it made my heart even ake to think how applicable this methodicall destruction is to our ungratefull vineyard I will take away the hedge I will break downe the wall Take the hedge and the wall away cut up the fence and the Vinyard will soon be wast The Government the Discipline the Liturgy which as a hedge or a wall ever since our reformation preserved the Vineyard since I see it hath pleased God to suffer this hedge and the wall to be trodden downe I can but feare confusion and desolation to be the sequest For since the worldly wiseman verily believes where the fence is wanting spoile and wast inevitably followeth and therefore his maine care is to tend it Even so where the muniments of any prosession or Religion are slighted and taken away where Liturgy this 13. hundred years without controversie held the hedge and mound of faith and Gods worship in Natiohall Church where I say this is pull'd downe and taken away there is iminent and evident feare a gap is opened to let in what ever will come Be it the beast of the field be it the little foxes be it the wild bore of the forrest come what will there is no muniment no provision no fence against it so that in my poor conceptions the hedge the fence the muniment of the Church they are matters of such necessary consequence that Ministers I conceive had better lay themselves and all their fortunes in the gap then for want of fence to suffer the destroyer to come in Indeed I have been told by some who wish very well unto me that humane inventions and things meerly circumstantiall ought not to be thus stood upon I thank them heartily for their affection and blesse them for their good will but our judgments yet must differ For if no suffering for humane invention if life it selfe may not be exposed to hazzard in defence of humane constitutions certainly then no fighting for the Lawes of Land nor no taking up arms for Priviledge of Parliament for these sure are humane and politicall institutions and as these are necessary for the preservation of a State even some such are also necessary for the preservation of a Church and of such Church-men cannot be too chary Againe whereas Liturgie in genere or ours in specie is counted but a circumstantiall businesse I believe I may find out such circumstantialls in a Christian Church as will hazard the whole if they perish In the tenth persecution under the Tyranny of Dioclesian a Decree past ut Templa libri delerentur that Christians should deliver up their books and destroy or at least permit the destruction of their Churches Books and Churches I conceive are but circumstantialls to Religion for the world was more then 2400. yeers old before there was any Scripture in it yea the Christian Church it was from the birth of Christ more then 90. years before the Canon of the New Testament was compleated yea after the death and Resurrection of our Saviour there is supposing his passion at 31. ten years numbred before any Gospell at all was committed unto writing twice ten before the second thrice ten before the third and more then three twentiâ—s before the last a plaine argument that bookes and writings are but circumstantiall to Religion for one may live and die a very good Christian and know never a letter on the booke Suppose now the Pope and Popery should so far prevaile as to have under the notion of books hereticall for so they will sticke to call our Bibles to call in and under paine of death to deliver up our Bibles even to the fire could any conscientious Protestant satisfie his soule with this poore evasion alas the Bible is but circumstantiall the Doctrine and Religion of it I can preserve though the Bible be gone without all peradventure it is most true a learned and well grounded Christian he may preserve the faith he may deliver and hold fast the forme of sound words though among Turks where a Bible is not to be looked upon and yet for my particular I should scarce looke upon that man as Christian who to save his purse yea his body should deliver up his Bible to the fire In the Roman Martyrologie there is a commemoration made of many holy Martyrs who despising the sacrilegious Edict of Dioclesian 7. quo tradi Sacros codices jubebantur potiùs corpora carnificibus quà m sanctadare canibus maluerunt chose rather to deliver their bodies to the executioner then holy things to dogs or holy books unto the fire And truly I should rather honour these as Martyrs then those for good Christians who under pretence of things circumstantiall should deliver those to save themselves so highly I conceive God would be dishonoured in the betraying of so great a preserver and muniment of his Honour Again as Books even so to some much more clearly Churches Oratories Temples they are meer circumstantialls Now suppose the Independent and Congregationall Brother-hood should so far over-power as to command the demolition as they call them of our Steeple-houses the destruction and levelling of our Churches I would very fain know whether in point of conscience I were not rather bound to suffer then in any measure to appeare willing to so high a sacriledge I who am flesh and blood as well as other men could find pretty evasions and glosses to foole my soule withall I could say as I hear is not a Sermon as well in a Parlour as in a Church Did not Christ preach in a Ship Paul pray upon the sands and shall I suffer in defence of so unnecessary a trifle as an