the North of Tay thre never was above Three or Four Meeting-Houses and these too very little frequented At Perth where a Presbyterian Minister hath got the Church not One in Ten go to hear him not one of the Magistrates The like at Cowpar in Fife at st Andrews Sterling Burnt-Island c. Even in Edenbrough the Presbyterian Ministers are not so much frequented as the Regular Clergy Whatever Friends the Presbyterians there had a Year or Two agoe they arethis day diminished by a Third the People have enough of their Cant and are weary of their Sermons 2. Those Reformed Churches that are not governed by Bishops earnestly desire them To this purpose the Scottish Forbs in his Irenicum Printed A. D. 1629 p. 202 hath these Words Such was the condition of Protestants in many Foreign Parts that being forced by utmost necessity they allowed Presbyters to ordain they heartily wish'd that they might be ordained by Bishops but when they could not obtain that of the Bishops without wicked conditions c. nor could the prohibition of Popish Bishops hinder their Ordination from being valid since in those Countries the Presbyters and Pastors had the chief power over the Christian i. e. Reformed Churches This they did not out of any contempt of the antient Canons but out of absolute necessity as appears from the Apology of the Protestants for the Consession at Ausburg Art 14. We have often testified that we earnestly desire to retain the ancient Ecclesiastical Politie and degrees in the Church but the Bishops i. e. Popish compel our Priests to renounce their Doctrine c. Wherefore in some Places this Politie is destroyed which we heartity desired to keep this we declare before God and the World that it should not be imputed to us that we have no Bishops When at the Synod of Dort an English Bishop had set forth the usefulness of being governed by Bishops for repressing Heresy and Schism c. the President of the Synod made answer Nos non samus adeo felices i. e. We are not so happy Peter Moulin in his Preface to his Fathers Answer to Perron tells us that the want of Bishops in the French Church was the necessity of their condition that they desire the same Government we have in England if they might be so happy When they moved Cardinal Richlieu to allow them Bishops he flatly denied it them They could never get of the Civil Power a toleration of Bishops their Politick Statesmen would never give way to it nothing hath been more eagerly opposed by the Pope and his Creatures than that the Protestants should have Bishops The Apology for Protestants written by a French Divine p. 60. This may suffice to satisfy the Scruples of those that take offence at Episcopal Government we have cleared the Point of Episcopacy p. 62. The Ordination of Priests ought to be without all dispute the Bishops work p. 63. The Superiority of Bishops to Pastors has continued from the very time of the Apostles or their Disciples as is already made appear And therefore in England the Papists have always laboured the Destruction of our Bishops as zealously and heartily as the Presbyterians themselves That virulent Papist Sanders in his Book de Schism Angl. p. 167 confesseth that nothing would more gratify the Church of Rome than the pulling down of Bishops Deans and Prebendaries in England And Parsons in his Book of the Reformation of England see Moral Pract. of the Jes p. 313 proposeth this as the necessary Method to bring England to the Romish Religion And Cardinal Barbarini was so sensible of this that he said he could be contented that there were none of their Priests in England so there were no Bishops Dr. Stillingfleet Pref. to the Unreason of Separation p. 9. The Papists returned their Thanks to the Rump Parliament for having delivered them from the Tyranny of the Bishops Christian Moderator p. 32. And that the Papists had a chief Hand in pulling down our Bishops in England is confessed by Albius in his Exegesis p. 145. If Papists may not be believed in this matter I hope Mr. Baxter may and he declares in his Grotian Religion p. 95. That the Papists had a Hand in casting out our Bishops I shall end this undoubted Truth with the words of Two Eminent Persons of the Church of England Sir Henry Yelverton in his Preface p. 9. It 's now sufficiently known what wonder the casting out of Bishops was to the Reformed Churches abroad and what publick Triumph to the Roman Conclave Bishop Sanderson in his first Preface to his Sermons It 's well known what rejoycing the Vote against Bishops brought to the Romish Party how in Rome itself they sang their Io Paeans upon the Tidings of it and said Triumphantly now is the day ours now is the fatal blow given to the Protestant Religion in England Upon which account we have great reason to believe that the Romanists have used their utmost endeavours to hinder the Reformed of France from having Bishops as they heartily desired 3. Let us see what opinion the Eminent Divines of the Foreign Reformed Churches have of our English Bishops 1st Calvin in his Book de neces ref If they will give us such an Hierarchy in which the Bishops do not refuse to be subject to Christ have him for their only head i. e. in opposition to the Pope and be united to the truth of the Gospel then if there be any that do not reverence such Bishops and submit to them I confess there is no Anathema which they do not deserve and in his Epistle to the Duke of Somerset c. he commends our English Bishops as such 2d Bucer de Regno Christi We see by the perpetual Observation of the Church from the Apostles time that it pleased the Holy Ghost to have one Person set over the Presbyters to have the care of the Church and govern it and therefore he is called a Bishop And again in his Works p. 565. These Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons have ever been in the Church by the appointment of the Holy Ghost And again in resp protest apud Goldast Tom. 2. which Bucer was the Author of How much mischief the Reformed Churches have suffered for want of Bishops no one can easily find Words to express Forbs p. 132. 3d. Beza in Ep. p. 18. Speaking of Bishops Priests and Deacons adds the Holy Ghost appointed those Orders Contra Sarav ad 518. Art 3. If England continue to keep her Bishops and Arch-Bishops let her enjoy that singular Blessing of God which I wish they may always have And again If there be any that reject all sort of Episcopacy God forbid that any but Mad Men should joyn with them 4th Spanheim in Epist ad dub Evang. Vol. 3. At Geneva they have a great esteem for the English Bishops and daily pray for their Prosperity 5th Le Moyne from Leyden published by Dr. Stillingfleet p. 405. As for the
be extinguished if only Forms be allowed in the Church and p. 55. The Abatement of Ceremonies with the Exclusion of all Prayers but what are Read will not satisfie us The Author of a Letter to the Convocation would have many of our Prayers and Services left to the discretion and choice of the Minister p. 21 22. And the Lords and Commons A. D. 1644 and 1648 ordained That if any Person used the Common Prayer Book he shall forfeit for the 1st Offence 5 l. for the 2d 10 l. and for the 3d Offence a Years Imprisonment and every Minister that shall not strictly use the Directory shall forfeit the Sum of Forty Shillings and whoever shall Preach Write or Print against it shall forfeit betwixt 5 l. and 50 l. The Churches of Denmark Swedeland Saxony and all other of the Ausburg Confession have their set Liturgies and forms of publick Worship yea the Churches of France Geneva and Holland have their set Prayers composed by Calvin himself as Luther composed Prayers for the German Churches and Zuinglius for those of Zurick The Divines of Holland in Synops pur Theol. Disp 36. Sect. 33. declare set Forms not only lawful but very profitable The attention of Auditours is much helped by having a constant form Some of the Churches of Zealand thus declared themselves to our English Presbyterians We account it grievous to condemn all those Churches which from the Apostolical times and the Primitive Church to this day have celebrated the publick worship of God by prescribed Forms wherefore we blame the precise singularity of those who cast out all Forms out of Divine Worship In almost all the Reformed Churches Church-Liturgies and Forms of Prayers are approved as profitable and conducing to Edification Capellus Professour of Samurs in France in Theses Salm. A set Form of Liturgy is highly useful and necessary hath been always used in all the Christian Churches in the World for above 1300 Years and now is used every where except only by some Vpstarts in England c. The Greek Church Armenian Coptick Ethiopick and all the Eastern Churches have set Forms of Prayer Calvin Epist 87. I do very much approve of a set Form of Prayer and Ecclesiastical Rites that it be so certain as that the Ministers shall not recede from it that hereby the levity of some Innovators may be hindred there ought to be a set Form of Prayer c. Baxter himself in his Def. of the Cure of Divisions p. 55. He that separateth from all Churches amongst us on the account of the unlawfulness of our Liturgy doth separate from them on a reason common to all or almost all Christian Churches upon Earth As to the Prayer before Sermon Calvin constantly used the same Form faith Beza in his Life it 's Printed at beginning of his Sermons on Job so had St. Austine after Sermon The Ministers of France Geneva and Holland use a set Form before Sermon Lavater of the Rites of the Church of Zurich saith 'T is not the custom of that Church for the Preacher to contrive new Forms of Prayer and repeat them in the Publick Assemblies but to keep the usual one And Durell tell us that there is not one Minister in France but hath made to himself a set Form of Prayer which he constantly useth before Sermon and no other So that in this also our Presbyterians are singular that they affect Novelties and extempore Expressions and Variations in their Prayers before Sermons I say that are singular and different from the Pastours of most of the Reformed Churches in the World I know it 's objected against our Liturgy that it 's taken out of the Mass Book as if the Lord's Prayer the Creed or other parts of our Service were the worse for being found there also but yet those that have strictly examined this find the Objection false L'Estrange in his Alliance c. p. 30. The beginning of our Morning-Prayer Sentences Exhortations Confession Absolution rehearsing the Decalogue c. are not to be found in the Mass Book nor any Popish Service And Dr. Stillingfleet in Antiq. Br. ch p. 232. All these parts are retained in the excellent Office of our Church not from the Church of Rome as our Dissenters weakly imagine but from the consent of all the ancient Churches in the use of them c. And p. 237. From which discovery it will appear that our Church of England hath omitted none of those Offices wherein all the ancient Churches agreed and that wherein the Brittish and Gallicane Churches differed from the Roman our Church hath not followed the Roman but the other and therefore our Dissenters do unreasonably charge us with taking our Offices from the Church of Rome And therefore the Romanists have ever been as zealous in opposing our Common-Prayer as the Presbyterians themselves Mr. Harding John Ould and other Papists wrote Books against it Several of our Martyrs were put to Death in Queen Maries Dayss for using the Book of Common-Prayer saith Fox in Acts Mon. And the Author of Calvino Turcismus p. 360 hath these words The English Liturgy as to the substance of it is more corrupt than the Turkish Alcoran as to the Form it in great measure agreeth with it And it 's not probable that the Papists would thus abuse a Book that was so like to their own Mass as the Presbyterians would have it Our Common-Prayer Book is now printed in Ten several Languages which cannot be said of any other Liturgy in the World and so great was the esteem our Forefathers had of it that I find in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Coppin and Thacker were both punished for publishing Brown's Book against the Common-Prayer And now if all the Protestant Churches in the World have their set Liturgies it must needs be a very improbable way to promote the Peace and Union of the Reformed Churches by destroying the Liturgy we have always used And to pass by other things most of the Reformed Churches have declared in their Confessions of Faith that no Separation ought to be made for different Rites and Ceremonies where there is an agreement in Doctrine See Praef. ad Confess Helv. Art 17. 27. Conf. Gallican Art 32. Bhoem c. 15. Argent c. 14. Augustana Art 7. Polon p. 220. Calvin Instit l. 4. c. 10. s 27. Is so far from condemning Rites and Ceremonies that he would have them in every Church be fix'd and certain without which the Nerves and Sinews of a Church will quickly be dissolved c. O Ecolampadius in his Epistles p. 169 177 182 184. Is vehement in pressing every particular Church to an Vniformity in Ceremonies that tho they are different in several Countries yet all that are subject to the same Goverment should be bound to the same Rites c. And how little these eminent Reformers agree with our new Modellers will appear from the Letter to the Convocation p. 9. If any of the Laity scruple the Cross
