of this Raillery it did chance to be laid to his charge that their Disciplinarian way did smell of Donatism and Anabaptism and was a kind of Papism Now what defence does he make If amongst the filth of their Heresies viz. the Papists Donatists and Anabaptists there may be found any good thing as it were a grain of good Corn in a great deal of Darnel that we willingly receive not as theirs but as the Jews did the Holy Ark from the Philistins whereof they were unjust Owners Yea it may come to pass that the Synagogue of Satan may at some time have some one thing with more convenience than the Catholick Church of Christ Our Liturgy is indeed taken from them but as gold is purg'd from dross And there are divers things wherein we agree with them because it is no crime to agree with them there where they do not disagree with the word of God And because it is not hard to believe that running into a contrary extream that an Aversation from what is Innocent among them does harden them in their Errors as much yea a great deal more than a retaining some Customs which may honestly be retain'd If we do not symbolize with them in the superstition of their Rites there is no reason we should be charg'd with superstition because we do not run a madding from them as far as we are able into another extream This is that I had to say to the second general Proposition which hath exceeded the proportion of the other because it was my chief design The Doctrines upon which the Conformity of the Church of England is established are not superstitious Opinions 3. The Opinions that are superstitious Sect. 19. such as are divers which obtain in the Church of Rome and elsewhere are rejected by the Church of England There are many differences between us and the Church of Rome and they are not all reducible to this Topick of superstition There are Doctrines among them of other denominations because they serve some secular Interest of profit or pleasure or honour so is it easy to evince that the Doctrine of Purgatory and Celibacy of Priests and others are Doctrines of men who reckon gain their Godliness The Doctrine of Indulgences and Dispensations c. does not only design profit but together with other loose Doctrines of Morality makes a very easie way to Heaven and so is sensual and pleasurable And the Supremacy of the Pope and exemption of Ecclesiasticks from secular Jurisdiction is a Doctrine of Mundane greatness and unsufferable Ambition There may be a mixture of superstition in all or any of these according as mens apprehensions are concerning them But there are other matters wherein I give account of their superstition Bishop Morton hath comprehended this in three generals wherein he does at the same time vindicate the Church of England and condemn that of Rome Our Church in her Service-Book does Presentment of a Schismatick p. 14. make known to all the World that she does detest the superstition of the Romish Ceremonies by condemning their superstitious Opinions First In making them necessary parts of Gods Worship Secondly In ascribing an efficacious sanctity to them Thirdly By arrogating a meritorious condignity from them to themselves I need not restrain my discourse to Ceremonies only be it in Ceremony or be it in substance If I make it appear that they esteem that a necessary part of Gods worship which ought not to be so esteem'd and so for the other two I shall conclude right when I charge them with superstition An Enumeration of particulars will be the best evidence in this matter I therefore give Instances to show that for these several reasons the Church of Rome is guided by superstitious Opinions to superstitious practices by which it will also appear that the Church of England does renounce those practices at least if for other reasons some of them be retain'd yet the Opinion which is the original of their practice is disowned by us 1. That opinion is superstitious whereby men judge and esteem any usages in Religion necessary when they are not so or more necessary than indeed they are When men advance any thing in the worship of God beyond its nature judging that to be holy and to have a relation to God which hath none or to have a nearer relation than in truth it hath Pius IV. in a Creed which he impos'd Oruphrius in Vit. Pii 4. p. mihi 384. furnishes us with sufficient Instances When he had by his Diploma allow'd and confirm'd all that was done at the Council of Trent he proceeded to direct in what manner Bishops should be made Then it follows Hanc Fidei formulam quam Episcopi designati profiterentur instituit He appointed a certain Creed which all that were to be made Bishops should make profession of In the Conclusion of which Creed are these words Hanc veram Catholicam fidem extra quam nemo salvus esse potest sponte profiteor c. This true Catholick Faith out of which no man can be saved I willingly profess Now among the Credenda which he reckons and obliges others to reckon necessary to Salvation are such as these That there are seven Sacraments of the New-Testament properly so called instituted by Jesus Christ The propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass Transubstantiation Purgatory Invocation of Saints worshipping Reliques and Images and lest enough should not be crowded into that Creed it is added Caetera item omnia à sacrosanctâ Tridentinâ Synodo tradita definita declarata indubitanter recipio atque profiteor All that was determin'd at the Council of Trent is to be receiv'd without scruple This is the Faith without which they say no man can be saved How these Opinions are rejected by our Church is too plain to need proof It rest to say however otherwise faulty and dangerous they are