I abhor the thoughts of it as will appear hereafter there being a Vast difference between such a Tolleration of Idolatry Superstition crying sins and therefore absolutely unlawful and a Remission only of some few severities in some Acts Canons and Injunctions which relate only to Formalities that tho in construction of Law may be exacted yet may be dispensed withal without prejudice to sound Doctrine or good Conversation and without which the Worship of God would be as pure and sincere Indeed all Acts Canons and Injunctions whether they relate unto Uniformity or not ought according to their own Nature to be sincere and free from all Traps and Covert designs to exclude any that Profess the same Faith and Worship tho many cannot perhaps thro meer tenderness of Conscience submit to every thing therein enjoyned In Concerns of this Nature Scripture in a more especial manner ought to be the Rule of Resolutions and that abstractly and purely without mixing and bringing with them Interest Usurpation or Artifices of men else what were it but by Edicts to lay Snares in Mispah and spread Nets upon Tabor to use Laws Menaces and subtleties to keep Gods People from his Court and Sanctuary and Confine them to State-Religion and to Walk after the Mode of the Commands of men Those Non-conformists Non-assenters that have received Order which they could not have had but permissu superiorum by the Licence and under the Authority of the King in our Laws expressed For no Man hath Power to give himself either Orders to be a Priest or Institution to a Pastoral Charge but must depend upon another Power who by Acts Canons and Edicts long since published and extant hath directed the qualifications of the Persons to be Ordained the manner and Form how the Persons who ought to Ordain them c. and they could not be ignorant that the Liturgy and enjoyned Ceremonies were by the Imperative Constitutive Government of this Church and State to be Countenanced and used in publick Churches by the Bishops Presbyters and Pastors either they consulted their Consciences when they entered on the Ministery by taking Holy Orders whether they could Comply and Submit unto the whole Frame of Government and Polity of this Church Constituted by Act of Parliament from whom they were to receive Authority and Licence to Exercise their Function Gifts and Talents or they did not If they did not they are inexcusable for entring on so Sacred a Calling Stamped with an Indelible Character so rashly so unadvisedly without perspect or foresight of Consequences and yet if they were so pur-blind as not to see one step before them yet their neglect herein cannot be Pleaded in their Excuse it being their own Fault in Common Justice no Court will permit any man to take Advantage of his own misdemeanors or failings Besides hath not every Minister that hath receiv'd Pastoral Charge twice or thrice if not oftner witnessed his allowance of all and singular the 39 Articles of our Church once at his Ordination before the Bishop then at his Institution into his Benefice before his Ordinary and both these by Subscription under his own hand and afterwards upon his Induction before his own Flock and that by verbal Approbation he hath not only acknowledged in the Church the Power of Ordaining Rites and Ceremonies 20 Articles But he hath after a sort bound himself openly to rebuke such as willingly and purposely break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church as Offenders of the Common Order of the Church and Wounders of the Consciences of the weak Brethren and hurters of the Authority of the Magistrate Artic. 34. and is it not enacted 1º Eliz. c. 2. that they shall be punished pro ut in the Act that shall Preach declare or speak any thing in derogation or depraving our Liturgy c. Are not then such Dissenters obliged both in Conscience and by virtue of their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions to be constant to their own Hands and Tongues if they would be accounted Faithful in Gods House as was Moses And is it reasonable then to hearken unto such Pleading against their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions their own Hands and Tongues Besides quo jure with what Face or Conscience can they expect Temples maintenance protection and all things requisite for their Ministery from that Law and Government that they will not Protect Countenance nor submit unto § Indeed it seems to me an old piece of Conscientiousness if not Impiety to enter the Holy Ministerial Function to day when they are sure without Conformity to be silenced to morrow Besides it is Nicety and Indiscretion to exact an express Rule of Scripture or Faith for the Cross in Baptism for standing at the Creed Kneeling at the Lords Beard for Habits in Divine Service the usual sear-Crows of scrupulous men In these cases consent of the Church or Tradition may suffice so there be no express Law of Command to the contrary He that exacts in these Points as express Rules of Faith or Warrant of Scripture for his Obedience to Ecclesiastical Government as he would or as every man ought to do for adventuring upon Worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints c. doth make his Brain or Fancy the chief Seat of his Religion which should be seated in the Heart and Intitles God to the Fancies and Chymaeraes of their own Brains Thus to disobey the Church in these Cases wherein it hath Authority to Command Obedience is to disobey those Mandates of God which give the Body of the Church Authority to make Laws to Govern it self by in things indifferent neither expresly Forbidden nor expresly Commanded by the Law of God I know the Apostles Rule is let every man be fully persâ—â—ded in his own mind 14 Rom. 5. And this full perswasion or assurance of Faith is in the Cases there mentioned necessary because whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin v. 23. This last Maxim is undoubtedly true and the former Precept most exactly to be observed in such Causes as the Apostle there speaks of that is where the positive Practise unless our Warrant be Authentick in it self and evident to us is very dangerous or deadly whereas on the contrary the forbearance of such Practise is either safe or not prejudicial to our Souls but to our Bodies only or State temporal such Ceremonies as be neither against Faith nor adverse to good manners in the Judgment of St. Austin ep 11.8 go for indifferent and may be Born in Christian Unity without Offence or Confusion If God hath left things indifferent what Authority can make them necessary Let them be so still and their nature not changed by any Injunction and Unity will necessarily ensue Quodam modo it may be true that in Ordination there is something which they receive thereby from God Independent of the King or any Civil Power viz. Authority to Tâ—â—ch Baptize and Administer Sacraments by Virtue of Ordination And â—â— is as true that
