to forsake all other how learned and reverent how wise and ancient how holy and universall soeuer and in our conformitie in all matters of religious use especially in the publicke worship of his name which being the marriage bed of necessitie is carefullie to bee kept holy and undefiled cleaue onely unto him so long as wee both shall liue being tied to him not onelie by our creation with the great bonds of loyall subiection and cheerefull obedience of loving and naturall children but in our redemption with that indissoluble loue and most loyall affection of a deere and faithfull wife Seeing then our nature is thus inseperablie united unto the God-head in the incarnation of our Lord how deere any true member of his mysticall body in the religious actions of his divine service conforme to the devices of strange lovers and such are all whatsoever they be as require any other ceremonies callings or gestures then Christ Iesus the Lord is author of Doth not everie wife if she desire to be found faithfull â—are how shee may bleasâ— her husband Hearken therefore O daughter and consider yea incline thine eare and giue diligent attention for thou shalt haue many dissembling lovers who will perswade thee to the contrarie but thou must forget thine owne people and thy fathers house and not regard the customes and traditions of nature the devices of reason or the innovations of wit and sence though never so graue and learned but in the obedience of faith conforme onely to the holy and wise ordinances of thy Lord yea in all religious actions giue this honour and worship one lie to him let all thy garments ceremonies or callings smell of Myrrh Aloes and Cassia out of the Ivory Pallaces his owne holy and glorious ordinances which make the heart of the godly to reioyce and not stinke of novelties and incertainties out of the high places of mens precepts or devices which make heavy the soule of the righteous so shall the king haue pleasure in thy beautie or in that worship which thou givest unto him when it is pure and sincere not painted or sophisticated with the Italian pensill whooriâ—h or carnall inventions for he is thy Lord God and therefore thus Reverence thou him even performe every ceremonie and gesture of religious use in his publicke worship according to his owne commandement and no otherwise for else thou deniest Reverence unto him and givest it to those whom thou doest conforme unto Remember how he washed thee from Popish Antichristian that whoorish Idolatry and clothed thee with broidred work even the pure doctrine of iustification by faith working by loue and manie other divine truthes and sanctifying graces doe not trust now in thine owne beautie or excellencie of gifts and so play the harlot presuming of thy renowne because thou art famous over the Christian world for thy wisedome and learning and other worthy endowments â—owr not out thy fornications on every one that passeth by and makes loue unto thee let no carnall respect ever kindle thy desire to such abhominable courses Deck not thy high places or Cathedrals with divers colours bring not into Gods holy worship those sweet delights of the sences which are no better then the alluring baits of an harlot the like things shall not come neither hath any sincere Church euer conformed to such abhominations Bee not I say so presumptuous as to abuse those siluer gifts and golden Iewells which the Lord hath conferred vpon thee to purge his worship and to preserue his service pure and sincere from all kinde of mixture of any carnall devices to defend the indifferencie or lawfulnes of whoredome or humane inventions therein offer them not thy brodered garmeÌ„ts neither set the oyle perfume of the Lord. Those divine truths which then teachest purely before them Thou thinkest in the pride of thy heart that these will be sweete and sauorie vnto them and so by an enforced subscription causest those sonnes whom thou hast borne vnto God to sacrifice their studies how to giue best content to these strangers by mingling their abominations Gods holy ordinances indifferently together is this they whoredome a small matter Oh turn thee from all these most grievous and carnall inuentions and remember the daies of thy youth when thou wast naked and polluted in thy bloud how weake is thy heart saith the Lord God seeing thou doest all these things which are the workes of a presumptuous whoore or a Lordly lawlesse and over-ruling woman Yet for all this it is schisme to denie that thou art a true Church yea there is no doubt but when thy Harlots and Bawdes with their carnall and fleshlie devises haue borne the punishment of their wickednesse and abhomination the Lord will remember his couenant made with thee in the dayes of thy youth and will confirme unto thee an everlasting covenant then thou shalt remember thy wayes and be ashamed Oh our reverend and most deere mother is it not the glorie of the man to haue his wife humble obedient why wilt thou then thus presse us even upon thy blessing as wee would not incurre thy displeasure