and perfected it with a happy success even to the envy and admiration of the Christian world Certainly there hath not in any age in any part of the world in that space of time appeared such a race of Kings as our five Reformed Princes for all manly Kingly and Christian accomplishments neither hath there been a more Clergy-like Clergy than hath been under their Reigns We can esteem them to be no other than such as S. Paul Tit. 3. 10. notifies to be men subverted that 's desperate utterly perverted in understanding and will whom the Governour of the Church is to reject excommunicate him after two admonitions which if they work no good effect he is to reject with a severe censure take no pains to dispute with them any more hearken no more to their Replies and Objections faith Diod. they have by their contumacy and non-submission to their Governours put themselves into an helpless and hopeless condition they have excommunicated themselves without the Sentence of a Judge saith Dr. Ham there is no hopes of them and so leave them to the judgment of heaven as hath been accustomed What shall we say of half Conformists conforming Non-conformists who when they take the fit can come to Church and attend there by outward Conformity This will not clear them from the guilt of Schism bonum est ex integra causa and it 's to be feared there is hypocrisie in the case outward conformity may cheat the Law and mock men but it cannot be an holy living acceptable sacrifice to God because the good works of Faith must be done with a good and honest heart in sincerity and truth out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. and every duty must be done with respect to God's Commandment But do you see them come to Church Thanks to the King who will have Laws put in execution but when they come they come as Countrey-men do to Fairs and Markets some sooner some later and with the same reverence that they enter their Inn some not at the beginning or not till Sermon begin some go out in an hurly burly after the Sermon is ended this is contrary to the Act of Vniformity so that this coming to Church is neither Christian nor Legal Tea but many come early neither loll nor lubber nor hang down their heads like a bulrush as too many do but hold out to the last and demean themselves unless sometimes through inadvertency as the Law requireth This is confessed but for all that it will not denominate them true Members of the Church of England because many of them dispute scruple deny and undervalue the Authority of the Church rebell against its Governours Associate pack Juries in a design to ruine the Church and as opportunity serves take to a Conventicle hold correspondence with its professed enemies familiarly converse with the excommunicated by the Church and now and then commend them for their piety nay we are sure several of these late Conspiratours and Associatours were such as these all which acted directly contrary to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church and shall these pass for true Conformists who are but counterfeits do not the grossest Fanaticks reproach and upbraid us with them when they tell us tauntingly Take up your Church of England men you often declaim against us as Traitours and Rebels but who are such now Were not most of the Conspiratours such as observed and kept the Church They did so in part but we disown them because we look upon them as the most dangerous enemies to the Crown and the Church being most false to both by their juggling pretences to them both Church-Papists and Church-Puritans do undermine the Church whilst others profess an open hostility against it but a declared enemy without is not so dangerous as a pretended traiterous friend within But what esteem is to be given to new Converts Thanks to the King again my Lord Chief Justice and the Reverend Judges we have old Converts too if they prove not better than most of them have done we have no great reason to confide in them If the new be Converts indeed they are to be treated with all civility and by love without all dissimulation to be entertained and welcomed with the same rejoycings and caresses the Father ordered for his penitent Son to lay them on our shoulders as the Shepherd his stray Sheep because we have found what was lost yet this we cannot either with prudence or safety project till we have good security for their sincerity Let the old Converts be as forward and active for the service to the Crown and Church as they have been for the Ordinances of the Junto 's Keepers and Oliver as respective to the Episcopal Clergy as they were to the Presbyterian Trimmers c. then welcome good Friends if not adieu but for this we need not look into their hearts they may be known by their fruits and overt Acts Let the new bring forth fruits worthy of repentance promote the concerns of the Crown and Church as faithfully and strenuously as they have of the Faction of Conventiclers and Associatours let them come and welcome but if they cross or the King's service and dally in their duty good night to them also What is your opinion of those learned men who think there is no determinate Government of the Church I do not like a walking Church but for this Mr. Alexander Henderson in his Second Paper thinks that is built on a sandy foundation which is not built upon the foundation of Christ and the Apostles and all they doe so who content themselves with the Constitutions of the Church and munificence of Princes I desire them to satisfie his late Majesty's Quaere How can it be made appear that our Saviour and his Apostles did so leave the Church at liberty as they might totally alter its Government at their pleasure I think if we once think of an ambulatory Church-Government at the next turn we must expect an ambulatory Creed Lastly Whereas we have had four successive excellent Princes to maintain the Reformation and many Parliaments too and one King with his Clergy thought it a necessary duty to reform this Church it s therefore the indispensable duty of their Subjects to conform not barely because it was established by their authority though that is necessarily required but also from the nature reasons excellency and goodness of the establishment it self which to evidence is the design of the following Treatise both in regard of it self and in comparison of other late Models both à priori and à posteriori which if I have sufficiently cleared to the satisfaction of any considering men who are willing to be convinced or confirmed I have done one part of a Christian Priest of the Reformed Catholick Church of England No Reformation OF THE Established Reformation EVER since the Reformation was happily compleated in this Kingdom there hath