We find no evil in this Man but if a Spirit or Angel hath spoken unto him let us not fight against God 23. Acts 9. This they did not out of true love to Paul or to the Truth he taught but from love of themselves their Party and their Opinions and from jealous impatiency of contradiction in publick by an Inferiour Sect so when Christ had fully satisfied a curious question captiously proposed by the Sadduces by proving the Resurrection out of Moses saying I am the God of Abraham of Isaack and of Jacob certain of them answered Master thou hast well said 20. Luke 39. Though the Pharises were well pleased of his Probat of the Resurrection against the Sadduces yet for all that they could judge him to death for avouching himself to be the great Judge of those that were raised from the dead whereby it appears that both their approbation and condemnation of our Saviour in these particulars did issue out of one and the same corrupt and monstrous Fountain that could send forth sweet water and bitter 3. James 11. viz. from love of their Party love of Authority over the People and applause of Men from a stubborn opiniative and envious desire to excel their opposites and not to be excelled by any so when John came neither eating nor drinking yet they say he hath a Devil and when the Son of Man came both eating and drinking then Behold a Man gluttonous and a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners 11. Mat. 18 19. The Devils and unclean Spirits in this kind were in some measure more ingenious than the Jews for when Christ had disobliged them by casting them out as soon as they saw him they fell down before him and cryed Thou art the Son of God 3. Mark 10. But the Scribes which came down from Jerusalem said he hath Belzabub and by the Prince of the Devils casteth he out Devils 21. Acts 22. So the Jews were pleased neither full nor fasting Thus can perverse Spirits and Wits turn and wind any thing never so innocently and plainly spoken or written unto a different or contrary sence The same Spirit of Contention and way-ward emulation reigns at this day through Christendome and rageth oft-times no less in defence of good Causes than of bad and makes many to concur with Schismatical or false Opinions in transforming particular places of Scripture which makes for private desires or designs as factious opposition to the Sadduces did the Pharises to consent unto our Saviour and unto St. Paul in the Points mentioned § The Monks Friars and Jesuits like the Pharises are rare Sophisters can handy dandy shuffle and cut Texts of Scripture with most admirable dexterity Their impertinent Collections to prove Purgatory from such places of Scripture as have no other semblance with it save only that they mention Metaphorical Fire would make an impartial Reader call to mind the Fable of the Apes or Monkies who espying Glow-worms in the night gathered sticks and blowed themselves breathless to make them burn Would not Impudence it self blush and Stupidity tremble at the senseless collections and deduction of these Men. As the Papists and among them the Jesuits more especially have no parallel except the Jews in this kind so in other main Points of their Religion as concerning the Infallibility of the Pope Transubstantiation the Authority of the Church the real Presence their Prayers in an unknown Tongue and the like they do not go so much beyond others as besides themselves The extream desire they have that Sacred Authority should countenance and abet their profitable Tenents makes them wrest and transform Places of Scripture beyond all Construction whereby they do not manifest the Truth but the poyson of their Doctrines and their Zeal and earnestness herein to be a Spice or Symptome of Spiritual madness or Phanaticisme Musing and dreaming are of near alliance He that thinks of nothing but of confirming his own conclusions or apprehensions will quickly perswade himself that the Word of God speaks just so As the Fool thinketh so the Bell clinketh the superstitious Phisiognomer and Palmister are not without their Scripture 13. Ex. 9. And it shall be a sign unto thee upon thy hand and for a memorial between thine eyes c. and that in 37. Job 7. he sealeth up the hand of every Man that all Men may know his Work What is this else but to make deformed Pictures of beautiful Colours or senseless and ridiculous Inferences out of Divine and Supernatural Antecedents or of plain Texts of Scripture Except we do strictly compare the Marginal Quotations of some Jesuitical Anabaptistical Quaking and Schismatical discourses with the Texts and both with the Conclusions intended by the Author one would hardly believe it possible for some Men to speak or write nothing but Gospel-language and yet to speak or write scarce a true or wise or pertinent word to the purpose Desire of Victory and to excel others is a Disease hardly cured in any Men Sects or Parties and oft-times work most indefatigably where it works most secretly Gods Gifts of Wit Learning and Judgment some can admire and magnifie in others and acknowledge them to be above their own yet will they not in conclusion be perswaded that any Men not of their own Sect or Opinion have so pure and clear a Beam of Light as themselves or know so much of Gods Eternal Will and Purposes as they do and it is no marvel that such who for expounding greatest Mysteries have betaken themselves wholly to the Spirit or to the Labours of Men whom they presume to be throughly sanctified i. e. that are free of their Brotherhood and Corporation only or at least served a compleat Apprentiship to their supposed Spirit But the wisest oft miscarry in their Projects and so do these by taking wrong measures in that they think there is no direct way to Grace but by undervaluing helps of Art or gifts of Nature of this misconceit the Quakers the Enthusiasts the Phanaticks are most guilty The first and immediate Issue of this Perswasion is that every action which is not warranted by some express Rule of Scripture apprehended by Grace is not of Faith and being not of Faith it must be a sin so that these two Propositions 1. All Actions warranted by the express Word of God must needs be lawful 2. All lawful Actions must needs be warranted by the express Word of God differ no more in their Logical and Grammatical sence than house-keeping and keeping house do in common understanding utitur Diabolus Testimoniis Scripturarum non ut doceat sed ut fallat S. Ambrose That admonition of St. Paul to the Philip. 2.3 concerns these times as much as those wherein he wrote and the Maintainers of true Religion most of all and it were most happy for Christianity if all Christians could in good earnest embrace it Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let
teach his Body the Church all things and should continue with them unto the end of the World § For soon after his Ascention the Apostles together with the rest of the Body being met together in a great Assembly and after they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and great Grace was upon them all 4. Act. 31.32.33 and accordingly the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal to one the Word of Wisdome to another the Word of Knowledge to another faith c. and all by the same Spirit 1. Cor. 12.7.8 and all these for the edifying of the Body of Christ 4. Eph. 12 For though the Body be one yet hath it many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body whereof Christ is the head 1. Cor. 12.12 In the visible Government of the Church Christ appointed and instituted a Priesthood in which likewise it is dissimilar to all temporal Governments which quodam sensuis Independent of the Church though touching the application of the Authority to the Person it is elective and depending of the Body of the Church under this Priesthood is comprehended Bishops and Presbiters now what their Authority and Powers are vide their Commission 28. Mat. 19.20 go teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you always unto the end of the world other Powers besides these and laying on of hands especially coercive I know none derived unto them by any text of Scripture These Bishops these Presbiters