of all Nations and maintaining all Sâ—ates in their rights of this World pretendeth not to any power of this World to maintain it self by It becometh Visible by the free will of Christians beleeving it a piece of their Christianity to live die members of one Visible Church The Unity of the Jews State tending to a temporal end of enjoying the Land of promise answereth not the invisible unity of Christian souls but the Visible Unity of a Catholick Church according to that rate in which the Law answers the Gospel And so is this point of Christianity no less clearly delivered by the Old Testament then other points of the Christian Faith are CHAP. VI. How far the Scriptures are clear to bee understood of themselves Tradition limiteth the sense of the Scripture Difference between the Tradition of Faith and Ritual Traditions The difference between Haeresie and Schisme The dependence of Churches evidenceth the Vnity of the Whole Church The forme of this dependence throughout the Roman Empire No exception to bee made to it for the British Church Episcopacy by this form inviolable in all Opinions And the Church a standing Synod The Church Visible by disowning Haeretickes and Schismatickes The breaches that have come to pass evidence the same FOr though all that is necessary to bee known for the salvation How far the Scriptures are clear to bee understood of themselves of all Christians bee not onely sufficiently but abundantly contained in the Scriptures yet how clearly there laid down depends upon the purpose for which God declares that hee gave the several parts of it It is manifest that God intended to vaile the New Testament in the Old and to reveal the Old Testament by the New Therefore Christianity cannot bee clearly delivered in the Old Testament Till our Lord was to leave the world hee declared not the condition of Christianity by which wee are saved Hee declared not that which hee declared when hee was to leave the world to wit that it was thenceforth to consist in undertaking to profess the Faith of the Holy Trinity and to live by Christs precepts though ones life lye upon it For he declared not the promise of sending the Holy Ghost till hee was ready to leave the world And therefore the Baptisme of Christ by which Christians do make that prosession which saveth us was not instituted till his departure And though our Lord had clearly preached the precepts of Christian life from the beginning yet is the Visible estate of his Mystical Body the Church as well as the invisible estate of particular members darkly figured and typified not only by the parables of the Gospel but as well by that which befell him as by that which he did during the time of his preaching Therefore neither is Christianity clearly delivered by the Gospels To them to whom the Apostles writ their Epistles the substance of Christianity must needs bee known for they had been made Christians upon the professing of it But their Epistles therefore suppose it and therefore cannot pretend to deliver it Besides the greatest part of them is spent in proving that wee are saved by Christianity out of the Old Testament And therefore by that correspondence in which the Law answers the Gospel the Church the Synagogue and the Kingdom of Heaven the Land of promise And though our Lord opened his Disciples hearts thus to understand the Scriptures yet are not all that shall bee saved able to make out this correspondence the professing and performing of that Christianity whereby they are saved not requiring it Therefore neither are the Apostles writings clear in things necessary to salvation but supposing the knowledg of that Christianity whereby wee are saved nor absolutely clear but to those that are able to make out that correspondence Without this limitation it is not to bee granted that all things necessary to salvation are clear to all that seek salvation by the Scriptures alone For what mark is there extant in the Scripture to distinguish that which is necessary to salvation from that which is not Nor is there any inconvenience in all this to them that are Tradition limiteth the sense of the Scripture content to lay prejudice aside and to see that which they cannot but see For it will appear by the writings of the Apostles that they committed the Doctrine of Christianity to them whom they trusted with the founding and governing of the Church for the instructing of them that were to bee baptized and formed into Churches whereof the whole Church was to consist So that as they to whom the Apostles writ having received their Christianity from those that were so trusted were to limit the meaning of their writings within that Faith which they had received So is all interpretation of Scripture still to bee confined within that which the Church from the beginning hath received by their hands Which is not to make any man lord of any mans Faith For this Tradition of the Faith is before the very being of the Church Because whosoever became a Christian and so a member of the Church it is supposed that hee undertaketh the same And therefore being in force before there bee any Church it cannot depend upon any authority to bee claimed by the Church And the evidence for it is the same ground into which the reason of beleeving resolveth The consent of all Christians Which as it could not have been preserved and obtained had it not been required to make a man a member of that Church which by professing it stood visibly distinct from all that profess iâ— not So since as much as is necessary to salvation hath been already declared by the consent of the Church to confine all interpretation of Scripture within that which all the Church every where at all times hath received can make no man lord over the Faith of the Church But there is a vast distance between this Tradition of Faith Difference between the Tradition of Faith and Ritual Traditions and other Traditions which may have proceeded from that authority and trust for founding the Church which our Lord left with his Apostles and they with the Church For that being the condition upon which all Christians are saved remains alwaies the same neither to bee encreased nor diminished till the Worlds end But the productions of Ecclesiastical power vested in the Apostles and their successours can bee no more then the limiting of circumstances according to which the publick Service of God is to bee performed and those powers exercised which God hath granted the Church for the maintaining of Unity in serving God according to that Christianity which our Lord teacheth Christianity is concerned in them but two waies The first when they are so far from advancing the service of God which Christianity requireth that it is impaired and destroyed by corruption in them The second when a part of the Church proceedeth to a change in them upon pretense that
