put out as Bellarmine p. 78. l. 2. for facts r. fasts p. 81. l. 35. for Antichrist r. Antichrists p 84. l. 35. for conscience of some r. conscience of sinne p. 85. l. 18. put out not in the title of the Chap. p. 96. l. 34. for tollerent reade tolerent A TRIPLE ANTIDOTE AGAINST CERtaine very common Scandalles of this time which like infectious and epidemicall diseases haue generally annoyed most sorts of people amongst vs poisoned also not a fewe and diuers wayes plagued and afflicted the whole State CHAP. I. Containing the names natures and manifold kinds and differences of Excommunication EXcommunication beeing the highest censure of all Ecclesiasticall power from which the other two of Subscription and the Crosse with all such decent and profitable ceremonies doe naturally arise and the lawfulnes and necessity of these latter depending for the most part vpon the former I haue placed the same in the forefront as it were of those many battels and encounters which by all kind of people almost in this complayning and murmuring age haue beene made against them all but especially against the trueth power and vse of excommunication Which according to the name and nature thereof I haue first of all endeuoured to define after this manner Namely as the word expoundeth it selfe Excommunication in the most generall sense and acception thereof is nothing els but a separation from some common benefite of which any formerly haue beene Excommunicatio a communi bono separatio or otherwise might haue been partakers which is the common receiued definition by the Schooles and Canons Which being somewhat too generall for our purpose after certaine diuisions of these larger termes wee hope at the length to comprise the full summe and substance thereof in as short a compasse as so great a matter may be These common benefites and priuiledges therefore enioyed in this life being either Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill this terme of Excommunication hath beene alwaies by all sufficient writers restrained to those speciall graces and fauours which belong properly to the Church and so this censure is to be defined accordingly to be a debarring and separation from the Church which also being either visible or inuisible the trueth and nature of this excommunication must be in like manner examined and distinguished to be a separation from the visible or inuisible Church Of which distinction sundry reasons may be giuen which briefly may be comprised in these two positions from which many more particulars may easily be collected first that the knowledge order and proceeding in either of these kindes are very much differing both in respect of the persons censuring accusing or offending as also of the defaults and punishments thereunto belonging the one being alwaies certaine after one manner because God as Augustine well obserueth who is the high Iudge in that priuy Court doth see all things euermore as they are and iudgeth accordingly by his present mercy and present iustice taking all actions and persons as he findeth them and so his word and ministry thereof with all other meanes belonging to this Excommunication proceed by the same order and degree the other very variable from the visible Church and vncertaine Primo secundum praescientiam 2. Causam 3. Operationem 4. retributionem sol 2047. taking knowledge and giuing order for personall causes according to particular allegations and proofes as they say which Hugo de sanct in his booke de Sacramentis legis naturalis scriptae doeth more largely expresse making foure kindes of iudgements Secondly because one and the selfe same person may be admitted and allowed for a communicant in the one which happily hath no interest nor fellowship in the other and so contrarily the same persons may by course and order of lawes and proceeding in some cases be remoued from some part of the visible Church which keepe their place firme and sure in the inuisible as 1. Timothy Chap. 5. verse 24. and 2. Samuel Chap. 16. verse 7. is plainely auouched that God seeth not as man seeth and that some mens sinnes goe before vnto iudgement and some follow after Now this Excommunication from the inuisible Church is onely infallibly known and exercised by God who alone knoweth who are his 2. Tim. chap. 2. vers 19. And how at all times euery one standeth or falleth to himselfe the great master of all Rom. 14. vers 4. yet hath hee appointed certaine persons to whome a speciall commission is directed to proceede in this inward and high Court of conscience and by which speciall meanes as by certaine signes and best coniectures the knowledge of euery one his estate and freeholde as it were in the inuisible Church and true fellowship with God and his Saints may be discerned which meanes the learned haue called voluntatem signi being indeed signa voluntatis subordinate to that infallible prescience and predestination of God by which together with these signes and meanes which for that end are prepared and appointed by God all are deliuered from their miserable estate and fellowship with the diuell and Church malignant and receiued into this inuisible Church and company whosoeuer they are that are at any time so receiued as Saint Augustine in many places learnedly sheweth which signes and meanes specified in the word of God and commonly called and vnderstood by those generall graces of faith and repentance being found in any or testified by any outward signes to those Commissaries of God as I may so terme them aboue named so farre as they can or ought to iudge according to their rites of commission and proceeding to be in any or otherwise to be wanting so are they iudged and allowed for meete partakers and communicantes with that heauenly society being qualified thereunto by the former graces or els to be wholly vnworthy and out of the same and so being admitted or excluded by these stewards Gods ministers whome God hath appointed and none other as shall be shewed hereafter to deale in that high Court of his or pronounced priuately or more openly so to be whatsoeuer they shall doe in that behalfe according to the tenour of their commission and order of their court roules which is the truth and scope of holy scriptures shall be ratified and confirmed in heauen both for the pardon of sinne which is the kingdom of grace in this life Ioh. 20. vers 23. and the full state of glory for euer in heauen Mat. 16. vers 19. In regard whereof this excommunication from the inuisible Church so farre foorth as it may be awarded or any way iudicially proceeded in by man Definitio excommunicationis ab inuisibili ecclesia may thus be described to bee that part of the power of the keyes whereby vpon the signes and euidences of infidelity heresie irrepentance or such like euery true minister doth pronounce any to be in the state of Gods wrath and out of the fellowship and communion of Saints Which power albeit Saint Augustine
giueth sometimes to priuate mens admonishments and exhortations saying thereupon cohortatoriè as Luther obserueth him and the other learned fathers to speake many times Ligasti aut soluisti fratrem yet is this no whit of this nature and kind whereof we intreat this being an exhortation or counsell and a common worke of charity belonging to all Christians the other a iudgement or a solemne and peculiar iudiciall proceeding performed alwayes by Gods ministers onely and lieutenants in this behalfe wherein God deales by them as a King doth by his Iudges and other immediate officers for any state occasion wherein although many haue skill and can giue counsell and aducie yet are no charters quoadius as wee say pardons or iudgements whatsoeuer of validity and force to carry or confirme any thing for or against any except they be pronounced or otherwise sealed and warranted by those who are called and designed to represent and supply the Kings place and person in any of the same And thus much briefly of this first kinde of excommunication which respecteth indifferently all kindes of people that haue soules to be saued and may yea ought to be exercised in all places where any true minister is found albeit there be no order or power established according to the nature of a visible Church or other ordered gouernment whatsoeuer For so is the nature of the other excommunication which wee made to be from the visible Church wherein alwayes is required some company liuing vnder forme of outward gouernment by which lawes may be made and enacted for this or at the least some other kinde of separation from the same for so Saint Paul speaketh of a company to be gathered together as from which that incestuous person was to be remoued by his owne censure which also may appeare by all other such separations which euer haue beene read of or are as yet practised in the world wherein by some kind of power established amongst some company liuing vnder gouernement be it of one kind or other certaine persons haue beene excluded oftentimes according to the discretion of the gouernours thereof from the face and fellowship of some visible Church Which also according to the causes and diuers kinds of operation and proceeding by or against any this kinde of excommunication must againe be diuided into that which by violence without cause and against all order and reason is oftentimes denounced and that which vpon iust cause or by some kinde of order at the least is commenced and executed for the separation of any from the visible Church the first whereof may be called excommunicatio violentiae such as were exercised by Tyrants against many a true member both of the visible and inuisible Church the other not vnfitl termed excommunicatio ordinis in which by some orderly proceeding and vnder some course of Lawe and constitutions iust or vniust any are remoued from any such company and priuiledges belonging thereunto which also being as all iudgements are as the Schooles distinguish them vsurped or defiled and tainted with some in iustice and wrong or els direct and regulated according to trueth and equity so likewise is this excommunicatio ordinis whereby good Ieremie and our Sauiour Christ himselfe Iohn 7. were by such orders as those times did afford Abstentes as the word in Ieremie importeth and debarred at the least from many priuiledges of that Church and time as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may by Erastus his own acception or any others signifie as well as that incestuous person most iustlie by Paul from the company and priuiledges of the Church of Corinth But to tye our selues to that excommunication which by good order and vpon iust and necessary cause is alwayes awarded resting in the hands power of euery true Church and company gathered together in the name of Christ to professe his name and seruice that also hath it differences and distinctions for so by the Schooles and Kanons many such haue beene inuented whereof that of excommunicatio maior minor the greater and the lesse may very well fit our purpose According to the vse of this greate censure by all Christian Churches in the world Which vpon the assistance at the last of Christian magistracy and by their owne speciall decrees and constitutions thereabout haue extended the power of this censure to the debarring of those that are separated thereby from many common priuiledges whereof the ciuill estate maketh them otherwise partakers as appeareth by many ciuil constitutions and statute Lawes in force at this present amongst vs de excommunicato capiendo and such like to that purpose For which cause this excommunication by order as we haue termed it for the better setting downe the true nature of it must once againe be diuided into that which is meerly ecclesiasticall as proceeding onely and wholly from that power of the keyes which are giuen to the Church for the ruling and sauing of soules or els into that which is ciuill abusiuely so called and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we say or lastly partly ecclesiastical and partly ciuill according to which are most proceedings therein for the outward gouernement of any Church at this day That which is called ecclesiasticall is so wholly estated in the persons of Church gouernours as that if there were no ciuill Magistrate in the world yet would and ought they to claime and shew their authority and power if according to the true ends and vses thereof hereafter more particularly to be set downe the Church shall iudge it fit or necessary so to be awarded Author of late assertions for Church Discipline And no ciuill power hath any more to doe with it then as the latest exceptor and pleader himselfe against many things therein confesseth and proueth by the authority of Bishop Horne and Doctor Bilson both reuerend fathers of one Sea in our Church it hath to doe with making ministers consecrating Churches immediate making of Church Canons for doctrine cases of cōscience administration of the word and Sacraments and such like In the prefaces to certaine Iniunctions made in Henry 8. and Elizabeth their raignes which some princes of this kingdome and all other wisely possessed with the trueth of these matters haue euermore disclaimed Howbeit for the other which concerne first the bodies and outward estates and condition whatsoeuer of any and secondarily and consequently the soule and inward man and so also respect for the most part the outward peace of the common state both ecclesiasticall and ciuill they all must haue their consideration determination and proper place accordingly as proceeding first from ciuill power may be intended or remitted continued suspended or changed and sometimes exercised or inhibited by ciuill magistrates soueraigne or subordinate Of which sort I make all temporall punishments commutation of pennance outward shame and all other bodily afflictions whereof notwithstanding that of being giuen ouer to Satan some haue made one Erastus out of some
