made but 21 Canons the Canon quoted is 23 foisted in being made after The Canon it self proves there was then no Liturgy of ordinary use in the Church variously and fully Sect. 10. The Council of Milevis above 400 years after Christ that Province was over-run with Pelagians the eight first Canons transcribed all against Pelagianism those the ground of the Canon yet that Canon proves nothing but that if a Minister made prayers for himself they must be brought to a Council and there approved before he used them Sect. 11. Yet this proved a sad president Sect. 12. An examination of what Mr. Falconer saith of the Liturgies father'd upon St. James St Mark and St. Peter 4. Observations upon what he saith An account of what my Lord of Morney hath fully said to prove them all supposititious Sect. 13. What Mr. Falconer saith of the Liturgies ascribed to Ambrose Basil Chrysostome is examined They are abundantly proved spurious 'T is in vain to say they have undergone alterations but yet they were made by them If made by them for their own use not for others if voluntarily used by some others it is nothing to the purpose A presumption against their being known in the Church all the time of the Milevitan Council Sect. 14. It was 300 years after this before any Church imposed Liturgies proved from Durandus It was the year 600 then Gregory required the use of his and in the year 800 when Pope Adrian got Charles the Great by an Edict to enforce the use of it A pleasant story after this about it Sect. 15. A further strong presumption that no further proof can be produced from the proceedings of the Commissioners about the Liturgy 1662. The story of it Sect. 16. Mr. Falconer concluded from the premises to have spoken at too high a rate A short account of the state of the Church from 500 and 600 years after Christ to 1500. The state of the Church such for a 1000 of those years as all Protestants judg many things unlawful in that time believed and used The purer Church from 600 to 1500 only in some corners in France the Principality of Piedmont some parts of Bohemia no Records of Liturgies imposed or used there Sect. 17. No forms of Prayer but the Lords-Prayer generally used or imposed except in the Saxon Churches since the Reformation but in England not in Switzerland France Scotland The short History of the English Reformation The opposition from the first to forms imposed for general use The woful extremes run into on both sides Sect. 18. A Conclusion challenging any to shew that Nonconformists in this thing differ from the judgment of Divines in the purer or lately Reformed Churches Sect. 19. A Postscript concerning the judgment of the Reformed Church in Holland Section I. ALthough the former part of our Discourse giving Arguments which appear very probable to us and from whence we have formed a practical judgment That it is contrary to the will of God that Ministers of the Gospel to whom God hath given the gift of Prayer or if that phrase offendeth an ability to express their and their peoples causes to God in prayer should perform ordinarily their Ministerial acts in prayer by the prescribed Forms of other men an argument against us from example and humane authority can be of little value Yet in regard some of our brethren take advantage from hence invidiously to represent us as dissenters from the Church for 1300 years nay from Christs time and there are too many that believe all some men have the confidence to say and considering the reverend Author of Libertas Ecclesiastica tell us Pag. 111 112. That it must be a rash sentence to condemn Forms of Prayer as evil and sinful which were embraced by the ancient Church whiles it retained its soundness and before the corruptions and distempers of the Church of Rome took place and by the Protestant Churches since their recovery therefrom And in the determining of what is expedient or inexpedient he had need have strong foundations to erect his high confidence who will oppose his own judgment with some very few persons besides against the concurrent judgment and practice of the Church of Christ in so many several ages and Nations and against the determination of God himself under the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour under the New Lest some less judicious person meetingwith this should think us strange persons I have thought it reasonable to review the premises of that Section upon which this conclusion is raised I shall only desire the Reader to consider that little of this doth concern the Dissenters who are perfectly of the mind expressed in our former sheets 1. For they do not condemn Forms of Prayer as evil and unlawful they do believe them good in their kind and use they believe them good to be used for the instruction of people and to help them in the acquisition of the gift and possibly they do think that John might thus teach his disciples to pray giving them Forms from which they might learn the sum of what they were to ask of God and many of them will yield that the Lords-prayer was by Christ given to his Disciples for the same purpose not to be used by them all their lives time in so many words but as a Summary of what things they should ask of God in what words they pleased 2. For Devotion the Nonconformists will grant that men and women yea such as the Church for want of better may be forced to use in the Ministry may pray by the prescribed Forms of others They indeed do not think this to be that prayer which God requires of his Ministers but they think thus the Minister and people too may pray mentally and those who join with another person ministring in prayer never do more § 2. For what this Author saith Which were embraced by the ancient Church whiles it retained its soundness and before the corruptions and distempers of the Church of Rome took place and by the Protestant Church since its recovery there-from We will by and by examine how far that is true and upon what grounds he speaks it But what doth he mean by the Determination of God himself under the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour in the New If it be any thing to the purpose it is not easie to understand Doth he mean that either God under the Old Testament or our blessed Saviour under the New hath determined that it is lawful for some particular men be they Archbishops or Bishops or any other to compose Forms of Prayer to be used by all Ministers in the Church and that it is lawful for them to use them and to perform their Ministerial acts in prayer by the use of them so one would think the words sound but he hath not spoken a word to prove this This indeed would determine the business Or doth he mean that God by prescribing some Forms himself or
as now who would ill understand it Can. 8. It also pleased them c. That if any should say That the words of the Lords Prayer Forgive us our debts are only used by the Saints to signifie their humility not to express a truth Let him be Anathema For how can one be induced in prayer to lye and that not to men but to God with his lips desiring that his sins might be forgiven him when in heart he thought he had no sins to be forgiven I have been a little more large in this story because I am pretty confident and dare challenge all our adversaries to give us but one proof that any part of the Church before this time assembled in any Council took upon them to impose Forms of Prayer to be used by all Ministers within their Jurisdiction If some men made themselves Forms and used them they yet served God in their Ministry in the use of their own gifts this signifieth just nothing to our case who have known divers worthy men do the like We have now the case here was a Council of worthy men all relating to the Province of Numidia who met at Mela. The occasion of their meeting was the woful spreading of the Doctrine of Pelagius who denied Original Sin Assisting Grace or that justified persons could sin or need beg the pardon of sin Many if not the greatest part of their Ministers were tainted with these Opinions In this distress to stop the diffusing this venom and that the people through the error ignorance or carelesness of their Ministry might not be without any to go before them in publick prayers who could or would put up due confessions or