these Ministers or Pastors are not Lords and Masters as in the Roman Church but are Servants to the Body of the Church For we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Jesus sake 2. Cor. 4.5 and these Authorities are not coercive but are given them to exhort reprove rebuke beseech intreat for Christs sake and by the mercies of God c. 12. Rom. 3. chap. 15.30 1 Thes 4.1 according to the Doctrines Precepts Rules and Commands set down in Scripture which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus and which is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for Correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfected throughly furnished to all good works 2 Tim. 3.16.17 These and such like only are all the Powers that belong unto the Priesthood by any Law of God and there is no need of any other for what concerns punishment for Sins or the breach of moral Duties or municipal laws the Body hath Power to make laws and ordain punishments for any of its Members § I know that they have a long time hooked in by Head and shoulders a kind of coercive Power Excommunication by usurping to themselves the Power of Excommunication a thing I must confess that hath made a great noise and buzz in the world but in truth a magnificum nihil a meer ignis fatuus there being no such thing in the whole new Testament as now used and that which Pope and Presbiter would have to be it is as much in the Power of the Laicks against them as in them against the Laicks and most truly in the Body of the Church In the Romish Church the Bishop or his Vicar excommunicateth without the advice or participation of any many times also the Register only and that which is most important by Authority deligated a Clark of the first Tonsure deputed Comissary in some slight Cause doth excommunicate a Priest Yea Leo. 10. in the Council of Lateran in the 11. Session by a perpetual constitution of his hath granted faculty to a secular person to excommunicate the very Bishops and that which doth more import Navar saith c. 27 no. 11. that if any man shall obtain an excommunication of some Prelate if the obtainer shall not have an intent that the party be excommunicated he shall not be excommunicated moreover he saith ch 23. num 104. that the excommunication pronounced by the Law it self against him that payeth not a Pension for example sake on the Vigil of the Nativity is not incurred by him that payeth it not no not in many month's and years after if the Creditor thereof would not have it incurred But if on the other side after many Month's or Years he would have it incurred it is reputed to have been incurred from the day of the debt from the Vigil of the Nativity and so is the stile of the Court but the Council of Trent hath now expresly provided otherwise Ses 25. c. 3 forbidding secular Princes that they hinder not Prelates to excommunicate nor command that any excommunication be revoked considering that this is no part of their Office by this you may in little see what a nose of wax is made of excommunication and all this and much more grounded and occasioned from wrong Glosses put upon plain Texts But of this more fully hereafter § Though the Congregational men have not fully modelled out unto us the Platform of their Government and Discipline as the Presbyterians have done yet in general they do affirm Independency and Church-Government that to each gathered Church Christ hath given all Power and Authority requisite unto that Order and Discipline which he hath instituted for them to observe and to execute the same with Commands and Rules as before And negatively that there is not instituted by Christ any person or Church more extensive or Catholick entrusted with Power over other Churches and that each particular Church consists of Officers and Members which Members they call Brethren and the Officers they stile Pastors Teachers Elders and Deacons and that there are no stated Synods in a fixed combination of Churches nor any Synods appointed by Christ in any way of sub-ordination to one another nor no one Church to have Power of Censures but of inspection only over other Churches and Members thereof that Counsel and Advice might mutually be communicated That it was so in the days of the Apostles and continued so for some Generations after every Individual gathered Church every Christian Societie as it is natural to all Societies as well Christian as Civil governing it self by its own Laws and Constitutions whithout being obliged to any other superintendency hapily is so manifest that it would not be gainsaid But when the Church became planted and spread its Branches and took root in divers Nations and whole Common-wealths became Christian and Kings and Queens and other Civil Governments became Nursing-Fathers and Mothers of the Church then of necessity for the quiet state of the whole the case came to be altered it being then impossible that every individual Member or Brother of any Christian Kingdom or Common-wealth should personally meet to make Laws
Friends the one to persecute the other for slight pretences about things owned to be indifferent Were it not better and more secure to allow them publick places only I do not say preferments that all the World might hear their Doctrines and Preachments and punish or not punish accordingly if Papalins their Doctrines Tenets and Vows of Obedience to another Head and forreign Power being publickly known to all the World and as publickly professed and avowed by them for sound and true though in truth salse and erroneous Doctrines render them uncapable of Toleration because in their own very Nature they are destructive unto our Government King and Nation unto our Laws Liberties Religion and Worship and what were it else but to establish Idolatry and Superstition by a Law Besides the Pope pretends Right and Title to our very Church and Kingdoms In the dayes of Henry 8. the Earl of Desmond profered Ireland to the French K. the Instrument whereof yet remains on Record in the Court of Paris and the Pope afterwards transferred the Title of all our Dominions unto Charles 5th which by new grants was confirmed unto his Son Philip in the time of Queen Elizabeth with a resolution to settle this Crown on the Spanish Infanta c. and when times serve makes no bones by his Bulls and his Assassinates as much as in him lies to Crown and Vncrown our Kings and Queens and absolve their Subjects of their Obedience to them and to exhaust our Treasury as part of his own Patrimony to maintain the pride and luxury of his Court and Prelates And since we have in great part shaken off his Antichristian Yoak and Usurpations he yet continues to keep his Agitators and Spies here even at our charge and hath not ceased by his Bulls Jesuits Assasinates and Emissaries at once to destroy both King and Parliament and by the bold and impudent Impostures of his Priests and Jesuits perpetually to seduce corrupt and pervert from the right wayes of the Lord as many as they can of our Nobility Gentry and Pesantry not sparing the Royal Family making them turn Tenants for their Lives and Souls which they hold only at the will and pleasure of their Lord God the Pope and Tributary for their estates Whether therefore it be fit or reasonable to tollerate Men thus desperately set and Principl'd against this Church and State I submit to the wisdome of King and Parliament who are best able to provide for their own and the publick safety of our King and Kingdom As to that they nick-name and miscal their Catholick Religion more justly the