it may be to worke the better the issue whereof I commit and commend to the hand and blessing of that great physition that came to heale the sores repayre the decayes of our nature Mat. 8. vers 17. and tooke vpon him our infirmities and cured all our diseases as it is in the Gospell euen Iesus Christ the Prince and author of all health and saluation who is God blessed for euer Amen Thine euer in the Lord although with losse of himselfe I. Tichborne A Table containing the Chapters in this booke THE first directed as a remedy for Excommunication being through ignorance of the true nature vse and power thereof and great neglect and contempt thereupon of that holy censure not only sick but euē dead or at the least dying at the heart and therefore it is called Socordium The second is prouided in like manner for Subscription and is termed Denatium in respect of the most decayed state thereof which also hath now neede if eeur by such preparatiues to other I hope more strong and restoring medicines to be reuiued and set a foote againe in these factious and turbulent times The third is especially wished and addressed to those weake stomacks of many euen of our owne Tribe and others amongst vs who distast so many things in the Ceremonies of our Church and cannot as yet bee brought by any meanes to brooke and disgest the least vse or mention almost of the Crosse whose good is feelingly tendered and very sincerely respected herein as Aesculapius did in one of his Receipts the health and recouery ef his best friends Tertul. in his Apologie and against the Iewes which therefore is accordingly named Asclepiodoton All which termes and remedies were so vsed and interchangeably directed and applied by Aesculapius himselfe according to the nature of the disease the state of the affected therewith and the qualities of the remedies appliable therevnto The ingredients of all which are conueied in the Chapters following fitted as particular due receipts of the same Whereof the first hath three more large ones according to the consistance of the matter handled therein Socordium The first whereof containeth the names natures and manifold kindes and differences of Excommunication The second comprizeth and importeth the true end and scope of all those kindes and differences of Excommunication aboue named with some litle infusion of gnomicall Diuinitie touching one specall point for proceeding thereby against some kinde of persons after their confessions and often absolutions thereupon The third giuen as an Electuary by way of answere to certaine questions and sundry objections and exceptions made by diuers of these times against some particulars in the managing and executing this great censure of Excommunication by the gouernors and Officials of our Church and others which for many yeares together vntill this day haue vsed and obserued the same The second concerning Subscription hath fiue receipts comprehended in so many chapters Denatium The first whereof shewing that Subscription is not such a heauy and heynous matter as many would make the world beleeue thereby to draw enuy and obloquy vpon the thing it selfe and the vrgers of the same The second declareth the true nature and end of the inuenting and vrging of any kind of Subscription by the prudent gouernors of any Church or state The third relateth the auncient constant generall vse of this kinde of proceeding in the Church of God and all other kindes of societies and incorporations whatsoeuer The fourth conuinceth the absolute necessitie thereof in any well ordered gouernment and securely established state by all wise foresight and iust preuention The fift affoordeth reasons both to the weake and obstinate why they may and ought to yeeld hereunto with some answers also to their ignorant and friuolous obiections to the contrary The third priscribed about the due vse of the Crosse Asclepiodotou hath seuen speciall receipts according to the distempers of sundry persons diuersly conceipted and affected against it many waies scandalized and offended thereby as they say The first whereof intreateth of the lawfulnesse and necessity of Ceremonies in general and in all solemne publique and more especially all holy administrations whatsoeuer and how far the Magistrates authority may stretch for the determining of any to be vsed in particular thereby the better to establish the consciences and setting as it were the waumish stomackes of the aforenamed for entertaining the particulars that follow The second enquireth of the Crosse and findeth it to be in the number of indifferent and lawful Ceremonies yea and necessary also being once commanded by the Magistrate The third aduoucheth the general allowance of this Crosse by the practise of auncient times and iudgement of learned fathers with their reasons for the inuenting and retaining thereof and other iudicious late Writers accordingly The fourth examineth and answereth those many reasons alledged and some of them but lately coined to proue the best vse of this Crosse or any other such Ceremonies to be simply wicked to be not onely in their vse but euen in themselues and in their owne nature vtterly vnlawfull The fift encountereth with that one most stubborne conceipt and irremoueable humour of some that would needes haue it accidentally vnlawful at the least and that especially because it hath beene so much abused and very commonly sometimes made and set vp for a greate Idoll in the world The sixt endeuoureth to purge all of that peeuish and most silly conceipte of all other pretending and presuming vppon their Christian liberty to neglect the vse of this ceremony and to violate any other good order humane constitution whatsoeuer The seuenth and last remoueth that melancholike and braynsick opinion and conceipt of so many Scandals or at the least so many occasions of scandals which are supposed and imagined to arise from the vse of this Crosse which fancy hauing framed and no sound iudgement from any true rule of practicall diuinity sorting some answers therunto according to the nature of the obiections we wish them all heauenly Physicke and leaue them to the prayers and other good helpes from many wise godly and learned amongst vs. The Errata Epist Dedicat. p. 6. l. 19. for esse read est p. 11. l. 23. for occurrents r. accurrants p. 15. l. 20. for permission r. commission ibi ve dilescat r. ne vilescat p. 26 l. 32. put out the first and. p. 32. l. 25 for or r. but. p. 35. l. 9. for particular r. particulars p. 47. lin 23. for an vniuersall r any p. 57. l. 6. for one read due p. 65. l. 6. for like r. lawfull p. 67. l. 5. insert this sentence Hieron in Epistola ad Lucinium pag. 72. Nec hoc dico quòd dominicis diebus ieiunaendum putem contextas sexaginta dicbus ferias auferam sed vnaquaeque prouincia abundet suo sensu praecepta maiorum leges Apostolicas arbitretur p. 76. in the marg
of the fathers albeit belonging to the Church power alwayes in such cases and that in the highest degree wherein through the affliction of the flesh in any kinde meanes may better be procured and applied for the sauing of the soule in the day of the Lord Iesus 1. ad Corin. Cap. 5. v. 5. The difference and true distinction whereof may appeare by these speciall notes first that Ecclesiasticall excommunication and all things concurring thereunto so farre foorth as they are meerly ecclesiasticall concerne the soule and the meanes to recouer any secure or desperate sinner and withall to preserue any other or the whole Church from any further annoyance spirituall infection or any kind of preiudice thereby but the other respect first the body and outward man and afterward happily are made profitable and appliable to the soules of any Secondly that which we call for better order and instruction sake ciuill haue their ground and originall whatsoeuer they are from the other power which is called ciuill magistracy as the other touching the soule the inward and spirituall seruice of God the peace of conscience and such like belonging vnto this censure proceede from the rites and investitures of that other order called priesthood power of keyes ecclesiasticall magistracy or what els besides it be called swaruing not from the trueth of the matter it selfe which for it part must alwayes doe that which belongeth thereunto in this and all other offices although there were no Christian Magistrate in the world and doth also exercise the same according as they see it most fit and correspondent to the ends aboue named in all places where the foote of violence from any part of the secular power incombreth not but rather as they ought to kisse the Sunne in that one sense and behalfe protest and maintaine the rights power and priuiledges of the same Thirdly those proceedings herein which are meerly ciuil or mixt sometimes of both according to their seuerall ends authors and originals doe principally and for the most part respect the common policy of the whole State and that which is Ciuil as well and more particulary many times as that which is Ecclesiasticall albeit they ought to agree in all things together as Hippocrates his Twinnes All which might be shewed in the manifold particulars which in the vse of this censure haue been added partly by the ciuill Magistrate and further inuented by the immediate Gouernours vnder the allowance of the chiefe magistrate of seuerall Churches for the better strengthning and more orderly and profitable executing this or any other censure which any iudicious reader may referre euery one as they are not vnknown by reason of their common practise in the world to their proper place and one of those three heads of this our last diuision To which I desire this one thing to be adioyned before I come to the more particular definition of this Excommunication namely that albeit this censure doth properly and euermore of right belong to the power of the Church and immediate gouernment of soules yet can no such power exercise any part of outward gouernment or more publique administration whatsoeuer within the territories and dominions of any ciuill magistracy without the speciall good allowance or indulgence at the least of the chiefe magistrate there which in all places of setled and well ordered gouernment appertaineth to the ciuill power which God in the example and type of Iudah among the tribes hath made the onely lawe-giuer Insomuch as no due execution of any other their owne most proper proceedings can bee well performed without their helpe and assistance which caused the due vse of this censure to be so rarely and indeed weakly exercised in the primitiue Church and many other Churches of later times before ciuil magistrates were christned or this ciuill power did vndertake the protection of the Church or at least gaue way and liberty for the full execution of all Ecclesiasticall power which hath beene very much curbed and scanted by most Christian Princes in the world Much lesse doe we arrogate any secular power and command to be originally and properly in the persons or states meerly ecclesiasticall albeit one and the selfe same man or state may very lawfully and ought sometimes necessarily to be armed and furnished with them both as Luther himselfe learnedly sheweth In Epistola responsiua ad Melancthonem Et in postilla ad Epiphaniam de Magis and elsewhere we haue examined that as the ciuill magistrate sometimes hath been a priest so contrarily may Gods minister be a king or of any other electiue dignity the same man but not the same person which are distinguished euermore but may concur both in one subiect but that the enacting of lawes Bodin de repub in Methodâ— historiarum creating of magistrates citations Iudiciall proceedings and punishments accordingly haue their first beginning and warrant also from the ciuill sword yea the very outward forme of gouernment by which that part of the Church which is committed to any ciuill Magistrate who is truely termed of our later Deuines the keeper and maintainer of both tables commonly called Church discipline is to be administred and vnder which be it one or other any of these Church affayres are to be established procured and executed dependeth wholly vpon the will and authority of the chiefe magistrate in any estate as himselfe may iudge fittest for the due ordering of the same most agreeable to the ciuill body and conuenient and profitable for the whole state Alwayes prouided that the essentiall and mayne points expressed in the word or the necessary consequents belonging to any person cause or calling in these Ecclesiasticall administrations be in no part abolished interrupted or diminished which is all that we challenge in this Excommunication or any other such power priuiledge or censure from any ciuill magistrate in the world The summe and definition whereof according to the premises I meane this Excommunication from the visible Church by order of wholsome Lawes ecclesiasticall or ciuil according to the true nature thereof commaunded and expressed in the word of God may for our better proceeding to the points that follow Definitio Excommunicationis a visibili ecclesia be thus set downe Namely to be that censure of the Church which proceeding from the power of the keyes is awarded against notorious offenders vnder any forme or meanes by those persons onely whome any Church shall thinke best to depute and assigne to take knowledge of all causes deseruing the same and to giue sentence according to the nature thereof against any persons offending therein Which although in regard of the extent thereof and quality of the crimes and persons offending and incurring this censure it hath beene diuided or rather distinguished by some such circumstantiall differences of time longer or lesser while places of and in the Church or Churchyards or such like yet for summe and substance I hold them all one as by
