of the Church of Christ granted by Fenner himself to be thought a matter of great moment yet not of the substance of Religion Against Doctor Bridges p. 121. if it be Fenner which was the Author of that Book That we do not take from Scripture any thing which may be thereunto given with soundneâ—s of Truth Arist. Pol. lib. 1. cap. 8 c. Plato in Menex Arist. lib. 3. de Anima c. 45. Their meaning who first did plead against the Polity of the Church of England urging that Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded by the Word of God and what Scripture they thought they might ground this Assetion upon Deut. 4. 2. 12. 32. Whatsoever I command you take heed you do it Thou shalt â—ut nothing theirto not take ought there from The same Asseâ—â—ion we cannot hold without doing wrong unto all Churches I â—â—â— 13. Caenaterium de que Matth. 27. 12. Ibide Caeralâ—â—â— nuptiali Acts. 2. A shiâ—t to maintain that Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded in the Word of God namely that Commandments are or two sorts and that all things lawful in the Church are commanded if not by special I recepâ— yet by general Rules in the Word 1 Cor. 10 32. 14. 40. 14.26 Rom. 14. 6. 9. T.C. l. 1 p 35. Another Answer in defence of the former Assertion whereby the meaning thereof is opened in this sort All Church Orders must be commanded in the Word that is to say Grounded upon the Word and made according at the least wise unto the general Rules of holy Scripture As for such things as are found out by any Star or Light of Reason and are in that respect received so they be not against the Word of God all such things it holdeth unlawfully received * 1 Cor 7. Arist. Polit. 1. Apoc. 8. 10. 1 Cor 2. 14 Col 2. 8 1 Cor. 1. 19. 1 Cor. 2. 4. Rom. 1.21.31 Acts 25. 19. Acts 26. 24. I Cor. 2. 14 Col. 2. 8. Tit. 1. 9 11. Tert. de Retur Carnis Th. 3 1â— Acts 7. 22. Dan. 1. 17. 1 Kings 4. 29 30. Acts 22. 13. Matth. 13. 52. Heb. 4. 12. 2 Cor. 10 10. 1 Cor. 2.4 Acts 18. 4. 11. Reb. 11. 16. 1 Cor. 12. 1â— Acts 2â— 22. Acts 13. 36. 2. 34. 1 Pet. 3. 15. Matth. 22. 43. Acts 13. 15. Acts 15. Violatores cap. â—… q 1. How Laws for the Regiment of the Church may be made by the advice of men following therein the Light of Reason and how those Laws being not repugnant to the Word of God are approved in his sight Luminis naturalis dictatum repellere non modo stultum est sed impium August lib. 4. dle Trin. cap. 6. Tho. Aqui. 2. q. 21. art 3 Ex pracepris Legis naâ—â—ra lit quâ—li ex quibusdam principiiâ— Communibus indemonstrabilibus necesse est quod ratio humana procedat ad aliqua magis particulariter disponenda Et istae particular diâ—â— dispositiones adinventae secundum rationem humanam dicuntur leges humana observatis aliti conditionibus quae pertinent ad rationem legis 1.2 Quest 95. Act 3. 1 Cor. 22. â—â— Prov. 6. 20. Rom. 8. 14. John 1. 5. Rom. 1. 6. 2. 15 That neither Gods being the Author of Laws nor his committing them to Scripture nor the continuance of the end for which they were instituted is any reason sufficient to prove that they are unchangeable Deut. 22. 10 11. Quod pro necesirate temporis Slatutum est ressante nece litate debet cessare pariter quod urgebar 1 q 1. Quod pronecessit Act. 15. Countery p. 8. We offer to shew the Discipline to be a part of the Gospel and therefore to have a Common Cause so that in the repulse of the Discipline the Gospel receives a check And again I speak of the Discipline as of a part of the Gospel and therefore neither under nor above the Gospel but the Gospel T. C. l. 1. p. 14. Tert. De Veland Virg. Mart. n 1. Sam. 14. Acts 15. Acts 15. * Disciplina est Christianae Ecclesae Politia à Den cius re◠è Admitisican â— â— causa constituta â—â— proprerea es eius verbo petenda ob eandem causam omnium Ecclesiarum communi omnium temponim Lib. 3 de Eccles. Duscip in Anala * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Ethic. lib. 10. cap. 1. Whether Christ have forbidden all change of those Laws which are set down in Scripture a Heb. 3. 5. Either that commendation of the Son before the servant is a false testimony or the Son ordained a Permanent Government in the Church If Permanent then not to be chang'd What then do they that hold it may be changed at the Magistrates pleasure but advise the Magistrate by his Positive Laws to proclaim That it
in a clean contrary consideration For our Saviour's election respected not any merit or worth but took them which were farthest off from likelihood of fitness that afterwards their supernatural ability and performance beyond hope might cause the greater admiration whereas in the other mere admiration of their singular and rare vertues was the reason why honours were inforced upon them which they of meekness and modesty did what they could to avoid But did they ever judge it a thing unlawful to wish or desire the Office the onely charge and bare Function of the Ministery Towards which labour what doth the blessed Apostle else but encourage saying He which desireth it is desirius of a good work What doth he else by such sentences but stir kindle and inflame ambition if I may term that desire ambition which coveteth more to testifie love by painfulness in God's service than to reap any other benefit Although of the very honour it self and of other emoluments annexed to such labours for more encouragement of man's industry we are not so to conceive neither as if no affection could be cast towards them without offence Onely as the Wise-man giveth counsel Seek not to be made a Iudge lest thou be not able to take away iniquity and lest thou fearing the person of the mighty shouldest commit an offence against thine uprightness so it always behoveth men to take good heed lest affection to that which hath in it as well difficulty as goodness sophisticate the true and sincere judgement which before-hand they ought to have of their own ability for want whereof many forward mindes have found in stead of contentment repentance But for as much as hardness of things in themselves most excellent cooleth