Lord the work of the Hands of the Crafts-Man and putteth it in a secret Place In the Liturgy the words to worship it are added to the Text which denounceth a Curse upon such as make an Image for any Religious Ends as suppose to beget in us good reflections to be a help to our Devotions c. but the Addition restraineth the Curse to the Act or Intention of Adoration Now there is a Controversy of greater Consequence than that of ye and we depends upon this Addition viz. whether it be lawful to use Images as suppose a Crucifix c. for Religious Ends provided we don 't worship them The Papists say it 's not only lawful but in some Cases necessary that they are Laymen's Books and great helps to Devotion The Protestants affirm according to the Scripture they ought not to be made at all for the Ends of Religion much less set up either in the Congregation or in a secret Place Deut. 27. 15. Isa 44. 10. Habb 2. 18 19. This Addition in the Liturgy seems to favour the Popish Doctrine that we may use Images in our Devotions provided we don 't worship them I am the more Confirm'd in this by the Images of Christ and his Apostles which I find Printed in several of our Common-Prayers and I doubt not but they are intended as helps to Devotion and I wish they were not designed as an Introduction to Image Worship in the late Reigns when projects of that kind were conniv'd at However this be the making of such Images is against the Scriptures especially the 2d Commandment as is prov'd at large in the Book of Homilies It 's shew'd there 1st That no Image of Christ can be made but a LYING IMAGE because he is God and Man Nor can any true Image of his Body be made because it is unknown now of what Form and Countenance he was and there be in Greece and at Rome and in other Places divers Images of Christ and none of them like to other and yet every of them affirmeth that theirs is the True which cannot possibly be Therefore as soon as an Image of Christ is made by and by is a LYE made of him which by God's Word is forbidden 2ly If an Image of Christ cou'd truly be made yet it is unlawful that it should be made yea or that the Image of any Saint shou'd be made especially to be set up in Temples Ireneus reproves the Hereticks call'd Gnosticks for carrying about the Image of Christ In the same Homily is proved the unlawfullness of such Images from Lev. 26. Exod 20. and Deut. 27. and they quote this last Text aright without the Addition in the Common-Prayer * Serm. against Peril of Idolatry Part 3d. One may justly wonder that such a publick Use of Images shou'd be allow'd in our Churches and no Body that I hear of reprove or condemn it tho' all our Episcopal Ministers have subscribed to the Book of Homilies as containing a Godly and wholsome Doctrine The having of Images in our Books of publick Devotions is as unjustifiable as the setting 'em up in our publick Churches nay the former is in this respect Worse than the latter because in the latter Case one Image serves a whole Congregation but in the former there are as many Images as there are Worshippers with Pictur'd Common-Paryer-Books in their Hands Christians shou'd avoid all Occasions and Appearances of Idolatry but the Rectors Zeal runs another Way I will not tempt him to execute the fiery Sentence he passed on the Bible upon his Common-Prayer but I will recommend to his Reading the learned and pious Homilies against Idolatry which mention with Approbation Epiphanius's renting a painted Cloth wherein was a Picture of Christ or of some Saint affirming it to be against our Religion that any such Image shou'd be had in the Temple or Church If this Act of Epiphanius does not raise an Emulation in him to purge his Church of Images he ought at least to declare against the Corruption of Scripture to which he is accessary by giving his Assent and Consent to all and every Thing contain'd in the Liturgy Thus I have gratified his Request and given him such an Instance as he desires and yet I will not say this is a Corruption of which all the Episcopal Party is Guilty because I believe few of 'em have taken notice of it For a farther Confirmation of his Charge against the Dissenters he saith out of Arch-Bishop Laud's Speech that the Puritans expung'd part of the XX. Articles of the Church of England concerning the Power of the Church to decree Rites and Ceremonies 'T is yet Sub-Judice whether that Clause was added by some of the Bishops Friends or expung'd by some of their Adversaries whether it were the one or t'other it does not concern the Controversy in Hand Tho' it may seem more probable they were added by some Ceremonious Gentleman for the Puritans alledged that the Clause was not to be found in the Latine or English Articles of King Edward VI. or Queen Elizabeth ratified by Parliament The Arch-Bishop can't say that this Clause was in the Articles of King Edward VI. but comes off with this sly Answer That the Articles made in the time of King Edward VI. were not now in Force and therefore