Ark been taken by the Philistims the glory had been departed from the Israel of Gods Church How much prophane mirth would the sonnes of Error have made with these Songs of Zion had God given them up into their power But blessed be God the Church hath ever had ane held the Scriptures in high value though not admitted all parts of it for Canon at one and the same time sometimes they found parts of it not in good hands as they thought other parts by Hereticks were corrupted and handed to them not as they were in the autographon but with emendations to which were added many spurious and rejectitious Gospels Prophecies and Epistles fitted to answer the lying divination Satan had no foot other parts of Scripture not primariò authenticae the ancients allowed to be read sub regulâ morum but not as a rule of faith but such only as were received from Prophets and allowed by Christ Jesus his Apostles and their Scribes and Schollers and their successors hath the Church owned and adhered to and those are the Books in the Canon of our holy Mother the Church of England not that all mouthes have been stopped or all Christians agreed in the harmony no all have not beleeeved Gods testimony in the Churches report and traditional fidelity S t Jerom tells us that it was usual with hereticks to corrupt Catholick Authors the Eunomians dealt thus with Clemens the elder and Ruffinus is not behind-hand for this trick while he prefixed the Name of a holy Martyr to a book of Arrianisme and Evagrius charges them of entitling their hereticall books with the Names of Holy Orthodox men such as Athanasius Gregorius Thaumaturgus and Julius in brief Theodoret is round with them telling us they cared not what Law they broke what boldness and freedom they took for maintenance of their wickedness nay oftentimes they made it the master-piece of their blasphemy to violate the holy Law of God As men in groves cut this stick and that wand they like and leave the rest so pick erroneous men this book and that passage here and there and leave the rest as useless Whatever is contrary to their device and casts dirt in their face they reject and disown their darkness and the light of Scripture agrees not Light is au ill guest to an ill conscience and because Scripture troubles their Owle eyes and dismantles their impostry they cannot away with it Tertullian perstringes the Valentinians for their clucking into corners and their sculking up and down and sayes Our Doves-coat hath no guile is open and visible to all comers who have liberty to see and hear what we do And 't is a Note unimprobated that patrons and professors of error and none but such have ever dishonoured Scripture or questioned its authority nor have ever any who had a grounded hope of Heaven by Gods mercy held themselves above Ordinances as the means of attaining it nor have they ever pick'd and choos'd cull'd and refus'd this and not that Ordinance but had respect to all Gods commands and equally adored all his dispensations Charge an holy soul with queaziness in this kind object to it that it loves not to be limited and enlarged by the word not to humble it self to God in prayer not to obey Authority for the Lord and for conscience sake and it answers in Hazael's word Am I a dog that I should do this No this spot is not the spot of Gods people 't would be a sully which mountains of niter could not cleanse 'T is true indeed in the interpretation of this or that particular Scripture there hath been yet is and ever will be to the end of the world different opinions and many passions have lathered so high that charity hath often layen in the suds as is the Proverb even amongst men otherwayes without exception as between S t Augustine and S t Jerom in the Exposition on the second Chap. of the Galatians yea and in many things and under many temptations some of you have lived and spoken somewhat against the majesty and authority of the holy Scripture as Origen by Name who therefore confessed his errors and publikely retracted them as appears in his Epistle to Fabian and as S t Jerom testifies in his Epistle to Pammachius and Oceanus And therefore Legends Canons and Traditions brought into some Churches as grounds of belief and made obligatory to the conscience as onely the holy Scriptures ought to be held are but of late date in the Christian Church for S t Jerom or Epiphanius in him writes thus to Theophilus That thou mindest us of Church-Canons we thank thee but know this that nothing is so antique as the Laws and rights of Christ And Father Marinarus in the Counsel of Trent denied that the Fathers made Traditions to stand in competition with Scripture but good man he was born down with the many voices that decried his sound assertion as that which better beseemed a Colloquie in Germany then a Counsel of the universal Church but what he said was nevertheless true because disliked by those vipers for as they then so their predecessors long before cried up Traditions and perhaps they had it from the Jews or rather from the devil the author of it both in Jews and others Our Lord Jesus arraigns the Jews for making void the Commandements of God by mens traditions and transgressing the Commandements of God by traditions yea of rejecting the Commandements of God to fulfill them and the Apostle S t Paul reproves this and cautions against it Beware saith he least any man spoyl you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ Where the Apostle doth not simply dehort from traditions in affirmance of Scripture or civil custom but from such use of traditions as tends to the eclipse of the testimony of truth in the word written which is transcendently above the witness of man and therefore I cry out to all those New-lights as S t Jerom did Spare your pains hug not the cloud of your conceits instead of the Juno truth Why do you bring that to sale which the primitive Church for four hundred years never heard of Why take you upon your shoulders that task which Peter and Paul never taught nor were they now alive would own untill this day the Christian world hath been without this Doctrine and I in mine old age will profess that faith in which I was born and into which baptized Would S t Jerom have been stanch had he lived to these times wherein old and sound Religion is like wormeaten lumber cast into the outhouses or like unfashionable furniture turned out of the chambers of note to adorn the Nursery or the Chaplains lodgings I trow he would and had he he must have reproached many professors who now would pull
