by Scripture or sufficient reason Liber Prop. p. 89. Pacif. Points of good concernment not determinable by Scriptures nor yet by Reason How contrary is this to what is quoted out of Chrysostom and Fulgentius in the Homlly Exhorting to the reading of the holy Scripture p. 2. Besides such an assertion doth very much tend to discourage men from making enquiry into Truth for if such points are not determinable by either Scripture or Reason how shall they be determined If by the Church I say the Church in her determinations must be guided by Scripture and Reason or else her members are not obliged to regard her determinations Laud I must negatively conclude that all things necessary to the Salvation of all are not of themselves clear in the Scripture to all understandings whereby I say not that all such things are not contained in the Scriptures as if some things necessary to the salvation of all were to be received by Tradition alone Nor that being in the Scriptures they are not clear and discernable to the understandings of those that are furnished with means requisite to discern the meaning of Scripture But that which I stand upon is that it is not nor ought to be a presumption that this or that is not necessary to Salvation because it is not clear in the Scriptures which if it were admitted whosoever were able to make such an argument against any Article of Faith as all understandings interessed in salvation could not dissolve should have gained this that though it may be true yet it cannot be an Article of Faith Principles of Christian Truth p. 25. Pacif. It is beyond all dispute that all things contained in Scripture are not clear to all understandings there are some understandings to which nothing is clear it is also past dispute that they who understand Scriptures must be first furnished with all means necessarily requisite for the understanding of Scriptures and which is more they must make use of those means and pray to God for a blessing upon them but this is said by Protestants against Papists that God hath made nothing necessary for the Salvation of all men Necessitate praecepti medii but such things as are so clearly laid down in the Word that all who will make use of the abilities God hath vouchsafed may find them out and that men may safely conclude that is not a necessary Article of Religion which is not clear in some place or other of Scripture clear I say with such a clearness as may satisfie the conscience though not with such as may satisfie curiosity Laud The holy Scriptures in the first time of the Christian Church were not communicated to all men all at once for the Primitive Fathers wisely considered how extreamly perillous it might be to expose the whole Scripture unto ignorant mens use and judgement or indeed abuse rather and want of judgement surely more dangerous and pernicious it might prove unto mens souls then to leave a whole Apothecaries shop open to a diseased person who might as well choose and take deadly poyson to his destruction as a Soveraign medicine to the recovery of his health Had the souls of men been so carefully watched over by their Governors and such portions of Scripture wisely and fatherly dispensed unto them as might with such holy reservedness have met with mens proficiency surely such prodigious Monsters had not been counterfeited out of the Word of God by the spirit of Opinion as in these later dayes we have seen and lament to see Dr. Gell. Preface to his Essay about the amendment of our English Translation Pacif. That by the free reading of the Holy Scriptures some very dangerous Opinions have been occasioned accidentally is no question but that therefore any part of the Scripture should be locked up in an unknown Tongue from the Vulgar is no stronger an inference then if one should argue because some have burned their fingers and houses with candle and fire therefore the free use of those creatures is not to be vouchsafed in a Common-wealth And as I think the conclusion to be absurd so I am sure 'T is quite contrary to the whole scope and design of the Homilies called an Information of them that take offence at certain places of Holy Scripture Laud The further we proceed in the survey of the Scripture the Translation is the more faulty as the Hagiographa more then the Historical Scripture and the Prophets more then the Hagiographa and the Apocrypha most of all and generally the New-Testament more then the Old Idem near the end of his Preface Pacif. Such a censure might have been born from the pen of the Rhemish and Doway Divines but who can bear it from one pretending to be an English Protestant the Translation is Vsque ad invidiam aliarum gentium elaborata Translatio It was sufficiently defended in the parts that you find most fault with by Dr. Fulk and Cartwright against the Cavils of the Rhemists and may more easily be defended against the exceptions taken to it by you But there is another thing that offends me in your former words viz. That you seem to make the Apocrypha part of the Scripture which word when it is taken absolutely and without addition should suppose only for Canonical Scripture and I do the more doubt that you advance the Apocrypha higher then do our Reformed Divines because I find you ascribing the Book of Wisdom to Solomon p. 51. whereas that Book was sure written by one of a spirit far inferior to that which acted Solomon in his writings Laud Such is the boldness and ignorance of some that they have left out of their impressions the Apocryphal Scriptures whereby they have gotten this whereof to glory that they have done that which no wise or honest man hath done before them so far as I have yet known or I hope will adventure to do after them Dr. Gell Pref. Pacif. To devest all those who had an hand in leaving the Apocrypha out of our English Bibles of all wisdom and honesty is very hard for what if those Apocryphal writings be of some good use yet there 's nothing in them should make it necessary or expedient to bind them up with the Canon why may they not be kept in a Volume by themselves or indeed how can they be read by private Christians at all without apparent hazard and scandal seeing some of them contain notorious lyes some of them justifie such things as God Law and the Law of Nature too do condemn But before we proceed any further suffer me to know your mind about Reason and Councils Laud All Controversies are reducible to two heads Goodness or Truth so that the question is Whether right reason can infallibly judge what is good or bad true or false for a thing to be morally good for Metaphysical Goodness is all one with Truth depends by sure connexion from that Eternal Justice which is primarily in God
