Keyes viz. that of loosing but bind not as pronouncing absolution without injoyning of Penance The discipline of Geneva they magnifie indeed as they find it described by Bodine in his method of Histories But they distinguish not whether they mean the civil discipline which the Laws of that State inforce or that which the Power of the Keys exercised there according to Calvine doth constitute For the Civil Law of a Christian State especially no bigger then that of Geneva may settle such a discipline over the outward man as may restrain from the outward act of sin without mortifying the inward man to the inward love of God The late Usurpers Army wee have seen well disciplined against the ordinary vices of the Camp Who appearing now to have been then enemies to their Country are thereby discovered not to have followed the reward of Christiens but of Souldiers And the Laws of Christian States by the means of Christianity which they maintain may reach to the mortifying of sin and the quickning of righteousness at the heart But of themselves being Civil Laws and proposing no further reward or punishment then that good which a mans Country signifies they reach no further then the outward man for the better or for the worse Nor is it of any greater consequence to Christianity that the outward act of sin or virtue is repressed or incouraged by the rewards and penalties of Civil Laws But when the discipline of the Church takes place hee who forfeiteth his Christianity by gross sin that is notorious forfeiteth also Communion with the Church and recovereth it not till the presumption bee no less notorious that hee hath recovered his Christianity Now Communion with the Church is the consequence of our Baptisme which intitleth us to life everlasting Therefore it is not duly forfeited without forfeiting the effect of Baptisme our right to life everlasting So our right to heaven depending upon the Communion of the Church the discipline of the Church must needs reach the inward man as effectually as any outward application can reach the heart which is invisible For the presumption is grounded upon visible works of Penance the effects of that invisible disposition without which they could not bee constantly brought forth Whether or no this discipline bee visible at Geneva I will not pronounce This I undertake that comparing the Doctrine of Calvine with their Orders they need not set a value upon the Power of the Keys exercised according to his Doctrine in comparison of the same exercised according to their own Orders So that supposing not granting that the Laws of the Church of England being the Laws of the primitive Catholick Church are to bee changed for conformity with the Reformed Churches it followeth not therefore that they are to bee changed for those of the Churches reformed according to Calvine Certainly the receiving of the Communion kneeling having been one of the Orders of their Reformation from the beginning and so stifly insisted upon by them in Poland they that pretend to change the Law of England in that point for conformity with the Reformation think they have not men but beasts to deal with The Church of England in the Commination against sinners hath declared a great zeal for the renewing of that antient discipline of Penance which was in force in the primitive Church And certainly the Church of England is not the Church of England but in Name till the power of Excommunication bee restored unto it which there was not nor ever can bee sufficient cause to take from any Church But the discipline of Penance though depending upon the Power of Excommunication is as much to bee preferred bâ—â—ore it as it is more desirable to bring men to the Church then to shut them out of it If prejudice and faction have not more to do in the pretenses of this time then the truth of Christianity and zeal to advance it it is a point that cannot bee neglected in any deliberation of Reforming the Church I cannot render a more visible reason why so godly a zeal in those that first prescribed our Reformation to the restoring of Penance hath not been improved by their successors then the partialities which sprung up in it like tares in the wheat and have now prevailed to choke even the power of Excommunication wherein the being of a Church consisteth And though many sinnes of this Nation may bee alleged for the cause why God hath taken this sharp revenge upon us yet can no reason bee so proper why hee should permit the hedge of the Church to bee cast down for all Sects to devour and tread his Vinâ—yard under foot by suffering the power of Excommunication to bee taken from it as the neglect of improving it in and to the discipline of Penance True it is not only all capital but all infamous crimes whereof men are convicted by Law are thereby notorious and require this discipline no less then those which the Law of this Land punisheth not otherwise then by Penance And if the Church did make a difference among those that dye by publick Justice owning only those who approve their desire to undergo regular Penance in case they might survive then were this discipline visible no visible crime escaping it For all capitall and infamous crimes that are not actually punished with death must by that reason remain unreconciled to the Church though free of the Law till Penance bee done And seeing crimes that are not known cannot bee cured upon easier terms then those that are would not the judgement of the Law authorizing the Church in the cure of known sins move even them that believe their Christianity no further then it is authorized by Law to submit invisible sinnes to the same cure For what is it but the slighting of this cure that makes mens sinnes fester and rankle inwardly and break out into greater and greater excesses And therefore to debate of Ceremonies and words in the service and May-poles and Sabbath days journeyes not considering the Power of the Keyes upon which the Church is founded and the restoring of the same is to neglect a consumption at the heart pretending only to cure the hair or the nails Now if any of our Sects insist upon a pretense that deserves to bee insisted upon far bee it from us to cast off the consideration of it because they have unduely separated from the Church for it Our Anabaptists it is known infist upon two points The baptizing of Infants and that by sprinkling not by dipping In both they have neglected St. Peters Doctrine That Baptisme saveth us not the laying aside of the filth of our flesh but the answer of a good conscience to God For were the profession of Christianity celebrated by the Sacrâ—â—â—nt of Baptisme believed to bee that which saveth us men would not go to baptize them as not baptized who by their profession which they acknowledge by seeking the Communion of the Church are under that bond which intitleth them to the Salvation of Christians Nor can there bee any greater presumption then the voiding of Baptisme so celebrated that they expect Salvation upon other terms But in making void Baptisme ministred by sprinkling alone without dipping they neglect St. Peter again when hee maketh the Baptisme that saveth not to consist in cleansing the flesh but in a due profession of Christianity signifying this to bee the principal that onely the accessory Ceremony which it is solemnized with And therefore they are to acknowledge this difference by acknowledging Baptisme so ministred to bee good and valid not void But this being acknowledged well may they insist that it is unduely ministred For it is evident that neitheâ— the Scripture nor the practise of the whole Church can by any means allow the sprinkling of water for Baptisme though the pouring on of water in case of necessity bee allowed Nor doth the Law of the Church of England allow any more then pouring water upon a Child that is weak commanding therefore dipping otherwise And therefore this Law being much weakned by the tenderness of Mothers and Friends supposing all Infants weak which the Law supposeth not and by undue zeal for Forreign Fashions ought to bee revived and brought into use by all Ordinaries that there may remain no colour for such an offense And therefore reparation is to bee made for the sacrilege of the late Wars in destroying the Fonts of Baptisme in Churches and bringing in Christening out of Basins by force I cannot say that I have touched all that is fit to bee touched But I hope I have said nothing but that which followeth upon the ground which I have justified That which is proposed and is not so justified seems to demand the consent of those who propose it as able to hold the Church divided if they bee not contented But that calls to mind a reason on the other side that men use to get a stomack with eating in such cases The due measure is not the satisfying of mens appetites but the improvement of our common Christianity FINIS Faults Escaped thus Amended Pag. 7. line 2. mistakes Point mistakes p. 40. l. 32. none read now p. 49. l. 16. Church p. Church p. 60. l. 36. Lawes r. Land p. 79. l. 14. of the Judgement r. of Judgement p. 84. l. 34. Trihes r. Tribes p. 90. l. 10. Praedestinarians r. Praedestinatians l. 12. West p. West p. 108. l. 33. Bishop Priest and Deacon p. Bishop Priest and Deacon p. 112. l. 14. Service p. Service p. 134. l. 12. all these r. those p. 143. l. 34. he performing r. the p. p. 145. l. 15. Hierachy r. Hierarchy p. 157. l. 24. prescribled r. prescribed l. 29 30. the the Power r. the P. p. 158. l. 6. Memoral r. Memorial p. 173. l. 37. Order r. Orders p. 179. l. 29. leave r. bear p. 189. l. 31. which r. with p. 201. l. 25. Church p. Church
have not received the Order of Priesthood shall pretend to celebrate it For the Scripture interpreted by the un-interrupted practice of the Church allows no man under the Order of a Priest to celebrate the Eucharist Not as if those who call themselves Ministers did commit this Sacrilege in consecrating the Eucharist For though the name of Ministers signifies no more then Deacons and that it is truly Sacrilege for Deacons to celebrate the Eucharist Yet they whom they call Ministers if Ordained were Ordained Priests with power to celebrate the Eucharist For they call them Ministers to impose upon the World an opinion which they cannot prove by the Scripture That they are the only Ministers of the Word and Sacraments The second because they know not nor acknowledge the Consecration that is requisite to the celebration and being of this Sacrament by the same Scriptures understood according to the un-interrupted custome and practice of the Church For the whole Church of God allowing the elements consecrated to bee the Body and Bloud of Christ mystically or in the Sacrament alloweth this change to bee made by the consecration before which they were only Bread and Wine Not as if after the Consecration they were not so but because they are then become that which they were not afore to wit the Sacrament of Christs Body and Bloud or the Body and Bloud of Christ spiritually and mystically that is in the Sacrament This Consecration being exactly maintained by the Church of England they that presume to celebrate the Eucharist without acknowledging the same and pretending to destroy the Law by which it is exercised must bee presumed not to acknowledge the necessity thereof to the being of this Sacrament And therefore they