two distinct powers upon earth the one of the Keyes committed to the Church to worke upon the conscience by binding or loosing the soule that is retaining or remitting of sinnes the other of the sword committed to the Prince to worke upon the outward man laying hold on the body and goods And neither of these is to intrude upon the execution of the others office When St Peter who had the Keyes committed unto him ventured to draw the sword he was commaunded to put it up Matth. 26.52 as a weapon that belonged not to him So when Vzziah would execute the Priests office he receaved the like check It pertaineth not unto thee Vzziah to burne incense unto the Lord â— Chron. 26.28 but to the Priests thesonnes of Aaron that are consecrated The magistrate therefore is not to take upon him to weild the Keyes which are here committed to the Church If thou complaine to him of an Injury done by thy brother he will punish him And that is not it that Christ aymes at he will not have his disciples so careful of the repairing of their wrong as of the amendement of their brother In a word he gives not precepts Oeconomicall or politicall but prescribes a Law unto the Conscience which is that if thy brother amend not after private admonition to Convent him before the Church IIII. Sect. 11. Neither by the Church are we to understand S. Peter and his supposed successor of whom the Iesuits say Papa est Virtualiter tota Ecclesia for our Saviour spake unto Peter and Peter answers him vers 21. How oft shall my brother sinne against me Now if Peter be offended he is to goe to the Church that cannot be himselfe Besides Peter may be the man who gives the offence if he did not I am sure the Pope doth And shall wee complayne of himselfe to himselfe Wee are like to have an ill hearing Finallie Sect. 12. nor by the Church are we to understand a Generall Councell That can not be called so oft as one offendeth is to be corrected And therefore it is foolishly done of the Papists to alledge this text for the infallibility of the Church Lib 3. de ver Dei cap. 5. observandum hic quidem Dominum loqui de injurijs quas unus ab aliquo patitur Lib. 4. de Rom. pont Conveniunt omnes Catholicâ— posse Pentificem etiam ut Pontificem cum suo coetu consiliariorum vel cum generali Concilio errare in Controverâ—ijs facti for they themselues doe not ascribe infallibility to any particular Church but onely to a Generall Councel confirmed by the Pope of which this Text can not be understood Besides that which is here referred to the Church is a matter of fact not of faith So Bellarmine doth acknowledge that Christ speakes of personall injuries And that in deciding of such Controversies in matters of fact which depend upon information and testimonies of witnesses The Pope may erre even with a Generall Councell at his elbow he saith is confest by all Romanists And then how this Text used by all their writers to prove the infallibility of their Church can serve their purpose no reasonable man can see By the Church then wee must understand the Governours of the particular Churches wherein we live except the person to be corrected Sect. 13. be in that place that he cannot be Iudged but by a higher Court in which case the Church we are to goe unto is a provinciall or Nationall synod So St Chrysostome and with him the generall consent of all doctors expounds it of the prelates and chiefe Pastors of the Church who have Iurisdiction to bind and loose such offenders in the words following So a learned Schooleman Parisiensis de sae ord c. 10. Potestas Iudiciaria est ipsius Ecclesiae Cujus minister ad hancrem Episcopus est constitutus As they who governe in the Commonwealth are called the Commonwealth so they who rule in the Church be called the Church because they hold the chiefe place in it As the body is said to see when it is onelie the eye that seeth So the Church is said to heare that which they onely heard who are as it were the eyes of the Church All the companie of beleevers are called Saints And yet the Apostle giveth this title unto some who were in authority aboue the rest for composing of controversies I. Cor. VI. So albeit the whole multitude of beleevers be called the Church Yet in a speciall manner this title is given to them who are chiefe in the Church for authority power St Iohn wrote his Epistles to the Angels of the Churches that is the Bishops And yet he concludeth Let him that hath an care heare what the Spirit sayth vnto the Churches So that the rulers are called the Church not onely by our Saviour but also by St Iohn because they did represent the Church whereof they had charge And in the Old Testament the Hebrew word Eda which signifieth the Church is sometimes used to expresse not the promiscuous multitude but the assembly of Iudges the Councell of the Rulers Psal LXXXII 1. God standeth in the congregation of gods So that this acception of the Church is not without precedent as some have alleadged And now having found the Church Sect. 14. let us see wherein the Church is to be heard The necessitie layd upon us to heare the Church presupposeth a power in the Church to direct yea and to commaund though not in her owne name yet in the Name of GOD who committed this power unto her That the Church hath a power I thinke no man will deny All the Controversie is touching the extent of this power which I will reduce unto certaine heads neither with the Papist deifying her power nor with the lawlesse Libertine vilifying her authoritie Bee pleased therefore to understand the Churches power for Instruction for Ordination for Determination for Direction and for Correction First it belonges to the Church to keepe and propound the sacred Oracles and to apply them by preaching and administration of the Sacraments II. To ordayne Ministers appoint them their Stations and direct them the manner how they are to discharge their dutie III. To decide Controversies in Religion IIII. To enact Lawes not only to containe men in obedience to the Law of God but also for Circumstances and Ceremonies in the outward administration of Gods worship V. To censure offenders Of the first three but briefly First Sect. 15. the Church is to keepe the holy Scripture as a depositum that which hath beene committed unto her wherein she is as a faithfull Register or Notarie that keepes the Originall Records from corruption Deut XXXI 24. When Moses had finished the Book of the Law he gave it to the Levites to be kept in the side of the Arke from them must the King receive his Coppie Deut. XV II. 18. The Apostle sayth Vnto them were
in the service of God without any speciall warrant but when I considered that this is the very Diana for which you strive and the wall of separation between you the Church I thought fit to inlarge my selfe upon this point to manifest unto all those who love the trueth that sitting hath no more ground in Christ's Institution then kneeling And now to proceed Sect. 36. I will shew you other Ceremonies used by you in Gods worship without any speciall warrant The next to sitting at the Communion is sprinkling in Baptisme for which there is no warrant but the custome of the present Church for the auncient Ceremonie in Baptisme was not aspersion but immersion which Ceremonie was sanctified by the Baptisme of our Saviour Matth. III. 16. Mark I. 10. for the Evangelists say When he was baptized he came out of the water and therefore he went in into the water The same was used by the Apostles and thereunto the Apostle alludeth shewing that the mortification of sinne the increase of that mortification and the vivification of the new man are signified by the Ceremonie of Baptisme for the dipping in Baptisme had three parts their going down into the water their continuance in the water and their comming up out of the water The going downe into the water figureth the mortification of sinne by the power of Christs death for all wee sayeth the Apostle which have beene baptized into Iesus Christ have been baptized into his death The continuance in the water noteth the increase of that mortification by the power of Christs death and buryall We are buryed with him by Baptisme into his death The comming up out of the water ratifieth our rising againe unto newnesse of life Like as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father so wee also should walke in newnesse of life Rom. VI. 3.4 This Ceremonie was continued in the Church for many hundred yeares and to that purpose in ancient times they had places in each Church for dipping called Baptisteria and Lotiones neither was sprinkling generally practised in the Church till 1300. yeares after Christ when to use your owne words Antichrist was in his full height Now can you shew me any reason why you may leave a Ceremonie which was certainly used by Christ by his Apostles and the whole auncient Church and was of singular use for fignification and in stead of it take another not so significant brought into the Church by Antichrist And that yet it shall not bee lawfull for the whole Church to lay downe another Ceremonie to wit sitting at the Communion whereof there is no certainty nor likely hood that ever it was used by Christ or his Apostles or any Church in the world and in place of it to use another which is a great deale more decent and comely Thirdly you use to injoyne pennance to receive penitents in a white sheet and I am sure that if a Surplice in Gods Service be a Ceremonie so is a white sheet in publick pennance and absolution and there is no more warrant for the one then for the other Fourthly you use a Ceremonie in Marriage by joyning of hands and pronouncing of words which are not commaunded Fiftly I could tell you that the time was in the dayes of the Presbyterie when that Church whose orders you so much approve did use a Ceremonie in Ordination and a very strange one It was not imposition of hands but shaking them by the hand to bid them welcome into their Societie because forsooth they were loath in any thing to have a conformitie with the auncient Apostolick Church Sixtly you professe to honour the Church of Geneva as a fit patterne unto all other Churches and yet they use the Ceremonie of godfathers in Baptisme and wafer Cakes in the Communion against which one Ceremonie I could say more then can be said against all the Ceremonies of our Church Finally the lifting up of the eyes to Heaven the spreading out of the hands the knocking of the breast sighing and groaning in Gods service are Ceremonies used by none so much as by your selves And yet I confesse that if they proceed from a sincere heart they are lawfull expressions of devotion By this time you doe all see that whereas you deny Ceremonies in Gods worship which are not commaunded you are evidently convinced by your owne practise I thinke that I have said enough Sect. 37. to overthrow that ground which you have laid that no Ceremonies ought to bee used in Gods service without a speciall warrant from the word Now for the conclusion of this poynt I will appeale unto the confessions of the reformed Churches and the suffrages of divines You professe to approve the Articles of the Church of England as contayning nothing but trueth though not so manie particulars as you account to be matters of faith and those Articles doe ascribe such a power to the Church to ordaine Ceremonies as you may see in the XX. Article The Church hath power to decree rites or Ceremonies and againe in the XXXIIII Article Every particular or Nationall Church hath authority to ordaine change and abolish Ceremonies The same you may reade in the Articles of Religion of the Church of Ireland which were printed in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth As for the Iudgement of other Reformed Churches I shall referre you to the Harmony of Confessions and the writings of their learned Divines where you may learne I. That it is not only lawfull but expedient and requisite to use Ceremonies in Gods worship II. That those Ceremonies should be significant III. That it is not necessary that the same Ceremonies bee observed in all Churches at all times IV. That we are not bound to observe all those Ceremonies which were used by the Apostles and the Primitive Church V. That we may retain some Ceremonies used by the Iewes namely Ceremonies of order not of prefiguration VI. That we may use some Ceremonies used by the Pagans VII That wee may retaine some Ceremonies of the Papists VIII That the governors of the Church have power to make choice of Ceremonies to change and abrogate some and to ordayne others as they shall see occasion Finally That wee are bound to observe all Ceremonies which are injoyned by lawfull authoritie provided that they bee qualified with these conditions following Instit lib. IV. c. 10. §. 14. Mr Calvin requireth three conditions That they have In numero paucitatem in observatione facilitatem in significatione dignitatem I. For number they should be few for when the Church is pestered with the multitude of them it makes the estate of Christians to be more intollerable then the condition of the Iewes as it is in the Church of Rome whose missalls are larger then the booke of Leviticus whereof Gerson Polydore Virgill and others did complaine in their time II. They should bee easie for observation III. For signification they should be grave decent and
an excellent Paynter the other an excellent Carver So your Lordship deserves a worthyer pen to expresse the glory of your actions and I hope such a one shall be found to perpetuat your memory unto the worlds end In the mean time I shall pray God that this kingdome may be long blessed with your happy governement and that your God may remember all the kindnesse that you have shewed unto his House My Lord this is the constant prayer of Your Lordships most humble servant and daylie Orator HEN. DVNENSIS ⧠In Tractatum pro Authoritate Ecclesiae per Reverendum in Christo Patrem HENRICUM providentiâ Divinâ Episcopum DUNENSEM A Gnosco incessumque gravem grunnitum et ocellum Totum albugineum tensas ad sidera palmas Foemineam linguam tardam frontisque Catones Quò a Vide collatio nem Putitani Donatistae pag 38. Donate ruis Quaete Medea sepulchro Evocat pestem nostris infuderit oris Bella tibi Praesul tibi bella parantur O vili Instat oppugnat caulas sub vulpe lupellus Hic Zelus furor est haec sancta superbia Matris Contemptus quin arma capis ruit ocyus ordo Haec pari tas fratrum tollet vestigia Patrum At frustrà moneo per te Sanctissime Praesâ—â— Evigilas structas in coelum destruis arces Audacemque hostem sociosque potentibus armis Vltrà Sauromatas aliosque repellis in orbes En b Argos puritanica navem Arcadicâ properantem merce gravatam Mole suâ miratur onus Neptunus undis Insolitum prohibet pecus atque remisit unà Ruditus veteres vetus in mendacia virus Et quasi lusa istis divina potentia nugis Majus in opprobrium velis invexit eisdem Quos simulant ipsos per anomala dogmata c Haec navis genuicos etiam asinos ex secundo partu è Gailiâ nobis effudit Asellos Dignus eras praesul quercu meliore sed idem Hîc tibi cum Paulo communis ab hoste d I. Cor. XV. 32. triumphus RO. MAXWELL Archidiac Dunens A TREATISE OF THE AVTHORITY OF THE CHVRCH MATTH XVIII 17. But if he neglect to heare the Church Let him bee unto thee as an heathen man and a Publicane THESE are the words of our blessed Lord and Saviour IESVS CHRIST Sect. I. containing a Direction unto the Church for censuring her disobedient children and an injunction to all you who professe CHRIST to take notice of her censures accounting no otherwayes of all those who despise her admonitions then as of heathen men and Publicanes If hee neglect to heare the Church Let him bee unto thee as an heathen man and a Publicane There is one word in the Text Sect. 2. as it is expressed in the Olde Translation also which being a Relative sends us backe to the words going before to finde out the occasion of this speach I finde that our Saviour in this Chapter doth exhort his Disciples and in them all Christians to a conscionable care of the salvation of their brethren and that first by giving no offence whereby they may be scandalized Take heed that yee despise not one of these little ones ver 10. and before Woe unto that man by whom offence commeth and secondly by patient bearing of such offences as come from them and labouring to restore them that are fallen and to bring them to repentance ver 15. If thy brother shall trespasse against thee c. Where before I come to my Text it will bee expedient that I inquire of foure things 1. To whom our Saviour speaketh to his Disciples 2. Of whom of a brother If thy brother trespasse 3. Of what offences If hee trespasse against thee 4. What is the rule prescribed in this case Goe and tell him his fault betweene him and thee If he shall heare thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he will not heare thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to heare them tell it unto the Church I. Sect. 3. Christ speakes unto his Disciples as may appeare by the whole discourse from the beginning of the Chapter but he speakes not unto them as they are Apostles and chiefe Pastors in his Church but simplie as they are Disciples that is Christians for all the followers of Christ were called Disciples Ioh. VI. 66. The not distinguishing of these two what was given in charge to the Apostles as they were Apostles and chiefe Pastors and what as they were Christians hath occasioned many misprisions I will instance only in two particulars Our Saviour in the celebration of the Sacrament of the Supper sayth to his Disciples Drinke yee all of this The Papists understand this to bee spoken to them as they were Apostles and Ministers of the Church and so deny that the people have any right to the Cup. whereas it is evident that in that first Supper they did beare the person of Communicants and so that benefit belongs to all Christians Againe Christ sayth unto them Matth. 