not Material whether that Clause be in or out * Heyl. Life of Laud. p. 339. I thought Articles of Religion were not like Acts of Parliament to be repealed at pleasure However one may conclude from Arch-Bishop Laud's Words that the Clause about Ceremonies was not in the Original Articles of the Reformed Church of England in King Edward VI. time If it had been in he would have taken notice of it as he does of all the Editions that had it in Queen Elizabeth's time If it was to be found in the Records of Convocation Anno 1562. as the Arch-Bishop saith it is a sign the Church of England was grown more Ceremonious than it had been in King Edward VI. time Be this Matter as it will it concerns not us tho' the Rector according to his wonted Justice reproaches us with it Remark on Remarks p. 51. 63. †Mr. Baxter 's Life p. 639. Arch-Bishop Vsher Arch-Bishop Williams Bishop Morton Bishop Holdsworth c. in a Committee at Westminster 1641. mention this Article among the Innovations in Doctrine in the Church of England He has a pleasant Digression on these Words of mine no Dissenters have urg'd this Corrupt reading in favour of a Popular Covernment in any of their Writings against Bishops and Ceremonies Remark p. 14. which he thus reports No Dissenters have urg'd this Corrupt reading against Bishops and Ceremonies And then adds who ever thought that ye had any thing to do with the Ceremonies p. 52. I spoke of the Corrupt reading as applied to a popular Government which is evident by my Words I Note this as an Instance of his Unfairness and pass by his
Especially when you positively Affirm that it was an accidental Slip an unhappy Mistake Thus his first and chief Argument is eternally dismissed by himself and his Attempts to defend it do but shew the Rector to be as Ill a Man as he is a Disputant To be willing to believe us Innocent and at the same time to endeavour to prove us Guilty be-speaks a Disposition worse than that of Pilate who tho' he condemn'd Jesus Christ when he had pronounced him Innocent did not seek for Evidence to prove him Guilty he contented himself to give an unjust Sentence to please the Jews But the Rector did not seem to be under the temptation of pleasing his own Party who were so far from extorting this unjust Sentence from him that several of them have condemn'd him for it yet he has not only passed an unrighteous Judgment upon us but has done his utmost to load us with an unproved Guilt after he had made our Crime an accidental Slip and unhappy Mistake 3. I prov'd ex abundanti that Presbytery was not in the Ascendant in England in 38. That conformity was then at the highest being urged by Arch Bishop Laud and his Faction with great Severity that many were suspended deprived and excommunicated for not reading the Book of Sports in 37. I gave an Account of about Thirty Ministers so used in the Bishoprick of Norwich And in 38. many more were Suspended for not using Hoods and Surplices many were driven to foreign Countries to Holland New-England c. whither the Arch-Bishop design'd to pursue 'em and to Dragoon 'em into the English Conformity I prov'd they were deprived not only of the Pulpit but of the Press also by a Decree passed in the Star Chamber July the 1st 1637. By Virtue of this Decree several Geneva Bibles with Notes were seized in Holland and a New Impression design'd for England was stop'd from coming over All this I prov'd out of Rushworth and Heylyn by which it appears what little Credit is to be given to his secret History of the Presbyterians Corrupting the Word of God in Thirty Eight when he so notoriously Contradicts the Publick History of that Time To this the Rector Answers He wou'd not for any Thing be found tripping in this Part of his Argument p 37. That Mr. Owen blunders about the signification of these Words being in the Ascendant which he understands of being in full Power and Authority as if it were the same with having the Ascendant And least you should think him an Ignoramus in the Mathematicks be informs us out of Lyburn when a Star is said to be in the Ascendant which is when having passed the Imum Caeli and being got into the the Ascendant it bends it's course towards Medium Caeli and the Meridian i. e. is Ascending I hope you are Edified by this Piece of Learning A Star is in the Ascendant when it is got into the Ascendant and is Ascending This puts me in Mind of that famous Verse of Battus the Poet Montibus inquit erant erant in montibus illis Which you may thus English in conformity to the Rector The Mountains high he did Ascend Ascending still he did Ascend His Explications are transcendent Blunders which wou'd have been more Excusable if he had not set up for a Teacher of the Mathematicks and involv'd a learned Author in a tautological Pleonasm The Rectors distinction between being in the Ascedant and having the Ascendant is a little Nice he owns Presbytery had not the Ascendant in Thirty Eight and yet Affirms it was got into the Ascendant But the happiness