Several things might hereupon be observed against the Rashness and stroug Presumption of such Writers who go about to blame that which God approveth in this Man's Opinion Hezekiah was a silly Man who knew nothing when he might have done much better but trimming about God's Worship was not in fashion in his time yet he was a Prince not wanting to ask Counsel of the Lord upon occasion as we read of he did after Rabshakeh's Blasphemies surely he acted not out of his own Head about the great Design of Reforming in the Beginning of his Reign seeing he had several Prophets to advise with at that time as Isaiah Hosea and Micah he was one of the best Kings of Judah whom Dr. Morton blameth for running into such an Extremity as to break in pieces the brazen Serpent yet by the Dr's leave the Spirit of God saith this is one of the things wherein he did that which was right in the Sight of the Lord whether right or wrong let the Dispute be between God and the Doctor but without any farther enlarging upon this I content my self with setting down an Observation which several Years ago an ingenious Man made upon the very Words The meaning saith he is this the Disease of Idolatry is more easily cured in that Church which doth lively express the Face and full Body of those Churches which were infected with many Errors and declining in many things to Superstition than in Hezekiah's Church at that time most purely reformed To vindicate our retaining a Trash of Popish Ceremonies we could not but therein justifie that Party and make use of their Words and Reasons but not being therewith satisfied we go yet farther and claim a near Relation with that Mother Church which the Word of God calls a Whore and a great one too and I wonder why we should brag of being her Sons and what Profit or Honour we may gain by owning in one respect or other to be descended from her Yet it is too true we do it it is strange to see how fond some of our Church-men are of their Hierarchy and what a Pother they keep about the Validity of Ordination and Episcopal Jurisdiction that to prove they have it amongst them in a lineal and uninterrupted Succession from the Apostles which is a very high Pretence for they would some of them have their Prelacy derived from the Apostles to make it of a divine Right they must assert they have it by the means of Popish Bishops which is to plead the some continued Descent of Bishops as Papists do of Continual Successors of Peter and indeed 't is a wonder to see how the Author of the Conferences troubles himself and how much ado he keeps in the second Conference against the Papist to shew the Difference about the Validity of Ordination and the Power of Jurisdiction which the Papists would have to be two different things distinct and separable arising out of a different Principle but the other on the contrary would have them be together and the same Act that conserreth the one also to give the other and therein great pains are taken to shew that this present Opinion of the Church of Rome and Council of Trent is new and much different of what it was before that time 'T is very true one and the same Act doth confer both Ordination and Jurisdiction but why to trouble one self to quote a Legion of Popish Authors and to propose several Questions why some Popes did so and so But to what purpose raise so much Dust And all this in spight of Papists to affirm Ordination came to us by their means as if the Ordination which is amongst some forreign Protestant Churches was not valid because not derived from Popish Bishops which Communion of Rome since for these several Hundred of Years came to be so abominably corrupt with Heresie Idolatry doth not deserve the Name of a Church for the true Doctrine of the Gospel in many essential Points is not preached nor the Sacraments another true Mark of Christ's Church truthem and according to the 19th of our 39. Art the Romish Church is no true Church of Christ But what then of all this Ordination If we be so fond to have it of them we must take it for what they give it and no more that is for a doubtful thing in a word that the Nation is on a sandy Bottom for Papists who make a Sacrament of it say the Efficacy or it s really being so doth depend upon the Intention of the Priest Bishop or Administerer thereof So then if during that long and continual Succession one Bishop had not an Intention to ordain such and such then such and such so ordained were not really ordained and all since by them ordained had no Ordination at all themselves so could not ordain others Now who can assure our Bishops that going back so many Degrees their Predecessors were intentionally and lawfully ordained That some of them were ordained without an Intention to ordain it is very possible and that the strictest Papists cannot deny now they cannot give it better than they had it and to speak as modestly as can be the Case remains doubtful whether Ordination or no Ordination Besides that some Cheats may happen to have stept in during Confusions pretending to have been ordained though they never were Now I ask is it worth the while for an Uncertainty and a doubtful thing so much to stoop to or court the Romish Church as to say that whether they will or not whether their Ancestors had an Intention or no yet we are their humble Servants and have received Commission and Ordination from them When Water conveyed to us is through the Fault of the Pipes become corrupt is it not not lawful for us to leave it off and go to draw at the very Spring So in matter of Ordination and Commission to preach the Gospel after such an universal and abominable Apostacy and Corruption of the church of Rome who will give no Bread without Poison no Ordinance of God in its Purity and without insufferable Abuse and Depravation Are we not allowed there to leave it and return to the first Institution and purge the Filth of Human Inventions Additions and Defilement have we not done so in matter of the Lord's Supper Have we not done so in point of Baptism who of us would receive the Lord's Supper after the Popish way or have his Child christned with all the Trash and Fopperies by them used in Baptism The like we may say of Ordination when God was pleased in the time of Reformation in an extraordinary manner to reveal his Truth to our Forefathers I do not say they that had been ordained in Popery should be reordained again but for those whom God raised to be Instruments to preach the Gospel should they have gone to Babylon for Ordination where it was so corrupt No they betook themselves to the first Institution and so settled a
Ministry amongst them as at this Day 't is amongst most forreign reformed Churches But all this doth tend to unchurch all Protestant Churches beyond Seas that want Bishops because for want of a right Ordination they must have no Ministry thus their Ministers must be Intruders seeing they preach and administer Sacraments without a lawful Calling So the Marriages they bless are but Concubinages the Children they christen are not lawfully baptized and to shew by Experience this is the Opinion of some here have we not from time to time specially of late invited and exhorted several Outlandish Ministers to be as actually they have been reordained and so we set our Hands to what Papists said of them they were no Churches a thing as uncharitable as unpolitick for this hath been their only Way to get leave here to preach the Gospel and if a Popish Priest should turn Protestant here we would not so much as desire him to be reordained whereby we plainly own Popish Ordination to be good but that amongst Reformed Churches not so This is not the only Abuse we have in these Matters if Ordination and Jurisdiction be together and conferred by the same Act why then are they separated in the same Subject We have seen lately a valid Ordination deprived of the Power of Jurisdiction in the Case of the Bishop of London which at other times hath also been the Case of others 'T is known how the King as Head or Governour of this Church and excepted Infallibility a Shaddow of a Pope doth suspend or command Bishops and others to be suspended ab Officio or a Beneficio and sometimes of both for in many of these things we are so fond of the Beast as to make use of his Language as if the English Tongue was so barren as to want Words to express such things Whilest we disown Reformed Churches to be true Churches on the contrary the Church which is become a Synagogue of Satan and for all her abominable Errors in Doctrine and Practice we must own to be a true Church with saying she holds all essential Points of Faith whence they take this Advantage that then she may not and must not be charged with Idolatry which is an Errour not only in Practice but also in Judgment for we believe that as there is one God and but one God so he alone ought to be served with a religious Worship exclusively to every Creature and 't is sad to see how to defend that Diana Hierarchy and to shew how the Communion of Rome had Right to convey to our Bishops a valid Ordination and a Power of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction we must whether or not she be so make her a true Church or else she could not have conveyed it but Papists do press on