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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71273	The verdict upon the dissenters plea, occasioned by their Melius inquirendum to which is added A letter from Geneva, to the Assembly of Divines, printed by His late Majesties special command, with some notes upon the margent under his own royal and sacred hand : also a postscript touching the union of Protestants.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.; Diodati, Giovanni, 1576-1649. Answer sent to the ecclesiastical assembly at London by the reverend, noble, and learned man, John Deodate.	1681 (1681)	Wing W3356; ESTC R36681	154,158	329

and the Edification of the Church This is an Apostolical Precept 3. That Power which the Church exerted from the beginning and has exercised in all after-Ages That Power the Church is invested with if not let them shew us some defeasance or forfeiture of it But a power to appoint and settle Rites and Ceremonies the Church did exert from the beginning and has exercised in all after-Ages St. Paul exercised this Power in appointing Their Method and course of Prophesying their weekly Collections for the Poor that they speak not in an unknown tongue unless they do interpret that the Women keep silence in the Church that the Men be covered and the Women uncovered in the time and place of Publick VVorship And 't is the affirmation of the most Learned and Judicious Sanderson Posse de novo leges Condi de Ritibus de Rebus Personis Ecclesiasticis omnibusque Sacri cultus externi Circumstantiis ad Ordinem honestatem aedificationem spectantibus extra eas quae sunt à Christo ejus Apostolis traditae in Sacris literis adeo Manifesta res est rationi Consentanea ut perversi judicii obstinatique animi suspitione aegre se liberaverit qui siccus sobrius id negaverit That new Laws may be made concerning Rites Things and Persons Ecclesiastical and all the Circumstances of our external holy Worship concerning Order Honesty and Edification besides those delivered in holy Scripture by Christ and his Apostles is a thing so manifest and agreeable to reason that he will very hardly free himself from the suspition of an obstinate mind and a perverse judgment who shall soberly deny it And this Power is of necessity to be perpetually in the Church because such Rites and Ceremonies are not perpetual For they are of things in their own nature indifferent and alterable and there may be a just Cause if the Church thinks good to alter them and consequently there must be a constant Power in the Church to appoint or alter them accordingly as occasion serves And this is the judgment of the Learned Whitaker Fatemur Apostolos in singulis Ecclesiis Ritus aliquos atque Consuetudines ordinis decori Causa Sanxisse non autem scripsisse quia hi Ritus non erant perpetui futuri sed liberi qui pro Commodo temporum ratione Mutari possent we acknowledge saith he that the Apostles did in all Churches establish some Rites and Customs for order and decency sake and yet did not commit them to Writing Because these Rites were not to be perpetual but free and such as might be changed in regard of the time and benefit of the Church See Hemmingius 4. That Society whose Custom and Practice in matter of Rites and Ceremonies not repugnant to God's Word is a Supersedeas to all objection and ought not to be disputed that Society hath a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies I say not repugnant to God's Word for Custom is not pleadable in God's Church without Right or against God's Word for Consuetudo sine veritate est vestustas erroris Custom without Truth is but the dotage of Errour But the custom and practice of the Church in matter of Rites and Ceremonies not repugnant to God's Word is a Supersedeas to all objection and ought not to be disputed This is St. Paul's own Argument 1 Cor. 11. 16. in a Matter of Ceremonies the Womans vail in the time and place of Publick Worship If any man seems to be contentious we have no such custom neither the Churches of God Quae sententia tam ad contentionem quam ad velandi ritum referri potest which Sentence may as well be referred to the contention as to the Rite of Covering the head saith Bullinger Duabus securibus disputationes amputat saith Grotius He cuts off Disputes with two Hatchets Apostolical Institution and the Custom of the Churches Quod per omnes Ecclesias receptum est to call that in question which is received among all Churches est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the part of such as are contentious And as Bullinger very well observes Hoc ultimo hujus negotii loco This being added in the last place by the Apostle to conclude the whole matter Vehementèr potuit eorum pungere Mentes qui non omninò praefracti atque deploratae erant pertinatiae It might have nettled them exceedingly who were not altogether stubborn and desperately obstinate To conclude this Matter Christ hath settled in his Church a Power to make Laws and appoint Rites and Ceremonies for the decent and orderly performance of all her Administrations and such as do otherwise than these Laws Command with a contemptuous and disloyal mind Mr. Perkins has declared them guilty before God in sundry places of his Works For that general Rule of the Apostle Let all things be done decently and according to order must be look'd upon with the same Reverence as if it dropt