20.25 Mar. 10.42 Luk. 22.24 The Kings of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them but it shall not be so amongst you Our new masters who seeke to pull downe the Orders of our Church take this as spoken onely unto Ministers and from thence condemne all Superioritie and Iurisdiction of Bishops whereas it is evident that this precept doth alike concerne all Christians For 1. the occasion of that prohibition was the ambition of the sonnes of Zebedee who dreaming of a temporall kingdome that Christ should have in this world desired to sit one on his right hand the other on his left that is to be the greatest in that kingdome They did not desire Iurisdiction over Ministers onely and place above Apostles but also above all Christians And they conceived hope to obtayne it not out of any priviledge they had by their Apostleship but out of a relation they had to Christ according to the flesh being his kinsmen Therefore this prohibition is given not to the Apostles onely but to all Christians II. Christ in the XXII Chap. of S. Luke immediatly before these wordes and presently after using this word you and speaking to his Disciples and none but them speakes unto them as representing not onely Ministers but all Christians As vers 19. This is my Body which is given for you vers 20. This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you vers 29. I appoint unto you a Kingdome In these places I hope by you yee will understand all true Christians else none but Ministers have interest in Christ's Blood and right unto his Kingdome And then why not also in the words interjected vers 25. It shall not be so among you by you should we understand all Christians III. Compare that place with Matth. XXIII 8. which place is alledged to the same purpose
as the former against titles of honour in the Church But bee not yee called Rabbi Our Saviour speakes to all Christians as is evident vers 1. Then spake Iesus to the multitude and to his disciples So doth hee also in the other place which is alleaged against ruling IV. It cannot be denyed but that the Apostles did during their life exercise Iurisdiction over all other Ecclesiasticall persons So did their successors who are stiled Rulers Therefore ruling is not forbidden the Apostles yea our Saviour in the same place intimates that among them some should bee greater than others saying Let the greatest among you bee as the least and the chiefest as hee that serveth Finally the opposition between Gentiles and you doth evidently prove that that precept is given to all Christians The Kings of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them but it shall not be so amongst you If his intent had been to forbid ruling in Ministers onely he would not have opposed them to the Gentiles but to temporall men in Christian Common-wealthes or rather to the Priests under the Law saying Amongst the Priests of Israel some rule over other but it shall not bee so among you But to say it is thus with the Gentiles it shall not be so with you Ministers is no good opposition And it is thus with the Gentiles it shall not bee so with you Christians is a full and a fit antithesis often used in Scripture Matth. VI. 7. But when yee pray use not vaine repetitions as the Gentiles doe Matth. VI. 31. Take no thought for after all those things seeke the Gentiles I. Thess IV. 5. Not in the lust of concupiscence as doe the Gentiles Still Gentiles opposed to Christians no-where to Ministers And therfore in that place nothing is forbidden to Ministers but what is unlawfull to all Christians Not superioritie authoritie dominion Lordship but the ambitious affectation of the same and the tyrannicall usage thereof So that my masters If you will make use of that Text against our authoritie you must turne plaine Anabaptists and condemne not only Ecclesiasticall authoritie but Civill also for Christ speakes there to his Disciples not as Apostles but as Christians and so hee doth in my Text If thy brother trespasse against thee for the dutie here required is not proper to Ministers but such as concernes all Christians to beare offences patiently to desire the salvation of our brother and to that end to admonish him privately or if need be to deferre the matter to the Church And therefore it is to bee observed how in the next words speaking of a power proper to the Apostles and their successors he changeth the number to shew the change of the person though hee bee still speaking to his Disciples For while he speaketh of those duties which concerne all Christians he useth the singular number if hee trespasse against thee and if he will not heare thee even thee whosoever thou bee that art my disciple But when hee comes to speake of the power of the Keyes which was given onely to the Apostles and their successors he useth the plurall number Whatsoever you shall bind even you who are the Pastors and Rulers of my Church in earth In the next place sect 4 wee are to see of whom hee speakes of a brother If thy brother trespasse one that professeth Christ for this course which our Saviour prescribeth to admonish our brother if need bee to convent him before the Church is not to bee taken with those who are altogether without the pale of the Church as the Apostle sheweth 1. Cor. V. 9. I wrote unto you not to companie with fornicators yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world for then must yee needs goe out of the world If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator with such an one cate not For what have I to doe to judge them also that are without In the third place sect 5 wee are to enquire of what sinnes he speakes Certainely he meanes principally and properly private injuries whereby thy brother hath wounded thee either in thy body or estate or reputation If hee sinne against thee And so Peter understood it vers 22. where he saith Master how often shall my brother sinne against me and I forgive him Yet by Analogie wee are to understand it of all sinnes and the same course which is here prescribed is to bee observed with a brother that sinnes against God onely that is wee are to admonish him and if need bee Convent him before the Church For Christ heere exhorts us to charity that which he will have us principally to seeke is not satisfaction for the wrong done unto us but as it is called in the Text the gayning of our brother that is his Salvation If our Saviour had respected onely the wrong done to us he would never commaund us to complaine for hee compelles no man to sue for satisfaction when he is wronged albeit he permits us to use lawful meanes to right our selves Yet hee would bee well pleased if wee would sit downe by the wrong I am sure the Apostle who was inspired by the spirit of Christ adviseth this as the best of all Why doe ye not rather take wrong c. I. Cor. VI. 7. But here hee commaunds us to convent our brother offending before the Church if he will not heare us and therefore that which hee would have us ayme at principally is his salvation which is in danger if he be not recovered by repentance not only when he hath wronged us but also when he hath offended God in any sort Againe wee ought to bee so zealous of God's glory that wee should account sinnes against God to bee against our selves God is so sensible of the injuries done unto us as if done to himselfe In all their troubles he was troubled sayth the Prophet Isay LXIII 9. And God himselfe Zach. II. 8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye When Saul did persecute the members upon earth the Head cryed from Heaven Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me In like manner should wee bee sensible of the injuries done to God accounting them as done to our selves as was David who sayth The rebukes of them who rebuke the Lord have fallen upon mee In a word as an offence done to thy neighbour is a sin against God in regard of the breach of his Commaundement So an offence against God is a sin against thy neighbour in regard he is scandalized by thy bad example Finally in other places the like course is prescribed in other offences besides private injuries Levit. XIX 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother but plainely rebuke him Tit. III. ver 10. A man that is an hereticke after the first and second admonition reject So that not onely private wrongs are to bee brought before the Church but other offences also for it is not likely that Christ would have the Church to censure offences against
is a speciall meanes to direct us in applying this rule Every man doth challenge some trust in the Art he professeth And is there any that hath studyed the Scripture so well as the Bishops Pastors Doctors of the Church in all ages Besides they have a calling to expound the Scripture are therfore called Guides Rulers Lights Spirituall Fathers Teachers Ambassadors of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God Finally they have not onely a calling but a promise of the assistance of the spirit Matth. XXVIII 20. Loe I am with you unto the end of the world By vertue of which promise it is certaine that all the Pastors of the Catholick Church in all ages did never erre dangerously and therefore their Iudgment to be preferred before the opinion of any private man for God hath commaunded us to heare and obey them II. Sect. 17. The Church is to judge of the abilities of men and who are fit for the Ministery to conferre Orders appoint them their Stations and direct them in the exercise of their Function This power was committed unto Timothie and Titus and must continue in the Church untill the end of the world For as now we are not to expect new revelations so neither extraordinary missions And therefore hee that will take upon him the Office of a Minister not being called by the Church Ioh. X. is an Intruder a Thief that commeth not in by the doore but climbeth up another way What will you say then to some Dominees heere amongst you who having no Ordination to our calling have taken upon them to preach and preach I know not what even the foolish visions of their owne heart As they runne when none hath sent them 11 Sam. XVIII 23.29 and runne very swiftly because like Ahimaaz they runne by the way of the plaine So like Ahimaaz when they are come they have no tydings to tell but dolefull newes They think by their puff of preaching to blowe downe the goodly Orders of our Church as the walls of Iericho were beaten downe with sheepes hornes Good God! is not this the sinne of Vzziah who intruded himselfe into the Office of the Priest-hood And was there ever the like heard amongst Christians except the Anabaptists whom some amongst you have matcht in all manner of disorder and confusion III. sect 18 It belongs unto the Church to decide controversies in religion The Apostle sayth Oportet haereses esse There must bee heresies So there must be a meanes to discover reprove condemne those herisies and pronounce out of the word of God for truth against heresie Deut. XVII 8.9.10 Under the Law the Priests assembled together had authority to give sentence in matters of Controversie The same authority did our Saviour give unto the governors of his Church when he gave them the power of the Keyes and commaunded others to heare them for that their sentence is the sentence of God Titus is commanded to reject an hereticke and so hee had power to Iudge him Doe we therfore make the Church an absolute Infallible Iudge of fayth No Onely God is the supreme Iudge of absolute Authority because he is the Law-giver And in all Common-wealths the supreme power of Iudgement belongs to the Law-giver Inferiour magistrates are but Interpreters of the Law Therefore in Scripture these two are joyned together Esay XXXIII 22. The Lord is our Iudge the Lord is our Law-giver And Iames IV. 10. There is one Law-giver able to save and destroy His throne is established in heaven but in earth we may heare his voice in the holy Scripture revealing his will to the sonnes of men whereby he speaketh to us for God now speaketh to us and teacheth his Church not by any extraordinary voyce from heauen not by Anabaptisticall Enthusiasmes but by the mouth of his holy Prophets and Apostles whose sentence is contayned in the holy Scripture Lib. V. that wee may say with Optatus Milevitanus De coelo quaerendus Iudex Sed ut quid pulsamus ad coelum cùm habeamus hic in euangelio testamentum The Iudge is in heaven But we need not goe so farre to know his sentence when we have his will expressed in the Gospell So Moses Deut. XXX v. 11.12.13.14 This commaundement which I commaund thee this day is not hidden from thee neyther is it farre off It is not in heaven neyther is it beyond the sea But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest doe it This word being lively and accompanied with the power of the Spirit doth illuminate the minds of men with the knowledge of the truth reprove convince and condemne error and therefore is said to accuse judge condemne Ioh. v. 45. VII 5. XII 4.8 by our Saviour himselfe And so though properlie the Scripture be not the Iudge but rule of faith yet we call it the Iudge by a Metonymie because God who is the Iudge speaketh in it and by it Poli◠lib. III. c. 16. So the Philosopher sayth The Law is the Vniversall Iudge that magistrates are but Ministers and Interpreters of the Law to apply it to particular causes and persons That which the Magistrates doe in Civill matters the chiefe Pastors of the Church are to doe in matter of Religion If a controversie arise they are to heare the reasons on both sides compare them try by the Touchstone of the word weigh them in the ballance of the Sanctuary And so that which the word hath defined in generall they are according to the rule of this word to apply unto the particular cause and controversie pronouncing for truth against error Yet so as they swarve not from the Rule whereunto God hath tyed them Esay VIII 20. To the Law to the Testimony if they speake not according to this word there is no light in them So that the Church doth Iudge and determine controversies not as an absolute infallible Iudge but as a publicke Minister and Interpreter by a subordinate power which yet is more to be esteemed then the Iudgement of any yea of a thousand private men Shee is not the Iudge but interpreter of Scripture Shee doth not Iudge of the verity of Gods Law but of the truth of private mens Iudgements And that especially if the matter in controversie bee of weight when the Bishops are assembled in Councell When there was a Controversie touching Circumcision the Apostles and Elders assembled at Ierusalem for composing the matter Act. XV. The godly Bishops in the primitive Church following their example did at all occasions assemble in Councells for determining Controversies condemning of hereticks and clearing the Truth by their joynt suffrages even in time of persecution under Pagan Emperours they did celebrate diverse Provinciall Synods as at Antioch at Casarea at Carthage And in that famous generall Councell of Nice wherein Arrius was condemned the Fathers saw such a necessitie of this Synodicall Iudgment