NO Reformation OF THE ESTABLISHED Reformation By JOHN SHAW Rector of Whalton in Northumberland GALAT. IV. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing Qui non zelat non amat LONDON Printed for Charles Brome at the Gun in S. Paul's Church-yard 1685. TO The Right Honourable AND RIGHT REVEREND FATHER in GOD NATHANIEL Lord Bishop of DVRHAM His honoured Diocesan My LORD WHEN I designed the publication of the ensuing Treatise it was my resolution to present it to your Honour as once I notified to you which I have now presumed to put in execution though then I had not your express licence to prefix your Honour's name yet by some expressions of respect I conceived you would not be offended if I did Upon this presumptive allowance as I was encouraged so upon other obligations I was engaged to doe it I have received high respects from your Lordship upon several occasions and instances which I ought whenever an opportunity was offered to acknowledge with all due veneration neither could I pitch on a more fitter than this how mean and little soever it is The old Rule was He who could make no better payment should readily confess the debt Reddit qui libenter debet holds still good with noble and generous Spirits But this is onely a debt of gratitude and common honesty and an argument of good nature to honour those who have deserved honour but an higher obligation from a more divine principle is due from an inferiour Priest to his Diocesan That Order Let nothing be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the permission or consent of the Bishop I wish it were better observed is so strongly binding that I think every Curate without offence I hope to the greatest Rectors or Vicars is to apply himself in all doubts and emergent cases of difficulty to his Diocesan for resolution and all his Clergy should in all publick Undertakings have either his express or reasonably presumed consent especially if they be such as this Treatise makes a shew of viz. The asserting the excellency of our Reformed Church for its strength and beauty surpassing all others both for soundness of Doctrine purity and comeliness of Worship and Apostolicalness of Government A Church for this reason the more excellent because most opposed for as the hardest things are the most excellent so the most excellent are most aimed and shot at One sort perfectly hateth because they fear her as long as she holds up her head they must lowr fret and storm and never perfect their projects yet they most malign and vilifie her who by all humane and divine Laws should live in obedience to her No Church hath had more furious assaults made on her but her enemies were still repulsed a Church of that firmness that the Gates of Hell even when Satan was let loose could not prevail against her This is her comfort all the Reformed Churches of any good figure give her the right hand of Fellowship and of preeminence too The very attempt then to defend this Church is both Heroical and Christian how weak soever the Undertaker be he may have and hath a good heart though his hands be feeble It is true Non eget auxilio tali nec defensoribus istis yet if a Puny manage a Cause under dispute with good success against an old experienced famous Lawyer pleading on the other side he himself gains a little esteem but its great reputation to the Cause That Cause was good which so mean a man could defend This is my case who am sufficiently sensible of mine own weakness but very hearty to defend that Church whereof I have been a Priest for full forty eight years ordained by one of your Lordship's Predecessours for this I have suffered and do yet suffer in some sort sufferers may have leave to speak this I will defend when I can doe no otherwise by Pen while I am able yet always and no otherwise but permissu Superiorum upon which account I tender this address begging your Ghostly Benediction and that you will still repute me as Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father Your most obedient Son and Devoted humble Servant John Shaw PREFACE THEY who understand what Reformation means need not trouble themselves for a solution to that captious silly demand of the Papists Where was your Church before Luther for to reform is but to amend what is amiss to correct and rectifie what is faulty the same numerical subject still existing Reformation is like the renovation of a sinner Eph. 4. 22 23 24. Saul the Persecutour was the same man in kind with Paul the Professour The Prodigal who took his journey into a far Countrey was the same individual person who returned to his Father's House a penitent But because Reformation is sometimes necessary yet at all times dangerous men being apt to run violently from one extreme to another jumping over the golden mean therefore that it be warrantable it ought to be duly circumstantiated by just methods and measures which by the good providence of God and I think direction and guidance of his Holy Spirit hit on the right way observing all requisites for the happy management of that great work when she reformed her self For 1. It was done by just and lawfull Authority the King and Clergy of the Kingdom concurring as our late excellent King observed saying I am confident to make it clearly appear that this Church did never submit nor was subordinate to the two Houses of Parliament and that it was onely the King and Clergy who made the Reformation the Parliament merely serving to help to give the civil Sanction His Majesty's Second Paper to Mr. Alex. Henderson Part 1. fol. 165. 2. They had good grounds to undertake the work for that there was a necessity of Reformation the Testimony of Adrian the Sixth and Cardinal Pool de Conc. p. 86. will assure besides it was the desire or pretence of all Kingdoms in the Western division of the Church especially by the Emperours of Germany and Principalities therein 3. That they proceeded with due moderation is declared Can. 30. For we profess as they did our Separation was not from the Church of Rome but its Errours our Church is the same it was before onely differing as a garden weeded from the same unweeded as the body purged from the same unpurged What they did was to separate the pretious from the vile the dross from pure metal The Church was then like Jeremy's Baskets of Figs Jer. 24. there were good very good Figs in one in the other the Figs were evil very evil so in the Church there was on one side good very good things in another part evil very evil things and our Reformers as they cast out the evil so they were very carefull to retain the good What can we think then of our desperate Dissenters who despise these Dominions and speak evil of these Dignities who have undertaken this work with courage