and curse to Conforme to ceremonies callings or gestures which beare no Image or resemblance of the most holy ordinances of our heavenly father but the direct similitude or likenesse of that Character or marke of the Beast oh forget not thou faire one the most amiable loue of that sonne of his loue that we are the true or legitimate fruit of thy wombe is it possible for thee to be unmindfull of this can we ever forget those sweet instructions and most heavenly consolations which wee sucked out of thy beautifull breasts O thou sister and spowse of that holy one call to minde what excellent graces hee so enamiled thee withall that hee cannot but loue and delight in thee unlesse hee should hate himselfe are all the gardens of the East or living fountaints of the west or sweet fruits of Camphir spikenard Calamus and Cynamon with all the trees of Incencer mirrâ—rand Aloes yea all the chiefe spices in the whole world possibly able to shadow out that high excellencie and most soveraine dignitie where with out of his owne verie prerogative hee hath truely and Really endowed thee why then by thy conformitie to these humane devices wilt thou shut the dore against thy wel beloved and not suffer him to enter into his gardeÌ„ to eate his pleasant fruit but offers him grapes w ch thou hast gathered of these thornie Inventions figs which these thistly traditions haue brought forth was it not thine own instruction from our Creadle that we must put of the old man with all his works and put on the new even bee made conformable to the will or word of God in all things both in our tender years and stronger age and oldest dayes and must wee now learne another lesson or manner of
with all the seed of the Serpent and would not for a world be a meanes to perswade you to conforme to any of his damnable devices no not in the least circumstance whatsoever because they all come from one root and flow from the same fountaine and to make this good he will not sticke by Drum and Trumpet to proclaime open and intestine warres against all their damnable courses and dissembling proceedings yea to giue you full satisfaction hee will take his corporall oath that his iudgement is directly contrary to them though for some speciall considerations him thereunto moving his practise in outward shew carries some image or resemblance of them yea and at the very worst he protests to take neither part but being of a most quiet and peaceable disposition too too unwilling to disturbe the rest and ease of the Church in which he was bred and liues but rather to bee conformable to the times he pretends onely to stand indifferently minded and equally disposed till matters be setled and in the meane season looke which way the most take he will encline presuming they are absolutely in the right yet trust him not my brethren for he that is not with Christ will easily be hired by this great mans two gallant commanders knight marshall Feare and Lord generall Favour men of exceeding prowesse and great experience to take Armes against Christ yea all that are not professed and publick friends to the Citty of God wil be content under pretence of preserving the Churches peace at their request secretly to labour and underhand closely yea most strongly to practise for Sathans Synagogue and when time and opportunity serues to shew forth yea openly to professe their dissembled malice In the meane season learned subtilty and great shewes of peaceable honesty do but quite cover over grosse deformity and most cleanly conceale vile and abhominable hypocrisie Stand fast therefore and quit your selues like men take unto you the whole armour of God but in any case beware of the weapons of the Synagogue Excellency of words entising speeches of mans wisedome and the wisedome of this world which will seeme most learnedly and fully to giue any man sufficient satisfaction if he tie not himselfe precisely to the word of God for they haue in them as intising allurements hereunto as any beautifull harlot in the world Looke you therefore unto Iesus Christ our Lord who is the authour and finisher of our faith and of all the meanes substantiall or ceremoniall thereof or any way circumstantially conducent thereunto and is gone up on high and given gifts unto men according to his word even whatsoeuer in calling in doctrine in ceremony or in gesture is to be conformed unto he is gone I say to prepare a kingdom and an eternall weight of glory to bestow upon every one of his Cittizes who haue fought the good fight of faith such honour shall all his Saints haue in the very presence and sight of all your Synagoguish aduersaries that now so molest and trouble you who standing neither on the right hand nor on the left but aloofe off in their ayrie Castle even indifferently disposed betwixt both shall finde to their cost that whosoever is not in the right is verily in the wrong be it doctrine or gesture and not being of the Citty of God is certainly for the Synagogue of Sathan be it for calling or ceremony and he that is not directly for