from the Lips of Christ himself saith Mr. Calvin This is the foundation upon which the whole Ecclesiastical Discipline is built saith Hemmingius And from hence it is confirm'd that the Pious Constitutions of the Church are so far sorth Divine as they serve to Edification by their decency and good order Whereupon they bind us to Obedience saith he in that respect Etiam jure Divino even of Divine Right When St. Austin therefore had received this advice from St. Ambrose whatsoever Church thou comest into observe the Customes of it that thou may'st not be a Scandal to others nor others to thy self This saying of that holy Father St. Austin often thought on and always embraced it as an Oracle from Heaven And concludes from thence there is no better Rule or Instruction for a discreet and sober Christian to follow than to do as the Church does where e're he comes Quod enim neque contra fidem neque contra bonos Mores injungitur indifferenter est habendum pro eorum inter quos vivitur Societate servandum est For that which is injoyn'd if it be neither against the Faith nor against good Manners it is to be esteem'd as a thing indifferent and ought to be observed in regard of their Society with whom we do converse And so much for the Power of the Church to decree and injoyn Rites and Ceremonies As to the Superfaetation of this Article That it is not found in the Authentick Articles of K. Edward the Sixth and so the Terms of Communion have been enlarged since the first times of the Reformation To this I answer 1. That the Corinthians and the Cretians might have made the like objection as well against St. Paul as against Titus because all things were not presently settled at the first plantation of the Gospel 1 Cor. 11. last Tit. 15. Much may be abolisht in an instant but such as pretend to Reformation and yet do nothing but pull down they

that we ought to render him his due that is both External and Internal worship And the Learned Zanchy resolves Substantia legis Ceremonialis est perpetua That the substance of the Ceremonial Law is perpetual Natural Religion does Dictate something and where there is equity and a parity of Reason and a due Analogy for it we may take some directions from the Levitical Law as the very Learned and Judicious Sanderson observes Our blessed Saviour reteined many Ceremonies and Usances of that Carnal Commandment as Imposition of hands and both the Sacraments And from whence did the Apostle take the hint to injoyn the Women to wear a Vail and keep silence in the Church but from the Custom among the Jews And how does he establish Maintenance for the Evangelical Ministry but upon this bottom 1 Tim. 5. 18. 1 Cor. 9. 13 14. Sanciens Leges Vet. Test. Conformes establishing Law conformable to those of the Old Testament saith Theophylact. And perhaps this Analogy may be a fair ground for the strict observation of the Lord's day of Fasts and Festivals provided they do not typically respect things to come as those of the Law did but reflect upon what is past and fix us upon present Duty The Apostle did not always pretend to inspiration in such matters but used Christian Prudence yet not without a divine assistance and made Inferences out of Generals yet strictly observing such general Rules he concludes that the Particulars were the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 14. 37 40. The Learned Mede observes That it is a Synechdoche proper to the Decalogue Vt ex una specie intelligeremus omnes ejusdem generis Species unâ rerum Sacrarum specie omnes Omnino res sacras that from one Species we are to understand all of the same kind Quaedam sunt dicuntur in Scripturis saith Dr. Sclater out of Nazianzen quaedam verò sunt in Scripturis tametsi non dicuntur And 3. Rules are laid down by that learned Dr. First 1. Where Generals are delivered there are all Particulars comprised in those Generals intentionally delivered because Generals comprehend their Particulars 2. Where Principles and Causes are delivered their effects are also intended as being virtually conteined in their Principles 3. Where one equal is taught all of like reason is taught quia Parium Par ratio and where is Par ratio there is Par lex Where is like Reason there is like Law So take Contents of Scripture saith he no instance of any Point of necessary or but convenient Faith and Practice can be given but what is delivered in the written word Thus Dr. Sclater on 2 Thes. 2. 15. p. 199. The Psalmist tells us The Commandment is exceeding broad And very Learned Protestants think all matters of Decency impli'd in that of Rom. 12. 17. and the Apostles expression Phil. 4. 8. is of a very great latitude Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest if there be any virtue if there be any praise These with the other particulars there enumerated will extend a great way And the Learned A. Rivet makes good use of that Text against works of Supererrogation nor is it less valid or useful against Will-worship Omnia quaecunque homines possunt ex gratia Dei Deo debentur All that ever men can do by the Grace of God is due to God according to that exhortation and consequently they are in the General injoyn'd by God At least as Luther hath observed from the Apostle ad Gal. 5. 