promise before God That God would preside amongst them and direct them into all truth and equity The Church of England requires no such subjection As to the twentieth Article They object first against the Substance and secondly against the Superfoetation of it since the time of Edward VI. 1. That the Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies This they say is false or at least a truth which hitherto they have not been able to discover This is a bold Charge against the Church of England That she obtrudes a falshood to be subscribed But doth it not argue an affected blindness in these Dissenters that they will not see the Churches Power or else a malicious obstinacy that they will not acknowledge it But To clear the Article it will not be amiss to declare what we mean by Church and what is intended by Rites and Ceremonies which we assert the Church hath power to Decree and establish As to Rites and Ceremonies David Rungius for the Lutherans tells us That the necessity of Order and Decency which the Apostle injoins doth require that there should be some Ceremonies in the Church and among the Calvinists it is the peremptory assertion of Zanchy That the Church of God on Earth never did or ever can want Ceremonies cum sine Ceremoniis c. because the Faithful can neither grow up into one body nor perform any publick Worship to Almighty God without them Hereupon Grotius has very well observed That the Christian Church as established by Christ and propagated by his Apostles and their Successors is a Body joined together not onely in Opinions as the Sects of the Philosophers nor in Rites and Ceremonies only as the Pagans of old nor in Government onely as the People of Poland sed in tribus his vinculis colligatum but a Body bound up together in all these three Bonds of Union To this effect others have observed that there are two sorts of Laws prescribed to the Church of God some concern the very essence life and substance of Christianity and the necessary Acts and Duties of Faith Hope and Charity And these are the primary the principal and fundamental Laws of Christs Kingdoms these are of Christs own Institution and appointment and for any Church to pretend to a power herein is Vsurpation In reference to these Laws and Ordinances the Church hath but the Office of an Ark to preserve and keep them and of a Pillar to support and declare them to the World Other Laws are secondary and suppletory having respect to the circumstances of those principal Acts and Duties and tending to the more facile and commodious observation of them These Laws may be called positive and inservient for that reason and the whole Legislative power of the Church consists in making Laws of this inferiour nature To this purpose Zanchy observes a twofold Power given to the Church one definite and determined quatenus scilicet determinata praescripta habet mandata ultra quae non licet progredi Inasmuch as it hath Commands determined and prescribed which it ought not to transgress And such is the Power which the Church hath in preaching the Word administring the Sacraments c. The other Power of the Church is indefinite and more ample whereby according to the circumstances of time and place and as shall seem most expedient She may appoint many things of their own nature indifferent that may make for good Order Decency and Edification Sub Ceremoniarum nomine complecti quicquid externe geritur ad cultum divinum celebrandum religionisve causa peragitur saith Joan Bunderius Under the name of Ceremonies is comprehended all that is outwardly acted in the celebration of Gods Worship or performed for Religion sake But this definition takes in all Gods external Worship even the Holy Sacraments are Ceremonies in this sense and notion Whereas the Rites and Ceremonies we treat of have their Scene in a lower Sphere among things indifferent Such are The Time of Publick Worship not onely as to the ordinary proportion but likewise as to extraordinary occasions for Fasts and Festivals The Persons in their several stations and parts of the Ministration The Place with all the Furniture of Books Utensils and Ornaments thereto belonging The Forms of all particular Offices and Administrations The Ministerial Habit and the Gestures both of Priest and People respectively in the performance of Divine Service with all Observances Actions and Circumstances of Deportment pro hîc nunc in Religious Assemblies which may be judged more commodious to procure Reverence and Devotion or to add Solemnity to Gods Publick Worship and Service These in the general are called Rites and Ceremonies and as to the Specification and particulars of them they are in the Churches power and are left to the prudence and care of Governours to determine and set in order But we meet with Complaints in many Holy men and learned Authors That the Church of God hath been made a Theatre of Ceremonies many of which are unintelligible and some of them opposite to the Word of God and yet in these men place their righteousness and holiness and in these consist the whole Practice of their Piety These Ceremonies are made matters of Merit and of Merchandice too Remission of Sins and other Spiritual Effects are attributed to them they are made so essentially necessary as if Christ could not save us nor be served at all without them The Grievances which have afflicted godly minds upon this account do arise 1. From the number and multiplicity of these Ceremonies 2. From their Futility and Lightness 3. From the necessity and value that hath been put upon them And lastly From the use and end that hath been assigned them And indeed they are not onely vain as our Saviour calls them but pernitious when through the high esteem men have for them 1. They do depretiate Gods Word and Ordinances 2. When they incumber and justle â—ut Gods substantial Worship and Service 3. When men rely upon them in an expectancy of grace and life from them as if the use of these could supply the want of Reformation and amendment That we may not split upon this Rock we have certain marks given us by the great Apostle to steer our Course and Practice by and those marks are four The Ceremonies ordained must be 1. Expedient 2. Decent 3. Significant 4. Prescribed by Authority 1. They must be expedient and that requires two things 1. That they be few and easie 2. That they be safe and inoffensive 1. They must be few and easie because we are not under the Law but under Grace and Christs Yoke is easie his Burden light Whereupon he hath knit together the Society of Christian People novi populi by Sacraments in number few in their observation easie and in their significancy most excellent saith S. Augustine who therefore towards the end of his 119. Epist. complains that
protect and succour the Church of God Vnde observandum est c. Whence we may observe saith he That besides the common Profession of the Faith there is required of Princes something more because God gives them Power and Authority to Protect the Church and to advance God's Glory This indeed concerns all Men but for Kings the greater their Power is the more they are obliged to lay out themselves for the Interest of the Church and the more carefully to regard it Vnde Videmus saith He quà m alieni sunt à regno Christi c. Hence we may see how repugnant they are to the Kingdom of Christ who would take away the Authority and Power of Kings in Church affairs that they may transfer it upon themselves But here we are to observe that the Power of Kings in Ecclesiastical matters is not Privative but Cumulative not design'd or intended by Almighty God to infringe or weaken the Authority of the Church but to fortifie and assist it To this purpose the Professors of Leyden tell us it is the Duty of the Prince or Magistrate to settle the Worship of God according to his Ordinance by the Ecclesiastical Ministery and when it is setled to preserve it intire and pure per judicia Ecclesiastica and when corrupt or depraved to reform it by the advice and judgment of Ecclesiastical Officers and as much as in him lyes to prevent and suppress all Seducers and false Teachers that would hinder the practice and progress of true Religion In hoc enim reges sicut eis divinitùs praecipitur Deo serviunt in quantum reges sunt si in suo regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem verumetiam quae ad divinam Religionem Herein Kings serve God according to his Command when they enjoyn what is good and forbid what is evil not only in things relating to Humane Society but in Matters of Religion And this is all the accompt needful to be given to that inquiry what we mean by the Church in this Article That the Church hath a Power to decree and settle Rites and Ceremonies to support her own Government and Administrations and to promote the publick and solemn Worship of God may be proved irrefragably out of the premisses 1. What things are needful or expedient to be decreed appointed and settled in the Church to support her Government and Administrations and to promote God's publick and solemn Worship those things the Church hath a Power to appoint decree and settle otherwise Christ hath not been faithful in his House is deficient in things expedient and necessary and has not provided for the well-ordering of his Church and Kingdom But some Rites and Ceremonies are expedient and needful to be decreed and settled in the Church to support her Government and Administrations and to promote God's publick and solemn Worship This has been proved already by Reason and Authority in the former part of this Disquisition I shall add but one or two Authorities more the first shall be Mr. Calvin's who delivers himself fully in the point Hoc primum habeamus saith He Let us lay down this for a Rule That if in every Society of Men we see some government necessary to preserve the common Peace and Concord if in the performance of all Matters some rite or other is in force which it concerns the publick honesty and humanity it self not to reject that is more especially to be observed in the Churches of God which being best supported by the well-composed Constitution of all things therein administred when they are without Concord they fall to nothing wherefore if we regard the safety of the Church we must take care of St. Paul's Injunction that all things be done decently and according to order and appointment But seeing there is such diversity in mens manners so great variety in their Minds such opposition in their Wits and Judgments No Government can be firm and stedfast unless it be establisht by certain Laws Nec sine statâ quadam formâ servari ritus quispiam potest Nor can any Rite be preserved without some set Form Huc ergo quae conducunt leges tantum abest ut damnemus ut his ablatis dissolvi suis nervis Ecclesias totasque deformari ac dissipari contendamus Such Laws therefore and Decrees as tend to this effect we are so far saith he from condemning that if these be taken away we may avouch that the Nerves and Sinews of the Churches are dissolved and that they are all deform'd and shattered to pieces Thus Mr. Calvin and we find it by sad experience whereupon Whitaker does acknowledge Habuit Ecclesia semper authoritatem leges ecclesiasticas condendi sanciendi easque aliis imperandi ac eos puniendi qui non observarent The Church had always a Power and Authority to make Ecclesiastical Laws and to establish them to injoyn them to others and to punish such as would not observe them 2. That Power which hath peculiar Officers assigned and special Rules prescribed to direct the exercise of it in the Church That Power is invested in the Church otherwise that assignation of Persons and Prescription of Rules would be nugatory trifling and to no purpose But to direct the exercise of appointing and settling Rites and Ceremonies in the Church peculiar Officers are assigned and special rules prescribed Of the Officers assign'd to exercise this Power in the Church we have said enough already and of the Rules prescribed I shall add no more than what is said by one or two Protestant Writers upon that Text Let all things be done decently and according to order Hinc colligere promptum est saith Mr. Calvin from hence we may gather That those Ecclesiastical Laws which concern Discipline and Order are Pious and not to be accounted humane Traditions because they are grounded upon this General Command and have a clear approbation as out of the mouth of Christ himself My next Authority shall be out of David Dickson a Scotchman and a Presbyterian He reckons it the seventh Precept touching Good Order Vt decorum observetur in personis ad publicum Conventum Ecclesiae accedentibus in rebus ad publicum cultum necessariis ut omnia cum gravitate modestia sine Superstitione sordibus peragantur partes Cultus Divini inter se ita Ordinentur temporibus suis disponantur ut Dei gloriae aedificationi Ecclesiae inserviant Maximè That a Decorum be observed of all Persons that come to the Assemblies of the Church and in all things allyed to the Publick Worship that all things be performed with Modesty and Gravity without Superstition and a Clownish sordidness and that all the parts of Divine Worship be so ordered among themselves and so disposed to their proper times that they may be inservient as much as is possible to the Glory of God
