Protestants abroad were much offended with the Rites and Offices of the Church of England Thus their great Founder T. C. in his Preface to the Admonition Out of the Realm they have all the best Reformed Churches in Christendom against them i. e. The Presbyterians against the Church of England In his Admonition he frequently appeals to the best Reformed Churches and particularly p. 286. Our Ordination by Bishops is strange from the use of all well reformed Churches in the World In the Solemn League and Covenant they all Swore To endeavour the Reformation of Religion according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches Ordinance of Parliament for taking away the Common-Prayer Jan. 3d 1644. Resolving to Reform Religion according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches Preface to the Directory The Liturgy of the Church of England hath proved an Offence to the Reformed Churches abroad That we may answer the expectation of other reformed Churches The Presbyterians assembled at the Savoy in the Year 1660 declare That in the Liturgy are things that have given offence to Learned and Judicious Drvines of other Reformed Churches In their Petition for Peace p. 9. And if you should reject which God forbid the moderate Proposals which now and formerly we have made we offer to your consideration what judgment all the Protestant Churches are likely to pass on your Proceedings And again p. 10 How strange must it needs seem to the Reformed Churhes to the whole Christian World c. p. 13. The Pastors of the most Reformed Churches take this Conformity to be Sin And after this manner they declare all the World on their side and that the Foreign Churches admire at the stiffness of the Church of England by which contrivance though never so false they raise the heats and clamours of the ignorant and unthinking part of the Nation against the Church of England And still they go on to clamour against us without any proof though they have been so often urged to it and I here challenge them all to produce any one Authentick Act of any National Reformed Church in the World which hath at the least Reflected upon or Censured the Established Church of England And yet all this however vile and base is no more than we might justly have expected from the Professed Enemies of our Peace and Establishment but that which raised the admiration and astonishment of all Sober Men was to see the Professed Sons of the Church of England Men of Rank and Dignity embark'd in the same bottom of mistake and error and pursuing the same hideous outcries against us a mistake they could not run into but for want of good Books or good Company which would have informed them better and too much consining their Studies and their Conversations to that ill sort of Men. So that now our Church may justly take up the complaint of David Psalm 55. 12 14 15. It is not an open Enemy that hath done me this dishonour for then I could have born it but it was even thou my Companion my Guide and mine own Familiar Friend We took sweet Counsel together and walked in the House of God as Friends Of this sort is the Discourse concerning the Ecclesiastical Commission p. 24. The Eyes of all the World be open upon us all the Reformed Churches are in expectation of something to be done which makes for Vnion and Peace And a Letter to a Member of Parliament in favour of the Bill for a Protestant Union p. 5 For them that have not Episcopal Orders there will be such a provision made as will satisfie all the Ministers of the Foreign Protestant Churches Again p. 6. And for French and German and other Foreign Christians of the Reformed Religion I am well assured by Letters sent from Holland Geneva Switzerland and other Places not to speak of the Churches of the Lutheran Communion which write the same that they esteem the Conditions proposed in this Bill which hath been communicated to them as Terms fit for uniting of Protestants Where by the way I cannot but admire at the speed and diligence of this Persons Correspondence the King had not accepted of the Government till February after this the Convention is declared a Parliament and then after some more necessary things for setling the Government a project is set on work for a Bill of Union and yet he had sent a Copy of the Contents of it to Germany Holland Geneva Switzerland c. and received their several Approbations of it in March for that Paper is Licensed April 1st And yet it 's more strange that even the Churches of the Lutheran Communion should approve the conditions of that Bill of Union It was not long before that an excellent Author of undoubted credit gave us an authentick account of a Letter from several Ministers in Germany That the greatest part of the Protestants of Europe have been extreamly scandalized at our Dissenters That the Dissenters ought by no means to have separated themselves for the form of Ecclesiastical Government nor for Ceremonies That the Bishops have justified themselves from the reproach of being Popishly affected and of Persecuting the Dissenters they have made it appear that they were only Calumnies invented by their Enemies to render them odious to Protestants How much better would it be for the Dissenters to re-unite themselves to the Bishops with whom they differ only in some Points of Discipline And now quite contrary all the Reformed Churches expect that we should comply and unite with the Dissenters But without crossing the Seas we may make a fair guess at the incredibility of all this Foreign Account by the very next Pretence which gives as strange an Account of our selves at Home I am not singular in this for amongst all those who have appeared in the Churches cause as well against Dissenters as Papists I do not know one single Person that is not a well-wisher to this Bill and I believe they will all tell you so The direct contrary being manifestly true not only