especially concerneth our selues in the present matter we treate of is the state of reformed religion a thing at her comming to the Crowne euen raised as it were by miracle from the dead a thing which we so little hoped to see that euen they which behelde it done scarcely belieued their own senses at the first beholding Yet being then brought to passe thus many years it hath continued standing by no other worldly meane but that one only hand which erected it that hand which as no kinde of imminent daunger could cause at the first to withholde it selfe so neyther haue the practises so many so bloudie following since beene euer able to make wearie Nor can we say in this case so iustly that Aaron and Hur the Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill states haue sustained the hand which did lift it selfe to heauen for them as that heauen it selfe hath by this hand sustained them no ayde or helpe hauing thereunto bene ministred for performance of the worke of reformation other then such kind of helpe or ayde as the Angell in the Prophet Zacharie speaketh of saying Neither by an armie nor strength but by my spirit saith the Lord of Hostes. Which grace and fauour of diuine assistance hauing not in one thing or two shewed it self nor for some few daies or yeares appeared but in such sort so long continued our manifold sinnes transgressions striuing to the contrarie what can we lesse thereupon conclude then that God would at leastwise by tract of time teach the world that the thing which he blesseth defendeth keepeth so strangely cannot choose but be of him Wherefore if any refuse to beleeue vs disputing for the veritie of religion established let them beleeue God himselfe thus miraculouslie working for it and wish life euen for euer and euer vnto that glorious and sacred instrument whereby he worketh FINIS An Aduertisement to the Reader I Haue for some causes gentle Reader thought it at this time more fit to let goe these first foure Bookes by themselues then to stay both them and the rest til the whole might together be published Such generalities of the cause in question as here are handled it will be perhaps not amisse to consider apart as by way of introduction vnto the bookes that are to follow concerning particulars In the meane while thine helping hand must be craued for the amendment of such faultes committed in printing as omitting others of lesse moment I haue set downe Pag. line Fault Correction Pag. line Fault Correction 25 37 be ordained he ordained 138 19 still stay 31 23 if any of any 139 19 It is for nothing It is not for nothing 51 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 157 33 wash waste 55 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 162 32 pretious should pretious body should 64 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 180 43 meerenes neerenes 66 19 manifest reason manifest law of reasoÌ„ 183 39 vrine vaine 83 12 or that of that 184 ma. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 87 24 ase such are such 185 18 do I doubt not presume do I doubt not presume 91 44 holy worke holy word 186 mar sticke strike 130 38 seuerally seueraltie 202 3 worde world The cause and occasion of handling these things and what might be wished in them for whose sakes so much paine is taken Ia. 2.1 The first establishment of new discipline by M. Caluins industry in the Church of Geneua and the beginning of strife about it amongst our selues Epist. Cal. 24. Luc. 20.17 An. D 1541. Ep. 166. Quod eam vrbem videret omnino his frenis indigere By what meanes so many of the people are trained into the liking of that discipline 1. Cor. 10 13. 1. Cor. 1â— 13 Luc. 12.56 57. Act 17.11 Rom. 14.5 Galen de opt docen geâ— Mal 2.7 Greg. Naz. orat qua se â—â—cusat Matth. 15.14 Mal. 2.9 Iud ver 10 2. Pet. 2.12 Cal. instit li. 4. cap. 20. Sect. 8 The author of the petition directed to her Maiestie p. 3. Arist. Metaph. lib. 1. cap. 5. â— Ioh. â— â— 2. Thes. 2.11 2. Tim. 3.6 1. Iohn 4.6 1. Cor. â— 27 Act. 26.24 Sap. 5.4 VVe fooleâ— thought his life madnes Mâ—rc Tris. ad Asculap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Lactant. de â—ustâ—t lib. â— cap. 16 August Epâ—st 50. VVhat hath câ—used so many of the lâ—arneâ—er sort to approue the same disciplinâ— T.C. lib. 1. p. 97 Euseb. 3. lib. 32 Lib. Strom. somewhat after the beginning Lib. 7. c. 11. Phil. 4 1â— a 〈…〉 ceremoniis atque fâ—niâ— tantum sanctitatis tribuere coÌ„sueuit quantum adstruxerit vetustatis Arno. p. 746. b Rom. 16.16 2. Cor 13.12 1. Thes. 5.25 1. Pet. 5.14 In their meetings to serue God their maner was in the end to salute one an other with a kisse vsing these words Peace be with you For which cause Tertull. doth call it sigâ—aculum orationis the seale of prayer lib. dâ— Orat. c Epist. Iud. vers 12. Concerning which feasts 5. Chrysost sâ—ith Statiâ— diebus mesas faciebant communeâ— peractâ— synaxi post sacramentorum coÌ„munionem inibaÌ„t conuiuium diuitiâ—us quidemcibos affereÌ„ribus pau peribus auâ—em quâ— niâ—il habebant etiam vocatiâ— in 1. Cor. 11. hom 27. Of the same feasts in like sort Tertull. Coena nostra de nâ—mine rationsui oftendit Vocatur enâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—d quod est penes Graecos dâ—lectio Quantis cunq sumptibusconsteâ— lucrum est â—etatis nomine faâ—ere sumptum Apolog. c. 39. Galen Clas 2. lib. de cuiosque anim peccat notitia atque medela Petit. to the Q M.P. 14. Eccles. 10.1 Their calling for triall by disputation No end of contention without submission of both parts vnto some definitiue sentence Rom. â— 17 Deut. 17.8 Act 15. â—res tract 〈◊〉 excom presbyt Math. 23 2â— T.C. li. â— p. 17 The matter contained in these eight bookes How iust cause there is to feare the manifold dangerous euents likely to ensue vpon this intended reformation if it did take place 1. Pet. 2.2 Psal. 55.13 Pref. against D. Baner Matth. 23.3 Sap. 6.24 Eccl. 16.29 Humb. Motion to the L L. p. 50. Act. 19.19 Mumb. Mâ—t. p. 74. Counterp p. 108. Matth. 1â— 1â— Guy de Brés contre l'errent des Anabapa tistes p. 4. p. 5. p. 16. p. 1.8.119 120. p. 116. p. 124. Luc. 6.12 p. 117. p. 40. Ier. 31.34 p. 29. p. 27. 2. Tim. 3.7 p. 65 6â— p. 135. P. 25. P. 71. 124. p. 764. p. 748. p. 112. p. 518. p. 722. p. 726. p. 6â—8 p. 38. p. 122. P. 841. p. 8â—3 p. 849. p. 40. Laâ—ant de Iustit lib. 5. Cap. 19. p. 6. p. 4.20 p. 5â— p. 6 7. 7. p. 17. p. 6. P. 41. Matt. 5.5 Exod. 11.2 Matt. in his â— libel p. 28. Demonstr in the praef The conclusion of all Iob. 39.37 Greg. Naâ— in Apol. The cause of
not loosely through silence permitted thinges to passe away as in a dreame there shall be for mens information extant thus much concerning the present state of the Church of God established amongst vs and their carefull endeuour which would haue vpheld the same At your hands beloued in our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ for in him the loue which we beare vnto all that would but seeme to be borne of him it is not the sea of your gall and bitternes that shall euer drowne I haue no great cause to looke for other then the selfesame portion lot which your maner hath bene hitherto to lay on them that concur not in opinion and sentence with you But our hope is that the God of peace shal notwithstanding mans nature too impatient of contumelious maledictiō inable vs quietly and euē gladly to suffer al things for that worke sake which we couet to perform The wonderful zeale and feruour wherewith ye haue withstood the receiued orders of this Church was the first thing which caused me to enter into consideration whether as all your published bookes and writings peremptorily maintain euery Christian man fearing God stand bound to ioyne with you for the furtherance of that which ye tearme the Lords Discipline Wherin I must plainly confesse vnto you that before I examined your sundrie declarations in that behalfe it could not settle in my head to thinke but that vndoubtedly such nūbers of otherwise right wel affected most religiously enclined minds had some maruellous reasonable inducementes which led thē with so great earnestnes that way But when once as near as my slender abilitie would serue I had with trauell care performed that part of the Apostles aduise counsel in such cases whereby he willeth to try al things and was come at the length so far that there remained onely the other clause to be satisfied wherein he concludeth that what good is must bee held there was in my poore vnderstanding no remedie but to set downe this as my finall resolute perswasion Surely the present forme of Church gouernment which the lawes of this land haue established is such as no lawe of God nor reason of man hath hitherto bene alleaged of force sufficient to proue they do ill who to the vttermost of their power withstand the alteration thereof Contrariwise The other which instead of it we are required to accept is only by error misconceipt named the ordinance of Iesus Christ no one proofe as yet brought forth whereby it may clearely appeare to be so in very deede The explication of which two thinges I haue here thought good to offer into your owne hands hartily beseeching you euen by the meeknesse of Iesus Christ whome I trust ye loue that as ye tender the peace and quietnesse of this Church if