of all Nations and maintaining all Sâ—ates in their rights of this World pretendeth not to any power of this World to maintain it self by It becometh Visible by the free will of Christians beleeving it a piece of their Christianity to live die members of one Visible Church The Unity of the Jews State tending to a temporal end of enjoying the Land of promise answereth not the invisible unity of Christian souls but the Visible Unity of a Catholick Church according to that rate in which the Law answers the Gospel And so is this point of Christianity no less clearly delivered by the Old Testament then other points of the Christian Faith are CHAP. VI. How far the Scriptures are clear to bee understood of themselves Tradition limiteth the sense of the Scripture Difference between the Tradition of Faith and Ritual Traditions The difference between Haeresie and Schisme The dependence of Churches evidenceth the Vnity of the Whole Church The forme of this dependence throughout the Roman Empire No exception to bee made to it for the British Church Episcopacy by this form inviolable in all Opinions And the Church a standing Synod The Church Visible by disowning Haeretickes and Schismatickes The breaches that have come to pass evidence the same FOr though all that is necessary to bee known for the salvation How far the Scriptures are clear to bee understood of themselves of all Christians bee not onely sufficiently but abundantly contained in the Scriptures yet how clearly there laid down depends upon the purpose for which God declares that hee gave the several parts of it It is manifest that God intended to vaile the New Testament in the Old and to reveal the Old Testament by the New Therefore Christianity cannot bee clearly delivered in the Old Testament Till our Lord was to leave the world hee declared not the condition of Christianity by which wee are saved Hee declared not that which hee declared when hee was to leave the world to wit that it was thenceforth to consist in undertaking to profess the Faith of the Holy Trinity and to live by Christs precepts though ones life lye upon it For he declared not the promise of sending the Holy Ghost till hee was ready to leave the world And therefore the Baptisme of Christ by which Christians do make that prosession which saveth us was not instituted till his departure And though our Lord had clearly preached the precepts of Christian life from the beginning yet is the Visible estate of his Mystical Body the Church as well as the invisible estate of particular members darkly figured and typified not only by the parables of the Gospel but as well by that which befell him as by that which he did during the time of his preaching Therefore neither is Christianity clearly delivered by the Gospels To them to whom the Apostles writ their Epistles the substance of Christianity must needs bee known for they had been made Christians upon the professing of it But their Epistles therefore suppose it and therefore cannot pretend to deliver it Besides the greatest part of them is spent in proving that wee are saved by Christianity out of the Old Testament And therefore by that correspondence in which the Law answers the Gospel the Church the Synagogue and the Kingdom of Heaven the Land of promise And though our Lord opened his Disciples hearts thus to understand the Scriptures yet are not all that shall bee saved able to make out this correspondence the professing and performing of that Christianity whereby they are saved not requiring it Therefore neither are the Apostles writings clear in things necessary to salvation but supposing the knowledg of that Christianity whereby wee are saved nor absolutely clear but to those that are able to make out that correspondence Without this limitation it is not to bee granted that all things necessary to salvation are clear to all that seek salvation by the Scriptures alone For what mark is there extant in the Scripture to distinguish that which is necessary to salvation from that which is not Nor is there any inconvenience in all this to them that are Tradition limiteth the sense of the Scripture content to lay prejudice aside and to see that which they cannot but see For it will appear by the writings of the Apostles that they committed the Doctrine of Christianity to them whom they trusted with the founding and governing of the Church for the instructing of them that were to bee baptized and formed into Churches whereof the whole Church was to consist So that as they to whom the Apostles writ having received their Christianity from those that were so trusted were to limit the meaning of their writings within that Faith which they had received So is all interpretation of Scripture still to bee confined within that which the Church from the beginning hath received by their hands Which is not to make any man lord of any mans Faith For this Tradition of the Faith is before the very being of the Church Because whosoever became a Christian and so a member of the Church it is supposed that hee undertaketh the same And therefore