unhallowed and common for which cause Justinian the Emperour enacted a Law against them and the ancient Council of Gangra held in the purer times of the Church about the year 324. pronounced Anathema against Eustachius and his adherents who held that Churches should be neglected and publick meetings in them left off and that there should be no other Churches but mens private houses and no other meetings but Conventicles Even in heathen Rome the most learned P. Aerodius tells us when a sort of Innovatours kept their Conventicles in opposition to the way received among them of worshipping their Gods the Senate made an Act there should be no such meeting as tending to the disturbance of the State and the publick peace Et si quis tale sacrum solemne necessarium duceret and the Senate gave him leave it must be with this condition that when he performed his offices of Religion his own way ita id sacrum faceret dum ne plures quam quinque sacrificio interessent and if they were thus sollicitous to preserve and establish as a sacred inviolable thing the Idolatrous worship of their false Gods what care can be great enough to secure the solemn worship of the only true God when it is shaken by such divisions moreover in the days of Charles the Great there was a Cannon made in the Council of Towers wherein the people were required to behave themselves reverently in the Church to which our 18. Canon well agrees and both to that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. but this by the way since then we have every where Churches erected and places of publick worship which we are strictly enjoyned by authority to frequent and repair unto at all set times and seasons what is it less then schism were there nothing else in it out of contempt and opposition to that Communion to have recourse to private and clandestine meetings and though Antiquity mentions unto us private meetings yet we may finde that they were not set up for a separation or out of opinion that better services were performed there then in the Church but they were necessitated thereunto by reason of persecution which oft-times lay sore on the primitive Christians otherwise they brought upon them the guilt of Schism and were accordingly so censured and held as Schismaticks Thus were the Samaritans reputed whose Schism lay only in their Separating from the appointed place of worship and setting up another in opposition to it for if we audit an account of the Samaritans guilt according to Epiphanius Josephus Scaliger and others Audeam dicere saith Scaliger eos adeo ab omni idololatria abhorrere ut in hac parte Judaos ipsos superare John 8.48 we shall finde they came at last to differ nothing from the Jews but the place of meeting but whether this be such a guilt as should make those terms equivalent he is a Samaritan he hath a devil and is mad I shall not say but it is such as makes our Saviour say some-what exclusively John 4.22 all the blessings and Salvations of the law did indeed hover upon Mount Gerizem were given thence that was the place of them but they were cut away when Schism came the Church is not a place of blessing when it is built against a Church Gerizim is Ebal when it stands in competition with Mount Sion Thus I have in some measure I hope justifyed the Rites and Ceremonies and Constitutions of our Church by shewing how perfectly conformable they are to the customes of the Churches of God All that I have now to adde is a short Paraenesis or Exhortation that you would all be perswaded to a compleat conformity and for you my reverend Brethren of the Clergy as we are set over so we should be both teachers and leaders of the people both by doctrine and example bringing them into these paths of religious worship and directing them to walk orderly therein as the Priests lips should preserve knowledge so we should enable our selves not only to shew In France such who were entrusted with cure of souls were obliged to give account at certain times to the Bishop whether the Rites and Ceremonies of that Church co which they were subject were observed Fran. Synod Capit. lib 5. c. 2. but also defend the lawfulness of our Churches Rites and customes and of that good old way which our Fathers walked in whose steps we follow this the 8 Canon enjoyns us all to preach up twice a year at the least upon penalty of suspensation but because most of us if not all shall amongst our people finde some who will hate or at least dislike us if we plainly tell them a truth that thwarts their prejudices we should therefore prudently insinuate these things and by this innocent Lenocinium steal their affections into all the paths of truth I cannot see how it is consistent with our duty to conceal any part or circumstance of religious worship which hath so immediate attendence and reference to practice much less should we tread in the steps of those in a sence worse then non-conforming Brethren who to gain the affections of the giddy and injudicious and make their lower parts seem tall and reverend discover a dislike to some of the Churches Rites and Ceremonies whereby others are traduced by the male-contented party who brook every man the better by how much the less obedient for persons