there bee in you that gracious humilitie which hath euer bene the crowne and glory of a christianly disposed minde if your owne soules hearts and consciences the sound integritie whereof can but hardly stand with the refusall of truth in personall respects be as I doubt not but they are things most deare and precious vnto you Let not the faith which ye haue in our Lord Iesus Christ be blemished with partialities regard not who it is which speaketh but waigh onely what is spoken Thinke not that ye reade the wordes of one who bendeth himselfe as an aduersary against the truth which ye haue alreadie embraced but the words of one who desireth euen to embrace together with you the selfe same truth if it be the truth and for that cause for no other God hee knoweth hath vndertaken the burthensome labour of this painefull kinde of conference For the plainer accesse whereunto let it bee lawfull for mee to rip vp to the very bottome how and by whom your Discipline was planted at such time as this age wee liue in began to make first triall thereof 2. A founder it had whome for mine owne part I thinke incomparably the wisest man that euer the french Church did enioy since the houre it enioyed him His bringing vp was in the studie of the Ciuill Lawe Diuine knowledge he gathered not by hearing or reading so much as by teaching others For though thousands were debters to him as touching knowledge in that kinde yet he to none but onely to God the author of that most blessed fountaine the booke of life and of the admirable dexteritie of wit together with the helpes of other learning which were his guides till being occasioned to leaue Fraunce he fell at the length vpon Geneua Which Citie the Bishop and Cleargie thereof had a little before as some doe affirme forsaken being of likelihood frighted with the peoples sudden attempt for abolishment of popish religiō the euent of which enterprise they thought it not safe for themselues to wait for in that place At the comming of Caluin thither the forme of their ciuill regiment was popular as it continueth at this day neither King nor Duke nor Noble man of any authoritie or power ouer them but officers chosen by the people yearely out of themselues to order all things with publique consent For spirituall gouernment they had no lawes at all agreed vpon but did what the pastors of their soules by perswasion could win them vnto Caluin being admitted one of their Preachers a diuinitie Reader amongst them considered how dangerous it was that the whole estate of that Church should hang stil on so slender a thred as the liking of an ignorant multitude is if it haue power to change whatsoeuer it selfe listeth Wherefore taking vnto him two of the other ministers for more countenance of the action albeit the rest were all against it they moued and in the end perswaded with much adoe the people to bind themselues by solemne oath first neuer to admit the Papacie amongst them againe and secondly to liue in obedience vnto such orders concerning the exercise of their religion and the forme of their ecclesiasticall gouernment as those their true and faithfull Ministers of Gods word had agreeablie to Scripture set downe for that end and purpose When these thinges began to bee put in vre the people also what causes mouing them thereunto themselues best know began to repent them of that they had done and irefully to champe vpon the bit they had taken into their mouthes the rather for that they grew by meanes of this innouation into dislike with some Churches neare about them the benefite of whose good friendship their state could not well lacke It was the manner of those times whether through mens desire to enioy alone the glory of their owne enterprises or else because the quicknesse of their occasions required present dispatch so it was that euery particular Church did that within it selfe which some fewe of their owne thought good by whome the rest were all directed Such nūber of Churches thē being though free within themselues yet smal commō conference before hand
that maketh them which way soeuer they take diligent in drawing their husbands children seruants friends and allies the same way apter through that naturall inclination vnto pity which breedeth in them a greater readines then in men to be bountifull towards their Preachers who suffer want apter through sundry opportunities which they especially haue to procure encouragements for their brethren finally apter through a singular delight which they take in giuing very large and particular intelligence how all neere about them stand affected as coÌ„cerning the same cause But be they women or be they men if once they haue tasted of that cup let any man of contrary opinion open his mouth to perswade them they close vp their eares his reasons they waigh not all is answered with rehearsall of the words of Iohn We are of God he that knoweth God heareth vs as for the rest ye are of the world for this worlds pompe vanity it is that ye speake and the world whose ye are heareth you Which cloake sitteth no lesse fit on the backe of their cause then of the Anabaptists when the dignitie authority and honour of Gods Magistrate is vpheld against them Shew these egerly affected men their inhabilitie to iudge of such matters their answer is God hath chosen the simple Conuince them of folly and that so plainely that very children vpbraid them with it they haue their bucklers of like defence Christs owne Apostle was accompted mad The best men euermore by the sentence of the world haue bene iudged to be out of their right minds When instruction doth them no good let them feele but the least degree of most mercifully tempered seueritie they fasten on the head of the Lords vicegerents here on earth whatsoeuer they any where find vttered against the cruelty of bloud-thirstie men and to themselues they draw all the sentences which Scripture hath in the fauour of innocencie persecuted for the truth yea they are of their due and deserued sufferings no lesse prowd then those ancient disturbers to whom S. Augustine writeth saying Martyrs rightly so named are they not which suffer for their disorder and for the vngodly breach they haue made of Christian vnitie but which for righteousnes sake are persecuted For Agar also suffered persecution at the hands of Sara wherein she which did impose was holy and she vnrighteous which did beare the buâ—then In like sort with theeues was the Lord himselfe crucified but they who were matcht in the paine which they suffered were in the cause of their sufferings disioyned If that must needs be the true Church which doth endure persecution and not that which persecuteth let them aske of the Apostle what Church Sara did represent when she held her maide in affliction For euen our mother which is free the heauenly Ierusalem that is to say the true Church of God was as he doth affirme prefigured in that very woman by whom the bondmaide was so sharply handled Although if all things be throughly skanned she did in truth more persecute Sara by prowd resistance then Sara hir by seueritie of punishment These are the pathes wherein ye haue walked that are of the ordinary sort of men these are the very steps ye haue troden and the manifest degrees whereby ye are of your guides and directors trained vp in that schoole a custome of inuring your cares with reproofe of faults especially in your gouernors an vse to attribute those faults to the kind of spirituall regiment vnder which ye liue boldnesse in warranting the force of their discipline for the cure of all such euils a slight of framing your conceipts to imagine that Scripture euery where fauoureth that discipline perswasion that the cause why ye find it in Scripture is the illumination of the spirit that the same spirit is a seale vnto you of your neernes vnto God that ye are by all meanes to nourish and witnesse it in your selues and to strengthen on euery side your minds against whatsoeuer might be of force to withdraw you from it 4. Wherefore to come vnto you whose iudgement is a lanterne of direction for all the rest you that frame thus the peoples hearts not altogether as I willingly perswade my selfe of a politique intent or purpose but your selues being first ouerborne with the waight of greater mens iudgements on your shoulders is laid the burthen of vpholding the cause by argument For which purpose sentences out of the word of God ye alleage diuerse but so that when the same are discust thus it alwayes in a manner falleth cut that what things by vertue thereof ye vrge vpon vs as altogether necessarie are found to be thence collected onely by poore and maruelous slight coniectures I need not giue instance in any one sentence so alleaged for that I thinke the instance in any alleaged otherwise a thing not easie to be giuen A verie strange thing sure it were that such a discipline as ye speake of should be taught by Christ and his Apostles in the word of God and no Church euer haue found it out nor receiued it till this present time contrariwise the gouernmeÌ„t against which ye beÌ„d your selues be obserued euery where throughout all generations and ages of the Christian world no Church euer perceiuing the word of God to bee against it Wee require you to