being in force before there bee any Church it cannot depend upon any authority to bee claimed by the Church And the evidence for it is the same ground into which the reason of beleeving resolveth The consent of all Christians Which as it could not have been preserved and obtained had it not been required to make a man a member of that Church which by professing it stood visibly distinct from all that profess iâ— not So since as much as is necessary to salvation hath been already declared by the consent of the Church to confine all interpretation of Scripture within that which all the Church every where at all times hath received can make no man lord over the Faith of the Church But there is a vast distance between this Tradition of Faith Difference between the Tradition of Faith and Ritual Traditions and other Traditions which may have proceeded from that authority and trust for founding the Church which our Lord left with his Apostles and they with the Church For that being the condition upon which all Christians are saved remains alwaies the same neither to bee encreased nor diminished till the Worlds end But the productions of Ecclesiastical power vested in the Apostles and their successours can bee no more then the limiting of circumstances according to which the publick Service of God is to bee performed and those powers exercised which God hath granted the Church for the maintaining of Unity in serving God according to that Christianity which our Lord teacheth Christianity is concerned in them but two waies The first when they are so far from advancing the service of God which Christianity requireth that it is impaired and destroyed by corruption in them The second when a part of the Church proceedeth to a change in them upon pretense that
so it is though indeed it bee otherwise The first is the plea of the Reformation against the Church of Rome The second the plea of the Church of Rome against them as to this point of Traditions And the issue is the same that is to bee tried between the Church of England and those that stand at this distance from it For the Unity of the Church being a part of the common Christianity the breach of it will bee chargeable upon that side which makes such a change as the rest have not reason to embrace If the pretense thereof bee either not evident or not sufficient the fault is in them If both in those who refuse to joyn in iâ— The Rules and Customs and Rites of the Church which are called Traditions are not commanded because good but are good because commanded And therefore even the Traditions of the Apostles being of this kind may cease to oblige by the change that may-succeed in the state of the Church for which they are provided Instances hereof recorded in the Scriptures have been produced They therefore that break from the Church upon any point The difference between Haeresic and Schisme of the Tradition of Faith which is before the Church as being requisite to make a man a member of the Church are properly called Haereticks For if they only disbeleeve in the heart they may bee counted Haereticks to God but that is nothing to the Church of which wee now speak But they that will not stand to the authority of the Church in maters subject to it are Schismaticks For those things to which the authority of the Church extendeth are the mater of Schisme Not that this difference is alwaies observed For many times the name of Haeresie extendeth to all Sects which mans choise not the will of God createth But because there is that difference visible in the mater of Christianity which many times appropriateth the common name of Haeresie to the most eminent that Separate upon mater of Faith These things are here premised to make way for the evidence which I tender for the Visible Unity of the Church from the consent of all Christians Hee that sticketh at any point of it may have recourse to the proofe which I have made in due place taking all therefore here for granted But I will advance another assumption tending â—o set the The dependence of Churches evidâ—nâ—eth the Unity of the Whole Church same evidence in better light by stating the form in which the whole Church from the Apostles hath alwaies been governed without repeating the proofes whereby it appeareth A Church then in the sense of all Christians before the Reformation is the Body of Christians contained in a City and the Territory of it For the Government of such a one the respective Authority of the Apostles conveyed by the overt act of their Ordination was visibly vested in a Bishop in a number of Presbyters for his advice and assistance and in Deacons attending upon them and upon the executing of their Orders I say the respective authority of the Apostles because as less Cities are subject to greater in Civil Government so have the Churches of less Cities alwaies depended upon Churches of greater Cities throughout Christendom Rome Alexâ—ndria Antiochia were from the beginning of Christianity visible heads of these great resorts in Church Government which the Council of Nâ—câ—â— made