accommodato adorationi erectam aut constitutam modus autem aecomodatus adorationi est cum imago depicta aut sculpta est per se non veluti appendix additamentum alterius rei in ornatum illius rei Beware lest thou make to thy self i. e. to any religious use any grauen image Homily Perill of Idol p. 42. Laud The examples of the Seraphims and Brazen Serpent tell us that to make pictures or statues of creatures is not against a natural reason and that they may have uses which are profitable as well as be abused to danger and superstition Now although the nature of that people was apt to the abuse yet Christianity hath so far removed that danger that our blessed Law-giver thought it not necessary to remove us from superstition by a prohibition of the use of images and pictures and for the matter of images we have no other rule left us in the New Testament the rules of reason and nature and the other parts of the Institution are abundantly sufficient for our security And possibly St. Paul might relate to this when he affirmed concerning the fifth that it was the first Commandment with a promise for the second Commandment had a promise of shewing mercy to thousand generations but because the body of this Commandment was not transcribed into the Christian Law the first of the Decalogue which we retain and in which a promise is inserted is the fift Commandment G. E. part 2. p. 111 112. Pacif. Do you then think that the second Commandment is not retained by us Christians I never thought but that it was if not natural yet moral of universal and perpetual obligation of this judgement were the Ancients Irene lib. 4. cap. 31. August lib. 19. contra Faus cap. 18 Epis 119. cap. 12 Not to speak of Clem Alex. who in his Adhortatory Oration to the Gentiles plainly saith that the Commandment obligeth us as well as the Jews though he seem to be mistaken in giving the sense of it this way also go all Protestants though indeed the Papists do make this law but temporary In a word God allowed the Jews a civil use of Images and other he alloweth not to us under the Gospel who are not so much out of danger of Idolatry and superstition as you seem to imply Laud Images have three uses assigned by the Popish Schools instruction of the rude commonefaction of History and stirring up of devotion they and we also give unto them Gagg p. 300. The pictures of Christ the blessed Virgins and Saints may be made had in houses set up in Churches respect and honour may be given to them the Protestants do it and use them for helps of Piety in rememoration and more effectual representing of the Prototipe Ans. to Gagg p. 818. Pacif. The Church of England teacheth her children quite another lesson Hom. against the peril of Idol Part 3. p. 42. It is unlawful that the Image of Christ should be made or that the Image of any Saint should be made especially to be set up in Temples to the great and unavoidable danger of Idolatry we grant Images used for no Religion or Superstition rather we mean Images of none worshipped or in danger to be worshipped may be suffered but Images placed publickly in Temples cannot possibly be without danger of Idolatry many such passages may be picked out of that Homily which are the more considerable because of all our Homilies it seemeth to be penned with most exactness Laud It is the Consecration that makes Churches holy and makes God esteem them so which though they be not capable of grace yet by their consecration they receive a spiritual power whereby they are made fit for Divine Service and being consecrated there is no danger in ascribing holiness unto them Tedder his Visit Sermon licensed by Dr. Baker an. 1637. Pacif. That Churches do by Consecration receive any spiritual power whereby they are made more fit for Divine Service than other places or that the same company meeting in a private house and praying by the same Spirit should not be as acceptable to God as in the Church is Superstition to affirm nor did the Church of England ever teach any such Doctrine yet I easily grant that in peaceable times and under Christian Princes the people of God ought to have their {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and that it is a broach of civil decency to employ these places set a part for Gods Worship to any common uses ordinarily Laud We use signing with the sign of the Cross both in the fore-head and elsewhere witness that solemn Form in our Baptism for which we are so quarrelled by our factions the flesh is signed that the soul may be fortified saith Tertullian and so do we Ans. to Gagg p. 320. Pacif. If any one besides the Minister useth signing with the Cross or if he use it at any time but in Baptism or on any place but on the forehead 't is done without any warrant at all from the Church of England and our Church retained the sign of the Cross in Baptism only as an outward Ceremony and honorable Badge but it doth not ascribe any efficacy unto it of fortifying the soul and declares the child to be perfectly baptized before it be signed with the sign of the Cross as plainly appears from the Book of Canons agreed upon 1603. Chapter Of the lawful use of the Cross Laud Baptism of Infants is most certainly a holy and charitable Ordinance and of ordinary necessity to all that ever dyed and yet the Church hath founded this Rite on the Tradition of the Apostles and wise men do easily observe that the Anabaptists can by the same probability of Scripture enforce a necessity of communicating Infants upon us as we do of Baptizing Infants upon them if we speak of an immediate Divine Institution or of practice Apostolical recorded in Scripture and therefore a great Master of Geneva in a Book he writ against Anabaptists was faign to fly to Apostolical Traditive Ordination and therefore the Institution of Bishops must be served first as having fairer plea and clearer evidence in Scripture then the baptizing of Infants and yet they that deny this are by the just Anathema of the Church Catholick condemned for Hereticks Dr. Tayl. Episc. Asser. p. 100 101. Pacif. 'T is gratis dictum that the Institution of Bishops hath fairer plea and clearer evidence in Scripture then the baptizing of Infants nor can you prove that they who deny the Baptism of Infants are under the just Anathema of the Church Catholick much less that they who deny the Institution of Bishops superior in order to Presbyters are under the just Anathema of the Church Catholick Hath a whole Book been written to prove that none are to be anathematized who consent to the Articles of the Apostles Creed and must it now be worthy an Anathema to deny Infant Baptism who but a Papist ever said
that the Church founded the Rite of baptizing Infants upon the Tradition of the Apostles or what wise men that ever sided with the Reformation ever observed that the Anabaptists can by the same probability of Scripture inforce a necessity of communicating Infants upon us as we do of baptizing Infants upon them Cardinal Perron indeed being about to prove the insufficiency of the written Word and to establish the necessity of unwritten Traditions brings among other things Infant Baptism as an instance of a point that may be proved by Tradition and not by Scripture Adv. Reg. Mag. Brit. p. 571. but Bellar. lib. 1. de Sacram. Bapt. cap. 9. disputes for Paedobaptism and that by such arguments as are taken out of Scripture which he saith Nullâ ratione solvi nullâ arte eludi possunt Laud To the Baptism of children I add the Communion of women Id. ibid. Pacif. Do you then think that the Communion of women cannot be proved out of Scripture as well as out of Tradition I believe there is no express instance of a woman receiving the Sacrament but we have reasons grounded on Scripture that make it the duty of women as well as men and it would be perversness seeing {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth a woman as well as a man to affirm that both sexes are not included But let us to the Controversie of Episcopacy Are all Ordinations invalid which are done by meer Presbyters without a Bishop what think you of the Reformed Churches Laud For my part I know not what to think the question hath been so often asked with so much violence