termed Porridg your unseasonable jests and jears against so Religious an exercise composed by the most Learned and Holy Men of this Nation and sealed to with their Blood and Lives And you must utterly disclaim and remove out of the way the very thoughts of that Principle that have been owned by you and is a a very Mountain in the gap of Separation that in the Cause of Religion it is Lawful to take up Arms against your King and Soveraign You must also lay aside that evil Eye which you have against the Riches and Revenues of the Bishops which you would gladly share among your selves and account it no Sacriledge The Bishops Lands stick in your Stomachs because they have slipt from between your Fingers but be not your Eye evil because that of your Ancestors has been good because Pious Princes and Religious Nobles have bestowed so much means on the Church They rob you not 't is not the effect of your Labour nor proceeds from the sweat of your Brows a Poor Clergy would be soon Vile and Contemptible And though it be no fault to have a steady and unchanged Mind and Opinion upon well grounded Principles yet I think all these stumbling blocks of Offences will not be accounted by your selves any found Principles or Foundations to build upon but are Stones and Rocks against which you dash your Feet and which divert you from the path that leads to Peace and Unity therefore be not over stiff in your own Opinions and think it no disgrace or undervaluing to your Cause or Reputation to give way and at last see the great Benefit that will accrue not only to the whole Nation but your Selves by putting to your own Hands to the removing all these forementioned Obstacles I am not Ignorant that against this my Advice you have Objected the tenderness of your Consciences that has enfeebled your Hands and kept you back from performing what is required of you But have a care you delude not your selves in this Point and pretend Conscience when there is something else in the way There is no Sect no Libertine the very Levellers and Ranters themselves but have the same Plea and fly away from their Duties to this starting hole Conscience hath been the general pretence for all those who had no mind to obey 'T is the common Shield and Buckler of Defence but I think there can be no Plea for Conscience when a lawful Authority requires only lawful things such as are not Derogatory to the Honor of God nor hurtful to the common Society of Men. I know also that you will tell me Rom. 14.33.14 that what is not of Faith is Sin and that though there is nothing unclean of it self yet to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean But have a care that your Conscience that is so tender does not strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel stumble at a Straw and leap over a Block I would not have you to do any thing against Conscience but then you must rectifie your Conscience by the Rule of Gods Word otherwise it is no Conscience for there can be no pretence of Conscience in doing Evil or Unlawful things it must be only in indifferent things where it hangs in aequilibrio as it were that it can admit of Doubts and Scruples Known Good and known Evil does not admit of that pretence The Apostle Paul commandeth thee to obey for Conscience sake but you pretend Conscience for Disobedience and Rebellion He commands you to be subject for Conscience sake you pretend to be free for Conscience sake these are Contradictions and are repugnant one to another These are not doubful Cases the Rule is too plain here to admit of Scruples That the way to Peace may be plain you must not through Ignorance Prejudice or Precipitancy call those things Popery and Superstition which are not nor perswade your Followers with so much Imbitterness against them be not so loud against them decry them not only with Noyse and Bawling bring them to the Test and let all things be weigh'd by the Balances of the Sanctuary and then it will be easily seen what is really Popery and Superstition and what so pretended Religion is for the most part taken up upon Trust Custom and Education rather than Choice frame it for us and we follow therein our Parents and our Nurses They call every thing Popery that is not made use of by themselves Every one that pleads for Ceremonies though never so decent is esteemed Popishly affected and generally among the common People of your Perswasion Episcopacy is thought no better of than Popery and Prelates and Ministers of the Church of England than of Cardinals and Priests But my Masters 't is a hard Case that those very Persons who were the chief Instruments of breaking the Tyrannical Yoke of Rome in this Nation and for which many of them were Martyred should be they who fram'd those very Constitutions which you call Popish and for which they lost their Lives by Popish Adversaries And also that they should be esteemed Popish Abettors because of their approving of these Ceremonies who have so strenuously wrot against the Tenets of Rome and who like worthy Champions have stood in the Gap and defended the true Protestant Cause against all gainsayers That these very Persons who have Converted many from the Popish Religion have Establish'd many that were Wavering have Recover'd others that were Lapsed and that have Confirmed several that were Doubting that these I say should be Branded by you with the Ignominious mark of Popery is strange and hardly Parallel'd And lastly that this desired Unity may be brought about you are desired to use so much Charity as