so much as your obedience to the custome and if you be so stiffe and cruell to your mother that she may not enjoy her ancient customes why should she allow your ancient discipline as you call it which you can never demand upon better warrant You say the Apostles had the Discipline but we are sure of this they had the customes and if you seeke to rob us of those rites which we know the Apostles once delivered why should we give way to your new pretended forme of Geneva discipline which I doubt the Apostles never heard of Shew us that warrant for your discipline as wee have shewed you for our customes and wee shall have cause to hearken to you In the meane while wee have right enough to enjoy our ceremonies by the Apostles leave if not by yours and though you thinke it a ragge of Rome and a relique of Popery and superstition yet we shall rejoyce and triumph at all your taunts as long as we can say with the blessed Apostle habemus consuetudinem wee have a custome c. To have a custome is not much Right of the Chu in holding the customes but all the matter is by what pretended right wee hold the customes No man heares of the customes of the Church for the ordering and disposing of Gods service but presently he begins to examine our Patent and to renew the question of those Priests and Elders Qua potestate Mat. 21.23 By what authoritie doe you these things and who gave you that authority The Church I trow will doe nothing without a warrant and if shee have that warrant from her husband bequeathed unto her in his Testament reade us the Will and it sufficeth But if shee take her power from the will of man or from the favour of Princes or from the authoritie of her governours then you must give us leave to put in a caveat untill it be tryed by the Law Loe this is the plea of all the sectaries in the world Nulla specie illustriore sâ—duci pos sunt miseri Christians c. Calv. adver Anabapt Shew us your ceremonies in the word of God and we shall be willing to obey and it prevailes the more with many a man because it seemes to give to the written word but if it appeare upon just tryall that the word of God with honour and reverence be it spoken was never constituted as the judge for the speciall designation of particular ceremonies then wee come upon them Luk. 11.22 like the strong man armed in the Gospell that take away their weapons wherein they trust and liave them nothing to object Whilest I take upon me to make this good Particular customes depend not upon the immediate and expresse warrant of the word let no man thinke I dishonour the Scriptures let shame and confusion fall to my portion if I cast any blurre upon that sacred volume I know well that it is the priviledge of the Scripture to bee the onely rule of faith and manners and it was the only scope of the holy Apostles * Ioh. 20.30 to leave a perfect record of all those things that might essentially conduce to our salvation For other accidentall adventitious circumstances that were no part of the service of God but onely an ornament to the service it seemed not good to the Spirit of God that they should passe by the same Patent Well may they passe in generall tearmes as many things are conveyed in every deed under the name of the appurtenances but they are never expressed in that gracious Patent by any speciall intimation Well may they belong to those traditions which the Apostle delivered by word of mouth 2 Thes 2.15 but they can be no part of that holy tradition which he delivered to the Church by his written Epistle Well may you referre them to those rituall orders which our Apostle promised to compose when he came to Corinth ver ult but you cannot referre them to that heavenly doctrine of which the Apostle sayes a little before Accepi à Domina ver 23. I have received from the Lord. The truth is all that I can finde in the new Testament concerning ceremonies is nothing else but a generall warrant that you have in expresse tearmes 1 Car. 14.40 1 Cor. 14.40 That all things bee done decently and According to order but for the speciall practisie and application of this order whether this or that be more agreeable to the rule there the word is so mute and â—â—lent that you 〈◊〉 finde the least title No doubt the Apostles composed some speciall orders Calvin Theophil aâ—â— in 〈◊〉 S. Paul 〈…〉 composed the Churches observed what he delivered and if 〈◊〉 of those can bee found in 〈◊〉 Scriptures why should we look for a speciall warrant for the ordering and disposition of things indifferent If the Churches were bound to those strait conditions The Church is not tiâ—d to any 〈◊〉 such warrant in matter of custome there is none of them all for ought I can see but have forfeited their recognisance long agoe in asmuch as they have used some speciall customes which were not expressed in the sacred Scriptures Cartwright himselfe Pag. 22. sect 1. 