and their complices in the Communion thereof to bee guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ as not distinguishing a sign of mans institution from a Sacrament of Gods appointment and Ordinance As for the Office of Preaching and Praying which they pretend to in behalf of the Church I will mark you out two monstrous Impostures in all the Sects of this time The first is this ground of the now pretended Reformation of Religion in England That the Church is not to assemble for the Service of God but when there is Preaching This seems to stand upon a very gross mistake of those passages of the Apostles writings which declare the necessary means of salvation to consist in hearing the Gospel preached As if they were meant of Sermons in the Pulpit which are onely made to those that are already Christians not of publishing the Gospel to those that knew it not afore convincing them that it is true and instructing them wherein it consists Or as if those that are already Christians wanted any thing necessary to salvation supposing them to persevere in the Christianity which they have professed Not as if their Christianity did not oblige them to hear Sermons when the authority of the Church assures them to bee without offense But because the Offices of publick Prayers and the Praises of God especially in celebrating the blessed Eucharist are the end of all that instruction in Christianity which Christians receive from the Church and therefore all Preaching subordinate to the same as the means to the End And because they may bee daily so frequented without offense and to the increase of the reverence due to Christianity as the experience of our time shows that Preaching cannot bee The second is that the first day of the week called Sunday is the Sabbath by force of the fourth Commandment A mistake so gross that it may well serve for an instance what Faction can do with men that are sober otherwise That God by commanding the Jews to keep the seventh day of the week to wit that day on which hee ended the Creation of the world and for that very reason commanding it should bee thought to command Christians to keep the first day of the week on which hee began the Creation and our Lord Christ arose from the dead That is that the same words of the same Commandment in writing should oblige Jews to rest on the Saturday which oblige Christians to rest on the Sunday is a thing which when this fit of frenzie shall bee past us will scarse bee believed that ever any man would believe True it is this first day hath been observed in and ever since the Apostles time but not by virtue of that Law which their Office was to declare expired and out of date but by the Act of their own authority whereby they gave Laws to Christs Church Let us now only compare the daily morning and evening Sacrifice of Prayer and the Praises of God established by the Order of the Church of England together with the more solemn service of Lords days and Festivals with a bare Sermon upon Sundays ushered in and out with a Prayer of every mans own conceit setting aside the Haeresie and false Doctrine the Faction and Schism the Blasphemy and Slander the ridiculous Follies which this Sermon and Prayer may and which wee have known them contain I say comparing these together the Reformation pretended is and ought to bee accounted the abomination of desolation in comparison of that Order which it destroyeth And therefore upon this account alone those who not being invested with that ordinary Power by which the Church is inabled to correct abuses in the Church shall usurp the Power of the Church to introduce this disorder are thereby Schismaticks themselves and those that acknowledge them for their Pastors complices of Schismaticks It will bee said that these Laws will bee amended as it was many times said awhile since that the Parliament would settle a Ministery To this I say that those who shall bee sent you by virtue of these Laws have every way as good authority as any the Power that made these Laws joyned with a Parliament can give to them that are not otherwise qualified by the authority of the Church That is that this Power and the power of a Parliament together though advising with Divines can do no more then this Power with advise of those Divines which it useth hath done Because both are Secular and able to make men their Ministers to maintain the Interest of that Government which their Power constituteth but not Ministers of the Church to maintain the Interest of that Faith and Service of God which it is trusted with If it bee said that in most parts of the Reformation those from whom the Ministery is propagated had not received by their Ordination Power to ordain others For answer I suppose That the abuses crept into the Church were so great that particular Churches that is part of the whole might and ought to reform themselves without consent or concurrence of the whole I suppose that though there bee in the Church a succession of persons indued with authority in behalf of it as well as of Faith and of Rules or Laws Yet the
Haeresie and Schisme to bee now meer Bug-bears to fright children with But would any of them owne any of the Sects which were shut out of the Church for Haereticks or Schismaticks from the time of our Lord till the time of Constantine for true Christians Whether they would or they would not is not considerable For if all good Christians then did then did all good Christians owne the Visible Unity of the Church And there is as great a consent of Christians in the Visible Unity of the Church as in the truth of Christianity saving this difference That all Christians good and bad true and false agree in the truth of Christianity Onely those that are neither Haereticks nor Schismaticks in the Unity of the Church Let no man mistake this evidence as if so great a truth The Unity of the Church Visible by the Lawes of it were read onely in two or three Texts of Scripture They who take upon them to argue of such matters as these ought to know that the Lawes of all Commonwealths when first they are founded are the wills of their Rulers according to that measure of Power whereby they Rule Therefore if our Lord trust his Disciples and their Successours with the Rule of his Church hee trusts them also to make Lawes for the Ruling of it Provided that they tend to inforce not to avoid those Lawes which hee in person hath left them as Christians For Disciples that is Christians hee left them actually Not actually Members of his Church as not yet actually formed though virtually founded in the Power of the Keyes which hee left his Disciples These Lawes are as Visible as the Lawes of any Kingdom or Commonwealth that is or ever was are Visible I do not owne the Popes Canon Law to have the force of obliging us For I maintain a great deal of Usurpation in the Power by which it was made as well as a great deal of abuse in making the Law given by our Lord of no effect by the matter of it But I maintain the Popes Canon Law and the same is to bee said of that Canon Law whereby the Patriarch of Constantinople now governs in the Eastern Church to bee derived from those Rules whereby the Disciples of our Lord and their Successours governed the Primitive Church in Unity And this no less evident then the Christianity of this time is to bee derived from the Christianity of that time For as the present Law of the Church is but the corruption of the Primitive no more is the present Christianity whether of the Reformation or of the Church of Rome but the corruption of the Primitive For why shall I make nice to say it pretending all Reformation to be nothing but the restoring of Primitive Christianity And to that end of such Lawes in the Church as may bee the means to restore it Among those Lawes there is one which obliging those who The Law which endoweth the Church with Consecrated goods have given up themselves to God for Christians to give up their goods to maintain the Assemblies of the Church for the Service of God wherein the Communion of the Church consisteth estateth the Power of dispensing the maintenance thereof upon the Rulers of the Church This provision how little soever notice many take of it who pretend to understand the Scriptures began first in our Lord and the Disciples that attended upon him continually For it is evident by the Gospels that those Disciples which did not attend upon him continually furnished by their contributions a stock whereupon they subsisted Judas you know was trusted with it and was the first that committed Sacrilege in robbing the poor of Church goods For the poor could not have attended upon the Doctrine of our Lord had they not been provided for by the richer of his Disciples And the goods of the Church are still the patrimony of the poor for the same reason that being provided for they may attend upon Gods service Therefore the reason was the same when the Christians at Jerusalem gave up their lands and their goods to maintain the Church in contitinual attendance upon the Service of God When the Corinthians maintained their Feasts of Love When the Christians afterwards built those Churches and laid those lands to them which Eusebius saith being pulled down and confiscated by Diocletian were restored by Constantine When Christian Kingdoms and States by a civil Law indowed the Church with Tithes and Glebes and Mansions A thing as general as Christianity no People no Country being known where the Church was ever setled without maintenance estated upon it by the Church it self at the least if not by the Law of the Country over and above The form of Government in every Commonwealth is stated How the Unity of the Church is signified by the Scriptures upon certain powers wherein Sovereignty consisteth which Lawyers and Philosophers call sometimes Jura majestatis Here you have in the Governors of the Church the power of admitting into and excluding out of the Church The power of giving Lawes to the Church The power of dispensing the Exchequer which God hath provided for the Church And in fine the power of propagating these rights to their successours Whereby it pretendeth not to bee a Commonwealth Because Christianity pretendeth to maintain Civil power and the right of this World in the same hands and upon the same terms which it findeth But it appeareth to bee a Visible Society founded by God under the name of the Catholick Church upon the command of holding communion therewith to which hee obligeth all Christians And all those Scriptures of the New Testament that mention any of these rights signifie no less when the meaning of them is measured by that Rule without which there is no means to determine the sense of any Scripture that is questionable And the same is signified by those Scriptures which mention sometimes several Churches sometimes one Church containing all Christians and all Churches For the parts that is particular Churches being Visible Bâ—dies the Whole must needs bee understood to bee a Visible Church The practice of all Christians owning an obligation in point of Right to maintain the powers which the Scriptures for the most part only mention as mater of Fact determines them to signifie more then they express As for the Scriptures of the Old Testament the calling of the How in the Old Testament Gentiles to bee one new people of God with the Jewes that should beleeve is but foretold in them by Prophesie And therefore the Visible Unity of the Church consisting of them cannot bee otherwise declared in them then by that correspondence in which the Church answereth the antient people of God The Unity thereof was the Unity of a Commonwealth maintaining it self by force of Armes in the possession of the Land of promise in which God had placed them upon condition to live by his Law The Unity of the Church consisting