been a great noise and bustle for a better in the chief Materials and Superstructures thereof It is confessed Doctrine Worship and Government are the Essentials of a regularly constituted Church each of which hath been impugned traduced and defamed The Doctrine hath been least debated though too much the Worship hath been more scrupled and with great heats opposed the Government most of all canvassed and bandied against Upon which accompt this being most contemned by all Sectaries and least respected by many who retain a kindness for the Doctrine and Worship is first to be reflected on where it will not be amiss before that be considered to premise something in general relating to all and every of the contested particulars CHAP. I. Sect. 1. MAny things conducing to the well-being of a regularly formalized Church may be and are in their kind alterable which yet as Mr. Calvin observes nec subinde nec temerè nec levibus de causis should not be altered Considered precisely in themselves they may but if the reasons of their Constitution be regarded they are practicè moraliter unchangeable These terms are borrowed from a great Jesuit yet made use of by several reformed Divines in several important instances and approved by them for this reason because the first reason of their origination is moral and perpetual Those of this nature being not merely occasional temporary Proviso's which often vary either upon some sudden unexpected emergent or for the avoidance of some greater evil but were ordained for the great end of Christian Society and in the ordination founded on the general rules of the Gospel Whereupon with the Greeks they passed as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine Constitutions for their serviceableness to the great Concerns of publick Religion with the Latins as Divina Magisteria Divinae Dispositiones Divinae Sanctiones quae publicâ Lege celebrantur quas universa Ecclesia suscipit Mr. Calvin saith of them Sic sunt humanae ut simul sunt divinae which if I understand aright hath this clear sense They are humane in their composition but divine in their foundation and reason of their Constitution Sect. 2. To attempt a second Reformation will be a great reproach to our first Reformers who confessedly were men of great learning piety and zeal For if they failed in their undertaking either through ignorance oscitancy or interest it will be readily concluded they designed onely a Change and endeavoured an innovation which at once blasts their reputation and justifies all the imputations of their Romish Adversaries who impeached them of novelty and Schism And if we set upon a new refined Reformation as their former charge will hardly be evaded so with difficulty will we solve their latter Objections viz. Protestants have no Principles or which is as bad are so given to change they will not stand to their principles whereas if we maintain the Reformation to be onely a Reduction of affairs to the primitive Apostolical and Catholick order and state we do not onely thereby render a second Reformation unpracticable but also invalidate all the Romish contumelies and calumnies This was the avowed profession of our first Reformers they would onely retrieve the Primitive Christianity and settle this Church according to the Catholick Pattern concluding all other methods of Reformation to be irrational and schismatical Bishop Jewel in his famous Apology p. 176 177. fully declares it Accessimus quantum potuimus asserting the whole and every main part to be Apostolical and consonant to the judgment and practice of the ancient Catholick Bishops and Fathers This Apology not onely Peter Martyr in his Epistle prefixed to it but also the learned Divines of Tigur Bullinger Gualther Wolphius c. have so highly approved that they resolved no Book extant in the Protestant cause was comparable to it Other eminent Transmarine Divines might be mentioned yea a Jesuit in his Pamphlet against Mr. Chillingworth hath confessed that of all other courses in the Reformation that which the English followed was the most effectual for the establishment of our Religion against the Romish Church The more shame for a presumptuous Ignoramus publickly to remonstrate We might as easily persuade the modish Ladies of Court and City to Queen Elizabeth's Ruffs as to gain him and his rabble to be content with her Settlement of Religion Sect. 3. This Church being thus Reformed and restored to its primitive strength and splendour to move for a second Reformation dissonant therefrom is in effect to renounce the Communion of the Primitive Catholick Church with which all successive Churches ought to hold as near as possibly they can a perfect correspondence and where this cannot be obtained by reason of some cross circumstances to reflect upon it as an infelicity The reason hereof is obvious for the primitive and successive Churches are but one Body having the same dependencies upon and relation to the one Lord one Faith and one Baptism and the Catholick visible Church and every regularly constituted particular Church is an organized Body having several Members for several Offices all which conspire for unity that there be no Schism in the Body which certainly would happen if successive Churches observe not the same Laws and retain not the same Government which the primitive maintained For that which maketh the Church one is the unity of these and that which distinguisheth one Body or Society from another is the diversity of Laws and Government and so long as the same Laws and the same Government are in force the Body is still the same Now as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever so is his Church which at first was embodied into an indeterminable Society For the Scripture assures us the Church is a Body and that Body whereof Christ is the Head Col. 1. 18 24. Eph. 4. 11 12 15 16. which we profess to be Catholick not onely in respect of persons and place but also of time The Catholicism whereof not onely includeth variety of places and multitudes of men but is to be extended to universality of succession Now evident it is that all Bodies Corporate whether aggregate such as the Church is or sole by their succession are immortal as long as they retain the same fundamental Laws and remain under the first settled Government If therefore we condescend to a new Reformation distinct from the first Settlement or opposite thereto we design a schismatical separation from the primitive Catholick Church if we put it in execution we fall under the same condemnation we sentence against the Romanists this being the common Protestant Apology We have departed from Rome no farther than she hath from the ancient Church and her self and if there were no other reason for this our secession as there is viz. That we embraced Christianity before S. Peter planted a Church there and when the Western apartment was set out by the Fathers this of ours had the honour of being one of the Seven