2. apud Dr. Whitgift answer to the defence c. the great scourge of all our customes while hee seekes to binde us to the speciall warrant of the word for all particulars is forced to confesse for the Iewish Church that shee had many and sundry customes at least twenty for our one about sacrificing and preaching and burying and marrying and fasting c. which were no where expressed in the law of Moses Vid. S. Bas ep 63. Cypr l. 10. ep 12. l. 4 ep 6. Epist ad Vict. Rom apud Eâ— seb l. 5. cap. 25. 26. Whether the Christian Church had the same liberty no man can doubt that hath read any thing for beside the records of the ancient Fathers who give us some hints of sundry customes about prayer and baptisme and singing of Psalmes and celebration of Easter which I could never finde in the word of God * Adver Praxeam lib. de corona militis Tertullian for his part is resolute and peremptory upon his own knowledge that for matter of rite and outward order Si legem expostâ—â—es scriptuâ—â—r 〈◊〉 iâ—venies nuâ—â—am If you looke for the Law of the word of God you shall be sure to finde none But to shew this liberty of the Church in some particulars Vid. Hila. praefat in Ps Ieâ—oâ—â— advers Lucifer Just Mart. lib. quaest idem confirmat Synod Niâ— can 20. Where can you finde in the holy Scriptures that we ought to pray standing on the Lords day yet that was the custome of the ancients for a certaine season to preserve the memory of the resurrection Where can you shew in the word of God that we ought to communicate every day yet that was
wee need not spend above our two pence in points of faith and works of supererrogation we must not spend above our allowance perhaps we may spend somewhat more to advance the honour of the good Samaritan and if we spend the overplus in his honour for the furtherance and advancement of his service I make no doubt when he comes againe to take the account of all our expences he will not stick to allow the overplus with an ego reddam I will pay it But they may chance to say Ob. Con. Tridér decret 1. Seâ—â— 4. Paripietatis affectu traditiones una cum libris veteris novi Testamenti suscipimus this faire allowance given to the Church may make too much for the Church of Rome that makes the voice of the Church the voice of God and equalls the power of her owne traditions with the peerelesse authority of the written word And what if some offend in excesse and lavishnesse must we therefore offend in defect and want what if they give the Church too much must we give too little or nothing at all what if they straine the power of the Church even to points of doctrine and articles of faith shall wee abridge and scant her power that shee may not reach to points of discipline Nay rather let the Scripture enjoy her right in matter of faith and the Church her interest in matter of custome that 's a priviledge given to the Scripture this a permission left unto the Church He that is Lord of all may doe what he will with his owne goods whether hee give more or lesse to the sacred Scripture what is it to thee Sume quod tuum est vade O Church take thine owne and go thy way thou hast power enough to use a ceremony thou hast power enough to make a ceremony let us now proceed a little further and see what power thou hast to presse a ceremony The making of a ceremony is not much How the Church may urge her cust and the use of a ceremony least of all all the matter is about the urging of a ceremony that may chance to urge a many of us But if you give us leave to make a custome and give us no power to presse the custome you doe as much in effect as if you gave us a gift with one hand and sought with the other to snatch it from us Saint Ierome gives counsell to Lucinius Epist ad Lucin. that all the customes of the Church that were no prejudice to the faith should be strictly observed and S. Paul is so stiffe for the custome here that he will not suffer it to bee overborne by the stubborne humour of contentious men Now if the customes had such a stroke in the first beginning and infancy of the Gospell when they could not be of many yeeres standing what power may belong unto them in these latter times being now confirmed by long use whereby they are become the more a custome There is no company nor society of men but stand upon the right of their owne customes All men stand upon their owne customes nay every parish and private house is ready to lay claime to one or other and when the Church her selfe hath taken up a custome that tends to the furtherance of Gods service may not she have power to stand upon it and to binde her children to conformity Could you but shew for your Civill customes what we can alledge for our Church-customs good leave may you have to stand upon them but I doubt by your favour it will be long enough ere