finde out but one Church vpon the face of the whole earth that hath bene ordered by your discipline or hath not bene ordered by ours that is to say by episcopall regiment sithence the time that the blessed Apostles were here conuersant Many things out of antiquitie ye bring as if the purest times of the Church had obserued the selfesame orders which you require and as though your desire were that the Churches of olde should be paternes for vs to follow and euen glasses wherin we might see the practise of that which by you is gathered out of scripture But the truth is ye meane nothing lesse All this is done for fashions sake onely for ye complaine of it as of an iniury that meÌ„ should be willed to seeke for examples and paternes of gouernment in any of those times that haue bene before Ye plainly hold that froÌ„ the very Apostles times till this present age wherein your selues imagine ye haue found out a right patern of sound discipline there neuer was any time safe to be followed Which thing ye thus endeuour to proue Out of Egesippus ye say that Eusebius writeth how although as long as the Apostles liued the Church did remaine a pure virgin yet after the death of the Apostles and after they were once gone whom God vouchsafed to make hearers of the diuine wisedome with their owne eares the placing of wicked error began to come into the Church Clement also in a certaine place to confirme that there was corruption of doctrine immediately after the Apostles times alleageth the prouerb that There are few sonnes like their fathers Socrates
ye are not to claime in any such cōferēce other thē the plaintifs or opponents part which must cōsist altogether in proofe cōfirmation of two things the one that our orders by you condēned we ought to abolish the other that yours we are bound to accept in the stead therof Secōdly because the questions in cōtrouersie between vs are many if once we descend vnto particularities that for the easier more orderly proceeding therin the most generall be first discussed nor any questiō left off nor in each questiō the prosecutiō of any one argumēt giuē ouer another takē in hād til the issue wherunto by replies answers both parts are come be collected red acknowledged aswel on the one side as on the other to be the plain cōclusiō which they are grown vnto Thirdly for auoyding of the manifold incōueniēces wherunto ordinary extēporal disputes are subiect as also because if ye should singly dispute one by one as euery mans owne wit did best serue it might be cōceiued by the rest that happily some other would haue done more the chiefest of you do all agree in this action that whom ye shal then choose your speaker by him that which is publikely brought into disputation be acknowledged by al your cōsēts not to be his allegatiō but yours such as ye all are agreed vpō haue required him to deliuer in al your names the true copy whereof being taken by a notarie that a reasonable time be allowed for returne of answere vnto you in the like forme Fourthly whereas a number of conferences haue bene had in other causes with the lesse effectual successe by reason of partiall vntrue reports published afterwards vnto the world that to preuent this euill there be at the first a solemne declaration made on both parts of their agreement to haue that very booke no other set abroad wherin their present authorized notaries do write those things fully only which being written there read are by their owne opē testimony acknowledged to be their owne Other circumstances hereunto belōging whether for the choice of time place and language or for preuention of impertinent and needlesse speech or to any end and purpose else they may be thought on whē occasiō serueth In this sort to broach my priuate conceipt for the ordering of a publike actiō I should be loth albeit I do it not otherwise thē vnder correctiō of thē whose grauitie wisedome ought in such cases to ouerrule but that so venterous boldnes I see is a thing now general am therby of good hope that where al mē are licensed to offēd no man will shew himself a sharp accuser 6. What successe God may giue vnto any such kind of conference or disputation we cannot tell But of this we are right sure that nature scripture and experience it selfe haue all taught the world to seeke for the ending of contentions by submitting it self vnto some iudiciall definitiue sentence wherevnto neither part that cōtendeth may vnder any pretence or colour refuse to stand This must needs be effectuall and strong As for other meanes without this they seldome preuaile J would therefore know whether for the ending of these irksome strifes wherein you and your followers do stand thus formally deuided against the authorized guides of this Church the rest of the people subiect vnto their charge whether I say ye be content to referre your cause to any other higher iudgement then your owne or else intend to persist proceed as ye haue begun til your selues can be perswaded to cōdemn your selues If your determinatiō be this we can be but sorie that ye should deserue to be reckened with such of whom God himselfe pronounceth The way of peace they haue not knowne Waies of peaceable conclusion there are but these two certaine the one a sentence of iudiciall decision giuen by authoritie therto appointed within our selues the other the like kind of sentence giuen by a more vniuersall authoritie The former of which two waies God himselfe in the lawe prescribeth and his Spirit it was which directed the very first Christian Churches in the world to vse the later The ordinance of God in the lawe was this If there arise a matter too hard for thee in iudgement betweene bloud bloud betweene plea c. then shalt thou arise and goe vp vnto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose and thou shalt come vnto the Priests of the Leuites and vnto the Iudge that shall be in those dayes and aske and they shal shew thee the sentence of iudgement thou shalt do according to that thing which they of that place which the Lord hath chosen shewe thee and thou shalt obserue to do according to al that they enform thee according to the law which they shall teach thee and according to the iudgemēt which they shal tell thee shalt thou do thou shalt not decline from the thing which they shal shew thee to the right hand nor to the left And that man that will do presumptuously not harkning vnto the Priest that standeth before the Lord thy God to minister there or vnto the Iudge that man shal dye and thou shalt take away euill from Israel When there grew in the Church of Christ a question Whether the Gentiles belieuing might be saued although they were not circumcised after the manner of Moses nor did obserue the rest of those legall rites ceremonies wherunto the Iewes were bound After great dissension and disputation about it their conclusion in the end was to haue it determined by sentence at Ierusalem which was accordingly done in a Councell there assembled for the same purpose Are ye able to alleage any iust and sufficient cause wherfore absolutely ye should not condescend in this controuersie to haue your iudgements ouerruled by some such definitiue sentence whether it fall out to be giuen with or against you that so these tedious contentions may cease Ye will perhaps make answere that being perswaded already as touching the truth of your cause ye are not to harken vnto any sentence no not though Angels should define otherwise as the blessed Apostles owne example teacheth againe that men yea Councels may erre and that vnlesse the iudgement giuen do satisfie your minds vnlesse it be such as ye can by no further argumēt oppugne in a word vnlesse you perceiue and acknowledge it your selues consonant with Gods word to stand vnto it not allowing it were to sinne against your own cōsciences But cōsider I beseech you first as touching the Apostle how that wherein he was so resolute peremptory our Lord Iesus Christ made manifest vnto him euen by intuitive reuelation wherein there was no possibilitie of error That which you are perswaded of ye haue it no otherwise then by your owne only probable collectiō therefore such bold asseuerations as in him were admirable should in your mouthes but argue
