IMPRIMATUR Hic Liber cui Titulus A Discourse of Superstition c. May 11. 1678. Guill Sill R. P. D. Henr. Episc Lond. à sacris Domesticis A DISCOURSE OF Superstition With respect to the PRESENT TIMES WHEREIN The Church of ENGLAND is Vindicated from the Imputation and the Charge retorted not only on the Papists but also on men of other Perswasions By William Shelton Rector of St James Colchester LONDON Printed by J. M. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lyon in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXVIII To the RIGHT REVEREND FATHER in GOD AND RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY LORD BISHOP OF LONDON One of His Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. May it please your Lordship THere is none to whom I owe account of my self and Studies more than to your Lordship as my Diocesan None to whom I more readily submit this Essay which endeavours to do Right to the Church of England whose Honour and Security is so great a part of your Lordships care as to challenge the acknowledgment of all Pens The Moderation of our Church which ought to be esteem'd her Glory in receding no farther from the Church of Rome than she has receded from Primitive Christianity is objected as a Crime by the eager men of the separation Our First Reformers were Wise men and Thanks be to God so are their Successors too Their Wisdom in the first compiling and late Review of our Liturgy has directed them to keep the mean between the Two Extreams of too much stiffness in refusing and too much easiness in admitting variations So by the good Providence of God have we been deliver'd from the superstitions of the Romish Church and so have we been preserved from a superstitious avoiding superstition As the Kingdom of England is famous for being the Balance of Europe so is the Church of England for being by a regular Reformation well fix'd in a due distance between the superstitious additions of the Church of Rome where Supremacy Infallibility and the Inquisition compel men to swallow Camels and the superstitious Abstinences of those who strain at Gnats and either will not Understand the notion of a thing Indifferent or will not rightly infer from it To evince this is the Design of the following Tract which in all humility I offer to your Lordships Patronage being thereto embolden'd by the Experience I have had of your Lordships Candor and Favour which by how much the less I have merited I ought the more to acknowledge God Almighty preserve your Lordship to a long Presidency in this Church and bless the joint labours and cares of the Right Reverend my Lords the Bishops to such an happy Repair of our Breaches that neither the Wild-Boar nor the Foxes may spoil our Vineyard to be such a defence upon the Glory of this Church that neither the Romanist nor Separatist may stain or darken it So prayeth Your Lordships in all Humility and Obedience W. SHELTON THE CONTENTS SECTION I. THE Occasion of this Discourse The Church of England charg'd with Superstition In the times of Queen Elizabeth King James The reproach restrain'd by a Canon to no purpose The Jealousy encreas'd in the beginning of Charles I. and in the time of the Covenant The design of this Discourse Pag. 1 SECT II. The use of the word first inquir'd into Then the nature of the thing How Greek Authours use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Smith's select Discourse Plutarch Max. Tyrius Antoninus Dr Hammond's Tract of Superstition consider'd What Latin Authors mean by Superstitio Tully opposes it to Religion Lactantius not agreeing with him in the reason of the word p. 11 SECT III. Other Etymologies Superstitio quasi super statutum Lucretius huffs at all Religion as super stans Nigidius Figulus account of the word Seneca Tacitus Suetonius Pliny take it in a bad sense so Festus and St. Paul St Austin differs not who comprehends many particulars under this General according to whom many superstitious observations obtain still in the World Three Definitions of superstition out of Aquinas Zanchy Ames to the same purpose Religion True Worship Superstition false worship p. 18 SECT IV. The Nature of the thing consider'd in several Propositions First Superstition is first in the Opinion then in the practice To which agree Morton Hooker Falkener The same practice superstitious or not as the Opinion is by which it is guided This the Foundation of what follows p. 28 SECT V. Second Propos The Doctrines upon which the Conformity of the Church of England is established are not superstitious Opinions Those Doctrines are as follows First All Circumstances relating to the worship of God are not particularly determin'd in H. Scripture T. C. gainsays but it is manifestly true Our Adversaries acknowledge and build upon it p. 34 SECT VI. Secondly Some things notwithstanding Scripture determinations do still remain Indifferent in their nature This denied by Bradshaw and Brook Bradshaw chang'd his mind but his followers propagate his first Opinion A gross mistake A Thing Indifferent not a mean between Good and evil but between Commanded and forbidden p. 40 SECT VII Brooks notion Optimum est eligendum not always true In divers cases no Best Many dishes at a feast Many Inns in a Town Many Shops in a City He that stays till he know which is Best will in many cases never determine because he hath nothing to determine him but his own choice The Ceremonies of our Religion not altogether so Indifferent but in specie neither Commanded nor forbidden p. 45 SECT VIII Thirdly The Church may make Determinations in things Indifferent Scrupled by Brooke whose Discourse of Episcopacy is again examin'd The weakness and Unworthiness of it detected Denied also by others Modest Discourse c. and Bagshaw but upon insufficient grounds p. 55 SECT IX This acknowledged by the Presbyterians in their Directory Confession of Faith Other Authors that have written since Acknowledged also by the Independents in their Confession of Faith 1658. p. 66 SECT X. Fourthly Where the Governours of the Church have power to determine they ought to be obey'd Zanchy and Calvin on our side When Zanchy would not have these things impos'd yet he would have them yielded to if impos'd rather than any man should quit his Ministry p. 71 SECT XI Calvin of the same mind Much for a stated Liturgy and Ceremonies which though he would have few yet those he finds fault with do not now obtain in our Church What he did not like he would have born with As the Surplice in Bishop Hoopers case and Unleaven'd Bread at Geneva p. 80 SECT XII Besides these M. Durell cites about 40. Foreigners all of the same Judgment As were also our Countreymen T. C. Humfrey Rainolds Knewstubs others And of late Mr Baxter These Testimonies concluded with St. Ambrose and St. Austin's determination p. 87 SECT XIII Fifthly It is lawful for the Church to appoint significant Ceremonies This denied by N. C ts How they differ from
make Determinations in things Indifferent 4. Therefore people are bound to obey their Governours in such their Determinations 5. It is not unlawful for Church-Governours to appoint some significant Ceremonies These are the foundations upon which we stand upon which our Governours require and upon which we practise Conformity and none of these are superstitious Opinions Wherefore in the application of these Generals to our Times and state of things we conclude the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England not being for their number burdensome of which in due time are not in their nature and kind superstitious 1. He who judges all Circumstances relating to the publick worship of God not particularly determined in the word of God is not superstitious in that Opinion For this is so plainly and manifestly true that it is a shame for any man to deny it There hath been I know an Axiome among Cartwrights Disciples That nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded in the word of God This they thought plainly warranted by the manifest words of the law about adding to or diminishing from the word of God Now adds Mr Hooker these Eccles 〈◊〉 Book 3. §. 5. men having an eye to a number of Rites and Orders in the Church of England such as the Ring in Marriage the Cross c. thought by the one only stroke of that Axiome to have cut them off And T. C. is quoted as arguing thus You which Ib. §. 2. distinguish and say that Matters of Faith and necessary to salvation may not be tolerated in the Church unless they be expresly contained in the word of God or manifestly gathered But the Ceremonies Order Discipline Government in the Church may not be received against the word of God and consequently may be received if there be no word against them although there be none for them You I say distinguishing in this sort prove an evil divider To all which there needs no other Answer than what Mr Hooker gives Let that which they do hereby intend be granted them let it once stand as consonant to reason that because we are forbid to add to the Law of God any thing or to take ought from it therefore we may not for matters of the Church make any law more than is already set down in Scripture Ib. §. 