you can shew the Apostles seale for the warrant and justification of your customes Some customes you have I must needs grant which you may safely hold by the same right as being not determined by the written laws of that nature are your Wayes and Mounds and fines and quitrents and suits and services and commons and releefes and heriots and 1000. more of the like kinde that must be judged by the custome because the Law therein hath prescribed no certainty but when you set up customes of your owne devising which former ages never heard of to stint the Church to a kinde of pension and to justle out the lawes in that case provided well may you force us to suffer such customes but you shall never perswade us to allow them The Lord foresaw in his owne wisdome that such injurious customes were like to grow upon his owne law Lev. 27.28 31. and therefore he makes provision aforehand that if any had a minde to buy out their tithes for ready mony they should yeeld a fifth part over and above the reall value of the thing redeemed to prevent ungodly compositions If any custome or composition of these times shall freely allow that fifth part over well may they hold and enjoy their customes but if they come short of that proportion as commonly they doe which are most urged that scarce allow one fifth for all the due I trow every honest and well disposed heart will first consult with his owne conscience how his plea will hold in the inner court before he stand upon such a custome Such customes as these in their owne nature as being delivered to us by word of mouth beside the warrant of the word are much alike to some Romish traditions which our adversaries seeke to obtrude upon us but if the word of God be sufficient against the one as I trow it is I hope it may be thought as sufficient against the other and so the matter is soone agreed Consider I pray how God shall blesse the labours of our hands as long as wee seeke to binde his hands how shall he vouchsafe to enlarge us as long as we seeke to straighten him how can we looke for a full increase while wee meane to allow him no increase It is not for me to cry downe these customes wherin every one preteÌ„ds some interest but if you stand so much upoÌ„ these upstart customs that tend to the hinderance of religion I trow there is no man can thinke ill of us if we plead hard for the ancient customes that serve to the honour of religion and to the furtherance of Gods service You must needs know that Mos populi dei is a great deale more then Mos populi The Church may städ upon hers much more Inst l 4. ca. 10. sect 30. they are but only humane customs that proceed from man tend to man but the customes of the Church that serve for the furtherance of devotion if you please to beleeve Mr. Calvin himselfe are not only humane but also divine and so may the better be stood upon You say well may some reply so they bee good and wholesome customes Objections against customes Ob. 1. but if they breed offence to the people of God and may not bee kept with a safe conscience were they not better be taken away then maintained to breed more
I must begin to deale with contention a troublesome and turbulent spirit I am like to finde him Contention what it is that loves wrangling as hee loves his life and can no more bee tyed to any good order then the waters of Nyle to the banks of their own channell He never appeares to us in a still voice as the Lord appeared unto Eliah but whensoever he comes he comes in a tempest storming and blustering against all good order both of Church and State Did you ever heare the pedigree of Contention There was a bastard begotten by anger nursed by pride and maintained by wilfull contradiction and when they came to give him a name they bestowed upon him the name of Contention As was the name of the childe so was his nature for a soone as ever hee began to goe hee went backward like the Sea-crab as soon as ever he began to read he read backward like the Hebrewes as soone as ever hee began to row hee rowed backward evermore against tide stream Pitty such a crosse disorderly mate should finde harbour in any civill society Psal 122.3 much lesse in the Church of God which ought to be composed as a City at unity If contention must needs bee let it bee sent to Bedlem or Paris-garden where it may converse with none but dogs and Beares or men more wilde then those salvage creatures never let it enter into Gods inheritance lest the fiends of hell take more delight in the quarrels of Gods people then men are wont to fancy to themselves when they see the quarrells of dogs and beares It were to bee wished that these discords of schisme and dissention that make musicke onely for the devill may never be heard in the Church of God but I feare me as long as the Church consists of men and men consist of sundry passions