either they have not all essential Points of Faith which our Church-men grant they have or else they must be cleared of the Charge of Idolatry I say it again 't is sad to see them reduced to Shifts as first to say by that is meaned no more than that Rome owneth all the antient Creeds when those Creeds are but a short Epitome of the Articles of our Faith for several other things are implied therein but expressed in several Parts of Scripture out of which those Creeds were compiled and though they may be reduced under some of the Heads of these Creeds yet they want Enlargement Thus we see in the Time of Arrius when he had published his abominable Heresie what Enlargements upon the Apostolical Creed were made by the Council of Nice in their Creed and that of Athanasius so though no new Creeds were compiled when Nestorius Eutiches and such Arch-hereticks spread their Poison the Councils assembled against them made Canons and Enlargements upon the true Christian Faith concerning those Points And as this sheweth how the few short Articles of our Faith contain more than they express in relation to the Person of Christ the like may be said in Matters of his Grace which were so fully and clearly enlarged upon by Austin Prosper Fulgentius and other Orthodox Divines who did write against Pelagians and Semipelagians See farther what another Shift we make to come off with saying that the Commandments are no Articles of Faith I well know the Distinction between things to be done and things to be believed so as to say that to honour my Father and my Mother is not an Article of Faith though it be a Rule of my Obedience But that doth not hinder but that one and the same thing may be a Commandment and an Article of my Faith and we ought not to attempt to teach God how to speak in his holy Word None may deny but that to have no other God before the Lord is a Commandment and that not to bow down before the Likeness of any thing in Heaven or in Earth or in the Waters is a Commandment but also none must deny that we ought to believe there is one God alone to be worshipped and adored which is the first Article of our Faith when alas all these narrow Steps might easily be avoided with laying by the Design of holding a Succession of Ordination and owning the Truth in that the Church of Rome is no Church as wanting Purity and Truth of Doctrine and right Administration of the Sacraments according to the Institution and striking at the very Fundamentals of our Faith We may justly call it as our Lord calleth the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2.9 Some who called themselves Jews or the true Church though that Name did not in the least belong to them So let our Friends to Popery speak of it all the good they can as all the Evil against Presbyterians the one shall never be a jot the better nor the other the worse for their talking against the Unreasonableness and Injustice of such Proceedings We appeal to some of the true Sons of the Church as none can deny Mr. Thomas Rogers to have been in his Analysis of the 39 Articles which he asserted to be the true Doctrine of the English Church and dedicateth it to the then Archbishop of Canterbury he doth not as some others slight forreign Churches but brings in their several Confessions of Faith to shew how they agree and concur with him in his Assertions in several Places he gives them their due Title of Reformed Churches and is not ashamed to quote the Augustan Saxon Bohemian Swevick Helvetick Basil Gallick Belgick Wittemb c. Confessions to shew the Harmony and Consent of all Protestant Reformed Churches against that of Rome Now those Churches are known to agree with Presbyterians not only in Doctrine but also about Church Government Worship and Discipline yet none of them is so unjust imprudent and uncharitable as to say they had rather to be Papists than Presbyterians and Dissenters Mr. Rogers calls the forreign Churches our Godly Brethren in forreign Countreys pag. 103. and the Romish Church the Antichristian Synagogue of Rome pag. 127.
from them on the other side to say so argues a very great Ignorance of what Popery and Presbitery are as indeed it is common amongst some of our ordinary Sort of People which like Parrets in a Cage have learned the Name they often heard repeated unto them by some of the Church's passionate Teachers who will as confidently affirm Arminianism to be the Doctrine of the Church though never so false and who sometimes have been heard to complain how the first Reformers went too far they might have spared several things and not have been so rigid to have preserved Union with the Romish Church and not made an absolute renting from it doth not a sensible Man believe that Men of such Principles will be ready when it doth not cross their Worldly Interest to meet half way with the Church of Rome but such no Reason can cure the very Springs of their Souls are corrupt the Disease is past Recovery without the immediate working of God's Spirit wherefore I shall not trouble my self with speaking to those that are such But to the unlearned that are imposed upon and that sin out of Ignorance I shall give Reasons to inform and Satisfie their Judgments no Man may with himself to be of a Church except he already be a Member of it that believeth such Fundamental Errors which a Man dying in cannot be saved and doth practise Idolatry if Scripture saith Truth Here I desire not to be mistaken as if I should say how none that is a Papist can be saved for God's Mercy is great and free and when he pleases he can reveal his Truth to some that now lie in the Ignorance and Blindness of the Errors in Judgment and Practice of that Church so the good God may do to any Jew Mahometan or of any other wrong Perswasion whatsoever as in Practice to the repenting Thief but I say that a Papist dying in the Belief of those effential Errors God not imparting the Light of the Truth unto his Mind and the Love of it into his Heart such an one if God's Word speaks Truth shall not be saved Why so Because the Church of Rome hath instituted several Ways of Salvation when Scripture speaketh but of one surely all but that must be wrong and false so Christian Religion owns but one only Saviour namely the Lord Jesus Christ Acts. 4.12 Neither is there Savation in any other For there is none other Name under Heaven given amongst Men whereby we must be saved and as there is a Saviour and but one Saviour so there is a Mediator and but one Mediator there is one God and one Mediator mark as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator for in the Original the Word to express one God is the same to signifie one Mediator the Man Jesus Christ Now any one though but little versed with the Doctrines of the Popish Religion knows that they have other Mediators to trust to to intercede for them whom they worship and pray to as all their Saints specially the blessed Virgin and these in a high Degree as her Litany doth fully evidence they attribute her a Power of commanding her Son the Lord Jesus Now as to their other Ways of Salvation they are many and by Vertue whereof they pretend to be justified before God as are good Works Indulgencies of Popes See seasonable Discourse about Religion in 1689. Treasures of the Church Merits of Saints for the Favour of one Saint or other whose Protection they put themselves under they do much trust to and depend upon 'T is true they do not exclude the Merits of Christ but they come in only in part and as Sharers to what purpose this Heb. 7.25 Seeing Christ is able to save them to the utter most that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them he alone hath satisfied God's Justice and pacified his Wrath I have trodden the Winepress alone Isa 63.3 and of the People there was none with me saith he by the Mouth of his prophet neither Archangel or Angel or any Creature in Heaven or in Earth being joyned with him in that Work and can we think that after he alone hath endured the Torments of making Atonement for our Sins he would leave with the Creatures the Honour to have it applied throrough their Intercession Heb. 12.2 Now he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith take notice of both Author and Finisher of our Salvation and of all things belonging thereunto which is more clearly explained in that other Place he became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him and he is also called the Captain of our Salvation Chap 2.10 Again I say they which for Salvation depend upon any other Sacrifice than that which Christ made of himself upon the Cross may not upon any good Grounds hope for Salvation because no Promise for it in the Word Scripture makes mention of none other but of that only We shall be content with quoting some few Places all out of one Book of Scripture where the Point of the Lord Christ's Priesthood is of a set purpose and fully treated of and therein the pretended and abominable Sacrifice of the Mass is condemned which Point alone if there was none other is a sufficient Cause for true Christians to break off Communion with that Church Heb. 9.25 26 28. 