most Catholick Heresie in the World it is such a piece of Linseywolsey-stuff interwoven with so many ridiculous Ceremonies borrowed from Jews Turks Heathens peculiar Absurdities Blasphemies Superstitions and Idolatries imposing not only on our Understandings but on our very Senses V. les Conformitez des Ceremonies c. A Leyde 1667. Traite des Anciennes Ceremonies c. 1 is 73. in owning the Scriptures to be the word of God and yet denying the free and common use thereof commanding to believe very Bread and Wine to be Flesh and Blood attributing infallibility to his Holiness by vertue whereof he may take away the Bread in the Eucharist from the Laity as well as he hath already deprived and cheated them of the Wine may make lying with other mens Wives no Adultery Robbing no Theft Killing Innocent men even Kings and Queens under pretence of Heresie no Murder whereof we have had sad experience even in these our dayes in sum who ever submits to the Popes infallibility renders himself Captive to be led into all Heresie and even to Hell it self as if the Scripture in good earnest had come from Heaven meerly to make the Pope optimum maximum et supremum numen in terris that he is sole Interpreter of all Scriptures and Judge of all Controversies and that his Tribunal and Gods are all one and 1000 more absurdities which in effect is to renounce Christianity and to yield blind obedience and implicite Faith to his ipsedixit and to become Antichristians For by their own Doctrines of Intention they have given us just cause to question their very Christianity for if they hold true to that Doctrine it 's impossible they should infallibly know that they have either true Pope true Bishop true Priest or that they are true Christians and therefore they may thank themselves and their own Doctrines if we allow them at best to be but Mungril Christians like those of Samaria who feared God yet served Idols and like those of Israel who swore by the Lord and Melcom And therefore not worthy to be called a Religion at least Christian unless by way of Complement and civility they Exalting the Pope above all that is called God endeavouring by the impudent impostures of Baals Priests to enslave whole Nations to his vile ends and purposes quo jure quâve injuriâ and all this under the Vizard of his false Religion All which considered I humbly conceive that no Tolleration is to be allowed Papists whether we respect either Church or State policy tho there are those among our selves for what good ends is past my understanding except to make us as very Mungrils as the Papists that would lead and wheedle us into a fair way of reconciliation by a School-trick of distinguishing between the Court and Church of Rome What Is it possible that Righteousness can have fellowship with Unrighteousness Can light have Communion with darkness Can Christ and Belial agree together What agreement can the Temple of God have with Idols Can we joyn our bodies to the very Mother of Harlots and not be one body with her From such we are commanded to come out and seperate not tollerate 52 Esay 11.31 Jerem. 1. 1 Cor. 6.16 2 Cor. 6.14.15 16 17 18. And then God will be a Father unto us and we shall be his Sons a d Daughters We are seperate we are come out for shame then let us not hanker after nor talk of returning to Onyons and Garlick nor with the Dog to his Vomit we are washed and cleansed from the dregs and silth of Rome and therefore never to return with the nasty and beastly Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire If Quakers they are as little to be indulged for reasons diametrically opposite for that the very Scriptures are not heartily and throughly owned by them nor are they a Rule of Faith unto them Indeed they have no known Rules no established Principles no Doctrine infallible to be Governed by the light within them being only the Rule and Guide of their Consciences which may be Hosanna to day and Crucifige tomorrow no Connivence no Tolleration due to those Religions whose Principles are unknown or destroy our Government If Presbyter or Independents the case as to them is far different they owning the same Scriptures for their Rule and Guide professing the same Articles of
private resolutions can abrogate the Laws of a Nation wherein he lives For as Civil Law being the Act of a whol Body Politick doth therefore overrule each several part of the same Body so there is no reason that any one Common-wealth it self should to the prejudice of another annul that whereupon the whole world hath agreed Now as there is great cause of Communion and consequently of Laws for the maintenance of communion amongst Nations so amongst Nations Christian the like in regard even of Christianity hath been always adjudged needful And in this kind of correspondence amongst Nations the force of General Councils doth stand For as one and the same Law divine is unto all Christian Churches a rule for the chiefest things by means whereof they all in that respect make one Church as having all but one Lord and Lawgiver Christ one Faith one Baptism Jam. 4.12 Eph. 4.5 So th◠urgent necessities of mutual communion for propagation of the Gospel and for preservation of unity in these things as also for order in some other things convenient to be every where uniformily kept maketh it requisite that the Church of God here on earth have her Laws also of spiritual commerce between Christian Nations Laws by vertue whereof all Churches may enjoy freely the use of those reverend religious and sacred consultations which are termed Councils General a thing whereof Gods own blessed Spirit was the Author a thing practised by the holy Apostles themselves a thing always afterwards kept and observed throughout the world a thing never otherwise than highly esteemed of till pride ambition and tyranny began by factions and vile endeavours to abuse that divine Invention unto the furtherance of wicked purposes But as the just Authority of Civil Courts and Parliaments is not therefore to be abolished because sometimes there is cunning used to frame them according to the private intents and interests of men over-potent in the Common-wealth so the grievous abuse which hath been of Councils should rather cause men to study how so gracious a thing may again be reduced to the first perfection than in regard of the stains and blemishes sithence growing be held for ever in extreme disgrace What hath been here affirmed of the Laws of Nations in general and of General Councils to make the thing we treat of more evident and reasonable the same reasons are as applicable and adequate to all intents and purposes of every particular Kingdom and Government and runs parallel throughout all Laws both of Church and State made by every particulat Church and Nation and it cannot be otherwise without shaking and hazarding the very foundation of all peaceable and good Governments in the World For should it be in the power of any small or greater numbers less than the whol to confederat and avowedly to act contrary to publick established Sanctions either of Church or State what issue could be expected but abominable disorder and confusion and every man to do what seems best in his own eyes as once in Israel when there was no King for as the Civil Laws of every Nation so of England are made for the whole Kingdom primarily and to the particular Divisions and Fraternities secondarily and obedience is yielded unto them not as Eastern or as Western Northern or Southern men but as Subjects of the same Kingdom So the Laws of Christ are given