will bee condemned for it There is therefore a third signification of Faith in holy Scripture comprizing the outward act of professing as well as the inward act of beleeving And supposing this outward act of profession limited by the positive Law of the Gospel to the Sacrament of Baptism According to which signification the antient Church counted not Christians Fideles faithful or beleevers till they were baptized This is in the middle between the other two For as belief goes before it so it is the ground of the trust and confidence of a Christian And this therefore is that which all those Scriptures that ascribe the promises of the Gospel to Faith make properly justifying Faith For according to the use and custom of all Languages they are ascribed to belief bya Metonymy of the cause going before to trust and confidence by a Metonymy of the effect following upon it But this will not hold till we pitch upon that which comes between both as that which qualifieth a Christian for those premises When therefore the belief of Christs Gospel causes a man to take up Christs Cross in Baptisme then hath he that Faith which justifieth though that which prepares to it and that which insues upon it are honoured with the same attribute for being so neer of kindred to it But the consideration of the question which St. Paul disputeth So doth the State of that question which St. Paul disputeth visible in the writings of the Apostles suffereth no doubt of his meaning when hee argueth that Faith alone justifieth It is as clear as the Sun at noon that all his Dispute is with those Christians who having submitted to the Gospel could not conceive that the Law had no hand in justifying them whom they saw live according to the Law And that by the direction of that Apostles themselves for the gaining of the Jews A thing which they dispensed with for a long time till St. Paul was constrained to declare against it as rooting up the necessity of Christianity and salvation by it alone That this is the state of the Question all the New Testament after the Gospels is witness And therefore to be justified by Faith alone is with St. Paul to bee justified by Christianity alone And whereas they were all assured that salvation was to bee had under the Law he shews every where that the Fathers who were justified before or under the Law were not justified by the Law but by the Gospel that was vailed under it notas Jews but as Christians And therefore that the Gentiles which turned Christians were saved by the same Grace as beleeving Jews For as no works which they were able to do by the light and strength of Nature were able to bring those that were without the Law to the state of Gods Grace no more could the outward observation of Moses Law by those works which meer nature was able to produce as tending no further then the temporal reward of the Laws of Canaan expresly promised by Moses Law render men acceptable to God for the reward which Christians expect in the world to come But by Hegâ—sippus in Eusebius wee understand that the Gnosticks teaching that the bare profession of Christianity without bearing the Cross for the performing of it was enough to save those that should attain to the secrets which they taught debauched and deflowred the Church of Jerusalem as soon as St. James was dead And therefore seeing that could not bee done in a moment wee have cause to think that they went to work in his life time The consideration whereof shews that St. James in arguing that a Christian is justified by works and not by Faith alone intended to teach that the profession of Christianity justifieth not when it is not performed And therefore St. Paul intended the same in arguing that a Christian is justified by Faith alone without the works of the Law To wit that hee is justified by professing Christianity so cordially and with so good a conscience as to perform it And for this sense of the Scriptures there is as current and as The consent of the Church herein with the ground of it general a consent of all the whole Church as for Christianity it self the life and soul whereof standeth in it Shew me any Author approved in the Church that ever allowed salvation without Baptisme when it could bee had when it could not the profession of him that desiveth it is as clear as if his flesh were cleansed that compriseth not the taking up of Christs Cross by professing Christianity in the nature and virtue of justifying Faith that opposeth that Faith which alone justifieth to any other works then those of Moses Law But there is no such thing to bee shewed This is every where to bee shewed in all writings any way allowed by the Church that the justification of a Christian dependeth upon the performance of that which hee professeth And the Promises of the Gospel which hee attaineth by undertaking to live as a Christian upon the good works whereby hee performeth the same And the honour of Christianity cannot stand otherwise There is no sin which it cleanseth not The reason is because there is no righteousness to which it obligeth not Hee who beleeveth that our Lord Christ tendereth salvation upon condition of beleeving and living as a Christian cannot expect that which hee tendereth without returning that which hee requireth But hee that is overtaken in sin by this Faith can do no more for the present then undertake so to beleeve and so to live for the future Thereby hee undertakes all righteousness for the future And by undertaking â—â— is translated from the state of damnation for sin to the state of salvation by grace Which if hee attain without undertaking if hee retain without performing then doth not Gods glory appeaâ— by his Gospel But there is no thing so particular to this purpose as those sayings whereby the Fathers declare that a Christian is justified by Faith alone in case he dye upon his Baptisme If he survive then that hee is justified by the works whereby his profession is performed Of which sayings having produced a considerable number I am by them to measure the meaning of all the rest of their writings The Articles of this Church setting forth justification by The sense of this Church Faith alone for a most wholsome Doctrine and full of comfort for the sense of it refer us to the Homily upon that subject I will not say that my Position is laid down in that Homily For there are many Passages of it which shew them that penned it no way clear in that point Yet there are divers sentences of the Fathers alleged in it which cannot bee understood to other purpose and other passages well agreeing with it But in the Church Catechisme and in the Office of Baptisme it is so clearly laid down as will serve for ever to silence any other sense And
them as Scripture The order for reading the Scripture appears necessary by the Of reading the Scriptures commonly called Apocryphâ— jealousies of this time For were it arbitrary how obvious would it bee to deprave publick or private proceedings by Lessons chosen on purpose That the Books called Apocrypha are not the Writings of Prophets inspired is agreed Though those Writings are properly called Apocrypha which the Church authorizeth not to bee read Whereas these being always read in the Church are therefore properly called Ecclesiastical by Rufinus The chief objections against them resolve into some passages that seem not to agree with the Doctrine of the New Testament But so that the like are found in the Old The Fact of Razias the Proceeding of Judith the Lye of Tobits Angel are the greatest blocks of offense Not considering the Fact of Jael or that of Sampson or the Lyes that seem to bee rewarded under the Law If offense bee taken at them why not at these But it is no offense to good Christians because good Christians do not presume the Law and the Gospel to bee both one And therefore are content to know their duty under the Gospel letting that which agreeth not therewith in the Old Testament pass without offense In the mean time it is evident that the Doctrine of Christianity beginneth to bee discovered in them more clearly then it stands discovered in the Law and the Prophets Hereupon the Wisdom of the Primitive Church imployed them for the instruction of the Catâ—câ—umeni that were yet but learners of Christianiny And therefore wee are to insist upon the use of them for edification of the Church in the better understanding of the manners and good works of Christians much abased by those who would put these Books to silence But the whole Church having always used them to lay them aside now were not to restore the Church but to build a new one As concerning the necessity of preaching so effectually set What Preaching it is that the Scripture câ—mmendeth forth by the Scriptures there is utterly a mistake in the meaning of them That preaching which the Scripture maketh absolutely necessary to salvation is the publishing of the Gospel to those that know it not The instruction of Christians in their duty is called teaching in the Scripture I have made evidence of this difference The Apostles Commission is to teach them whom they have baptized all that the Lord had commanded them The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power But if wee call the teaching of Christians preaching then it must bee such for mater and for manner both as may indeed convict Christians of the duty of Christians and that not in the opinion of him that preacheth but according to the Doctrine of the Church Whosoever thinketh himself tâ—ed to Preach that which the Church tyes him not to Preach not tyed to Preach that which it tyeth him to preach is in a fair way to edifie the people to ruine by improving an undue zeal to the dividing of the Church In the mean time the Church preacheth without Sermons by There may bee Preaching without Sermons and Sermons without Preaching the Psalms and the Scriptures and by that order in which it provideth that they bee read Besides all those Forms in which it prescribeth the Offices of Gods Service to bee performed Which if they contain all that is necessary generally and probably to the salvation of all Christians supposing them duly Catechized in those things which the salvation of all and which their particular estate requires they that never heard many Sermons may have heard more and better preaching then hundreds and thousands of Sermons dangerous if not destructive to salvation a thing which experience proves more then possible can furnish them who shall do nothing but run from Sermons to Sermons I grant it was a just complaint at the Reformation that the people were not taught their duty But I do not grant either that they cannot bee taught their duty without two Sermons every Lords day Or that they are like to bee taught their duty by two Sermons every Lords day It is not possible to have men for all Churches fit to preach twice a day to the edifying of the people It