Sacras holy or Sacred houses For Euseb de vit const l. 3. c. 1. they are set a part from common use they are assigned to Gods Worship they are consecrated with solemne and speciall rites and given up into Gods possession and their Dedications have long beene commemorated with yearely solemnites whereupon it was decreed in the Councell of Gangra Si quis docet domum Dei Contemp ibilem esse vel congregationes quae in ea fiant Anathema Cap. 5. fit i. If any man teach that the house of God or the Congregations there assembled are to be contemned or slighted let him be accursed And further the words in that Councell are Domos Cap. 21. Dei honoramus conventus qui in iis fiunt tanquam sanctos utiles suscipimus non claudentes pietatem in domibus sed omnem locum in Dei nomine aedificatum honoramus i. Wee doe honour the houses of God and embrace the assemblies there as holy and good Not that we shut up Pietie in houses but that wee honour all places which are built to the name of God So then the Pietie of those times reputed Churches holy places and yet no otherwise holy than by a Relative holinesse viz. in regard of their consecration and the use whereto they are thereby assigned which yet giveth no man liberty ever the more to slight the Church For though creatures beneath the reasonable be capable of no other holinesse than this Relative holinesse yet have they soundly smarted who have dared to prophane such holy things Nabuchadonosor 2 King 25. burnt up the houses of the Lord and the Pillars of the basesse and the brazen Sea did the Caldaeans breake in peeces c. But then marke what followed it is not long before that Nabuchadonosor is called to his account for all this when his Kingdome is departed from him and he driven Dan. 4. from men doth eate grasse as Oxen hath his body wet with the dew of heaven his haire grow like Eagles feathers and his nailes like the birds talons Baltasar will needes prophane the holy vessels and command them from the house of Dan. 5. God for himselfe to carouse in among his Concubines But the wrath of God doth quickely powre him out a Cup of vengeance and sad newes that night he lost his life and the Medes and Persians possessed his Kingdome Antiochus 1 Mac. 1. maketh the like havocke in the Temple and the holy things thereof as Nabuchadonosor had done before and not long after he is met withall by the hand of God which smote him with an invisible and incureable plague tormenting his bowels and inward parts his flesh rotting his carkasse swarming with Lice and stinking so grievously as not to be endured and in this wretched case he dyed miserably on the wilde Mountaines And one maine motive stirring God to expose the Iewes to the fury of the Chaldaeans was for that 2 Chro. 36. 14. they polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Ierusalem Doth not the fearefull death of Vzzah tell us how wary we must be and what heede we must take of medling with things hallowed or Consecrated for what did he but onely touch the Arke with his hand in no contempt or evill meaning but with a good respect to keepe it from falling But the Arke was holy and Vzza his hand was not to meddle therewith he therefore dyed for this presumption and yet the holinesse of the Arke was but relative holinesse What should I say of the Sabboth day among the Iewes or of the Lords day among the Christians was the one Or is the other holy otherwise than by a relative holinesse And yet wee know how severely they have beene punished which violated the holinesse of the Sabboth in the Old Testament and we have knowne of many terrible judgements which have overtaken such as have abused the other Ierusalem is the holy Citty and heaven it selfe is an holy place yet no otherwise holy than in relation to God there specially present If then heaven be holy Ierusalem holy the Lords day holy the Sabboth was holy then the Church or place consecrated for Christians to assemble in for the publicke worship of Almighty God is therefore holy because being so consecrated it hath such relation to God and his worship CAP. VI. Names whereby Churches under the Gospell have beene called OUr English word Church which in Scotland is sounded Kyrke commeth of the Greeke word ΚυÏιακὴ of the word ΚÏÏιοσ a Lord so ΚυÏιακὴ or Church is as if you should say belonging to the Lord answerable whereto is the Latine name Dominicum by which the Church was anciently called of the word Dominus a Lord so wee have it Ruffin l. 1. c. 3. Sequere me ad Dominicum i. De verbis dominii Ser. 15. Follow me to the Church Saint Augustine telleth us the reason why the Church is so called Quemadmodum tempus Deo sacrum dicitur dies Dominicus Ita locus Deo dicatus dicitur Dominicum i. As the time which is holy unto God is called the Lords day so the place which is dedicated unto God is called Dominicum i. The Lords house And thus the Church in the new Testament agreeth in phrase with our forefathers in the Old Testament who usually call the Temple and places of Gods Worship the house of the Lord. Places of Christian and Religious meetings have had the names of Cryptae i. hiding places For sometimes in the heate of persecution the Christians though sincere yet either timorous or rather provident not to be disturbed at their holy meetings did assemble in Caves in the earth in Woods and desarts as the Apostles themselves Iuel apol part 2. art 3. Ioh. 20. 