more superstitious as they call it then they need by which means also they work a kinde of aversion in those who were in a fair way to be perfectly conformable and confirm such who have already forsaken our Communion let us then above all others take heed we do not by this means enhanse the repute of a faction nor let us encourage a peevish Schismatick by Christening his childe without the Cross or Surplice to abate the Cross or Ring to lay aside the Surplice to curtail the prayers to omit the Letany or second service I know recommends a man farther to some humours then all the parts learning and sobriety of another that is faithful to his duty but I beseech all to remember that it is God and conscience and the publick laws that ought to be satisfied and not a private interest or a faction You have all taken the Oaths of Supremacy and Canonical obedience and there is nothing required of you but what the King may lawfully command nothing but what the Canons of the Church enjoyn and what your selves when you entred into the Ministry knew you were all bound to observe but if there be any that will not consider and weigh there Engagements I hope the respective Church-wardens will look to their Oath and make a true Presentment not forswear themselves to excuse their Ministers and methinks none can take it ill if they will not hazard those very souls which themselves labour to save the like care ought the Church-wardens to take in presenting the faults and faileurs of the people as well as of their Minister as by Oath they are bound which in case you wilfully omit the 117 Canon declares the Ordinary may proceed against you in such sort as in causes of wilfull perjury in a Court Ecclesiastical 't is already by Law provided but if the Church-wardens do conscientiously discharge their duty and delinquents be duly presented and then they continue perverse and refractory and so prove contentious they are in the next place to be rejected and censured as Impugners of the Customes of the Church according to that of our Apostle in the text If any seem to be contentious we have no such custome nor the Church of God FINIS
A SERMON Preached at a VISITATION In Honiton in Devon On Wensday in Easter Week 1676. By J. R. Rector of Lezant in Cornwall LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Simon Miller at the Star at the West end of S. Pauls 1 Cor. 11.16 But if any man seems to be contentious we have no such custome nor the Churches of God THe Apostle to shew that God requites a decorum and decent accomodation in the Act of his worship sharply inveighs against the Corinthian woman who from a Phantastical imitation of the She-Prophets and Priests of the Gentiles who had their faces discovered and their hair dishevelled when they uttered their Oracles or celebrated Rites and sacrifices to their Gods at the time of their praying and prophecying were unveiled in the Church and appeared bare and open-faced in publick notwithstanding it was then accounted an unseemly and immodest guise as he proves it here by several Arguments 1. A contrario and that 1st From the decency of this Ceremony of having a veil v. 5. and 2ly From the significancy thereof v. 7. So in the 2d place from an Argument ab absurdo v. 6. 3ly He enforced it from the Angelical presence in the Church v. 10. 4ly From an Argument a pari v. 14. q. d. how odd would it be for men to wear a veil a womans dress so by the like reason is it as uncomely for women to be without a veil that is in the guise and dress of a man and however the devils of the Gentiles sometimes take pleasure in this unseemly accoutrement in uncomliness and absurd garbs yet the God whom they worship with the holy Angels who are present at their devotions loves a comely accommodation in such as worship him Lastly he concludes from the example and custome both of the Jewish and Christian Churches neither of which had any such use for their women to be unveiled in their sacred Assemblies But if any seem contentious that is will not be satisfyed with these reasons let him know that we that is we of the circumcision have no such custome nor the Churches of God that is the Christian Churches so St. Ambrose and Anselm understand it or according to Grotius there is no Canon for it nor is it a custome of the Church or Churches of God q. d. If any adversus haec as the Syriack Translation hath it against all these reasons will contend further love to argue on list still to strive as the Geneva here is one reserves an Argument which is instar omnium and should silence all further disputes about it we have no Canon nor Constitution to warrant it neither hath it been customarily practised in the Churches of God nay we and they have the quite contrary rule and custome and let this be the final resolution in the Case From the Text then and the context we may observe the course St. Paul took to satisfy a scrupulous conscience touching a Rite or Ceremony 1st He urgeth the reasonableness of the Injunction and if this Method be not effectual men be not convinced by his reasons then he refers them to the Canons and customes of the Church from which they are by no means to swerve But methinks I hear some disaffected and contentious