and the Edification of the Church This is an Apostolical Precept 3. That Power which the Church exerted from the beginning and has exercised in all after-Ages That Power the Church is invested with if not let them shew us some defeasance or forfeiture of it But a power to appoint and settle Rites and Ceremonies the Church did exert from the beginning and has exercised in all after-Ages St. Paul exercised this Power in appointing Their Method and course of Prophesying their weekly Collections for the Poor that they speak not in an unknown tongue unless they do interpret that the Women keep silence in the Church that the Men be covered and the Women uncovered in the time and place of Publick VVorship And 't is the affirmation of the most Learned and Judicious Sanderson Posse de novo leges Condi de Ritibus de Rebus Personis Ecclesiasticis omnibusque Sacri cultus externi Circumstantiis ad Ordinem honestatem aedificationem spectantibus extra eas quae sunt à Christo ejus Apostolis traditae in Sacris literis adeo Manifesta res est rationi Consentanea ut perversi judicii obstinatique animi suspitione aegre se liberaverit qui siccus sobrius id negaverit That new Laws may be made concerning Rites Things and Persons Ecclesiastical and all the Circumstances of our external holy Worship concerning Order Honesty and Edification besides those delivered in holy Scripture by Christ and his Apostles is a thing so manifest and agreeable to reason that he will very hardly free himself from the suspition of an obstinate mind and a perverse judgment who shall soberly deny it And this Power is of necessity to be perpetually in the Church because such Rites and Ceremonies are not perpetual For they are of things in their own nature indifferent and alterable and there may be a just Cause if the Church thinks good to alter them and consequently there must be a constant Power in the Church to appoint or alter them accordingly as occasion serves And this is the judgment of the Learned Whitaker Fatemur Apostolos in singulis Ecclesiis Ritus aliquos atque Consuetudines ordinis decori Causa Sanxisse non autem scripsisse quia hi Ritus non erant perpetui futuri sed liberi qui pro Commodo temporum ratione Mutari possent we acknowledge saith he that the Apostles did in all Churches establish some Rites and Customs for order and decency sake and yet did not commit them to Writing Because these Rites were not to be perpetual but free and such as might be changed in regard of the time and benefit of the Church See Hemmingius 4. That Society whose Custom and Practice in matter of Rites and Ceremonies not repugnant to God's Word is a Supersedeas to all objection and ought not to be disputed that Society hath a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies I say not repugnant to God's Word for Custom is not pleadable in God's Church without Right or against God's Word for Consuetudo sine veritate est vestustas erroris Custom without Truth is but the dotage of Errour But the custom and practice of the Church in matter of Rites and Ceremonies not repugnant to God's Word is a Supersedeas to all objection and ought not to be disputed This is St. Paul's own Argument 1 Cor. 11. 16. in a Matter of Ceremonies the Womans vail in the time and place of Publick Worship If any man seems to be contentious we have no such custom neither the Churches of God Quae sententia tam ad contentionem quam ad velandi ritum referri potest which Sentence may as well be referred to the contention as to the Rite of Covering the head saith Bullinger Duabus securibus disputationes amputat saith Grotius He cuts off Disputes with two Hatchets Apostolical Institution and the Custom of the Churches Quod per omnes Ecclesias receptum est to call that in question which is received among all Churches est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the part of such as are contentious And as Bullinger very well observes Hoc ultimo hujus negotii loco This being added in the last place by the Apostle to conclude the whole matter Vehementèr potuit eorum pungere Mentes qui non omninò praefracti atque deploratae erant pertinatiae It might have nettled them exceedingly who were not altogether stubborn and desperately obstinate To conclude this Matter Christ hath settled in his Church a Power to make Laws and appoint Rites and Ceremonies for the decent and orderly performance of all her Administrations and such as do otherwise than these Laws Command with a contemptuous and disloyal mind Mr. Perkins has declared them guilty before God in sundry places of his Works For that general Rule of the Apostle Let all things be done decently and according to order must be look'd upon with the same Reverence as if it dropt from the Lips of Christ himself saith Mr. Calvin This is the foundation upon which the whole Ecclesiastical Discipline is built saith Hemmingius And from hence it is confirm'd that the Pious Constitutions of the Church are so far sorth Divine as they serve to Edification by their decency and good order Whereupon they bind us to Obedience saith he in that respect Etiam jure Divino even of Divine Right When St. Austin therefore had received this advice from St. Ambrose whatsoever Church thou comest into observe the Customes of it that thou may'st not be a Scandal to others nor others to thy self This saying of that holy Father St. Austin often thought on and always embraced it as an Oracle from Heaven And concludes from thence there is no better Rule or Instruction for a discreet and sober Christian to follow than to do as the Church does where e're he comes Quod enim neque contra fidem neque contra bonos Mores injungitur indifferenter est habendum pro eorum inter quos vivitur Societate servandum est For that which is injoyn'd if it be neither against the Faith nor against good Manners it is to be esteem'd as a thing indifferent and ought to be observed in regard of their Society with whom we do converse And so much for the Power of the Church to decree and injoyn Rites and Ceremonies As to the Superfaetation of this Article That it is not found in the Authentick Articles of K. Edward the Sixth and so the Terms of Communion have been enlarged since the first times of the Reformation To this I answer 1. That the Corinthians and the Cretians might have made the like objection as well against St. Paul as against Titus because all things were not presently settled at the first plantation of the Gospel 1 Cor. 11. last Tit. 15. Much may be abolisht in an instant but such as pretend to Reformation and yet do nothing but pull down they
a damnable neglect or the fear of persecution or a perswasion of greater perfection falls soon into Schism and Apostacy and cannot perform that duty of Charity which he is obliged to by his Christianity Vult Deus adorari nos in verâ congregari charitate saith Oecolampadius God will be worshipped and will have us to be assembled in true charity Qui ab Ecclesia Dei se scindit non orat versus Hierusalem quando quidem illam non cupit reparatam a qua ipse seperatur He that cuts himself off from the Church does not pray with his face towards Jerusalem as the Prophet Daniel did because he does not desire that the Church should be repaired from which he is seperated Thus Oecolampadius These Dissenters may reform and purify the Church they are to advise about till they leave it naked not only of Rites and Ceremonies but also of useful Truth faederal Conditions and holy Duties as others have done and do still to this day Here Mr. Baxter shall vouch for me and I will instance in the great Article of Justification He charges not a small party with misunderstanding of the nature and use of Christ's Death and Obedience as he says thinking that Christ obeyed or satisfied by suffering or both as in our persons so that the Law takes it to all ends and uses as done by us our selves as when a man payeth his debt by his Delegate This opinion saith he if I understand it blots out Law and Gospel at one dash And he adds a little after That from that Doctrine this opinion follows That we are justified before we believe nay before we sin nay before we are born nay that it is an immanent Act in God and therefore eternal and that Infidels are justified as Infidels And a little after he says The beginning of these mens misery is usually pride of their supposed graces This leads them first to a seperation from their Brethren and contempt of their Guides next to Anabaptistry and at last they turn Antinomians and Libertines and are given up to a Spirit of Madness As Luther observ'd in his time eo feruntur Spiritu Satanae ut rideant doceri a nobis fidem charitatem They are carried with such a Spirit of Satan that they deride we should teach them Faith and Charity But to return to Mr. Baxter who goes on thus When men will so horribly abuse thSe on of God as to make him a friend to sin who hath done and suffered so much to destroy it and to make his blood the chiefest defensative of transgression and the price of a Lawless and Licentious life which was shed to demonstrate God's hatred of sin and to purge the Souls of men from its power and pollution c. It 's no wonder then as he concludes if God bears no longer but do appear against them from Heaven Excommunicate them and deliver them up to Satan the Spirit of Delusion It appears by the Confutation of that Physician that Mr. Baxter thought Dr. Lewis Moulin had taken too strong a Dose of that pernicious Doctrine And he tells us further that my Lord Brooks made this the Basis of all their Vanity Pride and Insolence They have the Spirit and so know more than all the Learned Pious Godly men in the World They have the Spirit they cannot sin they cannot err Adultery is but an Act of the Flesh but they are all Spirit and no Flesh. In this case if they be Traitors heady highminded c. Who will wonder What may they not be carried up to by the imagination of the Spirit That Lord as Mr. Baxter cites him goes on with their Character and concludes How can these things be spoken of Arminians Socinians or our Prelates These Dissenters should resolve the World whether these be the more eligible or only the tolerable party they communicate with in their separation from the Church of England But because they Appeal to the word to the word let them go That word tells us of Prelates and refers us to their Authority and sets forth their Faith and Practice for our Pattern Heb. 13. 7. 17. It tells us also of false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11. 13 14 15. But it charges us not to follow their pernitious ways And so I leave them The Dissenters Fifth Section THey plead that ther 's no Obligation upon them to own the Churches Power to impose New Terms of Communion unless the Church can prove her Power from Christ It 's not for them to disprove it it lies upon her to prove it and to prove it substantially too or else it will be hard to prove it their duty to own it The Answer 1. That Power which the Church had from the Apostles she had from Christ for the Apostles as was proved above had the mind of Christ if they did not deliver what they had received they were unfaithful And if they were unfaithful in this they might be unfaithful in all the rest and so our whole Christianity will be call'd in question 2. The Church hath not only made her Claim to a Power but has bin in actual Possession of it for more than 1600. years without interruption That Plea is enough for her to keep possession and many Rules of Law will Justify her in it 1. Melior est conditio possidentis He that is in possession has the best Title and 2. Cum Partium Jura sunt obscura favendum est Reo When the Rights of the Parties Litigant or Contesting are obscure and doubtful we are to favour the Defendant that is the Party whom the Actor or Accuser desires and labours to thrust out of Possession or lay a Guilt upon And the Law says further in dubio favendum est Superiori imperanti in doubtful Cases we are to favour the Commands of our Superiors That the Church is not Bonae Fidei Possessor and comes not honestly by her Title and Possession of this Power cannot by the Rules of Law or Equity be determined by the Melius Inquirendum of an Adversary The Actor Aggressor or Plaintiff must bring his Writ of Ejectment to try the Title and if these Dissenters have not yet been sufficiently bafled in this attempt let them at last offer us substantial Proofs to this effect and I dare promise them we shall not follow the example of this Author we will not be scurrilous not droll or quibble upon him about a substantial proof of circumstantial matters 3. This Power is not pretended to be such a plenitude of Power as they claim in the Church of Rome not a Power to all intents and purposes No not a Power to make any new Articles of Faith or institute any new Sacraments or parts of Divine Worship But only to make Orders touching Circumstances Rites and Ceremonies in the publick performance of God's service and the Administration of Discipline amongst the Members
