that in the Primitive Times the Saints usually prayed with their Eyes fixed on the Mercy-seat or closed which utterly disables Persons for Reading Prayers 2. The Pastors of Churches in the Primitive Times were under the teaching of the Anointing and had the Spirit and Gift of Prayer The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Justin Martyr Apol. 2. is vindicated beyond all exceptions by which it's most manifest that they prayed not then in their Assemblies by Book or Form but from the Gift and Ability they had So likewise that of Tertullian Apol. 1. Sine monitore quia de pectore oramus shews clearly not only that the Primitive way of Prayer was not by prescribed Liturgies but that it was the Heathenish way of Prayer The Christians prayed by Heart the Heathens prayed by Book The Heathenish Greeks Persians Romans had their Monitors Priests and Sacred Persons who were wont to say Prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of a Book This is a matter well known from the Authority of Apuleius Pausanias Livy Cicero Lactantius 3. When the Christians were so numerous at Constantinople that it was thought convenient to Dispose of them in several Churches that zealous Emperour Constantine the Great writes to Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea for fifty Bibles for the use of the Churches but there is no mention of any one Common-Prayer-Book Euseb l. 4. c. 34 36. 4. When Forms of Prayer began to be used every Church made use of what Forms they pleased so Socrates Scholast lib. 5. And it appears by the Epistles of Pope Pius the Fifth and Gregory the Thirteenth prefixt to the Breviarium Romanum that the several Churches of the Roman Communion had their several Liturgies until that branch of the Churches Liberty was taken away by the Council of Trent Here in England before the Reformation we had several Modes of Common-Prayer-Books some after the use of Sarum others after the use of York Lincoln which afterward were reduced to one for publick use and imposed by Law 5. 'T was the Ignorance Carnality the Sloth and Laziness of the Clergy together with their Pride which first brought in and imposed Service-Books upon the Churches as for those Liturgies which bear the Great names of St. James Peter Mark Clemens Basil and Chrysostom they are known Forgeries When the Church began to be an Harlot when Bishops were not Silver Trumpets but Tinkling Cymbals Clouds without Water Bells without Clappers and Breasts without Milk when the Bishops in Councils as of Ephesus and Chalcedon profest they did Literas ignorare and could not write their own Names to confirm their Canons then came in our Liturgies 6. 'T is no part of our business to enquire whether in some cases it may not be lawful to use a Set Form of Prayer but I would satisfie you in this that our way of Worship without the Restraint of Set Forms is most agreeable to the way of Worship used by the Holy Apostles and by the Primitive times for many hundreds of years past before Set Forms were used and many hundreds more before they were imposed Now I must desire you to observe this one thing that there is great difference between Vsing a Set Form and Imposing it which I shall clear to you thus We find Levit. 5. 7. that there was provision made for such as were Poor in their Estates that if they were not able to bring for a Trespass-Offering or Sin-Offering a Lamb or Kid of the Goats he might bring Two Turtle-Doves or Two young Pigeons which the Lord would accept of but if a Rich man that had Flocks and Herds had brought Two young Pigeons the Lord would have abhorred it and much more if all the Rich men in Israel had agreed together from a principle of Covetousness in making a Law that it should be penal for any man be he Rich or Poor to bring any thing for a Sin-Offering besides Two young Pigeons Many persons in the Churches may be poor in Parts and in Gifts and may need the help of a Set Form of Prayer but to Impose by Law a Set Form upon all be their ability for Prayer never so great is to bind us up to the offering of Doves and Pigeons when we are able to bring before the Lord Lambs Kids and Bullocks this were a Law to be disliked Or thus whereas the condition of some that are Lame and Impotent requires the help of Crutches to go to Market and they are to be pitied under their Infirmities yet if a Law were made that every man that comes to Market without Crutches should lose one of his Ears you would all cry out that it was an unequal and unrighteous Law Some may need and use Set Forms but to Impose them upon all under severe and terrible Penalties is that which hath no warrant from Scripture nor the first and best Ages of the Church A Fourth Point we are to look into is that Branch of the Subscription required by the Act of Vniformity which concerns the Covenant it runs thus I do declare that I do hold there Lies no obligation upon me or any other person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League or Covenant to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either in Church or State and that the same in it self was an unlawful Oath and Imposed on the Subjects of the Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom We have Refused to Renounce this