spirits as if they would tax St. Paul himself of impertinency to mutter saying what means all this ado about a Rite or Ceremony since 't is of no greater matter it skills not greatly whether men observe it or no whether covered or bare sit or kneel all 's one but our Apostle lets it not go so but judging it a matter of importance presseth the point hard useth several Arguments spends many verses even half a Chapter about it and as we may suppose mainly for these two reasons First because he dislikes any contentions at all since in its very nature is included a breach of that peace of which God is and we ought to be very tender for if contentions be not taken off at the first within a while at the 2d verse from the text we finde their mischievous consequence no less then a Schisme and the next verse assures us that they will proceed so far as to flat heresies 2ly Because he likes not contentions against the Rites and Customes of the Church he well knew Satans Methods this Arch-Antichrist understands that if he can first get himself children they 'l at length grow to men grant him once one seemingly modest conclusion about a lesser matter hee 'l be ready with his bolder Logick to attack greater points allow him him but the rudeness to throw the Surplice out of the Church the next news will be the house of God is degraded to a stable if down with the Ceremonies once become Canonical 't will not be long ere the respects due to the Sacrament shall be little better then Apocryphall if he may but disgrace the former you shall finde him soon after confronting of the other so in this Chapter he falls foul with the Lords Supper the Corinthians first praying in publick having their heads covered and whilst they approach the Lords throne in so uncustomary and therefore irreverent posture can we expect better manners at his Table accordingly v. 20. c. they eat and drink there as if they had been at home and that sometimes to excess so ill were the effects of a contest raised at first about a circumstance in the worship of God St. Paul therefore opposing himself to these practises after other reasons in the precedent verses he lays for his ground this of the Text. We have no such custome or more fully according to Grotius's Interpretation we have neither Canon nor Custome for it neither we nor the Churches of God whence in the first place we infer that as the Churches of God have had so they still have may and ought to have their respective canons and constitutions touching Rites and ceremonies whereto due obedience ought to be paid by all such as are in communion This is so apparent a truth that to deny it and judge such Ecclesiastical sanctions and constitutions unlawful is to charge all the ancient known parts of the Church of Christ with a sinful usurpation of authority in the Church for that they enjoyed both in general and provinciall synods what thy judged useful is manifest from the canons of the Code of the universal Church and of the Roman and Assyrian Churches and from the more ancient canons amongst those called the Apostles and from other Ecclesiastical rules of discipline frequently mentioned in Tertull. Cyprian and other ancient Writers Licet Pastoribus Episcopis Aug. Confess Art ult Apol. ejusdem c. it becomes such to make canons that things be done in order in Church so the August Confess and for the more due and regular observance of such Ecclesiastical laws and canons it hath been the custome of the Churches of God and those too which we rightly call Reformed to require
subscriptions thereto thus it was used amongst the Protestants in Poland where Falkner p. 86. after the consent chiefly touching the Lords Supper was establisht in the synod of Sandemir Ano. Dni 1570. between the Churches of those three confessions the Bohemian Augustine and Helvetian it was concluded in another following general synod that none should be admitted into the Ministry unless consensui subscribat the French Church required likewise a subscription to their Liturgy and besides this it hath been the custome even of the reformed Churches to impose solemn Oaths for the yet closer binding to canonical obedience thus in the Behemian Church after Ordination the Minister was solemnly admitted to his Ministration by the Visitours who among other things committed to him their liber Ritualis containing their form and Rites of worship to the performance thereof they did oblige themselves at their Ordination by a Religious oath So at Strasburgh after its first Reformation they who entred into the Ministry did by Oath undertake to keep in the communion and obedience of the Church and its Governours according to the Law of God and their canons statutes and Ordinances and it is related from the laws of Geneva where an establisht Liturgy is one of their constitutions that all there who were received to the Ministry must oblige themselves by Oath to observe the Ecclesiastical Ordinances ordained by the Councils of that City and in the Hungarian Church they binde themselves by oath to the observation of the Ecclesiastical canons and performing due obedience to the Bishop But if the contentious amongst us will condemn all Ecclesiastical laws and sanctions and