in an equall ballance it will be found that the wisedome of the Church hath disposed them honestly and in order 25 And as our Church desireth that doctrine may shine like the light of the Lord vpon the holie candlesticke so she is carefull that the conuersation of her Ministers be such as may adorne the Gospell of Christ. In making of which Canon the church of England may seeme to haue set before her eies that golden sentence Let thy Priests ô Lord be clothed with holinesse and let thy Saints reioice and sing 26 And as they should be inwardly decked with godlinesse and grace so it is inioined that their outward apparell shall be sober and graue euery way correspondent to their calling that all things may bee done honestly and by order And thus much of the Ministrie and so I come to our ministration 27 The beginning of our Church Seruice is with some memorable sentence of holy Scripture appointed for that purpose moouing to repentance and praier or magnifying the mercy of God in Christ then after a holy exhortation all of vs both Minister and people fall downe before the throne of grace confessing our sinnes with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart meekely kneeling vpon our knees without question beloued heere is a holie and a blessed beginning Now because that God which dwelleth in eternitie hath respect to an humble and contrite spirit and hath appointed the Minister to comfort them which mourne in Sion therefore in the next place the Minister in the name of Iesus Christ pronounceth forgiuenesse of sinnes to all that truely repent and vnfainedly beleeue his holie Gospell This is the oile of gladnesse the balme of Gilead the fountaine of grace for the washing away of sinnes O the fountaine of the gardens the Well of liuing water and the springs of Lebanon And lest any man hauing the pardon of his sinnes pronounced should take occasion of carnall libertie therefore our Church doth presently apply a preseruatiue against presumption and a conseruatiue of all grace and godlinesse euen that zealous and piercing praier which the Lord Iesus himselfe hath taught vs. And because when we haue done all that we can we are vnprositable seruants and must forget that which is behinde and indeuor our selues vnto that which is before therefore as though we had yet done nothing we beseech him to open our lippes that our mouth may shew foorth his praise And so with praier to him which is best able to helpe vs wee giue glory to the blessed Trinitie in all which what is there which can be bettered by the wit of man Now forasmuch as the minde of man in praier mounteth aloft with Eagles wings piercing the clouds with ardent affection and powring out her plaintes in the bosome of the Almighty therfore lest the vehement attention which is required in praier should be dulled by long continuance our Church vseth a profitable varietie intermingling the reading of heauenly wisedome wherein the soule tasting and seeing how good and gracious the Lord is feedeth vpon him by diuine contemplation and so returneth to praier with a greater inflammation The Psalms being a store-house of all godlinesse wisedome and grace so plaine to the simple so profound to the wise so profitable to all sorts in all ages in all estates ioy or griefe prosperitie or aduersitie our Church desireth to make familiar to all men and therefore we reade them ouer euery moneth still interlacing the Hymne of glorie to the blessed Trinitie Then follow Chapters of the old and new Testament intermingled with sacred Hymnes all in a knowne language so God is glorified and the people edified It is true that to some parts of the Apocrypha we giue publike audience in our church yet we omit some bookes thereof and reade them not at all and those bookes we reade we reade not altogither intirely but omit some Chapters and peeces of Chapters which some haue thought capable of hard construction And if any thing we reade be such as may seeme to found suspiciously or doubtfully wee hold it our dutie to make the most charitable and christian construction and if wee cannot of our selues satisfie our selues wee are referred for resolution of our doubts to the Bishop of the Diocesse of whom what interpretation is to bee expected the Church doth teach vs binding him to doe nothing contrarie to the booke and proclaiming withall in the booke that nothing is ordained which is not the very pure word of God or euidently grounded vpon the same and therefore his interpretation being accordingly performed should in reason satisfie and content vs. Furthermore we receiue them for humane cōpositions and not for diuine therfore we reade them not for confirmation of Faith but for information of maners yet haue I said nothing of the libertie granted by the Preface of the second booke of Homilies concerning the changing of Chapters Moreouer though some portions of the Canonicall concerning Genealogies and some other intricate and mysticall points be not appointed to be solemnly read in our Church seruice yet we vsually alleage and expound them in Sermons Neither is it our meaning to aduance the Apocryphal which we reade aboue the Canonicall which we reade not for all Canonicall being the sacred Oracles of God haue incomparable preheminence of excellencie yet nothing doth hinder but that some thing in it selfe of farre lesser excellencie may be more familiar for popular capacitie After the