of the Church To me it is incredible that Almighty God should appoint an Order of men to be the Guides of Souls and the Stewards of his Divine Mysteries and the means to bring them to Eternal bliss and yet not intrust them with sufficient Power for the due and worthy Administration of that Office 'T is the great charge laid upon Bishops to feed the flock of Christ Act. 20. 28. And in Scripture-sense this is to be done not only by Preaching the Gospel but also by wholsome Laws and Discipline Some means they must have to accomplish this end which can be no other then a Legislative Power And this is evident from Matt. 16. 19. What ever ye bind on Earth c. Which is understood not only of Absolution but of Excommunication and inflicting Censures And in those words of the Synod Act. 15. 28. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no other burden than these necessary things Hence it is manifest that the Apostles imposed a Law upon Believers which they were obliged to observe else they would never have called those things necessary and a burden And why did our blessed Lord establish Superiority and Subordination in his Church some Persons to Govern and others to Obey but to keep good Order and prevent Confusion and this is no less needful in ours then it was in the Apostles times This Power therefore is to be continued in the Church to the Worlds end Matthew 28. For a full and clear Demonstration hereof These several particulars have been proved in some other Papers 1. That Christ and his Apostles intended Vnity and to obtain and preserve that Vnity They enjoyn'd Order and Vniformity in Churches 2. That the Apostles at their first preaching of the Gospel did not presently establish that Order which the state of the Church did afterwards require 3. That the Apostles expected such a settlement should be made by such as were entrusted with the Government of the Church 4. That they gave certain general Rules or Canons to direct the Governours of the Church in making such establishmenrs 5. That they left it to the Judgment and prudence of Church-Governours to determine the particulars to be established in such cases Now let us lay these Principles together 1. That the solemn Worship and Service of God cannot be performed without some Rites and Ceremonies as was observed above from Zanchy Rungius and others 2. That these Rites and Ceremonies are to be observed according to the Rules of Decency and Order And 3. That these Rules are to be adjudged and determined by such as are invested with Authority to that effect From hence it will follow unavoidably that all Subjects and Members of the Church are obliged to obey such Laws and Establishments For 't is most certain where some are impower'd to Command others are injoyned to obey else the Power given to Superiors were Nugatory and given to no effect Whereas they mention New Terms of Communion I confess the word New to my self is somewhat scandalous I am no lover of Innovations in Religion tho the Addition of Collects and Forms of Prayer upon emergent occasions is both frequent and very usefull and alterations are allowable too when the change is of importance and does not argue Levity or give scandal As to Terms of Communion the expression may be equivocal For my part I would have nothing establisht in the Church of God but what has at least general Rules and Directions in Holy Scripture and a just Authority to warrant it And this has been very carefully observed in all the Rites and Ceremonies establisht in this Church of England For any man to imagine that these things make a new worship is a very great mistake Any thing added to Divine Institutions as essential or substantial and simply necessary does change the worship saith Zanchy and makes it another But what are added yet only as things indifferent Propter Ordinem Propter Decorum ad edificationem ea substantiam Sacramentorum eòque cultum non Mutârunt Such things added for Order for Decency and to edification they change not the substance of the Sacraments for example nor the nature of the worship Now if I understand what he means by his Terms of Communion I argue thus She that has a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies for edification Decency and Order she hath a Power to impose Terms of Communion But the Church has a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies for edification Decency and Order Therefore the Church hath Power to impose Terms of Communion Besides the Proofs already produced is not this evident in the Practice of all Churches Are the Terms of Communion numerically the same in the Greek and Latin Churches If we look into the constitution of the several Protestant Churches shall we not find variety of Customs Rites and Ceremonies among them This Discord we cannot but observe in the Harmony of Confessions whether we examine Cambridge Edition of 1586. or Geneva Edition 1654 and the Church of England declares her self in these words We think it conveient that every Countrey should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting forth of God's honour and glory and to the reducing of the People to a most perfect and godly living without Error or Superstition Are the Terms of Communion the same among the Lutherans and Calvinists The Lutherans reckon these things in the Catalogue of things indifferent 1. To place Historical Images or pictures in the Church for Ornament and Commonefaction 2. To use Stone-tables which they commonly call Altars in the Administration of the Lords Supper 3. To adapt a peculiar kind of Garment to the Minister in his publick administration of the holy Office 4. In the Administration of the Eucharist either to break and divide little Cakes or Wafers or else to make use of single small ones fit for distribution 5. In Baptism to use the Lessons of exorcismes and the sign of the Cross. 6. To sing the Sacred Hymns either in the German or Latin tongue with the voice or Musical Instruments Haec Similia c. These and such like things they who teach that they are simply necessary to be reteined or necessarily to be abolished they do offer violence to Christian liberty on both sides and are to be avoided as False-teachers desirous to inthrall us in the Yoake of humane Traditions Notwithstanding this their Declaration we cannot be admitted to their Communion unless we submit to the Terms of their establishment And is not the case the same among the Presbyterians Why were the Directory the Ordinance for Ordination of Ministers the form of Church-government for England and Ireland Their Confession of Faith and their advise for Catechisms were not all these designes to be imposed as Terms of Commmunion And I am sure they were new ones never heard of in the World till the years 1645.
he means the erection and dictating of it which may be done either by natural suggestion or by general and positive institution And then we must distinguish betwixt erection as I may call it and direction betwixt natural suggestion by which we understand the dictate or impression of the Law of nature and occasional Application betwixt general institution and particular determination The erection whether by natural suggestion or general institution may be from the wisdom and will of God and yet the direction as to occasional Application and particular determination may be referr'd to the Power and Wisdom of the Church this will appear in some Acts or Rites of external Worship Nonnullas Ceremonias diotat ipsa natura Nature her self does dictate some sort of Ceremonies for example to kneel down when we pray to smite the breast to lift up the eyes and hands to Heaven which are therefore common to the Heathen with all Sects saith Herinex And Zanchy proves that some external Rites used in God's worship are from the Law of Nature because they were common to Jew and Gentil He does instance in howing and kneeling when they worship God and in lifting their eyes up to Heaven when they said their prayers c. And he adds we can use no Ceremony wherein the Law of Nature has not some place Vsque adeo Natura nos ad Deum adorandum ac ritè honestèque ac pie colendum instigat So far does Nature incite us to adore and orderly and honestly and piously to worship God To give some instances bowing the head bowing the knee and bowing the body are external Rites or if you will Acts of external worship and so is prostration They are suggested to us even by the Law of Nature and injoyned by the Decalogue in general But in regard it cannot be performed all at once therefore the particular determination Pro hic nunc or the occasional Application of them to God's service is left to the Wisdom and Order of the Church In like manner the Confession of Christ is a Rite or an Act of God's external worship for there was never any Nation that did believe a God but would also declare that he was to be own'd and acknowledged But whether this confession and acknowledgment should be made viva voce by word of mouth or by subscription or by some Symbolical signe or gesture This is left to the prudence of such as are concern'd to determine it Thus much touching the Creating of worship as our Author calls it with such Rites as do attend and protest the truth and piety of it 2. The Acceptableness thereof follows Some things are acceptable to God as they are suggested by the Law of Nature which is from God and therefore cannot but be very pleasing to him Some things are acceptable as they are inservient to the exercise of internal Piety and so Alms and Beneficence are well pleasing to him Heb. 13. 16. And some things he is pleased with because they are inservient to the solemnity of publick worship and Ornamental to it Such was the holy Temple with the musical Instruments and all the magnificence of it The Lord loveth the Gates of Sion Psal. 87. 