vnto their owne lawes the very publique seruice of God is fraught as touching matter with heapes of intollerable pollutions and as concerning forme borrowed from the shoppe of Antichrist hatefull both waies in the eyes of the most holy the kinde of their gouernment by Bishops and Archbishops Antichristian that discipline which Christ hath essentially tyed that is to say so vnited vnto his Church that wee cannot accompt it really to be his Church which hath not in it the same discipline that verie discipline no lesse there despised then in the highest throne of Antichrist all such partes of the word of God as doe any way concerne that Discipline no lesse vnsoundlie taught and interpreted by all authorized English Pastors then by Antichrists factors themselues at Baptisme crossing at the Supper of the Lord kneeling at both a number of other the most notorious badges of Antichristian recognisance vsuall Being moued with these and the like your effectuall discourses whereunto we gaue most attentiue eare till they entred euen into our soules and were as fire within our bosomes we thought we might hereof be bold to conclude that sith no such Antichristian synagogue may be accompted a true Church of Christ ye by accusing all congregations ordered according to the lawes of England as Antichristian did meane to condemne those congregations as not being any of them worthy the name of a true Christian Church Ye tell vs now it is not your meaning But what meant your often threatnings of them who professing thēselues the inhabitants of mount Sion were too loth to depart wholly as they should out of Babylon Whereat our hearts being fearefully troubled we durst not we durst not continue longer so neere her confines least her plagues might suddenly ouertake vs before we did cease to be partakers with her sinnes for so we could not choose but acknowledge with griefe that we were when they doing euill we by our presence in their assemblies seemed to like thereof or at least wise not so earnestly to dislike as became men heartily zealous of Gods glory For aduenturing to erect the discipline of Christ without the leaue of the Christian Magistrate happily ye may condemne vs as fooles in that we hazard thereby our estates and persons further then you which are that way more wise thinke necessary but of any offence or sinne therein committed against God with what conscience can you accuse vs when your owne positions are that the things we obserue should euery of them be dearer vnto vs then ten thousand liues that they are the peremptory commaundements of God that no mortall man can dispence with them and that the Magistrate grieuously sinneth in not constraining thereunto Will ye blame any man for doing that of his owne accord which all men should be compelled to do that are not willing of themselues When God commandeth shall we answer that we will obey if so be Caesar will graunt vs leaue Is discipline an Ecclesiasticall matter or a Ciuill If an Ecclesiasticall it must of necessitie belong to the duty of the Minister And the Minister ye say holdeth all his authority of doing whatsoeuer belongeth vnto the spirituall charge of the house of God euen immediatly from God himselfe without dependency vpon any Magistrate Whereupon it followeth as we suppose that the hearts of the people being willing to be vnder the Scepter of Christ the Minister of God into whose hands the Lord himselfe hath put that Scepter is without all excuse if thereby he guide them not Nor do we finde that hitherto greatly ye haue disliked those Churches abroad where the people with direction of their godly ministers haue euen against the will of the Magistrate brought in either the doctrine or discipline of Iesus Christ. For which cause we must now thinke the very same thing of you which our Sauiour did sometime vtter concerning false harted Scribes and Pharises They say and do not Thus the foolish Barrowist deriueth his schisme by way of conclusion as to him it seemeth directly and plainely out of your principles Him therefore we leaue to be satisfied by you from whom he hath sprung And if such by your owne acknowledgement be persons dangerous although as yet the alterations which they haue made are of small and tender groath the changes likely to insue throughout all states and vocations within this land in case your desire should take place must be thought vpon First concerning the supreme power of the highest they are no small prerogatiues which now thereunto belonging the forme of your discipline will constraine it to resigne as in the last booke of this treatise we haue shewed at large Againe it may iustly be feared whether our English Nobility when the matter came in tryall would contentedly suffer themselues to be alwayes at the call and to stand to the sentence of a number of meane persons assisted with the presence of their poore teacher a man as sometimes it hapneth though better able to speake yet little or no whit apter to iudge then the rest from whom be their dealings neuer so absurd vnlesse it be by way of cōplaint to a Synod no appeale may be made vnto any one of higher power in as much as the order of your discipline admitteth no standing inequalitie of Courts no spirituall iudge to haue any ordinary superiour on earth but as many supremacies as there are parishes seuerall Congregations Neither is it altogether without cause that so many do feare the ouerthrow of all learning as a threatned sequell of this your intended discipline For if the worlds preseruation depend vpon the multitude of the wise and of that sort the number hereafter be not likely to waxe ouer great when that where with the sonne of Syrach professeth himselfe at the heart grieued men of vnderstanding are already so little set by howe should their mindes whom the loue of so pretious a iewell filleth with secret iealousie euen in regard of the least things which may any way hinder the flourishing estate thereof choose but misdoubt least this discipline which alwayes you match with diuine doctrine as hir naturall and true sister be found vnto all kinds of knowledge a stepmother seeing that the greatest worldly hopes which are proposed vnto the chiefest kind of learning ye seeke vtterly to extirpate as weedes and haue grounded your platforme on such propositions as do after a sort vndermine those most renowmed habitations where through the goodnesse of almightie God all commendable arts and sciences are with exceeding great industrie hitherto and so may they euer continue studied proceeded in and profest To charge you as purposely bent to the ouerthrow of that wherein so many of you haue attained no small perfection were iniurious Only therfore I wish that your selues did well consider how opposite certaine your positions are vnto the state of Collegiate societies whereon the two Vniuersities consist Those degrees which their statutes bind them to take are
in that one to proue not onely that we may do but that we ought to do sundry things which the Scripture commaundeth not out of that verie booke these sentences are brought to make vs belieue that Tertullian was of a cleane contrary minde We cannot therefore hereupon yeeld we cannot graunt that hereby is made manifest the argument of Scripture negatiuely to be of force not only in doctrine and ecclesiasticall discipline but euen in matters arbitrary For Tertullian doth plainely hold euen in that booke that neither the matter which he intreateth of was arbitrary but necessarie in as much as the receaued custome of the Church did tye and bind them not to weare garlands as the Heathens did yea and further also he reckoneth vp particularly a number of things whereof he expresly concludeth Harum aliarum eiusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules scripturarum nullam inuenies which is as much as if he had sayd in expresse words Many things there are which concerne the discipline of the Church and the duties of men which to abrogate and take away the scriptures negatiuely vrged may not in any case perswade vs but they must be obserued yea although no scripture be found which requireth any such thing Tertullian therefore vndoubtedly doth not in this booke shew himselfe to be of the same mind with them by whom his name is pretended 6 But sith the sacred scriptures themselues affoord oftentimes such arguments as are taken from diuine authoritie both one way and other The Lord hath commaunded therefore it must be And againe in like sort He hath not therefore it must not be some certainty concerning this point seemeth requisite to be set downe God himselfe can neither possibly erre nor leade into error For this cause his testimonies whatsoeuer he affirmeth are alwaies truth and most infallible certainty Yea further because the things that proceed frō him are perfect without any manner of defect or maime it cannot be but that the words of his mouth are absolute lacke nothing which they should haue for performance of that thing whereunto they tend Wherupon it followeth that the end being knowne wherunto he directeth his speech the argumēt euen negatiuely is euermore strōg forcible cōcerning those things that are apparātly requisit vnto the same ende As for example God intending to set downe sundry times that which in Angels is most excellent hath not any where spoken so highly of them as he hath of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ therefore they are not in dignitie equall vnto him It is the Apostle Saint Paules argument The purpose of God was to teach his people both vnto whom they should offer sacrifice and what sacrifice was to be offered To burne their sonnes in fire vnto Baal hee did not commaund them he spake no such thing neither came it into his mind therefore this they ought not to haue done VVhich argument the Prophet Ieremie vseth more then once as being so effectuall and strong that although the thing hee reproueth were not onely not commaunded but forbidden them and that expresly yet the Prophet chooseth rather to charge them with the fault of making a lawe vnto themselues then with the crime of transgressing a lawe which God had made For when the Lord hath once himselfe precisely set downe a forme of executing that wherein we are to serue him the fault appeareth greater