6. who sees not what sentence it shall enforce us to give against all Churches in the World in as much as there is not one but hath had many things established in it which though the Scripture did never command yet for us to condemn were rashness He goes on to give the Example of the Church of God in the time of our Saviour instead of all others If this ratiocination be weak they who suspect it have great reason to shew us out of Scripture an exact form of Church-Government but instead of doing so they only argue that so it must be without directing us to the place where it is To which I again oppose Mr Hookers words As for those marvellous discourses Ibid. ad finem whereby they adventure to argue that God must needs have done the things which they imagine were to be done I must confess I have often wondred at their boldness herein When the question is whether God hath delivered us in Scripture as they affirm he hath a compleat particular immutable form of Church-Polity why take they that other both presumptuous and superfluous labour to prove he should have done it There being no way in this case to prove the deed of God save only by producing that Evidence wherewith he hath done it But if there be no such thing apparent upon record they do as if one should demand a Legacy by force of some written Testament wherein there being no such thing specified he pleads that there it must be and brings Arguments from the love of the Testator imagining that these proofs will convict a Testament to have that in it which other men can no where by reading find It will appear in the process of our arguing that the very men who would insinuate to the disparagement of our Rites that Divine Worship must have a Divine Warrant for Circumstances as well as for substance have not themselves been guided by this Opinion but have taken a liberty in their Directorian or Dictatorian way which they have denied to others And because I shall by and by bring them as witnesses for us and against themselves I respit yet a little their farther Conviction in this matter 2. Notwithstanding the Determinations Sect. 6. of the Holy Scripture there do still remain some things in their own nature Indifferent and in this Opinion there is no Superstition It might reasonably be thought that this Proposition is so evident that no man who pretends to learning will deny it But so it is that the power of Church-Governours may be reduc'd in a manner to nothing some there have been who will not own any thing Indifferent in these matters I meet with two who have maintain'd this Assertion and I presume they are the same whom Bishop Saunderson means when he speaks of some of Saunderson de Obliga Conscient praelec 6. §. 23. this Opinion Duo praesertim alter alicujus nominis apud suarum partium homines Theologus alter è proceribus Regni laicus Those Two I conceive must be Mr Bradshaw and the Lord Brooke I shall not do Mr Bradshaw right if I do not acknowledge that Dr Burges Answer Rejoin'd Ch. 2. §. 9. Burges tells us he revers'd his Opinion of things Indifferent Surely he had great reason to do it That he was once of the Opinion which I fasten on him must not be denied One of his Treatises Reprinted 1660. is Of the Nature and use of things Indifferent Where he states the Case thus A Chap. 2. thing Indifferent is a mean between good and evil so that whatsoever is Indifferent is neither good nor evil whatsoever is either good or evil is not indifferent After this he avers that no Action of Religion Chap. 8. whether it be Moral or Ceremonial is Indifferent but either good or evil and again No Ceremony of Religion is Indifferent Ibid. A gross and palpable mistake and unworthy of a man so cryed up for his learning the more pardonable indeed because he acknowledged his Error but because they who Reprinted him were not so just to his Memory as to insert that acknowledgment and because they for whose sake he was reprinted have not it may be that respect for Dr Burges as to read him I must animadvert on it as I find it and answer That no considering man can think that when we use an Indifferent Rite we mean that we do neither good nor evil No sure that which is Indifferent in its Nature may be in its use Necessary We use it as being by sufficient Authority commanded thereto and therefore upon such
reasons as justifie us that we do well if we are mistaken in our Judgment and have no sufficient reason for what we do it is ill done But this plainly we mean by a thing in its Nature Indifferent somewhat which is not in specie commanded of God and so is not absolutely necessary nor is it so forbid therefore not simply Unlawful This Mr Bradshaw might have known to have been our Notion of a thing Indifferent for so Mr Hooker at whom he sometimes nibbles had told him The nature of things Indifferent is neither to be commanded nor forbidden but left free and Arbitrary He instances quickly after When many meats are set Eccles Polity Book 2. §. 4. before me all are Indifferent none Unlawful I take one as most convenient If scripture require me so to do then is not the thing Indifferent because I must do what scripture requires They are all Indifferent I might take any scripture does not require me to make any special choice of one I do notwithstanding make choice of one my discretion teaching me so to do Now though eating of this dish rather than another cannot be said after my choice is made to be neither good nor evil for I chuse discreetly or indiscreetly yet before my choice determin'd me to one they were both Indifferent so in their nature they still remain neither commanded neither forbidden neither necessary neither unlawful in its own Nature So in the Circumstances of Religion after my choice is determined by the Command of my Superiors these things are not so Indifferent as that I do neither well nor ill in my obedience Before they had determined they found these things Indifferent in their Nature their discretion having guided them to make choice of such a Vesture c. as they apprehended convenient now that becomes necessary as to use which at the same time remains Indifferent in its Nature The Lord Brooke by a little Metaphysicalness Sect. 7. Disc opening the Nature of Episcop Ch. 5. goes farther and from this principle Optimum est semper eligendum endeavours to prove this Conclusion That there is nothing Indifferent in Re in se but to our Understandings some things seem so for want of good light but in the things themselves every thing pro hic nunc is either Necessary or Unlawful It may seem harsh to say that a man is not always obliged to do that which is best Where there is an apparent difference and inequality in the matter of our actions how far a man may satisfie himself to do that which is good though he do not always that which is best I digress not to examine The Assertion may be founded upon another reason and state of things and upon that I build and say There is a Truth in this Proposition A man is not always obliged to do that which is best the reason is because in some Cases there is no Best but the severals that fall under deliberation are alike no more Intrinsick Good or Evil in one than another but any of them if it were alone were sufficiently eligible and satisfactory Now if in every action of a mans life he must not proceed till he can find a difference where none is to be found If a man must no where act till he see clearly what is best to be done this must needs fill the minds of men with Infinite scruples and perpetual anxieties And after a man is satisfied that this is good and lawful and fit to be done yet must he demur and take heed he do it not lest peradventure somewhat else were better to be done in the room of it I give Instances whereby it will appear we are not left to endless doubts in all Cases I am at Table and have many Dishes of meat before me which please me well I care not to eat of all but make my choice as it may happen I cannot say it is Best to eat of this or that either that which is commended to me or that which is next me or some like accident determines my choice and if I had eaten somewhat else it would have been equally to my satisfaction Otherwise should I sit still and dispute with my self thus I must do that which is Best therefore I must consider of every Dish by it self and diligently observe all the differences between them and if I cannot clearly discern which is best of all I must sit still till I can so I might lose my Dinner and when I rise should find my mind as unsatisfied as my belly Or I am travelling and take up in a Town where I never was before I see divers fair Inns before me know none nor have I any manner of reason to prefer one to another I go to one as it happens not out of this principle that I must do that which is best for they are all alike all Indifferent and if I chuse not till I certainly know which is best for me I may lie in the streets all Night Once more I go to London to buy somewhat that I want without any other Interest or Acquaintance than my money Many Shops sell the same Commodities I can give no reason but this only that I must buy somewhere why I call at the sign of the Sun or the Moon the Lyon or the Bear They are all alike only some accident without full perswasion that I do that which is best determines me And an Hundred such like Cases happen in the Course of Affairs Now in all these what shall we say to Bradshaw Cannot these things be Indifferent unless what I do be neither good nor bad No sure Till I have made my choice it is Indifferent because I am under no Command in these Cases but am left perfectly to the conduct of my own discretion And what shall we answer to Brooke Must I not stir till I know which is Best There is no Best nor Worst If I discern any inconvenience on one side more than on the other then is there a difference and I am unadvised if I do not consider it but where I discern no difference and yet scruple till I be satisfied which is Best I shall scruple till Doomesday if I should live so long because I have nothing to determine me but my own choice It remains then that there are things Indifferent in their own Nature Where there is no Antecedent Command to make such an Action necessary nor Antecedent prohibition to make it unlawful it is Indifferent in it self not between good and evil but between commanded and forbidden between absolutely necessary and simply unlawful I have laid my Foundation thus low in a Consideration of the Nature of things because the Objectors I deal with goe thus far It is not necessary to our Cause to affirm that the Ceremonies of Religion in Controversy the Surplice and Cross c. are altogether so Indifferent as that there should be no more reason to determine rather