Haeresie and Schisme to bee now meer Bug-bears to fright children with But would any of them owne any of the Sects which were shut out of the Church for Haereticks or Schismaticks from the time of our Lord till the time of Constantine for true Christians Whether they would or they would not is not considerable For if all good Christians then did then did all good Christians owne the Visible Unity of the Church And there is as great a consent of Christians in the Visible Unity of the Church as in the truth of Christianity saving this difference That all Christians good and bad true and false agree in the truth of Christianity Onely those that are neither Haereticks nor Schismaticks in the Unity of the Church Let no man mistake this evidence as if so great a truth The Unity of the Church Visible by the Lawes of it were read onely in two or three Texts of Scripture They who take upon them to argue of such matters as these ought to know that the Lawes of all Commonwealths when first they are founded are the wills of their Rulers according to that measure of Power whereby they Rule Therefore if our Lord trust his Disciples and their Successours with the Rule of his Church hee trusts them also to make Lawes for the Ruling of it Provided that they tend to inforce not to avoid those Lawes which hee in person hath left them as Christians For Disciples that is Christians hee left them actually Not actually Members of his Church as not yet actually formed though virtually founded in the Power of the Keyes which hee left his Disciples These Lawes are as Visible as the Lawes of any Kingdom or Commonwealth that is or ever was are Visible I do not owne the Popes Canon Law to have the force of obliging us For I maintain a great deal of Usurpation in the Power by which it was made as well as a great deal of abuse in making the Law given by our Lord of no effect by the matter of it But I maintain the Popes Canon Law and the same is to bee said of that Canon Law whereby the Patriarch of Constantinople now governs in the Eastern Church to bee derived from those Rules whereby the Disciples of our Lord and their Successours governed the Primitive Church in Unity And this no less evident then the Christianity of this time is to bee derived from the Christianity of that time For as the present Law of the Church is but the corruption of the Primitive no more is the present Christianity whether of the Reformation or of the Church of Rome but the corruption of the Primitive For why shall I make nice to say it pretending all Reformation to be nothing but the restoring of Primitive Christianity And to that end of such Lawes in the Church as may bee the means to restore it Among those Lawes there is one which obliging those who The Law which endoweth the Church with Consecrated goods have given up themselves to God for Christians to give up their goods to maintain the Assemblies of the Church for the Service of God wherein the Communion of the Church consisteth estateth the Power of dispensing the maintenance thereof upon the Rulers of the Church This provision how little soever notice many take of it who pretend to understand the Scriptures began first in our Lord and the Disciples that attended upon him continually For it is evident by the Gospels that those Disciples which did not attend upon him continually furnished by their contributions a stock whereupon they subsisted Judas you know was trusted with it and was the first that committed Sacrilege in robbing the poor of Church goods For the poor could not have attended upon the Doctrine of our Lord had they not been provided for by the richer of his Disciples And the goods of the Church are still the patrimony of the poor for the same reason that being provided for they may attend upon Gods service Therefore the reason was the same when the Christians at Jerusalem gave up their lands and their goods to maintain the Church in contitinual attendance upon the Service of God When the Corinthians maintained their Feasts of Love When the Christians afterwards built those Churches and laid those lands to them which Eusebius saith being pulled down and confiscated by Diocletian were restored by Constantine When Christian Kingdoms and States by a civil Law indowed the Church with Tithes and Glebes and Mansions A thing as general as Christianity no People no Country being known where the Church was ever setled without maintenance estated upon it by the Church it self at the least if not by the Law of the Country over and above The form of Government in every Commonwealth is stated How the Unity of the Church is signified by the Scriptures upon certain powers wherein Sovereignty consisteth which Lawyers and Philosophers call sometimes Jura majestatis Here you have in the Governors of the Church the power of admitting into and excluding out of the Church The power of giving Lawes to the Church The power of dispensing the Exchequer which God hath provided for the Church And in fine the power of propagating these rights to their successours Whereby it pretendeth not to bee a Commonwealth Because Christianity pretendeth to maintain Civil power and the right of this World in the same hands and upon the same terms which it findeth But it appeareth to bee a Visible Society founded by God under the name of the Catholick Church upon the command of holding communion therewith to which hee obligeth all Christians And all those Scriptures of the New Testament that mention any of these rights signifie no less when the meaning of them is measured by that Rule without which there is no means to determine the sense of any Scripture that is questionable And the same is signified by those Scriptures which mention sometimes several Churches sometimes one Church containing all Christians and all Churches For the parts that is particular Churches being Visible Bâ—dies the Whole must needs bee understood to bee a Visible Church The practice of all Christians owning an obligation in point of Right to maintain the powers which the Scriptures for the most part only mention as mater of Fact determines them to signifie more then they express As for the Scriptures of the Old Testament the calling of the How in the Old Testament Gentiles to bee one new people of God with the Jewes that should beleeve is but foretold in them by Prophesie And therefore the Visible Unity of the Church consisting of them cannot bee otherwise declared in them then by that correspondence in which the Church answereth the antient people of God The Unity thereof was the Unity of a Commonwealth maintaining it self by force of Armes in the possession of the Land of promise in which God had placed them upon condition to live by his Law The Unity of the Church consisting
