Institution are duly administred pure and separate from those Rites and Ceremonies which are by them accounted to be at best of doubtful Disputation and have been the Causes accidentally at least of â—very great Contest and Confusions amongst us For this Reason good Mr. (a) Acts and Monuments Vol. 3. Fox prayed that God would ease us of them viz. because they have been the Cause saith he of much Blindness and Strife In the other Men of Scruple know they cannot injoy God's Ordinances of hearing the Word Praying Communicating in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper nor their Children baptized but these Divine Institutions must be levened with those Ceremonies which to them are doubtful they fear unlawful which makes them abstain from celebrating the Evangelical Passeover because these sowre Herbs must be its Sawce Which though it be affirmed by the Imposers to be insipid and to have no taste either good or bad but of an indifferent nature yet when they taste they see and according to the best of their Understandings find the contrary they feel a Flavour of Superstition upon their Palats and the more intently they look the greater Eye of Red they espy in them And upon the closest Application of their Judgments find a Fust of Popery or else they mistake They like the Meat well but the Cookery is too much of the Garlick strain Is it not then likely that the best and wisest Men will choose that part which hath least of hazard Now according to the Opinions on boâ—h sides the controverted Rites may be omitted and yet the Sacraments duly administred otherwise surely the Bishops and Clergy in Scotland would not have received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper sitting as their Practice was before the late Abolition of Episcopacy Nor would our Rubrick declare that in private Baptism where it is to be administred without Godfathers and Sign of the Cross the Child is sufficiently baptized forbidding any to question it Whence we may conclude that the most wary Men will be apt to forsake the Communion of the Church of England as the most unsafe of the two Which by the Expedient propounded might be easily prevented for the future and seems no faint Argument for an act of Comprehension though it should not bring over those who are actually engaged as Pastors and Ministers of indulged Congregations So that the Act of Indulgence seems by a necessary Consequence to draw after it another of Comprehension as large and powerful as the Inveteracy of our Schism shall require and Wisdom of our Lawgivers shall think fit to grant least those Riots which the former Act hath suffered to grow up should so far exhaust the Sap that the Tree of the Church should shrink and dwindle into a degenerate Plant. But if it would submit to have some of its Luxuriances which have been esteemed as Right-hands to be cut off it might become a more thriving yea and pleasanter Plant than ever So far superseding the Act of Indulgence as to take away the subject Matter of it that in process of time it might become useless there remaining few or none that would flee to it for succor yea and all the Penal Laws too whilst all could chearfully submit to its equitable Orders and inoffensive Rules and Canons For when the Controverted things are once removed the rest of her Commands would not be grievous 4thly Suppose the Dissenters should not be gaâ—n'd Yet is there not regard to be had to the tender Consciences of Conformists who rather than violate the Peace or break the Unity of the Church have a long time laboured under an heavy Burthen Suppose these make their Wants known and Desires open Is there no Mercy no Pity to be extended to them nor Consideration to be had of them Must their Jaws be ever bored through with these Thorns and their Faces ground without any remorse Thanks be to God we have a Prince now whose design and endeavour is to lose every Burthen and to let the oppressed to free Nay the Fathers of the Church have put on Bowels of Compassion too If any be inexorable they are our Brethren with whom such Complainants have been accounted no better than Traytors to the State betrayers of the Church and if they perish in the Pit become Slaves and Vassals to the Caldaeans nay whatever becomes of them it moves them not Pray God this Sin be not laid to their charge which can be esteemed no less if we may take the Judgment of one dignified among them Who thus expresseth himself I am perswaded this is one of the provoking Sins of the Conformists That they have been so backward of doing what they were convinced they * See the Preface to the Common-Prayer c. 34 Article of Religion Every particular or national Church hath Authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church might have done with a good Conscience when they were earnestly prest to it by their Dissenting Brethren and had Authority to do it but they refused it They have the same Price now put into their Hands The King invites them the necessity of uniting Protestants against the common and implacable Enemy cries aloud to them the Groans of burthened and oppressed Consciences of their Brethren plead with them But I am afraid they do but surdis canere We may seek them earnestly but they will not be found of us Nay I wish there may not be the same reason to believe now what a Reverend Doctor and Dignitary of the Church hath some years since declared to the World viz. That they seem rather resolved to break all in pieces and hazard our Religion and let these sad Effects our Divisions still continue than to abate their Rigour in imposing what they may lawfully alter or abolish Nay that which puts so keen an edge upon our Complaints as to cut every good Man to the Heart is That this Judgment which hath laid so heavy upon us hath begun at the Church Those whom God designed to be Fishers of Men have spent their time and pains in gathering up these Shells and Pebbles upon the Shore and as one well observes have wrangled about them too But such is the present and remarkable Providence of god that many of the Bishops and Clergy are pleading for that now as to themselves they too much slighted and decry'd as Humour and Faction in others Now they plead Conscience and urge it in excuse for not swearing Allegiance and Fidelity to the Government to whom I wish as large Dispensations as be consistent with the Nature of Government and present Constitution of the Kingdom But we ever understood those things which are destructive to the State to be out of the Question and beyond the Bounds of it yea and Modesty too It might be said as it was in another case If they ask this let them ask the Kingdom also For as it hath been ever thought that a Liberty in such things
answer our ends or refund for those Breaches we have made of Charity in prosecuting them for their dissent we did magno conatu nibil agere The distance was as great and Schism as inveterate as ever 'T is true the Scourges which we made of no small Cords drove some of them into the Temple or publick Assemblies but could never drive out the Spirit of Inconformity when the Curb was in their Mouths they bit the Bridle and kick'd at those who held the Whip over them but never became more flexible to the Reign The French King hath Dragoon'd several of his Protestant Subjects into an outward compliance with the Popish Religion but is so insecure of the reality of the effect that he thinks himself obliged to keep a strict band over them and watchful Eye upon them (c) Lib. de republ 4 to p. 75 7 â— Bodin observes That tho' Princes exercised great Cruelties towards their Subjects yet till the days of Antiochus there was no Tyrannizing over the Minds and Consciences of Men. Nunquam tamen bominum mentibus ante regem Antiochum imperandum sibi fas esse putaverunt Nay so favourable was he himself in the Case of Religion whatever he was afterwards that in the Siege of Jerusalem he granted Eight days Truce to the Jews to Celebrate the Feast of the Passeover Theodorick thought it impracticable to put a force upon the will of Man in the Matters of Religion and therefore wrote to the Senate to leave it at liberty and for a good reason too viz. Because none could be compelled to believe against his will pag. 758. Religionem inquit imperare non possumus quia nemo cogitur ut credat invitus (d) Cujus rei cum multa sunt argunenta tum vero nullum ad hanc rem iccommodatius quam de Theodosio majore qui ineunte imperio provincias Arrianorum plenas reperit c. Voluit imperator Arrianos quos tamen capitaliter oderat ullis suppliciis coerceri sed utrisque Arrianis in â—uam Catholicis sua templa concessit in singulis oppidis duos utriusque religionis pontifices permissit Ac tam etsi Caâ—â—â—licorum Pontisicum rogationibus edicta quad am adversus Arrianos promulgari jussisit facis tamen irrita esse passus est ut ipsius ad Ambrosium literae demonstrant Lib. 4 de repub Theodosius Major tho' an utter Enemy to the Arrians yet allowed them the free exercise of their Religion permitting them to have their publick Temples and Ministers to officiate in every City And tho' by the earnest sollicitations of some Churchmen he was prevailed upon to publish some Edicts against them yet he easily permitted them to be superseded for in his Letter to St. Ambrose he commanded him to deliver the principal Church to the Arrians for saith he All are at my dispose Trade inquit Arrianis basilicam mei namque sunt omnia juris But