and prejudice and we are so bound by publick interest to approve all they do that we have disabled our selves to justifie our own Episcop asser p. 190. Supposing that Ordination by a Bishop is necessary for the Vocation of Priests and Deacons and therefore for the founding and perpetuating of a Church either God hath given to all Churches opportunity and possibility of such Ordinations and then necessity of the contrary is but mockery or if he hath not given such possibility then there is no Church there to be either built or continued but the Candlestick is presently removed Id. p. 193. Pacif. Our Church did alway retain Episcopacy and so she might have done still had not Bishops been more faulty then ever Episcopacy was But that Ordinations by meer Presbyters were not valid was never affirmed by our Church or any of her eminent members but rather the contrary which will appear if we consider that the transmarine Churches have alway been acknowledged as true Chnrches and their Ordinations justified and maintained to be valid against the oppugners of them by our English Controversie Writers and Professors Dr. Holland Dr. Willet Dr. Field Dr. Downham Mr. Mason If at any time any ordained by meer Presbyters were made Bishops in our Church their Ordination by Presbyters was supposed to be valid and was not renewed at least not till of late years but what think you of Bishops being made Lords and taking secular employment Laud It was not in naturâ rei unlawful for Bishops to receive an Office of secular employment St. Pauls tent making was as much against the calling of an Apostle as sitting in a secular Tribunal is against the Office of a Bishop Episc. Asserted p. 352. The same Author in sundry following pages much endeavoureth to prove that Bishops may take upon them the affairs of Secular Interest Pacif. Bishops taking upon them secular affairs hath been alway exclaimed against by our Divines as well Prelates as others that have been sensible of the charge of souls committed to them this it will not be amiss to exemplifie in several ages John Wickliffe in the raign of Edw. 3. taught That Popes Cardinals Bishops might not Civiliter Dominari absque mortali peceato and that no Prelate ought to have any Prison to punish offenders and that no King should impose upon any Bishop or Curate any secular matter for then both the King and Clerk should be Proditor Jesu Christi Wals. in R. 2. p. 205. William Swinderby also a Professor in Rich. 2. time held That the more Lordship a Priest hath the neerer he is to Antichrist and that the Priests of the old Law were forbidden Lordship and that Christ himself refused and forbad his Priests Lordship saying Reges Gentium c. the Kings of the Heathen bear rule c. but you shall not so do Acts and Mon. p. 451 453. Tindall in his works p. 124. writes That it was a shame of all shames and a monstrous thing that Bishops should deal in civil causes and p. 140. What names have they My Lord Bb. my Lord Archbishop if it please your Lordship if it please your Grace Bishop Hooper in his Comment on the Commandments hath these words p. 184 185. Edit. 1548. look upon the Apostles chiefly and upon all their Successors for the space of 400. years and then thou shalt see good Bishops and such as diligently applyed that painful office ofa Bishop to the glory of God and honour of the Realms they dwelt in though they had not so much upon their heads as our Bishops have yet had they more within their heads as the Scriptures Histories testifie for they applyed all the wit they had unto the Vocation Ministry of the Church whereunto they were called our Bishops have so much wit they can rule and serve as they say in both States of the Church and also in the civil Policy when one of them is more then any man is able to satisfie let him do always his best diligence If he be so necessary for the Court that in Civil Causes and giving of good counsel he cannot be spared let him use that Vocation and leave the other for it is not possible he should do both well And a great oversight it is of the Princes and higher Powers of the earth thus to charge them with two burdens when none of them is able to bear the least of them both they be the Kings Subjects and meet for his Majesty to choose the best for his Court that be of the Realm but then they must be kept in their Vocation to preach only the Word of God and not to put themselves or be appointed by others to do things that belong not to a Bishops Vocation I will not now relate the speeches of old holy Father Latimer to the same purpose though far exceeding any that have been yet mentioned because they are many and may be easily seen in his Sermon of the Plough But now that we are on the business of Church-government What think you of the persons commonly called Lay-Elders Laud Lay Judges of Causes Ecclesiastical as they are unheard of in Antiquity so they are neither named in Scripture nor receive from thence any instructions for their deportment in their imaginary office and therefore may be remanded to the place from whence they came
Arminian or Popish but be it known to you That I disclaim all aspersion of Popery and am further from it than any Puritan in the Kingdom I am indeed well acquainted with such imputation as Popish and I know not what the ordinary language of our precise Professors against any man that is not as themselves More furioso Calvinista and having had this measure often meted out to me from their very great zeal and very no charity I contemn their malice a Scold cannot any better be charmed than by contempt As for Arminius if he in Tenents agreeth unto Scripture plain and express if he hath agreeing unto his Opinions the Practice Tradition and Consent of the Antient Church I imbrace his opinions let his person or private ends if he had any alone I nor have nor will have confarreation therewith If Calvin so far in account and estimation before Arminius dissenteth from Antiquity and the Universal ancient Church I follow him not No private man or peculiar spirit ever did or ever shall tyrannize upon my belief I yeeld only to God and the Church App. p. 4 5 12. Pacif. Your flings at Puritans Precise Professors Furious Calvinists might well have been spared so might your Apologie for your self as to Popery and Arminianism with which my discourse did not in the least charge you I could easily quote you sentences out of Sacred and Prophane Writers concerning such as make defences before they are impleaded but being resolved not to exasperate I forbear any thing of that nature and humbly take leave a little further to explain my self lest I should be mistaken in what before I said 1. I make not consent of Fathers but Scripture the Rule of my Faith 2. Nor do I account the Fathers fit to be appealed to in some Controversies now a foot in Christendom 1. Because there are some Heresies newly sprung up of which they took no notice in their writings yea in the favour of which they may seem to speak being engaged against such as were in the contrary extream That none should be pressed with the judgements of Fathers in matters that were not throughly discussed till after they were dead and gone hear not me but St. August de Praed. Sanct. cap. 14. Quid igitur opus est ut corum secrutemur opuscula qui priusquam ista haeresis oriretur non habuerunt necessitatem in hac difficili ad solvendum questione versari quod procul dubio facerent si respondere talibus cogerentur unde