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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33979	A supplement to a little book entituled, A reasonable account why some pious nonconforming ministers cannot judg it lawful for them to perform their ministerial acts in publick solemn prayer, ordinarily, by the prescribed forms of others : wherein is examined whatsoever Mr. Falconer in his book called, Libertas ecclesiastica, and Mr. Pelling in a book called, The good old way, have said to prove the ancient use of forms of prayers by ministers : and it is proved, that neither of the two aforementioned authors have said anything that proveth the general use, or imposition of such forms of prayer in any considerable part of the church, till Pope Gregories time, which was six hundred years after Christ, nor in any church since the reformation, except that of England, and (which is uncertain) some in Saxony.	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.; Falkner, William, d. 1682. Libertas ecclesiastica.; Pelling, Edward, d. 1718. Good old way.	1680 (1680)	Wing C5343; ESTC R18940	53,644	120

saith Platina There were some free forms up and down and some particular orders in some Churches none forced but he brought them into a Canon Platina who was a later Popes Secretary saith he came not to be Pope before 619. Yet it plainly appears by Pope Gregories answer to Augustine the Monks questions which he sent to him out of England that he did not tye all to the use of his Missal It pleaseth me saith he that you sollicitously make choice of what you find in the Church of Rome or France or any other Church which may best please God and infuse it into the English Church which is yet young in the faith particularly instructing it in things which you can gather out of many Churches for things are not to be loved for places but places are to be loved for good things I therefore out of several Churches pick out what things are pious religious and right and do you accustom your English mens minds to these things collected in a bundle Some years after by succeeding Popes it was enforced and by Charles the Great about 800 if we may believe Durandus The Popes were then at such an heighth as they could not expect that they and their Bishops should be quiet if they had a Clergy consisting of men of parts and piety they therefore suffered any ignorant sottish persons to fill the Ministry who so they might be gratified in their lusts and laziness would fawn upon the Pope and the Bishops of those times and humour their superstition pride and luxury and grandeur provided they would humour them in sparing their lusts and their pains the latter of which was eminently done by enjoining all Ministers to use the same Missal and laying all Religion in the use of it and making Preaching a rare and almost useless thing or a Lecturing out of Aquinas and Scotus and the Legend and this was the whole trade till the Reformation 1516. Nor can I think this would have so generally been swallowed by people but for another unhappy accident About this time Latin was the common language of Italy France and Spain and in that language their Divine service was but the Goths and Vandals and other Barbarians over-ran these Countrys and possessed them for many years which corrupted the Latin tongue so that it was understood no where ordinarily though the Italian French and Spanish languages are manifest Dialects of it but still the Mass-book was not altered Thus came in the Latin service used in Popery till the Reformation understood by very few of them that heard it So the Papists worshipped they knew not how and being ignorant were very tame The Reformation began in Germany 1517 in England not to speak on till Edward the Sixths time 1547 and had a present interruption of five years after it had been on foot seven years then began something more to purpose with Queen Elizabeth 1558 in France at Geneva it was sooner 1535. It is true our first Reformers both in King Edw. 6. and in Q. Eliz. time thought fit to compose a Liturgy or rather to reform what was used in Popery leaving out the idolatrous and highly superstitious part of the Mass-book Yea they thought fit to command the universal use of it under penalties which may charitably be interpreted to prevent a Popish Clergy or a Clergy newly reform'd from Popery using their old Mumpsimus Nor indeed in that face of things was it reasonable to expect that any number of Ministers should be able to pray as they ought in publick and if they were not they might for a time lawfully use forms Yet whoso will read the Book called The troubles at Francfort will find that even then all godly Ministers and people did not judg it lawful which much more appeared in the succeeding years of the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Ch. I. In the mean time it must be agreed many both learned godly and worthy Ministers did thus perform their Ministerial acts in solemn publick prayer and so do many now which speaks them to judg it lawful The Ministers in Scotland the Nonconformists in England all those in New-England judg otherwise and we believe many hundreds that conform in England think it just lawful not eligible only a thing may be submitted to rather than lay down their Ministry If this be not as to matter of practise the true state of the case as to Forms of Prayer to be universally enjoined or used I must confess I do not understand it and should gladly learn of those that are