disliked by godly and learned men so the generall given for direction in such cases be observed 3 We hold it unlawfull outwardly and but in appearance to joyne with Idolaters in their Idolatry Many words in this matter might well bee spared But wee desire to see your commandement why for every particular act that in a large sense is Idolatrous adjoyned to the true worship of God Calfeb against Mar. art 10. p. 185 186. we should forbeare our presence at the worship it selfe or be said to communicate in the sinne there committed For then no man might present himselfe with good conscience at any publike worship of GOD wherein any thing is done amisse for matter or manner which is in effect to say hee cannot bee present at any at all 4 To communicate in the ordinances of God with the Ministers of the Church of England is not to like approve or reverence the institutions of men in the exercises of religion nor to communicate with the Teacher in his sin nor in ought else that is amisse For the worship is of God both for matter and manner And put case the Minister bee disorderly chosen enter not as he ought be Symoniacall covetous froward corrupt idle scandalous doe the people partake in his sin in that they make use of his Ministery No Scripture teacheth any such thing no reason doth confirm it noe approved authors ever said it That which you alledge for proofe falleth utterly short It appertaineth to the vertue of truth Dav. determ 7. p. 40. that as a man sheweth himselfe by externall signes so he is indeed to be esteemed And such as frequent or repair unto unlawfull assemblies for the publike worship of God by their being there are to be reputed of the same religion or else dissemblers as it were to have no care of religion knowing God Dovvay annot in 4. King 5.19 p. 778. but not glorifying him as God But herein you have misrelated the Doway translators for their words are But in a Christian countrey where all beare the name of Christians especially where men are at controversie about the true Christian Religion all that frequent or repaire unto the same assemblies for publike service of God are to be reputed of the same religion or else dissemblers Bodily presence at false worship by which they shew a liking unto it is unlawfull To eate of meates sacrificed unto Idols in the Idoll Temple Your condemning the worship of God performed in our assemblies as pernicious idolatry vvherein is it a lesser sinne han the Popes prohibition of publike prayer and restraint of the Word and Sacraments throughout the Realm you can neither shevv us warrant for it an the Scriptures nor example of it in the Church of God You that so teach and censure stand guiltie of great impietie and they that hearken unto your persvvasions are partakers of your iniquity in some sort of the vvrong imaginations of Christians Aug. in Tract â—o 19. saith Quae omnia idola cordis sunt T. Caepl 1. art 3. pag. 4. is to communicate with Idolaters These things are evident and freely granted But the Assemblie met to call upon God in the mediation of Jesus Christ alone to heare the doctrine of salvation soundly and purely preached to receive the Sacrament rightly administred is not a false idolatrous assemblie they that repaire unto it be not Idolatrous â—â—false worshippers If you esteem of them as they shew themselves by out ward signes you must esteem them to be of the true religion and the true worshippers of God according to his will The ministerie in that assembly to be true sound and faithfull and of God of substance In this lieth the point of the controversie which you are contented to passe by in silence without any proofe at all But if any humane frailtie or infirmitie cleave to the ministerie or congregation in respect of doctrine manners lawes government or order which concernes not the life and soul but only the safety of the Church or wellfare of Religion In these a Christian doth not partake by his presence at the ordinances as the Scripture reason and the approved practice of the Saints in all ages of the Church do plentifully witnesse This is the judgement and practice of the Nonconformists and therefore they professe they praise God for this reformation so farre forth as it is agreeable to the Word of God they are glad the Word of God is preached that the Sacraments are administred that which is wanting they desire to be added that which is overmuch cut off But that a Christian must separate from the Word and Sacrament by reason of some superfluities or defects is no responsive conclusion that can be gathered soundly from their writings CAN Stay Sect. 5. pag. 66. In preaching of the truths of the Gospell by a false Minister an Idolatrous act is performed For Divine worship is not to be determined by a particular thing howbeit in it selfe good but as the essentiall parts belonging thereto whether they are persons or things are kept and observed The Church of Rome in Baptisme useth water and in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper gives bread and wine otherwhile too doth this cleare their administrations of Idolatry I think all men doe thinke that Vzziah committed an Idolatrous act 2 Chron. 26.16 when he invaded the Priests office But what made it so tooke he unlawfull incense no. Vsed he strange fire no. Offered hee prohibited Sacrifice or upon a wrong Altar No Where then lay the fault the Scripture telleth us Verse 18. it pertained not to him to burne incense unto the Lord but to the sons of Aaron To apply this if his act were Idolatrous because he wanted a calling howbeit observed many truths of the law By the same reason the Church acts of Artichristian Ministers are Idolatrous yea and as for the truths which they preach this cleares their acts no more from Idolatry than Vzziahs true Incense and the Altar quitted him from transgression ANSWER Your great words are of small force CAN. Stag. §. 3. p. 56. for should I speake my conscience it is your phrase They are words without weight of reason For still you presuppose the Ministerie of the Church of England to bee false and idolatrous which is to beg not to conclude the question But that being presupposed let us see how you goe forward In preaching the truth of the Gospell by a false Minister an Idolatrous act is performed you say But doth the Scripture say so Do you read it in the Law or in the Prophets in the Apostles or in the Evangelists The Scribes and Pharisees were false Ministers but it was not an Idolatrous worke in them to expound the Law of Moses or dispence other Church ordinances at that time commanded The popish Priests and Bishops are false Prophets but the simple administration of Baptisme by them is not an idolatrous act The Minister that is prophane and
inficiari quin prius in Christum creded runt quam fecerunt a nobis divortium unde haec fides Annon ex praedicatione in nostra Ecclesia Numquid ergo praedicare quis potest nisi mittatur Rom. 10.13 c. Quid ergo verbum propter labem aliquam externae vocationis tam perverse respuunt cujus vim divinam in cordibus sentiunt Etiamsi fructus ipse non magis culpâ liberat depravationes nostras quam vera proles adulterium Nec igitur nobis in iis acquiescendum est nec iis a nobis propter aliquos naevos deficiendum Quamobrem redite ad unitatem Ecclesiae quae vos genuit aluit Si fugiatis hunc Christum qui cum electis in nostris caetibus caenat ac eos vicissim excipit profectò nusquam invenietis Interim cogitemus etiam nos quantum nobis ipsis malum accersimus qui mordicùs retinendo superstitiones nostras fratres in tantum periculum coniicimus Certe si quid momenti habet quod olim confirmavit ipsa veritas praestaret hujusmodi hominibus suspensa mola asinaria in collis demergi in profundo maris Matth. 18.6 Vtrisque sanitatem mentis precor Here wee see the Non-conformists agreeable to the Scripture sound reason the consent of all Antiquitie and their own Principles doe plainely distinguish betwixt a maime or defect in the calling of a Minister and no calling at all that it is great ignorance or to speak most favourably inconsideratenesse to charge them as if they went against their own Principles in holding Communion with the Churches of England in the ordinances of Gods worship And if haste had not blinded Robinson against Bern. reasons discuss p. 285. this you might have observed out of the Separatists themselves There is saith one speaking of Baptisme in this point a further consideration to be had unto which both the Scriptures and our owne experience doe lead us namely that as the Lord hath his people in Babylon his I meane both in respect of election and of personall sanctification so hath he for their sakes there preserved notwithstanding all the Apostasie and confusion which is found in it sundry his holy truths and ordinances amongst which Baptisme is one But if his ordinances be preserved or any one of them true for substance of necessity some truth of Ministerie whereby those ordinances be administred must bee preserved also It is an injurie to the people as the Non-conformists hold Whitak de pont Rom. contr 4. qu. 1. cap. 1. Si velimus Christum ipsum respicere fuit semper ecclesiae regimen monarchicum si ecclesiae Praebyteros qui in doctrina disciplina suas partes agebant Arâ—stocraticum si totum corpus ecclesiae quatenus in electione episcoporum presbyterorum suffragia