heap of stones a Popish Relique a sorry meeting house For my particular I am afraid many things are daily called circumstantiall not with consideration whether so or no but because these are the things in question these the points which I must either dissemble desert or suffer for I pray let me as a close to this present you with the example of one who though a Bishop was ever reverenced as a Saint a good man I mean that great Doctor S. Ambrose who being once tempted and provoked even in this very point and that by no lesse then the Emperour to deliver up his Church though it pleased the Emperour in a faire way to send Earles and Tribunes to him ut Basilicae fieret matura traditio that there might be a seasonable delâ—verance of that Royall Pallace for so his piety termes the Church yet you shall find this reverend Bastor so far from deeming this a circumstantiall trifle that he offers his goods his body his life in lieu of it Ea quae Divina Imperatoriae potestatinon subjecta The things of God are not subject to imperiall power was the peremptory position of this Bishop and then proceeds Si patrimonium petitur invadite si corpus occurram vultis in vincula rapere vultis in mortem voluptatiest mihi
restrictive difference Reformed and not onely so but so Reformed as in the Church of England against all Popary and Popish Innovations I cannot see how I could protest to maintaine a Religion so reformed but that I must necessarily imply that service which the first Reformers and all succeeding Parliaments have made the Characteristicall note and formall difference betwixt us and them and this we all know hath been the Liturgie for from his denying Communion in this the Papist was called Recusant and by his joyning with us in this he was said and held as reconciled to our Church Thirdly in case the Protestation had run thus I promise vow and protest to maintain the true Religion established in the Church of Rome against as they call them hereticall innovations would any man believe the Missall were here excluded which is the very formality of their professions Or in case it had run thus I promise vow and protest to maintaine that Reformed Religion whose character and distinctive formality is the Directory would any doubt I vowed to maintain the Directory and can I hope to perform my Vow can I hope to maintaine the Religion of the Church of England and lay aside that which is the practicall character of my profession Fourthly if this notion Reformed Religion in the Church of England includes not Liturgie then they are not sufferers for the true reformed Religion of England who suffer meerly for the Liturgie but they who so suffer cannot imagine else what they suffer for Fifthly it is very probable to me the compilers and chiefe mannagers of this Protestation by Religion mainly meant the forme of Gods Worship for in the first 19. humble Propositions the eighth runs thus That your Majesty will be pleased to consent that such a Reformation be made of the Church-Government and Liturgie as both Houses of Parliament shall advise To the people in the same yeare the Lords and Commons declare thus April 9. 1642. they intend a due and necessary Reformation of the Government and Liturgie of the Church A plaine and evident demonstration to my capacity that both Lords and Commons did then declare this notion or terme Religion it includes both Church-Government and Liturgie otherwise what ever is of late attempted or done concerning these cannot be said to be a religious but a politike Reformation Lastly how could I promise vow and protest to defend and maintaine a Religion which is said to be true and actually reformed unlesse there be some forme actually in being which my judgment and my conscience must looke upon for to swear the maintenance of a Religion or Worship or Discipline not fixed and digested into a forme seems to me like that formidable et caetera to sweare and vow to maintain I know not what and upon this ground thousands there are who have stumbled at the very threshold of the Covenant not daring to sweare to defend a Reformation where they cannot come to see the form Whereas then beside Statute-subscription and those many obligations contracted under Episcopacy I conceive even by the Protestation and from the very sense of the House that made it Liturgie is a very considerable ingredient in the compound of Religion and this present Liturgie in this the reformed Religion of the Church of England As then in Musick though there are many rare and exquisite voluntaries yet solemne and set Musick is not therefore to be rejected even so though there are and may be in the Church of England such who can expresse as readily as conceive and conceive as devoutly as can be imagined yet for all that this is no Supersedeas or bar against studyed penn'd and set formes of prayer and more then this as I read was heard and ordered to be printed by the honorable House of Commons in a Sermon called Babilons downfall in these words Cursed shall he be that removeth the ancient Land-marke c. what is the ancient Land-mark of England but our Lawes and Religion which containes as well facienda as credenda and hath as well the Liturgie as the Articles and Homilies for her Boundaries and therefore if any man shall remove this Land-marke cursed shall he be of the Lord and let all the people say Amen Certainely they who said Amen to this imprecation and