subject to them by Canon Law for the future The eminence of other Cities over their inferiour Churches appears in the Records of the Church as soon as there is any mention of them to make it appeaâ— In these Churches and in the Governors of them the whole Authority of the Apostles was vested For they constituted the Church In process of time the Government of the Roman Empire The form of this dependence throughout the Roman Empire was moulded anew under Constantine otherwise then it had been by Augustus But this new model was designed by Adrian It made the chief Cities of the chief quarters of the Empire the Residences of the chief Commanders of the Armies with civil Jurisdictions respective Which civil Jurisdictions Constanâ—ine left them when hee took from them their commands over the Armies Carthage for Africk Milane for Italy that part which was not under Rome Triers for Gaule Thessalonica for Illyricum Ephesus for Asia Caesarea Cappadociae for Pontus the pre-eminence of the Churches is as visible over the Churches of their inferiour Cities in the records of the Church as the pre-eminence of the Cities in the records of the Empire And according the course of all humane affairs must not this pre-â—minence of necessity bee further limited enlarged or abated in process of time whether by written Law or by silent custom For the effect hereof I present to your consideration the Canons of the Council of Sardica whick I take to bee the greatest advantage that ever lawfully and by regular means accrewed to the Church of Rome toward that greatness which since it hath irregularly obtained For it is visible that they were the means to extend the superiority thereof over Illyricum which continued till the Eastern Empire having the Church of Rome in jealousie laid that whole Jurisdiction under the Church of Constantinople The encrease of which Church upon the seating of the Empire at that City the ground which I allege for the superiority of all Churches as it hath been unjustly opposed by the Church of Rome so it is justly owned by those who protest against the Usurpation of it They that would except Britaine out of this Rule upon the No exception to bee made to it for the British Church act of the Welsh Bishops refusing Austine the Monke for their head should consider that St. Gregory setting him over the Saxon Church which hee had founded according to Rule transgressed the Rule in setting him over the Welsh Church For the Canon of the Apostles maintains every Nation to bee governed by their own Bishop Which the Welsh had reason then to insist upon because of the jealousie which appeared from the Saxons of their incroaching upon the Nation if their Bishop should bee owned for the head of the Welsh Church Setting this case aside the rest of that little remembrance that remains concerning the British Church testifies the like respect from it to the Church of Rome as appears from the Churches of Gaule Spain and Africk of which there is no cause to doubt that they first received their Christianity from the Church of Rome And if so they did then is there reason to conclude that they owed it the respect which was due to their Mother Church But that they either owed it or shewed it the respect of a Subject to the Sovereign which none is challenged none at all As for Illyricum which shewed the same respect after the Council of Sardica it cannot bee thought to have owed it before because it received not Christianity Episcopacy by this formâ—
they who should receive them worthily might bee filled with his Grace The common prayers of the Church that is of those who were admitted to Communion with the Church were always made at the Altar or Communion-Table in the action of the Sacrament Reason good How can Christians think their prayers so effectual with God as when they are presented at the Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ crucified the Representation whereof to God in heaven makes his Intercession there so acceptable Especially by those who maintain the Covenant of their Christianity contracted at their Baptisme by communicating in the Eucharist Here then that is at the celebrating of the Eucharist prayers The prayer of Oblation instituted by St. Paul and the â—ater of it supplications and intercessions were made for all estates in the Church and for their respective necessities For the averting of all Gods Judgements for the obtaining of all his blessings For publique Powers and their Ministers for the Governors and Ministers of the Church high and low for publique Peace and prosperity for the Seasons and Fruits of the Year for the Sick and Distressed for the helps of Gods Grace in all parts of that Christianity which wee profess passing by daily offenseâ— for particular occasions of interceding with God which each particular Congregation may have And there bee good and sufficient witnesses the Author of the Commentary upon St. Paul to Timothy under St. Ambrose his name the Author de Vocatione Gâ—ntium St. Augustine and Pope Caelestine in his Epistle ad Gallos that this was the