Stillingfleet as he sometimes P. 270. P. 81. P. 109. Pref. p. 15. caresses him the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet the Excellent Dr. Stillingfleet and through him I fear casts some dirt upon his Dear Mother the Church of England in her publick Declarations The reading of some Dissenters Books seems unto me to have a little inspeevish'd him and disturbed the more calm and temperate disposition of his nature so that he treats his Adversaries now and then with too much slighting and contempt Thus what Dr. Womock alledgeth out of Meisner a Learned Lutheran P. 155 c. he calls trifling Arguments giving the lye to St. Paul Falshoods and Fooleries miserable Trifles But particular persons may the better bear with him since he sometimes forgets himself in his Duty of Reverence to the Church and the Apostolical Governours thereof That passage I think is somewhat scandalous and vain where he tacitly resembles the Ceremonies which he elsewhere calls trivial things unto the P. 208. May-pole Let him that will have a May-pole have it and he that would P 341. not have it have no May-pole Sect. IV. I Desire it may be well considered by how great and sacred Authority and that upon the maturest examination the things excepted against stand established Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical that of the Convocation which is the Church of England Representative and of the Parliament which includes King Lords and Commons the Consent of the whole Nation involved and This not once but often time after time the Objections to the contrary frequently canvassed and deliberated upon All sorts of Authority meet here with Advantage This the Reconciler had in his eye when he said with a deal of Reason for it I know that it is not in their power meaning the Reverend Bishops at present Pref. p. 9. sent to make such Concessions they being as much tyed to the observing of the Laws as any order of men and having no power to dispense with them or to make any Proposals for the healing of our Breaches till by his Majesties Authority they meet in Convocation for that end And therefore wonder at the wickedness and injustice of those men ☞ who clamour so much against them because such Condescensions are not immediately made that is because they do not change the Laws which is not in their power to do All the Arguments therefore which the Reconciler doth so copiously insist upon for an enlarged Charity in the censuring and judging of others whose Consciences as he saith we cannot know but by their professions he should have added and open practices do reach P. 88. more strongly against the harbouring or insinuating of undue Fears and Jealousies concerning our Superiours whom the fifth Commandment enjoyns us to honour We cannot be too careful of all unjust and uncharitable Imputations to our Governours Let me here call to mind some few Clauses of the Act of Uniformity in the first year of Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory confirmed again in the eight year of her Reign If any Minister shall preach declare Prim Eliz. or speak any thing in derogation or depraving of the said Book of Common-prayer c. or any thing therein contained The crime and Penalty of derogating from depraving or despising any thing contained in the Book of Common-prayer or of any part thereof and shall be thereof lawfully convicted according to the Laws of this Realm by Verdict of twelve men or by his own Confession or by notorious Evidence of Fact he shall lose and forfeit to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors for his first offence the profit of all his spiritual Benefices or Promotions coming or accruing in one whole year next after his Conviction and also that the person so convict shall for the same offence suffer Imprisonment by the space of six months without Bail or Mainprise c. And it is Ordain'd and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons whatsoever after the said Feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist next coming shall in any Interludes Plays Songs Rhimes or by other open words declare or speak any thing in the derogation depraving or despising of the said Book or any thing therein contained or any part thereof Then every such person being thereof lawfully convict in form aforesaid shall forfeit to the Queen our Soveraign Lady her Heirs and Successors for the first offence and hundred The zeal of the Queen Lords Temporal and commons in urging the Bishops and other Ordinaries as they will answer it before God to see to the execution of this good and wholesom Law Marks c. And for a due execution hereof the Queens most Excellent Majesty the Lords Temporal and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do in God's Name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries that they shall endeavour themselves to the uttermost of their knowledge that the due and true execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesses and Charges as they will answer before God for such Evils and Plagues wherewith Almighty ☞ God may justly punish his people for neglecting this good and wholsom Law Provided always and be it Enacted A Provision touching such Ornaments of the Church and Ministers as are to be retained with a power left to take farther order about Rites and Ceremonies That such Ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof shall be retain'd and be in use as were in this Church of England by the Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edward until other order shall be taken by the Queens Majesty with the Advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the Great Seal of England or of the Metropolitan of this Realm And also That if there shall happen any Contempt or Irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the mis-using of the Orders appointed in this Book the Queens Majesty may by the like Advice of the said Commissioners or Metropolitan ordain and publish such farther Ceremonies as may be most for the advancement of God's Glory the edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christ's holy Mysteries and Sacraments And now I have occasion to remember that the first step of the Reconciler's Apology is in these words Since what I plead for in this Book is only the Religion of my King c. And that he Pref. p. 58. begins his Preface with some remarkable Sayings ad amoliendam invidiam of King James King Charles the Martyr and his present Majesty It may not be amiss to shew a little more particularly how far it may be said with ingenuity and truth that he hath learned of them or pays a deference to their Judgements and Authorities To begin therefore saith he Pref. p. 3 4. with the Testimonies of our Learned and Judicious Kings That
excellent Determination of King James is worthy to be had in perpetual Remembrance Apud Causab Ep. ad Card. Perroon viz. His Majesty thinketh that for Concord there is no nearer way than diligently to separate things necessary from things unnecessary and to bestow all our labour that we may agree in the things necessary and that in things unnecessary there may be Christian Liberty allowed Now His Majesty calls those things simply necessary which the Word of God expresly commandeth to be believed or done N. B. or which the ancient Church did gather from the Word of God by necessary consequence here he had done as well to have added a N. B. too But those things which by the Constitution of men without the Word of God were for a time received into the Church of God though piously and prudently introduced His Majesty conceives they may be changed mollified antiquated And what Pius the second said of the Celebacy of the Clergie that being anciently established by good Right by better it might now be antiquated that His Majesty believes may in the general be said of most Ecclesiastical Observations introduced without the Word of God This saith the Reconciler is a golden Sentence and fully justifies all that I plead for in these Papers Now here I observe 1. That this was proposed by His Majesty for Concord between different Churches And whereas the Reconciler elsewhere demands What Reason can be given why Pref. p. 57. the Conditions of Communion betwixt Reformed Churches should not obtain amongst the members of the same Christian Church I think That Reason which the Church in her 34th Article assigns is here considerable Every particular and National Church hath Authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained by mens Authority so that all things be done to edifying which words he sets down in another place Ch. 2. p. 36 And This our Parliament in the Act of Uniformity had an eye unto Provided That the Penalties in this Act shall not extend to the Forreigners or Aliens 14 Car. 11. of the Forreign Reformed Churches allowed or to be allowed by the King's Majesty his Heirs and Successors in England The Laws of every Church and Kingdom are for their own members In these our doings we condemn no other Nation nor prescribe any thing but to our own People only c. Second Pref. to the Liturgie But then 2. I note farther That King James his opinion was That even things by the Constitution of men without the Word of God might be piously and prudently introduced into the Church of God as well as upon occasion changed mollified or antiquated And what he asserts in the close is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of most Ecclesiastical Observations introduced without the Word of God not of all of them That useful distinction of King James between things necessary and unnecessary is well declared by one of the eminent Divines of our Church Mr. Mason's Serm. on 1 Cor. 14. 40. P. 4. Necessary I call That which the eternal God hath in his Word precisely and determinately commanded or forbidden either expresly or by infallible consequence Indifferent which the Lord hath not so commanded nor forbidden but is commanded in the holy Scripture rather potentially than actually comprehended in general Directions not precisely defined by particular Determinations Whatsoever God hath in his Word precisely commanded is necessary to be done for not doing of it is a sin Whatsoever God hath forbidden so long as it is forbidden is necessary to be left undone for the very doing of it is a sin Whatsoever is neither commanded nor forbidden that whether it concern Church or Common-wealth is left to God's Vice-gerents upon Earth who according to the exigence of the State may by their direction command it to be done or to be left undone and both without sin And this is much more distinct than what the Reconciler cites from the Lord Falkland's Reply to White I am confident Pref. p. 12. that all who receive the Scripture for the only Rule and believe what is there plain to be only necessary would if they truely believed what they professed and were not led aside either by prejudice or some Popish reliques of holding what they have been long taught or following the Authority of some persons either alive or dead by them much esteemed soon agree in as much as is necessary and in concluding no necessity of agreeing in more there being no doubt but it would soon appear plainly what is plain There is need of a great deal of Caution in declaring the Scripture to be the only Rule that it be restrained to matters peculiarly of divine Revelation and necessary in order unto salvation Haec sententia fuit omnium piorum patrum qui etsi in liberis ritibus agnoscebant Authoritatem Ecclesioe tamen in Dogmatibus Fidei eam ad solius Scripturoe Regulam alligatam putabant Bishop Davenant ad Colos 4. 