THE JUDGMENT OF THE Foreign Reformed Churches CONCERNING THE RITES and OFFICES OF THE Church of England SHEWING There is no necessity of Alterations In a Letter to a Member of the House of Commons Arch-Bishop Bramhill's Works p. 494. All Protestants both Lutherans and Calvinists did give unto the English Church the Right Hand of Fellowship Casaubon's Prayer A. D. 1610. Thou O Lord Jesus preserve the Church of England and give a sound mind to the Nonconformists who deride its Rites and Ceremonies LONDON Printed for Robert Jenkinson A. D. 1690. To the Honoured A. A. A MEMBER Of the Honourable HOUSE of COMMONS SIR WHEN we parted at the Election you desired me to give you the Judgment of the Foreign Protestants about the Church of England and particularly as to the Rites and Offices of which the Author of the Letter to the Convocation tells us p. 23. That if the Convocation do not alter them most certainly the Parliament will The very talk of Change you know breeds a Ferment in the Nation and be sure the discontented will make their advantage of it but if the Nation finds the Parliament as steddy as the Convocation the Heats will soon be over and the Kingdom return to her Settlement and Peace Nolumus leges Angliae mutare was an Answer first in Parliament and that in opposition to some Ecclesiasticks who would have introduced several Foreign Rites and Customs into the room of received and approved Constitutions quae huc usque usitatae sunt ac approbatae Optatus Milev l. 3. p. 75. tells us of his time That there had been a Report spread by some that came from the Emperor that Alterations should be made in the Liturgy which startled the People but when they saw their Solemn Customs and wonted Rites observed and that nothing was changed added or diminish'd in their Divine Service they were quieted again Those Governments have been observed to continue longest that have been most steddy in their Laws and the Jews who were immediately governed by God had their very Rites and Ceremonies unaltered for almost 2000 Years their great Law-giver foreseeing that every considerable Alteration in an establish'd Religion or even its Rites and Modes would put the State into Convulsions and indanger a Revolution As to our present Conjuncture it was a great oversight in those that carryed on the Design of a Comprehension to begin with a Toleration and its unreasonable to think that the Dissenters will unite with Vs so long as their Separation is allowed Nothing that you can do will promote their Vnion with Vs but that which makes it their Interest and that can be only done by Rewards and Punishments and therefore the taking off the Sanctions of the Laws and making the Separation easie was beginning at the wrong end and a certain way to make a Comprehension ineffectual But since the Vnion proposed is not confined to our Nation but extended to all the Protestants in the World that are now united in their Interests I have here according to your Desires given you a true account of the great esteem and veneration they all have for the Church of England and particularly for those very Rites and Customs that are now disputed and what Offence and Scandal our Dissenters give them so that by an impartial Consideration of their Opinions you and all the Nation may be satisfied that making of Alterations in the Instances proposed will be so far from promoting a closer Vnion with the Foreign Protestants who have always esteemed Vs as the very Center of Union that its the most certain way to hinder it For what concerns the late Convocation I shall refer you to an excellent Paper Entituled Remarks from the Country upon the Two Letters relating to the Convocation and Alterations in the Liturgy SIR I am Your most Humble Servant N. S. THE CONTENTS 1. THE Dissenters from the Church of England constantly appeal to the Foreign Protestant Churches as Persons of their Opinions p. 2. 2. Some Inconsiderate or Designing Persons of the Church of England have joyned with them in this Appeal and Complaint p. 3 4 5. 3. This Opinion Confuted in general p. 6 7. 4. The Opinions of Beza Spanheim Diodate Casaubon Bochart Dumoulin c. concerning the Church of England Established p. 8 9 10 11 12. 5. The Opinion that the Foreign Reformed Divines have of our Dissenters particularly the Opinion of Calvin Beza Gualter Casaubon Bochart Capellus c. p. 12 13 14. 6. These General Opinions applyed to the Matters proposed to be Altered by the Authors of the Letters to the Convocation and in behalf of the Bill of Vnion and the Opinion of the Foreign Protestants is shewed as to Reading the Apocryphal Books in the Church p. 14 15 16 17 19 20 21. 7. As to the Rules for finding Easter p 22 23 24 25. 8. As to the Names of some old Saints and Bishops in the Kalendar p. 25 26. 9. As to the Reading the old Version of the Psalms p. 26. 27 28 29 30 31. 10. As to the retaining the Athanasian Creed p. 32 33. 11. As to the Cross in Baptism p. 34. 12. As to Godfathers in Baptism p. 35 36. 13. As to Kneeling at the Sacrament p. 37 38. 14. As to Excommunication for Contempt p. 41. 15. As to Ordination by Bishops only p. 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52. 16. As to Set Forms of Prayers p. 53 54. 17. As to Established Rites and Ceremonies c. p. 55 56 57. 18. One Word to the Dissenters p. 58. 59. ERRATA PAge 6. l. 24. Humphred read Humphrys p. 17. l. 27. Populare read Populari p. 20. l. 2. Polyglot Latin read Polyglot Bible p. 22. l. 35. Venral read Vernal p. 26. l. 18. Evispine read Crispine p. 31. l. 24. perpagato read propagato p. 43. l. 34. pretented read pretensed THE JUDGMENT OF THE Foreign Reformed Churches CONCERNING THE RITES and OFFICES OF THE Church of England THERE have been Three Reasons much urged of late for making Alterations in the Rites and Offices of the Church of England at this Juncture the 1st relates to our selves the 2d to Dissenters and the 3d to Foreign Churches To the 1st it hath been answered that we do not need Alterations to the 2d that they do not desire them and the 3d is the Subject of this Discourse And though the Learned Books of Durel Comber Falkner and others might have rendered such a design needless yet so long as the Adversaries of our Peace and Establishment go on to amuse the Nation with old Fictions and Stories we must not cease to repeat old truths and plain matter of fact to confute them not doubting but that as truth is great so it will prevail It hath been the constant practice of the Preshyterian Party to boast of their Harmony and Agreement with the Foreign Reformed Churches in those things wherein they differ from us and frequently insinuate to their Followers that the
Protestants abroad were much offended with the Rites and Offices of the Church of England Thus their great Founder T. C. in his Preface to the Admonition Out of the Realm they have all the best Reformed Churches in Christendom against them i. e. The Presbyterians against the Church of England In his Admonition he frequently appeals to the best Reformed Churches and particularly p. 286. Our Ordination by Bishops is strange from the use of all well reformed Churches in the World In the Solemn League and Covenant they all Swore To endeavour the Reformation of Religion according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches Ordinance of Parliament for taking away the Common-Prayer Jan. 3d 1644. Resolving to Reform Religion according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches Preface to the Directory The Liturgy of the Church of England hath proved an Offence to the Reformed Churches abroad That we may answer the expectation of other reformed Churches The Presbyterians assembled at the Savoy in the Year 1660 declare That in the Liturgy are things that have given offence to Learned and Judicious Drvines of other Reformed Churches In their Petition for Peace p. 9. And if you should reject which God forbid the moderate Proposals which now and formerly we have made we offer to your consideration what judgment all the Protestant Churches are likely to pass on your Proceedings And again p. 10 How strange must it needs seem to the Reformed Churhes to the whole Christian World c. p. 13. The Pastors of the most Reformed Churches take this Conformity to be Sin And after this manner they declare all the World on their side and that the Foreign Churches admire at the stiffness of the Church of England by which contrivance though never so false they raise the heats and clamours of the ignorant and unthinking part of the Nation against the Church of England And still they go on to clamour against us without any proof though they have been so often urged to it and I here challenge them all to produce any one Authentick Act of any National Reformed Church in the World which hath at the least Reflected upon or Censured the Established Church of England And yet all this however vile and base is no more than we might justly have expected from the Professed Enemies of our Peace and Establishment but that which raised the admiration and astonishment of all Sober Men was to see the Professed Sons of the Church of England Men of Rank and Dignity embark'd in the same bottom of mistake and error and pursuing the same hideous outcries against us a mistake they could not run into but for want of good Books or good Company which would have informed them better and too much consining their Studies and their Conversations to that ill sort of Men. So that now our Church may justly take up the complaint of David Psalm 55. 12 14 15. It is not an open Enemy that hath done me this dishonour for then I could have born it but it was even thou my Companion my Guide and mine own Familiar Friend We took sweet Counsel together and walked in the House of God as Friends Of this sort is the Discourse concerning the Ecclesiastical Commission p. 24. The Eyes of all the World be open upon us all the Reformed Churches are in expectation of something to be done which makes for Vnion and Peace And a Letter to a Member of Parliament in favour of the Bill for a Protestant Union p. 5 For them that have not Episcopal Orders there will be such a provision made as will satisfie all the Ministers of the Foreign Protestant Churches Again p. 6. And for French and German and other Foreign Christians of the Reformed Religion I am well assured by Letters sent from Holland Geneva Switzerland and other Places not to speak of the Churches of the Lutheran Communion which write the same that they esteem the Conditions proposed in this Bill which hath been communicated to them as Terms fit for uniting of Protestants Where by the way I cannot but admire at the speed and diligence of this Persons Correspondence the King had not accepted of the Government till February after this the Convention is declared a Parliament and then after some more necessary things for setling the Government a project is set on work for a Bill of Union and yet he had sent a Copy of the Contents of it to Germany Holland Geneva Switzerland c. and received their several Approbations of it in March for that Paper is Licensed April 1st And yet it 's more strange that even the Churches of the Lutheran Communion should approve the conditions of that Bill of Union It was not long before that an excellent Author of undoubted credit gave us an authentick account of a Letter from several Ministers in Germany That the greatest part of the Protestants of Europe have been extreamly scandalized at our Dissenters That the Dissenters ought by no means to have separated themselves for the form of Ecclesiastical Government nor for Ceremonies That the Bishops have justified themselves from the reproach of being Popishly affected and of Persecuting the Dissenters they have made it appear that they were only Calumnies invented by their Enemies to render them odious to Protestants How much better would it be for the Dissenters to re-unite themselves to the Bishops with whom they differ only in some Points of Discipline And now quite contrary all the Reformed Churches expect that we should comply and unite with the Dissenters But without crossing the Seas we may make a fair guess at the incredibility of all this Foreign Account by the very next Pretence which gives as strange an Account of our selves at Home I am not singular in this for amongst all those who have appeared in the Churches cause as well against Dissenters as Papists I do not know one single Person that is not a well-wisher to this Bill and I believe they will all tell you so The direct contrary being manifestly true not only in several of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who were call'd together to consult of that matter but also in the far greater part of the whole Convocation And if that Author be mistaken in the Age he lives in we have great hopes to think he is as much mistaken in the Ages past for so it follows Arch-Bishop Usher Bishop Sanderson Dr. Hammond and a long Order of other most Worthy Men of the last Age whose Memory is most precious in our Church had they been now alive would with all Zeal have promoted this Bill of Vnion Which very Paragraph is the reverse of one of Mr. Baxters in his Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet I am past doubt that Richard Hooker Bishop Bilson Bishop Usher and such others were they now alive would be Nonconformists yea I can prove it c. and if so they would not be for the Bill of Union which hath been generally opposed by the Nonconformists