in several of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who were call'd together to consult of that matter but also in the far greater part of the whole Convocation And if that Author be mistaken in the Age he lives in we have great hopes to think he is as much mistaken in the Ages past for so it follows Arch-Bishop Usher Bishop Sanderson Dr. Hammond and a long Order of other most Worthy Men of the last Age whose Memory is most precious in our Church had they been now alive would with all Zeal have promoted this Bill of Vnion Which very Paragraph is the reverse of one of Mr. Baxters in his Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet I am past doubt that Richard Hooker Bishop Bilson Bishop Usher and such others were they now alive would be Nonconformists yea I can prove it c. and if so they would not be for the Bill of Union which hath been generally opposed by the Nonconformists
must be undeniably allowed that antiquity never used Kneeling at the Sacrament it having been the constant practise of all the Churches in the World to communicate standing If you ask how this appears they have nothing to say but that the Primitive Christians in memory of Christs Resurrection for some Ages after it stood at their Prayers on Sunday and betwixt Easter and Pentecost by which they suppose that the Sacrament was received in the same posture as they said their Prayers Their Prayers at other times were upon their Knees as indeed this very Order supposeth Tertull. ad Scap. Quando non geniculationibus nostris siccitates depulsae i. e. When did not our solemn Prayers upon our Knees bring down Rain Origen in Num. c. 4. Hom. 5. Nam quod flectimus orantes c. where he relates the custom of the Church to pray Kneeling And in his Book de Orat. p. 157. he saith that they generally kneel'd at Prayers except in case of Sickness Now the Primitive Christians received the Sacrament on other days than Sunday or that space betwixt Easter and Pentecost and that they received it daily is evident from St. Cyprian Tertullian St. Austin St. Hierom and many other Fathers and by consequence if they received the Sacrament in a posture of Prayer they received it Kneeling And that there might be a through Reformation and no part of the Liturgy left entire some have had the confidence to except against the Collects themselves as too short and not so pertinent I shall only remind such of what the Devout and Judicious Dr. Sanderson said of them viz. That the Collects were the most passionate proper and most elegant expressions that any language ever afforded and that there was in them such Piety and that so interwoven with Instructions that they taught us to know the Power the Wisdom the Majesty and Mercy of God and much of our duty both to him and our Neighbour And if some late Collects are intended as a Specimen by which the old are to be mended I believe few will rejoice in the change Excommunication for contempt is complain'd of in both the Letters to the Convocation as a matter highly scandalous and that we thrust out of the Church the best of our People for some penny or two penny Cause in our Ecclesiastical Courts Now this Objection is proposed more peevishly than ever it was done by the Dissenters After T. C. in his Admonition p. 175. the Puritans Petition to Kings James I. A. D. 1603. That Men be Excommunicated for Trifles and Twelve-penny Matters So that from their Objection of Twelve-penny Matters this Author hath stretch'd it to Peny and Two-peny Matters But let us apply our Selves to the Protestant Divines of the Foreign Churches and see what they say to it The Dutch Divines in Sunops Pur. Theol. p. 710. say That the Penalty of Excommunication is chiefly incurr'd for neglecting and despising the Censures and publick Admonitions of the Church In the Ecclesiastical Laws of Geneva p. 44 45. They that do not obey the Orders of the Church after due Admonition are order'd to be Excommunicated If we look into Scotland and see Constit Eccles Scot. cap. de Offensis A small Offence or Calumny may justly deserve Excommunication if the Offender be stubborn and contumacious 1 Book of Discipl 9. Head All Families must appear once a Year before the Presbyter to be examined and if Children or Servants be suffered to continue in wilful Ignorance they must be Excommunicated c. And how severe their Excommunication is appears from the 7th Head No Person may have any converse with him that is Excommunicated not Eat nor Drink with him nor Buy nor Sell with him nor Salute nor Speak to him his Children born after the Sentence may not be admitted to Baptism c. And I must say the contempt is the greater when the occasion of it is so small Lay aside severe Penalties for Contempt and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is lost and to what purpose should any Court have a Power to determine if there be no power given it to force the Execution of it If we look upon Foreign Churches we shall find that they are more strict in having their Canons and Constitutions observ'd than we are in England I will not mention the Severities of the Scotch-Kirk and New-Englands Discipline as not being reasonable nor suited to the Nature of the Thing but in so plain a Case let Calvin and Beza the two great Apostles of Geneva speak for all Calvins Instit l. 4. c. 5. sect 10. Let no one that despiseth the Authority of the Church go unpunished much less let any Body be permitted to break the Vnity of the Church Christ looks upon such as Deserters and Runnagado's a separation from a Church of God is a renouncing of Christ nor can there be any greater Crime Again in his Comment on 1 Cor. 14. It s easy to prove that Ecclesiastical Canons ought not to be accounted for Humane Traditions since they are founded in the Word of God and have a manifest approbation from the Mouth of Christ Beza in Epist 1. Shall we say that Men ought to have Liberty of