the fervency of mens desires unless there be somewhat naturally acceptable to incite labour for both the method of speculative knowledge doth by things which we sensibly perceive conduct to that which is in nature more certain though less sensible and the method of vertuous actions is also to train Beginners at the first by things acceptable unto the taste of natural appetite till our mindes at the length be settled to embrace things precious in the eye of reason merely and wholly for their own sakes howsoever inordinate desires do hereby take occasion to abuse the Polity of God and Nature either affecting without worth or procuring by unseemly means that which was instituted and should be reserved for better mindes to obtain by more approved courses in which consideration the Emperours Anthemius and Leo did worthily oppose against such ambitious practises that antient and famous Constitution wherein they have these sentences Let not a Prelate be ordained for reward or upon request who should be so farr sequestred from all ambition that they which advance him might be fain to search where he hideth himself to entreat him drawing back and to follow him till importunity have made him yield let nothing promote him but his excuses to avoid the burthen they are unworthy of that Vocation which are not thereunto brought unwillingly notwithstanding we ought not therefore with the odious name of Ambition to traduce and draw into hatred every poor request or suit wherein men may seem to affect honour seeing that Ambition and Modesty do not always so much differ in the mark they shoot at as in the manner of their Prosecution Yea even in this may be errour also if we still imagine them least ambitious which most forbear to stir either hand or foot towards their own Preserments For there are that make an Idol of their great sufficiency and because they surmise the place should be happy that might enjoy them they walk every where like grave Pageants observing whether men do not wonder why so small account is made of so rare worthiness and in case any other man's advancement be mentioned they either smile or blush at the marvellous folly of the world which seeth not where dignities should offer themselves Seeing therefore that suits after spiritual Functions may be as ambitiously forborn as prosecuted it remaineth that the everest line of moderation between both is neither to follow them without conscience not of pride to withdraw our selves utterly from them 78. It pleased Almighty God to chuse to himself for discharge of the legal Ministery one onely Tribe out of twelve others the Tribe of Levi not all unto every divine service but Aaron and his Sons to one charge the rest of that sanctified Tribe to another With what Solemnities they were admitted into their Functions in what manner Aaron and his successours the High-Priests ascended every Sabboth and Festival day offered and ministred in the Temple with what Sin-offering once every year they reconciled first themselves and their own house afterwards the People unto God how they confessed all the iniquities of the Children of Israel laid all their trespasses upon the head of a sacred Goat and so carried them one of the City how they purged the Holy place from all uncleanness with what reverence they entred within the Vail presented themselves before the Mercy-seat and consulted with the Oracle of God What service the other Priests did continually in the Holy Place how they ministred about the Lamps Morning and Evening how every Sabbath they placed on the Table of the Lord those twelve Loaves with pure incense in perpetual remembrance of that mercy which the Fathers the twelve Tribes had found by the providence of God for their food when hunger caused them to leave their natural soyl and to seek for sustenance in Egypt how they imployed themselves in sacrifice day by day finally what Offices the Levites discharged and what Duties the rest did execute it were a labour too long to enter into it if I should collect that which Scriptures and other antient Records do mention Besides these there were indifferently out of all Tribes from time to time some call'd of God as Prophets fore-shewing them things to come and giving them counsel in such particulars as they could not be directed in by the Law some chosen men to read study and interpret the Law of God as the Soones or Scholars of the old Prophets in whose room afterwards Scribes and Expounders of the Law succeeded And because where so great variety is if there should be equality confusion would follow the Levites were in all their Service at the appointment and direction of the Sons of Aaron or Priests they subject to the principal Guides and Leaders of their own Order and they all in obedience under the High Priest Which difference doth also manifest it self in the very Titles that men for Honours sake gave unto them terming Aaron and his Successours High or Great the Antients over the Companies of Priests Arch-Priests Prophets Fathers Scribes and Interpreters of the Law Masters Touching the Ministery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the whole Body of the Church being divided into Laity and Clergy the Clergy are