19. 1 King 18. 13. when they assembled in the night with the doores shut for feare of the Iewes and as the Prophets were hidden by fifty in a Cave by the good Obediah But O! the goodnesse of our mercifull God who hath placed unto us our Churches in most open view and made both the way thither and our being there safe and comfortable We neede not with Nicodemus goe to Christ by night The Church doores are open at noone day wee are in no danger in going to or being at Church but expose our selves to punishment by keeping away Happy are the eyes which see the things which we see And God give us grace to make good use of so great blessings Churches have also the names of Oratories of the Latine Word Orare to pray For that Christians in all their meetings used to prayse God and to pray unto him Eusebius writing of the joyfull L. 8. c. 1. dayes with the zeale and devotion of the Christians before the persecution began under Dioclesian saith Quis aggregationes multitudinis insignesque concursus ad oratoria describeret i. who was able to describe the gathering together of the multitude and their goodly flocking to the
Oratories And in the next Chapter lamentably bewailing what their sinnes had brought upon them he hath these words Oratoria a Culmine ad pavimentum usque deijci ipsis oculis vidimus i. Wee have seene with our eyes the Oratories L. 9. c. 10. throwne downe from the toppe to the bottome And in an other place hee calleth them Oratoria dominica The Lords Oratories i. houses of prayer to the Lord and thus to call Churches we have good warrant from Gods owne edict when he sayd Mine house shall be called an house of Prayer to all Nations who goeth to Church goeth to Gods house to speake to God by prayer and to heare God speaking unto him by his Word Looke well to thy feete take heede thou offer not the Sacrifice of fooles Be not rash in speaking but advised and serious in thy Petitions Be not blockish nor brutish but reverent and heedfull in thine attention thou art here in talke with the high God in his owne house and Chamber of presence ΣÎμνια is a name also given to Churches of the word σεμνὸς which signifieth reverend holy or majesticall and alludeth to the word of Iacob when he sayd how dreadfull is this place It is none Gen. 28. other than the house of God and gate of heaven This is little considered or regarded by those people who to professe against superstition come into the Church with their hands in their pockets and their hats on their heads and so stalke up the Allie and sit them downe without any reverence But to this point more shall be sayd God willing in the ninth Chapter Churches sometimes are called Martyria Martyres either because the Monuments of Martyrs Ruffin l. 2. c. 27 28. were placed and preserved in them or because they have beene named by the name of some Martyr at their Consecration Martyrii vocabulum Cent. 4. c. 5. Constantini temporibus cum in Martyrum memorias Templa Construerentur usurpari cepit i. The word Martyrie beganne to be used in the dayes of Canstantine when Temples were consecrated to the memoriall of Martyrs Templa is often the word for these houses of God the notation of which name some fetch from tectum or tegmen amplum i. A large or ample roofe wherein as in all other parts it becommeth Churches to exceede other buildings as being erected for many to assemble in for the Worship of the high God Others will have them called Templa a Contemplando because that commonly both for their situation bulke and loftinesse they were to be seene and discerned a farre off Eusebius saith of Constantine Civitates quae videbantur vel maximè propter splendorem excellere Devit Const l 3. c. 49. templis egregiis magnificisque exornandas Curavit i. He caused those Citties which were specially the goodliest to be adorned with notable and magnificent Temples and a little after hee Cap. 51. reciteth the Epistle of Constantine to the Bishops of Palaestine to purge the ancient habitation of Abraham from the Idolatry and impiety wherewith it had beene prophaned and of which the Emperour saith Quem sane locum decrevimus eximia Templi structura adornare we have determined to adorne that place with the fabrike of a goodly Temple We finde Churches anciently stiled Basilicae as Basilica Sicinini the Church of Sicininus Basilicae appellatio pro templo frequens esse apud Nazianzenum Ruffin l. 2. c. 10. Cent. 4. 