so it is though indeed it bee otherwise The first is the plea of the Reformation against the Church of Rome The second the plea of the Church of Rome against them as to this point of Traditions And the issue is the same that is to bee tried between the Church of England and those that stand at this distance from it For the Unity of the Church being a part of the common Christianity the breach of it will bee chargeable upon that side which makes such a change as the rest have not reason to embrace If the pretense thereof bee either not evident or not sufficient the fault is in them If both in those who refuse to joyn in iâ— The Rules and Customs and Rites of the Church which are called Traditions are not commanded because good but are good because commanded And therefore even the Traditions of the Apostles being of this kind may cease to oblige by the change that may-succeed in the state of the Church for which they are provided Instances hereof recorded in the Scriptures have been produced They therefore that break from the Church upon any point The difference between Haeresic and Schisme of the Tradition of Faith which is before the Church as being requisite to make a man a member of the Church are properly called Haereticks For if they only disbeleeve in the heart they may bee counted Haereticks to God but that is nothing to the Church of which wee now speak But they that will not stand to the authority of the Church in maters subject to it are Schismaticks For those things to which the authority of the Church extendeth are the mater of Schisme Not that this difference is alwaies observed For many times the name of Haeresie extendeth to all Sects which mans choise not the will of God createth But because there is that difference visible in the mater of Christianity which many times appropriateth the common name of Haeresie to the most eminent that Separate upon mater of Faith These things are here premised to make way for the evidence which I tender for the Visible Unity of the Church from the consent of all Christians Hee that sticketh at any point of it may have recourse to the proofe which I have made in due place taking all therefore here for granted But I will advance another assumption tending â—o set the The dependence of Churches evidâ—nâ—eth the Unity of the Whole Church same evidence in better light by stating the form in which the whole Church from the Apostles hath alwaies been governed without repeating the proofes whereby it appeareth A Church then in the sense of all Christians before the Reformation is the Body of Christians contained in a City and the Territory of it For the Government of such a one the respective Authority of the Apostles conveyed by the overt act of their Ordination was visibly vested in a Bishop in a number of Presbyters for his advice and assistance and in Deacons attending upon them and upon the executing of their Orders I say the respective authority of the Apostles because as less Cities are subject to greater in Civil Government so have the Churches of less Cities alwaies depended upon Churches of greater Cities throughout Christendom Rome Alexâ—ndria Antiochia were from the beginning of Christianity visible heads of these great resorts in Church Government which the Council of Nâ—câ—â— made subject to them by Canon Law for the future The eminence of other Cities over their inferiour Churches appears in the Records of the Church as soon as there is any mention of them to make it appeaâ— In these Churches and in the Governors of them the whole Authority of the Apostles was vested For they constituted the Church In process of time the Government of the Roman Empire The form of this dependence throughout the Roman Empire was moulded anew under Constantine otherwise then it had been by Augustus But this new model was designed by Adrian It made the chief Cities of the chief quarters of the Empire the Residences of the chief Commanders of the Armies with civil Jurisdictions respective Which civil Jurisdictions Constanâ—ine left them when hee took from them their commands over the Armies Carthage for Africk Milane for Italy that part which was not under Rome Triers for Gaule Thessalonica for Illyricum Ephesus for Asia Caesarea Cappadociae for Pontus the pre-eminence of the Churches is as visible over the Churches of their inferiour Cities in the records of the Church as the pre-eminence of the Cities in the records of the Empire And according the course of all humane affairs must not this pre-â—minence of necessity bee further limited enlarged or abated in process of time whether by written Law or by silent custom For the effect hereof I present to your consideration the Canons of the Council of Sardica whick I take to bee the greatest advantage that ever lawfully and by regular means accrewed to the Church of Rome toward that greatness which since it hath irregularly obtained For it is visible that they were the means to extend the superiority thereof over Illyricum which continued till the Eastern Empire having the Church of Rome in jealousie laid that whole Jurisdiction under the Church of Constantinople The encrease of which Church upon the seating of the Empire at that City the ground which I allege for the superiority of all Churches as it hath been unjustly opposed by the Church of Rome so it is justly owned by those who protest against the Usurpation of it They that would except Britaine out of this Rule upon the No exception to bee made to it for the British Church act of the Welsh Bishops refusing Austine the Monke for their head should consider that St. Gregory setting him over the Saxon Church which hee had founded according to Rule transgressed the Rule in setting him over the Welsh Church For the Canon of the Apostles maintains every Nation to bee governed by their own Bishop Which the Welsh had reason then to insist upon because of the jealousie which appeared from the Saxons of their incroaching upon the Nation if their Bishop should bee owned for the head of the Welsh Church Setting this case aside the rest of that little remembrance that remains concerning the British Church testifies the like respect from it to the Church of Rome as appears from the Churches of Gaule Spain and Africk of which there is no cause to doubt that they first received their Christianity from the Church of Rome And if so they did then is there reason to conclude that they owed it the respect which was due to their Mother Church But that they either owed it or shewed it the respect of a Subject to the Sovereign which none is challenged none at all As for Illyricum which shewed the same respect after the Council of Sardica it cannot bee thought to have owed it before because it received not Christianity Episcopacy by this formâ—
