actions that chiefly seemeth to conduce which is written by the Apostle vnto Titus All things are cleane vnto the cleane And vnto Timothy Euery creature of God is good But it is not necessarily required that we haue an expresse mention of euery particular and singular thing which we vse to doe This is sufficient in generall to know by faith that indifferent things cannot defile those which vse them with a sincere minde and conscience Loc. com inter Epist. fol. 1088. Hooper Obiect Bb. Hooper These Ceremonies are Aaronicall and Iewish an imitation of the Aaronicall Priesthood and therefore ought to be eschewed of all that loue Christ Answ Bucer 1. Though I admit your antecedent yet your conclusion followeth not for to imitate Aarons Ceremonies is not of it selfe vicious but onely when men vse them as necessary to saluation or to signifie that Christ is yet for to come to take flesh vpon him Epist. ad Ioan. Alasco Nothing can truely be said to appertaine to the Priesthood of Aaron so farre forth as it is abolished but that which is vsed with such like superstition as if it were now after Christ reuealed needfull to saluation or profitable of it selfe or whereby some occasion is giuen to a man to assume or to retaine this superstition with himselfe or of troubling the peace and quiet of Brethren Idem Script Anglican fol. 707. Hoopero 2 For a Rite or Ceremony to be Aaronicall adheareth or sticketh not to any of the creatures of God in no garment in no figure in no colour in no worke of God But in the minde and profession of such as abuse the good creatures of God to impious signification idem ibid. 3 If by no meanes it be lawfull to vse those things which were of Aarons Priesthood or of the Gentiles Then it is not lawfull for vs to haue Churches nor holy-dayes For there is no expresse commaundement by word in the holy Scriptures of these things It is gathered notwithstanding from the example of the old people that they are profitable for vs to the increase of godlinesse which thing also experience proueth Idem ad Ioan. Alasco Petre Martyr In the Law or Priesthood of Aaron there were 1. Sacraments whereby it pleased God to confirme and seale the promises of Christ to come all which I know are abolished that we must beleeue that Christ is alreadie giuen not to be giuen And seeing other seales of Gods promises are vnder the Gospell giuen by our Lord himselfe namely Bread and Wine we ought not to recall the antiquated signes 2 Howbeit there were some actions in the Law of that nature that properly they may not be said to be Sacraments For they made to decency to order and some benefit which I doe iudge may be recalled and retained as agreeable to the light of nature and furthering some profit to our selues Who knoweth not that the Apostles for the peace and more comfortable conuersing of beleeuers did command the Gentiles that they should abstaine from bloud and strangled Those things were out of question Aaronicall if you will comprehend all things generally which were in the Law Further no man is ignorant that Tythes are inioyned in innumerable places for the maintenance of Ministers besides if I might more diligently search and consider as the time now will not permit me I could finde out not a few things which our Church hath borrowed out of the law of Moses that from the first beginning of the Church And that I may not omit this one thing wee haue the festiuall dayes in memoriall of our Lord Resurrection Natiuitie Pentecost and death of Christ shall all these things bee abolished because they bee shadowes of the olde Law By these things I suppose you see B b. Hooper that all things appertaining to the Aaronicall Priesthood are not so abolished as that nothing thereof either may be retained or vsed by vs. Martyr loc inter Epist Hoopero fol. 1087. Obiect B b. Hooper These Ceremonies were of Antichrists inuention Answ Bucer The vse of such garments as the Surplesse were vsed Godly by the holy Fathers before the Pope became to be the Romish Antichrist Script Anglic. fol. 682. Cranmero Martyr I cannot easily grant that the diuersity of garments had their originall from the Pope seeing we reade in the Ecclesiasticall History that Iohn the Euangelist ware Petalum seu Lamina Pontificalis a kinde of garment proper to a Minister or B b. and Pontius the Deacon witnesseth of Cyprian the Martyr that when as he was to be beheaded he gaue his garment named Birrus to the executioners His garment called Dalmatica hee gaue to the Deacons and stood in his linnen garments And Christians when they were conuerted vnto Christ did as the Fathers witnesse change their garment and for a gowne did put on a cloake For the which when they were mocked of the Heathen Tertullian wrote a most learned booke de Pallio of the cloake Besides Chrysostome maketh mention of the white garment of the Ministers of the Church Neither doe I thinke that you B b. Hooper are ignorant that there was giuen a Whitegarment vnto those that were admitted vnto the Church by Baptisme Wherefore it is cleere that there