necessary petitions for them having first in eight Canons condemned the Doctrines of Pelagius they make their twelfth Canon in these terms It also pleased them c. That those prayers or Masses or Prefaces or Commendations or Impositions of hands which shall be approved in the Council be used of all and that no other be used in the Church but what shall be treated on and approved in a Synod lest perhaps something should be composed contrary to the true faith either through ignorance or carelesness I observe 1. That this Canon extends to all Ministerial services not to prayers only as to all they were limited to forms 2. That it was not to any forms that before this time had been enjoined or used in this or in any other Church but such as should first be treated of and approved in a Synod or Council 3. That it was done in a case of woful distress when the Ministers were known to be so corrupted in their judgments that they could neither put up such confessions or supplications as they ought they could not confess original sin nor pray for assisting grace nor for pardon of sins renewing after Justification 4. I observe this was in the fifth Century and if we will believe Vossius it must be after 505 for he saith Histor Pelag. l. 1. c. 3. that in that year Chrysostome being in banishment and near his death he first spread his Doctrines Others make it 402. It must be in the Popedom of Innocent 1. who was not Pope 18 months for Aurelius was President there in the notion of his Legate Take this story in its circumstances it 's far from a justifiable authority to maintain that it was the judgment of the Church in the purer ages That forms of prayer might be lawfully enjoined all Ministers whether under such circumstances or no. Their ends were that the poor people might have due prayers put up for them and be taught the Doctrine of Original sin the impotency of mans will to what was spiritually good the need of assisting grace that they sin seven times a day and had need beg pardon That original sin might in prayer be confessed and the impotency of human nature to that which is truly good with their daily renewing sins that so pardon might be beg'd for them and assistance of Divine grace against them and unto spiritual duty How should this end have been obtained in that corrupted state but by set-forms of Prayers and Sermons too Should they on the sudden have turned out all these Ministers it is not probable they on the sudden could have found enough fitted for the work Because in this exigent this Council judged it lawful shall it therefore be concluded to b◠the judgment even of those few Bishops in that Council That it is lawful for any in any state of a Church to do the like Besides what hindred but that according to this Canon every Minister might compose his own prayers and bring them to be approved in a Council § 11. The truth is this proved a sad president all know how long Peldgius his Doctrine spread a very great part of the Church how many Councils assembled against it 'T is very probable other Churches followed this Canon not in force of it for it could oblige none but the Province of Numidia but as thinking it lawful till at length as the Grandieur of the Romish Bishops required a pack of ignorant and sottish Ministers of which there was a remarkable plenty in the sixth and seventh age it crept into a custom and a piece of Ecclesiastical Common Law But we shall hereafter shew that the practice of the visible Church after 400 years in Rituals is not very imitable by those that will make the word of God a light to their feet but we must go back a little to consider what our Author insinuates p. 105. of the Liturgies which the Papists have invented in all probability and intituled St. Peter St. James and St. Mark and St. John too as also those which they have intituled St. Chrysostome St. Basil and St. Ambrose to◠§ 12. For the former our Reverend Brother speaketh thus pag. 105. And I yield it most probable though even Protestant writers herein differ that the ancient Roman Jerusalem and Alexandrian Offices were called the Liturgies of St. Peter St. James and St. Mark because of their certain early use in the Churches where they presided though it is not certain they were composed by them this being mentioned by no ancient writer of the first Centuries Nor do I doubt but the Liturgy or Anaphoca of St. John and that of the twelve Apostles are supposititious From which I observe 1. That if during the time that the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost lasted the Ministerial Services were by the Apostles performed by them it is very absurd to say Peter James Mark and John who all were possessed of them prayed by prescribed forms 2. I observe our Reverend Brother I hope unadvisedly hath granted here the Papists a great point That Peter was the first Bishop of Rome for he calls Rome the Church where he resided for we know James resided at Hierusalem Mark at Alexandria this is both a liberal and groundless grant Magni hoc mercentur Achivi 3. Did Saint
assertion in safe terms Prescript forms of worship truly that I will not deny I believe that Christ and his Apostles ordained that men should worship God by Prayers Praises Exhortations and administring the Sacraments this form of worship yea and that they should Baptize in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and were not these forms of worship these have been established 1600 years he means more though he either hath not worded it well or had a mind to speak safely though he did but deceive his Reader and say nothing to the purpose If he means That forms of words to be ordinarily used by all Ministers ordinarily in their publick Prayers were established in the Church that is generally used or required to be used in the universal Church or any considerable part of it these 1200 years though I for once run the hazard of my repute for learning with this great Dictator I shall deny it yea and further challenge him and all his friends to prove any such thing before Six hundred years after Christ when Popery came in with a full wind and tide Let us hear his proof to the contrary of this assertion He tells us That it is now 1312 years since the Council at Laodicea and then it was decreed that the Choristers should sing by book and that the same prayers should serve for noon and for Evening-service for every Assembly nor should any Prayers be read but what were received and established having been delivered to them by their fore fathers Here are three things asserted 1. That this Council of Laodicea was held in the year 368. 2. That they made such a Canon 3. That this is the sense of that Canon That all Ministers should use forms of prayer composed by others The Scripture tells us in St. John's time which was more than two hundred years before this the Church of Laodicea was a very lukewarm Church neither hot nor cold ready to be spued out of Gods mouth wretched miserable poor blind naked and proud and ignorant knowing not her own corruptions Rev. 3. 