Conscience In no wife as this Liberty is understood that every one should Worship God as he pleaseth for this is a meer Diabolical Opinion to let every one perish that will it s a Diabolical Liberty which hath filled Poland and Transylvania with so many Heresies And again the same Beza in his Epistle 24. to some Dissenters in England Things in their own Nature indifferent change their Nature when they are commanded or forbidden by any lawful Authority Laws about Things indifferent bind the Conscience so that no one can wilfully break them without Sin To him agree the Dutch Divines in Synops Pur. Theol. p. 453. No Body can wilfully disobey the Ecclesiastical Constitutions about indifferent Things without Sin But because this is a Matter so very evident I shall only add that in the Directory made by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster p. 9. its expresly declared That no Persons should absent themselves from the Publick Ordinances upon pretence of Private Meetings And the Words of Mr. Baxter in his Reasons of the Christian Religion p. 485. No Christian must pretend Holiness against Vnity and Peace And every tender Conscience should be as tender of Church-Divisions and Real Schism as of Drunkenness Whoredom or such other enormous Sins We come next to consider the great Point of Orders and which seems to have been principally aimed at viz. The allowing of Presbyterian Orders as valid the Author of the Letter from the Country p. 10 11. proposeth three Expedients The first is Bishop Bramballs The second is Hypothetical The third is that of the Bill of Vnion To the first I answer that Bishop Bramhall did never allow of Presbyterian Ordination but did actually and with all the Rites and Methods of our Church re-ordain such as had been only
France in their Book of Discipline p. 391. have this rule Les livres de la Bible soit Canonique ou autres ne seront transformez en Comedies ou Tragedies i. e. the books of the Bible whether Canonical or others shall not be used in Plays in which Words they first call these Apocryphal books part of the Bible and then take care that they be not prophaned And thus it 's evident that all the Primitive and Purer Ages of the Church all the Eastern Western and African Churches all the Lutheran and Calvinistical Churches beyond Sea do either read these books publickly in their Churches or very expresly approve of it nor is there any one instance of any Reformed Church that since the Reformation read them publickly as we have done but still continues to do so and our English Dissenters are condemned by all the Churches in the World in leaving them out of their Bibles who were the first body of Christians as far as I can find that ever did so To make this the more evident I shall here give a Catalogue of the publick large Bibles of all the Countries I could meet with in all which upon examination I find the Apocryphal added for the same intent as in ours viz. For the Example of Life and the Instruction of Manners A Catalogue of Bibles Printed with the Apocrypha English with Archbishop Cranmer's Preface Lond. 1541. By Coverdale Lond. 1550. By Command of Q. Eliz. Lond. 1578. Welch Lond. 1588 Scotch Edenburgh 1596. English translated by Wicliff a M. S. with a Prologue in which are these words Holy Church readeth Judeth and Toby and the Books of Maccabees but receiveth not them among Holy Scriptures so the Church readeth the two Books Ecclesiastici and Sapience to edify the People not to confirm the Authority of Teaching Bohemian 1613. Danish at Copenhagen 1550. French at Geneva 1588 At Amsterdam 1669 German 1604 Of Luther's Translation Heidelberg 1617 Dutch at Frankfurt 1580 Armenian at Amsterdam 1666 Spanish by Protestants Amsterdam 1602. Hungarian by the Protestant Bishops of Hungary at Hannover and Oppenheim 1608 Muscovitish at Ostrogoth 1581 Italian by Deodate 1607 Latin by Castalion dedicated to King Edward the 6th Bas 1573 By Junius dedicated to William Prince of Orange 1592 By Robert Stephens Paris 1540 Critici Sacri 9 Tomis Lond. 1666 Hebrew Polyglott 〈◊〉 Lond. 1567 Septuagint Syrtach Vulgar Latin And indeed amongst all the Bibles which I have seen I find them only left out in the Spanish Bible examin'd by the Inquisitors printed at Ferara 1553 and that of New-England in the Virginian Tongue printed at Cambridge in New-England 1663. So that if to comply with our English Dissenters we must strike out these Apocryphal books I know no Bibles we shall follow but that of the Inquisitors of Spain and the Commissioners of New-England And to conclude this head I shall put down these five observations First That no Papist ever made use of this as an Argument that our Church own'd these Books as Canonical so that there could be no feal ground for this objection Secondly That there neither is nor ever was any one Christian Church in the whole World that had set Lessons appointed for every day in the year as we have but some of them were taken out of the Apocrypha Thirdly That no one foreign Church whatsoever did ever declare themselves offended with the Church of England in this matter but as I have shewed generally approve it Fourthly That these very persons who complain of our reading Apocryphal Chapters for Lessons make no complaint of having Hymns printed in their Bibles before and after Davids Psalms in meeter and being frequently used in the Church instead of them Which is agreeable to the practice of Holland where that Church before Sermon sings a Hymn composed by one John Wittenhaven as we do any one of our Psalms Fifthly That the great Promoters of this objection do not stop here but urge it to the laying aside Sermons and Homilies as not being within the Canon yea and the Scripture and Lessons themselves and as we have reason to fear laying aside all publick service whatsoever T. C. in his admonition p. 221. would have no Homilies read in the Church because