Fathers call it under those precepts which God gave Noah after the Flood as the Jews will have it And therefore it tended not only to figure Christ to come but to maintain the service of God and that reverence which it ought to bee performed with What colour can there bee that the Consecrations that were in force by the Law were figurative of Christ to come And the Sacrilege of Judas as well as of Ananias and Sapphira remain unquestionable because the subsistence of the Church upon Oblations consecrated to that purpose from the beginning is as visible as the Church As for the sense of the Catholique Church from the beginning hee that believes the Unity thereof cannot question it They therefore that have the Impudence to make that Superstition which the people of God both before and since Christ have always used for the service of God do they not commit Idolatry to their own Imaginations which they prefer so far before all the world besides Indeed the solemnity of Consecration requires a further question of Ceremonies in the service of God whether or no they be for the advantage of Gods service whether or no it bee in the power of the Church to determine them for that purpose For the solemnity of Consecrations passes not without Ceremonies Wee have this character of the Presbyterians published for Ceremonies fignisying by institution necessary in Gods service their advantage That they allow the natural expressions of Reverence and devotion as kneeling and lifting up of the hands and eyes in prayer as also those meer circumstances of decency and order the omission whereof would make the service of God either not decent or less decent but Ceremonies of instituted mystical signification they allow not But are not the mysteries of Christianity the Incarnation Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ things instituted by God not determined by nature Is not the signifying of them whereby they come to Remembrance the means to procure and to encrease that Reverence and Devotion which wee are to attend the service of God with and the inward affection which it expresseth And why not then Ceremonies instituted to signifie things which Gods Grace not nature determineth Shall it be Christianity to believe the Institution of things above nature for our salvation by Gods Grace and shall it bee prejudicial to Christianity to institute the means of procuring that Reverence and Devotion which the Remembrance of them in the publick service of God requireth shall the worship of God by Christians be tyed to signifie no more then nature directeth Jews Mahometans and Pagans to signifie by it Compare this new Gospel with the perpetual practice of Gods people whether before or after the Law whether before or after Christ And you shall easily see that it cannot bee accounted Superstition but by those that commit Idolatry to their own Imaginations Let the signification bee that which natural reason is able to What kind of signification requisite interpret in all sorts of Christians and whether they allow it to bee called Mystical or not they must allow it as properly Religious that is as tending to advance that Devotion which the Religion of a Christian signifieth in the point of Gods service And truely I do not nor doth this Church to my knowledg allow the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome the siâ—nification whereof is not to bee understood by all sorts of Christians but require books of learning to interpret their significations They that serve God in a Language unknown to the people do accordingly when they serve him with Ceremonies which they cannot understand Allowing it Reformation to serve God in English I allow it Reformation to cut off the Superfluity of such Ceremonies as stealing the nourishment of Devotion from the heart wherein God hath placed his service And therefore I think it reason to submit to this Issue whether or no the Ceremonies in question bee according to the use of the Primitive Church which the Reformation pretendeth or should pretend to restore For I find that in the Primitive and Good Times of Christianity the Church was far enough from seeking such abstruse and far fetched significations And that is a visible Rule which the common profession of Reformation determines But I allow no man to allege the use of the Primitive Church grown out of use long before the Reformation in bar to any Ceremony now setled by Law not weighing by the same Weights nor meting by the same Measures in all other things It is neither good conscience in them nor would bee in the Publick to change a Law of the Land upon a pretense which they that allege will not stand to in another Case But is it enough for Presbyterians to allow Ceremonies which Not enough for the Presbyterians to allow Ceremonies nature teacheth to allow order and decency in circumstances Have they debauched this wretched people to such horrible prophaness and irreverence that they can think fit to pray sitting on their seats to such barbarous confusion that they can think every mans own fansie the best order to exercise the Liberty of Christians in Gods service and now think to satisfie with allowing the contrary What shall the Church gain by reconciling them if having contributed so much to the destruction of order they contribute not more then so to the restoring of it but that must bee the care of Superiors I will only mention the sign of the Cross a Ceremony of so much reverence and so general use in the whole Church of God from the beginning that nothing but the difficulty of recalling it preserving Unity among our selves can excuse this Church for not restoring it in many other Offices But to put it out of the Office of Baptisme would bee to condemn the Whole Church of God without giving satisfaction to them who having obtained the silencing of it in Consecrating the Eucharist according to the Liturgy under Edward VI. have thereby been encouraged to demand so much more CHAP. XVIII Offices which the Fathers call Sacraments for their Ceremonies Why the Bishop only Confirmeth The effect of Ordination requireth Ceremony in giving it Why the Ordinations of our Presbyters are void The necessity of Penance The observation of Lent and the Vse of it The necessity of private Penance for the cure of secret sin Of anointing the sick according to S. James Mariage of Christians not to bee Ruled by Moses Law Instituted Ceremonies are Sacraments with the Fathers The Ceremonies of these Offices justifie Instituted Ceremonies BUt for the justifying of Ceremonies why should I allege Offices which the Fathers call Sacramenâ—s for their Ceremonies any thing but those Offices of the Church which the Fathers have called Sacraments as well as Baptism and the Eucharist I conceive I have alleged so sufficient a reason for the difference between those two and the rest that slaunder it self cannot undertake to blast my meaning in that point For things