for preserving the peace of the Church that they ordayned that in every Province once every yeare the Bishops should assemble in Councell The same afterwards was injoyned by the Emperour Iustinian And so it was observed in the Church and by the sentence of Councells generall or particular all heresies arising were condemned Those Assemblies being lawfully called and proceeding orderly are great and awfull representations of the Church Catholick the highest externall Tribunall which the Church hath on Earth their authoritie is immediatly derived and delegated from Christ their decrees binde all persons within their Iurisdiction to externall obedience And it is not lawfull for any private man to oppose his judgement to the publicke He may offer his contrary opinion to be considered of so he doe it with evidence of Scripture and reason and very modestlie But if he doe factiously advance his own conceit and despise the Church so farre as to cast off her communion as many of you have done hee may bee justly branded and condemned for a Schismaticke In the IV. sect 19 place wee are to consider the Churches power for making of Lawes to direct us in the order that is to be observed in the outward administration of God's worship This is the thing which I must principally endeavour to prove for if the Church may make Lawes of things Indifferent and appoint matters of Order Decencie and Politie then are you bound even for Conscience sake to submit your selves unto the Orders of our Church which you now so violently oppose I will therefore joyne issue with you in this point and prove as I hope by arguments unanswerable that the Church hath such a power I. sect 20 All things lawfully incident to the outward worship of God are not expressed in the Scripture as sayth Tertullian Harum aliarum ejusmâ—di disciplinarum si legem expostules Scriptu rarum nullam invenies De Corona â—â—il If you looke for a Law in Scripture for these and such other like matters of discipline you will finde none And therefore certainly they are left to be ordered at the discretion of the Church Doe wee therefore derogate from the perfection and sufficiencie of Scripture God forbid You shall understand there is great difference betweene matters of Faith and matters of Order The Apostle hath distinguished them Col. II. 5. Beholding your Order and the stedfastnesse of your Faith T.C. first Reply p. 26. Your great master Cartwright compares matters of Faith unto garments which cover the Churches nakednesse matters of Order unto chaynes bracelets rings and other Iewells to adorne her and set her out which no man will say are of that necessitie as the former Now matters of Faith and whatsoever is essentiall in the worship of God are plentifully set downe in Scripture but besides there are other matters of Order concerning the circumstances of Time Place and Person the outward forme of Gods worship all which are not expressed in the Scripture for albeit these things be not altogether omitted in Scripture yet are they not taught so fully as the former Matters of Faith are so perfectly taught in holy Writ that nothing ever can neede to be added nothing ever cease to bee necessary But as for matters of Order and Politie both much of that which the Scripture teacheth is not alwayes needfull and much the Church of God shall alwayes neede which the Scripture teacheth not And this doth nothing derogate from the perfection of Scripture For we count those things perfect which want nothing requisite to the end for which they were ordayned Now the end for which God delivered the Scripture was to bee the Canon of our Faith and guide unto salvation within the compasse whereof those matters of Order Ceremonie and Circumstance doe not come for they respect not Credenda but Agenda or rather modum agendi Not points of doctrine but matters of practice or rather the manner of performing of outward duties And as it is no disgrace for Nature to have left it to the wit of Man to devise his owne attire no more is it any disgrace for Scripture to have left a number of such things free to be ordered at the discretion of the Church But indeed it is a great commendation to the Scripture to have omitted those things which neither needed nor could bee particularly expressed They needed not because they are so obvious And they could not both because they are so numerous and because so chaungeable I. They neded not sect 21 because they are so obvious for what need is there of any high consultation about such things as are easie and manifest to all men by common sense As a great councellour of state whose wisedome in weighty affaires is admired would take it in scorne to have his Councel solemnely asked about a toy which a poore plow-man could resolve So the meannesse of these things is such that to search the Scripture for ordering of them were to derogate from the reverend authority and dignity of the Scripture The Apostle speaking of a matter of this kind touching being bare or covered in Church assemblies using long haire or being shorne hee brings an Argument from Nature Doth not even Nature it selfe teach you II. Cor. XI 14. As nature that is Custome which is an other nature had taught the Corinthians that it is not comely for a man to have long haire So nature it selfe doth teach us that when a man commeth to present himselfe before the Lord by prayer he should doe it with al humility of mind and humiliation of body as the Psalmist sayth Ps XCV 6. Worship and fall downe kneele before the Lord our maker So likewise when wee make confession of our sayth or lift up our voyces to praise God that we should use a gesture sutable to expresse our resolution And diverse things of this kind hath the Church appointed ex ductamine rationis for albeit the substance of the service of God being above the pitch of naturall reason may not be invented by men as it is amongst the heathens but must be receaved from God himselfe yet in matters of lesser moment especially concerning outward behaviour in performance of Church-actions De Resur carnis Luminis naturalis ducatum repellere non modó stultum est sed impium Lib. IV. de Trin c. VI. wee may bee directed by naturall reason as saith Tertullian Wee may even in matters of God bee made wiser by reasons drawne from the publick perswasions which are grafted in mens minds And St Austin It is not onely foolish but impious to refuse the guydance of naturall light And if nature direct us in any thing then certainelie in this what gestures are fittest for Gods worship for gestures are naturall in so much that one of your owne Authors speaking of gestures Treatise of Divine worship p. 30. sayes that Nature stands sn stead of a direction and that they are not to be esteemed
humane inventions but Gods Ordìnance because they bee naturall circumstances of Worship II. They could not well be expressed in the Scripture and that first because they are so numerous Ioh. XXI 25. All things that Iesus did are not recorded because our Bible should not grow too big for us and was it fitt then the Scripture should record all things that are or may be lawfully incident to the particular service of God So it should have swolne in quantity above the Popes Decretalls whereas the Canon of our fayth should be briefe that all may peruse it III. Because they are so chaungeable and diverse according to the diverse conditions of the Church they could not be commaunded by an unchangeable Law but were to be taken up by occasion Therefore the Apostle having instructed the Corinthians in matters of fayth and godlinesse puts off these other matters till his owne comming that he might see what was most expedient 1. Cor. 1◠34 Other things will I set in order when I come In which words he promiseth to appoint things belonging to outward Order and Politie Aug 1. epist ad Ianuar. chrysost in Loc. Muscul in Loc. Calvin in Loc Baeda Aretius Beza Whitaker de perfect Script Quaest VI. c. 6. 10. Moulin Buckler of faith p. 46.47 or as St Austin calls it ordinem agendi as I proved unto you at large at our last meeting both from the notation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from consent of all writers Now we know that he never came unto the Corinthians after that who then thinke you did order those other things but the governors of the Church And yet the Church of Corinth being a particular Church and so to be governed by one Law one would thinke that the Apostle might have prescribed unto them a compleat forme for outward Order and Politie But he foresaw in his wisedome that the Church would not alwayes be in the same condition and that those Orders that were agreeable for her Infancie would not suite so well with her afterward when she was growne unto ripe yeeres Therefore hee puts off these other things till his comming which being prevented the Governours of the Church had power to determine of these things Now sect 22 if the same Orders will not serve one Church at all times * Tert. de cor mil. Basil de S. sanct cap. 27. Con. Toll IV. c. 5. how was it possible for the Scripture to expresse all matters of Order belonging to the Catholicke Church Wee know that which is fit for the Church in one Nation is not so fit for another And that which is fit at one time is not so fit at another The Church is sometimes in prosperitie sometimes in adversitie sometimes hath to doe with Pagans sometimes with Heretickes and those diverse by reason whereof the Church hath beene occasioned to chaunge her Rites as namely dipping in Baptisme which she hath chaunged from thrise to once and againe from once to thrise So hath shee chaunged many other Ceremonies laying some downe and taking others up And how could she otherwise doe for who can imagine that one and the same fashion can accord unto the Church in her Infancie and fuller growth persecuted and in Peace flying into the wildernesse and resting as the Dove in the Arke at one time dwelling in Hierusalem a Citty built at unitie within it selfe at another diffused over the whole world You may as well shape a coat for the Moone to fit her both in her waxing and in her waning in the full and in the want as to set downe one manner of Discipline for all Churches at all times The internall beauty of the Church is alwayes the same Ps XLV 13. but her outward garment is of diverse colours And requisite it is it should be so for if in these things there were no alteration Ceremonies would be taken to be matters of substance As Calvin hath well observed saying As concerning rites in particular let the sentence of Augustin take place which leaveth it free unto all Churches understand Nationall Respons ad medias not Parochiall Churches to receive their owne Customes yea sometimes it profiteth and is expedient that there bee difference lest men should thinke that Religion is tyed to outward Ceremonies Tertullian's rule therefore is infallible Lib. de Virgin veland◠Regula sidei immobilis irreformabilis caetera disciplinae conversationis admittunt novitatem correctionis Thus it is cleare that these things are not expressed in Scripture but are to be ordered by the Church My II. sect 23 Argument is taken from the consent of all learned Orthodoxe Divines auncient moderne who doe acknowledge that the Church hath authoritie to make Lawes for matters of Order and outward Politie and to appoint Rites and Ceremonies to bee observed in the worship of God that al men who are within the Cōmunion of that Church are bound to give obedience unto these Lawes Neither was there ever any learned Divine of the Reformed Churches who did deny Ceremoniall Traditions or indeed any Traditions but such as doe crosse either the verity or the perfection of the sacred Scripture Here it were easie for me to hold you till night onely in delivering the suffrages of Divines for confirmation of this point but I will content my selfe with a few The reformed Church of France in her Confession published in the yeare 1562. sayth Wee confesse Fatemur tum omnes tum etiam singulas Ecclesias hoc jus habere ut Leges Statuta sibi condant ad Politiam communem inter suos constituendam Ejusmodi porto statutis obedientiam deferendam esse Qui hoc detrectant cerebrosi pervicaces apud nos habentur Apud Calvin in opusc that all and every Church hath this power to make Lawes for establishing Common Politie amongst her own members And that obedience is to be given to these Lawes and those who refuse to obey are accounted with us obstinate and brain-sick And so they are indeed M. Calvin whose judgment you professe to honour and follow hath most judiciously determined this Question of the power of the Church in appointing of Ceremonies and outward Orders to bee observed in the worship of God whose judgement I will deliver in these propositions following I. a In externâ disciplinâ ceremonijs nonvoluit sigillatim praescribere quid sequi debeamus quod istud pendere à temporum conditione praevideret neque judicavitunam saeculis omnibus formam convenire Lib. IV. Instit c. X. §. 30. In externall Discipline and Ceremonies Christ would not particularly prescribe what we should follow because he fore-saw that would depend upon the conditions of the times and he thought that one forme would not bee agreeable unto all ages II. b Si enim velut in medio positae singulorum arbitrio relictae fucrint quoniam nunquam futurum est ut omnibus idem placeat brevi futura