Concord l. 6. c. 4. sect Igitur observes Indeed in the Latin Church Presbyters did lay on hands with the Bishop at the Ordination of a Presbyter yet this was observed not for its validity but for its solemnity and attestation For the African Fathers who ordered it ascribed the entire power to the Bishop Cod. Afric c. 55. 80. and even at Rome besore S. John's death Presbyters were settled in several Parishes by Enaristus Caron p. 44. and therefore we may believe before that the same was done in earlier converted Churches Mr. Toung in his Notes on S. Clem. 1. Ep. ad Cor. out of a Book which Mr. Petty brought from Greece hath this Sentence S. Peter was in Britain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 settled Churches by laying hands on Bishops Priests and Deacons It will not be amiss to superadd how far the Waldenses concurred in judgment upon this case with the Church of England which we find Parsons third part of the Three Conversions of England cap. 3. p. 44. who relates from Vrspurg Trithem Antomin and others that they onely approved three Ecclesiastical Orders at which his tender Conscience was moved viz. That of Deaconship Priesthood and Bishops which is very probable for the Fratres Bohemi to continue a succession of Bishops sent twelve men to the Waldenses in Austria to be ordained Bishops by their Bishops which was accordingly done and Corranus a Spaniard one of the Waldenses flying thence into England was retained a Preacher at the Temple and dedicated a Dialogue to the Lawyers there an 1574. in the close whereof he maketh a confession of his Faith where he declares his judgment herein I hold saith he there be divers Orders of Ministers in the Church of God viz. Some are Deacons some Priests some Bishops to whom the instruction of the People and the care of Religion is committed This we are sure of S. Bernard complains heavily many Bishops were of their Communion This was the primitive Establishment Conc. Cart. 3. and 4. Chal. Act. 1. for which reason Nazian in Vita Basil enforms us that he rose to his Bishoprick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the order and rule of spiritual ascent one degree after another So S. Hier. writes of Nepot in Ep. Fit Clericus per solitos gradus c. Num. 7. If S. Augustine's known and generally approved rule be admitted then the Order of Bishops is truly Apostolical because maintained in all Apostolical Chruches before any general Council had determined it And Tert. his Sorites will make it good which was that is truest which is first that is first which was from the beginning that was from the beginning which was from the Apostles that was from the Apostles which was inviolably and religiously observed in all Apostolical Churches Calvin speaks fairly to the case and so doth Beza too if their words may be taken who have tricks to eat them in the former saith the Bishops of the ancient Church made many Canons with that circumspection they had nothing almost contrary to the word of God in their whole Oeconomy l. 4. Instit c. 1. sect 14. but more fully thus they did not frame any other form of Government in the Church than that which God prescribed in his word The latter averreth what was then done was done optimo Zelo if so then they did it from warranty either from the Scripture or universal Tradition S. Hierome himself once said it was an Apostolical Tradition and when he said it was a Custome he proved it a good one because ordered for a good end as a safe remedy against Schism and an Apostolical Custome because taken in the Apostles times when one said I am of Paul c. which happened an 58. The disparity of Bishops and Priests was so religiously maintained in the primitive Church that the Fathers in the Council of Chalc. Act. 1. adjudged it sacrilege to bring down a Bishop to the degree of a Presbyter and the Doctrine of parity was condemned as flat Heresie in Aerius because he positively affirmed that there was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. one Order one Honour one Dignity in the Priesthood Dr. Crack Defens Eccl. Anglic. contra Arch. Spal p. 242 243. Bishops then as they were settled in matricibus Ecclesiis the Apostolical mother Churches so have been continued in all successive Ages without any considerable opposition for 1500 years which is so strong and cogent an argument to some who have not been over-fond of Episcopacy they have resolved it unanswerable since the Order hath been canvassed by some yet is still retained either in the Name or Thing in all the Eastern and Southern Churches generally in the Western and Northern reformed and others unless in two or three petty Associations in comparison of the rest where by reason of some cross circumstances it cannot be obtained though highly approved and much affected by most of their learned men never disowned or abominated by any but those whose zeal for the good Old Cause is immoderate S. Augustine's expression insolentissima insania insolent madness Num. 8. If these Structures be built upon the Foundation of the Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner Stone the Fabrick is as firm as Mount Sion which may not be removed For if the Apostles did settle Bishops in their several Plantations and these such as the Prelatists plead for then that is the one necessary Government to be retained in the Church For the Apostles being inspired by the Holy Ghost they did then act and order the Church according to his directions Amesius himself resolves what is Apostolical Stands by Divine Right his words are Med. Theol l. 2. c. 15. n. 28. The Apostles were acted by the Divine Spirit no less in their Institutions than in the very Doctrine of the Gospel propounded by word or writing This he delivers to assert the Divine Authority and unalterableness of the Lord's day and will therefore hold here For if Episcopacy stand in the Church by the same authority that the Lord's day doth which Dr. Hammond hath fully proved then it hath the same Divine Authority for its Establishment This King James saw and so Premonition p. 44. is very positive That Bishops ought to be in the Church I always maintained as an Apostolical Order and so the Ordinance of God The Dissenters who allow of Church Government as such have often declared what concerns the rule of Government in the Church by Officers appointed by Christ is unchangeable Now that the Bishops are those Officers hath been evidenced from Scripture Rules and Precedents and confirmed by the suffrage of a cloud of Witnesses who as they accord in their Testimonies so were faithfull unto death some whereof were the chosen Witnesses of Christ's Resurrection some were immediate Successours to those ordained by the Apostles others of the highest reputation in the Church for testifiers of Catholick Tradition all of them had and still have such credit in the