5. Ambrosium alios i. Nazianzen Ambrose and others doe usually call a Temple by the name of Basilica The word Basilica commeth of Βασιλεὺσ a King Basilica therefore is as if one should say an house for a King For so the Church is the house of the great King viz. Almighty God or else because Church is such and so faire a modell of building as becommeth no lesse man than a King The Hebrewes by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe expresse both a Temple and a Pallace and to this purpose serve those words of description in Eusebius L. 10. c. 2. Ad immensam celsitudinem erigebantur i. Temples or Churches were raised up to an huge or wonderfull height Time was when men in Christian humility reputed Gen. 18. theÌ„selves dust and ashes wormes and no men and thought it no reason that themselves should dwell in magnificent Pallaces whilst the Arke of God is 2 Sam. 7. 2. lodged in a booth and therefore we see that anciently there were built for God Templa Basilicae i. Sumptuous and goodly Churches for let us now behold those Churches which the devotion and Pietie of our Fathers of old have set up and we shall easily perceive if we compare them with the private habitations and halls even of great nobilities erected in those dayes that Churches then might well beare the names of Templa and Basilicae i. Lofty and Royall buildings But when we observe how private mens houses of the later editions doe towre it up and advance their roofes to such an height as quite in ercepts and screenes up the prospect of the houses of God in the Land How the Pallaces of Knights and Gentlemen draw all mens eyes upon them whilst the poore Church over-topped with her Patrons Pyramids standeth cringing behinde as a shamed to be seene so tattered without in her roofe walls and windowes so dusty fullied and forlorne within as that the stone doth cry out of the wall and the beame out of the Timber doth answere it and both complaine of an irreligious age producing men who thinke not God worthy of so good houses as their owne how divers particular men in a Parish bestow usually every one of them more upon their owne houses than all of them together will lay out upon the house of God we must needes thinke that this is an impietie which to the shame of our profession hath too long and too much prevailed But God be thanked who hath put it into the heart of his sacred Majesty our dread Soveraigne and given zeale to our Ecclesiasticall governors under him to looke better into the condition of Churches whereby a blessed reformation is begun The Lord God for whose glory they are so affected encrease their zeale and prosper their pious endevours that we may behold the house and Worship of God reduced to the Pristine and due esteeme and splendor CAP. VII That to ascribe holinesse unto Churches to build them faire and to adorne them is neither Popish nor any way Superstitious OUr Brethren who brooke not that Churches should be deemed and used as holy cry out that thus to respect Churches is Popish and superstitious But they shew not wherein this Superstition or Popery consisteth But deale herein like men that cry theeves theeves and yet neither tell who nor what manner of men these theeves are So these people doe as it were follow Superstion and Popery with hue and cry all the World over but they doe not describe or set forth this
superstition and Popery so that when we meete it in our Churches in their consecration and usage of them in all which they say it is we may know it and deale therewith as becommeth us Shall I tell them what I am taught that superstition is in Greeke called Δεισιδαιμονία which signifieth Plut. in Alex. Deos esse metu credere i. through feare to beleeve that there are Gods animum stolida timiditate complens i. When the heart is fraught with foolish feare Or to speake with Nazianzen superstitio est meticulose Deum colere to worship God timorously To this effect Saint Paul speaketh using the word in the adjective and comparative degree ΔεισιδαιμονεςÎÏȣς as if he should have sayd fearing God more than you neede To which purpose are the words of Aquinas who having declared out of the Glosse that superstitio est relligo 2 a. 2 ae q. 9â— ultra modum servata i. Superstition is Religion maintained beyond measure doth after declare it to be vitium religioni oppositum secundum excessum i. A vice opposite to Religion in the excesse as if he should say too much Religion and then least it should be imagined that a man may be too Religious he explaineth himselfe and telleth us that he doth not call superstition Religion in any other sence than by way of Metaphor because it seemeth so or lookes something like unto religion As when a crafty Mate is called a wise fellow And therefore afterwards hee calleth it simulata religio counterfeit Religion Againe he stateth superstition to consist either in the Object as when the Creature is worshipped in stead of the Creator or else in the manner of performance whereof hee giveth this instance If a man now under the Gospell would worship the true God with the Leviticall forme and Ceremonies And though I conceive that any kinde of superstion may be referred to one of these two heads yet to endeavour the further clearing of this point I will give one other distinction of Superstition viz. Superstition is either observing or abstaining The first member of this distinction I take from the words of Saint Paul Ye observe dayes and moneths and times and yeares Vpon Gal. 4. 