15 16 17. If such a Church as this did make such a Canon which concerned only their own Province it hath nothing in it either of a just pattern to imitate or of a just proof Chytreus tells us that there was a Council held Anno 364 but there is not the least mention of it in the Synodicon published by Dr. Pappus out of a M. S. wrote before the year 921. which yet giveth us an account of all Synods and Councils held from the Apostles time to the 8th Council held upon the union of Photius and Pope John Caranza hath it with 59 Canons it should make He saith there were but 22 Bishops at it of which the 18 Canon Caranza gives thus De eo quod semper supplicationes Orationum ad horam novam vesperam oportet celebrari That prayers should be made both at 9 in the morning and evening but whether conceived prayers or by a form it saith not how Balsamon reports it I cannot tell but it is more than I know if Caranza is not to be believed as soon as Balsamon and the Synodicon published by Dr. Pappas before them both Balsamon dyed 1203 his Works came not out till long after when the Papists published them and all Protestants know there is no great credit to be given to their Editions of any ancient Authors The upshot then is this 1. It is very incertain whether there were ever such a Council yea or no. 2. If there were there were but 22 men at it and it concerned only a part of Phrygia 3 It was a Church corrupt enough and indeed he that reads the pretended Canons will find it 4. This Council according to Caranza only decreed Prayers morning and evening but did not prescribe words 5. Balsamon speaks any thing which the late Papists had a mind to who made him speak according to the sense of their Father Gregory 6. However this was 368 years after Christ when the Church had as to worship lost her Purity His next proof is the Council of Carthage which he says was 1284 years ago that made a Canon That if any man did compose any prayers he should not presume to use them till he had consulted the most knowing men in the Church The intent of which decree he saith was That none should have the liberty to use what forms of prayer he pleased but that such only should be said as had been ratified by due authority and ancient custom I do not like dictating How doth this Author know that this Canon was made by a Council at Carthage 1284 years ago First if it were so it was 396 years after Christs time when as I said before the Church was corrupted enough in Rituals But what will he say if that Council never made any such Canon I can shew him a good Author to prove it that is Justellus who published the African-Code In his Preface to it p. 35. he speaks thus Whereas they say that there was a third Council held at Carthage when Caesarius and Atticus were Consuls I the less refuse it because Zonaras and Balsamo attest it and the Africane Collection mentioneth it but they are mistaken who ascribe 50 Canons to it there are but 21 which were made by it all the rest were made 22 years after in the time of Pope Boniface in the year 419 and this is proved by the words of the 47 Canon for Boniface was not Pope when Caesarius and Atticus were Consuls but was ordained 418 when Honorius and Theodosius was Consuls Now this was Canon 23 so as it was not made before the year 419. But as to what this Canon saith it is as material and nothing to this Authors purpose but for that I refer my Reader to what I have before said in answer to Mr. Falconer His next proof is from the Canon of the Council of Milevis as to which I have fully spoken before and only shall add this That this pretended Canon is not to be found in the African-Code published by Justellus where it ought to have been if any such had been made and not been a temporary constitution But for a fuller answer I refer my Reader to what is before said having nothing to add to it He goes on and says It was one great reason amongst many others why publick Liturgies were compiled of old that they might be Repositories of sound Doctrine and Preservatives of the Catholick Faith These were Antidotes to keep Christians from being poisoned with erroneous and rotten Principles as our English Liturgy is at this day an excellent Amulet against the infection from Papists Socinians Pelagians and other modern seducers and perhaps this is the Grand reason why the Belweathers of faction hate our Common-prayer-book c. As is the man so is his truth so is his spirit The Papists have had Liturges these 1000 years by this argument they are
A Supplement TO A LITTLE BOOK ENTITULED A Reasonable account why some pious Non-conforming Ministers cannot judg it lawful for them to perform their Ministerial Acts in publick solemn prayer ordinarily by the prescribed Forms of others Wherein is examined whatsoever Mr. Falconer in his Book called Libertas Ecclesiastica and Mr. Pelling in a Book called The Good old way have said to prove the ancient use of Forms of Prayers by Ministers And it is proved That neither of the two aforementioned Authors have said any thing that proveth the general use or imposition of such Forms of Prayer in any considerable part of the Church till Pope Gregories time which was six hundred years after Christ nor in any Church since the Reformation except that of England and which is uncertain some in Saxony Multa videntur dicuntur quae non sunt LONDON Printed in the Year 1680. COURTEOUS READER ALthough where the question is about the lawfulness or unlawness of any action the pleading of Antiquity be a great impertinency and if the Plea be true it can rise no higher than a presumptive argument and be so far from a demonstration that it is not a good Topick for there is no prescribing to error So that nothing can incline the scale of Conscience in which every one is obliged to weigh every Proposition relating to his practice but his apprehension of the revealed will of God either from the letter or reason of Holy Writ yet because every one is not thus spiritually instructed and it makes a great noise to hear men talking That the Church in all ages all the Fathers judged otherwise than these men and if it were true in any case it ought highly to oblige all Dissenters again and again to examine those arguments upon which they have founded their particular practical judgment I who know the world too well to believe all that I read in mens Books have thought it reasonable to examine what Mr. Falconer and one Mr. Pelling have said to prove the pretended antiquity of forms of prayer as generally used or required to be used by Ministers in their publick Ministrations as to Prayer I the rather did it because truly Mr. Falconer hath said as much as hath been said on that argument or as that Cause will bear The Reader will find Mr. Pelling hath added little but words I must profess to my Reader there appears to me no shadow or pretence of proof of the matter in question till Pope Gregory and Boniface's time more than 600 years after Christ nor do I believe any can be made to satisfie any inquisitive man I leave it to thee to judg whether I have not given a reasonable answer to any thing brought by these two and shewed that they have made no proof that can satisfie the conscience of any man of any reasonable understanding and thinks the thing is unlawful if indeed it were a thing granted indifferent these little flourishes might do something but the conscience of a good man judging a thing unlawful from grounds of Scripture and Reason cannot be dispossessed of that judgment by any thing but by Scripture and Reason and though the general judgment of the Church might stumble him if his opinion were contrary yet that general judgment must be proved not meerly talkt of and plainly proved too before it can have any operation at all Now whether either of these Authors have done this I leave thee to judg The one of them is very confident and can speak nothing of this nature in a lower stile than with questionless doubtless without all doubt The other though much more modest yet possibly hath some freer and smarter expressions in his Pages on this Argument than in any other part of his Book But my humour is always to suspect a soft place in that part of any Book where I meet with most confidence or passion Reason is so beautiful and noble a thing that it needeth not the service of passion or paint of confidence It commends it self to the next rational soul it meets with without any such black patch or foot-boy at its heels I will freely tell thee my opinion about forms of Prayer in publick Ministrations not imposing upon thee with any such thing as questionless and without doubt I do believe that forms of Prayer are very ancient that is that there were by some good and pious men forms of Prayer made both for their own publick use and for the private instruction of others and teaching them to pray without forms I do think that our Saviour Christ made the Lords-Prayer for the temporary use of his Disciples not so as to oblige them to use no other or to use that Sillabically but to pray for those things either in those words or other words and that they might for a time use that very form particularly until his Resurrection and Ascension after which I believe they were obliged to a more particular mention of his sacred name I believe that forms of Prayer were much more in use before the pouring out of Gods Spirit in the days of Pentecost than after for although the effects of that effusion of the Spirit were some of them peculiar to the Apostles such as speaking with Tongues Miracles Healing c. yet from that day to this I believe from Zach. 12. 