serâ—bat ita tamen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semper Praesbyteris servaretur Democraticum Dan. in 1 Tim. 5. pag. 352. that a Minister should be thrust upon them against their wills or whom they never saw nor heard of But if the people be few simple apt to be deceived unable to judge of the fitnesse of a Minister they stand in need of direction not onely from their owne Elders but from other Churches The practice of the Apostles will confirme this for sometimes men were propounded unto the Church to be chosen and sometimes the choice was wholly left unto them And was not this for our direction that more libertie may be given where the danger is lesse and more caution and restraint used where the danger is apparant that if they be left unto themselves either an ill or an unfit choice shall be made In reason it is evident for the childs consent is required in marriage and the more able he is to chuse for himselfe the more liberty may Parents grant him in his choice but if he be not able or lesse able the more watchfull must they be over him and so in this matter The Presbyters are to goe before the people in the examination Heb. 18.7 Tert. in â—pol c. 39. approbation and designement of a man fit for the Ministerie for they are guides to whom the chiefe care and direction of things Ecclesiasticall doth belong As for the people it is not their office and for the most part they are unable to judge of those things To the people therefore it pertaineth onely to give their consent to him that is chosen or to shew their reasons why they cannot approve of him who is propounded but no testimonie of Scripture no example no reason teacheth Kuclin Catech. Hollant de legit â—ocat Minist Th. 10. Plebâ—damus pâ—testatem propanendi si quas habetâ—e usaâ—ionâ—s caâ—sas that the whole businesse should be committed to the desires and requests of the whole and sole multitude The consent of the people is not required to the common election whereby a good godly learned fit Man was chosen to the Ministerie but to the singular election of a Minister whereby he is chosen to be set over this or that congregation Or if that expression be lyable to some exception Ion. animadâ— in Bell coâ—â— 5. l. 1. ca. 3. not 3. ca. 7 â—ot 7. Ibid. not 24.26 The consent of the people is not required in this Whether such a man be fit for the Ministerie and meet to be set apart for the worke of the Lord but whether he be fit or meet to be their Minister by whom they may be edified and builded up in Faith and holinesse Of the former they have no calling or right to judge but in the latter they have great interest Brotherly societie requireth that we mutually admonish exhort reprove and comfort each other as occasion is offered and when need requireth it is the duty of neighbour-Churches to lend helpe to their brethren in the choice and election of their Minister Iun Eccles l. 3. ca. 〈◊〉 For if Churches have not fit men amongst them for the Ministerie nor able men to make choice for themselves they are to be holpen in love without prejudice to their libertie and not to be discarded and cast off as unworthy the name of a Church When the Scripture willeth that one should admonish another it is not only a coÌ„mandement to every singular man towards his fellow Heb. 3.13 Rom. 15.14 Rom. 12.12 Carâ—w repl 2. par 1. p. 23 1. but also to one whol company towards another society St. Paul when he teacheth that all the faithful are meÌ„bers of one mysticall body of Christ who ought to have a mutual care one of another laid the foundation of this policie Bellar asketh Quo jure unus populus episcopum alterius populi eligere potest Junius answereth Bellar. de Clâ—r l. 1. c. 7. Iun. Ibid. cap 7. not 13. eccld 3. c. 1. Not 24. Certè charitatis jure communionis sanctorum nam populus infidelis ipse non potest eligere utpote nondum vocatus sed postea vocandus ad
the ordinary way and meanes Id. Sect. 15. p. 132. which the Scripture speakes of to beget men to the faith For as a false forged constitution makes a Church a reall and substantiall Idoll So all that comes from it is touched with the Idolatry of that constitution This is a ruled opinion of many Divines The State makes all the publike actions to be formally good or evill For as the Temple sanctifieth the gold Matth. 23.17 the Altar the offerings so the Ordinances of the Church under the Gospell are sanctified unto us Bucer in Mat. 23.17 That is as Bucer truely speaketh in the use of them made lawfull to us in that they have their rise from a true and right power Seeing therefore the Church in Question wants a right Constitution it must follow that all spirituall actions done in it whether Prayer Preaching Sacraments Censures as they are there done are none of Gods Ordinances though true it is in themselves they are of God If the false Churches of whom we disputed CAN. Stay Sect. 15. p. 131.132 Id. Sect. 2. p. 8. be that spirituall Babylon mentioned in the Revelation cap. 18.4 then it is unlawfull for Gods people to goe unto them to performe any spirituall or religious action and so consequently not to heare theâ—e But the first is true Ergo the later is true also The proposition needs no proofe because our opposites and we herein are of opinion alike The assumption is manifest by these reasons Artopaeus in Rev. 18. pag. 198. Flac. Illyric in Rev. 18.4 Par. com in Hos 4. pag. 506. Bulling in Apoc. ca. 18. con 76. 1. The words in the Text prove it plainely Come out of her my people that is remove your selves from all false assemblies covenant together to walk in all the wayes of God serve the Lord among your selves in spirit and truth and returne not from whence you are come But repent rather that yee have suffered your Consciences to bee wrought upon by any unlawfull Officers And thus doe the Learned interpret the place namely of such a coming out as that we may not be bodily present at any of their worship 2 Cor. 6.1 Ioh. 5.21 Zech. 11.17 Botlac prompt allegoriar cap. 21. de Minist It is like that filthy bird which carryeth this Motto Contactu omnia saedat The publisher and others with him have comitted appatant Idolatry maintained it in the Church and sought thereby to pervert the right wayes of the Lord. Jd. sect 1. p. 7. Id sect 15. p. 133. A false Church state is rightly likened to the leprosie spread in the wals of the houses of the Lepers because of the pollution which it causeth to the persons and things Take for instance a Citie or Towne if the civill State or Corporation which they have be usurped aevised or derived from a false power all their publike administrations are unlawfull and every one partaking thereof offendeth So all administrations done in a false Church whether prayer Preaching Sacraments Censures are uncleane actions and doe defile every receiver J say because of the Idoll State which is devised out of a mans braine and used as a meanes to serve God in it and by it All the Ordinances done after the invention and will of Antichrist can no otherwise be judged than a brood common to the nature of the breeders that is the Devill and the Whore of Rome the Father and Mother that did beget them ANSWER THe Faithfull are commanded to come out of spirituall Babylon and not to communicate with her in false worship or Idolatry Revel 18.4 as the Text doth confirme and your opposites grant And therein it was needlesse to muster up the testimonies of the Learned to give evidence in a case maintained and practised notoriously sc that we must flye from the society of Rome and not be present to behold their worship Your labour herein is superfluous but that the Names of Learned men here numbred up might serve to cover your nakednesse when you come to the point in controversie wherein you prove just nothing at all But our Churches wherein the Gospell of Christ is purely preached and professed in all points fundamentall the seales of the Covenant of Grace rightly administred who are separaced from spirituall Babylon in mind and body and have fled from her worship and Idolatry who are built upon Christ the true and firme foundation of his Church and by Christ himselfe acknowledged for his people and graced with his favourable presence Our Churches I say cannot be deemed or reputed spirituall Babylon without great injurie to Christ his truth his Church and Saints By spirituall Babylon in this booke of the Revelation is meant Rome Christian departed from the faith guilty of the blood of Saints stained with manyfold and fearfull Idolatries the mother of fornications who hath made drunke the Kings of the earth with the cup of her poysons as might bee confirmed by the Scripture it self the joynt consent of learned orthodox Divines and the testimonie of Papists themselves But to brand the Churches of Christ since the reformation who have renounced Antichrists doctrine worship and idolatries and embraced the intire faith of the Lord Jesus with that odious hatefull name is contrary to the truth of God evident reason and the judgement of all approved godly learned men You miserably corrupt and pervert the Text when you give this to be the sense thereof Remove your selves from all false Assemblies covenant together to walke in all the wayes of God serve the Lord among your selves in spirit and truth and returne not from whence you are come This is not to interpret Scripture and learne of them what wee are to thinke but to racke Scriptures to our sense and make them speake according to our fansies which is an high point of Antichristianisme If you will stand to your principles within two hundred yeares after Christ or lesse there was not one true Christian societie in the whole world which did walke together in all the wayes of God and serve God in a Church state among themselves And will you say the faithfull are charged of God in this passage of holy writ to remove and separate from all Christian assemblies that then were in the world and to serve God among themselves If corruption in doctrine manners worship government and orders make a false assembly Rome was a false assembly long before the Lord gave commandement to his people to depart thence and separate themselves Israel for a time continued in Egypt and Babylon viz. untill the Lord sent to bring them forth and the Church lay hid in Babylon and that by the providence and approbation of God long after Rome was miserably corrupted and defiled The matter is notorious and therefore to spend more words about it is needlesse Hee that considereth the state of things long before the faithfull separated from Rome and what is written in defence of that separation which