practice of the whole Church and that in obedience to St. Pauls instructions to Timothy 1 Tim. II. 1-6 And this confirmes my opinion that St. Paul ordering prayers supplications intercessions and thanksgiâ—ings for Kings and all in authority means that prayers supplications and intercessions bee made for Kings and the rest at Thanksgiving that is when the Eucharist is celebrated For that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sense of antient Christians signifies the celebrating of the Eucharist I have produced plentiful evidence However the antient Chuch manifestly signifieth that they did offer their Oblations out of which the Eucharist was consecrated with an intent to intercede with God for publique or private necessities And that out of an opinion that they would bee effectual alleging the Sacrifice of Christ crucified then present which renders Christs intercession effectual for us And this is the true ground why they attributed so much to this Commemoration of the Sacrifice which makes nothing for the effect of it in private Masses but more then will bee valued for the frequenting of the Holy Eucharist The Consecration ended always with the Lords Prayer The Lords Prayer at theâ— Eucharist Which confirms my opinion that St. Paul when he saith How shall the unlearned say Amen to thy thanksgiving 1 Cor. XIV 16. means that Amen which came after the Lords Prayer taking Thanksgiving there for celebrating the Eucharist For there is nothing so generally evident in Antiquity as the beginning of the Consecration at Sursum corda or lift up your hearts And the ending of it with the Lords Prayer and the Doxology which in my opinion being so frequented upon this occasion by the licentiousness of Copyists in time came to bee crouded into the Text of the Scripture For it is manifest enough that the most considerable Copies do not own it But the Common Prayers for all estates as it seems sometimes The Place for the Common Prayers went before the Consecration sometimes came after it For I am to seek for evidence in the Records of the Latine Church importing that they came after the Consecration And yet I have made it evident that they were used of old by the Latine Church at celebrating of the Eucharist though now not found in the present Latine Mass And the Liturgy of the Church of Alexandria and the Aethiopick depending upon that Church have them before the Consecration But the best and most Greekish Forms and Authorities agreeing therewith make them come after it CHAP. XVI Difference in the state of Souls departed in Grace before Judgement The antient Church never prayed to remove them out of Purgatory To what purpose they were remembred at the Eucharist The Saints departed pray for the Militant Church Of Prayers to the Saints departed No Common Prayer in the Pulpit by Gift but in a set form at the Communion-Table Apostolical Graces subject to Order Of the Graces of the Spirit in St. Paul and the Original of Letanies The Prayers of the Eucharist how prescribed by the Apostles Prayers of the Reformed Churches in the Pulpit but by a form The effect of the Long Parliament Prayers by the Spirit ONe point of these prayers I must speak to here in particular Difference in the state of Souls departed in Grace before Judgment To wit the Commemoration of the dead for which the Mass is now pretended by the Church of Rome a Sacrifice for quick and dead to what effect the Scripture expounded by the practice of the whole Church may bee thought to allow it I have shewed out of the Revelation that the souls of Mâ—rtyrs appearing before the Throne of God in the Court of the Tabâ—rnacle to wit in the Jerusalem which is above The Throne appears to St. John indeed but is to bee understood in the Holy of Holies and therefore is not seen in the Couâ—t of the Tabernacle But those 144000 that were sealed and preserved from the destruction of Jerusalem appear not in the Court of the Tabernacle but on Mount Sion a place of inferior holiness And sing not the Martyrs song but are only able to learn it which no body else could do Sufficient Arguments of difference in the State of blessed souls though all beneath that which the Resurrection promiseth which all of them earnestly desire Suppose the place bee the third Heavens suppose that it is called Paradise because of necessity it answers the Figure of the earthly Paradise suppose that in respect of the Saints that dyed under the Law it is called Abrahams bosome There may bee inferior Mansions in the mean time before the Rusurrection for souls of inferior holiness though they depart in the State of Grace For how oft do the Apostles signifie a sollicitous expectation of the Day of Judgement in those whom they suppose to dye Christians A thing which can by no means stand with the estate of those that are before the Throne of God praising him day and night in the Court of the Tabernacle And therefore St. Ambrose and St. Augustine had great reason to follow the fourth Book of Esdras written without doubt by a very antient Christian though not authorized by the Church placing the generality of souls departed in the state of Grace in certain secret receptacles signifying no more then the unknown Condition of their estate For the practice of the Church in interceding for them at the