10. there hath been a more full effusion of the spirit of grace and supplication upon all both Ministers and people than ever was before generally Notwithstanding which in regard that until men come to believe and be Christians indeed they have not the Spirit of God and even then the Spirit of God works in them by the use of means I do believe there were many forms of Prayer made by good men teaching beginners in Christianity how to pray and what to pray for I am not difficult to believe that many both Ministers and people in those days might make use of such forms till their exercise in Scripture and in the ways of God rendred them as to them needless and turned what were before helpers into hinderances of Devotion But I believe it cannot be proved that for more than 400 years after Christ any one Church commanded her Ministers generally to use such and no other in any part of their publick ministration though possibly some particular men that had not the gift of Prayer or at least feared themselves or suspected they had it not might use some forms made before by themselves or some others Pope Gregory the Great who is commonly call'd the worst of all that went before him though the best of all the Popes that followed him I believe was the first that commanded the general use of forms of Prayer by Ministers in their publick Ministrations Platina saith thus of him What should I speak more of this most holy man for all the ordering of the Ecclesiastical Office especially the old one was by him invented and approved Haec in Canonem redegit
saith Platina There were some free forms up and down and some particular orders in some Churches none forced but he brought them into a Canon Platina who was a later Popes Secretary saith he came not to be Pope before 619. Yet it plainly appears by Pope Gregories answer to Augustine the Monks questions which he sent to him out of England that he did not tye all to the use of his Missal It pleaseth me saith he that you sollicitously make choice of what you find in the Church of Rome or France or any other Church which may best please God and infuse it into the English Church which is yet young in the faith particularly instructing it in things which you can gather out of many Churches for things are not to be loved for places but places are to be loved for good things I therefore out of several Churches pick out what things are pious religious and right and do you accustom your English mens minds to these things collected in a bundle Some years after by succeeding Popes it was enforced and by Charles the Great about 800 if we may believe Durandus The Popes were then at such an heighth as they could not expect that they and their Bishops should be quiet if they had a Clergy consisting of men of parts and piety they therefore suffered any ignorant sottish persons to fill the Ministry who so they might be gratified in their lusts and laziness would fawn upon the Pope and the Bishops of those times and humour their superstition pride and luxury and grandeur provided they would humour them in sparing their lusts and their pains the latter of which was eminently done by enjoining all Ministers to use the same Missal and laying all Religion in the use of it and making Preaching a rare and almost useless thing or a Lecturing out of Aquinas and Scotus and the Legend and this was the whole trade till the Reformation 1516. Nor can I think this would have so generally been swallowed by people but for another unhappy accident About this time Latin was the common language of Italy France and Spain and in that language their Divine service was but the Goths and Vandals and other Barbarians over-ran these Countrys and possessed them for many years which corrupted the Latin tongue so that it was understood no where ordinarily though the Italian French and Spanish languages are manifest Dialects of it but still the Mass-book was not altered Thus came in the Latin service used in Popery till the Reformation understood by very few of them that heard it So the Papists worshipped they knew not how and being ignorant were very tame The Reformation began in Germany 1517 in England not to speak on till Edward the Sixths time 1547 and had a present interruption of five years after it had been on foot seven years then began something more to purpose with Queen Elizabeth 1558 in France at Geneva it was sooner 1535. It is true our first Reformers both in King Edw. 6. and in Q. Eliz. time thought fit to compose a Liturgy or rather to reform what was used in Popery leaving out the idolatrous and highly superstitious part of the Mass-book Yea they thought fit to command the universal use of it under penalties which may charitably be interpreted to prevent a Popish Clergy or a Clergy newly reform'd from Popery using their old Mumpsimus Nor indeed in that face of things was it reasonable to expect that any number of Ministers should be able to pray as they ought in publick and if they were not they might for a time lawfully use forms Yet whoso will read the Book called The troubles at Francfort will find that even then all godly Ministers and people did not judg it lawful which much more appeared in the succeeding years of the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Ch. I. In the mean time it must be agreed many both learned godly and worthy Ministers did thus perform their Ministerial acts in solemn publick prayer and so do many now which speaks them to judg it lawful The Ministers in Scotland the Nonconformists in England all those in New-England judg otherwise and we believe many hundreds that conform in England think it just lawful not eligible only a thing may be submitted to rather than lay down their Ministry If this be not as to matter of practise the true state of the case as to Forms of Prayer to be universally enjoined or used I must confess I do not understand it and should gladly learn of those that are wiser But let us now enquire what is said by Mr. Falconer or Mr. Pelling THE Summary OF THE SUPPLEMENT TO The Reasonable Account SEction 1. The reason of the Supplement What Mr. Falconer saith little concerneth the Nonconformists in the terms he hath expressed it Sect. 2. There may be a double sense of Mr. Falconer's assertion of God and Christ appointing forms of Prayer in the first they are true and granted by Nonconformists in the second they are false and denied by them Sect. 3. God may make things necessary by his command which without it are unlawful Sect. 4. The only medium to prove that forms of Prayer made by men are lawful to be used by all Ministers propounded but not proved Sect. 5. An examination of what Mr. Falconer hath said to prove that God and Christ appointed forms of Prayer to be used without variation in Devotion What he saith of the Lords-Prayer examined His reasons answered why he thinks our Saviour gave it as a form They conclude not Two great presumptions to the contrary The thing admitted nothing proved by it His instances from the Old Testament examined Five Reasons making it probable that those instances were never intended by God as Syllabical forms to be used without variation The practice of the Jews in or after Christs time invaluable Sect 6. An examination of Mr. Falconer's answers to the Nonconformists proof from Justine Martyr and Tertullian that in the first 300 years after Christ there were no such Liturgies used by Ministers A further proof added from Socrates Scholasticus extending to more than 400 years after Christ. An answer to Mr. Falconer's pretended proof from Justine Martyr Ignatius Origen Cyprian nothing is proved from them as to the first 300 years Sect. 7. His proof from Constantine's making prayers for his Army makes against him signifying that then there was no publick Liturgies Constantine did nothing but what Nonconformists will allow and practice Sect. 8. Nonconformists do not grant that forms of Prayer have been of general use by all Ministers or imposed upon all by any Church since the year 1300. Neither the Canon of the Council of Laodicea nor that of Carthage proves it nor that of the Council at Mela 402 more than as to Ministers of that Province upon a special cause Sect. 9. It is doubtful whether there was such a third Council at Carthage Justellus saith if there were they
