A CATECHISM FOR BISHOPS DEANS PREBENDS DOCTORS VICARS CURATES AND ALL PRELATICALS FOR Them to Read in the Fear of the LORD GOD and with a meek and quiet Spirit By WILLIAM SMITH LONDON Printed in the Year 1662. A Catechism for Bishops Deans Prebends Doctors Vicars Curates and all Prelaticals for Them to Read in the Fear of the Lord God and with a meek and quiet Spirit THere is in man a Corruptible will an Earthly wisdom and a Carnal mind and where these bear rule there is a strong Enmity against God and all things that be good and under these Corruptible Earthly Carnal things the Seed of God is in bondage and groans under their burden and in that state the understanding of all men is darkned and fast closed that the things of God neither are nor can be perceived And this is the ground of Error when the understanding is so darkned that the things of God cannot be perceived and then not being known as they are in the ground they are supposed to be what they are not and so Opinions drawn concerning them and Professions made of them and a Worship and Service set up in them when they have no savour of God nor agreement with the Scriptures of Truth So for Doctrine men set up Traditions which rise from the many Inventions And from this ground is risen all your Profession and Worship which in your Prelatical Power is set up and unto which you would compel a Conformity and impose it upon all Consciences which is a thing of great weight and needful to be truly tryed and examined before it be so eagerly pursued and so wilfully endeavoured to be imposed Therefore admit in coolness of a true Examination and Tryal by the Spirit of Truth and from the Scriptures of Truth and if your Practice and Worship be found to agree in one without adding or diminishing then you will be freely owned without any Law to compel but if your Practice and Worship be found contrary then be not angry because it is denied and testified against for in so doing you will manifest degeneration from reasonable men therefore hear your Examination cooly and quietly and if Truth prevail then own it and submit unto it and cease from your Traditions but if you have any thing against it then bring forth your strong Reasons and prove them from the Scriptures of Truth that it may be manifest to the understandings of people what is Truth and what is Error And for the better understanding of it here followeth a short Catechism which is given forth in love to the Simple and for you to reade and peruse ye Bishops Doctors Vicars Curats and all Prelaticals wherein you may see Tradition and Truth moderately reasoning Tradition I have heard that there is a God and that he is the maker of all things and I have also heard that from Generation to Generation this God hath been worshipped and served and I think it but my reasonable duty to do as others have done before me Truth One onely true wise God there is who is the maker of all things and is over all things but if thou hast no more knowledge of him than by what thou hearest thou art yet without him and a stranger to him and art an ignorant worshipper and dost not know what thou worshippest and what others have done in Generations past will not make thy service accepted though thou mayest worship in the observation and do all things in the custom of it for it is only the present manifestation of God's Spirit in every man in which God is truly served and worshipped and in which the Service and Worship is accepted Trad. But cannot I come to know God by hearing that which is reported of him and cannot I worship him and serve him by observing what others have done and how they have worshipped in Ages past and so following them for my Example Truth God is a Spirit and makes himself manifest in Spirit and that which is truly reported of him is from the Spirit 's manifestation which all the holy men of God were inspired with and made their Report from and worshipped God in and thou mayest hear this Report and reade it but being from the Spirit of God manifest in thee thou canst neither know God nor truly worship him for God's Worship stands not in the observation but in his living power neither canst thou follow the Example of the holy men of God but by the leadings of the same Spirit which they were guided by and lived in Trad. But it is safe for me to minde the Scriptures and that which therein is reported and to endeavour to observe and do it and then I question not but I shall know God and be a true worshipper of him Truth That which all are to minde is the manifestation of God's Spirit for that is his own gift to every man that they might profit and all that turn to it and believe in it their understandings are opened in the power of it and then the Scriptures are truly known and this is safe and will not deceive any but will bring the assurance with it of Eternal Life for as thou standest in the Questioning so also in Doubting and Condemnation and all thy endeavours will not profit thee or bring assurance of Eternal Life unto thee for it is not in him that willeth or in him that runneth but standing still in obedience to the present manifestation of God's Spirit Salvation is seen and shewed in the Mercy of God So thou must lay down thy life in thy observation which stands in thy Tradition and come to Truths present manifestation Trad. But I cannot know the Truth but by the Scripture for it is the Scripture that makes the Truth manifest and from the Scripture do I set up my Worship and there ought to be a Conformity yeelded unto it and such as will not to compel them by a Law Truth The understanding of Truth is by the Spirit of Truth and the Light of Christ in every man's Conscience makes it manifest and this is reported in the Scripture and is the sure Foundation upon which the true Worship stands and all that come to the Spirit and walk in the Spirit they are truly subject to it and bow before it and yeeld all obedience to the manifestation of it and this is the true Worship and the true Worshippers and they that come into this Worship are not brought into it or made conformable to it by any National Law neither do they seek after any such Law to force or compel others that differ from them but commit it to the Power of God And who comes into subjection to God's Power and are made conformable unto that they are the true Worshippers and their service is performed unfeignedly without any deceit or hypocrisie and they appear not so much in an outward Conformity as in Simplicity and godly Sincerity in which they are approved in the sight