those who ordered there should be an impression of it they were then no visible enemies to Liturgie no not this Liturgie All then that I shall now trouble you withall shall be a slight proposall of this one Scruple Whether a Minister is not as much bound to suffer in defence of the spirituall Muniments of Religion as any Subject for the temporall Muniments and Priviledges of State or Kingdome For Christian Religion or the Muniments thereof I am apt to think with Tertullian the Sword is no good advocate Lex nova non se vindicat ultore gladio the foolishnesse of preaching not the arme of flesh must and did establish these And therefore I propose the scruple only in point of suffering for if we looke unto the author and finisher of our faith I conceive with S. Peter that by his example we are called upon to suffer and in this case to suffer only Now in these times of losse and suffering I have oft considered with my selfe for what either as Subject or as Christian especially as a Christian Minister I stand bound to suffer Now whilest I look upon my self as a subject having nothing at all before me but some secular or temporall advantage my next consideration is what secular or temporall commodity is dearest to me for I suppose no man will lose gold to save chaffe nor expose his darling to preserve his vassall Now forasmuch as all temporall or secular goods are reducible to these three heads jucundum utile honestum either pleasant profitable or honest that which of these three is dearest that which of these is absolutely the best that I conceive though I suffer the losse of the other two I am bound to preserve Job 2. Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life though the Devill spake it both God and man approve it Skin for skin whatever is pleasant or whatever is profitable a man will rather suffer in then in his life for of all things pleasant or profitable life is the dearest Now albeit among things pleasant or profitable life is the jewel yet bonum honestum that good which doth consist in honor or honesty this it is oft even dearer then life it self so that for defence of reputation a good name for the advance benefit of posterity for the vindication of a friend for the preservation of a trust for these and such like there is many an one who will dare to die but meerly for what is pleasant or what is profitable I think no man living So that indeed 't is onely bonum bonestum it is onely for what is honest or what is honorable a man as a
man a man as rationall is bound to suffer Now if it be so that honor and honesty hath so strong an influence upon a reasonable soule that Reason will perswade even the naturall man to prefer honor and honesty before life if property liberty and the Lawes of the Land are so deare to Subjects that even for them thousands have laid down their lives my great and grand scruple is whether bonum religiosum whether a religious good whether that which I verily believe tends to the good of Religion ought not to me a Christian and a Minister to be full as deare as any bonum honestum as any honest or mere secular good to me or any subject in the world And I professe to you upon the faith of a Christian be it sound or be it weak this is the principall ground and motive of all my losses and to support me I have these reasons 1. Corinth 9. If we have sowen unto you spirituall things is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnall things Between spirituall and carnall things the Apostle seems to make so despicable a difference that the one is not to be compared with the other carnall things secular and worldly interests they are not considerable if compared with things spirituall A cleare argument to me that no spirituall or religious performance ought to give way to any carnall end And such I conceive are all the muniments of Christian Religion such in particular a blamelesse Liturgie Secondly it is a rule amongst Casuists that man that suffers either for doing this or for bearing that in relation unto Christ and his glory that person is a sufferer in the cause of Christ as he that will not lie upon this ground because dishonourable to the Christian profession if he should be persecuted because he will not lie such an one though not in materia fidei yet because his restraint is for Christ and his glory he were persecuted for Christ his sake Whereas then in my poore judgement I am convinced there is no means generally more expedient for the advance of the glory of Christ and the preservation of the faith then a well composed and set form of Liturgie what ever I shall suffer for not rejecting this I shall confidently lay upon the score of my Saviour for as much as I therefore onely by suffering endeavour the defence of of this because I do verily beleeve Liturgy is the advance of his glory So that if a temporall good whose reward and encouragement cannot be but temporall can move a man to suffer much more a spirituall whose reward through the mercy of a gracious accepter may prove eternall For he who will not see a cup of cold water given for his sake lost neither will he forget the least of sufferings which relate to his glory Thirdly In suffering for spirituall muniments and for that only which relates to Christ onely and his glory there is no interest but God Almighties considered or concern'd But in suffering for temporall though publique good we have private ends and personall