2. For Adiaphorae actionis possunt Deo placere saith Vrsin licet aliter quam cultus Dei proprie dictus Indifferent actions may please God tho not upon the same account but in a different manner from the worship of God properly so called God may therefore accept what he does not particularly or directly injoyn In the free-will Offerings under the Law tho God determined the Quid and the Quale yet he let the Quotum undetermined which nevertheless was acceptable to him And what shall we say of David's purpose to build the Temple which resolution he took up not as our Author says of some others Jure Prophètico for it was not the manner of Prophets to be mistaken in their intendments as David was in that case yet God accepted the Piety of his design tho he would not allow him the execution of it Another instance we have in the great Apostle Potuit B. Paulus ex Evangelio sibi victum quaerere quod maluit operari amplius erogabat saith St. Austin Blessed Paul might have lived of the Gospel That he chose rather to earn his own living he laid out himself so much the more And was not this acceptable to God Gratis Evangelium praedicare voluntaria quaedam est libertas eoque gloriam promeretur To preach the Gospel freely is a kind of ingenuous liberty and deserves glory saith the Theophylact And a little After Haud quaquam tantundem futurum est ut is mereatur c. He that preacheth the Gospel for reward can never deserve so much as shall be given to him who preacheth the Gospel freely I will instance but once more and that shall be in Mary Magdalen who commanded her either to wash Christ's feet with her tears or to wipe them with the hair of her head or to poure so costly a box of Ointment upon his head which according to Law might have been sold at a great rate and given to the poor Was she not accepted herein She had the Son of God to be her Advocate against the cavils of his own Disciples she received the comfort of a declarative Absolution and the honour to have her devotion celebrated whereever the Church should preach the Gospel These Dissenters say further whether the things imposed be Integral or Essential parts of worship they do not know but in the worship of God they find them standing upon even ground with those that are certainly Divine or at least as high as man can lift them That the Church does impose or command any parts of worship not of God's Creating is but their pretence and our Denyal Affirmanti incumbit Probatio The proof lies on their side and if they cannot make it good they are uncharitable and false Accusers What Ranke they hold in the esteem of the Church and Learned Protestants we may best learn from her and themselves This Church of England saith That without some Ceremonies it is not possible to keep any Order or quiet Discipline in the Church they were reserved therefore and establisht as well for a decent Order in the Church as because they pertain to edification What Rivet saith from Robert Loëus of the time consecrated to God's service may be applyed to all Ecclesiastical Rites and Ceremonies Moralis potius legis usui subservire quam vim naturam ejus continere nec tam propriè quidem virtutem aut Pietatem quam nervum virtutis vinculumque Pietatis dici He saith that it is rather subservient to the use of the Moral Law then that contein the force and nature of it neither can it so properly be called Virtue or Piety as the sinew of Virtue and the bond of Piety The titles
heard with meekness and good attention Quam hoc utile necessarium sit in Causâ Religionis hic locus apertè ostendit How profitable and necessary this is in the Cause of Religion saith he this place does plainly manifest And that moderate Divine adds a little after Si viri boni jure jurando vel aliis idoneis rationibus se legitimè excusent recipienda est eorum excusatio If good men can purge themselves by Oath or by other meet ways their excuse is to be received There are some that will stubbornly maintain what they have once propounded Such men saith he are Authors of great mischief in Church and State Let not the Reader wonder that I insist so much upon these Authorities For has not the Church of England purged her self sufficiently by Argument against these Dissenters and entred her Protestation too to satisfy their jealousies Let us hear the Learned Pious and Judicious Bishop Dr. Sanderson Our Church God bethanked saith he is far from any such impious presumption viz. as that of the Pharisees and the Church of Rome and hath sufficiently declared her self by solemn Protestation enough to satisfy any ingenuous impartial Judgment that by requiring obedience to these Ceremonial Constitutions she hath no other purpose then to reduce her Children to an orderly Uniformity in the outward worship of God so far is she from seeking to draw any opinion either of Divine necessity upon the Constitution or of effectual holiness upon the Ceremony Thus Dr. Sanderson Our Dissenting Brethren should have been so Charitable as to have followed the steps of those Ten Tribes They should have declared their satisfaction upon the Churches Protestation and have blessed God that she is so perfectly clear of their suspition They should have been highly pleased that matters are so well this they should have done rather then to revile and cavil as they have done rather then to condemn and forsake her Communion upon their own jealousy to set up a new Altar and Altar against Altar condemn'd by all the Orthodox among the Antients They have indeed the jealousy rashness of those Tribes but not their ingenuity and condour And to shew their uncharitableness they bear the World in hand that we set up these Rites and Ceremonies as Parts of God's worship matters of necessity and design'd to insnare the Conscience But to mollify the Objection and Censure they say at last if these Rites and Ceremonies do not stand upon even ground with those things which are certainly Divine yet at least they stand as high as man can lift them But by their good leave they are mistaken in this suggestion too for they stand not so high as they are set up in the Church of Rome Aquam sale conspersam populis benedicimus ut eâ cuncti aspersi Sanctificentur ac purificentur As Alexander the First has it in an Epistle We bless Water and Salt for the People that all who are sprinkled therewith may be Sanctifyed and Purified They attribute Spiritual effects to their Ceremonies not only a power to cure Diseases to expel and drive away the Devil but to procure Grace to remit venial sins to Sanctify their Persons And they use Spiritual Acts of Consecration and solemn Benedictions to Hallow them to these effects Do the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England stand thus high For shame in cool blood they will not say it I suppose therefore the meaning is only this That they stand as high as of due right and lawfully we can lift them If this be their meaning tho there may be a malitious insinuation that we do something more then we ought yet really to do what of due right and lawfully we may do is no sin in us but 't is sin in them to break Communion and seperate from us upon that account Here we may observe the method and progress of Discord First they fancy and pretend a fault then they take the confidence Calumniari fortiter to make the Calumny as black as may be and to stick it upon us with as great an Odium as they can and when they have shewn their spite they mince the matter they were mistaken in their exaggeration we have done nothing but our Duty or at least what is warrantable in exalting God's solemn worship and service by lifting up the Appendages thereof to their due and decent station For other Protestant Churches do lift up their establisht Rites and Discipline as high as we and this is evident from the severity they design and inflict upon such as are refractory to the use and practice of them When such Rites and Laws about them are established the Church does not account the Observation of them so mean and vile as to be violated through contempt and with the scandal of others but such transgressors she looks upon as undecent and disorderly walkers and exerciseth her Authority to note to admonish to reprove and rebuke them and endeavours by all wholsom means to reduce them to a sound mind This is the Duty of the Church when it may be performed seasonably saith a Protestant Divine of great Learning and an acute Judgment And does not Mr. Calvin say the same I am sure it was his Practice And upon those words 1 Cor. 11. 16. If any man seems to be contentious he writes thus Tales sunt omnes qui bonos ritus utiles Convellunt nulla necessitate c. Such are all they who without any necessity root out good and profitable Rites and Ceremonies such as make controversies about matters of no difficulty such as no reason can satisfy such as will not endure to be reduced to Order such also are they who are unsociable and are carried away with a foolish affectation of novelties Such as these St. Paul will not vouchsafe to answer Because contention is a pernicious thing and ought to be banisht out of the Church Hereby as Calvin goes on he teacheth that refractory and contentious Persons are to be bridled by Authority rather then refuted by disputations c. And Grynaeus upon these words Colos. 2. 5. Joyning and beholding your Order refers Order to the whole Liturgy and Discipline of the Church and of such as walk disorderly as those mentioned 2 Thes. 3. 6. he saith Quoad ejus fieri potest in ordinem Disciplinae Ecclesiasticae severitate adhibitâ redigendi sunt They must be reduced to Order by the severe use of Church Discipline Haec ille The Dissenters Eighth Section THey do not find that God ever Commanded the things imposed either in general in special or the singulars of them If God has commanded a Duty to be done the Church must find a place to do it in but tho the Church must find a place for the Duty a time for the Duty she may not find New Duty for the time and place The Answer 1. To this I Answer That the Church can never fix upon
the exercise of that Right and Power in every Christian Common-wealth ought to depend upon the Authority of the Supream Civil Magistrate Wherefore that Learned and Ingenious S. P. in The Case of the Church of England p. 264 265. hath very well observed That the Bottom we build upon is this That the Church own'd by the Law of England is the very same that was establisht by the Law of Christ. For unless we suppose that the Church was Originally settled by our Saviour with Divine Authority we deny his Supremacy over his own Church and unless we suppose that the Supream Government of the Kingdom has power to abet and ratifie our Saviours establishment by Civil Laws we deny his Majesties Supremacy over his Christian Subjects and therefore both together must be taken into the right State and Constitution of the Church of England There are some Rites and Ceremonies whose Original cannot be trac'd out having bin in use in the Church of God at all times and places These are supposed with great Reason to have been derived from the Apostles themselves for such an Vniversal practice could not be introduced but by a Common and Vniversal Authority as an Vniversal effect must have a Cause of no less efficacy to produce it Now for any Particular Church to attempt a Change of such Rites and Ceremonies is as if a Quarter Sessions in a private Corporation should take upon them to dissolve or over-rule what has been regularly done and settled in a Full Parliament 3. We should consider whether there be any need of such Reformation as they endeavour There are some Rites and Ceremonies which no Person no Particular Church should presume to alter because the Vnity and Vniformity of the Catholick Church is preserved hereby and if we will possess our selves to continue in her Communion we must observe them upon the account of our Conformity to her practice But other particular Rites and Ceremonies are left to the prudence of Particular Churches to exercise their Power and Liberty with respect to the Manners and Temper of the People But That there is no Necessity of Reformation of the Publick Doctrine of the Church of England hath been made good against Doctor Burges by the Right Reverend Learned and Judicious Doctor Pearson now Lord Bishop of Chester And that there is no Need of such a Reformation of the Publick 1. Doctrine 2. Worship 3. Rites and Ceremonies 4. Church Government 5. Discipline as is pretended hath been proved by H. S. D. D. 1660. But we shall not take it for granted tho we know no Answer returned to these and several other Learned Men who have wrote in Justification of the Church of England to that effect but give our proof for it That Church which is already Reform'd and establisht according to the Word as far as a state of Frailty and Humane Prudence will admit That Church hath no need of further Reformation But such is the Church of England I would not be mistaken For I know there ought to be a proficiency in Grace and Holiness and the practice of all Christian Vertues till we arrive at such a Degree of Perfection as this Mortal condition is capable of But for a further Reformation of Doctrine or Government of Liturgy Rites and Ceremonies or of Laws and Canons if what are already enacted were duly inforced and executed we have no need of it It is duly observed by that Worthy Person even now mentioned That if every defect from Christs Institution should forfeit the Rights of a Christian Church there never was as we may find by the Apostles account of the Churches in their times nor ever will be such a thing as a Church in the World For in this life it is not to be expected that any thing should be absolutely perfect the very nature of Christianity supposes Imperfection and accepts of Integrity and as long as with sincere Affections men adhere to the Principles of the Church they are within the Promise of the Grace of God That the Church of England is not Reformed up to those Principles who can make good the Charge against her Where was the failure Did not our Reformers use sufficient Means 1 Did they not search the Scriptures according to the Rule of our Blessed Saviour Did they not understand the sense and latitude of the Scriptures Had they not an eye to the Rules of Decency and Order to God's Glory and the Edification of the Church 2 Did they not consult Antiquity according to Divine Direction Job 8. 