becomes precept or president to its practice then is the Church to be followed in such her warrantable customs and observations In the 28 Chapter of S t Matthew our Lord Jesus is mentioned to have ascended in the 16 th verse the Eleven are said to go away into Galilee unto a mountain where Jesus had appointed them there he appears to them in a glorious condition which caused them to worship him as Emanuel God Man Mediator In the 18 th verse our Lord owns the donation of all power to him both in Heaven and Earth before this Christ is not mentioned so solemnly to transfer power Ministerial to his Apostles he asserts his own Authority before he gives them theirs that done Go ye therefore and teach all Nations follows which compared with that other passage As my Father hath sent me so send I you fully cleers to me That transferrency of power Ministerial from God the Father to God the Son and from God the Son to his Apostles and to their Successors in the Ministry who in Tertullian's phrase are the Hereditary Apostles and Disciples of Christ I do not affirm there is an equality of spiritual power in Ministers now to that in the Apostles no more then in the Apostles to that in Christ all Vessels are not of a capacity if the Spirit were on him without measure and upon Apostles and Ministers restrained and as they could bear then we must allow a disparity in the degree God gave him a Name above all names both in heaven and earth saith the Apostles and no creature must contend with its maker But this I dare affirm That the power Spiritual and Ministerial which the a-A-Apostles expressed by imposition of hands and since in conformity to them and upon the same ground they do carry on who are lawfully called to the Ministry in the Church Christian is as truly spiritual power in them as in their Head from whom they received it and that the Church has now as clear a Charter for her Orders as the Apostles had for their Apostleships the great D r of us Gentiles is my Author God hath set in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers c. Prophets and Teachers that is Ministers as well as Apostles both fixed by Christ as necessary to carry on his spiritual building the Church Both ministring Spirits for the good of the Elect both his good Angels to summon from all quarters his chosen ones both usefull one to lay the foundation and the other to perfect the Structure I write not this to ingage my self in controversies I shall ever indeavour to decline them as well knowing they account nothing to Church peace or Religions purity but this I must profess that my judgement is flatly against entrenchment upon Church Offices let Christians imploy their Gifts soberly and instruct themselves and their Families thorowly and they will finde enough of that task If our Lord had laid the right of teaching in mens readinesses or their talkative abilities he would have appeared to those multitudes of people whom he in the course of his life and Ministry taught fed and cured of infirmities and from whom he had approbation to do and speak as never man did or spake it 's probable he might have found as nimble orators as pregnant gifted men in prayers as great measure of self-denial in some of the people as was in Peter James John or the rest of the Apostles But he appears to the Eleven met according to his appointment and them he culls out of the mass of the multitude to be the Churches Faetificators and he bids them as ver 19. Go ye therefore c. Ye an exclusive phrase as well as a personal not onely ye as well as others but ye only and above others ye as the grand Masters and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Church edification lay ye the foundation let all the after-building be according to your pattern from my prescript And teach all Nations These Metropolitans had large Diocesses Eleven to preach the world over this Commission must be largely taken not restrained to their personal but Doctrinal Visits not to their lives but to the perpetuity of their succession Ministerial not Apostolique for can we think those few could peragrate the Universe into many parts of which there was then no means of convoy or transport or that the hour-glass of their lives did not speed too fast for them to sow the seeds of grace in to so many several and various people and Nations or can the Apostles in any sense natural be said to continue to the end of the world till when Christ promises to be with them I tro no most of the Apostles died within the first Century If Christs promise was to continue them so long as he continued concurrence with them then must they not have seen death till the end of the world for so long he saith he will be with them And if they died so soon after and the world has yet lasted above 1500 yeers and how long further it may last God onely knows the promise must be understood to the orderly succession of the Ministry in all the ages of the Church who are to carry on the Apostles Office of teaching and exercising Discipline in it to the end of the world And this the Apostles understood and followed in their practice for though Judas fell from his Apostleship yet the Eleven by prayer and calling on God were directed specially to compleat their number by the admission of Matthias Act. 1. 