pray against Lightning is as good as to pray against Rain Snow and the like by thine Agony too much like an Oath The Word gracious meaned of King or Queen is not proper in a Prayer to God who knoweth whom we mean without such Titles in Prayer the Attribute most gracious which is a superlative Degree is not well applied to Princes we can say no more to God and as good to call most holy King there ought to be a Difference in Titles given to God and those given to Princes specially in Church at the Worship of God In God's Sight they are but Men and the Lord is jealous of his Honour and Glory which he declared he will not communicate to any one Let Men keep flattering Titles when they speak to Princes though I think none but due ones were better but in Prayers to God let Names of Blasphemy be avoided which we all condemn in the Pope of Rome Farther it were well to forbear the often unnecessary Repetitions of the same thing which in this Litany and other Parts of the Book are frequent and those broken Parts of Scripture which have no relation one to another all might be made up into one Prayer and not be divided into so many Then in one of the Prayers 't is said Turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved We think the Word justly is more proper the other being ambiguous Justice and Righteousness do differ Now for the Collects there are many for several Sundays in Advent and so many after Epiphany and Trinity an odd Way of reckoning the Lord's Days by in that on St. Stephen's Day God is prayed to grant us to learn by the Example of St. Stephen The Name of the Lord Jesus is a strong Argument and sufficient to prevail with God if any can so that of any Man is not necessary but there is a Day appointed to be kept for that Martyr and upon it something of him must be said but we take a great deal of Pains more than the Believers in his Time who appointed no Day for him Who gave the Name of Innocents to the Children killed by Herod's Order They confessed not with speaking but with dying and because they were put to Death to satisfie Herod's Policy and State Jealousie it doth not follow they died either Confessors or Martyrs they did not lay down their Lives for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus for they were not able to know and discern Why to observe the Day of Christ's Circumcision and not of his Baptism No Man as I observed before can say for certain the Day of any such Feasts they keep why to keep Epiphany or Twelft Day so much turned to Excess in Popery and amongst us too None of these produceth Decency nor Edification I think amongst Christians in our publick Devotion book as the Liturgy is The Words Lord's Day or Sabbath were more proper than Sunday Rev. 1.10 having as we have a Warrant out of Scripture This is the Way of reckoning after Popery I pray God we be not called to an Account for too much following after them As to observing Days for the Apostles I know of no Warrant we have to believe God is pleased with it on the contrary nor of the Purification of the blessed Virgin which is but a Continuation of a Jewish Ceremony all which are or ought to be abolished under the Gospel As to the Collect wherein it is said thine only begotten Son was this Day presented in the Temple it containeth either a Lie which no Man can disapprove or at least an uncertain and doubtful thing there being no Certainty of the Day If by Michael the Archangel or Prince of Angels be meaned our Lord and Saviour for the Name Michael signifying who is like unto thee O strong God is appliable to him then he hath his Day called the Lord's Day if Michael be an Angel then he is a Creature so not to be joined with the Creator and no Days to be kept for Angels there being no Warrant for it in Scripture Honour the Angel would receive none Rev. 19.10 and Chap. 22 9. Psal 16.4 As for all Saints Days 't is a Shame a Day for all Popish Saints with David we should say I will not take up their Names into my Lips As for the Apostles whilst alive they never thought nor desired to have Days kept for them after their Death St. Paul the zealous Asserter of Mercy and sworn Enemy to any thing of Merit in Man would never have approved that a Day should be kept for his Conversion he sufficiently declares against observerving of Days Months and Times and Years which makes him say Gal. 4.10 11. 