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A41505 A discourse about ceremonies, church-government and liturgy humbly offered to the consideration of the convocation / by J.G.G. Gailhard, J. (Jean) 1696 (1696) Wing G120; ESTC R25091 108,929 160

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Sacrament teach us the same thing Are we not with him buried by Baptism and with him raised in Newness of Life Do we not in Baptism give Christ our Names take his Livery and Badges upon us and as much as in us lies make a Vow to forsake all to follow Christ the crucified Are we not thereby admitted into his Church to fight under his Banners during the whole Course of our Life against all our Spiritual Enemies Doth the Sign of the Cross signifie any more than this The Ceremony is then a superfluous thing seeing it can signifie no more nor do more good than the Sacrament doth This Signification being an Engagement that we shall not be ashamed of the Cross must be believed must be in Faith without which it is Sin but how can there be Faith where is no Word of Precept or Promise As there is none at all but I know what there is in the Practice of this Sign of the Cross in Baptism namely an abominable Presumption and Addition to the Sacrament which is not of the Institution this implieth as if the Ordinance was imperfect and something in it wanting which must be added by Man and we have no more leave given us to add to the Sacraments than to the Word under the threatned Penalties Rev. 22.18 And though this Sign of the Cross be an ancient Custom 't is never the better for that Antiquity without Truth saith Cyprian is an old Error However the Administration of the Sacrament without it is much more ancient Wherefore when Water thorough the fault of the Pipe or of some other Cause groweth bad and corrupt we must go to the Spring Illud verum quod primum saith one that 's true which agrees with the Institution the Valentinian Hereticks first used the Cross in Baptism and gave also the Lord's Supper to Infants which must be owned to be ill because they could not examine themselves nor discern the Lord's Body and as this Custom hath been left so there was as much Reason to have left the other as others have been too when Men found cause for it 't was a Custom in Prosper's some say in Cyprian's time at the receiving of the Lord's Supper to sop the Bread into the Cup this continued for some hundred of Years and lasted as long as that of Infants receiving of the Lord's Supper but were left off not without good Reasons so might Cross in Baptism have been left with as much Reason for sopping was not worse than it sopping was an Alteration and Cross an Addition which is as bad every jot as Alteration if not of the things instituted yet of the Institution as making it insufficient or imperfect by it self alone for when Christ said do this he meaned as well do this only as do this all more is to be said for sopping which was used by Christ at the very Table of the Supper but the Sign of the Cross was never used by the Lord Jesus If crossing ought to be used in Baptism the Apostles in their Doctrine concerning it would have made some mention of it except some would think they then did not know or cared not to use the best way of signifying Christian Valour and Constancy in fighting under Christ's Banner If this Sign of the Cross or any other Ceremony in Baptism be referred to Order or Decency as it is is it not thereby blasphemously to accuse the Baptism of John and of the Apostles which was without it of Disorder and Uncomeliness Whereas the Comeliness and Dignity of the Sacraments is to be esteemed by the Word of God by the Institution of Christ by the Simplicity of the Gospel and by the Practice of the Apostles nothing is more decent and orderly than that which Christ commandeth and alloweth nothing more undecent and unseemly than that which Men invent in the Service of God and in the Celebration of the Sacraments thereby inverting and perver●ing the holy Ordinances of God Is it not a strange thing that though in Scripture the Cross be neither commanded nor permitted yet the Rule is Cross or Baptize not a Child shall be deprived of the Sacrament of the Seal of the Covenant if the Addition of the Cross be not with it this is as bad if not worse than Anabaptism and I think they have more to say for not baptizing Infants than these People have to deny Baptism upon such an account and no doubt that hath made several Anabaptists for some Men being in Conscience dissatisfied with that Ceremony would not have their Children baptized with it thus they had rather to keep them unbaptized but rather than they should not be at all having kept them so till they were older they inclined to have them baptized in their way I cannot tell how those that have a Commission from Christ to preach and to baptize can answer at last for refusing upon such an account to baptize for they disobey the Commission 't is most certain the Lord never said baptize with the Sign of the Cross but baptize in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost So that except Men refuse to be baptized in that Name which no body doth being a visible Member of the Church 't is an abominable Wickedness and Disobedience upon such an account to deny Baptism with a just Cause we complain against Papists for taking away the half of one Sacrament and have we not much more reason to cry out against those amongst us who having a positive Command to baptize do wilfully and unjustly deprive the Children of believing Parents of the Seales of the Covenant which God hath absolutely ordered to be administred unto them In Popery the Cross is not only an Occasion of Superstition but is also made an Idol they kneel before and as such do Worship it and where they pretend to have a piece of the Wood of the Cross they lay it up as a most holy Relick have Days appointed to come kiss and worship it upon their Knees they suppose Miracles to be done by it and have Prayers made for it ought not the Thoughts of this make any one that hates Idolatry to detest and abhor the Idol and not so much as to endure the Sight of it but not only the Cross but also the Sign of it is abused amongst them they believe the Sign of the Cross Opere operato as they call of it self and being made hath the Vertue to drive away Devils and to this same purpose they use it in Baptism in consecrating Churches baptizing of Bells making their Holy Water exercising saying Mass and in every thing else they do in Religion so that amongst them there is not one Ceremony more generally abused than this they use it also to keep off the Thunderbolt and if in a Morning when they go out they do but make the Sign of the Cross they think themselves safe enough for the rest of the Day And though amongst