't is in the Epistle to the Hebrews Nor yet that he should offer himself often speaking of the Lord Jesus for then must he often have suffered since the Foundation of the World Hence we see how Christ was not often to offer himself The Reason is because he was not often to suffer wherefore they that would have him often offered would have him also often to suffer for whether he offereth himself or be offered by a Priest still a Sufferer he must be Now to shew how often this was to be 't is expressed and fixed v. 28. so Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many once and no more and that 's passed too Christ was once offered and it must be of a high Concernment for us to know it ought to have been but once for Chap. 10. 't is repeated twice in v. 10. We are sanctified thorough the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all and v. 12. But this Man Jesus after he had offered one Sacrifice for Sins for ever but one Sacrifice and that for ever that is never to be reiterated any more and v. 14. the Reason is given why there ought to be no more because there is no Necessity for it for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified But why should I trouble my self any longer to insist upon these essential and abominable Tenets and Practices of the Church of Rome which is full of Errors in Doctrine and of Idolatry and Superstition in Worship I hope no true Son of the Church can have the Face to deny the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry for they yield a religious Worship to the Creature as to the Pope whom after his Election Cardinals do place upon the Altar and there adore him for that 's the Word to signifie the Homage which at that time they give him then to the Virgin to Saints to Images and to their Wafer-God whereof they have Millions amongst them Now I say no more only neither Presbyterians nor Independents believe or do so that is that there is any other Mediator than the Lord Jesus that there are other Ways of Salvation than by the only Sacrifice he once made of himself upon the Cross neither do they practise any Idolatry as the Church of Rome doth and we know for certain that no Idolaters shall inherit the Kingdom of God I hope these few things of many more I might have said will satisfie any impartial Reader not blinded with Prejudice or with a violent Passion As for those that had rather to be Papists than Presbyterians let them now with their Mass in their Mouth their other Saviour and Saints upon their Backs with their Superstition and Idolatry about their Girdle go home with Shame and hide themselves or rather amongst the Church of Rome where they would be in their proper Place and not amongst us for we can spare them well enough FINIS
Papists not to be so bad as those very same which still are in Popery thus to defend our own we are more engaged in the Defence of theirs over Head and Ears No doubt but that Place I already mentioned 1 Cor. 2.23 is as Beza well noteth to be understood of Superstition which some foolishly call indifferent things so are our Ceremonies yet how can they be indifferent when joyned to God's Worship and though Practice made so inseparable a Part of it that one shall be refused the Ordinance if he will not take the Ceremony with it now we have a learned Author Daneus who maketh it Blasphemy to think and teach that any outward things of Human Institution may be made a Sign in the Church of spiritual things because indeed 't is to make of them a kind of Sacrament which none but Christ may institute without Blasphemy What is it that made our Saviour speak so much against the Pharisees though Moses had dreadfully threatned not to add any thing yet several Innovations have been brought in as for an Instance their Washings wherein the Addition first is condemned then our Saviour blameth the Superstition because the Pharisees were not satisfied to have made Additions contrary to the Precept but further in these Additions or Washings they placed something of Religious Worship and last of all they were so fond of these Additions that they stood upon and pressed their Observation more than of that Worship which God himself had instituted and I leave it to the Judgment of any impartial Man whether or not these three things are not visibly to be found in our Ceremonies Namely first The Addition or the Ceremony secondly The Superstition placing therein a Religious and Spiritual Signification Thirdly pressing these Ceremonies more than God's Institutions so that the same Censure which our Saviour passed upon the Pharisees for theirs may be passed upon us for ours with the same Reason for both which he gives upon that Occasion and in that Place Every Plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out Matth. 15. from v. 2. till 14. After God's Institution came such Teachers who did not think themselves wise enough till they had patched something of their own to the Word of God yet no Addition to that Word is tolerable to invent new Washings was an idle Vanity Had they rested in the Law of God their Modesty would have been more pleasing to him than their Forwardness in doing otherwise Let us assure our selves we shall ever be unruly and wild-headed there shall be no End to our Fancy our Imagination shall be boundless until the Lord hath fixed us and made us settle upon and stick to this Ground that it is no more lawful for us in any wise to add any thing to his Law than it is lawful for us to take any thing from it Therefore it is better for Men at last to leave off the things wherein they have too long continued to abolish those which have caused nothing but Troubles Animosities Persecutions given Encouragement to prophane Persons and Advantage over us to Papists and have been amongst us a kind of accursed thing for God's Blessig never goes along with those Inventions of Man's Brains as are brought into his Worship his Word and Experience we have for it I say 't is better to abolish all such things which in themselves may be called meer Fopperies rather than to fence for them in as much as we would do for the Gospel and to be as loth to part with them as with the Doctrine of Faith and with true Religion Let not Men therefore set all their Wits at Work to scrue something here and there to defend these but rather to promote the Glory of God the Good of his Church the Salvation of Souls and the Edification of all our Neighbours and to be for and own the Truth ERRATA PAge 19. Line 25. read People p. 37. l. 13. r. hath not taught p. 40. l. ult r. made to p. 86. l. 30. r. Heresie and Idolatry p. 121. l. 27. in the Margin r. September 10th 1571. p. 125. l. ult r. an equal p. 128. in the Margin r. latomi p. 129. l. 29. r. Island and l. 31. first Word p. 133. l. first r. Vbiquity p. 139. l. 32. r. Contrivers and l. 35. desirable A DISCOURSE ABOUT CEREMONIES Church-Government and Liturgy COmparisons are odious is a common saying and true upon several accounts as when some pretend to advantages and priviledges above others as may be to more Parts Learning or to be Wiser Greater or Better Which last is the case of our National Church by some of the Members called the best Protestant Church I shall not say the best Reformed for we have some who love the name no more than the thing of any other whatsoever beyond Sea when 't is not modesty to be so positive in our assertions and so magisterially to decide in our own case to the prejudice of others The instruments of Reformation amongst us were good pious and learned but not infallible men which they did not pretend to they did their best as God enabled them and wherein they followed his Word for their Rule they did admirably well but not so in some things about which they consulted with their own Wisdom and wherein they were guided by humane and worldly considerations for hereupon they all did not agree there being those who were for being wholly and only directed by the word and not biassed by any Worldly Policy Our Church was certainly well Reformed in the main points of Doctrine and in the grossest Superstitions of Popery I say it was before Semipelagianism or Arminianism had infected many of her Members though the Doctrine as then received still remaineth sound but in regard of some Ceremonies and of Ecclesiastical Government 't is not-the-best Reformed Church seeing it doth still retain some Corruptions and Abuses of the Romish which are unprofitable inconvenient dangerous and hurtful and therefore ought to be removed for if those Ceremonies that were of God's own appointment were disannulled Heb. 7.18 much more ought those to be taken off for the same reason that are of Man's Invention which never were good because part of Will-Worship as others were but abuse is a sufficient ground to have them laid aside 2 King 18.4 as was the brasen Serpent and if we are to answer for every idle word much more for every idle Ceremony which may happen to prove a destructive Snare to many Souls in matters of Worship as in others 't is not enough to teach the truth but also it must be truly taught and that 's only out of God's Word which is to be the Rule of Worship and Discipline as of Doctrine As the infirmity of Men newly converted from Judaism and Gentilism did bring into Christian Churches Customs like unto those used amongst Jews and Gentiles so our Men newly come out of Popery kept several Popish Ceremonies
