sure that it is not there in any point condemned of Heresie unless it be of the ANABAPTISTS as it is here And I do not think but there be some as well there as in England and it is like enough that SUCH do finde fault with it Who are offended with the Liturgy Dr. Martin Nay even of Mr. Cox himself and other that were Preachers in King Edwards time they have disproved your * This Book established 5 6. Edw. 6. was re-established 1. Eliz. with two or three alterations and is that we now use as was proved above The Alterations are in the Act prefixed before the Service-Book second Book in divers points and have now made a third Book how say you which of these three Books will you allow now Careless Forsooth I say still as I have written that the second Book is good and godly and IN ALL POINTS agreeing to the Word of God and I am sure that neither Master Cox nor any other of our godly Preachers that be fled unto Frankford have condemned that Book IN ANY POINT as repugnant to the Word of God though perchance they have altered something therein according to the usage of that Country where now they are And I have not denied in my Articles but the Church of Christ hath power and authority to enlarge or diminish any thing in the same GOOD BOOK so far forth as it is agreeable to the Scriptures D. Martin But what authority have you or how durst you bee so bold to make an Article of the Faith concerning that Book to be beleeved of all men under pain of damnation Carelesse Ah Master Doctor have I bound any man to beleeve that Article under pain of damnation as you do charge mee I am sure there is no such word in all my Articles I have there written what I hold and beleeve my self as I am bound to do in conscience And now I will add thus much more That the same Book which is so consonant and agreeable to the Word of God ☞ Nore in the fear of God and consider being set forth by Common Authority both of the Kings Majesty that is dead and the whole Parliament House ought not to be despised by mee or any other private man under pain of Gods high displeasure and DAMNATION except they repent 2. Concerning Monarchy and that of this Nation * The Testimony of Mr. Sam. Ward sometime the famous Preacher of Ipswitch the Author of several elegant and useful pieces Hoc enim mihi ratum indubitatum semper fuit hoc semper cum Politicis Theologis gravissimis sensi palum apud omnes professus sum Monarchiam haereditariam sub qua mihi vitales auras feliciter haurine bonis omnimodis frui piè tranquillè degere contigit esse omnium quotquot extant aut excogitari possunt regiminum formae longè multumque praestantissimam utilissimam laudatissimam Cui me ex animo favere ille novit qui perscrutatur renes meos c. i. e. This hath alwaies been with mee a certain and undoubted maxime In his Preface to King Charls the first prefixed before his Treatise in Latine of the Load-stone dedicated unto him intituled Magnetis Reductorium this alwaies with the best States-men and Divines I have ever concluded and openly among all men professed viz. That a Monarchical Government hereditary under which providence hath so ordered that I have drawn my vital breath enjoyed many comforts have had the opportunity to live godly and quietly is of all Governments which are or can be divised by many degrees the best the most beneficial and most commendable to which that I am from my heart a well-wisher hee knows that searches my reins and my heart said that Author Dr. Sanderson the now Right Reverend Bishop of Lincoln in his late treatise intituled Episcopacy not prejudicial to Regal Power as established by Law in the Postscript Lastly Concerning the Divine Right of Episcopacy Though from one in that function yet because it derives it higher and founds it somewhat deeper more solidly and also briefer than is usually done deserves more special notice His words are My opinion is that Episcopal Government is not to bee derived meerly from Apostolical practice or Institution But that it is originally founded in the person and office of the Messias our Blessed Lord JESUS CHRIST who being sent by his heavenly Father to bee the great Apostle Heb. 3.1 Bishop and Pastor 1 Pet. 2.25 of his Church and annointed to that office immediately after his Baptism by JOHN with power and the Holy Ghost Act. 10.37 8. descending then upon him in a bodily shape Luke 3.22 did afterward before his ascension into Heaven send and impower his holy Apostles giving them the Holy Ghost likewise as his Father had given him John 20.21 to execute the same Apostolical Episcopal and Pastoral office for the ordering and governing of his Church until his coming again and so the same office to continue in them and their Successors unto the end of the world Mat. 28.18 20. This I take to be so clear from these and other like Texts of Scripture that if they shall bee diligently compared together both between themselves and with the following practice of all the Churches of Christ as well in the Apostles times as in the purest and Primitive times nearest thereunto there will bee left little cause why any man should doubt thereof Thus that Reverend Author II. Certain other Examples of Retractations In the next place other Instances of Retractations and repentings Beda prefat in Retract suas in Actor Apostol Tom. 6. Cujus Augustini industriam nobis quoque pro modulo nostro placuit imitari Nunc in idem volumen Actor Apostolic brevem Retractationis libellum condamus studio maximè vel addendi quae minus dicta vel emendandi quae socus quam placuit dicta videbantur The ingenuity and industry of St. Austin in his Retractations it is my purpose in my small measure to imitate also Now therefore let us compile a brief Treatise of Retractations with this intent especially either of adding those things which were not sufficiently expressed or of amending those that were expressed otherwise than did seem convenient saith venerable Bede Again For my part saith another though a late Author yet one of good note Good Reader Mr. Whately in his Bride-Bush in his advertisement to the Reader I account it no shame to confess and revoke an errour and will therefore do it plainly and without circumstance Then hee closes with this honest and Austin-like expression viz. From him that had rather confess his own error than make thee erre for company The like whereunto wee heard above out of that Father And Dr. Bishop Brownriggs sentence concerning Retractations Related by Dr. Gauden the now very Rev. Bishop of Excester his successon Brownrigge the late most worthy Bishop of Excester would say that Hee
Church and the latter All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly received being plain and evident all Christians now agreeing in the number of them throughout Europe The exception against them might have been omitted as tending to raise scruples in the minds of the people unless this Tract of the Brethren had been presented in writing and not published in print But that this scruple may not extend it self too far I shall name such as to my remembrance have been at any time doubted of They are the second Epistle of Peter See a very full Confutation of these doubts in Bellarm de verb. D. lib. 1 cap. 16. seqq Tertul. Cont. Marcion l. 4. Hieron proâ—em in Epist ad Titum Euseb l. 3. c 3. Calvin saith it was by the cunning of the Devil â—hat the Epist to the Hebrews should be doubted of because it speaks so ful y of Christs Priesthood the second and third of John the Epistle of Jude and by some the History of the Adulteress John 8.1 the last Chapter of that Gospel the Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of James and the Revelation But first these doubters were some of them Hereticks as Marcion Tatianus c. Secondly This doubt did not spread it self in the Church but was onely of some private persons Again It was before the Church had generally consented in them The Churches motives in receiving books of Scripture Which having the same grounds of divine authority for them as for the rest both in regard of the 1 Antiquity and 2 general reception of them as also in regard of the 3 consonancy of them with the doctrine of all the other Scripture 4 and the enlargement and explanation of the same doctrine by them 5 and further the Presence of the Holy Ghost in efficacy by the matter of them thereby setting his seal unto them Upon these and the like grounds hath the Vniversal Church received them as the other I answer therfore in the words of Bullinger Professor of the Church of Tigur in this very argument De sacris libris eor dignitate Exposit premiss ante Biblia Tigurin Nec magnopere curandum existimo quod à quibusdam traditur quosdam veterum dubitasse de Epistolâ ad Hebraeos de epistolâ posteriore Petri Judae de epistolâ Jacobi Apocalypsi Quid enim ad nos quod pauci aliquot suis affectibus corrupti de rebus certis authenticis Authoribus dubitarunt Neither are we much to mind saith he what is said by some namely that certain of the Antients did doubt of the Epistle to the Hebrews of the second Epistle of Peter and of that of Jude of the Epistle of James and of the Revelation For what is it to us what some few corrupted by their depraved affections have judged concerning things certain and these undoubted Authors Thus far he Whence it appears it might truly be said there was never any doubt in the Church of these books because either the persons were not of the Church but Hereticks that doubted or else were some few perverted judgments it never came so far as to be a doubt in the Church So much for the first Exception The next is they are defective because the Articles do speak nothing of sundry points of Popery and Arminianism Predestination abused universal Redemption Object universal Grace the manner of Conversion and falling from grace which King James procured the Synod of Dort to confute and for which the late Synod at London is so much maligned To this first in general Answ It hath been always counted both the wisdom and the tenderness not onely of the English but of the antient Church to make Articles of faith whereunto all especially Ministers Conf. Hamp Court p. 39. must subscribe to be but few First It being unfit to thrust into the Book every position negative or affirmative which would make the Book swell into a volume as big as the Bible