this makes them superstitious that they are made necessary whereas indeed they are false I mean not every thing established by that Council of Trent but the Articles before-named and divers other like things decreed in that Council If the Intendment of this Essay were principally against the Church of Rome it would the less be an excursion if the things now mention'd were severally consider'd and their repugnancy to Scripture shown but being design'd rather for the Vindication of the Church of England and that for the sake of those who agree with us in rejecting these Doctrines I am not willing to engage in all these Controversies I think it sufficient to add another instance under this Head and so convict them together of superstition The Council of Trent does advance Histor Concil Trident. Sess 4. Unwritten Traditions to an Authority equal with the word of God When the question is mov'd what are these Unwritten Traditions their Authors distinguish between such as are Divine Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Those which they call Divine are in the Account of
Thousand Ignorant Protestants and of Confirmation of many Infinites of wilful Papists in their Idolatry He concludes the Treatise thus The Ceremonies in Controversy are either excellent parts of our Religion which he not yielding must believe the other part of the Disjunction or notorious parts of Superstition This is the dirt that was cast upon the Church of England in the beginning of King James his Reign that he might be out of love with her A reproach of which the Convocation of 1603. was so sensible for though that Treatise came first out a little after the Convocation yet the suspicion was rife before that they pass this Canon among Canon 6. others Whosoever shall hereafter affirm the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England by Law established are wicked Antichristian or Superstitious c. Let him be Excommunicated c. This Canon did not restrain the petulancy of Censorious men for besides Mr. Bradshaws confidence in the defence that Dr Burges makes for Bishop Morton it appears Burges Answer Rejoined Chap. 4. §. 1. that the N. C sts of those times did thus argue The Ceremonies of the Church of England have been and still are abused to Idolatry and Superstition by the Papists And that we Id. ib. §. 4. cannot be thought sincerely to have repented of that Idolatry and Superstition except we cast away with detestation all the Instruments of it Once more they say That a superstitious construction is Id. ib. ◠79. made of our Cross not only by the Papists but by our own Canons and Canonical Imposers of it These Jealousies did but fly in the dark during King James his Reign but soon after Charles the First came to the Throne he received divers Complaints of this nature The Parliament Anno 1628. Rushworth Historical Collections p. 526. complains of Idolatry and Superstition as some of those heinous and crying sins which were the undoubted Cause of those evils that were fallen upon them The Remonstrance which the Commons Id. ib. p. 621. of the same Parliament made against the then Duke of Buckingham expresses their fears concerning Innovation of Religion A while after Mr. Rouse makes a Speech concerning Religion wherein he desires it may be considered what new paintings are laid on the old face of the Whore of Babylon How the See of Rome does eat Ib. p. 645 646. into our Religion and fret into the banks and walls of it for a remedy of which he propounds the expedient of a Covenant to hold fast God and Religion to which Covenant he would have every man say Amen This man does not it is true speak of Superstition but he is understood to mean it by another Orator of the same House Mr. Pym who complains that the Law Ib. p. 647. was violated in bringing in superstitious Ceremonies After whom another in the same Session Sir John Eliott apprehends a fear of some Ib. p. 649. Bishops then in place that if they should be in their power they might be in danger of having Religion overthrown because some of them were Masters of Ceremonies and laboured to introduce new Ceremonies into the Church After those eager Debates the motion for a Covenant slept for some years but was renewed again in the Unhappy Times of the Fatal Parliament In the times when it was a great part of the Impeachment against the Great Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that he had traiterously Artic. of Impeach 7. 10. endeavoured to alter and subvert Gods true Religion by law established in this Realm and instead thereof to set up Popish superstition and Idolatry and that he traiterously endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome In these times it was that Mr. Rouse's motion ripen'd up to a Solemn League and Covenant wherein they obliged themselves to endeavour the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy and Superstition By which words the Covenanters as some of them have since declar'd believe themselves obliged against Conformity for this reason they give in a Book they call a Sober and Temperate Discourse concerning the Interest of words in Prayer c. in which the Title of one of their Chapters is The Ministers Third Reason viz. Chap. 10. why they do not meddle with the Common Prayer as are the words of the Chapter is because they have sworn to endeavour a reformation in worship and to endeavour to extirpate Superstition Nothing now can be more evident than that both of old and in our times Superstition is objected to us It does not come in my way to condemn nor do I take upon me to justify the practises of all particular persons I concern my self only in the legal Establishments of our Church and they