est rerum omnium confusio Ibid. § 23. That yet these rites must not be left free for every man to use what fashion he pleaseth but must be established by Law otherwise for asmuch as the same orders will never please all men there will follow great confusion in the Church III. c Prout Ecclesiae utilitas requirit tam usitatas mutare abrogare quam novas instituere conveniet Ibid. §. 30. That it is lawfull for the Church when she findes it convenient to chaunge and abrogate old Ceremonies and to institute new in their roome IV. d Christiani populi officium est quae secundum hunc canonem fuerint instituta liberâ quidem conscientiâ nullâque superstitione piâ tamen facili ad obsequium propensione servare non contemptim habere non supinâ negli entiâ praeterire tantuÌ„ abest ut per fastum contumaciam violare apertè debeat Quód siquis obstrepat plus sapere hic velit quà m oportet videat ipse quâ morositatem suam ratione Domino approbet Nobis tamen illud Pauli satisfacere debet nos contendi morem non habere neque Ecclesias Dei §. 31. That it is the dutie of every Christian not to contemne or neglect such constitutions but to keep them without superstition with a free conscience and with a pious and facile propension to obedience And if any will oppose them and be more wise then is needfull let him looke to it which way he will approve his morositie unto God for that of S. Paul should satisfie us that we have no custome to contend namely about such matters nor the Churches of God V. e Neque tamen permisit Dominus vagam effraenamque licentiam sed cancellos ut ita loquar circumdidit And aâ—gaine Confugere hic oportet ad generales quas dedit regulas See §. 10. That God hath not given his Church unlimited power to establish what Ceremonies shee lists but hath bounded her within certaine rules So that here wee must have recourse unto the generall rules layde downe in the Scripture Now the generall rules bee especially these Let all things be done decently and in Order I. Cor. XIV 40. Doe all things to the glory of God I. Cor. X. 31. Let all things be done to edifying I. Cor. XIV 26. follow those things which concerne Peace Rom. XIV 19. Of which kinde many more might be gathered out of Scripture which are the very Rules and Canons of the Law of Nature written in all mens hearts which wee are bound to observe though the Apostle had not mentioned them for they were not delivered in the Law of Moses and yet the Iewes observed them unwritten as being edicts of Nature and thereby framed such Church-Orders as in their Law was not prescribed So the Christian Church in all ages having respect unto those generall rules hath established Lawes for the outward forme and administration of God's worship See harmony of the confess Sect. 17. Zarich in 4. ptaecept Martyr epist ad Hooperum and a Cloud of witnesses alleadged by Archdishop Whitg ft in the defence of his Answer and Oâ— Forbesse in his Irenicum as I will shew in the next place I will not trouble you any more with quotations but referre you to the confessions of all the reformed Churches and to the Bookes of all learned Protestants who have written of Traditions Rites and Ecclesiasticall constitutions Thirdly this hath beene the practice of all Churches to make Lawes of things indifferent and to appoint certaine Rites in the administration of God's worship The Apostles did it They appointed some which we reade of and yet holde not our selves bound to observe as abstinence from blood and strangled the kisse of Charitie sect 24 and Widowes to bee imployed in the service of the Church And many more which are not recorded as is confessed by the learned Whitaker Deperfect Script q. VI. c. 6. The Apostles sayth he did in every Church institute and ordayne some Rites and Customes serving for the seemlinesse of Church-regiment which they have not committed to writing The Primitive Church did both institute new Rites and abrogate some used by the Apostles as I thinke you will confesse Yea even the Church of the Iewes did institute many things without any speciall warrant Foure set Fasts whereof you may reade in the Prophecie of Zacharie Zach. VIII and by the authority of Iudas Maccabaeus the Feast of Dedication which our Saviour sanctified with his blessed presence The Musicke of the Temple that David brought in wee reade it approved wee never read it commaunded The appointment of the houres for day lie sacrifice the building of Synagogues throughout the Land See T. C. Reply p 35. the erecting of Pulpits and Chaires to teach in the order of Buriall The Rites of Marriage are not prescribed in the Law but taken up by themselves So I may say for the forme of administration of the Sacraments it was not prescribed who should be the Minister of Circumcision in what place it should be ministred with what kind of knife after what manner the Child should be presented what gesture should bee used either by the Minister or the people what words should be used As for the Passeover though the forme of it be more particularly prescribed yet it is certaine that the Church after changed some things and added many things to the first institution The gesture used in the first Passeover may appeare by many circumstances in the Text to have been standing and yet I thinke you will confesse that they changed it afterwards into sitting or lying And they added many things which were not commaunded as washing of their feete after they had eaten the Lambe and after that a second course of Sallets in which the soppe given to Iudas was dipped The dividing of the Bread into two parts the reserving of the one part for a while under a napkin and at the end of the Supper dividing it into so many parts as there were persons and delivering it unto them The forme of blessing which was used all which are set downe particularly by Beza Beza in Matth. XXVI 20. who professeth that he collected the same out of Paulus Burgensis Tremellius and Sâ—aliger And for all these they had no direction in the Word but they were appointed by the Churches discretion Now if the Church of the Iewes had such power much more the Christian Church for Agar was in bondage Gal. IV. 25.26 with her children but Hierusalem which is above is free For in God's worship they were bound unto many circumstances of Time Place and Person which no man will say wee are under the Gospell And indeed they being a Nationall Church onely were to be governed by one Law and all things incident to the worship of God amongst them might bee expressed in that Law But the Christian Church being spread farre and wide over the face of the
Earth doth require Lawes for governement so diverse as could not be expressed in the Gospell So that Churches both under the Law and the Gospell have exercised this power And I hope you are so charitable that you will not condemne all Churches that ever have beene IV. But say sect 25 you should condemne all Churches and account nothing pure but what is used in your Conventicles I dare joyne issue even upon that and appeale unto your owne practise Doe you not practise and appoint many things in your owne Congregations which are in themselves free as not being expressely commaunded in the Word What warrant have you for Pulpits Pewes Bells What for the outward forme administration of the Sacraments What for the forme of Excommunication and receiving of Penitents Finally what particular direction have yee for the order of God's service as when you are assembled whether the Minister should begin with praying or preaching with reading or singing of Psalmes whether the Celebration of Baptisme and Marriage should be before or after Sermon All these things are ordered by your owne discretion and that diversly in diverse Congregations according to the humor of the Minister And will you not allow so much power to the Church as every one of your selves doth usurpe as a Pope in his owne Parish V. sect 26 Let us consider the priviledges of all other societies of men whether Citties Families or other Corporate Bodies and wee shall finde that they have power to make Lawes to binde all persons within their Communion that those Lawes are to be observed though they be of matters injoyned to be performed in God's service As if a Master of a Family should direct his children and servants how to demeane themselves in the Church commaunding them strictly to kneele at prayer especially at their comming in to crave God's blessing upon themselves and to stand in time of Sermon that they may heare more attentively and to turne to their Bible as oft as any place is alleadged by the Preacher for the confirmation of his doctrine they were bound to obey him and he would call them to account if they did not observe his directions How much more hath the Church power to make such Lawes binding all that are within her Communion to obedience Surely as the Lord convinceth the disobedience of his people Ier. XXXV by the obedience of the Rechabites to the commaundement of Ionadab their father so may I justly accuse your disobedience to the lawfull Orders of the Church by the obedience of your children and servants unto you For shall the housholder commaund in his house and be obeyed and not the Rulers in the Church Shal the Mayor make Lawes in a Towne and not the King in his Kingdome Or were it not strange that God himselfe should allow so much authoritie to every poore Family for the ordering of all which are in it and yet the Church which is the Citty of the great King the House of the living God the Spouse of Christ the New Hierusalem have no authoritie to commaund any thing which the meanest of her children shall in respect of her constitution be bound to obey Finally sect 27 whosoever hath power to repeale Lawes hath also power to make Lawes but the Church hath lawfully repealed Lawes made of things indifferent as the Law of abstinence from blood and strangled enacted by the Apostles II. Cor. XIII 14. II. Tim. V. without any limitation of time The same might bee said of the kisse of Charitie commaunded by the Apostle And of the Widowes who were appointed to bee entertained by the Church for the service of the Saints As also of the Love-feasts used in the dayes of the Apostles All these were abrogated by Ecclesiasticall authority Therefore the Church hath power to make Lawes of such matters And these Lawes being made are to be observed Yea if there be no law to direct us in these things then ought wee to follow the custome of the Church wherein wee are In ijs rebus de quibus nihil certi siatuit serij tara mos populi Dei instituta majorum pro lege tenenda sunt Epist 86. according to that golden rule of S. Austin In these things which the Scripture hath not determined the custome of Gods people should be unto us a Law He shewes that this was his owne practice touching fasting and the like observations when he was in Rome he followed the fashion of Rome And when hee was in another place he conformed himselfe to the custome of that place And he sayth he learned this from S. Ambrose who when he had asked his Councell touching fasting on the Sabbaoth day returned him this answer When I come to Rome Cum Romam venio jejuno Sabbato cùm hic sum non jeiuno sic etiam tu ad quam fortè ecclesiam veneris ejus morem serva si cuiquam non vis esse scandalo nec quenquam tibi Ego â—crâ— de hâc sententiâ etiam atque etiam cogitans ita semper habui tanquam eam coelestioraculo susceperim sensi perturbationes fieri per quorundam fratrum contentiosam obstinationem superstitiosam timiditatem tam litigiosas excitant quaestiones nisi quod ipsi faciunt nihil rectum existiment Epist 118. ad Ianuar. I fast the Sabbaoth when I am here namely in Millain I fast not So also thou keepe the custome of the Church whereunto thou commest if thou would neither offend nor be offended And he sayth he never thought upon this advice but he esteemed it as an Oracle from Heaven And this same advice he giveth to every man touching his carriage in matters of this kind Eo modo agat quo agere viderit Ecclesiam ad quam devenerit And those that doe otherwise hee chargeth them with contentious obstinacie and superstitious feare raising strife because they account nothing right but what themselves doe Now would to God that you who came out of Scotland had followed this advice and so conformed your selves unto the Orders of this Church and not sought factiously to bring in amongst us the customes of the place from whence you came and such customes too as even the Church of that Kingdome hath most wisely repudiated Wee finde that the Apostle himselfe did deferre much unto the custome of the Church when there was a question in Corinth touching the behaviour of men in publicke assemblies as whether men should pray bare women covered or contrary he resolves the whole matter into the Churches custome hee doth not leave every man free to doe what he will but will have the Churches custome to be observed If any man be contentious we have no such custome nor the Churches of God The Apostle had used sundry reasons to prove that men should pray bare women vailed As I. from the signification vers 3. The man is the womans head I. cor XI 16. Whence followeth that wives should be subject
to their husbands and testifie their subjection by this significant Ceremonie in comming alwayes to Church with their heads covered II. From Comelinesse vers 4. 5. 6. for it is even one very thing namely for a woman to bee bare-headed as though she were shaven And if it be shame for a woman to be shaven let her be covered and vers 13. Iudge in your selves Is it comely that a woman pray uncovered III. From nature vers 14. Doth not nature it selfe teach you But he saw the nature of the question would affoard no Arguments but such as a contentious spirit would elude Therefore to make short worke he finally resolves all into the Churches custome If any man be Contentious we have no such custome nor the Churches of God As if he should say If any man be so contentious that he will not be satisfied with these reasons Let him know that the Churches custome is otherwise We have no such custome c. Whence wee may inferre first that the Church hath her customes and had them even in the Apostles dayes for this Negative Wee have no such custome includes an affirmative A Custome they had but no such Custome as that men should be covered women bare but the contrary II. That the Church may alledge her Customes to stop the mouthes of the contentious III. That custome is warrant enough for a Rite as whether to be covered or bare whether to sit or to kneele whether to weare a blacke garment or a white in the administration of God's service IV. That whosoever opposeth the Churches customes in matters of Order are to be reputed contentious as hazarding the Churches peace for matters of no more weight Thus have I proved at large sect 28 that the Church hath power in things Indifferent to make Lawes and appoint Orders to be observed in the administration of Gods worship And that obedience is due unto such Lawes or if there be no certaine constitution that the received custome of the Church hath the force of a Law But here I know what you will say that the Church may appoint Circumstances not Ceremonies This was your Plea at the last visitation and a very strange one For this distinctioÌ„ is unknown vnto the Schooles not used by any Protestant divines except some late Libellers against the government whose unsavory bookes I never thought worthy of my reading Sure I am that your chiefe advocate Not that we say as you charge vs that no Ceremonie may be in the Church except the same be expressed in the word of God but that in making Orders and Ceremonies of the Church it is not lawful to doe what men list T. c. Reply p. 27. Mr Cartwright the only learned man who ever lifted up his hand against the Orders of our Church did not deny all Ceremonies but excepted against ours that they are not agreeable to the simplicity of the Gospell and to the practice of the Apostles that they are borrowed from the Papists give scandall to the weake and are different from the Orders of other reformed Churches And when these silly exceptions have been answered to the full his wise followers have devised a way to cut the Gordian knotte to-deny all Ceremonies except the Sacraments which are of Christs Institution And since that is the maine ground of your opposition I wil take some paines to discover unto the world the weakenesse of it And first I thinke it will puzle you all sect 29 to shew the difference betweene Circumstances Determinatio divini cultus pertinet ad ceremoniaâ— Aquin. 