we shall hardly be free from all contention The devill is growne such a cunning politician that when he cannot rob us of our truth hee will doe the best he can to rob us of our peace and when hee cannot plucke up the good wheat of wholesome doctrine that is sowne in our field by the good seeds-man he does all that he can to mingle the wheat with the tares and darnell of contention Aug. epist 48. Neque propter paleam relinquam aream domini neque propter pisces malos rumpimus retia And what though shall we therefore forsake the good field and renounce the wheat of wholsome doctrine because wee finde it mingled with some cockle Shall wee forsake the Church and shipwrack the faith and cast off the truth because we cannot have it cleane from all kinde of weeds Nay rather if we may have the word and Sacraments as so cheape a rate and pay nothing for it but a little contention let us never complaine of a deare bargaine Contention hath beene and will ever be the unwelcome companion of the Church militant Christ himselfe came not into the world to bring peace Contention hath ever beene in all Churches but to bring a sword and if any Church upon earth can shew me a perfect charter of exemption from all contention I should begin to thinke that wee had our heaven already upon earth and that the militant Church were turned triumphant Take a short survey of all the Churches whether Jewish or Christian Easterne or Westerne ancient or moderne and you shall not finde any one of them that ever could free themselves from this eating gangrene of contention I am sure the Jewish Church had no such priviledge for as long as she swarmed with sundry sects of Pharisees and Sadduces Essens and Herodians and Hemerobaptists In the Iewish Church Vid. Ioseph Antiquit lib. 13. Philo Iud. Euseb aliot In the Christian Chur and Samaritans and I know not what that differed both in course of life and point of beliefe how could shee bee free from all contentions But it may bee in the Christian Church there was no contention for all that No does Epiphanius reckon up no lesse then fourescore heresies raging in the Church of God like the Bulls of Basan and shall we beleeve there was no contention all that while But say they had some contentions in those times betwixt the Orthodox and the heretickes yet I hope among the Orthodox themselves there was perfect union But whatsoever you may think of those times as if they had rest from all contention yet if you knew the differences betwixt the best learned of those ages .i. Anicetus and Polycarpus Chrysostome and Epiphanius apud Euseb eccl hist lib. 5. cap. 24. Hieron part 1. tract 3. ep 36 37. c. Ep. Caeles pap ad quosdam Galliarum episcopos Ierome and Ruffinus Stephanus and Cyprian Victor and the Easterne Churches Prosper and the Doctors of France and many hundreds more that might be named you would soone beleeve that the Churches in their times could hardly bee free from all contention But what if contention crept into the Church in after ages yet I hope in the Apostles time and the Churches planted by their hands we shall not heare of the least murmuring or whispering of contention Surely if ever the Church were free from all contention it is most like to be in those dayes of innocence and yet if you look into 1. Cap. of this our Epist and the 11. ver yee shall heare S. Paul complaine of some contentions It is reported to me by those of the house of Cloe that there are contentions among you To heare of contentions among the members of the Church was a small matter but if you looke into the 22. Cap. of S. Luke ver 24. Among the Apostles thēselves you shall heare of contention among the Apostles themselves and if you looke into the 2. Gal. you shall heare of contention among the chiefe pillars of the Church S. Peter and Paul and that about no meane point of Christian politie that concerned the abrogation of Jewish Ceremonies Bellarm. 1. tom cont 4. lib 4. Staplet alii It makes mee wonder so much the more why the Church of Rome at this day should stand so much upon the unitie of the Church and beare us in hand that their unity and concord in religion is a certaine badge and character of the true Church They have found that pearle it seems in the field of their Church which could never bee found in former ages and though we sell all that we have like the good Merchant in the Gospell to get possession of that pearle they will make us beleeve we shall be gainers by the bargaine It is a good purchase indeed to buy truth at what rate soever but to buy truth attended with unitie were a purchase in my minde beyond the rules of Numeration But is this purchase to be had at Rome Yes surely for all the members of their Church are so colligated and bound together in a kinde of subjection