advantages of our owne so that it must be much more acceptable to God Almighty to suffer for spirituall that is his interest then for secular that is our own Fourthly If that Citizen be held an unworthy Member who will not spend his purse and paines for the priviledge of his Corporation and if that Country-clowne be held no good Townesman who will not stiffly maintain the Modus Decimandi The custome of hâ—s Towne certainly then that Minister hath a very low and poore estimate of that Liturgy which he subscrib'd unto a very unworthy esteem of the Catholique custome of the reformed Church of Christ that will without suffering betray his trust making lesse account of what Martyrs sealed with their blood then will a Citizen or a Countryman of a trifling priviledge or custome Fifthly Considering and inquiring after the elder times when such was the purity of intention that nothing but Christs glory was attended I cannot find that any thing in Religion was moulded unto State ends Si ecclesiasticum negotium sit nullam Communionem habento civiles Magistratus cum câ disceptatione sed Religiosissimi Episcopi secundum sacros Canones negotio fine imponuntom in Authentica Con. 123. Not to the civill Magistrate but to the Religious Bishops Justinian no lesse then an Emperour attributes and decrees the decision and determination of Ecclesiasticall affaires and certainly if there be any Ecclesiasticall Government as the Law speakes Cui jurisdictio data est ea quoque concessa esse intelliguntur sine quibus jurisdictio expleri non potuit To whom jurisdiction is committed all that must be granted without which he cannot exercise jurisdiction and that must needs be a directive and a coactive power Now impossible it seemes to me that those who have be they Prelates be they Presbyters or be they of what name or title soever our next new light shall call them I say it seems to me impossible that those who have this spirituall power should ever discharge their trust unlesse they resolve to suffer and to suffer precisely for the muniments and defence of the Church of Christ and the power of him committed to them for the impartiall and thorough executing of this charge cannot but displease great ones and flesh and blood is a bitter adversary so that indeed it will evidently appeare the decay of Discipline Liturgy and all the muniments of the Church they have therfore suffered because those who should have suffered for them would not And I beseech God this sin be not laid to our charge for my own particular I beseech God give me grace to say heartily as did some of the Martyrs though I cannot dispute I can suffer for him Sixthly For me to omit any act gesture or forme of worship which I beleeve or feel to be an advance to piety meerly from secular or private interest this in my judgement is to prefer a carnall thing before a spirituall to endeavour rather to please man then my God And indeed I could here with a great deale of truth and sadnesse relate unto you the serious and sharp complaints of such Ministers who professe their souls long after the Liturgy grieved at heart and as they pretend troubled at soule because they dare not use what they conceive much the better way A lamentable condition is the Church in when Ministers worship God with reluctancie and onely to save their stakes comply and do as the State would have them Lastly Forasmuch as the muniments of Religion are preservers of the dearest thing imaginable Gods glory and our soules welfare I do not know what I should suffer in defence of if not of these I lately reading as it fell proper to the day the fifth of Esay when I came to those dreadfull words I will take away thy hedge and it shall be eaten up break downe the wall and it shall be trodden downe
is as Mr. Perkins fully an act not of Superstition but Adoration For as it was no superstition in the Jew to worship God by bowing before the Ark or Westward so superstition it is not to worship God by bowing before his Holy Table that is in the phrase of antiquity Eastward As for bowing to the East or to the Altar I am able to produce a Letter writ by me 5. or 6. yeares ago ex Diametro against it and am still ready to ratifie that Doctrine The second act of superstition it is bowing at the Name of Jesus and to cleare that I shall thus argue No act directly tending and intended for the Advance of the glory of Jesus can be superstitious but to bow at the Name of Jesus in the sence of the Church of England is an act both tending and intended for the advance of his glory and therefore cannot be superstitious For the proofe of the minor Proposition I appeale to the 18. Canon of the Church of England where the end and intention of that gesture is clearly thus When in time of Divine Service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present as it hath been accnstomed testifying by these outward Ceremonies and gestures observe what their inward humility Christian resolution and due acknowledgement that the Lord Jesus Christ the true and Eternall Son of God is the onely Saviour of the world Now upon this ground I thus argue for as much as both words and gestures have their individuation and specification meerly by use Law or custome what this gesture of bowing at the Name of Jesus is to signifie and import in the Church of England this the Representative part thereof having clearly manifested we are to take it in that sence and in