to do that which we are not then not to do that which we are commaunded In this we seeme to charge the Lawe of God with hardnesse onely in that with foolishnesse in this we shew our selues weake and vnapt to be doers of his will in that we take vpon vs to be controllers of his wisedome in this we faile to performe the thing which God seeth meete conuenient and good in that we presume to see what is meete and conuenient better then God himselfe In those actions therefore the whole forme whereof God hath of purpose set downe to be obserued we may not otherwise do then exactly as he hath prescribed in such things negatiue arguments are strong Againe with a negatiue argument Dauid is pressed concerning the purpose he had to build a Temple vnto the Lord Thus sayth the Lord thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in Wheresoeuer I haue walked with all Israell spake I one word to any of the Iudges of Israel whom I commaunded to feed my people saying Why haue ye not built me an house The Iewes vrged with a negatiue argument touching the ayde which they sought at the hands of the King of AEgypt Woe to those rebellious children sayth the Lord which walke forth to go downe into AEgypt and haue not asked counsell at my mouth to strengthen themselues with the strength of Pharao Finally the league of Ioshua with the Gabeonites is likewise with a negatiue argument touched It was not as it should be And why The Lord gaue them not that aduise They sought not counsell at the mouth of the Lord. By the vertue of which examples if any man should suppose the force of negatiue arguments approued when they are taken from Scripture in such sort as we in this question are pressed therewith they greatly deceiue themselues For vnto which of all these was it said that they had done amisse in purposing to do or in doing any thing at all which the Scripture commanded them not Our question is whether all be sinne which is done without direction by scripture and not whether the Israelites did at any time amisse by following their owne minds without asking counsell of God No it was that peoples singular priuiledge a fauour which God vouchfafed them aboue the rest of the world that in the affaires of their estate which were not determinable one way or other by the scripture himselfe gaue them extraordinarily direction and counsell as oft as they sought it at his hands Thus God did first by speech vnto Moses after by Vrim and Thummim vnto Priests lastly by dreames and visions vnto Prophets from whom in such cases they were to receiue the aunswere of God Concerning Iosua therefore thus spake the Lord vnto Moses saying He shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall aske counsell for him by the iudgement of Vrim before the Lord whereof had Iosua bene mindfull the fraud of the Gabeonites could not so smoothly haue past vnespied till there was no helpe The Iewes had Prophets to haue resolued them from the mouth of God himselfe whether Egyptian aides should profite them yea or no but they thought themselues wise enough and him vnworthy to be of their Counsell In this respect therfore was their reproofe though sharpe yet iust albeit there had bene no charge precisely geuen them that they should alwayes take heed of Egypt But as for Dauid to thinke that he did euill in determining to build God a Temple because there was in scripture no commandement that he should build it
body and Church of Christ cōsisteth in that vniformitie which all seuerall persons thereunto belonging haue by reason of that One Lord whose seruants they all professe themselues that one faith which they al acknowledge that one baptisme wherewith they are all initiated The visible Church of Iesus Christ is therefore one in outward profession of those thinges which supernaturally appertaine to the very essence of Christianitie are necessarily required in euery particular christiā man Let all the house of Israel know for certaintie saith Peter That God hath made him both Lorde and Christ euen this Iesus whome ye haue crucified Christiās therfore they are not which cal not him their Master Lord. And from hence it came that first at Antioch and afterwards throughout the whole world all that were of the Church visible were called Christians euen amongst the Heathen which name vnto them was precious and glorious but in the estimation of the rest of the world euen Christ Iesus himselfe was execrable for whose sake all men were so likewise which did acknowledge him to bee their Lord. This himselfe did foresee and therefore armed his Church to the end they might sustaine it without discomfort All these thinges they will doe vnto you for my names sake yea the time shall come that whosoeuer killeth you will thinke that he doth God good seruice These thinges I tell you that when the houre shall come ye may then call to mind how I told you before hand of them But our naming of Iesus Christ the Lorde is not inough to proue vs Christiās vnles we also imbrace that faith which Christ hath published vnto the world To shewe that the angell of Pergamus continued in Christianitie behold how the spirite of Christ speaketh Thou keepest my name and thou hast not denied my faith Concerning which faith The rule thereof saith Tertullian is one alone immoueable and no way possible to be better framed a new What rule that is hee sheweth by rehearsing those fewe articles of Christian beliefe And before Tertullian Ireney The Church though scattered through the whole world vnto the vtmost borders of the earth hath from the Apostles and their disciples receiued beleefe The partes of which beleefe hee also reciteth in substance the very same with Tertullian and thereupon inferreth This faith the Church being spread farre and wide preserueth as if one house did containe them these thinges it equally embraceth as though it had euen one soule one heart and no more it publisheth teacheth and deliuereth these thinges with vniforme consent as if God had giuen it but one onely tongue wherewith to speake Hee which amongst the guides of the Church is best able to speake vttereth no more then this and lesse then this the most simple doth not vtter when they make profession of their faith Now although wee know the Christian faith and allow of it yet in this respect wee are but entring entered wee are not into the visible Church before our admittance by the doore of baptisme Wherfore immediatly vpon the acknowledgement of christian faith the Eunuch we see was baptized by Philip Paule by Ananias by Peter an huge multitude containing three thousand soules which being once baptized were reckoned in the number of soules added to the visible Church As for those vertues that belong vnto morall righteousnesse and honestie of life we doe not mention them because they are not proper vnto Christian men as they are Christian but doe concerne them as they are men True it is the want of these vertues excludeth from saluation So doth much more the absence of inward beliefe of heart so doth despaire and lacke of hope so emptines of Christian loue and charitie But wee speake now of the visible Church whose children are signed with this marke One Lord one faith one baptisme In whomsoeuer these thinges are the church doth acknowledge them for her children them onely she holdeth for aliens and strangers in whom these things are not found For want of these it is that Saracens Iewes and Infidels are excluded out of the bounds of the church Others we may not denie to be of the visible church as long as these thinges are not wanting in them For apparent it is that all men are of necessitie either Christians or not Christians If by externall profession they be Christians then are they of the visible Church of Christ And Christians by externall profession they are all whose marke of recognisance hath in it those things which wee haue mentioned yea although they be impious idolaters wicked heretiques persons excommunicable yea and cast out for notorious improbitie Such withall we denie not to be the imps and limmes of Satan euen as long as they continue such Is it then possible that the selfe same men should belong both to the synagogue of Satan and to the Church of Iesus Christ Vnto that Church which is his mysticall body not possible because that body consisteth of none but onely true Israelites true sonnes of Abraham true seruantes and Saints of God Howbeit of the visible body and Church of Iesus Christ those may be and oftentimes are in respect of the maine partes of their outward profession who in regard of their inward disposition of minde yea of externall conuersation yea euen of some parts of their very profession are most worthily both hatefull in the sight of God himselfe and in the eyes of the sounder partes of the visible Church most execrable Our Sauiour therefore compareth the kingdome of Heauen to a net whereunto all which commeth neither is nor seemeth fish his Church hee compareth vnto a fielde where tares manifestly knowne and seene by all men doe growe intermingled with good corne and euen so shall continue till the finall consummation of the world God hath had euer and euer shall haue some church visible vpon earth When the people of God worshipped the calfe in the wildernesse when they adored the brasen serpent when they serued the Gods of nations when they bowed their knees to Baal when they burnt incense and offered sacrifice vnto Idoles true it is the wrath of God was most fiercely inflamed against them their Prophetes iustly condemned them as an adulterous seede and a wicked generation of miscreantes which had forsaken the liuing God and of him were likewise forsaken in respect of that singular mercie wherewith hee kindly and louingly embraceth his faithfull children Howbeit reteining the lawe of God and the holy seale of his couenant the sheepe of his visible flocke they continued euen in the depth of their disobedience and rebellion Wherefore not onely amongst them God alwaies had his church because hee had thousands which neuer bowed their knees to Baal but whose knees were bowed vnto Baall euen they were also of the visible church of God Nor did the Prophet so complaine as if that church had