or by them as Stewards used of God to set them in office The differences which they put betweene Baptisme and the Ministerie are to no purpose at all to the point in hand For let them disser in what they will herein they agree that in what societie soever the truth of Baptisme is to bee found therein is some truth of Ministerie to bee found though marvellous corrupt and polluted The calling of the Pope and his adherents is earthly false and divellish as they stand in relation to him But so is not the calling of every one that was set in office by them in every respect For some things might bee of men and some things were of God For they derived their authoritie from God and not from them and therefore though the qualitie of the proper calling of Priests and Jesuites bee earthly and carnall it is not necessarie the calling that others receive by them but from God should be of the same nature qualitie or condition And though that calling amongst the Papists was whole corrupt yet not whollie because that which is instituted by God Calfeh art 4 pag. 105. Chry. This is my sacrifice to preach the Gospell my svvord is the Gospell CAN Neces of Separ p. 233. is not made void by the corruptions of men The Ministery of Priests considered in the Masse if I may so speak is corrupt and rotten as they are ordained to offer sacrifices propitratorie for the quick and dead it is the ministerie of the papall apostacie and not Christs but as they are ordained to preach the Gospell and to baptize so we cannot say their ministerie is not of Christ at all or that it is a meere nullitie If you had considered this distinction advisedly you would have beene more sparing in your censure or at least given some weighty reasons of your affirmation But it is easier to blow away an argument with big words than to untie the knot in due order Azor. instit Moral l. 2. c. 19. Ames Bell. enervat tom 2. ca. 2. de vocal minist p. 80. Sadeel deâ—egâ—â— vocat Minist pag. 64. Extraordinaritie dicitur duobus modis aut enim de iis intelligetur qui ita ab ordine vero ac legitime discedunt ut ordinem ipsum violenr c. aut extraordinarium dicitur cum amore solito eoque corrupto ita receditur ut ad verum ordinem qui interruptus fuerat redeatu Quod quidem primis nestris docto thus usa venisse agnoscimus CAN Stay sect 2 p. 51. The papists themselves teach In Episcopo haeretico manere potestatem conferendi ordines quia id facit nomine institutione authoritate Christi ideoque ab haereticis Episcopis ordinatos ad Ecclesiam redeuntes non iterum ordinari Aliqui etiam tenent hariticos Episcopos potestatem quoque jurisdictionis non amittere If the Nonconformists hold any thing extraordinarie in the calling of these prime reformers and servants of God it is not absolutely but in some respect only And the same is affirmed by Conformists also Extraordinariam dicimur quorundam ordinariorum Ministrorum vocationem eo tantum sensu quo Sacerdotes pontificii quaedam ab ipsis Jesuitis dicuntur legitimo jure extraordinario And a little after Sic eo nomine tantum vocatur quia recedit in aliqua parte ab ordine jam depravato ut possit illum restaurare Compare therefore what they have written together and you shall finde nothing which might hinder their communion in the worship of God You say the Scriptures approve not of rending away from true Churches for any corruption I use the word any because so long as we acknowledge the Church to be true whatsoever her sins are a separation from all communion with it is utterly unlawfull But whatsoever the Conformists or Nonconformists have written one against another in this point of the Ministerie they never denied the nature and essence of a true church to bee found among us and therefore cannot bee thought to offend against conscience in that they hold communion together in that which is good and of God SECT 7. CAN Stay ag Sect. 3. pag. 58. THe sinfull office of the Teacher becomes his sin who practiseth will-worship with him For hereby he enwrappeth himselfe into the guilt of his office To heare such a Minicter is to honour approve and uphold his office of Ministeris To yeeld any approbation liking or reverence unto mens institutions in the exercise of religion is sin But in hearing Antichristian Ministers d. §. 4. p. 61. there is approbation liking and reverence yeelded unto mens institution in the exercise of religion Mat. 15.9 Ps 6.4 Col. 2.20 21. De. 5.9 1 Cor. 6.17 Hos 2.16 Exod. 23.13 therefore it is sinne The Major cannot be denyed for the Scriptures teach us the very thing Besides the most judicious Writers affirme it too The Minor is as cleare For first Jt is not possible that men can come to Antichristian Churches to worship God but they must by their precence there shew reverence and honour to the publike falle state and ministerie ANSWER HEre you come over with the same text of Scripture and the same arguments whereunto answer hath beene given already But I must follow you in that path wherein you are pleased to goe before mee 1 Will-worship is unlawful both in the teacher and them that communicate with him in that worship But the preaching of the word and administration of the Sacraments in our assemblies is not will-worship but the ordinance of Christ 2 To yeeld any approbation liking or reverence unto mens institutions devised and to be exercised with opinion of holinesse Babing in Lev. 10 Calv. in loc Iun. anal in loc Piscat ibid. necessitie and worship is sinne And if this be the meaning of your proposition we confesse the Scriptures teach this very thing and judicious learned Divines affirme it And what use there is of heaping up Authors to prove that which is most willingly assented unto I cannot tell The Lord hath laid downe the way and manner of his worship and hath not left it to any creature to meddle with but according to his prescription and appointment CAN Stay § 5. p. 40. The outward worship of God must be strictly done according to his commandement A good intention there hath no place workes devised by mans fancie have not only no promise of reward for doing of them but contrariwise great threatnings and maledictions of God Q. Eliz. Injunct 3. But all institutions of men in the exercise of religion such to wit as be simply matters of order or appurtenances of worship as time place method phrase of speech stinted catechismes formes of blessing and administration of the Sacraments c. bee not of that nature neither doth every thing concerning the qualification and exercise of ministerie belong to the second Commandement So that all institutions in generall are not condemned in Scripture nor
of God 2. Their qualification for this office their care in execution and other accessories which may be added of man If for substance of office their calling be of God wee are bound to hold communion with them though in the qualification execution and other adhering circumstances some things bee amisse which it is not in our power to redresse This our Saviour Christ hath expressely taught and made knowne unto uâ— both by his Doctrine and example as hath beene shewed already Hereunto this one thing may be added that many Pastors and teachers in the Church of England be called qualified and doe carry themselves in their charges and places according to the direction of IESVS CHRIST the chiefe shepheard of his sheepe and other for substance of Ministery are Pastors and Teachers CAN Stay Sect. 6. pag 79. If to heare Antichristian Ministers bee to serve God in and by an Ordinance If in preaching the truths of the Gospel in a false Church no Idolatry bee done then may a man vvorship God in a vvay of his ovvne devising blamelesse Id. §. 5. page 77. way or institution devised by Idolaters and with Idolaters then it is unlawfull But the first is true Therefore the second The proposition is undeniable by the Treatisers owne confession you should have said the assumption for if the Treatisers words prove ought they must be applyed thereunto As for the proposition they speake not to it at all But forwardnesse here and in many other places hath made you forget your tearmes of Art He that heares the Ministers of the Bishops sending and of the Parishes sent to he heares in the sense of the Scripturs false Prophets Id page 81. Such as hearken to Antichrists Ministers do therein approve of Antichrists unlavvfull povver over the false Church and the Divels donation or his putting of that povver into his eldest sonâ— hâ—nd Id. §. 