Thus whilest with one Hand we are hugging and imbracing Papists and as it were courting them to own a Relation of our Bishops being by means of Ordination descended from theirs on the other Endeavours were used here to crush and destroy poor Brethren Some though Christians and Country men proved Wolves and Tygers against others Nonconformists as were and are submissive and obedient to Authority who are for Order and Ministry by way of Office in the Church not guilty in the least of any blasphemous Doctrine against the Person Offices or Grace of Christ nor of any Fundamental Errors yet meerly for Consciencce sake for nothing but Non-conformity was laid to their Charge they were vexed fined cast into Prison where some of them died and otherwise cruelly persecuted which ought to make those that have any thing of the Spirit of Christianity to blush and be ashamed Such Practices ought to be left for the Children of him who is a Murderer from the Beginning For cruel Tyrants and Heathen Emperors and for the Romish Anti-Christ who by any means goes about to compel Men to believe their Opinions to believe as they say as they and do as they do a thing never practised by the Lord Jesus nor by his Apostles nor by true Christians when they had the Power of the Sword For Christian Religion and the true Doctrines of the Gospel must not by Men be forced but perswaded nor promoted by any violent ways One Man may have a Power over the Body of another but no Right or Authority over the Souls one of another that 's God's own Right and Property and they are all Usurpers that do encroach upon it Reformation began first in Saxony under Luther but there they neither kept nor did set up any Bishops nor have any such Diocesian to this very Day but they have a Lay-man residing at the Elector's Court commonly a privy-Counsellor called the President of the Presbytery and in those Parts of Germany they have secularized several Bishopricks as Bremen Minden Halberstad c. Now to the third and last general Part about the Liturgy Of the Common-prayer-book ONE thing more I must speak of though already this Discourse be longer than at first I thought it would be and that is the Liturgy which I shall do as briefly as possibly I can In order to it 't will not be amiss to take notice how much that Space of Time namely Queen Mary's Reign between King Edward's and Queen Elizabeth's had altered that Spirit which appeared in the Reformation under that pious young Prince the Josiah of his time That bloody Persecution had destroyed the Lives of several of those Godly and Learned Instruments of Reformation under the former Reign who in that great and good Work proposed unto themselves no Humane By-Ends but only the Glory of God according to his Word and though in the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Days there were several worthy Instruments yet the Spirit they were acted by was somewhat altered if not in the whole yet in part as it will appear if we compare the Articles as they were set forth in King Edward's Days in the Year 1552 with the Edition which the Convocation under Queen Elizabeth in 1571 hath left us There are some considerable Alterations in the Articles as also in the Common-prayer-book what they are for Brevity sake I shall not set down yet I shall say they are about the Articles of Grace of Justification of Sacraments of the Lord's Supper and of Traditions The Expressions left out of them hath proved some Detriment to the Truth for they were strong against some Errors that appeared since and to confirm the Truths therein contained But this in general may be observed about the Prayer-Book how the Common-prayers are taken out of the Breviary the Administration of Sacraments Burial Marriage Visitation of the Sick out of the Ritual the Consecration of the Lord's Supper Collects Gospels and Epistles out of the Missal and for the Book of Ordination of Archbishops Bishops Ministers c. out of the Romish Pontifical Two Popes Pius 4th and Gregory 13th would have approved of it if Queen Elizabeth had been content to have taken it from their Hands and as to matter and manner they are such as that when the Devonshire Papists understood it was no other but the Mass-book in English they were pacified about it A ranck Papist Dr. Carrier said the Common-prayer-book and the Catechism contained in it hold no Point of Doctrine expresly contrary to Antiquity that is the Romish Service only it hath not enough in it Considerat pag. 45. sect 8 9. It is observable how Secretary Walsingham hearing there was a Bull of Excommunication to come out against Queen Elizabeth used a politick Trick to prevent it He caused two of the Pope's Intelligencers at the Pope's own Choice to be as it were in secret brought over and to them he appointed a Guide to shew them in Canterbury and London Service solemnly sung and said with all its Pomp which Order the Popish Intelligencers seeing and admiring they wondered their Master would be so unadvised as to interdict a Prince or State whose Service and Ceremonies did so well agree with his own so returning to the Pope they shewed him his Oversight affirming how they saw no Service or Ceremonies in England but what might very well have been performed in Rome whereupon the Bull was presently called in The Prayer-book is the Beads of our high Church-People for as Papists think all is well with them if they do but tell their Beads so many times a Day hence it is that they look upon it as their great Work when they go to their Churches where they mutter so many Pater Nosters or so many times the Lord's Prayer and Avemarias or the Angel's Salutation to the Virgin So we have amongst us those who think to have performed the whole Christian Duty if they do but go to the Service as they call it and hear the Prayer-book read Out of the Common-prayer-book in that Part of the Litany where it is said from Sedition and privy Conspiracy the following Words are left out From the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and from his detestable Enormities I think after the bloody Tragedy acted under Queen Mary we had no more reason to leave out that important Truth than they had before to have it in But to speak something more in general upon this Subject though within as narrow a Compass as I can because by others much hath been said to the Purpose We declare we are not against Liturgies other Reformed Churches have them and we own they are Help upon Occasion wherefore we be wronged when traduced for Enemies to Liturgies we love them full comprehensive and to the purpose but not clogged with superfluous Repetitions 'T is good to have a Form for Administration of Baptism of the Lord's Supper and blessing of Marriages but they must not be too long nor too many
to kindle his Fury against us And though the Epistle deserves wholly to be transcribed yet not to be too tedious I shall shorten it He calls those Garments unknown to the Christian World in the Times of the Apostles and of the Apostolical Men Garments of Godless Priests and Slaves of Antichrist So assuredly by the arguing of things indifferent to trouble the Peace of Churches and to cause Strife between good Men and bad yea between good Men themselves is so wicked that it can by no means be defended If your gracious Majesty desireth as you would to seem Apostolical then in this matter imitate the Apostles Neither lay and impose this Yoke upon the Neck of Christ's Disciples your self nor suffer others to do it For all Men know that most part of all the Churches that are fallen from the Bishop of Rome for the Gospel's Sake not only have left off but also abhor those Garments 'T is in vain to hope in so doing to bring in Papists over to us who can never amend their Doctrines nor part with their abominable Superstitions and Idolatries then saith he this woundeth the Consciences of private Believers a tender Conscience that feareth God is a most precious thing and acceptable to him for if these things be imposed as necessary we do ungodlily because we make those things to be necessary which Christ would have to be free if indifferent they ought to be left free These are the same Arguments we use but here we leave off thinking we have done enough to shew the Sence of that Learned and Famous Divine upon so solemn an Occasion But this Letter nor other weighty Reasons could not prevail for any thing they were resolved upon another way the Queen was young when she came to the Throne and they that were about her and coming upon the Stage were willing to retain Part of that Pomp and as much as they could of that Power which popish Predecessors in their places had enjoyed Self denial and a perfect Zeal for the Glory of God did not wholly govern in the Spirits of some Men wherefore in that Convocation in 1571 when the Cranmers Hoopers Latimers c. were gone instead of following The Reformation began in King Edward's Days they made those Alterations which we all know But I need not to insist upon these Evidences of particular though eminent Men seeing we have for us that of whole Churches I mean that the Generality of Reformed Churches doth about the Matters now in Hand joyn and agree with us so that we are not fingular in our Opinion but well grounded therein For first