Chapter of the new Testament accompanied with a holie Psalme or Hymne wee all stand vp boldly professing our faith before God and men in that forme which is most anciently receiued in the Church of Christ for which purpose we vse sometimes the Creed of Athanasius and elsewhere the Creed of the Councell of Nice Hauing thus fedde our mindes with heauenly meditation of the blessed Word and confessed our faith in the holie Trinitie we fall a fresh to Praier we praie for our Prince for all the States of the land for all Gods children and that for all blessings spirituall and temporall and we praie onely to God and onely in the merits of Iesus Christ. And because the life of man is subiect to a seaof miseries and little doe we know what storme may hang ouer our heads and suddenly surprize either vs or any of our brethren therefore that Gods present wrath may bee appeased and future dangers graciously preuented we humble our soules in the presence of God with a most deuout Letanie which is so pathetically penned that it may seeme to soare aloft with wings of sanctified affections and to pierce the skies as it were with darts of deuotion And after some time spent in Praier wee intermingle againe the reading of Gods holie word to beate downe sinne wee reade Gods firie law and fearefull commandements religiously beseeching him to incline our hearts to keepe his law And to kindle and increase
THE AVTHORITIE OF THE CHVRCH in making Canons and Constitutions concerning things indifferent And the obedience thereto required with particular application to the present estate of the Church of England Deliuered in a Sermon preached in the Greene yard NORWICH the third Sunday after Trinitie 1605. By FRAN. MASON Bacheler of Diuinitie and sometime fellovv of Merton College in Oxford And now in sundrie points by him enlarged EPH. 4. 3. Endeuour to keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace LONDON Printed for IOHN NORTON 1607. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER in God RICHARD Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Grace Primate and Metropolitane of all England and one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell c. THe loue and dutie which I owe to this Church of England most reuerend Father haue put into my hand this Oliue branch that is an exhortation to holy obedience and peaceable resolutions which alwaies haue beene the crowne and glorie of a Christian For when I pondered with my selfe how some of the Ministerie stand vnresolued and that as I take it because they doe not duly consider the nature of things indifferent and the dutie of a subiect to his Soueraigne I must confesse that my bowels of compassion were mooued and the fire of affection was kindled within me And therefore although many learned and iudicious men haue richly and plentifully handled this argument yet in commiseration of those my brethren I also haue aduentured to cast my poore mite into the treasurie hoping that as they walke amongst the fruitfull trees they will not disdaine to pull a little berrie from the lowest shrub The principall marke I shoote at is to doe my endeuour to settle the tender and trembling consciences of those which are not wedded to their owne conceits but haue bene carried away rather of weaknesse then of wilfulnesse that such of them as it shall please the Lord may be reduced to the Tabernacles of peace and follow the trueth in loue For alas who can but lament to see so many spend their short and precious time in such scandalous prosecution of ciuill contentions and some of them not altogether vnlike to Platoes Euthyphro who in his inconsiderate course went in all haste to accuse his own father But this Church God be thanked neuer wanted a Socrates to encounter and conuince them and make manifest to the world that they erred by misconstruction and vnaduised zeale O how much better had it beene to haue continued their labours in the Lords vineyard and by bending their vnited forces against Babylon to haue fought the Lords battails to the comfort of the godly who then might haue celebrated their triumph erected their trophae and decked their victorious heads with lawreall garlands O what a griefe ought this to be to their soules so to oppose themselues against such a learned and religious Church and so vnreuerently to traduce that holie Booke of Common Prayer a worke of so great and admirable excellencie concerning which I may truly affirme that it hath beene cut vp like an anatomie euery vaine of it hath beene opened euerie corner searched euery rubricke ransacked not a word but hath beene weighed in the ballance not a syllable but hath bene sifted to the vttermost and yet for all this like to the bridge of Caesar the more it is oppugned the stronger it stands The ceremonies wherof may aptly be resembled to the altar erected by the tribe of Reuben Gad and the halfe tribe of Manasses vpon the passages of Iordan at which the rest of the tribes were grieuously offended imagining that it had beene for sacrifice But when they were truely informed that it was onely for a memoriall that they had a part in the God of Israel they were well content they blessed God and Phinehas said This day we perceiue the Lord is among vs because you haue not done this trespasse In like maner some of our brethren haue beene offended at our ceremonies vpon an erroneous imagination of Poperie and superstition but