Covenant now consider what we say for our selves 1. There are many useful Preachers and Men of good Learning that never read a Law-book in their Lives they know nothing of Magna Charta Bracton Littleton Cook Common Law Statute Law Is it reasonable then to require them to Declare the Covenant is contrary to known Laws and Liberties which they are utterly unacquainted with 2. Though I am one of those that never took the Covenant yet when I consider That the King Lords and Commons of England and Scotland have taken it 't is a very strange thing if it should bind none of them not one of them A man had need spend some years in Casuistical Divinity and read all the Books which are Extant De Obligatione Juramenti before he absolve two or three Kingdoms and declare understandingly that no one man is bound by that Oath which almost every man took 3. By the Covenant all persons were bound in their places to endeavour a Reformation of the Church according to the Scriptures and the Examples of the Best Reformed Churches is this an unlawful Oath if a man should swear that in his Place and Calling he would endeavour with all his might to cast every Idol out of the World we see our King the Lords and Commons of Scotland have cast off Prelacy and Established Presbytery But I will speak no more to this Subject By what you have heard you may judge whether we have been straining at Gnats or other men have swallowed Camels The Fifth Point
King of Jerusalem and Hiram King of Tirus but that it seems was forgotten and the Tyrians became Treacherous and Cruel for which the Lord did wonderfully chastise them by Nebuchadnezzar who after a fourteen years Siege made Tyrus Desolate Tyrus was a famous City built upon a Rock in an Island in the midst of the Sea her Merchants were Princes her Houses were Pallaces but no strength of any Place or People by Nature or Art or both can secure against those sharp Arrows which God hath ordained for those that inhumanely Persecute their Brethren 5. Those that have Bowels of compassion should mourn upon the prospect they have of the miseries which will follow a National Oppression and Persecution of the Truth Our Lord wept and lamented over Jerusalem O Jerusalem Jerusalem that Killest the Prophets and Stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings and ye would not behold your House is left to you desolate Mat. 23. 37 38. Luk. 19. 41. It eminently appears that our Lords Love was great to Jerusalem in that after he arose from the Dead when he charged the Apostles to Preach Repentance and Remission of sins to all Nations he gave them particular Direction to begin at Jerusalem Luk. 24. 47. that that very place that had drawn upon it self the guilt of his precious Blood might have the first offer of Salvation by its Merits The Prophet Isaiah tells us that his Bowels should sound like a Harp for Moab and his inward part for Kirharesh chap. 16. 11. this Kirharesh was Heliopolis the City of the Sun where the Sun was the Idol of Worship but Moab is not blamed barely for her Superstition and Idolatry there is Persecution laid to her charge v. 4. Moab reproached the People of God in their Captive state as Outcasts and would give them no Protection quite forgetting that the Jews were a-kin to Moab thence the Prophet foreseeing that the Golden Vial of Wrath would be poured forth upon Moab within three or four years v. 14. crys out that his Bowels should sound like a Harp for Moab i. e. their Miseries would be such as should touch the Bowels of all that ever heard of it Use 1. Exam. The Church of England professes at this day before God Angels and Men to bewail her Sins to take shame and turn to the Lord our God that he may have mercy upon us and Heal our Land Now if we must Mourn for Englands Sins 't is fit that we should know them sometimes the Sin of a Nation is so Open notorious and visible that it may be found without secret search as the Prophet speaks Jer. 2. 34. but it is not always thus for we read there was once Herem Anathema an Accursed Thing hidden inter Supellectilia among the Stuff Joshua 7. 11. Joshua that famous Servant of the Lord was owned by miracles and crowned with Success and Victory till he came before the City of Ai where Israel fled before their Enemies whereupon the Hearts of all the people melted and became as Water ver 5. and Joshua rent his cloaths and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the Lord until the Even-Tide he and the Elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads and Joshua said Alas O Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Iordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Iordan O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies ver 7 8. And the Lord said Israel hath sinned and they have also transgressed my Covenant which I commanded them for they have even taken of the Accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled also they have put it even among their own Stuff ver 10 11. It cannot be thought but that the Tribes of Israel were stained with those Pollutions which commonly accompany so great an Host such as Lying Swearing Intemperance Vncleanness and the like and yet the wrath of the Lord kindled among them at this time for a