we affirm that Christ hath instituted a Discipline according to which and no other his Church ought to be governed The French Reformed Churches say the Order which Christ hath by his Authority setled in his Church ought inviolably to be kept Confes Gallic Articl 25. and somewhat lower they add we believe the true Church must be governned according to the Rule and Order setled by the Lord. Art 29. And this is the Perswasion of the Church in the low Countries how the Church ought to be governed according to the Spiritual Policy which God hath taught in his Word Conf. Belgica Art 30. which containeth three things First There is a Government already settled secondly That Government is set down in Scripture thirdly The Church ought to be governed according to that exclusively to any other seeing a Divine Institution doth exclude Humane Inventions To this also agree the Churches of Switzerland for say they Discipline is administred according to the Order which the Lord hath given in his Word Helv. Conf. cap. 18. quemadmodum suo verbo praescripsit dominus Docemus Gubern c. And a little lower the Church-Government given us by the Apostles is sufficient to keep it in good Order And the Church of Scotland in her Confession of Faith published in the beginning of Reformation giveth for a Mark of the true Church the Administration of Church Discipline such as God hath prescribed in his Word Conf. Scot. Art 18. This overthroweth the prelatical Opinion that 't is left to the Prudence of the Governors of the Church to establish what Government they shall think fit Secondly We say all Ministers of Christ have the same Authority and by the Commission none is to have more Power than another and are not these the positive Words of a Confession of Faith we believe all true Pastors to have one and the same equal Power among them Gal. Conf. Art 30. Let this be taken notice of how 't is an Article not only of their Discipline but also of their Faith we believe the low-Dutch Churches speak to the same purpose Conf. Belg. Art 31. whatsoever Place God's Ministers are in they have the same Power and unequal Authority Helv. Conf. cap. 18. So do those of Switzerland all Ministers of Christ have received the same Power and Office Observe how as there is but one and the same Power so there is but one and the same Office whereby are condemned Primacy and the Episcopal Distinction which they explain elsewhere Apostolis suuis principatum Christus Severis sine prohibuit c. Christ hath most strictly forbidden his Apostles Primacy in the Church who then can but perceive that those who oppose this plain Truth and do bring in a different Government and as it may be taken Diversity of Government into the Church ought to be taken for those of whom Christ's Apostles have foretold 2 Pet. 2. and Paul Acts 20.29 2 Cor. 11. 2 Thess 2. and in several other Places It is also the third and chief Advice of that religious Prince Conf. Palat. at the latter end the Palsgrave in his Confession of Faith to his Children and Successors to take heed of those who acted by meer Ambition as 't is practised in Popery dostrive for a Command over the Consciences of Magistrates and Subjects and to erect for themselves some new Primacy of a large Extent And to shew that Union Equality and Affection which ought to be between Ministers The antient Church of the Waldenses saith Discip of the Vaud Chap. 2. about the middle speaking of Pastors He that is ordained last ought to do nothing without the Leave of him that was ordained first and he that was first must do nothing without the Leave of him that was chosen last Now all this doth ruine the superiority settled by Bishops We say in the third place that no Humane Invention ought to be introduced into God's Worship and that Men must not impose upon Consciences the Yoke of Ceremonies and the Reformed Conf. Gal. Art 24. reject Ceremonies partly because they are Humane Inventions and a Yoke which Humane Authority imposeth upon Consciences Indeed Divine Worship ought to be practised according to the Purity and Simplicity of the Gospel which Mind the Vaudois are of Compend Conf. Art 1. Divine Worship
us to let the World know we are no such Men acted by meer Fancy and Turbulent as misrepresented and to give our Reasons why we cannot consent and conform May the Lord out of his infinite wisdom and mercy be pleased in his due time to unite us in judgment and affection for the truth Now something also must be added as to the subject matter of the following Papers We have Cause to thank God that since our late happy Revolution the Yoke of Persecution is broke off from our Neck and we now enjoy the Liberty of meeting pulickly to serve God and are secured by an Act of Parliament which I pray God may last for ever except it were taken off upon a better account namely to unite us all voluntarily to joyn together in the Worship of God Wherefore many things as are said in this Paper must be understood according as things were when the Laws were strict and severely put in Execution against us and not since the Time of Indulgence but in relation to Laws it ought to be taken notice of how the Penal Laws which at first were intended only against Popish Recusants were thorough the Malice and Craftiness of some Men willing to keep up Divisions fully turned against us as we may believe contrary to the Intention of the Makers thereof I desire what I say in this short Treatise may be so interpreted as arising as indeed it doth out of a Principle of Vnion and Peace grounded upon Truth for without it they can never stand long nor be acceptable to God Now I desire those who are concerned in these matters to consider the Necessity of this Vnion by the Greatness of the Danger which the Want of it doth constantly expose us to from our common Enemy doth not former and latter Experience convince us of this Truth And were we not very lately like to have been all swallowed up by Papists when not thinking themselves strong enough at home they combined with forreign Powers to bring it about They have too well learned the Maxim divide impera and therefore all our Divisions were ever fomented by them striving to set us together by the Ears with one Party to ruin another and at last to destroy us both so that besides the Glory of God if there was no other Reason but Self-preservation we ought to be convinced of the Necessity of labouring to come to a Reconciliation and doth not Experience sufficiently teach us how these Matters ever have been the Occasion of Differences in Church and State Out of what hath been said I lay this for a Foundation that it is our common Interest and for the Preservation of us all there is a Necessity to agree and unite Now it is undeniably true that these Matters have been the Causes of our Divisions the partition Wall which hath kept us asunder and that this maintains still the Papist Interest amongst us which would presently fall down if that Door was shut upon them As to the Doctrinal Part of the 39 Articles we are all agreed and as to Church Government in the general we unite thus far that there ought to be a Discipline with a Ministery by way of Office and that none ought to take care of Souls and administer God's Ordinances but these who have a lawful Call to it we agree or ought to agree how the Word of God and Apostolical Practice therein contained must be the Rule of Doctrine and Worship when afterward we come to differ why should we not be judged by that Law which is the Word of an infallible God preferrably to the Judgment of any Man or of all Men together who are all subject to Error And why upon this Difference should the strongest go about cutting the Throat of the weakest as good as to say I cannot perswade you but will force you a good Cause as we say to Papists must never be promoted by such evil means for it cannot be denied but a great deal of Violence hath been therein used against Dissenters Men who cannot agree amongst themselves must about a Judge Now Infallibility and Impartiality the two necessary Qualifications for a just Judge are not to be had but in the Word of God which is not wanting in giving us Directions for the Well-being as for the Being of the Church or else it were imperfect All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect Where Perfection is nothing is wanting to make us wife unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. We say it is against our Conscience to do the things they would have us to do they cannot say it is against theirs to leave them I do not speak to one single Person who for his Excuse will pretend they are commanded him but I speak to the Law Makers Now is there not more Reason for you to leave them off which doth not wound your Conscience than for us to do them and thereby offend ours Why do you impose such Necessity such Oaths such Subscriptions as you do which are or become meer Snares contrary to St. Paul's Rule This I speak for your own Profit not that I may cast a Snare upon you 1 Cor. 7.35 which Dr. Whitaker calls Aureus locus libertatis vindex a golden Text Asserter of Liberty The Question is about Ceremonies religious in their Nature Vse and Signification which we say ought not to be brought into the Worship of God without a Warrant from the Word the Rule of it and I doubt what Beza and Bald win do express is too true it is not to be doubted but that most of the antient Bishops were somewhat too busie in devising Rites but unhappy was their Counsel I suppose they had been instituted for a good End yet being abused they are taken away for a better Dr. Fulk speaks much in few Words Rejoynder to Martial Art 1. The Gates of Hell saith he assaulted the Church in idle Ceremonies the Fathers in them declined from the Simplicity of the Gospel Bellarmin de eff sacr l. 2. c. 32. can condemn vain and unprofitable Ceremonies Lyra another Papist saith the Memory of Idolatry is totally to be wiped out and the Jesuit Coster Enchir. chap. 8. confesseth that if the Substance of Bread remain in the Sacrament then their Idolatry is more intolerable than the Egyptians was in worshipping of an Ox or a Crocodile they agree as to the Point but when we justly come to apply it then they will not hear of it they will assert a Transubstantiation before they will own an Idolatry worse than that of the Egyptians or that their Ceremonies are vain unprofitable and Idolatrous and yet we are satisfied they are so though some of our Church would qualifie things and say they are not so idolatrous as the Heathenists and all this to what purpose Only to make ours which we have from