1 Cor. 1.12 and Chap. 3.5 2 Cor. 4.7 Rom. 9.21 I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain he would have said Who is Paul Who is Apollo Who is Cephas But Ministers or Servants Earthen Vessels And a Lump of Clay in the Potter's Hand whilest alive when Instruments in God's Hand but much less are they after their Death he would have said what are they that Days should be kept for them and for himself Which once was a Persecutor a Blasphemer and the chief of Sinners After this followeth the Order for the Administration of the Communion there in the Beginning of the Rubrick we read of the Curate and in other Places of Vicars and such inferior Limbs of Hierarchy whereof not the least Step in Scripture If Prayers be appointed to be read in the Chancel for Conveniency of Reader and Hearers it 's well but if upon any Opinion of Holiness or other Privilege of the Place then 't is ill for that Place is no better than any other in the Church but why the Minister should stand on the North Side of the Table except for Conveniency I see no Cause for the Temple of Jerusalem stood on the North Side of the City but now we ought not to stand upon such Points of the Compass The People saying after every Precept Lord have mercy upon us c. is superfluous specially with a loud Voice once after the last as we humbly conceive might be enough Matth. 6.7 Christ forbiddeth to use vain and unnecessary Repetitions for Men are not heard for their much speaking It may be observed that the two Prayers for the King are improper upon that Occasion it supposeth a Communion without a Sermon before instead of which an Homily to be read which is better than nothing but there ought to be a Preparatory Sermon except in Case of Accident or else the Ministers are encouraged to Laziness and Neglect and used to read rather than to preach After Sermon or Homily the Minister or Curate is to declare unto the People Popish Custom still whether there be any Holy-Days the Week following and if there be what To shut their Shops and give over working for the Day By a Moral Commandment of God the
and Superstitions out of natural propensity in many to Superstition Of old Easter brought in a superstitious Lent to attend upon 't made Baptism wait for their Moon and conformed our Lord's Supper to the Jewish Passover with unleavened Bread so amongst us are superstitiously retained Popish Rites which hereafter I shall speak of in particular by God's Grace Would to God we would here follow good advice and not give way to a prejudice against advisers as in the beginning of Reformation it was done in Suitzerland when Anabaptists there opposed humane Ceremonies as unlawful by publick Authority and common Consent they were abolished and Thanks given them for the Advice because the thing was reasonable by those who in other things were their Adversaries so ours ought to be removed because they train up the People of God in subjecting themselves in the Worship of God uuto the pleasure of Men they make way for gross Superstitions as Images c. and they challenge to themselves that which is proper to God's Ordinances which doth offend many in and out of the Church and encourage Popery yet for these Ceremonies they stand as stiffly as Demetrius and his Ephesians did for their Diana and do not care how they disturb the Peace not only of one City but of the whole World besides right or wrong they defend them and make a point of Honour of it more than to seek after to find and own the Truth when found though they would say 't is our Opposition to these Ceremonies that is the Cause of the Mischief arising therefrom but that is no more the cause of it than the messages of Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh were the Causes of his Cruelty against the Children of Israel The Ceremonies are unjust and unlawful as by the Grace of God we shall make it appear imposing of them is that which breaks the Peace of the Church which consisteth in avoiding to give Scandal Lay aside such Humane Ceremonies which are the ground of Disputes and you take away the Cause of Offence which to give is a kind of Murther for St. Paul calls this Rom. 14.15 to destroy This is to prefer Division before Peace and thereby also to give Popery an inlet upon us and hindereth us from being like-minded one towards another Chap. 15 5 6. and from glorifying God with one mind and one mouth which is no small sin And I wish there be not too much of self worldly end in the case namely to keep out of the Church those who by means of their laborious and fruitful Preaching might have many followers and do Souls more good than others and so exclude them from Church Benefices and Preferments which they are willing to appropriate wholly to themselves Indeed it looks too much that way Ceremonies introduced into God's Worship are a palpable breach of the Second Commandment wherein Will-worship is expresly forbidden as all external Idolatry all Rites and Ceremonies of Man's devising in God's Worship Now the Ceremonies in question are Will-worship and not the least step for them in Scripture yet to make them lawful they must be warranted by the Word which not being they must own that whatsoever is besides the Word is against the Word Now those in question are significant and teaching Ceremonies of Man's invention stated in God's Worship and an addition expresly against the Rule of the Word and I think the dreadful threatnings against those that do so as expressed Rev. 22.18 should make