not rashly to damn another for every Difference and so much Ingenuity as not to render the Opinions of your Adversaries more black and odious to the World than you in your Consciences know them to be Since the Church of England has Justified her self by some of the unanswerable Writings of her worthy Sons from all Imputations of Heresie and Schism from all novelty and false Doctrine and Answered all Objections whatsoever against her Ceremonies and Discipline There is yet one other Stone of offence which I had almost forgot and which will help to Unity if it be may be roll'd away for many other lesser gravelly adherences will be avoided with it and this is an Opinion That it is unlawful and sinful to do any thing without direction from the Scripture or the Word of God whereby you think by that means to overthrow the Cerimonies of the Church of England But I will say in the Learned Dr. Sandersons own words Sand. ad clerum Ser. 4. p. 62. That if you will understand this only of the Substantials of Gods Worship and of the exercises of Spiritual and Supernatural Graces the assertion is true and sound but if you extend it as you do to all the actions of
upon it is an Imposture enough discover'd and unmask'd Speak out is there any thing Sinful or Unlawful in the Liturgie Or that is not agreeable to Gods Word Prove but that and then you do something for the Church holds in her Articles of Religion That it is not Lawful for her to ordain any thing that is contrary or besides the Word of God Besides have not your requests been gratified in many things in altering several passages in the Liturgie as in the Offices of Marriage Churching of Women and Burials what is it you would then have all or none Cannot you be pleased without it be wholly cast aside Will no Concessions else serve your turn O that you would make some weighty exceptions and not use such a frivolous and vain Cavilling against it not worth the Answering or that you would shew the World one of your own that were better before you take away this that would be reasonable and worthy your undertaking And since some of you have allowed of a Liturgie and for peace sake of many inconvenient Circumstances in Gods Worship Baxt. Disp p. 487. Safe way p. 198. and acknowledg also that the Governors of the Church have a decisive power in things undetermined in Scripture why should you not yield to accept of this equitable Proposition to accept of and Conform to this Form of Prayer and these Rites of the Church till better be Instituted or Ordained As to the Cross in Baptism a Moral Hiroglyphick only of our Saviours Death and Crucifixion Godfathers and Godmothers Confirmation Kneeling at the Sacrament Bowing at the Name of Jesus Standing up at Reading the Creed and other things of the like Nature are these things worthy to cause an Eternal Separation betwixt you Are they of so great moment as to make so wide and long a breach in a Nation Are they of worth and value to make you run into Contempt and Rebellion Let us know your Minds if any of these should be yeilded to your tender Consciences and disused to please you would you then Conform in all the rest Would not your Answer be as formerly to Queen Elizabeth That you would not leave a Hoof behind All the Ceremonies of the Church must be laid aside you would have a naked Religion without Cloaths which is not seemly Ceremonies are but the Garments and decencies of Religion not part of it but somewhat that it cannot well be seen without they are like our Cloaths that may be altered that may be cut to the mode and size of the Times without altering the form of our Body There have been Laws made for prohibiting the use of some Garments and that have injoyned the wearing of others though before it was at the choice of the People to wear or not wear them after such Laws made they were no longer indifferent It is even so of our Ceremonies they are indifferent things of themselves but being injoyned by Authority they are now no longer so Obedience is no indifferent thing that is absolutely injoyned by the Word of God 't is obedience to Ecclesiastical Laws that is required This obedience is either justly due to these Laws or it is not If it is why then do you disobey If you say it is not 1 Pet. 2.13 you contradict the Scriptures Submit to every Ordinance of Man whether it be unto the King as Supream or unto Governors c. Rom. 13.1 Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers However it is the safest way to obey should they Command things doubtful let the blame lie upon them you will be excused God requires not impossibilities But certainly God has given to the Governors of the Church a Power of making Laws and Canons Let all things be done decently and according to order 1 Cor. 14.40 And according to this Rule of the Apostle the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England are as few decent comly and fitting as in any Church of the Christian World and all Exceptions against them that I ever could yet see empty and of no substance Manton on Jude Some of you have told us there are but two Lawful Causes of Separation from the Church Persecution and a general corruption of Doctrine for both these Causes and no other have we Separated from the Church of Rome and if you can prove these two marks of Separation to be inherent to the Church of England you will have sufficient to ground your Separation as Lawful and have some plea for what you do but till then I beseech you set your face towards the Temple of Obedience and