of his Homilies speaks of an absurd Practice of some to put a living Man under the Bed of the deceased and then the dead person was asked whether he would be baptized whereupon he that was under the Bed made answer for the dead and desired Baptism and him they immediately baptized in the place of the dead and this he justly calls there a piece of meer Mockery an histrionical Sacrament aludicrious Prophanation of Baptism for thus they did but act a Part in a Play And indeed I believe our Questions in Baptism to the Child and the God-father's Answers come very nigh to this for the Child though naturally alive yet wanting the Use of Reason and Senses is as good as morally dead Further to see the Errors of primitive times baptizing of the dead was anciently used by some Christians as it was usual to give the dead the other holy Sacrament as both appear to have been practised out of two ancient Councils in which is a Prohibition against that Administration of Baptism and of the Eucharist to the Bodies of the deceased the Grounds of these Practices are given by Zonara and Balsamon 3 Conc. Carthag Can. 6. and Conc. Trullo Can. 83. and if we must believe Buxtorf so well versed in the Tongue and Rabbinical Learning in his Synagoga the Jews had the same Error about Circumcision for if the Child died before the eight Day he was circumcised in the Burying-place After this we must agree with Scaliger Disput 17. De Baptismo who out of Lactantius and Austin speaks of the Dotages of the primitive Church which he calls Ineptiae patrum Ecclesiae Doctorum So we must say of the Sign of the Cross in Baptism which once was introduced into the Church though perhaps without an ill Design but hath thorough Superstition been continued therein and is abominably abused in the Romish Church Hence we may see how those things that are brought into God's Ordinances without a Warrant from his Word thorough a just Judgment become a Snare as Altars proved to Ephraim wherefore they ought to be left off and forsaken Hos 3.11 and the Lord never blesseth what he hath not appointed in his Worship Now I say this every Image or Likeness for a religious Use is forbidden in the second Commandment but the Sign of the Cross in Baptism is a Likeness for a Religious Use wherefore it is forbidden by the second Commandment whose Latitude no Man may restrain Of the Surplice NOW I proceed to another Point which I shall be the shorter upon because some things I already said concerning the Cross that may be appliable to the Surplice which say they signifieth Purity and Righteousness required in Ministers yet with some Country Ministers that Purity is very foul as well as their Surplice where we have seen some make use of them as of Hankirchifs and so dirty that they spoiled the Decency However Angels appeared in white Apparel and in the Book of Revelation Ministers are called Angels This indeed is a strange way of arguing for People who pretend to much Reason Thus because God calleth himself the antient of Days Dan. 7.9 he may be represented as an old Man with a grey Hair and a grey Beard as Papists do so may Ananias be represented with a Surplice because St. Paul calls him a whited Wall Acts 23.3 I also should have said the Holy Ghost may be represented under the Shape of a Dove because he appeared so in our Saviour's Baptism Luke 3.22 but if to prove the Surplice a Sacrament for that 's the long and the short of the business only it wanteth God's Institution though it hath Man's and that Sanctity wherewith Ministers ought to be endued we have no better Grounds in Scripture for if we had we would fetch it than Angels appearing in white Raiments we have nothing but Apparitions to ground it upon Out of this way of arguing we should also conclude that every Minister should have six Wings fastened to his Body with certain Faces like Faces of Lyons Isa 6. and Ezech. 1. Eagles Oxen c. because Angels have so appeared and nothing of black about them no black Caps no Tippets nor Hood because Angels appeared all in white It cannot be denied but that this white Garment is an Invention of Popery used in most if not all their religious Worship hardly any Foppery is acted amongst them but this is in nay it is ever used in the very Act of Idolatry for idolatrous Ends hence one may judge how defiled it must be but say they amongst Papists 'tis consecrated not amongst us as for that it may as well be consecrated as Altars Churches and Church-yards however we ought to hate even the Garment spotted by the Flesh Jud. 23. not to bring them in and make significant Ceremonies of them this might very well be spared and no hurt in the case as there is some to use it but say they 't is appropriated to an holy use in God's Service reading of his Word c. But the thing is never the more holy for that or else the Pulpits Tables Table-cloths Cups Railes Bells Seats would be so for they are appropriated to God's Service in their kind as the Surplice is As to Decency is not a black Gown as decent as a Surplice The Worship of God doth not confist in Garments or such Ceremonies that 's good for those who will make Religion as pompous as they can like the Romish Church and we imitate it upon Coronation-days but Soundness and Purity in Doctrine Simplicity in Worship and Holiness of Life is what we ought to stand upon so then the use of Surplice or Font in Baptism gives them not any Sanctity no more than have the Bottles wherein is the Wine to be used in the Lord's Supper or the Mud and Banks that contained the Water of Jordan where Baptism was administred Now amongst the several Evils this idle Ceremony causeth this is a great one that it stops the Course of the Gospel the Church is deprived of the Labours of many a good and learned Man the wearing of it is so necessary a Qualification that no Surplice no preaching and time hath been when Men neither ignorant nor scandalous who had a lawful Call to the Ministry being distressed between two either to be deprived of the Exercise of their Ministry a thing more grievous than the Loss of their Places or else to do things contrary to their Consciences were put to a sad and lamentable Dilemma either to be deprived of all or else to comply with the times and become Hypocrites We justly blame the Violence in France offered to the Consciences of People and yet here hath been done as ill though in another kind within these 30 Years till the time of our late Deliverance We made nothing of above a thousand poor Ministers at once upon the account of these Superstitious Rags and Ceremonies turned out