wiser But let us now enquire what is said by Mr. Falconer or Mr. Pelling THE Summary OF THE SUPPLEMENT TO The Reasonable Account SEction 1. The reason of the Supplement What Mr. Falconer saith little concerneth the Nonconformists in the terms he hath expressed it Sect. 2. There may be a double sense of Mr. Falconer's assertion of God and Christ appointing forms of Prayer in the first they are true and granted by Nonconformists in the second they are false and denied by them Sect. 3. God may make things necessary by his command which without it are unlawful Sect. 4. The only medium to prove that forms of Prayer made by men are lawful to be used by all Ministers propounded but not proved Sect. 5. An examination of what Mr. Falconer hath said to prove that God and Christ appointed forms of Prayer to be used without variation in Devotion What he saith of the Lords-Prayer examined His reasons answered why he thinks our Saviour gave it as a form They conclude not Two great presumptions to the contrary The thing admitted nothing proved by it His instances from the Old Testament examined Five Reasons making it probable that those instances were never intended by God as Syllabical forms to be used without variation The practice of the Jews in or after Christs time invaluable Sect 6. An examination of Mr. Falconer's answers to the Nonconformists proof from Justine Martyr and Tertullian that in the first 300 years after Christ there were no such Liturgies used by Ministers A further proof added from Socrates Scholasticus extending to more than 400 years after Christ. An answer to Mr. Falconer's pretended proof from Justine Martyr Ignatius Origen Cyprian nothing is proved from them as to the first 300 years Sect. 7. His proof from Constantine's making prayers for his Army makes against him signifying that then there was no publick Liturgies Constantine did nothing but what Nonconformists will allow and practice Sect. 8. Nonconformists do not grant that forms of Prayer have been of general use by all Ministers or imposed upon all by any Church since the year 1300. Neither the Canon of the Council of Laodicea nor that of Carthage proves it nor that of the Council at Mela 402 more than as to Ministers of that Province upon a special cause Sect. 9. It is doubtful whether there was such a third Council at Carthage Justellus saith if there were they

made but 21 Canons the Canon quoted is 23 foisted in being made after The Canon it self proves there was then no Liturgy of ordinary use in the Church variously and fully Sect. 10. The Council of Milevis above 400 years after Christ that Province was over-run with Pelagians the eight first Canons transcribed all against Pelagianism those the ground of the Canon yet that Canon proves nothing but that if a Minister made prayers for himself they must be brought to a Council and there approved before he used them Sect. 11. Yet this proved a sad president Sect. 12. An examination of what Mr. Falconer saith of the Liturgies father'd upon St. James St Mark and St. Peter 4. Observations upon what he saith An account of what my Lord of Morney hath fully said to prove them all supposititious Sect. 13. What Mr. Falconer saith of the Liturgies ascribed to Ambrose Basil Chrysostome is examined They are abundantly proved spurious 'T is in vain to say they have undergone alterations but yet they were made by them If made by them for their own use not for others if voluntarily used by some others it is nothing to the purpose A presumption against their being known in the Church all the time of the Milevitan Council Sect. 14. It was 300 years after this before any Church imposed Liturgies proved from Durandus It was the year 600 then Gregory required the use of his and in the year 800 when Pope Adrian got Charles the Great by an Edict to enforce the use of it A pleasant story after this about it Sect. 15. A further strong presumption that no further proof can be produced from the proceedings of the Commissioners about the Liturgy 1662. The story of it Sect. 16. Mr. Falconer concluded from the premises to have spoken at too high a rate A short account of the state of the Church from 500 and 600 years after Christ to 1500. The state of the Church such for a 1000 of those years as all Protestants judg many things unlawful in that time believed and used The purer Church from 600 to 1500 only in some corners in France the Principality of Piedmont some parts of Bohemia no Records of Liturgies imposed or used there Sect. 17. No forms of Prayer but the Lords-Prayer generally used or imposed except in the Saxon Churches since the Reformation but in England not in Switzerland France Scotland The short History of the English Reformation The opposition from the first to forms imposed for general use The woful extremes run into on both sides Sect. 18. A Conclusion challenging any to shew that Nonconformists in this thing differ from the judgment of Divines in the purer or lately Reformed Churches Sect. 19. A Postscript concerning the judgment of the Reformed Church in Holland Section I. ALthough the former part of our Discourse giving Arguments which appear very probable to us and from whence we have formed a practical judgment That it is contrary to the will of God that Ministers of the Gospel to whom God hath given the gift of Prayer or if that phrase offendeth an ability to express their and their peoples causes to God in prayer should perform ordinarily their Ministerial acts in prayer by the prescribed