and also confound the Reader saith King James When such questions arise among Schollars pag. 40. the quietest proceeding were to determine them in the Universities and not to stuff the Book of Articles with all conclusions Theological Secondly The better course would be to punish the broachers of false doctrine as occasion should be offered For were the Articles never so many and sound who can prevent the contrary opinions of men till they be heard Thus the King Ep. 57. ad Dardanum St. Austin saith Regulam fidei pusillis magnisque communem in Ecclesia tenent The rule of faith is common to the weak and to the wise Hence my Lord Primate of Ireland infers That the rule of faith must contain such truths ONELY B. Ushers answ to the Jesuite pag. 417. as are GENERALLY agreed upon by the consent of all true Christians And accordingly we see the Creed called the Apostles the Nicene the Constantinopolitan and Athanasian how short they are now they were the Articles of Religion of those times The Articles of Ireland are larger but taken for the most part ad verbum out of our Articles Homilies and Common-prayer-book But secondly why do the Brethren urge more Articles when as they neither are willing to subscribe to these few wherein they have found but two or three faults and those inconsiderable but also refuse to subscribe to any without limits unless they mean as good-fellows upon the way to range themselves whilst they leave others bound behind them 3. Touching King James though he was opposite to the Tenets of Arminius yet you heard even now he was averse also from having the contrary doctrines inserted into the Articles farther then they are already for one of them falling from grace was there the question Conf. Hamp Court pag. 39.40 And as opposite he was to the preaching of them to the people as appears by these words That no Preacher of what title soever under the degree of a Bishop or Dean at the least do from henceforth presume to preach in any popular auditory the deep points of Predestination Election K. James Instructions to Preachers Ann. 1622. Artâ—c 3. Reprobation or of the universality efficacy resistibility or irresistibility of Gods grace but leave those themes to be handled by the learned men and that moderately and modestly by way of use and application rather than by way of positive Doctrine as being more fit for the Schools and Universities than for simple Auditories You see the King whom you quote is not of your mind 4. As to the matters themselves the Articles speak sufficiently of them so far as to clear what is most necessary in them As the eighth Article of Original sin the tenth Article of Free-will the seventeenth Article of Predestination and Election leaving what is disputable and uncomfortable to be gathered from what is expressed 5. As to the Assembly they are not condemned by all men for their conclusions in those
points but for convelling and tearing up the foundations of many generations in * As the invisibility of the Catholick Church c. Doctrine Worship and Discipline without legitimate Authority and for other things which need not here be named Their third instance of the defectiveness of the Articles Object 3 is that they speak nothing of the creation of providence fall of man of sin of the punishment of sin of Gods Covenants effectual calling Adoption Sanctification Faith Repentance Perseverance of the Law of God Christian Liberty and liberty of conscience Religious worship of the Sabbath or Lords day of Marriage and Divorce the Communion of Saints Church-Government and Discipline of the Resurrection or of the last Judgment All which the Scripture teach as necessary and are comprised in the Apostles creed That the Assemblies Confession hath all these and that with proofs of Scripture which the Answ 1 Articles want But they should consider that a Confession of faith is one thing and a Catechism or a common-place book to refer ones reading unto is another If the Church shall think fit to compile one of these for the help of young students no doubt but all those shall be expresly treated on though perhaps not in the same form or titles But to constitute a Confession of Faith of all these heads with the several Articles which the Assembly hath subjoyned would doubtless have excluded many more from subscription than the Articles ever did Especially where they have made that an Article of faith which never was a Protestant doctrine viz. That the Church Catholick is a visible and organical body Assemblies Confess ch 35. Artic. 2. whereas it is an article of our faith in the Apostles Creed and not of sense And that which is laid as the foundation of the usurpation of the Bishops of Rome Bellarm. de Eccles l. 3. c. 2. by Bellarmine for either that or somewhat like it must follow upon that ground so that a fair Bridge is hereby laid from Thames to Tiber for his Holiness to walk upon A point universally opposed by the Protestant party except Peter Ramus and perhaps one or two more althongh of late owned by some of them of which * Vindicia Catholicae in answer to Mr. Hudson else-where I instance in this that be it true or false yet a point of this nature should not have been made an Article for the not subscribing whereto men must have been rejected from the Ministry others there are that would have stuck no doubt with many men orthodox able and godly 2. As to the things themselves they are all in effect touched either in the Articles Articles of Ireland Anno 1615. whence taken or the Homilies which are approved by the Articles or in the Liturgy or in the Book of Ordination a branch also of the Articles And the Articles of Ireland which are more full in themselves than ours and comprehend in terminis most or all these heads they are taken verbatim out of the books now mention'd And to give some instances The Creation and Providence is mentioned in the first Article of God and in the Catechism in the Common-prayer-book And more largely in the Homily for Rogation week part 1 2. The fall of man his sin and punishment of it professedly discours'd of in the Homily of the misery of mankind and is touched in the Articles Artic. 9. 10. of Original sin and Free-will Gods Covenant may be understood in the Articles of Justification and Predestination Artic. 11. 17. and is discours'd on largely in the Homily of Salvation Effectual calling also in the same 17th Article and more largely in the Homily of Faith Where also of Adoption as likewise in the lesser Catechism in the Liturgy Faith in the Article of Justification by faith Sanctification in the Homily of good works and divers others Repentance hath a proper Homily for it Perseverance is expresly set down in the 17th Article Of the Law of God in the Homily of the misery of Man And in the Catechism in the Liturgy so far as concerns practice Christian liberty in the Articles of the Traditions of the Church And the Homily of disobedience and wilful rebellion Religious worship is the subject of the Liturgy And of several Articles and of the Homily of the time and place of prayer The Sabbath or Lords day in the Homily of the time and place of prayer Of Marriage both in the Homily of Matrimony and in the Exhortation at Marriage in the common-prayer-Common-prayer-book Divorce as a point of Law is discoursed in the Canons Communion of Saints is the ground of all Exhortations to Unity as the Homily against Contention and exhortation to Charity as love and good works Church-government is the subject of Artic. 20. 21. of the authority of the Church and of General Councils And for Orders they are in the Book of Ordination For the Rules in the book of Canons and in the Rubricks in the Liturgy about Order and in the Commination there Of the Resurrection the Homily on Easter-day And of the last Judgment in the Homily against the fear of Death Seeing therefore that most or all of these heads are either expresly treated on or occasionally either in the Articles or branches of them how say they that they contain nothing of them Proofs to Confessions Lastly for the proofs added in the Assemblies Confession not added in the Articles they know it is not usual to add Proofs unto Confessions as may be seen in the Confessions of the Reformed Churches where they are rare And even lately their Brethren of the Independent way published their Confession without proofs And unless it be that of New England the Assemblies and those of the Separation I remember not that I have seen any with frequent proofs And if I mistake not it had not been amiss if the Assembly had kept the Track in this in as much as the Proofs sometimes do not infer the Article In a Catechism or Sermon or Dispute they are more proper than in a Confession Because that is a thing supposed to be grounded not in this or that place but on the current of the Scripture Besides Proofs occasion Dispute which is abhorrent from the nature of a Confession The places alledg'd may be clear a proof and yet not so to every less-intelligent Reader I conclude this discourse touching the imperfection and defectiveness of the Articles with that considerable passage of Erasmus to this purpose Summa religionis nostrae pax est unanimitas Erasm presat in Hilarium ea vix constare poterit nisi de quà m potest paucissimis definiamus in multis liberum relinquamus suum cuique judicium propterea quod ingens sit rerum plurimarum obscuritas c. The sum saith he of our Religion is peace and unanimity of which there is little hope unless those things which shall shall be enjoyned as matters of faith be