15. remembring that Christ Jesus had a work to carry on in the world which required the full help he had in his life time assigned to it and though the Apostles admitted none into the priviledge of their order but upon special direction of the holy Ghost as in the forementioned case of Matthias and S t Paul whom the holy Ghost commanded to be separated as Ministers yet were Disciples Evangelists Bishops and Presbyters by them chosen and from them sent who in their succession carried on the work to this day and those learnedly bred and humbly submitting themselves to Church-approbation were accounted worthy to labour in the Word and Doctrine as Pastors able to feed the people with knowledge and understanding as the Prophet hath it Jer. 3. 15. yea and such men as S t Paul exhorts Timothy to be 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study saith he to shew thy self a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth The consideration of this made Ministers anciently very modest to offer themselves to this weighty charge and the Fathers and Bishops very precise and scrupulous in admitting any unto the care of souls but such as were well reputed and had great knowledge both in Humane and Divine Learning Saint Jerome plainly tells us that in his time the Church was so well served that it was hard to tell whether the Clergie excelled
late date and no pedigree hath this presumption beyond our times And I wish that these men who arrogate to themselves the Office of the Priesthood would consider how unqualified they are to it and return to their callings for by reason of these wandrings all the grand renown of Antiquity is blemished For they to gain a Name so themselves reprobate all Church uses and Church-stories and make them matters of superstition and offence to tender Consciences so wise are the children of the world in their generation But for all their confidence the Church of Christ will glory in that they count her infirmities she will preserve her Catalogues of Martyrs Confessors Bishops Presbyters she will own Churches and Oratories set apart for her use before Dioclesians time called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which daily increased in number and magnificence She will own Lyturgies and set forms of Devotion and can instance S t James chosen Bishop of â—erusalem by the Apostles called Jacobus Liturgus from a Liturgie he made for the use of that Church Maronita asserting Litnrgies made by the Apostles for the Eastern and Western Churches Origen speaking of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Eusebius of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the good Emperour Constantine in his Court by Justin Martyr Cyprian and others upon which the painfull Centurists conclude Without doubt certain forms of prayers publick they then had and they adde not to know and rehearse those forms of prayer was in a kinde to disown the name of Christian For as S t Augustine said of the Donatists then they ceased to be oâ—r brethren when they said not Our Father which art in Heaven And if set Forms be erroneous and to use them be an error 't is an error of the purest times and purest Christians so long as Christians have Christ Jesus for their Patron and pattern they may use holy set Forms not neglecting their exercise of graces in due time and place with much benefit I and the Church will avow set Forms of faith Creeds and Systems of sound Doctrine and belief such as were the Creeds which they and we call the Apostles the Athanasian the Nicene Creeds yea and those of Tertullian Origen Gregorius Niccaesariensis Nazianzen Victorinus Hylarie Basil Epiphanius Daâ—asus and others and singing of Psalms in her meetings ever since Ignatius his time witness also Plynie's Epistle to the Emperour Trajan which Eusebius records l. 3. c. 27. And sundry other things of like nature she owns without blushing wondring that any should distaste her for her fidelity And that order may appear to be the more conservative of whatever falls under its Empire I cannot but observe how precisely the Heretick Church imitated the Orthodox and so notably did they ape it that thereby they gained much consistence to themselves and gave much grievance to the Christians of more purity then were they The Arians had their Bishops and Presbyters eight of them were in the famous Counsel of Nice Nestorius was Bishop of Constantinople and there is mention made of Paul a Novatian Bishop and others they had their places of meeting in which were Scriptures read and Sacraments administred their Creeds yea and their Martyrs such as Metrodorus Themison and Alexander Eusebius tells us that the Montanists boasted of their Martyrs and no worder for S t Chrysostome gives us the reason The Devil saith he hath his humble and meek chastâ— and charitable his fasters and prayers of every good thing that God made to mans salvation he hath a shew and semblance which he imploys to seduction to the end that there may be no distinction between real and seeming good that plain-hearted men who are artless in distinguishing may be caught by the snares of those whom they mistake for the faithful servants of God Thus that Father And may we not fear this old Serpent hath been too busie in the differences in Religion not onely abroad in the world but also at home in this Church while he hath made divisions amongst brethren such as no age or story exceeds O Lord Jesus how sad is it to think that the legacy of peace which thou bequeathedst to thy Church is expended nay defrauded and lost in the crowd and throng of private passions and private