Forms of other men an argument against us from example and humane authority can be of little value Yet in regard some of our brethren take advantage from hence invidiously to represent us as dissenters from the Church for 1300 years nay from Christs time and there are too many that believe all some men have the confidence to say and considering the reverend Author of Libertas Ecclesiastica tell us Pag. 111 112. That it must be a rash sentence to condemn Forms of Prayer as evil and sinful which were embraced by the ancient Church whiles it retained its soundness and before the corruptions and distempers of the Church of Rome took place and by the Protestant Churches since their recovery therefrom And in the determining of what is expedient or inexpedient he had need have strong foundations to erect his high confidence who will oppose his own judgment with some very few persons besides against the concurrent judgment and practice of the Church of Christ in so many several ages and Nations and against the determination of God himself under the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour under the New Lest some less judicious person meetingwith this should think us strange persons I have thought it reasonable to review the premises of that Section upon which this conclusion is raised I shall only desire the Reader to consider that little of this doth concern the Dissenters who are perfectly of the mind expressed in our former sheets 1. For they do not condemn Forms of Prayer as evil and unlawful they do believe them good in their kind and use they believe them good to be used for the instruction of people and to help them in the acquisition of the gift and possibly they do think that John might thus teach his disciples to pray giving them Forms from which they might learn the sum of what they were to ask of God and many of them will yield that the Lords-prayer was by Christ given to his Disciples for the same purpose not to be used by them all their lives time in so many words but as a Summary of what things they should ask of God in what words they pleased 2. For Devotion the Nonconformists will grant that men and women yea such as the Church for want of better may be forced to use in the Ministry may pray by the prescribed Forms of others They indeed do not think this to be that prayer which God requires of his Ministers but they think thus the Minister and people too may pray mentally and those who join with another person ministring in prayer never do more § 2. For what this Author saith Which were embraced by the ancient Church whiles it retained its soundness and before the corruptions and distempers of the Church of Rome took place and by the Protestant Church since its recovery there-from We will by and by examine how far that is true and upon what grounds he speaks it But what doth he mean by the Determination of God himself under the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour in the New If it be any thing to the purpose it is not easie to understand Doth he mean that either God under the Old Testament or our blessed Saviour under the New hath determined that it is lawful for some particular men be they Archbishops or Bishops or any other to compose Forms of Prayer to be used by all Ministers in the Church and that it is lawful for them to use them and to perform their Ministerial acts in prayer by the use of them so one would think the words sound but he hath not spoken a word to prove this This indeed would determine the business Or doth he mean that God by prescribing some Forms himself or

is granted but whereas our Author saith That we may as well conclude from our Act of Vniformity as from these Councils that they gave the first original to forms of Prayer because they are thereby established We answer If in England we had not had the use of forms of Prayer established by the Canon-law in times of Popery and by Acts of Parliament in the time of Edw. 6. and Q. Elizabeth under favour we think we might have concluded that the Act of Vniformity 1662 had given the first original to such an imposition or use And till our Author which he hath not yet done can bring us any Canon of ancient date that commands such an universal use of forms of Prayer in any considerable part of the Church we hope we may conclude that this was the original of such commands or usage and this was in the fifth Century when the truths in matter of Doctrine as well as Rites were in a great measure corrupred as I may possibly shew hereafter But for this Council too It is true there was a Council held at Mela 402 years after Christ in the time of Pope Innocent the first if we may believe Caranza Chytraeus and others it was held when Arcadius and Honorius were Emperours That Province was as to the Ministry unmeasurably tainted with Pelagianism their eight first Canons are against his Doctrine it will not be amiss to give the Reader the sum of those Canons from whence he may judg That it was reasonable that until the Church could be purged of that leaven considering the great corruption of the Ministers such a restriction should be put upon the Ministers of that Province as to their publick prayers Can. 1. It pleased all the Bishops met together in this Synod to ordain what things were defined in this Synod That whosoever shall say that the first man Adam was made mortal so as whether he sinned or no he should die not because of the merit of sin but from a necessity of nature Let him be Anathema