suppose he had been exceedingly mad upon his Subjects and had vexed them out of their Religion or at least the profession of it yet he could not vex them out of their understanding also for tho force be a powerful Argument yet it hath always been too weak to beget Faith or any true Sons of the Church Which in all her accounts hath but a small reckoning to make of any considerable perquisite gained by the strictest exercise of her Discipline and authority over the Consciences of scrupulous but good Men. Nay the very Civil Interests of States and Princes have shrunk and shrivelled yea dried up from the very Roots which have been planted in those hot and scorching Climates I mean where Persecution for Religion and Conscience sake hath prevailed How Bloody a War did the cruel and despiteful dealing with the Hugonots upon these accounts produce in France until the very Spirit of the Nation failed in the midst of it So Zealous was the Duke d'Alva to maintain the Romish Faith in the Netherlands that he cruelly opprest the people and mightily convinc'd them by the pressing Arguments of Fire and Faggot Yea where-ever Scripture and Reason proved scant the Inquisition was urged as the strongest perswasive they had for their Religion which caused those Flames that not only made the Daughter of Sion to fit in Ashes but fired their Religion and Prince too out of the Countrey I am not willing to Sacrifice to this Net for the Commotions and Troubles in Scotland The Civil Wars of England in the days of King Charles which not only overthrew the Government of the Church but rased the very Foundation of our Politick Constitution Yet after a long and Bloody War which for the space of Seven Years had turn'd our Land into an Aceldama broaching that Bloody Issue which the best Physicians of the State knew not how to Cure till it had wasted the very Vitals of our Land After a Twelve Years Inter-regnum when Men did that which was right in their own Eyes it pleased God to restore our Judges as at the first and Councellors as in the beginning The wild Asses to be sure which had so long snuft up the Wind kick'd up the Heel injoying a free and unbounded shock a liberty to feed where and what they pleased thought nothing more grievous than a confinement The untamed Heifers having been so long unaccustomed to the Yoke knew not how to submit to it or suffer it to pass over their fair Necks especially those who as they had been instrumental in restoring the King so desired an indulgence only upon terms easie to be granted and some small Abatements of Conformity Instead of which the burthen was made heavier and bound with Ropâ—s that were never before occupied I mean new Laws and stricter Ties to oblige them to obedience which could not but be entertained with a regret not only proportionable to their late and long possessed freedom but to the many specious Promises they had obtained and great hopes they had thence conceived of some kind and favourable Dispensations in some controverted and scrupled Parts or Ceremonies of Religion But notwithstanding all they were more narrowly watched more nicely observed and more strictly punished than ever before All Tears of Complaint were but like Waters spilt upon the ground the returns which were made being often rough and unkind By the life of Pharaoh ye are no true men but to spy out our Liberty are ye come and to betray the Church our Fathers made your Yoke heavy but we will add to it But may we not apply the words of the Psalmist in this case This their way was their folly but their posterity hath not approved their saying Psalm 49.13 Such have been the Wisdom and Compassion of our Superiours as to speak kindly and deal gently with our Dissenting Brethren who in two succeeding Parliaments have setled and recognized their Liberties or indemnified them from the penalties of those Laws to which they stood obnoxious raising up a Gourd which have
were these The Character of a Cathedral Corporation is still the same it was viz. A School for Compliments in Religion but a Scourge upon the Life and Practice of it They have been the Asylum of Superstition but Scalae gemoniae for true Piety c. This was a very smart Reflection upon those Societies but I hope our Superiors will so far take this into their Consideration as to render these Orders of Men such as they may become more servicâ—able to the Church less scandalous and offensive to those who seek occasion to cast Reproach upon them for the future and that the Glory of our Church may not shine forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with outward Pomp and Ostentation Multa Ostentatione but in a modest decent but especially devout Celebration of Divine Worship But this