names of Commissaries Officials and Churchwardens reteyned still amongst vs will by no meanes allowe of such kind of assistance in these speciall causes which no other can so conueniently consider or determine of And to end this point because I haue partly handled it in another treatise also I desire all indifferent readers to peruse that of Vrsinus generally allowed for a very sound and iudicious Diuine In Catechisme de potestate Clauium as most of later time where he writeth thus In Ecclesiastico Iudicio gratiae irae Dei non sit denunciatio ab vno aliquo priuato qui hoc munus plerunque obire solet sed a tota ecclesia vel nomine totius ecclesiae idque ab ijs qui ad hoc electi sunt communi omnium consensu ad certas personas In functione sacerdotis Which Tollet setteth downe more particularly allowing and appointing amongst the persons executing this censure the Churchwardens sometimes or other such like Lay persons but especially I refer all Iudicious readers for their further informatiō in this point to Panormitanus that great Clerk for his Councels and exact skill for all Iudiciall proceedings vpon the decretalls vnder the title de Iudicijs Fol. 9. and in cap. Decernimus and many times in his larger treatises Ad literam Laicus and title of Excommunication where he sheweth both the equity and necessity of that we now maintaine CHAP. I. Shewing that Subscription is not such a heauy and hainous matter as many would make the world beleeue thereby to drawe enuie and obloquie vpon the thing it selfe and vppon the vrgers of the same AFter Excommunication discoursed of in the former treatise and some questions and difficulties thereabout discussed In the next place commeth Subscription not vnfitly to be considered of which indeed could neuer haue bin called into such question and such standing out against it would neuer haue beene shewed if the true power nature and vse of Excommunication and Church power from which it proceedeth had been throughly knowne and maintained or at the least accordingly exercised and enforced amongst vs. And therefore as we haue intreated more largely of the one so must we also by our order prescribed not vnfitting I hope the same speake now of this other the rather because it is one of the maine whites and markes which those bad Archers with whome my greatest encounter hath beene in a more large field chiefly ayme and shot at but with no better successe I hope then as good Iacob complaineth of those against Ioseph Gen. 49. for the order of which treatise it shall be this First to set downe the true nature and chiefe ends of subscription secondly the long auntient and constant vse of it in the Church of God thirdly and lastly the great necessity and equity for the vrging thereof at all times with some speciall reasons thereupon why it is or ought to be so strictly vrged and required from certaine liuing vnder this present estate of our Church by the wise and carefull gouernours of the same and why also those standers out may safely submit and yeelde themselues thereunto For the first we must shew in the first place what it is not because vpon the misunderstanding and misprision of that which indeed it is not most haue beene driuen from their due reuerence and obedience to those things which by the same are required wherefore all offended from the vrging thereof at any time must know that the meaning of this subscription is not that euery one so vrged should peremptorily and de scientia as we say auerre and auow by word writing seale or marke euery particular thing contayned in the booke of common prayer and the other particular excepted against much lesse in all our Homilies Canons and constitutions made or to be enacted hereafter as some haue obiected of late to be absolutely perfect according to the exact rule and rigor of the Law and word of God in generall as some would haue those haynous words so offensiuely and tenderly taken nothing contrary to Gods word to meane and import For so we are nothing of humane vse or inuention in the world much lesse is the nature of it such as vpon the premisses would fall out whereby mens consciences should be set dayly vpon the racke and sundry persons vrged thereby to approue vntruths and diuers things which cannot possibly be knowne and iustified or els to be driuen thereby to speake at the same time yea and nay yea to maintayne many vngodly practises with all Nicholls in his Plea pag. 102. and 103. as is most ignorantly if not maliciously suggested by one graund late exceptor for proofe whereof who seeth not if that should be the meaning how contrary to the old rule against which no state proceeding of all other ought to offend nemo tenetur ad impossibile many impossibilities would appeare at once for not only the best inuentions of men haue their manifold imperfections and so are against the word in that sense but euen the best prayers conceiued or formes thereof prescribed by man are full of much weaknes yea although they be taken out of the holy Scriptures themselues being but once vsed by vs require a prayer for pardon therein wherefore it is that at the end of our Letany our most solemne prayers to God we pray for the forgiuenesse of our ignorances and negligences which especially escape vs in Gods seruice yea in the Lords prayer it selfe we are taught by our best Master one petition which Saint Augustine calleth our dayly Baptisme as touching our dayly trespasses Contra Iulianum Pelagia num lib. 2. amongst all other to call for the forgiuenesse of those wherewith euen in repeating much more no doubt in our best translating that holy prayer we defile our selues as indeed for the translating hereof to speake nothing of infinite other neuer any Papist or Protestant or any other whatsoeuer durst chalenge any such absolutenesse of perfection no not in the very Canon of the Scripture it selfe as we or any other Church now haue them being only perfect and absolute as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth Bellarmine and Whitakers de Scriptura and our best masters for these matters cānot deny in their originalls of Hebrew and Greeke wheresoeuer also they be much lesse for the number of their Canons and euery particular story sentence therein as Ierome sheweth manifestly in his preface vpon Iob and Daniel whereat notwithstanding so many scruples are made to hinder this subscription by the chiefe captaines of those that impugne the same In their late schedules and obiections against subscription and lastly for the translation therof as I haue also elsewhere shewed no company will euer be able perfectly to vnderstand many hard textes which in this life especially in any one age can neuer be attained which is but the first point herein as Ierom sheweth vpon Daniel and no paynes nor tongue much lesse
Deacons were vrged to subscribe to the speciall canons and decrees agreed vpon by sundry Councels especially to those of Toledo and Ephesus which Melanchton more plainly declareth Sic liber Concordiae in quo 800 Episcopi Presbyteri subscripserunt Balâ—arminus in censura libri Et Harmonia inter omnes Belgii Gallliae mistros Eusebius de vita Constantini and the maner of their subscription page 518 of his theologicall counsels where he learnedly handleth many things to his purpose and question of subscription his words are these Extat hodie Synodi Ephesinae liber in quo sunt subscriptiones presbyterorum diaconorum et subdiaconoruÌ„ extat et CoÌ„cilium Toletanum quod iubet ordine subscribere Episcopos praesbyteros Diaconos The particulars wherof we may reade also in Eusebius of Constantine that most religious and renowned Emperor who saw right well the true nature and end of it and found by the differences of those times the absolute necessity thereof which followeth to be spoken of in the next point commanding for the end aboue named this vniformity in subscription and condemned Arius with his owne voice The like we see to haue beene in the practise of all late reformed Churches in the harmony of their confessions and more specially to our purpose the practise of those of Frankford to our owne countrimen Theses Geneuenses Gallice scriptae who came but to soiourne amongst them and at Geneua not onely subscription is vrged and that to many persons 7. 8. or 9. times but an oath also is takeÌ„ for further security that they shal obey their Doctrine and orders and doe nothing contrary to the same And indeed no incorporation or gouernment whatsoeuer haue euer vsed to receiue and be partakers of any priuiledges amongst them and their folly were great if they did except they should first submit them selues and subscribe to like that estate vnder which they liue for any time much more professe them selues members thereof and are willing to enioy good thereby and that they will doe nothing praeiudiciall to the safety thereof as in Venice it selfe wherein the greatest liberty is graunted of any place in the world besides none are suffered to continue amongst them which shall any way dislike their state by word or practise but rather by both yeeld subscribe thereunto and yet it is strange how it should be thoght so seuere hard And euen tyrannicall amoÌ„gst vs that subscription shold be required to one Synod or Counsell of ours and some fewe things which are cheefest greatest of consideration for the state and good of our Church and common wealth although it be from those mens hands also who manage some speciall businesses thereunto belonging whereas as in short to conclude this second point al Captains gouernours of Cities or any incorporation yea of some meaner family as for example many of those ministers gentlemen and meaner persons which mislike so much our vrging of subscription by the Bishops will admit of none to their seruices or any priuiledge or freedome in those places of their commands neither is there indeede any reason why they should except they giue testimony and subscription by oath many times and other solemnities as some kinde of profession and subscription for their well liking and allowing all their orders and continuall care to do nothing praeiudiciall to the same by meanes whereof and that especially we see most incorporations townes free Cities Innes of the Court and such like so much to flourish Thus much also for the second point shewing the long vse of subscription in the Church of God CHAP. IIII. Shewing the absolute necessity of subscription in any well ordered gouernment and securely established estate by all wise foresight and iust preuention THE third and last poynt followeth which contayneth reasons for the equity and absolute necessity thereof in any well ordered state Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill and more especially why our Church retayneth such a forme and restraynt thereof to special articles with some reasons annexed why our Bishops are forced to enioyne the same and that such as liue vnder any part of their gouernment haue no iust cause to refuse nor yet to thinke so hardly and strangely of the matter First therefore subscription being of the nature of a Sacrament as we haue partly shewed before and the vse and end of military Sacraments declaring the same Saint Augustine hath this generall well knowne speeche to this purpose Contra FaustuÌ„ ManichaeuÌ„ lib. 19. cap. 29. Et signaculorum Nullum nomen religionis ant professionis est in quod homines coadunari possunt absque sacramentorum vsu for as the maine sacraments ordained by God doe binde all to one and the selfe same religion so ought these other kindes of sacraments so generally taken by all state gouernement in the world and do binde all vnder the same to a coÌ„mon vniformity for the profession of the same religion or any other duety and seruice whatsoeuer Euen as wee see the Romanes had their tesseras hospitales amongst their seuerall bands as without which all one with the matter of our subscription none should discerne their friends and foes a sunder besides that hereby the security is taken for the strengthning and combining the better together any politick body which otherwise beeing deuided both in iudgement and practise many times must needes be dissolued come to present ruine of it selfe as Zanchius that worthy learned writer and obseruer hath concluded the principall reasons of which necessity may more specially be drawne to these two heads Zanchius in CoÌ„fessi page 639. First because by it one generall and vniforme order of proceeding in all matters which may concerne the state is and ought to be established which going on in one constant tenor and according to one forme may by all story and experience be obserued to be the maine if not the onely cause that maketh any society safe and happy and the meanest beginnings to increase in all things as the continuance of the Romane gouernment and that which is now vsed in Venice doth by the censure of the best maisters in that kinde abundantly testifie to all the world Bodine in Methodo et de republ The second because by it and none other meanes the affections and dispositions of people vnto that state vnder which they liue may the better bee discerned and also kept vpright firme and faithfull to the same The truth of the first reason may sufficiently appeare by that generall confusion which eftsoones appeared at the rearing of Babels Tower Genes 11. wheÌ„ God sent downe that great curse of deuiding their tongues amongst them which sampleth and shadoweth out very fitly and fully the confused states of our times for want of that subscription the onely meanes to take away both the effects and cause together wherein by a great curse no doubt to our state in generall for want of this vniformity in speaking one kinde of