were some differences of vestures before the tyranny of the Pope was in force But admitte these things to The like answere and allegations doe Bullenger Gualt giue to the sam obiection Looke Whitgifts defence fol. 268. be the Popes inuentions I cannot perswade my selfe that the impiety of the Papacy is so great that whatsoeuer it toucheth it maketh so polluted and defiled as that the vse of such things may not be granted to good and Godly persons Martyr Hoopero fol. 1087. Looke more for answere hereto in the answere to the next obiection Obiect Bb. Hooper These things abused by Antichrist are so defiled that they may not be permitted to any Church howsoeuer knowing and worshipping Christ and acquainted with her liberty of all things Answ Bucer Surely I make great conscience to say thus much For 1. I see no Scripture whereby I may defend it 2. The Scripture doth euery where preach that euery creature of God is good vnto the good that is to such as doe truely beleeue in Christ and doe godly vse his creatures And that this creature of God is good not only in naturall effects as bread is good in the effects of feeding and strengthening our bodies and wine in the effects of drinking and heating vs but also it is good in diuers significations and admonitions For godly men doe stirre vp and nourish in themselues the remembrance and consideration of many of Gods benefits from euery thing which is a creature of God From hence are those things in the Psalmes and in the Songs of the Saints concerning the praise and celebration of Gods Name to the which all the works of God doe inuite them 3. What Scripture teacheth that there is such power giuen to the Deuill
rerum nouarum inuentione cederet Some were deceiued by Heretickes who to couer their pernicious heresies did studiously broach traditions vnder the Apostles names and authoritie so did Artemon Basilides Valentius Marcion Eusebius 5. 25. Clemens Strom. lib. 7. And thus Tertullian is noted to haue been deceiued by Montanus his Paraclet and inspiration as appeareth in his booke de veland virgin Some are noted to haue ascribed too too much vnto traditions So did Papias Clemens Origen and they cite Apocryphall booke to countenance them and commend very sory matters both of doctrine and of practise to themselues and others So did Papias Clemens and Origen and Basil and Epiphanius of which point looke Chemnitius examp parte 1. de tradition fol. 85 86 87. and what they could not sound from any true originall sundry of them did vsually ascribe to the Apostles So Hierome Epiphanius and Ambrose doe affirme Lent to bee an Apostolicall tradition So Aug. Epi. 86. makes report of such as alleadged Iames Iohn and Peter the Apostles for fasting on the Sabbath the vrging of which kinde of ground or allegation hee saith is interminabilis contentio generans lites non finiens quaestiones So the Easterne Churches did referre their obseruations of Easter to Saint Iohn and the Churches of the Westerne parts vnto Saint Peter and Saint Paul But heereof sayeth Socrates 5. 22. Sozomen 7. 19. There is no euidence in writing and therefore hee noteth them most likely to arise from custome rather then from Canon Some of the ancient Bishops gouerning at seuerall times in diuers places did commend the traditions which they liked or fancied themselues to their posterities for lawes And this is Socrates obseruation ibid. a president whereof a man may see Dist. 12. cap. 5. Ridiculum and other places see Caluin instit 4. 10. 18. quia periculum c. And their posteritie were no lesse superstitiously obsequious in obseruing then they in prescribing for Sozomen saith that in those dayes in Cities and Villages very many customes which for reuerence of those which brought them in at first or of those which succeeded the bringers in they who had beene trained vp in them did by no meanes holde lawfull or tollerable to violate which very thing fell out vnto men in this very feast of Easter lib. 7. cap 19. Some of the Fathers did bring in the Ceremonies with no superstition or opinion of merit or necessitie but with a good intention namely to stirre vp the more reuerence and admiration towards the Sacraments and to stirre vp a kind of deuotion in the minds of men which going further and further and increasing tooke strength vntill at last they turned to that manifest impiety idolatry and superstitions as wee see in that supposed Church of Rome this day Zepperus de Politia eccl lib. 1. cap. 10. fol 55. Some were deriued from the Gentiles and though sometime they were vsed yet they were afterward abolished such as the yeerely offering for the birth day Sadeel Some of the Ceremonies were brought in vpon occasion such as the signing of a mans selfe with the Crosse which was vsed on occasion of the Pagans mocking of the Christians crucified God that they might testifie vnto them that they were Christians and not ashamed of the Crosse of Christ this Martyr Loc. class 2. cap. 5. § 20. noteth out of Augustine de verbis Apostoli ser 8. which after grew to superstition So the not fasting one the Sabbath was established on occasion that the Maniches did in ioyne fasting on that day to their disciples August Epist 86. so the gloria Patri and as some suppose the threefold dipping of children in Baptisme was brought in by way of opposition to the Arians and Antitrinitarians Sozom. 