sign it is sufficient that there be the profession of these outward Which yet by a Metonymy and figure of the adjunct or sign for the thing signified may very truly though figuratively be called Repentance and Faith Now this being all that outward Baptism doth require the outward repentance and faith or the profession of them this may be performed by others in the name of the baptized The inward so far as qualifies them for the Sacrament they have after the same manner as they have their sin or guilt that is by others And as the children of the Jews repented and believed in their parents For Circumcision was a Seal of the righteousness of Faith and therefore not to be administred to any but those that did repent and believe Rom. 4.11 in Gods acceptation Of which more in the next Answ 2 Answer Come we to their second mistake viz. in the matter of their Reply and that these things of which mention is made 1. From Scripture may in this or the like cases be performed by the Sureties for the children shall be shewn from Scripture God assisting from Antiquity and from later times First We must here lay for ground that of the Apostle viz. That the old Church of the Jews they did all eat the same spiritual meat 1 Cor. 10.1 c. and did all drink of the same spiritual drink for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ and they were all baptized with the same Baptism that we are though by the hand of Moses in the cloud and in the sea Hoc posito I say if the repenting and believing of one man for another were not sufficient whereby that other did receive all the spiritual benefit exhibited and sealed in the Sacrament how comes it that Abraham's conversion and faith availed for Ishmael Gen. 17. and the faith of his growen servants for their children who were circumcised Rom. 4. which was a Seal of the righteousness of faith for I take the Brethren not to be Anabaptists professed so as to deny that Scripture to define the nature of Circumcision in general And how could the children of a Proselyte be circumcised if the repentance and faith of one man be not accepted for anoâ—her As also we take it and so do all but Anabaptists that there were children baptized in those housholds that are mentioned to be baptized in the new Testament 1 Cor. 10. And all the children of the Jews were in the cloud and in the sea how that was done Mr. Aynsworth as I remember somewhere shews by comparing Psalm 77.17 the clouds poured out water with this of the Corinths Now this could not be but that the Repentance and Faith of one is available for another If it be answered Instance that these were the parents of the children I reply Answ that the Sureties are but onely the Churches and the Parents assistants and do undertake onely upon the supposition of the childs actual right as a virtual believer to be of the houshold of Faith though not actually incorporated So that the undertaking of the Sureties is onely by way of deputation from the Church or Parents and goes upon supposition of their repentance and faith by vertue whereof according to the Covenant Gen. 17. That God will be the God of his People and their seed after them the Infant hath title to the Ordinance So that it is so far untrue that it is never read or heard of in Scripture that one man repented and believed in the room and name of another that it is ever so and never read nor heard in Scripture to the contrary 2. Proof from Antâ—quity Come we to Antiquity Quâ in re satis piè rectéque creditur prodesse parvulo eorum fidem Aug. de lib. Arbit l. 3. c. 23. à quibus consecrandus offertur Et hoc Ecclesiae commendat saluberrima authoritas ut ex eo quisque sentiat quid sibi prosit fides sua quando in aliorum quoque beneficium qui propriam nondum habent potest aliena commodari In which point saith Austin we do rightly and religiously believe that the faith of those by whom a child is offered to Baptism doth avail for the child And this commends the Soveraign Authority of the Church that from hence every one may perceive what his own faith doth profit him seeing another mans faith can be usefull for the benefit of him that hath none as yet of his own he means actual Thus there And elsewhere Epist 23. Bonifac. Quando ad baptismum offeruntur Infantes parentes tanquam fidedictores respondent dicunt illos facere quod illa aetas cogitare non potest aut si potest occultum est Interrogamus enim eos a quibus offeruntur dicimus credit in Deum Respondent credit Et ad caetera sic respondent quae quaeruntur When saith he they the Infants are offered to Baptism the parents as Undertakers for them answer and say that they do that which at that age they cannot think and if they do 't is unknown for we ask those by whom they are offered and say Doth he believe in God They answer He believeth and so to the rest of the Questions they answer what is asked Which testimony of St. Austin Questions in Baptism declares the antiquity of this custom of Interrogatories in Baptism The answer he gives there unto the question made thereupon viz. How could they undertake for them so namely that they do believe by vertue of the Sacrament of Baptism which they receive which is the Sacrament of Faith he doth in the former part of the same Epistle more fully open Regenerans spiritus in majoribus offerentibus parvulo oblato renatoque communis est ideo per hanc societatem unius ejusdemque spiritus prodest offerentium voluntas parvulo oblato The regenerating Spirit saith he in those that offer the child to Baptism and in the child offered and regenerate is one and the same and thence by this fellowship in one and the same Spirit the will of those that offer it doth profit the child And in answer to that which the Brethren touch that the witnesses are not always truly believers he saith Spiritus autem ille sanctus Ibâ—d Unbelieving Witnesses qui habitat in sanctis ex quibus una illa columba deargentata charitatis igne conflatur agit quod agit etiam per servitutem aliquando non solùm simpliciter ignorantium verum etiam damnabiliter indignorum Offeruntur quippe parvuli ad percipiendum spiritalem gratiam non tam ab eis quorum gestantur manibus quam ab universa societate sanctorum atque fidelium Ab omnibus namque rectè offerri intelliguntur quibus placet quòd offeruntur quorum sancta individua charitate ad communicationem sancti Spiritus adjavantur Tota hoc ergo mater Ecclesia quae in sanctis
repetition of this Testimony Non Crambe bis cocta haec bis repetita placebunt In Musick streins often repeatâ—d are In mental harmony why is' t a jarr nemo post divinum judicium post populi suffragium post Coepiscoporum consensum judicem se non jam Episcopi sed Dei faceret Nemo dissidio unitatis Christi Ecclesiam scinderet c. For from no other root saith hee either Heresies spring or Schisms do arise than from this That Obedience is not given to the Priest or Minister of God so hee calls the Bishop by way of eminency as the words following declare And that it is not considered that there is for the time but One Priest and but ONE JUDGE in Christs stead To whom if the WHOLE Church according as the Scripture hath appointed were obedient no man would move any thing against the Colledge of Ministers no man after Gods sentence the peoples suffrage election or approbation after the consent of the other Bishops would make himself Judge not now of the Bishop but of God himself In which Testimony onely by the way noting that populi suffragium must be according to Calvins observation not properly an Election though in a large sense it may be called so according to that of the former Author elsewhere Quum ipsa plebs maxime habeat potestatem L. 1. Ep. 4. vel eligendi dignos Sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi That the people have chief right either to chuse good Ministers or of refusing those that are bad But either a signification of their desire whom they would have or else an approbation of the Election made by the Bishops and confirmed by the Magistrate So Calvin Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. s 12. Cap. 13. Laodic Concil Est quidem illud fateor optimâ ratione sancitum in Laodicensi concilio ne turbis electio permitteretur primum soli Clerici eligebant offerebant Magistratui tum ad multitudinem res deferebatur Aut si à multitudine incipiebatur tantum id fiebat ut sciretur quem potissimum expeteret It is saith hee I confess excellently decreed in the Councel of Laodicea that the election of Ministers should not be permitted to the people But first the Clergy did chuse then they presented him to the Magistrate and lastly hee was propounded to the people c. But this occasionally onely to prevent mistaking As to the former Testimony of Cyprian out of it wee learne First That the eminency of one Minister above the rest in Government is of Divine Institution Post Judicum divinum Secondly That hee being chosen hath a sole superiour power of judgement in the Church to whom all must be obedient I say not hee hath a sole power absolutely but a sole superiour power over all within his Diocess and Jurisdiction by this Testimony whatsoever is to be said of the thing it self according to the Word of God And indeed the liberty or advantage that Civil Laws give of exercising Episcopal Authority doth not imply they have no other The Church hath taught us they may concur Will you such as be unquiet disobedient and criminous within your Diocess Book of Consecrat Q. At the consecrat of a Bishop correct and punish according to such Authority as yee have by Gods Word and as to you shall be committed by the Ordinance of this Realm 〈…〉 Ecclesiastical whether in order or degree which at present wee dispute not be according to Scripture as before hath been shewn Government and Jurisdiction cannot bee separated from it although the Laws should not confer any yea forbid it seeing the Church cannot subsist without Government which cannot be exercised regularly without Bishops Cypr. lib. 8. Ep. 3 The same Cyprian and in the same Epistle now cited shewing it to be the design of Satan in setting men to oppose godly Bishops that so hee may destroy Discipline and by that the Church it self saith Apparet quis impugnet non scilicet Christus qui Sacerdotes aut constituit aut protegit sed ille qui Christi adversarius Ecclesiae ejus inimicus Ob hoc Ecclesiae praepositum sua infestatione persequitur ut Gubernatore sublato atrocius atque violentius circa Ecclesiae naufragia grassetur Who it is and upon what design that opposeth Episcopacy It appears saith hee who opposeth the Bishop to be sure not Christ who either appointeth or protecteth Bishops But hee who is Christs adversary and his Churches enemy for this end persecutes and infests the Church Ruler that the Pylot being taken off hee might with greater cruelty and violence make spoil and shipwrack of the Church Thus far Cyprian And this here for the Right of this office in humane and divine SUBSECT II. THe next is whether it bee a distinct Order from or a superiour Degree above the Presbytery or ordinary Ministry Whether Episcopacy be a different order Necess