invented Remonst Dec. 41. This was smartly urged against them by E. M. a long imprisoned Malignant an 1647. p. 3. of his Address I cannot said he submit to any new Government either in Church or Kingdom because all our late Parliaments and the Long Parliament most of all have still professed great severity and made strict inquisition against all men that should intend practise or endeavour any alteration of Religion or innovation in Doctrine or Worship as a capital offence But for all their solemn protestations to the contrary the Root and Branch design went on and when it was first set on foot Petitions were presented to prevent and stifle it The total of Subscribers in onely seven Counties and those none of the greatest amounted to 482 Lords and Knights 1740 Esquires and Gentlemen 44559 Freeholders and 631 Ministers number enough to shew how generally well affected the people of best rank and quality were for this Government but their reasons are rather to be weighed which were these by drawing them methodically 1. They desire they may left in that state the Apostles settled and left in the Church in that the three Ages of Martyrs were governed by in that the thirteen Ages since have always gloried in proving themselves by their succession of Bishops members of the Catholick Church A Government as certainly Apostolical as the observation of the Lord's day or distinction of Books Canonical from Apocryphal or that such Books were written by such Evangelists c. This they thus farther prosecuted either Christ left his Church without a lasting Government which we fear to say lest it might seem to accuse the wisedom of the father and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in not providing for his Family which we believe he did from Saint Luke's Testimony Luk. 12. 42. and if he lest no Rulers he left no Pastour Ruler and Pastour in Scripture being all one in person office and expression And if he did not leave such as we desire viz. Bishops the Church which we fear also to suppose hath been Apostate from her Lord for 1500 years she having no other but these for Rulers for that whole space of time Or else Christ did leave a lasting Government if so then every motion and attempt of alteration is Antichristian 2. Most of the reformed Churches have Bishops all that have any Protestant Princes with Sovereignty have them the rest which have them not highly approve and value the Order and heartily affect and wish it 3. The Removal of Bishops will be a great Scandal 1. To the weak who if they be really such and withall well-meaning suspect all innovations as some design upon their Consciences to ensnare them which makes them to suspect and dislike our whole Religion as we have found by sad experience yea the grievous Scandal of our Religion as unstable hath caused many to revolt from it 2. To the strongest who are not to be offended for this reason because they are not apt to be scandalized with umbrages and impertinences but real inconveniences and mischiefs 4. The unspeakable advantages given to our Enemies of Rome by this change which in the event proved so 5. The sad effects and consequences which we foresee and in part feel 1. Which we foresee We desire said they the continuance of this Government for that strange fears possess our hearts that Schisms Factions and Seditions will overwhelm us order peace and unity will be far removed from us reformation and suppression of wickedness and vice as is pretended will be totally cashiered and extinguished nor will ever take place or effect among us For we suspect and believe the sudden mutation of a Government so long settled and so well known cannot with any proportionable utility recompence the disturbances and disorders which it may work by novelty therefore we cannot without trembling and perplexity of mind entertain a thought of a change and of innovation in a matter of so high concernment For if the design go on we shall be reduced to such a desperate condition that we shall not know how to settle our selves or form our obedience in such distractions and sometimes repugnancies of commands as will unavoidably ensue 2. What they then felt in part since this Government is traduced and despised the Houses of God are profaned the Ministers of Christ contemned the Liturgy depraved that absolute model the Lord's Prayer vilified the Sacraments in some places unduly administred in others profanely neglected Marriages illegally solemnized Burials uncharitably performed and the very fundamentals of our Religion by the publication of a new Creed teaching the abrogation of the moral Law All the Religion we can hope for must be a movable Creed repealable by privileges and to be made suitable to the designs of any prevailing Faction whereby God is provoked his sacred Majesty dishonoured the Consciences of the people disquieted the Ministery disheartned and the Enemies of the Church emboldned in their enterprizes 6. We cannot hearken to such a change because for many years we have found the comfort and benefit of Episcopacy which as it hath been eminently serviceable to this Kingdom so it is most compliable with the civil Government into the Fabrick whereof it is incorporate that we must conclude it as the most pious so the most safe and prudent Wherefore to call it a Vassalage and intolerable burthen and thereupon to endeavour its removal relisheth not of piety prudence justice or charity This we are the rather induced to present both because our Fathers have told us of the great convenience and moderation of this Government and we have felt the comfortable experience thereof Certain it is this Kingdom is much indebted to the Bishops for their piety wisedom zeal and sufferings which we trust shall never be forgotten Thus far they It may not be amiss to subjoyn the later opinion of a great name with the Erastians who once indeed had declared before he was no such fool as to be a Puritan yet it is well known how c. but at last was forced to express his great esteem of Catholick Order The words are reported Fair Warning Part. 2. p. 4. and thus are set out It is a wonderfull thing that c. after that passage he gives his opinion I should much fear that our most excellent Religion so miserably confounded by its distracted followers would one day give place to the two grand mischiefs of the world Popery and Profaneness against which there are no other remedies besides the mercifull assistence of heaven than sound Doctrine settled severe Discipline established a decent and holy Worship secured and a grand establishment enjoyned which may fence in truth and virtue and keep out errour and sin whereby the Orthodox good part of the Nation may be known and encouraged as the Heterodox may be discovered and awed SECT 4. The little good which can be expected from Presbyterianism and Independency is that the Professours of the one Sect