far thou art degenerated from the Life and Truth which the Saints enjoyed and possessed and upon which the Church of God hath ever been builded and stood So be cool and hear what Truth saith for now thy Church comes to tryal Thou hast perverted the right way of the Lord by thy Tradition and hast been setting up thy visible things in the stead of that which is spiritual and hast given them a name out of the nature by which thou hast deceived the Nations and thy things that do appear are not the things of God though thou hast made them very beautiful to behold yet a sandy foundation they stand upon and will not abide the day of tryal for the Foundation of thy Church is of thy own laying and the Building is thy own handy-work and thy Church hath been set up in the midnight of Apostasie since the true Church hath been driven into the Wilderness and the Consecration of it hath been performed by men of polluted lips and thy Eldest son hath been the promoter of it who himself hath lost the key of knowledge and so promotes and sets up what thou generates in thy bowels and this is come to pass since the dayes of the Apostles the Spirit of Truth being lost and ravined from darkness hath overspred and gross darkness hath covered and peoples minds have been blinded that thy Witchcraft and Sorceries hath not been perceived and so hast thou formed a false likeness and given it a true name by which thou hast deceived in drawing the minds of people to believe that thy work is that which it is not But the Foundation of God is more sure and the true Church is built upon it and receives its name from the nature and not from any false conception for the Church is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and this is the pillar and ground of Truth and is laid upon Christ the living stone in whom the building is fitly framed and groweth up unto an holy Temple in the Lord and it is presented without spot or wrinkle or any such thing and there is the Consecration of it received in the Holiness of his life and he becomes the Head of it and it is truly his own Body which he takes to himself in everlasting Righteousness and espouseth it in his Life for ever and ever and this doth not decay nor wax old but is the same without any variableness throughout all Generations So is thy Church truly tryed and the Foundation of it is found false and the true Church nature it hath not therefore is the name to be blotted out that from henceforth none may be deceived with it Trad. This is strange that my Church should be questioned which through so many Ages hath been much esteemed and promoted and if it be not right then what is become of those that are gone before and did not know it otherwise Truth In thick darkness things seem to be that which they are not but the day makes them manifest as they are and the Light of Christ truly discovers in the ground and being found amiss they must be questioned and also denied And what other Generations have observed and how they walked is not now the question for they knowing no more and being faithful to what they did know they have their reward And this proves nothing for thy false Church and Worship which thou upholdest by thy Tradition and not from the present manifestation of God's Spirit in this Age and Generation Trad. I shall further consider of this but for my Preaching which is a chief thing in my Worship I know that is sound and there can be nothing against it Truth That Preaching which stands in the demonstration of Gods Spirit and in Power is sound Preaching and pierces through the darkness unto that which lies in bondage and revives and raises it in Power But that Preaching which stands in the enticing words of man's wisdom that is not sound and this is the ground of thy Preaching which is so chiefly esteemed by thee in thy Worship and by which thou deceivest many people having got good words and in thy wisdom speakest them forth and labourest in the strength of that wisdom to entice and draw disciples after thee and so dost thou teach for Doctrine thy own Tradition and other mens lines and labours are the strength of thy Preaching and what Ambrose Austine Luther Calvin Gregory and others have said and what Expositions they have made of the Scriptures thou canst say they have well observed And this is the ground of thy Preaching O thou deceiving Tradition And now is thy Preaching found to be out of Truths power and contrary to the Preaching of those that were made able Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit Trad. But cannot I have sound Preaching in my Worship though something from the Fathers may be quoted and observed for they have spoken good things and have expounded the Scriptures plainly and given true meanings of them which is a great help in Preaching Truth Sound Preaching is in the Power of God and not