with judgement as well as with truth and righteousness Wee have this evidence for that which I say that the authorities of those Divines of this Church that have declared the sense of the Oath of Supremacy with publick allowance are now alleged by the Papists themselves to infer that the mater of it is lawful as capable of the sense which they declare Now the bounds of Reformation being visible by the Faith The extent of Secular Power in Reforming the Church and the Laws of the Catholique Church the extent of Secular power in Ecclesiastical maters and over Ecclesiastical persons and therefore in the reforming of them preserving Ecclesiastical power in persons that have it by the founding of the Church from God cannot remain invisible For in the first place there can bee no question That the Sovereign as a Sovereign is to maintain his own Rights by such means as hee finds meet against all Usurpations under pretense of the Church and the authority of it For the common Christianity assureth him that all such Usurpations are contrary to it And besides as a Christian Sovereign it is his Inheritance to bee a Member of the Church and a Protector of all his Subjects in the same right Therefore all Christian Sovereigns are born Advocates and Patrons of the Faith and of the Rights of the Whole Church And if by lapse of time they bee gone to decay if by any express Act they have been infringed it lyes in them to restore their Subjects and themselves to those Rights being brought into evidence by the authority and crâ—dit of the whole Church But seeing the determining of the mater of Ecclesiastical Law as well as of Controversies of Faith belongs to those that have authority in the Church by the foundation of it Of necessity the fitting of the present Laws of every Church to those which the whole Church hath been ruled by from the beginning as the difference which may appear in the State of those bodies to which they were given shall require will by vertue of Gods Law belong to those that have such authority by the Foundation of the Church And upon these terms the right of Secular power in Church maters is accumulative and not destructive to the Rights of the Church And upon these terms only the Sovereign is justifiable at the great Day of Judgment in things that may bee done amiss in reforming the Church CHAP. XXI The pretense of Infallibility makes the breach unreconcileable So doth the pretense of perspicuity in the Scripture The Trial must suppose the Catholick Church The Fanatickes further from the truth of Christianity then the Church of Rome The consequence of their principle worse then that of Infallibility The point of Truth in the middle between both How salvation is concerned in the mater of Free Will and Grace Salvation concerned in the Sacraments upon the same terms The abuses of the Church of Rome in the five Sacraments The Grace of Ordination The Reformation pretended no less abuse on the other side The point of Reformation in the mean between both The Superstitions of the Church of Rome The Superstitions of the Puritans Why the Pope cannot bee Antichrist How it is just to Reform without the See of Rome ANd upon Supposition of the premises for which I conceive The pretense of Infallibility makes the breach unreconcileable I have produced competent evidence I proceed to take the Balance in hand and to put the Extreams into the Scales that I may put it to the conscience of all that are resolved to prefer truth before Faction or prejudice where the point of Reformation lyes upon terms of right And how neer the publique Powers of this Kingdom are bound to come to it in this Case when an Uniformity in Religion is to bee setled by Law for the Church of England In the first place then the Infallibility of the present Church is to bee held â—or an Errour of pernicious consequence in the Church of Rome For it submits all the parts of Christianity to the passion and interest of persons that shall bee for the present in power to sway those maters wherein the whole Church is concerned It is a thing manifest in the world that though that which concerns all in point of Religion is to bee treated by all yet that which is treated by all is concluded always by the authority of a few So things passed when Councils were frequented The Freedom of Councils being interrupted and the present Church accepted for Infallible the See of Rome will of necessity bee the present Church And the passions and interests thereof will have as much power in maters of Religion as those passions and interests can allow and stand with What the effect thereof may bee I need not argue to those that profess the Reformation upon that account Only thus far they may seem excusable that there is no Act with force of Law tying all of that profession to maintain it Infallibility may bee claimed for the