would little need a vindication if men would take the pains to enquire into the nature of Superstition for they would soon find the Innocence of our Rites would defend themselves from this suspicion But it is our Unhappiness that we have to deal with men who take things upon trust who are not easily undeceived because they will maintain a Conclusion before they have examined the premises observing Superstition to be a word that signifies somewhat bad they condemn us without a Tryal and before they know what it means conclude us guilty of Superstition I have waited some while in expectation that some abler Pen would engage in this Argument but not finding that of late days the Nature of Superstition has been particularly and fully discovered or described I have now undertaken the task in which because I desire to be understood I labour for no other ornament of stile than perspicuity And without farther Preface I proceed to enquire what is this Superstition with which the Church of England is so much upbraided There is no Precept in the Holy Scripture that forbids Superstition by that name nor does any sacred Author mention it except St. Luke in two places to be considered in due time when I examine how the word is used in other Authors For by this Method I conceive I shall best accomplish my design if First I enquire into the use of the Word And secondly into the nature of the thing signified by such a Word 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Greeks Sect. 2. express'd that which we now commonly call Superstition signifies most literally a service perform'd to God or to a Daemon rather out of fear than love An over-timerous and dreadful apprehension of the Deity as the learned Smith who also calls it Select Discourse of Superstit p. 26. 36. a compound of Fear and Flattery such an apprehension of God in the thoughts of men as renders him grievous and burdensome to them But however this may be the primary sense of the word yet that it hath been transfer'd to signifie more largely is evident from Greek Authors Plutarch in his Tract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constantly discourses of it as of an extream to
Body and to an expectation of Christs coming to Judgment the belief of which was declar'd by this significant Ceremony But that which I urge is this They against whom we argue contend for sitting at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and that for this reason because it is a significant posture That it is any where in the New-Testament commanded to receive the Sacrament sitting no man in his Wits will say Yet the Presbyterians have often argued for it upon the account of its significancy So I have heard it out of the Pulpit That gesture which ought to be kept above all the rest is Sitting because though it be but a Circumstance yet it hath some significancy in it because it is a supper gesture And secondly and chiefly because it signifies the familiarity that is between Christ and Believers Luke 22. 30. This Supper is a Type of the Everlasting Supper in Heaven where one shall not sit and another stand I name not my Author because he is long since dead but I am certain I do him no wrong And to make it appear that this is their Doctrine I add a Printed Testimony Among the Treatises that bear Mr Bradshaws name one is a Proposition concerning Kneeling at the Sacrament wherein are these words Whereas Bradsh several Treatises p. 104. the end of a Sacrament is to inform the outward man by sensible demonstrations it pleased our Master to use such a gesture as agreeably with Bread and Wine setteth out our Communion and spiritual familiarity with him and rejoicing in him and therefore as he says If any man hear my voice c. I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me So he says Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit with Abraham c. By which place it appears that as by Supper so by sitting familiar rejoiceing or rejoicing familiarity is expressed Therefore not kneeling but sitting is for receiving It is plain then that sitting is reckon'd a significant posture It is also plain that it is required in the Directory Direc Celebra Commun The Table being decently covered and so conveniently plac'd that the Communicants may orderly sit about it or at it c. I know the pretence is that they do not Institute a significant Ceremony they only retain it as having warrant from the Example of our Saviour So says the foremention'd Proposition Kneeling is contrary to Ibid. the Example of Christ and his Apostles who ministred and receiv'd sitting or in such a gesture as in those Countreys was most used at eating from which Example to differ without warrant from Gods word cannot be without fault seeing the Examples of holy men much more that of Christ are to be followed except there be some reasonable cause to the contrary In Answer to which I oppose three things First If the Example of Christ were as they say yet it does no more conclude for our sitting than for our receiving at Supper time c. Secondly They have not the Example of Christ for that manner of sitting which they now urge Thirdly It is not absolutely certain whether they have his Example for any manner of sitting at all 1. Suppose the most that the Sect. 14. Apostles at the first Institution of the Sacrament did receive it sitting where is the Argument because they did therefore so must we Let this be proved Where is the particular Command that makes it our duty to follow this Example Cedo locum and we yield That must not be said What then Will they argue from the Equity of the Example Let us go on then and say Because of the same Example we must receive at night in an upper room