Can. 2. It also pleased them That if any shall deny that young Infants are to be baptized or shall say that they are baptized for the remission of sins but they draw no such original sin from Adam which should be washed away in the laver of Baptism from whence it followeth that in them the form of Baptism for the remission of sin is not tru ' but false Let him be Anathema Because what the Apostle saith can be no otherwise understood than as the Church hath always understood it Rom. 5. By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed over all men because all had sinned For by reason of this rule of faith little ones who have actually committed no sin are therefore truly baptized for the remission of sins that the filth contracted by Generation may be cleansed away by Regeneration Can. 3. It also pleased them c. That if any one say that the Grace of God by which we are justified by Jesus Christ our Lord was only of force for remission of sins which are committed and not also for our assistance against future commissions he should be Anathema Can. 4. If any one shall say That the grace of God through Jesus Christ doth no further help us against sinning than as it revealeth to us and openeth our understanding to understand the commandments of God that we may know what to desire and to avoid and that it is no effect of grace to enable us to love and to do what we know we ought to do let him be Anathema For whereas the Apostle saith Knowledg puffeth up Charity edifieth It is impious to believe that there is a word of the grace of God for that which puffeth up and none for that which edifieth both being the gift of God both to know what we ought to do and to love to do it that through the edifying of love our knowledg may ●…t puff us up As it is written concerning God That he teacheth man knowledg so it is also written Love is from God Can. 5. It also pleased them to Decree That if any shall say that we are therefore justified by Grace that we may more easily by Grace fulfil what we are commanded to do by the power of our own will although if grace were not given though it would not be easie yet it would be possible to fulfil the commands of God let him be Anathema For our Lord speaketh concerning obedience to Gods commandments when he saith Without me you can do nothing He doth not say Without me you cannot without difficulty do any thing Can. 6. It also pleased them c. That whereas St. John saith If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us whosoever shall say this is the sense That out of humility we ought to say we have no sin Let him be Anathema For it followeth and is added by the Apostle But if we confess our sins he is just and righteous to forgive them and to purge us from all iniquity From whence it is plain that the Apostle speaks not of speaking in humility but speaking in truth For the Apostle might have said If we say we have no sin we extol our selves and there is no humility in us But he saying We deceive our selves and there is no truth in us he plaine●● sheweth that he who saith he hath no sin did not speak truth but what was false Can. 7. It also pleased them c. That whosoever should say that the Saints in the Lords-Prayer praying Forgive us our sins do not speak it for them for it is not for them necessary but for other sinners in the congregation and therefore the several Saints do not say Forgive me my sins but forgive us our sins that the righteous man might be understood not to put up that petition so much for himself as for others Let him be Anathema For St. James was holy and righteous when he said In many things we offend all Why doth he say all but that his sentence might agree with that in the Psalm Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord because in thy sight shall no flesh be justified And that in Solomon's Prayer There is none that liveth and sinneth not And that in Job He sealeth up the head of all men that every man might know his infirmity Vpon which holy and righteous Daniel speaking in his Prayer in the Plural Number saith We have sinned we have done wickedly c. What he speaketh there he speaketh both truly and humbly and that none might think as some now do that he did not speak of his own but of his peoples sins he afterwards saith When I pray'd and confessed my sins and the sins of my people unto the Lord our God He would not say our sins but my sins and the sins of my people as a Prophet foreseeing there would be some arise

Church of God whose practice should be any thing of a law or president to us Thus far we have delivered our selves from the vulgar and indeed no other than a poor popular prejudice of a dissent from the concurrent judgment of the Church in all ages We consent with the five first ages and for the ten latter we also agree with the pure Church of God in Bohemia and the Valleys of Piedmont for ought we could ever hear proved relating to their practice For other Churches no reformed Churches this day in the world but thinks twenty things unlawful which both the Greek and Latin Churches in those ages practised § 17. We have but one prejudice more to deliver our selves from and that is the Judgment of the Reformed Churches since the Reformation To try which let us but again repeat what we say We say Forms of Prayer are in themselves good and lawful Good as means of Instruction and lawful to be so used yea and also for Devotion until men have obtained an ability without them fitly to express their minds to God in