insolence and that out of this Church should come evil instruments who not like theeves only steal grapes out of the Vineyard but like wilde Asses tread down all the Vines such as Boner who when truth is backed by power shews himself a very exemplary Protestant but when the Lord Cromwell was dead who preferred him for what of God he thought was in him then he proves the most pernicious Papist and bloody fiend that the Papacy here had and truly I think there is no Church-enemy so great as a waverer who is not much beneath an Apostate for he that is any thing to gain an interest will soon be nothing indeed to preserve it And in all this coyle and hurry in this Hinnon of distasts wherein our children of prudence have been offered in sacrifice to the Molech of Passion and Contest were carried as Suidâ—s sayes those were between Dorotheus and Maâ—inus both Arrians more out of pride then piety to advance their own wills rather then to polish truth to a pervious clarity for what is the matter speak Conscience be ingenious their faces will gather blackness of reproach at the last day whose have not now the blush of full and free confession Was Christ and his Cause holiness and her Rights the main drift the cause of mounting the scaling-ladder against the Church speak ye sons of Levi whose thunderbolts not long since rent all in sunder and whose virulent irritations made such wide breaches in charity There was I confess â— time when Priests were ingaged in wars but not with their brethren but Midianites not by choice but command of God Ye grave men of the Clergie who dissented from what was established by Law and hoped to have had your judgements answered to their latitude in the change of Church-polity suffer me I beseech you to bemoan that ye should rise up in prosecution of your spiritual Fathers and brethren whose blemishes that Evangelique piety should have covered and for whose reformation not ruine ye should have strove in prayer with God and by petition to men did ye well to be angry have ye comfort in those reproaches that some cast on you when yoâ—r frailty is displayed in the Escocheon of your punishment When Reuben grows unstable as water and goeth up to his fathers bed no wonder Jacob condemns him not to excell though once he were the excellency of dignity and of power Ought ye not O holy and pious souls to have stood between the living and the dead and said to the destroyer when he was no adder to your
Union is defeated My prayer to God is for Humility and Moderation I will not judge any thing rashly nor before the time since the Lord is at hand I wish the definitive sentence of this or that which is under a problem and disputable might be referred to the just Judg and that those that agree in the unity of faith may hold the bond of peace Novit Deus qui sunt ejus novit qui permaneant ad coronam qui permaneant ad flammam novit in arca sua triticum novit paleam novit segetem novit zizania caeteris autem est illud incognitum quae sunt columbae qui sunt corvi S t August in 11. Johan I account the Church a Vineyard wherein the grapes of Love faith patience selfdeniall are to be gathered to Christians comfort and refreshing rather then a threshing-floore on which the flayls of furious smitings and boisterous baitings and boylings of passion are frequent For my part as I have ever yet so I hope by the assistance of God I shall still offer my mite to the Churches Treasury and make my prayer an offering for her peace accounting it a greater honour to speak for her now she is like Rachel blubbered then if she had more outward lustre And I wonder Christians should be otherwayes minded who know Christ is in his Church and his Word and Sacraments in his Church nay Heaven in a kind in the tenure of the Church whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted the Church being the Tyring room in which we furnish our selves for Eternities Halelujahs To those that are of other judgement I shall say in Dyonisius his Laconick Cook his words when making by command of his Master a Laconian Bisque which Dyonisius disrellished as unsavoury replied I have not such ingredients here as the Laconians have O quoth Dyonisius Wee l have them sent for and I le see them prepared and compounded I but replied the Cook Sir you do not get a stomack by exercise nor do you bathe in the River Eurota as they do My meaning is The reason why the Church is no more their darling is because they are sick of sloth abounding with full humours and do not bathe themselves in those refreshing streams of pious counsel and comfort which the Church as the spouse of Christ le ts runne at wast to her children What then I have to write shall be short considering most readers impatience which loathes to view any thing that 's long cÃto dicta Percipiunt dociles animi retinentque fideles For I have ever held 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When I propose Antiquity my Theme I mean not Antiquity in the latitude that is God himself He is the ancient of days He is from everlasting to everlastiug He is veritas entis radicis this would be emptying the Sea with a Cockle-shell t would be to attempt with Icarus his waxen wings to fly ore the Sea and deserved his misfortunes in those waters In this Who at any time hath known the mind of God or who hath been his Counsellour This is a Noli me tangere which I hope thy restraining grace O Lord will ever forbid me attempting That Antiquity and those Elder times I drive at is that which is opposed to yesterday or later times Antiquity not as before the Flood the prints of that are perished with the old world Antiquity not as amongst the Jews old things in that sense are past all things are become new but Antiquity since Apostolick times till these last and I pray God not worst times that is the