be refractory no longer and since these things which make this Breach between you are not of any great Moment are but Ceremonies and the outward Garments and Garnatures of Religion leave off that obstinacy and submit your selves to the Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake The great Cry that you have made against these Rites and Ceremonies of the English Church hath been that they were Popery and of Popish extraction borrowed from the Church of Rome but all this while you tell us not what Popery is neither can you disown or dissent from all that is held or practised by the Church of Rome Certainly our Forefathers to whom we owe these things our Reformation from the Romish Church and the Purity of our Religion would not have laid down their Lives and have been Martyr'd by the Church of Rome if it had then been thought either by themselves or by the others that what they had done as to the Reforming the Ceremonies of the Church or towards the maintaining the Doctrines they Held or that the Orders and Discipline they had Constituted had been Popery or rather not opposite in some measure thereto As by Dissenting she shewed the Church of Rome that she had no dependency upon her and that she so far disowned her as she had disowned God by laying aside all those gross Corruptions for which our Church Separated from her so on the other side by retaining some of her harmless and innocent Ceremonies they shew'd her they did not do any thing by the Spirit of Opposition only whereby they might take offence without having a just ground and cause for it But Bishop Sanderson in his Preface to his Sermons tells you what in Truth Popery is Sand. Pref. Sect. 15. That it is those Doctrines which are contrary to the Word of God or but superadded thereunto as necessary Points of Faith to be of all Christians Believed under pain of Damnation and all those Superstitions used in the Worship of God which either are Vnlawful as being contrary to the Word of God or being not contrary and therefore Arbitrary or Indifferent are made Essentials and imposed as necessary parts of Worship From all which the Church of England hath been sufficiently Vindicated and Cleared and you cannot but know in your own Consciences that she disowns the shaddow of all those things and you
as to what belongs to our Salvation yet it is no ways derogatory from its fullness and sufficiency to say that we cannot make use of this Rule without the Light of our Reason and also that in Civil things we may with a Christian Liberty do many things that we find not in Scripture by the meer use of Reason alone and that very Lawfully and without Sin so those things be not contradictory to the Word of God If then our Governors have a Power given them that they may Ordain and Constitute divers Ceremonies in the Church though not mentioned and found in Scripture then ought Inferiors to submit to such Laws and Rules and are in Duty bound to observe them when they are injoyned by a Lawful Authority Do but consider with your selves that whilst you so strictly Demand Scripture to be shown for the use of Ceremonies and other things made use of in the Church of England may not others with the like Liberty bid you to show what Example or Command you have in Scripture for your Lay Presbyters your Classes your stone Churches your Tythes your Infant Sprinklings your Singing Psalms your Weekly Sabbath all these things you know have been Objected against you to which you led the Way and opened the Gap by such your unreasonable Demands If Man hath not a Liberty given him to make use of his Reason in Ordering the Affairs of the Church or in altering many things and adding others as may be Convenient to the temper and constitution of Times but must have a Precedent or Command for it expresly in Scripture how did David err when he thought to build a Temple at Jerusalem 2 Sam. 1.2 3 1 King 8.5 2 Chron. 7.6 7.30.23 Which the Prophet approved of Or Solomon for keeping a Feast of seven days for the Dedication of the Altar Or Hezekiah for continuing the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days longer than the time appointed by the Law Or Mordecai for making an Ordinance for the Yearly observation of the Feast of Purim Esth 9.27 The building of Synagogues wearing of Sackcloth and Ashes in sign of Humiliation their Fasts more then were Commanded immediately by God Zach. 8.19 were all of Humane Institution and without doubt Lawful Times alter and what at one Time may be thought Fitting and Harmless at another would be accounted Scandalous and Unfitting as that Osculum Charitatis used in the Times of the Apostles and approved of by them Rom. 16.16 2 Cor. 13.12 would now give Cause of offence and those Agapae or Love Feasts used by the Primitive Christians at first Innocent enough but soon grew to be worthy of Reproof by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. There is Milk for Babes and Meat for stronger Men. There is a difference between the Church in its Infancy and after the growth of so many Years It has been Corrupted and grown four on its Lees and it hath been again Purged and Refined therefore there must of necessity have been several Laws Rules Canons and Institutions framed for its several Dispensations most agreeable to the temper of the Ages and the Times in which they were made And the Orders of the Times of the Apostles themselves are not in all things now to be urged as of absolute necessity I cannot but wonder since that these Ceremonies and Rites of