Sacraments The Presbyterians require sitting at the Lords Supper because significant Their pretence of the Example of Christ not sufficient Because p. 93 SECT XIV First That Example does no more oblige in this than in other Circumstances of Time and place unless in the significancy of it which then is as much superstitious as our kneeling For secondly They have not Example for the same manner of sitting Thirdly Not certain whether they have Example for any manner of sitting at all p. 100 SECT XV. They use another significant Ceremony in the Covenant and consent they require of people whereby they should own their Minister Worcestershire Agreement gives account of it Distinction between Discipline and Worship will not help them p. 108 SECT XVI Upon these Grounds the Church of England not superstitious unless the number of Ceremonies be too great Which hath been complain'd of without Cause and some of them acknowledge in our favour A Digression about the number of Ceremonies Or unless our Rites be requir'd as somewhat more than Indifferent In which the Prefaces to our Liturgy vindicate us p. 112 SECT XVII Two Objections 1. Ceremonies impos'd as Indifferent are not so So they were once believ'd But now some N. C ts think not so of them Answer Where no Law no Transgression Not forbid in the second Command nor elsewhere The Surplice and Kneeling and the Cross particularly consider'd p. 123 SECT XVIII 2 Obj. Though in Nature Indifferent yet some Accidents may render it sinful to impose or practise them They are thought by Bagshaw to be laid as snares for tender Consciences If so it would be Tyranny rather than superstition But it blasphemes Dignities so to think The Accidents consider'd Because they are offensive because they come from Papists The law of not giving offence does not disoblige the subject from obedience in things in themselves lawful Nor does it disable the Magistrate from making laws in things Indifferent The abuse of Popery signified nothing to T. C. in his own case The second General Proposition concluded p. 132 SECT XIX Third Proposition The Opinions that are superstitious are rejected by the Church of England Divers Objections against Popery besides superstition but that now to be consider'd They are superstitious First in making their Ceremonies necessary parts of Gods worship Pius IV. Creed impos'd upon all Bishops makes all the Doctrines of Trent necessary to salvation They equal Traditions to the written word and so introduce false Doctrines They teach for Doctrines the Commands of men and so are superstitious p. 144 SECT XX. Secondly They ascribe an efficacious sanctity to their Ceremonies They worship the Cross with Latra and affirm that it scares away the Devil drives away diseases and sanctifies the things on which it is made This is superstition to expect effects as by divine Institution which we have no warrant to expect Estius endeavours to salve the matter but not to satisfaction They teach that the Sacraments confer Grace Ex opere Operato and that is superstitious Bellarmines distinction between opus operatum and operantis to their prejudice p. 154 SECT XXI Thirdly Their Doctrine of Merit is superstitious Bellarmine ascribes Merit and satisfaction to good Works His famous acknowledgment to the contrary We own a necessity of good works but exclude Merit Whatever else is any where done upon a Religious account farther than Religion ought to be concern'd is superstitious The Church of England not guilty in any of these Cases p. 163 SECT XXII The Fourth Proposition There are superstitious Omissions of which men may be guilty when they seem greatly to abhor superstition A Negative Superstition A superstitious fearfulness of which Lord Bacon and St. Austin complain Such was that of the Jews who would not defend themselves on the Sabbath day Of the Souldiers in Sfetigrade The N. C ts have reason to examine whether their Abstinence be not such To abstain from that which is lawful as believing it Unlawful this undue opinion of Religious Matters is superstitious The Conclusion p. 171 ERRATA PAge 95. line 9. for where insignificant read wherein significant p. 149. l. 13. for rest r. rests the lesser faults are left to the ingenuity of the Reader to correct or pardon THere is lately published the seventh Edition of a Body of Divinity c. By the most Reverend Father in God James Usher late Arch-Bishop of Armagh to which is added his Life containing many remarkable passages never before Extant Sold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard A DISCOURSE OF Superstition With respect to the PRESENT TIMES c. THE prejudices and disaffections Sect. 1. which have alienated so many from the Communion of the Church of England owe themselves to no Original more than to an Opinion taken up that some Usages in our Church are Superstitious An Opinion strongly concluded but upon weak grounds and by a Process very illogical For when the Adversaries of our Order and Peace have amply represented how jealous God is of his Honour how severely he hath threatned the breaches of the second Commandment and how sorely he hath punished the Idolatry of the Jews in the application of these things to our Times Superstition and Idolatry are frequently join'd as equally forbidden in that Commandment and without more proof the Church of England is supposed guilty of Superstition and good people are exhorted to come out of her upon pain of partaking of those Plagues which Idolaters have reason to fear From the times of Queen Elizabeth down to our days Superstition hath been laid to our Charge Mr Hooker acknowledges and resents it Ecclesiastic Pol. Book 5. §. 4. So it is judged our Prayers our Sacraments our Fasts our times and places of publick meeting together for the Worship and Service of God our Marriages our Burials our Functions Elections and Ordinations Ecclesiastical almost whatsoever we do in the exercise of our Religion according to Laws for that purpose established all things are some way or other thought faulty all things stained with Superstition One of the Treatises that were sent abroad as it were to give new light to a new World 1660. under the name of Mr William Bradshaw is about things Indifferent where he thus speaks in the Marginal Notes Notes on the fifth Chapt. of things Indifferent The Doctors of Oxford ask what hurt can a wise Man see in a square Cap and a Surplice Indeed there is no outward hurt or evil in it but it must be considered whether there be not any inward hurt therein for if it can be proved that by them the Souls of many are poisoned with superstitious conceits then it is apparent that they have inward hurt in them This is but a supposition but it follows dogmatically The Ceremonies Ibid. Notes on Chap. 8. in Controversy have been and are the special means and occasion of the Schism of many Hundred Brownists of much Superstition in many