pretend great zeal against Ignorance and Sin and the other is aggrieved at promiscuous Communions though both of them by their barkings and bawlings against this Church and the Discipline and Government thereof have and do still obstruct the methods which she hath provided as remedies against those maladies Now that those Offices which she hath determined for those ends are proper and very instrumental through the assistence of the Divine grace which accompanies and inanimates them to devoutly affected Christians most effectual thereto they will be necessitated to acknowledge by observing the Order prescribed which lies thus Every Infant is to be solemnly matriculated into the Church by holy Baptism these baptized in a competent time are to be catechised in the principles of Christian Religion and then to be confirmed by the Bishop and are required to give attention to the reading and preaching of the word of God Being thus prepared they are admittable to the great mystery of the holy Eucharist and for neglect of these means the offenders are liable to the censures of the Church That these methods are Scriptural and Apostolical most of the Dissenters acknowledge some of them indeed scruple at Confirmation but Calvin conceives it to be originally Apostolical with whom more than a whole Jury of reformed Divines have given in their Verdict Mr. Baxter thinketh it would quiet the wrangle about the formality of a Church Covenant and Membership Mr. Brinsley of Yarmouth was of opinion it would remove all the fears and jealousies of vain Disputers Calvin is positive this office was performed by the Bishop from the beginning and Mr. Dallee commends that of S. Hier. Episcopus c. in Dial. inter Orth. and Lucef In this I blame the Presbyterians and Independents because at present they hang together by the tails but for all the fair copies of their Countenances if their wished and laboured for turn come their faces will look several ways If the Presbyterians get the start and keep their ground for a while they will soon proclaim the Independents to be Babylonians If the Independents once more out-wit the Presbyterians and turn them out of power and trust then the Independents will face about and tell them roundly they are Egyptians SECT 5. As for the Papists the best they can brag on is their unity of which they rant highly that they and they onely have found out the true way to it this is a mere bravado to which a wise and learned person made heretofore this return viz. Let me see the Jesuits and Seculars reconciled in England a Dominican and Jesuit in Doctrinal Papistry French and Italians in state Papistry then I shall allow them a little to vapour their oral and conclave Traditionists are hard at it in their confutations of each other their great heads of Unity Pope Sixtus and Clemens fell very foul one with another they cannot agree about the Supremacy of a Pope and a Council nor which of their four or five Churches is the infallible one the Popes and Councils have declared several ways upon the points which obviates their common shift viz. Their clashings and bickerings are but in scholastick opinions and niceties for then the definitions of Popes and Councils are no matters of Faith But here again they quarrel for some assert a Doctrine is heretical by its repugnancy to what is revealed by Christ others affirm a Doctrine is heretical because the Church hath declared so it s the former sort thus confutes If the Doctrine be heretical from the Churches declaration then the Church hath power to make Articles of Faith about which also there is a great bustle among them for some of them peremptorily deny the Church hath any power to make Articles of Faith but most of the Canonists and all the Popes Exchequer men affirm it so schismatically are they divided about their Church the Head thereof with the terms and objects of their pretended Unity when these are smartly objected to them their onely salvo is Their Rule would be a means to hold them in unity if it were followed Very good for the plain English of this is their Rule about which they so smartly wrangle and concerning which they could never yet agree will or may be a means of unity when they are agreed about it In opposition whereto we assert the Rule which we propose is not flexible like theirs but infallible viz. the sure word of God duly applied for the application whereof we take in the consentient judgment of the universal Church in matters of Faith and in points of practice the constant usage thereof these we stand to because if they be not the true means of unity the true Church of God which always relied on these and no other had never any If to this some Romanists give assent as some of them do they are so far English Episcopal Protestants From all which premised there is great reason and good warranty to conclude that under the Government of King and Bishops the Civil Power is most safely fixed mixt Communion Ignorance and Sin are most effectually provided against Unity and Obedience storngly guarded therefore whatsoever good or desirable can be expected from Erastianism Presbyterianism Independency or Popery is really experimented in Episcopacy and therefore this in true polity ought to be retained and supported the other modes are not to be admitted or entertained not the Erastians for they play at fast and loose with Kings and the Church they respect no Government present to which their submission is compliance not obedience Not the Presbyterians for they encroach upon and vilifie Kingly authority if they find a King they will if they dare shackle him or in our Northern expression houghband him Not the Independents for with them Kings are the Peoples Creatures and Trustees neither will they permit him with their good wills to intermeddle in Church Affairs Not the Pontificians for reasons given by the learned Doctor Stillingfleet and that honourable Person who seconded him It is therefore the clear interest of the Crown if it would have a Church National to govern by it ought to be Protestant Episcopal as a late ingenious Writer hath observed lest if it be held of the Pope Kirk or People in Capite it totter and fall That Probleme which Dr. Prideaux Ep. Ded. ad fasc Contro An suprematus Papalis sit potiùs Antichristianus quà m Presbyterianus aut Enthusiasticus may hence easily be resolved if we be not too palpably partial we must declare them all or none at all to be Tyrannical or Antichristian The best Argument ever yet produced to prove the Pope to be Antichrist is his bold challenge over all Kings and Monarchs to depose them and dispose of their Crowns and Dignities which if it be good it will hold as strongly against all other Sectaries for they are as truly the Limbs of Antichrist who preach and press Rebellion against their lawfull Sovereign and those commissionated by
