A TREATISE OF THE HONOR OF GODS HOVSE OR THE TRVE PATERNE Of the Church shewed in the parts And pietie of it With a Discovery of the true Cause and Cure Of our present Contentions And an answer of such Objections as may Offend the weake CANT 6.12 Returne returne O Shulamite returne returne that we may behold thee what shall you see in the Shulamite but as the company of an Army LONDON Printed by T. C. for William Cooke and are to be sold at his Shop neere Furnivalls Inne Gate in Holbourne 1637. Perlegi hunc tractatum cui titulus est A Treatise of the honour of God House c in quo nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribut contrarium quo minus imprimatur Ex Aedibus Lambeth Jun. 15. 1637. IOHN OLIVER Reveren in Ch. Patri Dom. Dom. Ar. Câ—ant Sacell Dom. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL CLERE TALBOT Dr. of Law Comissary to the Reverend Father in God the L. Bishop of Norwich one of his MAIESTIES Iustices of Peace Worthy Sir I Am forced to set forth my selfe as well as my Sermon and to satisfie some I must tell them as well what I am as what I have said A short Sermon is often the occasion of much discourse and many like the Athenians delight in nothing but to heare and tell newes and some like the devill are not so idle as ill occupied in slandering of others The biting of mad dogges admits of medicine to helpe it but there is no Physitian that knowes a remedy against a slander All the comfort is that Mala opinio benè parta delectat a mans owne conscience may be his cordiall Vnus mihi pro populo erit one understanding man is better than a multitude whose very wisedome as the Wiseman saith is to be despised Omnis honestae reimalus judex est vulgus the common people are corrupt judges Eadem probamus eadem reprehendimus hic est exitus omnis judicij in quo lis secundum plures datur in number of voyces there is no certaintie of truth satis est unus satis est nullus one or none may be sufficient to satisfie in a good cause which as I am perswaded I have undertaken I am not ashamed to passe it from the Pulpit to the Presse and to Print what I preached In both I have your request and it is some part of a requitall to say Hoc ego non multis sed tibi I owe as much as you have desired and will not be dainty by your hands to deliver it to others That you have found the approbation you sought for is to mee a second confirmation it may doe more good than I expected I shall be glad to helpe the weakest and not to receive him for controversies of disputations I have not stirred the stone they stumble upon nor moved their mindes with noveltie Qui intempestivè monet ille nocet a monition must be as a medicine seasonably applied When there is no motion of humours in a body their very agitation is dangerous and no pacification to be expected by their purgation but the Aphorisme is true when they move remove them least they doe mischiefe Si quid movendum move humores qui turgent purgentur Me thinkes our diseases are discovered by Saint Paul in the right method Tit. 1.10 Many are unruly vaine talkers deceivers Authoritie is disobeyed Secondly disobedience is defended Thirdly the defence deceives others These diseases are apparent in many whose malady is contention with their Superiours which they defend by bookes and by the same poyson most of the people who looke not so much into the cause as the complaint and complying in affection with the Authors lose the apprehension of the truth which whosoever shall reveale it to them shall not be heard for the prejudice they have conceived Prava dogmata wicked doctrines make Heretickes and poison their mindes but diversa studia small differences will make Schismatickes and set them out of good thoughts withall they cannot affect Saint Paul disputes the case charitably 1 Cor. 11.10.19 he beleeves it in part and passeth not the same sentence upon all and mitigates the matter further by an effectuall gradation from Schisme to heresie as from the lesse to the greater No marvell you are divided in Rites and Ceremonies and contrary Customes wherein wee for our parts contend not neither the Churches of God but study peace and quiet as counting them no matters of moment to cause contention Such contentious spirits make Gods people come together not for the better but for the worse where is the fault not in the Church but the bad humours of it in such as are in the Church but not of it in such as have least to doe with it yet make worke enough for them which have most to doe and set all into a combustion I say the holy Apostle helpes the staggering Christian and labours to make him stand upright First I beleeve it to be in your company and onely of those that will not be of you Secondly it is from a bad cause to a good end The devill moves it but God will have the glory of it and you shall have the good in being approved to him Secondly in being made manifest to others and that first that you are not the Schismatickes secondly that you are such as the Church approves thirdly you neede not wonder at Schismes when Satan can raise heresies That 's a happy Church that is without weedes and a thousand separations are not to be trusted that seek safety where Satan shall not find them America is no more the place than Rome Satan is to be feared hath found and will finde their societies but I will not accuse them so much as defend my selfe and tell all