1â— 2ae q. 103. Art 1. â—on and Ceremonies If you say that a Ceremonie determines the manner of Gods worship a Circumstance onely the time place and person to be used in Gods service which are of absolute necessity in regard that his service must be performed at some time in some place by some person This distinction will not hold for it falleth out often that in the choyce of one time rather then another and of one person too there is something Ceremoniall I am sure that some of the Reformed Churches See harmon of confess Sect. 17. amongst the Ceremonies which they retaine and approve reckon festivall dayes set Lessons which are circumstances but Ceremoniall circumstances Secondly as it is necessary that there be some place and time appointed for Gods Service So also it is necessary that there be some outward forme besides what is expressely commaunded used in the Service of God And albeit the substance of religious actions be prescribed by God himselfe yet the outward forme required to the decent administration of the same and for the greater solemnity of the action is not expressed in the Scripture As for example Christ hath commaunded us to baptize with water in the name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost here is both the matter and the forme wherein the essence of baptisme consists but what other words and actions we should use in the administration thereof we have no direction And yet if one should doe no more but sprinkle water upon a childe and pronounce the words of baptisme howsoever the baptisme were good yet the action would seeme bare and the Sacrament quickely grow into contempt Therefore the Church hath appointed prayers Lessons interrogatories exhortations and some visible signes also to bee used in the administration of that Sacrament These outward expressions of Gods worship whether by words or actions which are not essentiall unto the duty as not being expressely commaunded we call Ceremonies without which no publicke action can be rightly performed for as the flesh covereth the hollow deformity of the bones and beautifieth the body with naturall graces So Ceremonies cover the nakednesse of publicke actions both civill and religious and procure reverence and esteeme unto them in so much that no nation in the world did ever suffer publick actions which are of weight whether civill or sacred to passe without some visible solemnity So that there is a ground in nature for Ceremonies in generall for all nations by naturall instinct have observed them and for some Ceremonies in particular for Nature doth teach us that God is to be worshipped not only with the inward devotion of the heart but also with the outward reverence of the body And therefore all men by the inditement of reason have used to bow themselves to the ground in token of reverence at the sensible signes of Gods presence or when they have received any message from the Lord. It is therefore an error to thinke Ceremonies in the generall to be things merely indifferent for howsoever every particular Ceremony be indifferent and alterable yet that there should be some Ceremonies is absolutely necessary forasmuch as no outward worke in God's worship can bee performed without Ceremoniall Circumstances some or other more then a body can be without dimensions And since some Ceremonies must be used it is also necessary for preserving serving of Order and uniformity
comely not foolish and ridiculous as are the apish gesticulations in the Masse and many other Ceremonies used in that Church as their manifold crossings kissings kneelings whisperings washings anointings spittings blowings breathings and a number of the like Unto these three conditions I will adde two more I. Ceremonies must not be injoyned as things in themselves absolutely necessary and wherein Gods worship doth consist II. We must not ascribe unto them spirituall effects as the Papists doe who say that their crossing and sprinkling of holy water are effectuall to purge away veniall sinnes drive away divells and sanctifie the parties Now the Ceremonies injoyned by our Church have all these conditions For number they are few as ever was in any Church for observation easie for signification worthy for quality grave decent and comely for antiquity reverend The worship of God is not placed in them neither are they pressed upon the consciences of people as things in themselves necessary like the Commaundements of God we ascribe no merit remission of sinnes nor other spirituall effects unto them Finally they are purged from the drosse of all Popish superstition And therefore you are bound in conscience to observe them they being injoyned by lawfull authority And now I am come to the last thing wherein the power of the Church is to bee considered Sect. 38. and that is for correction The Church hath authority to censure her disobedient children whether they be Heretickes or Schismatickes or inordinate livers And on the other part upon their repentance to restore release and absolve them Like a good Mother she hath both Vbera and Verbera a dâ—g to feed and a rod to whip her unruly children This power was alwayes in the Church I finde that there was amongst the Iewes three degrees of censures Ioh. IX 22. XII 42. XVI â— The first was called Niddus a separation or casting out of the Synagogue The second they called Herem which is Anathema when an offender was cut off from his people by the sentence of death Deut. XVII 12. And that man that will doe presumptuously not harkening unto the Priest or unto the Iudge that man shall die The third was Shammatha or Maranatha which was a peremptorie denunciation of Iudgement delivering the obstinate malefactor as it were unto everlasting death for the word signifies as much as Dominus venit The Lord commeth This last is not mentioned in the Law but as it seemes was brought in by the Priests and Scribes after that the Romans had taken from them the power of life and death neither can the Church now use that censure unlesse we knew certainely that a man had sinned against the Holy Ghost The second which is the sentence of death belongeth onely unto the civill Magistrate who to that purpose hath the sword committed unto him So that the censure which properly belongs unto the Church now is onely separation by excommunication And there ever was and alwayes must bee a power in the Church to impose that censure upon contumacious offenders We have the first example of it from God himselfe hee cast Adam out of Paradise which was a type of the Church and banished him from the tree of life which was the Sacrament of immortality he cast forth Cain from his presence that is from the place appointed for his worship wherein Adam and his family used to meete for the service of God Afterwards when the Church of the Iewes was established their Councell of Elders called the Synedrium had power to cast men out of the Synagogue Yea under the Law those who had contracted any bodily uncleannesse must not eate of the Passeover till they were purified after the manner of the Law How much more ought they who are defiled with sinne bee barred from the Communion of our Sacraments seeing the pollution of the soule is more odious in the sight of God then bodily uncleannesse When our Saviour did institute the Church of the new Testament he gave such an authority unto his Apostles and their successors in the words following my text Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven And whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Which he expounds after this manner Io XX. 23. Whosoevers sinnes yee remit they are remitted unto them And whosoevers sinnes ye retaine I. Cor. 5. they are retayned The Apostle did exercise this power upon the incestuous Corinthian I. Tim. I. â—0 and upon Hymenaus and Alexander The same power hee committed unto his two sonnes Timothie and Titus The governors of the Church are reproved for neglecting this censure Revel II. 20. as the Angell of the Church of Thyatira for suffering the woman Iezabel to teach and deceive Gods servants And the Angel of the Church of Ephesus is commended for his zeale in censuring offenders Thou canst not beare them which are evill and thou hast tried them which say they are Apostles are not Revel II. 2. Finally the censure of excommunication was of frequent use in the Primitive Church especially against heretickes and disturbers of the publicke peace Tert. in Apol. Cypr. epist lib. I. ep 3. as both Tertullian and St Cyprian doe testifie And I find that this censure had two degrees the first was Suspension called Abstentio whereby men were barred some from the Communion of the Sacrament onely others from the Communion of certaine prayers also and some from entering into the Church which they built upon the Commandement of our Saviour Matth. VII 6. Give not holy things to dogges neither cast your pearles before swine The other was Excommunication wherby a man was cut off from the body of Christ as a rotten member cast out of the Church and delivered into Satan who raignes without the Church wherein the Churches sentence is rather interloquutory then definitive And yet the same no wayes to be contemned because when it is done Clave non errante Apologet. cap. XXXIX the same is ratified in Heaven Therefore Tertullian truely cals this censure summum futuri Iudicij praejudicium The former of these censures may be called the Apostles rod shall I come unto you with a rod I. Cor. IV. 21. The other is the sword Apostolicall Gal. V. 12. Abscindantur Let them bee cut off that trouble you This latter is that which is mentioned in my Text Let him bee unto thee as a Heathen man and a Publican and in the words following it is called a binding or retayning of sinne for as the Church hath power to loose such as are penitent so to commit others unto the Lords prison binding their sinnes upon their backe untill their amendement or binding them over unto the Iudgement of the great Day if they shall persist in their pertinacie The same by S. Paul is called a delivering up to Satan The end of Excommunication is threefold I. The glory of God for when men are suffered in the Church to doe what seemeth good in their
owne eyes without controll God is dishonoured and his Name blasphemed amongst the Gentiles Whence it comes to passe that sometimes for the sinne of one man God is angrie with the whole Church because of her connivence But when the Offender is exemplary punished then is God glorified and his wrath turned away from Israel II. The amendement of the party even that he being destitute of the societie of the faithfull may be ashamed and so confesse his sinne and desire reconciliation I. Thess III. 4. If any man obey not our saying note him and have no companie with him that he may be ashamed III. The preservation of others from his infection For sayeth the Apostle speaking of the Incestuous Corinthian A little leaven leaveneth the whole lumpe purge out therefore the old leaven I. Cor. V. 6-7 Wee know that a member of the body being putrified and gangrened must bee cut off presently else it will infect the whole body so must all irregular persons especially teachers of false doctrine and disturbers of publick order bee cut off from the body of the Church Deviâ—â— contempl lib. II. c. 7. that the infection spread no farther as Prosper sayeth Qui corrigi nolunt tanquamputres corporis partes ferro excommunicationis sunt abscindendi They that will not amend as rotten members of the body must be cut off by the sword of excommunication It is true a good Chirurgeon will try all other meanes before he cut off a legg or an arme from a man but if there bee no other remedie Then Immedicabile vulnus Ense resecandum est So weehave tryed all manner of faire meanes to reduce you to the unitie of the Church by admonition exhortation conference instruction Our first comming was in love and in the spirit of meeknesse but now I must come unto you with a rod yea with a Sword to cut off all that trouble the Churches peace for Melius est ut pereat unus quà m unitas It is not the life of any man nor of many men that is to bee compared with the peace of the Church Besides the generall censure of Excommunication sect 39 whereunto all the members of the Church are subject both the Pastors and the Flock there is an other censure for restrayning of turbulent teachers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a removing of them from the exercise of their function by deprivation suspension or otherwise that their word fret not as a canker II. Tim. II. 17. This power was given to Timothie Bishop of Ephesus he is not onely to charge the Clergie under his jurisdiction that they doe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I. Tim. I. 3. but also to discharge them that doe it I. Tim. V I. 3.5 If any man teach otherwise from such separate thy selfe Hee must stay prophane and vaine bablings II. Tim. II. 16. Put away sâ—â—lish questions which ingender strife II. Tim. II. 23. Hee had authority to receave an accusation against an Elder as his Iudge to rebuke openly to put him in feare I. Tim. V. 19.20 The like authority was committed to Titus Bishop of Crete He must redresse things amisse Tit. I. 5. If there bee any disobedient vaine talkers and deceivers of mindes he must put them to silence Tit. I. 10.11 Reprove them sharpely Tit. I. 13. Convince with all authority Tit. II. 15. Reject him that is an hereticke Tit. III. 10. This hath beene the practise of the Church in all ages to remove turbulent teachers who did oppose the decrees and constitutions of Councells And this is that censure which I feare some of you by your opposition to the lawfull orders of our Church will draw upon your selves The Apostle sayth They that resist shall receive Rom. XIII 2. or acquire condemnation It is not our desire to proceed to censure against any of you but you will acquire it unto your selves and so receive thereward of your folly Our Church hath borne with you a long time with all patience and long suffering opening her lap to receive you into her Communion but you have made no other use of this forbearance then to confirme your selves in your errors proceeding from evill to worse from timorous scrupolositie to resolute opposition II. Sam. XX. 1. drawing a number of Disciples after you and like Sheba the sonne of Bichri blowing a trumpet to sedition whereby a fearefull rent is made in this Church and greater dangers like to ensue if they be not prevented The Anabaptists at first for the great humility zeale and devotion which seemed to be in them were onely pittied in their error and not much witestood by any Luther made request to the Duke of Saxonie that within his dominions they might bee spared for that their errors excepted they seemed otherwise very good men by meanes of which mercifull toleration they gathered such strength in few yeares that they were like to overthrow the state both of Church and Common-wealth in Germanie Your proceedings hath beene very like to theirs we have reason therefore to suspect them and to give a checke to your madnesse before you goe any further Surely as the Lord taxeth the Angel of the Church of Thyatira for suffering the woman Iezabel to teach and deceive Gods servants So may hee reprove the governors of our Church for suffering this feminine heresie so long they of that sexe being the greatest zealots and chiefe abbetters of the sect by whom many simple people are deceived led from the wholsome pastures of the Church to wander in the precipices of error and schisme This must not be suffered any longer But you will say the differences is onely about small matters and it is a pitty to deprive ministers who are painefull and laborious for a Ceremony For answer I shall desire you to consider I. That they doe not onely oppose the Ceremonies but the whole Liturgie of the Church wherein the soule of Gods publicke worship doth consist Besides their doctrine is not sound for they have taught that the Order of Bishops is Antichristian which we know to be Apostolicke That our Ceremonies are damnable which wee can prove to bee both lawfull and decent That our Service-booke is a heap of errors which wee can justifie to be the most absolute Liturgie that any Church in the world hath That the signe of the Crosse in Baptisme and kneeling in the act of receiving the Communion is plaine idolatry then which hell it selfe could not have devised a more shamelesse calumnie That the Eucharist being a Supper a Feast no gesture should be used at it but a table gesture to expresse our coheirship and equality with Christ which if it smell not strong of Arrianisme I have lost my sent That all festivall dayes besides the Lords day and all set fasts are Iewish and contrary to our Christian liberty which is the condemned heresie of Aërius Epiphan haer 75. They have cryed downe the most wholsome orders of the Church as Popish superstitions