4. But to return again to King James What his Judgement was in these matters he particularly declared at the famous Conference at Hampton-Court in the beginning of his Reign where one of See Summ of the Conference by Dr. Barlow Dean of Chester 1603. P. 86. the Lords said He was fully perswaded His Majesty spake by the instinct of the Spirit of God The then Lord Chancellor said I have often heard and read that Rexest mixt a persona cum Sacerdote but I never found the truth of it till this day And the Archbishop of Canterbury affirmed That undoubtedly P. 96. His Majesty spake by the special assistance of God's Spirit Now His Majesty there declared It was his happiness above others his Predecessors because they were fain to alter all things they found established but he saw yet no cause so much to alter and change any thing as to confirm that which he found well setled already not without Gratulations to Almighty God for it And the Bishop of London put His Majesty in mind of the Speeches which the French Embassador Mr. Rogne gave P. 38. out concerning the Church of England both at Cantorbury after his arrival and at the Court afterwards upon the view of our solemn Service and Ceremonies namely that if the Reformed Churches ☜ of France had kept the same Orders among them which we have he was assured there would have been many Thousands of Protestants more there than now there are When Mr. Knewstubs took exceptions to the Cross from the offence of weak P. 67. Brethren grounded on the words of St. Paul Rom. 14. and I Cor. 8. which P. 68. the Reconciler so industriously amplifies in his Treatise His Majesty first began with the general Rule of the Fathers Distingue Tempora concordabunt Scripturoe shewing the difference of those Times and ours Then a Church not fully planted nor setled but ours long established and flourishing Then Christians newly call'd from Paganism and
Factions was to urge his Subscription at his first entrance for Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur hospes 3. As Subscription was a good means to discern the affection of the persons whether quiet or turbulent withal it was the principal way to avoid confusion Concluding That if any after P. 94. things were well order'd would not be N. B. quiet and shew his obedience the Church were better without him Praestat ut pereat unus quam unitas Only adding at last That the weak were to be P. 97. informed the wilful to be punished If any thing farther be desired of King James his Judgement we may read it in the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical 1603. ratified and confirmed by his Authority among which we have Those that require Subscription a Defence and Explication at large of the Cross in Baptism the last Three declaring a National Synod to be the Church Representative concluding the absent as well as present with a Censure upon all the Depravers of it And touching the Rites and Ceremonies the 6th Canon runs in these words Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Canon 6 Jacobi of England by Law establish'd are wicked Antichristian or superstitious or such as being commanded by lawful Authority men who are zealously and godlily affected may not with a good Conscience approve them use them or as occasion requireth subscribe unto them let him be excommunicated ipso facto and not restored until he repent and publickly revoke such his wicked Errors The Reconciler indeed tells us from Ch. 1. P. 7. Josias Nichols Plea of the Innocent 1602. a worthy Witness in the Case against his dear Mother That some five years together before the unhappy time that Subscription was so generally offer'd there was such unity between the Ministers and they joyned in all Places so lovingly and diligently together that many Thousands were converted from Atheism The Dissenters have been all along given to Multiplication by Thousands and Myriads many Thousands and Popery but when Subscription came abroad how many godly and worthy learned Preachers were silenced deprived and distracted How were the Christian Subjects grieved and offended and the Papists and wicked men encouraged and emboldned What a Damp brought it to all Godliness and Religion And This the Reconciler quotes as true History for what else doth it there who yet begins his Preface with the Honour of King James his Judgement ☞ Mr. Calvin would have pronounced otherwise in This Matter Let it be denounced saith he that he is no longer to Ep. ad Farell be holden for a Brother who disturbs the common Discipline with his Contumacy This hath been always of force in the Church as being decreed by ancient Councils That whoever will not be subject to the Laws of common Discipline munere abdicetur be deposed from his Office And there is not any need saith he here to seek for humane Authority since the Holy Ghost hath pronounced concerning such Ecclesiam non habere morem contendendi Let them therefore bid him Adieu who refuseth the Rights of common Society And here let me drop a Note of a Reverend Mr. Masvn's Serm. p. 23. Divine of our Church worth the considering They which are such Admirers of ☞ forreign Churches abroad let them a little in This very Point compare the Church of England with that famous