Thousand Ignorant Protestants and of Confirmation of many Infinites of wilful Papists in their Idolatry He concludes the Treatise thus The Ceremonies in Controversy are either excellent parts of our Religion which he not yielding must believe the other part of the Disjunction or notorious parts of Superstition This is the dirt that was cast upon the Church of England in the beginning of King James his Reign that he might be out of love with her A reproach of which the Convocation of 1603. was so sensible for though that Treatise came first out a little after the Convocation yet the suspicion was rife before that they pass this Canon among Canon 6. others Whosoever shall hereafter affirm the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England by Law established are wicked Antichristian or Superstitious c. Let him be Excommunicated c. This Canon did not restrain the petulancy of Censorious men for besides Mr. Bradshaws confidence in the defence that Dr Burges makes for Bishop Morton it appears Burges Answer Rejoined Chap. 4. §. 1. that the N. C sts of those times did thus argue The Ceremonies of the Church of England have been and still are abused to Idolatry and Superstition by the Papists And that we Id. ib. §. 4. cannot be thought sincerely to have repented of that Idolatry and Superstition except we cast away with detestation all the Instruments of it Once more they say That a superstitious construction is Id. ib. ◠79. made of our Cross not only by the Papists but by our own Canons and Canonical Imposers of it These Jealousies did but fly in the dark during King James his Reign but soon after Charles the First came to the Throne he received divers Complaints of this nature The Parliament Anno 1628. Rushworth Historical Collections p. 526. complains of Idolatry and Superstition as some of those heinous and crying sins which were the undoubted Cause of those evils that were fallen upon them The Remonstrance which the Commons Id. ib. p. 621. of the same Parliament made against the then Duke of Buckingham expresses their fears concerning Innovation of Religion A while after Mr. Rouse makes a Speech concerning Religion wherein he desires it may be considered what new paintings are laid on the old face of the Whore of Babylon How the See of Rome does eat Ib. p. 645 646. into our Religion and fret into the banks and walls of it for a remedy of which he propounds the expedient of a Covenant to hold fast God and Religion to which Covenant he would have every man say Amen This man does not it is true speak of Superstition but he is understood to mean it by another Orator of the same House Mr. Pym who complains that the Law Ib. p. 647. was violated in bringing in superstitious Ceremonies After whom another in the same Session Sir John Eliott apprehends a fear of some Ib. p. 649. Bishops then in place that if they should be in their power they might be in danger of having Religion overthrown because some of them were Masters of Ceremonies and laboured to introduce new Ceremonies into the Church After those eager Debates the motion for a Covenant slept for some years but was renewed again in the Unhappy Times of the Fatal Parliament In the times when it was a great part of the Impeachment against the Great Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that he had traiterously Artic. of Impeach 7. 10. endeavoured to alter and subvert Gods true Religion by law established in this Realm and instead thereof to set up Popish superstition and Idolatry and that he traiterously endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome In these times it was that Mr. Rouse's motion ripen'd up to a Solemn League and Covenant wherein they obliged themselves to endeavour the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy and Superstition By which words the Covenanters as some of them have since declar'd believe themselves obliged against Conformity for this reason they give in a Book they call a Sober and Temperate Discourse concerning the Interest of words in Prayer c. in which the Title of one of their Chapters is The Ministers Third Reason viz. Chap. 10. why they do not meddle with the Common Prayer as are the words of the Chapter is because they have sworn to endeavour a reformation in worship and to endeavour to extirpate Superstition Nothing now can be more evident than that both of old and in our times Superstition is objected to us It does not come in my way to condemn nor do I take upon me to justify the practises of all particular persons I concern my self only in the legal Establishments of our Church and they would little need a vindication if men would take the pains to enquire into the nature of Superstition for they would soon find the Innocence of our Rites would defend themselves from this suspicion But it is our Unhappiness that we have to deal with men who take things upon trust who are not easily undeceived because they will maintain a Conclusion before they have examined the premises observing Superstition to be a word that signifies somewhat bad they condemn us without a Tryal and before they know what it means conclude us guilty of Superstition I have waited some while in expectation that some abler Pen would engage in this Argument but not finding that of late days the Nature of Superstition has been particularly and fully discovered or described I have now undertaken the task in which because I desire to be understood I labour for no other ornament of stile than perspicuity And without farther Preface I proceed to enquire what is this Superstition with which the Church of England is so much upbraided There is no Precept in the Holy Scripture that forbids Superstition by that name nor does any sacred Author mention it except St. Luke in two places to be considered in due time when I examine how the word is used in other Authors For by this Method I conceive I shall best accomplish my design if First I enquire into the use of the Word And secondly into the nature of the thing signified by such a Word 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Greeks Sect. 2. express'd that which we now commonly call Superstition signifies most literally a service perform'd to God or to a Daemon rather out of fear than love An over-timerous and dreadful apprehension of the Deity as the learned Smith who also calls it Select Discourse of Superstit p. 26. 36. a compound of Fear and Flattery such an apprehension of God in the thoughts of men as renders him grievous and burdensome to them But however this may be the primary sense of the word yet that it hath been transfer'd to signifie more largely is evident from Greek Authors Plutarch in his Tract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constantly discourses of it as of an extream to
of Religion so is Superstition an extream on the other hand an Excessive Religiousness when men go beyond their bounds in Divine Worship so that all false worship goes under the name of Superstition A man may be righteous over-much and over-much wise so may he also be not too holy or too good yet too religious when he exceeds and practises in matters of Religion upon Opinions false and unworthy of God This hath been the use of the word in approved Authors of divers Ages It hath sometimes been determined to particular practices as Magick and Enchantments but upon a general reason because these are undue mixtures in Religion for so both in Heathen and Christian Authors this difference is commonly assigned between them Religio est Ubi prius veri Cultus superstitio falsi as Lactantius hath it When we worship God aright that is Religion when by any undue additions we corrupt Religion in all those things we are superstitious 2. The Enquiry into the Nature Sect. 4. of the thing still remains Whereby does it appear whether the worship we here or others elsewhere perform to God be regular and Religious or excessive undue and so superstitious The Resolution I give to this question I form into these Propositions 1. Superstition is first in the Opinion and thence influences upon the practice 2. The Doctrines upon which the Conformity of the Church of England is established are not superstitious Opinions 3. The Opinions that are indeed superstitious such as are divers that obtain in the Papacy and elsewhere are rejected by the Church of England 4. There are superstitious Omissions of which men may be guilty and that then when they seem to have a great Zeal against Superstition 1. Superstition is first in the Opinion before it can have any influence upon the practice Practices are unlawful when they transgress the Commands by which they are obliged but superstitiously unlawful they cannot be unless they proceed from such Opinions Hence it comes to pass that the same practices are sometimes superstitious and sometimes not according as mens Opinions are by which they are perswaded to them So is the difference between the Ch. of England and of Rome in the use of the Cross in kneeling in the act of receiving c. as will afterwards appear I am not alone in thus stating the Notion of Superstition A superstitious act is that Bishop Durham Morton Sermon on 1 Cor. 11. 