Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	ceremony_n	church_n	rite_n	3,560	5	9.9325	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45736	Parish churches turn'd into conventicles by serving God therein, and worshiping him otherwise then according to the established liturgy and practice of the Church of England in particular, by reading the communion service or any part thereof in the desk, or plain reasons and undeniable authorities alledged for the reading of the second service, or the communion service when there is no communion at the altar or holy table ... / by Richard Hart, a friend to all the conformable clergy and laity of the true and apostolical Church of England by law established.	Hart, Richard, Friend to all the conformable clergy and laity of the true and apostolical Church of England.	1683 (1683)	Wing H962; ESTC R21744	13,899	26

PARISH CHURCHES turn'd into conventicles BY Serving God therein and worshiping him otherwise then according to the established Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England IN PARTICULAR By reading the Communion Service or any part thereof in the Desk OR Plain Reasons and undeniable Authorities alledged for the reading of the second Service or the Communion Service when there is no Communion at the Altar or Holy Table in an Epistle dedicated to all the Reverend Clergy of the Church of England who read it in the Desk By Richard Hart a Friend to all the conformable Clergy and Laity of the true and Apostolical Church of England by Law Established 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damascen LONDON Printed by Ralph Holt for Obadiah Blagrave at the Bear in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1683. Reverend Fathers TO seek out an Excuse of this my Boldness and to arm the Acknowledgment of a Fault with the Reasons for it might better shew I knew I did amiss than any way diminish the Attempt therefore I intend to carry no other Olive-Branch of Intercession than a cleer manifestation of the Truth of such things wherein I do humbly conceive you Err some of you not wilfully perhaps yet for want of a due and serious Consideration of the great Obligation of humane Laws in things which in their own nature are indifferent One of which is the place for reading of the second Service which place without all doubt is a thing in its own nature indifferent But when a lawful Authority appoints a certain place although in its own nature the place remains still indifferent yet the use of that place is not indifferent but becomes necessary by reason of the command to which the necessity of Obedience is inseparably annexed If this be a false Position I have nothing more to say but if it be true then do you err in point of Practice which is not according to the establish'd Rule our Church appointing one certain place and you reading in another and so by this means teaching the People this dangerous Principle that things indifferent in their own Nature remain so as to their use after a lawful Command for the doing or not doing of any such indifferent things as they were before such Command or Prohibition A Principle which undermines the Foundation of the whole Church and being once admitted leaves us naked and defenceless against all the Weapons that are or may be formed either by the Papist or Puritan against the most glorious Church in the World And if we who prosess our selves to be Sons of the Church of England should embrace this mischievous Tenet our Church will be so much militant againsgt her self that her Enemies will in a very short time become Triumphant They seeing your practice evidently built upon this sandy Fo●ndation do on all sides hit us in the Teeth with these things and laugh us to scorn Why do you charge us with Nonconformity and Disobedience to humane Laws which are but things indifferent notwithstanding the Command say they for do not most of your Clergy esteem them as such when they omit what Rite and Ceremony they please though never so strictly injoined by the supreme Authority Do these things oblige our Consciences and are theirs only free If it be so then we perceive plainly that the only way to enjoy liberty of Conscience is to be a Clergy-Man of the Church of England Now what shall we say to these things If we deny the matter of Fact our Church Enemies charge us with Impudence if we confess it as to keep our selves from lying we are forc'd to do then they charge our reverend Clergy with the same Crimes we usually appropriate to the greatest Phanatick viz. Disobedience to the lawful Magistrate and Non-conformity to the establish'd Orders of the Church How to avoid the Horns of this Dilemma I do sincerely declare I know not I should be very glad if any of you would be pleas'd to tell me a full Answer that I may give to these troublesom People who have gagg'd me so often with these things that I am altogether become dumb and am ashamed to receive so many Baffles from those Fools who make a mock of Sin I thank God I can defend my self well enough against all the frivolous and captious Exceptions which have been either made or taken by the Recusant or the Dissenter against the established Doctrine Discipline and Worship of the Church of England but if they talk to me of any thing that is said or done in our Churches which is not warranted by the XXXIX Articles by the Book of Canons by the Book of Common Prayer or by the constant universal Practice of the Catholick Church of Christ they had as good talk to me of the Roman Breviary or the English Directory and I can as soon justify the saying either of them in our Churches as any thing I have before mentioned True it is that we have a most excellent Liturgy established by the Law of the Land but in very many places little or no care had that the Subjects may have it whole and intire without mangling and curtailing in such a shameful manner that by these sacrilegious ways our sacred Book of Common Prayer is become contemptible and the People are come to this pass even downright to declare their abhorrence of our religious Assemblies when instead of paying that solemn Worship to God which by the Laws of our Nation are devoted to him we worship him after our own Imaginations and hereby offer him the Sacrifice of Fools which he will in no wise accept Although I could instance in sundry Particulars yet at this time I shall onely name one which is reading the Communion Service in the Desk whereby you take upon you to break an authorised Order of our Church and to make a new one The appointment of which Order pertaineth not to private Men as our Church saith very truly therefore no Man ought to take in hand or presume to appoint or alter any publick or common Order in Christ's Church except he be lawfully called and authorized thereunto Either you believe this to be true or false if true then you wilfully and contemptuously transgress and break a common Order and Discipline whensoever you omit or alter a Rite or Ceremony appointed by the Church which though in its self considered is but a small thing yet by reason of the Contempt that is inseparably annexed to the Offence in a Person knowing and being verily perswaded of the Truth hereof it is no small Offence before God that is in plain English it is a very great Sin Now if it should so happen that any of you are of another Perswasion and so you are Dissenters in your Judgment as well as in your Practice why then did you subscribe to the second Article mentioned in the XXXVI Canon and play fast and loose with God Almighty and put Tricks upon your own Mother the Church of England Do