the Church are by you accounted of but as Mint and Cummin nay by some Condemned as Toys Trifles and Follies that you should stand so stifly against them but those of the Church of England thinking not so meanly of them have therefore the more Reason to stand for their Continuance They say there ought to be a bowing of the Knee as well as of the Heart That by outward Actions the Mind is stirred up with greater fervency to Attention and Devotion That Solemnities have been in all Ages both in Religious and Divine matters as well as Civil That these things are necessary and of use as Garments to the Body That without them Religion would appear Naked and Uncomly That they are also Edifying and Significant That they move the Heart and the Affections and that they are of great use and force That they have been Instituted not without great Care and Deliberation by Holy Pious and Learned Men That they have been long Confirmed in the Minds of Men That to alter or abolish them would be Dangerous and Scandalous That they are Harmless and Innocent of themselves That they give not the Offence but that it is taken Unjustly against them That under the Use of them the Land hath long flourished with Peace and Prosperity till our late distracted Times That since God hath again Restored them almost Miraculously when they were thought to be Dead and for ever Extinguished These things Considered and that they appear not such Trifles to them as you account them they have more Reason not to Depart from them and you less to Insist upon their Abolishment But alas 't is not only Ceremony that you would take way but the Root and Branch as you are wont to say of Episcopacy the Bishops it seems are also Popery they must not stand but is not Self all the while at the Bottom Is it not that you may Reign in their stead with your Lay Elders And what is this Episcopacy so much Cry'd out against by you and others of your Dissenting stamp I 'll tell you in the Learned Mr. Chillingworth's Words Episcopacy in the Essentiality of it is an appointment of one Man of eminent Sanctity and Sufficiency to have a Care of all the Churches within a certain Precinct or Diocess furnished with Authority not Absolute or Arbitrary but Regulated by Laws to the intent that all the Churches under him may be provided of Good and Able Pastors or Presbyters This is the Government you are so scandaliz'd at and which you would take away being the Institution of Christ himself who made his Apostles Bishops or Overseers of his Church for Matthias was chosen to an Episcopal Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And St. Act. 1. Cyp. l. 3. Ep. 9 Cyprian calls all the Apostles by the same Name Episcopos And although they had a large Commission from Christ Go Baptize all Nations and seem Indefinite yet we find some of them Bishops by Restraint as St. James at Jerusalem St. Paul took to himself the Care of the Gentiles and St. Peter of the Jews St. John took Charge of Asia the Less where were afterwards seven Churches governed by so many Bishops termed by St. John Angels Rev. 2. And the Apostles themselves appointed others as Titus and Timothy at first Agents only in their stead and afterwards with Apostolical power of their own And if there be any Credit to be given to History and to Antiquity it self we find that Linus was made Bishop of Rome by the Apostles Iren. l. 3. c. 3 Polycarpus of Smyrna Evodius of Antioch and Titus of Creet Erecting Churches
common Life whatsoever whether Natural or Civil it is altogether false and indefensible I shall not go about to confute this Opinion 't is not my Business or Intention to enter into Disputes of the Merits of the Cause it has been sufficiently done by more skilful Hands and learned Pens But this Weapon is so made that it may be turned against your own selves it offends as much as defends you and cuts both ways like a two edged Sword for by that Rule you can no more defend the wearing your short Cloaks and little Bands than the other party their Gowns and Rochetts and it will be as difficult to prove from Scripture your Institutions and Formalities as the other their Ceremonies and Customs The Holy Word of God is a perfect and most absolute and sufficient direction as to all things concerning our Salvation and as to that point we need not the help of Traditions but certainly in things indifferent and in things about the common Actions of Life we need not seek any farther than the Light of Reason and the common Rules of Discretion and not expect particular Warrants only from the Scripture for every action of humane Life All that we are to take care of is that our Actions be regulated as near as may be to those Rules laid down in the Holy Scriptures for us to walk by at least that they be no ways contradictory and then it will be sufficient to maintain their Legality whilst they are established by the Law of Nature or that of Reason without seeking to deduce Authority for them out of the Holy Scriptures These are the chief things that at present occur to my Memory which lye in the way that leads to Peace and Unity and which if removed will render the way more plain and eaven These are not things of Indifferency you will not own them nor plead for them and I question not when you have lay'd aside your imbittered Passions and rigid Dispositions against your Adversaries you will be willing to put to your Hands that all these Stones of offence may be done away and which should not have been mentioned but for that end But I would not have