Church of Geneva 1. The Church of England requireth Subscription of the Ministers and not of the common People but the Church of Geneva urgeth not Ministers only but the People also 2. The Church of England requireth This approbation that her Rites are not contrary to the Word of God but the Church of Geneva will have her Discipline received in a more high and glorious manner 3. The Church of England contenteth her self only with Subscription but the Church of Geneva is more peremptory requiring a solemn Oath Now if any one shall enquire How notwithstanding the care of King James as well as Queen Elizabeth the Sectaries yet increased so much We have the observation of a wise and learned Prelate of the Church of England as the Reconciler calls Bishop Taylor Disswas him though he was an Irish Bishop one whom he cites abundantly out of That in the days of Queen Elizabeth and of King James This Nation was so watchful to prevent the Growth of Popery that they neglected other Sects till by connivance they became too numerous and over-ran both Church and State And This I have quoted from the Reconciler But Ch. 1. p. 9. enough of King James and his golden Sentences which notwithstanding the stamp of his Learning Judgment and Authority upon them will hardly pass for currant in our days Sect. V. WE come next to King Charles the First the Royal Martyr p. 4. and best of Kings and men as the Reconciler deservedly calls Him The Royal Martyr and Best of Kings and men in His Declaration made with Advice of His Privy-Council in Answer to the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom Jan. 1641. speaks Thus saith he As for Differences Biblioth Reg. among our selves for matters Indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion We shall in tenderness to any of Our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the Advice of Our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such Cases which by the Judgment of most men are held to be matters Indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful I confess I like not the Arguings from 41. to 82. whatever be to be said of Those from 60. * Pref. p. 9. It looks ill when men incline with any degree of affection to the Beginnings of the last War or the Capitulations of some upon His Majesties Return Ch. 1. p. 16. And the greatest check upon my mind against the Condescensions pleaded for is the dreadful prospect of what that Incomparable King at the long Run was brought unto by His Condescensions whilest they continually made the Granting of one thing the foundation only of asking another with the like importunity It concerns us most to be affected saith the Reconciler elsewhere with that which most concerns us and is still fresh in our memories even the sad desolations which were brought on Church and State and That inhumane slaughter of our Fellow-Christians in This Nation caused by our Contests about Trifles Infandum Regina jubes But whoever were the cause the Best of Kings and men I hope was Innocent He was at all times willing to comply wit the Advice of Parliament for the case of His loving Subjects in all matters of Indifferency But That would not content or satisfie till he had yielded so much that he was forced at length to yield His Sacred Head to the Block and Those whose tender Consciences bogled at a Ceremony could well enough dispense
which they think fit to be inserted to the same and some Additional Prayers to the said Book of Common-Prayer to be used upon proper and emergent occasions and have exhibited and presented the same unto His Majesty in writing in one Book entitled The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church c. All which His Majesty having duly considered hath ☞ fully approved and allowed the same and recommended to This present Parliament that the said Book of Common-Prayer with the Form of Ordination and Consecration of Bishops Priests and Deacons with the Alterations and Additions which have been so made and presented to His Majesty by the said Convocations be the Book which shall be appointed to be used by all that ossiciate in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Chappels and in all Chappels of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities and in all Parish-Churches and Chappels within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed and by all that make or consecrate Bishops Priests or Deacons in any of the said Places under such Sanctions and Penalties as the Houses of Parliament shall think fit Now in regard that nothing conduceth more to the settling the Peace of N. B. The Benefits of Uni formity this Nation which is desired of all good men nor to the Honour of our Religion and the Propagation thereof than an universal Agreement in the publick Worship of Almighty God And to the intent that every Person within this Realm may certainly know the Rule to which he is to conform in publick Worship and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England and the Manner how and by whom Bishops Priests and Deacons are and ought to be made ordained and consecrated Be it enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by the Advice and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Commons in This present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same c. And be it farther enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the several good Laws and Statutes of This Realm which have been formerly made and are now in force The farmer good Laws and Statutes for Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments confirmed with Reference to this