the Crucifix and the Virgin Mary all know the worshipping Images came in long after Chrysostome and many other Saints are invoked in his Liturgy who lived many years after Chrysostome was dead There is in it a prayer for the Emperor Alexius and the Oecumenical Bishop Pope Nicholas who both lived 700 years after Chrysostome was dead It is true the Papists adoring these Liturgies we make use of them against them to prove that the Sacrament was used to be given in both kinds and that there were no private Masses but these pretended Liturgies were most certainly made many hundreds of years after their times who are made the Authors If they were not the Papists have more to say for their Holy-water their Paganish Incensings and Wax-candles burning at noon-day their Crossings and Crucifixes their Invocation of the Virgin Mary and Saints than Protestants ever thought they had But our Author will allow them to have undergone divers alterations We thank him for that but how shall it appear to us that they were not intire new compositions made a thousand years after Christ that by them the Papists might justifie their Mass-book their Doctrine and Ceremonies Or how shall it appear that any Ministers in Chrysostome's Ambrose's or Basil's Diocesses were required by them to perform their Ministerial acts in prayer We challenge any one to make that good And the making of forms of the particular use of them by those that made them or the voluntary use of them by other Ministers who distrusted their own abilities or the requiring of the use of them in a time of general corruption of the Ministers will not prove the lawfulness of the use of them by all Ministers under no such circumstances Besides the Canon of the Council of Mela limiting their Ministers to such prayers as should first be approved in some Synod is a strong presumption that they knew of no Liturgies of St. Mathew St. Mark St. James St. John St. Peter St. Ambrose St. Basil St. Chrysostome for they would then have named some of them and restrained their Ministers to the use of them or some of them and not still have ordered the making of more or rather given their Ministers liberty to make their prayers themselves but not to use them till they had been debated and agreed in some Synod which I take to be the truest sense of that Canon nor needed the Council of Carthage to have ordered their Ministers to confer about their prayers with their more experienced brethren if seven or eight Liturgies had been then known and so authentick § 14. But yet we must find it more than 300 years after this before any Church or Magistrate took upon them under penalties to command Ministers to minister not by the use of their own gifts but by the prescribed forms of others Let us but in the case hear Durandus a Papist high enough speak and that in a book which he called A Rationale of Divine Offices l. 5. cap. 2. his words are these Theodosius who by the way lived 380 intreated Pope Damasus that some Ecclesiastical office might be made by some Ecclesiastical Catholick person upon which Damasus commanded Saint Hierome who was then in Bethlehem with Paula Eustochium and some other Virgins to abide there and to make a Liturgy for the Churches because he was well skilled in Hebrew Greek Chaldee and Latin which he obediently did appointing how much of the Psalms should be read each day of the week and ordering the reading of the Gospels and the Epistles out of the Old and New Testament Where note this is all that most superstitious Ritualist could find that Saint Hierome did It was approved by Pope Damasus and made a rule Gelasius who was Pope and lived 400 and Gregory the Great who lived 600 years after Christ added Prayers and Hymns the Lessons and the Gospels Ambrose Gelasius and Gregory saith he added the Gradualia Tractus Hallelujah other Doctors of the Church added other parts Thus far Durandus This seemeth to be much of the truth Platina in the life of Damasus tells us that he first ordered Hierome's Translation to be read in the Churches That the Psalms should be read alternalim part by the Minister part by the people That Glory be to the Father to the Son and to the Holy Ghost should be repeated at the end of every Psalm and the Confession at the beginning of the celebration of the Mass was also ordered by him Now when was this It was above 380 years after Christ Nor have we yet any record of a Liturgy but an order by Hierome prescribed for reading the Scripture and a Confession before the Sacrament made by Pope Damasus and Gloria Pater by him added to every Psalm The next Pope to him was Siricius that learned man who in great passion urged That Priests might not marry because the Apostle Paul tells us Those that are in the flesh cannot please God The next to him was Anastasius he saith Platina ordained the Priests standing up at the Gospel Innocent the first succeeded him who spent his time about preserving the Faith against Pelagius I do not find that Sosemus the next Pope added much but he sent Faustenus and two Presbyters to the Council of Carthage to let them know they ought to do nothing without the consent of the Bishop of Rome saith Platina Boniface after him did little the next which was Coelestinus ordered Davids Psalms to be sung by turns before the Sacrifice so was the Lords Supper now called The next Successor Sixtus 1. his superstition evaporated in buildings and adorning them I find not that the four next Successors Leo Simplicius Hilary or Faelix did any thing as to the Liturgy nor indeed is much said of any till we come to Gregory Anno 600 Pamelius saith he made a Lectionary directing the order for the Scripture to be read an Antiphonary directing some Responds and an order for administring the Sacraments but he could command no further than his own Church for it was five or six years after this before the Pope of Rome was set up as Vniversal Bishop a title which Gregory refused by Phocas who killing his Master had usurped the Empire Yet little was done for almost 200 years after this the continual stirs caused by the Lombards giving the Emperour no rest About the year 800 Charles the Great being Emperour Pope Adrian moveth him to establish a Liturgy by a Civil Edict and obtained it and Durandus telleth us that Pope Gregories Liturgy was it To which Charles the Great compelled all Ministers by threatnings and punishments and this is the first authority we have for any thing of this nature From whence we observe That the first imposing of a Common-Prayer Book was in favour to Pope Adrian and began with a persecution Nor after this was it glibly swallowed for Mr. Fox amongst the Protestants and Durandus amongst the Papists tell us a pleasant story of one Eugenius
be used and of our opposing our judgment against the concurrent judgment and practice of the Church of Christ in so many several Ages and Nations and against the determination of God himself under the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour under the New These words are not the words of Truth and Soberness nor do they savour of that spirit of Truth and Love which we always had thought did dwell in our Brother For if he means that the Ministers and Christians of all ages have thought it lawful and expedient to draw up forms of Prayer that by them the weaker might be taught to pray nay that those Ministers or People who have not attained that gift may use them still coveting and labouring for that gift until they have attained it none will deny it But all this is nothing to the purpose I know no Nonconformist will deny it but say Let them be in the Church and for that use still The Nonconformists in their Debates upon his Majesties Commission would never have tendred some Emendations of our Liturgy to the Bishops much less a new Liturgy or form if they had been of this mind But if our Reverend Brother means that they have been in the Church required to be used by all the Ministers in their publick Ministration in all ages or in those ages before the Corruptions Idolatry and Superstition of the Papists crept in there is not the least proof made either by our Reverend Brother or any