6. 26. All or the very most part of these their ceremonies were significatiue as before appeares many of them in the euent were holden opperatiue such as the imposition of hands signe of the crosse anointing with oyle Tertullian de resurrectione carnis Caro vngitur vt anima consecretur Caro signatur vt anima muniatur Caro manus impositione adumbratur vt et anima spiritu illuminetur looke more in Bellarm. Tom. de Imag lib. 2. cap. 29. They were in processe of time increase of superstitions as many little streames meeting in along tract doe end in an Ocean So multiplied for number and burthen that to the more sincere and prudent Fathers the estate of the Iewes seemed more tolerable and easie then the estate of the Christians of those times Augustine Epistle 119. cap. 19. Some of them were very eager and inexorable for the obseruation of them it was accounted nefat on the Lords day to kneele in prayer Tertull. cont Marcion lib. 1. de coron mil. and who hath not heard of thē foule coile which Victor the Romish Bishop kept or at least began to keepe against the Churches of the Easterne world whom onely for not obseruing the order of the Westerne Churches hee would haue excommunicated and giuen them all vnto the Diuell at a clap which audacious and frantike attempt of that turbulent and boisterous Prelat albeit it be cogingly blanched ouer by a Sanderus visib Monarch lib 7. num 22 23 24 25 fol. 246 247 248. Sanders b Bellarm de Rom pont l. 2. c. 19. Bellarmine c Baron Annal Tom. 1. anno 198. Baronius d Genebrard Chronol lib. 3 anno Christi 206 fol. 389. Genebrard fit dawbers of so tottring a wall as if it had beene by him as by the primacy of the Romish Sea yet it is farre otherwise reported in the records of antiquity for first it is plainely said by Irenaeus that this excommunication was flat against the minds and practise of the most reuerend Fathers such as Policarp the disciple of Saint Iohn and other Romish Bishops his predecessors such as Amicetus Pius Higynus Telesphorus Xistus who in the like difference gaue not the like example neither did they hold this odds of such trifles as Irenaeus calls them a matter of that quality to breake communion but held fast the band of loue and vnity Euseb 5. 24. Socrat. 5. 22. That this censure of the man was done in excessiue heate or in a pelting chafe on his part as Socrates affirmeth 5. 22. that Irenaeus Bishop of Lions did put Victor in remembrance of his duety Eusebius 5. 24 sharpely reprooued him ibidem and bitterly inueighed against him and contested with him by letters Socrates 5. 22. that all the Easterne Bishops still kept their old by as from the Romish Sea for all the threates of Victor euen vnto the time of the Nicaene Council when all agreed without any absolution at all from Victors thunder-clappe yea that Policrates the president of the Easterne Bishops and all the rest which were very many were not moued an haire at these rattles set vp to fright them Euseb 5. 23. Where by the way wee may vnderstand two points First what
professe for what cause on what conditions on what perswasion and to what end hee communicateth and in what different reckoning he holdeth the ordinances of Christ and the traditions of men for thus all iust cause of offence is taken away Neither is a person of sound iudgement defiled when as he vseth the Ministrie of such as erre yea and obserueth also haumane Ceremonies if with all he cleerely and constantly disliketh the errors and doe neither commit in word nor deede any thing openly and impious in it selfe and repugnant to the word of God and withall professe that he esteemeth not humane traditions for the worship of God So the Prophets other Saints in the old Testament and Christ and his Apostles in the New did vse the Ministery of the Priests which many waies did corrupt the doctrine worship of God but in the mean while they themselues did nothing in it selfe idolatrous or forbidden of God but did sharply reprehend the errors of the Pharises Saduces So Paul by the obseruation of Iewish abolished Ceremonies did apply himself vnto the weake when they fled from him as from an enemie of the Law and of their countrey Customes and in this thing did not sinne Peter applied himselfe vnto the Iewes also and yet is reproued we see of Paul The cause was because Paul did adde but Peter did omit the necessary confession and doctrine of the trueth Therfore Peter gaue scandall to the weake and confirmed them that erred in their error which Paul did not Of this question saith Vrsinus I conferred heretofore at Zuricke with P. Martyr of holy memory not for mine owne scruple but for others of whom I was importuned for aduice neither was his answer different from this of mine Exercitat part 2 fol. 