will not bee possible to maintain their preaching such as may bee accompted an Office of Gods service In the antient Church for divers hundred years all that The difference between the second Service in the antient Church and our Communion Service were admitted to stay all this while that is till the Sermon were done were not to bee present at the Eucharist were not to communicate As Converts not baptized as the relapsed as the possessed by unclean spirits in which ranck the Lunaticke the Epilepticke the Frantick were accounted And reason good for they were not to communicate at least till death And yet they were not to bee dismissed without the prayers of the Church Prayers fitting their several estates for their proficience or for their recovery that they might come to communicate I will not here undertake that all which remained did always communicate though I doubt not I may undertake that the rule of the Church required them always to communicate For when the world was come in to the Church the Rule that prevailed in time of persecution there is no marvel that it could not then prevail By St. Chrysostome alone it appears sufficiently that the Rule was well enough known but not in force even in his time So when they that might not communicate were dismissed they that would not communicate remained nevertheless For the Eucharist was not to bee set aside for their negligence This is the difference between the first and second Service which is not the same with our Communion Service For the first Service ended when the prayers of the Church began Our Communion Service is that which is properly called the Liturgy in Greek Namely the Office which the Eucharist is to bee celebrated with That which goes before the Offertory belongs not properly to the second Service according to the Primitive Form For the presenting of the Elements was always every where the beginning of it The prayers of the Church began with Thanksgiving to God The General Preface and the Prayers of the Church at the Eucharist for making man and setting him over the creatures for taking care of him after his Fall teaching the Patriarches giving the Law sending the Prophets and when all this did not the effect required for sending our Lord Christ From this Thanksgiving both the Action of the Sacrament and the consecrated Elements are still called the Eucharist And it is called a Preface in a very antient African Canon to wit to the consecration of the Elements which followed Which as I said before is nothing else but a prayer that God would send the Holy Ghost upon the present Elements and make them the Body and Blood of Christ that
necessary in Gods Service What kinde of signification requisite Not enough for the Presbyterians to allow Ceremonies THe determining of times and places and persons by The Lords Day observed by the authority of the Church which and at which of the Circumstances and Ceremonies of the Form and order according to which the service of God is to be celebrated is the Office and therefore is within the power of the Church The substance of Christianity wherein salvation consisteth was determined by our Lord in person to his Apostles That which hee trusted them with was the regulating of his Church supposing the same Christianity that God might bee served by the Assemblies of such as might appear to profess it That which he trusted the Apostles with the Church remains of necessity trusted with by the Apostles saving the personal Gift of the Holy Ghost in the Apostles rendring their Acts blameless in that estate for which they were made though not sufficient for all estates of the Church Otherwise the power of the whole Church is the power of the Apostles and obligeth the parts of the Church not to transgress the Acts of it Because the Unity of the Church is equally concerned in them and the substance of Christianity in neither of both This discovereth the Superstition of that Imposture which is pretended by deriving the Obligation of the Lords Day from the Jewish Sabbath For what reason can endure that the Church should bee bound to keep the first day of the week by that Precept which tyed the Synagogue to keep the last day of the week Seeing then the Obligation of it is to bee derived from the Act of the Apostles that is from the power of the Church For being once received by the whole Church it is for ever received to the same effect if the premises bee true it is the same Obligation that tyes all to observe the times appointed for the service of God by the Church whether Fasting days or Festivals The Example of the Primitive Christians at Jerusalem justifieth St. Hierome and others of the Fathers affirming that the Church should and would serve God continually in publick could the business of the world stand with it And therefore that order is to bee accounted most Christian that provides most opportunity for frequenting the publick service of God If this were considered it would appear a meer Imposture Therefore other Festivals and times of Fasting are to bee observed to demand that the Lords day bee celebrated with Sermons morning and evening and arbitrary prayers to usher them in and out treading underfeet all other times set apart by the whole Church for the service of God by such Offices as it enjoyneth If wee weigh by our own Weights and mete by our own Measures not only the mysteries of our Lords dispensatiâ—n in the Flesh but the memories of his Apostles and Saints not only the time of Lenâ— and the Wednesdays and Fridays But the time of Advent the Evens of Festivals the Ember and Râ—gation dayes once appointed to that purpose must still bee solemnized for the Festivals and Fasts of Gods Church To set a peculiar mark upon the Lords Day as if the time of it were more obliging then other time that is appointed to the same purpose is to change the day but to retain the Jews Superstition as Calvin most truely hath told them who in other things commit Idolatry to his Opinion But wherein he follows the whole Church in this point and in the state of souls before the Resurrection bid him farewell The Case is the same in the qualities of places as well as of How places and persons become qualified for Gods Service Preaching not convertible with ministring the Sacraments persons For the exercise of Christianity by the Law of this Kingdom there must bee places where all must meet they must bee limitted by the authority of the Church they must not bee balked for other places of mens private choise but by those that are willing to bee charged with Schisme for doing it They that quarrel the Bishops power in all other things must call this also in question when they mean to weigh by their own Weights and mete by their own Measures They are very studious to confound the difference between Priests and Deacons by having all called Ministers being a Term that may serve all Orders ministring those Offices which the Church enableth them to minister But they who would impose this sense upon the stile of Ministers of Gods Word and Sacraments that all and no other but they who are ordained to Preach are ordained also to Baptize and celebrate the Eucharist must bee told that this is an Imposture till they shew better reason for it then hitherto hath been shewed For I conceive I have shewed sufficient reason that the power of celebrating the Eucharist is convertible with the power of the Keys qualifying all Christians for the Eucharist which in the Bishop onely extendeth to publick causes concerning his whole Church or Diocese But in all Presbyters to private Causes wherein it may bee questionable between God and the Conscience whether a Christian bee qualified for the Eucharist or not As for the Sacrament of Baptisme that as the Bishop only allows it in any case that may bee questionable so the ministring of it may come to a Deacon in the Priests absence nay to a Lay-man rather then that any Child should dye unbaptized Neither is the Office of preaching restrained either to Priests or Deacons alone by any other authority then that of Gods whole Church Which being once passed in the Case by the general Custom and Practice of it it must bee the greatest Sacrilege in the World that is the Sacrilege of Schisme to transgress it The respect due to the memories of the Apostles and other Times places persons and things consecrated to Gods Service under the Gospel Saints and Martyrs of Christ is a reason sufficient to determine the time and place for the service of God To question that they are not just occasions for the consecrating of Festivals and of Churches to the service of God in honour of their memories is a just presumption that men seek to bee saved by some other Christianity then that which their Doctrine and their Blood planted But their names and the Festivals and the Churches that bear their names are but circumstances determining that service to bee acceptable to God which is performed in the Unity of his Church the authority whereof assigneth them to that purpose No more are the Utensils and Ornaments of Churches the Vessels in which the Sacraments are celebrated But they who think it Superstition that these things should bee set apart from Vulgar use and reserved only for Gods service plainly commit Idolatry to their own Imaginations in it For it is manifest that Consecration was in force not only by the Law of Moses but before it under the Law of nature as the
with judgement as well as with truth and righteousness Wee have this evidence for that which I say that the authorities of those Divines of this Church that have declared the sense of the Oath of Supremacy with publick allowance are now alleged by the Papists themselves to infer that the mater of it is lawful as capable of the sense which they declare Now the bounds of Reformation being visible by the Faith The extent of Secular Power in Reforming the Church and the Laws of the Catholique Church the extent of Secular power in Ecclesiastical maters and over Ecclesiastical persons and therefore in the reforming of them preserving Ecclesiastical power in persons that have it by the founding of the Church from God cannot remain invisible For in the first place there can bee no question That the Sovereign as a Sovereign is to maintain his own Rights by such means as hee finds meet against all Usurpations under pretense of the Church and the authority of it For the common Christianity assureth him that all such Usurpations are contrary to it And besides as a Christian Sovereign it is his Inheritance to bee a Member of the Church and a Protector of all his Subjects in the same right Therefore all Christian Sovereigns are born Advocates and Patrons of the Faith and of the Rights of the Whole Church And if by lapse of time they bee gone to decay if by any express Act they have been infringed it lyes in them to restore their Subjects and themselves to those Rights being brought into evidence by the authority and crâ—dit of the whole Church But seeing the determining of the mater of Ecclesiastical Law as well as of Controversies of Faith belongs to those that have authority in the Church by the foundation of it Of necessity the fitting of the present Laws of every Church to those which the whole Church hath been ruled by from the beginning as the difference which may appear in the State of those bodies to which they were given