The Preface to the Directory runs in the same Style We have no intention to disparage our first Reformers of whom we are perswaded that were they now alive they would joyn with us in this Work And thus its evident that these Sons of Comprehension joyn with the Dissenters to cry it up that all the World is on their side and clamour against all that oppose them as the Thessalonians did against the Apostles Act. 17. 6. These Men would turn the World up-side down whenas their despising of us and magnifying of the Foreign Churches is like that which OEcolampadius tells us in his Epistles p. 177. Aliis OEcolampadius aliis Zuinglius sordebat atqui nos amici sumus fuimus semper nemo gratificatur nobis qui propter nos dissidium seminat i. e. Some despise OEcolampadius and some Zuinglius but we are and always were Friends nor doth any one please us that sowes Discord upon our Accounts Let us therefore take a short view of the judgment of the Foreign Divines and see what Opinion they have of this stiff vile sinful Church of England As the Reformation in general consists of Lutherans and Calvinists so I find that agreement betwixt them in the most material Things as that Calvin himself subscribed the Lutheran Confession of Ausburgh and a whole Synod of his Disciples at Charenton in France in the Year 1631. declared That there was no Idolatry nor Superstition in the Lutheran Churches and therefore the Members of their Churches might be received into Communion with them without renouncing their Opinions or their Practices so that tho Papists and indiscreet Fanaticks have endeavour'd to set these two great parts of the Reformation as far asunder as possible yet the more sober Protestants have thought them very reconcilable and always endeavour'd it Now the Church of England hath been Establish'd in a middle way betwixt both extreams and laid aside those things which on either hand gave the greatest Offence by which means our Establish'd Church hath been look'd upon by moderate Men as the very Center of Union and Harmony of all the Protestant Churches in the World For this very reason when Calvin offer'd his Assistance to Arch-Bishop Cranmer he was refused by him The Famous Dr. Humfrede who was one of those Learned Men that fled abroad in Queen Maries Reign in his Prax. Cur. Rom. p. 70. tells us Nos non sumus Calviniani nec Reformationem nostram Calvinismum dicimus We are not Calvinists in England nor do we call our Reformation Calvinism and yet this was the Religion establish'd by Queen Elizabeth when that great Man wrote and Sir Edwin Sandys who had made a diligent survey of all the Religions in Europe saith expresly p. 214. That no Luther no Calvin was the Square of our Faith Now for our Church thus happily establish'd to alter to either extream is so far from promoting the Union of the Reformed Churches that its the most likely way to hinder it If we look upon the Lutheran Churches they have either Bishops as Denmark Norway and Swedland or else Superintendants which is another Name for Bishops who have power of Ordination and Jurisdiction as our Bishops in England They have all set Liturgies and Forms of Prayer they observe Holy-days and set-Fasts have Organs Hymns and Anthems they wear Surplices use the Cross in Baptism receive the Communion kneeling and make use of all those Rites which have been objected against the Church of England so that to alter these must needs give Offence to all those Churches and set us at a greater distance from them And as these Alterations proposed can never tend to an Union among Protestants so they must needs look ill at this time when not only all these Churches are united to us in one common Alliance for the defence of our Religion but also the very next Branch of our Royal Family is so nearly related to them As for such as propose our Union with the reformed Churches of France Geneva and Holland let them consider that the first of these is not and so we have now less reason than formerly the second is only a particular City for the Swiss are generally Lutherans and it s a very unreasonable Project of Union to have three Kingdoms alter their Religion for conformity with one City when at the same time they set themselves at a greater Variance with so many Kingdoms of the Reformed Religion As for Holland it s well known that they allow of all sorts of Religions and its impossible that any setled Uniformity amongst our selves can ever bring us to an Union to such a mixture and variety The Christian Religion was first planted among them by an English Bishop and our Reformation was fix'd and setled here before theirs began But because the Dissenters boast that the Reformed Churches of France and Holland and Geneva were always on their side and joyn'd with them in their abhorrence of the Church of England I will next consider what Opinion the Learned Men even of those Churches have had of ours First for Geneva And for his Learning and Eminency I will begin with the Famous 1. Beza Who in his Letter to Arch-Bishop Whitgift hath these Words The English Church is the Harbour of all the Godly and the Preserver of all other Reformed Churches 2. Spanheim Professor there in his Epistle to Arch-Bishop Vsher and others I often call to mind those Fortunate Isles of yours That Beauteous Face of your Church That Reverence in the Publick Worship of God The Church of Geneva hath a great affection to the British Churches whose Bishops we admire for whose Prosperity we daily Pray that your Church may continue to praise God as it doth that the Bishops may continue in their Authority and your Church in Peace c. and this was Written A. D. 1638. Then for his Successor 3. John Diodate Professor at Geneva in his Answer to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster when they had desired his Opinion about their Proceedings England in the time of its Episcopacy was the very Eye and Excellency of all Churches Christs own choice and peculiar What a sad Spectacle is it to see that Church trodden under Feet An horrid thing that you have done and never before heard of amongst the Reformed Churches We are struck with Horrour at the change of the glorious Face of that Church may God restore your Churches to that high Estate and pitch of Holiness and Glory in which they have hitherto excell'd and out-shin'd all the Churches upon the Earth And this is the esteem Geneva had for the Episcopal Church of England and certainly we ought not to alter the best Church in the World to comply with that which by their Confession is not so good In the next place let us see the French Divines I will begin 1. with Casaubon in his Epistle to King James the I. The Church of England comes nearer the form of the flourishing Christian
Church of old than any other it hath taken a middle way betwixt those Churches which are amiss either through excess or defect If my Judgment doth not deceive me the most sound part of the whole Reformation is in England 2. The learned Bochart in his Epistle to Bishop Morley There are none of the reformed of France if they happen to be in England but willingly joyn with the Church of England as by Law establish'd and as soon as they can get a competent knowledge of the English Tongue are present at her Offices and receive the Holy Communion there which I have often my self done at London and at Oxford This is not only my Opinion but of all the Pastors of the Reformed Religion in France 3. Peter du Moulin in the Preface to his Fathers Answer to Perron The Church of England hath more of the Primitive and Apostolick Church-Government than any other Church in the rest of the world The French Protestants have the same good Opinion of it and desire to enjoy the same Government if they might be so happy 4. Monsieur Claude in his Letter published by Dr. Stillingfleet The Church of France hath always looked upon and considered the Church of England not only as a Sister but an elder Sister for which we have a respect and veneration and daily pray 5. Monsiur Le Moyne in a Letter published by Dr. Stillingfleet All the Protestants of France Geneva Switzerland Germany and Holland look upon the Church of England as a very Orthodox Church All the Protestant Churches have always had a very great respect for the Purity of the Church of England And in another Letter to Dr. Brevint published by Dr. Durell I praise God for our Reformation in France but I fear not to say that if we had kept Bishops and as many Ceremonies as would serve to fix the Attention of the People without Superstition we should have seen for certain far greater progress of the Reformation To which I cannot but add what Monsieur Ronee a French Embassador in England when he saw our Solemn Services and Rites told King James the First That if the Reformed Church of France had kept the same Order among them which we have he was assured that there would have been many thousands of Protestants more than now there are And this Observation is so undoubtedly true that it long since forc'd this Expression from one of our bitter Enemies Sanders de Schism Angl. p. 283. Queen Elizabeth in her Reformation kept many of the Rites and Manners of the ancient Church which very much conduced to the Firmness and Establishment of her Heresio for had things been left to the capriciousness of some of the new Clergy that talk'd much of the Gospel-Liberty it had all long since vanish'd into Smoke but by her Polity was strengthned and supported 6. Monsieur De L' Angle in his Letter publish'd by Dr. Stillingfleet p. 421. I am sure with what an exceeding Joy the Protestant Churches of France would enter into Communion with you i. e. the Church of England And in his Letter to Durel published by him p. 70 71. I rejoyced very much at the establishment of the Anglico-Gallicane Church i. e. the French Church with the English Common-Prayer and Rites that this may make known to the World the Communion that is betwixt us and that the Reformed Churches of France have not that aversion against the Discipline of the Church of England which some Men report they have I am certain my Collegues are of the same mind with me And again p. 143. My Heart did leap for joy when I heard that your Liturgy and ancient Discipline was restored i. e. in the year 1660. To these Testimonies I will add the Observation of Durâ—â— a French-man also p. 92. When the French Church in London was establish'd with the English Liturgy and Rites tho Providence brought over many Ministers from beyond the Seas some from Geneva some from France some from Germany some from Poland some from Lithuania some from Piemont and almost from all the Reformed Churches we have seen none of them that made any difficulty to assist at Divine Service and conform all of them received the Sacrament kneeling c. And I cannot but wonder with what Face the Men of this Age press us to make Alterations for the sake of other Reformed Churches when we see those of the Reformed Religion of France who are all Calvinists and who out of Zeal to God's Glory readily sacrificed all their Secular Interest to their Religion and come over to this Kingdom have universally joyn'd with the Church of England in her Liturgy and Rites received the Lords Supper on their Knees had their Children Baptized with Godfathers and signed with the Sign of the Cross c. and all this at a time when the Laws of this Kingdom gave them Liberty to joyn with what Communion they pleased Which was such an unanswerable Argument to our Dissenters God having as it were brought a Nation from another Kingdom to convince them that it was generally observed throughout all the Kingdom that the Dissenters were very cold in their Charity towards them If we look into the Churches of Holland 't is true all sorts of Religions are allowed but it 's evident that the great and Leading Men there have ever had a great Esteem for the Church of England witness the great Respect and Honour they had for the English Bishops in the Synod of Dort when they neither had nor desired any Representatives from our Presbyterians Witness the two Famous Vossius's Father and Son who always spoke with all Respect and Honour of the Church of England and so far approved of our Cathedral Service as that the Father was Prebendary of Canterbury the Son Prebendary of Windsor Witness the Famous Grotius who always admired the Church of England above all the Churches in the World and upon his Death-bed recommended it to his Wife and such others of his Family that were then about him obliging them to adhere firmly to it which was readily obeyed by them Bishop Bramhall ' s Vind. of Grotius cap. 2. Witness the two Junius's and many others but I shall only add the present Famous Living Instance his present Majesty King William who was born and always bred in that Church and yet from his first coming into England hath readily and constantly joyned with the Church of England used her Liturgy with great Devotion and Honour and observ'd all its Rites and Ceremonies as Kneeling Standing c. in their proper places and upon all occasions hath declared himself zealously and heartily in her Praise and Commendations and promised his Protection of it and all this at such times when the contrary Interest wasmost prevalent and he was daily beset with those that were no Friends to the present Establishment All which is an undeniable Argument how readily those of Holland would joyn with us As to the Northern Churches we have