16. which is founded upon a superstitious Opinion It was not meerly the Pharisees often washing but their Opinion of some especial purgation thereby which Christ reprehended in them Nor was it the having an Altar for which St. Paul reproved the Athenians when he called them superstitious but the opinion of honouring a God thereby they knew not whom To a like purpose Mr Hooker Superstition is when things are abhorred Eccles Polity Book 5. §. 3. or observed with a zealous or fearful but erroneous relation to God And in words just before Superstition is always join'd with a wrong opinion touching things divine Conformably to both these says a late learned Author All Superstitious Falkener Libert Ecclesiast B. 1. Chap. 5. Sect. 2. §. 7. or other sinful honour of the Elements must be founded in embracing those false apprehensions and corrupt Doctrines which our Church rejects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refers to the inward sense and apprehension of our minds or if it must be distinguished between the thoughts of the mind and the passions of the Soul it is evident that fear arises from such opinions and apprehensions as administer to it Yea though superstition be as hath been said an excess of Religion and though this excess may discover it self in the practices of men yet the reason and that which occasions this excess is in the Opinion False Notions and apprehensions of God tempt men to try by undue ways to please him Men have a conceit that such services are more grateful to him than they are Or there is a superstitious observation of some Accidents as Prognosticks of Events because of an Opinion taken up that God Almighty does by such signs declare his pleasure or displeasure In all these Cases the First Seat of Superstition is in the Opinion and from thence it is derived into practice for did these false Opinions which thus mislead men cease by a better information of the understanding the practices and observances that depend on them would also cease or if they were continued they would be hypocritical or vain or any thing rather than superstitious For Example It is superstitious say we to worship an Image or to pray a Soul out of Purgatory c. because they are false and superstitious Opinions that induce men so to do If it may be supposed that men who opine right who do not in their judgment yield more to an Image than they ought and who do not in truth believe Purgatory may yet perform the same Ceremonies and make the same prayers I ask then for what reason are these things done If not for this reason because men are of opinion that the Image deserves it that the dead may be profited by their Devotions then is it a vain and ridiculous piece of Pageantry Or if some politick reason and secular Interest tempt men these ways what they do may be excused from Superstition because it is not intended for the honour of God and so is not performed as a part of his Worship but it is otherwise faulty because by pretences of Religion they advance their Interest and gain becomes their Godliness If in truth there be any Religious intendments in these performances then this is that which plainly renders them superstitious because they Originally proceed from superstitious Opinions This I have first said because upon this depends the Vindication I design of the Usages of the Church of England For if what is done in Divine Worship be not otherwise superstitious but as it proceeds from and is directed by superstitious Opinions then if it can be evinc'd that we are not guided by any such Opinions it will follow that our Rites and Ceremonies are void of superstition And this I trust to make appear in what next follows 2. The Doctrines upon which the Sect. 5. Conformity of the Church of England is established are not superstitious Opinions Of which matter I give this Account which I shall take to be sufficient till by an Enumeration of some other particulars of which I am not aware it be made appear that there are some other Doctrines that may be suspected of superstition which the Church of England in justification of her Conformity is obliged to maintain 1. All Circumstances relating to the Worship and service of God are not particularly determined in the word of God 2. Therefore notwithstanding the Determinations of the Holy Scripture some things do remain Indifferent in their own Natures 3. The Governours of the Church have power to
make Determinations in things Indifferent 4. Therefore people are bound to obey their Governours in such their Determinations 5. It is not unlawful for Church-Governours to appoint some significant Ceremonies These are the foundations upon which we stand upon which our Governours require and upon which we practise Conformity and none of these are superstitious Opinions Wherefore in the application of these Generals to our Times and state of things we conclude the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England not being for their number burdensome of which in due time are not in their nature and kind superstitious 1. He who judges all Circumstances relating to the publick worship of God not particularly determined in the word of God is not superstitious in that Opinion For this is so plainly and manifestly true that it is a shame for any man to deny it There hath been I know an Axiome among Cartwrights Disciples That nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded in the word of God This they thought plainly warranted by the manifest words of the law about adding to or diminishing from the word of God Now adds Mr Hooker these Eccles 〈◊〉 Book 3. §. 5. men having an eye to a number of Rites and Orders in the Church of England such as the Ring in Marriage the Cross c. thought by the one only stroke of that Axiome to have cut them off And T. C. is quoted as arguing thus You which Ib. §. 2. distinguish and say that Matters of Faith and necessary to salvation may not be tolerated in the Church unless they be expresly contained in the word of God or manifestly gathered But the Ceremonies Order Discipline Government in the Church may not be received against the word of God and consequently may be received if there be no word against them although there be none for them You I say distinguishing in this sort prove an evil divider To all which there needs no other Answer than what Mr Hooker gives Let that which they do hereby intend be granted them let it once stand as consonant to reason that because we are forbid to add to the Law of God any thing or to take ought from it therefore we may not for matters of the Church make any law more than is already set down in Scripture Ib. §. 