whole Church And that is true And it may bee claimed for the present Church which is false They that pretend to reduce us to the Church of Rome would spoil their own market if they should distinguish thus Therefore they plead Infallibility without distinguishing On the other side there is as much difference between the So doth the pretense of perspicuity in the Scripture sufficiency of the Scripture for the salvation of all and the clear evidence of all that is necessary to bee known for the salvation of all to all in the Scriptures The one is as true and the other as false as the Infallibility of the present Church is false and the Infallibility of the whole Church is true And to appeal to the Scriptures alone when the sense of them only is questionable is to declare that wee will submit to no other trial but our own sense As they who declare the present Church infallible can never depart from any thing which once it hath declared For it is manifest that they who appeal to the Scriptures The Trial must suppose the Catholick Church alone having before this appeal declared themselves in the points of difference between the Reformation and the Church of Rome do declare themselves tyed in conscience to stand to that sense of the Scripture upon which they ground their opinion in the maters of difference What means then can remain to bring that to a Trial which causes division upon these terms but to acknowledge one Catholick Church which our Creed professeth And by consequence to submit our sense of all Scripture that remains in question all difference in Doctrine all Laws of the Church to bee determined according to the sense and practice of the whole Church that is within the bounds of it For to proceed to divide the Church still into more and more parties and Communions till wee have lost the sense of any obligation to hold communion with
Bishop Dioscorus by it at length these Churches are counted Jacobites from the name of one Jacobus Zanzalus or little Jacob of Syria who is said to have taught them the position of Eutyches condemned by that Council Whether so or whether a fond zeal for the reputation of Dioscorus hath served to divide that people from the Church upon a meer difference in terms the breach still continues and the Abyssines depending alwaies upon the Church of Alexandria are said to continue in it Since that what breach of intercourse and communion hath fallen out between the Greek and Latine Church or upon what cause and how far it continues I need not relate But there can bee no question that it disposed these Western parts to that breach which the Reformation hath made Within the Reformation I need not speak of the Division between the Calvinists on the one side and the Lutherans in the Empire the Arminians in the Law Countries on the other side I am only this to demadn did ever any of these parties declare that the Visible Unity which these breaches interrupt is not Gods Ordinance That one of the Parties is not always guilty to God for the mischief of Schisme That Christian charity is not highly concerned in violating that Communion which Christianity enacteth Until the dregs of our times I do not know that it was ever Disputed that Christians are not bound to bee members of one and the same Visible Church I have already said that the Reformation was not made by common consent I must now acknowledg futher that it proceeded not expresly upon the profession of one Visible Church though neither denying nor questioning the same No marvel then if in all things it bee not confined to the consequences of it And therefore no marvel that dissentions have fallen out in it No marvel that they who dare not look so clear a principle in the face can wrangle out the salvation of souls upon pety scruples which the admitting of it must needs presently disperse CHAP. VII Reformation to bee bounded by that wherein the Visible Church agreeth No change without regard to the Rules of the Catholick Church Regular authority in the Church of Rome the means of Vnity absolute of Schisme How wee are visibly one with the onely Church of God Reforming without the Church of Rome AS for the Church of England where Episcopacy stands Reformation to bee bounded by that wherein the Visible Church agreeth setled by the Law of the Land as well as by the Law of God and the right of goods consecrated to the Service of God by investing them upon his Church is maintained by the same Are we not to fear the curse of God if in all things of Religion wee mete not by the same Standard if wee weigh not by the same Weights Can wee pretend to weigh by the same Weights unless wee admit the whole Faith and all the Lawes of the Catholick Church Unless wee confine the Reformation to the restoring of that which hath been without introducing that which cannot appear to have been Men see new fanfies every day in the Scriptures which the same man sees not to morrow another man never sees The Profâ—ssion of Faith the Rules of Government the Rites of Gods service are the things that must make a Church a part or no part