Antiquity I recommend I must do as one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having but a ridg to walk safely on look least I tripp there are many detractors who like Kerns in woods are ready to snap yea often their malice breaks out and their trap falls while good meaning is but nibling at their baits and not caught by them in their ginn of surprise Since I would not pay the tribute of my Pen to any party but only to Truth they are not ingenuous who rather wish for then pardon my failings God forbid I should honour my Saviour more amongst the Doctors disputing in the Temple then in the manger or think him less the Sonne of God who inviteth little children to come to him and perfecteth praise out of their mouthes as well as greater Scholers gaining glory by their elaborate tongues and penns the pen that blemishes Christ in the least of his distributions ought for ever to be execrable Let O Lord that right hand ever forget its cuuning 't is a weapon formed against thee and must not prosper My drift is to shew to the praise of Antiquity not only what from the Apostles time hath been laudably practised in the great matters of moment to a Christians security and comfort but also in many advantageous and necessary things civil whose influence reacheth to those that were without in the conservation of things and persons in their respective nature and kind praiseworthy I know there are those that since they question every thing will not let my Card by which I must steer Church story pass their torture and exception they make Ecclesiasticall writers Judg and party therefore grumble they much for a good Enquest those that would have every thing new would have new stories made as well as a new Heaven and a new earth in which they would neither admit nor continue any thing that is old If these taskmasters deny me straw I can make no bricks if they will not be tried by Good men and true and hear those that are secondarily Apostolick I must be plain with them in those words S t Jerom used about Traditions Where they do not oppose truth they are to be embraced notwithstanding the endeavours of any to the contrary By their leave then I will use Church-stories and those as little suspected as may be for I love not Hagar while Sarah is in place nor need I court Zipporahs where so many daughters of ' beauty suffragat First I find Christian Antiquity vehemently contesting for the reverence of the holy Scripture as the perfect rule of faith neither adding to nor detracting from the Canon not only asserting it their tether and boundary but exalting it as a rampire against the invasions and intrusions of crafty men and craftier Satan who endeavoured to entice the Sonnes of God by the daughters of men and to make traditions the Copper of Demetrius pass for the currant Coyn of Jesus and this in them was not only zeal but holy policie the sacred Scriptures were the wells out of which they drew their comfort their armories whence they took forth their weapons of spiritual warfare lights for their direction and salt for their seasoning should these have been pudled and robbed from them how unprovided would the Church have been she might well have complained her veil was taken from her Had this
of Durham and all to make way for the Popish Doctrine of Miracles 'T is Satans artifice to steal his surprise in at some port of pleasure or profit The Statues of Kings the Miters of Popes and the Arms of States sometimes hang out at common houses and those often of no good report 〈◊〉 I have seen the Holy Lamb sign to a place of tipling Good men are often deluded by their own presumption and lead into a fairer belief of themselves then they deserve We are all in love with our own Apes and we often hug them till we smother reason the most beauteous child of nature yea there are no greater follies acted by any then those that do vow and declare most against them Peter was a bold assertor of his fidelity Though all forsake thee yet will not I I le die with thee Lord Jesus Matth. 26. 35. yet he denied and forswore him for fear In the troubles of the Netherlands the confederates protested before God and the world Nihil omnino velle hoc foedere nostro moliri quod vel ad contemptum Dei vel ad diminutionem authoritatis dignita tis Regiae statuumve suorum tendere posfit but it fell out otherwise for when they had power reason of State and necessity of self-preservation made them do what they as they published at first did not intend As in growth of bodies there are degrees so in mischiefs there are the tender plants of blushing before the full years of sturdiness uemo repente fit turpissimus 'T was a good prayer of David Who knows how oft he offends keep me from presumptuous sinnes Man is never neerer miscarriage then when he least fears it nor is the heart ever more treacherous then when it sollicits with greatest earnestness to lend an ear to the delusion of a sycophant or hearken to the propensions of our nature to accommodate our ends What plots did Gardiner and the Lords of H. 8. Council lay for Cranmer Wricthsly and others for Q. Katherine Parr yea and Tottis a Priest to prove that the Pater noster might be said to Saints made a blasphemous exposition thereof contrary to the sense of Christ Jesus Katherine Mary Dutchess of Mompensier sister of the deceased Duke of Guise was so horribly transported with malice against the Protestant party and had so great a desire of revenge upon the King of France that notwithstanding her nobler endowments she dishonoured her self with that Jesuited varlet Clement his murtherer the more to encourage him in the accomplishment of his villany and to give him assurance of her acceptance of that treasonable assassination Opinions and parties are humble at first but when they are entred they like ill