any Man's Ears to tingle and his Heart to tremble Then they are Man's Inventions and have been and are Popish Idols whereby they make a Conformity between us and Idolaters in God's Worship and are Occasions and Appearances of Evil In a word they are the strange fire and garments spotted with the flesh Why then should we not with Ephraim say What have I to do any more with Idols Hos 14.8 God hath taught us as formerly he did his People Isa 30.20 to defile the covering of Images to cast them away as a menstruous Cloth and say unto it get thee hence Now whatsoever is brought in without God's Appointment is an Idol of Jealousie in his sight Civil Governours may according to the Constitution of their Government make new Laws but in God's Worship it may not be so 't is not under their Jurisdiction only they are to see God's Laws put in Execution All their Humane Inventions are as many Snares to destroy to adulterate the Worship of the Lord and to strip him of his Right who is the only Law-giver And the Tyranny of those that impose such things exceedeth the Laws of other Tyrants because they Tyranise over the Conscience Besides that this is contrary to the sufficiency and perfection of Scriptures and maketh Christians Condition worse and less tolerable than that of the Jews for their Ceremonies were imposed of God and there was but a certain number of them but as to ours though they be not many yet 't is in their power to bring in what they please Theirs were God's Ordinances ours are the Traditions of Men and yet theirs are abolished So that in such things from the power of God we pass under that of Men and thereby become their Servants which ought not to be for we are Christ's Servants by purchase and that very reason Paul giveth Ye are bought with a price 1 Cor. 7.23 be ye not the Servants of Men. If those Rites did cease by which God himself did instruct the World as we said before it is an imprudent part to press others in their place in the purer times they appointed no Ceremonies but were content with that pure and simple Form that God had commanded One in his Work called Verbum abbreviatum Petrus parisiensis doth relate how one Arnulphus in a Council of Lateran where they were about to make new Ceremonies said to them ye ought rather to take away the old ones which are a burthen to Christians Now they must not say ours are but few and theirs were many for though not in the same degree yet few are a burthen as well as many and in the beginning of our Reformation in his Censure of the English Liturgy Page 458. Bucer saith It is fit that in all outward things and actions of God's Worship as in Ministerial Garments we should accommodate our selves to the simplicity of Christ's Appointment and Apostles Practice and we should saith he witness to all Men that we have no Communion with the Relicks of the Romish Antichrist But our Teachers should teach and we should hear only that which Christ hath commanded Matth. 10. and John 10. Quaeritis quomodo Vincuntur pagani saith Austin Ye ask how Pagans may be overcome deserite eorum ritus the way is to leave off their Ceremonies and that same consideration made Tertullian so steddy that he would not endure Bays and Ivy at the Doors of Christians whom he forbideth to use any of
it appears enough whom he means in such Disputes as this Reasons and not Injuries should be made use of 't is a bad Cause that uses such means to defend it self We own there are Fanaticks in the World but Men must not be so peremptory as magisterially to Father it upon those who are no such Men they are Fanaticks as before observed who are wholly guided by Fancy under the Notion of Inspirations and Lights of the Spirit different from and contrary to the revealed Will of God who feed upon meer Appearance and bare Imaginations but that Name doth not belong to those who make the Word of God the Rule of their Faith and of Divine Worship to retort we say it belongs to those which make their own Inventions the Rule thereof There is another thing which indeed upon this Occasion I cannot avoid taking notice of how that Author flies out against the Writer of the Book called Patronus bonae fidei in few places specially Pag. 231. where he uncharitably and unjustly charges him with Rage and Madness and not to be endured in a christian Common-wealth c. Who art thou that judgest another Man's Servant I confess I am concerned to see that worthy Person so unworthily abused if alive he now could have defended himself thereby I judge the Author knew him not if he did may be only by Relation and not so well as I. He had I confess some Notions and few Opinions which as I sometimes as a Friend said to him I did not approve of nor could joyn with him in but they did not concern the Fundamentals of Faith or Christian Religion only Church-government outward Worship and Ceremonies in some of which he was in the right as to all Essentials very sound