10. which words a learned interpreter noting a fourefold observation of times 1. Physicall 2. Civill 3. Ecclesiasticall 4. Superstitious saith this superstitious Heming observation of times is quando opinio cultus meriti justitiae necessitatis accedit i. When men have a conceite that one day maketh them more acceptable to God than another with whom agreeth Master Calvin saying upon the same text Libera apud nos est omni superstitione pura observatio i. The observation of times with us is free and without Superstition as if he should say we doe not ascribe any vertue efficacie luckinesse or Piety unto one day or time more than to another The other member of the distinction viz. abstaining Superstition I take from the same Apostle where he saith touch not taste not handle not Which words Zanchie with other interpretors reading Eate not taste not handle not maketh this Observation Indicat Apostolus insatiabilem superstitiosorum hominum in condendis novis observationibus libidinem i. The Apostle sheweth how eager superstitious men are in coyning new observances Hemingius also on these words saith these are the words of the false Apostles quibus Superstitose decreta cumularunt i. Wherewith they have superstitiously multiplyed decrees The words of Piscator on this place are superstitiosorum conatum exprimit i. The Apostle setteth forth the disposition of superstitious people afrayd to touch taste or handle those things in the touching tasting and handling whereof there is no sinne nor any danger Of this abstayning superstition I may say as David speakes of some men they were in great feare were no feare was which Psal 53. 5. very thing in effect S. Gregory applyeth to these kinde of superstious people saying Superstitiosus omnia timet terram mare aerem caelum tenebras lumen strepitum silentium somnum i. The superstitious In moral man stands in feare of every thing of the earth of the water of the ayre of the skye of the darkenesse of the light of noyse of silence and of his owne dreames sutable whereto are the words of the Philosopher Qui superstitione imbutus est quietus esse nunquam potest i. The superstitious man is ever restlesse or of an unquiet Spirit For as it is in Curtius humanarum mentium ludibrium superstitio i. Superstition is the very foolery of the mindes of men for it is like a scare Crow in the braine and maketh a man afrayd of his owne shadow as he that durst not looke out for feare the skye should fall Now then having thus described superstition and given you his true markes whereby you may know him when you meete him Let us betake ourselves to the pursuite and search some where among us this theefe doth lurke and I doubt not but to finde him out and bring him to light before we have done And herein I will deale as Laban did when he sought his lost Idols he made search first in the tents of Iacob Leah and the handmaydes Gen. 31. and when he found them not there hee went to ransacke in the Tent of Rachel where hee might have found them if he had not beene too credulous And I meane to enter first into the Tents of Iacob Leah and the handmayds that is the Cathedrall and Parochian Churches And that my brethren may see faire play I doe request them to goe along with me and if they perceive mee to passe by any Corner unsought and then to call mee backe to a more carefull search And in this course we cannot but begin with the Church yards of Cathedrall and Parochian Churches And being here in the open ayre I desire to know what superstition is here to bee either discerned or imagined Master Carthwright is angry with them yet all that he hath T. C. pag. 50. § 6. 7. Defentra 5. c. 2. dives 7. to say against them is but this That as they came in with the Monke so they might have gone out with him for all the good they doe The Monke which he meanes is Dionysius Pope of Rome of whom Damasus saith that he was a Monke But Eusebius saith that he was a Priest L. 7. c. 7. and then Pope of Rome when as yet the Bishops and Church of Rome flourished in exemplary Anno. 266. faith and probitie But whether Dionysius were a Monke or a Priest before he was Pope and whether Church-yards the constitution whereof is very ancient as appeareth by Athanasius Athan. apol and others were first set out by Dionysius is nothing to the purpose to prove in them or in the use of them any superstition They are consecrated with the Church unto God as being the Courts of the Lords house And have beene anciently used and yet may be not