6. who sees not what sentence it shall enforce us to give against all Churches in the World in as much as there is not one but hath had many things established in it which though the Scripture did never command yet for us to condemn were rashness He goes on to give the Example of the Church of God in the time of our Saviour instead of all others If this ratiocination be weak they who suspect it have great reason to shew us out of Scripture an exact form of Church-Government but instead of doing so they only argue that so it must be without directing us to the place where it is To which I again oppose Mr Hookers words As for those marvellous discourses Ibid. ad finem whereby they adventure to argue that God must needs have done the things which they imagine were to be done I must confess I have often wondred at their boldness herein When the question is whether God hath delivered us in Scripture as they affirm he hath a compleat particular immutable form of Church-Polity why take they that other both presumptuous and superfluous labour to prove he should have done it There being no way in this case to prove the deed of God save only by producing that Evidence wherewith he hath done it But if there be no such thing apparent upon record they do as if one should demand a Legacy by force of some written Testament wherein there being no such thing specified he pleads that there it must be and brings Arguments from the love of the Testator imagining that these proofs will convict a Testament to have that in it which other men can no where by reading find It will appear in the process of our arguing that the very men who would insinuate to the disparagement of our Rites that Divine Worship must have a Divine Warrant for Circumstances as well as for substance have not themselves been guided by this Opinion but have taken a liberty in their Directorian or Dictatorian way which they have denied to others And because I shall by and by bring them as witnesses for us and against themselves I respit yet a little their farther Conviction in this matter 2. Notwithstanding the Determinations Sect. 6. of the Holy Scripture there do still remain some things in their own nature Indifferent and in this Opinion there is no Superstition It might reasonably be thought that this Proposition is so evident that no man who pretends to learning will deny it But so it is that the power of Church-Governours may be reduc'd in a manner to nothing some there have been who will not own any thing Indifferent in these matters I meet with two who have maintain'd this Assertion and I presume they are the same whom Bishop Saunderson means when he speaks of some of Saunderson de Obliga Conscient praelec 6. §. 23. this Opinion Duo praesertim alter alicujus nominis apud suarum partium homines Theologus alter è proceribus Regni laicus Those Two I conceive must be Mr Bradshaw and the Lord Brooke I shall not do Mr Bradshaw right if I do not acknowledge that Dr Burges Answer Rejoin'd Ch. 2. §. 9. Burges tells us he revers'd his Opinion of things Indifferent Surely he had great reason to do it That he was once of the Opinion which I fasten on him must not be denied One of his Treatises Reprinted 1660. is Of the Nature and use of things Indifferent Where he states the Case thus A Chap. 2. thing Indifferent is a mean between good and evil so that whatsoever is Indifferent is neither good nor evil whatsoever is either good or evil is not indifferent After this he avers that no Action of Religion Chap. 8. whether it be Moral or Ceremonial is Indifferent but either good or evil and again No Ceremony of Religion is Indifferent Ibid. A gross and palpable mistake and unworthy of a man so cryed up for his learning the more pardonable indeed because he acknowledged his Error but because they who Reprinted him were not so just to his Memory as to insert that acknowledgment and because they for whose sake he was reprinted have not it may be that respect for Dr Burges as to read him I must animadvert on it as I find it and answer That no considering man can think that when we use an Indifferent Rite we mean that we do neither good nor evil No sure that which is Indifferent in its Nature may be in its use Necessary We use it as being by sufficient Authority commanded thereto and therefore upon such
be upbraided with superstition because of such appointments If these grounds be firm and good I conclude that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England unless they be either burdensome in their Number or requir'd as somewhat in nature and kind greater and more necessary than things Indifferent are not faulty or superstitious Both which Cases deserve Consideration 1. If our Rites be in their nature Sect. 16. Innocent no man hath reason to find fault with their Number The Compilers of our Liturgy have been aware that an Objection might be here made and have taken care to prevent the scruple Some Ceremonies are Preface to the Liturgy of Ceremonies put away because the great excess and multitude of them hath so increas'd in these latter days that the burden of them was intolerable whereof St. Austin in his time complain'd c. This our excessive multitude was so great and many of them so dark that they did more confound and darken than declare and set forth Christs benefits to us That Complaint of St. Austin is in his Epistle to Januarius where he acknowledges Aug. Januario Ep. 119. Quamvis enim neque hoc inveniri possit quomodo contra fidem sint ipsam tamen Religionem quam paucissimis manifestissimis celebrationum sacramentis misericordia Dei esse liberam voluit servilibus oneribus premunt ut tolerabilior sit conditio Judaeorum Admit that such observances be not against the Gospel yet in as much as the Merciful God would have Religion free from the burden of many Ceremonies they have so clog'd it with burdensome services that the condition of the Jews was more tolerable than of Christians now adays That there may be no such Cause of Complaint among us the Church of England hath been very moderate in this thing Not so as to escape the ill will of her Adversaries when they were resolv'd to find fault for the Preface to the Directory complains of the many unprofitable and burdensome Ceremonies contain'd in the Liturgy which occasion'd much mischief yet in cool blood some of the party are constrain'd to acknowledge the Disc of Liturgies p. 91. number of Ceremonies retain'd in our Church pretending to any legal Authority but small The Surplice and Cross and Kneeling at Sacrament are we think all And they do us much wrong if they refuse this acknowledgment For a great number of observations which obtain in the Church of Rome in the Celebration of the Sacraments which from their number of seven we have reduc'd to Two and in other parts of Divine Worship have no place in the Church of England lest they should divert the minds of men from worshipping God in spirit and truth Ceremonies harmless in themselves may yet be hurtful in respect of their number therefore hath our Church abrogated a great number of Saints-days and other like Customs as Mr Eccles Pol. lib. 4. Sec. 14. Hooker hath observed Wherefore such is the present state of our Church that we may securely defy our Adversaries in this matter if it were as easy to cure their Jealousies of what