6. p. 84. But it is not lawfull to heare false Prophets The Major is proved clearly in defencâ— of our twelfth objection The Minor is certaine by these reasons 1. The hearing of false Prophets is forbidden in the word of God c. ANSWER You busie your selfe to weave the Spiders web which is good for little long in weaving but soone swept downe Our Ministers be not Antichristian Ministers nor false Prophets in the Scriptures sense because they preach the whole counsell of God in all points necessary to salvation and rightly dispense the seales of the Covenant by authoritie derived from Jesus Christ the Lord and King oâ— his Church the great Shepheard of his Sheep At least they are set apart to this office which was never deemed Antichristian in the Church of Christ But if we take these words Antichristian Ministers and false Prophets in your sense for you use them in a peculiar dialect then it is not only lawfull but necessary to heare such as you call Antichristian Ministers For it is commanded in the word and acceptable service unto God the meanes to build up the Church It is to hold communion with God to reverence his name to lay hold upon Christ and lodge him in our bosome It sheweth that a man is one of Christs sheep because hee heareth his voice and a member of his sheepfold the servant of the most high God it manifesteth love and zeale to God and is ordinarily blessed to the soul and conscience of the dutifull hearer And in that which you alledge to the contrary you misalledge Scripture speak evill of the truth revile the heritage of the Lord and grievously wound your owne conscience The religion professed and worship performed in our assemblies is true not only in respect of the object but of nature use and end and whatsoever circumstances are necessarilie required to lawfull worship And the false Prophets mentioned in Scripture are of one sort yours of an other even the true Ministers of Jesus Christ But let us turne over to the twelvth objection to heare the cleare proofe of that which here you affirme for thither you send us CAN Stay §. 12. p. 116 117. The Treatiser as you call him propounding this objection of yours that the Scriptures of the old and new Testament warne Gods people of false prophets which the Ministers of that Church are having an unlawfull calling maketh answer 1 By denying that the Scriptures warn men simply not to hear false Prophets i.e. any false prophet whatsoever And then propounds a distinction of fals Prophets that some fals Prophets were in the Church of God and these might be heard as they had place in the Church till they were orderly repressed or at least discovered others were not in the Church but simply without and these were not to be heard This is the plaine and direct answer of the Treatiser as every man may perceive that is not grosly ignorant or wilfully blind But see how you jest and dally with it unconscionably when you had nothing to answer 1. You say he peremptorily denyeth the whole objection and so consequently affirmes that all false Prophets may be heard But what new Logicke is this whereby we may learne to draw such consequences In former times it hath beene thought reasonable to deny an universall negative or affirmative proposition when they hold not true in all Individuals No false prophet is to be heard This proposition may justly be benyed if any false Prophet may be heard though all might not 2 You adde presently and with the same breath He unsaith what hee said before But this is a palpable and grosse calumny For he said not that all false Prophets might be heard by all nor denyeth what hee granted at the first that some may be heard but plainly implyeth a distinction of false Prophets which I can hardly thinke you did not perceive though you be pleased so to pervert his words If there appeare any deep and inextricable riddle in the words you may fitly apply to your selfe what in this very place you report of Marcus Antonius's souldiers who unawares fell upon an hearb that greatly distempered their heads You tell us Id pag. 116. The Treatiser since he lighted upon his Gourd he is not like himselfe in his other writings and I can easily believe it for in his other writings for separation he is insolent censorious scornfull and slighty In this mild Christian and for the most part more substantiall As you deale with your Treatiser to scorne what you cannot answer so you doe with others in this very argument and that much more absurdlie Master Br. in maintenance of the Ministerie of the Church of England The unreasonab of separation p. 2 3 4 7. as it is established by Law distinguisheth betweene the substance of the Ministerie and the execution thereof the essentiall parts of the Ministery and some accidentall circumstances adhering unto them by man For substance saith he the present Ministerie of our Church assemblies is the very Ministerie which Christ hath set in
be excused in some things which they judge to be amisse In the admonition presented to the Parliament An. 1570. thus they professe We have at all â—imes born with that which we have could not amend in this Booke and have used the same in our Ministry so farre forth as we might reverencing those times and those persons in which and by whom it was first authorised Though therefore they write Admonit 1. pag. 9. Park of the Crosse part 1. ca. 3. sect 6. pag. 135. that it was taken out of that Popish dunghill the portius and vile Masse-booke that the Papists sucke no little advantage out of our Commumon-Booke which they terme an English translation out of the Masse-booke and out of the difficulty whereby it came in Parsons of the 3. conversions of England pag. 2. many Protestants themselves adjudging that the stable of popish superstition was not throughly purged out of it that Bristow draws the likenesse of our Service-booke to the countenancing of their Masse-booke Brist motiv 34. Rhem. in Iohn 20. sect 5. And the Rhemists the absolution of the sicke prescribed in our Communion-booke to an approbation of their absolution Auricular confession and Sacrament of pennance Howsoever they disallow the service as it is practised in visitations and injoyned in the late Canons which denieth libertie not onely to omit a ceremony but also to adde alter Park of the Crosse par 2. ca. 5. sect 11. pag. 19. or omit any one word of the whole Liturgie when we affirme the words of the Lords prayer and the forme in Baptisme and the Supper may be altered without fault Though in these things they take exception against the Booke and the manner of urging it yet they never disliked the use of it altogether much lesse condemned it as a false devised and idolatrous worship Their profession and practice from time to time both before and since the Controversies were moved about the Booke speake plainly in this matter Can. Neces of Separat pag. 125. Judge then your selfe whether it be not a notorious calumny in you to write That our stinted service devised by the Bishop and translated from the Masse is affirmed by our owne Writers to be a false and forged worship and that it is even so I appeale to many of your consciences For why doe you loath to use the same in your Families but because you know it is not the incense made by fire from the Altar of the Lord. Is it a small thing thus to slander and reproach the servants of Christ contrary to their writings professions and practices and your owne Conscience And what a vaine surmise is this that because they forbeare to use it in their houses therefore in conscience they know it to be strange incense As if many things might not be forborne which in themselves are lawfull In reading the Scriptures a Christian may use one translation when he doth not condemne others as abhomination I may presume in private you make not use of the Lords prayer and so of some others and yet you would not that another should fit in your conscience and judge that you know it is not the incense made by fire from the Altar of the Lord Or if you be so presumptuous sober and well advised men will admit no such conclusions But here you must remember againe that no methode order or phrase of speech in prayer left undetermined of God can truely be called or esteemed the incense made by fire Prayer it selfe and not the phrase of speech whether devised by another or by our selves is resembled thereby But the whole forme you say of the English-Church-service-Book is borrowed out of the Masse-Book picked and culled out of the Dunghill as the Nonconformists write You adde That not onely the forme but the matter also was taken out of the Masse-Booke It is true the Nonconformists say it was in great part picked and culled out of the Masse-booke but it followeth not thence that either it is or was esteemed by them a devised or false worship for many things conteined in the Masse-booke it selfe are good and holy A Pearle may be found upon a Dunghill we cannot more credit the man of sinne than to say