nothing but the voice of God and holy Scriptures should sound in his Church and this will destroy Sermons and Preaching also The Author answered by Bishop Nicolson in his Apology p. 184. is angry with our Church for reading two Lessons and would have but one And that Lesson also is in danger by the Author of the Letter to the Convocation p. 21. where he proposeth the leaving out the first Lesson in the Afternoon upon short days and in Country Parishes to read Prayers without Lessons So that upon the whole however it seems to some a small to others a reasonable matter I do not say to leave out for then that should have been done at first but to reject the Apocryphal Lessons yet in this we shall separate from the Primitive the Eastern Western and African Churches from most of the Reformed Churches we must alter the 39 Articles of Religion which have been so generally received and applauded for they declare that the Church doth read them We must alter our Apologies and Canons for there Canon 30. Juells Apol. p. 170. it 's declared that it was so far from the purpose of the Church of England to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy France Spain Germany and other Churches in all things which they hold and practis'd that as the Apology of the Church of England confesseth it only departed from them in those particular points wherein they were faln both from themselves in their ancient integrity and from the Apostolical Churches To this agreeth the Apology for Protestants by a French Divine and translated A. D. 1681. p. 23. As to the reproach cast upon our first Reformers it is one of the greatest injustices in the world for nothing can be clearer from their own writings than that it was never their intent to subvert the ancient Government of the Church nor to abolish those Religious Rites and Holy Ceremonies which the piety of the primitive Christians had introduced but only to take away the abuses of them So that in making unnecessary changes in these things we shall destroy the very foundation and principle of the Reformation And that this rule is properly applied to the matter in hand is evident from the declaration of our Church at the beginning of the Liturgy where the reading of the Lessons as is appointed is called a godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers Upon all which accouuts it is evident that we ought not to consent to the taking away the Apocryphal Lessons and that the Reformed Churches do not desire it of us Secondly As to the Rules and Tables for finding Easter great objections have been raised against our Church
and some Eminent Dissenters have declared that they could not give their assent and consent to our Liturgy because these were false Now by false they do not mean that they are contrary to Scripture for there are no Rules in the New Testament for this purpose and that in the Old for finding their first Months in the Year by the approaching Harvest and Offering their First-fruits on the sixteenth of the first Month cannot possibly agree to us whose Harvest is not ripe till the latter part of the year But by false they generally mean that they are not agreeable to themselves and whereas our rule to find Easter is to keep it on the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the twenty first of March by our very Tables as they say it appears that we frequently keep it otherwise Now this is a great mistake and shows the Ignorance of those that object it The Fathers met at the first Council of Nice and those before that time also did generally agree that Easter-day should always be kept on the Sunday the day of Christs Resurection and therein the Christians differed from the Jews who kept the Passover any day of the Week They also agreed to keep it after the Vernal Equinox and in this they agreed with the Elder Jews Aristobulus the Author of the Book of Enoch Philo c as it is observed by Anatolius in Eusebius And lastly at or after the full Moon according as God ordered the observation of the Passover in the Book of Exodus Now because these were great disputes about the precise day of the Venral Equinox and Astronomers have not yet learned to Calculate a New-Moon exactly and one quarter of an hour near the division of a Day may make the New-Moon a day sooner or later therefore the Fathers in the Nicene Council and other Learned Men since have esteemed it the best way to appoint a fix'd Equinox and a perpetual rule for the discovery of the New-Moons which if in long Tract of time should vary from the true Equinox and the true New-Moons yet such errour would not create that difference and disorder in the Church which continually arose by their several Calculations and this was called the Ecclesiastical New-Moon All Wise men constantly observing that it was not a matter of so great moment whether we kept Easter a little sooner or later so that all Churches would agree in the same time and there might be no Schism in the body Now the Equinox was fix'd by the Nicene Council on the twenty first of March and that hath been constantly observ'd by all Christian Churches of the World as the Vernal Equinox till A. D. 1582. when it was alter'd by Pope Gregory the 13th which was since the beginning of our Reformation and our rejecting the Papal Supremacy Then for the discovery of the New-Moons for ever they having observ'd that the New-Moons after 19 years returned to the same days of the Month in a Julian year and very near the same time of the day they made a Cycle of New-Moons for 19 years according to the skill of the best Calculators of that Age and order'd that Cycle to be of perpeâ—ual use in the Church for the discovery of the Paschal New-moons Which for its great use and establishing peace and union in the Christian Churches was put down in all their Kalendars in Golden Letters and thence call'd the Golden number Ambrose Epist 83. Majores nostri