hidden wickedness which few or none took notice of the Accursed Thing which provoked the anger of the Lord was hidden among the Stuff The Sins of England are many and great at this day the Lord be merciful unto us and to our whole Land Pride Drunkenness Whoredom Swearing and Prophaneness of every kind reign every where Conformist and Nonconformist have great reason to lye in the Dust together because of these Abominations But besides all these Sins 't is possible there may be some Achan some Accursed thing amongst us which hath not been taken notice of The children are come to the Birth and there is no strength to bring forth more mens hands are upon their Loins than upon their Swords we are filled with the Alarms of War and no one knows how long Let none take that ill which is done in Integrity I must search among the Stuff for the Accursed thing which is a work so hazardous and unacceptable that I could not subdue my self to the undertaking but by the sence of my duty to God and my Country The Stuff which I suspect and must search into concerns our Ecclesiastical Affairs and I will see by the help of God whether the Accursed thing be not hid under the covering of Decency and Order Penal Laws Laws for Vniformity Subscriptions Declarations Liturgies Articles Laws for Ceremonies and Forms of Prayer 'T is as clear as the Sun that for near thirty years now last past sixteen hundred Ministers of the Gospel of Christ if not more have suffered very hard things upon the account of Conscience by reason of great Fines long Imprisonments some of those who were wont to break the Spiritual Bread have died for want of their natural Bread both the Shepherds and the Flocks have been starv'd in their several kinds Many Thousands of the Families of the Protestant Dissenters have been sorely distressed by Penal Laws upon the account of Religion And if the sufferings of our Brethren were written at large as the sufferings of the Saints at other times have been Mr. Fox his book of Martyrs would be but an Enchiridion in comparison of it If any shall say that the Nonconformists and Protestant Dissenters have been buffeted for their faults in all this time and that the Church of England is Innocent that it was her duty and became her Wisdom though it was not so agreeable to the sweetness of her nature and meekness of her disposition yet it became her Wisdom as the chast and tender spouse of Christ to lay aside the Scepter and the Dove and to take into her hand the bloody Club of Cain to Martyr the Dissenters into conformity To this I reply Let 's have a fair hearing before we be Judged The Oppression and Persecution of the truth is a
great Sin where e're 't is found The Church in her Prayers for this day seems not to make any confession for this Sin she thinks her hands are clean she eats and wipes her mouth and says she has done no wickedness Prov. 30. 20. and yet 't is a Bishop that says though it was said indeed before he was Bishop in his preface to the Relation of the death of the primitive Persecutors that they who let themselves loose to all the Rages of a mad Prosecution of some poor undiscreet and deluded People ought seriously to profess their Repentance of this fury in Instances that may be as visible and edifying as their rage hath been publick and Destructive And now we proceed to Examine whether some drops of Abels blood may not be found in the skirts of England and search into the Stuff that we may know whether there be any Accursed thing hid in it That we may accordingly govern our selves in these days of Fasting and Lamentation The first thing we shall consider that was imposed upon the Nonconformists is the subscription in the Act of Vniformity with the Oath in the Oxford Act in which are these words I A. B. do declare that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King Again I A. B. do swear that it is not lawful We refused thus to declare and swear and here observe these three things First a man may believe a Proposition to be true though it be disputable which yet he would not be willing to swear that it was true As I believe the Pope to be Antichrist yet I am not willing to swear that the Pope is Antichrist I believe by Mystical Babylon is meant Rome I believe the Saints in Heaven know not our affairs here yet I should be unwilling to swear it Secondly That Barclay Grotius and others who have written Largely in favour of the Prerogative of Crowned Heads do yet allow that there are some cases in which it is lawful for the Subject to take Arms against the King and if the King turns Tyrant Governing not by Law but by his own Will he doth Excidere de jure etsi haereditario Thirdly All the Nobility and Gentry of England all the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland and all the Protestant Princes beyond the Seas in their Proceedings against the late King James have justified the Nonconformists in refusing the Oxford Oath Whose turn is it to take shame now The Second thing we must consider is that about Re-ordination in the Act of Vniformity as though Ordination by Presbyters and Pastors of Churches were not sufficient without the laying on of the Hands of those we now call Bishops Lords Bishops To this I say 1. That the Word of God in the New Testament makes no difference between the Bishop and the Presbyter or Pastor of a Church He that is a Pastor of a Church of Christ is a Gospel Bishop Christs Bishop Act. 20. 