and their haire disheveld as a greater signe and pledge of holinesse Whatsoever the reason were I am sure of this that the one member at least of that reverend order that I mean that concernes the men is so fully ratifyed and confirmed by the Canon of our Church that no man may presume to cover his head during the whole time of divine Service Canon 1◠without the breach of Church order For the women indeed we have no commandement in our Church for nature it self the rules of modesty have taught them freely to yeeld conformity But for the men at least some of them in some places where they have beene traind in a course of schisme they are so loath to stoop to this Apostolique order that the Church is fain to interpose her power to bind thē to it by a double bond That any man covers of wilfull stubbornnesse against the Canon of the Apostle it were little charity to beleeve for my part I rather impute it to meere weaknesse and could they be throughly resolved that the reason of this Canon were yet in force I presume there is none of them all of what sort soever but would thinke themselves bound to yeeld conformity They think perhaps that this Apostolique order may concern the Ministers of the Church Objectiōs against the bareing of the head c Ob. 1. because it is laid upon fuch as pray and prophecie but by their leave if the hearing of a Sermon be not prophesying as well as the preaching and that in the sense and meaning of our own Apostle Ver. 4. I desire to know how the same Apostle in the next words immediately following could apply the same words of praying and prophesying as well to the women as the men Ver. 5. when they were not allowed by his own rule either to speak or preach in the congregation 1 Cor. 14.34 35. Ob. 2. But say it concerne the people as well as the Ministers as being equally ingaged in praying and prophesying yet perhaps it may lay a tye upon the people of those times and not upon the Churches in after ages Dr. Field lib. 4. ca. 20 T is true that all customes of what sort soever are things dispensable in their own nature yea the very customes of the Apostles themselves are no certaine and perpetuall rules to all Churches to abridge their liberty in things indifferent And what of that will any man deny them a binding power for the time being while they are allowed by the present Church because the Church hath power to change when time and place shall so require no surely but the stampe and impresse of the present Church must make them current for the time being and seeing this custome is allowed as you heard before and that under the seale of our owne Church let no man presume to strive against it as long as it stands so allowed unlesse he desire to seeme contentious Perhaps you may say this Apostolique Canon may not be sutable to these times Ob. 3. for the Apostle seems to allow no covering at all Ver. 4. if that should be strictly observed in this crazie age we should soone make the Churchyard full and the Church empty Well be it so and what of that were there not any weak in the Apostles time aswell as now yes surely why then no doubt the exception is implyed though it be not expressed in the Text to shew that if we conforme our selves as neere as we can and make use of a coyfe or night-cap in stead of a hat as our Church hath dispenced with the Apostles rule Gan. ut supra in case of weaknesse and infirmity we shall never incur the Apostles censure nor seem to the Church to be contentious But the most of our people for ought I see are ready to uncover in the time of prayer Ob. 4. onely they stick at the strictnesse of some that require the baring of the head in the time of preaching belike they are willing to shew reverence when they speak unto God by their earnest prayers but they think it too much to shew the like when God speaks to them by his sacred ordinance Let me aske them is it not as great a favour to receive a blessing as to crave it and shall we not receive the blessing with as much reverence when t is offered as wee would crave it when t is wanting Saint Paul for his part makes no odds betwixt prayer and prophesie and if any man think that the Canon of the Church will not reach to both because it mentions no more but the whole service let him please to compare the words of the Canon to the rubrick of the service book Immediatly after the Nicen Creed and he shall finde that the Sermon or exhortation is no other but a part of divine Service There is no dispensation for ought I can see more for the Sermon then for the prayer Ob. 5. Cypr. ep 73. Quale est ut quia hoc Novatianus facere audet nos putemusnon esse saciendum neither can I beleeve for mine own part that any man of reason or sound religion would ever stick at this reverend order but that t is the use of the Church of Rome with which they dare not comply in outward ceremonies for feare of the danger of superstition Indeed