835 836 837 838 839. Zanch As he who with some kind of reuerence and honouring doth beare himselfe vnto the Sacraments is not to be blamed so hee committeth idolatry which adoreth and worshippeth the same Hee giueth a reason hereof because the Bread Wine of the Lords Supper are no longer common or prophane things but holy by which Christ doth communicate himselfe his grace and in that respect those elements are worthy of reuerence For as the word which is preached although it be not to beadored yet it is reuerently to be heard and handled as the word not of man but as the word of God So also the elements of the Sacraments in the act of the administration of them are worthy of some reuerence and honour as things not prophane but holy and to this purpose is that where the Apostle commaundeth the Bread to be eaten and the Wine to be drunke worthily For albeit this dignity consist properly in the mind which is indued with faith loue yet not from the purpose doe we also referre the same to externall reuerence Hence they who approach vnreuerently to the Lords Supper as to a common or profane supper were of God grieuously chastened as the Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 11. 29 30 31. Wherefore there is no doubt but he doeth well and godly and according to the wil of God which adresseth himself to come with external reuerence as bareheaded kneeling or the like gestures and so handleth and partaketh of the Sacraments De Redempt lib. cap. 17. fol. 486. Zepperus These Ceremonies of good order or matters indifferent may be thus distinguished as that some of them may bee considered about the administration of the Sacraments others are accessaries or furtherers of good order and of honesty about externall worship For albeit the Sacraments are not to be accounted among the number of adiaphorals or things indifferent yet there is a reall and great difference betweene the Sacramentall Ceremonies themselues which at mans pleasure neither can nor ought to be altered or changed and betweene the circumstances of those Sacramentall Ceremonies which circumstances for the state of Churches may by the Christian libertie be differently appointed and obserued as for example the time of administring the Sacraments Situs vel positus corporis in vtendâ coenâ the site and position or gesture of the body in vsing the Lords Supper And the like Polit. Eccles lib. 1. cap. 11. fol. 76. Againe it is vsually obiected that if wee will so exactly and peremptorily sift all things and square them to the institution of Christ then it will follow that the Supper of the Lord shall not bee celebrated but once a yeere and that in the euening or night season and that lying along about the Table as Christ did in his institution c. He answereth thus as if there were not great difference betweene the Sacramentall Ceremonies themselues and the circumstances of the Sacramentall Ceremonies such as are the circumstances of time place site or state or position of body to which we are not bound in the New Testament but do heere reioyce in the Christian liberty according to that of Galat. 4. 10. Col. 2. 16. And as Saint Paul of the vse of the Supper of the Lord doth bring in and apply the Word Quotiescunque But the case is farre otherwise of Sacramentall Ceremonies which appertaine vnto the substance of the Sacraments Idem de Sacrament cap. 13. fol. 321. 322. Looke Sarauia contra Bezam defens cap. 25. fol. 582. 583. and Luther in Gen. 47. where hee alloweth this Ceremony of Kneeling Touching Holy-Dayes THese are of two sorts some bearing title to the memoriall of Christ our Sauiour and the parts of our redemption by him performed as namely the daies of Christ his Natiuitie Circumcision Passion Resurrection Assension and Descension of the Holy Ghost some others bearing the name and memoriall of the Virgin Mary the Apostles and other of the Saints The former sort as they are in euery reformed Church in the world that I haue heard of practised excepting in Geneua which onely obserueth the day of Christs Natiuity Caluin Epist 118. fol. 215. Argentorat or Strausbourg Caluin Epist. 128. fol. 226. as namely in the Churches of Denm Heming Syntag. in 4. leg Decal § 22. fol. 363. 364. Of Bohem. Harm Confes § 16. fol. 179. Saxony and high Germany Harm Confess § 16. Augustan fol. 186. Heluetia Harm Confess § 16. Heluet. posterior fol. 179. Item in libello de ritibus Eccles Tigur 8. fol. 1. of Basil Polan Syntagm lib. 9. cap. 35. fol. 4147. Belgick or Low-Countries as appeareth in the last letter of the Brownists vnto Iunius last letter Berne Aretius Problem loc 99. fol. 289. Fulke in Rhem. Apoc. 1. 10. fol. 854. and in Gal. 4. 10. § 5. fol. 63. So do all good and godly iudgements that I could light of excepting only Piscator in Gal. 4. 9. 10. 11. obseruat fol. 426. concurre together to approue of them so doth Bucer Script Anglican in censura fol. 493. cap. 26. Pet. Martyr loc com inter Epistolas fol. 1087. Bulling in Epist Caluin 129. fol. 227. Zanch. confess cap. 25. fol. 250. in