shall require will by vertue of Gods Law belong to those that have such authority by the Foundation of the Church And upon these terms the right of Secular power in Church maters is accumulative and not destructive to the Rights of the Church And upon these terms only the Sovereign is justifiable at the great Day of Judgment in things that may bee done amiss in reforming the Church CHAP. XXI The pretense of Infallibility makes the breach unreconcileable So doth the pretense of perspicuity in the Scripture The Trial must suppose the Catholick Church The Fanatickes further from the truth of Christianity then the Church of Rome The consequence of their principle worse then that of Infallibility The point of Truth in the middle between both How salvation is concerned in the mater of Free Will and Grace Salvation concerned in the Sacraments upon the same terms The abuses of the Church of Rome in the five Sacraments The Grace of Ordination The Reformation pretended no less abuse on the other side The point of Reformation in the mean between both The Superstitions of the Church of Rome The Superstitions of the Puritans Why the Pope cannot bee Antichrist How it is just to Reform without the See of Rome ANd upon Supposition of the premises for which I conceive The pretense of Infallibility makes the breach unreconcileable I have produced competent evidence I proceed to take the Balance in hand and to put the Extreams into the Scales that I may put it to the conscience of all that are resolved to prefer truth before Faction or prejudice where the point of Reformation lyes upon terms of right And how neer the publique Powers of this Kingdom are bound to come to it in this Case when an Uniformity in Religion is to bee setled by Law for the Church of England In the first place then the Infallibility of the present Church is to bee held â—or an Errour of pernicious consequence in the Church of Rome For it submits all the parts of Christianity to the passion and interest of persons that shall bee for the present in power to sway those maters wherein the whole Church is concerned It is a thing manifest in the world that though that which concerns all in point of Religion is to bee treated by all yet that which is treated by all is concluded always by the authority of a few So things passed when Councils were frequented The Freedom of Councils being interrupted and the present Church accepted for Infallible the See of Rome will of necessity bee the present Church And the passions and interests thereof will have as much power in maters of Religion as those passions and interests can allow and stand with What the effect thereof may bee I need not argue to those that profess the Reformation upon that account Only thus far they may seem excusable that there is no Act with force of Law tying all of that profession to maintain it Infallibility may bee claimed for the whole Church And that is true And it may bee claimed for the present Church which is false They that pretend to reduce us to the Church of Rome would spoil their own market if they should distinguish thus Therefore they plead Infallibility without distinguishing On the other side there is as much difference between the So doth the pretense of perspicuity in the Scripture sufficiency of the Scripture for the salvation of all and the clear evidence of all that is necessary to bee known for the salvation of all to all in the Scriptures The one is as true and the other as false as the Infallibility of the present Church is false and the Infallibility of the whole Church is true And to appeal to the Scriptures alone when the sense of them only is questionable is to declare that wee will submit to no other trial but our own sense As they who declare the present Church infallible can never depart from any thing which once it hath declared For it is manifest that they who appeal to the Scriptures The Trial must suppose the Catholick Church alone having before this appeal declared themselves in the points of difference between the Reformation and the Church of Rome do declare themselves tyed in conscience to stand to that sense of the Scripture upon which they ground their opinion in the maters of difference What means then can remain to bring that to a Trial which causes division upon these terms but to acknowledge one Catholick Church which our Creed professeth And by consequence to submit our sense of all Scripture that remains in question all difference in Doctrine all Laws of the Church to bee determined according to the sense and practice of the whole Church that is within the bounds of it For to proceed to divide the Church still into more and more parties and Communions till wee have lost the sense of any obligation to hold communion with
the whole Church is more destructive to the substance of Christianity then all that corruption which the Reformation pretendeth to cure But to confining our sense of the Scripture our opinions in mater of Doctrine and the Laws which wee demand within that which the Faith and the Laws of the whole Church may appear to require wee are half the way onward to the point of Reformation having the ground and the reason and therefore the measure and the terms of it The mistake of the Schools and of the Council of Trent after The Fanaticks further from the truth of Christianity then the Church of Rome the Schools in the nature of Justification and the effect of infused righteousness to which they ascribe it is no way destructive to Christianity No more is the opinion of satisfaction and merit in the good works of Christians so long as it is grounded upon Gods promise which they that inflame that opinion to the highest in the Church of Rome must acknowledg to come into consideration whether they will or not As for the merit of Grace by the works which a natural man is able to do commonly called meritum congrui as that which is fit for God to give though not for the worth of the works It is indeed an Errour of greater danger but never was general in the School and now generally disallowed so far it was always from being enjoyned by the Church But what is this in comparison of that furious Doctrine that the assurance of a mans Predestination is justifying Faith In which the opinion of absolute Predestination to Glory and of Gods predetermining a man to do all that hee doth is twisted together with an Enthusiasme that wee are justified and made the children of God by being assured hereof by his Spirit Not supposing any condition of Christianity in consideration of which it is had and by the knowledg whereof it is assured us For they that believe that Gods predetermination is the reason and the ground of freedom in mans Will and of contingence in the effects of it supposing freedom and contingence do thereby bar the ill consequence of their own mistake But hee that can think himself assured of that which the Gospel promiseth not being assured that hee performeth the Christianity which by his Baptisme hee undertaketh why should hee hold himself tied why should hee study and endeavour himself to perform it Nay holding his Christianity and the Scriptures which The consequence of their principle worse then that of Infallibility teach it by the same dictate of the Spirit which assures his salvation upon those terms why should hee not hold that which Christianity and the Scriptures teach not with the same devotion and assurance which he accepteth the Scriptures and his Christianity with Why should hee not with the Gnostickes and Mahomet and the Mannichees place his salvation in that which the Spirit teacheth him beside and above the Scriptures allowing Christianity for proficients The same consequence takes hold in some measure of those who believe the Infallibility of the present Church For making the sentence thereof the only reason of believing they tye themselves to accept whatsoever it shall decree for mater of Faith and therefore concerning their salvation as much as it concerns their salvation to believe the holy Trinity Indeed there is not so much danger for them For the persons on whom they repose themselves for the Church being persons of that interest in the World which cannot stand with the open corrupting of Christianity The fear is that they may authorize those corruptions which the coming of the World into the Church shall make popular Not that they shall think it for their interest to change that which it is not popular to change In the mean time having shewed the point of Reformation The point of Truth in the middle between both by shewing the point of truth whereby all that the Reformation disputes with the Church of Rome is cleared namely that that Faith which moveth to undertake Baptism is the Faith which alone justifieth I have shewed withal that the express profession hereof is that which must clear us from all impuâ—ation of the Schism with the Church of Rome and of compliance with any Fanaticks that have taught the opposite Haeresie being by such profession excluded from all liberty of teaching it for the future They who take justifying Faith to bee Confidence in God through our Lord Christ do commit the mistake which I have shewed And if they go farther to think that by being assured of Gods Grace they can never dye cut of that estate they may indeed think themselves tyed to return to God by Repentance But may they not easily bee deluded to neglect it thinking themselves certain before hand that they shall do it Which if it bee considered the danger of the mistake will appear no less then that which the Doctrine of the Council of Trent threatneth As for the Question between mans free Will and Gods Praedestination How Salvation is concerned in the matter of Free Will and Grace and Grace taking it by it self as not complicated and twisted with the other concerning justifying Faith the difficulty of it being so great as it is the true resolution of it which is the reconcilement of Grace with free Will can by no means seem to concern the substance of Faith necessary to bee held for the Salvation of all Christians But the denying either of mans free Will or Gods free Grace may and certainly doth concern it And therefore the second Council of Orange having determined as well that no man is appointed by God to death and therefore to sin as that whosoever perseveres until Death is appointed by God unto effectual Grace there appears no necessity why the Church should run any hazard of division by decreeâ—ng farther in the Point which wee see come to pass in the United Provinces having that decree received of old by the Western Church to settle the bounds of necessary Truth Nor is there any other means of settle the necessity of Baptism Salvation concerned in the Sacramentâ— â—pon the same terms and of the Holy Eucharist but the profession of this truth for the sense of our Creed in the Article of one Baptism for the remission of sâ—ns the neglect whereof hath occasioned not only the Sects of our Anabaptists Qâ—akers and other Enthusiasts and Fanaticks but hath given Sâ—cinus ground enough to count Baptism indifferent And some of our Fanaticks to think it a meer mistake that any man was ever baptized with water to make him a Christian since the ceasing of Moses Law and Johns Baptism As for the Sacrament of the Eucharist that which concerneth Salvation in it is manifest admitting the Premises Namely that they who make good or revive the Covenant of their Baptism in receiving it shall receive the body and blood of Christ and by consequence his Spirit hypostatically united to the