purchase fauour from an vniust and wicked Iudge there being no other man or meanes allowed by authority for that end and purpose and yet poore men for this point also as well as for all other of doctrine or practise generall or particular in some cases of conscience they allow of a sorry cōpany in their Presbiters to order ministers and determine all other matters as the sentēce vnreuersable in in al things In regard wherof many such like generals particulars which might easily be added a man would think it high time thrice necessarie to haue this Subscriptiō with the greatest strictnes religiō to be vrged Now these being the two maine reasons of this subscription respecting the state in generall we will consider of some others which concerne the reuerent fathers of the Church and their speciall requiring the same at the hands of any and then to answere to some few things obiected to the contrary First therefore the common reasons for subscription being such as we haue aboue shewed it may easily appeare to any equally minded that the Bishops being put in trust by God and man with the gouernement of the Church and all state occasions depending thereupon they do no more herein whatsoeuer any doe lesse then that which the common lawes of the kingdome and the chiefe gouernours of our whole state do enioyne them and require at their hands and none other So that in case it should at any time fall out which God forbid that by reason of negligence or want of due care in looking to these things so committed vnto them any such as Dauids men were or worse should come so neere the Lords annointed or any part of that caue or compasse whereby they might haue opportunity to cut off the lappe of his coat 1. Sam. cap. 26. v. 15.16 or take the pot of water from his head I meane to violate any the least part of that generall order of things established by him much more to preiudice or endammage any of his royall prerogatiues all Dauids and others might iustly cry alowde to these our Abners that they were very worthy of the greatest blame Secondly did not these grand Captaines and commanders abouesayd for all state proceedings looke for this care and seruice at the Bishops hands yet being the Immediate gouernours of the Church both their power and authority and godly wisedome and foresight could doe no lesse except they should become desperately carelesse in their speciall charges Iud. 18. vers 7. like vnto those gouernours in Iudges which had neither gates nor barres to their townes and Cities And so not only that turbulent Tribe but the very runnagates of Ephraim and tayles of Israell as in Hosea they are called might not only traiterously pierce our best and strongest Church forces as they dayly now doe but also enter vpon and surprise which also they haue beene very ready and busie to do euen their best Holds within yea the Masters and gouernors themselues who more especially sitting at the sterne should not only without that former care and meanes of preuention be infinitely molested in their owne persons and all their proceedings but to their greate hearts griefe often see the whole ship of their gouernment tossed vp and downe with contrary windes and waues of diuers and contrary doctrines and as many differences in ceremoniall and all outward obseruances if not to be wracked vpon the manifold dangerous Syrtes and rocks of this later Church-hating enuying and robbing age Thirdly not only the care of the present state in generall and more especiall that of the Church committed vnto them but charity it selfe and due compassion of so many poore people committed vnto them easily seduced and most inclinable to this variety in doctrine and profession doe bind these reuerend Fathers of the Church to a more strict vrging of this subscription or any other meanes for the maintaining of vniformity in the one and conformity in the other To which purpose that speeche of Cyprian albeit extended and detorted against all reason by our aduersaries for the establishing that their vniuersality serueth very well being vnderstood and applyed aright Vnde aliter natae haereses c nisi quia non obtemperent omnes vni voci in Ecclesia Noting thereby the chiefe causes of all heresies and disorders in the Church because where this subscription is not to one voice as it were in the Church euery one imbraceth for his iudgement and profession whatsoeuer seemeth good in his owne eyes as if there were no King in Israel as Iudges 18.12 Iudg. 18. To which accordeth that grand resolue of that wise obseruer Melancton who managed many state occasions for his time both for Church and Common wealth pag. 123. Vt sit igitur discordiarum finis conuenire debent ecclesiae doctores curare vt extet vna Doctrinae vox in quaque ecclesia For as for that which the Papists dreame of herein to haue this one voice to proceede from one mans mouth throughout the whole world is no whit like to that which we require to be performed in euery speciall prouince and Corporation of Church or commonweale as most necessary for the common peace and well ordering therof as in another kind of Treatise I haue laboured to demonstrate and peoples safeties liuing vnder the same the other not to bee affected or expected in this world but must be perfourmed at that day when there shall bee but one sheepheard and one sheepfolde and none but Christ his sheepe shall be there which euermore heare his voice But for the reason it selfe we now insist in it is euident to the eies of all our English who without partiality and preiudice doe behold the state of our times where a man may see for want of exacting this meanes of security and preuention against the same not onely diuersities of opinions broached and scattered in euery place but infinite distractions thereupon of all sorts of people and looke almost how many men so many minds so many factions and oppositions betwixt sometimes Bishop and Minister Minister and people and if it may be more vnkindly and vnsauory contentions amongst vs. Insomuch as some amongst vs haue beene noted as men of another Church although they were in the compasse of one Deanry yea two of the next parishes yea the same parish houshold many times the one allowing and vsing the Crosse kneeling at the Communion and such like the other cleane contrary euen condemning all other that are not of their owne opinion Yea too too commonly and by no meanes to be reformed but onely by this we now speake of in many essentiall poynts of wholsome doctrine and the holy faith professed amongst vs as of predestination sauing grace renewing againe by repentance praying for Apostates and such like were they particularly recited exceeding many wherein the poore people are infinitely offended and many so stumble that they fall downe right vpon occasion of this
our diuersity euen to no religion at all but grow Libertines Atheists and the fall of the best is to the Papists because it is likely as they say themselues they see no such variety amongst them And I would to God in this matter of our gouernment we were but halfe as wise in our generation as they are Lastly to end this reason drawne from the offence of the poore people which is very eagerly and earnestly vrged by these refusers to subscribe in another case against many indifferent ceremonies of our Church I doe not see in respect of this matter of offence and publique peace for politick proceeding but that we may as well admit diuersities of religions as they are now diuersly distinguished in the world I meane euermore Christian religion as such diuersities in opinions about many particulars in any kind of religion and proceeding for the profession and expressing the same to God and the world especially towards the simple multitude in the ordering whereof standeth the greatest skill Exod. 32. v. 2. Make vs God to goe before vs. and the best Art and all meanes are little enough for the madnesse of the people as Psal 48 whereof the most part are carried by sense as Exod. 32 and Luther in his treatise of ceremonies plainely sheweth and stand or fall more vpon the vniformity or irregularity in such proceedings then vpon a hundreth doctrines yea kinds of religion also being not able to examine them to be true or false Fourthly without this all the gifts and employments of our chiefe captains and inferior souldiers would doe little good as God wot little commeth of all our preaching c. yea the meanest that keepeth his ranke and order appointed by any leader in this or any other array would doe more good then a whole band of vnmarshalled disordered albeit the most expert and valiant souldiers in the world And in the second place what enemy to our state Papist Brownist factious schismatick or most seditious and poysonfull heretick might not plant himselfe in some great place of aduantage for the disturbing the common peace and infecting the whole Church with sundry kinds of false doctrine were not this barre of subscription layd in the way as a common Lawe and countermure as Philo saith whereby to hedge in and preserue the vineyard of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and keepe these Bores and Foxes out which notwithstanding all the care and circumspection which the most vigilant can vse we see too too commonly come to passe and euery where to swarme in all Churches CHAP. V. Yeelding reasons why they may and ought to yeelde to subscription with some answers also to their ignorant obiections to the contrarie THe obiections which are vsually made against this vrging of subscription albeit most of them arise from that common fallation of not vnderstanding the true nature of any thing and so consequently of this subscription and therefore were answered in laying open the first poynt which we handled hereabout shewing what it was not and what it was indeed Yet because I find many other things obiected against it or at the least this practise and seuere vrging and vrgers of it which are taken from certaine accidentall things as the persons vrging and vnto whome this Subscription is vrged the present time Lawes inforce and such like I must needs apply my answers accordingly First therefore it is obiected that no Law of the kingdome doth require such a subscription but only to the supremacy prouided for by the 13. of Elizabeth which seemeth to be an Aiax his shield to these men for their standing out being fitted long since to their hands by that old abstracter and furbushed ouer againe by our late publique and priuate pleaders To which I answer that both by the Lawe of God and man and the whole body and soule as I may so speake of all temporall Lawes in this kingdome they are bound to yeeld themselues to any imposition and demand whereby any priuate good which by no other meanes could be procured much more the publique peace and good of a whole state may be continued and confirmed as in the 1. Peter cap. 2. v. 13. and 13. Heb. v. 17. Obey all set ouer you c. such as we haue shewed from the nature 1. Peter cap. 2. v. 17. Euery ordinance of man or by man is not against God Can. primo Feare God c. Heb. 13. v. 17. where Bishops and Church gouernors are directly meant and named vse and necessity thereof subscription to be And who seeth not that the whole state by Parliament and common agreement giue power strength and authority to Ecclesiasticall Lawes as whereby they would haue all vnder their gouernement bound to obey the same neither doth that speciall Antidote in the statute aboue named prouided for the heart I meane the Prince in his supremacy any way hinder or preiudice the application of any other soueraigne remedy for the safeguard and preseruation of other principall parts and the wholy body in generall such as subscription is to the other Articles if any other inuented and appointed in our Church Secondly it is obiected why now more then in former time and by these Bishops more then their predecessors and to some men more then other and why there may not be a toleration or forbearing of it as well now as in the Bishop Grindals time and some speciall relentings by that wise and worthy gouernor Bishop Whitegift For answere whereunto as all authority is likned by Plato to a sword so ought the vse of any part thereof to be like the wearing and handling of a sword which is not vsuall fit nor necessarie at all times but onely when there is iust occasion thereof as namely when they espy or feare any dangerous persons vpon the way or in the verge of their iurisdiction and authority as now of late many times heretofore many dangerous and suspitious persons haue been descried that liuing amongst vs are of one or more of those three wicked bands of people before named which haue giuen this iust occasion if not to draw out any sword yet at the least to vse this meanes of fortification against them And why others haue not dealt in like manner there beeing doubtlesse neede enough at all times I rest perswaded of their most iust causes secret and knowne to them selues to deale so in those times and forbeare to inquire into their particular motiues and inducements thereunto and will onely remēber one peece of a story out of Guicciardine which may descipher in some maner the nature and state of these things where for the mistaking only Lib. 3. Page 104. of his history and not so much for not vnderstanding the same one word Darier and in a small gouernement of a fewe outcasts beeing the Odds the whole array was broken and their whole enterprise which was in a maner atchieued frustrated