of the Whole Church For if the Church bee a Visible Body it must bee visible by the Lawes which it useth And if it bee to continue one and the same Body from the first to the second coming of our Lord the Lawes of it will necessarily change as the Lawes of all Bodies do but the authority whence they proceed must needs continue the same If corruption and abuse bee to bee Reformed and those in whom the authority visibly resteth agree not Restoring that which was you have the Authority of the Apostles and their successours for the reviving of their acts Introducing that which was not you go by the spirit of the Fanatickes the dictate whereof appears not in the Scriptures by the consent of the Church In fine mater of Faith is to the worlds end the same that the whole Church hath always from the beginning professed If you impose more the Church of Rome will have a better pretense then you can have namely a better claim to the authority of the Church For it is an imposture to induce any man to think that professing Christianity they can renounce the Scriptures The issue is and will bee whether you or the Church shall be judge Untill you distinguish between the present Church and the Whole Church not contesting the Faith of the present Church so far as it holds with the Whole But in mater of Church Law which for the reason that hath been said is necessarily changeable though the difference of times and the estate of things will not indure the restoring of Primitive Discipline yet shall it bee easie thereby to discern what is abated for Unities sake what is rejected because the Catholick Church and the Lawes of it are not owned And upon these terms it will bee easie to answer all demands No change without regard to the Rules of the Catholick Church not only here but at the great day of Judgement at which otherwise the account cannot bee clear They that would have it thought that the mischiefs which wee have seen have not been acted for nothing would have the Law of the Kingdom in mater of Religion changed to give them content without considering what cause wee give the Church of Rome to take us for Schismatickes balking the Whole Church that wee may bee reconciled to those that have broken from us For supposing for the present though not granting that all Papists are Idolaters and the Pope Antichrist The Unity of the Church is nevertheless as it hath been proved a part of Christian truth Nor can Papists bee Idolaters or the Pope Antichrist for beleeving any thing which the Whole Church beleeveth for commanding or for practicing that which the Whole Church hath commanded or practiced Nay not for that which the Whole Church of any age hath allowed part of the Church to practice For God forbid it should bee said which it were senseless to imagine that part of the Christian World should own part of it for Christians being indeed Idolaters and Partizans of Antichrist The Church must have been utterly lost in that case and the Reforming of it must not bee the mending of the old Church but the making of a new Church Yet is it not enough for these men to allege the antient Church in any particular They must weigh by their own Weights and mete by their own Standard if they will not fall under Gods curse They that stand not to the consent of the Church in all things answer themselves when they allege it Nay they may invite us to bee Schismatickes for their sakes in that for which they truly allege the antient
would bee were the Pope Antichrist and the Papistâ— Idolaters Though to those that believe them so because they believe them so the measure and the bounds of Reformation will never appear to stand where indeed they do But let them look to the consequence of their own imaginations This one must needs render them Schismaticks to God abhorring communion upon imaginary reasons But will render us with them Schismaticks both to God and to his Church if wee make all that to bee Reformation which their imaginations tainted with such a prejudice would have to bee Law to this Church and Kingdom CHAP. XXII The present State of the Question concerning our Service The Reformation pretended abominable Such Preaching and Praying as is usual a hindrance of salvation rather then the means to it What Order of Service the continual Communion will require What form of Instruction this Order will require Of that which goes before the Preface in our Communion Service Of the Prefaces and the Prayer of Consecration Of the Prayer of Oblation and the place of it Of the Commemoration of the dead in particular Why the Communion Service at the Communion Table when no Eucharist A secondary Proposition according to present Law I conceive I have by this time shewed a reason for that The present state of the Question concerning our Service which I said in the beginning that there is so much in question between us and the Puritans comprising in that name all the parties into which it stands now divided as if it were decided for them would give the Papists the advantage against the Protestants Now as for the great question