a great Example before us in the Prince of Denmark And lastly For the Church of Scotland not to mention the several Synods and Acts of Parliament by which Bishops set forms of Prayer c. have been established amongst them and the same Rites as are in the Church of England Not to mention the great number amongst them that at this time are vigorous Asserters of Episcopacy Let King James the First speak for all in his Speech delivered in the Star-Chamber An. Dom. 1616. I say in my Conscience that the Church of England of any Church that ever I read or knew of present or past is most pure and nearest the Primitive and Apostolick Church in Doctrine and Discipline and is sureliest founded upon the Word of God of any Church in Christendom And having thus far seen the great Esteem the Reformed Churches abroad have for the Church of England as by Law established let us next fee what Opinion they have of the Presbyterians and other Dissenters amongst us I will begin with Calvin who in his Book De Necess Ref. Eccl. saith If any be found that do not reverence such an Hierarchy i. e. such as we have in England and subject themselves to the same with the lowest Obedience I confess there is no Anathema whereof he is not worthy And again In a well-setled Church diversities of Customs is not to be suffered Next for Beza in his Epistle to the English Puritans from Geneva A. D. 1567. of his Epistles p. 97. I tremble to think that any should perform their Ministerial Duty against the Will of her Majesty and the Bishops And in another Epistle to Archbishop Grindon A. D. 1566. speaking of the same Persons It s in vain for them to pretend weakness in a Kingdom where the Gospel hath been preach'd so many years and been confirmed with the Blood of so many Martyrs Gualterus in his Epistle Dedicatory of his Homilies upon the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians calls those morose and ignorant who for things indifferent trouble the peace of the Church of England and separate from her Communion Who whilst they endeavour to reduce the Church of England to that model and form which they have fancied disturb her peace which we heartily rejoyce to see restored among you To which I will add his Words in his Letter to the Bishop of Ely A. D. 1572. I would never have sent my Son into England the only Son by my Wife Zuinglia whose memory is dear to me except I had throughly perswaded my self of our consent and agreement Casaubon in his Ephemeris A. D. 1610 Nov. 1st in Moulin's Def. p. 7. hath this Prayer Thou O Lord Jesus preserve the Church of England and give a sound mind to the Nonconformists who deride the Rites and Ceremonies of it The Learned Bochart in his Epistle to Durel Those who refuse to communicate with the Church of England because of her Ceremonies are Schismaticks find your Liturgy very good and well ordered Capellus in Thes Salm. de Liturgia Of late there arose in England a froward scrupulous and overnice not to say Superstitious Generation of Men who not only blame but Cashire and Abolish the Liturgy used hitherto in their Church for causes very trivial and almost of no moment at all the Lord grant that they may come to a better mind Mr. Claude in his Letter published by Dr. Stilling fleet The Dissenters holding their Assemblies apart separating from the publick Assemblies c. is real Schism odious to God and Man of which the Authors and Patrons cannot avoid rendring an account before the Tribunal of God Mr. Le Moyne in his Letter A. D. 1660 published by Durell If ever any made their ungratefulness notorious they are the English opposers of Episcopacy What good have these troublers of Israel that are so contrary to Bishops done for well nigh Twenty Years that they have ruled Have not all things grown worse Heresy grown bold Did ever Satan work more mischief than since the time that these Men became Masters for a re-union of all the foreign Reformed Churches the King of England must preserve the Bishops And in his Letter published by Dr. Stillingfleet Whence is it that some English Men have so ill an opinion of the Church of England and divide rashly from her as they do Is not this to divide from all the Ancient Churches from all the Protestant Churches which have always had a very great respect for the purity of that of England I look upon these Men as Disturbers of the State and Church and who are doubtlesly animated by a Spirit of Sedition Societies composed of such Persons would be extreamly dangerous and could not be suffered without opening the Gate to disorder and advancing towards ones own ruine to cantonize themselves and make a Schism to have the liberty to vent such vanities is very ill conduct Mr. Goyon in his Letter published by Durell Those are in a Dream and dote who have an Opinion that the Conscience is wounded by living under the English Liturgy and they wrong us very much when they quote us to foment a Schism extreamly scandalous And thus I have given the judgements of the most eminent Men of the Reformed Religion of France Holland and Geneva and shewed what opinion they have of the Church of England as by Law established and what opinion they have of the Dissenters from it and whoever seriously considers these things will find no reason for us to alter our establishment in order to an union and complyance with the foreign Reformed Churches It s hard to meet with any one considerable Protestant Writer that speaks ill of the Church of England besides the Dissenters that live amongst us and some few that have been prejudiced by them And should we compare the Eulogies and Praises that these Foreign Divines give the Church of England with the opprobrious Language it generally receives from our own own Dissenters we must conclude that they and the Foreign Divines are not of the same judgment I will mention only the Divines of the Savoy Conference p. 3. where we have their Synodical Judgment in these words We take the Common-Prayer to be a Defective Disorderly and inconvenient mode of Worship it would be a Sin to use it c. How different is their Language from that of the Foreign Divines But lest it be objected that these are only general Expressions I have mentioned and that notwithstanding all this the Foreign Churches would be glad to have these Alterations made which have been proposed I will next consider most of the things that have been insisted on to be changed and see whether the Foreign Reformed Churches will be better pleased with them as they now are or as those that delight in change would have them And because the Kalendar is the first thing insisted on to be altered we will begin with that and first the Reading of Apocryphal Chapters in the Church and especially
the Book of Tobit by which saith one of them we give too much countenance to the Church of Rome and supplant Canonical Scripture c. Now to see how very little reason is for this Objection let it be observed 1. That our Church always calls these Books Apocryphal and thereby sufficiently distinguisheth them from the Canonical and her self from Popery 2. In the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion she declares That she reads them for example of Life and instruction of Manners but yet doth not apply them to establish any Doctrine 3. All our Divines that have written upon this Subject especially Reynolds and Cosins have so Learnedly and unanswerably baffled the Papists that they have never thought good to reply to them 4. Our Church hath taken so great care in this matter to avoid giving offence that several of these Books are never Read in the Church at all as the Maccabees Books of Esdras Prayer of Manasseh and the famous Fifth Chapter of Tobit about him and his Dog which hath been left out of our Church from the beginning of King James the 1st almost an 100 Years the other Books that are ordered to be Read in the Church are never read on Sundays but only Week-days Now our Church in allowing of them sometimes to be Read doth much better agree with the Primitive Church than she would if they were shut quite out for 't is certain that they publickly Read them Athanasius or the Author of the Synopsis calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not received into the Canon but read in the Church Ruffinus in Symb. Alii libri sunt qui non Canonici sed Ecclesiastici a majoribus appellati sunt Tobit Judeth c. quae omnia legi quidem in Ecclesia voluerunt non tamen Professi ad Authoritatem fidei confirmandam i. e. There are Books which are not Canonical but Ecclesiastical as Tobit Judeth c. all which are read in the Church but not produced to confirm any Article of Faith Which is exactly agreeable to the words of St. Hierom in his Preface to his Commentary upon Proverbs and which are quoted and approved of by our Church in the Thirty Nine Articles Gregorius Magnus in Moral l. 19. c. 13. Art 6 may speak for the succeeding Ages where he calls these Books though not Canonical yet published for the Edification of the Church That they were Read in the African Churches appears from one of the Carthaginian Councils at which St. Austine was present 3 Carthag Can. 47. That they have been all along read in the Western Churches appears from Isidore de Eccles Off. Rabanus de instit Cler. c. And lastly the Lectionarius published by Pamelius and which goeth under the name of St. Hierom and hath been of great Use and Authority in the Western Churches gives an account of particular days when particular places of the Apocryphal Books were appointed to be read in the Church As to the Greek Church besides the author of the Synopsis already mention'd Origene in his Epistle to Affricanus saith that the history of Susannah was read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every Church of Christ And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Churches make use of the book of Tobit And as to their present practice besides their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 printed at Venice A. D. 1596. which contains their several lessons for the whole year and hath several taken out of the Apocrypha we have the express authority of one that lived amongst them Mr. Rycaut in his History of the Greek Church p. 372. In the Greek Church they receive the Apocryphal Books as we do in England In the Ethiopick Churches they read the Athcpocryphal Books as appears from Ludolfus's History of those Churches and lastly by the works of Hippolytus Origen St. Chrysostome St. Hierome Theodore◠Asterius Leo Magnus and others it appears that the Fathers not only wrote Comments upon these books but frequently preach'd upon them and took their Texts thence not to mention that Conradus Pellican Drusius and some other Reformed Divines have without any offence wrote comments upon them as upon other parts of the Bible If from this general agreement of all the Christian Churches in the World we consider in the last place the judgment of the Reformed Churches we shall find them also agree with us 1. For the Lutheran Churches they gerally use them as we do and Alsted in Theol. Pol. p. 287. gives this account of them that they are sacri secundum quid populare quadam ratione merito proxime a vere divinis locum obtinere possunt i. e. that they are in a sense sacred and deserve the next place to the Canonical Scriptures And Chemnitius in examen post 1. de ser can speaking of the Apocryphal Books saith A fidelibus in Ecclesiis leguntur i. e. they are read by the Orthodox in the Churches And then for the Churches of the Calvinists first hear Calvin himself in Psychopannichia Melius nos decent sacrae literae corpus quod corrumpitur aggravat animam i. e. the holy Writings teach us better that the corruptible body oppresseth the Soul And yet those Sacred Writings are the book called the Wisdom of Solomon from whence that sentence is taken Conradus Pelicanus in his preface to his Comments upon the Apocryphal Books saith of them that they are Ecclesiastici ac Biblici in Ecclesia Catholica ab Apostolorum temporibus fuerint cum reverentia lecti i. e. these books are read in the Church and bound up with our Bibles and have with reverence been read in all Christian Churches from the very time of the Apostles and he was a famous Professor at Zurich Lud. Capellus in Thes Salm. expresly approves of the Declaration of our Church in her 39 Articles and saith that profit may come to the Church by their being read publickly and so they were read in the Primitive times for the instruction of manners Episcopius Professor at Leyden in Tom. 2. Part. 2. p. 75. though the Apocryphal Books cannot serve to confirm an Article of Faith yet may profitably be read in ' the Church And indeed of the Dutch Churches we have their solemn judgment declared in the Synod of Dort Art 6. We make a difference betwixt the Canonical and Apocryphal Books which last are the 3d and 4th of Esdras Tobit Judeth c. which the Church may read and take instructions in them agreeable to Canonical Scripture The Bibles of Holland Geneva and other reformed Churches have these books printed Quere in Deodats Ju 〈…〉 Bibles and bound up with the Canonical as we have and in the Preface to the Apocryphal Books they commend the very sentences of Ruffinus and St. Hierom which declare for the publick reading of them in the Churches And the like is done by the Publishers of the Harmony of the Confessions of all the Reformed Churches Printed at Geneva and lastly the Reformed Churches of