to one than there is to take one Inn or Shop rather than another These Instances were produc'd to show where the Rule fails Optimum est semper faciendum and to prove that there are things Indifferent in their own nature To which I add that some Rites and Ceremonies of our Religion are so too as I prove by this Irrefragable Argument Whatsoever is in specie neither commanded nor forbidden i. e. antecedently to humane laws is a thing Indifferent in its own nature But the Surplice and the Cross and Kneeling c. are in specie neither Commanded nor forbidden Ergo they are Indifferent They who deny the Major fight with their own shadows and gainsay out of a spirit of opposition for we persist in this and they know it that we mean nothing else by a thing Indifferent in its own nature but somewhat left undetermin'd in the Holy Scripture They who deny the Minor must prove these things in the use of them forbid in Scripture which if they shall endeavour to do I doubt not but to pronounce them superstitious and shall in the Conclusion prove it In the mean time because Negatives are hard to be proved it concerns them to confute us by producing the Texts which forbid them which Texts if they be no other than the second Commandment or that in Coloss 2. about will-worship or Matthew 15. Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men or some such like these then I demand farther In as much as the Surplice c. are not named in any of these places by what good Consequence by what Demonstrative Syllogism shall it be proved from such a Text that it is not lawful to wear a Surplice Here now will be the failure they quote Texts from whence they declaim but they do not argue closely and cogently We know we do not add to the word of God whether they do not Ipsi viderint and I shall anon endeavour to open their Eyes We do not teach for Doctrines the Commands of men We do not urge humane Impositions upon account of Divine Institution any otherwise than as it is the appointment of God to obey Authority Wherefore when such a Text is one of the premises we fear not with Confidence to aver that this cannot be a good Conclusion Ergo to wear a Surplice is not Indifferent in its Nature but a Sin But of this a little more hereafter Now I farther proceed and say The Church of England does not reckon these things so Indifferent as to partake nothing of the nature of good or evil which is Bradshaws false Notion or so Indifferent that all other things that may come in competition with them are as equal to them as one Shop or Inn may be to another For Example Kneeling is not so Indifferent that there is no more to be said for it than for lying along A White Garment not so Indifferent as that any other colour would be altogether as grave and decent but therefore Indifferent because undetermin'd in Scripture Nevertheless when the Governours of the Church have descended to consider what is expedient to be done in these matters the determinations which they have made have not been by chance as a man goes to his Inn but they have proceeded according to the Rules of Christian Prudence and it is to be hoped they may be allowed to do so as well as the Assembly who in their Directory so profess as will presently be said The general Rules of Decency Order and Edification have set them their bounds According to the best of their Wisdom they have judged such and such Impositions expedient and therefore have so determin'd concerning them Which determinations when they are once made so far as the Lord Brooks Notion is true it serves our turn very well Optimum est faciendum We have so much Reverence for our Superiours as to judge they have determin'd us to that which they thought most fit and expedient then for our own practice we still esteem these things Indifferent in their nature but necessary as to use Being satisfied that the Holy Scripture does not forbid such usages we count them lawful Being also satisfied that our Governours command them now by virtue of a Law Intervening they are necessary to us because we are commanded to obey our Governours in all lawful things These things pertaining to the Propositions that next follow I go on 3. It is no superstitious Opinion to believe Sect. 8. that the Church may make determinations in things Indifferent Our foremention'd Lord Brooke boggles here I must therefore consider what he says First He concludes thus The Ib. Chap. 6. Church hath no power to make any one thing Indifferent in it self That say I she need not do for she finds them Indifferent Again he says we cannot say the Church hath power to determine what is Indifferent In things that seem Indifferent where neither of the excreams is necessary there especially where both are doubtful he conceives the Church hath not power to determine to either extream As suppose Black and White Colours should be doubtful whether both or either or neither were lawful In this Case says he for ought I yet see the Church hath no power to determine any one so doubting either to Black or White the reason is because neither is necessary there being so many Intermediate Colours between both That is as much as to say if these things be applyed Ministers may be determin'd neither to a White Surplice nor to a Black Gown because there are other Colours and rather than the Church shall determine to one Ministers shall be left to their liberty to dress themselves in a Fools Coat But he goes on to cut short the Churches power When one of the extreams between which we waver as Indifferent is necessary to be embrac'd as in most cases it is here all the power lawful as he conceives again can do no more but resolve which of the two extreams is best And is not this hitherto pretty well A surplice cannot be said to be necessary because a man may wear a Gown or Cloak or Coat or Mantle or if he be disposed may nakedly hold forth the Truth Kneeling is not necessary because a man may stand or sit or loll or ly along What then Is it therefore unlawful for the Church to determine to some one of these No sure for according to the latter Conception when one extream is necessary to be embrac'd the Church may resolve which is best And this is the Case here For though no one of the two be necessary yet some one of them all must be embrac'd For the Sacrament cannot be received but in some posture or other c. I conceive therefore his Lordships latter Conception in the very birth of it pulls the former by the heel and supplants it For if the Church may resolve which of the two extreams is best where one is necessary with as much reason may