any one of those Ceremonies which hee saith they did inioyne were as inconuenient and euill as ours are And for this point hee is to be referred to that which hath beene answered vnto the two former partes of his Assumption 2. Though he had proued that they did inioyne vnto some one or some few persons such Ceremonies as were both for number and for nature as bad as ours yet vnlesse hee had shewed that they had inioyned them vnto whole Churches hee hath not concluded that which he tooke in hand And therefore that which hee brings of Pauls circumcising of Timothy or Iames perswading Paul to purifie himselfe is nothing to the purpose 3. Hee hath not proued nor euer will bee able to doe that the Apostles did ioyne the practise of any one of those Ceremonies to any one Church or to any one person eitheir by inspiration of the Holy Ghost For as for circumcision of Timothy though it be true that Paul did it did it well yet it would be a harsh speach and vniustifieable to say that he compelled or inioyned or commanded Timothy to be circumcised And for that which Iames and the Elders said to Paul concerning his purifying besides that it cannot hastily bee called a commandement or iniunction because no Church or Apostle had so much authority ouer Paul as to command him any thing 2. Cor. 11. 5. Gal. 2. 6. 9. Maister Spr. knoweth well that some are ‖ Magdaburg Centurion 1. lib. 2. p. 603. Gualt in act 21. hom 139. Zanch. de red p. 491. b. great Diuines who haue plainely affirmed that Iames and the Elders did ill in pressing Paul so farre in this matter †Caluin in act 21. 22. 23. others stand in doubt whether they did well in it or no sure it is hee can neuer soundly proue either out of this or any other place of Scripture that they did it by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost or commandement of God The place which hee puts most confidence in for the proofe of this third point is Acts 15. for there we read indeed of a decree sent by the Apostles vnto sundry Churches and that decree was made by the inspiration or direction of the Holy Ghost But to this place it may bee answered that things mentioned in this decree were so farre from being so many Ceremonies or so bad as ours are which hee must still bee put in minde that hee should haue proued that in very deed they were no Ceremonies at all neither euer came into the minde or purpose of the Apostles when they made that decree to inioyne the vse of any Ceremonies to the Churches For to omit this that the meere abstaining and forbearing the vse of many things can with no good shew of reason bee called the vse or practise of a Ceremonie though the abstinence from bloud strangled were once a ceremoniall dutie while the law was in force yet it was now inioyned by the Apostles to the Gentiles not as a ceremoniall but as a morall dutie that they should absteine from their libertiy in the vse of these indifferent things when they saw the vse of them would offend their weake brother And surely seeing the reason and end of this abstinence was not any such misticall signification as it had vnder the law but onely to auoide the offence of the Iew it could no more bee called a Iewish Ceremony then if either out of a naturall loathing of those meates or respect had to their health or some such like consideration they had forborne the same Neither let Mr. Spr. thinke it strange that the same thing which being cōmanded in the law was a Ceremonie should now being commanded by the Apostles alter the nature and become no Ceremonie Let him consult with the best Diuines and Interpreters of the Scripture and he shall finde that though circumcision was a Sacrament vnder the Law yet Timothy his circumcision Caluin in Act. 16. 3. was no Sacrament and that all the Ceremonies of the law were so abrogated by the death of Christ as that though some vse of them did remaine for a time yet they did no longer belong to the worship of God nor were figures of spirituall things nor were obserued in conscience of obedience to the ceremoniall law In which things consisteth the very life and essence of a Iewish Ceremonie and without which nothing can in good propriety of speach bee called a Ceremonie But what neede any more bee said of this matter when the Apostles themselues speaking of this decree affirme that they that said the Gentiles ought to keepe the law did in saying so seeke to subuert their soules that they had written and concluded that the beleeuing Gentiles should obserue no such thing as vowing shauing of the head purifying c. saue only that they keepe themselues from things offered to idols and from blood and from strangled and from fornication By which wordes also they doe plainely intimate that this abstinence which they inioyne in this decree was no such thing but of another kinde and nature as vowing purifying shauing of the head offering c. and consequently was not inioyned by them as any Ceremony of Moses Law The fourth and last point in the confirmation of his assumption is this that the Apostles and Churches were moued thus to enioyne and practise such Ceremonies so many so inconuenient and euill vpon reasons of no greater weight then the auoiding of depriuation is with vs. This hee prooueth by specifying the causes and reasons that moued the Apostles to practise and enioyne those Ceremonies which hee sayth were these three First for the beleeuing Iewes that they might not bee offended nor occasioned to turne backe to Iudaisme Acts 16. 