factum est ut de gratiâ Dei quid sentirent breviter quibus dam Scriptorum suorum locis transeuntes attingerent immorarentur vero in iis quae adversus alios inimicos Ecclesiae Disputabant To the like purpose writeth he in his Euarration on the 54. Psal. Nunquid enim perfecte de Trinitate tractatum est antequ an eblatrarent Arriani nunquid perfecte de poenitentiâ tractatum est antequam obsisterent Novatiani sic non perfecte de Baptismate tractatus est antequam contradicerent foris positi rebaptizatores nec de ipsâ Christi unitate enucleate dicta sunt quae dicta sunt nisi posteaquam separatio illa urgene cepit fratres informos ut jam illi qui noverant haec tractare atque dissolvere ne perirent infirmi sollicitati quaestionibus impiorum sermonibus suis disputationibus obscura legis in publicum deducerent yea the very Appealer p. 131. hath these words That the Fathers those before Augustine being to deal against Fatal Necessity urged by Paynims Philosophers in those dayes as also against the execrable impiety of the Manichees extended the power of Free-will unto the uttermost and set it upon the tenters especially having then no cause to fear any enemie at home unto the contrary ante mota certamina Pelagiana there being yet no Pelagians sprung up in the world enemies to Grace advancers of Nature and Natural Power beyond degree of Power and of possibility Yea p. 129 130. He professeth plainly that in and concerning this point of Free-will those Fathers did so far out-lavish and speak so inlargedly that the very Jesuites post mota certamina Pelagiana fore fear of seeming to Pelagianize dare not say so much as they have said 2. The Fathers of Prime Antiquity did either write nothing at all or but very little and what of theirs is come to our hands is so interpolated that it is extreamly difficult to find out their meaning yea the Editions are so various that I know not which to prefer e. g. If I follow Vedelius his Edition of Ignatius I could not but think the Father to be of the opinion that the making of any one a true Christian is a work not of moral suasion but of strength and power for these are his words according to him {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} yet should I quote this passage in the controversie about free-will I should be told that the words do not run so in some other Editions and so occasion much strife of words Laud You must expect nothing from the Geneva Printers but deceits and impostures nor hath that importune Vedelius brought any thing to fill his Pages with but impudence and singular ignorance Montacutius Apparat. 1. p. 19. Pacif. I 'm not ignorant that such a severe censure is passed upon Vedelius and his Edition but he hath answered for hinself in his Preface to his Tract De Deo Synagogae And Bishop Vsher who hath taken more pains about Ignatius then that bilious writer speaks honorably of the Geneva Edition yea Dr. Hammond prefers it to the very edition of Isaac Vossius judged the most perfect and incorrupt in one particular but this is a diversion 3. I say thirdly That I frequently see just occasion to prefer the expositions of Scripture made by our later Writers before those which are given by the Ancient Doctors this is acknowledged even by Romanists Stella in Luc. c. 10. Bishop Fisher in his confutation of the Lutheran Artic. Art 18. We scarce find any setting themselves to making of Homilies or Commentaries till about the third Century and many of those who have commented on Scripture were so ignorant either of Hebrew or Greek or both that they have fallen into sad mistakes as no Scholar conversant in their Writings can deny 4. I have much wondred and do still wonder how it comes to pass that the Systems and Models of Divinity or Catechisms composed some by our own some by Transmarine Divines are so exceedingly decryed for I am sure heretofore they were recommended to Tutors to read to their Pupils as good means to keep them Orthodox which appears by a Decree of Convocation made Anno Domini 1579. which I shall take the boldness to recite verbatim because it shews what Authors were then in credit and may possibly provoke the present University to revive the long neglected but very necessary work of catechiting and examining young
Narrative which we may find exemplyfied in Mr. Rush. Collections from p 438. to 462. assirmeth that he thrice complained of Mr. Mountagues Arminian Book but he was held up against him by the prevalence of the Duke of Buckingham who magnified him as a well-deserving man that the whole Narrative if he that will read shall have a key put into his hand to unlock several misteries of our Church declining and a character of the men who were most busie to advance the Remonstrant opinions Laud The Doctrine of Praedestination is the root of Puritanism and Puritanism the root of all rebellious and disobedient untractableness in Parliaments and of all schism and sauciness in the Countrey nay in the Church it self this hath made many thousands of our people and too great a part of our Gentry Laytons in their hearts Last Parliament they left their Word Religion and the Cause of Religion and begun to use the name of Church and our Articles of the Church of England and wounded our Church at the very heart with her own name Dr. Brooks his Letter to the Archbishop extant in Can. Doome p. 167. there were then some who were tantum non in Episcopatu Puritani they saw their holy cause would not succeed by opposition therefore they came up and seemed to close with the Church of England in her Discipline to use the Cross and wear the Clothes but for her Doctrine they wave it preach against it teach contrary to what they had subscribed that so through foraign Doctrine being infused secretly and instilled cunningly and pretended craftily to be the Churches at length they might wind in with foraign Discipline also and so fill'd Christendem with Popes in every Parish for the Church and with Popular Democracies and Democratical Anarchies in State App. p. 111. el 43 44. Pacif. The wrathful expressions you are continually using against the Puritans do not work the righteousness of God and they are the more to be disliked because it is sufficiently known that Puritans have been as conscientious as any that ever lived in our Church Laud Puritanism had indeed a form of godliness but denyed the power and for any thing I can discern is as dangerous as Popery the only difference being Popery is for Tyrannie Puritanism for Anarchy Popery is original of Superstition Puritanism the high way to profaneness both alike enemies unto piety Ap. p. 320 321. Pacif. Puritanism the way to profaness How came it then to pass that there was so little of profaneness in Puritans so much of it in those who gloried in their Anti-Puritanism but I leave this to be decided by the Judge of quick and dead who shall render to all according to what they have done in the flesh How is it that of late years you have learned to call all Puritans who will not say a confederacy with you in your Popish and Arminian Errors which have been so generally reputed contrary to the Doctrine of our Church Laud What you call Error that seems to me to be Truth and because the doubts hung in the Church of England unto the Publick Doctrine of the Church of England do I appeal contained in those two authorized and by all subscribed Books of the Articles and Divine Services of the Church let that which is against them on Gods Name be