Book for the Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments within this Realm of England and places aforesaid shall stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever for the establishing and confirming of the said Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. herein before mentioned to be joyned and annexed to This Act and shall be applied practised and put in ure for the punishing of all Offences contrary to the said Laws with Relation to the Book aforesaid and no other Provided also that the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration The Book of Q Eliz. continued till This was to take place c. heretofore in use and respectively established by Act of Parliament in the First and Eighth years of Queen Elizabeth shall be still used and observed in the Church of England until the Feast of St. Bartholomew which shall be in the year of our Lord God 1662. when by This Act the other Book aforesaid was to take place in the room thereof so that there was no period of time wherein there was a Liberty or Exemption from the Legal Obligation to Uniformity Such now is That August Authority by which the Things in Question are determined and established And as the Reconciler cites it out of Bishop Taylor A peaceable mind and willingness to learn P. 224. and a charitable Exposition are the just Dispositions of Subjects God Grant they well perform it As He there devoutly and piously adds This was the Religion of Queen Elizabeth ☜ whose Motto was Semper eadem This was the Religion of King James whose Motto was Beati Pacifici This was the Religion of King Charles The Royal Martyr and best of Kings and Men. And This is the Religion of His Gracious Majesty the Inheritor of his Fathers Kingdoms and Princely Vertues who calls aloud upon his Subjects to make the established Laws Their Rule because he protests They shall ever be His. And the Reconciler hath told us that it is only the Religion of His King which in This Book he pleads for SECT VII IN the next place before I leave §. VII This Subject I desire all my Country-men diligently to hearken unto the Church Her self in her publick Apologies about These Matters in the Book so established which because so few do observe in Their Common-Prayer-Books I will here present them with The Preface of our Governours concerning the Alterations made in the publick Service It hath been the Wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first The constant moderation of the Church of England compiling of her publick Liturgy to keep a mean between the Two Extreams of too much stiffness in refusing and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it For as on the one side common experience sheweth that where a change hath been made of The danger of unnecessary changes things advisedly established no evident necessity so requiring sundry inconveniences have thereupon ensued and those many times more and greater than the evils Ipsa mutatio consuetudinis erlam quae utilitate adjuvat novitate perturbat D. August Ep. 118. that were intended to be remedied by such change so on the other side the particular Forms of divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein being Necessary changes to be made by Authority only in things alterable and upon weighty important considerations things in their own nature indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various Exigencies of times and occasions such Changes and Alterations should be made therein as to those that are in place of Authority from time to time seem either necessary or expedient This is quoted by the Reconciler as the chief ground-work of his Proposals P. 35 36. but let us hear the whole Accordingly we find that in the Reigns of several Princes of blessed Memory since the Reformation the Church The practice of the Church accordingly upon just and weighty Considerations her thereunto moving hath yielded to make such Alterations in some particulars as in their respective times were thought convenient yet so as that the main Body and Essentials of it as well in the chiefest materials as in the frame and order thereof have still continued the same unto This day and do yet stand firm and unshaken notwithstanding all the vain attempts and impetuous A Character of the Adversaries of the Church assaults made against it by such men as are given to change and have always discover'd a greater regard
Scope and Importance of that Preface is sufficiently included in the fore-recited Declaration wherein the Church so far as she thought convenient hath charitably obviaied that Offence which might otherwise have been taken by those who either for Ignorance and Infirmity or else for Malice and Obstinacy misconstrued and depraved her Appointments And it is not consistent with Truth to assert that this whole Preface was left out nor ingenuous to insinuate that it was done upon any evil design Some mistake the Reconciler could not chuse upon reflection but be conscious of here And therefore when he repeats it again and calls it the Protestation concerning this Gesture he expresseth himself a little more warily Part of which Words are now omitted p. 