that every thing in the Masse-booke is devilish and Antichristian For then it should be Antichristian to pray unto God in the mediation of Jesus Christ to read the Scriptures to professe many fundamentall divine truths necessary to salvation If any have misliked the Booke because it hath too much likelihood to the Masse-booke that hath not beene the judgement of the Nonconformists alone others have said and written as much who never yet condemned the use of the Booke or all things therein conteined Popery is a scab or leprosie which cleaveth unto the Church It standeth mostly in erroneous faultie grosse and abhominable superstructions upon the true foundation whereby they poyson or overthrow the foundation it selfe But take away the superstructions and the foundation remaineth remove the leprosie and the man is sound Many supernaturall divine truths of God are mixed in the Popish Synagogue as pure gold with much drosse or earth which the refiner is to purge and separate but not to cast away Our service was picked and culled out of the Masse-booke you say and so it might and yet be free from 〈…〉 and tincture from all shew and appearance of evill though the Masse-booke it selfe was fraught with all manner of abhominations For if Antichrist fit in the Temple of God and professe himselfe the servant of Jesus Christ of necessitie some treasures riches and jewels of the Church must be gathered into his den which being collected purged and refined might serve to adorne the chaste spouse of Christ Neither in so doing doth the Church honour Antichrist but challenge her owne right If shee retaine ought that belongeth to Antichrist that is her staine and blemish but the recovery of that which Christ the King and Bridegroome of his Church hath given as her wealth or ornament must not be imputed a fault Christs Religion is not so needie or unperfect of it selfe so needy and beggarly that it must borrow Embring dayes of the Heathen Altars of the Pope William Salisbur in his Battery of the Popes Batter An. 1550. or Vestments of the Jewes But as the Church is plentifully furnished by Christ and needeth supply from none other so it is her part to retaine what is freely and graciously vouchsafed of him If it be wholly taken out of the Masse-booke Bilson Christ Subject part 4. p. 490. Eating and drinking are not essentiall parts of the Sacrament but of the Supper they are or of the Lords institution For Christs institutioÌ„ conteineth as well the use as the matter or forme that must be used A Supper is not onely the meat provided but also the act of eating that which is provided And so the Lords institution implyeth the use and action as well as
Dispute upon communicating at confused Communions affirming that the sitter is accessary to the sinne of the kneeler But he was no English-Nonconformist nor doth intreat of English conformitie And if there be any speciall reasons why presence should be accounted approbation with them in that particular it is no equitie his private opinion should be brought to the prejudice of them that maintaine another cause But as yet we cannot see either from Scripture grounds or Nonconformists principles that it is utterly unlawfull to be present at the worship of God in the administration whereof some superstitious rite is used or some fault committed Your long labour in setting downe the faults to be found in our Liturgie is to small purpose The Nonconformists doe except against many things appointed in the Booke as inconvenient at least and such as should be taken away or reformed as The reading of Apocryphall books under the title of holy Scripture specially such parts as be corrupt for matter The Crosse and Surplice as Idolothites by participation and signes of mysticall signification The corruptions in the translations and some things in the formes of Buriall Matrimony Thanksgiving for Women after child-bed c. But these they condemne not as Idolatry nor as that which maketh the worship it selfe m Magdeburg centu 2. ca. 2. col 109. A true Church as it containes the pure doctrine so also it keepes simplieitie of ceremonies but an hypocriticall Church as it departs from pure doctrine so for the most part it changeth augmenteth the ceremonies instituted of God and multiplieth its owne traditions c. Can. Stay pa. 123. false and idolatrous It is one thing to say such a rite is inconvenient superstitious scandalous borrowed from the Papists not warranted by the word of God in the use will-worship if the word be taken largely another that the worship it selfe is false and idolatrous Therefore I will not stand to examine the particulars therein but proceed to examine what you bring further to shew the necessitie of Separation SECT IV. HEre is a fit place to propound a Question or two First whether to hold teach and practise the errours and lyes contained in their Canons Service-booke Booke of Articles and the ordering of Bishops Priests and Deacons doe mak◠a false Prophet Secondly Whether to hide from the people the knowledge of all the maine truths which concerne the outward regiment of Christs visible Church make a false Prophet Thirdly Whether it be lawfull to heare any false Prophet knowne so to be Qu In what ranke of Prophets unlawfull Ministers be and under what Scripture they are comprehended I would have a private Christian aske this Question of some learned Divine whom he knowes doth hold it lawfull to heare false Ministers And it is very likely he will answer him with deep silence There is one Question more viz. whether the Lords lawfull Priests which served at the Altar in Jerusalem might not as well urge their people to heare Jeroboams Priests at Dan and Bethel as the Ministers now under the Gospell to perswade men to heare in false Churches If is be not all one shew the difference ANSVVER TO your two last Questions answer hath been made divers times in sundry Treatises and in the first chapter of this present answer and you know the Scriptures plainly alledged to confirme what is said which you should have confuted if you had been able and not againe and againe to come over with the same thing If any learned Divine shall answer the demand with deep silence it may be because the partie demanding is uncapable of an answer not because there is any great difficultie in the matter It is a received Rule That the Accuser Plaintiffe and Affirmer should make proofe of what they say and if you erre your Questionist will affirme it is all one for the people of the Jewes to heare Jeroboams Priests at Dan and Bethel and the people in England to heare the word of God in our assemblies you must either bring good evidence for what you say or beare the brand of Slaunderers or false n Beza Epist 2. An enim obsecro aliter est de Sacramētis i. de doctrinae appendicibus quà m de ipsa doctrina judicandum At qui si nullam esse ecclesiā dicamus ubi nullus est prorsus in cunctis doctrinae Christianae dogmatibus naevus refellent nos Pauli Epistolae Corinthiacis et Galaticis Ecclesiis inscriptae c. Itaque ubi non satis pura est Ecclesiâ Ecclesia tamen est in qua salvum manet fundamentum ac multo magis ubi ritus Caenae Domini mutilus est Caena tamen est c. Accusers Is it sufficient thinke you to say If it be not so let them shew the contrary Your second Question will come to be handled in the next Chapter and there it shall be answered Your first Question onely which I scarce thinke another man would have asked pertaineth to this place wherunto I answer directly and plainly That a Minister of the Gospell may hold teach and practise according to the Book of Common Prayer Articles and Ordination and be a true Minister of Jesus Christ Nay he cannot truely hold and practice according to them but of necessitie he must be a true Minister in respect of his office and administration For the worship for substance there prescribed is of God the doctrine professed in respect of faith and Sacraments sound and true No errour either in speech hereticall or which doth tend to overthrow the foundation which is taught in them Suppose the seventie errours which o Can. Neces of Separat pag. 243 244 245. you reckon up were all true and justly taken against the Books and as many more to them might be named as it is not the number but the qualities of the errours which make a false Prophet false Church or false worship One fundamentall errour as the word is commonly used overthroweth the faith and twenty errours of inferiour alloy doe not much hurt the truth and soundnesse of faith The maine truths which concerne the very life and soule of Religion be p Vsher de success Eccl. cap. 1. few and the failings which may stand with the substance of Religion many Let it aske a better wit and head then ever Mr Dar. or your q Can. Neces of Separat pag. 185. selfe had to prove that there are halfe so many corruptions in the Religion professed by the English-Anabaptists adde if you please the Separatists Pelagians Arrians as are to be found in the English-Liturgie It will not be hard to prove that errours must be r The communion of the Catholique Church is not broken by the varietie of rites customes laws and fashions which many places and countries have different each from other except they be repugnant to faith or good manners August Epist 118. ad Ianuar. Euseb hist lib. 5. cap. 26. lib. 5. c. 23. Socrat. lib.