Sacraments The Presbyterians require sitting at the Lords Supper because significant Their pretence of the Example of Christ not sufficient Because p. 93 SECT XIV First That Example does no more oblige in this than in other Circumstances of Time and place unless in the significancy of it which then is as much superstitious as our kneeling For secondly They have not Example for the same manner of sitting Thirdly Not certain whether they have Example for any manner of sitting at all p. 100 SECT XV. They use another significant Ceremony in the Covenant and consent they require of people whereby they should own their Minister Worcestershire Agreement gives account of it Distinction between Discipline and Worship will not help them p. 108 SECT XVI Upon these Grounds the Church of England not superstitious unless the number of Ceremonies be too great Which hath been complain'd of without Cause and some of them acknowledge in our favour A Digression about the number of Ceremonies Or unless our Rites be requir'd as somewhat more than Indifferent In which the Prefaces to our Liturgy vindicate us p. 112 SECT XVII Two Objections 1. Ceremonies impos'd as Indifferent are not so So they were once believ'd But now some N. C ts think not so of them Answer Where no Law no Transgression Not forbid in the second Command nor elsewhere The Surplice and Kneeling and the Cross particularly consider'd p. 123 SECT XVIII 2 Obj. Though in Nature Indifferent yet some Accidents may render it sinful to impose or practise them They are thought by Bagshaw to be laid as snares for tender Consciences If so it would be Tyranny rather than superstition But it blasphemes Dignities so to think The Accidents consider'd Because they are offensive because they come from Papists The law of not giving offence does not disoblige the subject from obedience in things in themselves lawful Nor does it disable the Magistrate from making laws in things Indifferent The abuse of Popery signified nothing to T. C. in his own case The second General Proposition concluded p. 132 SECT XIX Third Proposition The Opinions that are superstitious are rejected by the Church of England Divers Objections against Popery besides superstition but that now to be consider'd They are superstitious First in making their Ceremonies necessary parts of Gods worship Pius IV. Creed impos'd upon all Bishops makes all the Doctrines of Trent necessary to salvation They equal Traditions to the written word and so introduce false Doctrines They teach for Doctrines the Commands of men and so are superstitious p. 144 SECT XX. Secondly They ascribe an efficacious sanctity to their Ceremonies They worship the Cross with Latra and affirm that it scares away the Devil drives away diseases and sanctifies the things on which it is made This is superstition to expect effects as by divine Institution which we have no warrant to expect Estius endeavours to salve the matter but not to satisfaction They teach that the Sacraments confer Grace Ex opere Operato and that is superstitious Bellarmines distinction between opus operatum and operantis to their prejudice p. 154 SECT XXI Thirdly Their Doctrine of Merit is superstitious Bellarmine ascribes Merit and satisfaction to good Works His famous acknowledgment to the contrary We own a necessity of good works but exclude Merit Whatever else is any where done upon a Religious account farther than Religion ought to be concern'd is superstitious The Church of England not guilty in any of these Cases p. 163 SECT XXII The Fourth Proposition There are superstitious Omissions of which men may be guilty when they seem greatly to abhor superstition A Negative Superstition A superstitious fearfulness of which Lord Bacon and St. Austin complain Such was that of the Jews who would not defend themselves on the Sabbath day Of the Souldiers in Sfetigrade The N. C ts have reason to examine whether their Abstinence be not such To abstain from that which is lawful as believing it Unlawful this undue opinion of Religious Matters is superstitious The Conclusion p. 171 ERRATA PAge 95. line 9. for where insignificant read wherein significant p. 149. l. 13. for rest r. rests the lesser faults are left to the ingenuity of the Reader to correct or pardon THere is lately published the seventh Edition of a Body of Divinity c. By the most Reverend Father in God James Usher late Arch-Bishop of Armagh to which is added his Life containing many remarkable passages never before Extant Sold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard A DISCOURSE OF Superstition With respect to the PRESENT TIMES c. THE prejudices and disaffections Sect. 1. which have alienated so many from the Communion of the Church of England owe themselves to no Original more than to an Opinion taken up that some Usages in our Church are Superstitious An Opinion strongly concluded but upon weak grounds and by a Process very illogical For when the Adversaries of our Order and Peace have amply represented how jealous God is of his Honour how severely he hath threatned the breaches of the second Commandment and how sorely he hath punished the Idolatry of the Jews in the application of these things to our Times Superstition and Idolatry are frequently join'd as equally forbidden in that Commandment and without more proof the Church of England is supposed guilty of Superstition and good people are exhorted to come out of her upon pain of partaking of those Plagues which Idolaters have reason to fear From the times of Queen Elizabeth down to our days Superstition hath been laid to our Charge Mr Hooker acknowledges and resents it Ecclesiastic Pol. Book 5. §. 4. So it is judged our Prayers our Sacraments our Fasts our times and places of publick meeting together for the Worship and Service of God our Marriages our Burials our Functions Elections and Ordinations Ecclesiastical almost whatsoever we do in the exercise of our Religion according to Laws for that purpose established all things are some way or other thought faulty all things stained with Superstition One of the Treatises that were sent abroad as it were to give new light to a new World 1660. under the name of Mr William Bradshaw is about things Indifferent where he thus speaks in the Marginal Notes Notes on the fifth Chapt. of things Indifferent The Doctors of Oxford ask what hurt can a wise Man see in a square Cap and a Surplice Indeed there is no outward hurt or evil in it but it must be considered whether there be not any inward hurt therein for if it can be proved that by them the Souls of many are poisoned with superstitious conceits then it is apparent that they have inward hurt in them This is but a supposition but it follows dogmatically The Ceremonies Ibid. Notes on Chap. 8. in Controversy have been and are the special means and occasion of the Schism of many Hundred Brownists of much Superstition in many
be upbraided with superstition because of such appointments If these grounds be firm and good I conclude that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England unless they be either burdensome in their Number or requir'd as somewhat in nature and kind greater and more necessary than things Indifferent are not faulty or superstitious Both which Cases deserve Consideration 1. If our Rites be in their nature Sect. 16. Innocent no man hath reason to find fault with their Number The Compilers of our Liturgy have been aware that an Objection might be here made and have taken care to prevent the scruple Some Ceremonies are Preface to the Liturgy of Ceremonies put away because the great excess and multitude of them hath so increas'd in these latter days that the burden of them was intolerable whereof St. Austin in his time complain'd c. This our excessive multitude was so great and many of them so dark that they did more confound and darken than declare and set forth Christs benefits to us That Complaint of St. Austin is in his Epistle to Januarius where he acknowledges Aug. Januario Ep. 119. Quamvis enim neque hoc inveniri possit quomodo contra fidem sint ipsam tamen Religionem quam paucissimis manifestissimis celebrationum sacramentis misericordia Dei esse liberam voluit servilibus oneribus premunt ut tolerabilior sit conditio Judaeorum Admit that such observances be not against the Gospel yet in as much as the Merciful God would have Religion free from the burden of many Ceremonies they have so clog'd it with burdensome services that the condition of the Jews was more tolerable than of Christians now adays That there may be no such Cause of Complaint among us the Church of England hath been very moderate in this thing Not so as to escape the ill will of her Adversaries when they were resolv'd to find fault for the Preface to the Directory complains of the many unprofitable and burdensome Ceremonies contain'd in the Liturgy which occasion'd much mischief yet in cool blood some of the party are constrain'd to acknowledge the Disc of Liturgies p. 91. number of Ceremonies retain'd in our Church pretending to any legal Authority but small The Surplice and Cross and Kneeling at Sacrament are we think all And they do us much wrong if they refuse this acknowledgment For a great number of observations which obtain in the Church of Rome in the Celebration of the Sacraments which from their number of seven we have reduc'd to Two and in other parts of Divine Worship have no place in the Church of England lest they should divert the minds of men from worshipping God in spirit and truth Ceremonies harmless in themselves may yet be hurtful in respect of their number therefore hath our Church abrogated a great number of Saints-days and other like Customs as Mr Eccles Pol. lib. 4. Sec. 14. Hooker hath observed Wherefore such is the present state of our Church that we may securely defy our Adversaries in this matter if it were as easy to cure their Jealousies of what may be as to answer their objections against what is established But here they make difficulty Though our present Number of Ceremonies be but small yet they raise a doubt how far a Church may go how many Ceremonies may be establish'd before the number be burdensome Where is the Maximum quod non and the Minimum quod sic of superstition This is thought a great Argument why no Ceremonies beyond what are of direct necessity should be imposed because of the Bagshaw's Two great Queries p. 10. Impossibility to fix a point where the Imposer will stop For do but once grant that the Magistrate hath power to impose and then we ly at his mercy how far he will go And they who allow our present number to be but small yet think them too many because