namely Confirmation of children absolution of penitents private baptisme of children in case of necessity the Communion of the sicke and almost whatsoever hath any conformity with the Ancient Church If I were not weary to dig in this dung-hill I could shew you many such portenta opinionum which these new masters have vented to the great scandall of the Church and hinderance of Religion that I may complaine with the Prophet Iet XII 10. Pastores multi yea and Stulti Many Pastors have destroyed my Vineyard There is crying out against dumbe dogges of the Cleargie who cannot preach for whom I thinke no man will plead but that lawlesse fellow called necessity Yet I know not whether it be more hurtfull for the Church to have Canes non latrantes or Catulos oblatrantes The ones silence or the others untimely barking In teaching is not so much good as there is hurt in teaching such doctrine when with the good seed of the word the tares of error and schisme are sowen and the children of the Church brought in dislike with their mother Prov. XXX 17. Solomon sayes The eye that mocketh his Father and despiseth the instruction of his Mother The Ravens of the valley shall picke it out and the young Eagles shall eate it What then shall become of his tongue who slandereth his Mother shall not Davids imprecation against Doeg fall upon him Psal LII 4.5 O thou deceitfull tongue God shall destroy thee for ever If you have slandered your neighbour you are bound in conscience to make him satisfaction what satisfaction then can you make unto the Church your Mother whom you have slandered with no lesse then whoredome Whereas even strangers have given her this testimony that shee is of all Churches this day for doctrine most pure for discipline most conforme unto the primitive and Apostolicke Churches for learning most eminent for good workes most fruitfull for Martyrs most glorious II. Albeit their strife were only about Ceremonies yet were it nor safe for the Church to winke at such persons though they contend but for trifles for if the contentious humour be not let out it will fester and spread like a gangrene Contention will grow a schisme and a schisme will prove an heresie So it was with the Corinthians I. Cor. XI Where the Apostle complaines first of their unreverent behaviour in the Church v. 16. Then of schismes v. 18. After that of heresies vers 19. If men be suffered to disgrace Ceremonies they wil proceed further to contemne and profane the Sacraments as in Corinth when they had sit covered at prayer they grew as unreverent and bold with the Sacrament eate and drunke as if they had beene in their owne houses vers 22. It is therefore good to quench the sparke when it is first kindled lest it increase unto a great flame and burne up Church Religion and all III. Consider that alâ—eit in Churches of diverse kingdomes the unity of faith may subsist with diversitie of Ceremonies and orders according to that saying of Gregory In unâ fide nil officit Ecclesiae sanctae consuetudo diversa yet in the same nationall Church we must labour not only for unity in faith but also for uniformity in discipline otherwise order can not bee maintayned peace cannot be preserved when every man hath a fashion by himselfe there will follow infinite distraction and confusion Therefore sayth the Synod of the Belgick Churches Articuli hi mutari augeri minui postulante ecclesiarum utilitate possunt debent non erit tamen privatae alicuius Ecclesiae id facere sed dabunt oâ—â—nes operam ut illos observent donec Synodo aliter constituatur These Articles namely concerning outward order and Politie may be changed augmented or diminished yet it belongeth not unto any private Church to doe that but they must all labour to observe them untill the Synod shall otherwayes appâ—ynt Finally I pray you to remember that when those men had the government in their hands there was never any Church more zealous to vindicate her orders from contempt nor more forward to inflict severe censures for small offences then they were And so much they did professe The Church of Scotland in their constitutions which were printed with their Psalme Bookes say A small offence may justly deserve excommunication because of the offenders contempt and contumacy And againe Any sinne may be pardoned rather then contempt of wholsome admonitions and lawfull constitutions of the Church Now shall they inforce others to the observation of their orders and punish the disobedient with the severest censures And shall not the Kings Majesty and the governours of our Church inforce them to the observatioÌ„ of our orders which have beene established by the whole Church in a lawfull Synod and confirmed by Act of Parliament and by his Majesties Royall authority Oh my brethreÌ„ deceive not your selves think not that the Church the King the State the Law and all will stoope to your fancies No if you will not obey the constitutions of the Church you must feele the weight of her censures If you will not submit your selves unto the Church as to your Mother shee will not owne you for her children but cast you out as Hagar and Ismael were cast out of Abrahams house for their mocking and proud disobedience Thus have I spoken at large of the Churches power for instruction for Ordination for determination for direction or making of Lawes and finallie for Correction or censuring offenders In all which the Church is to be heard for if hee neglect to heare the Church Let him be unto thee c. And so I am come to the second part of my Text the inference sect 40 Let him bee unto thee as a heathen man and a Publicane In which words one thing is implyed and another thing expressed The censure of the Church is implyed for if wee must account such men as Heathens and Publicanes then the Church by her publicke sentence must declare them to be such else how shall we know that they refuse to heare the Church Againe obedience to the Churches sentence is expressely commaunded for in these words all the members of the Church are injoyned to take notice of her sentence accounting no otherwise of all those who despise her admonitions then as Heathen men and Publicanes For sit tibi is a worde of commaund you must hold them for such And that you may the better conceive the meaning of this phrase you must understand that our Saviour alludeth unto the custome of his owne time and the practise of the Iewes as St Paul borroweth a phrase from the Iewish Church â— Cor. XVI 22. when he useth that fearefull imprecation If any man love not the Lord Iesus Let him be Anathema Maranatha So our Saviour here borroweth a speech from the custome of the Iewes to expresse the condition of those who should bee excommunicated by the Christian Church Let him be unto
thee as an Heathen man and a Publicane Matth. IX 10. We know that Heathens and Publicanes were aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel Luke XV. 1. they had no interest in God no fellowship with the Church In the Gospell commonly Publicanes and sinners be joyned together and sometimes Publicanes and harlots And the Apostle opposes sinners of the Gentiles to Iâ—wes by nature Matth. XXI 31. Cal. II. 15. They were avoyded in common conversation in the fellowship of the private table in so much that Christ was often taxed by the Pharisees for eating with Publicanes Matth. IX 11. XI 19. And especially they were secluded from the Communion of Gods worship and in that there was a difference put betweene the Heathen man and the Publicane The Heathen might not so much as enter into the Temple if he did it was polluted Act. XXI 28. Hee hath brought Graecians into the Temple and hath polluted this holy place But the Publicane might enter into the Temple and pray Luk. XVIII 10. But he must not partake of their service and sacrifice Whereupon in the ancient Church they had two degrees of excommunication a lesser which was like the Publieanes separation and a greater like the Heathen mans separation In the same case should all excommunicate persons be amongstus we should not admit them to the Communion of our Sacraments and publicke prayers nor converse ordinarily with them nor have any fellowship with them as the Apostle commands I. Cor. V. 13. Put away therefore from among you that wicked man II. Thess III. 6. Withdraw your selves from every brother that walkeeh inordinately and vers 14. Have no company with them This is to esteeme them as Heathen men and Publicanes But there are some that are worse to persons excommunicate then eyther to Heathen men or to Publicanes who hate them deprive them of the society of those who are tyed unto them by naturall and civill obligations make a prey of their goods lands life and all and adjudge them unto hell yet Christ saith onely Sit tibi sicut Ethnicus not sit tibi plut aut pejore in loce quam Ethuicus Let him be unto thee as an Heathen not let him be unto thee worse then an Heathen Whence will follow I. That we are not to hate such men as we should not hate Heathen men nor Publicanes but pitty and pray for them It is true wee shunne the company of that which wee hate and abhorre so our Saviour will have us to shunne the company of contumacious offenders as if we did hate them but not to hate them for all that for sayes the Apostle yet count him not as an enemie II. Thess II. 15. II. That we are not barr'd from all commerce society with excommunicate persons not in cases of necessity not upon occasion of trade for the Iewes did trafficke with Publicanes and Heathen but especially not to give them good counsell and to exhort them to repentance This last is required by the Apostle admonish him as a brother II. Thess III. 15. The fellowship then that is forbidden us with such persons is a Communion in Gods worship lest it bee prophaned by them as also intire familiarity and needlesse society III. And some sorte of persons cannot bee barred from intire familiarity and daily conversation with them by any sentence of the Church as all those who are tyed unto them by naturall and civill obligations as the wife to her husband children to their parents servants to their master subjects to their Prince for the Apostle commands the beleeving woman not to depart from the unbeleeving husband I. Cor. VII 13. But to be subject even to their husbands which obey not the word I. Pet. III. 1. servants to count their masters even them that beleeve not worthy of all honour I. Tim. VI. 1. Cesar himselfe was Heathen when Christ instituted this censure and yet he commands to renderunto Cesar the things that are Cesars All kings were Heathen when the Apostles exercised this censure and yet they conimaund all obedience to be given unto them Rom. XVI 1. I. Pet. II. 13. The Christians in the Primitive Church upon all occasions tooke armes at the commaund of a heathen Emperour and St Augustin commends them for their faithfull service to Iulian that Apostate Emperour for that they were bound unto him as subjects Hence it will follow that the Church though she had never so much strength and power yet ought not can not excommunicate the King for heresie Apostasie or any other crime for that the maine end of excommunication is that the partie being deprived of all society of the faithfull may bee ashamed But the King can not be deprived of the company of any one within his kingdome all of them being his subjects and owing service and alleageance unto him So much a Popish Doctor doth acknowledge Radulph ardens in homâ— Domin 1. post Pasch Reges ne excommunicare possunt sacerdotes excommunicatione majore propter publicam personam quam sustinent Priests cannot excommunicate Kings with the greater excommunication because of the publicke person which they sustaine Wee finde indeed that St Ambrose did barre the Emperour Theodosius from the Sacrament but that was onely the lesser censure called suspension Lib. V. epist 28. ad Theodosium as may appeare by his owne words Causam contumaciae in te nullam habeo sed habeo timoris offerre non audeosacrificium si volueris assistere He found no cause of contumacie in him which onely deserves the greater censures of excommunication but he was afraid lest the sacrifice might be profaned by his presence before he had by repentance expiated the guilt of blood which he had contracted And yet even in this I thinke that the Emperours humility was more to bee commended then the Bishops zeale howsoever it is most certaine that the ancient Church never offered to excommunicate any King though never so wicked That was a later practise of that man of sinne Who exalteth himselfe against all that is called God Finally if contumacious persons bee in no worse case then Heathen men and Publicanes then the Church by her censure cannot deprive them of goods lands or life for the Iewes did not so either to Heathen men or to Publicanes And besides such a punishment doâ—th not belong to the Church but to the civill Magistrate It hath beene therefore an intollerable tyranny in the Popes to depose Kings excommunicated give away their crownes dispose of their kingdomes and to arme not only strangers but also their owne subjects against them to take away their lives As if that Christian kings did far the worse for their baptisme and profession of Christ and held not their crownes upon so secure termes as Pagan princes doe This were to put them in a worse case then are Heathen and Publicanes which our Saviour never intended for as Crownes are not founded in faith so they are not lost by insidelitie