to the whole Church primarily and yet they oblige every particular Church to the observation of them but not because in such a particular congregated Brotherhood but because Subjects of Christs visible ministerial Church I am verily perswaded that it cannot demonstratively be made appear by any that every congregated Church in the best and purest times after the days of the Apostles was a Plenipotentiary Church unto it self to all intents and purposes I must confess that they would very much have obliged us if they had at any time given us any one instance of such a Church but they having not yet done it I take it for granted that it is not to be done though if such an instance could be made yet the posture of Ecclesiastical persons and affairs being so much different now from what it was then may quite alter the case I must confess it cannot reasonably be imagined that it could then be otherwise because in those days all Kingdoms and Governments were so far from being friends to Christianity or Christian Churches that they were all Persecutors thereof and therefore not possible that there should be any National Churches and happily were none till the lays of Constantine the first Christian Emperor § Their Maxim or Position is this viz. 1. That they who are called out of the world by the ministry of the Gospel as all Christians are have power given them by Christ being a competent number to gather themselves together in his name 2. That a Church so gathered becomes a Body or spiritual Corporation and being joyned thus by mutual assent of each person have power one over another as in all Fraternities and liberty from Christ to choose their Officers censure Offenders make Canons and Orders in Circumstantials for the regulating of their affairs § Unto the first part of their Position I can so far subscribe that it is tru that where but two or three whether with or without a Priest are gathered together in Christs Name the presence of Christs Spirit is by promise annexed unto them Matth. 18.20 and the particular Assemblies of Christians were thereby intended and approved by Christ viz. to have communion in the publick exercise of holy duties mentioned Act. 2.42 46. viz. breaking of bread and prayer But that it doth describe or purport a mutual agreement which doth formally constitute them a Church Independent without any regard had to the National Church wherein they live is not so very clear the Text not warranting the same in the least if it do then every Family by the same Text might claim Independency § As unto the other part of the Position I can by no means submit without very great qualifications But if the second part of their Position be tru of every particular Assembly it must necessarily be much more tru of the whole or National Church for which they were primarily given and ordained and unto other Churches under the same Government but secondarily and subordinat Moreover consider the Original Commission for gathering of Churches Go teach all Nations and baptize them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 which Commission was before the Church was cantonized into divisions and subdivisions by publick Authority or the Independent Congregational Fraternities set up by any particular men The distinction of Churches fell out naturally and necessarily as this or that City or Nation was here or there converted by some one or other of the Apostles and their Successors and so division of Churches came secondarily for convenient administration of Ordinances and communication of
rows another pretends to argue only against Liturgies in general how consonant soever they be to Gospel-Truths and Doctrines for against such he must dispute or he hath no Adversary that I know of I am sure I am no defender of any other and their Imposition whilst he shoots many envenomed Arrows against our established Liturgy wherein his own consent is involved because established by Act of Parliament and Convocation and perhaps subscribed unto by himself and then concludes That on these and no better terms is that prescribed Liturgy we treat of introduced and imposed which Terms are 1. That it is not appointed of God 2. Not practised in the Purer Times 3. An Humane Invention 4. Hinders Edification 5. An Abridgement of Christian Liberty 6. That it is made necessary by the Commands of Men and then admires with what peace and satisfaction to their own Souls Men can pretend to Act as by Commission from Christ as the chief Administrators of his Gospel and Worship on the Farth and make it their whole business almost to teach Men to do and observe what he never commanded and rigorously to enquire after into the observation of their own commands whilst those of the Lord Jesus are openly neglected I 'le make no exasperating Comment on these and other the like severe Reflections on our Anti-Liturgists because he pretends to use it only by way of Instance neither will I as I said at first go about to defend every thing relating to this or that Liturgy my design being only to defend the Composition Use and Imposition of a wholesom Form of sound words formed into that which we now call a Liturgy It 's enough for me if such a Liturgy may be composed against which there can be no just exception and that there may be such I have never read or heard to the contrary § The Ends of Liturgies our Author reduces singly into one viz. That the Ordinances and Institutions of Christ may be publickly administred and solemnized in the Church with Decency and Order unto the Edification of Assemblies wherein they are used But because he confesseth that there is no other assigned that he knows of I shall take liberty to Assign one or two more though this alone be sufficient 1. That so many Fundamental Truths the necessary and common Food of all the Sons and Daughters of the Church should be daily and purely read and taught as well as the Ordinances and Institutions administred without corrupt Glosses or Comments as may be sufsicient to make the Comers thereunto wise unto Salvation And that our English Liturgy contains such Truths needs no proof it 's Matter of Fact and proves it self And if it doth not appear to be so unto the Author let him discover its desiciency the radical necessary Truth that is not there taught or not rightly taught therein and I shall acknowledge it and yet if it were defective it can only be a just exception against this Liturgy but not against Liturgies in general that may be otherwise composed 2. One other and great End of Liturgies relates to the Civil Magistrates who impose Liturgies as the best Medium to justifie their Pastoral Care pardon the Expression it as rightly belongs to them as to Popes or Presbyters of the Souls as well as of the Bodies of their Flocks their Subjects in that they command them to be daily fed with the sincere Milk and other stronger Meat of the Word Ezek. 34.23 Now Princes are as truly Pastors as Priests and that of Christs Flock yea Pastors of the Pastors as a Bishop once called King Edgar whose principal charge and care is or ought to be that Divine Things may be rightly ordered and the Salvation of Men procured Hence it was that Constantine called himself a Bishop and other Emperors had the Title of Renowned Pontiffs or Priests In the Emperor Martianus the Roman Bishop extols his Priestly Mind and Apostolical Affection and Theodoret mentions the Apostolical Cares of Theodosius wherefore the Kings Power is also Spiritual as it is conversant about Religion which is a Spiritual thing as it is also Military Naval or Maritime c. though he be neither Mariner nor Soldier And Balsamo Bishop of Antioch observes that in those times the Emperors did instruct the People in Religion And how good Josiah went up into the House of the Lord and all the Men of Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and the Priests and the Levites and all the People great and small and how he read in their Ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant and how he made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord c. and how he caused all that were present to stand to it c. is recorded 2 Chron. 