would bee were the Pope Antichrist and the Papistâ— Idolaters Though to those that believe them so because they believe them so the measure and the bounds of Reformation will never appear to stand where indeed they do But let them look to the consequence of their own imaginations This one must needs render them Schismaticks to God abhorring communion upon imaginary reasons But will render us with them Schismaticks both to God and to his Church if wee make all that to bee Reformation which their imaginations tainted with such a prejudice would have to bee Law to this Church and Kingdom CHAP. XXII The present State of the Question concerning our Service The Reformation pretended abominable Such Preaching and Praying as is usual a hindrance of salvation rather then the means to it What Order of Service the continual Communion will require What form of Instruction this Order will require Of that which goes before the Preface in our Communion Service Of the Prefaces and the Prayer of Consecration Of the Prayer of Oblation and the place of it Of the Commemoration of the dead in particular Why the Communion Service at the Communion Table when no Eucharist A secondary Proposition according to present Law I conceive I have by this time shewed a reason for that The present state of the Question concerning our Service which I said in the beginning that there is so much in question between us and the Puritans comprising in that name all the parties into which it stands now divided as if it were decided for them would give the Papists the advantage against the Protestants Now as for the great question amongst us concerning our Service if it were truly stated it would soon be at an end If it may bee once considered that the question is indeed and in truth whether Sermons shall drive the Communion out of the Church or not whether or no arbitrary Prayers in the Pulpit shall chase out of the Church those which St. Paul commanded to bee made and the Church by his command hath frequented ever since I conceive the Dispute would bee easily decided And that is the thing in question indeed and in effect how little soever it appear Certainly if there were never any common Prayers made in the Pulpit if there were always common Prayers made at the Altar they who had no common Prayers but at the Eucharist had the Eucharist as oft as they had common Prayers Not as if the Church did never assemble but when the Eucharist was celebrated But because their desire and endeavour was to celebrate the Eucharist once every day and that in the morning unless it were a Fast and always at dismissing the Assembly as the principal Office of it For hence the Eucharist came in time to bee called the Mass which had formerly been the name of the Assembly it self from the dismissing of it And they who endeavoured to celebrate the Eucharist every day were not like to let Lords days and Festivals pass or think them solemnized as they should bee by Christians without it Since therefore I claim that this came by Tradition of the The Reformation pretended abominable Church from St. Pauls order I will infer no less then I have proved That to change the Communion every Lords day and Festival together with Morning and Evening Prayer every day in the Church and that with the Litanies upon Wednesdays and Fridays which the Law of the Land hitherto requireth for two Sermons every Sabbath with arbitrary Prayers afore or after them would not bee Reformation but Apostasie For it is manifest that at the Reformation the Eucharist was in possession in all Churches though the Communion had been surceased Nor was it ever excepted that the frequenting hereof had in it any colour of abuse or abatement to that very Christianiâ—y which wee receive from our Lord and his Apostles The abuse was in private Masses It was also a just complaint that the people were not taught their duty out of the Holy Scriptures and that the instructing of them by preaching was neglected beyond all reason and conscience But was it ever pretended that the reforming of the abuse in private Masses consisteth in two Sermons a Sabbath for wee must speak like Jews if wee will not offend tender consciences with the Prayers of the people such as the Minister shall please before or after it which is the Reformation now pretended Had it been said that this is Reformation when abuses were so visible that the name of Reformation was popular it had been easily answered that this were to bring the chief Office of Christianity to little or nothing And therefore if this bee the form that was called Reformation in some places it must bee said that it was easieâ— to see what ought not to bee then to settle what should bee But for a Christian Kingdom having upon deliberation setled an order whereby the Eucharist is to bee celebrated all Lords days and Festivals for Reformations sake to leave Ministers of tender consciences free not to celebrate it above thrice a year and that having a competent number to communicate which may bee not once in seven years as now is demanded I hope it shall never bee said in the streets of Gath that it past undetested It is necessary for him that is come to the state of salvation Such Preaching and Praying as is usual a hindrance of salvation rather then the means to it as a Christian to learn how hee is to live as a Christian and to grow every day in the knowledg of his duty that hee may discharge it But shall hee bee able to do this by hearing two Sermons every Sabbath and as many more as if hee did nothing else Or may hee not bee able without it Certainly that which their Preachers now do is so far from being necessary that it is no fit means to the salvation of the generality of Gods people They may easily make it a trade never to fail to while out an hour or two in the Pulpit in discoursing the meaning of their text in framing Doctrines out of it and proofs of those Doctrines more plentiful a great deal when they are so manifest that they need not then when they are so obscure that they cannot bee proved to the generality of Christians and upon these Doctrines and Proofs Exhortations Invectives Instructions Reproofs such as the driving of Faction shall require and yeâ— hee that would learn his duty shall bee as far to seek after many thousands of such Sermons as afore And yet it shall bee an act of no less charity to Preach a Sermon of Christian instruction and exhortation in and to the known duties of all or the generality of Christians then it hath always been reputed by Gods Church But let not a man therefore think if hee have any doubt in some difficult point of Doctrine in some nice case of Conscience in the meaning of some leading text of
to lay aside the thought of it so long as there appears any means of proceeding to it Now it seemeth manifest to common reason that there can bee no such opportunity for improving the Laws of the Kingdom by which Religion is to bee established as while the minds of men after the breaches which wee have seen remain unsetled to any Order in Church maters For before the breach there is appearance enough that all means of doing this were studiously obstructed by the Puritan party in Parliament And it will appear if it bee well considered that this is it that made it popular having always just cause of complaint which can never bee wanting in any Civil Laws And therefore not in those Civil Laws whereby Religion is setled but always pretending an unjust way of redressing the same But there is a greater reason for us to think that the Church The restoring of the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land is not the restoring of the Church of England will not bee restored by the restoring of those Civil Laws of the Land which gave force to the Order of it After those manifest and notorious breaches which wee have seen in it For it is visible that it is the Secular power only that is acknowledged by those that return from their Schisme and conform themselves to the Ecclesiastical Laws which it inforceth in consideration of the temporal reward or punishment which they are inacted with It is now found to bee the sin of Superiors when such things are imposed upon tender consciences as they are offended at Not the sin of them who conform themselves to that which is enjoyned And all that hath been pretended for a change in the Laws seems now to bee made a meer Office of Charity to the Kingdom That it might not sin in imposing upon tender consciences that which they were offended at who are safe enough from sinning all the while that they submit to it In like manner they who to bee capable of Benefices get to bee Ordained anew because the Ordination was void which they had from those who had nothing to do to give it do profess openly enough that they do it not because they thought their void Orders defective but to obtain the privileges which the Law of the Land annexeth to that Ordination which it protecteth At which rate the Oath of Canonical Obedience it self will tye them in conscience only to themselves That is to avoid those temporal penalties which the Law punisheth disobeying the Ordinary with In the mean time the Fanaticks are owned by them upon all occasions And not only the Schisme of the Congregations is passed over for a weakness of tender consciences but that damnable error of assurance of salvation without assurance of Christianity the fry that hath spawned all the Congregations of Enthusiasts and Fanaticks must go for a frailty of the Godly in professing the true consequence of common Principles And seeing all severity of Penalties which may restrain the License of such Conventicles must needs insinuate an invitation of returning to Communion with the Church for those who would avoid them It is much to bee considered that they who shall return without disowning their Schisme which is of it self always notorious Or the perverse doctrines which have been notoriously owned for the ground of it do manifestly bring with them their profession into the Church For returning only that they may avoid the temporal Penalties which it inferreth they are at liberty in point of reputation as well as of conscience to practice the Maxime which Michiavel teacheth to make themselves of that party which they intend to overthrow as not having engaged with the Church upon profession of conscience It is not for nothing that the Rules of the Church from the beginning have made them Haereticks and Schismaticks as to the Church that communicate with Haereticks and Schismaticks It is not for nothing that they admit them not to return without disowning their Schismes or their Haeresies It is not for nothing that they admit not the Clergy that have been involved in them in their own Orders But render them incapable of that trust for the future The reason for all is the same The profession of the mouth intitleth to the visible privilege of the Church in communion with it the sincerity thereof in the heart to the invisible privilege of Christianity with God And though there bee great reason to hope that communion with the Church and the daily use of it may bee a mean to restore the heart into a right relish of