that signification in which and for which it cometh from them proposed and commended to us For as in Languages we receive and use words in and according to that power and meaning which the first authors and contrivers delivered them unto posterity even so that I might ever avoid the being contentious look what spirituall and internall duties my Mother the Church of England professed to expresse and signifie by such and such exterior gestures such I conceived they did import and in such sence and signification I did use and communicate them unto others Whereas then as the Canon clearly the due and lowly Reverence exacted at the Name of Jesus is only to testifie our inward humility Christian resolution and due acknowledgement that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true and Eternall Son of God This being the knowne and declared end and meaning of this gesture Bowing at the Name of Jesus can no more in my weak apprehension be accounted Superstition then is inward humility Christian resolution or the due acknowledgement of the Lord Jesus Christ to be the true and Eternall Son of God for being Actus exterior interior candem constituunt virtutem being the outward expression and the inward meaning do make but one compleat act if the inward be vertuous the outward cannot be vicious if the inward be religious the outward cannot be superstitious so that since bowing at the Name of Jesus is by the Church and use of England determined to signifie an expression of inward humility Christian resolution and a due acknowledgement of the Deity of the Son of God I cannot yet imagine how to him who so understandeth and so useth it bowing at the Name of Jesus can be counted superstitious Nor doth only the Canon of the Church of England but even the Canon of holy Scripture warrant mee sufficiently that superstitious it cannot be for Dato sed non concesso suppose it no duty of that knowne Text yet there is congruity enough to avoid the Superstition of it for if by those knees the Apostle meaneth the spirituall and inward knees of the heart then as he without thought of Superstition expressed that inward duty by bodily incurvation why may not I or any other by his example expresse my inward profession of the Deity as he by a corporall'expression by bowing at his Name But my intention is not to write a volume or indeed to say ought more then may conclude my design mentioned to prove that I have not been nor yet am scrupulous without cause nor a sufferer without reason Now my first scruple is whether a Minister may with a good conscience renounce or leave off any act Rite or gesture under the brand and notion of superstitious which he believes is not so I dare not do it for these reasons 1. I should bely mine owne soule in calling good evill and evill good 2. I should confirme a scandall laid upon many godly Orthodox Divines that they in thus doing have been superstitious 3. I should do an irreparable violation to those holy gestures which I do verily believe are advancers of Gods glory 4. I dare not omit that as superstitious which I believe not to be so for fear in so doing to this undetermined notion I might add such latitude that under the colour of Superstition even Religion it self may be violated In a word for my particular whether I look upon adoration in abstracto as the meer expression of that subjection and distance which dust and ashes oweth to his maker or whether I looke upon it in concreto as joyned with some other duty as saying our prayers receiving the Sacrament or profession of our Saviours Deity in neither respect it seemeth to me more guilty of Superstition or troubling the waters then was the Lamb in the fable when the Wolf charged him so that if by some greater light or latitude of understanding your clearer judgement shall discern otherwise I shall with all respect and thanks yeeld up my soule to further illumination which till it shall please God to give me I dare not in coole blood call an honest woman whore or what I conceive religious superstitious for more then yet I am or hope for to be worth And this may suffice for the first scruple viz. That my judgement concluding otherwise I dare not acknowledge or relinquish Adoration under the notion of superstitious innovation The second thing I have to do is to give my reasons wherefore I conceived it a sin of omission to lay aside much more to renounce the Liturgie and that I may do it methodically First I shall give my reasons why I dare not countenance the worshipping of God without a form secondly why I dare not in specie omit this form First I dare not countenance the worshipping of God without a form for being the Scripture chargeth not onely to hold the faith but to hold fast the very form of sound words I conceive set forme of prayer a necessary expedient to this end for being experience both ancient and modern hath taught us this sad truth that Errors Heresies and Innovations in Doctrine are instilled and infused by the conceived