the truth so farre as he sees is at the very best indifferently for errour and falsehood yea and therefore whatsoever they pretend all that loue not the Sheepe of Christ but woorry his Lambs and persecute his seruants shall haue their full portion with the filthy goats And as for my Lord Indifferent who will not loose his present wages of unrighteousnesse for the most assured hope of future glory vnlesse his honour very nimbly bestirre himselfe and retire quickely into the old or some new erected Purgatory ten thousand to one his portion will be fearfull in the euerflaming furnace though now for the present he triumphes and makes a most glorious florish Looke therefore my brethren to the last end of these things and then shall you never doe amisse Now the God of peace who will shortly send our Lord Iesus to make triall of every mans worke preserue and keepe you and make you wise according unto godlinesse that you may discerne things that differ and so be of one minde and of one practise and so may haue peace not with the world for all that will liue godly and conforme onely to him must haue tribulation therein but with God and amongst your selues having your consciences pure within and liues outwardly unspotted in the world for nothing is availeable but a new creature godlinesse is the morter whereby the house of God is builded all the gifts of Art and nature without this do pull downe and not set vp yea though they haue both zeale and knowledge I beseech you therefore let this be well tempered before any stone be layd and then may we safely fall to building yea then shall the worke prosper in our hands let Tobiah Shamballet and all the dissembling enemies of the truth doe what they can Therefore my brethren whatsoever in the worship of God helpes not by his owne appoyntment unto holinesse cannot possibly be of Christ For is it not the fruit of the Spirit if it be conformed unto then must it needs be a fruit of the flesh and therefore lusteth though perhaps closely and secretly yet most naturally and constantly against the spirit for these two ever were are and will be contrary one to the other yea all the Lord Indifferents in the world with all their learned trickes and artificiall devices can never reconcile them Keepe that therefore which by the faithfull ministery of our godly and zealous pastours hath been committed to you take heed of curious vaine and unmortified spirits nimblenesse of wit is no helpe to sanctification of the spirit Seeing then you know the truth of the things in question beware lest yee also be â—lucked away with the bewitching errours of them that are carnally minded and so by little little conforming first to this then to that at length by degrees you fall from your former stedfastnes rather striue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ by cleaving more and more to Gods owne ordinances and hating more and more all humane Inventions as most vaine devices and false wayes Conforme therefore to nothing in Gods publicke worship but what is revealed in the word which if you desire to know seeke and you shall finde knocke and it shall be opened unto you for to him that hath and useth it well more shall be given yea he shall haue abundance Decline not therefore hide not your knowledge or any other Talent upon any cause or consideration seeme it never so reasonable but abstaine from all
determines that is good and pleaseth God but look what he doth not approve though he doe not forbid it God will never accept it so that now by their own Doome we must go to Christ in this so hard a controversie to know which callings and ceremonies are lawfull in the administration of the Church and which gesture in the act of receiving the Lords supper is unlawfull or wicked and every soul that will not harken and be obedient unto him in these and all other things wee confes ought to be cut off destroyed out of the people as well as he that speakes in the name of other Gods or which is all one presumeth to speake a word in the name of the Lord which hee never commanded him to speake that is which teacheth the lawfulnesse of Conformity to some things of divine or religious use in the publicke worship of God which the Lord never commanded Doth not this full charged Canon most evidently threaten utter and unavoydable destruction to him that desperately or presumptuously without warrant from Gods word will come in the very mouth of it to assault the Cittie or sanctuarie of our God by pressing conformity to ceremonies and actions callings gestures of religious use in the worship of God which the Lord never commanded Here they are pleased to come to parlee would fain perswade vs that there shall be a final peace cōcluded and to that end a truce is taken and afterwards yea diuers times renewed till spying some speciall advantage which they wil neuer ouerslip they presently pyke quarrells at some thing publickly taught or privatly practised pretending forsooth that it is a violent and most dangerous breach of the peace of holy Church and then