is too reachy and nice an Argument to insist much upon lest in the Prosecution of it I incur the Censure of being an Enemy to those regular Foundations Though I am perswaded there can be no surer way to ascertain their Funds than a Reformation of their pompous Service into a more Simple and Evangelical Form of Religion As also by subliming them to higher purposes and improving them to a far better account than they ever yet turned to in the Church It being hard to take off the ancient Grudge against them whilst so deep Revenues run waste whose Streams might refresh the City of God nor can I rationally fall under the Displeasure of any other of the Brethren seeing the design of this Plea is only to smooth the ways of Conformity and to make those Paths streight that the Church's Yoak may become more easie and burthen-light And can truly protest in the Words of a great Person Bellar recog as to the whole of this Discourse viz. Scripsi deo teste quod verum esse existimavi non gratiam hominum vel propriam utilitatem sed dei gloriam ecclesiae commodum respiciens That is I call God to witness that what I have wrote I account to be truth not respecting the Favour of Man or mine own Advantage but the Glory of God and Benefit of the Church But if after all I must receive Evil for Good I shall not think any new thing hath befallen me nor will my Case differ from that courteous Man's who helping his lame Dog over the Stile was for his kindness bit by the Fingers But from what Quarter can we expect the Reformation of a wicked and sinful World This no more than Promotion comes from the East nor from the West nor from the South it is God that pulls down one with his proud and high Looks and sets up or exalts the humble and meek 'T is he that puts a Bridle into the Mouth an Hook into the Nostrils of the greatest Leviathans and bores their Jaws through with a Thorne Nay he can change the most ungovernable Tempers and unruly Dispositions of Men. He it is that maketh the Lion to lie down with the Lamb eat Straw like the Ox He can say to the most proud and rampant Waves of Wickedness hitherto shall ye go and no further But why then doth not Righteousness cover the Land as the Waters cover the Sea Righteous art thou Oh Lord saith the Prophet yet let me argue with thee concerning thy Judgments Why doth the way of the Wicked prosper Were it not more for God's Honour to have Religion flourish over the Face of the whole Earth and prophaneness to have no place to flee to or fix the Sole of its Foot upon This indeed is a thing too deep for us a Phaenomenon we scarce know how to solve Were it not better that the false and lying Tongue were destroy'd and Perjury pluckt up by the Roots by which Justice and Truth have been perverted guiltless Persons murthered and innocent Blood spilt like Water upon the Ground Is it not strange to observe in the Reformation of Religion there should be so great a Sally out of Darkness into marvellous Light upon the first dwaning of that day and that notwithstanding the Prayers and Tears of such as have oppressed tender Consciences the utmost Endeavours of many wise and learned Fathers of the Church it could not for more than this hundred Years be carried on one step further towards Perfection This hath been the Lord's doing we know and 't is marvellous in our Eyes His Ways are unsearchable and his Paths are past finding out Not that we design to prescribe Methods to the Providence of God or Rules and Measures to his Wisdom in the Government of the Church yet we may pray that all things may be disposed so as they may best conduce to his own Glory the Purity Peace and Union of that Communion That having recovered its Light when it was so nigh a total and perpetual Eclipse it may shine forth with greater Glory and display brighter Beams of Light and Love than ever We may pray that God would bless his Majesty with perfect Victory and Success that he may set his Foot upon the Necks of his Enemies abroad as well as at home And that when he is settled with Peace round about he may then think of God's House how he may heal the Breaches and repair the Decays which Sin and Schism have made in the midst of it That he would please to renew the Powers and Faculties to such reverend Fathers of the Church if expired as are best qualified to sew up the rent in the Spouses Vail and so promote the Peace and Glory of our Church That he would please so far to interpose his Authority as in a legal way to procure such Ease and Liberty in the scrupled part of Conformity that the weary within the Church may be at rest As also so wide a Door to those who are without that if they will not enter it may be truly said that their exclusion is of themselves Obj. But