may be as to answer their objections against what is established But here they make difficulty Though our present Number of Ceremonies be but small yet they raise a doubt how far a Church may go how many Ceremonies may be establish'd before the number be burdensome Where is the Maximum quod non and the Minimum quod sic of superstition This is thought a great Argument why no Ceremonies beyond what are of direct necessity should be imposed because of the Bagshaw's Two great Queries p. 10. Impossibility to fix a point where the Imposer will stop For do but once grant that the Magistrate hath power to impose and then we ly at his mercy how far he will go And they who allow our present number to be but small yet think them too many because though there Discourse of Liturgies p. 91. be no more Ceremonies established by law as yet there are many probationers and they can see no reason but the Churches power if allowed to appoint any save only such without which the service of God would apparently to all rational men be perform'd indecently and disorderly may appoint Hundreds It is also one of Mr Baxters reasons against the Imposing Crossing and the Surplice c. When we once begin to let in Humane Baxter Disput of Ch. Government p. 477. Mystical Rites we shall never know where to stop or make an end On the same ground that one age invents three or four the next think they may add as many and so it will grow to be a point of devotion to add a new Ceremony as at Rome it hath done till we have more than we well know what to do with I answer The Writings of Moralists are not thought defective though when they have given General Rules for Temperance that men may not drink till they disable their Reason and impair their health c. they do not descend particularly to determine how many Glasses a man may drink and precisely to say such a draught makes him Intemperate Nor did Mr Chillingworth think he was wanting to his Adversary who counted it prodigiously strange that Protestants Chillingw Religion of Protest c. p. 128 129. could not be induc'd to give in a particular Catalogue of points Fundamental when he calls it an Unreasonable demand because variety of Circumstances makes it impossible to set down an exact Catalogue of them I think I may have as much reason to reckon it no Imperfection in this discourse if I do not venture punctually to determine how great a number of Ceremonies may be required before we come at Superstition When the number becomes so great that the shadow darkens the substance When the substantial service of God which should be performed in spirit and truth is prejudic'd by the attendance that is given to the outward Ceremony when the use of the means renders us uncapable to obtain the end then does it rise to that excessive multitude of which our Church speaks But because the use of our liberty in other lawful things cannot be fix'd in an Indivisible point but alters according to the various Circumstances of times and persons and conditions and relations of men therefore no wise man will give one particular determinate rule which shall oblige equally in all Cases In like manner as our Church reckons Ceremonies Indifferent so at the same time are they concluded alterable and it is acknowledged that upon weighty and important considerations Preface to the Liturgy according to the various exigency of times and occasions such changes and alterations should be made therein as to those in place of Authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient And here sure must the thing rest It must be left to the prudence of our Governours If they shall impose any thing in which the Consciences of
people are not satisfied If in truth it shall be believed that the number of Ceremonies enjoin'd is so great that the means disserve the end that what is ordain'd as an help to Piety and Devotion does rather hinder it these persons so dissatisfied about the number are in the same case with those who are dissatisfied about the nature of an Injunction If they scruple without cause and are not duly inform'd their scruples do not render the Injunction unlawful in it self Nevertheless the Doctrine of our Church does not encourage them to act against their Consciences they must peaceably suffer where they cannot act No doubt but it is possible Church-Governours who among us do not pretend to Infallibility may in some things be mistaken Yet such things as these must be left to their determination For is it not so elsewhere There may be too many Ale-Houses in a Town and it may be difficult to determine exactly how many are sufficient and where the number will exceed but is it therefore unlawful for the Justices to licence any There may be in a Countrey or Town Parishes too many for the Maintenance or too few for the people and it may be difficult for Authority to know exactly how many are needful and convenient Shall there be therefore no division made into several for fear lest there should be too many or too few What if there be the same difficulty in adjusting the true number of Ceremonies yet in as much as it is necessary there should be some because else Religion in the substance would suffer and decay therefore is it also lawful for our Governours to make a determination in this matter The Determination of which number must proceed upon the same Rules of Decency Order and Edification which give a law to the kind and nature of Ceremonies And in this General may men rest satisfied till the number shall grow doubtful Then it will concern private persons to take heed as to their own practice that the Ceremony do not devour the substance But because at present there is no reasonable Cause to fear because the Ceremonies that are now requir'd are so few that no man may without peevishness quarrel at their number if they be Innocent in their nature and use therefore I return from this digression to consider that in the next place 2. The Rites and Ceremonies of our Church are not required as things in their nature necessary but Indifferent The use of the Cross at Baptism is Canon 30. thus accounted for as being purg'd from all Popish superstition and error and reduc'd in the Church of England to the primary Institution of it upon those true Rules of Doctrine concerning things Indifferent which are consonant to the word of God and the Judgment of all Antient Fathers c. And upon the same Rules of Doctrine are our other Ceremonies established For so the Preface to the Liturgy expresses it The Ceremonies that remain are retain'd for a Godly Discipline and Order which upon just causes may be alter'd and chang'd and therefore are not to be esteem'd equal with Gods Law And the Preface that was made upon the last establishment says The particular forms of Divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be us'd therein are things in their own Nature Indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged Words too plain to need a Comment and lyable to no Objection that I can foresee unless one of these two things shall be replyed both upon them and all that hath hitherto been said in this matter First That some things are requir'd under the Notion of things Indifferent which are not so Secondly Be it granted that some Indifferent things may be impos'd yet it does not follow that all may or that the things in controversy may We say the things they scruple Sect. 17. are requir'd but as things Indifferent as indeed they are They are not all satisfied to think so of them The time was when