men what I am sure I should be if I be righâ— I am unus in corpore as well as unus in capite one that strives as much for one Church as for one Christ and as it is my duty to name my selfe a Christian from my communion with Christ so shall it ever be the same to sirname my selfe a Catholike from my communion with his body Seeing you have drawne me out to say some thing I say it for the Church and seeke pacification of that which is now in agitation and because the Altar breedes the greatest quarrell I will first labour to take away the offence in the name secondly I will examine whether every Altar induceth a sacrifice thirdly whether the sacrifice superinduceth the sinne of Idolatry fourthly I will set before you severall instances of the excellencies of Gods House to bring us in love with it fiftly give directions to avoid danger and this I am forced to fixe before my Sermon to make it more acceptable in the reading I know it is not all one to Preach in a Pulpit and speake out of a Presse my desire is to make way by a Preface that no prejudice may remaine in a short Sermon
living with Saint Iohn might speake that plainly which Saint Iohn expressed mystically yet by his allusion to the Church of the Iewes might let us see our surrogation into their place and cast the forme after that fashion then the which there could not be a better setting apart the types which were fulfilled in Christ for besides them we might serve God upon our holy dayes as they did upon theirs in our holy places as they did in â—heirs Saint John resembled our place of Majestie by theirs our place of Ministery by theirs our place of Auditory by theirs They kept one day in a week so do we they kept Feasts and Festivals so doe we as Easter Pentecost the Nativitie of Christ c. We are Christians in that wherin they were Iews and shew that their shadows are converted into perfect light Revel 12.1 we have that under our feet which was the crown of their head and that upon our whole bodie which they looked for The Sun the Embleme of our Church and the measure of our time and service Their Feasts were all lunary ours solarie and moneths in Saint Iohn are apposed to days and yeers Revel 11.23 12.6.14 13.5 and makes the distinction betweene a true and false company of Christians I say the Sunne is a great ceremony in the Christian Church and so is the East where it riseth as may be seen in the solemnitie of Baptisme which Saint Peter mentioneth 1 Pet. 3.21 Baptisme is the interrogation of a good conscience and saveth the Church from the floud of Apostacie as Noahs Arke did eight persons from drowning Revel 7.1 The foure Winds that shake the foure corners of the earth are barbarous wars sometimes compared to great and mighty waters sometimes to terrible and tempestuous windes these cast downe Kingdomes and cause confusion and there is nothing that can stand these blasts but the sealed societie and Baptisme well understood will reach the meaning as being both the seale of our service and safety with God if we keepe it it will keepe us and bind as well God to us for safetie as it binds us to him in a service as a master The making of our vow in Baptisme is wonderfull solemne if wee search out the ceremonies of speaking and standing at the Font or Fountaine to be baptized The interrogation is Saint Peters expression and it was made to the conscience of the believer abrenuncias abrenuncio Credis Credo more largely thus in the answere of the party to be baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I disband my selfe from thee O Satan and from all thy Angels Autors of Idolatry I do bid a farewell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. to all thy mediators for me to thee as a deceitfull God and I utterly abhorre all thy pomps and vaine services c. Hereby the way understand how our Ancients made Pagan Playes the renunciation of Baptisme and most damnable to all Christians because they were services to the dead and hellish honours to the infernall fiends foes to Christ Iesus and furtherers of all Idolatry against him The Christians abrenunciation should be remembred as the feale of his service and safety if hee returne againe to false Mediatours hee loseth the benefit of his Baptisme and becomes as it were another mans servant and seeks safety from another master Having made his renunciation he begins again and sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I binde my selfe and binde my selfe for ever to thee ô Christ as my sole Redeemer and Mediatour and will gaine God or go to God by no other but thy selfe and I believe c. reade but the Churches Catechisme and the Churches Baptisme and wee shall finde Saint Peters interrogation and the answere of a good conscience made by the party to be baptized The standing will stirre more the coals of contention but I cannot helpe it to relate to a reasonable man what may well be received In the abrenunciation of the Devill the partie was to look the Devill in the face and set it Westward towards the Devils throne or his Idoll and Altar and testifie his defiance and departure from him and to spit at him in token of great detestation Fie get thee hence what have I to do with Idols pomps and vanities of Satan This ceremonie ended he turns his back upon the enemy and looks into the East and earnestly vowes himselfe to Christ and from hence followes the ceremonie of prayer