branded with Error and as Error be ignominiously spunged out App. p. 9. Pacif. What ever is against the Word of God or contrary to any opinion which hath been maintained in the Catholick Church by all in all places at all times I am content should be called an error but you know I hope that no Church of Particular Denomination is Infallible and therefore I shall not grant that whatever is against the Tendries of the Church of England is erroneous for I know that our first Reformers and the Composers of our publick Records of Doctrine did place the Nature of Faith in Assurance or a perswasion that our sins are actually pardoned which you will grant to be a mistake but a mistake that was scarce seen by any till of late except Mr. John Fox who indeed placed the Nature of Faith in Recumbence nevertheless in those matters wherein you and I differ I am very willing to be tryed by the Articles and Lyturgy but then I premise this that I take the Homilies to be part of our Churches Lyturgy for the Rubrique in the Communion Office speaks affirmative enough After the Creed shall follow one of the Homilies and the Preface to the first Book of Homilies commandeth all Parsons Vicars Curates c. every Sunday and Holy-day in the year c. after the Gospel and Creed in such order and place as is appointed in the Book of Common-Prayer to read one of the said Homilies Evidently implying as Mr. Lestrange notes they were no more to be omitted then any other part of the Service but where the Rubrique gives a toleration Laud I willingly admit the Homilies as containing certain godly and wholesome exhortations to move the people to honor and worship Almighty God but not as the publick Dogmatical resolutions confirmed by the Church of England the 33. Article giveth them to contain godly and wholesom Doctrine and necessary for these times which they may do though they have not Dogmatical Positions or Doctrine to be propagated and subscribed in all and every point as the Books of Articles and of Common-Prayer have They may seem to speak somewhat too hardly and stretch some sayings beyond the use and practice of the Church of England both then and now and yet what they speak may receive a fair or at least a tolerable construction and mitigation well enough App. 260. Paeif I am glad to hear you acknowledge that the Homilies do contein certain godly and wholesom exhortations which if all had thought we had not been pestered with a vain discourse pretended to be made by a Lady in defence of Auxiliary Beauty or Artificial handsomeness the which are so expresly condemned by the Homily against excess in Apparel But I am sorry to find you saying that the Homilies are not the avowed Doctrine of the Church for the Preface tells us they were set forth for the expelling of erroneous and poisonous Doctrines and more fully the Orders of K. James The Homiles are set forth by authority in the Church of England not only for a help of non-preaching but withall as it were a pattern for preaching-ministers I have read among the Romanists that there is fides temporum a Faith that followeth the Times It is no marvel saith Cusanus though the practise of the Church expound the Scripture at one time one way and at another time another way for the understanding or sence of the Scripture runneth with the practise and that sense so agreeing with the practise is the quickning Spirit and therefore the Scriptures follow the Church but contrariwise the Church followeth not the Scriptures ad Bohem. Epist. 7.
credendum etium esse Sed Filium Personam esse Trinitatis Spiritum vero Sunctum Personam esse simpliciter nec verbis nec sensu ibi exprimitur He that will obviate many Heretical abominations now abroad in the world by any words in the Creed not drawing consequences from them shall but loose his labor Laud In the first three hundred years there was no sign of persecuting any man for his opinion though at that time there were very horrid opinions commenced and such which were exemplary and parallel enough to determine this question for they were then assaulted by new Sects which destroyed the common principles of Nature of Christianity of Innocence and publick Society and they who used all the means Christian and Spiritual for their disimprovement and conviction thought not of using corporal force otherwise then by blaming such proceedings and therefore I do not only urge their not doing it as an argument of the unlawfulness of such proceeding but their defying it and speaking against such practises as unreasonable and destructive of Christianity for so Tertullian is express ad Scap. Humani juris naturalis potestatis unicuique quod putaverit colere sed nec Religionis est cogere Religionem quae suscipi debet sponte non vi Epis. Dedic. p 19. Pacif. 'T is strange that it should be destructive of Christianity to use corporal force against the broachers of Tenents which destroy the common principles of Nature of Christianity of Innocence and publick Society all understanding men will grant with Lactantius Instit. lib. 5. c. 14. That Religion cannot be compelled nor can justice mercy or love to our neighbours be complelled all such good dispositions or habits must be perswaded by the Word and wrought by the Spirit Christians ought not to compel Jews to be of their Religion but the Sword is a means to punish acts of false worship in those that are under the Christian Magistrate and profess Christian Religion in so far as these acts come out to the eyes of men and are destructive to the souls of those in a Christian Society But if you will not allow the Magistrate to punish the blaspheming seducing Heretick with death yet you will allow him to discourage any false Teacher Laud If men must be permitted in their opinions and that Christians must not persecute Christians I have also as much reason to reprove all those oblique Arts which are not direct persecutions of mens persons but they are indirect proceedings ungentle and unchristian servants of faction and interest provocations to zeal and animosity and destructive of learning and ingenuity and these are suppressing all the monuments of their adversaries forcing them to recant and burning their Books all such Arts shew that we either distrust God for the maintenance of his Truth or that we distrust the cause or distrust our selves and our abilities Epist. Ded. p. 34 36. Pacif. The Arts you so condemn have been used in England both by the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authority and therefore you who call your self an obedient son to both do forget your self to censure such proceedings so severely especially seeing such courses have been followed by none more then by the Brethren of your own perswasion and interest But what makes you so very favourable to men who differ from us in matters not fundamental as you call them is it because the Scripture doth not plainly speak against them Laud God who disposeth of all things sweetly and according to the nature and capacity of things and persons hath made those only necessary which he hath taken care should be sufficiently propounded to all persons of whom he required explicite belief and therefore all the Articles of Faith are clearly and plainly set down in Scripture no man can be ignorant of the foundation without his o vn apparent fault and God hath done more for many things which are only profitable are also set down so plainly that as Austin Nemo inde haurire non possit