France in their Book of Discipline p. 391. have this rule Les livres de la Bible soit Canonique ou autres ne seront transformez en Comedies ou Tragedies i. e. the books of the Bible whether Canonical or others shall not be used in Plays in which Words they first call these Apocryphal books part of the Bible and then take care that they be not prophaned And thus it 's evident that all the Primitive and Purer Ages of the Church all the Eastern Western and African Churches all the Lutheran and Calvinistical Churches beyond Sea do either read these books publickly in their Churches or very expresly approve of it nor is there any one instance of any Reformed Church that since the Reformation read them publickly as we have done but still continues to do so and our English Dissenters are condemned by all the Churches in the World in leaving them out of their Bibles who were the first body of Christians as far as I can find that ever did so To make this the more evident I shall here give a Catalogue of the publick large Bibles of all the Countries I could meet with in all which upon examination I find the Apocryphal added for the same intent as in ours viz. For the Example of Life and the Instruction of Manners A Catalogue of Bibles Printed with the Apocrypha English with Archbishop Cranmer's Preface Lond. 1541. By Coverdale Lond. 1550. By Command of Q. Eliz. Lond. 1578. Welch Lond. 1588 Scotch Edenburgh 1596. English translated by Wicliff a M. S. with a Prologue in which are these words Holy Church readeth Judeth and Toby and the Books of Maccabees but receiveth not them among Holy Scriptures so the Church readeth the two Books Ecclesiastici and Sapience to edify the People not to confirm the Authority of Teaching Bohemian 1613. Danish at Copenhagen 1550. French at Geneva 1588 At Amsterdam 1669 German 1604 Of Luther's Translation Heidelberg 1617 Dutch at Frankfurt 1580 Armenian at Amsterdam 1666 Spanish by Protestants Amsterdam 1602. Hungarian by the Protestant Bishops of Hungary at Hannover and Oppenheim 1608 Muscovitish at Ostrogoth 1581 Italian by Deodate 1607 Latin by Castalion dedicated to King Edward the 6th Bas 1573 By Junius dedicated to William Prince of Orange 1592 By Robert Stephens Paris 1540 Critici Sacri 9 Tomis Lond. 1666 Hebrew Polyglott 〈◊〉 Lond. 1567 Septuagint Syrtach Vulgar Latin And indeed amongst all the Bibles which I have seen I find them only left out in the Spanish Bible examin'd by the Inquisitors printed at Ferara 1553 and that of New-England in the Virginian Tongue printed at Cambridge in New-England 1663. So that if to comply with our English Dissenters we must strike out these Apocryphal books I know no Bibles we shall follow but that of the Inquisitors of Spain and the Commissioners of New-England And to conclude this head I shall put down these five observations First That no Papist ever made use of this as an Argument that our Church own'd these Books as Canonical so that there could be no feal ground for this objection Secondly That there neither is nor ever was any one Christian Church in the whole World that had set Lessons appointed for every day in the year as we have but some of them were taken out of the Apocrypha Thirdly That no one foreign Church whatsoever did ever declare themselves offended with the Church of England in this matter but as I have shewed generally approve it Fourthly That these very persons who complain of our reading Apocryphal Chapters for Lessons make no complaint of having Hymns printed in their Bibles before and after Davids Psalms in meeter and being frequently used in the Church instead of them Which is agreeable to the practice of Holland where that Church before Sermon sings a Hymn composed by one John Wittenhaven as we do any one of our Psalms Fifthly That the great Promoters of this objection do not stop here but urge it to the laying aside Sermons and Homilies as not being within the Canon yea and the Scripture and Lessons themselves and as we have reason to fear laying aside all publick service whatsoever T. C. in his admonition p. 221. would have no Homilies read in the Church because nothing but the voice of God and holy Scriptures should sound in his Church and this will destroy Sermons and Preaching also The Author answered by Bishop Nicolson in his Apology p. 184. is angry with our Church for reading two Lessons and would have but one And that Lesson also is in danger by the Author of the Letter to the Convocation p. 21. where he proposeth the leaving out the first Lesson in the Afternoon upon short days and in Country Parishes to read Prayers without Lessons So that upon the whole however it seems to some a small to others a reasonable matter I do not say to leave out for then that should have been done at first but to reject the Apocryphal Lessons yet in this we shall separate from the Primitive the Eastern Western and African Churches from most of the Reformed Churches we must alter the 39 Articles of Religion which have been so generally received and applauded for they declare that the Church doth read them We must alter our Apologies and Canons for there Canon 30. Juells Apol. p. 170. it 's declared that it was so far from the purpose of the Church of England to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy France Spain Germany and other Churches in all things which they hold and practis'd that as the Apology of the Church of England confesseth it only departed from them in those particular points wherein they were faln both from themselves in their ancient integrity and from the Apostolical Churches To this agreeth the Apology for Protestants by a French Divine and translated A. D. 1681. p. 23. As to the reproach cast upon our first Reformers it is one of the greatest injustices in the world for nothing can be clearer from their own writings than that it was never their intent to subvert the ancient Government of the Church nor to abolish those Religious Rites and Holy Ceremonies which the piety of the primitive Christians had introduced but only to take away the abuses of them So that in making unnecessary changes in these things we shall destroy the very foundation and principle of the Reformation And that this rule is properly applied to the matter in hand is evident from the declaration of our Church at the beginning of the Liturgy where the reading of the Lessons as is appointed is called a godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers Upon all which accouuts it is evident that we ought not to consent to the taking away the Apocryphal Lessons and that the Reformed Churches do not desire it of us Secondly As to the Rules and Tables for finding Easter great objections have been raised against our Church
our Liturgy which is also sung in our Cathedrals and Colleges and is much better than the other Psalterio Hieronymi ex Hebraicis pâ—propagato Ecclesia Romana locum non concessit quia veteri certis constricto numeris modulando assuetae Christianorum aures universeque adeo Ecclesiae alterius novitatem ferre nunquam potuerunt Huetius de interpret p. 109. Not to mention that in the year 1660 there was far greater reason to take the new Translation which only had been in use for 12 years together into the Liturgy than to do it now the old Edition hath been in constant use for thirty years together and yet that wise Convocation refused to do it then The Translation of the Bible made in the time of King James I. was upon the importunate complaints of the Puritans that they could not subscribe to the Common Prayer-Book since it maintain'd the Bible as it was there Translaed which was as they said a most corrupted Translation and yet they were some of the first that quarrelled at it as soon as it was made and few or none conform'd upon that account and the Papists presently clamour'd against us for altering our Translation so ost And the very Translators after they had examin'd all the old and made a new Translation declared That there was no need of a new Translation nor of a bad one to make a good one but only to make a good one better Next let us consider the project of leaving out the Athanasian Creed occasioned by 4 four questions proposed against it whereof the last is from the Council of Ephesus against all additions being made to the Creed and so strikes at the whole Creed as well as the condemning Sentences Letter from the Country p. 14 15. Must we always pronounce all damn'd that do not believe every tittle of Athanasius ' s Creed Letter to the Convecation p. 15. And both these give ample incouragement to that Heretical and virulent Book which at that very time was publish'd against that Creed and no less against the Trinity it self the Book sold openly many of them were given about and magnified by the party without any controul of that sort of men of Latitudinarian principles till at length it received a just censure from the honest Clergy of the lower House of Convocation tho at that very time to the admiration and scandal of all sober men that very censure was there also by great and leading men opposed It 's objected by the Author of the Letter from the Country p. 14. he finds a great dispute between the Greek and Latin Church about the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son now the first question is whither of these two Churches be in the right Now the prosession of the Holy Ghost from the Son is in the Nice Creed also received in our Liturgy and confirm'd by the 39 Articles of our Religion and Art 5. expresly declares that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son and so here is an Article of Faith call'd into question Not to mention the exact Harmony and Union of all the Protestant Churches of the World in this point I except only Arrians Socinians and such other Hereticks who ought not to be call'd Protestants And therefore the leaving out of the Athanasian Creed upon such a reason must needs give great offence to all the Protestant Churches in the World More particularly the Athanasian Creed is at this day approved of and Authoriz'd by the Confession of the Reformed Churches of France first Published A. D. 1561. We receive the three Creeds Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creed because they are agreeable to the word of God By the Belgick Confession of the Synod of Dort Art 9. we willingly receive the three Creeds the Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creeds By the Confession of the of the Churches of Saxony Art 1. we have always constantly embraced the three Creeds and their natural sense and by Gods help we will always imbrace them By the Confession of Wirtenberg Art 1. we believe one God and three Persons as they are explained in the three Creeds the Apostles Nicene and Athanasius ' s. By the Confession of the Palatine Churches Art 1. we believe all things contained in the Holy Scriptures as they are explain'd in the Apostles Creed Nicene and Athanasius ' s. By the Confession of the Bohemian Churches Art 3. particularly we receive the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds By the Confession of the Churches of Poland and Lithuania who A. D. 1645. expresly received the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds The Russian Churches receive and use these three Creeds after the Psalms for the day the Priest readeth the Ten Commandments and Athanasius ' s Creed out of the Service Book Pagiâ—t Christianogr p. 81. The very Directory drawn up by the Presbyterians at the Savoy A. D. 1661. p. 26. orders the Athanasian Creed to be read in the Church and lastly when some Arrians would have had Beza left it out at Geneva he returned this answer Epist 56. certe in tuam gratiam non mutabitur in Ecclesia Symbolum Athanasij nec Nicenum cum nemo adhuc inventus est qui se opponeret quem Deus borrendo judicio non per diderit i. e. certainly for your sake the Church will not change the Athanasian Creed or the Nicene since no one ever yet opposed them whom God did not destroy Now let all the World consider what a strange way here is proposed for the Union of all Protestant Churches to the Church of England viz. by laying aside or leaving indifferent the use of this Creed which all the Protestant Churches in the World even those of Geneva Holland and English Presbyterians do in their very Confessions of Faith and Devotions so heartily retain and magnifie Proceed we next to Baptism and against this Office two things are objected 1. The use of the Cross 2. Godfathers 1. Against the Cross it 's proposed by the Letter from the Country p. 8. to leave the case wholly indifferent to use or not use the Cross p 9 If the Minister scruples the use of it let another perform that Service if any of the Layety let the Minister baptize without it And the Letter to the Convocation p. 9. the Cross in Baptism is become not only useless but also mischievous occasions dissentions and schisms is an ensign of War to make us fight against each other a Cross of torment whereon to crucifie the Lord of Life in his body the Church and rent its bowels asunder by those lamentable divisions which it causeth amongst us the Church of England cannot be guiltless if she do not something herein c. It 's a sad thing that the Cross of Christ should produce all this difference amongst Christians Well then let us take away the use of the Cross in Baptism and see whether there is likely to be a greater Union amongst the Christians Ask all Churches of the World fâ—om Christs time