nor be a Hinderance for Ministers to exercise the Gift of Prayer or to make them neglect it nor to justle out preaching neither must Men make the publick Worship of God consist only or chiefly in hearing Prayers read With these Cautions we approve well of a Liturgy wherefore let it be known we except not against Liturgies in general and as such but in particular against such as we think to have just Exceptions against either as to the matter or to the manner of using them As to those Liturgies fathered upon St. Peter St. James and Mark they are spurious and were obtruded upon the World by the Romanists Although I do not intend to insist upon those Places of the Common-prayer-book which we have just Cause to except against because others have done it before yet something must be said to it and we must come to some particlars I shall begin with the Rubrick concerning the Order how the rest of the holy Scripture besides the Psalter is appointed to be read in the first Paragraph is a Brand and a Slight put upon holy Canonical Scripture of the Old Testament for it is said It shall be read through once every Year except certain Books and Chapters which be least edifying and might be spared yet instead of these are read several of the Apocryphal Books as Ecclesiasticus the Wisdom 2d of Esdras Baruch Judith Tobith c. Whereby a visible Preference is given to those Humane Writings before the authentick Word of God for they are lookt upon as best edifying and least to be spared In the point this is worse than Papists who give the Apocryphas and their Traditions an equal Authority to Canonical Scripture which is the Word of God when the others are the Word of Man but this as I already observed giveth the Preference to some of the Apocrypha before some of the Canonical I hope this shall be no Question between us we all know the Reasons we have against Papists about the Authority of the Apocrypha First They were all written after the Time of Malachy the last of the Prophets Secondly None of the Apocrypha is written in Hebrew which is the Tongue used by the Prophets Thirdly Neither the Jews nor the primitive Apostolical Church ever received them as Canonical Fourthly they were never quoted in the New Testament by our Saviour or his Apostles tho there be Places quoted out of every Book of the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour mentioned the Old Testament under three Heads The Law of Moses the Prophets Luke 24.44 and the Psalms But the fifth and chief Reason because in every thing they do not agree with the Canonical Scripture nor with themselves as hath been shewed by some of our Divines as Whitaker Reynolds c. specially in Vsher's Body of Divinity and by Forreigners as Polanus Chamierus and so many more And this I press the more because the Authority of it in Scripture is one of the Fundamental Points of our Religion and one of the greatest Controversies between Papists and us In the last Paragraph of the same Rubrick 't is ordered thus as often as the first Chapter of St. Matthew is read either for Lesson or Gospel ye shall begin the same at Vers 18. and the third Chapter of St. Luke 's Gospel shall be read unto the middle of Verse the 23d Surely that which is ordered to be left out is Part of Scripture as that which is read the one as well as the other are written for our Instruction as well as Comfort That which is unread is of a high Concernment for though it consists only of proper Names yet contains a most important Matter every Degree of our blessed Saviour's Genealogy which God under the Old Testament took such Care to preserve clear that when the Messiah came to be born there should be no Doubt no Difficulty made of his being of the Seed of Abraham of the Family of David which St. Matthew proves on Joseph his supposed Father's side as St. Luke on Mary's the first divided into three Classes of 14 Generations every one of which makes undisputably a great Article of our Faith how Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah promised to the World out of Abraham's Seed and then the mention amongst Christ's Ancestors made of Thamar of Rachab of Ruth of her that had been Vrias's Wife Bersheba whereby Christ owns for his Relations according to the Flesh some branded with notorious Faults others though Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and Strangers from the Covenants of Promise to shew how in his Spiritual Relations he would not disown the most notorious Sinners and never so much Gentiles This I say affords matter of Meditation and so is not to be unread Here followeth the Table of the proper Lessons to be read at the Head whereof we find the Word Mattens for Morning Prayer and to have matched things well there should have been the Word Vespers instead of Evening Song both Words in that Sence used in the Church of Rome from whom we borrow both Names and things as we shall have Occasion farther to speak of now these Words are derived from Latin and used in Italian Spanish French c. 'T is no wonder if having taken things out of their Latin Books we also retain some of their Names as Advent Epiphany Quinquagesima Sexagesima Septuagesima c. which are barbarous to every English Man unacquainted with the Latin Tongue or with the Customs of that Church so we do continue their Mass Names and Days as Christmas the Day when Mass is said for the Birth of Christ Candlemass the Day of the Mass of Candles for then Popish Churches are full of them Lammas Day the Day when here in Time of Popery they said Mass for the Preservation of Lambs Michaelmass the Day when Michael's Mass is said c. We say no Mass upon those Days but we have Collect Epistle and Gospel some of which Papists use upon those very Days Now if we look into the Kalender we shall there find the Names of many Saints which either were never in Nature or else are honoured upon Earth when may be their Souls are tormented in Hell Boniface Silvester Clement Dunstan George Martin Denis for there must be Champions to defend the rest specially the Ladies as Margaret Agnes Magdalene Katharine Agathe c. and to be merry Cicely the Patroness of Musitians with Nicolas Crispin Blasius Patrons of Seamen Shoemakers c. Hugh Valentine Edward Machal amongst other Inventions that of the Cross must be in too Remige and several other Popish Saints whose Names should not be in our Mouths much less in our Common-prayer-book we must not omit how there are five Holy Days for the blessed Virgin Purification Annunciation Visitation Nativity and Conception there should have been also her Assumption when she was as they pretend carried up to Heaven in Body and Soul then we could have