as far as I could find by him but as to Practice Life and Conversation in my Opinion one of the best and uprightest Men that ever I knew As to what is said that his Friends that is a Brother assisted him I must say he did nothing for him but what before he had received from him yet that which he gave being mixed with chidings brought him no great comfort Once he shewed me a Letter from that same Brother wherein he would have sastned upon him those very Words of Peter to Simon Thou art in the Gall of Bitterness Act 8.23 and in the Bond of Iniquity because he went a different Way from his and I am sure those Supplies for a while were stopped but whether for altogether I cannot tell for certain Thus far I think my self bound to vindicate his Memory His Words that make that Author so angry with him as to say like a mad Man he leaves him to his Keeper namely that Egyptians pretended some Ground for their Idolatry as that an Ape a Cat or a Wolf c. had some Participation of the Divinity but those that bow down to a Wooden Table are themselves Stocks These Words I say deserve not so hard a censure as is passed upon their Author Here I intended to have made an end but before I do I am bound to take notice of a thing now come to my Mind too common abroad a Token of the Ignorance and uncharitableness of some of our Adversaries and a clear Demonstration of their Love for and Inclination to Popery take it as it followeth Amongst those that are so possest with a Spirit of Violence and Persecution are some so depraved in their Judgment or so perverse in their Hearts or both that to express their perfect Hatred against those who in some things dissent from them they openly say they had rather to be Catholicks for that 's the Name which out of respect they give Papists than Fanaticks Schismaticks as they are pleased to call them and Presbyterians That which is bred in the Bone never goes out of the Flesh there is in their Hearts still something of the Nature and Seed of that elder Sister the Roman Church that savoureth the Ambition Tyranny and the desire of the Exercise of an absolute Authority over the Souls and Consciences of Men which all that oppose must be Fanaticks but they should know that Names signifie things and ought not to be given but to those whom the things by the Names signified do belong unto otherwise they be misapplied we are guided neither by our own Fancy or that of others nor are Entheusiasts led by Dreams Visions and meer Appearances I leave every impartial Man that hath but common Sence and Reason to judge whether such a Name be proper for those who make the Word of God the only Judge of the controverted Questions and will be by their Reason directed no longer than it is ruled by holy Scripture the Judge of all Controversies in Matters of Religion The Malice of such doth not stop here against us in these present or late Times but they go back and would fasten upon the Persons tread under Feet the Ashes and unworthily defame the Memory of the first and eminent Instruments of Reformation with all the ill Names and Words their Malice can invent making them as St. Paul speaks of himself pass thorough evil Report as better Men than they do thorough good a thing as unhansome as can be let them speak to the living and some will be able to answer for themselves when none of the dead can These Men like those whom the Prophet speaks of encourage themselves in an evil Matter They commune of laying Snares Psal 64.5 Then they had rather to be Papists than Presbyterians or Independents they need not to say so or express themselves in those Terms but 't were more proper for them to say they are Papists more than Presbyterians and then they will speak the Truth and to the purpose for such amongst us are Papists under the Cloke of Protestants Spies and Emissaries of the Church of Rome to work Divisions Animosities and all possible Mischief to promote the Interest of that Antichrist who would not refuse to take a fat Abbey if they were restored among us though they were to say Mass for it much less Palliums Patriarchs Cardinals Caps and the rest of the proud Titles and Dignities of that Antichristian Hierarchy All these according to such Men's Principles could easily and with Pleasure be swallowed up by them and these are such grievous Wolves entered in amongst us which St. Paul speaks of and our blessed Lord had foretold before And to shew we can never enough abhor such Notions as these for a Protestant to say I had rather to be a Papist than a Presbyterian he who talks at such a rate must either be a Papist indeed or ought to be looked upon as such Every Papist must own and believe the Fundamental Points of their Religion which by them are thought necessary to Salvation and which daily they are brought to believe and to practise and none but Papists will believe those Fundamental Errors wherein all Protestant and Reformed Churches do differ