greatness of the Pope for which they will have him to bee Antichrist stands as well by Usurping upon the Bishops as upon the Crown And therefore it was a spice of madness in our Puritans to proceed upon their example to Ordination without and against their Bishops either by Presbyters or by Congregations Whereas they who could not obtain Ordination from Bishops because they professed the Reformation might more justly think themselves tied to proceed neglecting that which they could not have But trusting in the mercy of God that seeing the abuses of the Church were gross and visible and palpable the zeal of Gods House which carried men to Reforme them before they were agreed upon all that was to bee restored instead of them renders the Reformation imperfect as it is effectual to salvation notwithstanding that they may have failed in maters of less consequence Especially considering that particular Christians who are not able to judge of the publick concernments of the Church may bee able to see the abuses thereof and to reform their own lives and conversations by that conduct which an imperfect Reformation may furnish Not doubting in the mean time that this imperfection is the loss of an innumerable number of souls as well as the abuses of the Church of Rome are And therefore thinking my self tyed to say so that all publick persons of what quality soever in Church or Commonwealth in all the several quarters of Christendom may bee stirred up to consider how much it concerns their discharge at the day of judgement that the Reformation bee reduced to that Rule and that measure in every point which the ground and reason of Reformation evidenceth For then shall wee not need to apprehend any nullity upon unavoidable neglect of Canonical proceeding when the restoring of Christianity which all Canons presuppose and tend to maintain justifieth the defect of it in one for obtaining the end of it in all acts of the Church And this would bee the best ground for hope if yeâ— there bee any hope leâ—t to propagate it through all Christendome by the consent of the See of Rome to the reuniting of the Church upon such terms as that ground and reason requireth The Printer to the Reader IT is thought fit to reprint herewith two short Discourses of the same Author to the same purpose The one concerning the Establishment pretended by the late Vsurpation That hee might not seem now to disown it Though using it with that liberty which all men use in new Editions of their own Writings The other because it toucheth more briefly some of those Heads which are more perfectly though Summarily comprized in the Premises being published to that purpose upon His Majesties happy return in July 1660. A Letter concerning the present State of Religion amongst us Vnder the Act of Establishment prosecuted by the Ordinances constituting the Triers and Commissioners for ejecting of Scandalous Ministers Sir I Have perused the Ordinance for ejecting of Scandalous Ministers and finding it likely enough to send you a Pastor that shall have no authority from the Church have thought it necessary for me to give you the reasons of that opinion which I declared unto you that in that case you ought not in conscience to acknowledge such a one for your Pastor by going to hear him preach and seeming to joyn in his Prayers much less to receive the Eucharist at his hands if such a one shall bee so audacious as to celebrate it This that I may do I must first propose the Case as it is stated by those Acts which pretend to settle Religion among us For first the Act whereby the present Government is established declareth that the Christian Religion contained in the Scriptures shall be held forth as the publick profession of these Nations And that such as profess Faith in God by Jesus Christ though diâ—fering from this profession in doctrine worship or discipline shall bee protected in the exercise of their Religion excepting Popery and Pâ—elacy and those who under the profession of Christ hold forth and practise licentiousness In prosecution hereof an Ordinance is issued forth giving commission to certain persons named in it to examine and try all that have come into possession of Churches since April 13. 1653. all that have augmentations from Parliament all that shall pretend to come into Churches that shall bee void But they are to try them by no other Rule then the Certificate of three godly Neighbours one at least a Minister concerning their conversation in godliness upon their own knowledge and the judgment of five Commissioners that the Grace of God is in their hearts and that they are fit to preach In further prosecution hereof issues forth this Ordinance whereby no man is made scandalous for his judgement but hee that is liable to the Act against Blasphemy of August 9. 1653. And with him is ranked hee who shall frequently and publickly have used the Service since Christmas 1653. Whereby it appeareth that those who have declared their perseverance in the Religion which they have hitherto professed by reading the Service are therefore counted scandalous But those that can pass the trial proposed are thereby qualified in Law to bee Pastors of Parishes And consequently to succeed those that adhere to the Christianity which hitherto they have professed being cast out by the Commissioners for ejecting of scandalous Ministers In the first place then I say that the effect of these Laws is to nullifie and make void one Article of the Creed which hitherto wee profess To wit the belief of one holy Catholick and Apostolick Church This word Church may signifie two things First onely the whole number of Christians Secondly a Communion and Corporation of those that profess true Christianity founded by the will of God and the ministery of our Lord Christ and his Apostles That Christians when they profess to believe the Catholick Church do not mean the first sense that there is in the world a number of men that profess to bee Christians it is manifest because all Christians hope to bee saved by their Faith but they cannot hope to bee saved by believing that which they see Now all men see that there is such a company of men in the world Therefore when they say they believe the Catholick Church as part of that Faith whereby they hope to bee saved they do not profess to believe that there is such a company of men but that there is a Corporation of true Christians excluding Haereticks and Schismaticks and that they hope to bee saved by this Faith as being members of it And this is that which the stile of the holy Cathelick and Apostolick Church signifies as distinguishing the Body of true Christians to wit so far as profession goes from the Conventicles of Haereticks and Schismaticks For this title of Catholick would signifie nothing if Haereticks and Schismaticks were not barred the Communion of the Church And let no man imagine that