When a King of a heathen becomes a Christian he loses not that temporall right which hee had but acquires a new right in the spirituall goods of the Church so if afterwards of Christian he become Heathen he loseth the new right which he had acquired in the benefites and priviledges of the Church but not the old temporall right which hee had unto his Crowne So Bernard told the Pope In criminibus non possessionibus potestas vestra The Church hath power to censure offences namely with the sentence of excommunication not to take away possessions But I might have spared this labour Sect. 41. for you are not the men who ascribe too much to the censures of the Church but indeed too little and set them all at naught If a man for his faction disobedience be cast out of the Church you thinke him so much the neerer heaven as one who hath witnessed a good confession and is very zealous for the truth then you account him most worthy of your company as if our Saviour had said If hee refuse to heare the Church Let him be unto thee as a faithfull brother So little doe you regard the sentence of the Church which our Saviour hath commaunded you to obey saying sit tibi Let him bee unto thee as a Heathen man and a Publicane for which he gives a reason in the words following saying Verily I say unto you What soever yee bind on earth shall be bound in heaven that is the sentence pronounced by the Church is ratified by God himselfe Here I cannot dissemble the injury that is done unto the Church by you in those parts for her Instructions are not received her Ordinations are neglected her determinations despised her orders contemned her lawes trodden under foote her censures derided In nothing shee is heard And these who refuse to heare her yee are so farre from accounting them As Heathens and Publicanes that you esteeme them as Saints and Martyrs and account us no better then Heathens Publicanes and persecuters you open heaven only to those that are of your faction damne all that approve not your fantasies and so condemne all Churches that are or have beene except your owne Conventicles That it is a wonder to me how you can professe to beleeve The holy Catholicke Church for never any ancient Church observed these orders which you seeke to obtrude upon the world as the discipline of Christ and the seepter of his kingdome And never any Church since the Apostles dayes wanted our orders which you reject as unlawfull and Antichristian So that that which you account the true Church is not Catholicke and that Church which is Catholick is not holy Thus have you lost one article of your Creed It was so with the Donatists in ancient times and almost in every thing their courses were so like unto yours that as oft as I consider your opinions and practise I doe remember them and thinke it is Vetus fabula pernovos histriones as though by a Pythagorean transmigration their soules had taken up their mansion in your bodies Which I will instance in some particulars The Donatists did not only separate from the Catholicke Church but most arrogantly esteemed their owne faction to bee the only true Christians in whose assemblies salvation was to be found a Beelesia una est eam tu frater Parmeniane apud â—os solos esse dixisti Optat lib. 2. post Nitimini suadere hominibus apud vos sotos esse Ecclesiam So have you appropriated unto your selves the styles of Brethren Good men Professors As if all others who favour not your faction had no brotherhood in Christ no interest in goodnesse made no true profession of the Gospell The Catholickes acknowledged the Donatists to be their brethren loved pittyed and prayed for them b Velint nolint fratres nostri sunt Aug in Psal 32. Concordate nobiscum flatres diligimus vos hoc vobis volumus quod nobis Id. Ep. 68. But the peevish schismatickes requited their love with hatred esteemed them no better then Pagans and disdayned to salute them c Isti qui dicunt non esâ—is fratres nostri Paganos nos dicunt Aug in Ps 32. Vos odio noâ— habetis fratres utique vestros auditorum animis infunditis odia docentes ne Ave dicant cuiquam nostrum Optat. lib. 4. So albeit we have reached foorth unto you the right hand of fellowship yet have you answered us with disdaine terming us formalists time-servers worldlings Papists Arminians limmes of Antichrist and no better then reprobates But for my owne part I passe very little to be judged of you for all your malice you shall have my pitty and my prayers The Donatists thought all things polluted by the touch of Catholickes and so washed their Church walls and their vestiments broke their chalices scraped their Altars d d Rasistis Altaria fregistis calices lavastis pallas parieâ—es inclusa spatia salsa aqua spargi praecepistis Optat. lib. 6. So these men thinke that our service-booke our Ceremonies our Churches and all are polluted with the Papists though they descended unto them from the ancient Church and we have better right unto them then they had And therefore where they had power they did not wash the Churches but in a sacrilegious furie pull them downe to the ground burnt the vestiments broke the chalices or converted them to private uses and razed the Altars esteeming a beggerly cottage fitter for Gods service then a magnificent Temple much like the officers of Iulian who when they saw the holy vessells of the Church cryed out En qualibus vasis ministratur Mariae filio What stately plate is this for the Carpenters sonne The Donatists taught that the efficacie of Sacraments depends on the dignity of the Minister and so would not receive the Sacrament from any but such as they esteemed just men that is to say men of their owne faction e De Baptismo dicere solent tune esse verum baptismum Christi com ab homine Iusto datur Aug. Ep 167. And are not some of you of the same minde who refuse the Sacrament though they might have it after their owne fashion onely because the minister hath conformed himselfe unto the orders of the Church The Donatists taught that the Church ought not to tollerate evill persons in her Communion that Communion with such persons polluteth and profaneth the Church And that therefore all the Churches of the world were perished because they communicated with Caecilianus f Donatistae pertinaci dissensione in heresin schisma verterunt tanquam Ecclesia Christi propter crimina Caeciliani de toto terrarum â—â— be perierit Aug. cont â—pist Parmen l. 3. Id. de haeres ad quod vult cap. 69. And was it not upon the very same ground that your brethren the Brounists did run both out of the Church and out of their witts they built their conclusions upon your premisses
the enemies of God where of the land was full would rejoyce at it So your contentions are evill in themselves but the worse because the Papists are in the land who from your strifes take occasion to blaspheme our religion VI. Your opposition hinders the worke of the Gospell and the edification of Gods people for manie of them who admire you make these things wherein wee differ their greatest study and thinke they have Religion enough if they bee but upon your side if they can hate a Bishop and abhorre a Ceremonie Thus the weightier matters of the Law are neglected Matth. XXIII 23. while we contest about Mint and annise and Cummine matters meerely circumstantiall This indeed is Tragoedias agere in nugis I haue heard of a man who came to a Physitian to complaine of the whit-law in his finger and the Physitian looking upon him espyed death in his face for the man was in a deepe consumption whereof hee was nothing so sensible as of the paine in his finger So it is with you you complaine grievously of Ceremonies and orders established and are not sensible of a dangerous consumption even the losse of Charitie which is the life of religion Finally consider unto what dangers you expose your selves and what shall become of you when ye are cut off from the Communion of the Church Ab arbore frange ramum De Unit. Ecclesiae fractus germinare non poterit saith Cyprian A fonte pracide rivam praecisus arescet As a branch cut off from the tree must needes wither and a streame divided from the fountaine must presently dry up so those that are cut off from the mysticall body of Christ must wither and dry up as wanting the vitall influence of Gods spirit and the watering of the dew of grace which is a fearefull judgement expressed elegantly by the Apostle by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. IX 1â— Hebâ— III. from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth properly to dry up and wither It is said that when Cain was cast out from the presence of God that is from his Church and the place of his worship He went and dwelt in the land of Nod so you when you are cast out of the Church are preparing to goe and dwell in the land of Noddies and it is strange if the sides of one ship can contayne them who cannot be kept within the pale of the Church All these things deserve your consideration and may give you occasion to repent hereafter when it will be too late I thought it therefore my duty to warne you Gen. XLII â—â— as Reuben did his brethren beseeching you for gods sake if there bee any bowells of compassion in you towards the Church your mother your brethren your friends your flocke your selves that you would yet lay aside all prejudice and partialitie and the spirit of contradiction compose your selves to peace unitie and love Psal CXXVI 6â—7â— O pray for the peace of Ierusalem Let peace be within her walls and prosperitie within her pallaces Thinke not that you are wiser then the Church then all Churches 1. Coâ— XIIII 26. as if the word of God had come onely from you or to you and to none besides but remember that you are men and so may erre that better men have erred have thought no shame to acknowledge the same and retract their error In this life wee shall never bee resolved of all doubts therefore the Iewes had wont to say Elias cum venerit solvet dubia The safest course is where you doubt especially about matters of this kinde concerning Order and Church politie to submit your selves peaceably to the Iudgement of the Church and then Phil. III. 15. Rom. XV. 5. If ye be otherwise minded God shall reveale even the same unto you Now the God of peace and consolation give us that we may be like minded one towards another I. Cor. I. 10. That we may all speake one thing and that there be no dissentions amongst us Eph. IV. â— but that wee be knit together in one minde and in one Iudgement endevouring to keepe the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Amen AN ANSVVER TO CERTAINE OBIECTIONS MADE AGAINST THE ORDERS OF OVR CHVRCH ESPECIALLY KNEELING AT THE COMMUNION I Was at first somewhat perplexed and doubtfull whether it became me to tkae notice of a late Libell the foolishest that ever was spread abroad in writing praetending to set downe a relation of a certaine Conference betweene my selfe some unconforme Ministers of my Diocese or whether like a noysome snuffe to let it dye out of it selfe as unworthie the treading upon Herein I tooke counsell of the wisest of men even of Solomon but hee left me upon the matter as irresolute as hee found mee Proverb XXVI 4.5 Answer not sayeth he a foole according to his foolishnesse lest thou also be like him And yet immediatly thereafter Answer a foole according to his foolishnesse lest hee be wise in his owne conceipt The reasons are forcible on both sides but I have followed the later advice not because in Solomon secundae cogitationes were saniores but because it fitliest jumpeth both with the exigencie of the time and humor of the men whom I am to encounter lest the fooles grow more wise in their owne conceipt When I first met with this Libell I expected somewhat savouring of wit for I dare pronounce them not guiltie of much judgement but found it a meere fardle of lyes And so much hath beene confess'd by all men of qualitie who were present at the Conference Yea and by some too neither disaffected to their persons nor cause All the most materiall things which I spoke are left out many things fathered upon me which I never thought just as it pleased the Libeller to forge and frame them for his owne advantage and to serve his Reply Chimaeras sibi fingens quaâ— jugulet sed alijs Chiâ—aris oppositis Not unlike the fellow in Martial Quod tibi vis dici dicere Fusee foles Violating therein to omit his incivilitie the praescript of humanitie and common honestiet being formerly admonished to transmit unto my selfe their Arguments in writing and in like manner to receive my answers that thus by his or their good allowance I might have acted my owne part in my owne person not under the larve of such a puppet as out of their malice in generall and the particular fatuitie and ignorance of the Libeller they have thought fit to bestow upon me for albeit hee were indeed an Impartialist in his owne cause which no wise man will beleeve yet were it impossible for him either to remember my words or expresse my thoughts so fully as my selfe But he found that having an ill cause he stood in need of all helpes And this sort of men as is well knowne to the world though it bee but the signe of a profligate and
shall even of that rule which he hath mentioned Abstaine from all appearance of evill As I shall shew in the proper place In the meane time I tell him that their sitting at the Communion will not abide the tryall of any of the rules of Gods word I have proved in my Sermon that it is an undecent and unreverent behaviour in Gods worship that it was never commanded seldome or never practised in any act of Gods service but onely upon occasion It carryes an appearance of evill a shew of profanenesse irreverence pride presumption It is flat contrary unto that rule of the Apostle Rom. XIV 19. follow these things which concerne Peace for by it the Peace of this Church is disturbed her Unitie rent It gives offence unto all sorts of men to their brethren to the Magistrate to the whole Church of God And therefore it doth not tend to the glory of God and aedification of his people The second Classe of the Disputers Arguments were taken from Christian libertie and the care wee should have to avoyd scandall to which purpose he alleadged Rom. XIV 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not c. ver 15. Destroy not him with thy meaâ— for Whom Christ dyed I. Cor. VIII 13. If meate offend my brother I will eate no flesh while the world standeth Vnto all which I gave a full and satisfactorie answer Albeit hee hath not the honestie to set it downe for it seemes he saw that hee had neyther strength to overthrow it nor so much ingenuitie as to yeeld unto the trueth when it is declared unto him I shewed that there was a great difference between their case and ours in two particulars first The things whereabout they did differ namely eating or not eating of things sacrificed unto Idolls were meerely indifferent not only in their owne nature but even for use it being free and arbitrary unto them to eate or not to eate forasmuch as there was no law either to command or to forbid the use of these meates And therefore the beleeving Romanes and the Corinthians not onely might but also ought sometimes to abstaine from such meates for the avoyding of scandall But it is not so with our Ceremonies albeit they be indifferent in their owne nature as neither being particularly commanded nor forbidden in Scripture yet they are not now indifferent unto us for the use nor left unto our choyce the observation of them being injoyned by lawfull authoritie and that the Magistrate hath power to make Lawes in things indifferent none will deny but an Anabaptist And therefore now though never so many should bee offended at our Ceremonies yet we can not forbeare to use them without a greater scandall in open disobedience to lawfull authority Before that Apostolicall constitution Act. XV. It was lawfull for a man either to eate or not to eate things sacrificed unto Idolls as hee found in his conscience most expedient for aedification there being no law divine or humane to rule his conscience but only the Iudgement of his owne minde and the generall law of charitie But after that constitution was made It was not lawfull for him to eate though in the presence of converted Gentiles who would perhaps bee offended at his forbearance because now though the matter bee indifferent in its owne nature yet it was not free and arbitrary for use at lest to those Churches for whom the constitution was made of Antioch Syria and Cilicia for it seemes that the eating of things sacrificed to Idolls was in some sort permitted the Church of Corinth if no man did challenge it I. Cor. X. 27. Whatsoever is set before you eate asking no question for conscience sake A second difference I observed betweene their case and ours that those whom the Apostle will not have us to offend by the use of our Christian liberty in things indifferent were weake brethren as shall appeare in all the places alleadged by the Disputer Rom. XIV 1. Him that is weake in the faith receive unto you v. 2. One believeth that he may eate of all things And another which is weake eateth herbes Whereupon followes immediatly Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not Chap. XV. 1. Wee which are strong ought to beare the infirmities of the weake I. Cor. VIII throughout the whole Chapter ver 7. Their conscience being weake is defiled and so ver 9.10.11.12 They were weake as being newly converted unto the faith as yet neither having meanes nor leisure to be fully instructed in their Christian libertie and therefore much was to be yeilded unto them lest comming newly from Iudaisme where they had learned to be zealous of the Law of Moses if they should see Christians not observe that Law they might be offended at the Christian Religion And withall it is to be praesumed that those to whom the Apostle graunts such Indulgence were willing to be instructed in the right way But those who take offence at our Ceremonies are not now to be esteemed weake They thinke themselves the onely illuminates even the very Gnostiques of this age in comparison of whom all others who are not of their faction are very Ignaroes whose minds the god of the world hath so blinded that they are destitute of heavenly knowledge Besides they have had a large time allowed them to informe their consciences and all meanes have been used to give them satisfaction But a foole despiseth his fathers Instruction Prov. XV. 5. And why The way of a foole is right in his owne eyes Prov. XII 15. So that those brethren whom the Apostle would not have others to offend in the use of their Christian liberty in things indifferent were only weake Ours are wilfull They timorous Ours obstinate Their offence proceeded from simple ignorance arising from the want of time and meanes of Instruction But the offence which our men take at the Ceremonies proceedes from affected error from pride prejudice singularity and the spirit of malice and contention And therefore I dare say that albeit his Majesty and all that are in authority over us would dispense with the present Lawes and leave it to our owne choyce whether to use or not to use the Ceremonies for feare of giving them offence Yet were we bound in conscience not to yeeld unto them in one jot by our forbearance in regard that thereby we should but bolster them in their error and confirme them in their obstinacy and opposition against the Church I am sure this was the practice of the Apostles At first they yeelded much to the weaknesse of Iewish Converts doing and forbearing many things to avoyd their offence But when they did pertinaciously persist in their error calling our Christian liberty in question the Apostles resolutely maintayned it not regarding their offence at all So S. Paul who circumcised Timothie to avoyd the offence of the weake Iewes would not circumcise Titus to please others who were perverse