humours in the body steal away the nutriment and force judgement into some little angle and petty principality whereas it ought to rule the whole continent and command in Chief Opinion does by Reason as Empericks by people fits with tricks quick and grosse to please all seasons and Companies sometimes it curdles Reason and makes it shrivle up into uncomely narrownesses another time like a thriftlesse Housekeeper it opens doors for all comers And as that Friar refused none an Alms that asked for the Virgin Maries sake so if Holinesse to the Lord be upon the surface of it the Cry is Come in thou blessed of the Lord. Men are pardon the phrase Jaels in this and these Sisera's they court into their hearts offering them not the cold comforts of hammers and nayls of dispatch nor the pulse of slender welcome but the Royall fare of their fancy yea they dance about the May-poles of their late acquaintence and guests as David did before Gods Ark with all their might But 't is pity they should want Michels to scoff at them who are so taken with novelties and so pleased with Nothings Lord what Mushromes and Cocks combs are cooked to the gustâ— of the curious pallated world And how greedy are men not only to devour a well-sauced poyson but to applaud the Cook that tempers that Circoean Cup of their Inchantment How many hopefull and virtuously disposed mindes may observing men view deflowred whose parts as Moses's Rod have become Serpents not to win peevish natures to truth but to further craft and harmful subtlety which never return'd again into their Native purity whose eloquent tongue like the beauties of the old world have seduced well-inclined and easie Christians to follow them into the deluge of Errors and to scoff at the Ark of Truth the Church as a mentitious sigment He was a wise man in his time who said Pruritus disputandi scabies Ecclesiae Opinions and Disputations have begat one another to the end of the Chapter of Church-peace so that Religion is wholly drowned in Opinion Men are grown Monsters like that in Praepontis which had a great head but shriveled members Ancient sober practical Piety is almost lost and men come to such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of speculation that they are perswaded to be too wise for Instructors too holy to observe Scripture-Rules too contentious to be endured almost in civil Societies Hollerius his Italian hath spawned such Scorpion'd brains that 't is daugerous to converse with them lest we be infected by them So that as Pomponius Laesus said of the Christian quarrels that may we say of active spirits amongst us Viri Sacrilegi moâ—tuos quiescentes turbant templis minime parcunt â—avidi sanguinis civilis praedae mali Daemones sic implicuere nostras mentes â—ut relictis veris hostibus quos longa pace frui permittimus in nos nostrorumque membra armatas sangâ—inolentas convertamus manus How careful were ancient Christians to avoid all things that tended to offence What tendernesse expresseth the holy Apostle when he professed He would rather never eat then offend his weak Brother And the glorious Saints of pristine piety and courage when they denied themselves to gratifie the consciencious scruples of weak Christians When they with tears bemoaned the inadvertency of some to give and the peevishnesse of others to take offence Optatus was much troubled that the Church should be disturbed by the Orthodox licet and the Donatists non licet And Tertullian did not approve that Christians should be called either by the Name of Albinians or Nigrians or Cassians but that which is their proper Name Christians 'T is Satans project to exartuate Religion by new names and new factions amongst her professors and to weaken the power of godlinesse by introducing argumentation and debate the pleasure of wits and the Pensioner of carnal policy that as ingenious Florists to pick the purses of witty persons delighted with their art have so heightned flowers by transplantations preparations of mold adumbrations of them at unbenign seasons of the year by cutting their Roots and sundry such not uncommendable feats of their skill that out of one single root of a Lilly hath come
forth 122 blowings and amongst Roses gilly-flowers and Pionies incredible varieties So out of the glorious and pure Doctrines of Faith which the Apostles and their Followers comprised in repent and believe there is put forth such an ocean of points of Religion and all of them pressed on the people to be believed that it is hard to finde truth in the crowd of contests about her and easie to mistake as Mary did the gardiner for Christ error for truth both pretending their Jus divinum's their authoritative confidences as their just Titles to mens beliefs and blaming men as restive and sottish if they resigne not themselves to a sensless and universal credulity In the mean time things of greater concernment are neglected and the things God slubbered over and made to run counter one to another disuse of Church-Government hath made every man a Micah an appointer to himself of whatsoever likes him best and a neglecter of those services that the Christian Church thorow out the world imbraced there are many that make preaching like the lean Kine in Pharaoh's dream to eat up all other Church-Ordinances though never so beauteous and well-favoured publick Prayers and publick Confessions of Faith even that which our Lord Jesus taught us in the Gospel as the Form of Prayer of his own dictation hardly passes current no nor is that Creed which bears the name of the Apostles Creed which this Church hath ever received and her Martyrs in Queen Mary's days by name Bishop Farrar Hooper the Bishops of Worcester and Glocester Taylor Philpot Bradford Cromt Rogers Saunders Lawrence Coverdale owned as that they believed generally and