is expressed in the introduction to our Liturgy with an humble voice Cum disciplina modestis precibus as Saint Cypr. Or. Dom. and as Ter. de Or. c. 13. Sonos etiam vocis subjectos c. both of them commending a modest submiss rehearsal of the Prayers with the Minister who speaks them out audibly and both of them condemning the obstreperous bold vociferations of rude men who observed no decorum whereof it seems such there were at that time Yet for once let it be supposed the People onely expressed Amen at the Minister's prayer this could not be rationally done to an extempore effusion because they could not doe it with understanding this they could not because they were not acquainted with the Schediast's sense for whilst the understanding is in labour rightly to apprehend what he means no rational judgment can be passed till after some pause and deliberation upon what is delivered and whilst it s thus employed the Schediast in his post haste is so far gone that either he cannot attend to what he next delivereth or he is at a loss of what he hath delivered and then all that he can doe is either to fall to his study or take all upon an implicit Faith which if he do he must say Amen to contradictions absurdities and wickedness This is one foul piece of Popery to put all devotion on the Priest for when 1 Cor. 14. is urged against the Papists for their prayers in an unknown Tongue the best answer that is given by their Controvertists and Commentatours is Populus est particeps omnium precum quas pro omnibus fundit Sacerdos for that the Priest speaketh not to Men but to God and the ministerial Office would be dangerously invaded if the people be permitted to utter any thing more than a bare Amen SECT 2. The Testimonies of the Second Century will be revered by all sober men as that of Enaristus who ordered that Marriage should be solemnized with the prayers of the Church that of Clemens Ep. 1. ad Cor. We ought to doe all things according to order at set hours to frequent and solemnize the oblation and Liturgy answerable to S. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that of Just Mart. as before We all arise to common prayer Ignat. in Ep. ad Magn. Telesphorus an 139. ordained that at publick prayers the people should sing that Hymn viz. Holy Holy Holy Lord c. Soter an 164. that when the Priest said The Lord be with you the People should answer And with thy Spirit Scaliger de Emend Tem. l. 7. tells us of an ancient Liturgy he had lying by him of Ignatius his composing as he is understood by a learned man SECT 3. For the Third Century Tertul. is express as is before noted so is S. Cypr. who profeffeth Publica nobis c. We have publick Common Prayer and that the people may be devout at it the Priest prepares their minds with this Preface Sursum corda Lift up your hearts whereto they answer We lift them up to the Lord Origen l. 6. cont Cels reports the Christians used constituted prescribed prayers one Form whereof he mentions in terms Hom. 11. in Jer. we frequently say in our prayers O Almighty God give us a part with the Prophets c. and we have a remarkable story of his great affection for them which lies thus apud Eus l. 6. c. 3. Leonides his Father being beheaded by the Emperour Severus and his Estate confiscated Origen not being then full eighteen years old he with his Mother and six other Brethren were left to the wide world It pleased God a noble Lady entertained and supplied him who also had retained one Marcus an Antiochian whom she respected for his famed faculty in extempore praying in which she was delighted whereupon at her house frequent meetings were had to which not onely the Hereticks the Non-conformists but many of our own Conformists resorted yet for all the favours Origen received from her he would never be persuaded to be present at their Conventicles because from his Childhood it seems his Parents were religious true Sons of the Church he had observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Order of the Church and perfectly hated all Doctrines of errours Hippolytus writ his Orat. de Consum Mundi about an 220. wherein he saith Ad Antichristi tempora c. in the last times of Antichrist the holy Houses shall be like Cottages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liturgy shall be extinguished c. This was fully put in execution by our late Bandities upon the pretence of the feared though most knavishly and suspected introduction of Tyranny and Popery SECT 4. We produce good reasons as well as good rules and great authorities for set Forms 1. An arbitrary form by a new set of words may perhaps affect and work strangely upon the sensitive Soul as the frantick feats of the Turkish Dervises do on those miserable deluded people phrases and variety of them with cadencies affected tones and gestures wry mouths and twinkling eyes with much sweat and noise may raise the humours and passions into disorder but they can never prevail with a rational considering man to gain his esteem unless it be to pity them or smile at them That which they esteem as a gift is rather an art by the dilatation of the animal spirits which are much pleased and raised by a delight in novelty and variety and oft puts the Soul into strange heats and fancies 2. To borrow three from Mr. Calvin Ep. 87. 1. A determinate Form from which Ministers are not to vary in their Offices is usefull as an help to the weakness of some he might have said of the many yea the most if not all 2. It is a Testimony of the Churches consent and unity he might have added of her conformity with the Catholick Church 3. It is a way to stop the desultorious levity of those who are for new things Mr. Baxter will help him here who in his Disp of Lit. Prop. 10. in his great experience acknowledgeth the constant disuse of set Forms is apt to breed a giddiness in Religion and it may make men Hypocrites who shall delude themselves with fancies that they delight in God when it is but in those novelties and varieties of expression Indeed extempore prayers are strong delusions in several respects For 1. The most prudent and cunning sort of the pretenders to this faculty use study and premeditation which they conceive necessary to pray seasonably yet here lies the cheat they would have their herd to take their composed Forms as issues of their sudden conceptions A great man of the Faction freely imparted his mind herein to a Friend saying He had so many Forms lying by him most of which being committed to memory by the interchangeable use of them he was thought by the people always to pray without premeditation Engl. Reprover p. 153. This is just si vuli populus decipi decipiatur a Puritan