onely for Dormitories or burialls but also for divine worship and have borne the name of Oratories for there they did hold Synods sing Psalmes Dur. deritibs and administer the Sacraments And before we enter into any of our Churches we may in the Church yard take notice of the quarrell which our brethren make to the very situation of them as having their fore part or upper end standing alwayes to the East Of whom I aske and why not to the East Is there any danger in setting the upper end of a Church into the East Or is there any Commandement against it If we ascribed any holinesse to the East more than to any other quarter or that wee deemed any Church or Chappell unholy for not being placed so into the East then might this be accounted a superstitious observation of the East But when this is now done in imitation of the practise of Primitive times continued unto this present And for order and conformitie of one Church with another And it may be for some documentall signification as that we under the Gospell looke into the East as acknowledging the Sonne of righteousnesse to have risen unto us and to bee shining upon us with light and comfort whereas the Temple for Leviticall worship looked Westward as it were towards the night in token of the Clouds and darkenesse under which the people were at that time These and divers other good considerations might there bee in the first placing of our Churches in this manner without touch of superstition But I am tould that when we are within the Church we find it divided and a partition or some marke of distinction set between the Church and the Chancell as we call it and one part of the service is to be read in one place and another in another Wee are now entred into the Church and wee find it indeed as here it is described But as yet we find no Superstition Distinctions of severall places in the house of God are not any conceit crept in with Poperie but such as have been Constituted and put in ure very early in the Primitive Church by what partitions or boundaries every one of them was severed from other I cannot so fully finde out neither is it materiall Only this is agreeable with good reason order and comelines free from any colour of Superstition that as there be severall rancks of people professing Church-unity so they have their places in their severall distances Some are unworthy to Come within the doores of the Church and therefore are to stand without Some are fit to be received in to be baptized Some to be instructed in the grounds of Religion and to repaire with the rest of the Congregation All which is done in the nave and body of the Church And as men profit in knowledge and a working Faith to discerne the Lords body They are admitted into a higher roome where the Sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ is to be administred at the holy Table in the Chancell which devideth it from the rest of the Church Seeing then there are severall offices orduties to be performed in the Church what Superstition is it if there be distinct and severall places for them If all places be by nature holy alike and by Consecration the whol Chuch and every part thereof be set apart for Gods worship Then why is it not as lawfull to pray in one place thereof as in another Is it lawfull and and no Superstition to pray sometimes in the Desk or reading pew and sometimes in the Pulpit and sometimes at the Font why then may not it be as free from offence to pray sometimes at the Communion Table and yet in a fift or sixt place if the Church require it at our hands And whereas our bretheren say that one part of the Service is read in one place and another part in another place they are mistaken For those prayers which are read at the Communion Table are not severall parts of the same but are distinct Services and so are they called the first and second service The first hath been antiently called matutinae and by Contraction Mattins or the early Service whereunto came al that would being not excommunicated into the nave or body of the Church Which being ended the fashion was after a while to give warning by a small bell And then the second Service beganne at the Communion Table At which the company antiently was the fewer demissa Catechumenorum turba the Company of those that were not yet fit for the Communion being sent away In that therefore we have the Communion Service at the Communion Table this is no Superstition but an orderly sorting of the place to the businesse after the example of the purer and devouter times whereto we are reduced from the disorder that these latter dayes have produced The Minister before he beginneth the Communion goeth up into the pulpit with an Homily or Sermon to prepare the Communicants I hope no body will find fault that a Sermon is made in the Pulpit which ended the Minister returneth to proceed in that which concerneth the Communion at the Table for the Communion If we held that some prayers were not accepable to God except they were made precisely in this or