why do we make so great a noise about little things Do we not know that small Alterations in Matters of Religion make great Distractions and occasion high Convulsions in the Church We pretend to desire and aim at the Peace and Welfare of our Jerusalem Why do we not then endeavour to promote it by a quiet Submission to its Orders and Decrees Res 1st They are indeed little things comparative to the Power and Authority of the Church to redress the Grievances of those who are weary and heavy laden 2dly Admit they be small yet 't is a very great Flame those little Sparks have kindled in the Breasts and Minds of many Pious and Conscientious Men A Mote is but a little thing 't is true but if got into the Eye of Conscience it causeth Rivers of Tears to run down by reason of it nor can the Apple of it ever cease As to our Duty of preventing Disturbance and preserving Peace and Union in the Church May our Indulgence be measured by our constant Endeavours to avoid the
Powers and Commissions to many wise and worthy Members of it to review our Liturgy to inspect our Ecclesiastical Polity to remove the Stumbling-blocks and to take away the Rocks of offence to the uniting both in the same Communion and common Interest which 't is highly probable it might in time effect and may he never give over till he hath perfected the Work and cut it short in Righteousness How then can we but love him yea and most earnestly pray for him that God would bless him at home and abroad by Sea and Land in Peace and War that his Head may be covered in the Day of Battel that no Weapon form'd against him may prosper that he may put an Hook into the Nostrils and Bridle into the Mouth of that great Oppressor who would lay House to House Field to Field till there be no room left upon the Earth That he may return home with triumph when he shall have restored Liberty and procured Right to be done to the distressed Princes and States of Europe as he hath already done for the People of England to which all honest Men and true English Men will say Amen ADVICE TO THE DISSENTERS BUT before I lay my Pen down may I assume the liberty a little to argue and expostulate with you our Dissenting Brethren and Friends I bear you record you have a Zeal of God which I wish may never want the just Measures of Sincerity Truth and Knowledge But when I observe in you a total Separation and universal Departure from our Communion and yet not only to allow our Communion but further it in others yea in Matters of greatest scruple in some urgent cases practice it your selves it is a thing too hard for me I have known some who have suffered themselves to be deprived both of their Offices and Benefices by the Bartholomew Act yet have sent their Children to our Universities where the strictest Conformity is used and injoin'd the Members of those Societies yea have afterwards put them into the Priest's Office which for Conscience sake they could not submit to execute themselves Many have been elected into places of Magistracy and other Imployments and how stanch soever they have been before and after Yet to avoid the Dint and Penalty of the Law have given a yieldance to the Commands and Authority of the Church submitting to those Rites which at other times they scruple yea renounce But why do you condemn your selves in the things you can upon occasion admit Can you dispense with your Consciences to serve a turn Doth not this justifie the Practice of our Romish Adversaries who can license themselves to take Oaths to hold a Conformity with the Church or dissemble a Compliance to cheat their Rulers and avoid the Dint and Penalty of the Law If you can conform and hold Communion with the Church in Praying Heating and Receiving the Holy Sacrament c. for the Preservation of your selves Why not then for the Preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church I need not tell you how mischievous a thing Schism is or how deep a Stain and guilt it leaves behind it upon the Conscience Is it not a positive and plain Command to be subject to the higher Powers to submit to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake Vir bonus est quis Qui consulta patrum qui leges juraque servat Obj. So we do and will where we can do it with a good Conscience But would you have us offend God and rouse the sleeping Lion in our own Breasts which will tear us in pieces when there 's none can deliver us Res By no means but is it a Sin to do it at one time and none at another Does the Case alter with your Convenience and change with the Persons Is it lawful for the Children to obey where it is a Sin for the Parents to comply Brethren I beseech you judge righteous Judgment Why should you open the Mouths of your Adversaries