8 10. Jer. 6. 16. 3 Did they not use a Moral Diligence to search into the nature of things for their full satisfaction 4 Did they not make this Inquiry after the Truth with a Christian Simplicity and Godly Sincerity We appeal to the Searcher of Hearts to witness this and to their own Learned and Judicious Writings to assert the other 5 Had they not as full Authority both Ecclesiastical and Civil as was needful to establish that Reformation And 6 and Lastly Have we not had God's Blessing while we Conform'd obediently to it to assure us he was well-pleased with that Establishment King James tells us in his Proclamation even now mentioned We had no reason to presume that things were so far amiss as was pretended because we had seen the Kingdom under that Form of Religion which by Law was established in the days of the late Queen of Famous Memory blessed with a Peace and Prosperity both extraordinary and of many years continuance a strong Evidence that God was therewith well-pleased But 't is an ill sign of a growing Reformation when the times afford us as they have done a long while so many Evil men and Seducers who wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3. 13. A Reformation of Manners and Practice we acknowledge highly needful but for Ecclesiastical Orders and Constitutions about the Worship and Service of God there wants nothing but a hearty Observation to improve them 4. It is to be considered with great attention Whether such as are in Authority and are satisfied that there is no need of Reformation should alter Legal Constitutions to gratifie whether the Humor or Importunity of Dissenters In the management hereof I shall consult no Passion or Interest nor be swayed by any prejudice resolving only to give the sense of other Protestants and I shall begin with the Lutherans 'T is the Resolution of David Rungius After a faithful account given of the free use of things indifferent such as will not submit to a just Authority nothing is to be done in their favour but as Persons persisting in their purpose out of Hypocrisie or Stubborness out of a love of Contention or some other Mental distemper they are sharply to be reproved Brochmand another eminent Man of that Party saith Some respect is to be had of the Weak in order to their Information but to such as are obstinately Superstitious
of God's Ordinances The excellency of the Power is of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4. 7. and who can deny the effect when we have God's fiat for it when he said Let there be light there was light So it was at the Creation of the external light and so it is at the Creation of internal light when God is pleased to put forth his Power to that effect 2 Cor. 4. 6. And methinks Those men should easily be satisfied about the opus operatum of the Sacrament who are of opinion that we are merely passive in the work of our Regeneration that it is wrought in nobis sine nobis wrought in us but without us and that irresistibly The Second Rule is That we must not Substitute the Opus operatum to supply the neglect or want of Moral duty and a worthy disposition in the Adult for in such to make the Sacrament effectual there must be no bar of a deadly Sin as the Schoolmen call it but a fit and worthy disposition for the Sacrament For tho' the Sacrament hath a power of it self through Christ's institution and promise to produce Grace yet that it may actually produce it 't is necessary that the Receiver puts no Obstacles but if he be adult i.e. of age that he dispose himself by some meet and fitting acts to receive it By means of the Sacraments saith Holden God confers his Grace upon such as being worthily prepared are made partakers of them And Franciscus a Victoria semper infallibilitèr omnibus singulis digre ea suscipientibus conferunt gratiam The Sacraments do always and infallibly confer Grace upon all and every man who worthily receives them The next Objection is against the Doctrine of the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties This they say is so great a stumbling to their Faith They cannot get over it But we know full well that some of these Dissenters will scruple at little things stumble at a straw and yet so full of agility at other times they can nimbly leap over a block that very Block upon which they made their Soveraign a Sacrifice to their tender Consciences How the Adult should believe and repent for Minors or Infants believe and repent by Proxy They cannot understand And 't were well if this were the only thing wherein they could plead a want of understanding But Peter Martyr will tell them Fidles in liberis qui suscipiuntur dùm parvuli sunt non requiritur vel ad id ut Christiani sint vel ad remissionem peccatorum Faith is not required in Children who are Baptized while they are little ones neither to obtain Remission of Sins nor to make them Christians This is true of an actual Faith and a personal disposition yet they have a Title to such a Faith as is of good advantage to them To this purpose we have the Judgment of Mr. Perkins and in him the opinion of the Ancient Church 'T is objected that Infants have no Faith and consequently That Baptism is unprofitable to them To this objection he answers thus some think they have Faith as they have Regeneration that is the inclination or seed of Faith Others say That the Faith of the Parents is also the Faith of their Children Because the Parents by their Faith receive the Promise of God both for themselves and their Children and thus to be born in the Church of believing Parents is instead of the Profession of Faith To this second Opinion saith that Pious and Learned man I rather incline because it is the ancient and received Doctrine of the Church I wish our present Dissenters would be so Sober and well advised as to follow his Example For receiving the Sacrament of Baptism Faith and Repentance are said to be the qualifications in the Adult To Infants they are supplied by the Faith and Piety of the Church in general as well as by their particular Sureties respectively and where there is an absolute necessity for it because God is not wanting in necessaries 'tis piously credible that the supply is made by the High Priest of our Profession and sure these Dissenters will allow him to be a good Proxy for them Have they forgotten that Levi paid Tythes in the loins of Abraham was not that as great a matter as this they stumble at Let them tell us how the Adult do transgress and Sin for Minors and how Infants do transgress and Sin by Proxy and we shall be able presently to remove their scruple If the Adult themselves may receive advantage by the faith of others as undoubtedly they may Mat. 9. 2. how much more Infants who are neither capable of Sin nor of Grace but upon the account of their Relations under guilt or under Covenant 1 Cor. 7. 14. But we must look upon that person as a cruel Step-Father who gives his Child nothing but a Stone when he wants Bread and instead of Fish a deadly Serpent Dissenters Second Section THey Plead that they are not satisfied in the use of any Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship and particularly they judge the use of the Cross in Baptism to be sinful A Sacrament of Divine Institution according to the definition of the Church in her Catechism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace given unto us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof Where we have 1. The Matter of a Sacrament An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace 2. The Author of a Divine Sacrament Christ himself 3. The End of it to be a means to convey the thing signified and a pledge to assure us of it Hence they say it 's evident that it 's simply impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament because they cannot give it a Causality to those Graces it is instituted to signifie Nevertheless it 's possible for Men to institute Humane Sacraments which shall have the Matter of a Sacrament that is an outward and visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace and they may pretend to ascribe an effect to it also to excite to stir up or increase Grace and Devotion And yet because it wants the right efficient Cause it 's no lawful Sacrament though it be an Humane Sacrament Such an institution say they is the sign of the Cross An outward visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace Ordained by Men as a means to effect whatever Man can work by his Ordinance Here is the matter without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for Answer Here we see they profess themselves unsatisfied and indeed it 's a very hard task to satisfie such as study more to contend and make themselves scrupulous then to be quiet and to do their own Business They are unsatisfied that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church are not
THE VERDICT UPON THE Dissenters Plea Occasioned by Their MELIVS INQVIRENDVM To which is added A LETTER from Geneva to the Assembly of Divines Printed by His late Majesties Special Command with some Notes upon the Margent under His own Royal and Sacred Hand ALSO A POSTSCRIPT touching the Union of Protestants LONDON Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul 's Church-Yard 1681. THE INTRODUCTION TO A Person of HONOVR ASSoon as a tedious Distemper would give leave I have returned you the Inquisition taken at your Command upon the Melius Inquirendum which you sent me To deliver my Opinion freely as you have Conjur'd me The Author seems to have very little of that Tender Conscience which he pleads sor If we may take our Measures from him who is a Judge beyond exception such as will strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel scruple at a Ceremony and play the Wanton with deadly sin Schism and Rebellion who with the Scribes and Pharisees of old will make no difficulty to sacrifice the Fifth Commandement to their own superstitious Phansies These are Men of no Conscience Matt. 23. 24. with Chapter 15. 