from any Exposition or meaning that from others is given upon the Scriptures for who run thither and speak from that they stretch themselves beyond their own measure which the true Preachers dare not do but keep to the gift of God and as it moves in the measure so it is preached and so believed For true Preaching is a declaration of the Truth of God as it doth arise and make it self manifest to the understanding and so there comes to be a true witnessing of it in the Experience through the operation of the Power of God from which it is preached as it is known and this is not found among old Authors and Expositors nor in thy Rhetorick and Logick or in thy made Doctrines Uses Reasons Helps Motives Arguments and Applications but in the Spirit 's Demonstration and in Power Trad. What is it I can say that will be received and not opposed Those things that I have long observed and Ages past have looked at them to be very good now are denyed but for my Praying in my Worship that I know is right and without exception for it is mentioned in the Scriptures and was practised very much by the Saints and I have the Lord's Prayer and have made many other good Prayers and have set them forth which be very useful and comfortable for all conditions and upon all occasions and I have put them together in a Book which I call the Book of Common-Prayer and make use of it in my Devotion and Worship Truth Prayer in the Spirit the Saints practised and their Service was accepted but from this thou art degenerated and in thy Tradition hast made and formed such Prayers as the Lord hath not required neither doth he open his ear to hear them though thou makest many of them and that which thou callest the Lord's Prayer which is so often set
its lawfulness and perform it as a matter of Conscience would you think it reasonable to be compelled from that unto another thing and have another thing imposed upon your Consciences by any outward power which you do not feel a perswasion in your minds unto And if this seem hard unto you if it should be so done Then is it not the same unto another And will you not do unto others as you would have others do unto you And why cannot you be contented in your own perswasion and your own liberty in it without imposing it upon the Consciences of others who are otherwise perswaded And this is not reasonable in the sight of moderate men therefore leave off exercising Lordship that all people may stand in their Liberty and walk as they are perswaded in their own Conscience and impose not your Observations and your Traditions upon any who are not in themselves perswaded of their lawfulness for that makes many Hypocrites but can never make one Christian So there must be first a perswasion wrought in the Conscience and a belief in the Truth and Lawfulness of what is to be observed or the heart can never stand right unto it though it be in great strictness imposed And this brings people but into an appearance and to make a shew of the thing outwardly when the heart is not after the thing which is imposed upon them and when a Conformity is not yeelded as by your Law is required then to proceed in your Cruelty to imprison and persecute the tender-hearted who cannot for Conscience-sake bow to your Traditions This is not reasonable before moderate men nor approved in the sight of the living God Therefore hear and consider ye Bishops Deans Prebends Doctors Vicars and Curates with all Preâ—â—ticals and let your moderation appear for the Lord is at hand and in his Eternal Power your way he is trying and you must come up to the Bar of his Judgment-Seat and give an account and think it not strange to be catechised for you have need to be taught what the first principle of the pure Religion is and if you will but soberly peruse this Catechism you may know and learn that which your Universities could never give you the knowledge of nor all your Learning and Wisdom could ever teach you And in love to the Simple hath Truth opened it self plainly and simply that you might come to know that which in the darkness hath from your eyes been hid and that you might no longer oppose it and persecute those that walk in it but leave Truth to its operation which brings forth true and perfect Freedom and if you did but know the Truth and the Freedom that is begotten in it you would not be so envious against it and set up your Tradition in opposition to it But this is done that the Scripture might be fulfilled they hated me without a cause And this is your honour and worldly glory which lifts you up in pride which God is staining And now do you believe that your Foundation is right and your Building safe I tell you Nay for God will destroy both it and you if you do not speedily cease from it and repent of it and do not busie and throng your selves so much to promote it and to finish it for God hath determined to overthrow it for ever Oh ye deceived men who have no strength but in your Tradition nor no comfort but from the milk of her breast you have been long drawing and sucking and yet are dry and lean and your immortal Souls receive no refreshing nor satisfaction Why are ye so blinded and so much deceived and cannot otherwise be perswaded but that Tradition is the right way and from that Conclusion endeavour an Imposition upon every Conscience when their Faith stands not in the same thing nor are not so perswaded of it as you are and what have you to do to impose Tradition upon the Consciences of others more than others to impose their Opinions and Judgments upon your Consciences And would you judge it reasonable that any should so do unto you And if it belong unto you to do it on your parts more than others to do it