Ref. p. 42. Touching the judgement of the Church of England in which point there need not be any great controversie if men that have little else to defend themselves were not too captious of words Of which sort of controversies the Apostle giveth warning viz. 2 Tim. 2.14 That wee should not strive about words without profit Answ 1 The Preface to the Book of Ordination of Ministers saith Preface to the Book of Ordination It is evident to all men diligently reading holy Scripture and Ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been THESE ORDERS of Ministers in Christs Church Bishops Priests and Deacons which offices were evermore had in such reverent estimation that no man by his own private authority might presume to execute any of them Where it is plain that saying these Orders and then naming three it is as much as if it had said These three Orders which is the Exception the Brethren have against it And because it calleth them presently Offices But that altereth not what it said before for every order is an office and every office is in some order Again they evidently prevaricate for whereas they say that the passage Almighty God which hast appointed divers orders of Ministers in the Church or in thy Church is in one prayer at the consecration namely of a Bishop It must be noted that it is three times in the book viz. At the ordering of a Deacen of a Priest and consecrating of a Bishop Now applying this word in prayer divers orders of Ministers to every one of those offices Can any man in his conscience doubt but that they took them for several orders who compiled the book and which being confirmed by Parliament and Convocation 8. Eliz. cap. 1. is the judgement of the Church of England in this point although it doth not every time it mentions the Bishop name order but sometime Office and Ministry That the book calls the inauguration of a Bishop Consecration of Bishops not an ordering but a Consecration doth not overthrow what
very next degree unto God the voice of the Church of God wherein we live And they whose wits are too glorious to fall to so low an ebb they that have risen and swollen so high that the banks of ordinary Rivers are unable to keep them in they whose wanton contentions in the causes whereof we have spoken do make all where they go a Sea even they at their highest float may be constrained both to see and grant that what their fancy will not yield to like their judgments cannot with reason condemn Thus he Which is not spoken to put the spirit of bondage and blind belief but the spirit of Sonship and Adoption into mens breasts in order to the Church the spirit of filial and child-like not of slavish obedience This for the Church Then touching the Laws of our Nation 2. The Laws of this Nation it is to be observed that there is so great a sacredness upon them that the Apostles both Intermination and Prediction hath ever been verified Rom. 13.2 that from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot as the Prophet speaks the violation and resisting of them and the legitimate Governors by them hath proved a resistance of the Ordinance of God and they that have so done have received unto themselves judgment from the Lord for neglecting of his good and wholesome Laws In the Act for uniformity of Common-Prayer As the Parliament phraseth it Neither is this spoken in treachery to civil liberties or to make men slaves but subjects The Laws of these Kingdoms by an admirable temperament give very much to subjects liberty and happiness and yet reserve enough to the Majesty and Prerogative of any King who owns his people as subjects Eikon Basil M dit 27. not as slaves Says his late Majesty As implying that the reverence of the Laws preserves both the People from Rebellion and the Prince from Tyranny and both from ruine Memorable to this purpose is the counsel of that pious and peaceable man Dr. Sibs in a book of his which a * Mâ— H. Ward The first he counted A Treatise on Rom. 8. intituled Christ opened c. Dr. Sibs Souls Const ct Edit 1st viz. 1635. pag. 364. great wit counted the second next the Scripture as to the argument it treats on he might perhaps have said the first The Doctors words are The Laws under which we live are particular determinations of the Law of God and therefore ought to be a rule unto us so far as they reach Law being the joynt reason and consent of many men for publick good hath an use for the guidance of all actions that fall under the same Where it dashes not against Gods Law what is agreeable to Law is agreeable to conscience Thus he Which passage as it seems was not a present truth or not a truth for the present times and therefore some did evirate geld alter and enervate into this in the following Editions unless mended in the later viz. The Laws under which we live are particular determinations of the Laws of God in some things of the second Table That which he laid down generally they put a double restriction upon First to the second Table Again to some things onely therein Then they add an instance which though it illustrates the Text yet is it not in the first Edition viz. For example says the following Editions The Law of God says Exact no more than what is thy due but what in particular is thy due and what another mans the Laws of men determine Thus far the Addition Now this wound being received by the Doctor in the house of his friends A wound received by Dr. Sibs in the house of his friend Zech. 13.6 for so I understand and when scarce cold in his grave and his books being in the hands of all men what may we think Authors more antient in the hands of enemies and re-published have met withal Wherein we are the more to observe the providence of God who hath made the Jews and Turks Capsarios nostros Aug. Enarrat Psal 40. as St. Austin speaks the faithful keepers of our Libraries 7. 7. Cause Not weighing Causes so much as Persons and Appendixes But the more immediate spring of this irregular motion was the reflecting on persons on both sides and some appendant and concomitant things as was noted above rather then unpartial weighing the causes themselves as denuded of all Patrons Concomitants and Appendixes viz. What ground of the war what plea for Independency The fallacy was by arguing à non causa ad causam and not applying solid Logick to sound Divinity St. Austins offer to his adversary is good advice Cont. Maximin Aâ—ian lib. 3. cap. 14. Scripturarum authoritatibus non quorumvis propriis sed utrisque communibus testibus res cum re causa cum causa ratio cum ratione concertet Let matter saith he contend with matter cause with cause reason with reason by authority of Scripture which may not be proper to one side but common unto both I am clear One cause of the miscarriage in the late differences Jam. 2.1 that this hath imposed on many on both sides and in both causes viz. that men have had the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons or at the least of consequences and have eyeâ— more the persons engaged or whâ—t might be the issue of things than the matters themselves Rom. 3.8 But the Apostle prohibits a disproportion between the means and the end We ' must not do evil that good may come thereof Fiat justitia ruat coelum Plutarch in vita Aristid n. 609. We must do what is right though heaven and earth go together The Athenians though Heathen yet in a certain case they rejected the counsel of Themistocles though useful to the Common-wealth because it was not honest It was the occasion of the first sin in the world Respect of person for it was in gratiam uxoris Gen. 3. for the pleasing of his wife in all likelihood But our esteem of persons is best directed by the original rule And there prima secundae the first commandment with promise is that we honor our father and mother but which especiallv the Father of our c untry and the Mother of our Christianity The King and the Church And for effects and consequences Matth. 7.16 our Saviours and the Apoâ—â—les Philosophy and Logick for * Contr. Crescon lib. 1. cap. 14 cap. 17. Austin proves them to have used both would have directed us to make that a vine and not a thorn whereof we expect grapes Gal. 6.7 If we sow to the flesh and act on earthly grounds we shall from it reap corruption I conclude this with that of the wise-man Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart that 's the end And let thine eyes observe my ways there 's the means chap. 4.27 Let thine
the Ecclesiastical Concerning the first 1. In the Civil Controversie I closed with the one party in the civil contest for these causes whereof the one is General and Privative the other Positive and Particular The former was the grieving or resisting the Spirit of God from whom I received no small concussion about this matter especially at the coming forth of * The resolving of conscience c. Edit Cambr. 1642. Dr. Fearn's first book in opposition to the Lords and Commons in their taking up Arms against the King The authority of Scripture there urged unto which God had given me ever to bear an awful reverence the Spirit setting it on exercised me more than all his arguments But 1 being in heart enclined unto the good things the other side proposed to be contended for and 2 judging his reasons might all be answered and 3 apprehending it much concerned the cause of God and of his servants and 4 my own reputation also being pre-engaged 5 and lastly my place seeming to call for it I holding then the publick Lecture in Cambridge I took all the former reluctancy of spirit to be onely a temptation and accordingly resolved to reply On Judg. 5.23 on which Mr. St. M. had preached before of whose notions that I know of I made no use Mr. J. B. which I did the next Lords day after the publishing of that Book wherein I answered all that seemed material in that Book and so answered it That some who were of the other judgment were pleased to say that so bad a cause could not be better pleaded Upon this I was sollicited to the publishing of my Answer But coming to London and finding another had done it before but especially my spirit working too and fro betwixt resolution and fear I did suppress it But that of Zachary hath been fulfilled in me since In that day the Prophets shall be ashamed Zach. 13.5 every one of his vision when he hath prophesied And blessed be God who hath verified another also towards me viz. Thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying Isa 30.21 This is the way walk in it when thou turnest to the right-hand and when thou turnest to the left And blessed be his Name that although I have been a rebellious child as it is in the first verse of that chapter that would not take counsel of him nor cover with the covering of his spirit yet he hath not cast me away from his presence Psal 51.11 nor taken his holy Spirit from me Deliver me from bloods O Lord thou God of my salvation A Prayer and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise And Vphold me O Lord with thy spirit then will I teach sinners thy ways and transgressors shall be converted unto thee Lastly Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar Amen Sed irrideant nos fortes potentes Aug. confess l. 4. c. 1. nos autem infirmi inopes confiteamur tibi But let great and oveâ—-grown spirits laugh at this let us that are infirm and poor in heart confess to thee Tota palea areae ipsius irridet eum Aug. in Ps 21. in Prefat in Expos 2. gemit triticum irrideri dominum All the chaff of Christs own floor laughs at him and the good corn laments its Lords derision Thus of the general and privative cause SECT II. Particular Motives 2. THe particular follow and they were such as these 1. 