17 28. the same persons that are called Presbyters in one place or Elders are in the other called Bishops or Overseers So Tit. 1. 5 6 7. Timothy was ordained by the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery 1 Tim. 4. 14. of this Judgment were Augustine Jerom Chrysostome with many others among the Greeks and Latins 2. All our Learned Divines at the Reformation from Popery held that the Ordination by the Pastors of Churches was valid and good the 23 Article of ministring in the Congregation seems to speak as much of this Judgment are the French Churches Belgick and Helvetick Churches besides many others I need not name the Church of Scotland for Scotland hath justified all our Nonconformity by restoring the ejected Ministers to their places as of old 3. Our Diocesan Bishops may glory over us as the Kings Bishops Bishops of the State but they must not pretend to be so near in Blood to the Scripture Bishops of the first two hundred years as the Pastors of single Congregations wherefore I say that Ordination by the hands of the Pastors of Churches filled with the Holy Ghost is much more eligible than by Diocesan Bishops The Third point we must consider is the Declaration in the Act of Vniformity which is this I A. B. do here declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book Intituled the Book of Common Prayer Here we refuse 1. In the matter of Assent Many things might be named but one shall suffice we can't Assent to that passage in the Creed commonly called Athanasius Creed where 't is said that every one that doth not keep that Faith whole shall without doubt perish Everlastingly Now one Article of that Creed is about the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son which the Greek Churches did not Believe nor receive If I believe it was an Error in the Greek Churches and that they see not clearly into that Mystery yet I must be very bold if I leap into the Throne of Judgment and pronounce them Lost and Damned The Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son is a most profound Mystery and very much obscured by bringing in that word Procession Which the Scripture on that occasion never uses The Church of Rome indeed solemnly Anathematizes the Greeks in Bulla Coenae every Maundy Thursday as so many Schismaticks and Apostates 'T is a considerable point of Popery to curse and destroy all that seem to differ from us in Opinion 2. In the matter of consent we cannot consent to every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book intituled the Book of Common Prayer I intend not to speak of the Ceremonies the Cross the Surplice because all know they came from Rome and when Rome falls they will fall too Neither shall I look into the Prayers of the Church though that is no very commendable passage wherewith she is so oft upbraided in praying that the Late King James a profest Papist might persevere in the Faith but that which I shall account for is our Refusal to Read the imposed Form of Common Prayer a point a little more difficult but not less material than that of Ceremonies and here pray judge between Vs and the Church of England First During the Apostles time and two or three hundred years after there was no Liturgy used nor imposed neither did they direct for the drawing up of any and inforcing it by Penal Laws it hath been abundantly cleared by those that have laboured in this controversy that the Pastors of Churches in the primitive Times did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Read Prayers de Scripto recitare They did Read Psalms Chapters but they did not Read Prayers Acts 12. 5. The Prayer of the Church for Peter's Inlargement was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instant Fervent without ceasing but not by any prescribed Form as is agreed upon by all sides some have been so curious as to observe
Jerusalem to the best of my knowledge there was never any before or since John 4. 21. Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth ver 24. 3. Though there had been many Temples in the land of Canaan used by the Natives in Honour of their false Gods yet the Lord would make use of none of them but directs they should be all demolished and a new one built Deut. 12. 2. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the Nations which ye shall possess served their Gods upon the Mountains and upon the Hills and under every green Tree The Land of Canaan was a place of learning before Israel came into it and of Religion too but it was corrupted with superstition and Idolatry in Josh 15. 15 42. We read of Kirjath Sepher Kirjath Sanna Cities of Books of learning or the Law called Deber as the Oracle for Wisdom Eloquence and Acuteness these Temples were Rich and pompous so far as we can guess by the remains we have of the History of those Times yet the Lord in his Jealousie would have none of them spared for Synagogues or Houses of Prayer because they had been set apart for Idolatrous purposes 4. Let 's observe the Nature and Condition of the Place which the Wisdom of God singles forth out of all the world where his Holy Temple should be built 't was Ornans Threshing floor 2 Chron. 