Arian infection both in the reignes of Constantius and Julian the Apostata Athanas Graecolar tom 1. pag. 309. edit Comelit Theodor. hist l. 4. c. 3. Pelagius a Britaine by birth troubled the Churches with his pestilent Doctrine denying the grace of God attributing power and libertie to man to live without sinne and keepe the Commandements if he would This Heresie arose about the yeare 405. or 406. and the Author thereof drew his first breath in Britaine Prudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trim. 13. speaking of Cyprian saith Gallos fovet imbuit Britannos praesidet Hisperiae Christum serit ultimis Hiberis Vsser de prim Eccles Britan. ca. 16. pag. 787. but he sowed not this hereticall doctrine in Britaine And though it must be confessed That these Churches were not altogether free from that infection yet at first it was opposed and after it was banished by the blessing of God About the yeare 420. flourished Fastidius of whom Gennedius in his catalogue of Ecclesiasticall Writers saith Fastidius Bishop of the Britaines wrote to Fatalis one booke of Christian life and another of keeping Widdow-hood in sound doctrine and according to the truth of God And John Trithemius Fastidius Bishop of the Britaines was a man learned in the holy Scriptures and an excellent Preacher of the word of God famous in life and conversation in speech and wit notable Prosper contra collater cap. 41. Vsser de prim pag. 319 320 323 324. He wrote some devout little works c. And by the vigilancy and care of Lopis and Germanus Antisiodorensis the Britaines were delivered from the contagion which had begun to infect the Churches After this the face of things was miserable in that Kingdome by reason of the invasion of the g Repellūt nos barbari ad mare repellit mare ad barbaros Inter haec duo genera funerū aut jugulamur autmergimur Bed hist eccl l. 1. cap. 14. Bilson The true difference betweene Christians Par. 1. pa. 56. That this Land was infected with Arianisme Pelagianisme as many other places then were I find it reported in the story of Beda Eccl. his gent. Angl. l. 1. c. 8. lib. 1. cap. 17. And the Bishops of France our neighbours upon request made unto them by the Britaines sent Germanus and Lupus two French Bishops chosen in a Synod by the generall liking to convert this realm from Pelagius errour which also they did with great celeritie barbarous enemy the terrible famine the direfull contagion of the Pelagian and Arian heresies and the loosenesse negligence drunkennesse contentions and other vices of the Clergie The Christian Religion thus corrupted was restored againe by the second comming of Germannus but after that grievously oppressed by the comming in of the Anglo-Saxons who could not yet so extinguish the truth of God but it did revive spread and grow though sometimes more pure sometimes more corrupt and sometimes with greater sometimes with lesse freedome But to come to the last reformation which was made of Religion in this Land and it was not the conversion of England from infidelitie to the profession of the Gospell but the restoring of it from a corrupt state or profession to a more pure from Christianitie polluted to Christianitie unpolluted Christians they were who inhabited this Land baptized into the true faith of Jesus Christ but Christians defiled with manifold superstitions led aside into manifold errors which errors and superstitions removed they become sound and true Christians indeed The true h Chaloner Credo S 2. part sect 2 It will soone appeare that the Ch◠of Rome for a thousand yeares after our Saviour professed no other faith nor published any other beliefe in points fundamentall either negative or affirmative than we doe c. After a thousand and some few yeares more were expired Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Host with other dregs of Antichrist being established though we cannot say that the Church of Rome was from thence forth absolutely our Church yet we may boldly say that our church was from that time untill Luther both within the Romane Church and without it Church lay hid in Popery as a little oare in a great lump of drosse not refined not purified not coyned but true gold for substance yea that very same for substance which being purified and stamped is currant coyne When the invocation of Saints worshipping of Images the Latine Service and fabulous Legends the sacrifice of the Masse and adoration of the Sacrament with such like abhominations were taken away and in the roome thereof the true worship of one true God in the mediation of Jesus Christ and the right administration of the Sacraments and the reading of the holy Scriptures in a knowne tongue established when the omnipotency of the Pope is abandoned with all corrupt superstitions which did undermine the foundation it selfe and in stead thereof the intire faith of the Lord Jesus in all points necessary to salvation taught professed and received then is the Church refined and separated from that drosse To bring Infidells from the state of infidelitie to the faith it is necessary that instruction goe before either by reading exhortation preaching or report of Christian faith for faith commeth by hearing But where men professe Christianitie abuses may be reformed by the Edict of the Magigrate without such particular instruction going before as in the former case is requisite Many times * Jo. 2.19 heresie departeth from the Church or Heretickes goe out from the Church and sometimes the Church is compelled to goe out from heresie the heresie still remaining * Revel 18.4 Come out of her my people saith the Lord the godly then departing from Babylon according to Gods commandement gathering themselves into Christian societies the religious Magistrate by his Edict or Proclamation going before them are the true churches of Christ The i Raynold orat epist ad fratrem Non semper heresis exit ab ecclesia aliquando manet heresis ecclesia exire cogitur Papacy was not the church but the church lay hid in the Papacy untill the time of separation which being made according to Gods commandement by the authoritie of the Lords Vicegerent the church which was before k August epist 48. ad Vincent Donatist Ecclesia est quae aliquando obscuratur tanquam obnubilatur multitudine scandalorum obscured doth now shine forth Thus our Divines doe soundly and truely answer to the Papists demanding where our Church was before Luther That it was where now it is but unrefined unstamped that it lay l Beza epist 1. ad Duditium et si Papatun non sit Ecclesia voluit Deus in Papatu servare ecclesiam hid among them for the time as some fit stones for the building under a great heap of rubbish and that we have not erected a new Church but repaired and restored a ruinous m See Dr. Feild of the Church lib. 3. c.