either Presbyters or Deacons I rather term the one sort Presbyters than Priests because in a matter of so small moment I would not willingly offend their eares to whom the name of Priesthood is odious though without cause For as things are distinguished one from another by those true essential forms which being really and actually in them doe not onely give them the very last and highest degree of their natural perfection but are also the knot foundation and root whereupon all other inferiour perfections depend so if they that first do impose names did alwayes understand exactly the nature of that which they nominate it may be that then by hearing the termes of vulgar speech we should still be taught what the things themselves most properly are But because words have so many Artificers by whom they are made and the things whereunto we apply them are fraught with so many varieties it is not always apparent what the first Inventers respected much less what every man 's inward conceit is which useth their words For any thing my self can discern herein I suppose that they which have bent their study to search more diligently such matters do for the most part finde that Name 's advisedly given had either regard unto that which is naturally most proper or if perhaps to some other speciality to that which is sensibly most eminent in the thing signified and concerning popular use of words that which the wisedom of their Inventors did intend thereby is not commonly thought of but by the name the thing altogether conceived in gross as may appear in that if you ask of the common sort what any certain word for example what a Priest doth signifie their manner is not to answer a Priest is a Clergy-man which offereth sacrifice to God but they shew some particular Person whom they use to call by that name And if we lift to descend to Grammar we are told by masters in those Schools that the word Priest hath his right place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him whose meer Function or Charge is the service of God Howbeit because the eminentest part both of Heathenish and Jewish service did consist in Sacrifice when Learned-men declare what the word Priest doth properly signifie according to the minde of the first imposer of that name their ordinary Schools do well expound it to imply Sacrifice Seeing then that Sacrifice is now no part of the Church-Ministry how should the name of Priesthood be thereunto rightly applyed Surely even as Saint Paul applyeth the name of Flesh unto that very substance of Fishes which hath a proportionable correspondence to Flesh although it be in nature another thing Whereupon when Philosophers will speak warily they make a difference between Flesh in one sort of living Creatures and that other substance in the rest which hath but a kinde of analogy to Flesh the Apostle contrariwise having matter of greater importance whereof to speak nameth indifferently both Flesh. The Fathers of the Church of Christ with like security of speech call usually the Ministery of the Gospel Priesthood in regard of that which the Gospel hath proportionable to antient Sacrifices namely the Communion of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ although it hath properly now no Sacrifice As for the People when they hear the name it draweth no more their Mindes to any cogitation of Sacrifice than the name of a Senator or of an Alderman causeth them to think upon old age or to imagine that every one so termed must needs be antient because years were respected in the first nomination of both Wherefore to pass by the name let them use what dialect they will whether we call it a Priesthood a Presbytership or a Ministery it skilleth not Although in truth the word Presbyter doth seem more fit and in propriety of speech more agreeable than Priest with the drift of the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. For what are they that embrace the Gospel but Sons of God What are Churches but his Families Seeing therefore we receive the Adoption and state of Sons by their Ministery whom God hath chosen out for that purpose seeing also that when we are the Sons of God our continuance is still under their care which were our Progenitors what better Title could there be given them than the reverend name of Presbyters or fatherly Guides The Holy Ghost throughout the body of the New Testament making so much mention of them doth not any where call them Priests The Prophet Esay I grant doth but in such sort as the antient Fathers by way of analogy A Presbyter according to the proper meaning of the New Testament is he unto whom our Saviour Christ hath communicated the power of Spiritual procreation Out of twelve Patriarks issued the whole multitude of Israel according to the flesh And according to the mystery of heavenly birth our Lord's Apostles we all acknowledge to be the Patriarks of his whole Church St. Iohn therefore beheld sitting about the Throne of God in Heaven four and twenty Presbyters the one half Fathers of the old the other of the new Ierusalem In which respect the Apostles likewise gave themselves the same Title albeit that name were not proper but common unto then with others For of Presbyters some were greater some lesse in power and that by our Saviour's own appointment the greater they which received fulness of Spiritual power the less they to whom less was granted The Apostle's peculiar charge was to publish the Gospel of Christ unto all Nations and to deliver them his Ordinances received by immediate revelation from himself Which preheminence excepted to all other Offices and Duties incident unto their Order it was in them to Ordain and Consecrate whomsoever they thought meet even as our Saviour did himself assign seventy other of his own Disciples inferiour Presbyters whose Commission to Preach and Baptize was the same which the Apostles had Whereas therefore we finde that the very first Sermon which the Apostles did publickly make was the conversion of above three thousand Souls unto whom there were every day more and more added they having no open place permitted them for the exercise of Christian Religion think we that Twelve were sufficient to teach and administer Sacraments in so many private places as so great a multitude of People did require This harvest our Saviour no doubt foreseeing provided accordingly Labourers for it before hand By which means it came to pass that the growth of that Church being so great and so sudden they had notwithstanding in a readiness Presbyters enough to furnish it And therefore the History doth make no mention by what occasion Presbyters were instituted in Ierusalem onely we read of things which they did and how the like were made afterwards elsewhere To these two Degrees appointed of our Lord and Saviour Christ his Apostles soon after annexed Deacons Deacons therefore must know