13. They are under the Law of Charity Quaecunque Ceremonialiter humaniter statuuntur Pro Charitate servanda sunt propter eos cum quibus vivendum est nobis donec ipsi easdem servari a nobis exigunt ne pax Solvatur in Schismata Seditiones What things soever are appointed by way of Ceremony and Civility are to be observed out of Charity for their sakes with whom we live so long as they require us to observe them lest Peace should break loose into Schismes and Seditions And a little after he conclude that there is no Law but is comprehended in Charity Nam sine omni dubio si tu quicquam statuisses c. For without all doubt saith he if thou shouldest injoyn any thing thou would'st be obeyed therefore thou art obliged by the Law of Nature and Charity to perform the same to another especially to God and his Vice-gerents provided you do not place Salvation in the Precepts of men but only consider that you are bound to serve others in Charity Hereupon Calvin Argument in Ep. ad Romanos in fine observing a sort of men who thought their Christian Liberty could not stand without a disturbance of the Civil Powers he resolves the case thus Verum ne quid videretur imponere Ecclesiae Paulus praeter Officia Charitatis hanc quoque obedientiam sub charitate contineri indicat Lest St. Paul should seem to impose any thing upon the Church besides the Offices of Charity He declares viz. Rom. 13. 8. that this obedience to the higher Powers is comprehended in Charity Those Impositions therefore which these Dissenters quarrel at are commanded in General and not being against any command of God if there were no more in the Case yet they are under a General Rule because done According to Order 5. It is to be noted That external Worship is a Duty of Religion and of great necessity It is the Observation of the Author of our Synopsis upon Josuah 22. 25. Ita est Mortalium ingenium ut Adminiculis opus habeant quibus mentes erigant in Coelum Such is the disposition of Mortal Men that they stand in need of helps to raise their Minds to Heaven Whereupon it often comes to pass Vt ubi Cultus externus negligitur that where God's outward Worship is neglected Ibi animorum quoque Religio sensim Tabescit Minuitur there the internal Religion also of the Soul flaggs and by degrees dwindles away to nothing Rectè igitur as that Author goes on wherefore they made a very good inference that if the Ritual Worship were obstructed or hindred the Spiritual Worship that I may so call the inward Piety of the Mind will decay and depart with it And the Learned Grotius hath very well observed that to make external Worship but a matter indifferent is the way to make the Courage and Constancy of Christians to languish and nothing is more destructive to Christianity then to bring in Conciliating expedients to mingle the Christian Religion with others whether approved or only tolerated 6. We must consider That when there are many ways of external Worship to express our inward Piety which cannot all be performed at once God has left it to the Wisdom of his Church In Publick Administrations to determine which we should observe And for the proof of this I 'le go no further than one of our own Divines Learned and Zealous and

whether the aversion he has to the present Constitution and Orders of this Church does not proceed from some one or more of these grounds viz. either from want of Humility and Modesty in Himself or from want of Love and Reverence to the Governours or from want of a due examination of the nature ends and usefulness of the things establish't or from want of Candour and Ingenuity in putting a fair construction on them For the very same Rites and Ceremonies which we have in the Church of England are in use in all the Lutheran Churches with many others And although the Churches under Calvin's denomination have not all that are practised amongst us yet none are more strict than they in the Observation of such as they have establisht For Obedience to Authority is certainly the duty of God's Servants St. Peter calls it well-doing 1 Pet. 2. 13 15 16. and makes it as well a branch of God's Will as an exercise of our Christian Liberty For as Mr. Perkin's on Gal. 4. 28. has very well observed This is perfect Liberty when man's will is conformable to the Will of God Nor does any Church think her Liberty impeach't by such Impositions For the use and excellency of my Christian Liberty lyes in this that it teaches me to be just and dutiful without constraint and so 't is no burden to me I can comply with the Commands of my Superiors and carry my Liberty along with me And all the while I hold to the generous Resolution of the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 12. All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the Power of any Knowing the Dominion I have over such indifferent things I will gratifie my weak Brother as far as I am able treat and instruct him with all ingenuity and freedom in the use of them And if my Superiours shall think fit to retrench the Practice of my freedom in some particular Instances that the world may see I am not under the sullen Spirit of fear and bondage but acted by a free Gospel-Spirit the Spirit of Power of Love and of a sound mind I will conform my self to their Commands with so much ease cheerfulness and satisfaction that it shall not look like a force or restraint upon me but as an exercise of my Liberty being very well assured for whose sake and upon what account and Principles I do it And 6. When I consider that things indifferent may be well or ill used as