the house of God did therin establish lawes of gouernmēt for perpetuity lawes which they that were of the houshold might not alter shall we admit into our thoughts that the sonne of God hath in prouiding for this his houshold declared himselfe lesse faithfull then Moses Moses deliuering vnto the Iewes such lawes as were durable if those be changeable which Christ hath deliuered vnto vs we are not able to auoide it but that which to thinke were heinous impiety we of necessity must confesse euen the sonne of God himselfe to haue bene lesse faithfull then Moses Which argument shall need no touchstone to try it by but some other of the like making Moses erected in the wildernes a tabernacle which was moueable from place to place Salomon a sumptuous stately Temple which was not moueable Therfore Salomon was faithfuller then Moses which no man indued with reason will thinke And yet by this reasō it doth plainly follow He that wil see how faithful the one or the other was must cōpare the things which they bothe did vnto the charge which God gaue each of them The Apostle in making comparison betweene our Sauiour and Moses attributeth faithfulnes vnto bothe and maketh this difference betweene them Moses in but Christ ouer the house of God Moses in that house which was his by charge and commission though to gouerne it yet to gouerne it as a seruant but Christ ouer this house as being his owne intire possesion Our Lord and Sauiour doth make protestation I haue giuen vnto them the words which thou gauest me Faithfull therefore he was and concealed not any part of his fathers will But did any part of that will require the immutability of lawes concerning Church-polity They answer yea For else God should lesse fauour vs then the Iewes God would not haue their Churches guided by any lawes but his owne And seeing this did so continue euen till Christ now to ease God of that care or rather to depriue the Church of his patronage what reason haue we Surely none to derogate any thing from the ancient loue which God hath borne to his Church An heathen Philosopher there is who considering how many things beasts haue which men haue not how naked in comparison of them how impotent and how much lesse able we are to shift for our selues along time after we enter into this world repiningly concluded hereupon that nature being a carefull mother for them is towards vs a hard harted Stepdame No we may not measure the affection of our gratious God towards his by such differences For euen herein shineth his wisdome that though the wayes of his prouidence be many yea the ende which he bringeth all at the length vnto is one and the selfe same But if such kind of reasoning were good might we not euen as directly conclude the very same concerning laws of secular regiment Their owne words are these In the ancient Church of the Iewes God did command and Moses commit vnto writing all things pertinent as well to the ciuil as to the Ecclesiasticall state God gaue them lawes of ciuill regiment and would not permit their common weale to be gouerned by any other lawes then his owne Doth God lesse regard our temporal estate in this world or prouide for it worse then for theirs To vs notwithstanding he hath not as to them deliuered any particular forme of temporall regiment vnlesse perhaps we thinke as some do that the grafting of the Gentiles their incorporating into Israell doth import that we ought to be subiect vnto the rites and lawes of their whole politie We see then how weake such disputes are how smally they make to this purpose That Christ did not meane to set downe particular positiue lawes for all things in such sort as Moses did the very different manner of deliuering the lawes of Moses and the lawes of Christ doth plainly shew Moses had commaundement to gather the ordinances of God together distinctly and orderly to set them downe according vnto their seuerall kinds for each publique duty and office the laws that belong thereto as appeareth in the bookes themselues written of purpose for that end Contrariwise the lawes of Christ we find rather mentioned by occasion in the writings of the Apostles then any solemne thing directly written to comprehend them in legall sort Againe the positiue lawes which Moses gaue they were giuen for the greatest part with restraint to the land of Iurie Behold sayth Moses I haue taught you ordinances and lawes as the Lord my God commaunded me that ye should do euen so within the land whither ye go to possesse it Which lawes and ordinances positiue he plainely distinguisheth afterward from the lawes of the two Tables which were morall The Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voyce of the words but saw no similitude onely a voyce Then he declared vnto you his Couenant which he commaunded you to do the ten Commaundements and wrote them vpon two Tables of stone And the Lord commaunded me that same time that I should teach you ordinances and lawes which ye should obserue in the land whither ye go to possesse it The same difference is againe set downe in the next Chapter following For rehearsall being made of the ten Commaundements it followeth immediatly These words the Lord spake vnto all your multitude in the Mount out of the midst of the fire the cloude and the darknesse with a great voyce and added no more and wrote them vpon two Tables of stone and deliuered them vnto me But concerning other lawes the people giue their consent to receiue them at the hands of Moses Go thou neerer and heare all that the Lord our God sayth and declare thou vnto vs all that the Lord our God sayth vnto thee and we will heare it and do it The peoples alacritie herein God highly commendeth with most effectuall and heartie speech I haue heard the voyce of the wordes of this people they haue spoken well O that there were such an heart in them to feare me and to keepe all my Commaundements alwayes that it might go well with them and with their children for euer Go say vnto them Returne you to your tents But stand thou here with me and I will tell thee all the Commaundements and the Ordinances and the Lawes which thou shalt teach them that they may do them in the land which I haue giuen them to possesse From this later kind the former are plainely distinguished in many things They were not bothe at one time deliuered neither bothe after one sort nor to one end The former vttered by the voyce of God himselfe in the hearing of sixe hundred thousand men the former written with the finger of God the former tearmed by the name of a Couenant the former giuen to be kept without either mention of time how long or
of our fathers to be followed we therefore may not allow such customes as the Church of Rome hath because we cānot account of thē which are in that Church as of our fathers 6 To their allegation that the course of Gods owne wisedome doth make against our conformitie with the Church of Rome in such things 7 To the example of the eldest Church which they bring for the same purpose 8 That it is not our best politie as they pretend it is for establishment of sound Religion to haue in these thinges no agreement with the Church of Rome being vnsound 9 That neither the papists vpbraiding vs as furnished out of their store nor any hope which in that respect they are said to conceiue doth make any more against our ceremonies then the former allegations haue done 10 The griefe which they say godly brethren conceiue at such ceremonies as we haue common with the Church of Rome 11 The third thing for which they reproue a great part of our ceremonies is for that as we haue them from the Church of Rome so that Church had them from the Iewes 12 The fourth for that sundry of them haue bene they say abused vnto idolatrie and are by that meane become scandalous 13 The fift for that we retaine them still notwithstanding the example of certaine Churches reformed before vs which haue cast them out 14 A declaration of the proceedings of the Church of England for the establishment of things as they are 1 SVch was the ancient simplicitie and softnes of spirit which sometimes preuailed in the world that they whose wordes were euen as oracles amongst men seemed euermore loth to giue sentence against any thing publiquely receiued in the Church of God except it were wonderfull apparently euill