34. and is worthy of the Imitation of all Princes Such and many other prudent Considerations no doubt made our good Josiah Edw. 6. and his Counsellors however this Author writes slightingly as to the Case of Liturgies f. 37. of that never to be forgotten Reformation to take care that as there is a Common Salvation Jud. 3. and a Common Faith Tit. 1.4 which is alike precious 2 Pet. 1.1 in the highest Apostle and meanest Believer for we may not think that Heaven was prepared for deep Clarks only a Rule of Faith besides that large measure of Knowledge whereof all are not capable common to small and great which they moulded into the Form of a Liturgy if he please to give me leave so to express it and not wrest my words beyond my meaning containing so many Credenda and Agenda so many things to be believed and done by all Christians of such weight and moment that if believed and a Life led accordingly would doubtless bring all such Believers in their appointed times to Eternal Bliss and such Credenda are contained in our Liturgy deny it that can without a Slander For indeed Liturgies have a more special regard to the weaker sort and meanest Capacities Ignorance of Scripture and of the Principles of Catholick Faith that are absolutely necessary to Salvation being a dangerous Gulfe and the chiefest support of Popery and therefore is it so plainly so methodically and in such few apt and Scripture Expressions composed both for the Credenda and the Agenda that the meanest may understand all necessary Truths and not mistake and they are so often read and taught by the frequent use thereof that even Babes do suck them in almost with their Milk and can hardly be forgotten nay the very Solemn Days which by the Ancient Institution of the Church are celebrated for the Commemoration of the Blessed Trinity the Nativity Passion Resurrection Silvest in summa verb. sidei §. 6. Tho. in secunda secundae q. 3. Art 7. and Ascention of our Saviour Christ doth so preserve the memory of these things among the Common People that by the Popish Doctors themselves it is made an Argument of gross and supine Ignorance
to be Anti-Christ Thess 2.2 yet these men with the Quintescence of Sophistry have observed many new Mysteries in the Old and New Testament and plainly see the Pope in all his Pontificalibus in many Texts thereof which we may safely swear the Holy Prophets Evangelists and Apostles never saw nor intended nor possible for any mortal wit to make good As to the Text The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall be rooted out By thee if you will believe the Papists Esa 6â— 12 is now since the Incarnation of Jesus meant the Church of Rome that is in their Dialect the Pope which happily incouraged Pope Julius the Third to stamp his Coynes with this Circumscription Gens quae non servierit tibi peribit Now service in Romish understanding is to be Executioners of the Popes Commands without questioning whether just or unjust Sententia Pastoris sive injusta timenda and according to some tenenda I can easily be perswaded to believe that Papists do understand the true Scope and meaning of that Text and Chapter viz. Isay 60.12 as well as we but I cannot be so easily perswaded that they who draw such wrong Conclusions out of such right Premisses do believe themselves I doubt they rather presume to out-wit us by their Subtilties and Sophistry then convince us by sound reason The whole Scope and purport of that Chapter is only to set forth the Glory of the Church in the abundant Access of the Gentiles and the great and glorious blessings that shall accrew unto them after a short assliction Now if by intendment of the Prophet the Pope is meant by the 12. Verse we shall have brave Popes indeed for then unto them also must necessarily belong all those other glorious Attributes Recorded in the same Chapter for they all are relatives tending and pointing unto one and the same thing and if they belong unto Signior Papa then by the rule of consequences is the glory of the Lord risen upon them and darkness shall cover the Earth and gross darkness the People but the Lord shall arise upon him and his glory shall be seen upon him v. 1 2. and the Gentiles shall come to his light and Kings to the brightness of his rising v. 3. And the Sons of Strangers shall build up his Walls and their Kings shall Minister unto him his Gates shall be open continually they shall noi be shut day nor night that men may bring unto him the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought and the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve him shall perish v. 10 11 12. And the Sons also of them that afflicted him shall come and bow unto him and all that despised him shall fall down at the Soles of his Feet to kiss his Feet and they shall call him not the Vicar of Christ but the City of the Lord the Sion of the Holy one of Israel not of Rome v. 14. And God will make him an eternal excellency not a Butcher of Kings and Saints but a joy of many Generations and he shall suck the Milk of the Gentiles and shall suck the Breasts of Kings c. and so to the end of the Chapter Now either all these glorious Consignments must belong peculiarly unto him or not any one of them as every one that hath learnt his Grammer can easily tell And he that is but little versed in Scripture can tell that they belong not to him but unto Christ What is this appropriating unto himself Attributes Divine less than to oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is Worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God 2 Thess 2.4 who I beseech you is more omnipotent Christ the eternal Head and Law-giver of his Body the Church or his Romish Vicar that claims to Interpret and dispence with God's own Laws at his pleasure I wonder if ever such Blasphemies shall be forgiven Now under these borrowed figurative Speeches the Prophet describes the Glory of the Church of the Gentiles and more especially of Christ the Head thereof and doth thereby denote Christ's Spiritual Worship and Service and not the least hint of any Temporal Dominion to be devolved on Nostro Signior Papa so the Texts are admirable and true in their own proper sense and meaning but the Application of them made by the Papists is erroneous nay devillish even from their Father the Devil This misapplication of Texts is the general vein of Fallacy that runs quite thro most Popish Interpreters descanting on Texts of Scripture Now Kings and Kingdoms serve the Church not in that she exerciseth any Temporal Dominion of her self but because God hath given and committed the Sceptre of his Word by which he Rules and Governs unto the Churches Care and Custody So the Homage of bowing and falling down at the Soles of his Feet are honors indeed but not due to the Pope but to their and our Head Christ blessed for ever who is worshipped in the Church not as Papists deem who think they Worship Christ when they kiss his Vicars Pantable with the