T. C. did oppose our Ceremonies not as unlawful but as inconvenient as hath been already said And Mr Ash in the Epistle to his Funeral Sermon on Mr Gataker when he had named Cartwright and Hildersham and Dod c. he says of them though these men dislik'd the use of superstitious Ceremonies yet they oppos'd their Tenents and practice who separated from the Church of England condemning it and the Ministry of it as Antichristian The separation is it seems now advanc'd for there are men that reckon there is more superstition among us than was believ'd formerly and therefore separate farther from us It is denied Modest Disc of Ceremon p. 8. now that these are things of Indifferency to be us'd as is requir'd in the service of God And whereas it is supposed that we say that the Imposition of Rulers makes Indifferent things cease to be Indifferent they answer They are not Indifferent in the Judgment Petition for Peace p. 12. of Dissenters though they be so in ours Exercit. about an Opining Cansci p. 80. They think they have probable Arguments to judge it unlawful to Minister in a Surplice to sign with the sign of the Cross in Baptism and to kneel in the Act of receiving the Lords Supper Yea these things are so far from being Indifferent that they are thought so Unlawful as that because of them people separate from our Churches For whatever reasons may perswade their Guides not to conform yet the people separate from us that they may not partake with our Ceremonies or for a worse reason I could not altogether omit so necessary a part of my Discourse but because it hath been so often said I pass it in fewer words Where no Law Rom. 4. is there is no Transgression That which is not forbid is not Unlawful Are these Rites and Ceremonies forbid in the word of God By what Text perhaps by the second Commandment or by those words of St. Matth. Teaching for Doctrine the Commandments of men Ch. 15. or by the Text of Will-Worship 2 Colos or because we may not add to nor diminish from the word of God Deuteron 4. Now because the Surplice and Cross and Kneeling are not named in these Texts as was upon occasion said before therefore Consequences must be drawn from them and labour'd so long till the Conclusion must hold as firm as confidence can make it Because the second Command forbids making and worshiping graven Images therefore all devices and Inventions of mans brain must have no place in Divine Worship Ergo what Ergo rend the Surplice c. As if the Bason at the Desk were not as much the device of man as the Font and the Directory were not as obnoxious as the Rubrick If our Church did equal her commands to the word of God then were she guilty of adding to the word and establishing the Commands of men in the room of the Doctrines of God If any accidents may bring our Rites within the
inabilities a reason that our modern N. C ts in this time of Gospel light think an undervaluing of them Secondly That the several Churches of the same Dominion may appear to consent together Thirdly For a security against Innovators and in that also I wish they were not concern'd Upon this last reason Calvin adds that there should be summa quaedam doctrinae ab omnibus recepta quam inter praedicandum sequantur omnes ad quam etiam observandam omnes Episcopi Parochi jurejurando adstringantur ut nemo ad munus Ecclesiasticum admittatur nisi spondeat sibi illum sensum inviolatum futurum Extet praeterea communis Catechismi formula c. Which I thus accommodate to our Usage he could not think it unlawful to subscribe to the thirty nine Articles 2. Because some Ceremonies must accompany Divine Service it appears by the former words that he would have them stated too I conceal not his Opinion that he would have but few Ceremonies for fear of Superstition Nihil consultius video Epist 303. Dat. 1560. quam parcissimis Ceremoniis uti in Ecclesiâ satis enim Experientiâ constat quà m proclivis sit lapsus in superstitionem Now if any shall hence infer that Calvin if he were alive would judge us to abound in superfluous Ceremonies I oppose his former Letter to the Protector where he speaks de abolendis radicitus evellendis abusibus corruptelis of rooting out abuses but he instances but in three things Praying for the dead Chrism and extream Unction All which having now no place in our Church and it being undeniable that we are reformed to some greater degrees than in Edward the Sixths time we have fair reason to say that the present state of things is such as Calvin would not disallow at most if he would have advised to have omitted some of our Ceremonies yet in the same place where he desires Ceremonies should be few he adds Aliud vero est cum nobis jus non est admittendi aut repudiandi quod videbitur Si non licet obtinere quod cupimus feramus istos defectus non approbemus Where we are to obey and not to rule let us bear with those defects which we need not approve 3. But Calvin is the man who called some of our Rites Fooleries Because our N. C ts shall have liberty to make the most of that word I so translate it though others think it may be rendred Unfitnesses Let them take the advantage of it provided they will acknowledge that at the same time he calls them tolerable The words are in a Letter to some English Divines at Frankford in Queen Maries time In Anglicanâ Ep. 200. Dat. 1555. Liturgiâ qualem describitis multas video fuisse tolerabiles Ineptias Calvin being at a distance takes things as they were represented to him therefore he speaks of the English Liturgy according to the description they gave of it and there is some reason to suspect that they who gave him that account misrepresented the case I am not alone in the Imagination M. Durell is before me who View of Government c. p. 117. undertakes it at large But Calvin says moreover video fuisse so it had been he thought in Edward the Sixths time and who knows not what perfective alterations have been since made Suppose at most he did not like some things yet this is certain that he did not think it worth while to contend about them for so he says in the same Letter In Id. ibid. rebus mediis ut sunt externi Ritus facilem me flexibilem praebeo In such Indifferent matters as outward Rites are I am an easy man and ready to be perswaded And I give but Two Instances more that I may have done with him When he writes to Bullinger about Bishop Hooper's Scruples and troubles he says De pileo veste Ep. 120. Dat. 1551. lineâ maluissem ut illa etiam non probem non usque adeo ipsum pugnare idque etiam nuper suadebam Though I do not much like the Square-Cap and Surplice yet I wish Hooper had not been so fierce against them and so I lately perswaded him Yea in an affair of their own Beza reports him to have been of the same temper Some there were at Geneva who had upon some pretences introduc'd the use of Unleaven'd Bread and of that only at the Communion At this others were so offended that they inclin'd rather to stay away than Communicate Calvin who Bez. Vit. Calvini An. 1538. was then withdrawn from Geneva hearing of it advised them ne ob istud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 litem moverent sic obtinuit panis Azymi usus de quo etià m postea restitutus Calvinus nunquam contendendum putavit minimè tamen dissimulans quid alioqui esset magis probaturus He would not have them quarrel about such an Indifferent matter So the use of Unleaven'd Bread was established which when Calvin return'd again he did not think fit to make any disturbance about though he did not dissemble