amongst us concerning our Service if it were truly stated it would soon be at an end If it may bee once considered that the question is indeed and in truth whether Sermons shall drive the Communion out of the Church or not whether or no arbitrary Prayers in the Pulpit shall chase out of the Church those which St. Paul commanded to bee made and the Church by his command hath frequented ever since I conceive the Dispute would bee easily decided And that is the thing in question indeed and in effect how little soever it appear Certainly if there were never any common Prayers made in the Pulpit if there were always common Prayers made at the Altar they who had no common Prayers but at the Eucharist had the Eucharist as oft as they had common Prayers Not as if the Church did never assemble but when the Eucharist was celebrated But because their desire and endeavour was to celebrate the Eucharist once every day and that in the morning unless it were a Fast and always at dismissing the Assembly as the principal Office of it For hence the Eucharist came in time to bee called the Mass which had formerly been the name of the Assembly it self from the dismissing of it And they who endeavoured to celebrate the Eucharist every day were not like to let Lords days and Festivals pass or think them solemnized as they should bee by Christians without it Since therefore I claim that this came by Tradition of the The Reformation pretended abominable Church from St. Pauls order I will infer no less then I have proved That to change the Communion every Lords day and Festival together with Morning and Evening Prayer every day in the Church and that with the Litanies upon Wednesdays and Fridays which the Law of the Land hitherto requireth for two Sermons every Sabbath with arbitrary Prayers afore or after them would not bee Reformation but Apostasie For it is manifest that at the Reformation the Eucharist was in possession in all Churches though the Communion had been surceased Nor was it ever excepted that the frequenting hereof had in it any colour of abuse or abatement to that very Christianiâ—y which wee receive from our Lord and his Apostles The abuse was in private Masses It was also a just complaint that the people were not taught their duty out of the Holy Scriptures and that the instructing of them by preaching was neglected beyond all reason and conscience But was it ever pretended that the reforming of the abuse in private Masses consisteth in two Sermons a Sabbath for wee must speak like Jews if wee will not offend tender consciences with the Prayers of the people such as the Minister shall please before or after it which is the Reformation now pretended Had it been said that this is Reformation when abuses were so visible that the name of Reformation was popular it had been easily answered that this were to bring the chief Office of Christianity to little or nothing And therefore if this bee the form that was called Reformation in some places it must bee said that it was easieâ— to see what ought not to bee then to settle what should bee But for a Christian Kingdom having upon deliberation setled an order whereby the Eucharist is to bee celebrated all Lords days and Festivals for Reformations sake to leave Ministers of tender consciences free not to celebrate it above thrice a year and that having a competent number to communicate which may bee not once in seven years as now is demanded I hope it shall never bee said in the streets of Gath that it past undetested It is necessary for him that is come to the state of salvation Such Preaching and Praying as is usual a hindrance of salvation rather then the means to it as a Christian to learn how hee is to live as a Christian and to grow every day in the knowledg of his duty that hee may discharge it But shall hee bee able to do this by hearing two Sermons every Sabbath and as many more as if hee did nothing else Or may hee not bee able without it Certainly that which their Preachers now do is so far from being necessary that it is no fit means to the salvation of the generality of Gods people They may easily make it a trade never to fail to while out an hour or two in the Pulpit in discoursing the meaning of their text in framing Doctrines out of it and proofs of those Doctrines more plentiful a great deal when they are so manifest that they need not then when they are so obscure that they cannot bee proved to the generality of Christians and upon these Doctrines and Proofs Exhortations Invectives Instructions Reproofs such as the driving of Faction shall require and yeâ— hee that would learn his duty shall bee as far to seek after many thousands of such Sermons as afore And yet it shall bee an act of no less charity to Preach a Sermon of Christian instruction and exhortation in and to the known duties of all or the generality of Christians then it hath always been reputed by Gods Church But let not a man therefore think if hee have any doubt in some difficult point of Doctrine in some nice case of Conscience in the meaning of some leading text of