though there Discourse of Liturgies p. 91. be no more Ceremonies established by law as yet there are many probationers and they can see no reason but the Churches power if allowed to appoint any save only such without which the service of God would apparently to all rational men be perform'd indecently and disorderly may appoint Hundreds It is also one of Mr Baxters reasons against the Imposing Crossing and the Surplice c. When we once begin to let in Humane Baxter Disput of Ch. Government p. 477. Mystical Rites we shall never know where to stop or make an end On the same ground that one age invents three or four the next think they may add as many and so it will grow to be a point of devotion to add a new Ceremony as at Rome it hath done till we have more than we well know what to do with I answer The Writings of Moralists are not thought defective though when they have given General Rules for Temperance that men may not drink till they disable their Reason and impair their health c. they do not descend particularly to determine how many Glasses a man may drink and precisely to say such a draught makes him Intemperate Nor did Mr Chillingworth think he was wanting to his Adversary who counted it prodigiously strange that Protestants Chillingw Religion of Protest c. p. 128 129. could not be induc'd to give in a particular Catalogue of points Fundamental when he calls it an Unreasonable demand because variety of Circumstances makes it impossible to set down an exact Catalogue of them I think I may have as much reason to reckon it no Imperfection in this discourse if I do not venture punctually to determine how great a number of Ceremonies may be required before we come at Superstition When the number becomes so great that the shadow darkens the substance When the substantial service of God which should be performed in spirit and truth is prejudic'd by the attendance that is given to the outward Ceremony when the use of the means renders us uncapable to obtain the end then does it rise to that excessive multitude of which our Church speaks But because the use of our liberty in other lawful things cannot be fix'd in an Indivisible point but alters according to the various Circumstances of times and persons and conditions and relations of men therefore no wise man will give one particular determinate rule which shall oblige equally in all Cases In like manner as our Church reckons Ceremonies Indifferent so at the same time are they concluded alterable and it is acknowledged that upon weighty and important considerations Preface to the Liturgy according to the various exigency of times and occasions such changes and alterations should be made therein as to those in place of Authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient And here sure must the thing rest It must be left to the prudence of our Governours If they shall impose any thing in which the Consciences of
people are not satisfied If in truth it shall be believed that the number of Ceremonies enjoin'd is so great that the means disserve the end that what is ordain'd as an help to Piety and Devotion does rather hinder it these persons so dissatisfied about the number are in the same case with those who are dissatisfied about the nature of an Injunction If they scruple without cause and are not duly inform'd their scruples do not render the Injunction unlawful in it self Nevertheless the Doctrine of our Church does not encourage them to act against their Consciences they must peaceably suffer where they cannot act No doubt but it is possible Church-Governours who among us do not pretend to Infallibility may in some things be mistaken Yet such things as these must be left to their determination For is it not so elsewhere There may be too many Ale-Houses in a Town and it may be difficult to determine exactly how many are sufficient and where the number will exceed but is it therefore unlawful for the Justices to licence any There may be in a Countrey or Town Parishes too many for the Maintenance or too few for the people and it may be difficult for Authority to know exactly how many are needful and convenient Shall there be therefore no division made into several for fear lest there should be too many or too few What if there be the same difficulty in adjusting the true number of Ceremonies yet in as much as it is necessary there should be some because else Religion in the substance would suffer and decay therefore is it also lawful for our Governours to make a determination in this matter The Determination of which number must proceed upon the same Rules of Decency Order and Edification which give a law to the kind and nature of Ceremonies And in this General may men rest satisfied till the number shall grow doubtful Then it will concern private persons to take heed as to their own practice that the Ceremony do not devour the substance But because at present there is no reasonable Cause to fear because the Ceremonies that are now requir'd are so few that no man may without peevishness quarrel at their number if they be Innocent in their nature and use therefore I return from this digression to consider that in the next place 2. The Rites and Ceremonies of our Church are not required as things in their nature necessary but Indifferent The use of the Cross at Baptism is Canon 30. thus accounted for as being purg'd from all Popish superstition and error and reduc'd in the Church of England to the primary Institution of it upon those true Rules of Doctrine concerning things Indifferent which are consonant to the word of God and the Judgment of all Antient Fathers c. And upon the same Rules of Doctrine are our other Ceremonies established For so the Preface to the Liturgy expresses it The Ceremonies that remain are retain'd for a Godly Discipline and Order which upon just causes may be alter'd and chang'd and therefore are not to be esteem'd equal with Gods Law And the Preface that was made upon the last establishment says The particular forms of Divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be us'd therein are things in their own Nature Indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged Words too plain to need a Comment and lyable to no Objection that I can foresee unless one of these two things shall be replyed both upon them and all that hath hitherto been said in this matter First That some things are requir'd under the Notion of things Indifferent which are not so Secondly Be it granted that some Indifferent things may be impos'd yet it does not follow that all may or that the things in controversy may We say the things they scruple Sect. 17. are requir'd but as things Indifferent as indeed they are They are not all satisfied to think so of them The time was when T. C. did oppose our Ceremonies not as unlawful but as inconvenient as hath been already said And Mr Ash in the Epistle to his Funeral Sermon on Mr Gataker when he had named Cartwright and Hildersham and Dod c. he says of them though these men dislik'd the use of superstitious Ceremonies yet they oppos'd their Tenents and practice who separated from the Church of England condemning it and the Ministry of it as Antichristian The separation is it seems now advanc'd for there are men that reckon there is more superstition among us than was believ'd formerly and therefore separate farther from us It is denied Modest Disc of Ceremon p. 8. now that these are things of Indifferency to be us'd as is requir'd in the service of God And whereas it is supposed that we say that the Imposition of Rulers makes Indifferent things cease to be Indifferent they answer They are not Indifferent in the Judgment Petition for Peace p. 12. of Dissenters though they be so in ours Exercit. about an Opining Cansci p. 80. They think they have probable Arguments to judge it unlawful to Minister in a Surplice to sign with the sign of the Cross in Baptism and to kneel in the Act of receiving the Lords Supper Yea these things are so far from being Indifferent that they are thought so Unlawful as that because of them people separate from our Churches For whatever reasons may perswade their Guides not to conform yet the people separate from us that they may not partake with our Ceremonies or for a worse reason I could not altogether omit so necessary a part of my Discourse but because it hath been so often said I pass it in fewer words Where no Law Rom. 4. is there is no Transgression That which is not forbid is not Unlawful Are these Rites and Ceremonies forbid in the word of God By what Text perhaps by the second Commandment or by those words of St. Matth. Teaching for Doctrine the Commandments of men Ch. 15. or by the Text of Will-Worship 2 Colos or because we may not add to nor diminish from the word of God Deuteron 4. Now because the Surplice and Cross and Kneeling are not named in these Texts as was upon occasion said before therefore Consequences must be drawn from them and labour'd so long till the Conclusion must hold as firm as confidence can make it Because the second Command forbids making and worshiping graven Images therefore all devices and Inventions of mans brain must have no place in Divine Worship Ergo what Ergo rend the Surplice c. As if the Bason at the Desk were not as much the device of man as the Font and the Directory were not as obnoxious as the Rubrick If our Church did equal her commands to the word of God then were she guilty of adding to the word and establishing the Commands of men in the room of the Doctrines of God If any accidents may bring our Rites within the