and only Males For either the whole Example binds in all Circumstances or in none or some difference must be assign'd between this Circumstance and the other of Time and place c. And what I pray shall that be Is it because which is a sufficient reason they were but Occasional there was no design in Instituting and administring the Sacrament in such a place but because it was judg'd by our Blessed Saviour a convenient place Or at night but because the Pass-over was first to be eaten and that night our Blessed Saviour was to be betrayed therefore that time of night was most proper because it could not be sooner or later Now let it be consider'd was it not also Occasional that they receiv'd it sitting so as their Master found them at the Pass-over as is now suppos'd so being in hast he administers this Sacrament Why therefore should this come into Example rather than the other Circumstances unless which can never be proved there be some indications in the Gospel that it was the pleasure of our Lord that this part of his Example should oblige and not the rest Oh! but this gesture signifies as was before said and does it so Who can tell that Who may be bold to say that the posture which was used upon occasion was intended for signification when no such thing is said only the wits of men have devised this reason and imagin'd a significancy in it But be it so May not then also some signification be fasten'd upon the time and place It is best to receive in an upper room this signifies the exalted state to which Believers are receiv'd and by which they are dignified whereby also they are rais'd up to a nearness to Heaven in that holy Ordinance Again it is best to receive at night this signifies after a poor Sinner hath been wearied in his days of sin as men at night turn to their rest after the labours of the day so now after the labours of sin Return to thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Psal 116. and Come unto me all ye that labour c. and I will give you rest Math. 11. I dare say as good Texts to prove receiving at night as sitting with Abraham in the Kingdom of God proves the posture Thus is it easy to devise and imagine and if this shall be thought a worshipping God after our own devices as the men who seem so much to abhor Superstition will be ready to say I see not but they who contend so much for sitting will be guilty unless they can make it appear that the Holy Scripture hath rather recommended one than another Now if I should repeat those Tragical Declamations against adding to the word of God Will-worship and mens devices in the worship of God of which their writings are full how would they all fit here For what is if this be not worshipping God after mens Imaginations when they will make differences where our Blessed Saviour hath made none And yet this is the best that can be said of this Case for this supposes that Christs Example recommends sitting 2. Whereas this is farther to be said They have not so much as Example for that manner of sitting
compass of some general prohibitions the Unlawfulness of them upon that account will be to be consider'd in what next follows If they shall be denied Indifferent in their own Nature and yet no one Text of Scripture can be produc'd that speaks one word about them they who shall so deny do both bring an Unanswerable prejudice against all the particular establishments made by the General Rules of prudence whether by the Presbyterians or Independents and do also quite mistake the nature of a thing Indifferent If we descend to particular Instances I desire to know why the Surplice is not as Indifferent as a Gown or Cloak Not because it is a white Garment for then why are not Bands Unlawful And where is the Text that forbids white more than black Nor because it is of such a fashion for the Scripture gives no more directions for the shaping of a Cloak than a Surplice Why then Surely either because it is thought decent or significant or because it is appropriated to divine worship 1. If it be decent then is it no Errour to think it so then the Apostolical Canon let all things be done decently justifies and maintains it And is it not decent Does nature teach so to whom St. Paul appeals We do 1 Cor. 11. not find any inbred shame as if we did somewhat Unnatural in the use of it Does Scripture pronounce it uncomely We cannot find it There is no other Rule for Decency but either common estimation or the pleasure of our Governours for the latter we are secure and set peevishness aside fear not being condemn'd by the former 2. Peradventure it is thought significant therefore not Indifferent I answer that a significant Ceremony if this should be such only as such is not superstitious But who told our men of scruples that it is urg'd as significant of Candor and Purity By what Canon or Rubrick is any man oblig'd to have such an Opinion of it Whatever others who may have a better Opinion of significant Ceremonies may think of it he who is satisfied to wear it as a decent Garment transgresses no Law if he think no more 3. Is it unlawful and not Indifferent because it is appropriated to Divine Service This it seems is Dr Collings Exercit. of Opin Consc p. 80. scruple who thinks it Unlawful to wear any habit peculiarly appropriated to the worship of God I wonder then how it can be lawful to lean on a Pulpit Cushion or to use a Communion Cup if the Church-Wardens should be so superstitious as to lock them up and preserve them from all other uses If there be any thing in Scripture that forbids the use of a Garment upon any of these accounts somewhat will be offer'd worth considering till then we continue to believe it Indifferent and free from superstition 