by some stratageme wherein they are admirable by one devise or other they put out by prefermēt the eyes of some most iudicious cut out the learned tongues of other by suspension and the rest that will not winke and be as mute as fishes shall be certainly cast into darke and noysome dungeons or into the deepe and dangerous seas or exposed to a thowsand other miseries as wofull and verie late experience doth manifestly testifie therfore what hope is there of all their faire offers yet that the world may take notice that wee desire peace vpon any outward terms whatsoeuer though neuer so vnequall or preiudiciall so that wee may hold our inward peace with God we do most reuerently respectiuely yeeld them audience Now they being well acquainted through their continuall experience with our resolution and being privie to their owne consciences that they are not able to stand before us if the cause come once to be tried by the Scriptures yet beeing very unwilling that the world should take notice hereof they make solemne protestation that they are most ready to referre the censure of this cause in question unto Christ himselfe And therefore having submitted themselues unto him according to the Fathers appointment they doe most diligently attend unto every word hee hath spoken and search everie sillable examine euerie letter yea and try everie root by the very originall and yet cannot finde as they offer to sweare upon all the books in the world that he hath forbidden kneeling no not as it is urged in the very act of receiving the Lords supper in any place of holy Scripture nor any other of the things in controversie and therefore conclude that we may very lawfully and being commanded ought most readily or else we sinne greevoussy if wee refuse to conforme thereunto This had been a verie prettie and wittie shift in a yong sophister and in controversies of their element tollerable if not commendable but beeing in the holy matters of the eternall God shifts and trickes of wit subtill evasions and nice distinctions are in matters I say of religious use but like the wittie excuses of the whoorish woman in the close carriage of her most filthie practises and therefore I will even referre it to the Lords owne censure and for answer do say that it is most true that all that do sincerely desire to take away evil from Israel or the Church must of necessitie take away all knowne presumptuous offenders either in the civill or Ecclesiasticall estate whether they be Hearers or Teachers For if they teach urge that which the Lord never cōmanded or is not warranted by the Scriptures and yet hold that for these and those politicke considerations it may upon such and such tearmes or limitations be conformed unto they speake in the name of other Gods even that golden God Pollicie not that there is any intendment in pressing conformitie to humane inventions in Gods worship to draw any from beleeving in the true everliving God but that the Lord that made mans heart and therefore knowes what means are best to reforme it hath ordeyned in the second commandement and the branches thereof the most absolute and effectuall means which in his wisdom hee saw to bee best for the holy Ghost to work in and by and with for the effecting of this new creation or regeneration of the heart unto which only as I may say he hath entailed by his faithfull covenant the effectuall working of his spirit for that very end purpose As therefore those that maintaine and teach these things purely and unmixed doe set up the Lord to be their God and by their holy partaking of them they may be assured of his love and favour even to be sealed up against the day of redemptiō so they that do not tye themselues precisely hereunto do verily serve other Gods and have no promise of any grace but what the Devill whose power onely doth work where the Lords is wanting can bestow upon them because they do not serve the true God described in the first commandement for either he is God in every commandement or in no commandement therefore to teach the doctrine of the first commandement never so soundly and purely and to corrupt the doctrine of the second cōmandement which concernes all things in the publick worship of God needfull in any respect for being or well being of the Churches of God by enioyning any Novelty or Incerteinty meere Inventions and devises of men is directly to teach in the name of other Gods and seeing the Lord never made promise to bee in such a worship no more then hee hath done to the devotions of the Turks and Indians I would faine see a sound reason How any of good Indgement and sincere hearts knowing the unwarrantablenes of these things dare conforme in any respect unto them but rather to subscribe that they that will take evill away from Israel must of absolute necessity take order that all such proud Prophets or ambitious preachers and all such profane and presumptuous hearers as dare teach and will coform to mens inventions be not fined in thousands or perpetually imprisoned but utterly deprived not only of their