convenientes ad Synodum Nicaenam congregatis peritissimis calculandi novemdecem annorum collegere rationem quasi quendam constituere circulum quem Enneadecaterida vocant c. Dionys Exig Ep. 1. Venerabiles 318 Pontifices qui Nicaeae convenerent 14mas lunas paschalis observantiae per 19 annorum circulum stabiles immotesque fixerunt quae cunctis saeculis eodem quo reponuntur Exordio sine varietatis labuntur excursu c. Our Church likewise hath taken care to print this very Cycle of New-Moons in the first Column of her Kalendar see Isidor Orig. p. 967. by which the Ecclesiastical Full-Moon is discovered And to make all plain in our great Church Bibles this is explained in these words The Golden number is so called because it was written in the Kalender with letters of Gold right at the day whereon the Moon changed and it is the space of 19 years c. And tho' in this space of almost 1300 years since that Council this Cycle of New Moons is too late for the true New-Moons in the Heavens by 4 days and some hours yet no Christian Church in the world did go about to disturb the peace and quiet of the Church in such a trivial matter till it was about 100 years since very Schismatically alter'd by Pope Gregory To bring this matter to a Conclusion let it be observed First That our Kalendar is agreeable to it self and if we find the New-Moons according to this ancient and authentick Cycle we always keep Easter the first Sunday after the first Full-Moon after the Vernal Equinox fix'd upon the 21st of March. Secondly That in following this method we agree with all the Christian Churches in the World from the Council of Nice to A. D. 1582. i. e. for the space of near 1200 years Thirdly That we now agree with the Greek Church and all the Eastern Christians who keep Easter at the same time as we do For the Greek and Armenian Churches see Mr. Rycaut p. 416 for Ethiopick Churches see Ludolfus c. And withal those Protestants whose Reformation was established by the consent and agreement of the Regal authority before the alteration made by Pope Gregory Fourthly It 's an opinion very agreeable to the peace and union of Christian Churches that that which hath been once established by an Universal Council ought not to be altered by a Provincial Synod and this matter having been famously settled by the first general Council and that also as to this particular confirmed by several others and by the first Council of Antioch all ordered to be excommunicated that disobeyed it we ought not to make alterations And I pray let it be observed that our Church did by her representatives give consent to some of those very Councils At the Council of Arles in France A. D. 314. were present three English Bishops and the very first Canon agreed on there was this Ut uno die tempore Pascha celebretur i. e. That Easter should be every where kept the same day Which seems to have been the very first resolution about this matter in the Council of Nice Euseb vit Const l. 3. c. 18. And Constantines Letter giving an account of the first Council at Nice expresly gives us the agreement also of the Brittish Churches to the keeping Easter after that method Euseb vit const l. 3. c. 19. Socrates Hist p. 285. Lastly let it be considered before we change how we shall alter for either we must follow the new method of
our Liturgy which is also sung in our Cathedrals and Colleges and is much better than the other Psalterio Hieronymi ex Hebraicis pâ—propagato Ecclesia Romana locum non concessit quia veteri certis constricto numeris modulando assuetae Christianorum aures universeque adeo Ecclesiae alterius novitatem ferre nunquam potuerunt Huetius de interpret p. 109. Not to mention that in the year 1660 there was far greater reason to take the new Translation which only had been in use for 12 years together into the Liturgy than to do it now the old Edition hath been in constant use for thirty years together and yet that wise Convocation refused to do it then The Translation of the Bible made in the time of King James I. was upon the importunate complaints of the Puritans that they could not subscribe to the Common Prayer-Book since it maintain'd the Bible as it was there Translaed which was as they said a most corrupted Translation and yet they were some of the first that quarrelled at it as soon as it was made and few or none conform'd upon that account and the Papists presently clamour'd against us for altering our Translation so ost And the very Translators after they had examin'd all the old and made a new Translation declared That there was no need of a new Translation nor of a bad one to make a good one but only to make a good one better Next let us consider the project of leaving out the Athanasian Creed occasioned by 4 four questions proposed against it whereof the last is from the Council of Ephesus against all additions being made to the Creed and so strikes at the whole Creed as well as the condemning Sentences Letter from the Country p. 14 15. Must we always pronounce all damn'd that do not believe every tittle of Athanasius ' s Creed Letter to the Convecation p. 15. And both these give ample incouragement to that Heretical and virulent Book which at that very time was publish'd against that Creed and no less against the Trinity it self the Book sold openly many of them were given about and magnified by the party without any controul of that sort of men of Latitudinarian principles till at length it received a just censure from the honest Clergy of the lower House of Convocation tho at that very time to the admiration and scandal of all sober men that very censure was there also by great and leading men opposed It 's objected by the Author of the Letter from the Country p. 14. he finds a great dispute between the Greek and Latin Church about the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son now the first question is whither of these two