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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	place_n	spirit_n	worship_v	2,835	5	9.1263	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59650	A discourse of superstition with respect to the present times wherein the Church of England is vindicated from the imputation, and the the charge retorted not only on the papists, but also on men of other perswasions / by William Shelton ...	Shelton, William, d. 1699.	1678 (1678)	Wing S3097; ESTC R10846	60,551	205

be upbraided with superstition because of such appointments If these grounds be firm and good I conclude that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England unless they be either burdensome in their Number or requir'd as somewhat in nature and kind greater and more necessary than things Indifferent are not faulty or superstitious Both which Cases deserve Consideration 1. If our Rites be in their nature Sect. 16. Innocent no man hath reason to find fault with their Number The Compilers of our Liturgy have been aware that an Objection might be here made and have taken care to prevent the scruple Some Ceremonies are Preface to the Liturgy of Ceremonies put away because the great excess and multitude of them hath so increas'd in these latter days that the burden of them was intolerable whereof St. Austin in his time complain'd c. This our excessive multitude was so great and many of them so dark that they did more confound and darken than declare and set forth Christs benefits to us That Complaint of St. Austin is in his Epistle to Januarius where he acknowledges Aug. Januario Ep. 119. Quamvis enim neque hoc inveniri possit quomodo contra fidem sint ipsam tamen Religionem quam paucissimis manifestissimis celebrationum sacramentis misericordia Dei esse liberam voluit servilibus oneribus premunt ut tolerabilior sit conditio Judaeorum Admit that such observances be not against the Gospel yet in as much as the Merciful God would have Religion free from the burden of many Ceremonies they have so clog'd it with burdensome services that the condition of the Jews was more tolerable than of Christians now adays That there may be no such Cause of Complaint among us the Church of England hath been very moderate in this thing Not so as to escape the ill will of her Adversaries when they were resolv'd to find fault for the Preface to the Directory complains of the many unprofitable and burdensome Ceremonies contain'd in the Liturgy which occasion'd much mischief yet in cool blood some of the party are constrain'd to acknowledge the Disc of Liturgies p. 91. number of Ceremonies retain'd in our Church pretending to any legal Authority but small The Surplice and Cross and Kneeling at Sacrament are we think all And they do us much wrong if they refuse this acknowledgment For a great number of observations which obtain in the Church of Rome in the Celebration of the Sacraments which from their number of seven we have reduc'd to Two and in other parts of Divine Worship have no place in the Church of England lest they should divert the minds of men from worshipping God in spirit and truth Ceremonies harmless in themselves may yet be hurtful in respect of their number therefore hath our Church abrogated a great number of Saints-days and other like Customs as Mr Eccles Pol. lib. 4. Sec. 14. Hooker hath observed Wherefore such is the present state of our Church that we may securely defy our Adversaries in this matter if it were as easy to cure their Jealousies of what may be as to answer their objections against what is established But here they make difficulty Though our present Number of Ceremonies be but small yet they raise a doubt how far a Church may go how many Ceremonies may be establish'd before the number be burdensome Where is the Maximum quod non and the Minimum quod sic of superstition This is thought a great Argument why no Ceremonies beyond what are of direct necessity should be imposed because of the Bagshaw's Two great Queries p. 10. Impossibility to fix a point where the Imposer will stop For do but once grant that the Magistrate hath power to impose and then we ly at his mercy how far he will go And they who allow our present number to be but small yet think them too many because though there Discourse of Liturgies p. 91. be no more Ceremonies established by law as yet there are many probationers and they can see no reason but the Churches power if allowed to appoint any save only such without which the service of God would apparently to all rational men be perform'd indecently and disorderly may appoint Hundreds It is also one of Mr Baxters reasons against the Imposing Crossing and the Surplice c. When we once begin to let in Humane Baxter Disput of Ch. Government p. 477. Mystical Rites we shall never know where to stop or make an end On the same ground that one age invents three or four the next think they may add as many and so it will grow to be a point of devotion to add a new Ceremony as at Rome it hath done till we have more than we well know what to do with I answer The Writings of Moralists are not thought defective though when they have given General Rules for Temperance that men may not drink till they disable their Reason and impair their health c. they do not descend particularly to determine how many Glasses a man may drink and precisely to say such a draught makes him Intemperate Nor did Mr Chillingworth think he was wanting to his Adversary who counted it prodigiously strange that Protestants Chillingw Religion of Protest c. p. 128 129. could not be induc'd to give in a particular Catalogue of points Fundamental when he calls it an Unreasonable demand because variety of Circumstances makes it impossible to set down an exact Catalogue of them I think I may have as much reason to reckon it no Imperfection in this discourse if I do not venture punctually to determine how great a number of Ceremonies may be required before we come at Superstition When the number becomes so great that the shadow darkens the substance When the substantial service of God which should be performed in spirit and truth is prejudic'd by the attendance that is given to the outward Ceremony when the use of the means renders us uncapable to obtain the end then does it rise to that excessive multitude of which our Church speaks But because the use of our liberty in other lawful things cannot be fix'd in an Indivisible point but alters according to the various Circumstances of times and persons and conditions and relations of men therefore no wise man will give one particular determinate rule which shall oblige equally in all Cases In like manner as our Church reckons Ceremonies Indifferent so at the same time are they concluded alterable and it is acknowledged that upon weighty and important considerations Preface to the Liturgy according to the various exigency of times and occasions such changes and alterations should be made therein as to those in place of Authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient And here sure must the thing rest It must be left to the prudence of our Governours If they shall impose any thing in which the Consciences of