and justifie their Reproaches viz. That your dissent is nothing but Faction and Humor a Spirit of Disobedience and Contradiction but nothing of Conscience whatever may be pretended as is by you sufficiently proved when you come to the pinch I do not speak this to reflect upon you but as my beloved Friends to warn you if God be God then follow him if Baal be God follow him The Case of Conscience and Matter before us will not turn colour with the Circumstances of your Condition Your Streights and Extremities do not make that lawful which your Liberty and Freedom make sinful I do not take the Case in hand to alter with our State or like a Dove's Neck to change colour according to its Site and Position The various Reflexion of Light may cause different Colours but Truth never varies its hue 't is ubique eadem and is it not an inexcusable thing to commit a deliberate sinful act meerly to secure our Stake and to preserve our worldly Interest We may hereby perhaps avoid Punishment from Men but how shall we escape God's righteous Judgments Obj. Would you then that we should never upon any occasion conform nor hold Communion with the Church Res I would never have you sin to avoid suffering and to act against the Judgment and Dictates though but of an opening Conscience is no less But perhaps I have driven this Nail too far and may become your Enemy for pressing this unpleasing Truth But if I have spoken ill bear witness against me and convince me of it let the Righteous smite me and it shall be a kindness If well Why should you be offended Ought you not to be consistant to your selves and Principles But I find some to have put a more favourable Gloss and Sense upon your occasional Conformity viz. that you do it not in opposition to your Judgments nor Dictates of your Consciences thereby to indemnifie your selves from the Penalty of the Law but that you could hold a more frequent perhaps constant Communion with the Church in her Holy Offices had you not an eminent Addiction to one sort and Aversness to aâ—â—ther sort or party of Men which seems to have as great an antipathy 〈◊〉 each other as Naturalists tells us there is in the Blood of a Bat and Swallow which will not mix tho' they be put into the same Vessel together were the inveterate Spleen and Animosities upon all accounts vented against Persons allaid I am confident there would be such Abatements on the one side and Compliances on the other that the Protestant Communion and Interest would be all of a piece and Schism no longer find a room to fix the Sole of her Foot upon But for this we must earnestly direct our Prayers to him who hath the hearts of all Men in his Hand and that turns them like the Rivers of Water to him that makes Men to be of one mind in an House It was the Observation of the Protestant Reconciler that it was
(a) Hegâ—sippus in his relation of the Life of St. James saith that he only was admitted into the Sanctuary because he was clad in Linnen but this Work is falsly ascribed to that Author Altar This is one of those Hairs which is run through the Sieve of the Reformation which * Let us hear the Opinion of that reverend and worthy Man Mr. Fox in our present case who gives us an account of one Blomfeild an Informer who threatned a good Man and Minister for not wearing a Surplice in his publick Ministration and that he would put him forth or deliver him up to the Officers as is there said Wherefore saith he 't is pity such Baits of Popery are left to the Enemies to take Christians in God take them away or ease us from them for God knoweth they be the Cause of much Blindness and Strife amongst Men So that this Rite hath been accounted an ancient Nuisance in the Church Acts and Monuments Vol. 3. p. 764. Edit 1684. hath choakt some and made others keck and strain in drinking down the sincere Milk The Reformers of our Church those Evangelical Fisher-men or rather Fishers of Men being not so stanch as other Churches who reformed from Popery though fit to knit their Net of somewhat a wider shale than they insomuch that several of the Fry spawned in Tiber have run through the Masks of it which Roman Lampreys several wise and good Men have thought to have a poysonous Sting of Superstition run through the Back of them Jewel Bishop of Salisbury had as judicious a Palate as another yet profest he found the same Flavour who in a Letter dated Febr. 8. 