1 3. and 21. 20 21 24. Secondly for the vnbeleeuing Iewes that they might be wonne to the Gospel and saued 1 Cor. 9. 20 22. and 10. 32 33. Thirdly to auoyd the persecution of the malicious Iewes and so to redeeme the libertie of the ministerie which otherwise was like to be indangered Act. 21. 22 27 28 30 31 32. For answere vnto all this it may be said that if the Apostles had practised inioyned such as are euill Ceremonies as ours are they had farre greater reason so to doe then the auoiding of depriuation is with vs. For first as their ministery was of more great excellencie then ours whether we respect the extraordinary gifts wherewith they were indued or the wonderfull power of God which did accompany them and giue successe and fruit to their labours so the redeeming of the liberty of their ministery if that were any cause as he here supposeth it was was and ought to haue been of much more weight to moue them to doe as they did then the continuance of vs in our ministery can be to perswade vs to the vse of our Ceremonies What one Minister of the Gospel is there that dare to bee so presumptuous as to say that his preaching and
sence And if there had beene that difficulty in that sentence which they pretend yet Grammer might haue put them in minde that sentences of doubtful interpretation should be construed by that which immediatly goeth before or followeth after especially if it cohaere therewith Now the rules or reasons spoken of in that very place immediatly before as also immediatly after this sentence are expresly specified to be rules and reasons of perpetuall and common equity which they could not be ignorant of and therefore the instance of Abraham vrged this second time commeth in heere as vnseasonably as it did before that is as much to say as to no purpose at all 3. Lastly to the instance which I gaue out of 1. Cor. 14. 27 30 31 34 35 40. It is answered by my Brethren that I affirme that which seemeth to haue no colour of good reason in it namely because of the different natures of the Iewish ceremonies and of these prescribed by S. Paul in the forenamed place Howbeit I say againe although there be disagreement in respect of dissimilitude of Ceremonies the one sort of them decent of themselues and by the light of nature the other sort namely for a Christian to practise Iewish Ceremonies vnseemely the one sort fitted to all times the other only practised in certain cases and in some Churches yet there is agreement betweene them in those things for which they are alleadged For 1. both sorts are matters ceremoniall and circumstantiall not substantiall or fundamentall Ceremonia may bee genus to them both 2. Both sorts were prescribed and practised by the holy Apostles 3. Both sorts had the same rules grounds or ends of practise namely Necessity expediency profit and edification of the Church Now touching our Ceremonies albeit they be not of that nature altogether with those prescribed of the Apostle 1. Cor. 14. yet I suppose them to be of the nature of the Iewish Ceremonies practised by the Apostles and therefore doe conclude with all godly learned teachers that euer vttered their iudgements herein that for necessity expediency profit and edification of the Church as for the liberty of the Gospel and preuenting the depriuation of faithfull Teachers they may lawfully and must necessarily be practised no lesse then the Iewish practised or the Christian Ceremonies prescribed by the Apostles 1. Cor. 14. As for the question concerning impious and Idolatrous orders such as a man ought rather to die then yeeld vnto their practise I maruell my Brethren would not consider that if they speake of other Ceremonies then ours they are besides our question and touch not the point in hand If of ours yet that they doe still petere principium vnlesse they plainely prooue our Ceremonies as they are vsed in our Church to bee such indeede And thus much also shall suffice for the defence of the proposition of my Argument Now to the answere of the Assumption The answere which my Brethren make they haue reduced to 4. heads replying to 4. parts of mine Assumption Touching 1. the number 2. the nature 3. the warrant or ground 4. the reasons of practise of the Iewish ceremonies and ours In the first part of mine Assumption whereas I affirmed that the ceremonies which the Apostles practised and prescribed were in number equall to our ceremonies The answere of my Brethren hath three members The first member saith That sundry of the things I alleadge can with no good reason be called Ceremonies because they would enforce my words against their will to say that I defined a ceremony to