and mouth kindled might never bee quenched seeing the unerring and burning light thereof is our onely preservatiue through the effectuall working of the Holy Ghost against that feare of our adversaries this grace of God being given unto us not onely to beleeue in Christ but to suffer also for his sake in bearing witnesse to this part of the truth and not daring to conforme to any other though it cost us full deerely For thus onely in such times of triall are all that bee called thereunto preserued against all the powers and Principalities Lordly Dominions and other spirituall wickednesses in the whole and most unholy though most learned kingdome of darknesse Thus am I bold to present my poore endevours and private labours concerning these things unto publick view private I say not in regard of the truth generally in all true Christian Churches received professed but by reasoÌ„ of the danger of the times I durst not receiue direction from any who otherwise might haue been a great helpe unto me Onely to this end haue I done it not to be famous in my person for that were to bee infamous in their prison but to giue some taste that the Lord hath many who haue not bowed the knee in this kinde as it is urged as also to publish to all that feare the Lord and yet do not see the sufficiency of our warrant for so resolute a refusall to conformitie that it is not faction or humour nor the iudgement or practise of good men no not of our so endeered Pastors or of the most holy and best reformed Churches nor of all these together which we wholy rest or depend upon but that our consciences dare not conforme to any thing of religious use especially in the publicke worship of God but what is safely and soundly warranted by the word of our God and likewise to stirre up others who haue receiceived more and more worthy Talents to put their helping hands to the worke of the Lord. But mee thinkes I heare some black mouth roaring out That this is neither so nor so but onelie an old patcht Cloak to cover a peevish spirit withall for say such you haue the substance yet through frowardnesse because you may not have your wils you are not content but insnare your mindes and bring your consciences into a needlesse bondage about gestures and ceremonies or matters of Indifferencie which Christ hath fried us from I most humblie pray and doe hartelie beseech even by the mercies of God in Iesus Christ all such seriously to weigh consider whether any thing of divine use in the publick worship of God can be indiffereÌ„t or if God haue left it indiffereÌ„t whether any mortall power can possibly make it necessarie was it not the practise of that man of sin first under pretence of Indifferencie to make things common to be of Religious use then to bring them in some civill respects into Gods publick worship and at length to haue a necessarie state therein and so at last to bee of Apostolicall institution yet euen this way seemeth right to our graue and learned adversaries though the issues thereof bring forth most deadly what if I said damnable effects euen in all these Churches of Christ Iesus Breake not oh suffer not you Christian princes these men thus scornfullie to breake the sacred bonds of the first table lest you take away al coÌ„science of the duties of the second for Christ hath in them tyed you and all under you most strictlie to precise and sincere obedience in all things belonging to his publick worship yet hath he left full scope even large enough so farre as is fit for any mortall power in the other six Commandements for your Regall powers ad plâ—citum to exercise your high prerogatives most supreamelie in Bee well content therewith they that perswade you to incroach upon him under colour of inlarging your soveraintie do giue that which you ought not take being directly against the crown and dignitie of the Lord Christ in liew thereof are bould to challenge that from you even of divine right which by no means upon any terms you ought to parte to them they being withall persons utterly uncapable thereof And as for our adversaries I intreat all that are godlie minded advisedly to bethink themselues whether that substance which God be blest we haue being holy for which I confesse wee are nor sufficientlie thankfull can make that same Ceremonie also holie which in it first originall was impure and unwarrantable yea most vile therefore and abominable can any thing which is primarilie evill ever possiblie bee made good but onelie by the primarie goodnesse himselfe To make then that gesture action calling or ceremonie or the similitude and likenesse of them good which had their beginning from Antichrist and not bringing Gods word for it and yet to hold it upon these terms necessarie in Gods publick worship even conscience to be conformed unto is directly to set up another God who must impart this goodnes unto it Doth it not plainlie appeare by this that their Divino Iure did never discend from Divine Iehovah but from some black limping Vulcan or Olimpian Iupiter the