to the beginning of the Reformation and they generally all of them used the Cross in Baptism for 1500 years and its strange that all the Christian Churches for so many years should be guilty of so dangerous an evil as the sign of the Cross in Baptism nor do I know of any one Church in the World that condemned or so much as shewed their dislike of it for 1500 years And for the present age it 's still retain'd in all the Churches of the Roman Communion in all the Greek Churches Rycant p. 168. in the Churches of the Jacobites Brerewoods Enq. p. 153. in the Churches of AEgypt Pagitt's Chistianogr p. 104. in the Abissine or AEthiopian Churches Ludolfi Hist AEthiop l. 3. c. 6. in the Churches of the Muscovites Joh. Faber de relig Muscov in the Protestant Churches of the Ausburg confession the Sign of the Cross is generally used in Baptism and for the other Reformed Churches not one hath declared themselves offended with us for using it but several eminent amongst them have declared for it Bucer declared it an ancient and innocent Rite and that it might be decently and profitably used The Learned Casaubon in his answer to Baronius Exerc. 13. Sect. 33. commends our holy and prudent Bishops who have retain'd this use of the Cross amongst us Peter Martyr declared it lawful to profess our selves Christians by the Sign of the Cross Beza himself speaks favourably of it in his book adversus Baldvinum And Goulartius of Geneva declares it to be a ceremony indifferent Apology for Protestants by a French Divine p. 87. Touching the Sign of the Cross which the Church of England retains to understand it as they do as a visible mark that the Infant Baptiz'd is enroll'd as Christs Souldier should not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ Crucifyed and fight under his Banner I see no ground at all of exception against this Ceremony And William Durel in his Sermon on 1 Cor. 11. 16. had amongst other things given the Reformed of France an account of our using the Sign of the Cross he by several Letters from De L' Angle Bochart Daille and other eminent Divines of the French Church received its due praise and approbation And now Gods Providence hath settled so many thousands of them amongst us they readily and willingly make use of it and approve it Secondly For Godfathers I find â—hem not only required in all the Eastern and Western Churches but more particularly Zuinglus in his Book de Bapt. is much for the use of them and saith that the clamours raised against them were only by the Anabaptists Calvin in the form of Baptism composed for Geneva and which is still used there requires Godfathers at Baptism and they promise for the Childs Christian Education as in the Church of England And in an Epistle to Farell he hath these words We require of the Godfathers that they promise to see the Children when grown up instructed in the Faith they are Baptized in If there be no Godfathers it 's certain the Baptism is prophaned Beza in his Epistles frequently declares for the use and necessity of them and particularly in Ep. 24. reckons them among the Constitutions of the Church that bind the Conscience And Epist 8. to the Bishop of London That Infants be Baptized in the publick Congregation with a set form of Prayer that there be Godfathers to engage fortheir Christian Education c. these are plain and honest Rites such as give no occasion to Superstition and who is there that dare condemn them In the Laws of the Church of Geneva Sect. 38. The name of the Infant and Godfather must be Registred by the Minister This was heretofore enjojned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his Diocess and I have seen some Registers in that Diocess whereby it appears that injunction was observed for some time Sect. 39. None are to be Godfathers but the faithful and those of our Confession Sect. 40. they that are suspended from the Lords Supper must not be Godfathers In the Discipline of the Reformed Churches of France chap. 11. Sect. 7. Tho we have no express commandment of the Lord for Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptism yet because the custom is ancient and introduced for a good end those that will not follow so good an example but present their Infants themseves should be earnestly exhorted not to be contentious but to behave themselves according to this ancient custom which is good and profitable Sect. 12th The Minister shall diligently admonish the Godfathers and Godmothers to consider the promises they have made at the celebration of Baptism c. and to this agreeth the Synod of St. Foy A. D. 1578. at Samues 1596. at Montpellier 1598. which last saith that Godfathers are obliged not only to instruct the Children in Piety but also in case of necessity to provide for their maintenance Sect. 18th the names of the Godfathers and Godmothers of the Infant shall be registred Which last thing of Registring them as it 's generally practis'd by the reformed Churches abroad so is very agreeable to the practice of the Primitive Church and particularly taken notice of by Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite To all which I beg leave to add the observation of Monsieur Larroque an eminent Minister of the French reformed Church in his Book entituled Conformite de la Discipline Ecclesiastique des Protestants de France avec celle des anciens Chietiens A. D. 1678 and p. 208. he thus writes L'usage des parriens c. i. e. the use of Godfathers and Godmothers to present Children in Baptism is very ancient Tertullian makes mention of them in his book of Baptism chap. 18. St. Austin in his 23d Epistle the pretended Denies the Areopagite who tells us that they are of Apostolick Institution Gregory the 1st in his book of the Sacraments Caesarius of Arles in his 12th Homily the SixthCanon of the Council of Mets. A. D. 888. and indeed the subject of that whole Book is to justify their Discipline from the antiquity of it and agreement with the primitive Church I therfore mention this because Arguments of this nature are so very much slighted by our own Dissenters This author in the Title page of his book prefixeth this sentence from the Laws of Theodosius Statuimus observari quod prisca Apostolica Disciplina Canones veteres eloquuntur i. e. we command that those things be observed which the Apostolick Church and old Canons declare for and appoint Which I think is more fully explain'd by St. Austin Epist 118. ad Casulan In iis rebus de quibus nihil statuit scriptura mos populi Dei instituta majorum pro lege Dei tenenda sunt i. e. in such things as the Scripture hath not determined the custom of the Christian Church and the constitutions of our Ancestors should be observed as the Law of God To return Godfathers are also used in the Dutch Rohemian and all the
Lutheran Churches the professors of Lâ—yden in their Synopsis pur Theol. p. 616. declare that though there is not an absolute necessity of witnesses in Baptism yet the very nature of the thing and the custom of all the Primitive Church shew it to be profit able and is probably deduced from the practise of the Jews Is 8. 2. Upon which place Junius in his Comment is very express hinc ritus noster adhibendi testes in Baptismo i. e. hence came our custom of using Godfathers in Baptism For the use of Godfathers in the Church of the Muscovites see Joh Faber de relig Muscov For the use of them in the Ethiopian Churches see Ludolfus And now let even our adversaries be judges whether the laying aside the use of Godfathers or which amounts to the same thing leaving it as a matter indifferent to the Parents discretion and choice whether he will have any or not be not a very unlikely method for us to make use of in this Kingdom in order to procure the peace and union of all the Reformed Churches who no doubt would be highly displeas'd and offended with us should we do it Kneeling at the Sacrament hath been often objected against by the Dissenters and the Letter to the Convocation p. 12. would have us be so indulgent as to give them the Sacrameut in their own way and not debar them of it for the sake of a posture to do otherwise will be a Sin The other Letter p. 8. would have it wholly indifferent to kneel stand or sit in the Lords Supper p. 9. The Person that scruples kneeling may have it delivered him in another posture in his Pew c. And yet if all this was done we should not satisfy the Presbyterians who declared at the Savoy p. 61. That Kneeling at the Lords Table is disorderly And in the Directory p. 34. The Communion Table is order'd to be so placed that the Communicants may orderly sit about it Now let us go to the Foreign Protestant Churches and advise with them in this matter let us go into Denmark Norway Sweden Germany and advise with them and all others strictly called Protestants and they all receive the Sacrament Kneeling The confession of the Faith of the Bohemian Churches Art 13. Le the ministers distribute the Sacrameut to the Communicants upon their Knees And as to their practice it is to be seen in Comenius ratio Disciplinae c. Let Hospinian speak for Zurick and the Swisse Hist Sacr l. 5. c. 8. The Sacrament ought to be received devoutly with bending Knees At Geneva and in the French Churches they refuse to administer the Sacrament to any one that sits and now they are so many of them in England they all receive kneeling which is agreeable to the Apology for the Reformed Churches written by Monsseur Dallee chap. 12. p. 56. Thanks be to God we are not so ill taught as to scruple the receiving the Sacrament on our Knees Our Brethren of England never receive it otherwise and when we communicate with them we readily conform to their order Also Apology for Protestants written by a French Protestant p. 88. We must undoubtedly conclude it of great necessity that the Communion should be received Kneeling as in the Church of England and in Germany And our Reformers have still been of this opinion and he quotes Beza Calvin Bucer and Peter Martyr for it And the Genevians in their Annotations upon the Harmony of Confessions are well contented that every Church should use their Liberty in these points following viz. Kneeling at the Communion Organs and Ember-days c. See Bancrofts Survey p. 358. 359. The first Person that introduced sitting at the Sacrament in England was John a Lasco an Arrian and he was the chief Person that disturb'd the Churches of Poland with this slovenly not to say Impious opinion as appears from Wengersicus's History of the Sclavonick Churches p. 129. till at last in a great Synod at Petricoviaâ—i A. D. 1578. It was agreed That because sitting at the Lord's Table is a Rite different from all the Reformed Churches in Europe and they amongst us were the first Authors of it who rafhly changing every thing in the Church fell away from us to Arrianism therefore let us leave this custom to them who irreverently treat Christ and his Mysteries I say let us leave this custom as neither agreeing to Decency nor Religion and to many honest Persons extreamly Scandalous And again in another Synod at Wlodislavia Anno Dom. 1583. Sitting at the Lord's Table is forbidden in all the Churches of Poland Lithuania c. As not being used by those of the Reformed Religion and being peculiar to the Arrians And that we have reason to have the same fear in England appears from the many Arrians and Socinians amongst us and more fully by the open Declarations of the Scotch Presbyterians against Kneeling at the Sacrament They would not at the Communion signify their inferiority to Christ nor abase themselves but think themselves equals Assembly at Perth p. 38. It 's true that the custom of Kneeling hath been abused in the Church of Rome to an Idolatrous Adoration of the Sacrament and so hath sitting and standing also The Priest that saith Mass receiveth the Sacrament standing and yet adores it At Rome the Popes Deacon receives standing and the Pope himself receives it sitting Card. Bona de rebus Liturg. p. 490. And Espencaeus deâ— Adorat Euch. l. 2. c. 16. declares that the Sacrament may be adored sitting standing lying or kneeling The care that was taken in the Churches of Poland was that there should be an Authentick Declaration that no adoration of the Elements was intended by those that received kneeling Harm confess p. 237. So the Church of England took care in the second Edition of the Liturgy in the Reign of Edward the Sixth to insert a Rubrick declaring That no Adoration of the Elements or Sacrament was intended by kneeling and though when the Doctrine of our Church against Transubstantiation and Adoraration was sufficiently known it was left out in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James the First and King Charles the First yet upon the particular Request of the Presbyterians at the Savoy p. 94. it was again inserted with a design to give them satisfaction and yet they are after all as forward to object adoration to us as if there had been no such Declaration made From all which it 's evident that sitting is a posture very ossensive and scandalous to many other Protestant Churches as well as ours that kneeling is most generally used and therefore leaving all postures indifferent as is now proposed by some of our own Divines and was formerly desired by the Presbyterians at the Savoy p. 56. is a likely way to increase the Disciples of T. F. and the opposers of the Athanasian Creed but is never likely to work an union amongst the Protestant Churches Letter relating to the Convocation p. 12. This