people are not satisfied If in truth it shall be believed that the number of Ceremonies enjoin'd is so great that the means disserve the end that what is ordain'd as an help to Piety and Devotion does rather hinder it these persons so dissatisfied about the number are in the same case with those who are dissatisfied about the nature of an Injunction If they scruple without cause and are not duly inform'd their scruples do not render the Injunction unlawful in it self Nevertheless the Doctrine of our Church does not encourage them to act against their Consciences they must peaceably suffer where they cannot act No doubt but it is possible Church-Governours who among us do not pretend to Infallibility may in some things be mistaken Yet such things as these must be left to their determination For is it not so elsewhere There may be too many Ale-Houses in a Town and it may be difficult to determine exactly how many are sufficient and where the number will exceed but is it therefore unlawful for the Justices to licence any There may be in a Countrey or Town Parishes too many for the Maintenance or too few for the people and it may be difficult for Authority to know exactly how many are needful and convenient Shall there be therefore no division made into several for fear lest there should be too many or too few What if there be the same difficulty in adjusting the true number of Ceremonies yet in as much as it is necessary there should be some because else Religion in the substance would suffer and decay therefore is it also lawful for our Governours to make a determination in this matter The Determination of which number must proceed upon the same Rules of Decency Order and Edification which give a law to the kind and nature of Ceremonies And in this General may men rest satisfied till the number shall grow doubtful Then it will concern private persons to take heed as to their own practice that the Ceremony do not devour the substance But because at present there is no reasonable Cause to fear because the Ceremonies that are now requir'd are so few that no man may without peevishness quarrel at their number if they be Innocent in their nature and use therefore I return from this digression to consider that in the next place 2. The Rites and Ceremonies of our Church are not required as things in their nature necessary but Indifferent The use of the Cross at Baptism is Canon 30. thus accounted for as being purg'd from all Popish superstition and error and reduc'd in the Church of England to the primary Institution of it upon those true Rules of Doctrine concerning things Indifferent which are consonant to the word of God and the Judgment of all Antient Fathers c. And upon the same Rules of Doctrine are our other Ceremonies established For so the Preface to the Liturgy expresses it The Ceremonies that remain are retain'd for a Godly Discipline and Order which upon just causes may be alter'd and chang'd and therefore are not to be esteem'd equal with Gods Law And the Preface that was made upon the last establishment says The particular forms of Divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be us'd therein are things in their own Nature Indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged Words too plain to need a Comment and lyable to no Objection that I can foresee unless one of these two things shall be replyed both upon them and all that hath hitherto been said in this matter First That some things are requir'd under the Notion of things Indifferent which are not so Secondly Be it granted that some Indifferent things may be impos'd yet it does not follow that all may or that the things in controversy may We say the things they scruple Sect. 17. are requir'd but as things Indifferent as indeed they are They are not all satisfied to think so of them The time was when T. C. did oppose our Ceremonies not as unlawful but as inconvenient as hath been already said And Mr Ash in the Epistle to his Funeral Sermon on Mr Gataker when he had named Cartwright and Hildersham and Dod c. he says of them though these men dislik'd the use of superstitious Ceremonies yet they oppos'd their Tenents and practice who separated from the Church of England condemning it and the Ministry of it as Antichristian The separation is it seems now advanc'd for there are men that reckon there is more superstition among us than was believ'd formerly and therefore separate farther from us It is denied Modest Disc of Ceremon p. 8. now that these are things of Indifferency to be us'd as is requir'd in the service of God And whereas it is supposed that we say that the Imposition of Rulers makes Indifferent things cease to be Indifferent they answer They are not Indifferent in the Judgment Petition for Peace p. 12. of Dissenters though they be so in ours Exercit. about an Opining Cansci p. 80. They think they have probable Arguments to judge it unlawful to Minister in a Surplice to sign with the sign of the Cross in Baptism and to kneel in the Act of receiving the Lords Supper Yea these things are so far from being Indifferent that they are thought so Unlawful as that because of them people separate from our Churches For whatever reasons may perswade their Guides not to conform yet the people separate from us that they may not partake with our Ceremonies or for a worse reason I could not altogether omit so necessary a part of my Discourse but because it hath been so often said I pass it in fewer words Where no Law Rom. 4. is there is no Transgression That which is not forbid is not Unlawful Are these Rites and Ceremonies forbid in the word of God By what Text perhaps by the second Commandment or by those words of St. Matth. Teaching for Doctrine the Commandments of men Ch. 15. or by the Text of Will-Worship 2 Colos or because we may not add to nor diminish from the word of God Deuteron 4. Now because the Surplice and Cross and Kneeling are not named in these Texts as was upon occasion said before therefore Consequences must be drawn from them and labour'd so long till the Conclusion must hold as firm as confidence can make it Because the second Command forbids making and worshiping graven Images therefore all devices and Inventions of mans brain must have no place in Divine Worship Ergo what Ergo rend the Surplice c. As if the Bason at the Desk were not as much the device of man as the Font and the Directory were not as obnoxious as the Rubrick If our Church did equal her commands to the word of God then were she guilty of adding to the word and establishing the Commands of men in the room of the Doctrines of God If any accidents may bring our Rites within the