I haue dealt with or heard of confesse as much of our doctrine which yet indeed be things well examined is as much as is required at their hands by this Subscription And as for particular differences of learned men about the exposition of sundry Scriptures and diuersities of iudgements about any speciall point of positiue Diuinitie as for example in some part of that Article touching Christs descending into Hell and such like very manie about the reading or translating In Epistola quadam yea allowing at all certaine books generally retained amongst the rest of holy Scripture they need not hinder any mans hand from Subscription for as long as the world standeth there will be infinite such differences and that which Hierome obserueth in his time concerning many such varieties must goe still for currant that in such causes Quilibet abundet suo sensu and yet submit himselfe to the generall truth and equity of things ordained in the Church which is the best rule for euery age and euery special Church For so neither is it any way cōtrary but very agreeable to the word of God and euery particular therein that the best humane constitutions for matters of doctrine or manners should be imperfect and not want their doubts and ambiguities nor yet that those that liue vnder gouernment for these imperfections no way implying any manifest error or impiety be they neuer so many shall refuse to subscribe thereunto being lawfully required for so should they yeeld vnto nothing and yet when they haue done all they can they must and doe subscribe to some men and some rules for doctrine and matters traditionary amongst themselues and why not aswell to the present state whereby they liue but that singularity syding and affection now ruleth all the world and God his ordinance is easily neglected and reiected Secondly in matters doubtful and difficult either for doctrine and practise so long as they containe no manifest impiety or notorious offence in them the Superiours authority grounded vpon the fift commandement is sufficient warrant and bond also to any conscience for obedience therein for otherwise there would be no end of controuersies as Melanct. pag. 123. Part. 2. Consil Theolog. Vt sit igitur discordiarum finit recte facit potestas obligans homines vt obtemperent cum alioqui parere sit necesse according also to that old argument Cognitio in synodis est summum iudicium in Ecclesia parere igitur est necesse nor yet any order for any proceedings in the world Which mooued Saint Augustine at the last to conclude this point for the compelling of hereticks and all contrarily minded to wholsome doctrine and religion established by the Ciuil Magistrate as in his Retractations he sheweth Retractatio lib. 2. cap. 18. whose iudgemēt being so vniuersaly approued amōgst vs that refractary spirits may and ought to be constrained to such obedience euen against their iudgements that without any conscience of sin vnto them I maruaile how these standards out can in their consciences absolue themselues of a great sin against the fift commandement for disobeying in so meane and small impositions by so lawfull authority whereas in obeying they haue the fift commandement for their warrāt and the commanding magistrate his soule and conscience engaged in this behalfe as whose sinne furthermore it is if it bee any and of whom it is to be required and not of the obeyer who in cases doubtfull and difficult maketh iust conscience of obedience to superiors and stayeth himselfe herein vpon the fift commandemēt And if they say that in subscription things simply wicked are vrged by our Church as in our doctrines formes of prayer and discipline defended and allowed it is strange that they haue neuer as yet in all their pryings exceptions and conclusions amongst them exhibited any such foule matter to the eies of the iudicious which God be thanked are in great number amongst vs and abroad in the world and it were very strange and wicked also that our neighbour Churches with whom we entertaine and professe agreement and confession alike should want so much charity and that so long especially those Aristarchi of Geneua and Beza himselfe writing so oft to our late Queene and some Bishops also of this kingdome as neuer to haue put vs in minde thereof in a word they might as well say wee haue no Church at all which GOD be thanked for matter of constitution for doctrine and maners is one of the most flourishing Churches in the world as to say we should retaine such grosse points contrary to faith and manners Cassander de Baptismo Infantum p. 113. as Cassander learnedly disputeth from this generall to his particular defence of infants baptism against those Anabaptisticall exceptors in Germany of late very like in too too many things vnto those Sectaries of our times to whom our wise and learned most noble Soueraigne lately answered that if they supposed and iudged such grossenesse as idolatry and such like to be in any part of the substance of our religion or any meanes of expressing the same that then they did very ill to stay so long amongst vs and should rather depart the kingdome which is also our answer in some cases vel subscribendum vel secedendum rather in case they cannot be perswaded then they should doe any thing against their conscience In his Epistle to Queene Elizabeth and the Bishops of that time to depart from vs. Thirdly M. Digges his reasōs for association in religiō which presume are well accounted of by these refusers and dislikers of Subscription the Author being for the most part wholly of their side make as much for vniformity in professing and expressing the same religion by one kind of ceremonies and circumstances accordingly And be it well considered and examined in matter and weight of state deliberation and execution it will be found thereupon by all that are truely able to discerne such matters and mysteries that it is as like to haue toleration multitudes of religiō which all kinds of opinion so much condemne as such variety diuersities and contrariety in the outward manner externall rites circumstances and ceremonies to expresse the same as we haue aboue intimated and in the outward performing thereof And albeit there be great ods in respect of the matter of conscience with GOD which is but one and so will haue but one religion one faith one baptisme c and so for the soules and safeties of Christian people which can haue but one good and true religion yet for good policy matter meanes of common peace and well ordering the outward gouernment of the Church more inconueniences may well and wisely be obserued to proceede from the latter then the former as in comparing ceremonies with doctrine by certaine reasons drawne from master Luther and others we haue elsewhere shewed in a more large treatise which if God please shall not be long behind this about this
and many other matters the people being led chiefly by the outward senses and orders customably obserued Lastly whereas some obiect that our doctrine and ceremonies are contrary the one to the other and that willingly which all confesse and yeeld vnto they would subscribe to our doctrine and all the Articles of our faith but not vnto the ceremonies it seemeth to me very strange and much repugnant to the rules of true Diuinity which teache that euermore to be good for practise which is true and sound for conscience and iudgement Now our doctrine being allowed for good and currant which doubtlesse is as well about ceremonies as any other head and point of doctrine I cannot see any iust cause for the standing out against the one more then the other and indeed howsoeuer the doctrine of faith which is according to those grand rules of faith and manners as Hierome defineth them 1. Tim. cap. 4 is truely and soundly taught and maintained all other things about circumstances and ceremonies and speciall practises of any not contrary to the generall rules aboue named cannot goe amisse according to that graue and true iudgement of Augustin Lib. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 4. Vbi bene creditur non male viuitur And for things doubtfull and controuersed which euermore will remaine in the best reformed Church whatsoeuer either for doctrine or practise the Decrees of euery speciall Church for their times ought to preuaile with euery well minded and affected person to God his Church For the further resoluing and concluding whereof and this whole treatise I desire all to reade that which Melancton hath set downe pag. 501. and 502 of the first part of his theological Councels part whereof I haue thought fit and necessary to set downe and adde as a Colophonem to all the rest Haec cum constituta sunt in Ecclesia potestatem esse interpretandi ambigua eamque pertinere ad plures hoc est ad Sinodos sequitur Sinodorum sententias amplectendas esse tanquam certas non labefactandas Frustra enim esset potestas datae iudicandi si liceret perpetuo aduersari Nulla est politia in qua non sit aliqua vox legum interpres inuiolahilis Si ea maiestas tribuitur imperis quia diuinitus constituta sunt Deus voluit Magistratum hac potestate Iudicandi munitum esse cur non Ecclesia magis haberet potestatem authoritatem inuiolabilem quae longe superat imperia maiestate Denique concussa Sinodorum autoritare refractis his repagulis quo modo petulantia ingeniorum coerceri poterit Nullus in ecclesia seditionum finis erit si ea quae vetustas summa grauitate decreuit cauillari licebit Multae sunt causae quae deletis veterum testimonijs magnos possint tumultus excitare vt quaestio de infantū Baptismo de verbo Ioannis primo an significat personam pleraque alia Valeat igitur in ecclesia rerum iudicatarum autoritas Agnoscamus promissiones quae testantur piorum congressus iudicia gubernari diuinitus Discat populus reuerentiam ecclesiae illis piorum Doctorum congressibus deberi qui ingentibus certaminibus defenderunt caelestem doctrinam Haec sunt vtilia tranquilitati communi Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parit aeternas dilacerationes vastitatem Ecclesiarum And this which I wish imprinted in euery brest being put last that it might be lesse lost Epist ad Luci. and first and for euer remembred proceeding from old Hierome that bos lassus solet figere pedem firmius CHAP. I. Intreating of the lawfulnesse and necessity of Ceremonies in generall in all solemne publicke and more especially all holy administrations whatsoeuer and how farre the magistrates authority may stretch for the determining of any to be vsed in particular AMongst so many idle vncharitable and vnnecessary exceptions by many against sundry particulars established for Church gouernment and the ordering and performing the publique seruice of God amongst vs there is one more generally carped at and misliked then any other namely the signe of the Crosse which hath beene so much obserued in our administration of Baptisme and noted to containe Idolatry heresie and manifest impiety or at the least great superstition and manifould occasions of the greatest and yet most necessary and vnauoydable offence to all both good and bad Which as some haue publiquely and too too scandalously termed Crux infaelix so hath it by Gods iust iudgements thorough some weaknesse or wilfulnesse vpon the vrging thereof too too truely fallen out to the iust harts griefe of many and much garboyle and dissipation in our Church For the clearing of which exceptions and satisfying the offended therewith I could commend many things out of ancient writers and learned discussers of this point and more especially that answer of learned Cassander albeit in some things iustly to be refused to seuerall obiections made against the ceremonies in baptisme vsed by most Churches and the solemne administration thereof but because no authority of any new or old nor yet any Councel in gnomicall cases more particularly appropriated and euermore applyable to the present time nor yet any weight of reason and argument can draw some from their prepossessed opiniōs resolues to the contrary and some scripture holds of theirs ill vnderstood and worse applyed against the true and lawfull vse of this ceremony I will indeauor to set downe by way of position obiection and answers whatsoeuer I thinke may either declare the lawfulnesse of this Crosse or els answer any obiection to the contrary For the which this position is in the first place to be set downe as to which all sorts of Christian professors in the world haue euermore agreed and subscribed vntill of late some bold spirits which dare set vpon any thing haue encountered this grand position and Maxime in all state proceedings namely that there is no nation of Christian name so barbarous but that in the administration of their baptisme publique or priuate some decent rites and ceremonies seruing for orderly and comely performing of the same haue beene inuented vsed and retained by them ouer and besides such things as are directly prescribed for the administration thereof by holy scriptures As Bellarmine obiecteth and we neuer denied to the Lutherans Lib. 1. de Sacramentis cap. 24. de ceremoniis Baptismi Zuinglians and such like that vrge abrenuntiation and vse other such like ceremonies which both for reuerence to the ancient Churches the mothers of vs all that vse the same and obedience to that Church wherein we liue besides charity which we ow to our neighbor Churches at least for our opinions if not for our practise are most reuerently to be esteemed of vs and which may further serue as Cassander sheweth to declare the vertue In Respons ad obiectiones contra ceremonias in baptismo vsitatas and commend the dignity and state thereof in this holy administration besides many other reasons