is this Distinction will do him no good for my Argument proves Presbytery to be so far from the Ascendant in his very Sense that it makes it to be in the Descendant in England that Year Episcopacy was never higher nor Presbytery lower The Episcopal Power was in its Meridian Altitude having the High Commission-Court and the Star-Chamber to support it and an Active Arch-Prelate moving in the highest Orb whose Influences were as Malignant to the Puritans the better Part of the Church of England then as they were favourable to the Men of Ceremony In a Word he had the Presbyterians if any such there were under his Feet and made this Climate too hot for them that they were glad to seek for shelter in the remotest Parts of the Earth This I have prov'd out of Heylyn but the Rector wisely overlooks it If being under Foot and trampled in the dust be Ascending towards the Meridian then were the Presbyterians in the Ascendant in Thirty Eight If bending their Course versus fines terrae be the same with bending it versus medium Caeli they must be acknowledg'd to be in the Ascendant But saith he That prodigious and terrible blazing Star the Covenant that very Year begun to appear in Scotland and soon drew the Eyes and Inclinations of a great Part of England upon it p. 37. The Covenant appear'd in Scotland long before Thirty Eight and was subscribed by King James I. as I shew'd in my Remarks p. 8. The renewing of the Covenant in Thirty Eight proves Presbytery to be in the Ascendant in Scotland but what is this to England Presbytery is now in the Meridian in Scotland I hope the Rector will not say it is so in England It must be so by his Argument He undertook to prove Presbytery in the Ascendant in England It must be so by his Argument He undertook to prove Presbytery in the Ascedant in England and his Argument is it was so in Scotland as if the State of England and Scotland were always the same Le ts see the Strength of this doughty Argument the Presbyterian Covenant appear'd in Scotland in Thirty Eight therefore the Presbyterians at Cambridge corrupted the Bible Did the Scotch Covenant depend upon altering of we into ye at Cambridge or did the Alteration depend on the Covenant Was there a Conspiracy between the Scotch Covenanters and the Cambridge Episcopal Printers Suppose the Covenant drew the Inclinations of some English this does not prove Presbytery in the Ascendant in England much less does it prove the Presbyterians Guilty of Corrupting the Word of God A Man may have Inclinations to Presbytery and not be a Corrupter of the Word of God Thus the Rector who wou'd not for any Thing be found tripping in this Part of his Argument is found not only to Trip but to Stumble and overthrow his Rider when he affirms Presbytery to be in the Ascendant in Thirty Eight in England But suppose Presbytery had been in the Ascendant then this will not prove the Presbyterians Authors of that Corruption 1st It does not favour their Principles 2ly Arch-Bishop Laud had guarded the Press against them as I have prov'd nor was the Rector able to Contradict me 3ly the Cambridge Printers in Thirty Eight were Episcopal Men who ought in Justice to be charged with the Errors of the Press 4ly The University of
Cambridge was far from being Presbyterian at that time the Heads of Colledges being all Episcopal a List of which Mr. Francis Talents communicated to me which I find agreeing with Mr. Fullers * Church History To this the Rector Answers That Mr. Owen talks like one who knows not Cambridge Nor had diligence enough to inform himself and Mr. Talents he fears is past his Memory and Judgment not to say his Integrity p. 37. 39. Mr. Owen has known Cambridge above twenty Years ago when he was admitted Student there Mr. Talents Judgment Memory and Integrity deserves not to be reflected on since Mr. Fuller in his History of the University of Cambridge fully writes the same thing he mention'd But saith he besides these sixteen Heads there are Fellows Scholars Noble-men a Follow-Commoners Persioners and Sisars or Servitors which make up about 2000 among which there were many that favour'd Presbytery especially in Emanuel which not long after furnished six Colledges with Heads and it was call'd pure Emanuel from the abundance of Puritans in it p. 39. The Rector informs us of what every body knows that there are a great many Students in Cambridge and if he can find there five or six Presbyterians among two Thousand Scholars he thinks he has prov'd his Charge against that Party of Corrupting the Word of God This puts me in Mind of a Passage in Lactamius He saith that as Diocletian was Sacrificing and the ordinary Marks in the Intrailes of the Sacrifices not appearing Tages that were set over the Diviners said that their Rites did not succeed because there were some prophane Persons i. e. Christians that had thrust themselves into the Assembly * Lactant of the Prim. Pers Ergl. by Dr. Burnet p. 75. This occasion'd the last and great Persecution of the Christians under that Emperour and his Collegues The Rector is as just to the Furitans as the Pagan Priests were to the Ancient Christians their being upon the spot is sufficient to make the one and the other Criminals Thus St. Paul was Accused for bringing Greeks into the Temple and the Evidence was they had seen Trophimus with him in the City Acts 21. 