account nothing pure but what is used in their conventicles I dare joyn issue with them even upon that and appeal to their own practice and prescriptions whether many things are not ordered according to the humours of the Minister besides men are very much mistaken to think ceremonies and constitutions meerly indifferent I mean in the general for however every particular ceremony be indifferent and every particular constitution is arbitrary and alterable yet that there should be some ceremonies it is necessary necessitate absolutâ insomuch as no outward work can be performed without ceremonious circumstances some or other and that there should be some constitutions concerning them it is also necessary though not simply and absolutely as the former yet ex hypothesi necessitate convenientiae otherwise quot capita tot schismata whereof what other would be the issue but infinite distractions and disorderly confusions in the Church when every one acts as his humour leads him and that upon this account Constitutions some or other are necessary is agreeable to the Apostles when they met in a Council at Jerusalem for setling the Churches peace We reade Acts. 15.28 that they would lay no other burthen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides these necessary things 't was not enough with them that the things would be necessary when they had required them but they looked on an antecedent necessity which was the only ground of their imposing these Commands upon the Gentile-Christians but observe this antecedent necessity did not arise from the nature of the things enjoyned but from the expediency and conveniency there was for the Injunction by reason of the present juncture of affairs and to say otherwise would be to contradict the Apostle or make him to contradict himself from which Apostolical fynod as may be well noted the London-Ministers in their Jusdivinum allow a Synod power of imposing things on the Church which they assert to be included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently that things indifferent in their own nature become necessary to be practiced after such a decree or Injunction Cap. 13. the like do the Assembly grant in their Confession moreover the Apostles did not only exercise this power when they sat in Council together but when they were asunder also St. Paul often mentions Constitutions that he made for diverse Churches for the Church of Galatia he made an Order 1 Cor. 16.1.2 that Collections for the poor should be made on every first day of the week 1 Cor. 11. and meant to bring in the same custome into the Corinthian Church he framed Ordinances also for that Church 2 Thess 3.14 so for the Church of Thessalonica where he commanded opposers against his determinations to be excommunicated neither could such things as these be commanded by an unchangeable law since they are to be taken up and laid aside as occasion serveth therefore the Apostle having instructed the Corinthians in matters of faith and godliness puts off these other matters till his own coming that he might see what is most expedient the rest will I set in order when I come where he promiseth you see to appoint things belonging to outward Order now we know that he never came to Corinth after that who then did order those other things but the Governours of the Church he might have prescribed unto them a compleat form for outward Order and Polity but he foresaw that the same orders would not suit every state of a particular Church and therefore his coming being prevented his successours had power to determine of things and if the same orders and constitutions will not serve a particular Church at all times how was it possible for the Apostles to express all matters of Rites and Orders belonging to the Catholick Church sometimes the Church hath to do with Pagans sometimes with Hereticks and those diverse by reason whereof the Church hath been occasioned to change her Rites as namely dipping in baptisme which she hath changed from thrice to once and from once to thrice accordingly as the 20th Article ascribes a power to the Church to decree Rites and Ceremonies so the 34th says every particular Church hath authority to ordain change or abolish Ceremonies or Rites in the Church the same in the Articles of Religion of the Church of Ireland printed in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and accords with the Confession of the Reformed Church of France published in the year 1562. which adds Discipl des Egl. Reform de Franc. Ch. des Consistoires Art 31. as may be seen also in Confess Eccl. Gal. inter opuscula Calvini qui hoc detrectant cerebrosi pervicaces apud nos habentur such as refuse to obey are accounted with us obstinate and brainsick and accordingly ought they to be proceeded against and in case other Methods do not take ils seront retrenches de l' Eglise they are to be out off from the Church so our Saviour he that heareth not the Church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican and what is the condition of such they are delivered over unto Satan a sad condition if true and most true it is verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven this is no brutum fulmen such a blinding as