be the better for it or else they would not do it nay they think it to be no Church till it be done for till then there is in it no preaching at least no administring of Sacraments yet both they administer in private Houses Other things there are as churching of Women after the Jewish Way of Purification as we keep a Day about it for the blessed Virgin which God never required at our Hands nor she ever desired but all is our Fancy after the Pattern of Popery there are also the private Communion private Baptism Burial of the Dead at Sea there was also a Form about healing or touching for the King 's Evil a Popish Foppery too but now quite out all which we omit speaking to having things enough besides to discourse upon so we must proceed to a second general Head namely the Discipline of the Church Of Church-Government THUS having spoken of Ceremonies we must now say something of the Government of the Church which is much after that of Rome Triplicat art whitak cap. 9. Hierarch Anachrys lib. 2. pag. 45. in the manner of Hierarcy by Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons Deans and Chapters then Chancellours Commissaries Officials c. These have been the Steps for Popes to ascend upon that Throne of Iniquity which they now sit upon these are of Man's Invention whether or not the Design was good I shall not dispute but certainly it hath proved fatal Staplet and Scalting Two of the great Champions of Rome both highly commend and in it do much approve of our Constitution and Practice Those Offices in the Church which are of God's Institution we have them named in Scripture Eph. 4.11 and 1 Cor. 12.28 God gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastours and Teachers The Apostles were universal Preachers of the Gospel immediately called by Christ who wrought Miracles and were infallible in Doctrine The Prophets did interpret and expound Scriptures by a Divine Light having the Gift of Tongues and of things to come The Evangelists were the Writers of the History of the Gospel inspired of God or else Preachers of the Gospel called by the Apostles and attended on them in their Journeys Pastors also called Bishops that is Overseers were Ministers settled in certain Churches to teach and govern them The Doctors or Teachers were Successors of Prophets whose Office it was to explain Scriptures and vindicate them from the Errours of Hereticks The Apostles instituted Elders or Presbyters for that 's the true Signification of the Word who also are called Bishops though not always some being only to rule the Church others also to preach Men chosen by the Church endued with Gifts and Authority above others who with the Pastors took care of the publick Doctrine administred Ecclesiastical Discipline and in the Churches Name were taken up with the Vocation of Ministers Acts 6. There were also Deacons to take care of the poor to visit the sick to maintain Hospitality and sometimes to preach the Word These are all the Offices in the Church we have in the Word of God for all are reduced under these Heads No Lord Pastour and Ministerial Pastour no Bishop of Bishop or Arch-bishop that is Prince Bishop no Deacon of Deacon or Archdeacon This is contrary to the Rule of Christ so expresly forbidding his Disciples to affect any thing of Dominion or Superiority of one over another and indeed those Offices named in that to the Ephesians are sufficient for the Church as 't is said in the 12th Verse for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ All besides this is of a Humane Superstructure Rectors Curates Vicars c. are Names Things and Limbs of the Roman Church most of the hyerarchical Officers are not for these good Ends. Now Bishops which answer to Watchmen Pastors Ezech. 23.27 and Elders in God's Word are but for one and the same Office We see it clearly out of that place of Scripture where 't is written how St. Paul sent for the Elders of the Church of Ephesus to come to him to Miletus in the Charge he giveth them he saith Act. 20.17 82. Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the Flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God In this Text we have the three Names given to the same Persons those he sent for and speaks to are called Elders God made them Overseers v. 17. for that 's the Sgnification of the Word in the Original and what in other places of Scripture is translated Bishops is here rendered by the Word Overseers though in the Greek the Word be the very same and amongst the Translators was debated whether or not in this Place it should be Englished by the Word Bishop but upon Consideration that it might prejudice the Difference they make between Bishop and Pastor or Elder they made use of the Word Overseer which could not be taken notice of by those that understand no Greek this by the by then these Elders of the Church of Ephesus the Holy Ghost had made Bishops them he charged to seed the Church and do the Office of Pastors so that in the 28th Verse Pastors and Bishops are but one and the same and here by the way I shall make this general Observation how in the Exposition of a Text three things are chiefly to be taken notice of first The true Signification of the Word in the Original secondly The Scope of the Author in the Place Thirdly The Analogy of Faith and Relation to other Places of Scripture The first I have spoken of the second here is a Charge of St. Paul for those Elders to perform their Duty of overseeing and feeding their Flock 1 Pet. 5.1 2. which St. Peter asserts also to be the Duty of Elders whereof he owns himself to be one The third is the Analogy of this Place with others as that which Paul writes to Titus For this cause I lest thee in Greet that thou shouldest ordain Elders in every City Tit. 1.5 6 7. If any be blameless c. for a Bishop must be blameless In the 5 Verse he calls Elders and in the 7. Bishops the same Persons This is the divine Bishop of a divine Institution for as to the Diocesian Bishop 't is but an Humane and Prudential Institution and there is no such thing known in Scripture as it appears out of that Place to the Philippians St. Paul directs the Epistle to all the Saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi Chap. 1.1 with the Bishops and Deacons out of which Place after Jerome we may say that Philippi is one Town in Macedonia and as now Bishops are reckoned there is but one not many of one Town or City but here are Bishops of the plural Number of Philippi therefore the Pastors and Elders of the Place are meaned which also
ought to be performed only in Spirit and in Truth for God is Spirit John 4. So that the Use of those Ceremonies ought to be abolished Belg Conf. Art 25. Also the Churches of the united Provinces do believe that amongst Christians all Ceremonies must be abrogated Now he that saith all excludeth nothing and to shew what kind of Ceremonies those are elsewhere they explain it we do reject all manner of Humane Inventions brought into the Service of God Art 32. And 't is an unexcusable Presumption to introduce into the Service of God that which he hath not prescribed The Believers of part of Switzerland express thus much saying no Man may command that which Christ hath not commanded Conf. Basil Art 19. among other things therein is mention made of Days dedicated unto Saints but in another Place they declare more at large when having said how the Church of Christ doth what she can to preserve Peace and Union 't is added therefore she hath no Communication with Sects and receiveth not any Rules given to settle a Distinction of Meats Cloths Days and Ceremonies Herein with us do also agree the four imperial Cities in their Confession of Faith presented to the Emperor Charles the Vth. where after they have condemned the Impositions of Fast Days at certain times as Lent and on Fridays specially that called good-Friday and having quoted some Places out of Ireneus and of Apollonius against Montanus who was the first Imposer of Fasts and of Chrysostome Neque enim apud nos leve momentum habet c. they speak thus for as we ought we had a special Regard to what St. Paul saith to the Coloss Chap. 2. Let no Man judge you in Meat or in Drink or in respect of an holy Day And in another Place having spoken about Abuses under Pretences of Divine Worship introduced into the Church 't is added Many things are admitted subservient unto Superstition more than to Piety This overthrows the Ceremonies of our Prelates If after all this we have a Desire and Curiosity to know the Mind of the most remote Churches from us and which are settled in Poland Russia Lithuania c. We shall find though some follow the Confession of Ausburg others that of Bohemia and others that of the Evangelical Cantons Postnaniensi Conventu art 10. Disciplina ecclesias secundum Dei verbum ab omnibus approbatur Ex lib. Bucer cui titulus scripta duo adversaria latol p ag 159. they unanimously tell us that Church Discipline which is according to the Word of God is approved by all Who then can hinder ut hence to conclude that all approve to have that Church-government settled which is grounded upon God's Word And indeed they have that Company of Men that excel in Prudence and Gravity of Spirit whom Bucer speaks of whose Office is to warn and correct those that commit Faults and to compose Differences c. those Elders saith he Ambrose hath written of they are those that help in the Administration of Church-government to the great easing of the Minister whereof the Benefit is great in those Churches that have them though they be derived from Scripture yet are wholly despised and rejected by the prelatical Party A general Synod held in Poland since the Agreement at Sandomir Uladislaw Synodus art 12. Syn. postnan art 8. Syn. Xansens cap. 2. speaks of two Kinds of Elders Spiritual and Secular Another famous enough makes mention of them and a third not only declareth how they ought to be chosen but also what their Office is 'T is then past all Question that they have ruling Elders Moreover we must admire at the Charity and Prudence of those Churches much different from what we have seen here practised at home for though Part of them that are united by the Agreement they made at Sandomir be of the Confession of Ausburg and do retain some Ceremonies yet they impose them not neither do they constrain People to submit thereunto for say they Petricoviens Synod art 4. qua quidem propter externos ritus homines pios ferire neque domini est voluntas neque purioris ecclesiae mos c. if they were imposed some Opposition might happen and then it would be necessary to make use of the