that he rather wished it had been otherwise It appears then Calvin was not so inflexible in all matters of Conformity as many of our Modern N. C ts are To Calvin and Zanchy it is easy to Sect. 12. M. Durell View of Government c. p. 119. deinceps add like Testimonies out of other Authors magnified by the N. C ts M. Durell hath brought about forty mostly Divines as it were into Council delivering their Opinions about Ceremonies and Circumstances of worship All unanimously agreeing against our present Dissenters that these things viz. the Surplice and Cross c. are not such for which a separation is to be made and if all do not speak to every particular matter in Controversy between us yet all speak to some and some to all by all which it appears that the Church of England is not condemned by the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas nay she is justified nay she is admired For the particular purpose of the Argument now in hand I offer a few of our own Countrymen and I cannot begin better than with T. Cartwright who is quoted as professing Burges Preface to Answ Rejoin'd p. 3 4. to oppose our Ceremonies as inconvenient but not as unlawful and therefore perswaded Ministers rather to wear the Garments than cease their Ministry and taught men to receive the Sacrament kneeling if they could not have it otherwise because though the gesture be as he takes it incommodious yet he says it is not simply unlawful Mr Sprint also assures us that Dr Humfrey Dr Rainolds Cassand Anglic. p. 163. Dr Sparks Dr Chaloner Dr Ayray Mr Chaderton Mr Knewstubs though they stood out and testified their dislike against sundry of the Ceremonies established yet they did in case of deprivation yield to them and studiously perswaded others in this case to this practice Of latter days Mr Baxter hath
which they now urge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 26. Luke 22. the two words used by the Evangelists upon this occasion do not signifie such a sitting as is now in use It is therefore generally agreed that their posture was more like to lying than sitting So that the best of their Argument can be but thus Because our Blessed Saviour gave the Sacrament to his Disciples in that gesture which they used at Meals which was a kind of lying therefore we ought to receive it in the gesture now used at Meals which is sitting where we must desire their Logick to tell us what degree of necessity is in this sequele because they did one thing we must do another Yet neither is this the worst of it all this is but a supposition of that which they are never able to prove For 3. It is not absolutely certain in what posture they did then receive the Lords Supper Probably they continued in the same posture but who can peremptorily conclude it Who can demonstrate to the contrary but that when our Blessed Saviour while they were eating solemnly betook himself to the Institution of a new Sacrament they to address themselves to a new service might betake themselves to a new gesture I cannot prove they did nor for ought I can find can any body prove they did not There is nothing conclusive in any of the Evangelists that they did certainly continue in the same posture Unless the Order of St. Luke be insisted on who Chap. 22. after the Institution of the Sacrament hath these words But behold the hand of him that betrays me is with me at the Table Which Order signifies little to those who will not yield Judas to have been at the Sacrament as divers of our Adversaries will not but admit he was there as seems very probable yet though they were all at the same table as before and who can demonstrate but it might be another table yet it does not appear certain that they were in the same posture as before This doubt I move not as a thing in it self considerable but to represent how strongly some men and even the same who call so much for Scripture grounds and for a divine warrant for Circumstances of worship as minute as this will build upon probabilities when it serves their turn Because it is not said they rose up it is by consequence gather'd they sat still If they did it was not our manner of sitting but another If they had sate as we yet this Example is no more obligatory than it is to other Circumstances of the same Institution Yet through all these If 's and Consequences and Suppositions they conclude to the expedience if not to the necessity of a significant Ceremony though in us they call it Superstition The lifting up the hand at the Covenant the laying the hand upon the Book in swearing and other like Ceremonies have been objected to them by others I urge not that but add another Instance whereby it will plainly appear that many of the N. C ts though they suspect so much superstition in a significant Ceremony yet can themselves allow and urge the use of a Ceremony and that in a Religious matter and because it is significant although the particular Ceremony be no where in Scripture commanded They who have endeavour'd to Sect. 15. settle Presbyterated and Associated Churches have determin'd to do it by way of Covenant so consenting to be a Member of such a Church The Agreement of the Associated Churches in Worcestershire will give us light in this thing who thus express themselves Because Ministers should Agreement of the Associated Churches in Worcestersh §. 18. have a particular knowledge of their Charge which now is uncertain and for divers other reasons propounded and debated among us We judge it very fit if not of necessity to desire a more express signification of our peoples consent to our Ministry and Ministerial actions and in particular to submit to this discipline as the members of that particular Church Afterwards they tell us in what form of words they require this consent to be given I do consent to be a Member of the particular Church of Christ at whereof Teacher c. The reasons why this was required Mr Baxter gives in his Explication of that Agreement not as his Ibid. own but as those that mov'd the Association to make that determination The reasons are Twelve In all which there is not so much as a pretence of a divine Institution nay it is confessed in the Preface that the sign it self of this consent is not particularly determin'd and Mr Baxter after the reasons adds this Memorandum Remember yet that I maintain that God does in Scripture require only consent signified a thing which I do not now debate but hath not tyed us to this or that particular sign for signifying it but having given us general Rules that all things be done to Edification decently c. he hath left it to humane prudence to determine of the particular sign whether voice subscription c. So then such a form of words is own'd to be a sign signifying consent It is also own'd a sign requir'd only upon General Rules of Scripture What unpardonable crime is it then if the Church of England agree upon some Ceremonies significant by virtue of the same general Rules of Edification and Decency In which Cases if private men will be so wise as to abound in their own sense whether or no such things be decent and edifying the same Mr Baxter hath determin'd the Controversy in the same place where though he assert that the Pastors are to consult with the people about the convenience yet he positively concludes That people are to obey the determination of their guides And how now comes it to pass that the power which they in their times assum'd should be denied the Church of England viz. Power and Authority to appoint significant Ceremonies If they will distinguish between Discipline and Worship and allow a significant Ceremony in that but not in this I reply that in their contentions for Discipline about Mr Hookers time that Axiome of theirs Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded by the word of God was applied to Discipline as well as worship and therefore Eccles Pol. Lib. 3. Sect. 5. Degrees in the Universities sundry Church-Offices and Dignities were struck at Yea they did affirm that the Discipline was no small part of the Gospel Survey of the pretended Holy Disciplin p. 440. that without this Discipline there can be no right Religion that they who reject the Discipline refuse to have Christ reign over them However it is clear A significant Ceremony because allowed in Discipline is not in the Nature of the thing unlawful Nor does it deserve the name of a Sacrament properly so called Nor does the Church of England deserve to