compass of some general prohibitions the Unlawfulness of them upon that account will be to be consider'd in what next follows If they shall be denied Indifferent in their own Nature and yet no one Text of Scripture can be produc'd that speaks one word about them they who shall so deny do both bring an Unanswerable prejudice against all the particular establishments made by the General Rules of prudence whether by the Presbyterians or Independents and do also quite mistake the nature of a thing Indifferent If we descend to particular Instances I desire to know why the Surplice is not as Indifferent as a Gown or Cloak Not because it is a white Garment for then why are not Bands Unlawful And where is the Text that forbids white more than black Nor because it is of such a fashion for the Scripture gives no more directions for the shaping of a Cloak than a Surplice Why then Surely either because it is thought decent or significant or because it is appropriated to divine worship 1. If it be decent then is it no Errour to think it so then the Apostolical Canon let all things be done decently justifies and maintains it And is it not decent Does nature teach so to whom St. Paul appeals We do 1 Cor. 11. not find any inbred shame as if we did somewhat Unnatural in the use of it Does Scripture pronounce it uncomely We cannot find it There is no other Rule for Decency but either common estimation or the pleasure of our Governours for the latter we are secure and set peevishness aside fear not being condemn'd by the former 2. Peradventure it is thought significant therefore not Indifferent I answer that a significant Ceremony if this should be such only as such is not superstitious But who told our men of scruples that it is urg'd as significant of Candor and Purity By what Canon or Rubrick is any man oblig'd to have such an Opinion of it Whatever others who may have a better Opinion of significant Ceremonies may think of it he who is satisfied to wear it as a decent Garment transgresses no Law if he think no more 3. Is it unlawful and not Indifferent because it is appropriated to Divine Service This it seems is Dr Collings Exercit. of Opin Consc p. 80. scruple who thinks it Unlawful to wear any habit peculiarly appropriated to the worship of God I wonder then how it can be lawful to lean on a Pulpit Cushion or to use a Communion Cup if the Church-Wardens should be so superstitious as to lock them up and preserve them from all other uses If there be any thing in Scripture that forbids the use of a Garment upon any of these accounts somewhat will be offer'd worth considering till then we continue to believe it Indifferent and free from superstition 2. Why is not Kneeling c. Indifferent not because it is a posture for so is sitting but because it is such a posture And what is it A posture us'd upon any superstitious Opinion Let us know what that is Is it suspected to signifie our Adoration of the Elements The Declaration of our Liturgy delivers us from that suspicion and authorizes us to reckon them pitifully Ignorant or monstrously Uncharitable who after so plain a Declaration will suspect it What it signifies we there read This Order Order for Adminis H. commun is well meant for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ and for the avoiding of prophanation and disorder If it be unlawful to signify humility and thankfulness why do we at any time kneel or lift up our hands and eyes to Heaven Or if it be unlawful to avoid prophanation and disorder then let St. Paul be reproved for setting 1 Cor. 11. things in Order in the Church of Corinth Till I can find some Text that forbids Kneeling or till I can be satisfied that some superstitious Opinion gives occasion to it I must continue to reckon this also Indifferent 3. And to the same purpose I say of the Cross at Baptism How superstitiously the Papists use it I shall have occasion to say but our use of it being to where in Scripture forbid unless it can be proved that our 30th Canon of which before gives a false Account of it unless there be some Popish or other superstition or error from which it is not sufficiently purg'd it remains in its nature Indifferent Our general Answer in all is as before Where no Law is there is no Transgression What is not forbid is allowed is not Unlawful 2. There may be some who will Sect. 18. grant that some Indifferent things may be Impos'd yet will not yield that our Ceremonies therefore may because of some objections against them which have not equal force against all matters Indifferent Such are these two thought to be 1. The case of Scandal and giveing offence to weak Brethren 2. Because they have been abus'd among the Papists I should be asham'd to mention these things where in the N. C ts have been so often answer'd did I not consider that till this be clear'd the prejudice which I desire to remove will still remain for if for these reasons Conformity be Unlawful then may it seem that they who either impose or practise it have an undue opinion of that which is so unlawful and that opinion shall be suspected of superstition I proceed therefore to say If they who impose these Rites did not in truth judge them expedient and decent in the worship of God only because they think them barely lawful they urge them as believing many scrupulous minds will be offended at them and therefore they lay them as Snares and take advantage to incommode and bring under a penalty those who scruple them this might be called Tyranny but not properly superstition and so would not rach our Case I make not this supposition as if I would tempt any dissatisfied man so to judge of them for assuredly it is no less than a blaspheming of Dignities to think they enact Conformity for this reason But I find they who pretend to be dissatisfied will thus suspect And Mr Bagshaw thus expresses it Whoever obtrudes his conceits Two great Queries concerning things Indiff p. II. upon others who perhaps are not so well satisfied as he is becomes impious to God by invading his sovereignty and lording it over another mans Conscience and likewise injurious to men by pressing such things as are only baits to the careless and traps for the Conscientious Unless there be more hypocrisy than superstition in our Governours this cannot be the case for they profess to have done that which to their best understandings Preface to the Liturgy they conceiv'd might most tend to the preservation of peace and unity in the Church the procuring of Reverence and exciting of Devotion in the publick worship of God and the cutting off occasion from them that seek
occasion of cavil or quarrel against the Liturgy of the Church They have then imposed nothing but what they judg'd not only lawful but expedient which Impositions being already prov'd Indifferent unless the Circumstances that attend them render them such may not be judg'd superstitious It is therefore to be consider'd whether either of the two suspicions now mention'd be reason enough to charge our way of worship as superstitious 1. Suppose the Governours of the Church do not err in esteeming these things in their own nature Indifferent yet say Dissenters in as much as they are offensive to many Godly and Conscientious men they ought not to be impos'd or if they be it will be doubtful whether the great opinion they have of such matters as to enjoin them notwithstanding their offensiveness be not a superstitious Opinion I answer If the Act for Uniformity should contradict those Precepts of the Gospel that oblige us not to lay stumbling-blocks nor give offence to our weak Brother in as much as giving offence and not walking charitably are the same thing this procedure would be a trespass against the second Table rather than the First would be uncharitableness rather than superstition It will be replyed Though directly it be an offence against our Neighbour yet reductively it is against the First Table because such a practice is declarative of some undue and superstitious Opinions of those things which are so impos'd Let it be added therefore So long as private persons are not determin'd by the Laws of their Superiors it concerns them warily to use their liberty to take heed that their doing that which is lawful may not tempt others to do the same thing while they judge it unlawful which is the offending of our Brother of which St. Paul speaks to the Romans and Corinthians who only discourses of what ought to be done in those Cases where no lawful power had interpos'd to determine them one way or other For eating flesh and letting it alone were both lawful and remain'd Indifferent in nature and use too Now so long as the case remains thus the Law of not scandalizing a weak Brother is a Moral Law because it is an instance of the great Law of loving our Neighbour as our selves and doing to others as we would have them do to us wherefore so far as it is practicable it obliges But this may not be extended to disoblige the subject from obeying his superiours in lawful things nor to disable the Magistrate from making laws in things Indifferent First it does not disoblige the subject because the law of obedience to our Superiors being also a Moral Law either we are at the same time oblig'd by two laws which contradict or one must yield to the other If wearing the Surplice offend I must either disobey the Magistrate or offend my Brother Which then of these two must give place According to the N. C ts we must relinquish a certain Rule for that which is uncertain What the Magistrate commands is certain it is also certain that I am in my Conscience resolv'd of the lawfulness of that which is so Commanded taking it abstractly from its offensiveness If I must now demur in my obedience lest I give offence how shall I certainly know whether I offend or no how shall I know how many I may offend What assurance shall I have but my Non-Conformity may offend as many on the other side I shall now proceed by an uncertain Rule because I know not whither it will carry me and I am in a Case wherein one Moral Law must give place to another Whereas upon our Principles things are fairly reconcileable In matters undetermin'd by Law where we are at our liberty we must walk charitably and take heed that we give no offence that our liberty become not a stumbling-block 1 Cor. 8. 