that place Or if we reputed the Supper of the Lord uneffectuall if it be not received in the Chancell then here were superstition But when we do thinges not upon any such fancy but in obedience and conformity to discipline and order for decency and comelynesse we are no way to be either taxed or suspected for Superstition Why is it not as free from Superstition to administer the Sacrament in one place of the Church and to pray in an other as to pray in one place and to preach in an other and to baptize in a third Why is it not Superstition for the people to draw nere to receive the Holy Sacrament to their comfort at the Holy Table more then for the Minister to walke up and downe the Church and to Crowde into thronged stooles with the sacred body and blood of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in his handes In the people cōming up to the holy Table where is their spiritual food made ready for them is no Superstition But in the ministers going so from stool to stool or pew to pew there is much irreverence disorder ill beseeming the administration of such a Sacrament O my bretheren you are not called up to worship any but the true God nor to worship the true God after any manner otherwise then God requireth meekly kneeling upon your knees Some have grudged to receive the holy communion kneeling But that errour hath long since been discovered and reformed and now you take a new offence not at the posture of the body but the place where because it is at the rayle before the Communion Table Do you not know and confesse that the word the Sacrament and
well disposed doth as I have said ingender quicken increase and nourish the inward reverence respect and devotion which is due to Soveraigne Majesty and power which those whom the use thereof cannot perswade unto would easily by the want thereof be brougbt to confesse for which cause I crave leave to be excused by them herein if in zeale to the common Lord of all I choose rather to coÌ„mend the vertue of an enemy then to flatter the vice and imbecillity of a friend Finally I know not any that dissallow the adorning of Churches except Anabaptists and Brownistes into whose schisme and faction too many of our bretheren seem to be too much inclining Indeede Theod. l. 3. c. 12. the unfaithfull disciple afore mentioned did grudge at what was bestowed on Christ and came not into the bagge which he had in keeping And wee read of one Felix an apostate and great treasurer to the apostate Emperour Julian who beholding the goodly vessels which the piety of the good Constantine and Constantius had bestowed upon the Church sayd in the bitternesse of his malice en quibus vasiâ—s ministratur Mariae filio i. Behold what goodly vessels the sonne of Mary is served in But as the history relateth this sonne of Beltal quickly came to a shamefull end To adorne Churches is not Superstitious but to deprive them of their ornaments to hinder their endowments and to repine thereat are all no better then sacrilegious And now me thinks I heare some of our bretheren call upon me to listen to the sounde that is made in our Churches by voices of singers by Organes and other instruments of musique and to tell how I can cleare this from being Popish or superstitious But God be thanked as there is no law to prohibit the use of musique even in the Church Service so withall being rightly used it is very usefull and profitable for the spirituall man in that it stirreth up his christian affection the more chearefully to prayse God Pet. Mart. saith that in Musique rightly â—nd judic 5. ordered tria bonorum genera concurrunt honestum utile jueundum i. three good things concur viz. comely profitable and pleasant When God had brought his people through the red sea therein whelmed the Aegyptians The Israelites as they expresse their gladnesse by their songs so to proportion their joy the best they can to the measure of their hapynesse do set their ditty to an instrument of Musique The like is done by devoute Deborah For when God had given the life of Siserah into the hands of Jael and peace to Israel in the confusion of Jabin Then sung Deborah and Barak prayse yee the Lord for a venging Israel But this was done once upon speciall occasion at the red Sea not above once more in nere two hundred Object yeares in the dayes of the Judges what is this then to the standing use of musique in the publique worship of God But this was done in the publique worship of God Ans by the people of god without any breach of any law of God therfore it is stil lawful to be done again as well twice as once as well coÌ„stantly as sometimes And therefore the King and prophet David the only man ever Chronicled to have been a man after Gods owne heart and well might he so be being so zealous as he was for the house and honour of God as Ps 69. 