If you who are sent demand my patrimony invade it take it if my body here it is if to bonds or death you desire to carry me it shall be a pleasure to me pro altaribus gratiùs immolabor I will gladly be a sacrifice to preserve my Altar He would rather dye the death then suffer an Arrian Minister to officiate in his Church yea as it is in the same Epistle cum propositum esset ut ecclesiae vasa jam traderemus when the Emperors Officers demanded a present delivery of the Church Vessells the conscientious Bishop was so far from holding these such circumstantialls as not to be stood upon that he plainly tells the Emperor it was neither lawfull for him to deliver or the Emperor to demand them Trade basilicam deliver the Church is as much as to say as the same Father to his Flock speak a word against God and dye nay not only so Nec solum dic ad versus Deum etians fac ad versus Deum It is not only to speak but to do against God which in his judgement deserved no lesse then death Thus zealous of a circumstantiall and of exterior muniments was that holy Bishop to betray a Church yea a Vessell of a Church it was in his divinity a sin against the Deity an act against him for whose glory and service they were preserved In these sad times of triall I conceive one main end of Gods judgements especially upon his Clergy is to discern who those are who have hitherto meerly related to him for their bellies and who for his glory mainly who have been spirituall and who carnall professors of the Ministry For those who served him chiefly for their bellies and carnall ends to them the invasion of nothing is considerable in which their interest and their ends are not involved but such who with purity of intention have mainly studied and sought the advance of Gods service to them as to S. Ambrose the muniments of Religion the abridgement or abatement of any thing that was adjuvant to this end is more considerable then all their secular interest or personall advantages of this world insomuch as I can knowingly say it for some Threescore pound a yeare and our old way will be prefer'd before 300. in a worse Moddell It is to me a consideration not unworthy my pen to see how the judgement of God hath followed such who have measured and stuck to his interests meerly as they moved with their owne In the 21 year of Henry the 8th in a Parliament which began the 3. of Novemb. the Commons sent up to the House of Lords a Bill against the exaction of unconscionable Mortuaries To which Bill it is observed the spirituall Lords made a faire face and were well content a reasonable Order should passe against them But this was saith my author Because it touched them little for when within two daies after a Bill concerning probates of Testaments in which there had been incrediale extortion was sent up to the Lords then the Bishops in generall saith the Historian frown'd and grunted for that touched their profit then said the Bishop of Rochester now with the Commons is nothing but downe with the Church When the Bishops personall profits were toucht upon then as if the very Church were falling Fisher crieth out the Commons lack faith the Commons think of nothing but down with the Church Yea in the progresse of this reformation are not Bishops found conniving and abetting the demolishing of religious houses and was not this probably with an eye to the preservation of their own as if they said let Monasteries go so long as Bishopricks bee preserv'd well they are dead and gone But hath not vengeance followed upon Episcopacy Are there not now amongst us who cry downe with Bishops sell their Lands and think this no sacriledge provided that Parsonages may be augmented and Tythes supported well Bishops are preach't down and their honors laid in the dust But doth not vengeance hasten after the promoters of it Do not the Presbyters find that there are who conceive they have lesse right to Tythes then Bishops to their Lands Are there not who are as industrious to deprive them as they have been for their own ends to deprive their God An evident argument that just and righteous art thou O God in all shy waies An argument that makes me verily believe those who for private interest and meerly either for praise or profit throw off the Liturgy forbeare their duties and betray the muniments of Religion and the Church of Christ God will in his due time reward such into their owne bosomes blasting that private interest for which they have betrayed his Whereas then I must professe before God and the world I can apprehend no motive or inducement so prevalent as to perswade me that the Liturgie of the Church of England is any way a hinderer of Gods holy Worship or an obstacle to the solid and sufficient Ministration of the Word agreeable to Orthodox Antiquity and an approved promoter of Gods glory in the Church I live in being I say to consent to the abolition of Liturgie I find in my soule no moving motive but either the hope of more or the holding of what I have I dare not finding within me nothing but carnall interest put a specious shew of Religion upon it and tell the world that I lay aside the truly Divine Service of the Church because Prelates overvalued it the ignorant doted of it the Papists nos'd with it and an idle and unedifying Ministery maintained by it These I professe to me are neither true nor weighty considerations for if I should now as I am forbear or lay it aside it is not any or all these but only in mine own defence only for mine own ends I should do it Now whether any man may salvâ conscientiâ prefer what he conceives in Gods service a worse way meerly for the boot of private interest I leave it to your prudent consideration concluding with that of Chrystost Qui hominem timet ab co ipso quem timet deridebitur sin vero Deum hominibus quoque venerabilis crit He who in Gods cause prefers man he shall be scorn'd of him he fears but he who fearing God despiseth man shall be had in reverence even of those men The patient abiding of the meek shall not alway be forgotten And here I had thought to have put a period both to your trouble and my owne but I must needs crave-leave that you would thus far be an advocate both for me and all in my condition as to procure a beliefe that such who are constant to their faith and principles according to the established and old way of England may be held if weak yet conscientious Christians for it 's none of the lest pressures of the Crosse upon us that we of all men are thought to have no foundation whereas we in our judgements believe verily