Cross imbroidered upon it but when they serve and honor him by obeying his voice in the Ministery of his word so the Strangers and Gentiles should willingly submit themselves to yield obedience unto Christ whose Majesty shines in the Doctrine which himself Administers by the Service of men so by Milk and Breasts are meant the Service and Obedience the Gentiles should render unto the Church to nourish her off-spring so all these sigurative expressions must be referred to the Spiritual Estate of the Church that God may be purely worshipped in her that the Ministery of the word may be advanced by all the Sons of the Church unto which the Pope is as much obliged as the meanest of his Vassals by all which it is apparent that there is not one Jota of that Text giving the least Temporal Power to the Pope over Kings and Princes In this saith St. Austin Kings serve God if in their Kingdoms they command that which is good and prohibit that which is evil not in Temporal affairs only but in matters of Religion also Cont. Cresc Lib. 3. c. 5.1 And again Ep. 48. Kings serve Christ in making Laws for Christ so that commanding the People to reverence the word and obey God and the making of strict Laws to keep men in the Faith and Church of Christ that is the true service which Princes owe to Christ and his Sion his Church and which Papists deny them to meddle withall and endeavor to prove that Popes only are Rulers of the Church out of Acts 20.28 take heed therefore unto your selves and unto all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God And out of Hebr. 13.7.17 Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow
obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls c. Not considering that the word Rulers in St. Paul's dialect doth signifie Feeders and Leaders which be the two signs and duties of good Shepards And yet we do not deny but that the Messengers and dispencers of God's Mysteries by Preaching the word Administring the Sacraments and Rights useing the Keys have their Internal and Spiritual Regiment over the Souls as well of Princes as of others But be it that St. Paul saith so altho in truth there 's a great disserence between posuit vos Episcopos and posuit Episcopos between he hath made you Overseers and hath made Overseers And what are these Overseers or Bishops commissionated to do Nothing but to feed the Flock of Christ But be it as they would have it yet nothing can possibly be concluded out of this place that the Pope is above Princes or above the Church any otherwise than any other Bishop is which position is Heresie at Rome But from hence we may conclude that all Bishops have their Authority immediately from God which happily will be as little acceptable at Rome as the other § That place also of Hebr. 13.17 is not meant of the Pope in special but of Bishops in General yea and of all Pastors and Curates also so that it makes nothing for the Pope in particular so far forth as those that are set over our Souls and do truly watch for the good of our Souls by speaking unto us the word of God so far we are to submit to both Pope and Presbyter but no manner of colour to conclude from hence the Pope to be above all Temporal Princes The word here also signifies Leaders as well as Rulers and is to be understood so here for it follows v. 7. Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their Conversation If we must mark and imitate them then surely they must be Leaders to direct us and not Rulers to Tyrannize over us But whether the word signifies Leaders or Rulers it advantages the Pope and Cardinals nâ—â—hing at all for that they are not thereby meant but all that be Christians and Godly Preachers And the obedience here required is no Corporal subjection to their persons but an inward likeing and embracing of their Doctrine And whom they call Rulers here St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.5 maketh Servants we Preach not our selves but Christ Jesus to be Lord and our selves your Servants And 2 Cor. 1.24 Not that we have Dominion or Rule over your Faith but we are helpers of your Joy And Christ's charge was Mark 10.42 43. and Luke 22.25 The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them but so it shall not be among you c. And Christ himself was amongst them as he that doth serve Their very function then is to Serve not to Rule their Brethren to feed not to domineer or Tyrannize over the Flock of Christ say or write what or who can or will they will hold the conclusion with Bellarmine that the Pope as Supream Prince Spiritual may change Kingdoms take them from one and give them to another when he shall think it necessary for the Salvation of Souls § Should I dig and rake deeper into the Sink and Pit of Romish rubbish and Errors I should but find it bottomless full of Lyes and Errors backt with Impudency and Obstinacy maugre all that can be said against them and therefore will draw towards an end and conclude from what hath been already written and from what sollows viz. That the Popes of Rome together with their Principles and Doctrines Practices and Trinckets Dâ— Row Pâ—nt Lib. 5. â— 6.7 8 John 8.44 are the silthy spawn and product of their Father the Devil and the Lusts of their Father the Devil they do He was a Murderer from the beginning and so are they both in Practices Principles and Doctrines witness the Inquisition the Popes Slaughter-house their being often drunk with the blood of Saints not sparing Kings nor Emperors no nor yet men more righteous than themselves and that by Mariana his quacunque arte which could proceed from no one that was not Spirited by the Devil and abode not in the truth because there was no truth in him no more have they John 8.24 having erred from the Faith first delivered to the Saints and forsaken the right way and gone astray witness their whole Scheme of false Doctrines their Twelve new Articles of Faith and other false Doctrines of that packt Conventicle at Trent and those Twelve Blasphemous Articles of Jo. Baptista * Mat the end of the book Poza a Spanish Jesuit his Creed and the New-Politick-Gospel-Light of Cardinal Palavicini in his History of the Council of Trent Collected by one of their own Communion their Jesuits Morals c. when he speaketh a Lye he speaketh of his own he is a Lyar and the Father of it Rome a la mode they are his spawn and Children and do his works witness their cheating Auricular Confession foolishly called Sacramental there being nothing of a Sacrament in it the Pick-lock of all the secret Councils of all the Kingdoms of the World holding out that Regicides and the greatest sinners of the World shall go plum to Heaven if but Confest and Absolved tho but in Articulo Mortis by their Priests their own Complices and Confederates in the same Crimes witness also their lying Legends their * Vile Mr. 〈…〉 Forgeries Forgeries their false cheating Miracles their coyning contrary Creeds in the dayes of Constantine and Constantius their raking out the Bowels and intrails of Old Authors Fathers and Councils their Doctrines of Equivocation of Infallibility and Probability their Clementines Extravagants and Decretals for if they were of God they would hear his Word and therefore they hear them not because they are not of God v. 47. for it is impossible that such monstrous horrid Principles and Doctrines such abominable impostures should proceed from any other Spirits but from the Spirits of unclean Devils Lâ—ke 4.33 for had they been born of God his Seed would have remained in them which would have preserved them from those Legions of Diabolical Principles and Practices they now stand indicted and are found guilty of To these great truths bears farther Testimony their own hand writing of Ordinances against themselves even their own Authors and Councils Witness not only their allowance for Fornication non obstante Gods own command to abstain from Fornication 1 Thesâ— 4.3 Acts 15.21 Ch. 21.4.25 nay not only barely to abstain but to Flee from it â— Cor. 6.8 non obsbante the Apostle imputed it as a great sin to the Corinthians that there was Fornication amongst them 1 Cor. 1.5 and non obstante it be expresly declared by the Apostles that the Body was not for Fornication 1 Cor. 6.18 but for the