be that which is vsed onely in Gods worship But sundry of the things alleadged were not such and therefore by mine owne account they were not Ceremonies But my Brethren should know that howsoeuer I say that there bee Ceremonies in Gods worships yet that letteth not but that there may be ceremonies out of Gâ—ds worship and so that collection of theirs is marred But if for once I shall let it stand and bee as they would haue it what could they get by it As though euery ceremony of the ceremoniall Law whereof wee spake were not a worship of God because whatsoeuer God commandeth is a worship to performe Therefore these things were both worships and Ceremonies in Gods worships sometimes which if my Brethren had remembred they would haue blotted out this for a cypher yea by this reason abstaining from blood and strangled must needes bee Ceremonies though they would not haue it so Which might further appeare because it is one distinction of the Ceremonies of Moses law that they were either of action as circumcision or of abstinence as abstaining from swines flesh blood and strangled Because they had signification and were shadowes of good things to come and therefore Ceremonies Lastly because ceremoniall duties and therefore Ceremonies seeing they were included vnder and commanded by the ceremoniall law of God and so receiuing denomination from that law Which last reason my brethren themselues doe giue hereof therefore by their confession they are Ceremonies But they adde that I shall neuer be able to proue that the Apostles or Churches did vse them as Ceremonies or as in obedience to that law And I say againe suppose I neuer goe about to proue it what needeth me to doe it What if I grant as I doe freely that it is true and euident and that it can by no meanes bee proued nay that the contrary is manifest It suffiseth me that they inoyned these things that were some times duties though not as they were duties of the law meerely ceremoniall and now after Christ his death when as the holy Apostles practised them were fruitlesse dead vnprofitable in themselues yea which might did proue hurtfull vnto some which held them still as worships Col. 2. 23. and meanes of iustification Gal. 5. 2. 4. and euen necessary to saluation Act. 15. 1. 5. Wherefore the instances of abstaining from flesh or from mariage for the wining of a Papist and of Pauls departing from his right are of no valew To the second and third members concerning the number and often vse of the Ceremonies alleadged I answere that albeit they grant but sixe of the Iewish Ceremonies and alleadge nine and fortie Ceremonies of our Church yet the Ceremonies which are questioned by the depriued Ministers at this time such so many I meane as come vnder the compasse of their practise or of this our question that is so many the practise whereof would keepe a man from depriuation are not sixe as Crosse in Baptisme Surplesse Ring in Mariage obseruation of Holy-dayes if there be one or two more let it be so It is a matter needles to contend about the number and about the often vse and iniunction of them For if I proue but one Iewish Ceremonie at one onely time vsed lawfully by the Apostles yet as euill in the most maine and materiall respects as ours are and that by reasons of common and perpetuall equitie thence
I will argue the lawfulnesse of the Apostles vsing them an hundred times and in an hundred Churches Againe if Paul did lawfully practise circumcision on Timothy and shauing vowing offering and purifying on himselfe I will conclude that he might as lawfully practise on the like occasions and for the same iust reasons the most part of the Ceremonies of the law ceremoniall if need had beene which amount to a farre greater reckoning then the Ceremonies of our Church make them as many as my brethren may In a word if they were lawfully practised then might the practise thereof be lawfully inioyned vn-the Churches where necessitie enforceth seeing it is the iniunction of a lawfull and needfull thing As for those proofes of mine which my brethren doe sift cleane contrary to my drift or practise there was no neede for themselues so to wrest them and then to lay the wresting of them to my charge as if from them I had concluded quidlibet ex quolibet They were orderly and perspicuously set downe by mee vnder euery head or member in as much as that without wresting and abusing they could not intend more then I did there cleerely proue by thē For though I did vndertake to proue euery head or member of my proposition by the Scripture annexed to them in seuerall yet I did not vndertake to proue euery member or any member by euery Scripture as my brethren would inforce vpon me This dealing of my brethren was not so direct as I could wish And one thing more that whereas I alleadge the Apostles iniunction of abstaining from blood and strangled My Brethren answere that these Ceremonies were not by them inioyned as Ceremonies to the Churches of the Gentiles That also of their obseruation of preaching on the Iewish Sabbath they say it