into the East and placing the house of Prayer ordinarily that way and also placing the holy Table in the East end and making that the Sanctuary The whole Tabernacle and Temple stood in the miâ—â—st of the people of Israel But when they entred the Courts the Court of Majestie in both places was in the West The Church is Gods throne in generall as was the Temple Tabernacâ— and Gods peopled well about it as Israel did both in the Wildernesse and the Land of Canaan But the speciall throne in the Church is the holy Table where we have our perfectest communion with God It begins in Baptisme ends in the Lords Supper and they are the best Saints that are admitted unto it some reason there is of all that is said from the distinction of times The Iewes and Gentiles before Christ by their looking into the West professed the darknesse of their dayes we by looking into the East professe our times to be light It s small wisdom to multiply needlesse questions and as great wisdome to answer them that be profitable To satisfie the weak the wise alike is impossible whiles one man cryes one thing and some another the greater part know not what they doe or wherefore they come together It hath often beene checked in Preachers to speake of needlesse matters but shall that be needlesse which the times make necessary let them aske no questions raise no quarrels with our Church and wee shall count it needlesse to contend with them that are convicted both of our faith and order the only two things in Saint Pauls greatest joy Colos 2.5 we should be glad to preach nothing but faith and the fruits of faith working by charity for salvation but there is a necessitie to preach for order when they that professe to be children of our Church neverthelesse appose her holy Orders This my addition is not to pursue but pacifie the quarrell It s my dutie to stand for the Church and perswade with all the members to be of one minde and mouth He that sayes to mee why is one place more holy then another I may say to him and why is one day more holy then another Shall Saint Paul resolve us in one word upon one ground for one end Rom. 14.5 6. Estimation makes the distinction fulnesse of knowledge must warrant it and the glory of the Lord Iesus must be the end of it In Religion every day is alike to a Christian that will not be a Iew and one day is
the same It may be so in his Word and Ordinances which I reverence but adore not because they are not God but of his name and himselfe I cannot so speake Esay 42.8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory I will not give to another c. His name himselfe and his glory are alike and may be given to nothing lesse than himselfe I speak of the name Iesus not as given to some men by humane imposition but as given to our Redeemer by God with a command of his adoration and so I end my second argument Thirdly from the benefit which is ours wee never name our benefactors but with great reverence and respect Of all the names of God this is above all names to us for all other names containe God himselfe as hee is against us this only includes us and our salvation in it and therfore is given of God to us so to think of it and how can it be in our thoughts above all other names without reverence respect unto it Acts 4.12 as there is salvation in no other person so there is no other name to expresse it and therefore wee may well make our expressions of reverence at the mention of it Lastly from God himselfe made known unto us Exod 6.3 As hee reveals himselfe so are wee to worship him and as he does this by one name more than another so may we acknowledge it without offence Now of all names none more expressive of Gods goodnesse unto us than this name Iesus and therefore we esteeme it of all the names of God most precious and in which he is most delighted to be worshipped to confesse that Iesus is the Lord Phil. 2.11 is a glory to Christ but the text sayes it is to the glory of God the Father therfore no wrong done to one person when wee performe worship in the name of an other Shortly In Religion All dayes are alike one day is above another All places are alike one place is above another All names are alike one name is above another There is no contradiction nor opposition to Gods Word when all dayes are alike to make one day above another when all places are alike to preferre one place before another when all names are alike to advance one name before another Estimation begins the difference and where it puts none against God it may set up one for God Estimation must be grounded upon knowledge that we be not ignorant in our thoughts and all must be to the glory of him who hath purchased our liberty from the bondage of the one and granted us freedome in the other to make our choice of such circumstances as may advance and advantage our Religion Acts 16.3 Gal. 2.3 in Timothie and Titus teach us wisdome how to walke with the wise and yet to the wicked to give no place by subjection for an houre to prejudice the truth of the Gospel Emissaries and Spies in the Church must be avoided and it was Saint Peters great fault ὀυκ á½€Ïθοποδεῖν to give offence in seeking to avoid it and his feare to offend was his greatest offence and that which is most to be lamented 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his hypocrisie is the cause of others dissembling with him and Barnabas Saint Pauls