there rendred by him to the simpler sort Insomuch as the great obseruer of state-proceedings aswell Ciuill as especially Ecclesiasticall Melancton wrote these words with great aduice no doubt to one Loneras a very scrupulous exceptor and seuere and hasty censurer of his neighbour Churches Nunquam poterit esse tranquillitas nisi in ritibus dissimilibus adde etiam dissimulanda aliqua infirmitate aequitatem moderationem adhibebimus mihi crede nobis etiam illi multa condonat And indeed besides the former reasons euen nature and common reason doe vrge and call for the same it being all one in a manner to see a naked body without clothes as any such solemnity for sacred or Ciuill administration without ceremony And therefore as the Schooles say well that circumstances doe cloath the humane actions for the morality thereof be they good or bad so outward rites and seemly ceremonies giue the beauty true decency to the same Which being most requisite in all publiques for their better grace according to their grauity and auoyding all contempt which otherwise doth easily follow such proceedings so most of all in Gods seruice whose house and euery the least meanes of his presence with vs and our dealing with him holynesse becommeth for euer and all decency is too little In which respect the Apostle himselfe doth not only leaue it arbitrarie to the Church of Corinth and so to other Churches to doe and see all things done in comelinesse and order much lesse directeth and prescribeth thereby how things already precisely and particularly commanded in the word for euery circumstance and euery ceremony ought to be mannaged and performed as some of late are bould to interpret and define the meaning of the words to be so and no otherwise but indeed as the text sheweth and common reason conuinceth commandeth and enioyneth the gouernors of that Church and so of euery particular Church to appoint and ordaine all such things as by the iudgement of such gouernours and not of euery priuate humor or fancy might best make for the comely ordering all things in publique performable to God as also for the greatest edifying of the whole Church first and then of euery particular member thereof Implying that without ceremonies and outward accomplements there were no comlinesse in any of our actions which without the same were like bare walles without any seeling varnish or painting Secondly that without order this colour and beauty of ceremonies is no better then a fayre face or sweete complexion with a most mishapen and monstrous body Lastly all such meanes be they neuer so seemly and so orderly are little worth vnlesse they be referred to edification the end of all no more then a sweet sauour and most comely proportion do profit one that hath an Atrophia or hectick feauer and consumption in his bones that no one part can doe his office or right vse for the good of the whole body For indeed to speake with the Apostle doth not very nature common reason and experience teache that as Aristotle long since obserued no speciall rules can euer be giuen I may say with truth and reuerence by God or man in writing In the sixt book of Ethicks or any other meanes of direction whereby this comlinesse and good order for edification may generally be giuen for all particulars which are infinite and accordingly continually practised for all times Countries Churches and congregations alike but that which is thought and is comely in one and so may serue for order and edifying to the same is not so nor can be so to another besides that as the Apostle saith we haue no such custome 1. Cor. 11.16 which many times in any politick body becommeth another nature as we say as well as in the state of any naturall body I intimating that most of these things for outward ceremony tending to comlinesse order are very much determined and ouerswayed by custome Augustinus Epistol 118. 119. as in those two famous Epistles for this purpose of Ambrose to Augustine and Augustine againe to Ianuarius doth very plainly and plentifully appeare And lastly to end this point of ceremonies in generall Magistrates Ecclesiasticall are not only bound to make wholsome Lawes determining many particulars and the right vse thereof for the ends aboue named but also all such Lawes and constitutions made by them not repugnant to any part of Gods word whether originally inuented and deriued from the primitiue Church or more lately and particularly deuised since for any more speciall forme of gouernment by the immediate magistrates thereof both for quality and in some good proportion of equality also aswell bind all liuing vnder those gouernments Ecclesiastical or Ciuil to a due respect and obedience thereunto as the ceremoniall and Iudaicall Lawes did bind the Iewes for those times or any Ecclesiastical Lawes and traditions made by the Apostles themselues as 1. Cor. 11.2 and that by vertue of the fift commaundement which tyeth all to obey in such indifferent points which afterward becommeth necessary to euery subiect neither must the Church now looke for immediate oracles or Apostolicall directions and extraordinary assistance and reuelations for the ordering euery particular as at the first founding of Christian societies vnder Moses and the Apostles vntill all things were fully setled for the legall seruice state of Churches vnder the Gospel at what time God was pleased himselfe to be superintendent King and Priest for both gouernments before there was any setled forme in the world vnder the Law or Gospel and so many things were extraordinarily carried by the Apostles as in Simon Magus Ananias and the excommunicated person giuen ouer to Satan and euen Moses himselfe in sundry punishments for the breach of the Saboth and such like by speciall counsell and directions from Gods voice and spirit speciall for those times But the gouernors of the Church them selues hauing now the spirit and word of God together Esay 59. v. 21. and so many precedents of Christian Churches for all state deliberations and proceedings may and ought to the end of the world determine of all such meanes within the compasse of Gods word as they shall iudge to serue best for their seuerall times and states to comlinesse order and edification of the whole Church or any part thereof as in the treatise of Subscription we haue more specially shewed CHAP. II. Shewing of the Crosse and findeth it to be of it selfe in the number of indifferent and lawfull ceremonies yea and in the right vse thereof necessary also being once commanded by the Magistrate NOw in the second place this position I hope shall be found and allowed to be as true that not only amongst the tolerable conuenient but most seemly orderly and edifying ceremonies of the Church the signe of the Crosse in speciall may very lawfully and safelie be reckoned and esteemed The truth whereof may thus appeare first because the vse of it in
it to be any otherwise then that which is dayly vsed by themselues and all other in their sermons and shadowing most high and heauenly things by similitudes Emblems Hyeroglyphicks or any kind of hypotiposis which yet in all formes of preaching are most common and familiar as to expresse the mysterie and doctrine of the Trinity by a triangle as Aristotle did the soule and such like very many which were superfluous to repeat In secundo lib. de Anima the matter being no otherwise then as he said of a picture and poetry compared together that Pictura was tacens poesis and poesis loquens pictura To which for a third reason the comparing of this Crosse with some other things of more particular likenesse and proportion may be added as that ceremony of washing the feet Iohn 13. by Christ himselfe women to be couered in the Church of Corinth in token of subiection and the wearing of white garments by those that were lately absolued or lately receiued into the Church in token of their innocency and pardon of their sinnes whereupon came that Dominica in albis yet retained in our Church and haply the name of Whitsontide vntill which time many did weare such garments And also the vsing of white sheets after repentance professed and absolution giuen by the Church the picturing or painting of Death his head or Death it selfe to put vs in minde of mortality or any other meanes for morall vertues to be learned or expressed as Zanchius himselfe alloweth De operibus Inutilibus cap. de Imaginibus And indeed before writing or Printing were in vse there was no other meanes for the helping of memory or any other kinde of instruction for knowledge or manners but by signes and Pictures as in all the Aegyptian Hieroglyphicks and other meanes in Herodotus and yet writing began but from Moses whom God first taught as it is very probably gathered this skill by his owne practise in writing first the ten Tables and the other of Printing but since our Fathers daies So likewise the same Zanchius misliketh not the painting of Christ his passion transfiguration and such like yea the very Image of Christ in some cases both which Melancthon concludeth by way of answer and councell how a dumbe person might receiue the Lords Supper to be necessaty and not indifferent only for the instructing of such persons thereby to help their iudgements affections and knowledge also towards the receiuing of that Sacrament Which being in some cases lawfull and expedient at the least if not absolutely necessary In Consiliis theologicis pag. 268. because as shall be more fully answered hereafter no circumstance can make or mar the morality of any thing to be good or bad it cannot simply be wicked or vnlawfull but if in priuate and at sundry times and in certaine persons they be lawfull they cannot be essentially and in their owne nature euill and if these be any way to be allowed there is no reason that the Crosse should be by so many meanes refused and condemned To which those two in Ioshua may be added out of the Scripture it selfe the one concerning that Altar built by the two tribes and the halfe Ioshua the 22. chap. vers 27. least they should be made in time to come to forget the name of the Lord their God The other as touching a stone reared and set vp by Ioshua himselfe and that to this end and none other as verse 27. of Chap. 24. appeareth that it might be a witnesse against them and so first of all a memoriall vnto them least they should deny the Lord or depart from his seruice according to their vowe and promise made verse 24. of the same chapter Both which if they were not made and set vp for some kind of religious vse at the least especially that latter appointed by the chiefe Magistrate himselfe Ioshua and that in no priuate place but vnder an Oke that was in the Sanctuary of the Lord vers 26. howsoeuer the sense be caried and the words expounded I cannot see what they will or doe vnderstand by a religious vse if such famous and most publick meanes for the helping of vs to continue and perseuere in Gods seruice and against all Apostasie deserue not so to be called the particular enforcing of which points may better be reserued to those answers which we haue framed and applyed to the manifold obiections made against this Crosse CHAP. III. Auouching the generall allowance of this Crosse by the practise of ancient times and iudgement of learned Fathers with their reasons for the inuenting and retaining thereof and other iudicious late writers accordingly THE last reason for the lawfulnesse of this ceremony is taken from the antiquity of it and the iudgements of learned men thereabout For the first howsoeuer it be disputed by the learned and doubted in what forme and manner it was first taken and expressed and many haue guessed that for a long time it was only an aërious signe and vsed no otherwise then as in our Baptisme at this day for which they cite Tertullian in many places Lib. 1. cap. 24. Lib. 8 contra Gentes Lib 7. cap. 36. yet doth it plainly appeare by the stories of Irenaeus Philaster Arnobius and Nicephorus and generally agreed vpon by all the learned that both the thing it selfe and some good vse of it hath been very ancient in the Church of God And albeit that which Irenaeus reporteth may seeme vpon the first view to argue some greater abuse of this Crosse yet is it cleere as wel by that and other stories and the very rules of reason it selfe that it was first and so of necessity must be well vsed before it was or possibly could be abused according to that rule set downe by Aristotle in the fourth of his Ethicks Aristot Ethick 4. lib. cap. 4. whatsoeuer is vsed may be abused and so contratiwise and indeed the better the thing and ordained to the best vse is soonest and most fowly abused as the finest cloth is soonest stained as commonly not onely those of the Gnosticks and Valentinians which first abused this Crosse and the Image of the virgin Marie but all other hereticall practises haue proceeded from some good ground and beginning and from things well vsed to the manifold and highest abuse of the same Primo ratio Iustine martir in dialogo cum Iudaeo Triph. alibi Naziâ—nzene in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vbi multade Cruce hac For so doubtlesse many after the death of Christ tooke both his owne picture and the picture of the virgin his mother so consequently of the Crosse it selfe as in Irenaeus it appeareth and Iustine Martir in token of their loue and due remembrance they bare and ought to haue to him that liued in the true shape of man so many years was borne of a virgin and died also for our sakes vpon the Crosse And therefore Saint Cirill answereth Iulian