must be undeniably allowed that antiquity never used Kneeling at the Sacrament it having been the constant practise of all the Churches in the World to communicate standing If you ask how this appears they have nothing to say but that the Primitive Christians in memory of Christs Resurrection for some Ages after it stood at their Prayers on Sunday and betwixt Easter and Pentecost by which they suppose that the Sacrament was received in the same posture as they said their Prayers Their Prayers at other times were upon their Knees as indeed this very Order supposeth Tertull. ad Scap. Quando non geniculationibus nostris siccitates depulsae i. e. When did not our solemn Prayers upon our Knees bring down Rain Origen in Num. c. 4. Hom. 5. Nam quod flectimus orantes c. where he relates the custom of the Church to pray Kneeling And in his Book de Orat. p. 157. he saith that they generally kneel'd at Prayers except in case of Sickness Now the Primitive Christians received the Sacrament on other days than Sunday or that space betwixt Easter and Pentecost and that they received it daily is evident from St. Cyprian Tertullian St. Austin St. Hierom and many other Fathers and by consequence if they received the Sacrament in a posture of Prayer they received it Kneeling And that there might be a through Reformation and no part of the Liturgy left entire some have had the confidence to except against the Collects themselves as too short and not so pertinent I shall only remind such of what the Devout and Judicious Dr. Sanderson said of them viz. That the Collects were the most passionate proper and most elegant expressions that any language ever afforded and that there was in them such Piety and that so interwoven with Instructions that they taught us to know the Power the Wisdom the Majesty and Mercy of God and much of our duty both to him and our Neighbour And if some late Collects are intended as a Specimen by which the old are to be mended I believe few will rejoice in the change Excommunication for contempt is complain'd of in both the Letters to the Convocation as a matter highly scandalous and that we thrust out of the Church the best of our People for some penny or two penny Cause in our Ecclesiastical Courts Now this Objection is proposed more peevishly than ever it was done by the Dissenters After T. C. in his Admonition p. 175. the Puritans Petition to Kings James I. A. D. 1603. That Men be Excommunicated for Trifles and Twelve-penny Matters So that from their Objection of Twelve-penny Matters this Author hath stretch'd it to Peny and Two-peny Matters But let us apply our Selves to the Protestant Divines of the Foreign Churches and see what they say to it The Dutch Divines in Sunops Pur. Theol. p. 710. say That the Penalty of Excommunication is chiefly incurr'd for neglecting and despising the Censures and publick Admonitions of the Church In the Ecclesiastical Laws of Geneva p. 44 45. They that do not obey the Orders of the Church after due Admonition are order'd to be Excommunicated If we look into Scotland and see Constit Eccles Scot. cap. de Offensis A small Offence or Calumny may justly deserve Excommunication if the Offender be stubborn and contumacious 1 Book of Discipl 9. Head All Families must appear once a Year before the Presbyter to be examined and if Children or Servants be suffered to continue in wilful Ignorance they must be Excommunicated c. And how severe their Excommunication is appears from the 7th Head No Person may have any converse with him that is Excommunicated not Eat nor Drink with him nor Buy nor Sell with him nor Salute nor Speak to him his Children born after the Sentence may not be admitted to Baptism c. And I must say the contempt is the greater when the occasion of it is so small Lay aside severe Penalties for Contempt and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is lost and to what purpose should any Court have a Power to determine if there be no power given it to force the Execution of it If we look upon Foreign Churches we shall find that they are more strict in having their Canons and Constitutions observ'd than we are in England I will not mention the Severities of the Scotch-Kirk and New-Englands Discipline as not being reasonable nor suited to the Nature of the Thing but in so plain a Case let Calvin and Beza the two great Apostles of Geneva speak for all Calvins Instit l. 4. c. 5. sect 10. Let no one that despiseth the Authority of the Church go unpunished much less let any Body be permitted to break the Vnity of the Church Christ looks upon such as Deserters and Runnagado's a separation from a Church of God is a renouncing of Christ nor can there be any greater Crime Again in his Comment on 1 Cor. 14. It s easy to prove that Ecclesiastical Canons ought not to be accounted for Humane Traditions since they are founded in the Word of God and have a manifest approbation from the Mouth of Christ Beza in Epist 1. Shall we say that Men ought to have Liberty of Conscience In no wife as this Liberty is understood that every one should Worship God as he pleaseth for this is a meer Diabolical Opinion to let every one perish that will it s a Diabolical Liberty which hath filled Poland and Transylvania with so many Heresies And again the same Beza in his Epistle 24. to some Dissenters in England Things in their own Nature indifferent change their Nature when they are commanded or forbidden by any lawful Authority Laws about Things indifferent bind the Conscience so that no one can wilfully break them without Sin To him agree the Dutch Divines in Synops Pur. Theol. p. 453. No Body can wilfully disobey the Ecclesiastical Constitutions about indifferent Things without Sin But because this is a Matter so very evident I shall only add that in the Directory made by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster p. 9. its expresly declared That no Persons should absent themselves from the Publick Ordinances upon pretence of Private Meetings And the Words of Mr. Baxter in his Reasons of the Christian Religion p. 485. No Christian must pretend Holiness against Vnity and Peace And every tender Conscience should be as tender of Church-Divisions and Real Schism as of Drunkenness Whoredom or such other enormous Sins We come next to consider the great Point of Orders and which seems to have been principally aimed at viz. The allowing of Presbyterian Orders as valid the Author of the Letter from the Country p. 10 11. proposeth three Expedients The first is Bishop Bramballs The second is Hypothetical The third is that of the Bill of Vnion To the first I answer that Bishop Bramhall did never allow of Presbyterian Ordination but did actually and with all the Rites and Methods of our Church re-ordain such as had been only
ordained by Presbyters as is evident from that very Place in the Life of Bishop Bramhall from whence this Author quotes a Passage and what he did for Peace Sake was only this That in some of their Certificates of their being ordained by him he declared That this New Ordination did not destroy their former Orders if they had any c. And it s abundantly evidently that that Bishop did re-ordain many of them To the last of these three ways I return no Answer because he himself doth not tell us what it was that was proposed in the Bill of Union The second was the principal Method insisted on and that is Hypothetical Re-ordination in which the Office of Ordination was to be omitted and the Person kneeling before a Bishop the Bishop was to say If thou art not already Ordained I Ordain thee or else in these Words I pray God that thou be ordained c. And this is justified by the Instance of Hypothetical Baptism To all which I reply 1. That the Presbyterians the Persons we are to satisfy have already declared against Hypothetical Ordination so the Presbyterians at the Savoy in their Petition for Peace p. 2. We earnestly beseech you that Re-ordination whether Absolute or Hypothetical be not made necessary for the future Exercise of our Ministry now to grant them what they have already declared against is no probable way to the Union pretented 2. Hypothetical Baptism is of Two sorts 1 st When 't is not known that the Child hath had any pretended Baptism with Water in the name of the Trinity and then the case is not the same as this Of such hypothetical Rebaptization the 5th Council of Carthage c. 3. is to be understood where they commend the Words of Leo Iteratum dici non potest quod nescitur ess factum i. e. That cannot be said to be repeated which was never known to be done The 2d is when all that hath been done is exactly known but the authority of the Persons Baptizing or Authenticalness of what is done is called in question and in this case the Presbyterians do not allow of Hypothetical Baptism witness the Synops pur Theol. p. 617 Neque Baptismus conditionalis probandus est qui a Pontificiis observari solet i. e. neither do we approve of Hypothetical Baptism which is used by the Papists for they to gain respect to their own Church endeavour to perswade such other Christians as are admitted into their Church to be hypothetically Rebaptized of which we have one famous instance in the Church of the Abyssines reported by Ludolfus in Hist Aethiop l. 3. c. 6. Patres Societatis Habessinos omnes promiscue rebaptizaverunt sub conditione tamen si videlicet prior Baptismus non rite fuisset peractus quae res magnam illis invidiam conflavit i. e. The Jesuites rebaptized all the Habessines with this condition namely if their former Baptism was not rightly performed which thing occasioned great troubles against them Which troubles he reports cap. 13. The Habessines hated them for nothing more than their repeating of their Baptism as if before that they had been Heathens and Publicans And is it not evident that Hypothetical Re-ordination will produce the same troubles here when by this very Act our Church plainly supposeth that they were not ordained before But to make all this matter plain I will first set down the opinion of the English Presbyterians then the opinion of the Foreign Reformed Churches 1. For our English Presbyterians T. C. the Ringleader of that Party having been ordained by a Bishop is said to have renounced his orders and taken new orders from Presbyters in Scotland The Presbyterians reordained Mr. John Cuningham formerly ordained Priest by the Bishop of Galloway Ravil rediv. p. 29. A whole Synod of the Puritans at Coventry A. D. 1588 June 10 condemned Ordination by Bishops as unlawful and farther declared the very calling of Bishops unlawful Bancroft's Engl. Scotizing p. 86. T. C. in his Admonition p. 127 desires the Bishops to be laid aside from ordaining Ministers and to bring in the true Election by the Congregation And in his Prayer before his Sermon at Banbury printed in the Life of Archbishop Whitgift p. 47. O Lord give us grace and power all as one Man to set our selves against the Bishops Apologetical Narrative It s a sin to take Episcopal Orders or to own the Authority of Bishops And to mention no more in the Solemn League and Covenant the Presbyterians of both Nations swore to the Extirpation of Prelacy i. e. the government of the Church by Bishops And accordingly in Scotland the Presbyterians have generally persecuted all those that had Episcopal Ordination 2. For the Foreign Reformed Churches observe 1sit That the Churches of Denmark and Norway are governed by Two Archbishops and Fourteen Bishops The Churches of Swedeland are governed by One Archbishop and Six Bishops the Churches of Hungary and Transylvania are governed by Bishops the Reformed Churches of Bohemia have a succession of Bishops as we in England Pass we next to the Reformed Churches of Germany which are in effect governed by Bishops whom they call Superintendants Their Office is described in the Harmony of Confess p. 227. to visit Parochial Ministers to preside in Synods to examine and ordain Persons fit for the Ministry c. To which agreeth Carpzovins Jurisp Eccl. l. 1. Comenius in Annot. ad rat disc fratr Bohem. where he observes that St. Hierom calls a Bishop Superintendant in Armenia the Bishop is called Martabet which signifieth Superintendant saith Rycaut Hist of Arm. Churches p. 392. And Zanchy saith that the Protestants have Bishops and Archbishops but that instead of good Greek Names they call them by bad Latine ones Superintendants and general Superintendants And when in the Book of Policy A. D. 1581. for the Kingdom of Scotland the Office of Superintendants is described it is in these Words Imprimis The Superintendant of Orkney his Diocess shall be the Isles of Orkney c. The Superintendant of Rosse his Diocess shall be Rosse c. The Superintendant of Edenbrough his Diocess shall be c. The Superintendant of Glascow his Diocess c. In all Ten Superintendants for that Kingdom Then follows the Function and Power of the Superintendant He shall plant and erect Churches order and appoint Ministers Visit c. See the Proceedings at Perth p. 14 15. And in all such Churches where they have Superintendants there is no Ordination allowed but by them An Account of the Persecuted in Scotland p. 58. There is not a falser Proposition in the World than that the Inclinations of the generality of the People in Scotland are against Episcopacy and let us have a Poll for it when they will and you shall quickly see the Demonstration Of the Vulgus the Commonalty not a Third Man throughout the whole Kingdom is a Presbyterian And of Persons of better Quality and Education not a Thirteenth In all the Country on