28 29. I have heard of a certain late Judge that as he passed a dirty Place in London-Streets he found a Man sheltring himself under a Belcony from a Shower of Rain Sir saith he to the Man I will have you indited for this Nusance The Man told him he was a Stranger there that 's nothing replies the Judg I have found you on the Premisses and you must Answer for the Nusance The Rector thinks he has found a few Puritans in Cambridge in Thirty Eight among near two Thousand Church-men and they must be Guilty of the Corruptive Nusance because he has found 'em on the Premisses But that which spoiles all is the Puritans were Members of the Church of England and generally of the Episcopal Judgment nay the Moderate and Pious Bishops cou'd not escape that Nick-name which was applied to all Calvinists in Doctrine as Dr. Heylyn confesseth †Life of Arch-Bishop Laud. p. 124. Tho' in strictness the Name was given to the Non-con-formists which were very few at that time the Terms of Conformity not being screw'd up to the present height But the Heads of Colledgs were no Puritans no not Dr. Haldsworth Master of Emanuel who was put out by the Parliament and any Man will judge of the State of the University and indeed of all Societies by the Governing Party who have a considerable Influence in their respective Provinces If Cambridge supplied Trinity Colledge Oxford with ten Fellows that were for the Parliament as he affirms p. 39. It does not follow they were Presbyterians before for we know its usual for abundance of People to change with the Times I doubt not but the Rector can Name the Men who took the Covenant and the Engagement and after all approv'd themselves to be right Episcopal-Men Besides many of those that were made Fellows at Oxford in the Year 1638. were very Young and not admitted in Cambridge till after 1648. From the whole it appears that Presbytery in Thirty Eight was not in the Ascendant in England especially in Cambridge where all the Heads of Colledges were Episcopal Thus I have expos'd the weak Vindication of his First Argument from the Circumstance of Time I affirm'd the Scotch Covenant and the Presbyterian Government in Scotland to be more Ancient than Thirty Eight which the Rector cannot deny but he endeavours to prove from the Fundamental Charter of Presbyter examin'd c. that the Reformation in Scotland was first cast into the Episcopal Platform and continued so for fifteen Years p. 40. The Pamphlet to which he refers has been learnedly answer'd by Dr. Rule in his good old Way defended to which I refer the Reader The Reformation there was gradually and with much opposition carried on as it was here in England and no wonder if in such a struggle Esau came forth before Jacob but certain it is when they came to some degree of Settlement Presbytery was set up and the confession of Faith in which they promised to ad-here to that Government was sign'd by King James the I. and his Houshold Anno 1580. and by Persons of all Ranks Anno 1581. by Ordinance of the Council and Acts of the General Assembly It was subscribed again by all Persons Anno Domini 1590. with a General Band for maintenance of the true Religion and the Kings Person I am still of Opinion saith he That the Scotch Kirk put away the Wife of its Youth I mean Episcopacy when it reform'd from Popery and joyn'd it self unto an Harlot I mean Presbytery I think Presbytery as Honest as Episcopacy and I am sure the Church lost it's purity and degenerated into a Harlot under the Lordly and Tyranical Government of Popish Bishops p. 41. What an honourable Character does this Gentleman give to the Reformation in which not only Scotland but most of the forreign Protestant Churches are concern'd When they cast off Idolatrous Popish Bishops they put away the Wife of their Youth when they put themselves under the Conduct of Protestant Pastors they joyn'd themselves to a Harlot In plain English they lived in chast Wedlock under Popery and defiled the Marriage-bed when they became Protestants This looks more like the Language of a Jesuit than of a Protestant-Minister The Rector in his Sermon basely reflected upon the ACT of Settling Presbytery in Scotland tho' touched by the Royal Scepter and also upon his Majesties Words in his Letter of Instructions to his Commissioner in Scotland both which affirms Presbytery most agreeable to the Inclination of the Scotch Nation which is such another Reason faith he as an Adultrer might give for his Wantomess He would fain Palliate this inexcusable Indecency towards the King which I complain'd of tho' he comes off but sorrily 1st This is the first time saith he I ever heard of a