1566. wishes that the Vestments together with all the Remnants of Popery might be thrown out of their Churches and of the Minds of the People and laments the Queen's fixedness to them Bishop Hooper that constant Martyr refused to be consecrated Bishop unless he might be dispensed with as to the Attire viz. The white Rocket c. as Mr. Fox stiles it beseeching the King either to discharge him of his Bishoprick or else to dispense with him for such Ceremonial Orders Which the King did and wrote to the Arch-bishop Acts and Monuments p. 120 2d Vol. 3d. Vol. and indemnified him for omitting and Licensed him to let pass certain Rites and Ceremonies offensive to his Conscience Sands Arch-bishop of York gives them no better Character than what the aforesaid Bishop of Salisbury had Engraven upon them Contenditur de Vestibus Papisticis utendis vel non utendis sâ—d deus dabit his quoque finem Disputes concerning the Popish Vestments are on Foot whether they shall be used or not but God saith he will put an end to those things Zanchy also in his Epistle to Queen Elizabeth tell her That most of the Bishops had rather leave their Offices than admit of such Garments Horne Bishop of Winchester in his Letter dated 16. July 1565. writes of the Act concerning the Habits with great regret and expresses some hopes that it might be repealed next Session of Parliament if the Popish Party did not hinder it And seems to be in a doubt See Burnet's Letters containing an Account of his Observations in Switzerland c. whether he should conform himself to it or not Upon which he desires the Advice of Bullinger And in many Letters wrote on that subject it is asserted that both Cranmer and Ridley intended to procure an Act for abolishing the Habits Grindal in a Letter dated 27. August 1566. writes that all Bishops which had been beyond Sea dealt with the Queen to let the Matter of the Habits fall And must they still stand to grieve the Consciences of good Men scandalize those that are without drive out those that are within Especially considering we have a Prince that is willing to compassionate the Infirmities of the Weak and Bishops who are ready to remove the Nuisances of the Church could we but be so happy as to be delivered from the Strivings of some over-formal People who are as obstreperous for these things as the Ephesians for their Diana Whereas these Garments no more than Meats commend us to God for neither if we wear them are we the better neither if we near them not are we the worse Some stumble at these Rites of wearing Linnen Garments as supposing them originally derived and borrowed from the Customs of the Heathens Suetonius whose Priests used such a kind of Dress when they appeared before their Gods In linteâ relligiosâ veste Sacra Isidis propalam celebrate Non discolor ulli Ante aras cultus velantur Corporaline Sil. Ital. Alba decent Cererem Ovid. Evolvam busto jam numen gentibus Isin Etâ— tectam lino spargam per vulgus Osirin Juvenal calls the Priests Grex liniger And though every thing is not to be rejected which the Heathens used for then perhaps we must wear no Garments at all Yet God commanded the Jews 12 Deut. 31. Not to do so to the Lord their God that is as the Heathens did And Cajetane from thence observes that God plainly forbid them to Worship him with such Rites and Ceremonies as the Heathens worshipt their Deities His Words are Praecipitur ad literam ne colant deum similibus ritibus Ceremoniis quos servarunt Ethnici Colentes Elohe suos Others are scandalized at them because these Rites and Habits are used by the Papists or rather abused Nec cum haereticis Commune quicquam habere voluerunt Magd. Cent. 4. Cas 6. Col. As to these Arguments I shall only say Valeant in quantum valere possunt Yet sure they may have Tincture enough to colour the Requests we make to our Imposers that they would consider how they put a Stumbling-block to those that are weak that they would not use the Sword of their Authority to the wounding the Consciences of their Brethren for this is a Sin against Christ which may supersede all other Arguments that might be alledged and pleaded in redress of this Grievance hoping our Superiors are of the same Mind with St. Paul that if the Injunction of this Rite as to Habit make our Brethren to offend they would never injoin it whilst the World stands And that for the future the Righteousness of the Saints may be a sufficient Qualification for the Ministerial Office though they should appear in no other clean Linnen to worship in 19 Rev. 8. For the fine Linnen is the Righteousness of the Saints Of the Cross in Baptism II. THE Sign of the Cross in Baptism This is a Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offence A retained Rite in our Reformation from Rome which other Protestant Churches thought fit to reject as a Superstitious Ceremony and Popish unnecessary addition to the Holy Sacrament of Baptism nor were they to be blamed when the end for which the Primitive Christians in several Cases made use of it was ceased They living among those Heathens