9. this is the Moral Law and this is Gospel But there is no Precept of the Gospel that commands us to disobey our Superiors lawful commands for an uncertain danger of giving offence Wherefore when we practise Conformity in obedience to establish'd Laws although peradventure we should offend our weak Brother yet do we not thereby declare a superstitious Opinion of the Ceremonies we use We may think our selves oblig'd to obey our Governours in all lawful things and yet not think of the Surplice or Cross c. more highly than we ought to think 2. And as it does not disoblige the subject from Obedience so neither may it be thought to disable the Magistrate from making laws about things Indifferent For if it did it were not safe to make any laws about Decency and Order because the Magistrate can never be secure but his Determinations may be so cross to the opinions of some of his subjects as to make them offend if they obey But it hath been already evinc'd that the N. C ts yield the Magistrate a power to proceed according to the Rules of Christian Prudence in governing the Church And the frame of the Directory and the urging of the Covenant do sufficiently assure us that the hazard of scandalizing a weak Brother was no restraint to an Ordinance of the Lords and Commons He who in his Conscience thought there was no way of worship so Regular as that of the Church of England He who thought he should sin if he should conform to the Directory was not thereby excus'd from sequestration Yet I dare say they would take it ill if they should be suspected of superstition of having an undue opinion of their manner of Divine Service And I cannot yet see why they commanding men to receive the Sacrament sitting when probably that would tempt some men not to receive it at all did not as much offend their Brother and did not as much declare that they had a superstitious opinion of such sitting as the commands that now require Kneeling may be so interpreted 2. Nor does the second scruple weigh much Our Ceremonies are suppos'd to have been abus'd among the Papists and this is made a great Argument by the N. C ts why they should not be retain'd To this the Answer hath been so often given to this purpose that by the same reason our Churches may not be now us'd nor our Bells which have been Christen'd nor any thing retain'd that relates to Divine Worship but what is of absolute necessity and is particularly commanded that I dwell not here any farther than according to my former Method to give a Testimony how little this objection signifies when it is made against them It had been laid to T. C ' s. charge that he should thus declaim against the Church of England The Communion Survey of the H. pretended Discipl p. 315 316. Book was taken out of the Mass-Book that it were better to conform our selves in outward things to the Turks than to the Papists Whatsoever comes from the Pope which is Antichrist comes first from the Devil c. In the time
qualiscunque ratiocinatio cogitantis qut quia in vuâ patriâ sic ipse consuevit aut quia ibi vidit ubi peregrinationem suam quò remotiorem à suis eò doctiorem factam putant tam litigiosas excitant quaestiones ut nisi quod ipsi faciunt nihil rectum existimant Words which by a little alteration and paraphrase are but too accommodate to the case of our present Dissenters To the grief of my Soul I have often observ'd how weak and scrupulous minds have been miserably perplex'd in matters of Religion by the contentious obstinacy and superstitious fearfulness of some who seem to be very Godly men Differences arise in matters Indifferent and alterable in their own natures such as the H. Scripture hath not any where particularly determin'd nor hath any tradition of the Universal Church fix'd them in one certain course nor can it be said that for the bettering the lives of men it must be thus and may not be so yet there are Jealousies and scruples in their minds it may be they remember it otherwise in their times and where they have lived It may be they have been as far as Scotland Amsterdam or Geneva and have a greater opinion of what is done abroad For one reason or other they are litigious and troublesome and think nothing well done but what they do themselves From this scrupulosity are men apt to call any thing into question and for fear lest they should err on one hand and run into superstition and Popery they run as far on the other and their Omissions are as superstitious as they fear'd their practice would have been Such was the case of the Jews 1 Machab. 2. when they were assaulted by their Enemies on the Sabbath day rather than violate the Sabbath by defending themselves they tamely suffer'd themselves to be destroyed The law of self-preservation could not perswade them to any resistance and if Mattathias had not been wiser than the rest they might all have perished Such also was the superstition of the Knol Turk History Souldiers in Sfetigrade when Amurath besieg'd it An. 1449. A Traytor in the City had cast a dead dog into the only Well which supplyed the City with Water which when it was espied in the Morning by the Souldiers no Importunity could perswade them to drink of that Water which they reputed Unclean by a dogs Carcass so was the Governour compell'd to surrender the City And such surely was the conceit of that zealous man some while since among our selves who cut out of his Bible the Contents of the Chapters and so would cut out the word of God it self that was on the other side of the page rather than suffer any Humane mixture with the pure word of God Whether the case of our N. C ts be not somewhat parallel is now to be consider'd They suspect superstition in the use of the Surplice and Cross c. and therefore Religiously abstain from them but what if this Abstinence also should be superstitious If the Rites and Ceremonies of our Church be as they imagine it must be either because we judge that lawful which is Unlawful or that necessary which is but Indifferent or because these Ceremonies though granted in their own nature Indifferent yet by reason of some Accident that attends them may not be impos'd and may not be submitted to if impos'd All which things have already had their Consideration after all which I have not doubted to conclude that our Rites may be us'd without superstition But now I move a doubt on the other side to which if they cannot give a better Answer than I am aware of they can't excuse themselves from superstition For what other reasons Conformity may be refus'd I now enquire not If any refuse it because they cannot wear a Surplice or use the Cross and if any private persons neglect the Sacrament of the Lords Supper because they cannot kneel as is commanded I desire to know for what reasons they are not free to join with us in these Usages Either they think them lawful or Unlawful If lawful such as may be submitted to and yet for some politick respects they will not submit this Abstinence of theirs may be free from superstition but some other way it will be as Unaccountable For he who without violating his Conscience can conform but will not let him if he can excuse his disobedience to the Powers which God hath set over him let him if he can deliver himself from the Character of a contentious man If without fraud or guile there be a man who does not act because he dare not who is perswaded in his Conscience he should sin against God and do that which is Unlawful if he should wear a Surplice c. This is the man whom I charge with superstition because he judges that Unlawful which is Indifferent because he proceeds upon a mistake of the nature of things because a false opinion betrays him to this abstinence He declares hereby that he hath a wrong Notion and apprehension of God when he thinks him displeas'd by such an Action against which the Scripture hath not declar'd his displeasure As men may teach for Doctrines the positive Commands of men so may they also teach for Doctrines the