Churches be in the right Now the prosession of the Holy Ghost from the Son is in the Nice Creed also received in our Liturgy and confirm'd by the 39 Articles of our Religion and Art 5. expresly declares that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son and so here is an Article of Faith call'd into question Not to mention the exact Harmony and Union of all the Protestant Churches of the World in this point I except only Arrians Socinians and such other Hereticks who ought not to be call'd Protestants And therefore the leaving out of the Athanasian Creed upon such a reason must needs give great offence to all the Protestant Churches in the World More particularly the Athanasian Creed is at this day approved of and Authoriz'd by the Confession of the Reformed Churches of France first Published A. D. 1561. We receive the three Creeds Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creed because they are agreeable to the word of God By the Belgick Confession of the Synod of Dort Art 9. we willingly receive the three Creeds the Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creeds By the Confession of the of the Churches of Saxony Art 1. we have always constantly embraced the three Creeds and their natural sense and by Gods help we will always imbrace them By the Confession of Wirtenberg Art 1. we believe one God and three Persons as they are explained in the three Creeds the Apostles Nicene and Athanasius ' s. By the Confession of the Palatine Churches Art 1. we believe all things contained in the Holy Scriptures as they are explain'd in the Apostles Creed Nicene and Athanasius ' s. By the Confession of the Bohemian Churches Art 3. particularly we receive the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds By the Confession of the Churches of Poland and Lithuania who A. D. 1645. expresly received the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds The Russian Churches receive and use these three Creeds after the Psalms for the day the Priest readeth the Ten Commandments and Athanasius ' s Creed out of the Service Book Pagiâ—t Christianogr p. 81. The very Directory drawn up by the Presbyterians at the Savoy A. D. 1661. p. 26. orders the Athanasian Creed to be read in the Church and lastly when some Arrians would have had Beza left it out at Geneva he returned this answer Epist 56. certe in tuam gratiam non mutabitur in Ecclesia Symbolum Athanasij nec Nicenum cum nemo adhuc inventus est qui se opponeret quem Deus borrendo judicio non per diderit i. e. certainly for your sake the Church will not change the Athanasian Creed or the Nicene since no one ever yet opposed them whom God did not destroy Now let all the World consider what a strange way here is proposed for the Union of all Protestant Churches to the Church of England viz. by laying aside or leaving indifferent the use of this Creed which all the Protestant Churches in the World even those of Geneva Holland and English Presbyterians do in their very Confessions of Faith and Devotions so heartily retain and magnifie Proceed we next to Baptism and against this Office two things are objected 1. The use of the Cross 2. Godfathers 1. Against the Cross it 's proposed by the Letter from the Country p. 8. to leave the case wholly indifferent to use or not use the Cross p 9 If the Minister scruples the use of it let another perform that Service if any of the Layety let the Minister baptize without it And the Letter to the Convocation p. 9. the Cross in Baptism is become not only useless but also mischievous occasions dissentions and schisms is an ensign of War to make us fight against each other a Cross of torment whereon to crucifie the Lord of Life in his body the Church and rent its bowels asunder by those lamentable divisions which it causeth amongst us the Church of England cannot be guiltless if she do not something herein c. It 's a sad thing that the Cross of Christ should produce all this difference amongst Christians Well then let us take away the use of the Cross in Baptism and see whether there is likely to be a greater Union amongst the Christians Ask all Churches of the World fâ—om Christs time
to the beginning of the Reformation and they generally all of them used the Cross in Baptism for 1500 years and its strange that all the Christian Churches for so many years should be guilty of so dangerous an evil as the sign of the Cross in Baptism nor do I know of any one Church in the World that condemned or so much as shewed their dislike of it for 1500 years And for the present age it 's still retain'd in all the Churches of the Roman Communion in all the Greek Churches Rycant p. 168. in the Churches of the Jacobites Brerewoods Enq. p. 153. in the Churches of AEgypt Pagitt's Chistianogr p. 104. in the Abissine or AEthiopian Churches Ludolfi Hist AEthiop l. 3. c. 6. in the Churches of the Muscovites Joh. Faber de relig Muscov in the Protestant Churches of the Ausburg confession the Sign of the Cross is generally used in Baptism and for the other Reformed Churches not one hath declared themselves offended with us for using it but several eminent amongst them have declared for it Bucer declared it an ancient and innocent Rite and that it might be decently and profitably used The Learned Casaubon in his answer to Baronius Exerc. 13. Sect. 33. commends our holy and prudent Bishops who have retain'd this use of the Cross amongst us Peter Martyr declared it lawful to profess our selves Christians by the Sign of the Cross Beza himself speaks favourably of it in his book adversus Baldvinum And Goulartius of Geneva declares it to be a ceremony indifferent Apology for Protestants by a French Divine p. 87. Touching the Sign of the Cross which the Church of England retains to understand it as they do as a visible mark that the Infant Baptiz'd is enroll'd as Christs Souldier should not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ Crucifyed and fight under his Banner I see no ground at all of exception against this Ceremony And William Durel in his Sermon on 1 Cor. 11. 