Mr. Perkins has observed and every Man's Experience can tell him I cannot but think my self happy in the Churches appointment for when she has determined my choice by her Injunctions to stand or kneel for example if I perform it with alacrity and reverence as I should do I find a satisfaction in my Humility and Obedience and I am the more obliged to my Superiours for the good use of my Liberty which I might have used amiss and for making that which was but indifferent of its own Nature to become of good advantage to me by her Authority And yet such is my Christian freedom even in the use of these things that while I practice them I am not at a loss either for my liberty or my duty I am not in bondage either to fear a Curse or to hope for Merit or to seek for ease of Conscience or Salvation in them The Dissenter goes on thus If I shall engage my self to the Church that I will never omit such an indifferent thing and the Soul of a weak Christian should call to me to omit it I have tied my hands by engagement I cannot help him though it would save his or a thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church Answer That all Clergymen are engaged to the Churches in which they are appointed to Administer is no new thing no matter at all of wonder For how else can the Church be secure of their fidelity How can she trust them with the Sacred Office This therefore is the practice of every Church of any creditable Denomination But when Men get into a vain of Scrupling they can seldom or never find the way out of it One scruple begets another like circles in a troubled water Mr. Calvin has pursued this Observation rarely well in his Institutions to which I refer the Reader He concludes when some superstitious opinion has cast a scruple into our heads things that are pure in their own Nature become contaminated and unclean to us and we can make use of nothing that God allows us without perturbation and disquiet of mind When a man begins to scruple at the Cross soon after the Wedding Ring will pinch the Finger the Surplice will become an eye-sore or a burden and bowing the Knee to our Heavenly Father at the Sacrament will be thought so hard a task we shall not be willing to buckle to it Nay if we suffer our selves to be haunted with these fears a Religious Oath a Honorary Title a Civil Salutation will be a Bug-bear to our jealous minds 'T is the duty of a Ghostly Father or Spiritual Guid not to foment but to dissipate and expel such Scruples And though they have voluntarily tyed up their hands for the Satisfaction of the Church yet their tongues are let loose enough Do they therefore lay open the Nature of things indifferent Do they declare that they may be used or let alone without Sin till Authority does interpose about them Do they acquaint the People with the Power wherewith the Church is invested by the King of Saints and instruct them in their duty to that their Spiritual Mother as the Spouse of Christ Do they represent the excellency and reward of obedience to Superiors according to the Fifth Commandment and back their Discourses with their example to lead them unto Conformity These things they ought to have done whatever they have left undone Those Good Women of the Church of Corinth might have scrupled at St. Paul's injunction of the Vail and silence in the Church They might have objected that it went against the grain of a tender Conscience and their Christian Liberty to submit to such impositions which were nothing else but some of the old Traditions amongst the Jewish Rabbins They might have alleadged that Christ had made them free that they had Innocency as well as Confidence enough to lift up their faces before Angels and that for Sion's sake they could not hold their peace Whatever the Women did we know there was among them a sort of bold Men who thought they had good warrant to controul the Apostles Orders 1 Co. 14. And how does the Apostle encounter them but by an allegation of God's gentle Nature and the temperament of the Church according to it God is not the God of Confusion but of Peace as in all Churches and the impulse of his Spirit does not push men on to Contention but to love and unity and are

very Famous in his Generation 'T is Mr. Perkins in his Cases of Conscience concerning the Gesture to be used in Prayer wherein he lays down these Three Rules he speaks of Publick Prayer 1. When Publick Prayer is made in the Congregation our Gesture must always be comely modest and decent 2. All Gesture used publickly must serve as much as may be to express the inward humility of the heart without Hypocrisy Now these kinds are manifold saith he some concern the whole Body as the bowing thereof the casting of it down upon the Ground Some again concern the Parts of the Body as lifting up of the Head the Eyes the Hands bowing the Knees c. Touching these the Scripture hath not bound us to any particulars 3. Therefore we must saith he in publick Prayer content our selves to follow the laudable fashion and Custom of that particular Church where we are For to decline from Customs of particular Churches in such Cases often causeth Schism and Dissentions And what he says upon the Epistle to the Galatians to the same purpose is worthy to be noted and seasonable for our Christian Practice The use of the Law among the Jews saith he was to shut them up into the Unity of one Faith and Religion For this Cause they had but one Temple one Mercy-seat one Highpriest c. Hence it follows saith that Holy man that in a Godly and Christian Common-wealth when true Religion is established there may be no Tolleration of any other Religion For that which is the End of God's Laws must also be the end of all good Laws in all Common-wealths and Kingdoms namely to shut up the People into the Unity of one Faith The Church of the Jews saith he is called a Fountain Sealed a Garden enclosed Cant. 4. 