you think that I am Partial and that this Call ought not also to be heard on the other side and that I would not incite those also of the Church of England to do their part in every thing that may be justly required of them And here I cannot but justifie them from any aspersion of that Nature in that in all their Writings they have held out to you the right Hand of fellowship they have invited you to come in to them they have Called to Unity they have desired your Fellowship and that there may be no longer this Distance and Separation they have at all times exhibited a willingness to have this breach made up they would receive you into their Churches they would Communicate with you as Brothers they would provide for you as Sons they would take care of you as Fathers if you would own them as such What then makes this breach What is it continues this Separation What makes you so stiff in things of small moment Why should not they yeild Say you why should not you obey Say they One would think the weight of Authority should in this Case cast the ballance but sure you have put something more into the scales than what appears to the World that neither the kindness shown you by your Opposers the Indulgence of Princes nor the commands of Authority are able to move up your heavy scale But I would also have this Call reach to the Ears of those of the Church of England to whom with Reverence and Submission be it spoken that you are also desired to continue to use all means that this Unity may be effected and that you would on your parts endeavour to remove all Obstacles thereto You must then endeavour to forget all that is past you must not remember our late Troubles Wars Confusions Devastations as the effects of an unholy War for Religion you must not tell them any more of their unsanctified and bloody Covenant you must not say they are a stiff-necked Generation and people of a perverse Mind and Heart you must not mention their proud and arrogant Tryers nor fright them with the Hobgoblin Smectymnnus you must now forget all that 's past and continue that kindness and moderation that most of you have still on all occasions shown them that the distance that is yet between you may be overcome and that you may meet as Brothers and be united in Heart and Spirit These Rubs being presupposed to be removed what is it now that you Contend for Things as you your selves say of small moment trifles Ceremonies c. 'T is true they are not Essentials matters of Faith things of absolute necessity to Salvation things of indifferency yet not trifles and of no weight or value If they be as you say why stand you so stiff against them Why all this bustle and do about nothing But you have a refuge Conscience They plead the same for retaining them and also have Antiquity and Authority to back them Common Prayer will not down with you no set Form it stints the Spirit with other small and frivolous objections against some parts of the Liturgie For shame leave off at last those needless Cavils of which some of your selves have been ashamed You know that Forms of Prayer have been in all Ages both in the Greek and Latin Churches and are not only of a primitive Institution in the very Infancy of the Church when there was a double measure of the Spirit poured down upon its Bishops and Pastors but our Lord Jesus Christ himself thought good to leave a Set and prescribed Form of Prayer and also the like Forms were used of old in the Jewish Church and Service they were not left to their own Inventions I will not go about to argue the Case with you but if it be Lawful to Pray in a set Form as I suppose none of you will gainsay it is then expedient because Commanded by Authority But have you not a Christian Liberty left you to exercise your Gifts and to shew your Eloquence and Parts in Prayer Ex tempore before your Sermons And that the Spirit may not be quenched as you say may you not enlarge your selves And is it not an usual practice in our Churches Why then should you scruple so much at our Liturgie Would you have none But all the Gifted and Ungifted left to their own Inventions In your time had you not a Directory What was it but a Form of Worship after your Mode And what Church is there abroad even Geneva it self without some Forms both of Worship and of Prayer That our Book of Common Prayer was taken out of the Mass Book and that it was the Mass in English as many of the ignorant have been Taught to cast the greater Odium
abuse her when you tax her of Popery or Superstition by reason of her Rites and Ceremonies But you too often confound Superstition and Idolatry together sometimes the keeping of Christmas is Superstitious the Cross the Surplice the Common Prayer Book the Holy Days the Vigils Lent all Superstitious and sometimes 't is the Idol Christmas the Idol Common Prayer Book the Idol Saints Days and the like But as you know what Idolatry is the giving an Holy and Religious Worship to any thing that is only due to our Maker the only true God so you may know also that Superstition is not the doing or omitting of any thing more or less than is necessary in matters of Religion by reason of the Obligation laid upon them by Superiors but it is the performing or not performing those things by reason of a necessity that is laid upon them that they are sinful of themselves whereby the Consciences of Men are inslaved and terrified And by this means all things that you Judge to be Unlawful though indifferent in themselves till commanded by Authority you prohibit under