1. Propounded The excellency and necessity of the things held forth to be contended for the Laws namely and the Liberties of the Nation and that which made them both most precious Religion Protestant by them established and secured 2. Next the credit that I gave unto the persons that did propound them both for their ability and for their faithfulness 3. A third was the awful opinion that I conceived of the power and authority of that place from which they seem'd to issue to wit the Parliament 4. That the exigences being such there was a virtual bond by all Laws to use remedies that were not usual 5. and lastly That examples of the like had been in Scripture among the Jews in the Primitive Church the former against Antiochus by the Maccabees the latter of the Christians against Maximinus Also in the Reformed Churches as the French Holland Scottish and owned by our former Princes and then present King defended also by our own Divines and Bishops as Jewel Abbot Bilson c. 2. Replies unto them But all these and such like as applyed to our case being put into the ballance of the Sanctuary in my eye seem much too light As touching the first my opinion and veneration of the Protestant Religion 1. Religion the Laws and Liberties of the Nation I hope is greater now than it was as I know them somewhat better But touching Religion to be defended by Arms especially of Subjects well spake the Dantzikers A notable speech of the Dantzikeâ—s in their material Letter to the Duke of Croy exhorting them to the like May 27. 1656. Evidently it doth appear say they how much the Roman-Catholicks are incensed through this war and that from thence no small persecutions yea the greatest danger may befall the Reformed Churches Vid. Mercurius Politicus Jul. 3. 1656. if God do not prevent it in his mercy We do confidently believe that no body can think or impute it to us as if God took pleasure in Apostates and Hypocrites and as if he would have Religion promoted in casting off the lawful Magistrate Note and in the slender esteem of a well grounded government Call to mind how at all times by Warrs the spirits of men grow more barbarous and inhumane Note and how the wars for Religion use commonly to extinguish Religion Thus they Note Now I call God to witness upon my soul that the sense of the dishonor done unto the Protestant Religion 2 Cor. 1. working upon my heart hath been one main occasion of further examining the grounds of those transactions and of altering my thoughts Homil. of disobedience part 4. pag. 300. And particularly one passage in the doctrine of this Protestant Church expressed in the Homily of disobedience did much affect me of which anon This for Religion 2. Then for the Laws and Liberties seeing first 2. Laws and Liberties that both Houses of Lords and Commons in all their solemn addresses to the King and that in Parliament and as such a Parliamentary body 1. Style of the H. H. do usually style themselves thus Your Majesties most humble and loyal subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled In that Remonstrance which the King saith Kings Declaration Aug. 12. 1642. Remonstr of the State of
of the Old and New Testament The Church of England receiveth the Canon of Scripture according to the antient Church exactly as the Church of England doth Secondly that he saith that is secundum majorum traditionem ex patrum monumentis That it is according to the tradition of the Church and out of the writings of the Fathers Whereby we see the Church of England follows antiquity in reception of the books of holy Scripture more truly than the Church of Rome doth But this obiter and the way Again Bullinger citeth the judgment of Bibliander Bibliander de opt genere interpretandi Hebraica whose words are Ecclesiasticos libros etiam Hagiographa nominant sancta scripta Quae etsi non habent idoneam authoritatem roborandi ea quae in contentionem veniunt ut Canonici Scriptores non tamen rejiciuntur ut Apocrypha qualis fuit prophetia Eldad Medad c. Ecclesiastici autem lâ—bri etiam in Scholam auditoria fidelis populi admâ—ssi sunt tam venerandi multis ut Judith etiam in ordinem canonicae Scripturae à quibusdam reponatur Which having the same sense I forbear to English Onely he saith that the Book of Judith was by some accounted Scripture I suppose he meaneth Origen which I think may as little claim that priviledge as any other Lastly Bullinger goes over every book of them and shews the benefit that the Church may reap by the reading of them And saith We may better learn the form of Houshold-government out of Tobit and Judith and the Ethicks or rules of good living out of Ecclesiasticus and the book of Wisdom than out of Plato Aristotle and Xenophon And the way of a religious Soldier out the Maccabees And of the first book of them he saith Ac tanti omnino hic liber est ut boni illo non possent citra jacturam carere That it is verily of such worth that a good man cannot without loss be without it Which is consonant unto that of King James speaking of the same book Conf. Hamp Court pag. 61. viz. Who shewed the use of the Maccabees to be very good to make up the story of the persecution of the Jews c. And of the History of Bel and the Dragon Bullinger saith Viderint autem qui eam historiam pro fabula damnant quibus nitantur Authoribus Ego video Historiam refertissimam esse multiplici fructu eruditione Let them look to it saith he what Authors they rest upon who condemn it for a fable I observe it to be a History full fraught with fruitful instructions And he names what In a word his whole discourse on these books is worth reading And it is to be noted that this was with the allowance of the rest of the Ministers of Tigur where this book was printed Necessit Reform pag. 20. Basilic Doron But the authority of King James is by some Brethren objected against the Apocrypha viz. As for the Apocrypha books I omit them because I am no Papist and indeed some of them are not like the ditement of the Spirit of God Answ Thus say they the King But it seems time and reading had further ripened the Kings judgment in that point For afterward when he upon great occasion solemnly delivered his judgment Confer Hamp Court second day confer p. 61. è Cathedrâ in reference to the satisfaction of his whole Kingdom this was the result His Majesty in the end said He would take an even order between both Affirming that he would not wish all Canonical books to be read in the Church unless there were one to interpret nor any Apocrypha at all wherein there was * He explains himself presently in allowing the book of Maccabees wherein he acknowledgeth some errors any error But for the other which were clear and correspondent to the Scripture he would have them read for else said he why were they printed and therein shewed the use of the book of Maccabees very good to make up the story of the Persecutions of the Jews but not to teach a man to sacrifice for the dead or to kill himself Thus far the King whâ—ch if the Brethren knew they did not well to cover and if they knew it not and were not vers'd in the most authentical books and writings of this nature as that Conference is a special one they were not fit to deal in such an Argument So also in the same place of the same Conference pag. 61 62. the King opened and defended a passage in Ecclesiasticus one of the Apocryphal books objected against as unsound and closes all with this salt quippe to the opposers What trow ye makes these men so angry with Ecclesiasticus by my saul I think he was a Bishop c. You see with what judgment the Brethren have quoted the King against the Apocrypha and yet as a crowing argument they insist upon it Again Object 2 Hierom. Ep. ad Laetam Tom. 1. St. Hieron is also produced as a witness against these books viz. That he should advise a Lady say they caveat omnia Apocrypha that she should take heed of all the Apocrypha Answ There are several causes of mistaking and mis-representing of an Author as 1 That men rest on Quotations Causes of misunderstanding and mis-representing of an Author and read them not themselves 2 That they understand not the language and Idiom of the writer 3 That they weigh not his scope and drift 4 That they ponder not the context 5 That they compare not one place with another 6 That they consider not the circumstances time place c. 7 That they consult not others that may illustrate him Then for misrepresenting him 1 That they make no bones of it 2 That they conceit they shall not be seen by every eye 3 And that when they be they have a brow to bear it so what they say may serve the turn at present It so fares here For if the Brethren read the place they quote in Jerom it is sure they understood not what he meant by Apocrypha Erasmus therefore on the place shall teach them Inscribuntur Petro Paulo nonnulla ipsi Christo Erasm in Hierom â—p ad Laetam num 79. veluti epistola Jesu ad Abygarum regem They are saith he ascribed to Peter to Paul and some to Christ himself as the Epistle of Jesus unto Agborus Where you see that Jerome did not mean by the Apocrypha onely the Books joyned with the Old Testament but those also yea those especially that were affixed to the New Again They did not weigh Jerom's scope for it was onely to instruct a young Girl in reading in that place not to shew what the Church might do or did Fourthly They did not compare this passage with others where he expresseth himself ex professo As where he speaks of the Books which bear Solomons name but are not his used to be read