t is like enough this Apostolique order hath been abused and scarce can you name any thing else that hath not been abused to superstition yet when the thing it selfe is charged upon us by the Apostle August debap con Don lib. 6 cap. 44 Jpsi gentiles sl quid rectum babuerunt non improbarunt sanctipatres et in hunc modum lib 3. ca 11. and the superstition is brought upon it by the fault of men we must not presume for the fault of men to stir a duty of Saint Pauls prescribing but wee must learne a better way of reformation to mend the fault of our owne devising and let the duty still remaine To be warie of superstition is a good thing but there is another extreame to be avoided which religion hates as well as that and if we run so far from superstition that wee fall into profanenesse and think we have never driven superstition far enough unlesse we drive together with it all decent order from the Churth of God I feare we shall bring a mischiefe upon the cause of religion while wee seeke to avoid an inconvenience Say the Lord hath forbidden superstition Ageneral apologie for the bareing of the head in prayer and prophecie Psal 2.11 Heb. 12.28 c. yet I trow he hath commanded reverence all along and if the baring of the head in the house of God during the time of divine service be not a signe of holy reverence I am yet to learne what reverence meanes Sure we make it a signe of reverence in civill worship for servants uncover to their masters
by the case put how to file their teeth and muzzle their mouthes that they may not infest the flock of Christ If you know of any contentious men what ever they be How wee may deal with contentious men that live like the Salamander in the fire and love to wrangle spend their breath against the decent orders and constitutions of the Church you were best to aske of the blessed Apostle and he will teach you how to handle them You must be sure to use all gentle meanes before you come to sharpnesse and severity for many will lead that will not drive and yeeld themselves to a gentle entreaty that will not be forced by compulsion You shall do well in the first place to set before them your own example for so the Apostle doth in the 1. ver You may take occasion to commend them for their zeale and strictnesse in some thing else for so the Apostle hath taught you ver 2. You must not faile to instruct them in the meaning and signification of the ceremonies for so the Apostle taught you ver 3. What shall I say you may perswade them by reason by authority by decency by nature it selfe for none of these hath Saint Paul omitted and if all this be not able to perswade for who can perswade a contentious man you shall not perswade though you doe perswade not perswade his practice I meane though you perswade and convict his conscience then you must beare him downe with the Churches custome and tell him plainly to his face that the customes of the Church must stand in force maugre the spight of contentious men The power of custome no doubt is great and that of the Church not least of all but lest I may be thought to presse the custome before I have taught you to understand the custome you shall give mee leave to speak something concerning the theorie of the custome that so I may rise with the more force to the practice and observation of the custome While I entreat of Church order me thinks I am bound to keep order and because the nature of the subject will scarce afford any quaint order I will content my selfe with a plaine method Three things there be that offer themselves 1. The use of the Church in having of customes 2. The right of the Church in making of customes 3. The power of the Church in pressing of customes For the custome Custome what it is first to understand that throughly you must please to look back to the 2. ver there the Apostle mentions some ordinances or traditions which he had delivered to the Church of Corinth 2. there he commends their zealous care because they had kept the most of them 3. and then he condemns their halting obedience because they had failed in some particulars What those ordinances were is all the matter that concerns us and because there is mention made of one or two and the Apostle tells the reason of them wee must judge of the Lion by his paw and guesse that the rest were all of the same stamp being all commended at one time to one and the selfe same Church of Corinth What our Apostle meant by his ordinances ver 2. and by his orders ver ult the same he meanes by his customes here all matters of rite and outward ceremony annexed to the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments not as parts of Gods holy worship but as appendices thereunto onely for the order of Gods house and disposition of his service Such were the customes of the Church of Corinth Such customs allowed in