despisers of our libertie And he who did purifie himselfe to gaine a good opinion of the weake Iewes who were zealous of the Law Act. XXI v. 20. 26. Gal. 11 1â—5 yet when certain false brethren crept in privily to spy our liberty he gave not place unto them by subjection for an houre And whenas S. Peter for feare of offending the Iewes at Antioch forbare to eate with the Gentiles he reproved him for it to his face interpreting that fact of his to be an effectuall seducement albeit he did not preach Iudaisme Why compellest thou the Gentiles to Iudaize ver 14. As hee would not yeeld to any thing to displease those who were wilfull despisers of our liberty no more should we to please those men who are resolved never to be satisfied I am sure the tenderest hearted man amongst them will not forbeare the eating of a fat Capon upon Good-Friday for feare of offending a Papist And why should we forbeare either Surplis Crosse or Kneeling because they are offended at it In these two particulars I shewed in the Court the difference between the things whereof the Apostle speaketh and our Ceremonies so plainly that it was thought sufficient to satisfie any but those in whom affection partiality have put out the eye of reason And upon these two cases I dare now venture the cause first that we are no-where commanded to forbeare the use of a thing indifferent even where we are left to our owne choyce for feare of offending the willfull despisers of our libertie but only to avoyd the offence of weak brethren who are willing to learne the right way have not had leysure and meanes to be informed Secondly that if the Magistrate interpose his authoritie commanding the use of a thing in it selfe indifferent wee are not to forbeare the doing of it for feare of offending any whatsoever they be whether wilfull or only weak And that it is so shal appeare unto him who reades these two Chapters whereunto the Disputer did appeale studies not the syllables but the sense of them And to make this same yet more manifest I will recommend unto the Reader that is desirous of satisfaction these considerations following I. When the Apostle chargeth us to avoyd the offence of our weake brother he gives this reason that we should not please ourselves but our neighbour to aedification Rom. XV. 1.2 Whereby it is evident that he speakes only of these things which are not commanded but left to our own liberty to doe or not to doe in which case he wil have us to please our neighbour if he be a weake brother rather then our selves But if the Magistrate have interposed his commaundement in a thing indifferent then as we can not forbeare it to please our neighbour if he be a weake brother so wee doe it not to please our selves but to please him whom God hath coÌ„manded us to obey not only for wrath but for conscience sake II. A thing in it selfe indifferent being injoyned by lawfull authority becommeth necessary unto us for the use So the Apostles speaking of things in themselves indifferent as abstinence from meates offered to Idols c. When once they had made a constitution touching them call them Necessarie things Act. XV. 28. And the Apostle sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. XIII 5. It is necessary that you bee subject And surely there is nothing wherein wee can shew our obedience unto the Magistrates authoritie but only in things indifferent which God hath left in our power for those things which God hath commanded wee must doe whether the Magistrate command them or no yea albeit hee should forbid them And those things which God hath forbidden wee must not doe whether the Magistrate forbid them or no yea albeit hee should command them so that there is no scope left either unto the Magistrate to command or unto us to obey but only in things indifferent III. If wee should not obey the Magistrate in a thing indifferent when some men take offence at it then we shall never obey him at all there shall be no order no constitution for there can be no publicke action order or constitution which some men will not dislike IV. Obedience to the Magistrate is a greater duty then the pleasing of a private person and consequently the evill of disobedience greater then the evill of scandall V. If our obedience to the Magistrate in a thing indifferent offend any the evill is not in us but in him who is scandalized for as Tertullian saith Res bona neminem offendit nisi malam mentem It is scandalum acceptum not datum he ought not to be offended being bound to obey the Magistrate as well as we now were it not a strange if I should forbeare to doe my duty because another man is resolved not to doe his VI. As it is a sinne to disobey lawfull authority and no sinne in us if another bee offended at our obedience so there is farre greater danger both to our selves and to all the whole Church in disobedience then can be in the offence of a few brethren Lastly If wee refuse those things that are injoyned we cannot avoyd disobedience But if we observe them we may prevent or remove the offence that is taken at them by informing the people aright that they are things in themselves indifferent whereunto Christian liberty doth extend and that the Magistrate oughâ— to be obeyed in these things But our brethren are so farre from teaching such doctrine that they teach nothing else but disobedience II. Sam. XX. â— like Sheba the sonne of Bichri blowing a trumpet to sedition insomuch that some who are now questioned for frequenting their conventicles being examined upon Oath could not remember any one point of Christian Instruction in all their Sermons but that they preached against keeping of Holy-dayes and kneeling at the Communion If so much paynes had beene taken to teach them obedience to lawfull authority the scandall might have beene removed long erenow Whosoever will be pleased to consider these particulars shall finde that what the Apostle hath spoken of Christian liberty of giving offence makes nothing against our Ceremonies but every way for them Besides those two differences which I have observed betweene their case of whom the Apostle speakes and ours It were easie to shew many other things wherein they are most unlike namely the eating and not eating of meates are private actions in a mans owne power to doe or not to doe But our case is concerning the publicke Ceremonies of the Church which no private man can dispense with The Apostle by forbearing flesh did prejudice none but himselfe But wee in refusing the Ceremonies should prejudice the authority of the Prince The Apostles for bearance did further the course of his ministery and therefore he became all unto-all But our refusall of the Ceremonies should loose us the liberty of ours and that most justly for
unto the commandements of God which is the thing for which they are condemned as shall appeare unto any that reades the Text But our Church is farre from such presumption as may appeare by her doctrine published which I have alleadged as also by that which followeth in the same preface In these our doings wee condemne no other nations nor prescribe any thing but to our owne people only For we thinke it convenient that every Countrey should use such Ceremonies as they shall thinke best to the setting forth of Gods honour and glory and to the reducing of the people to a most perfect and godly living without error or superstition Now I have proved in my Sermon by Arguments unanswerable that the Church hath such a power to ordaine Ceremonies and to make Lawes of things indifferent for decencie and orders sake And that obedience ought to be given unto her constitutions Especially considering that therein our Church was not only assisted but authorized by the Kings most excellent Majesty as the supreme Governor upon Earth In all causes within his highnesse dominions And therefore I shall intreat my good brethren if they will neyther deceive others nor be deceived themselves that in this point of Christian liberty they would have alwayes one eye fixed upon the nature of things indifferent and the other upon the duty of a subject to his Soveraigne And now having vindicated our Church from those aspersions cast upon her of infringing Christian liberty and giving offence by her constitutions I will in the last place turne the Disputers weapon against himselfe and cut off the head of that Philistine with his owne sword shewing that he and his fellowes of all others are most injurious unto Christian liberty Rem XIV 16. which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were the common good of Christians And also that they are scandalous to all sorts of persons And first Christian liberty as it respecteth things indifferent is not only a freedome from the yoke of bondage but also a right or power to doe many things which they could not doe who were under the Paâ—dagogie of the Law which by the Apostle is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I. Cor. VIII 9. This power or liberty is extended both to Magistrates and to subjects The Magistrate hath this liberty that he is not tyed to any particular Lawes which determine all things incident unto the outward form of Gods worship not mentioned in Scripture But as the Iudiciall Law being-abrogate it is lawfull for him to ordaine civill Lawes so the Ceremoniall Law being abolished to establish ecclesiasticall constitutions such as are not repugnant unto the word of God These men deprive him of this libertie they will not allow him to appoint any thing to be used in the outward forme and administration of Gods worship And if by the consent of the whole Church he doe establish a forme though never so decent they are resolved not to observe it Agayne the liberty of the subject is that being freed from the Moâ—aicall Law he may with a free conscience observe all other Lawes which are established by lawfull authority and are not repugnant unto the word of God I. Cor. VI. 12. Tit. I. 15. I. Pet. II. 13. 16. as knowing that All things are lawfull and To the pure all things are pure This freedome S. Peter magnifies when he exhorts us To submit our selves to all manner ordinance of man As free that is knowing that we are not bound to those particulars as things in themselves necessary but using them with free consciences as being indifferent and therefore such as whereunto our Christian liberty extendeth And is not this a goodly freedome that a Christian having liberty of many things he can make use thereof in one thing rather then in another to please and â—atiâ—fie him unto whose power God hath subjected him without offence to his conscience These men deprive us of this liberty likewise for they will not allow men to obey Magistrates civill or Ecclesiasticall in any constitution established touching the decent administration of Gods worship And as though they were Iudges at Law they have sent foorth a prohibition against all the Canons of our Church Now a negative precept is a restraint of Christian liberty as well as a Positive the false Apostles who laboured to subvert Christian liberty col II 21. did it by forbidding things in themselves lawfull saying Touch not â—aste not handle not And our brethren speake almost the same language Kneele not Crosse not weare not And indeed the Church hath not more positive precepts then they have negative But this is the difference The Church hath authority to command they have none to forbid The Church commands only the use of these things and layes no obligation upon the conscience by pressing them as simply necessary in themselves but they make their negative restraints absolutely necessary place religion in them binding their followers in conscience not only to refuse but also to despise our Ceremonies Whereby they doe not only overthrow Christian liberty but also are guiltie of the breach of the second Commandement by will-worship Lastly As they take both from the Lawgiver and the subject that free power which God hath granted unto them So they deprive themselves of all true liberty while they cherish in their owne minds doubts and scrupulous opinions of the lawfulnesse of these things which are commanded and alleadge their unresolved conscience as an excuse for their disobedience So our Disputer as he is acted in the Libell God alloweth every man to be fully perswaded in his owne minde of what he doeth Rom. XIV 5. Which priviledge I crave to my selfe and all others doubting of kneeling I have shewed before that the Apostle in that chapter as also I. Cor. 8. Speaketh of things left to our owne choyce and not determined by any Law civill or Ecclesiasticall In which case this is a safe rule for the conscience Let every man stand fully perswaded in his owne minde that he may doe or not doe that which hee intends without the offence of God or his neighbour But when the Magistrate doth interpose his authority to command or forbid the use of a thing in it selfe indifferent If any man shall plead that he can not obey because he is not perswaded in his owne minde of the lawfulnesse of the thing commanded he doth but excuse one sinne by another which S. Peter calls having the liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse for as he ought nor to disobey so he ought not to doubt I. Pet. II. 13. 16. But as I sayd before submit himselfe unto all manner ordinance of man As free that is as being perswaded of the indifferency of the thing before God and so that he may lawfully therein obey his superiours And indeed if a mans doubts and feares were a sufficient excuse for disobedience the Magistrate should be obeyed in nothing for there