si modo ad hauriendum devote acpie accedat but of such things there 's no question commenced in Christendom Liber of Prop. p. 59. Pacif. Sir you astonish me Are there no questions commenced in Christendom about things necessary to be believed nor yet of things that are hugely profitable If not it would be the best counsel could be given to Christian Magistrates to burn all Controversie Books but sure That our natures are corrupted with sin that Christ made satisfaction to Divine Justice that our good works are not meritorious that the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father that Sacraments and Ministry are to continue in the Church are matters necessary or at least very profitable to be believed But whence ariseth the difficulty and uncertainty of Arguments drawn from Scripture in questions that you call not simply necessary not literally determined Laud There are so many thousands of copies that were writ by persons of several interests and perswasions such different understandings and tempers such distinct abilities and weaknesses that it is no wonder there is so great variety of readings both in the Old Testament and in the New This variety of reading is not of small consideration for though it be demonstrably true that all things necessary to faith and good manners are preserved from alteration and corruption because they are of things necessary yet in other things which God hath not obliged himself punctually to preserve in these things since variety of readingsis crept in every reading takes away a degree of certainty from any proposition derivative from those places so read And if some copies especially if they be publick and notable omit a verse or title every argument from such a title or verse loseth much of its strength and reputation Liber of Proph. p. 61 63 64. Pacif. I am glad to find it acknowledged that all things nenecessary to faith and good manners are preserved from alteration and corruption but you are not ignorant and your own examples prove it that there is variety of readings in things necessary to faith and good manners as well as in matters that are not of such necessity but in such variety of readings we are not left without that which may direct us what reading to prefe Thus Austin hath answered Faust who was wont when he had nothing else left that he could reply to say Libros N. Test. salsatos fuisse Thus Simeon de Muis in his Assertio Hebraicae veriti p. 31. Nemo tibi negat in quaedam exemplaria potuisse ac posse quotidia mendas irrepere c. Dr. Edw. Kellet no Puritan in his Miscellanies of Divinity denieth not but that some Copies are corrupted but saith that if in any one Point or Article we should affirm a corruption to be got into all Copies it will be impossible to prove any part or word of the New Testament to be incorrupt Lib. 2. c. 8. Laud There are very many senses and designs of expounding
such is his graciousness that he will accept of what we can do and what we cannot do that he will set on the score of Christ But let me hear you speak plainly Whether a man can keep the Law and be without sin Land There are who I hope out of ignorance teach the people such doctrine as not accidentally and occasionally but directly and per se causeth them to sin such is that Catechetical doctrine that no man is able either by himself or by any grace received in this life perfectly to keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in thought word and deed Dr. Gell. p. 247. Pacif. What then do you think a man may be without sin Laud They are justly to be reproved who plead for their spots and stains and alledge for themselves that they must be defiled with them while they live here but when shall they be cleansed from them cleansed they must be they say they shall be purified at the end of this life yea when they can sin no more then they shall be cleansed from their spots what Scripture can they alleadge for this Sure I am there 's none in the whole Word of God besides they attribute more to their own natural death then they do the death of Christ and our conformity thereunto If therefore the spots cannot be washed out in this life nor at the end of this life it must then follow that there must be a time after this life and before we enter into the holy City when these spots be washed out and when and where must that be but in Purgatory Mark now Beloved whither this unclean doctrine of necessity leads the Authors of it they who are great enemies to Popery are by this their Tenent the greatest Patrons of Purgatory Id. p. 750. Pacif. What then think you of those places Eccles. 7. 20. There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not and 1 Joh. 1. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Laud Solomon speaks of such a just man as is under the first dispensation that of the Father which is the fear of God p. 768. But those children of the Father who have their sins forgiven them through his Name and are now brought unto the Son and grown so strong in him that they overcome the Evil one these at length attain to the old age in the Spirit and experimentally know him who is from the beginning This is that state {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is without sin such an estate is possible and attainable through the grace of God and his Holy Spirit that men may be without sin p. 790. Pacif. I shall hereafter know whence some of our Quakers and Antinominans get their canting language But doth not this discourse of yours quite pull down what was laid by our first Reformers Artic. 15. Sin was not in him i. e. Christ but all we the rest although baptized and born again in Christ yet offend in many things and if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If you think this Doctrine be false no better way for confuting it then by bringing out some of your Saints that have attained the full age of the Spirit and so live without sin such a one could I never meet with never hear of yea I have observed that those who have made the greatest pretensions to perfection have been so far from perfection of grace that they have discovered themselves to have no Religion at all But I have heard of certain new Precepts by which Christ did perfect the Moral Law concerning the perfection of which I have alway had high thoughts Laud Christ hath perfected the Law and set it higher then any the most studyed Doctor did think himself obliged by it formerly Prac Catec 2. Ed. p. 93. God is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 Joh. 1. 