the Church of England hath often manifested her innocencie and cleared herselfe of those imputations And therefore we hope that one day their eies being opened and their soules satisfied they will with the Princes of Israel blesse God and say with Phinehas This day we perceiue that the Lord is among vs because you haue not done this trespasse For the furtherance whereof I doe in all humilitie present this Oliue branch vnto your Grace whose eminent wisedome and godly care in suppressing innouations and preseruing the well setled state of this flourishing Church is most apparent And therefore as God hath directed the heart of our religious Souereigne to establish you the chiefe Pastor and Father of our Church so I beseech the Almightie to vouchsafe this fruit to your labours that your Grace may see the weake resolued the wilfull relented the wandring reduced and all of them returned to the bosome of the Church like the Doue to the Arke with leaues of Oliue in their mouths in token that all gall and bitternesse being laid aside the swelling flouds of discord are asswaged Your Graces in all humble dutie FRANCIS MASON THE AVTHORITY of the Church in making Canons and Constitutions concerning things indifferent and the obedience thereto required c. 1. Corinth 14. 40. Let all things be done honestly and by order 1 MY heartie desire and praier is to Almightie God the Father of mercy that he would so blesse the Ministerie of the Church of England that we all being linked in loue as it were with chaines of adamant might with one heart and one hand religiously build the Temple of the Lord reuerently performe holy obedience to God and the Prince carefully keepe our selues vnspotted and vnstained of this present world and faithfully feed the flocke of Iesus Christ that depends vpon vs. The comfortable accomplishment wherof whosoeuer shall maliciously hinder let him take heed lest a fearefull curse from the God of Iacob come like water into his bowels and like oile into his bones but whosoeuer shall praie for the peace of Ierusalem peace be vpon him and mercy and vpon the Israell of God The furtherance of which blessings to the glory of Christ and the good of the Church men and brethren beloued in the Lord is the marke I aime at and the scope I intend that we all like obedient children may keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace 2 Now this present Sermon by Gods gracious assistance shall be diuided into two generall parts The first an explication The second an application a briefe application of the text and a more ample application of the text to the present estate of the Church of England of which two points in order beseeching the God of all grace and peace to grant vs a blessing 3 And first who spake these words It is plaine that the holy Apostle S. Paul And seeing the holy
our spirituall ioy we reade those comfortable and selected portions of Scripture called Epistles and Gospels Now for the holie Communion it is so religiously penned and so reuerently performed in our Church as is most apt to kindle deuotion to inflame faith to raise vp the minde from earthly cogitations and to rauish the spirit with heauenly ioy for it is replenished with most zealous exhortations lowly confessions piercing praiers celestiall comforts angelicall lauding and praising of God and not presuming to come to the Lords table trusting in our owne righteousnesse but in his manifold and great mercies we beseech him to grant that we may so eate the flesh of his deare sonne and drinke his bloud that our bodies being clensed and our soules washed wee may euer dwell in him and he in vs. And though we are not woorthie of our selues so much as to gather vp the crums vnder his table yet after the reheatsall of Christs holy institution such is the mercy of God in the merits of Christ we are made partakers of this heauenly banquet euen of the precious bodie and bloud of Christ for the forgiuenesse of our sinnes and all other benefits of his passion So againe powring out praiers and rendring thanks and glorie to God on high we conclude the celebration of these reuerend mysteries pronouncing a blessing to the people departing Thus we repent and pray wee reioice and praie we thanke God and praie we confesse our faith and praie wee reade and praie we heare and praie we preach and praie we receiue the Sacraments and praie This is the order of our Church which may well be called the house of Praier Iacob when he awaked from the dreame of the ladder he said How reuerend is this place it is none other then the house of God and the gate of heauen So I say vnto you oh how reuerend is this Church of England where God is thus serued surely it is the house of God and this gracious seruing of him is the gate of heauen And thus much of the declaration and now I come to the confutation 28 As Iacob loued Ioseph aboue the rest of his children and in token thereof made him a partie coloured coat so God hath loued the Church of England aboue manie other Churches he hath decked and adorned her with sundrie gifts and graces so that she is like to a kings daughter in a beautifull garment of changeable colours Of Ioseph it is said that The archers shot at him and those archers were his brethren so of the Church of England it may bee saide that the archers shot at her and some of them were her owne children O mercifull God who would imagine that men borne and bred in