16. had amongst other things given the Reformed of France an account of our using the Sign of the Cross he by several Letters from De L' Angle Bochart Daille and other eminent Divines of the French Church received its due praise and approbation And now Gods Providence hath settled so many thousands of them amongst us they readily and willingly make use of it and approve it Secondly For Godfathers I find â—hem not only required in all the Eastern and Western Churches but more particularly Zuinglus in his Book de Bapt. is much for the use of them and saith that the clamours raised against them were only by the Anabaptists Calvin in the form of Baptism composed for Geneva and which is still used there requires Godfathers at Baptism and they promise for the Childs Christian Education as in the Church of England And in an Epistle to Farell he hath these words We require of the Godfathers that they promise to see the Children when grown up instructed in the Faith they are Baptized in If there be no Godfathers it 's certain the Baptism is prophaned Beza in his Epistles frequently declares for the use and necessity of them and particularly in Ep. 24. reckons them among the Constitutions of the Church that bind the Conscience And Epist 8. to the Bishop of London That Infants be Baptized in the publick Congregation with a set form of Prayer that there be Godfathers to engage fortheir Christian Education c. these are plain and honest Rites such as give no occasion to Superstition and who is there that dare condemn them In the Laws of the Church of Geneva Sect. 38. The name of the Infant and Godfather must be Registred by the Minister This was heretofore enjojned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his Diocess and I have seen some Registers in that Diocess whereby it appears that injunction was observed for some time Sect. 39. None are to be Godfathers but the faithful and those of our Confession Sect. 40. they that are suspended from the Lords Supper must not be Godfathers In the Discipline of the Reformed Churches of France chap. 11. Sect. 7. Tho we have no express commandment of the Lord for Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptism yet because the custom is ancient and introduced for a good end those that will not follow so good an example but present their Infants themseves should be earnestly exhorted not to be contentious but to behave themselves according to this ancient custom which is good and profitable Sect. 12th The Minister shall diligently admonish the Godfathers and Godmothers to consider the promises they have made at the celebration of Baptism c. and to this agreeth the Synod of St. Foy A. D. 1578. at Samues 1596. at Montpellier 1598. which last saith that Godfathers are obliged not only to instruct the Children in Piety but also in case of necessity to provide for their maintenance Sect. 18th the names of the Godfathers and Godmothers of the Infant shall be registred Which last thing of Registring them as it 's generally practis'd by the reformed Churches abroad so is very agreeable to the practice of the Primitive Church and particularly taken notice of by Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite To all which I beg leave to add the observation of Monsieur Larroque an eminent Minister of the French reformed Church in his Book entituled Conformite de la Discipline Ecclesiastique des Protestants de France avec celle des anciens Chietiens A. D. 1678 and p. 208. he thus writes L'usage des parriens c. i. e. the use of Godfathers and Godmothers to present Children in Baptism is very ancient Tertullian makes mention of them in his book of Baptism chap. 18. St. Austin in his 23d Epistle the pretended Denies the Areopagite who tells us that they are of Apostolick Institution Gregory the 1st in his book of the Sacraments Caesarius of Arles in his 12th Homily the SixthCanon of the Council of Mets. A. D. 888. and indeed the subject of that whole Book is to justify their Discipline from the antiquity of it and agreement with the primitive Church I therfore mention this because Arguments of this nature are so very much slighted by our own Dissenters This author in the Title page of his book prefixeth this sentence from the Laws of Theodosius Statuimus observari quod prisca Apostolica Disciplina Canones veteres eloquuntur i. e. we command that those things be observed which the Apostolick Church and old Canons declare for and appoint Which I think is more fully explain'd by St. Austin Epist 118. ad Casulan In iis rebus de quibus nihil statuit scriptura mos populi Dei instituta majorum pro lege Dei tenenda sunt i. e. in such things as the Scripture hath not determined the custom of the Christian Church and the constitutions of our Ancestors should be observed as the Law of God To return Godfathers are also used in the Dutch Rohemian and all the