5 6 7. This Author makes himself an Advocate for the Dissenting Party and he manages their Cause with as much artifice and advantage as his Confidence Wit or Malice can afford He takes upon him all shapes and insinuates himself by Fables Metaphors and Similitudes He is often Scurrilous and sometimes worse He drolls quibbles and makes sport for Men of no Religion the Tribe into which he seems to be adopted and this is the farce of his Discourse as if he were not serious or the Subject he treats of not worth a sober Thought This begets a vehement Suspicion His design is not to satisfie the Judicious but to impose upon the Weakness of the Common Reader and by tickling his Imagination to delude his Understanding To follow him step by step is no part of my concern let the Compassionate Enquirer who trod out the way for him look to that if he thinks fit But to make short work He hath reduced All the Dissenters insist upon to Eleven Sections And if this their Advocate understands their Principles their whole Cause and Plea being so concisely sum'd up and comprised within the compass of less than four Pages in Octavo I shall attentively consider it to give you and my self the better satissaction And herein I shall neither Cant nor Rail nor Rhetoricate but with such Arms and Weapons as the Holy Scriptures the light of Reason and the Writings of Learned Men especially those of the Protestant Churches have provided I shall presently approach the Trenches of these profest and implacable Adversaries of this most Primitive and excellent Church of England MELIVS INQVIRENDVM Page 163 164 165 166. What Dissenters usually insist upon for their Justification I shall reduce to these Heads Section 1. THey plead That some things are imposed upon their Faith tendered to subscription as Articles of Faith which are either false or at best they have not yet been so happy as to discover the truth of them In Art 20. They are required to subscribe this Doctrine The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies which clause of the Article as we fear it has been by some indirect means shuffled into the Article it not being found in the Authentick Articles of Edward 6. so it proves also that the Terms of Communion have been enlarged since the First times of the Reformation p. 1 They Object also against the Doctrine in the Rubrick That it is certain from the Word of God that Children baptized and dying before the commission of Actual Sins are undoubtedly saved The Scripture the Protestant Churches nor any sound Reason have yet given them any tolerable satisfaction of the truth of the Doctrine about the Opus operatum of Sacraments That Doctrine laid down in the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties is also as great a stumbling to our Faith and we cannot get over it How the Adult should Believe and Repent for Minors or Infants Believe and Repent by Proxie I omit many others Sect. 2. They plead That they are not satisfied in the use of any Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship and particularly they judge the use of the Cross in Baptism to be sinful A Sacrament of Divine Institution according to the definition of the Church in her Catechism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace given to us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a Pledge to assure us thereof Where we have 1. The Matter of a Sacrament An outward and visible sign of an inward and Spiritual Grace 2. The Author of a Divine Sacrament Christ himself 3. The End of it to be a means to convey the thing signified and a Pledge to assure us of it Hence it 's evident that it 's simply impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament because they cannot give it a Causality to those Graces it is instituted to signifie Nevertheless it 's possible for Men to institute Humane Sacraments which shall have the Matter of a Sacrament that is An outward visible sign of an inward Spiritual Grace and they may pretend to ascribe an Effect to it also To stir up to excite or increase Grace and Devotion And yet because it wants the Right Efficient Cause it 's no lawful Sacrament though it be an humane Sacrament Such an Institution say they is the Sign of the Cross. An outward visible sign of an inward Spiritual Grace ordained by Men as a means to effect whatever Man can work by his Ordinance Here is the matter without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for p. 49. Sect. 3. They plead That since Communion with the Church is suspended and denied but upon such terms as take away Christian Liberty in part and by consequence leave all the rest at Mercy they dare not accept of Communion upon those Terms There are some things which in the General God has left free and indifferent to do or not do yet at some times and in some Cases it may be my great sin if I should do some of them as when it would wound the Conscience and destroy the Soul of a weak Christian. If now I shall engage my self to the Church That I will never omit such an Indifferent thing and the Soul of that weak Christian should call to me to omit it I have tied my hands by Engagements I cannot help him though it would save his or a Thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church p. 60. Sect. 4. They plead That they ought not to hazard their Souls in one Congregation if they may more hopefully secure them in another for that their Souls are their greatest concernment in this World and the next Now say they there 's no question but
Men preach such as they print with Publick Allowance and therefore they ought to provide better for their Souls elsewhere Especially they say That the Doctrine of Justification is Articulus stantis vel cadentis Ecclesiae an Article with which the Church falls or stands This Article say they in the Parish where we live is quite demolish'd by the Doctrine of Justification by Works We are bound therefore to provide for our safety and depart and when We are once out We will advise upon another Church not which is tolerable but which is most eligible and in all things nearest the Word p. 161 Sect. 5. They plead That there 's no Obligation upon them to own the Churches Power to impose new Terms of Communion unless the Church can prove her Power from Christ. It 's not for them to disprove it it lies upon her to prove it and to prove it substantially too or else it will be hard to prove it their duty to own it p. 181 Sect. 6. They say The World is pestered with Disputes about Worship about Religion and therefore since All cannot be in the right they are willing to go the safest Way and worship God according to his Word If the things disputed be lawful to be done let them be so they are sure it is lawful to let them alone And they think there 's no great hazard in keeping to Scripture Rule nor can believe that Christ will send any to Hell because they did not worship God in an external Mode more neat and spruce them God commanded p. 190 Sect. 7. They pretend That the things impos'd are parts of Worship which none can create but God nor will God accept of any but such as are of his own creating and whether they be Integral or Essential parts They do not know but in the Worship of God they find them standing upon even ground with those that are certainly Divine or at least as high as Man can lift them p. 196 Sect. 8. They do not find that God ever commanded the things imposed either in General in Special or their Singulars If God has commanded a duty to be done the Church must find a place to do it in But though the Church must find a place for the Duty a time for the Duty she may not find new Duty for the Time and Place p. 216 Sect. 9. They are the more cautious of all Ceremonies because the Old Church of England in her Homilies Serm. 3. of Good Works tells us That such hath been the corrupt Inclination of Man superstitiously given to make new Honouring of God of his own head and then to have more Affection and Devotion to keep that than to search out God's holy Commandments and do them p. 247 Sect. 10. They say They have read over all the Books that have been written in Justification of those things and they find their Arguments so weak their Reasons so frivolous that setting aside Rhetorick and Railing there 's nothing in them but what had been either Answered by others or is contradicted by themselves which hardens them in their Errour who are gone astray into the right Way p. 254 Sect. 11. They say It 's their Duty to endeavour a Reformation according to the Word which if others will not they cannot help it and hope they will not be angry with the Willing p. 262 A Fresh Inquiry Into the PLEA of the NON-CONFORMISTS c. SECT I. THey plead that some things are imposed upon their Faith tendred to subscription as Articles of Faith which are either false or at least they have not yet been so happy as to discover the truth of them In Article 20. they are required to subscribe this Doctrine The Church hath Power to decree Rites and Ceremonies Which Clause of the Article as we fear it hath been by some indirect means shuffled into the Article it not being found in the Authentick Articles of Edw. 6. so it proves also that the Terms of Communion have been enlarged since the first Times of the Reformation The Answer The Articles of the Church of England are not imposed under Oath nor required to be received with a like affection and piety as the holy Scriptures are nor to be believed as Articles of Faith further then they can approve themselves to be contained in the Holy Scriptures For the Sixth of those Articles declares thus Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite and necessary to salvation The moderation of the Church of England herein is evinced in another Treatise viz. The Proselyte of Rome called back c. p. 7. to the 10. There is no Protestant Church of any creditable denomination more moderate and ingenious in this point then ours is To keep them from Sects and Corruptions and tie them up close to the Doctrine of the Augustan Confession we find it decreed among the Lutherans Nemo quicunque sit That no man whatsoever shall be admitted to any Office or Ministry in their Churches Schools or otherwise nor shall any such be tolerated therein unless they shall approve and receive such a body of Doctrine as there mentioned and shall persevere therein and neither by word nor deed oppose the same And it is further decreed and established That if any shall be but suspected as contradicting those Doctrines and the unanimous consent therein if they refuse to be better instructed and give no place to the Fatherly admonitions of others their Superiours they shall be removed from their Offices or Employments or else their names shall be signified that due execution of punishment may proceed against them as persons refractory and contumacious And 't is their practice too upon occasion to make their Ministers and Professors to renounce such opinions as are declared to be erroneous sub jurisjurandi sacramento even under the Sacrament of a solemn Oath And the Calvinists are no less strict in this point The Proxies or Deputies to be sent from the Provinces to the National Synod as is expressed in the Form of the Letters written à Synodo Victoriacensi in Brittain are tied to this Solemn Engagement Promittimus coram Deo c. that is We do promise before God that we will submit our selves to all things which shall be agreed and decreed by your holy Assembly and will execute the same with all our power because we are persuaded that God presides over it and that he will direct you by his Holy Spirit according to the rule of his Word into all truth and equity Here we have a promise of submission made before God by a kind of implicit Faith and blind Obedience to the Decrees of a Synod of Calvinists before the Convention of it And this is grounded upon a Divine persuasion else with what confidence can they