particularly censuring those to erre from the truth who do otherwise and judicious Calvin says was the form of Confession which all Christians had in common amongst them as writ from the mouths of the Apostles or faithfully collected out of their Writings This Creed I say many think unfit to be rehearsed in Congregations and some are suspected to villifie it yea the Sacraments of Christ are almost obsoleted amongst us in some Parishes neither Sacrament in others but one and if that so restrained to particular persons that there seems to be a tacite reproach laid on those who are not of the number of Communicants who therefore become enemies to Ministers and their Messages because they are in a kinde cut off from the Congregation I confess it is fit that holy things should be given to holy men and it were to be wished all the Congregation were holy but if perfection be reserved for hereafter Ministers must bear with the imperfections of their people as well as people with the over-rigidness of their Ministers If people be not scandalous the Church never denied them the benefit of Sacraments and if Ministers be not over-scrupulous they will not begrudg men their Saviours allowance In my opinion it seems but reasonable that people should give a sober free account of their faith to their lawfull Pastor in a loving and unimperious way desiring it of them but then Churchmen should be advised what is competent knowledge in a Christian and propose such questions to them as argue not a design rather to blunder them then satisfie themselves of their understanding Ministers are fathers and must bear with the infirmities of their flocks They must not be brambles rending and tearing the people committed to their charge but fig-trees vines and olive-trees yeelding them fatness sweetness and fruitfulness To such as these I am perswaded no sober Christian dare deny an account of his faith For if the Apostles charge be to be always ready to give answer to every man that askoth you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear then much more to the Embassadors of Christ his Ministers His Ministers I say by Church Mission and Canonique Authority not presumers who come unsent for as the Civilians well observe Non sunt successores in officio qui ad officium accedunt alio modo quam institutum est to such Ministers as are truly called no man ought to deny a declaration of his faith as competently he is able And with such discoveries I think Ministers ought to rest satisfied and the ignorance of their Parishioners to pity pray for and by their best instruction to amend And those Ministers whom a Parishioners sober account and inoffensive conversation will not convince to admit as worthy to communicate may be feared to have somewhat more in their design then the glory of God and the good of souls and if they will not give testimony of their candor while they live their death-beds will tell tales to the world little to their credit or comfort Learned D r Reynolds reports that Luther when he lay upon his death-bed acknowledged to Melancthon In negotio coenae nimium esse factum yet saith the learned Sir Simon D'ewes taking counsel rather of men theu Gods Word for fear lest if he retracted them the people would suspect the rest and so return to Popery he accounted it best to declare his judgement in private Thus he Well fare the ancient Fathers who valued truth above credit yea conscience above life Ruffinus tells us that S t Clement in his Apostolique Epistle counsels all his fellow Christians rather to forsake him then to part with the peace of the Church and to incur the danger of division And S t Aug. tells us That in his time by the turbulencies of some in the Church many Orthodox and excellent Bishops and Presbyters were cast out of the Church and separated from their charges yet they bore the disgrace and persecution patiently never making Schism or starting up heresie to annoy Christianity therby Docebunt homines quam vero affectu quanta sinceritate charitatis Deo serviendum sit hos coronat in occulto pater in secreto videns Rarum hoc videtur genus sed tamen exempla non desunt immo plura sunt quam credi potest These mens demeanours quoth he teach the world What the power of grace and sincerity is in the soul and how God is to be waited upon even while he hides his face from the seed of Jacob. But though these quoth the Father be rare examples of self-deniall yet such presidents there are and those more then can be almost believed For as the same Father proceeds true Religion is neither to be found in the confusions of Pagans nor in the purgings of hereticks nor in the feebleness of schismaticks nor in the blindness of Jews but amongst those who are Orthodox and Catholick Christians And therefore the differences in this Church upon these small grounds that appear to us were in no sort worth owning by sober men especially to the degrees they are ascended to but rather are to be deplored with tears of blood for those that have true Christian charity would sooner part with much of their own