for that they did not so much incline to that seueritie which delighteth to reproue the least things it seeth amisse as to that charity which is vnwilling to behold any thing that dutie bindeth it to reproue The state of this present age wherein zeale hath drowned charitie skill meeknes wil not now suffer any mā to maruel whatsoeuer he shal hear reproued by whōsoeuer Those rites ceremonies of the church therefore which are the selfesame now that they were whē holy vertuous men maintained thē against prophane and deriding aduersaries her owne children haue at this day in derision Whether iustly or no it shall then appeare when all thinges are heard which they haue to alleage against the outward receiued orders of this church Which in as much as thēselues do compare vnto mint and comin graunting thē to be no part of those things which in the matter of politie are waightier we hope that for small things their strife will neither bee earnest nor long The sifting of that which is obiected against the orders of the church in particular doth not belong vnto this place Here we are to discusse onely those generall exceptions which haue bene taken at any time against them First therfore to the end that their nature and vse whereunto they serue may plainely appeare and so afterwardes their qualitie the better be discerned we are to note that in euery grand or main publique dutie which God requireth at the hāds of his Church there is besides that matter and forme wherein the essence therof consisteth a certaine outward fashion whereby the same is in decent sort administred The substance of all Religious actions is deliuered from God himself in few words For example sake in the sacraments Vnto the element let the word be added and they both doe make a sacrament saith S. Augustine Baptisme is giuen by the element of water and that prescript forme of words which the church of Christ doth vse the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is administred in the elements of bread and wine if those mysticall words be added thereunto But the due and decent forme of administring those holy sacramēts doth require a great deale more The end which is aimed at in setting downe the outward forme of all religious actiōs is the edification of the Church Now men are edified when either their vnderstanding is taught somewhat whereof in such actions it behoueth all men to consider or whē their harts are moued with any affectiō suteable therunto whē their minds are in any sort stirred vp vnto that reuerence deuotion attention due regard which in those cases seemeth requisit Because therfore vnto this purpose not only speech but sundry sēsible means besides haue alwaies bin thought necessary especially those means which being obiect to the eye the liueliest the most apprehensiue sense of all other haue in that respect seemed the fittest to make a deepe and strong impression from hence haue risen not onely a number of praiers readings questionings exhortings but euen of visible signes also which being vsed in performance of holy actions are vndoubtedly most effectual to open such matter as men when they know remēber carefully must needs be a great deale the better informed to what effect such duties serue We must not thinke but that there is some ground of reason euen in nature whereby it commeth to passe that no nation vnder heauen either doth or euer did suffer publique actiōs which are of waight whether they be ciuil and temporall or else spirituall and sacred to passe without some visible solemnitie the very strangenes whereof and difference from that which is common doth cause popular eyes to obserue and to marke the same Wordes both because they are common and doe not so strongly moue the phancie of man are for the most parte but sleightly heard and therfore with singular wisdome it hath bene prouided that the deeds of men which are made in the presence of witnesses should passe not onely with words but also with certaine sensible actions the memory wherof is farre more easie and durable then the memorie of speech can be The things which so long experience of all ages hath confirmed and made profitable let not vs presume to condemne as follies and toyes because wee sometimes know not the cause and reason of them A wit disposed to scorne whatsoeuer it doth not conceiue might aske wherefore Abraham should say to his seruant Put thy hand vnder my thigh and sweare was it not sufficient for his seruant to shew the Religion of an othe by naming the Lord God of heauen and earth vnlesse that straunge ceremonie were added In contracts bargaines and conueiances a mans worde is a token sufficient to expresse his wil. Yet this was the auncient maner in Israell concerning redeeming and exchanging to establish all things A man did pluck off his shooe and gaue it his neighbour and this was a sure witnesse in Israel Amongst the Romans in their making of a bondman free was it not wondred wherefore so great a doe should bee made The maister to present his slaue in some court to take him by the hand and not
onely to say in the hearing of the publique magistrate I will that this man become free but after these solemne wordes vttered to strike him on the cheeke to turne him round the haire of his head to be shaued off the magistrate to touch him thrise with a rod in the end a cap and a white garment to be giuen him To what purpose all this circumstance Amongst the Hebrewes how strange in outward appearance almost against reason that he which was minded to make himselfe a perpetuall seruant should not only testifie so much in the presence of the iudge but for a visible token thereof haue also his eare bored through with a nawle It were an infinite labour to prosecute these things so far as they might be exempplified both in ciuill and religious actions For in bothe they haue their necessary vse and force The sensible things which Religion hath allowed are resemblances framed according to things spiritually vnderstood wherunto they serue as a hand to lead and a way to direct And whereas it may peraduenture be obiected that to adde to religious duties such rites and ceremonies as are significant is to institute new sacraments sure I am they will not say that Numa Pompilius did ordaine a sacrament a significant ceremonie he did ordaine in commanding the Priests to execute the work of their diuine seruice with their handes as farre as to the fingers couered thereby signifiing that fidelitie must be defended and that mens right handes are the sacred seate thereof Againe we are also to put them in mind that themselues do not holde all significant ceremonies for sacramentes in as much as imposition of handes they denie to be a sacrament and yet they giue thereunto a forcible signification For concerning it their words are these The party ordained by this ceremony was put in mind of his seperation to the worke of the Lord that remembring himselfe to be taken as it were with the hand of God from amongst others this might teach him not to account himselfe now his owne nor to doe what himselfe listeth but to consider that God hath set him about a worke which if he will discharge accomplish he may at the hands of God assure himselfe of reward and if otherwise of reuenge Touching significant ceremonies some of thē are sacramēts some as sacramēts only Sacraments are those which are signes tokēs of some general promised grace which alwaies really descendeth from God vnto the soule that duly receiueth thē other significant tokēs are onely as sacraments yet no sacraments Which is not our distinction but theirs For concerning the Apostles imposition of handes these are their owne words Manuum signum hoc quasi sacramentum vsurparunt They vsed this signe or as it were sacrament 2 Concerning rites and ceremonies there may be fault either in the kinde or in the number and multitude of them The first thing blamed about the kind of ours is that in many thinges we haue departed from the auncient simplicitie of Christ and his Apostles we haue embraced more outward statelinesse we haue those orders in the exercise of Religion which they who best pleased God and serued him most deuoutly neuer had For it is out of doubt that the first state of thinges was best that in the prime of Christian Religion faith was soundest the scriptures of God were then best vnderstood by all men all parts of godlines did then most abound and therefore it must needes follow that customes lawes and ordinances deuised since are not so good for the Church of Christ but the best way is to cut off later inuentions and to reduce thinges vnto the auntient state wherin at the first they were Which rule or canō we hold to be either vncertain or at leastwise vnsufficient if not bothe For in case it be certain hard it cannot be for them to shew vs where we shall finde it so exactly set downe that wee may say without all controuersie These were the orders of the Apostles times these wholly and onely neither fewer nor moe then these True it is that many things of this nature be alluded vnto yea many thinges declared and many thinges necessarily collected out of the Apostles writings But is it necessary that all the orders of the Church which were then in vse should be contained in