Azorius such as these Purgatory Azor. Institut Moral Part. 1. lib. 8. Cap. 4. Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints worshipping Images Communion in one kind enough for Laicks c. Whereas the question may be again ask'd how shall we know that these are Divine Traditions after some other Rules Bellarmine wholly rests it upon the Bellarm. De Verbo Dei non scripto Cap. 9. Testimony of the Romish Church Ex Testimonio hujus solius Ecclesiae sumi potest Certum Argumentum ad probandum Apostolicas Traditiones From the Testimony of the alone Church of Rome may a man have a certain Argument to prove Apostolical Traditions Which rule I suppose he intends for the assuring us of Divine Traditions too for so he had before join'd them Asserimus in scripturis Id. ibid. Cap. 3. non contineri Totam Doctrinam necessariam sive de fide sive de moribus proinde praeter verbum Dei scriptum requiri etiam verbum Dei non scriptum i. e. Divinas Apostolicas Traditiones We assert that the scripture does not contain all necessary Doctrine whether about Faith or manners there is therefore moreover requir'd Divine and Apostolical Tradition From these premises I argue to the superstition of the Church of Rome Because they practise in their Sacraments and elsewhere upon superstitiâ—us opinions The Devotion of the Jews Isai 29. is thus challeng'd Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men The Messages which God Almighty sent them by his Prophets were not the Rule of their worship but the Traditions of men were instead of the word of God And this was their Indebitus cultus their superstition This Text the Septuagint translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In vain do they worship me Matth. 15. teaching the commands of men and Doctrins St. Matthew hath alter'd the site of one word and there we read in application to the Pharisees In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commands of men The case to which this quotation is there applyed is their making the Fifth Commandment of none effect by their Tradition That which God had made necessary by his Command Honour thy Father and Mother with that they dispens'd That which God had not made necessary by any express Declaration of his pleasure that was made necessary by their Tradition And this was their superstition To which the case of the Church of Rome is but too parallel They make the second Command of none effect by their Tradition of worshipping Images In other things they make that necessary which the written word of God hath not made so Some of which Traditions if they be not directly contrary to the word of God yet because they are arrogantly equalled and commanded to be received Pari pietatis affectu reverentiâ the practices that flow from these Doctrines cannot be excus'd from superstition as we now use the word and as they as well as we define the thing for an excess in Religion whereby men worship God after such a manner as they ought not 2. The second Account of their Sect. 20. superstition is that they ascribe an Efficacious sanctity to their Ceremonies Here also Instances will make it plain both that they are thus chargeable and that the Church of England does reject these Opinions The Doctrine of Rome is that the Cross is to be worshipped with the highest kind of worship Crux Christi in Aquin. tertia Pars qu. 25. Artic. 4. quâ Christus Crucifixus est tum propter repraesentationem tum propter membrorum Christi contactum Latriâ adoranda est Crucis vero Effigies in aliâ quââ—is materiâ priori tantum ratione Latriâ adoranda est The Cross whereon Christ was Crucified is to be worshipped with Latriâ both because of its representation and because of its touching the Body of Christ But the sign of the Cross elsewhere is to be worshipped only for the former reason which last words were well put in for it would be a wonder indeed if the sign of the Cross made at Rome should deserve worship propter Contactum This we contend is superstitious because the Opinions they have of the Cross are such For they ascribe such Effects to the Cross which neither the word of God ascribes to it nor any mans reason without the help of feigned Miracles or Traditions before accounted for would expect from it Take it in Bellarmin's words 1º Tres sunt Effectus Crucis Bell. de Imagin Sanctorum lib. 2. Cap. 30. mirabiles Terret fugat Daemones 2º pellit morbos omnia mala 3º Sanctificat ea quibus imprimitur There are Three wonderful effects of the Cross First It frights and seares away the Devil Secondly It drives away Diseases and all Evils Thirdly It sanctifies those things upon which it is made The first of these effects he ascribes to it for Three Causes Ex apprehensione Daemonis Ibâ—â— ex Devotione hominis ex Instituto Dei From the apprehension of the Devil from the Devotion of man from the Institution of God So that they suppose the appointment of God hath empowr'd the Cross to scare the Devil The power of sanctifying that upon which the sign of the Cross is made he makes parallel with the power which he supposes in Reliques Sanctificantur Ibid. aliquo modo ii qui tangunt Reliquias which he hath the confidence to assert upon the Authority of the Fathers Our 30th Canon as hath been said rejects these superstitions and errors Which superstition we therefore lay to their charge because they ascribe an effect to a certain Cause without a sufficient warrant That the sign of the Cross hath not naturally in it self any power of sanctifying or curing Bellarmine can't but acknowledge Signum Crucis operatur mirabilia non ex Id. ibid. virtute suâ naturali quam habet ut figura quaedam sed ut signum divinitus Institutum The sign of the Cross works wonders not as a certain figure by any natural virtue but as a sign appointed of God Here is then superstition to esteem the sign of the Cross more holy than indeed it is to believe it to have such a relation to God which it can't be prov'd to have to ascribe to it a virtue which no syllable in the H. Scripture declares to us And who hath known the mind of God any farther than he hath been pleas'd to reveal it to us Estius makes a little attempt to deliver Estius in sentent Tom. 3. Distinc 37. Sec. 8. such like Ceremonies as this is from superstition Si debito decentique modo exspectetur effectus aliquis à Deo etiamsi naturali virtute haberi non potest nulla est superstitio If the effect be expected in a due and decent manner though the cause cannot by any natural virtue produce it it is no superstition So he says the Church does consecrate Salt and Holy-Water c. because