will never edifie the Church but most certainly deform it Rome we say was not built in one day The Apostle left something unsettled till a further consideration 1 Cor. 11. last And when he departed from Crete he left Titus his Vicar saith Crocius to supply what the shortness of his stay would not allow him to accomplish and as St. Hierome observes to super-correct what he could not then bring to perfection Zanchy observes very well That it is the Duty of the Bishops to take care of the whole Church and whatsoever may conduce to the welfare of it whether it be in point of life and manners in the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments or in the Discipline of Pennance or in the wants of the Poor or in matters of Ceremonies and to give diligence that whatsoever has been constituted in such matters either by the Lord himself or by his Apostles or by the after-Church may be observed But if there be any thing that is not appointed and yet may concern the edification of the Church Let Laws be appointed concerning those things that they may be confirmed in the Name of the whole Church and by the Authority of Pious Princes and be observed of all respectively subject to their Jurisdiction 2. I Answer That according to the Common Prayer-Book in King Edward the Sixth's time the Church injoyn'd the Priest at the Consecration of the Eucharist to sign the Elements with the sign of the Cross and so if she did not declare her Power in her Articles yet she declared it sufficiently in her Practice In ordering the Priest to make the sign of the Cross upon the Symbol in the Patin and Chalice she did exercise her Power in decreeing and practising that Rite which has since been taken away tho' it has proved of very little consequence to avoid Scandal and consequently the Terms of Communion have been somewhat contracted since those times and not inlarged as is pretended However that Rule of St. Austin will certainly hold His enim causis id est aut propter fidem aut propter Mores vel emendari oportet quod perperam fiebat vel institui quod non fiebat For these Causes that is either for the Faith or for Manners sake that ought to be amended which was done amiss or appointed to be done which was not done at all But this is not all in this Section They object also against the Doctrine in the Rubrick That it is certain from the Word of God That Children baptized and dying before the commission of actual Sin are undoubtedly saved The Scripture the Protestant Churches nor any sound Reason have yet given them any tolerable satisfaction of the Truth of the Doctrine about the Opus Operatum of Sacraments That Doctrine laid down in the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties is also saith he as great a stumbling to our Faith and we cannot get over it How the Adult should believe and repent for Minors or Infants believe and repent by Proxy Thus the Dissenters The Answer 1. The silence of other Protestant Churches if they be all silent herein is but a Negative Argument from Authority and that 's of no validity But we are sure the most Learned amongst Protestant Writers do favour this Article The Form of a Sacrament they say is the Sacramental Conjunction of the signs and the things signified which Conjunction consists not only in the signification and obsignation but also in the exhibition of the things signified by the signs So Wendelin And he makes the effect and end of the Sacraments to be not only The Confirmation of our Faith in Christ but also the Obsignation of his gracious Promise touching our Communion with him and our participation of the benefits purchased by his death And particularly among the effects of Baptism Zanchy reckons these 1. Our admission into Covenant with God 2. Our ingraffing into his Church and the Communion of Saints which are the Faithful 3. The Remission of Sins and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness And Calvin upon those words 1 Cor. 7. 14. else were your children unclean but now are they holy Comments after this manner This is a high point of Divinity For it teacheth that the Children of the Faithful are segregated from others by a special Prerogative and are accounted Saints in the Church And to reconcile this with those other words of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 3. We are all by nature children of wrath He saith thus Aequalis est igitur in omnibus naturae conditio The condition of nature is alike in all They are all obnoxious both to sin and death eternal But this privilege which the Apostle attributes to the Children of Believers that flows from the benefit of the Covenant upon the intervention whereof the malediction of Nature is blotted out and they are consecrated to God by Grace who are Prophane by Nature From which Testimonies we shall draw an Argument presently that Children baptized and dying before actual Sin are undoubtedly saved But first let us consult the holy Oracle The Scripture tells us That Christ tasted death for every man Hebr. 2. 9. for Children vers 14. And to what end did he do this to reconcile them vers 17. to sanctifie them v. 11. to free them from the bondage of the Devil v. 14 15. and to bring them unto glory v. 10. Can Christ fail of his end without any Obstacle in the Subject Has he done enough to save a drunken Noah an incestuous Lot an idolatrous Manasses and a perjur'd Peter and yet left a poor innocent Babe without a Remedy 'T is our Saviour's comfortable assertion with a gracious invitation thereupon Mat. 19. 14. Suffer little Children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven If these Dissenters be of a Cross opinion That of such is the Kingdom of Satan They should in modesty keep their faith to themselves till they can find a better proof than the Post-poning of Esau whose person notwithstanding Learned Men do think was saved In the Discourses of our Saviour little children are Candidates for Heaven and set forth as a pattern to such as shall undoubtedly inherit it Mat. 18. 3. and he tells his Disciples v. 14. It is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish which in all Reason must be understood of little Children literally according to the first intention of the words But 2. Baptism is the Laver of Regeneration Eph. 5. Tit. 3. Hereupon St. Peter makes his Exhortation to the People Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the promise is unto you and to your children Act. 2. 38 39. Whence I argue thus such as are admitted to the benefits of the Covenant remission
very Famous in his Generation 'T is Mr. Perkins in his Cases of Conscience concerning the Gesture to be used in Prayer wherein he lays down these Three Rules he speaks of Publick Prayer 1. When Publick Prayer is made in the Congregation our Gesture must always be comely modest and decent 2. All Gesture used publickly must serve as much as may be to express the inward humility of the heart without Hypocrisy Now these kinds are manifold saith he some concern the whole Body as the bowing thereof the casting of it down upon the Ground Some again concern the Parts of the Body as lifting up of the Head the Eyes the Hands bowing the Knees c. Touching these the Scripture hath not bound us to any particulars 3. Therefore we must saith he in publick Prayer content our selves to follow the laudable fashion and Custom of that particular Church where we are For to decline from Customs of particular Churches in such Cases often causeth Schism and Dissentions And what he says upon the Epistle to the Galatians to the same purpose is worthy to be noted and seasonable for our Christian Practice The use of the Law among the Jews saith he was to shut them up into the Unity of one Faith and Religion For this Cause they had but one Temple one Mercy-seat one Highpriest c. Hence it follows saith that Holy man that in a Godly and Christian Common-wealth when true Religion is established there may be no Tolleration of any other Religion For that which is the End of God's Laws must also be the end of all good Laws in all Common-wealths and Kingdoms namely to shut up the People into the Unity of one Faith The Church of the Jews saith he is called a Fountain Sealed a Garden enclosed Cant. 4. 13. a Vineyard hedged in Isai. 5. 5. Psal. 80. 13. And here viz. Gal. 3. ver 23 24 25. we see what is the Hedge or Wall of this Garden or Vineyard namely the Regiment or Policy of Moses by a Threefold kind of Law This admonisheth us saith he to respect and with care to observe good Laws because they are as it were Hedges and Fences of all good Societies and the breaking of them is the pulling down of our Fence Thus Mr. Perkins from which principles of his good God! How much are these times degenerated and let all the World judge who honours the Reformation most they who professedly violate or they who zealously maintain the Laws and legal establishment of it 7. We may add That the Church hath this Power not only in Sacred Rites and Acts of external Worship but also in such as are civilly decent and such is the Womans Vail which I look upon not as a thing properly Religious or Sacred but only as a decent Habit according to custom common estimation and the Law of Nature especially in Ecclesiastical Assemblies whereupon Bullinger concludes his Commentary upon that head thus Haec verò de Habitu Ecclesiae ingredientium dicta sufficiant This shall suffice to have spoken touching the Habit of such as approach the Church of God And now one of the Apostles Instances when he is giving Orders to establish Decency in publick Assemblies being in the matter of Habit methinks this should be warrant enough as a General Rule for the use of the Surpliss by Ecclesiastical Ministers in the Publick Offices and Administrations of the Church For to Officiate naked is against Natural Decency and so dishonest to Officiate in a Fools Coat or some singular Habit taken for it is ridiculous and scandalous And such as are peculiarly seperated to the Service of the most High God why should not they be distinguisht by special Habits in the publick and solemn Administration of their Sacred Offices as well as Civil Judges Mayors and other Publick Officers Does this make any alteration in the substance of Religious Worship Quòd veteres Episcopi coenam administraturi aliam induerint Vestem ad Mutationem Coenae nihil pertinet saith Zanchy That such as Administer the Holy Office do put on another Vesture this does not change the Worship but adds solemnity to it To prevent indecency we have the Order of a just Authority to determine the Point And our Governors for their direction besides the light of Nature and common custom where any Religion was in Vogue had the Rule of Analogy from the Vests of the Priests and Levites in their Solemn Assemblies under the Law and an Invitation by a fair Allusion to that Practice in the Vision of St. John Apoc 7. 13 15. And what Habit more Decent then White to represent that Holiness becomes both the Priest and the Christian Profession aswell as the House of God However this being about the use of a Habit in Ecclesiastical Assemblies as was the Womans Vail which the Apostle gave special Order for it must certainly be comprised under the General Rule of Decency and consequently as such under the command of God according to the Observation of Hemmingius In 1. ad Cor. 14. 37. Sunt Mandata Domini quae hîc à Paulo praecipiuntur quantum quidem ad Genus attinet quatenus praecipiunt Decorum Ordinem in Ecclesia Publicae aedificationis Pacis gratia They are the Commandments of God which are there injoyn'd by St. Paul as to the Genus or Generality of them inasmuch as they require Decency and Order in the Church of God for Edification and Peace-sake As to Kneeling at the Sacrament a Ceremony much scrupled at heretofore much need not be mentioned to Judicious Persons For Kneeling it self is undoubtedly an Act or Part of God's External Worship and not a Mere Rite or Naked Ceremony 't is suggested by the Law of Nature dictated by Common Sense and the Reason of all Nations and declared to be our Duty by the Second Commandment of the Decalogue A Gesture so familiar and frequent at our Prayers that 't is many times put for the whole Duty aswell-under the Old as under the New Testament Micah 6. 6. Ephes. 3. 12. Zanchy makes it a Part of Adoration or External Worship Where the bowing of the Knee to Baal is disapproved and they are commended who did not bow the Knee to him Whereever we find a Command that every Knee should bow to God and Christ In all those places the Speech is not of Internal but of External Adoration Whence 't is easy to Collect that God requires External Adoration also and External Worship as the Testimony and Fruit of that which is Internal Zanchy and Mr. Perkins is clear and express for it Adoration in general saith he is outward Worship signifying and testifying the inward Worship of the heart More especially by it we must conceive the bowing of the Head and Knee the bending and prostrating of the Body the lifting up of the Hands Eyes and such like And a little after Adoration that is due to God the Creator must not be social