their bookes Surely no. For if the tenor of their writinges be well obserued it shall vnto any man easily appeare that no more of them are there touched then were needfull to be spoken of somtimes by one occasion and sometimes by another Will they allow then of any other records besides Well assured I am they are farre enough from acknowledging that the church ought to keepe any thing as Apostolicall which is not found in the Apostles writings in what other recordes soeuer it be found And therefore whereas S. Augustine affirmeth that those thinges which the whole Church of Christ doth hold may well be thought to bee Apostolicall although they be not found written this his iudgement they vtterly condemne I will not here stand in defence of S. Augustines opinion which is that such thinges are indeede Apostolicall but yet with this exception vnlesse the decree of some generall councell haue happily caused them to be receiued for of positiue lawes and orders receiued throughout the whole Christian world S. Augustine could imagine no other fountaine saue these two But to let passe S. Augustine they who condemne him herein must needs confesse it a very vncertaine thing what the orders of the Church were in the Apostles times seeing the scriptures doe not mention them all and other records thereof besides they vtterly reiect So that in tying the Church to the orders of the Apostles times they tie it to a maruellous vncertain rule vnlesse they require the obseruatiō of no orders but only those which are knowne to be Apostolicall by the Apostles owne writings But then is not this their rule of such sufficiencie that we should vse it as a touchstone to trie the orders of the Church by for euer Our ende ought alwaies to bee the same our waies and meanes thereunto not so The glory of God and the good of his Church was the thing which the Apostles aymed at and therefore ought to bee the marke whereat we also leuell But seeing those rites and orders may be at one time more which at an other are lesse auaileable vnto that purpose what reason is there in these thinges to vrge the state of one onely age as a patterne for all to followe It is not I am right sure their meaning that we should now assemble our people to serue God in close secret meetings or that common brookes or riuers should be vsed for places of baptisme or that the Eucharist should be ministred after meate or that the custome of Church feasting should bee renued or that all kinde of standing prouision for the
ministrie should be vtterly taken away and their estate made againe dependent vpon the voluntary deuotion of men In these thinges they easily perceiue how vnfit that were for the present which was for the first age conuenient enough The faith zeale godlines of former times is worthily had in honour but doth this proue that the orders of the Church of Christ must bee still the selfesame with theirs that nothing may be which was not then or that nothing which then was may lawfully since haue ceased They who recall the Church vnto that which was at the first must necessarily set boundes and limits vnto their speeches If any thing haue bene receiued repugnant vnto that which was first deliuered the first things in this case must stand the last giue place vnto them But where difference is without repugnancie that which hath bene can be no preiudice to that which is Let the state of the people of God when they were in the house of bondage and their maner of seruing God in a strange land be compared with that which Canaan and Ierusalem did afford and who seeth not what huge difference there was betweene them In Aegypt it may be they were right glad to take some corner of a poore cottage there to serue God vpon their knees peraduenture couered in dust and strawe sometimes Neither were they therefore the lesse accepted of God but he was with them in all their afflictions and at the length by working their admirable deliuerance did testifie that they serued him not in vaine Notwithstanding in the very desert they are no sooner possest of some little thing of their owne but a tabernacle is required at their handes Beeing planted in the land of Canaan and hauing Dauid to be their King when the Lord had giuen him rest from all his enemies it greeued his religious minde to consider the growth of his owne estate and dignitie the affaires of religion continuing still in the former manner Beholde now I dwell in an house of Cedar trees and the Arke of God remaineth still within curtaines What hee did purpose it was the pleasure of God that Salomon his sonne should performe and performe it in maner suteable vnto their present nor their auncient estate and condition For which cause Salomon writeth vnto the King of Tyrus The house which I build is great and wonderfull for great is our God aboue all Gods Whereby it clearely appeareth that the orders of the Church of God may bee acceptable vnto him as well being framed sutable to the greatnes and dignitie of later as when they keepe the reuerend simplicitie of aunciente◠times Such dissimilitude therefore betweene vs and the Apostles of Christ in the order of some outward things is no argument of default 3 Yea but wee haue framed our selues to the customes of the Church of Rome our orders and ceremonies are Papisticall It is espied that our Church-founders were not so carefull as in this matter they should haue bene but contented themselues with such discipline as they took from the Church of Rome Their error we ought to reforme by abolishing all Popish orders There must bee no communion nor fellowship with Papistes neither in doctrine ceremonies nor gouernment It is not enough that wee are deuided from the Church of Rome by the single wall of doctrine reteining as we do part of their ceremonies and almost their whole gouernment but gouernment or ceremonies or whatsoeuer it be which is popish away with it This is the thing they require in vs the vtter relinquishment of all thinges popish Wherein to the ende wee may answer them according vnto their plaine direct meaning and not take aduantage of doubtfull speech whereby controuersies growe alwaies endlesse their maine position being this that nothing should bee placed in the Church but what God in his word hath commaunded they must of necessitie holde all for popish which the Church of Rome hath ouer and besides this By popish orders ceremonies and gouernment they must therefore meane in euery of these so much as the church of Rome hath embraced without commandement of Gods word so that whatsoeuer such thing we haue if the Church of Rome haue it also it goeth vnder the name of those thinges that are Popish yea although it be lawfull although agreeable to the word of God For so they plainely affirme saying Although the formes and ceremonies which they the Church of Rome vsed were not vnlawfull and that they contained nothing which is not agreeable to the word of God yet notwithstanding neither the word of God nor reason nor the examples of the eldest Churches both Iewish and Christian do permit vs to vse the same formes and ceremonies being neither commanded of God neither such as there may not as good as they and rather better be established The question therefore is whether we may follow the Church of Rome in those orders rites and ceremonies wherein wee doe not thinke them blameable or else ought to deuise others and to haue no conformitie with them no not as much as in these thinges In this sense and construction therefore as they affirme so we denie that whatsoeuer is popish wee ought to abrogate Their arguments to proue that generally all popish orders and ceremonies ought to be cleane abolished are in summe these First whereas wee allow the iudgement of Saint Augustine that touching those thinges of this kinde which are not commaunded or forbidden in the scripture wee are to obserue the custome of the people of God and decree of our forefathers how can we retaine the customes and constitutions of the Papistes in such things who were neither the people of God nor our forefathers Secondly although the formes and ceremonies of the Church of Rome were not vnlawfull neither did containe any thing which is not agreeable to the word of God yet neither the worde of God nor the example of the Eldest Churches of God nor reason doe permit vs to vse the same they being heretiques and so neare about vs and their orders beeing neither commaunded of God nor yet such but that as good or rather better may be established It is against the word of God to haue conformitie with the Church of Rome in such things as appeareth in that the wisdome of God hath thought it a good way to keepe his people from infection of Idolatry and superstition by seuering them from idolaters in outward ceremonies and therefore hath forbidden them to doe thinges which are in themselues very lawfull to be done And further whereas the Lorde was carefull to seuer them by ceremonies from other nations yet was he not so careful to seuer them from any as from the Aegyptians amongst whom they liued and from those nations which were next neighbours vnto them because from thē was the greatest feare of infection So that following the course which the wisdom of God doth teach it were more safe for