English nation I presume none will refuse them in this or any other argument the one making the Crosse an indifferent ceremonie and in regard of some of the reasons aboue rehearsed of good and necessary vse whose particular words for one place amongst the rest I thinke good to set downe out of his answer and Reioynder to Martiall his reply Article 5. pag. 173 The Christians among the Pagans marked themselues with the signe of the Crosse in token that they professed him that was crucified afterward to put themselues in mind of the death of Christ In controuersia de baptismo these were tollerable vses of an indifferent ceremony The other of Docter Whitakers in his last readings almost that euer he had in the vniuersity of Cambridge which many heard as well as my selfe auouching that not only the signe of the Crosse but also salt hony and oyle might very safely be vsed in the administration of baptisme without conscience of some if there were the like reason to vs for the vse thereof as was to those speciall primitiue Churches or else the gouernors of any Church should iudge the same fit or requisite to be vsed And thus much for the reasons shewing the lawfulnesse fitnesse and good vse of the Crosse to which I will adde the excellent conclusion of Cassander in the place aboue named Hoc tantum hoc loco efficere voluimus antiquissimas has lōgo vsu confirmatas caeremonias quae citra impietatem seruari possunt non esse temere insectandas nec pertinaciter violandas nec earum causa Ecclesias in quibus adhuc earum vsus retinetur perturbandas sed ex Christiana charitate pacis vnitatis studio obseruandas adhibitis his cautionibus vt superstitionis periculosae siquid immineat occurratur nihilominus huius Sacramenti institutio vsus mysterium fidelibus studiose explicetur amplissime commendetur vt Christo suus ex fide honos Ecclesiae sua ex charitate reuerentia tribuatur CHAP. IIII. Examining and answering those many reasons which are vsually alledged against the Crosse or any other such ceremonies to be simply wicked and to be not in themselues and in their owne nature vtterly vnlawfull NOw it followeth to consider of such reasons as haue beene vsually and of late more especially obiected against it and the vse of it in our Church the which for order sake may thus be deuided Namely to be such as would argue it to be vtterly vnlawfull in it owne nature euery way or els respectiuely and by accidentall abuse and scandall thereupon since first it hath beene deuised and vsed in the Church and Sacrament of Baptisme Of the first kind the first and worst of all I thinke is that strange assertion broched by some of late sort but originally deriued from the Manichees sometimes but in a more scholer-like sort cause taken vp by that learned Lutheran Illiricus that nothing in the world for choyce or vse and whole nature of it is indifferent to any but either simply and particularly forbidden or commanded and so not only the crosse but all other ceremonies inuented by man and orders in ciuill things for any good vse in the Church especially or common wealth to be vtterly vnlawful To which a double answer may be rendred First that the very ground of this kind of building is very sandy vnsound taking away and euen abolishing the very nature of things and order of Gods creation whereas the trueth is both many actions of men much more the quality and condition of some things in themselues are neither good nor bad but indifferent and so are left to mans choice or refusall so that if he do them or do them not vse them or vse them not more or lesse no conscience of sinne as Luther speakes out of Augustine can arise from them Mat. 15. such are to vse or not to vse this or that meate drinke or apparrell which defile not the man to exercise this or that kind of recreation and to doe the one and not the other or none of them both oftner or more seldome longer or lesse while and such like Yea in morall and will actions themselues to giue thus much or thus little to that man rather then another as acts of curtesie and gratuity and such like a thousand Ecclesiasticall also as singing ceremonies more or lesse In Opusculis Insomuch as some and euen master Beza himselfe not without good shew of trueth and reason for it haue spoken and written the cleane contrary and made all actions whatsoeuer in themselues to be neither good nor bad but indifferent as the actes of the foulest sinnes murther and adultery in the matter of warre and extreme punishment and matrimoniall duties are then good and therefore not simply wicked being once clothed with their due circumstances as the Schooles speake which make euery action good or bad The morality whereof Aristotle that great Master maketh to consist in the manner of doing Lib. 2. of his Ethicks and end for which it is done including therein the intent of the doer and due circumstances thereunto belonging Which point being somewhat nyce and easily drawne into abuse I wish should very warily be handled and wisely harkned vnto for feare of that which experience hath shewed in some to cast all hand ouer head as in Iob. 22. and Mala. 3. vers 14. and such like howbeit if their meaning be of any action already done or any thing already vsed as being determined of before in our choice to any end accompanied with circumstances necessarily following the same then we ioyn with them against all indifferency and the disputation were very friuolous and de non ente as we say Secondly we answer that in case such expresse commandement were necessary for euery particular thing action especially in all matters of Gods seruice there is sufficient expresse warrant as we haue aboue shewed for this and other ceremonies to make them good and necessary also being once commaunded ex necessitate mandati at the least vt scholae to be vsed as namely that place in the Corinthians which chargeth the Church gouernors to ordaine all things tending to decencie 1. Cor. 14. v. 26. and 40. compared together order and edifying in the church and not only as these newe Masters would haue it to see all things particularly expressed in the word to be done with such decency and due circumstances according to the speciall commandements of GOD herein which were infinite and so impossible and answerably all vnder authority to obey and vse the same for otherwise a man might preache in his doublet and hose or any other more disguised apparell for any thing is any where particularlie commanded or forbidden to the contrary And as it is most credibly reported of one of these rather wilfull then weake refusers of our ceremonies in Northhamptonshire that lighting from horseback in trauellers
before Hezechias his time and yet did not any of the Kings before him pull it downe nor any of the Prophets of those times did call vpon them so to doe much lesse as some of these new masters enioyne Christian princes were any of those Princes bound vpon feare of that Serpent so to be abused or giuing occasion to Idolatry which could not bee but very great 2. of Kings cap. 28. v. 4. 2. Chroni cap. 29. vers 16. it being placed in the Temple it selfe as by the story repeated in the Kings and Chronicles compared together may appeare and that it was no necessary thing but indifferent Hezechias his pulling it downe without any reproofe of the Prophets or breach of any Gods lawes as it seemeth sufficiently declareth who also if he had let it continue still and caused the people by instruction and true discipline to leaue that their abusing of it no Scripture or Prophet I dare say could haue reprehended him for it as we doe not reade that any one or other commended him greatly for taking it away nor reprehended any other of the Kings for not pulling it downe before And lastly the setting vp of the Image or portraiture of any ones father or friend which is a thing in my poore opinion too too common in some other respect euen in the places where all the parts of our holy seruices are performed as also the armes and pictures of Princes which is as common in many Churches might with greater shew of reason be called into question if there were any force in this argument then our Crosse which is but aërious and a transient signe as we haue aboue shewed and neither Image nor Simulachrum as the learned distinguish them and as those we last named are Which also haue not only beene abused to the greatest superstition and Idolatry as appeareth by all storie but also the very first occasions and originalls of all Idolatry as out of the 14. of the booke of Wisedome partly appeareth and many learned men haue gathered from thence and how the pictures of princes haue bin by the flattery of Sycophants their owne pride and cruelty abused this way many histories report And yet I hope for these abuses causes or occasions thereof then the which there can be no greater none will be so bold not onely for feare of law in that case prouided but euen vpon conscience of due reuerence to the same as to pull them downe or conclude that they ought to be pulled down or any way deface them or disgrace them by word or practise Secondly whereas they obiect that there is no necessarie vse of this Crosse in the Church of God I aunswer that it is enough for vs and might be for them also but that nothing can hold them to make it necessary because the Church of Christ hath so aunciently vsed it and the present Church gouernment iudgeth it still fit to be reteined amongst vs neither ought any priuate spirit to call that common prophane or vnnecessary as Saint Peter sometimes was aduertised which GOD by his lawfull Magistrate hath made holy and necessary to be performed by vs. Act. 10. Neither yet can any accidentall abuse albeit in the highest degree of any thing whatsoeuer necessary or indifferent discharge the subiect from his due obedience to things of this nature once commanded by the Magistrate Which if it should be granted and yeelded vnto many temporall Lawes of this kingdome which are forced to tolerate many a mischiefe oftentime ought eftsoones to be repealed Thirdly besides that there haue been and yet are very many good and so necessary vses of this Crosse as we haue formerly proued so is there no better way to shew and reforme the abuses of the same Cap. 4. then that both by preaching which I could wish were more carefully performed in this behalfe and due vse and practising the same in the publique congregation all sorts of people might be informed in the trueth and lawfulnesse of this ceremony by Gods word Lastly for those places which are alledged out of Exodus Esai and Hosea to strengthen this argument I answer that most of them are particular cases grounded vpon speciall circumstances of those peoples sinnes and so are not to be drawne to conclude any generall proposition for or against these kind of ceremonies as for example there is great odds betweene the land of Canaan where all such meanes and monuments of Idolatry are in particular commanded vtterly to be defaced and any part of the Church of GOD in which any such abuse hath sometimes hapned or more constantly beene continued for which God neuer gaue any peremptory and generall commandement or speciall charge against them Secondly those places in Esai and Hosea are threatnings and promises of God to his Church Esay 30. Hosea 2. for the better informing ordering and comforting the same and in no reasonable construction or exposition any peremptory commandements against the things there spoken of as where it is said I will pollute their Images and cause the name of Baall to cease the one being a iust iudgement denounced against the Idolatry of that time which God be thanked is farre from vs and our state which maketh seuere lawes for the punishment of the same the other a gratious promise as the scope of that place and the meaning of the words declare And what a deale of Sophistry is committed by allegation of Scripture any Iudicious text-man or obseruer of the many strange conclusions of these times may easily perceiue and elsewhere my selfe haue giuen some touch vnto them and tast vnto other because indeed which is diligently to be marked for the true vnderstanding of many Scriptures many things are spoken therein especially in their Sermons cohortatorie as Luther obserueth in the Fathers that is 2. 2. quaest de vsura by way of exhortation and maiorem cantelam as Caietanus also obserueth in the Schooles themselues wherein things are applyed to the times present and not any way determined of for the lawfulnesse or vnlawfulnesse thereof and so such promises and threatnings implying alwayes a condition doe put nothing in being as the Schooles speake which is alwaies to be examined and only to be iudged by the rule and Canon of the morall Lawe of which nature also are certaine homilies of ours from which these exceptors thinke they haue so great aduantage as well for not subscribing thereunto as for the ouerthrowing this matter of the Crosse which we haue in hand Besides also that many things are by comparison and symbolically drawne by these disputers from the olde Testament to the new and so as the schooles say argumenta symbolica comparatiua are parum argumentatiua little or norhing at all able to conclude any thing whereas those godly exhortations are made as the title of them sheweth against the perill of Idolatry and by way of greater detestation and not according to their particular iudgement what