you think that God will be mocked or permit his holy Spouse to be cheated How can you or any other be said to use the Form prescribed in publick Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and none other which you have promised to do by your Subscription which is a sacred Tie and yet immediately after willingly omit or alter any one Rite or Ceremony without a great perfidiousness As to the Point of reading the Communion Service when there is no Communion I do positively assert that it is appointed by our Church to be read at the North side of the Holy Table and that whosoever reads it at any other place breaks the Order of our Church and if he doth it through his private Judgment willingly and purposely as he cannot be presumed to do otherwise who is fully convinced that the Church hath so appointed it he doth not only offend against the common order of the Church but hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Herein I have two sorts of Persons to deal withal one plainly confessing that ' tis-commanded by the Church and thereby saving me the trouble of a Proof but saying withal that he is at liberty notwithstanding the Command and he offers some seeming Reasons for his altering the appointed Place and says they are sufficient to justify his Practice both before God and Man and whether they be so or no you will see by and by There is another sort of men who knowing not how to justify their present Practice contrary to a plain Injunction of Authority are forced to make use of an Index Expurgatorius and having thereby in their own Conceit quite expung'd the Rubrick as to this Purpose confidently tell me there is no such Command when there is no Communion therefore no disobedience to that Authority which they own and are both ready and willing to obey To every one of you dear Sirs who own the thing which others deny I must answer with an ex ore tuo te Judico for you ingeniously confess that 't is commanded by the Church and yet at the same time most disingeniously prefer a corrupt Practice of some ill principled men before your known Duty And for this you make several Pleas. First you say 't is the Custom of most Parish Churches to read the second Service in the Desk and Custom in the major part of any Society hath the force of a Law and a Law which is introduced by Custom is as much a Law as any Statute Law of the Land because a Law doth not recipere magis minus and if you do obey that Law which Custom hath made so you are as much obedient to the Law as he that obeys an Act of Parliament But how weak and insufficient this Plea is judg you your own selves when you have well considered the false Notions of such a Custom which you too fast do run away with not making any distinction between corruptela and consuetudo and little regarding the small force such a Custom setting aside the Corruption hath to sway any Mans Judgment who is rightly informed of the truth of this matter Now certainly most true it is that a constant universal Custom or Practice of a whole National Church hath the force of a Law and ought without all doubt to be observed but then you must take this along with you provided that no positive Law of the Kingdom intervene to annul that Custom Practice or what you will call it otherwise the Rule is false For to plead Custom against positive Law is to plead that which was the Law against that which is the Law the sole intent of all positive Laws being to take away the binding power of all customary Laws to the contrary otherwise there would be two Laws in being at one and the same time commanding the one contrary to the other which would certainly breed that confusion which all positive Laws are designed to prevent I Pray Gentlemen be pleased to consider what Mischief you do both to Church and State by preferring such a Custom as this before an established Law to the contrary Do not you by this means turn our golden Liturgy into a leaden Directory and the best of Churches into the worst of Conventicles You may laugh as much you please but this is a great Truth because it is neither the Place nor the Number of Persons meeting together that makes a Conventicle for these may be Riots Routs or unlawful Assemblies but that which doth constitute it a Conventicle and from which it receives its true Denomination is the meeting in any Place above such a limited Number and Serving God otherwise than according to the established Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England which may be done in a Church as well as a Barn as sad Experience tells It is only the Observation or non-Observation of all the Orders Rites and Ceremonies and none other which are appointed in and by the Common Prayer and Book of Canons which gives it the Denomination of a Church or Conventicle If all the Orders be regularly observed without Addition or Diminution either in Matter or Form 't is a true Church and a right Church but if any thing be Said Sung or done in Church or in private Houses where there are above such a Number as the Law appoints as the publick Worship of God which is not warranted by the Book of Common Prayer or by some Law of the supreme Governour both in Church and State although hereby it ceases not to be a true Church yet it ceases to be a right Church and commences to be a true Conventicle for I know no Medium between a right Church and a true Conventicle every Meeting upon the pretence of the Exercise of Religion being the one or the other And so every Person in Holy Orders that officiates at Divine Service is either a thorough Conformist or a Non-conformist I know no medium in an Established Church as ours is but if there be I desire to be informed of these things to wit how many or how few of the established Prayers may be said How many of the Rites and Ceremonies may be used Which may be omitted which altered Which neither omitted nor altered And yet the same Person doing or omitting any of these things may be and remain a true Conformist for if they be not limited to a certain number then he that uses only the Lords Prayer uses part of the Book of Common Prayer and the most material part too and may as truly be esteemed as true a Conformist as he that uses a great deal more and yet falls short of the whole either as to Matter of Form for whosoever he be that alters or diminishes willingly in either he is so far a Nonconformist and how much farther he will proceed no body knows but himself but this we know by common Experience break Ice in one place it will crack