9. he composed his Psalmes to be tuned and sung to severall instruments of Musique for Gods honor so he brought that musique into the Church and erected 1 Chro. ea 16. Ca. 25. the most glorious Quire that ever was under the cope of Heaven for song in the house of the Lord with Cymballs Psalteries and Harpes for the Service of the house of God But this was in the old Testement and therefore Object is like to have beene some Leviticall Ceremony The is no such Institution among all the Leviticall Ans ceremonies which were all delivered by God to Moses and by Moses to the people 400 yeeres before David was borne Yea the text telleth us 1 Chro. 25. 6. playnely that this was according to the Kings order And therefore it is no Leviticall ceremony in that there was no institution thereof before the dayes of David And then I hope here is no feare of Popery to be in the use of the Church Musique because it had the first Institution in the dayes of David 1500 yeares before any Popery began And therefore Eph. as it were in approbation of so good a practise Colos our Saviour Christ with his Disciples sing a Psalme at the end of the Sacred Supper And S. Paul adviseth the use of the Psalmes hymnes and spirituall Comm. Judic c. 5. N. 1. Songs Pet. Mart. proveth that musique hath beene of use in the Christian Church from the dayes of the Apostles because Plinius secundus writeth unto Trajan euseb l. 3. l. 30 that the Christians did hymnos antelucanos Christo suo canere i. Sing Psalmes to their Christ before day light They found themselves thereby charged in Gods worship And I do assure my selfe that man who shal bring to the Church where Musique is rightly used a devout hart not perverted with prejudice and attend unto the Prayses of God which are set out with Musique cannot choose but feele his thoughts therewith elevated and enlarged the more pathetically and feelingly the more amplie and fervently to acknowledge and magnifie the goodnesse of God It is true that some of the antient Fathers do find fault with the abuse of Musique in Gods Worship but that condemneth not the right use thereof any more then the holy Supper is condemned by St. Paul whilest he blameth those who shamefully prophaned it In the right use therefore of church Musique there is good profit and edification to the affection but no Superstition CAP. VIII Gods Servants are Holy and not Superstitious HOuses are usually framed to suit their owners especially when they build them for their owne habitation And such masters such men Salomon had not only builded an house answeareable to the wisdome and state of so great a King but was also sorted with servants suitable to the wisedome Levit. 19. 2. of their prince and to the order and magnificence of his house and throne And God whose house and habitation the Church is is holy The Church also being Gods house is holy So the holy God hath an holy house as is suitable Neither will he want answerable servants who by their holy demenure shall manifest it to the world that they are the Servants of the holy God The true servants of God must be holy For the Lord God their master is holy And St. Peter telleth us that we are an holy Nation And here we do not meane only a relative holinesse such as times places garments and the like are capable of but such an holinesse as is wrought
as St. Paul adviseth to 1 Cor. 10. 31. Gods glory Wee read in Rev. 4. v. 10. of foure and twenty Elders who fell downe on their faces worshipped him who liveth for ever Shall wee say that they woshiped not in Spirit and truth because they used a gesture of humilitie and reverence in falling downe upon their faces It is lamentable to behold men pretending sincerity and love of trueth thus perversly wringing Gods holy word and willfully shutting their eyes against so cleare light of so manifest a truth When the knee is bent the body bowed or the hand lifted up devoutly unto God these are indeede bodily exercises or actes done by the members of the body as outward expressions of inward devotion but no acts of Superstition CHAP. X. The severall gestures used by Gods Servants in his worship are all free from Superstition WEE have hitherto made scearch in and about the house of God or place of Christian assembly wee have carefully pryed into every nooke and corner thereof and observed the Servants of God performing worship unto God so as their inward devotions are declared and expressed by their outward gestures and demeanures God being so worshipped by their whole man body and Soule But in all this wee have found no Superstition But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things decently and in good order Come we now and examin those outward demeanures gestures and expressions severally and perticularly And all that wee do in our Churches in their distinct formes and postures least yet under any of them some peece of superstition be paradventure concealed and here I must confesse some evill Surmisers have unjustly caused much suspition For our justification therefore and the manifesting of truth to Gods glory Come and see all that