pia fraus 2. The Zealots of the Sect honour an honest unpremeditated prayer with the title of Spiritual by way of propriety in opposition to set Forms for ordinary use pretending the Spirit immediately suggests the expressions Thus Ambrose in his experiences published with Licence from Herle once Prolocutor of their Assembly Angier Johnson and Waite Provincials in the Class in Lancashire upon a private Fast observed Jan. 6. 1642. held it forth The Lord gave some that exercised that day the very spirit and power of prayer to the ravishment of the hearers surely it was the Spirit spake in them which they resolved from Zach. 12. 10. Rom. 8. 26. This is a Jesuitical Cheat as it is reported by Maffeus elevante spiritu c. that the Spirit would raise Ignatius at his prayers four cubits from the earth 3. The great Sticklers for the good old Cause so highly extoll extempore conceptions that they own them as the best evidences of their Party and Piety first idolizing that which in some is mere natural in others an artificial habit of Enthusiasm as Casaubon hath evidenced c. 4. next idolizing the persons pretending to it who have been very monsters of men such as Achitophel who as the Rabbins relate prayed every day thrice and every time had a conceived Oration such as Basilides the great Duke of Muscovy and Oliver two most bloudy Villains and Tyrants such as the blasphemous Hacket here in England and the vile Wretch were in Scotland the horrid execrable Regicides and the whole litter of our late Mammon Rebels and Renegadoes SECT 5. It is confessed by the most knowing men of the Party that imposed stated Forms were in common practice in the Fourth Century which is an Argument they were so from the beginning For the Fathers of that Age being persons eminent for piety and sincerity in the Christian profession would not innovate and being also men of excellent accomplishments would easily have observed what was most proper for the discharge of their Function Had they believed that lowsie Fancy that the modification of publick Worship by personal abilities was the formal act of the ministerial Office as the cutting of Cloath into such a shape by his own skill is the formal ministration of a Taylor as an Anonymus p. 79. of his Survey mechanically held forth they doubtless would have made use of their great personal abilities in their publick administrations which confessedly they did not and it is certain they would not doe so because they conceived themselves obliged to retain the ancient Forms in veneration to those pious persons who composed and injoyned them for publick use The Third Council at Carthage c. 3. resolved Quascunque c. Whatsoever prayers any shall transcribe for themselves let them be taken out of a Copy before in use S. Basil de Sp. Sanct. c. 27. refers to the solemn words of prayer observed before his time in the benediction at the Eucharist Saint Chrys Hom. 2. in 2. ad Cor. exemplifies a Form which had long before been constituted in the Church In Ireland S. Patrick brought a Liturgy which he received from Germanus and Lupus originally taken from S. Mark Archbishop Vsher in his Discourse of the Religion professed by the ancient Irish affirmeth he had seen it set down in an ancient Fragment well nigh nine hundred years since remaining now in the Library of Sir Robert Cotton That every exception against those Liturgies of Saint James c. that they were supposititious is an argument that such there had been for if they were corrupted something was pure if somewhat was supposititious in them somewhat also was genuine One trifling objection against our Liturgy which serves to amuse the Vulgar is not to be neglected It is this The first Reformers industriously contrived the Common Prayer Book to endear the Papists to its use This in the judgment of wise men is to commend them Zanch. in Phil. 4. 8. thought the gratification of bad men in those things wherein we do not offend God to be a duty Amyral de Secess ab Eccl. Rom. p. 225. highly approves this course atque hic commemorare c. we are here to consider with what wisedom and moderation the French and Genevian Churches contrived their publick Forms of Prayer They are so far from handling any controversial matters therein that the Pontificians themselves scruple not to use them and which is scarce to be believed but that the matter of fact is notorious they have picked out of them certain Prayers which they have inserted into their Manuals for the use of the people in their native Language The objectors might have remembred that Book took with the Romanists for full ten years of Q. Elizabeth's Reign probably had longer but that their dear Friends the Puritans had disturbed the peace of the Church which gave the Pope an opportunity to dispatch his Emissaries and ever since both Parties have bandied against it The Consectaries of the premisses are stated Liturgy from Scripture with the practice of the primitive Christians and continued in the Catholick Church is the best service of God and our Liturgy being perfectly conformed thereto is to be retained It was then no vanity or presumption in Archbishop Cranmer to engage against all opposers thereof if he was permitted to take Peter Martyr with three or four more for his assistants he would prove there was nothing therein contained but what was agreeable with the holy Scriptures and primitive Antiquity Bishop Jewel had great reason to assert Accessimus c. We came as near as possibly we could to the Order used in the Apostles times Apol. par 5. c. 15. divis 8. and more fully par 6. c. 16. divis 1. We came as near as possible we could to the Church of the Apostles and of the old Catholick Bishops and Fathers and have directed according to their customs and ordinances not onely our Doctrine but also the Sacraments and form of Common Prayer so false and absurd is that fancy that our Liturgy is formed out of the Roman Missal that so far as it is Popish is nothing else but a bombast of corrupt additionals patched to it CHAP. V. THE next Charge against the Reformation is that Ceremonies are retained and enjoyned SECT 1. That circumstances may be determined the Assemblers have resolved Pref. to the Direc p. 7. viz. They endeavoured to hold forth such things as were of Divine Institution and to set forth other things according to the rules of Christian prudence agreeable to the general rules of God's word and some of these other things are Ceremonies for a determination of the posture of the Body in Divine Service is one which they pass when they order the people to sit at the Table and in the Office of Marriage they will and require the Man to take the Woman by the right hand c. which they accompt a Ceremony or else their immediately subsequent clause is non-sense viz.