in the Church as Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon he addeth Sicut ergo Judith Tobiae Machabeorum libros legit quidem Ecclesia sed eos inter Canonicas Scripturas non recipit sic haec duo volumina legat ad aedificationem plebis non ad authoritatem Ecclesiasticorum dogmatum confirmandam Hierom's testimony of the publick reading of the Apocrypha As therefore saith he the Church reads the books of Judith one of those the Brethren expresly except against and of Tobit and the Maccabees yet not counting them among the Canonical Scriptures so let it read these two Books Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon for the edification of the people though not for the establishing the Authority of the Doctrines of the Church Where there are three things to be noted First that these Books are Apocrypha Secondly That they were read in the Church Lastly That they may be so done Fifthly They suppress the whole sentence out of which they quote that particle whence it would have appear'd that he did not forbid her absolutely the reading of them but that she should do it warily and with judgment His words are Caveat omnia Apocrypha Et si quando ea non ad dogmatum veritatem sed ad signorum reverentiam legere voâ—uerit sciat non eorum esse quorum titulis praenotantur multaque his admixta vitiosa grandis esse prudentiae aurum in luto quaerere Let her take heed of all the Apocrypha but what he meant by them we heard above but if at any time she will read them not for the confirming of the faith of doctrine but for the reverence unto the things intended in those writings let her know that they are not the works of those whose name they bear and that many corrupt things are mixed with them and that it is for the riper wisdom to seek gold out of the clay Thus he Even as Paul adviseth the Thessalonians to prove all things 1 Thess 5. Matth. 23.3 chap. 16.6 and hold fast that which is good So our Saviour commands his Disciples to hear the Scribes and Pharisees but yet to take heed of their leaven So Jerom allows her to read them but with discretion without which 2 Pet. 3. even the Scripture proveth a snare to the weak Now notwithstanding all this I am of the judgment of St. Hierom of Ruffinus or Cyprian above quoted and of the Church of England touching the nature and use of the Apocrypha yet may I not perhaps oppose the evidence of those * Hieron in prolog's variis Whitak de S. Script Q. 1. Reynold de lib. Apocryph Junius in Apocryph Chamier de Canone Aliique learned men who have endeavoured to prove some of them fictions yet such as were intended and are useful for * Consicta sunt enim sed in hoc consicta ut sacrum aliquid significent Erasm in epist Hieron ad Laetam n. 78. edification In which regard my self not long since heard a great man of the Separation SAY but he could not SEAL it by any evidence though urged that the Common-prayer was Popish but Romances were useful though fictitious because they express vertue and vice to the heighth If so why then may not the Apocrypha pass for Religious Romances wherein the like is performed Of one of which St. Jerom. Hieron prefat in Judith Tom 3. Accipite Judith viduam castitatis exemplum triumphali laude perpetuis eam praeconiis declarate Hanc enim non solum foeminis sed viris imitabilem dedit qui castitatis ejus remunerator virtutem talem ei tribuit ut invictum omnibus hominibus vinceret insuperabilem superaret Receive ye Judith saith he the widow an example of chastity and with triumphant praise publish her with perpetual commendations for he who was the rewarder of her chastity hath propounded her to be imitated not onely by women but by men also Who gave her also such grace that she overcame him that was unconquerable and prevailed over him whom no man could vanquish So that you see if those writings be useful in the Church as that noble person said that express vertue and vice to the life and that in the opinion of St. Jerom no weakling some of these books do so even in that respect they should not be rejected wholly And if the fore-quoted Authors please not the next I presume will and they are the Abomination of the Brethrens soul the Bishops but yet in this point and that 's strange will speak ad salivam and to their palate Viz. in the Admonition prefixed unto the second Tome of Homilies done no doubt by the same Authors that the Homilies were Presat in Tom. 2. Homil. and published by the same authority In that admonition unto Ministers Ecclesiastical and it is a grave and godly one are these words And where it may so chance some one or other here 's room you see chapter of the Old Testament to fall in order to be read upon the Sundays or Holy-days which were BETTER to be changed with some other of the New Testament of MORE edification it shall be well done to spend your time to consider well of such chapters before-hand whereby your prudence and your diligence shall appear so that your people may have cause to glorifie God for you and be the readier to embrace your labours to your better commendation to the discharge of your consciences and their own To explain that they meant all that was to be read except the New Testament by the word Old Testament were needless Now you see that the Liturgy the Kalender the Rubrick doth not so tie the Minister to syllables in every thing but hath left something to his discretion and piety and particularly in this the reading of the Old Testament and if you distinguish ne dum of the Apocrypha So much for the fourth head of the Exceptions namely that respecting the Apocrypha SECT V. Of Popery and the Mass-book To the fifth viz. That the things mentioned do savour of Rome that they are Popish superstitious and taken out of the Mass-book Answ If we should here reply That both the matter and form the substance and ceremonies of the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Church of England is much more antient than Popery in the main of it Yet there are those that have a starting-hole for this and a note beyond Ela Reas necess Reform p. 63. Instance viz. That albeit some of the Rites and Ceremonies now in use may be mentioned in sundry of the Fathers within the first six hundred years after Christ yet such mentioning of them is no evidence that they are not Popish forasmuch as Popery was in the egg and the mystery of iniquity began to work though under other disguises and under other names even in the time of St. Paul himself 2 Thess 2.7 Answ 1 Tim. 4.1 But if Popery be
to the judgment of these Brethren that the Q. and these Parl. then were in matter of the greatest moment the establishing of the Doctrine and Worship Articles and Liturgy of Almighty God and means of the salvation of men either so ignorant that they understood not what was requisite to the full establishment of their own Acts or so negligent that they minded it not as they should And seeing all the Kings and Parliaments since have swallowed their error As also all the Judges of the Land who do not only sit in Parliam to give advice but also have judged in their several Circuits the violations of those Books And because the present and future Parliaments may be subject to the like miscarriages may it be prevented in a better way then by the Parliam restoring to the Clergy the liberty of being elected Burgesses lost as I take it but in Henry the 8 th his time and so the Brethren may obtain places in the House of Commons and the Parliament enjoy the benefit of their guidance 2. To their instances particular in their printed sheet of alterations in the first printed book of Queen Elizabeth from that of Edward 6. viz. certain Saints days in the Kalender 1 Saints days but in black letters instead of others that were named in that of Edw. 6. Secondly certain Lessons of the Apocrypha appointed to be read instead of some out of the Canonical Scripture which were before appointed in the book of Edw. 6. For answer to both these first in general we have heard above to which I refer the reader Next in particular to that of the Saints days it doth not seem to hazzard the bringing in of new Holy-days both because as the brethren acknowledge they are set down in black letters those to be kept Holy-days in red but especially because the number of Holy-days is stinted they are set down by name in the Liturgy and a prohibition of any other to be kept so that as long as the book remains as now it is there can be no peril of that It may be the change of names was because the days now put in might be days of payment of mony or days of Law or perhaps unworthy persons names put out and better put in their room as Mr. Fox did in that Kalender of his Martyrology But this whatsoever it be makes no alteration in the Service or in the reading Yea but the alteration of the Chapters does 2. Apocryphal chapters To that therefore I say that this alteration was done either casu and by chance or consilio and of purpose And then either by privat hands or by publick authority by the Queen or Commissioners from her according to the clause in this Act authorising her for explanations In all which respects I refer unto the general answer afore-going But more particularly They might be altered upon some such suggestions as was made afterward by the Brethrens Ancestors modestly at the Conference of Hampton-Court of which afterwards To the Second 2. Book of Common-prayer aâ— it now stands established The book of Common-prayer as it now stands as established which the Brethren oppose as differing from that of Queen Elizabeth in alterations detractions and additions For answer first in general We must reflect on what hath been said above viz. That such alterations as have been made by Royal authority by commission under the great Seal being made but for explanations fake and containing nothing contrary to any thing in the book contained doth not derogate from the authority and establishment of the book but such alterations are confirmed such power being yielded to the Kings of this Nation by the Laws K. James Proclamation for uniformity of Com. prayer And for that purpose gave forth Our Commission undes Our Great Seal of England to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and others according to the form which the LAWS of this Realm in like case prescribed to be used to make the said EXPLANATION c. saith the King upon occasion of the alterations made at the Instance of the Brethrens predecessors at the Conference at Hampton-Court But to come unto particulars first to the Alterations 1. Alterations in the Liturgy That of Holy-days hath beâ—n replyed unto as also that of Apocryphal Chapters To which I add R. Hook eccles pol. l. 5. § 20. That it cannot be reasonably thought that we do thereby offer disgrace unto the word of God For in such choice we do not think but that fitness of speech may be more respected than worthiness of matter But this alteration whatsoever it were was made as by the authority of the King By whose means the Apocryphal chapters were altered so it seems by the occasion of Dr. Reynolds anotations For the King said That Dr. Reynolds should note those chapters in the Apocrypha books where those offensive places were and bring them But why do the Brethren appear now so zealous for the reading of the Scripture Conf. Hamp Court p. 63. Matth. 