that which the distance that hath been causeth men to distaste beyond measure yet is there nothing but the solemnity of profession to render such a change visible And therefore it will not serve to justifie the common cause till time render the effect notorious In the mean time the reason of the distance which wee hold Yet are wee not therefore chargeable with Schism by the Church of Rome with the Church of Rome remains the same and therefore the measure of it The abuses which created the necessity for parts of the Church to Reforme themselves without the Whole remain the same Only wee are left without hope of amendment seeing the Council of Trent received without it So no terms of reconcilement but those of conquest which how should this Church and Kingdom bee obliged to accept of to the betraying of all the souls which must needs perish by those abuses And therefore allowing the due value of that sin which Schisme signifieth in the party that causeth it wee shall not need to fear the charge of it though both parties are visibly in the state of it For the Unity of the Church being next in consideration and weight to the substance of Christianity which the being of the Church presupposeth The Faith which only justifieth is seen in making good that profession which intitleth us to bee members of the Church But that Charity whereby that Faith is brought into effect is seen in the first place in maintaining the Unity thereof Which a private Christian maintaineth onely by continuing a member of it So a Christian as a Christian fails of his salvation by failing of that which a Christian professeth as a Christian But a Christian as a member of the Church fails of his salvation by failing of that which a Christian professeth as a member of the Church namely by forsaking the Unity of the Church But a man cannot seem to forsake the Unity of the Church by pursuing the integrity of that Christianity upon which it is founded If the corruption thereof bee so great as may seem to render the communion thereof ineffectual to the salvation of them that use it it will bee Charity to joyn for the restoring of it to so good an effect though a breach succeed by the misunderstanding of those who refuse to joyn for that purpose Though divers mistakes bee committed in a work of so great
if hee refuse it The Curate indeed stands excused by the Law as to his Superiours and to the Church But what will the Law what will the Church what will the Curate say for themselves at the great judgement of God if it appear that a soul perishes by this defect in the Law according to the which hee ministers his Office And a Recusant in this case may say with truth that those abuses which I have taxed the Church of Rome for allowing it commandeth not That hee may possibly meet with one that is not tainted with those novelties of Doctrine But will deal faithfully with his soul in that exigent And therefore may hope that he sinneth not in continuing a Recusant out of hope for that help in this point which hee cannot expect by conforming And therefore that his sin not being visible to him in this point the penalties of Recusancy at least in this regard are inflicted without cause A Supplication for a full debate of all maters in difference Had I not proceeded thus far in setting forth what the justifying of the Reformation which wee profess will require I had not set forth the ground of that most humble supplication which I advance upon it together with a most earnest adjuration if it bee lawful for Inferiors in any case possible to adjure their Superiors to and of all Estates whom the forming of the Laws of Religion in this Kingdom may any way concern by the bowels of Gods mercies in Christ by the bitter passion of his Cross by the merit of his sufferings by that â—hope of salvation which they furnish all Christians with And if the good of this World bee of any consideration after so high concernments by the hope of his Majesties long and prosperous Reign over us by the blessing of his return by the peace which wee enjoy through the same not to think the restoring of Religion by the Laws of this Kingdom the work of one sitting of Parliament or Synod Not to think that a work of that consequence and difficulty can bee concluded and made up by any Laws that may presently bee provided by any humane wisdom Not to think the Laws presently provided so fixed for eternity that further endeavours for the perfecting of so great a work should bee thought derogatory to the authority of Law In fine according to that which I said in the beginning to think the Laws that may presently bee provided ambulatory and provisional till all possible means shall have been tried to put so great a work beyond all imputation of any visible offense Not thinking any pains a burthen that may shew reasonable hope of a good issue to so high a purpose For as there is just cause to think that there remains very much means to bee imployed with such a hope So the time now seems proper now that there is appearance of the restoring of the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Land for imploying the same For the means to bee imployed will consist in a just and full debate of reason upon principles agreed upon between the parties tending to reduce them unto agreement in such things as remain in difference This debate may well seem dangerous to peace not supposing any authority to govern it within the due bounds and to direct it unto the due purpose But supposing as wee must needs suppose all parties liable to that authority which the Law of the Land authorizes because that is acknowledged by all parties neither can the Secular Power allow thsoe whom it owns for Governors of the Church less then to govern and direct all dispute tending to satisfie all that question the Ecclesiastical Law of the Kingdom Nor need they desire more for a reasonable ground of hope for good success There can bee no ground to expect that they who openly profess the Laws of Religion to bee the sins of them that make them can think their duties discharged to God by being instrumental in the executing of them to the intent to them that make them They must needs think themselves bound in conscience to deprave and to pervert the effect of them to their own intent in an infinity of particulars which no diligence of Government can prevent or meet with But when upon full and just debate it shall appear that a change is refused them meerly because they can shew no sufficient reason for it upon those grounds which the common Christianity obliges the parties to acknowledge condescending to all that they can shew such reason for how can it bee imagined that any prejudice or engagement that may bee so honourably quitted will prevail above God and their Country to a defiance of them that carry not the Sword in vain I consess I can hope for no good end of any such Dispute The ground of resolution the being of the Catholick Church the first and chief point of the debate without supposing that sense of the Article concerning one Catholick Church which hath carried me through this discourse for the Principle upon which all mater in debate is to bee tried Nor can I take it for a supposition which they do admit of themselves But I suppose first that the misunderstanding of that which it demandeth being once cleared the truth of it will bee so evident by that reason which must satisfie for the truth of the common Christianity that all shall bee convinced of it by that which they allege for themselves as being the consequence of their own allegations Then I suppose further that it is the first point to bee tried as that which in effect contains more then half the trial of all the rest Which had it been agreed upon might have prevented all breaches And without agreeing upon it leaves all Dispute in Religion endless and without hope of conviction or satisfaction on this side or on that It is not indeed to bee expected that Recusants will ever become a party to such an action though no way concerned in conscience not to own those whom their Sovereign appointeth for Governors of such a debate Not because there would bee any appearance that thereby they should own them for their Superiors But because wee find them not disposed to own the obligation of their Christianity requiring them to concur to it upon those terms to bee more antient then any obligation of their spiritual Superiors to the contrary For if the Unity of the Church take place before the authority of any Superiors provided for the maintenance of it then is every Christian obliged to the due ground and terms of it before the authority of Superiors And therefore cannot refuse them tendered by a part though refused by a greater part And therefore cannot refuse that trial which is the due means to bring them to light though his Superiors refuse it And therefore their refusal can bee no bar to the effect of the action once grounded upon a supposition inforcing the trial by the Scriptures expounded by
bee surceased in Churches And accordingly I do acknowledge that comparing the benefit reasonably to bee expected from the use of them with the abuse to which experience hath discovered them to bee subject I see no cause why the use of them might not bee forborn upon such a reason as might bee effectual to unite us in a Rule bounding the Reformation which wee profess upon the ground of the common Christianity in all particulars The reason is because the having of them is not a necessary mean to that instruction or devotion which is proposed for the end of them and on the other side is acknowledged by all the Reformation to have been the occasion of abuse the preventing whereof will require that care and diligence which the forbearing of them will spare But seeing it hath appeared no breach upon Christianity to have them in Churches and that the abuse which may reasonably bee apprehended by having them to the purposes specified is of no consequence in comparison with that benefit which the Unity of the Church procureth It will never bee lawful to enjoyn this forbearance without declaring that it signifieth not that they are held unlawful Or that wee hold our selves bound to depart from Unity with the Church rather then indure them For seeing the Lutherans do use them in a great measure for the reasons specified If the uniting of us with the rest of the Reformation upon the due ground and terms hitherto required should depend upon a reasonable compliance in that particular it is manifest that it would bee a sufficient reason to oblige us to the same And therefore much more if a general re-union with the Church of Rome should come to depend upon such a compliance The consequence of this instance may bee the means to inform those that are capable what the reason of Unity may oblige us to abate of that which wee take to bee for the best in maters of less consequence that the unvaluable benefit of it may bee obtained in this estate when the protection of Sovereign Powers renders the Unity of the Church so necessary so effectual to the salvation of all For on the other side the interruption of it is that which renders that same salvation questionable by the difficulty which it createth of observing the duty of a Christian as a Christian by the impossibility rather then the difficulty which it procureth of observing the duty