Prayer or when though they have that gift yet through the hand of God in some natural inability they are hindred from the use of it We say also that where in a Nation or Church there is a multitude of Ministers needful so that it cannot be expected that a sufficient number should be found so competently qualified as they should be it is reasonable there should be forms made which Ministers may use or not use according as they find their abilities But we say it appeareth to us unlawful for those to use them to whom God hath given such an ability for the reasons before mentioned Now let us see how much in this we in judgment differ from any Reformed Churches The first Reformed Churches were in Germany and Switzerland whether those to whom Zuinglius was the head or the Lutherans were the first is hard to say They by degrees abolished the Mass they would have done it at first if they could But alas their people were newly come out of Popery and they must drive the pace they would go Let our Author if he can shew us that any of the Churches adhering to Zuinglius whose Reformation was the purest had any such form of Prayers as no Ministers might vary from or was enjoyned to use under a penalty The Liber Ritualis he speaks of in Bohemia and the Agenda in the Palatinate he will find to be no more than a general Directory and Order no prescription of words and phrases Let any one read Scultetus his Annales Rerun Evangelicarum he will find the Agenda of the Churches of Nordlingen Walshat Strasburgh Zurich let him see if he can find any thing of a form of Prayer excepting the Lords Prayer nor that imposed but ordinarily used It is true Luther and his party were a little laxer and Luther made a Mass-book correcting much in the Popish Missal but leaving in too much to the great offence of his Brethren as may be learned from another place of Scultetus I know not but they might impose for Luther though a great man yet was too much of a Dictator and for every one to conform to his humors but yet I no-where have read that he did command his Missal to be read by all Ministers that adhered to him And for what he did as to his composition of a Missal it was rather judged to cross Carolostadius and others and uphold his notion of the Corporal presence of Christ than for any other reason Next to this was the Reformation of Geneva and England For Geneva what Mr. Calvin's judgment was I cannot tell I have not his Epistles by me to examine Mr. F's Quotation but however he was but one man though a great one it should seem by the settlement there if it were his judgment when he wrote to the Protector it is like it was altered or his Colleagues were of another mind or he only approved it for a time in regard of the State of the Church being newly crept out of Popery for in the French Liturgy there is no tying up Ministers to the use of their forms though indeed they propose and commend some forms it saith The Minister shall make such prayers as seem good to him fitting for the time and matter he is in his Sermon to treat of In another place The form is according to the discretion of the Minister In a third place They use this or some like it In a fourth place He prayeth after this manner What their practice is I cannot tell The work of our Reformation was slow so as Scotland got the start of us though we set out first Dioclavius tells us Alt. Damasc p. 613. We have indeed in our Church Agenda and an Order to be observed in our publick Devotion but none is tyed either to the Prayers or Exhortations in our Liturgy they are proposed for Examples c. In all the 13 years saith he that I exercised the Ministry in that Church I never neither at Sacrament nor in other parts of my Religious Serivce used either the Prayers or Exhortations in our book nor did many more every one was at liberty and it seems child-like to me to do otherwise In England we used onother method more conformable to the Saxon Reformation than to that of Switzerland Strasburgh France or Scotland or what was afterwards in Holland Our Countrey was wholly Popish our Priests zealous for them our common people so ignorant that their Priests might have perswaded them that it was their duty to eat Hay with an Horse not an English Bible to be found in the Nation until the middle of King Henry 8. Reign The Reformation went on under the Conduct of a Popish King till Edward the 6th came to the Crown Our Reformers did not think fit at once to abolish all the Popish trash Though therefore they first turned much of the Popish Mass-book into English leaving out much Idolatrous and Superstitious stuff yet they left in it too much which caused a second Common-Prayer-book to be made in the time of Edward the 6. though his whole Reign was but seven years then came Queen Mary and destroyed all and the zealous Protestants went out of the Nation fixing some at Frankfort some at Basil c. At Frankfort the Ministers that first fixed there used no prescribed forms in their publick worship till at length Dr. Cox came amongst them with the Common-Prayer book made in Edw. 6. time which made that woful stir of which we have an account in the book called the Troubles of Frankfort In short Dr. Cox got the Magistrate on his side and forced the rest away to Geneva and other places When Queen Elizabeth came to the Throne all know how great a man Dr. Cox proved By his means and some of his stamp the Common-Prayer-book was again revised and published all Ministers enjoyned to use it but what a dissent