Romane Religion to depart from thence whethersoever they would or else to sell their estates or to receive the profits of them whereever they were And not many years after he gave liberty to the Mahumetan Moors of Spain amounting to divers thousands to depars freely thence into any province of Africa there to enjoy freedom from the bloody Inquisitors and with his own shipping conveyed many of them safe into France thorow which by the gracious permiffion of H. the Great they had safe and free passage Charls the ninth of France did by his Agents earnestly solicit Lewes de Clermont Prince of Conde and Jasper de Coligni Earl of Castilion Admiral of France being chief directors and commanders of the Protestants affairs to depart France with the rest of the Religion and that they might begin a Plantation in the Island of Florida in America he not only gave leave to the first Expedition which was undertaken by In o Ribald in Ann o 1562. but also at the Admirals intreaty did very largely contribute to the second Navigation which was entred upon by Landover and other Protestants And were there no other motive to moderation then that of the Apostle The Lord is at hand it were enough a cogent argument to Christians As if the Apostle had thus said Manage power wisely use advantages warily be thrifty Stewards of your talents while ye are in office the audit day is neer God is entring on his circuit to enquire how his Miuisters have discharged their trust He will have no pity on that servant who when he had his fellow-servant on his knee beging pardon for his sake refused him It is a shrewd brand of ignobleness in the Counsel of H. 8. who when they had as they thought the good Archbishop Cranmer on the hip and that he was accused of demerit against the State suffered him to stand without doors among the Lacquies and serving-men for the space of half an hour Brave spirits pity not rejoyce over the ruins of their betters 't is good for every one to remember the measure we mete to others will be measured to us again therefore let your moderation be known unto all men This also calls upon men in Rule to remember Posterity by imitating elder Christians in raising supporting and adding to things of publike and lasting piety and unquestioned charity In this sense that of the Apostle is very pressing To do good and distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased In this methinks 't is good to begin with God and to remember what he increpates Hag. 1. 4. Is it time for you to dwell in your seiled houses and to let this house â—ye waste M r Caâ—vin notes well upon these words That much time had pass'd and now God had given them peace he expected that they should not lye still but build his house but saith he the Jews were so indulgent to their private advantages to their ease and delight that they thought the worship of God not worth looking after so they had sacrifices and an Altar it mattered not where or what the place be in which they serv'd God This was the cause that the Prophet had command from God so tartly to reprove them And truly the good man comes home to us Nuuc saith he quis gratis accendit Dei altare c. Who amongst us takes care of Gods Altar every one looks after his advantage in the mean time the Interest of God suffers no zeal for no care of God yea what 's worst of all multi lucrum captant ex evangelio perinde ac si ars esset quaestuosa that is Many drive a subtle and gainfull way of Religion making it serve their turns and speak their language Thus he Much more pure and daefecated was Christianity in those ages which many amongst us called blind but their deeds shew otherwise Then Churches and Chappels Houses in their intent for Religion and the honour of God were erected and liberally provided for by their care and charity to the worlds end For my part I must judg faith by works and if living charity appear I will not judg that a dead faith which moved it they must have somewhat to say in extenuation of other mens charities who never mean to be renowned by any of their own Famous Wickliff magnifies the bounty of Princes to the Church but he blames highly the rapines and damages done to them by unworthy Popes and particular Interests Farre is it from any sober mind to censure those who not only appropriated the Tenth to God but endowed him with all in a kinde tbat they did possesse who cloathed naked Christ with reverence be it written in their best vests and never thought themselves richer then when they had expended all they had to puchase him a rich seat and prepare for him a goodly retinue at whose Tables he in his Members fed and by whose bounty their necessities were supplied It is a sure fign of devout times when Churches have their reverence and decent attire as well as Courts of State and Law when the Rights of God and Religion are inviolate as well as those of men For as a Right Reverend Father of our Church long ago published The two Estates Civil and Ecclesiastical make the main angle in every Government God himselfe hath severed them and made these two to meet in one not one to malign and consume the other And the happy combining of these two is the strength of the head and of the whole building If it bear but upon one of them it will certainly decay It did so in Sauls time he little regarded the Ark and lesse the Priests David saw Sauls error and in this Psal 75. 3. where he sings ne perdas to a Commonwealth promiseth to have equal care of both Piliars and to uphold them both Thus the Bishop It was reckoned also a sign of calm times and to the praise of Government when publike buildings were raised and decayes provided against Vespasian is commended for a brave Prince in that he gave liberty encouragement to build in those wast places of Rome which fire and sword had deformed and at his own charge repaired the Capitoll the Temple of Peace and the Monument of Claudius yea in all places of the Roman Dominion erected some Trophie of publique use and Ornament and Paulus Diaconus tels us that as Emperours have been good or bad so have publique buildings been either preserved or neglected And Guevaera asserts it the duty of good Governours not only to exterminate vices their Countreys but also to adorn them with famous structures a token that they are good Fathers of their people who by their liberality to posterity declare the duty of a noble Prince to extend to the weal of Government first and next to his own preservation by it Octavius might well justifie himself no unprofitable Shepherd When in his Reign Rome had changed