on their parts then make it manifest how and from whom you have received that power For moderate men are now satisfied that Schools and Colledges cannot give it you and they are also satisfied that Christ doth not give it you and also that there is no Scripture to warrant you therefore Truth enquires moderately of you from whence and from whom this Imposing Power upon the Consciences of others you receive seeing it is made manifest that you walk by Tradition and not after Christ For Imposition and Persecution are an evident Testimony against you and fully open and make you manifest to be of a contrary spirit unto the Apostles who were hated and persecuted yet they loved and blessed and here they manifested their love unto Him who commanded that they should love their Enemies and do good to those that hated them and they were his Disciples and kept his Commandments And all that truly follow him in this day he begets in them the same mind and they keep his Commandments with joy and dare not persecute any people upon the Earth for their Opinion and Judgment in matters of Religion nor dare they impose any thing upon the Consciences of others by any outward Law but leave it to Him that judgeth righteously who hath the Ruling Power over the Conscience and as he is believed in he works a perswasion in the Conscience unto the Truth as he makes it manifest and then the Truth is joyned unto from a true Perswasion and not from an outward Imposition and you are not to judge in these things for in so doing you take his Right from Him and set up that which is not his and when you have done it then you labour to impose it upon every Conscience And this is a quite contrary thing to the Saints practice who durst not set up any thing that did not stand in the Power of God and when the Power had brought any thing forth they did not impose it upon the Conscience of any by an outward Law that they thereby might compel a Conformity to it but they preached it in the Power and so commended themselves unto every man's Conscience in the sight of God Therefore behold your degeneration and what hath happened unto you in this apostatizing night of darkness in which you have erred from the right way and gone astray from the leadings of God and from the Power of his living Spirit and so have brought forth your own dead works and are serving the living God in them And what you have sought out in your Tradition that you have set up for Doctrine and Worship and would bring all people to bow unto it but now the day declares you and in the Land of Tradition the Light hath found you and the habitation of your dwelling-places is seen under the Groves and green Trees of your own planting and moderate people cannot come unto you nor inhabite with you for your Rest is polluted and sudden destruction is coming upon it Now all Bishops Deans Prebends Doctors Vicars Curates and all Prelaticals turn to the Truth and lay hold upon it and let Tradition go for Truth was before Tradition and the Truth will bring Tradition to an end So your Foundation is not safe nor your Building steadfast but stands in the unstable waters of your own humane Inventions and not upon Christ the Rock of Ages And now Truth hath moderately enquired after you and having found you out of the Life of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles it warns you all to Repentance that the Judgment may be diverted and the hand of Severity stayed which certainly is hastening down upon you without speedy Repentance So escape for your lives that the stroak may not fall upon you and smite you down into the Death for ever Now all you High and Mighty Wise and Learned Ones give ear and hear Truth 's Testimony and see if you can reade the Parable and learn what it means Truth I was a stranger in a far Country and amongst a strange people and under the Government of a strange King I was in great Captivity and a great distance from the Land of my Nativity and I had many heavie Yokes laid upon me and the strange people did evil entreat me and the strange King did sorely oppress me and laid heavie Burdens upon me and when I had any desires towards the Land of my Nativity then did the strange King rise up against me and sorely afflicted me and was cruel towards me I sought how I might get forth of his Country that I might be freed from his Cruelty I sought but I could not find I travelled in sore pain but could not find a man to give me ease Then my sorrow did much encrease and my anguish was sore upon me so that I was near unto fainting and despairing yet a secret hope sometimes rose in me that I should be delivered and set free Then I came into a stillneâ—â— and in quietness stayed and in patience waited though I was desolate and sore afflicted and being brought to stand still add in patience to wait a Deliverer I found near at hand and from the Land of my Nativity a pure Light did shine and in it I see the way opened which passed through the Land and I presently joyned to the Light and it went forward towards the place from whence it came and I followed it diligently Then did the King and People rise to pursue me to have taken and to have kept me but the Light took my part and smote the King with his People and discomfited them and brake the Yoke and removed the Burdens from me it was my guide and led me by the hand and from the wicked King and People it me redeemed Then wâ—s my sorrow turned into joy and my mourning into songs of praises for Deliverance came by an out-stretched Arm and my Freedom was wrought by an invisible living Power unto which my Testimony stands for ever TRVTH In outward Bands at Worcester but inwardly free in the Life of my Well-beloved THE END