naturall patroÌ„ of all such durty Dianaes yea I beseech them rather to obserue whether more probablie the ceremony being thus known to be of human invention and therefore of absolute necessitie filthie and polluted as everie thing of religious use is which is not commanded by God in the word doe not make that holy substance which we haue unprofitable and so uncleane also unprofitable I say though not for information of iudgement yet for sanctification of life to the obedience of faith For if holy flesh under the Law could non legallie sanctifie everie thing no nor any thing which was ioyned unto it by touching of it no more can the doctrines of faith and iustification under the Gospell truely taught and publikly professed in all the Churches of Christ amongst us ever by any possible meanes make the callings ceremonies or gestures in controversie lawfull or indifferent seeing these are not ordained by God and therefore that ministery that spends it strength for the iustification of them though it may perhaps continue some measure of knowledge in the hearers yet is it greatly to be feared that all those who freely conforme thereunto and wholy depend thereon shall rather scatter then gather any saving grace or sanctification thereby But to this it is said that these ceremonies callings and gestures are not those of poperie for nullum simile est Idem but the graue and advised ordinances of the holy Catholicke Church that hath come from amongst them and cleane separated from Antichrist at least in all fundamentall points of doctrine concerning our Iustification and therefore without all question ought by everie obedient Childe to bee conformed unto Alas what means then the lowing of these Oxen and bleating of the sheepe
not to presume to conforme to any invention of man in this kind seeing hee dwels but in a house of clay whose foundation is in the dust and therefore all his reasons and arguments are but dustie and dirtie and that fleshly libertie carnall priviledges which he claims proceeds but from his fatnes even that abundance of earthly honours and preferments which pamper him and by securitie makes him better fed then taught and so to fall from sinceritie and uprightnesse and even to spurne with his heele at Gods ordinances and servants which in effect is to forsake God that made him by not regarding the strong God of his salvation but despising his gracious ordinances which hee had made strong and effectuall to bring him to the assurance thereof by faith in Christ he sets up his owne inventions and magnifies his carnall devices punishing most grievously all that will not conforme thereunto And thus by strange gods or which differs nothing in effect by strange ceremonies calings and gestures of Religious use in Gods worship which are Abominations they provoke the Lord to Anger how can this be otherwise seing all such outward worship and service though the Inward substance concerning the doctrine of faith in the Messias seeme never so found is a meer offering unto devils and not unto God evē new gods newly come up as every thing which God himselfe hath not commanded in the word is to be esteemed Can wee with any honesty condemne the inventions of poperie in their religious worship whether they concerne their callings as their 7 orders of priests c. or ceremonies as voluntarie vows like devotions as directly comming out of that smoake of the pit because they thereby corrupt the true worship of God with profane carnal devices must we not needs thereby subscribe that ours are of the same hatch if they haue no better warrant then they by the word of God Their civill magistrates allow cōmand those as best fitting their government as hauing long experience of Gods blessing on them for maintaining of them where is it forbidden in the Scriptures to haue a most reverent opinion of the Relikes of saints suppose it be Iosephs breeches or our Ladies smock which are with great devotion reserved at Aken or in what Epistle or Gospel is it prohibited that the town of Genua in Italie should keepe in a reverent memoriall of Christ the taile of the Asse which hee roade upon to Ierusalem which if any man will not beleeue mee hee may goe thither and see verie fresh and faire at this day for ought I know not one haire wanting Now may not they as well greevously punish and perpetually imprison at least till death set them at libertie all that will not conforme to these and many other as good as these as having nothing in them contrarie to the word of God as well as our adversaries for these in questiō among us for what greater decencie can be found in a white shirt or a well furd hood then in these Oh Lord did not these plants come from Gomorah which haue such dragonish poyson and Aspish crueltie in them are not these their courses laid up in store with thee yea are they not sealed most safely till their full rypenesse be accomplished among thy treasures shall not their feet whose beautie doth onely consist in their golden buskens and slippers in due time slide Haue they