a general Peace is especially when all humane helps fail to call in the Divine assistance which no man did ever try in vain By these good means that may be brought to pass what cannot be hoped for from Civil-War however the success prove that by a voluntary inclination of minds the wound shall be so fully closed up as that Love and Charity may in time perfectly be recovered The good opinion which you have conceived of us may suffer us to offer these Considerations unto you It might be immodesty in us to prescribe or to advise you any further But no Law of modesty can ever forbid us to wish and to vow and to beseech God for you yea to appeal unto God and to adjure you All in his name O then above all take a speedy and special care for a sure and sound Peace what ever it be 't is to be preferred before any Civil Broyls Beware lest the fortune of War smiling upon you draw you on and tempt you to commit your great affairs to the Ambiguous Chance of Victory then which nothing can happen more deadly yea pernicious unto the Common-wealth Roule away that huge scandal that lies so heavy upon the whole Christian World yea wash and wipe of that foul stain of black oppression charged especially upon the purest profession of the Gospel as if still it did in a kind of Antipathy or secret hatred oppose and oppugn all kingly power and Supreme Authority Mitigate and asswage the exulcerated and too too much provoked mind of your King and do not Compel him to Pinacles and Precipices Rather bear with some Blemishes and Corruptions from which no Empire could yet wholly be free no not in its most flourishing Estate Account not those Remedies the best that are abruptly applyed and accumulated but those rather that being taken in by Degrees may in time by little and little go down more easily end digest the better and so at last obtain a Confirmation And last of all by the Bowels and Mercy of Christ suffer your selves to be intreated that we may no longer see that wealth power and strength which God hath graciously bestowed upon you imployed yea utterly wasted in the fatal ruine of your own selves but rather let it be stretched out to the Relief and support of so many of your own most afflicted Brethren even panting after your own Peace May the God of Peace himself bear accepâ— and grant these our sincere Devotions may God defeat all the Plots disappoint all the Machinations of the Devil and of Antichrist May the same God restore your Kingdom and restore your Churches to that high state and pitch of Holiness and Glory in which on the Theatre of the universal Church they have hitherto excelled and out-shined all the Churches upon Earth As for us take in good part this our plain sense delivered freely unto you in a Brotherly Confidence pardon also and impute our delay of answer unto these weighty reasons The Roport was here very strong that you were now very fair for a Treaty of Peace Therefore we thought fit to expect what a day might bring forth so that all our words and all our affections too might overflow with meer gratulations and full expressions of our Joys But sorry we are that we have yet again been deceived with vain hopes And now that we may speedily recover and enjoy that happiness we both wish and pray with as much Devotion as becomes your dearest Brethren who Glory not a little in your good esteem of us That God will pour down upon you his richest Benedictions together with a large measure of his Wisdom and Spiritual strength Farewell and Prosper in the Lord FINIS Postscript SIR YOU have put me upon a fresh task and I must obey you The Projected Vnion among Protestants to tell you my Opinion is a thing most desireable and of the highest Consequence if possible to be accomplished But if we design an Union of all Protestants in General we must consider the Circumstances under which they ly 1. Some of them are under such Subjection and awe to Popish Princes 't is not safe for them to come into any Debate about the Means and Methods of it Where it may be done with freedom and safety it may be Prudent and Advisable to Consult the most Eminent Divines as well of the Lutheran as the Calvinian Churches And the Concurrent Judgment of such if to be obtain'd might Contribute more to the satisfaction of the truely Conscientious in Uniting the Protestant Interest than the gratifying of every Sect hand over head within our selves But I confess 't is almost out of doubt that the Sects which swarm among us of Anabaptists Socinians Antinomians Ranters Quakers Fift-Monarchists and which comprehends them all Independents would never pass the Muster with such Divines for any publick establishment or protection And can any wise man think fit we should loose or hazard our Character and Esteem abroad the honour of the most prudent and Regular Reformation to gratify such Sectaries as would certainly be exploded among all Protestants of any Creditable Denomination 2. Besides being a Maxim and Rule generally received among them That every particular Church hath power within it self to frame Canons and Constitutions and to settle Rites and Ceremonies for the exercise of Religion and Discipline among their own Members they may very well think it impertinent for them to interpose or to be call'd upon for their Advise and Judgment in this matter 3. Besides it is to be considered that we stand all ready upon the same bottom with other Protestant Churches only we are better built as they know very well both for Strength and Beauty in so much as that Noble and Learned Pastor of Genevah calls the Church of England the Arsenal of the Protestant Profession the Crown and Glory of all the Church of that Denomination Can there be any reason or good Policy to cut of the locks of this Spouse of Christ and Ecclipse her Glory To pull down the Pallisadoes and demolish the Fortifications of such a Fabrick To rob her of her Venerable Antiquity and Primitive Lustre And all this upon no other account than to gratify a restless and uneasy sort of People by falling under the same reproach with themselves of being addicted to nothing else but Lightness Change and Novelties 4. But we are to consider further That the Laws are the Bond of Union the Sinnews and Ligaments of all Bodies Politick and where these are had in Veneration and observed with due respect that People are as well United as Humane Policy can aim at Such as will not submit to such prudent and wholesome Constitutions do voluntarily shut themselves out of the Lines of Communication And when the door is open if they will not enter in to joyn with us they must stand expos'd upon their own Leggs and expect no defence from us whose Communion they do causelesly desert
Divine Sacraments which she never did pretend a Power to institute They are unsatisfied at the use of Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship But so was not St. Paul The Wife is subject to the Husband saith He Ergo gerat insigne subjectionis let her therefore wear her veil the badge of her subjection saith Mr. Calvin And he speaks of an external Rite in sacred Assemblies and we are taught that this is to be observed in such Rites that they be suitable to admonish us of our Duty ut Ceremoniae sint instar Concionum that Ceremomonies may be like Sermons which is then done when we have an account of their Mystical meaning saith Pet. Martyr But the great scandal they pretend to take is at the sign of the Cross in Baptism But God forbid saith the great Apostle that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ And I cannot persuade my self that he who worthily glories in the Meritorious Cause of his Redemption will abhor the sign of it as sinful or be offended at it If we inquire after the Antiquity of this Badge we shall find it in the Banner of our Militia from the time of the first Christian Emperor Church Story tells us That when Constantine had gathered an Army in France and Britain to repress the Tyrant Maxentius He was afraid of his Charms wherewith he was supposed to have vanquished Severus whom Gal. Maximinus had sent against him formerly And as he stood in doubt what to do He cast his Eyes often up to Heaven and saw a brightness therein about Sun-set in the likeness of a Cross with certain Stars of equal bigness which afforded this Symbol like an Inscription in Latin Letters In Hoc Vince that is In this shalt thou overcome After this Vision His Banner was made in the similitude of a Cross and carried before him in his Wars the Tyrant Maxentius was Conquered and Drowned And to ascend higher some think this was the Cognizance of Christians from the first Plantation of the Gospel being mention'd by the most ancient Writers of the Church Zanchy concludes from the Practice in Justin's time that the mingling Water with Wine in the Eucharist came from Christ and his Apostles The sign of the Cross is a Ceremony of as long a standing wherefore the use of it upon all occasions in all times over all parts of the Church is to be ascribed to the Apostles as a very Reverend and Learned Man observeth And St. Austin has given us a Rule that does assure it Quod Vniversa tenet ecclesia nec à Conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi authoritate Apostolicâ traditum rectissimè creditur That which is held or practised by the Universal Church and was never appointed by any Council but always held and maintain'd is most justly believed to have been delivered at first by Apostolical Authority For such an Vniversal Effect must have a Cause equally Vniversal The Apostle tells the Ephesians of their being seal'd to the day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. Whether the Church took occasion from those words to appoint that Ceremony to be used in Baptizing I am not able to determine But the Prophet Ezekiel tells us of a man with an Ink-horn by his side who was commanded to set a Mark upon the foreheads of such as did sigh and cry for the Abominations that were done in Jerusalem Ezek. 9. 4. Now says Deodati that Learned Minister of Geneva because the word Mark in Hebrew is Thau and that the same word is the Name of the letter T. which letter in ancient Hebrew Characters is made in the figure of a Cross hence some Ancients saith he have believed That this Mark was a sign of the Cross which figured Christ's Blood the only Mark of Salvation to Believers If any Credit be to be given to this suggestion the sign of the Cross upon the forehead has been of longer use than is imagined 'T is true that Learned Professor says there is no certainty in it but he does not say 't was superstitious to be done or sinful to believe it Some Mark there was and 't was of some importance and so is this Ceremony now in question We read Jos. 22. That the Children of Reuben Gad and Manasseh built a great Alter upon the Borders of Jordan for which they had no Divine Warrant nor did they pretend to it Hereupon the Congregation of Israel took offence and leavyed War against them But before they entred into any act of Hostility they thought it reasonable to expostulate debate the matter fairly with them which they managed in these words What trespass is this which ye have committed against the God of Israel to turn away from following the Lord in that you have builded you an Altar that ye might rebel this day against the Lord To this heavy charge those Tribes return'd this Calm and sober Answer The Lord God of Gods He knoweth and Israel He shall know if it be in Rebellion or in Transgression against the Lord that we have built us an Altar to turn from following the Lord if to offer Sacrifice thereon save us not this day and let the Lord Himself require it And if we have not done it rather for fear your Children should say unto our Children in time to come Jordan is the border that divides between us and you ye have no part in the Lord no right or title to the benefits of his holy Altar Therefore we built this Altar not for burnt offering nor for Sacrifice but to be a Witness between us and you and our generations after us that we have an interest in the Lord as well as you a right to approach his Altar to perform our Service at it and receive the benefits thereof And they called the Altar Ed a Witness for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is our God as well as yours By this Story we see that Altar was erected as a Monument not for a Remedy of what was but for a Caution against what might be hereafter And to apply this Matter of Fact to our present purpose was not the Cross the Altar upon which our Blessed Lord offer'd up Himself to God as a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour to expiate our Sins and make an attonement for the World Now we know very well there are a Generation of Men that say of us and will say 't of our Children after us that we are Out-casts to the Common-wealth of Israel Schismaticks and Separate from the Body of Christ and the Communion of the Catholick Church that we are Enemies to the Cross of Christ and have no interest in his Ordinances or right to the benefits of his Death and Passion In answer to which objection or Cavil we can alleadge that we have the Copy the Representation of that Altar upon which our B. Saviour suffered that shameful that painful that accursed