13. a Vineyard hedged in Isai. 5. 5. Psal. 80. 13. And here viz. Gal. 3. ver 23 24 25. we see what is the Hedge or Wall of this Garden or Vineyard namely the Regiment or Policy of Moses by a Threefold kind of Law This admonisheth us saith he to respect and with care to observe good Laws because they are as it were Hedges and Fences of all good Societies and the breaking of them is the pulling down of our Fence Thus Mr. Perkins from which principles of his good God! How much are these times degenerated and let all the World judge who honours the Reformation most they who professedly violate or they who zealously maintain the Laws and legal establishment of it 7. We may add That the Church hath this Power not only in Sacred Rites and Acts of external Worship but also in such as are civilly decent and such is the Womans Vail which I look upon not as a thing properly Religious or Sacred but only as a decent Habit according to custom common estimation and the Law of Nature especially in Ecclesiastical Assemblies whereupon Bullinger concludes his Commentary upon that head thus Haec verò de Habitu Ecclesiae ingredientium dicta sufficiant This shall suffice to have spoken touching the Habit of such as approach the Church of God And now one of the Apostles Instances when he is giving Orders to establish Decency in publick Assemblies being in the matter of Habit methinks this should be warrant enough as a General Rule for the use of the Surpliss by Ecclesiastical Ministers in the Publick Offices and Administrations of the Church For to Officiate naked is against Natural Decency and so dishonest to Officiate in a Fools Coat or some singular Habit taken for it is ridiculous and scandalous And such as are peculiarly seperated to the Service of the most High God why should not they be distinguisht by special Habits in the publick and solemn Administration of their Sacred Offices as well as Civil Judges Mayors and other Publick Officers Does this make any alteration in the substance of Religious Worship Quòd veteres Episcopi coenam administraturi aliam induerint Vestem ad Mutationem Coenae nihil pertinet saith Zanchy That such as Administer the Holy Office do put on another Vesture this does not change the Worship but adds solemnity to it To prevent indecency we have the Order of a just Authority to determine the Point And our Governors for their direction besides the light of Nature and common custom where any Religion was in Vogue had the Rule of Analogy from the Vests of the Priests and Levites in their Solemn Assemblies under the Law and an Invitation by a fair Allusion to that Practice in the Vision of St. John Apoc 7. 13 15. And what Habit more Decent then White to represent that Holiness becomes both the Priest and the Christian Profession aswell as the House of God However this being about the use of a Habit in Ecclesiastical Assemblies as was the Womans Vail which the Apostle gave special Order for it must certainly be comprised under the General Rule of Decency and consequently as such under the command of God according to the Observation of Hemmingius In 1. ad Cor. 14. 37. Sunt Mandata Domini quae hîc à Paulo praecipiuntur quantum quidem ad Genus attinet quatenus praecipiunt Decorum Ordinem in Ecclesia Publicae aedificationis Pacis gratia They are the Commandments of God which are there injoyn'd by St. Paul as to the Genus or Generality of them inasmuch as they require Decency and Order in the Church of God for Edification and Peace-sake As to Kneeling at the Sacrament a Ceremony much scrupled at heretofore much need not be mentioned to Judicious Persons For Kneeling it self is undoubtedly an Act or Part of God's External Worship and not a Mere Rite or Naked Ceremony 't is suggested by the Law of Nature dictated by Common Sense and the Reason of all Nations and declared to be our Duty by the Second Commandment of the Decalogue A Gesture so familiar and frequent at our Prayers that 't is many times put for the whole Duty aswell-under the Old as under the New Testament Micah 6. 6. Ephes. 3. 12. Zanchy makes it a Part of Adoration or External Worship Where the bowing of the Knee to Baal is disapproved and they are commended who did not bow the Knee to him Whereever we find a Command that every Knee should bow to God and Christ In all those places the Speech is not of Internal but of External Adoration Whence 't is easy to Collect that God requires External Adoration also and External Worship as the Testimony and Fruit of that which is Internal Zanchy and Mr. Perkins is clear and express for it Adoration in general saith he is outward Worship signifying and testifying the inward Worship of the heart More especially by it we must conceive the bowing of the Head and Knee the bending and prostrating of the Body the lifting up of the Hands Eyes and such like And a little after Adoration that is due to God the Creator must not be social