companion is corrupted in this evill concord and the Apostle left alone to vindicate the truth of the Gospel Hee that went furthest in the Ceremony and circumstance of Religion is the strictest and stoutest to stand for the substance A good pattern for our dayes of peaceable proceedings in the Church Acts 21.21 Saint Paul is accused not to live after the Church customes advised to shew the accusation to be false to submit with foure men to purifie himselfe and be at the charges of shaving for a Nazarite and although he vowed not with the foure men yet hee had not avoided that vow Acts 18.18 and now readily to give satisfaction undergoes the whole counsell of his brethren and although the event proved not successefull yet was it sufficient to shew his care to be at the Churches command to the utmost not to offend any zealous of the Law especially beleeving and in whom there was hope to be reclaymed from holding Moses against Christ Would God this moderation were in our times and that people could discerne betweene circumstances and substence in true Religion Iude Verse 23. hate the garment spotted with the flesh is strangely taken by some and compared to a shadow when it includes a mayn substance as fire to devoure and out of which nothing can save but quicke pulling out Creepers into houses Verse 4. murmurers and complayners of their Governours are compared to a leprous infectious garment which we must flie as the Plague I see no such pestilence in a Surplesse as in these from which Good Lord deliver us and let every good man pull away his neighbour from pinning himselfe upon their sleeves that slily creepe into corners to seduce men from our Church and let all learne to lay this text more against an Hereticke and a Schismaticke than a Ceremonie of the Church for certainly the sense is more in that than in this 1. Thes 5.23 Abstain from all appearance of evill is another proofe against Ceremonies and yet it is cleere the Apostle means it of prophecie First we must not despise it if we mean not to quench the spirit Secondly prophecie must be tried Thirdly what is good must be held Fourthly that which is evill the very appearance of it must be avoided This is ill applied to Ceremonies for it is not the evill appearance of every thing we must abstain from for then we should hold nothing that is good especially the best things for commonly they most offend and finde sense an ill judge of them but here again as before take heed not onely of evill doctrines but their very appearance Or if any will have the words generall they must be applyed to that which is evill and that by a gradation Evill must be avoided not onely in the substance but the very circumstances wee must not admit the least of evils and therfore the thing must be evill that we avoid To say it may appeare so to be is not enough for what will not some with their wits work into ill apprehensions and make the people like bird-eyed-horses start at any thing Let men be solid and not superficiall Studie to be serious and not verball in setting false faces upon things I have done and must adde my conclusion from the Canticles and wish wee may see the times set forth in these words Cant. 7.1 How beautifull are thy goings with shooes O Princes daughter the joynts of thy thighes are like jewels the work of the hand of a cunning workman O God thou art the cunning workman and onely able to set our joynts like jewels and make our thighes stable and the very wheel-bones for so the word signifies in the articulation ready to holy motions and conversions to thy selfe and then I am sure wee shall have our feet shod and not walke barefoot upon these sharpe stones and scruples daily cast in amongst us Wee have thy Gospel of peace shooe our feet with the preparation of it Ephes 6.15 and put an end to these miserable wars amongst us Thou that givest us the fignes of thy presence preserve us in thy truth Let thy Ministers be clothed with holinesse and thy people rejoyce in thy salvation Let the blessed Angels pitch their tents about us and watch for us They are thine honorable attendants let them be from thee to us as our Corps-du-guarde Amen AMEN
obeat legationem Dei concedatur illis in eundem locum congregatis etiam glorifioare nomen Dei that he may undertake Gods delegation and that the people of the same place may congregate and give God his due glory Without a Bishop to order the Church assemblies they are meere conventicles and unlawfull meetings Here by the way observe that the Father speake of such helpe as one Church may and ought to afford another Annunciatum est mihi Ecclesiam Antiochenam esse pacatam it is reported unto me that the Church of Antioch is quiet and peaceable and needs your help that enjoy a worthy Bishop and I would wish you to doe as Gods Churches have alwayes done ut semper secerunt proximae Ecclesiae quorum aliae misere Episcopos nonnullae verò presbyteros Diaconos that the next Churches some of them have supplyed their neighbour Churches with Bishops others with Priests and Deacons Rome outreacheth and straineth this testimonie upon the largest last and helps to stretch it with her teeth for the Pope that hee ought to choose all Bishops for the Churches With his leave the words serve for any Bishop with his Church to helpe others to able men that want them and for our Novelists they may not once name this text that will choose