interest in one anothers body which cannot bee dissolved but by death Therefore it is celebrated with the Eucharist that they who mary with the resolution of Christians may bee enabled by the Spirit of God which the Sacrament promiseth to perform the same The charge of Superstition upon the Church of Rome is to The Superstitions of the Church of Rome bee justified by many particulars in tendring those things to God for his service wherein his service consisteth not In the first place the multiplying of Masses for the quick and for the dead without any pretense of the concurrence of a Congregation to the action much less of any Communion At this rate it matters not much in what language it is performed seeing there is no mans devotion required to assist the Priest in it The like is seen in the Vows of Pilgrimages and in the visiting of divers Churches for the gaining of Indulgences For had men nothing else in mind then that Service which is acceptable to God in all places why should they think themselves more acceptable to God for the travel which they undergo that they may perform it far from home whereby they forgo that opportunity for it which they know without bettering the mind which were it as it might bee would find means to better it self every where But there appears in it a carnal affection to the Memories of Saints out of a carnal affection to the things of thiâ— world wherein carnal men hope to bee assisted by the Saints in recompense of their voluntary devotions though Christianity allows them not the confidence to seek them at Gods hands The same is to bee said of an innumerable number of things that Monastical Orders observe nay of the overvaluing of the estate it self of continence or retirement from the world Which being no part of Christianity but a help and an opportunity for that wherein it consisteth satisfieth outside Christians with that which Pagans can do the outward work without that inward disposition which only Christianity formeth All these and many more observations which they set innocent Christians on work about must needs speak them superstitious notwithstanding that there is always in them a pretense of serving God according to Christianity For the more straw and chaff the less grain and where the intention of the mind is spent upon the shell of Christianity there can it not have strength to bring the kernel of it to ripeness The Ceremonies wherewith they overcharge the publick service of the Church are of the same nature For they that understand not the meaning of them and therefore distinguish them not from the Office which God accepteth must needs put that to the account of his service which is but the means to procure it But what shall wee say to them who think they oblige us The Superstitions of the Puritans when they allow the people to kneel to lift up their eyes and to hold up their hands at their Prayers Do they not think they oblige Almighty God in serving him without any other sign of reverence It is not possible that they should stand upon it to the disquiet of the Church if they did not Did they not take it for the service of God that the same Houses should bee Common and Holy Stables and Churches the same Vessels Chalices and drinking Cups the same Tables Altars and dining Bords it is not possible that they should trouble the Church about it as they do But it is plain enough that they serve him without reverence or devotion because they think so To these men all set times of fasting all the estate of continence all obedience to Superiors all works of Mortification and Penance stand suspected for Superstitious They would not think themselves far enough from the Papists if they should do the good works of Christians For fear of private Masses the Eucharist must bee celebrated thrice a year And wee must have the Opus operatum of a Sermon in exchange for the Opus operatum of a Mass But this is not reforming of Religion It is stocking up the Vineyard of the Church instead of Pruning it I need not say what is Reformation and at what point it stands The distance from the extreams makes the mean visible The truth is there will bee necessarily superstition in all Religions so long as the Church hath chaff and corn in it For they that are sensible of that obligation to God which they are not willing to discharge will always discharge themselves to God upon that which they are content to do for his service but which hee is not content with because it signifieth not the obedience of the inward man which hee requireth Not that there must needs bee Superstition in using things indifferent of themselves much less in using such as in reason may serve to advance attention and devotion in Gods Service But because as there may bee Superstition in using them So there is Superstition in thinking that by forbearing them a man does God service But to think Schisme acceptable to God rather then use them is without doubt as great superstition as any the Church of Rome teacheth Having shewed why the Church of Rome cannot bee charged Why the Pope cannot bee Antichrist with Idolatry I may from thence infer that the Pope cannot bee Antichrist I do not grant that either St. Paul in the second Chapter of his second Epistle to the Thessalonians or St. John in the Apocalypse speaks any thing of Antichrist But hee that exalts himself above all that is called God as St. Paul speaketh there must bee one that should make himself God according to the Idolatry of the Pagans And the fornication which the Whore of Babylon in the Apocalypse makes the Nations drunk with is necessarily the same Idolatry Therefore if the Pope teach no such Idolatry hee cannot prove Antichrist either by St. John or St. Paul The Fathers have thought that both of them prophesie of such a one as shall indeed bee a false Christ if ever there shall bee such a one Because hee shall impose a new Religion as from God upon all whom hee shall seduce But St. Johns Catholick Epistles where Antichrist is mentioned do not signifie that any such is to come And therefore wee are not tied to their opinion in the interpretation of a Prophesie which is no mater of Faith But though the Pope bee not Antichrist nor the Papists Idolaters How it is just to Reforme without the See of Rome yet I conceive I have shewed sufficient reason why this Kingdom and Church of England might and ought to Reform Religion without and against the consent of the Church of Rome supposing that which seems to bee manifest by all that hath followed that the Church of Rome would never have condescended to any such change And the Unity of the Church determining the measure and the bounds of Reformation they must needs be the same indeed as they