is done in our Churches Wee confesse our sinnes unto God Wee begge pardon at the hands of God Wee give God thanks for what wee have received Wee crave from God what wee stand in need of Wee remember the afflictions of all distressed people with our prayers for them all and our almes to the poorer sort We reade and heare read the holy Bible and godly expositions homilyes and sermons whereby the ignorant are instructed the unruly admonished the backward exhorted the hard-hearted terrefied the feeble encouraged the aflicted conscience comforted We administer the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords supper Is any of these any superstitious act Our scrupulous brethren allow all this But then thus they take exception In your very entrance into the Church you Object put off your hats and kneele downe and pray as if either God were not in other places or that wee might not pray but in the Church If we taught men that they ought not to pray Ans anywhere else but in a Church or place consecrated or that we did not use to pray in any other place then there were some cause to object thus against us But we are in our Churches from time to time called upon to pray continually and in all things to give thankes Is it not thus extant in our booke of common prayer It is very meete right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thankes to thee O holy father Lord of heaven and earth Is there not in that booke speciall service to be used in privat houses at the bed side of sick people Is not the booke it selfe free and vendible by every Stationer not only for the publick worship in Churches but also for the use of every private man in his own house Be there not also plenty of other bookes in print of formes of prayers to be made unto God upon severall occasions at any time in any place by any man whose soule is possessed with so good devotion And therfore it is plaine that our devotion and discipline doth not therfore encline us to pray when we come within a Church as if we held that the only place where a man may pray but for that the Church is an house of prayer as we have already shewed this very place putteth a man in mind and calleth upon him there specially to pray in somuch that it is a place purposely set apart for that very end and purpose that whatsoever a man doth elsewhere yet here he should pray because this is the house of prayer We uncover our heads in the Church as in the presence Chamber on earth of the King of heaven and earth And when we pray we kneele because kneeling is the gesture of humility becomming a man who preferreth his petition to the God of heaven In the fourth Century a time abounding with prodigious haeresies arose one Eustachius who among others of his prophane opinions wherwith many became infected maintained that Churches Concil Gangr and meetings therein are to be despised Damascus and Saint Augustin mention this to have been the haeresie of the Messalini otherwise called Euchites and Enthusiastes who also had so meane an opinion of Baptisme and the Lords supper as that they held Dan. de haeres 8 Aug. Serm. contra Arrianos l. 4. C. 11. de ecliis c. 37. them altogether uneffectuall and unprofitable as Theodoret reporteth Turrecremata telleth us that the fratricellian haeritiques a most impure sect maintained among other things Eccelsiam non plus valere ad orandum quam porcorum stabulum i. That the Church avayleth a man for prayer no more then a swine-sty O my brethren conforme not yourselves to the abominable fancies of these filthie dreamers odious to God and in the judgment of the Church damned haeretiques To pray is no superstitius act To pray kneeling is no superstition To pray in a Church as we shewed cap. 4. is no superstition To use reverend gestures and behaviour of humility in the presence of God is no superstition To repute the Church to be Gods house is no superstition Therefore for a man entring into a Church to put off his hat and being come in to kneele downe and to pray to God are no superstition but pious acts of christian devotion You have so many severall gestures and postures Ob. sometimes sitting sometimes kneeling sometimes standing sometimes bowing Why may not men use what gestures they please so that the heart be right I have already shewed that a reverend heart can Ans not but produce reverend demeanure in Gods worship And yet further to answer this cavill I say It is not inough that our gestures be reverend and sober in the generall except also they be suteable and fit to expresse the present act whereto they are applyed And first for sitting If humane frailty specially in aged people could endure it sitting would not at all be used in the house of God specially during the holy businesse of Gods service But in consideration of the infirmity of flesh and blood Rest is sometimes requisite least too much weakenesse either diminish or disturb devotion Therefore the indulgence of the Church permitteth