5. This is to be understood of Gods Law and Commandment that they had before some mixture of imperfection but now have none had before some vacuities in them which are now filled up by Christ p. 94. Of this the same Author may be seen in his Letters to Dr. Cheynell Pacif. That our Saviour in the 5 of Matthew doth but expound the Law and clear it from the absurd glosses and interpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees seems to be plainly resolved by our Church in the Homilies p. 41. p. 79. Part. 1. Edit. Lond. 1623. which Edition I all along follow and had Christ acted the part of a new Law-giver and not of an Interpreter only it is not like he would have said Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees but except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of Moses and the Prophets you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Maldonate indeed tells us that Christ doth all along tacitely oppose himself to Moses by that form of speech but I say unto you only ad declinandam invidiam he names him not but who can think our Lord opposeth himself to a servant that was faithful in all his house but whether Christ did intend to fill up the vacuities of the Moral Law by adding new Precepts will best appear by examination of particulars and shewing that the Moral duties which are supposed to be de novo enjoyned in that chapter were duties enjoyned to Israelites as well as us to some Precepts no addition is pretended to be made but yet because there is Controversie made and raised about them all it may not be amiss to take all into consideration you know the Church of Rome is commonly charged with Idolatry and made to transgress both first and second Commandment the first by worshipping the Bread in the Eucharist the second by making Images of the the true God c. what think you of these matters Laud Idolatry is a forsaking the true God and giving divine worship to a creature or Idol that is to an imaginary god who hath no foundation in essence or existence Libert. Prop. p. 258. Pacif. You seem already to forsake the Doctrine of our Church as also doth Mr. Mountague who saith in his Gagge that Ido's and Images may be two things whereas the Homily saith expresly Part. 2. p. 12. That the Scriptures use the words Images and Idols indifferently for one thng alway and in the said Homily it is further asserted that there may be Idolatry in worshipping the true God in an undue manner Laud It is evident that the object of the Papists Adoration in the blessed Sacrament is the only the Eternal God hypostatically joyned with his holy humanity which humanity they believe actually present under the veil of the Sacramental signs and if they thought him not present they are so far from worshipping the Bread in this case that themselves profess it to be Idolatry to do so which
saying St. Laurence pray for me Gagg p. 200. 'T is most probable there are Angel keepers if thus my self resolved do infer Holy Angel-keeper pray for me I see no reason to be taxed with point of Popery or Superstition much less of absurdity or impiety Invocation of Saints p. 99. in principio Save all other labour in this point prove but only this their knowledge of any thing ordinarily I promise you straight I will say Holy St. Mary pray for me Answ. to Gagg p. 229. Pacif. Here are sundry things wherein you seem to me to depart from our Church and from Scripture which is worse for to pray St. Laurence pray for me in such a sense as the Papists do must needs be great impiety no less than Idolatry because they do ascribe that unto the creature which is only proper unto the Creator I judge it also absurd and impious to pray to the Angel Gardian to pray for us for 't is not possible that any one without a Revelation from Heaven should attain to any certainty that there are any Angel Gardians and to go upon opinion and probability in my prayers is impiety but I do not in the least think that if it were proved that the Saints departed had knowledge ordinarily of what we do and are that therefore we might presently pray to them to pray for us If you ask me why not as well as to the Saints on the earth the Homily will answer for me Part. 2. p. 116. Christ our only Mediator is sufficient in Heaven and needeth no others to help him Why then do we pray one for another in this life some men may perhaps here demand Forsooth we are willed so to do by the express Commandment both of Christ and his Disciples to declare as well the Faith that we have in Christ towards God as also the mutual charity that we bear one towards another in that we pity our brothers case and make our Petition to God for him But that we should pray unto Saints neither have we any Commandment in Scipture nor yet example which we may safely follow so that being done without authority of Gods Word it lacketh the ground of Faith and therefore cannot be acceptable to God For what soever is not of faith is sin And the Apostle saith That faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Yet thou wilt object further That the Saints in Heaven pray for us and that their prayer proceedeth of an earnest charity that they have toward their Brethren on earth Whereto it may well be answered First that no man knoweth whether they do pray for us or no And if any man will go about to prove it by the nature of charity concluding that because they did pray for men on earth therefore they do much more now in heaven then may it be said by the same reason that as oft as we do weep on earth they do also weep in Heaven because while they lived in this world it is most certain and sure they did so And whereas some of late have much endeavoured to re-introduce into our Church the antiquated custom of praying for the dead I shall only say at present there is nothing in any of our Articles Homilies Lyturgies enjoyning or so much as approving or commending Prayer for the dead there is rather something that makes against any such kind of prayer Part. 2. of Homil. p. 116. The like I say about Canonical hours of Prayer no mention made of them by our Church therefore no obligation upon us to observe and yet 1637. there was a Sermon printed with Licence by one Mr Wats who would needs perswade us That King David observed all Canonical hours for these are his words upon that speech of the Royal Psalmist Psal. 119. 62. At midnight will I arise to give thanks unto thee Mark here that he praised not God lying but used to rise to do it at other hours the Saints may sing aloud on their beds but when a Canonical hours comes of which mid-night was one David will rise to his Devotion the morning watch was another Canonical hour And this David was so careful to observe that he oft-times waked before it Psal. 149. 5. Were this true I should think it were a fault not to appoint some one to awake me at midnight that I might rise up out of my bed to put up some prayers unto my Creator but till there be some proofs of such Canonical hours I shall bless God for undisturbed rest and sleep Laud It seems by Clement Epis. ad Corin. p. 52 53. edit. Junia that no small part of that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or good order required by St. Paul whose mind he might best know as one of his Disciples 1 Cor. 14. 40. doth consist in the due observing of those times and hours limited and prescribed by authority for our prayers and devotions The use of Dayly Publick Prayers printed 1641. p. 5. Pacif. How much the scope of this place is mistaken might easily be shewn but I refer any learned man to the Observations of Mr. William Burton upon that Epistle p 77 78. I think the main that Christians are now to look after is that when they pray they pray for things agreeable to Gods Word and with fervency Laud There is but one thing in the world that God hates besides sin that is indifferency and lukewarmness which although it hath not in it the direct nature of sin yet it hath this testimony from God that it is loathsom and abominable and excepting this thing alone God never said so of any thing in the New Testament but what was a direct breach of a Commandment Dr. Tayl. Ret. of Prayer p 61. Pacif. I am glad to hear you say that luke-warmness and indifferency in Religion are loathsom to God but wonder to find you averring that these have not in them the direct nature of sin or that they are not a direct breach of a Commandment for doth not the Commandment require that we serve God with all our might strength and power Are we not commanded to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord nor do I think that God would hate these tempers if they were not directly sinful and direct breaches of his Law Laud Christians consider that God forbad to the Jews the very having and making images and representments not only of the true God or of the false and imaginary Deities but of visible Creatures which because it was but of temporary reason and relative consideration of their aptness to superstition and their conversing with Idolatrous Nations was a command proper to that Nation part of their Covenant not of eternal indispensable reason not of that which we usually call the Law of Nature Grand exem part 2. p. 111. Pacif. I do not think that God ever forbad to the Jews all images or representments of Creatures but as Vasquez saith Omnem imaginem seu effigiem modo