Scripture that hee is to depend upon the Pulpit for resolution in it where it is easie as St. Gregory Nazianzene answered St. Jerome about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Luke to make you believe by the pleasing delivery of Language that you have satisfaction and yet when you come to seek where it lies remain in as much doubt as before And if you hackney out Ministers to two Sermons a Sabbath the people must not expect that from them in private which they cannot expect from the Pulpit But if it bee thought part of the instruction due to Gods people to make the Laws of the Church and of the State and the proceedings of publick Government a subject for the Pulpit In which as I said it is not possible for particular Christians to bee satisfied by all the Inquiry they can make in private then what may come to pass I need say to no man that hath seen what hath come to pass amongst us I let pass less abuses of vain-glory priding it self in the volubility rather then Eloquence of Language and rendring more able Curates not so ready speakers contemptible to their people and the like In which regard it may many times bee questioned whether the gifts of praying and preaching which wee hear so much of bee Gifts of Gods Spirit which ordinarily suppose Christianity or of the evil spirit which always put it to flight For all that I have said of the bad effects of Preaching is to bee understood much more of those prayers whereby evil doctrine is repeated to God for a blessing of his Spirit upon it For Christian people being weakly superstitious as the generality of all people are are apt to place the bond of that Religion wherein they think themselves tied to God in that which they see and hear alleged to God in so reverend postures That Form of Service which wee hitherto use hath well deserved What Order of Service the continual Communion will require all that hath been said in defense of it being assaulted by violent hands even in those parts in which it ought to bee inviolable Nevertheless professing as I do that the restoring of the continual Communion is such a point of Reformation that the Church is not to bee at rest till it bee brought to effect I must not stick to declare what will bee requisite to render our Communion Service useful to that purpose I have said that the word Lituâ—gy is proper to signifie nothing else but that form of Service which the Communion is celebrated with But I have shewed alsâ— that those prayers for all states and conditions of men in Christs Church which are contained in our Litanies are to bee offered up to God at the celebrating of it And seeing it was at the Reformation and is at present a Law in the Church of Rome that all Christians should bee present at Mass all Sundays and Festivals And that Reformation consists in restoring the Communion It seemeth to me that the pretense of Reformation is not made good till the present provision bee brought to effect that the Eucharist bee celebrated all Sundays and Festivals in all Churches and Chappels And so that all Christians may bee tied to bee present that they may bee brought as neer as the Church ought to bring them to communicate Supposing this the intent of the Church How should it bee attained without two Assemblies every Sunday and Holy-day-morning in all Churches For let never Sabbatarians hope to make us so perfect Jewes as to bring us to dress no meat on Sundays If they could a Parish can never bee all at Church at once The order of the Church never becomes the Church till it demonstrate a care of all Christian souls a like Between the hours of eight and twelve there is time enough for two Assemblies For who would wish that either of them should last above an hour The Liturgy is an Office consisting of Psalmâ— and Lessons intermixed with Hymns and of the Eucharist which the common Prayers for all states conditions and necessities in the Church are to bee offered up to God with Now though that which wee call the first Service bee compleat for the intent of it yet I must needs find it too long for this purpose to allow time both for the Eucharist and for the iâ—struction of the people which I do not intend to exclude out of those Assemblies which I confine to an hour And how easie were it to frame for this purpose an Order of Psalms and Lessons according to the order of the whole Church Which requires that the Epistles bee read after the Old Testament and the Gospels after them as in our Communion Service the Gospel comes next afore the Creed For there would bee room for brief Lessons out of the Law and Historical Books out of the Sapiential Books and Prophets And after for the Epistles and Gospels which not onely wee but the Lutherans as well as the Church of Rome do now use with Hymns between each according to the Canon of Laodicea received by the Whole Church This is the place for the instruction of the people according What form of Instruction this Order will require to the order of the whole Church And truly the greater and more solemn Assemblies may bee capable of edifying by learned and eloquent Sermons which the generality of Parish Churches the edification whereof the Church iâ— to study are very little the better for And the endless number of strifes that arise about the Scripture and variety of judgments fansies and interests in what is fit to bee preached make the design of Homilies necessary rather to restrain the abilities of Indiscreet Preachers then to help the inabilities of unlearned Preachers Only that they bee so framed as to contain a course of familiar instruction in the whole body of Christian Doctrine not concerning Faith alone but all the chief duties of Christians which these that wee have do not satisfie though not unfit for the time when they were set forth And being so framed Though it bee all one to the edification of the Church whether the mater of them bee delivered by word of mouth as every Minister can best insinuate it into the minds of his hearers or as it may bee couched word for word in writing yet will it bee absolutely necessary for the instruction of all preserving the Unity of the Whole that the Ordinary have account not only negatively that nothing bee taught the people contrary to the form But positively that the whole mater of it bee taught the people in such time as the Law shall determine to bee repeated again and again for the certain proficience of all For it must not avail to say that the people will not come to Church unless they may bee entertained there with variety Unless the people bee content to bee conducted by that which is best to save their souls though it please not their fansies it shall