of a Christian as a Member of the Church which the breach of Unity alloweth not due conduct to understand To fortifie the necessity of the proposition that I An Objection for the Church of Rome answered make I will here propose an objection in behalf of the Church of Rome against the validity of our Ordinations which I have always taken to have weight and difficulty in it though others do not seem to value it For the answering of this Objection will help to justifie the Offense to bee taken and not given that may come by the liberty which here I use The succession of our Bishops deriveth it self by Ordination of three Bishops which the Canon of the Apostles authorizeth but the Canon of Nicâ—a requireth farther the consent of the Bishops of each Province Whereby it appeareth that Ordination by two or three Bishops is allowed by the Canon of the Apostles upon presumption that the Suffragants of each Province concur in allowing the Act of their fellows Which presumption ceaseth in our case Because it is manifest that the greatest part of the Suffragants did not consent to the Consecration of our Bishops but declared against it being therefore displaced by the Power of the Sword deciding for the lesser part against the greater which the Rule of the Church inableth not to do Whereupon it is argued that the Secular Power was not able to authorize our Reformation as Patron of the Church and the Canons of it To fortifie the Objection I allege the case of Novatianus who was consecrated Bishop of Rome by three Bishops and yet his Consecration was Schismatical because against Cornelius Consecrated by sixteen So the Ordination of Majorinus that was first consecrated Bishop of Carthage against Caecilianus for a head to the Schisme of the Donatists was justly counted Schismatical though it was made by a number more then sufficient of Bishops duely Ordained Which I doubt not may bee found in other Schismes I answer that the Novatians had nothing to charge the Church with but the readmitting of those that had fallen away in time of persecution upon Penance The Donatists nothing but that they who had ordained Caecilianus were Apostates Though they were proved to bee otherwise by several trials which they would never rest satisfied with As for all the rest though both Sects followed the Faith and the Orders of the Catholick Church yet they both rebaptized all those whom they reduced to themselves from the Communion of it as counting all the Church Apostates for communicating with those whom they counted Apostates Is this our case do wee find no fault with the Doctrine or with the Laws of the Church of Rome wherein Sovereigns might find themselves bound to right both themselves and their Subjects notwithstanding the dissent of the Church of Rome For though the Rule of succession by Ordination of Bishops bear them not out in it though the Unity of the Church regularly depend upon the force of that Rule yet seeing the Unity of the Church fails of the end for which God ordaineth it unless it preserve the Christianity which it supposeth intire as well in the publick service of God as in the profession and conversation of Christians it ought not to bee taken for a departure from that Unity that it is restored without that authority which regularly is provided to preserve it For the consent of all other Estates of the Kingdom in that ground and upon those terms which are to take place before the authority of those that dissent will abundantly justifie the validity of those Ordinations which declare an intent of ministring the Office according to the due ground and terms which they suppose And therefore it will not bee so visible when that ground and those terms are not so visible And upon these terms are the Christian people of this Kingdom bound to own and to authorize them in their Orders notwithstanding that the greater part of the Suffragants refused them their concurrence to the same And if the change that is made bee such in maters of greatest weight the case will bee the same though it fail of the Rule in some maters of less consequence And upon these terms I admit the plea of the Reformation That which excuseth the Reformed Churches extendeth not to our Schismâ—tickâ— that succession of Doctrine is of more consequence then succession of persons Not allowing their mistake in thinking the Order of Bishops the supporters of Antichrist For it is evident to him that will use his five senses that the
though that which the Clergy subscribeth bee as it ought to bee a wholsome Doctrine to wit if soundly understood yet that by which Christian people are saved ought to bee that which the Offices of the Church and the instruction which it proposeth contain CHAP. X. Why Justifying Faith is not trust in God through Christ Of Justification according to the Council of Trent Of justification according to Socinus Wherein his Hieresie consisteth How the misunderstanding of Satisfaction and Imputation occasioned it Vpon what grounds hee is to bee refuted The helps of Grace granted in consideration of Christs obedience And therefore they infer Original Sin by the fall of Adam Wherein the Covenant of Grace consisteth That the state of Grace is forfeited by hainous sin The danger of the contrary Position according to the ground of it NOw I confess there is another opinion of justifying Faith Why justifying Faith is not trust in God through Christ in which I find nothing of any consequence that is destructive of Christianity Namely that which placeth justifying faith in trust and confidence of Gods mercy through Christ For this opinion necessarily supposeth Repentance to go before justifying Faith And Repentance understanding it to bee the Repentance of one that turns from all sin to all Righteousness such as is the Repentance of him that first turneth Christian signifies as much as the undertaking of Christianity Only it signifies this resolution in the way not in the end not made but in making in fieri not in facto esse But understanding the Repentence of a Christian turning from some particular sin to God according to the obligation of his Christianity his being justified of that sin or from that sin will of necessity require and presuppose his Repentance of that sin Notwithstanding because this opinion expresseth onely the inward act of Faith to bee the condition that qualifieth a Christian for the promises of the Gospel though it doth not exclude the profession of the outward man I have laid it aside not only as not true for the reasons that I have gsven already but as not sufficiently expressing the condition of the Covenant of Grace For it is therefore the means to continue those everlasting Disputes about Justification by Faith alone which the very mention of the outward act of profession limited for the manner of it to the Sacrament of Baptisme utterly extinguisheth As for the Decree of the Council of Trent seeming to confine Of Justification according to the Council of Trent the justification of a Christian to the infusion of habitual righteousness into that soul which being truly contrite for the sense of sin and the offense of God by it resolves for the love of God above all to live as a Christian for the future professing so much by being baptized It is liable to a two-fold challenge First for excluding the positive act of Gods Law which the Gospel enacteth by accepting the righteousness of a Christian as a condition sufficiently qualifying for the Promises of the Gospel by Gods original justice Secondly for excluding the imputation of Christs obedience from the consideration in which a Christian is justified and saved and in a word intitled to the Promises of the Gospel A thing which that Council need not have done For it is manifest that Pighius Gropper Cardinal Contarine Cassander and many others the best studied in Luthers controversies of all that communion had owned and embraced it for the Doctrine of St. Bernard and divers other highly approved Authors Besides that including the Sacrament of Baptisme that is the outward act of professing Christianity in the condition upon which a Christian is justified it is not possible to exclude either the act of Gods positive will to which the Gospel engageth him or the consideration of Christs obedience from the same And including the consideration of them the justification of a Christian will of necessity consist in the gracious account of God accepting of him that is chargeable with sin for righteous though it presupposes in him that habituall righteousness whereby he resolves to live and dye a good Christian And therefore they also not excluding expresly that which they do not expresly include the worse Divines they would bee as to this opinion the better Christians they are that is the less they depart from the right Rule of Faith And indeed the Haeresie of Socinus which hath appeared Of justification according to Socinus since that Council gives cause to believe that the imputation of Christs righteousness to the justifying of a Christian which the Reformation for good reasons insisted upon was not distinctly understood between the parties as it ought to have been Hee maketh the belief of Christianity to bee that Faith which alone justifieth in this regard because hee that beleeves it to bee true must needs find himself obliged for his salvation to live and dye a good Christian Which had been a very good reason why justification should not be ascribed to Faith alone For if a man bee saved by living and dying a good Christian indeed not by finding himself obliged so to do then is hee justified by undertaking to profess Christsanity and not by beleeving it though by beleeving it hee is obliged so to do But as for the profession of Christianity I do not marvel that hee who intended to bring in a new Christianity should make no reckoning of it in the condition upon which a Christian is saved For it is the Christianity of the Catholick Church which he that will be saved must profess if hee mean to bee saved by professing true Christianity And therefore the profession of one Catholick Church is a part of it And therefore hee hath found the true consequence of his own position when hee makes no more of Baptisme then of an indifferent ceremony which the Church may use or not at pleasure For how should any man make any more of Baptisme that allows salvation before it and therefore without it Otherwise Socinus is free enough in ascribing the effect of justifying not to the worth of that Faith which beleeveth or of that Christianity to which it resolveth But to the meer grace of God of his own free goodness sending by Christ salvation to mankind overtaken in sin upon the condition of their Christianity for the future The venim of his Haeresie lies in excluding the consideration Wherein his Haeresic consisteth of the obedience and sufferings of Christ either from the reason for which God Grants the grace that makes men good Christians or for which hee rewards their Christianity with the life of the world to come The Decree of the Council of Trent fully acknowledgeth the consideration of Christs merits in the helps of grace without which wee are not good Christians But in as much as it maketh Christians righteous before God by their habitual righteousness insomuch and so far must it needs exclude the consideration thereof from the condition