〈◊〉 in our present Luturgy viz. that important Truth that so much as conveniently may be Offences should be taken away Where yet I see no reason for the challenge of this Omission of a Truth every-where acknowledged and which was the Foundation and Purport of the whole declaration But enough of this Lastly The Appointment of the Church touching Kneeling at the Sacrament is so much the more reasonable and unexceptionable because at the very Act of Receiving she hath also ordered a devout Prayer on the Communicant's behalf which by a fervent Amen he is concerned himself to ingeminate The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy Body and Soul to everlasting Life And here saith the Scotch Liturgy shall the Receiver say Amen The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy Body and Soul unto everlasting Life Here again saith that Liturgy the Party receiving shall say Amen Now therefore if the Dissenters scruple not to Kneel at their solemn Praiers they need not so to do in the Act of Receiving the Lord's Supper as it is by the Church of England appointed to be administred Upon the whole I may well say considering the Plainness of the thing and the frequent Apologies made by the Church and her Sons for it that if any shall yet oppose his own conceited Opinion against all this Evidence and Charity as Mr. Calvin saith upon a like occasion touching Church-Orders Viderit ipse Inâ—â— 1. 4. c. 10. quâ morositatem suam ratione Domino approbat Let him see what defence he can make before God for his Sturdiness or Frowardness And yet after all I do humbly conceive the Church of England would be The Churâ—h of England would doâ—bâ—les◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could 〈◊〉 so doing reasonably 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ecommendâ—d from 〈◊〉 in th◠〈◊〉 of â—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 content even to injure her imposing Power in this most reasonable matter could she hope by so doing to reclaim the Dissenting Laity to her Communion And I think it might deserve to be propounded with submission to her Wisdom whether as matters with us stand the Punishment however for the Omission might not be rather commuted by the sanction of the Civil Magistrate into some Temporal or Pecuniary Mulct for charitable Uses And one Reason here might be taken from the common Observation of the great success of the Test of late which brought so many to the Church-communion whom the dread of any spiritual Censures had but little influence upon I will close this Controversy about the Imposition of Ceremonies in the Words of Bp. Gauden when His Majesty's Consideratious touching the Liturgy P. 38. Condescending Declaration was yet fresh Certainly Humane Ecclesiastical Ceremonies like Shadows neither fill nor burthen any Conscience of themselves That which is considerable in them is as they are in their nature and use comely for the Duty and Instances either of Obedience or of Charity and Unity And it is no less certain whatever Indulgence as to the Penalty or Practice of Ceremonies His Majesty's Clemency may please to grant to some Men of weak Minds and scrupulous Consciences in these things which Royal Charity no good Christian will repine at provided it be used with Meekness and Humility not Insolence and Factiousness yet as to the Principle which NB. the Church of England went by in matter of Ceremonies it is most true and undeniably to be maintain'd even to the Death that this National Church as all others hath from the Word of God Liberty Power and Authority within its own Polity and Bounds to judg of what seems to it most agreeable and decent as to any Circumstance or Ceremony in the Worship of God which the Lord hath left unconfined free and indifferent in its nature and only to be regulated and confined by every such Ecclesiastical Polity within it self where the Consent of the major Part of Church and State both in Councils and Parliaments includes the whole and may enjoin its Rules and Orders in these things upon all under its Jurisdiction and within its Communion As well as a Master of a Family may appoint the Time Place Manner and Measure Gesture and Vesture wherein he will have all his Family to serve God with him And very few I think if any do ☞ scruple our Ceremonies which are as St. Augustin would have them few in Number easy in Practice apt in Signification who do not also strike at this Doctrinal Principle upon which the Church hath proceeded and which she cannot discharge without a wrong to her self and the whole Catholick Church of Christ And this is a sufficient Vindication to the Reverence and Respect by the Church of England born unto Antiquity in this case that she retains and goes upon that General Rule whereby the Customs and Canons of the Churches of God have been founded from the Beginning Nor is it any prejudice to her Sincerity in this Reverence that she hath also shewed her Liberty in forbearing some Ceremonies then in use as well as her Authority in enjoining others and above all her Moderation in that she hath been content with so small a Number so small a number I say that she is not liable to be charged in any thing so much as in this but that she hath also reserved to her self a Power of Ordaining Act of Uniform 1 Eliz. and Publishing such farther Ceremonies as may be most for the Advancement of God's Glory the Edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christ's holy Mysteries and Sacraments And this again is Compurgation enough to her Equity in departing from the Church of Rome that Abuses removed she continues some indifferent Ceremonies still in common with her as a standing Testimony that she would never have been divided from her Communion upon the account of things indifferent no Holiness or Superstition placed in them But how monstrously unreasonable is it for any now to fly in the face of this Church on the score of three Ceremonies only but one of which is imposed on the Laity when the Reconciler can tell them of twenty more that she might have vouched