if what we hold and suffer for be not that very Religion which the Divines of England unanimously subscribed and professed to ratifie there is not any in England that is above seven yeares old and to innovate in Religion hath I am sure By the sages of this present Parliament been so severely looked upon that I should be very loath to be such a capitall offendor All that my soule longeth after is but to obtaine the same liberty which all different parties but such as hold to their rule and conformity daily have a free exercise of my conscience in that way of Worship in which both Church State visibly held and profest communion till very lately a way of worship in the daies of Q. Mary justified against the Papist a way of Worship in the daies of Q. Elizabeth so highly protested against by the Puritan that Stow in his Chronicle hath recorded at Bury Sizes 1583. Hackeâ— and Coppinger were hang'd for spreading certain books seditiously penn'd by one Robert Browne against the Common-Prayer Book Now reverend Sir till some better judgment shall unfold the mystery it must be my wonder tha 〈…〉 very form which this very Parliament past under the notion of Divine Service should on a sudden become such an abomination that any way of Worship but it is permitted my body of professors conscientious but such as use this all other wayes being held if not religious yet tolerable This I can assure you is no meane scandall and riddle to such as are very intelligent and very conscientious Christians Indeed a Declaration past and by the House of Commons was ordered not only to be pâ—inted but by speciall order to be published by the care of Knights and Burgesses against all such persons as should take upon them to preach or expound not being ordained here or in some reformed Church But whereas in October last a Petition against this Declaration was exhibited and with thanks received by both Houses whereas notwithstanding that Declaration such as have no act of Ministeriall Ordination past upon them do daily uncheck'd preach and expound in Churches and publike places I humbly desire you so to qualifie my conscientious constancy to the most Christian form of the Church of England that to persevere in it be no more held contumacy against Ordinance then was that Petition against the Declaration so shall I be bound to give you more thanks then were the Houses to give them In a word I beseech you good Sir by that conscientious subscription in which we both visibly agreed by that canonicall obedience which we both deliberately sware by that Doctrine which at cur Inductions in the face of our Congregations and the presence of Almighty God we did professe to ratisie by that solemne Protestation which since this Parliament began we both took by these and by all those duties in which I suppose without scruple we did both within seven years last past practise and communicate Be pleased to looke with some charitable respect upon one who now only is what generally all the Divines of England very lately professed at least pretended for to be one I am who fear to change least as a defloured Virgin that having lost the chast vaile of her strict modesty then lyeth opan to al proffâ—â—s I should find my self tractable to all changes and how various they may yet provâ— God knowes Blessed be God for Religion whether in Doctrine Discipline Government or form of Worship I am very well might I enjoy my peace within this pale I should blesse God and the contrivers of it or might there be a Reformation and not abolition I should yet hope to live in a Ministeriall way but however let me live I beseech you in your esteem either as a conscientious brother or as your convert arguments may pierce deeper then afflictions the one blessed be God I have born with a tolerable patience the other I am ready to receive with a proportionable meeknes Sir the totall of my desire and indeavour is that either as Divine you would satisfie my Scruples or as a Christian satisfie my friend and for either of these I shall subscribe my self Your thankfull Brother in the Lord J. A. Decemb. 22. 1647. Reformed Catholike 707. pag. 855. ibid. lib. 7. de leg. lib. 4. c. 17. 5. Eccles. 4. Gen. 26. Ioan. Drâ—sius in difficilioribus Geneseôs Barradius Tom. 4. l. 10. c. 12. 6. Numb. 23. In 1 Cor. 11 ver. ultim Val. Max. lib. 1. cap. de Religio Printed 1628. lib. 83. quaest. 31. Iâ—stit l 4. c. 14. p. 19. As Grotius cites him de Iure belli Chron. Chario Diocles Mat. 41. Luk. 5. â— Mark 61 Joh 98. Ian. 2 Epist. 33. In Sermone ad plebem intra basilicam Ep. 33. p. 118. in Bridewell Hom. 84. in Mat. thâ— See the Supplication of the men of Norfolk and Sust in the Booke of Mart. 1728 Abridg. pag. 413. 31. Decem 1646.