for themselves and suffer no others to meddle with their right when all Churches have ought to have a common right one in another For the words of Saint Cyprian they may be expounded that the people being peaceable as it was with the Church of Antioch and keeping concord amongst themselves they may then with one consent use all their power to gaine worthy Priests and ingage it to the uttermost to oppose them that are wicked and unworthy and their testimony is to be heard of their betters The Church separates two and God makes choice of one seven honest men are looked out of the societie of Saints and appointed by the Apostles to the businesse of the Church Paul and Barnabas are separated by the Church to a speciall work signified to them by the holy Ghost Let the people on Gods name in these peaceable wayes walke with the Church and for the Church and I know none will condemne them but they are to know all these elections are not of the essence of a Bishop for hee may be so when hee is sent from one Church to another and therfore to speake distinctly and avoid confusion Ordination belongs to a Priest Consecration to a Bishop and Translation is when he is removed from one place to another These three are the formes of the Church and Rites she useth to expresse her selfe but the Episcopall power is that which God gives unto them whom hee useth as his immediate means to convey it to the whole Church For the second objection that Bishops ordaine with others and by others is easily answered in Timothy that he was ordained by the hands of Saint Paul and may be the hands of the Presbytery that is of others that joyned with him or it may be the office hee received by S. Pauls hands alone The question is not whether Priests may joyne with the Bishop but whether they may do it alone without the Bishop There is some thing said for Chorepiscopi or rurall Bishops that they have ordained which were unlawfull if ordination were solely Episcopall I answer what the Bishop may doe by deputation is nothing to my disputation I speak of Gods order and that which is divine of the humane Laws of the Church and what power Bishops have to depute others I leave to them I look upon that which I conceive to be Gods appointment and the constant course of the Scriptures which signifies unto us that either the Apostles or such as Timothie and Titus ordained and not one word of any Evangelist or Prophet or of all Pastours but some speciall ones selected by the Apostles before their death So Timothie ordained as an Evangelist and you at once affirme two untruths 1 that Timothie was extraordinarily called and secondly that such an one being none of the Apostles number might ordaine Timothie was made a Minister by imposition of hands and to Timothie was committed the power to impose hands upon others but both are arguments against his extraordinary calling and hee that makes Evangelists or Prophets by imposition of hands sayes that which no word of holy Scripture will warrant him either by one example or precept in all the new Testament The third objection is that Bishops are the Churches invention in Schismatis remedium I am glad they that like not of Bishops to be of God will confesse them to be of men for so good an end and it shewes what wee have said to be absolutely true that without Bishops the Church must needs be filled with faction and sure I am the quarrell with them is the cause of all our doleful contentions and grievous complaints and if men could work them out and have their wils it would not be So many men so many mindes but millions of mischiefe and misery to this our Nation It s well they see such wisdome in the necessitie of Bishops but is not the originall dangerous to censure Gods Providence of defect and mens inventions of Idolatry To say God provided not for Schisme is to mee a secret Atheisme and checke to him that better sees what the Church needeth then to leave it in so mayne a matter to the policie and pietie of men Againe the remedie is worse then the disease and of desperate cure to them that call all humane inventions in question for Idolatry I hope a necessary means to prevent division in Religion is a speciall ordinance of God and to make it humane is worse in my thoughts then to make it divine Saint Hierome is the most welcome autour they have and yet contra Luciferan hee sayes the Church consists of many degrees and makes the highest end in the Bishope and Dionysius Ecclesiast Hierarch c. 5. affirmes not of one but of all Bishops that immediatè in Christum terminantur and the aforesaid authour ad Euagrium sayes summum tenent locum and Saint Cyprian Epist 65. Pamel l. 5. Epist 9. Episcopi omnes Apostolorum sunt successores It were easie to multiply autorities that speake home in this businesse Saint Ignat. Epist ad Smyru Laici subjecti sunto Diaconis Diaconi Presbyteris Presbyteri Episcopo Episcopus Christo ut Christus patri The subordination and succession is full Lay-men must submit to the Deacons the Deacons to the Priests the Priests to the Bishop the Bishop to Iesus Christ as Iesus Christ to his Father Epist ad Magn. ut praesideant Episcopi loco Dei Presbyteri loco concessus Apostolici c. Bishops are placed in Gods stead Priests accompany them as the Apostles did Christ Hee called them to worke with him and so Bishops call Priests to preach the Gospel and propagate the faith with them