3. 1. with the 2 Sam. 24. 18. Then Solomon began to build the House of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah where the Lord appeared unto David his Father in the Place that David had prepared in the Threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite There were many places at that time where the Holy People were wont to Sacrifice as Gilgal Shilo illa omnia post-ponit but the Lord slights all these and chooses the Threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite it 's likely that this Ornan was of Princely descent as he had a Princely mind which could readily part with any worldly Interest for Gods Service and Honour his mind was as great as his Birth and his devotion equal to both there might be some mystery in this choice which the Lord made of the Threshing Floor of Ornan to shew 1. That Temple-Work is hard work 't is Threshing 2. That Temple-Work is to separate between the Chaff and the Wheat the precious and the vile 3. That the separation will not be perfect till the end of all things mali in area nobiscum esse possunt in horreo non possunt The wicked may mingle with us in the Floor they shall not in the Garner 5. And Lastly Let 's consider what the Heathen would say of this Temple at Jerusalem which was the most magnificent and stately structure in the World excelling in glory no doubt but they would load it with Reproaches and say This Temple upon which King Solomon spent a hundred thousand Talents of Gold and a thousand thousand Talents of Silver is after all but Ornan's Threshing-floor 't is but a Barn our Temples are Holy Places and to be preferred before that at Jerusalem Now I have great assurance that King Solomon with all his wisdom was able to vindicate the House of God which he had built and upon a fair hearing to confound all those that disgraced it King Solomon could tell those Heathens that all their Temples were stained with Superstition and Idolatry which Ornan's Threshing-floor never was All their Temples were places of Spiritual Whoredoms they were Erected by Idolaters and Consecrated for Idolatrous uses and that his Temple at Jerusalem did as much excel all the Temples of the Heathen as a pure spotless Virgin doth an old wrinkled Harlot We shall now quit this Use of Examination and search no further into the stuff The Protestant Dissenters dare not flatter the Prerogatives of Princes to their Destruction they dare not Assent and Consent solemnly to that which they inwardly dislike they dare not depart from that Ordination which is according to the Scriptures and the practice of the purest Churches they dare not offer to the Lord that which costs them nothing nor submit to those Forms of Prayer which quench the Spirit of Prayer they dare not renounce Covenants as contrary to the known Laws when the Laws to them are utterly unknown they dare not but appear humbly in their places for the Restauration of the Godly Discipline of the Primitive Church since all allow 't is to be wished for they dare not but with Moses and Solomon keep to the pattern in the Mount notwithstanding the Inventions and Commandments of Men and if in all these things the Nonconformists are in the right and have in their Sackcloth witnessed to the Truth then ought the Church of England to hang down her head smite upon her breast and walk softly because she hath been cruel like the Ostrich in the Wilderness the Tongue of the sucking Child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst the young Children ask bread and no man breaketh it unto them they that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets they that were brought up in Scarlet embrace Dunghills Lam. 4. 3 4 5. We come now to the Second Use which is for Exhortation and here let me beg and beseech you to lay aside all consideration of our own and our Brethrens Sufferings and as the Elect of God put on bowels of compassion Col. 3. 12. It will be some evidence to us that we are the elect of God if we can put on bowels of Mercy if we can say in sincerity as I hope we shall O that our head were Waters and our eyes fountains of tears that we might make our Meeting Place a Bochim Judg. 2. 5. A place of bitter mourning like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo Zech. 12. 11. Because of all the Provocations and Abominations of England Scotland and Ireland the cry of our Sins is gone up to Heaven against us O let us endeavour by the cry of our Prayers and Tears to silence the cry of our Sins O Lord God put bowels of mercy into every one of us in the Hebrew language one word Rahem signifies both Bowels and Mercy and by a Metathesis of the Radical Letters is made herein which signifies Anathema to shew that if we are without bowels of Mercy in this day of our Kingdom 's Distress we are under the Curse and none of the Elect of God It is a Cain's mark upon Judas he lost his bowels Acts 1. 18. and upon King Jehoram too that he was diseased in his bowels 2 Chron. 21. 15. O! let us mingle our hearts and our prayers no less than our Faith with the holy Word of God as we go along and cry aloud that the God of all Grace and Father of Mercies would