so holy a Church should shoote so many venemous arrowes at their owne mother Some in their firie zeale haue called our Church musicke meretricious our reading of the Psalmes the tossing of tennis bals our briefe and piercing praiers cuts shreds our choice of the Epistles and Gospels the cutting and mangling of the Scripture the reading of Seruice and Homilies woorse then a stage plaie yea our vsing of the Letanie the Nicene Creed the Hymne of glorie the Creed of Athanasius the Euangelicall Hymnes and the Lords praier it selfe hath not escaped their censure What a world are wee growne vnto when thankesgiuing after childe-birth kneeling at the Communion reading the holy Scripture and funerall Sermons are made matters of reproch yea the whole Communion Booke some are said to call an idoll a Portuis a peece of Swines flesh yea the very Temples of God they are said to tearme temples of Baal idoll synagogues abominable sties But I hope my brethren of the Ministerie for whose loue I haue vndertaken this labour are for the most part more iudicious and of a milder temper yet because diuers of them stand as yet vnresolued imagining that we come neerer to the chuch of Rome then in dutie we should and therefore in the tendernesse of their conscience make scruple whether they may safely ioine with vs or no therefore I will bend my selfe to answer those arguments which in mine opinion doe most commonly intangle them that is certaine generall exceptions which are vniuersally opposed against the orders ceremonies of our Church These firie darts flie farre and wide the people men and women haue learned disdainfully to dash them in our faces these I hold it my dutie to quench or at least to doe mine endeuour I will therefore bring my bucket of water and commit the euent to the gracious goodnesse of Almightie God And for breuities sake I will reduce all these arguments into one the branches whereof shall bee handled in order Those orders and ceremonies which were neither commanded of God in holie Scripture nor practised in the Apostles times but are hereticall popish and antichristian being scandalous where they remaine and therfore cast out of other reformed Churches are in no wise to be imbraced or assented vnto by subscription but such say they are sundry of the orders and ceremonies of the Church of England therefore not to be imbraced nor yeelded vnto by Subscription 29 And first they require that nothing should be placed in Gods Church but those things onely which the Lord himselfe in his word commandeth Now it is supposed that we haue many rites which are not commanded as for example where is the Surplesse commanded where is the Ring in marriage commanded where is the Crosse in baptisme commanded where is kneeling at the Communion commanded These and a number of other things are vsed in our Church which as it is obiected God in his holie Word hath no where commanded To which obiection I answer First that if vnder this word commanded they comprehend things commanded in generall then these and the like orders of our Church are commanded If they demand where I answer in euery place where God commands vs to obey our Prince For the meaning of Gods cōmandement is that we should obey the Prince in all things lawfull but things indifferent are things lawfull therefore God commands vs to obey our Prince in things indifferent But all these things are indifferent therfore in all these God commands vs to obey our Prince yea euen in this my text it is commanded when it is said Let all things be done honestly and by order Secondly if by commanded they vnderstand a particular command then I grant that these things are not so commanded but neither are their owne rites they so much desire any where thus commanded A white Surplesse I confesse is no where commanded neither is a blacke gowne or cloake any where commanded Kneeling at the Communion is no where commanded but neither is sitting or any other gesture which they allow any where commanded If our orders may not be receiued because they are not commanded then neither can
goe out of her my people that you be not partakers in her sinnes and that yee taste not of her plagues haue vpon your former premises gathered a practicall conclusion and made an actuall separation and rent from the Church of England And surely my brethren as they had their original from your positions so now they are strengthened by your practises for they may well thinke that such learned and vertuous men so famous and renowmed Preachers knowing a Wee pronounced against them if they preach not the Gospell would neuer suffer themselues to be silenced for matters which they iudged indifferent and therefore they will take it as granted that the things you sticke at are in your opinion simplie vnlawfull Vpon this dangerous position they will builde an other for if the Liturgie of the Church of England as it is inioined at this day to be performed be such as a Minister cannot execute his function with a good conscience then they conclude that neither may the people heare it with a good conscience because their presence were an approbation of it thus the vnquiet wit of man will still be working euen till it runne it selfe vpon the rocke of his owne destruction Wherefore my deare brethren I beseech you as you tender the good of the Church to lay aside all contentious humors Let there not bee found in you a spirit of contradiction