Discipline but 't is neither the Will of God nor the Practice of the more primitive Christian Church to punish pious Men for outward Ceremonies therefore Ceremonies we leave to Christian Liberty Hence we see how they wisely avoid the Occasions of Severity and Dispute Though among those Churches there be Overseers and Superintendents whence our Prelates would prove a Conformity with their Episcopacy we shall find a vast Difference between both not only as to the Election which is made by the Ministers but also in relation to the Authority which is subordinate and inferiour to that of the Synoct Xansens Syn. cap. 1. Art 10. see from art 1. to the 10th and as to the Time assigned for it which is from one Synod to another and according to the Pleasure of the Synod he shall be confirmed or else another shall be chosen if the Synod think fit And if it will appear those Overseers have a different Employment from that of our Bishops if one will take the Pains to read the Articles of that Synod from first to tenth inclusively and that for them it is an Addition of Care and Pain more than of any Worldly Honour or Gain In a Word they are such as Chair-men Prolocutors and Moderators in Synodal Assemblies except that the Work of these doth cease at the breaking up of the Synods but the Labour of those doth continue This we might strengthen with other Testimonies of the Confessions of Faith and Articles of the Ecclesiastical Government of other Churches But forbear for we think we said enough to our present purpose Now to come to the Judgment of some of our home good and learned Men about these things Written in 1566. we shall begin with a Letter of the general Assembly of Scotland to the Bishops of England for though they be of a different Kingdom yet they make part of the same Land If Surplice say they corner Cap and Tippet have been Badges dies of Idolaters in the very Act of Idolatry what have the Preachers of christian Liberty and the open Rebukers of Superstition to do with the Dregs of the Romish Beast And in their Confession of Faith are these Words We detest all Ceremonies and false Doctrines of the Romish Antichrist added to the Ministration of the true Sacraments we detest all his vain Allegories Rites Signs and Traditions brought into the Church without and against the Word of God King James when he was yet in Scotland could tell them they had the purest and best Reformed Church in the World even beyond that of Geneva which said he keepeth some Days yet when he had been here a while being well pleased with
the Complement of some of our Bishops how he was the wisest and most learned King since Solomon's Time which Learning and Wisdom whatsoever he after God owed to Buchanan whose Principles he soon forgot here and his Friend's Kindness there upon ascending on the Throne he became another Man a Puritan that is one according to the Principles of the Church of Scotland was odious to him In a publick Declaration he allowed Sports upon the Lord's Day which afterwards was revived and confirmed by his Son and that made Scotch men say they had sent up a good King but thorough Flattery he had been spoiled and he himself could not forbear to say how glad he was to be here amongst the Clergy that gave him a great Respect when in Scotland every Minister was allowed freely to speak to him and may be sometimes allowed to tell him things which he did not like Here we had Hooker afterwards Bishop of Glocester who opposed Cap Rochet and Surplice and stood much against such things which Opposition of his made a great Noise in those Days so I shall not stand upon it but come to Latimer in his third Sermon before King Edward he said that the Lutherans in Germany made a Mengle Mangle Hotch Potch of Popery with true Religion meaning their Ceremonies Bishop Jewel approved of Tertullian's Judgment against Garlands because they were worn by Heathens and upon his Death-bed he declared he would not grieve any of his Brethren who were of contrary Opinion concerning Ceremonies for at that time several did so Pag. 412. and Dr. Fulk in his Repeal of Heskin's Parliament saith Jewel had no Pleasure to minister in Coapes for though he was a Bishop he might condemn some superstitious Ceremonies in in England as Cardinal Cajetan condemned many superstitious Ceremonies in the Church of Rome for when he died he said he would not be buried in a Church as we have it in his Life prefixed before his Commentaries upon Joh and the same Bishop in his Epistle to Queen Elizabeth before the Defence of his Apology he prays to God that she may live to abolish all Groves and high Places in England He was no great Approver of such things Bishop Pilkinton said it is our Fault generally that we differ no more from Papists in all our Ministry and Dr. Bilson alloweth and approveth those that cannot by any means digest one Dram of Popish Ceremonies As for Dr. Fulk he declareth that he which saith our Form of Service is not sufficiently differing from the Papists sheweth his Zeal in Detestation of Idolatry and in another place we abhor whatsoever hath but a Shew of Popery and in his Rejoynde to Martial he saith that the Ceremony of the Cross once taken up with good intent being grown into so horrible Abuses is justly refused of us and 't is reported of him that rather than he would wear a Surplice he with his Pupils went out of St. John's College in Cambridge and hired in Town Chambers for them and himself Mr. Perkins in his Explication of the Decalogue specially upon the second Commandment in his golden Chain in his Treatise of Idolatry is positive how all Worship all things obtruded under the Name of Worship without any Exception if they be not commanded of God are unlawful and superstitious Worship some other Churchmen there are whom we omit to speak of and amongst them there are of another sort who though they be for the generality yet they are against some particular Ceremonies as Dr. Whitgift against significant Ceremonies I omit the Testimonies of those who all along from the Beginning declared against Ceremonies because being Parties they ought not to be of either side Evidences or judges Now to draw towards a Conclusion of the whole we are loth to own the Reformation of other Churches to be as good as ours so we will stand meerly upon our own Ground and may not we upon the Occasion say with Solomon Ecces 4.10 woe be to him that is alone we make a Difficulty to own or joyn a thing as unpolitick as uncharitable with Reformed Churches beyond Sea as those that once were in France are now in Switzerland Geneva Holland the Palatinate Hessen Bremen and other Parts of Germany who agree amongst themselves and others in Bohemia Hungary Poland c. and with the Vaudois that Mother Church whence the Gospel passed into most Parts of Europe and such a Church as was never stained with Popish Abominations which no other Protestant or Reformed Church can say and so in no Necessity of Reformation hence some Popish Authors as Seissel Archbishop of Turin and others do write they were always Hereticks for by Authentick Writings of above 800 Yerrs ago it appears they as to Doctrine Worship and Church Government held the same thing as now do which is the same as in Holland and other Churches I mentioned but just now and we must believe they had and have the Spirit of God as well as we And 't is to be observed they had some different Instuments in the Work of Reformation though they corresponded and advised one with another so all these embraced one and the same Way of Reformation and we differ from them As to the other Way of Reformation according to the Lutherans we cannot commend it as the best neither do we in Doctrine joyn with them in every thing as Vbibuity Consubstantiation c. and in Ceremonies they retain more than we own though to say the Truth the Reformation in Luther's Time was purer than after some modern Lutherans having defaced that which was done at first As for Ceremonies Luther was against but kept some which in time he intended to have removed by Authority of Magistrates as Crucifixes Images but because Carolostadius stirring up the People threw them down without Delay that vexed him and stopped his Resolution his Reason was to stop the Mouths of Slanderers who accused Protestants of Tumults and Sedition yet in some places amongst them they have them not In all such things the Glory of God more than our Passions is to be minded which is not when under the Notion of Uniformity Unity it self is ruined and when Tooth and Nail men stand for such Ceremonies as ours as much as for the Fundamental Points in Religion which argues neither Prudence nor Charity rather a Spirit of wilfulness and contradiction you shall have and do because you will not Why do we say that amongst Papists it is held a greater Wickedness to omit Auricular Confession than to live impiously to eat Flesh in Fasting Days than to live in Fornication to work on Saints Holy Days than to act Mischief their Practice shews us the cause for they punish more severely the Breach of their Ordinances than of God's Laws if we do the like about our ceremonies if we refuse to admit or do deprive a Godly Learned Man and Laborious Minister meerly because he cannot conform and if we take in any