not some feeling alreadie of the slipprinesse of their places which makes them so extreamly violent in their mischievous Courses yes verely deere mother those that thus haue abused thee and fed thy Children with corrupt food the very Day of their Destruction is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste for the Lord shall iudge his people and repent towards his servants when hee seeth that their power is gone and no man left either to speake or stand out for the truth when men shall say where are their Gods even that mightie God in whom they trusted whom they did so reioyce with their prophesyings and dayes of publicke humiliations and reioycings Let them rise up and helpe you let him be your refuge and if he will haue you let him deliver you out of our courts from our censures from excommunicato capiendo from our bands and imprisonment Oh heare the word of the Lord all yee that tremble at his word your enemies who tearmed themselues brethren and hated you which they evidently shewed by casting you out for my names sake said let the Lord be glorified and so he will for he shall appeare to your ioy and they shall be ashamed for I will choose out their defusions wherewith they haue so blinded and deceived the Princes and the Rulers and discover their hypocrisie to all the world For I know the thoughts that I haue toward my people saith the Lord even the thoughts of peace and not of trouble to giue you an end and your hope then shall you cry unto me and yee shall go and pray unto me and I will heare you and yee shall seeke mee and finde me because yee shall seeke me with all your heart yea you shall take up this curse against your adversaries The Lord make thee like Zedechiah and Ahab whom the King burnt in fire because they committed villanie in Israel even adulterie with their neighbours wiues and haue spoke lying words in my name which I haue not commanded them even I know it and testifie it saith the Lord though they walke so closely as they think no body shall finde them out yea I will visit Shemaiah because hee hath spoken rebelliously against the Lord and hath prophesied and I sent him not Thus wee finde it true deere mother which thou hast often repeated that a little leaven in their corrupted mindes being thus by ambition nourished brings this lamentable sourenesse to the whole lumpe of all their proceedings even a Rebellious wilfulnesse to breake anie of Gods greatest commandements if occasion so require rather then to reforme their fleshlie and carnall devices the onely supporters of their lawlesse greatnesse Yet wee must needs acknowledge that howsoever divers of our adversaries are exceeding violent and will not stand to heare reason or to giue any for the things they require but either conforme take the oath or take him away Iaylor or cast him out yet divers of them take exceeding great paines and with many deepe reasons full of learning and antiquitie discretion and wisedome seeme to say very much for conformitie but for mine owne part I still say and for ever must say that I never heard or saw any dram of divine authority nor any thing favouring of the spirit of grace come from thē alas holy mother thou hast taught us over over again that we must esteeme the most absolute perfection of the wisdom of the flesh to
incorruptible God even the glory of his wisedom and loue of his goodnes and power of his mercy and truth in devising ordaining the ceremonies callings and gestures appropriated to his own outward worship making the same powerful effectuall to draw mans heart unto him by working effectuall faith into such Images similitudes resemblances and likenesses as they in their discretion thought fittest to stir up devotion to beget reverence or to shew humility thankfulnes by which in time by degrees will get a reverent estimation of Gods ordinances euen his own attributes and titles yea and will presume to professe that Iure divino these are thy Gods O Israel that is this is the true outward worship of the God of Israel these be true callings gestures and ceremonies which by divine institution are ordeined to helpe to draw men to God through faith and sanctification of the spirit and so to be esteemed Therefore the Lord makes it an ordinance for ever that al his true Churches and true servants must onely conforme to such things in his worship and service as he hath in his word Required but the Lord never required kneeling as it is urged nor the other things in controversie therfore Gods true Churches and faithfull servants may not upon any neuer so reasonable termes conforme thereunto And here is either by direct consequent a manifest prohibition or else the Lord reasons most absurdlie which is fearefull blasphemie to thinke or inferre for else they might with the perswaders to conformitie of these dayes haue replied thou hast not forbidden it therefore wee may doe it and thou hast no reason to find fault with it seeing wee doe it to good intents and holy purposes But grant that the things which there are reproved were forbidden