2. Why is not Kneeling c. Indifferent not because it is a posture for so is sitting but because it is such a posture And what is it A posture us'd upon any superstitious Opinion Let us know what that is Is it suspected to signifie our Adoration of the Elements The Declaration of our Liturgy delivers us from that suspicion and authorizes us to reckon them pitifully Ignorant or monstrously Uncharitable who after so plain a Declaration will suspect it What it signifies we there read This Order Order for Adminis H. commun is well meant for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ and for the avoiding of prophanation and disorder If it be unlawful to signify humility and thankfulness why do we at any time kneel or lift up our hands and eyes to Heaven Or if it be unlawful to avoid prophanation and disorder then let St. Paul be reproved for setting 1 Cor. 11. things in Order in the Church of Corinth Till I can find some Text that forbids Kneeling or till I can be satisfied that some superstitious Opinion gives occasion to it I must continue to reckon this also Indifferent 3. And to the same purpose I say of the Cross at Baptism How superstitiously the Papists use it I shall have occasion to say but our use of it being to where in Scripture forbid unless it can be proved that our 30th Canon of which before gives a false Account of it unless there be some Popish or other superstition or error from which it is not sufficiently purg'd it remains in its nature Indifferent Our general Answer in all is as before Where no Law is there is no Transgression What is not forbid is allowed is not Unlawful 2. There may be some who will Sect. 18. grant that some Indifferent things may be Impos'd yet will not yield that our Ceremonies therefore may because of some objections against them which have not equal force against all matters Indifferent Such are these two thought to be 1. The case of Scandal and giveing offence to weak Brethren 2. Because they have been abus'd among the Papists I should be asham'd to mention these things where in the N. C ts have been so often answer'd did I not consider that till this be clear'd the prejudice which I desire to remove will still remain for if for these reasons Conformity be Unlawful then may it seem that they who either impose or practise it have an undue opinion of that which is so unlawful and that opinion shall be suspected of superstition I proceed therefore to say If they who impose these Rites did not in truth judge them expedient and decent in the worship of God only because they think them barely lawful they urge them as believing many scrupulous minds will be offended at them and therefore they lay them as Snares and take advantage to incommode and bring under a penalty those who scruple them this might be called Tyranny but not properly superstition and so would not rach our Case I make not this supposition as if I would tempt any dissatisfied man so to judge of them for assuredly it is no less than a blaspheming of Dignities to think they enact Conformity for this reason But I find they who pretend to be dissatisfied will thus suspect And Mr Bagshaw thus expresses it Whoever obtrudes his conceits Two great Queries concerning things Indiff p. II. upon others who perhaps are not so well satisfied as he is becomes impious to God by invading his sovereignty and lording it over another mans Conscience and likewise injurious to men by pressing such things as are only baits to the careless and traps for the Conscientious Unless there be more hypocrisy than superstition in our Governours this cannot be the case for they profess to have done that which to their best understandings Preface to the Liturgy they conceiv'd might most tend to the preservation of peace and unity in the Church the procuring of Reverence and exciting of Devotion in the publick worship of God and the cutting off occasion from them that seek
qualiscunque ratiocinatio cogitantis qut quia in vuâ patriâ sic ipse consuevit aut quia ibi vidit ubi peregrinationem suam quò remotiorem à suis eò doctiorem factam putant tam litigiosas excitant quaestiones ut nisi quod ipsi faciunt nihil rectum existimant Words which by a little alteration and paraphrase are but too accommodate to the case of our present Dissenters To the grief of my Soul I have often observ'd how weak and scrupulous minds have been miserably perplex'd in matters of Religion by the contentious obstinacy and superstitious fearfulness of some who seem to be very Godly men Differences arise in matters Indifferent and alterable in their own natures such as the H. Scripture hath not any where particularly determin'd nor hath any tradition of the Universal Church fix'd them in one certain course nor can it be said that for the bettering the lives of men it must be thus and may not be so yet there are Jealousies and scruples in their minds it may be they remember it otherwise in their times and where they have lived It may be they have been as far as Scotland Amsterdam or Geneva and have a greater opinion of what is done abroad For one reason or other they are litigious and troublesome and think nothing well done but what they do themselves From this scrupulosity are men apt to call any thing into question and for fear lest they should err on one hand and run into superstition and Popery they run as far on the other and their Omissions are as superstitious as they fear'd their practice would have been Such was the case of the Jews 1 Machab. 