Episcopal Government of England what is there in it that is dangerous or may alarm Mens Consciences and if this be capable to deprive us of Heaven who is there that entred there for the space of 1500 Years for all that time all the Churches in the World had no other Government c. 6th When the Presbyterians had in their Solemn League and Covenant condemned Episcopacy the Ministers at Charenton and of the other Reformed Churches in France the Professors Ministers and Consistory of Geneva and other Reformed Churches in those Part were so scandalized as that they feared it would bring an indelible Scandal upon the Reformed Churches c. King Charles's Large Declaration p. 75. 4. When any of the Eminent Men of other Reformed Churches censured the Church of England it was upon our being falsly represented to them What Calvin wrote against our Liturgy was only upon the sight of the first Edition of Edward the 6th's Common-Prayer Book and a Malicious Account he had received from some at Franck fort Beza in his Letter to Archbishop Whitgift March 8. 1921. Declared that in his Writings touching Church Government he ever opposed the Romish Hierarchy but never intended to impugne the Eccesiastical Polity of the Church of England nor to exact of them to frame themselves after the pattern of our Presbyterial Disciplene he wisheth that the holy College of our Bishops may for ever continue and maintain their Right and Title in the Churches Government c. And if Beza at any time wrote otherwise he was abused by slanderous reports which caused him to do it saith Bishop Bancroft in his Survey p. 141. And his Guess we have confirmed by a Letter from Gualter to the Bishop of Ely A. D. 1572. and Printed by Archbishop Whitgift We admonished your Adversaries not to move any Contention in the Church for matters of so small importance and we thought the matter had been Buryed when contrary to all Mens expectations there came Two English Men from Geneva and bring from Master Beza whose Ears they had before filled with forged Accusations Letters full of Complaints and desire that we would help the afflicted State of England and advised me to make a Journey to you to which was joyned the Report of these two who reported the same things to us that they had done at Geneva and set down in Writing many Superstitions which they said were now defended in England but afterwards Letters from D. A. a singular honest Man delivered you all from blame Since that time we have had nothing to do with those lying busy-bodies for not long after it plainly appeared that they went about and were the chief Authors of Disturbances in the Palatinate Churches and brought much trouble and disquiet to them Wherefore I beseech you that you would not have any ill opinion of Gualter who bears a singular affection to the English and is perswaded of our exact consent and agreement c. In our late Civil Wars Milton and Georgius Hornius under the Counterfeit Name of Honorius Reggius a Professour at Leyden and some others were hired to give a false and abusive account of the Church of England to the Foreign Churches and the very Assembly of Divines at Westminster wrote a Letter which was sent to the Belgick French Helvetian and other Reformed Churches to assure them that the King made it his business to root out the Protestant Religion and used all means possible to reduce the whole Nation to Popery Bibl. Regia p. 64. And of this we have as much reason to complain now as ever it being notoriously known that not long since a Gentleman of considerable quality made a Journey on purpose into France to represent the Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England as Popishly affected it being the lot of this Church to be misrepresented by Men of Designs and Malice for both Papists and Fanaticks as may best serve the turns of its Enemies in different Seasons 5. Let us see what opinion the Universal Church hath of such as in opposition to Bishops are ordained by Presbyters the 31st of those that are called Apostles Canons If any Presbyter despise his Bishop and set up separate Meetings let him be Deposed and the People Excommunicated The 5th Canon of the Council at Antioch decreed that if any Presbyter despising his Bishop separate himself from the Church and make Meetings of his own after the First and Second Admonition he ought to be condemned and not allowed to Preach and if he still go on to disturb the Church he ought to be punished by the Secular Power as a Seditious Person This Canon is received into the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church and was confirmed in the 4th general Council at Chalcedon Act 4. Athanasius in his 2d Apology tells us that Coluthus a Presbyter passing by the Bishop of Alexandria ordained several Persons all his Ordinations were declared void and all that he had ordained were reduced to the order of Laicks And I want an instance of any one Reformed Church in the World where Bishops are established that Ordination by Presbyters in opposition to them is allowed as valid and I think the Church of Rome is the only Church in the World that being governed by Bishops allows of Presbyterian Ordination not regularly and of course but by an extraordinary faculty from the Popes inexhaustible Power Of which see Willet in Synopsi Papis controv 16. q 2. Theol. Rhem. in 1 Tim. 4. 14. Forbesii Iren. p. 176 177 178 179. where he largely proves it from the Canonists Schoolmen c. I am sure the Papists have often objected it to us that we have no Priests because we have no Bishops Bancroft's Survey p. 166 and have taken a great deal of Pains to set about the Nags-Head Fiction and destroy the order of our Bishops which shews how glad they would be to have them all destroyed Lastly such Eminent Divines of the Foreign Churches that have come into England and had only Ordination by Presbyters and received Preferment here have readily and willingly received Episcopal Ordination and now it hath pleased God to send over so many French Ministers into our Kingdom I do not find but that they readily and chearfully comply with our present Establishment in this particular also From all which it 's evident that the Presbyterians will not comply with Hypothetical Reordination that in most of the Protestant Churches they are not ordained but by Bishops or Superintendants that where they have neither they heartily wish for them and desire them and account Ordination by Presbyters in opposition to Bishops to be Schismatical and not allowed in any Protestant Church in the World and by consequence our doing it in England cannot be a likely way to promote the Peace and Vnion of the Protestant Churches A set Form of Prayer was seriously opposed by the Presbyterians at the Savoy who p. 23. tells us that serious Godliness is like to
in Baptism the Minister may be permitted to Baptize without it or if kneeling at the Sacrament the Person scrupling may have it delivered him in another Posture and so for God-fathers p. 15. Let a Rubrick be inserted before the Athanasian Creed signifying that the Creed may be read or may be let alone or with an alias this or the Nicene p. 21. Let the Litany be left to the discretion of the Minister to read or omit let it be left to his discretion one day to read one part and another day another that it be permitted in the Afternoon to leave out the first Lesson or the like p. 22. That it be left to liberty and discretion to use the Prayers without the Lessons and the Litany alone on Wednesdays and Fridays so Preface to the Directory complain'd that they were urged to read all the Prayers And after this manner we must have nothing six'd and settled but all our Rites and Prayers left indifferent which is so far from promoting Union and Peace that its the most likely way in the World to divide us perpetuate and establish Schism and make us an casie Prey to our Enemies Even the Author of naked Truth p. 23. saith That a Liberty left to add or detract Ceremonies or Prayers according to the various Opinions and Humours of Men will certainly cause great Faction and Division Again the length of our Liturgy is complain'd of Letter to the Convoc p. 18. It 's proposed that the Sunday Service be shortned p. 19. It s a tedious and prolix Service which tho it agreed with the complaints of the Presbyterians A. D. 1603. Who then desired the longsomness of the Service to be abridged yet doth so little suit with our later long-winded Presbyterians that at the Savoy 1660. p. 9. They complain of the Brevity of the Common-Prayer-Book and therefore desire to have leave to pray more copiously and p. 55. They complain'd of too many Prayers not too much so that should we in complyance with this Projector have shortned our Prayers we should have displeas'd not sweetned the Presbyterians to a Complyance If we look upon the most eminent Protestant Princes that we have had they were all for strict Conformity Queen Elizabeth would have the Discipline of the Church of England of all Men duly observ'd without alteration of the least Ceremony Life of Arch-Bishop Whitgift p. 29. And King James the First in his Proclamation the first Year of his Reign We admonish all Men that they shall not exâ—ect nor attempt any further alteration in the Common-Prayer We are not ignorant of the Inconveniences that arise in Government by admitting Innovations in things once settled by mature Delibaration and how necessary it is to use Constancy Such is the unquietness of some Dispositions affecting every Year new Forms Our frequent alterations of our Religious Rites hath been justly laugh'd at by Foreigners Erasmus for this very Thing derided the English in his time and Cardan in Tetrab c. 3. Tex 12. saith That the English are still changing their Rites and Manners of Religious Worship sometimes to the better and very often to the worse Not to mention what St. Austin Epist 118. adjan observ'd Ipsa mutatio consuetudines etiam quae adjuvat utilitate novitate perturbat i. e. The very change of a Custom tho to the better breeds a disturbance by its novelty Malum politicum bene positum non est movendum In sine give me leave to repeat what the Ingenious Lord Faulkland long since told us viz. That all Mutations are dangerous even where what is introduced by that Mutation is such as would have been very profitable upon a primary Foundation and it is none of the least Dangers of Change that all the Perils and Inconveniences that it brings cannot be foreseen and therefore such as make Title to Wisdom will not undergo great Dangers but for great Necessities such as cannot I presume be here pretended Upon all which Accounts its evident that the Convocations complying to make the Alterations proposed is the most probable way to displease most of the Foreign Protestants that are now in League with us and make us no longer esteem'd as we hitherto have been the very Center of Union I will add but one Reason why we should not make these Alterations for the sake of our own Dissenters and that is because they are resolved they wâ—â— have no Union with us but whensoever we are making Proposals to unite with them they run farther off and be sure make fresh Complaints of these very Changes and steps towards them For the Alterations made in 1660. Mr. Baxter likes things worse than before and hath declared frequently in Print That many of our old Episcoparian Divines had they been now alive would have been Nonconformists and that the new Impositions make the Ministerial Conformity harder than formerly Def. of Cure of Divis p. 55. The Presbyterians at the Savoy after p. 35. complain of the paucity of Concessions tho lately said to be 600 And again In one of your Concessions in which we suppose you intend to accommodate with us you rather widen than heal the Breach When about ten Years since some of our Church had a project of Comprehension the Presbyterians were farther off than before and under the Name of a Plea for Peace put out bitter Reflections upon the Church of England Dr. Stillingfleet unreas of Separat Pref. p. 36. In Scotland the Presbyterians administred the Solemn League and Covenant to the People and made them Swear never to hear the Orthodox Ministry more and gave them the Sacrament thereupon Ravil Rediv. p. 29. The like is said to have been lately done at Northampton and some other Places And how have they behaved themselves in this juncture we may take it from one of the great Promoters of Alterations in his Letter for the Bill of Union p. 4. I do own that in some of the Dissenters there is more then an appearance of Aversion to this Bill of Vnion or else Books levelled against Liturgy and Episcopacy would not come out as they do in this p juncture fresh from the Press In a Word There are two Things that have formerly made the Government very averse from favouring Dissenters 1. Their Disloyalty 2. Their readiness upon all Occasions to joyn with the Popish Interest against the Church of England as they famously did in the Year 1588. at the time of the Spanish Invasion and again 1688. in the late Reign of King James II. as appears from their numerous Addresses their Complyances with the Dispensing Power their Promises to take off the Test and Penal Laws their new Ordinations and their great neglect both in Pulpit and Press to defend the Articles of the Protestant Religion against the many Writings of the Papists two Tracts only amongst the numerous Dissenters having upon the severest computation been found publish't by them during the whole Reign of that King we had great reason to hope that these Failings had been both mended especially at a time that Popery was discouraged and the Government had been so kind to the Protestant Dissenters and yet behold quite contrary to all sober Mens Expectations tho there are but two Things required of all that are Hearers in Conventicles in order to a full Toleration 1. An Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to the King and Queen 2. Making and subscribing a Declaration against Popery and so giving satisfaction to the Government in these two particulars yet they are still either so steddy to their old Principles of Disloyalty or so far managed by Popish Agents and withal so peevishly perverse and froward in opposing every thing that is commanded them by the Laws that to this day so far as I can learn there is not one in an Hundred of them that hath done either FINIS