and singularitie but follow those things which concerne peace and wherewith one may edifie an other Let vs consider one an other to prouoke one an other to loue and good works Bend your selues to settle the quiet of the Church and keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace Which is rather to be expected at your hands because the points in question are the publike constitutions of the venerable conuocation which is the Church of England representatiue in whose voice your owne voice is included Some peraduenture will replie that if this reason be sound then the reuerend Martyrs in Queene Maries time should haue subscribed to poperie because it was then decreed by the Conuocation But I answer that there is not the like reason For against their popish conclusions the blessed Martyrs had euident and necessary demonstration of holy Scripture to which all decâ—â—es of man must vndoubtedly giue place but against the orders of our Church no such demonstrations can be produced Againe the matters they stood vpon were substantiall points of religion whereas our controuersies are of a lower nature And surely as probable inducements must yeeld to necessarie so amongst probable of which sort are all reasons deduced from the authoritie of man the priuate must giue place to the publike Will you haue the iudgement of master Caluin in this point also Then attend and heare a notable place which was touched before but deserueth to bee pondered againe and againe his words are these Quamuis enim quod obtruditur scandalum afferat malam caudam trahat quia tamen per se Dei verbo non repugnat concedi potest maximè vbi maior numerus peruincit quando ei qui membrum est tantum illius corports nulla ratio suppetit vlterius pergendi Let it therfore be imagined that our orders bring scandall and draw after them a long and foule traine of inconueniences yet seeing that in themselues considered they are not repugnant to Gods word for this still wee must presume till the contrarie bee prooued and are agreed vpon by the greater part yea by the sacred Synod which is the Church of England representatiue and that with the royall assent of our Soueraigne surely in the iudgement of Caluin they may bee yeelded vnto by such as are members of the same Church neither in this case can they proceed any further Wherefore my brethren I cast my selfe downe at your feete and with tender teares beseech you euen in the bowels of Christ Iesus that you will seeke peace and follow after it and bee not like to them of whom it is saide The way of peace they haue not knowne 46 Fourthly looke vpon those reuerend Fathers and Bishops of our Church by whose hands and voices that blessing was powred vpon you which made you ministers of holie things Haue you not at your ordination made a promise and at your institution taken a reuerent oth of canonicall obedience Wherefore let mee exhort you which haue taken this oth and being admonished by your Bishop oppose your selues notwithstanding against the laudable discipline of our Church to enter into your owne soules and vprightly to consider whether while you pretend conscience you doe not that which is vncomely for conscieence And for our Bishops ò what an anguish will it bee to their soules if those voices which ordained you be constrained to depriue you And what a comfort would it be both to them and to all your brethren of the Ministerie if we might ioine together against the common enemie and bee linked in euerlasting chaines of loue one with another And heere most reuerend Fathers though in your wisedome you finde it fit that authorized lawes be put in execution yet remember that the offenders are your owne children in the Lord and by Gods mercie your assistants in dispensing the precious trueth of Iesus Christ and many of them very learned and laborious in the Church of God adorned with manifold vertues and graces of the spirit and therefore let all your proceedings towards them be with a tender heart and a tender hand Consider the multitude of papists and the insulting of vaine-glorious Iesuits behold how sinne and iniquitie euerie where abound and what need the Church hath of their learned labours and therefore in the name of God trie all meanes in Fatherly maner to reduce them endeuour according to your godly wisedome to giue them full satisfaction of their doubts and to make the equitie of the required subscription plaine and manifest vnto them that their consciences being resolued they may proceed as before in the worke of the Lord for this will tend much to the glorie of God the good of the Church your owne comfort and the sauing of many thousand soules This in all dutie I haue aduentured call to your remembrance most reuerend Fathers in behalfe of my brethren wherein if I seeme too bold that loue which caused me must excuseme 47 Finally beloued call to mind the flocke of Christ that depends vpon you their profiting in religion was the comfort of your hearts your ioy and your crowne the seale of your Ministerie they heard you as the Angels of God yea as Iesus Christ and could haue beene content to haue plucked out their owne eies and haue giuen them to you And therefore if there be any loue any bowels of compassion forsake not the lambes of Iesus Christ whereof the holie Ghost hath made you ouerseers For let me tell you that your loue to the flocke ought rather like a golden chaine to draw you then the