2. when they were assaulted by their Enemies on the Sabbath day rather than violate the Sabbath by defending themselves they tamely suffer'd themselves to be destroyed The law of self-preservation could not perswade them to any resistance and if Mattathias had not been wiser than the rest they might all have perished Such also was the superstition of the Knol Turk History Souldiers in Sfetigrade when Amurath besieg'd it An. 1449. A Traytor in the City had cast a dead dog into the only Well which supplyed the City with Water which when it was espied in the Morning by the Souldiers no Importunity could perswade them to drink of that Water which they reputed Unclean by a dogs Carcass so was the Governour compell'd to surrender the City And such surely was the conceit of that zealous man some while since among our selves who cut out of his Bible the Contents of the Chapters and so would cut out the word of God it self that was on the other side of the page rather than suffer any Humane mixture with the pure word of God Whether the case of our N. C ts be not somewhat parallel is now to be consider'd They suspect superstition in the use of the Surplice and Cross c. and therefore Religiously abstain from them but what if this Abstinence also should be superstitious If the Rites and Ceremonies of our Church be as they imagine it must be either because we judge that lawful which is Unlawful or that necessary which is but Indifferent or because these Ceremonies though granted in their own nature Indifferent yet by reason of some Accident that attends them may not be impos'd and may not be submitted to if impos'd All which things have already had their Consideration after all which I have not doubted to conclude that our Rites may be us'd without superstition But now I move a doubt on the other side to which if they cannot give a better Answer than I am aware of they can't excuse themselves from superstition For what other reasons Conformity may be refus'd I now enquire not If any refuse it because they cannot wear a Surplice or use the Cross and if any private persons neglect the Sacrament of the Lords Supper because they cannot kneel as is commanded I desire to know for what reasons they are not free to join with us in these Usages Either they think them lawful or Unlawful If lawful such as may be submitted to and yet for some politick respects they will not submit this Abstinence of theirs may be free from superstition but some other way it will be as Unaccountable For he who without violating his Conscience can conform but will not let him if he can excuse his disobedience to the Powers which God hath set over him let him if he can deliver himself from the Character of a contentious man If without fraud or guile there be a man who does not act because he dare not who is perswaded in his Conscience he should sin against God and do that which is Unlawful if he should wear a Surplice c. This is the man whom I charge with superstition because he judges that Unlawful which is Indifferent because he proceeds upon a mistake of the nature of things because a false opinion betrays him to this abstinence He declares hereby that he hath a wrong Notion and apprehension of God when he thinks him displeas'd by such an Action against which the Scripture hath not declar'd his displeasure As men may teach for Doctrines the positive Commands of men so may they also teach for Doctrines the prohibitions of men and this is adding to the word of God And in this does Ames condition take place In illâ Abstinentiâ Medul Theol. prius Honor aliquis singularis Deo intenditur They conceit they Honour God by abstaining from that which is no where forbidden It is no where said neither in express words nor in any equivalent phrase That it is the will of God no man should wear a white Garment when he Ministers in Divine Offices that no man should kneel when he receives the Sacrament c. Wherefore what God hath cleansed why should we call Common Where is the man that hath Authority to pronounce that Unclean which God hath not so pronounc'd The necessary use of these things when they are commanded does not take away the Indifferency of their nature and this delivers us from superstition But to abstain from them as Unlawful in their nature does directly contradict the opinion of their Indifferency and leaves the men who so abstain under the guilt and bond of superstition So may men find that at a Conventicle which they are afraid to meet at Church Superstition lodges in the minds of men and they who are inclin'd to it may discover it when they sit still as well as when they move Touch not tast not handle not are not greater Indications of a superstitious abstinence than are wear not kneel not Cross not when the Doctrine of these Ceremonies is known to be Innocent and allowable Wherefore they who are indeed afraid of superstition who are afraid of mixing their own Inventions with the worship of God and doing that which is not requir'd at their hands are concern'd rightly to inform themselves in what they are commanded to do And when they find that the H. Scripture hath no where forbid the use of the Surplice upon those Terms upon which it is enjoin'd only the liberty which they themselves had power to determine is by the Magistrate determin'd for them not lightly or wantonly but for grave and weighty reasons Let them not fear they shall transgress where there is no law Let them not fear superstition in those practices to which they are induc'd by Opinions not superstitious But on the other side let the fear be lest they make the way to Heaven straiter than our Saviour hath made it Lest they scruple and condemn that which does not appear unlawful Lest they split upon Scylla while they shun Charybdis Lest they run into superstition while they desired to avoid it and lest an Innocent Ceremony scare them to an Unjustifyable Separation FINIS