even the lake of Gehenna and so to the place of the neerest Denomination Epis. Asser. p. 379. Pacif. Your wit lying in the affinity of sound betwixt Geenna and Geneva is much like that of Campian Elizabeth and Jezabel But as for Lay-Elders I am not much solicitous about them thinking the Church may be well enough without them only I cannot think they are so destitute of all Antiquity and Scripture as you imagine that of 1 Tim. 5. 17. hath more for Lay-Elders than many places in Scripture urged by our Bishops have for Episcopacy Dr. Whitgist is said to have these words That he knoweth that the Primitive Church had in every Church certain Seniors to whom the Government of the Congregation was committed and in a Book against Mar-Prelate subscribed by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of Winchester Lincoln and London it is affirmed That the Government by Elders was used under the Law and practised under the Gospel by the Apostles though not fit for our times Though afterwards repenting this plain Confession they caused certain words importing the contrary to be printed in a sheet of Paper which paper was pasted in all the books of the first impression to cover and conceal the former assertion This I take on the Testimony of an Author who so printed in Queen Elizabeths time in a Tract called A Petition directed to her most Excellent Majesty but Mr. Nowel is plain in his Catechism in Latine p. 155. Edit. 1570. Grotius also acknowledgeth that Geneva did not first institute these Officers but only restored them nor may it be amiss for the learned Reader to consult about this point of Elders Bodins Method cap. 6. p. 245. Le ts on to the third Commandment Land Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain This our blessed Saviour repeating expresseth it thus It hath been said to them of old Thou shalt not forswear thy self to which Christ adds out of Numb. 30. 2. But thou shalt perform thy Oaths unto the Lord the meaning of the onewe are taught by the other We must not Invocate the Name of God in any promise in vain i. e. with a lie this is to take the Name of God i. e. to useit to take it into our mouths for vanity i. e. according to the perpetual stile of Scripture for a lie and this is to be understood only in promises for so Christ explains it out of the Law Thou shalt perform thy Oaths for lying in judgement which is also with an Oath or taking Gods Name for a witness is forbidden in the ninth Commandment Grand Exemp part 2. p. 114. Pacif. At this rate indeed write Maldonate and the Composer of the Racovian Catechism but without any reason for it is gratis dictum that our Lord doth repeat or give the sense of the third Commandment Exod. 20. 7. It is more probable that he intends those words Levit. 19. 12. As for the words in the third Commandment they have alway been so interpreted by Protestant Commentators as to forbid not only false swearing but vain swearing yea all irreverent use of the Name of God whether with an Oath or without an Oath So the Catechism in King Edward the 6ths raign so Bishop Hooper in his Exposition of the Decalogae so the Common Church Catechism so the Homily part 1. p. 45 46. No one that hath but a smattering skill will deny {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sometime to signifie mendacium or falsum but it doth also signifie gratis in vanum as often if not more often The LXX Exod. 20. 7. render {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aquila {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Yet I can more easily excuse this if you will but acknowledge that vain and unnecessary Oaths were unlawful to the Jews as well as us Laud By the Natural Law it was not unlawful to swear by an oath that implyed not Idolatry or the belief of a false God I say any grave or prudent oath when they spake a grave truth And it was lawful for the Jews in ordinary entercourse to swear by God so they did not swear to a lye to which also swearing to an impertinence might be reduced by a proportion of reason for they that swear by him shall be commended saith the Psalmist Psal. 63. 11. And swearing to the Lord of hosts is called speaking the Language of Canaan Isa. 19. 18. Great Exem part 2. p. 114. Pacif. This is Theology that a sober Heathen would startle at How do you prove that by the Natural Law it was not unlawful to swear an Oath when they spake a grave truth Doth any Scripture say so Do the more sage sort of profane Writers say so or do not all rather say who have not blinded Natural Conscience That it is not lawful to swear in the gravest matter if a man may be credited without an oath or if his oath be not like to be an end of strife Or what man who knows that God was alway tender of his Name and Glory canthink that it was lawful for the Jews to swear by God in ordinary entercourse They did ordinarily swear but it was not lawful so to do The son of Sirach reproves it Heathens condemn it it is indeed said They that swear by him shall glory Psal. 63. 11. but it is not said They that swear by him in ordinary entercourse shall glory if they should they would glory in their shame As for the place Isa. 19. 18. it proves not that swearing to the Lord in ordinary entercourse is speaking the Language of Canaan but it is a Prophecy only of the calling of Egypt that sundry of that Nation should make the same Profession and Confession of Faith that Gods people did and that they should by solemn Oath engage themselves to depend on the living Lord alone How doth this prove that it was lawful for the Jews to swear by God in ordinary entercourse or that their ordinary communication ought not to be yea yea and nay nay as well as ours Pass we on to the fourth Law of the Decalogue Laud There was nothing Moral in it but that we do Honour to God for the Creation and to that and all other purposes of Religion separate and hallow some portion of our time Great Exem part 2. p. 119. Pacif. Surely this is the way to rob us of one of the laws of the Decalogue for either the fourth Commandment is moral for a determinate time or for nothing at all some time being moral by the other Commandments and it would be strange that the Church of England should appoint this fourth Commandment to be publickly read and teach her members to pray Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law and yet think it had only that latent morality you speak of if the fourth Commandment be not in force in the words of it according to their literal and Grammatical