else that we could ever see of a word of truth in the assertion § 17. Let us now take a view of the State of the Church from the year 500 to the year 1500 and see whether the Church was then in such a State that we may conclude all lawful that was during that time admitted in practice All Protestants will deny it especially from the year 700. But let us examine a little In the 5th Century they had got Images into Churches at Constantīnople The Image of the Manger which Chrysostome complains of and of the Virgin Mary saith Nicephorus they had got Altars also Augustine Chrysostome and Salvian often mention them they had also got in Candles using holy Water in Baptism they had also got in Vnction and the custom of giving the Lords Supper to children after Baptism together with the wearing of a white garment after that Sacrament They in many places mingled water with the wine in the Supper Exorcisms were also crept in as Augustin tells us lib. 20. de Civ Dei Lent also crept in in this age as we learn from Augustine Cyril Chrysostome and Maximus Nicephorus tells us also of abundance of Reliques now in fashion Monks and Monasteries began in this age to be very thick The Doctrine of the Church was miserably invaded by Pelagius They began in this age to put only single persons into Ministry in the Latin Church as we may learn from the Council of Toledo from Augustine and Leo. They had now also brought in many new orders of Ministers Acolecthi Exorcists Subdeacons c. From the year 500 to the year 600 we shall yet find a stranger face of the Church the Doctrines of Freewill Justification by works Prayers to the dead Satisfactions for sin Purgatory c. were in this age preached In this age came in the Dedications and Consecrations of Churches the Consecration of Wells for Baptism the Oyl and Chrysm the Consecrations of Altars Cups Corporals the Mass offerings for the dead the seven Letanies Rogations the seven Canonical hours In short almost the whole fardel of the Popish Superstitions It is no great charge to any conscientious man to say he differs in some things from the Ruling part of the Church 5 or 600 years after Christ and that he judgeth it both inexpedient and unlawful for him to do what they did in 40 particulars We must now take our leave of the Romish Synagouge from whose practices at this time all Protestants in the world differ in a multitude of things both as to Doctrine Worship and Discipline we must go seek for the true Church the next 1000 years in the Valleys of Piedmont in France in the Provinces of Languedec Provence and Dauphiny amongst the Albigenses the poor people of Lions and the Waldenses indeed mostly in the Valleys of Piedmont where we shall find them coopt up in the time of Innocent the Third after St. Dominick had fired him to engage Simon Montford with the French Kings leave to destroy some hundred thousands of them those that escaped went to their Brethren in the Valleys of Piedmont some of them possibly got into Bohemia amongst the Taborites Piccards c. Nor could I ever meet with any that could give me account of any Liturgies they used or which were imposed on them or by them nor do I remember that the Piccards when they came to Luther about 1520 or the Deputies of those of Piedmont when they came to advise with Oecolampadius 1530 though they gave him an account of their Faith Rites and Order yet ever mentioned any thing of Liturgy yet these two bodies of people are the only visible Church we can give any account of retaining any Degrees of Purity in Doctrine Worship or Discipline for a thousand years which is double the time that the Church kept any degrees of Purity after Christ We will freely grant that after the year 600 the Mass-book was Canonically imposed by Pope Gregory and within 200 years more by Charles the Great and except in the Valleys of Piedmont and in Bohemia the Priests generally both used that and after 1200 made their Maker worshipped Images prayed for the Dead and prayed to Saints said their Service in Latin But I hope it is no prejudice to any Protestant that he owns no relation to the Church that did so for a thousand years together and doth so still And now our Reverend Brother sees what his concurrent testimony of the Church in all ages comes to till the year 1520 or thereabouts for ten of those fifteen ages we hope our Reverend Brother agreeth with them no better than we and if he will leave Rome and follow the Woman into the Wilderness where God hid her for 1260 days he will find no Liturgy she carried with her or commanded all her Ministers there to use If our Brother will resolve to abide with the Red Dragon that hath seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns after he hath with his tail drawn down the third part of the Stars of Heaven we mean no more than keep his eye only upon the stately company at Rome that after the year 600 call'd themselves falsly the true Church the only Catholick Church we cannnot help it We believe that all along God had his number of hidden ones within the challenged Jurisdiction of that Church but for the visible governing part of them we leave them soon after Gregory's time believing them far more like a Synagogue of Satan than a
Church of God whose practice should be any thing of a law or president to us Thus far we have delivered our selves from the vulgar and indeed no other than a poor popular prejudice of a dissent from the concurrent judgment of the Church in all ages We consent with the five first ages and for the ten latter we also agree with the pure Church of God in Bohemia and the Valleys of Piedmont for ought we could ever hear proved relating to their practice For other Churches no reformed Churches this day in the world but thinks twenty things unlawful which both the Greek and Latin Churches in those ages practised § 17. We have but one prejudice more to deliver our selves from and that is the Judgment of the Reformed Churches since the Reformation To try which let us but again repeat what we say We say Forms of Prayer are in themselves good and lawful Good as means of Instruction and lawful to be so used yea and also for Devotion until men have obtained an ability without them fitly to express their minds to God in Prayer or when though they have that gift yet through the hand of God in some natural inability they are hindred from the use of it We say also that where in a Nation or Church there is a multitude of Ministers needful so that it cannot be expected that a sufficient number should be found so competently qualified as they should be it is reasonable there should be forms made which Ministers may use or not use according as they find their abilities But we say it appeareth to us unlawful for those to use them to whom God hath given such an ability for the reasons before mentioned Now let us see how much in this we in judgment differ from any Reformed Churches The first Reformed Churches were in Germany and Switzerland whether those to whom Zuinglius was the head or the Lutherans were the first is hard to say They by degrees abolished the Mass they would have done it at first if they could But alas their people were newly come out of Popery and they must drive the pace they would go Let our Author if he can shew us that any of the Churches adhering to Zuinglius whose Reformation was the purest had any such form of Prayers as no Ministers might vary from or was enjoyned to use under a penalty The Liber Ritualis he speaks of in Bohemia and the Agenda in the Palatinate he will find to be no more than a general Directory and Order no prescription of words and phrases Let any one read Scultetus his Annales Rerun Evangelicarum he will find the Agenda of the Churches of Nordlingen Walshat Strasburgh Zurich let him see if he can find any thing of a form of Prayer excepting the Lords Prayer nor that imposed but ordinarily used It is true Luther and his party were a little laxer and Luther made a Mass-book correcting much in the Popish Missal but leaving in too much to the great offence of his Brethren as may be learned from another place of Scultetus I know not but they might impose for Luther though a great man yet was too much of a Dictator and for every one to conform to his humors but yet I no-where have read