Faith the same Doctrines and Worship and the providence of God having called and sixed them here as if to this great work of Preaching the Gospel designed their Mouths cannot justly be stopt but upon some politick Accounts and reasons of State only Prudence not Conscience is then to be the guide of Councils For Example If a Presbyter hath swallowed a solemn League and Covenant so solemnly that he cannot nor will not renounce it what should the Government do Indulge those that will not protect that It portends a dangerous Reserve a sower Leaven Tinder in the Bosom apt to take sire apt to relapse into the same prodigious mischiefs Is it not much more agreeable to sound reason that the Royal Son should pare the Nails of those that cannot disgorge themselves of that fatal Covenant which introduced those Premises which yielded that sanguinary Conclusion which made the Father a Glorious King by bringing of him to the Block Conscience of factious Priests or of Covenanters in such cases is not adust in any measure Adaequate in the Ballance against the safety peace and quiet of Crowns and Kingdoms for that we have no Lydius lapis no infallible touch-stone to discover whether Consciences are truly weak or only pretended to be so the searcher of hearts only knows that insallibly And if pretence may be a just excuse to warrant disobedience unto established Sanctions Laws would then be no Laws at all for he that would might and he that would not might choose whether he would obey or no for that no Man can distinguish between real and pretended Scrupulosities That some should be indulged and others not ought to be no cause of complaint neither for that every thing is n t convenient for every Body nor for every Sect and State the same Legislators that have power to Indulge some may by the same right forbid others and indeed make any Laws convenient For the Common-wealth ought to be always kept in a quiet and peaceable temper even ad pondus if possible enough This only by way of Hint and Caution that there be great waryness and circumspection in granting and denying Indulgences If Priests otherwise Orthodox and worthy be silenced for such or the like reasons this ariseth not from the discipline of the Church nor from the Nature of Lyturgies but from the Government of the State What Must there then be no relief for scrupulous and tender Consciences that cannot renounce Covenants or comply with Innocent Ceremonies and Commands yes if they are truly so and do not enter-sere with the Established Government of Church and State 1. Consciences really and truly Scrupulous and tender if they break not out into overt act are not within the Magistrates Province but if rashly without consideration of obtaining or foresight of peril or perturbation of the Church or State they will adventure to take Solemn Leagues and Covenants to introduce a separate Mode or Government in Church or State contrary to that already established by the Magistrate then they most properly come within his verge and cognizance 2. Consciences ought generally not to be forced nay cannot whilst they are in their proper circle but are to be gained and reduced by dint of Argument and force of Truth by moderate connivence and by the use of good Instruction and perswasion 3. Consciences when they rove and become excentrick moving beyond their proper circle and bounds and being out of their proper Sphear tend and prove to be matter of Faction loose their proper Nature and forfeit their just Priviledges and Prerogatives then and not till then the civil Magistrate may take notice and justly restrain or punish their undue practises and contempts if such though guilded most speciously with pretences of Conscience and Religion § As happily their opinion is not so infallibly orthodox who affirm that all Church Discipline and Reformation must be after one Platform and that they which will perfectly reform must bring and reduce the form unto the State which it was at in the days of the Apostles A thing in the opinion of Judicious Hooker neither possible nor certain nor yet absolutely convenient For that which was used in their dayes the Scripture he saith doth not fully declare so that making those times the Rule and Canon of Church Government they make a Rule which not being possible to be fully known is as impossible to be fully kept so happily their opinion is as little Orthodox and as little convenient who deem it no good policy to alter or innovate any thing in Church affairs or to endeavour to reduce it to that State wherein it stood in the dayes of the Apostles the one opinion conducing to bring Reformation to Anullity the other to an Impossibility In elder times soon after the dayes of the Apostles and more especially after Constantines dayes there were imperfections no doubt and warpings from the Apostolical Rules and practises and happily in some things greater than in the present Antiquity therefore ought not so to be revered and adored as that something in these latter Ages may not be reputed better and more convenient there being no necessity that the same publick things should be always ordered in one and the self same manner but as times have mutations so it may be sit to alter or change the Government of Church or State It is possible that the Antient manner of Governing may not be profitable except the Antient state of the Church do return also But if Antiquity must be so revered as not to admit of the least Innovation then without all peradventure that Government which Christ and his Apostles instituted and lest unto his Church must necessarily be the most Antient and have the fairest pretence unto Jus divinum for its justification and then for those very reasons ought to remain unto this very day unalterable and all other Modes and Forms can be but Prudential only and at the discretion of the Church rightly so called And there can be no doubt but that Christ left such a Government to his Church as might be exercised in any Kingdom Christian or other without enterfering or clashing with the Civil Government of any Nation or Kingdom wheresoever the Apostles and their Successors in all Ages and Countries should preach the Gospel and gather Churches And that the self-same Government is plainly set down in the new Testament and that it was instituted by the Apostles and that the Antient Fathers after their example did prosecute the same for about 250 years after Christ with great success and increase of Converts unto Christianity And such Government being practicable then notwithstanding the great enmity that all Nations and Governments had even unto Christianity it self there can be no doubt and no reason can evince but it may be as practicable now which is the opinion of very many and those not Phanaticks And then Independents will have very fair and antient Records to shew for their Congregational way if