Rome in honouring the Saints and their Reliques or Images without making our selves obnoxious to the Jews for any reason to do it with For Christianity having put Idolatry to flight which the Law never pretended to do It is not to bee imagined that the having of Images can make a man take those things for God which they represent so long as the belief of Christianity is alive at the heart For neither was it Idolatry though it were a breach of this Commandment for a Jew to have such Images as were forbidden by their Elders not taking that for God which they represented But what honour of Saints departed or what signs of that honour Christianity may require what furniture or ceremonies the Churches of Christians and the publique worship of God in them may require now all the World professes Christianity and must honour the Religion which they profess this the Church is at freedom to determine by the word of God expounded according to the best agreement of Christians For neither is it obliged by the second Council of Nicaea or the violent proceedings of the Church of Rome which have brought it into force in these Western parts nor to the excesses of the adverse parties in the East which made the setting up and reverencing of Images in Churches to bee Idolatry without sufficient ground in the Scriptures for it Confining the literal intent of the Decalogue to those gross Of the third Commandment sins by which all Jews were to understand that the interest of the Nation in the Land of Promise must become forfeited as all reason requireth the taking of Gods name in vain in the third Commandment is in plain terms to swear that which is false as the Chaldee Paraphrase renders it But a Christian takes up Gods name in professing Christianity And when the World sees him do any thing that agreeth not with his profession without doubt hee takes it up in vain For there never was any true Israelite in whom was no guile that worshipped God in spirit and truth but hee might then understand that hee took Gods name in vain if professing the worship of the only true God hee should live like those that worshipped Idols Much more a Christian knowing that hee is bound to direct all his actions to the end of Gods glory and service out of obedience to his declared will must needs know that he shall not bee guiltless to God if they bee not suitable to the profession which hee weareth It is questioned how God blessed and sanctified the seventh What the sanctifying â—f the Sabbath signifieth day at the creation of all things the keeping of the Sabbath being first commanded after the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt For some would have it understood by a Prolepsis or figure of anticipation that God in consideration of his resting from all his Works on the seventh day when hee gave the Law made that day the Sabbath Others think that hee sanctified it from the beginning for a day of his Service though the rest which the Jews were commanded sitting still all the Sabbath came in force from the giving of the Law And truly the memory of the seven days of the week which hath been preserved among all nations who cannot bee thought to have learned any matter of Religion from the Jews seems to intimate a Tradition of the creation remaining among them But it is to bee considered that when Idolatry prevailed the worship of the seven Planets was a prime part of it and Astrology which appropriates the seven days of the week to them a great means of propagating the same And therefore the memory of the creation being obliterated by the superstition which the Devil had graffed upon it the observations of Heathen people are rather to bee imputed to this then to that And otherwise there is nothing in the Scripture to answer Tertullian with demanding of the Jews which of the Fathers before the Law kept the Sabbath But howsoever if wee bee Christians wee must not question that the blessing which God hallowed the seventh day with is the rest of Christs body in the grave on that day by which that rest from the travel of sin and the punishment of it which Christianity professeth and promiseth was purchased for Christians For upon this ground all the time of the Gospel is that Sabbath which the Jewish Sabbath signified And the fulfilling of the fourth Commandment is the rest of a Christian from all his own works all the days of his life Not that I doubt that under the Law the day was to bee set apart for the Offices of Gods Service but because there are other precepts of the Law Num. XXVIII Levit. XXIII by which that is provided for By virtue of which precepts according to the correspondence between the Law and Gospel not only the first day of the week is set aside by the Apostles for the service of God instead of the seventh day which the Jews observe but also other days of Assemblies being appointed by the Church are to bee observed by Gods people for the same reason as the seventh For even the seventh day it self was observed and was to bee observed by Christians for the same reason so long as the custom of the Church required them to observe it for that purpose Besides the letter of the Law having forbidden any work upon the seventh day common reason would serve without any precept of the Law to infer that they ought to meet for the service of God which his people had always professed when they had nothing else to do Otherwise it is true which Origen so often chargeth that they could not assemble without some breach upon the strict sense of that command not to stir out of their place on that day And this sitting still is as properly sanctifying the day as the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a hâ—ifer sprinkling the pollutâ—d sanctifieth to the purity of the flesh according to the Epistle to the Hebrews IX 13. So the keeping of this Commandment under the Gospel is the serving of God all the days of a mans life as our Catechisme expoundeth it When the fifth Commandment promiseth long life to them The meaning of the fifth as to Christians that honour Father and Mother will any man say that this promise is made to Christians that profess to take up Christs Cross and to lay down their lives for Christ If hee do let him say what Land it is which Christians are promised If it bee not the Land of the living which the Land of Canaan figureth Wherefore it is manifest that the honours due to the King and all Civil Powers under him are due by the letter of this precept as properly comprized in the name of Father according to the use of that language The obedience also due to the Elders of the Synagogue is by the Metaphorical signification of the word Mother standing for