all Churches and such customes as these were about time and place and outward gesture whether it be kneeling standing bowing crossing uncovering or whatsoever else of the same alloy as they were freely used in the Church of Corinth so they must needs be allowed in every age in all the assemblies of the Christians You shall never heare of any famous Church since the Apostles time that hath not freely enjoyed some customes of this kind and you shall never reade of any learned orthodox father since the Apostles time that ever oppugned the use of these customes In the primitive Church August ep 118. ad Ian. Amb. in 4. Ephes Socra hist li. 5. ca. 22. zâ—zomen li. 7. ca. 9. Tertul. de veland vir I could easily shew you upon good authority that all the ancient Churches had their severall customes and that while they enjoyed the same faith and which is more to be observed and admired the difference and contrarietie of their customs did neither dissolve the bond of charity nor disturb the unity of religion The Apostolique Churches had their customes to yea for ought we know severall customes yet all by Saint Pauls free allowance In the Apost churches for though hee stover a little as good cause he had against a new-fangled custome of their own devising which contentious men would faine keep up yet withall hee seemes to imply by way of concession that they had some customes of another kind which he would not suffer to be borne downe by the heat of wilfull opposition Those customes what ever they were were not onely allowed to the Church of Corinth In all the Apost churches but to all the Churches of that time or at least to many of them for the Apostle doth not speak in the singular number as of one Church but in the plurall number as of many And if the Churches in the purest times had all their customes and those in the Apostles time their customes to I wonder why the Churches in these times and the Church of England among the rest the gracious Mother of us all may not bee quietly suffered to enjoy her customes Were the ceremonies and orders of the church an ornament to religion in the Apostles dayes and are they now become in these latter times a stain and blemish to religion had the Churches of God their earerings their bracelets and their jewels in the nonage and childhood of religion and must they now be stript of all in the growth and ripenesse of the gospell Alas poore mother what hast thou done to be so shamefully used of thine own children alas good children what doe you meane to offer such wrong to your deare mother Did David bring a scorne upon his person when hee uncovered himselfe before his subjects zSam 6.20 and would not you bring a scorne upon your mother if you should uncover her shame before all her children Psutarch Cat. Vtic. Did Cato Vtican draw a scorne upon his justice when hee went to his pretorian seat without his robes and may not we bring the like upon Gods service if we should repaire to the seat of God in common garments I beseech you for the honour of God for the honour of religion for the honour of your selves think upon your bold and rash adventures it is not the custome she regards
the use in the ancient Church Hieron ep ad Luâ—n Aug. ep ad Casulanum to keep the memory of the passion Where doe you reade in the word of God that you ought to receive the Communion fasting yet that was the universal custom of all the Church in Saint Augustines time Epist 118. ad Ianuar. to preserve the honour of the blessed Sacrament To be short if you think the letter of the word be so requisite to every custome you were best to survey the writings of the Apostles and see what order you can find for standing holydayes what speciall warrant for set fasts upon certaine dayes what expresse charge to keep the first day of the week for the Christian Sabbath Vid Dr. Field li. â— ca. 20. Episc Elienâ—â—â— tract de Sab. pap 98. what expresse immediate warrant to christen or baptize a young Infant I doubt you will find no more but a generall warrant for any of these though they have been constantly observed in all ages and if every of these have been held by custome being onely grounded upon the generall warrant of the Scriptures and deduced from thence by good consequence without any speciall intimation why should we be tyed to a speciall order for the ruling and disposing of every ceremony If the speciall warrant of the Word be so necessary you were best to blame the Apostles of Christ The Apostles never composed any set forme of outward rite Instit li. 4. â—a 10. sect 30. because they forgot to entreat of particular rites and if a generall warrant be not sufficient you were best to blame the Churches of God because they took too much upon them For the Apostles first you cannot blame them for Calvin himselfe can tell you that they had no commission