that he did command his Missal to be read by all Ministers that adhered to him And for what he did as to his composition of a Missal it was rather judged to cross Carolostadius and others and uphold his notion of the Corporal presence of Christ than for any other reason Next to this was the Reformation of Geneva and England For Geneva what Mr. Calvin's judgment was I cannot tell I have not his Epistles by me to examine Mr. F's Quotation but however he was but one man though a great one it should seem by the settlement there if it were his judgment when he wrote to the Protector it is like it was altered or his Colleagues were of another mind or he only approved it for a time in regard of the State of the Church being newly crept out of Popery for in the French Liturgy there is no tying up Ministers to the use of their forms though indeed they propose and commend some forms it saith The Minister shall make such prayers as seem good to him fitting for the time and matter he is in his Sermon to treat of In another place The form is according to the discretion of the Minister In a third place They use this or some like it In a fourth place He prayeth after this manner What their practice is I cannot tell The work of our Reformation was slow so as Scotland got the start of us though we set out first Dioclavius tells us Alt. Damasc p. 613. We have indeed in our Church Agenda and an Order to be observed in our publick Devotion but none is tyed either to the Prayers or Exhortations in our Liturgy they are proposed for Examples c. In all the 13 years saith he that I exercised the Ministry in that Church I never neither at Sacrament nor in other parts of my Religious Serivce used either the Prayers or Exhortations in our book nor did many more every one was at liberty and it seems child-like to me to do otherwise In England we used onother method more conformable to the Saxon Reformation than to that of Switzerland Strasburgh France or Scotland or what was afterwards in Holland Our Countrey was wholly Popish our Priests zealous for them our common people so ignorant that their Priests might have perswaded them that it was their duty to eat Hay with an Horse not an English Bible to be found in the Nation until the middle of King Henry 8. Reign The Reformation went on under the Conduct of a Popish King till Edward the 6th came to the Crown Our Reformers did not think fit at once to abolish all the Popish trash Though therefore they first turned much of the Popish Mass-book into English leaving out much Idolatrous and Superstitious stuff yet they left in it too much which caused a second Common-Prayer-book to be made in the time of Edward the 6. though his whole Reign was but seven years then came Queen Mary and destroyed all and the zealous Protestants went out of the Nation fixing some at Frankfort some at Basil c. At Frankfort the Ministers that first fixed there used no prescribed forms in their publick worship till at length Dr. Cox came amongst them with the Common-Prayer book made in Edw. 6. time which made that woful stir of which we have an account in the book called the Troubles of Frankfort In short Dr. Cox got the Magistrate on his side and forced the rest away to Geneva and other places When Queen Elizabeth came to the Throne all know how great a man Dr. Cox proved By his means and some of his stamp the Common-Prayer-book was again revised and published all Ministers enjoyned to use it but what a dissent
find in it nothing new but words and confidence yet for the satisfaction both of my self and my friend I procured the book in all haste and read it with as much greediness though with no great expectations as thinking it a barren subject out of which little Reason would grow but what we before had reapt and proved nothing but fallacy and falshood and for which little varnish of authority could be procured but what we had washed off with a cloth wetted in a very small degree of learning I read it from the first to the last line upon this Theme I at first observed that all which he pretended to was That forms have been allowed and used which may be granted without the least damage to our cause who do not argue all forms unlawful no nor all forms of prayer unlawful no nor the use of forms of prayer unlawful nor the use of all forms of prayer in praying unlawful but the use of forms of prayer for all men ordinarily and that in publick solemn prayer To prove which he hath not said a word but yet seeing he will not speak to what he should if he intended to speak any thing to the purpose let us consider what he hath spoken to his own purpose He will prove he saith p. 49. That set-forms of Divine Service were of use amongst the Jews 2. That set forms of Divine Service were of use also amongst the Primitive Christians 3. That after our blessed Lords ascention in that Interval betwixt the burial of the Synagogue and the setling of the Christian Church set-forms of Divine Service were allowed also even by the holy Apostles Three great undertakings Et quae non viribus istis conveniunt But if they were all proved would no more prove That it is lawful for all men ordinarily to perform their Ministerial Acts in Prayer by the prescribed forms of others than it would prove that it were lawful or not lawful for all particular men and women to marry or not to marry because marriage was lawful amongst the Jews and amongst the Primitive Christians and in the interval he talks of or that it was not lawful for some persons to marry in all those periods both which Propositions are true But let us see how he proves what he propounds to prove be it what it will And here we might have expected a Scriptural proof for the first and second of his periods and the third too at least the greater part of it falleth within the time of which the holy Scripture giveth us an account But alas of this we have very little and what we have of another nature is Apocryphal and proves nothing but to such credulous souls as will believe any thing which they read in any trifling Author 1. As to his first Period from the beginning of the world till Christs time I admire at the confidence of the Author to urge the Jewish worship as a pattern to Christians when he knows that Worship and Discipline were the two things which Christ came to alter and although he retained Prayer and Praise parts of natural worship and Exhortations which were all used amongst the Jews yet we find no forms of words in Prayer used by the Jews the retaining of which he directed Nor did he use or retain instruments of Musick in the worship of God nor did the Primitive Christians for Justin Martyr Qu. Resp 107. tells us That they looked upon the use of musick as a childish service of God and therefore used it not only plain singing 2. It lies upon him to prove that no Priest or Levite in the Jewish Church might use any forms of prayer or blessing but those he mentioneth in their ordinary publick Service and when he hath done that we will take the same argument and prove That neither the Disciples did nor any Christians ought to use any Prayer but the Lords Prayer because Christ hath said When you pray say or pray after this manner 3. Admit they did not this will only prove either that we must use no other or that we may use forms of prayer directed by God himself or by his holy Prophets or other Penmen of Scripture But it will not prove that all men either must use or may use forms of prayer never prescribed by God nor by any men to whom God had given authority to make forms of prayer or praise for his Church Surely it is no argument If we must or may use a form of prayer or praise directed by God or Christ by David Asaph Moses c. then we must or may use forms of prayer made by Pope Gregory Pope Boniface or by St. Basil or Chrysostome and it is impossible but men of learning must see the inconclusiveness of this Argument only they must say something and ad populum phateras any thing will serve those that understand not None that I have met with will say that we must in praying or blessing use the forms of prayer and blessing used in Scripture and no other So then they only say we may use them It is granted and what wonder is it if we may use such forms of words in prayer as are directed by Christ and