ordained by Presbyters as is evident from that very Place in the Life of Bishop Bramhall from whence this Author quotes a Passage and what he did for Peace Sake was only this That in some of their Certificates of their being ordained by him he declared That this New Ordination did not destroy their former Orders if they had any c. And it s abundantly evidently that that Bishop did re-ordain many of them To the last of these three ways I return no Answer because he himself doth not tell us what it was that was proposed in the Bill of Union The second was the principal Method insisted on and that is Hypothetical Re-ordination in which the Office of Ordination was to be omitted and the Person kneeling before a Bishop the Bishop was to say If thou art not already Ordained I Ordain thee or else in these Words I pray God that thou be ordained c. And this is justified by the Instance of Hypothetical Baptism To all which I reply 1. That the Presbyterians the Persons we are to satisfy have already declared against Hypothetical Ordination so the Presbyterians at the Savoy in their Petition for Peace p. 2. We earnestly beseech you that Re-ordination whether Absolute or Hypothetical be not made necessary for the future Exercise of our Ministry now to grant them what they have already declared against is no probable way to the Union pretented 2. Hypothetical Baptism is of Two sorts 1 st When 't is not known that the Child hath had any pretended Baptism with Water in the name of the Trinity and then the case is not the same as this Of such hypothetical Rebaptization the 5th Council of Carthage c. 3. is to be understood where they commend the Words of Leo Iteratum dici non potest quod nescitur ess factum i. e. That cannot be said to be repeated which was never known to be done The 2d is when all that hath been done is exactly known but the authority of the Persons Baptizing or Authenticalness of what is done is called in question and in this case the Presbyterians do not allow of Hypothetical Baptism witness the Synops pur Theol. p. 617 Neque Baptismus conditionalis probandus est qui a Pontificiis observari solet i. e. neither do we approve of Hypothetical Baptism which is used by the Papists for they to gain respect to their own Church endeavour to perswade such other Christians as are admitted into their Church to be hypothetically Rebaptized of which we have one famous instance in the Church of the Abyssines reported by Ludolfus in Hist Aethiop l. 3. c. 6. Patres Societatis Habessinos omnes promiscue rebaptizaverunt sub conditione tamen si videlicet prior Baptismus non rite fuisset peractus quae res magnam illis invidiam conflavit i. e. The Jesuites rebaptized all the Habessines with this condition namely if their former Baptism was not rightly performed which thing occasioned great troubles against them Which troubles he reports cap. 13. The Habessines hated them for nothing more than their repeating of their Baptism as if before that they had been Heathens and Publicans And is it not evident that Hypothetical Re-ordination will produce the same troubles here when by this very Act our Church plainly supposeth that they were not ordained before But to make all this matter plain I will first set down the opinion of the English Presbyterians then the opinion of the Foreign Reformed Churches 1. For our English Presbyterians T. C. the Ringleader of that Party having been ordained by a Bishop is said to have renounced his orders and taken new orders from Presbyters in Scotland The Presbyterians reordained Mr. John Cuningham formerly ordained Priest by the Bishop of Galloway Ravil rediv. p. 29. A whole Synod of the Puritans at Coventry A. D. 1588 June 10 condemned Ordination by Bishops as unlawful and farther declared the very calling of Bishops unlawful Bancroft's Engl. Scotizing p. 86. T. C. in his Admonition p. 127 desires the Bishops to be laid aside from ordaining Ministers and to bring in the true Election by the Congregation And in his Prayer before his Sermon at Banbury printed in the Life of Archbishop Whitgift p. 47. O Lord give us grace and power all as one Man to set our selves against the Bishops Apologetical Narrative It s a sin to take Episcopal Orders or to own the Authority of Bishops And to mention no more in the Solemn League and Covenant the Presbyterians of both Nations swore to the Extirpation of Prelacy i. e. the government of the Church by Bishops And accordingly in Scotland the Presbyterians have generally persecuted all those that had Episcopal Ordination 2. For the Foreign Reformed Churches observe 1sit That the Churches of Denmark and Norway are governed by Two Archbishops and Fourteen Bishops The Churches of Swedeland are governed by One Archbishop and Six Bishops the Churches of Hungary and Transylvania are governed by Bishops the Reformed Churches of Bohemia have a succession of Bishops as we in England Pass we next to the Reformed Churches of Germany which are in effect governed by Bishops whom they call Superintendants Their Office is described in the Harmony of Confess p. 227. to visit Parochial Ministers to preside in Synods to examine and ordain Persons fit for the Ministry c. To which agreeth Carpzovins Jurisp Eccl. l. 1. Comenius in Annot. ad rat disc fratr Bohem. where he observes that St. Hierom calls a Bishop Superintendant in Armenia the Bishop is called Martabet which signifieth Superintendant saith Rycaut Hist of Arm. Churches p. 392. And Zanchy saith that the Protestants have Bishops and Archbishops but that instead of good Greek Names they call them by bad Latine ones Superintendants and general Superintendants And when in the Book of Policy A. D. 1581. for the Kingdom of Scotland the Office of Superintendants is described it is in these Words Imprimis The Superintendant of Orkney his Diocess shall be the Isles of Orkney c. The Superintendant of Rosse his Diocess shall be Rosse c. The Superintendant of Edenbrough his Diocess shall be c. The Superintendant of Glascow his Diocess c. In all Ten Superintendants for that Kingdom Then follows the Function and Power of the Superintendant He shall plant and erect Churches order and appoint Ministers Visit c. See the Proceedings at Perth p. 14 15. And in all such Churches where they have Superintendants there is no Ordination allowed but by them An Account of the Persecuted in Scotland p. 58. There is not a falser Proposition in the World than that the Inclinations of the generality of the People in Scotland are against Episcopacy and let us have a Poll for it when they will and you shall quickly see the Demonstration Of the Vulgus the Commonalty not a Third Man throughout the whole Kingdom is a Presbyterian And of Persons of better Quality and Education not a Thirteenth In all the Country on