the most part of the ministery and abundance of poore in all places Thirdly dispute not thou what is fit for discipline of Clergy or people in ceremonies more or lesse these or other but leaue it to the magistrate that is charged with that care and must answer for his magistracy and sinnes thereof one day Neither may any without great occasion of sinne and manifest breach of the fift commandement pulle their necks out of the yoake of their lawfull commands For Christianity taketh not away any part of ciuility or humanity as some haue well said much lesse due obedience to lawfull authority as too many haue taught of late and practised And to conclude this first part of my answer to this obiection I desire all to reade and compare with iudgement that reply of our Sauiour Christ to that Pharisaicall exception against Christ his Disciples for eating with vnwashen hands with the doctrine and practises of these men who making scruple and much adoe about Crosse and Surplice and a few ceremonies distasting their priuate iudgements runne headlong into open neglect and contempt of the fift commandement And so as the Pharisies did vpon error of deuotion and conscience to their Corban cause many a silly disciple of theirs to neglect their manifold duties to father and mother whereby as Christ telleth them they made the commandement of God of none effect by their traditions Euen so doe these new masters euery way the selfesame in effect Secondly I answer that albeit no humane Lawes do of themselues binde the conscience but only as they haue their ground and warrant from the fift commandement and further that no magistrate or creature in the world can take away the least part of Christian liberty in things inwardly spirituall or outwardly indifferent in themselues for choice or vse because Christian liberty is the selfe-same still and is seene as well in doing as not doing vsing or not vsing any thing subiect vnto it yet do all wise esteemers of these things hold that euery Christian Magistrate may and ought also many times by vertue of the fift commandement restraine this Christian liberty in many particular things according as any good cause and reason generall or particular may occasion any Prince or state to make wholsome Lawes for any such purpose And that so farre and so large as no one commandemēt of God by commission or omission any thing hereby be preiudiced by any of these restraints or impositions whatsoeuer As in the matter of fasting abstinence the learned Schooles haue fully determined which may serue for answer and direction touching all wholsome Lawes penall or otherwise enacted and in force in our state or any other CHAP. VII Answering the obiection of so many scandals arising by the vse of the Crosse THat other of this last and least kind of arguments against the Crosse which shall also be the last of this our consideration is drawne from the offences which haply haue or may at any time arise from the vse of this Crosse For answer whereunto I hope I shall not need to stand vpon the definition of a Scandall in generall Hieron in 15. Math. v. 12. Scandalum est dictum vel factum quod dat alteri occasionem ruinae or the vsuall diuisions of the same into Actiue and Passiue by the Schooles and commonly termed offences giuen or taken but referring all to Saint Ierome his definition of a Scandall set downe in his commentaries vpon the 15. of Math. vers 12. I wish these great exceptors and all other too too iustly scandalized by them their offensiue behauiours in this behalfe to turne their eyes vpon the manifold scandalls and inconueniences also which many waies breake out priuately and publiquely both in Church and common wealth by reason of their omitting misliking and so peremptory condemning the vse of the same albeit established by publique authority amongst vs. Which indeed are so many as that no wisely affected or honestly disposed heart can but throughly and most feelingly be touched and iustly greeued withall especially since those which rise from the omitting of it are farre greater and of another nature from those which proceede from the vsing of it euen in Baptisme it selfe or any other holy administration there beeing indeed betwixt them no iust or fit proportion or comparison the one being only passiue and vnnecessarily taken by those that abuse them and themselues and others by them and doe neither know the truth vse or right practise of them the other being too too iustly giuen and actiuely and in themselues euil as the Schooles speak and we haue aboue shewed conteining in them manifold breaches of the fift and almost euery other commandement of God As namely generall disobedience and both inward and too too often outward kicking spurning and rebelling against the most graue decrees and constitutions of the Church and soueraigne authority of the chiefe Magistrate to which euery honest heart ought willinglie to subscribe and simply without contradiction or disputation to yeeld their obedience Besides the great neglecting of speciall callings and manifold duties therein to GOD and man bereauing the Church also by this meanes of their gifts and themselues and others of their necessary maintenance besides many other which I haue more griefe then will to repeate Secondly were these offences both alike I meane accidentally euill only as those taken herein are and so being meere occasions nec dant speciem nec veniunt in definitione as the Schooles speake 22. Quaest 43. art 1. and therefore are no proper causes of euill yet in such a consideration the greater number doth and ought with euery good conscience to ouersway the fewer and the lesser which if they should be reckoned together there would appeare great oddes and a broad difference to any equall or iudicious eie And whereas some haue found a more nice difference in this behalfe in respect of the Magistrates commanding these things which in their iudgements might well be forborne charging them further with great want at the least of Christian charity and wise louing care and foresight towards the good of their poore subiects and inferiors soules and bodies by not preuenting and taking away so many causes or to speake more properly occasions of so much offence hurt and dammage to their weake consciences and Church of God in generall I answer first that it is a horrible sinne both against the fift but especially against the ninth commandement for any priuate spirit or person whatsoeuer to entertaine any such thoughts and suspitions which are no other then diabolicall suggestions against their Prince or any lawfull authority placed ouer them Whereas the rule of that royall law is particularly expressed in the ninth commandement neuer to censure or conster the words or doings of any the meanest offensiuely and to the worst when any more fauourable conceipt and interpretation thereof may be admitted and affoorded Much more to presume so farre as to
that Apostata that if the Romanes made so much of Iupiter his Eagle Lib. 6. contra Iulianum p. 135. and the chayre of Numa the Christians might much more which Iulian so much derided retaine the Crosse of Christ and the signe thereof in remembrance of him that dyed vpon the Crosse which are his owne words And therefore the Christians at this day set vp the signe of this Crosse in their banners and Bounders against the Turkes who like vile Antichrist bid daily battell and shew their continuall defiance against Christ and his Crosse Secunda Whereupon commeth another reason that mooued the Christians so aunciently to vse this Crosse in some kinde or other for when the Christians were vpbrayded by those many Gretians the Gentiles which as Paul complained in his time made but a mocke and scorne of the Crosse and all Christian religion 1. Cor. 2. cap. saying they beleeued in a crucified God the Christians of purpose inuented this ceremonie and signe of the Crosse to testifie as we remember also in our forme of Baptisme that they were not ashamed of the Crosse of Christ nor afraide to confesse him that died vpon the Crosse as Saint Cirill sheweth in the place aboue cited and Saint Augustine more especially in his eight sermon de verbis Apostoli and els where in these words Cor quidem habemus non tamen quale vos habetis nec pudet nos crucifixi sed in parte vbi signum pudoris est Nazianzenus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signum Crucis eius habemus And that these scoffing Grecians did so despise Iesus as Herode did and scorned them that professed him besides Iulian that great Apostata against whome Saint Nazianzene and Saint Cirill wrote so many things in defence of Christ and specially this Crosse in the sixt booke I desire all to consider of that one testimony and not to trouble them with any more from the blasphemies of Porphirie Celsus and the rest of that wicked crew which Lucian hath left behind him in that treatise of his which he calleth the Rabble of Lyers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where amōgst the rest he reckoneth our Lord Iesus who is blessed for euer calling him that Syrian Sophister nailed vnto the Crosse or Tranfiixum Palo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philaster de haeresibus In regard whereof some of the Christians vsed the signe of the Crosse in their Rings some at the entrance of their doores as Cirill reporteth some in their foreheads and some in a praeposterous zeale branded their owne flesh withall The like also was practised by the Iewes calling our Sauiour Christ in the greatest disgrace Suspensum the hanged man To whome that of Hierome may very fitly be opposed as arguing both the antiquity and lawfulnesse of the ceremony In his preface vpon Iob toward the end and more specially directed by the author himselfe to Aquila the Iew and the rest whose words are these Ego qui de Christianis parentibus natus sum vexillum Crucis in frontem port◠c wherein that godly father sheweth his iust griefe and indignation that his translation was not so well regarded as that of Aquila Simmachus and the rest iudaizantes haretici as he calleth them who little respected the honor of Iesus as he sheweth there De operibus creationis in praefatione 3 Ratio who yet was to be the end and rule of all translations as Zanchius obserueth and the spirit of all prophesie is the testimonie of Iesus Reuel 17. The last reason for the ancient vse thereof was as Lactantius and Saint Augustine doe guesse the imitation and expressing of that ceremony which was vsed before the eating of the Paschall Lamb by crossing the postes of eache house with the bloud but indeed the true reason both last and best of all was that good vse and end the Christians made of it all one with that which we haue aboue specified namely to put them in mind of Christ and his passions and to teache them what they had to indure as marked thereunto by this signe of which Saint Cirill speaketh most plainlie Haec omnia recordari nos facit salutare illud lignum and presently after Lib. 6. pag. 135. 136. against Iulian the Apostate Praeciosi Ligni Crucem facimus in memoriam omnis boni omnis virtutis Christi qui haec pro nobis in cruce perpessus est and Saint Augustine in his 20. chap. De Catechisandis rudibus and 8. Epistle speaking to one that was to be baptised hath these words Crucis signo in fronte hodie tanquam in poste signandus c. To which may be added that of Dionisius and Saint Basill and much more arguing the auncient vse of the Crosse from those many things falling out Eccles hierar cap. de Baptis Basil de spir sancto and so commonly and generally knowne and practised in Constantine his time about the same But seeing that which hath been aboue remembred sheweth both the ancient vse of this ceremony and all the reasons for their inuenting and vsing the same agreeing very fitly and euery way to our times in which so many Lucianists and Atheists besides Iewes also in many places of Christendome abound and are present also many times at our baptismes I hope I shall not need to spend any more time about this matter which as I heare hath exercised many other of late who I presume haue made these stories and records very common and familiar Only I will adde a word or two in remembring the iudgements of some learned men concerning the lawfulnesse of this Crosse wherein because the iudgements of the Ancient fathers which indeede some of them gaue to much vnto it as Saint Chrysostome c may iustly be suspected and are so censured by Fulke I will alledge some fewe against whome the very aduersaries themselues haue neuer as yet for some of them I am sure taken any exception As first for Luther and Melanchton Against D. Sanders and Martiall who with master Bucer are worthily reputed as aboue noted for the learnedest Diuines in their times Bucer also in his Catechis and de recto vsu sacri ministerii The first in his Catechisme and the other in their Epistles and theologicall counsels allowing not onely the vse of the Crosse but also of hony salt holy water such like which in these dayes are taken simply and in euery respect by those that haue little skill to examine the truth thereof for damnable Idolatry Cassander de Baptismo infanrum pag. 95. c. in Thesibus oppositis thesibus cuiusdam improbantis baptismi ceremonias Which yet Cassander in a more speciall treatise thereupon doth not only maintaine but sheweth also many good reasons for the inuenting and continuing the same in the Church of God But for the other two Docter Fulke and Docter Whitakers two most worthy ornaments of our