those servants of his whom he appointed to write the Holy Scriptures for us which is the rule of all our Actions and contain all that we are to believe to pray for and to do though we judg it yet sinful for all Ministers to tye themselves to forms of prayers made by men that could never pretend to such an authority to guide the Church as to what is to be believed prayed for or done but only to rule it by seeing the Laws and Ordinances which Christ and his Apostles have given put in execution especially considering that neither Christ nor his Apostles whose proper offices it was to direct all things of lawful and necessary use in the Church ever did any such thing But after this Pope Gregory comes up and he forsooth thinks it fit to enjoyn such a thing Or admit it were Basil or Chrysostome 200 years before him which we do not believe the case is the same though not so scandalous I shall have done with what our Author saith as to his first period only minding him this is shooting at rovers and will never hit any mark but that which is in very ignorant and childish persons heads It is an arrogating the same power for the Governours of Churches since Christs and the Apostles times to ordain in matters of Worship which they had which is the same argument the Papists bring for their unwritten Traditions If I had a mind to discover mens infirmities I could take notice of many mistakes of our Author in this Paragraph but this is not my business 2. I proceed to his second Period where he saith That prescript forms of worship have been established for above these 1200 years last past no learned man can deny he delivereth himself in this bold
Author saith next wherein he undertakes a thing beyond all men viz. to prove That in the Apostles times and in the interval betwixt the burial of the Jewish Synagogue and the setting up of the Christian Church set-forms of Divine Service he should have said of Prayers for all Ministers were allowed also Aude aliquid brevibus gyni carcere dignum Si vis esse aliquis I know none hath undertaken this neither Dr. Hammond nor Mr. Faulconer this Notion is but a Probationer to the world Let us examine what Arguments he hath 1. His first proof is from the Apostles going to the Temple to worship and pray Acts 2. 46. Acts 3. 2. and 2. the Apostles justifying themselves Acts 25. 8. 24. 12. 28. 17. that they had nothing against the temple or the law and 3. the Jews tenaciousness of their Rituals all which are proved well enough p. 63 64. But how will our Author prove that the Jewish Ministers in their Temple-service used any prescribed forms of prayer which others had made for them and enjoyned them who were no inspired Prophets or Penmen of holy Writ He hath not yet proved this Or how will he prove that the Apostles themselves in the Temples or Synagogues ministred at any time by such forms we will prove they sometimes preached there but it lyes upon our Author to prove they read prayers for that we find not and we grant they may hear prayers that are forms if the matter be good It is a sign of an ill cause or a weak Disputant to pack on proof where none needed but bring none where all the pinch and stress lay Our Author here takes it for granted what is most notoriously false That the Apostles constantly attended the Jewish Service both in the Temple and Synagognes only met together in other places for the Sacrament and such service as they could not joyn with the Jews in but that is not to our purpose nor yet to examine how well by his Dial he hath rectified the Sun translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 2. 46. in the house not from house to house nor at home as Beza But he is not satisfied that in the Christian Assemblies in the Apostles times there were no manner of forms Who says there were not There was a form of sound Doctrine which the Apostle tells us of there were Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs in forms they are the three titles of Davids Psalms we have nothing to do with any thing but forms of prayer made by some particular Ministers or Church Officers to be used by all other Ministers He comes a little to the point p. 67. His first pretended proof is what divers have touched upon before him 1 Tim. 2. 12. we grant him from that Text 1. That the several sorts of prayers are there mentioned 2. That these several duties were to be done prayers of these several sorts to be made for offices observed that term seems to suggest something else not in the Text But whereas he goes on and tells us in the third place p 68. That it is as clear that the whole Church of Christ hath conceived and taken it for granted in all ages that the Apostle in this place did intend to fix a rule of Devotion and did order a Platform and Model to be observed in all publick Services and especially at the celebration of the holy Communion if he means a platform of words and phrases not to be varied from It is so far from being clear that no proof can be brought of it nor do as himself confesseth the Apostles words inforce any such belief nor his following quotations out of Chrysostome Ambrose or Augustine prove the least of it All rests upon the practice of the Church since for which indeed much may be said after 600 years after Christ but nothing of any weight or moment before that time And for the Churches judgment in Pope Gregory's time as to Rituals it is a very ill proof of what was done in the Apostles time in all Protestants judgments Our Author goes on still and will not say it is demonstrable but he tells us it seems very probable that the Apostles themselves did in their ordinary Ministrations observe forms of prayer notwithstanding those extraordinary assistances of the spirit which they were blest with Strange the Apostles what men that received not their Ministry of men nor by men but immediately from Christ then he must give them their forms men that hath those extraordinary effusions of the spirit Surely there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Divine thing in prescribed forms or those that speak thus must use the same Art with us to perswade us to their Lure that Romulus used with his silly Romans who to perswade them to accept his Laws made them believe that he had them from the Goddess Ageria Well but our Author doth not believe they used a book we thank him for that the Parchments that St. Paul left at Troas then shall not rise up in judgment against us though his Cloak may nor doth he think they tyed themselves to words but this they must if they used forms of words all that he will assert that they used a certain method and the matter and substance of their ordinary services was for the most part the same We thank him for nothing then Nonconformists use forms of prayer as well as Conformists we shall never need examine his reasons when we grant the thing for if they be strong it is but to confirm what none doubteth if weak it would be but to expose an Author whose book seems to be calculated for his reputation Thus far I have examined all the pretended proof from Antiquity rather ex abundanti and to satisfie some peoples curiosity than for any other reason And in the close let me give my Reader a caution against this kind of arguing which I doubt not but will appear very reasonable 1. The Reader must know that Printing hath not been known in the world yet 200 years before that time all was in Manuscripts 2. The most of the Manuscripts were in Papists hands and from them it is that the Copies came which were printed indeed the Bible was in the Jews hands as to the Old Testament we were infinitely acurate in preserving the purity of it keeping account both of the numbers of lines in pages and how often the same letter was used in each line the New Testament was in the hands of the Greek Churches as well as the Papists so that they could not well deprave that 3. That as the Church was debauching in some rituals before 300 years after Christ was expired so ever since 600 it hath been debauched much in Doctrine more in matters of Worship Rites Ceremonies and Government 4. That from the year 600 to 1516 the generality of all ancient Manuscripts being in their hands and that Church all along growing worse and worse more sottishly idolatrous superstitious