yet the manner of Gods reasoning remaines immutable Is there no commandement in the word for it or which is all one doth not the Lord require it then doth hee absolutly forbid conformitie unto it for the Lord hates whatsoever in the word is not required as these words being spoken with detestation do most manifestly declare Seeing then there is not one word of God for kneeling in the very act of receiving the sacrament nor any example of any Apostolick or Primitive Church for the practise thereof but from the beginning it was not so and seeing wee haue Christ his own example for a table gesture and the examples of all the blessed and now glorious Apostles who even after his ascention delivered that which they received of the Lord which must needs be granted was a table gesture and seing wee haue a direct commandement from the holy Ghost to follow them as they follow Christ it being their speciall care so to carrie thēselves in all actions of religious use especiallie as they might bee Examples for all Churches and Christians to follow for so I take this place to be understood and not to bee restrayned to that Church onely or to any particular occasion therein Yea seing this gesture as it is urged is not onely the Invention of man but in the verie first originall establishment of it in the publicke worship of God the direct commandement of that man of sin I referre it to everie godlie heart to consider whether with safetie of conscience wee may leave a table gesture for the use whereof we haue Christ and his disciples in the Institution for a patterne and the Apostles during their time and all Apostolicke Churches after them for 220. years for example and conforme to the gesture of kneeling never heard of in this kind till the Reall presence was established Is this to walke so as having the Apostles of Christ for an ensample or is there not Iust cause of lamentation and weeping to see so many worthie men and of most excellent parts for some worldly respects to become hereby the enemies of the crosse of Christ conforming now to that which formerlie they taught was to be abhorred You do verie ill therfore most Reuerent and learned men in offering to deale with vs poore and private Christians after the scholerlike manner of reasoning both in your publicke teaching pressing vs continually with arguments and that with such vehemencie as if nothing were wanting to our perfection but this conformitie to kneeling and in your private speeches tendring disputation when alas for pittie all our faithfull pastors hauing giuen vp their liues for the name of Christ are taken from vs and if any remaine yet there is no safetie to speake or write of those things If therefore you cannot procure libertie for such a course neuer yet obtained whatsoeuer you may pretend wherein freely and fully these questions may be handled according to that modest offer of dispute long agoe tendred then I humbly beseech you bee pleased either to confute that or the substance of it which hath been written and published against this ceremonie or els to set downe with the like conditions as the learned and godly men our late pastors haue offered your own arguments and reasons for this conformitie which you so eagerly presse and pursue and freeing the same from deceiueable subtilties of that dissembling sophistrie and vaine philosophie the speciall ornaments of that so affected kinde of teaching that wee of the vulgar may see and conceiue the force of them and whence it is drawen from God or men from the holy and inspired scriptures or from the writings and Canons of Councels or Testimonies of Fathers VVee do solemnly pofesse I dare speak in the name of all that in whatsoeuer wee haue no more for our warrant but the graue counsell learned opinion and holie practise of our most reuerent pastors which yet being sealed with their great and constant sufferings ought highly to be regarded of us for whatsoeuer they be to others or to your selues they are to vs the most faithfull messengers true and powerfull ministers of Iesus Christ since whose deprivations wee neuer heard men speake like them in that euidence of the Spirit and mightie power of the Holy Ghost to draw from sinne vnto holinesse O yee men of God you are in our very hearts to liue and die with you your memoriall is pretious would God all that we haue might redeeme the libertie of the Gospel in your ministerie notwithstanding I say we will freely for peace sake conforme unto you But if we can evidently produce one word of God against you or that you doe not bring his sacred warrant with you let it not seeme strange unto you that we runne not for company into the broad and easie way with you which none in this poynt Papist or Athiest will ever unfainedly oppose but rather expose our selues by this our refusall to open contempt grievous bands and perpetuall imprisonment professing publickly thereby our willingnesse and most ready minde yea heartie desire that that fire which our Lord and master brought with him and with his own hands