the Obligation of Sin thereby imposing on the Consciences of others a necessity of not using them though commanded by Authority as being of themselves vile and sinful and this is truly Superstition But what is it you would have Would you have no Government No Discipline No Form in the Church If any why not this as is already Established Since you are not able to Convince it or Convict it either of Popery or Superstition You would have your own you think that purer and better but you must then stay till you can Convince the Magistrate also you must Convince your King and Governors make them first of your Perswasion exhibit to them your Arguments your Reasons your Perswasions all you have done hitherto is nothing you see Thousands are not of your Mind and they will not believe your Church Government and your Classical Form to be any ways Quadrate with such a Monarchy as this is it may perhaps be fit for a small City a little Commonwealth a Province or so it may be fitted for the Constitution of Geneva or some Cantons of the Switzers but it can never be made to sit well about the Necks of these three Kingdoms neither will you be able to perswade the King to pull down the Bishops to set up arbitrary and boundless Tryers to lay aside the Ancient Liturgie and to bring in its place your Directory to put down Ecclesiastical Courts and set up Commissioners we have had too late tryal of your Way and the Tyranny of your Church Government cannot so soon be forgotten when every the Heads of your Classes were as Absolute as Popes and your Inferior Clergy as Proud as Cardinals But had the King and State a mind to gratifie you and to set up your Form would not there still be as many Dissenters for you are not yet agreed among your selves you have not yet shaped a Form that would please others the Independent Anabaptist Quaker Cry out against it and had rather live under the Rule of the Bishops than under the rigid Government of Presbytery it will be impossible to please you all and you may as soon hope to fit a Garment for the Moon Till you are agreed then of a better Form of Ecclesiastical Government and that you are able to Convince the King and the State and your other Dissenting Brethren that you have a better and one more agreeable to the Constitution of this Nation to the Primitive Institution and Purity without the unlawful Argument of the Sword and Rebellion submit I say in Gods Name and for Conscience sake to this as is set up and be no longer Separatists and Congregate no longer by your selves but be perswaded as you ought to hearken to the Call both of God and Man of the Scriptures that press you to Unity and Amity of your Brethren that invite you to Conformity and Communion and to your Superiors who Command you to Submission and Obedience As to the Doctrine of the Church of England you have not wherewith to find any the least shaddow of Cavilling against it you cannot but Confess its Principles to be found but all your Pique is against its Discipline or Church Regiment which as the Learned and Rational Mr. Hooker Law of Eccl. Poâ— Lib. 3. Sect. 3 Hooker tells you is a thing different from Matters of Faith and Salvation But who is it that ought to lay down the Rules and matters of Church Polity and to frame the Laws and Constitutions of Church Government Are they not Men And such to whose care the Governance of the Church is Committed To Kings the Nursing Fathers and to subordinate Ministers as Bishops c Would you have all Laws already laid down in Scripture And nothing left for the exercise of the Light of Reason in these matters But there is no doubt but these Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity may be made by Man Legally and by the Authority of God Luminis naturalis dictatum repellere non modo stultum est sed impium August Lib. 4 de Trin. Cap. 6. and in which Man may make use of his Reason following therein the Rules of the Law of God and the Law of Nature which in the substance is one with the Moral Law of the Scripture and also though these Humane or Canon Laws be not expresly set down in any part of the Scripture yet they ought upon unerring Principles to be deduced therefrom or at least without Contradiction unto any positive Law or Command in Scripture By this means the Laws of Man may be said to be the Laws of God For he owns the very Laws of the Heathen to be of himself though framed by the Light of Nature only and by him written in their Hearts by which the Gentiles were either Excused or Condemned 2 Rom. 15. Why then fly you from these Laws as such Bug-bears Why do you not in all Humility and Singleness of Heart yield Obedience to them for the Lords sake Where lies the Illegality of them Because you cannot find Lawn Sleeves and Rochets in Scripture therefore must they not be worn And because you do not Read of Gowns Tippets square Caps and Canonical Girdles therefore 't is unlawful for Ministers to wear them When God gave us the Light of the Scripture he did not take from us the Light of Reason this indeed is but a dim Light in respect of the other and ought not be trusted to in matters of Faith Divine and Supernatural things but being in Conjunction with the greater Light of Gods Word we have a clear and perfect Sun-shine to see as far as an Humane condition will permit of into the business both of Doctrine and Mannors and we are thereby inabled to give Rules in matters of Faith and Life For though the Scripture is a perfect and absolute Rule in it self and contains all things within it self