maintained Fourthly In the true Church of Christ the true doctrine of Jesus Christ the Prophets and Apostles in matters fundamentall is kept but so as the living members may erre both in doctrine and manners and others in societie with them may erre grossely impenitently finally And thus the Church of England doth keepe the doctrine of w Chaloner Credo Sanct. 2 part subject The church in respect of its outward part as it enters the Creed is not onely an outward profession of a doctrine or discipline but a profession of the same under the notion of truth And that the Church in this sense is invisible Gregory de Valent. confes in his third Tom. upō Thomas disp 1 qu. 1. pag. 7. sect 16. and Bellarm in his third Book de Eccles ca. 15. Bilson Christ subject par 3. pag. 305. The visible Church consisting of good and bad elect reprobate hath no such promise but shee may erre only the chosen of christ which are the true members of his body properly called his Church they shall not erre unto perdition c. Christ the Prophets and Apostles intirely without addition or alteration though in the government and administration there be many things amisse though in the societie there be many who be not qualified as sheepe humble and meeke but fierce and cruell Fifthly No societie is the Church of Christ which retaineth not the true worship of God but in the true Church of God his pure worship may be stained with rites and ceremonies which might well be spared and are justly disliked Thus both Conformists and Nonconformists and all other sorts and sects of men And thus in the Church of England the true worship of God is for substance rightly maintained though the Nonconformists dislike and the Conformists groane under some ceremonies not abandoned The onely knot here to be unloosed againe is your slander against the Nonconformists in that you charge them to say that the Church of England doth not retaine the true worship of God And now I shall desire you calmely to consider how according to your principles you can untie a knot or two if they should be knit for you in this wise First He is no true Pastor of Jesus Christ who grossely perverteth the Scripture falsifieth Authors deceiveth with aequivocations condemneth the true worship of God as pernicious idolatrie and the x Jewell upon the first to the Thes chap. 1. v. 1. The Church of God is in God the Father and in the Lord Iesus Christ it is the company of the faithfull whom God hath gathered together in Christ by his Word and by the holy Ghost to honour him as he himselfe hath appointed This Church heareth the voyce of the Shepheard It will not follow a stranger but flyeth from him Of this Church Hieron in Mic. lib. 1. cap. 1. saith Ecclesia Christi in toto orbe Ecclesias possidens c. societies of Saints as idolatrous and Antichristian Assemblies and laboureth to draw Christians from the communion of Saints which ought to be kept and maintained Examine your writings in the feare of God and adde the proposition wanting Secondly He is no true Minister who derives his authoritie from them that are not able to give it But he that derives his authoritie from the people derives it from them that have no authoritie to give it You know the conclusion and where it will light Thirdly The true Church of God is the true flock of Christ the Kings Daughter quickened by the Spirit married unto Christ gentle meeke humble retaining the true worship of God without addition or alteration and keeping the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace But the societie of Separatists is not the true flocke of Christ quickned by the Spirit humble meeke gentle keeping the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace These properties doe not agree to all and every one in that societie in truth according as in the former propositions you say they belong to the true Church of God If you shall be able to maintaine the former propositions against men as you vaunt I doe not beleeve you shall be able to unloose these few knots CHAP. V. SECT I. IT may be some will expect that I should write something of their Lecturers Can. Neces of Separat pag. 49 50. and the rather because they in the judgement of many are thought to be the best Ministers Of their life and doctrine I say nothing But as for their Ministery surely it is new and strange For the Originall of their name manner of entrance and Administration is unknowne wholly to the Scriptures and I thinke never before heard of till in these latter broken and confused times Therefore it is no marvell when the Question hath beene propounded to some of them as it was by the Pharisees to John Who art thou That they have not been able for their life to answer to answer the point Neither could agree among themselves what kinde of Ministery it is that they have taken up And being hard pressed for resolution they have ingenuously confessed that unlesse they be Evangelists they could not see how their Ministery doth accord with any Ministery mentioned in the New Testament This I write upon my owne certain knowledge the persons I thinke are yet living whose names for some reason I forbeare to expresse Howbeit I can and will doe it if I see there be a just and necessary occasion I doe not thinke it strange that they should thus speake for indeed I know not what they can say better in defence of their standing Pastours I am sure they will not say they are For First They doe not take any particular charge of a flocke upon them Secondly They performe not the office thereof for they agree with the people onely to preach and not to administer either the seales or censures to them Thirdly Their comming unto the people is in a strange sort for they make a covenant each with other for some certaine yeares and when that time is out both parties are free and so may leave one the other and doe many times but a true Pastour may not doe so For if he should he were worse than an hireling which leaves not the sheepe till he see the Wolfe comming But many of these when they see a richer Lectureship comming towards them Fourthly He that is a Parson or Vicar is taken generally for the Minister of the place And truely howsoever their calling be false and Anttchristian as the Nonconformists say yet in many respects they doe better resemble a true Minister than any Lecturer whatsoever Therefore not without just cause Neces of Discipl pag. 74. doe the Reformists utterly condemne this extraordinary office of Preachers And affirme that they are neither Pastours nor Teachers which the Scripture alloweth of ANSVVER THis point concerning Lecturers I have purposely deferred unto this place because it is distinct from the former in your apprehension
art 18. viz. when the place for Sacrifices was undetermined and then it had been Will-worship to put holinesse in places or opinion of worship But when God had chosen out and appropriated one place for Sacrifice and none other then it was a matter of necessitie holinesse and worship to sacrifice there and a great sinne to doe it any where else The reason hereof was not simply because it was not commanded for when it was lawfull to the Fathers of Old it was not commanded but left undetermined only and used by them as a circumstance or adjunct allowed not as a matter of necessitie holinesse or worship not could they have used it so without superstition as on the other side after the strict commandement given to Israel to sacrifice in the place which God had chosen and none other and the place of worship precisely determined for typicall signification it was a part of true worship in conscience necessarie for them to doe otherwise was grievously to transgresse and not to doe that which was commanded as necessary holy and worship had been prophanenesse For that which is commanded may not be neglected neither is any thing to be done which is repugnant thereunto But many things in the worship of God are not commanded or determined by God but left to the libertie of Christians many things were unprofitable and needlesse to be determined particularly by divine authoritie as being easily discernable by the light of nature and common reason and many things could not be determined because one order in them could not fit all ages times and places in the world The divisions of the Chapters and verses as they are in our Bibles and the Sections of the Law as among the Jewes are of men and so is the phrase of speech and method used in Prayer Preaching Administration of the Sacraments and the very words of Translations wherein the Scriptures are read and cannot be one and the same in all societies And so are the circumstances how oft at what houre on what day in what place the Pastor shall preach which are particular determinations of the Church and variable If you say these things are prescribed in generall and by consequence because they are done according to the rules of direction given in Scripture Of necessitie you must confesse the proposition is ambiguous for sometimes prescribed shall import as much as determined instituted commanded sanctifyed if not appropriated and sometimes it shall note no more but left at libertie or indetermined Neither will that sense stand in the proposition Synops purior theol disp 35. thes 17. Ab omni traditionum humanarum jugo liberas habeant conscientias cum solius Dei sit res ad religionem pertinentes praescribere for then it should be lawfull to place opinion of necessitie holinesse or worship in those things which are undetermined or not commanded of God which is contrary to the whole scope and drift of Scripture and the judgement of all Orthodox and sound Divines new and old To proceed more distinctly because it is a matter much insisted upon and as much mistaken and misapplyed by many Worship is as large as the Commandement nay as the whole Word of God Bald. de cons l. 4. c. 3. To the precepts of God nothing is to be added Deut. 12. Now God hath commanded these things which are necessarie The rites of the Church are not necessary wherefore if the abrogation or usurpation of any rite be urged as necessary then is an addition made to the commandement of God which is forbidden in the Word c. Dea. 12.2 4 1 2. 