cannot bee called a religious obseruation As if they could produce or conclude out of my wordes any such absurd or vnsound doctrine as my Brethren would seeme to thrust vpon me Or as if it were not sufficient to my purpose that the Apostles inioyned to the Churches of the Gentiles and obserued the time of the Iewish Sabboth matters which were Ceremonies of Moses law and in themselues fruitlesse though not religiously or as Ceremonies of the Lawe as before I noted such an assertion would serue a Papist well who obserueth humane Ceremonies as religious obseruations which our Church disclaimeth and therefore were it needlesse for any man to straine himselfe to such a purpose The second point of mine assumption is touching the nature of the ceremonies where my brethren do respect the second member of my confirmation of the assumption to be this That those Ceremonies which the Apostles and the Churches in their times vsed were euery way as inconuenient and euill as ours are in their iudgement And to make this good my Brethren tel the Reader that I take vpon me to shew 1. That they are as euill in nature as ours are 2. That they had been and were asmuch abused as ours haue been 3. That the vse of them wrought as dangerous effects as the vse of our can doe 4. That whatsoeuer is obiected against our Ceremonies might haue been said against them To which report of theirs I say before I proceede further to answere that seeing trueth needs no falshood or fraud for confirmation for God needes not the helpe of mans lye I doe greatly maruell that my Brethren men of that approued pietie learning and sharpe iudgement should be found failing in their fidelitie as I doe herein challenge them 1. In the vntrue reporting of my assertion as is euident by collation of either part 1. They report that I should say that those Ceremonies which the Apostles vsed were euery way as inconuenient and euil as ours and that it may appeare it was no slip nor ouersight they proceed to misinterprete that I should say that they are first as euill in nature as our ceremonies are secondly as much abused thirdly and hauing as dangerous effects in the vse as ours haue 2. Whereas it is true that I say that they were as inconuenient and euil as ours but I say withall in sundry maine respects which is farre from that which my Brethren do report namely euery way as euill 2. The like dealing my Brethren vse in misreporting me touching the fourth member of the things alleadged First I say the same obiections in substance and for the most part which are obiected against our Ceremonies to proue them simply euill might be obiected against the Ceremonies practised by the Apostles But they wil haue me say that whatsoeuer is obiected against our Ceremonies might haue beene said against them But thus an elder Brother might easily put besides his yonger Brother from that benefit of enioying his poore patrimonie The Fathers will saith the elder Brother shall haue his Fathers goods for the most part but the elder Brother saith that his Father gaue him all whatsoeuer what equitie were this let my Brethren iudge Secondly another exception against my Brethrens lacke of fidelitie towards mee is this that they alleadge the heads of probation but they conceale the most part of the proofs of those heads by which they be confirmed And further in taking such things which they thinke they may say most against with greatest probability and leauing much more that strongly maketh against them as by collation the Reader may iudge easily But by this dealing who may not easily confute the cleerest trueth or confirme the strongest error Now to the reply of my Brethren to this second point touching the nature of the Ceremonies which is by them distinguished into three members First they say that no one of those testimonies of Scripture alleadged by me touching the titles giuen to Ceremonies how abused what euill effects they had doth make any whit to my purpose or can with any colour of reason be applied to any Ceremony vsed or inioyned by the Apostles and they bring out three or foure instances to which they speake leauing cleane out and passing by all the other Scriptures cited by mee and annexed to the euill vse and effects of those Ceremonies which are very many which places and proofes doe still remaine in full force and had beene answered as I suppose if there were not that force in them which is vnanswerable Wherefore my Brethren should not haue thus said that no one of the testimonies make any whit to my purpose vnlesse they had answered all for wherefore should they say not one and leaue so many vntouched To answere three and suffer more then thrice three or foure to escape their censure But let vs see the places which they deale withall First they say the Ceremonies vsed or inioyned by the Apostles were no yokes or burdens or burdening traditions This is vntrue For circumcision vrged Act. 15. 1. is called a yoke vers 10. and a burden vers 26. Yet after that Paul circumcised Timothy Act. 16. 3. Whereupon I inferre that the holy