from the Lord to set downe a forme of outward discipline inasmuch as he foresaw how that depended upon the state of the times neither could he judge any one forme to be agreeable to all people He knew well enough that the Church was subject to waxes and wanes to fulls and changes and vicissitudes and therefore as a rare and cunning workman can hardly make a garment for the moone as Plutarch notes that should equally fit her at all seasons as well in the new as in the full no more could the Apostles judge any one form of unchangeable custome to be agreeable to all times and the various conditions of all people All particulars in this kind depend upon the authority of the Church But then perhaps you will blame the Church because she presumes to run of her selfe without a speciall commission for every custome No surely but where the Word of God is dumbe and silent there the voice of the Church must be attended In this case the very silence of the word gives consent that the cause belongs to another court and seeing the word is silent concerning ceremonies and speaks nothing of them in explicite termes where may we looke for a certaine direction and resolution in that case but from the power of the Church and from the authority of her pastors Ep. ad Casulanum In quibu◠〈◊〉 certi statuit script mâ—s populi Dei instituta majorum pro lege temenda sunt Saint Augustine being asked his opinion concerning a custome used in his time takes occasion to answer in briefe not onely for that but for all others of the same stamp that where the Word of God determines no certainty there the custome of the Church and the constitutions of her Pastors are to be taken for a law That this was the generall judgement of all the Churches in all ages if any man doubt let him reade the Canons of the Councels Beza lib. conf fidei Chri. ca. 5. for why should the Councels be called together to order the government of the Church and to settle the forme of outward discipline but that they held it a maxime in all ages that the Church had power of things indifferent There is no Divine of our owne side of any note that stick at this power Beza conf fidei Gualt praefat in 2. Cor. Zuin. li. de bapt Chem. loc com tit tradit Mar. in 1 Cor. 1. Calv. com in loc so it goe no further for besides the judgement of Beza Bucer Zuinglius Chemnitius Peter Martyr and generally all the Worthies of these latter times that freely allow it with one consent you shall take the opinion of Calvin one for all who sets it down for a certaine rule upon the light he drew from this present Cap. that every Church of what place soever may safely compose such a forme of discipline as may be most agreeable to it selfe because the Lord therein hath prescribed no certainty The truth is the Apostle himselfe is so cleare in this that no man can make any further doubt for when he seeks to suppresse an upstart custome by a non habemus talem and grounds himselfe upon this reason because they nor the Churches had none such what doth he but inferre by way of consequence that the practice of the Church and determination of her Pastors is warrant enough for any ceremony It makes me wonder the more and who doth not wonder at the froward humour of some peevish Novelists that think all the practice of the Church in things indifferent to be nothing else but usurpation and all her decent and reverend customes that serve for the furtherance of GODs service to bee nothing else but a meere wil-worship Their spight is so great against the present government because it crosses their selfe-will'd humours that they will scarce allow that power to the Church in the meanest things that every Church-warden and meane Artificer would soon challenge if they might be left to their owne liberty Belike the Seers of the Lord are become blind that they cannot discerne the meanest things or else the stewards of the Lord are become unfaithfull that they may not be trusted with the poorest ceremony But well fare the good and courteous Samaritan he was not halfe so strait to the good Inkeeper when he gave him the care of the wounded traveller in the Gospell so willing was he to enlarge his favour that beside the two pence hee left to discharge the reckoning hee gave him leave to spend more and to runne upon the score till his next returne Vid. Aug. de quaest Euang. li. 2. quaest 59. Ambro. Origen in Luc. Maca. Cyrill alios in Cat. Gâ—aeâ— patrum in Luc. No doubt a large allowance given to a stranger but if we be the wounded travellers as indeed we are that unhappily miscarried in Adams sinne and if the two pence he left us to discharge the reckoning may seeme to allude as most expound it to the two Tables of the Testament I wonder what course we may take to spend the overplus that he may allow it at his comming In necessary expences for food or physick