5.32 Lev. 18.4 Prâ—v 30.6 Ambr de parad c. 12 tom 4. Nihil vel 〈…〉 gratia adjungerâ—n â—s debemus mandato Nihil vel quoâ— bonum videtur addâ—ndum Addendo de proprio semipl â—um Dei intellexit esse mandatum Docetnos 〈◊〉 praesentis series lection is nequ detraâ—â—re aliquid debere diviris mand â—is neque addere For so it is ordinarily defined A worke commanded done in faith and then it must needs extend it self as far as the Commandement And if to obey God in conscience of his Commandement in all actions Civill and Sacred of Pietie Justice or Mercie be to Worship him then to beleeve whatsoever the Lord hath taught relying upon the truth and credit of the Revealer is worship also And hence it is that the Worship of God is usually divided into Immediate and Mediate Worship which comprehendeth all duties which we owe to God or Man Now if the way or manner of Worship be taken in this acceptation then the sense of the Proposition must be this That no action great or small done to God or man religious or sociall is lawfull unlesse it be prescribed of God And let us consider the passages of Scripture alledged by your selfe and others whether if rightly quoted they doe not affirme as much Whatsoever I command you that shall yee observe to doe Thou shalt not adde thereto neither shalt thou take ought from it To what might they not adde From what might they not diminish Is it not from the whole Law of God which teacheth the whole duty of Man both towards God and towards Man for the Lords sake Hereby the Lord establisheth his Word and his only and his whole word to be the intire rule of Faith and manners Hereby God appointeth his owne Word and Law to be the only rule of his Service without imitating the customes of others or devising any thing of their owne saith Master Ainsworth But if by the Service of God he understand the positive Worship of God only or the immediate only he straitneth the meaning of the Text overmuch Annot in Deut. 12.32 Procopius in loc verba enim Domini cum plena perfecta existant auctarium nullum admittunt Chrysost in 1. ca. 2. Epist ad Tim. hom 2. Siâ—quidem sidci dogma pervertat etiamsi angelus sit obedire noli Annot. in Lev. 18.4 Tert. de praescript advers haeret It is not lawfull for us to devise any thing of our selves nor follow that which others have devised See Cham. pansâ— tom 1. l. 8. c. 6. Rainold apol thes sect 2. p. 205 206 207. Hen Ainsw part 3. p. 150. He inferreth that generall admonition touching all the wayes of God and not the Ten Commandements only Doway annot in Deut. 4.2 12.32 Henry Ainsw 2. Answ p. 55. Prov. 30.6 Loe here all additions and not only things contrary are forbidden Ex. 23.13 Chrysoft oper imperfect hom 20. in 7. cap. Matth. Every Teacher is a servant of the Law because he may neither adde of his owne sense unto the Law nor according to his owne conceit taking any thing from the Law but preach that only which is found in the Law Qu. Co. p. 67. For it speaketh plainly of the whole Law and is fitly alledged to prove the perfection of the Scripture in all matters necessary to salvation and not
concerning the Worship of God only Israel might not adde either to the Statutes or Judgements of the Lord and if by Statutes be meant Decrees for Religion or the Worship of God only which cannot be proved by the use of the Word by judgements they cannot be understood likewise By this saith Master Ainsworth God forbiddeth all inventions of men Eccl 7.29 the workes of their owne hands Jer. 25.6 and the Statutes of the Kings of Israel which they after made without the Commandement of the Lord. But the inventions of men respect the Commandments of God in generall and not the Ceremoniall Ordinances only nor yet the immediate worship of God alone He shall doe good service to the Papists that shall limit the Texts in that manner for by such like distinctions they seek to elude them when they are produced to prove the perfection of the written Word of God in all things necessary to salvation Ye shall take heed saith the Lord to all the things that I have said unto you But this cannot be restrained to the ceremoniall precepts concerning Gods Worship but must be referred to all things that God gave them in charge David prayeth Psal 119.133 Direct my steps in thy Word and let none iniquitie have dominion over me But what can be more plaine than that David doth not speake of the worship of God alone but desires that all his counsells thoughts manners actions might be directed according to Gods Word because the Word of God is the rule of all our actions In which sense also it may be affirmed That Negative conclusions in matters of faith and duties Hen. Aiâ—sw 2. Ans p. 55. The 〈◊〉 cited sc Deut. 5.32 12.32 Speak of Gods Commandements in generall you take one in particular and because one is not all therefore all must not be all A Dâ—spute part 1. cap. 4. p. 8. The lavves of the Church declare unto us what is fittest in such things as are in their own nature indifferent and neither enforced by the law of God nor nature Id. p. 21. As when the Church ordaineth that in great Townes there shall be a Sermon on such a day of the week and publike Prayers every day at such an hourt c. First book of Scotish Discip In great Townes we thinke expedient that every day there be either Sermon or Common Prayer c. Zanc. in quartum praeceptum in tract de discip Eccles in fine Calv. Instit l. 4. c. 10. §. 30 31. Eâ—fi fateamur non â—nviti ex insitâ naturali Dei â—ognitione ersi corrupta sequietiam in genere Deum esse colendum Item non solum interno affectu cultum illum fieridebere sed etiam externo actu Negamus tamen naturali leg determinatam esse speriem il am externi cultus Rivet in Gen. exercit 42. Sec Sculâ—et Ethic. lib. 1. Neither Angels nor men can make a Sacrament Caâ—seh art 4. p. 104. follow well from Scriptures silence If the way or manner of Worship be put for immediate Worship then it extends as large as the Commandements of the first Table and the sense of the proposition must be That no Worship publike or private must be performed to God for substance manner or time other than that which God hath prescribed in his Word which holdeth not true unlesse it be added That no worship must be performed as necessary and holy for substance manner and time which God hath not prescribed For what shall we say of the time of rivate Prayer in the familie or closet the forme of catechizing and translations of the Scripture the times for publike Lectures and exercises of Religion upon the week day and ordering and government of Schooles and Universities for these things are not for time words and manner prescribed or determined of God If the word Worship be taken more strictly for substantiall Worship commanded in or referred to the first and second Commandements usually known by the titles of inward and outward worship Naturall and positive instituted Worship though perhaps the termes be not so fit if better were found out then the meaning is that no Worship of God inward or outward naturall or positive is lawfull but what is prescribed and determined of God in his Word But then there want not difficulties for how should Worship be naturall if it must be instituted and prescribed If the light of nature or reason teach it which is planted in the heart by the singer of God how can it be unlawfull unlesse it be prescribed by an externall word of institution What shall wee say of outward gestures made in and upon the body to declare the hidden affection of the soule must these be prescribed and determined or fall under this censure When the Word informeth me to call upon God in the Mediation of Jesus Christ doth not reason it selfe without any further institution teach me to kneele lift up my hands c. At least if worship be naturall or positive must there be a distinction of the institution or prescription of this worship also Doth not positive Worship require one manner of institution naturall another If the way or manner of Worship be restrained to positive or instituted only it is most true No worship is lawfull which is not in speciall commanded or appointed of God in his Word But then the Texts of Scripture quoted by you for proofe will not speak unto it Ye shall not doe saith Moses after all things Deut. 12.8 which wee doe here this day every man all that is right in his owne eyes Some Greek copies have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is according to the Hebrew Ainsw annot in Deut. 12.8 And the speech of Moses seems to mean the true Service of God which was not yet perfected neither could be in their travells Iun. annot in Deut. 12.8 Analy in loc P. Martyr in 1 Reg. 8. Vetabl Nefeceritis id est Non facietis omnino ut nos c. hodiè ante ingressaÌ„ viz. terrae sanctae hic facimus i. extra terram sanctam Deodar Italic Deut. 12.8 i. concerning sacrifice the law of which they did not observe exactly by occasion of the continuall wandring of the people Ainsw annot in Rev 10.19 Deâ—dat Ital. in Lev. 10 â—9 The Lord hath shewed great wrath against me by the death of my sons how then can I cate of this sacrifice to beare the siâ—s of the people according to the ordinary law the Lord not being pleased with me myselfe Others would have it That he could not eate because he was in heavinelle it bâ—ing â—cet he should eate those things with joy and thanksgiving Vatabl annos in Loc. as it was after in Canaan v. 10.11 Not that they sacrificed after their fancie saith the Geneva notes but that God would be served more purely in the land of Canaan Jun. upon this place noteth Etsi oblationuÌ„ lex unasemper fuit ab