15. which they had almost laid aside in the publick worship for their own traditions i. e. for what they thought better to deliver unto the people 3. As for the alterations made for explanations sake K. James explanation of the present Liturgy by the King at the suit of the Non-conformists at that Conference now made violations of the Statute and essential alterations of the book they were not in any part of the substance of the book it self not in any prayer Not any alteration in the matter of the Liturgy or Exhortation and so in no one point either of Doctrine or Worship let the Reader note against the calumnies insinuated by these Brethren but onely in some two or three words in the old Translation of the Gospels And in a few Rubricks Hook eccles pol. l. 5. § 19. which are directions for the service The words altered in the Gospels wherein the steps of the Latine-service-book have been somewhat too nearly followed they are these 1. ' And Jesus said to them Conf. Hamp Court p. 86. to be put twice into the Dominical Gospels instead of Jesus said to his Disciples Though at the Conference it was answered That for ought that could appear by the places Ibid. pag. 63. he might speak as well to his Disciples as to the Pharisees The alterations in the Rubricks are Ibid. pag. 86. 1. Before the general Absolution is put or Remission of sins which before was onely Absolution 2. In private Baptism the lawful Minister present before it was then they minister it 3. In the same Rubrick they procure not their children to be baptised before it was they baptize not children 4. In that before Confirmation Examination with Confirmation of children it was appointed but I do not find it was done So that as the alterations of the words of the old Translation were but two so these in the Rubricks are but three And none of
Scripture This refers especially to the seventh Article touching Predestination c. whose words in the latter part they are Lastly Ministers are not prohibited absolutely from searching but from that which is curious Answ 5 and beyond sobriety This for the doubtfulness of the Articles The second exception is their erroneousness 2. Error for on this the Brethren insist though under the other covered head of doubtfulness First because it is said Not every deadly sin committed willingly after Baptism Artic. 16. is a sin against the holy Ghost they infer that the Church holds the distinction of venial and deadly sin which is Popish What if the Article speak in the then received language and according to such distinction not owning of it therefore in the sense held by the adversary but using it for the purpose they had in hand viz. that though all sins be deadly of themselves yet seeing some are greater than other grant the worst which they call deadly sin as we usually express a great evil by that word that it is a deadly one as a deadly grief a deadly mischief yet is not every such a sin against the holy Ghost especially when the Church hath in other places so plainly declared her self to the people as in the Homilies Catechism and Common-prayer-book in the last whereof it prescribeth confession of sins to be made twice every day by all the Congregation Now it is not to be thought that every one is guilty of deadly sin every day in the sense expressed so that the people are in no great danger by that expression And the Articles declaring Artic. 11. Artic. 22. that we are accounted righteous before God onely for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And that there is none other satisfaction for sin but that offering of Christ alone and damning of all Purgatory Pardons worshipping of Images and Reliques and invocation of Saints do declare they count no sin in it self venial but by the blood of Christ Again Artic. 20. where because 't is said The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and authority in controversies of faith Because the Kings declaration and the Act before that say That the Articles must be taken in the literal and grammatical sense they infer ' That if a Convocation declare any thing in the premises they must assent and subscribe in the literal sense or be deprived But I it is not forbidden either by that Act or the Kings Declaration to enquire the literal sense and so to examine them nor 2 are they required by that declaration to subscribe to what a Synod shall conclude in the literal and grammatical sense of such conclusions or Canons but onely to the literal and grammatical sense of the Articles This therefore is a captious inference upon the Declaration and the Act. And so much more are their exceptions against the 34 Article That whosoever through his own private judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant unto the Word of God and be ordained by common authority c. But are there not three or four Cautions in it that should defend it from all calumny 1. That these Traditions and Rites must not be repugnant to the Word of God 2. That they be established by common Authority 3. That a man do transgress of his own private judgment And 4. willingly purposely Yea and 5. openly This exception taketh away the obedience to all Church-Laws yea to all Civill Laws they may as well except against subscribing if any such Act were to the sense of this Article applyed to the Laws of the Kingdom As suppose they should be enjoyned to subscribe That whosoever shall through his private judgment willingly and purposely openly break the Laws of the Land which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained by common Authority and to take these words of the Act in the literal and grammatical sense without putting their own private or new sense upon it c. Would not such persons be thought unworthy to have any place in any Common-wealth that should refuse And why then in the Church surely they must be both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without yoke and without use and that per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is pernitious unto all Societies and men of Belial 3. Artic. 35. Their third exception is against Artic. 35. wherein is required the subscribing to the Book of Homilies as a godly and wholesome doctrine and necessary for these times Against this they object that there are false doctrines or assertions in them First in general subscription to the Homilies is intended by the Church The Homilies how to be understood in Subscription not in so punctual and verbal a degree as is required unto the Articles as appears because the Articles are to be distinctly and severally read and the expressions in them every one assented to the Homilies not so but onely as they agree with the Articles which are the superior rule unto them Not therefore to every expression or sentence no nor doctrine nor assertion if any were contrary to the definitive doctrine of the Articles All men know that there is a greater latitude of expression allowed to popular Sermons as the Homilies are than to Articles And the Brethren would have their Sermons to contain necessary and wholesome doctrine yet perhaps will not be so hardy as to affirm that they may not have uttered some sentences not so true or congruous if exactly scanned or that nullnm unquam verbum emisit eorum quisque quod revocare vellet as he said above And lest there should any inconvenience arise to the people though now the danger is little the Homilies being so much if not too much laid aside the Common-prayer and reading of the Scripture publickly together with preaching according to the Articles are provided as a remedy Yea which is more if one Homily speak less warily in any material point it is corrected in another as in the Homily of Alms-deeds seeming in one passage or so to ascribe some kind of merit unto them though it doth not taking the word properly yet it explaineth it before-hand in another namely in the Homily of Salvation or Justification wherein that doctrine is excellently set forth as also in the Homily of Faith So when in the Homily of Alms Tobith is cited as Scripture not onely the Article doth regulate that expression but every ones Bible also Instructions to Preachers Artic. 1. Ann. 1622. Besides every exhortatory expression must not be called a doctrine or an assertion but that which as a point is purposely insisted on to be maintained of which sort I believe verily the Brethren will never be able to instance in any one out of the Homilies And indeed had they observed the instructions of King James above mentioned viz. That no preacher