prohibitions of men and this is adding to the word of God And in this does Ames condition take place In illâ Abstinentiâ Medul Theol. prius Honor aliquis singularis Deo intenditur They conceit they Honour God by abstaining from that which is no where forbidden It is no where said neither in express words nor in any equivalent phrase That it is the will of God no man should wear a white Garment when he Ministers in Divine Offices that no man should kneel when he receives the Sacrament c. Wherefore what God hath cleansed why should we call Common Where is the man that hath Authority to pronounce that Unclean which God hath not so pronounc'd The necessary use of these things when they are commanded does not take away the Indifferency of their nature and this delivers us from superstition But to abstain from them as Unlawful in their nature does directly contradict the opinion of their Indifferency and leaves the men who so abstain under the guilt and bond of superstition So may men find that at a Conventicle which they are afraid to meet at Church Superstition lodges in the minds of men and they who are inclin'd to it may discover it when they sit still as well as when they move Touch not tast not handle not are not greater Indications of a superstitious abstinence than are wear not kneel not Cross not when the Doctrine of these Ceremonies is known to be Innocent and allowable Wherefore they who are indeed afraid of superstition who are afraid of mixing their own Inventions with the worship of God and doing that which is not requir'd at their hands are concern'd rightly to inform themselves in what they are commanded to do And when they find that the H. Scripture hath no where forbid the use of the Surplice upon those Terms upon which it is enjoin'd only the liberty which they themselves had power to determine is by the Magistrate determin'd for them not lightly or wantonly but for grave and weighty reasons Let them not fear they shall transgress where there is no law Let them not fear superstition in those practices to which they are induc'd by Opinions not superstitious But on the other side let the fear be lest they make the way to Heaven straiter than our Saviour hath made it Lest they scruple and condemn that which does not appear unlawful Lest they split upon Scylla while they shun Charybdis Lest they run into superstition while they desired to avoid it and lest an Innocent Ceremony scare them to an Unjustifyable Separation FINIS
of Religion so is Superstition an extream on the other hand an Excessive Religiousness when men go beyond their bounds in Divine Worship so that all false worship goes under the name of Superstition A man may be righteous over-much and over-much wise so may he also be not too holy or too good yet too religious when he exceeds and practises in matters of Religion upon Opinions false and unworthy of God This hath been the use of the word in approved Authors of divers Ages It hath sometimes been determined to particular practices as Magick and Enchantments but upon a general reason because these are undue mixtures in Religion for so both in Heathen and Christian Authors this difference is commonly assigned between them Religio est Ubi prius veri Cultus superstitio falsi as Lactantius hath it When we worship God aright that is Religion when by any undue additions we corrupt Religion in all those things we are superstitious 2. The Enquiry into the Nature Sect. 4. of the thing still remains Whereby does it appear whether the worship we here or others elsewhere perform to God be regular and Religious or excessive undue and so superstitious The Resolution I give to this question I form into these Propositions 1. Superstition is first in the Opinion and thence influences upon the practice 2. The Doctrines upon which the Conformity of the Church of England is established are not superstitious Opinions 3. The Opinions that are indeed superstitious such as are divers that obtain in the Papacy and elsewhere are rejected by the Church of England 4. There are superstitious Omissions of which men may be guilty and that then when they seem to have a great Zeal against Superstition 1. Superstition is first in the Opinion before it can have any influence upon the practice Practices are unlawful when they transgress the Commands by which they are obliged but superstitiously unlawful they cannot be unless they proceed from such Opinions Hence it comes to pass that the same practices are sometimes superstitious and sometimes not according as mens Opinions are by which they are perswaded to them So is the difference between the Ch. of England and of Rome in the use of the Cross in kneeling in the act of receiving c. as will afterwards appear I am not alone in thus stating the Notion of Superstition A superstitious act is that Bishop Durham Morton Sermon on 1 Cor. 11. 16. which is founded upon a superstitious Opinion It was not meerly the Pharisees often washing but their Opinion of some especial purgation thereby which Christ reprehended in them Nor was it the having an Altar for which St. Paul reproved the Athenians when he called them superstitious but the opinion of honouring a God thereby they knew not whom To a like purpose Mr Hooker Superstition is when things are abhorred Eccles Polity Book 5. §. 3. or observed with a zealous or fearful but erroneous relation to God And in words just before Superstition is always join'd with a wrong opinion touching things divine Conformably to both these says a late learned Author All Superstitious Falkener Libert Ecclesiast B. 1. Chap. 5. Sect. 2. §. 7. or other sinful honour of the Elements must be founded in embracing those false apprehensions and corrupt Doctrines which our Church rejects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refers to the inward sense and apprehension of our minds or if it must be distinguished between the thoughts of the mind and the passions of the Soul it is evident that fear arises from such opinions and apprehensions as administer to it Yea though superstition be as hath been said an excess of Religion and though this excess may discover it self in the practices of men yet the reason and that which occasions this excess is in the Opinion False Notions and apprehensions of God tempt men to try by undue ways to please him Men have a conceit that such services are more grateful to him than they are Or there is a superstitious observation of some Accidents as Prognosticks of Events because of an Opinion taken up that God Almighty does by such signs declare his pleasure or displeasure In all these Cases the First Seat of Superstition is in the Opinion and from thence it is derived into practice for did these false Opinions which thus mislead men cease by a better information of the understanding the practices and observances that depend on them would also cease or if they were continued they would be hypocritical or vain or any thing rather than superstitious For Example It is superstitious say we to worship an Image or to pray a Soul out of Purgatory c. because they are false and superstitious Opinions that induce men so to do If it may be supposed that men who opine right who do not in their judgment yield more to an Image than they ought and who do not in truth believe Purgatory may yet perform the same Ceremonies and make the same prayers I ask then for what reason are these things done If not for this reason because men are of opinion that the Image deserves it that the dead may be profited by their Devotions then is it a vain and ridiculous piece of Pageantry Or if some politick reason and secular Interest tempt men these ways what they do may be excused from Superstition because it is not intended for the honour of God and so is not performed as a part of his Worship but it is otherwise faulty because by pretences of Religion they advance their Interest and gain becomes their Godliness If in truth there be any Religious intendments in these performances then this is that which plainly renders them superstitious because they Originally proceed from superstitious Opinions This I have first said because upon this depends the Vindication I design of the Usages of the Church of England For if what is done in Divine Worship be not otherwise superstitious but as it proceeds from and is directed by superstitious Opinions then if it can be evinc'd that we are not guided by any such Opinions it will follow that our Rites and Ceremonies are void of superstition And this I trust to make appear in what next follows 2. The Doctrines upon which the Sect. 5. Conformity of the Church of England is established are not superstitious Opinions Of which matter I give this Account which I shall take to be sufficient till by an Enumeration of some other particulars of which I am not aware it be made appear that there are some other Doctrines that may be suspected of superstition which the Church of England in justification of her Conformity is obliged to maintain 1. All Circumstances relating to the Worship and service of God are not particularly determined in the word of God 2. Therefore notwithstanding the Determinations of the Holy Scripture some things do remain Indifferent in their own Natures 3. The Governours of the Church have power to