men The Br. object Tyranny to Q. Eliz. and the Parl. which is not to be imagined To this first in general If this Reason be admitted it doth not only overthrow all constitutions that concern Religion whether made by Church or State whensoever any turbulent spirit shall fancy them not to be according to the Word And to all States and Churches But it condemns also all the Reformed Churches yea all the Churches and Christian States that are or ever have been I think in the world And particularly majorem in modum and in a special manner the Church of Geneva Ch. of Geneva requires conformity by Oath Revel 13.11 and Calvins Discipline where they are obliged thereunto by oath But to the dilemma in particular neither of the two Horns of this Lamb that speaks like a Dragon have any strength Have they forgotten or never learned that boyes are taught in the very rudiments of Logick and reasoning Kek. Log l. 3. c. 12. can 7. Quod per bonam consequentiam ex testimonio aliquo divino elicitur id EANDEM cum eo vim habet That what by good consequence is drawn from Scripture hath the same force that Scripture hath Did not our Saviour and all the Apostles prove their Doctrine so unto those that received nothing from them but what they proved Do not the Brethren think their Sermons and this their Book ought to be obeyed absolutely and in all the points they have excepted And indeed a good consequence is nothing but a natural effect Consequences And an effect is of the same nature with its cause yea as one saith nothing else but the cause in act or at least the cause is in the effect R. Hook l. 5. so is Scripture in the true consequénces of it And yet subscription to such conclusions do not argue the Authors to be infallible but only to be eyes unto the weaker-sighted to see the light by Tert. Advers Haeret. Omnia quidem dicta Domini omnibus posita sunt quae per aures judaeorum ad nos pervenerunt Gods Word is propounded unto all but it comes to us by the ears and so by the eyes of others And because men are called to subscribe and not children who should have their eyes their subscription only acknowledgeth that the Church and State have taken a true sample from the original leaving this still as the standard as prior tempore ordine naturâ dignitate Such are all the true determinations of Judges in reference to the Law as Deut. 17. They shall expound the Law to thee And the disobedient there was punished with death for contempt of the sentence of the Church and State and yet their determinations were not of equal authority but of equal force with the Law it self So here Secondly To the other horn of this Lamb or dilemma That else the statute did intend to tyrannize over the conscience which they say is not to be imagined Oportuit esse memorem Answ Did not the Brethren in the very lines immediately going before acknowledge yea urge it as an argument out of Sir Edw. Coke who saith He heard Wray Chief Justice of the K. Bench Pasch 23 Eliz. quoting Dier 23 Eliz. 377. lib. 6. fol. 69. Greens case Smiths case report that where one Smith subscribed to the 39 Articles of Religion with this addition so far forth as the same were agreeable to the Word of God that it was resolved by him and all the Judges of England that this subscription was not according to the Statute of Eliz 13. Because the Statute required an absolute subscription and this subscription made it conditional And that this Act was made for avoiding diversity of opinions c. And by this additâ—on the party might by his own private opinion take some of them to be against the Word of God and by this means diversity of opinions should not be avoided which was the scope of the Statute and the very Act it self made touching subscription hereby by of none effect Thus far their own quotation So then it is evident by the words themselves quoted just before and by the sentence of all the Judges of England that the Statute requireth absolute subscription which if it do they say it did intend to tyrannize over the consciences of men So then Q. Eliz. and that Parl. with all the Kings and Parliaments since that have confirmed that Act were Tyrants It concerns the present Parl. to vindicate their predecessors in this point also To what they add concerning mens subscribing when they are young Subscription of young men and before their judgments be mature It is answered first Those admitted to the Ministry though they may be as Timothy was but young in age yet they are not to be Novices in knowledge And Subscription is a good bond upon them Use of subscription both for the peoples good and their own to preserve them from novelties and apostacy But so that no man is engaged against the Word of God I hope then they will not urge the obligation of the Covenant upon those who have not had time or solidity throughly to ponder and weigh all the Articles thereof in the ballance of the Sanctuary and in the scale of the Law as they phrase it To the last of this head The liberty given to tender consciences Liberty to tender consciences is to be in things of lesser not of fundamentall consequence and in the Articles of the Faith for then how should the Magistrate be custos utriusque tabulae How should the Prince perform his trust of the souls as well as the bodies estates and names of his people How should there be one God one Faith one Baptisme in a particular Church and we all with one mouth glorifie God This is also against the practice of all Churches we have no such custome 1 Cor. 11. nor the Churches of God Thus much in reply to their three general first object against the Articles 1. Their doubtfulnesse 2. Their erroniousness and 3. The exacting of subscription to them I come now to the fourth viz. Their defectiveness and imperfection Defectiveness of the Artic. Where the first Exception is that Art 6. it is said that In the name of the holy Scripture we understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority there was never any doubt in the Church The Brethren oppose that some Books and passages of the New Testament have been doubted of as the Epistle of James the second Epistle of Peter The Article they say is defective in not enumerating all the Books of the New Testament as it had done those of the Old and of the Apocrypha comprehending them only under this expression All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly received These words of the Article being the former contains no matter of doctrine namely those of which there was never any doubt in the
follows that no Minister can be made but hee must have the Authority of the Holy Ghost Secondly It is necessary also that hee receive the Holy Ghost it self in the gifts and abilities of it for the discharge of this calling For no man can say that is effectually teach that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. And every spirit that confesseth that is soundly preacheth that Jesus is the Christ is of God 1 John 4.1 2. John 16. For it is the Holy Ghost onely that leadeth into all Truth concerning Christ Thirdly The conveyance of the Holy Ghost in all publick Ordinances is by some Ministerial hand as in Baptism and the Lords Supper wherein at least unto the faithful the Holy Ghost is conveyed So as in respect of the thing it self the Holy Ghost is necessary to bee conveyed to every Minister that is to bee ordained Sense of the words 2. Next for the meaning of the phrase First wee must observe That the word Holy Ghost here may be either taken for his person and gifts or for his Authority or both by a Metonymy It is taken for his gifts where it is said John 7. that the Holy Ghost was not yet because Christ was not yet glorified It is taken for his Authority when the Apostle saith that the Holy Ghost had made the Ministers of Ephesus the overseers of the flock Act. 20. Secondly wee may expound the words by way of declaration and solemn pronouncing as well as imparative or communicative bidding And the other words may bee so expounded also according as in absolution it is in one place in the Common prayer-Prayer-Book pronounced authoritatively yet it is expounded to bee onely a declaring and pronouncing Now to apply the former The word Holy Ghost here seems to bee taken for the Authority especially of the Holy Ghost to the exercise of the Ministerial function As if it were said Take thou the Authority of the Holy Ghost which hee hath appointed his Church to communicate and dispense to persons worthy for the Ministry of the Word in binding and loosing and of the Sacraments 3. To their exceptions First To the exception general it self that this form hath no warrant No warrant It is answered Answ That in other things they urge the Letter of the Scripture And surely where there is no incongruity in the thing nor impediment from some other cause from using the very words of Institution there cannot bee desired a better warrant Now that there is no such incongruity nor impediment shall bee shewn in answering unto the Reasons of the former exception whereof the first is that Proof none but God himself hath power to give the Holy Ghost But it hindreth not but that what none but a superiour Authority can have power to give originally may yet bee given ministerially Answ and by delegation from that superiour power Neither Moses had power to consecrate Aaron nor Samuel to confer the Kingdome unto David nor the Apostles themselves to give the Holy Ghost but by delegation and commission Which power if as to that right of the conferring the power and authority of the Holy Ghost to the ordaining of a Minister the Church ministerially hath not for without that power it cannot bee done then must every Minister receive his authority and outward call immediately from Heaven Neither is repugnant hereunto Lib. 1. dist 14. cap. 1. Hic quaeritur Aug. de Trin. l. 15. c. 26. either that of the Master of the sentences nor of Austin himself whence hee hath it viz. Neque enim aliquis discipulorum ejus dedit spiritum sanctum Orabant quippe ut veniret in eos quibus manum imponebant non eum ipsi dabant Quem morem in suis propositis etiam nunc servat Ecclesia Object For neither saith hee any of the Disc ples gave the Holy Ghost but they prayed that hee might come on those upon whom they laid their hands but gave him not themselves which custome the Church even now retaineth in her Bishops For our Church doth pray in laying on of hands and with and under the words Answ 1 of Institution asketh also before and after What form of words the Apostles used in laying on of hands and conferring the Holy Ghost is not expressed but unlikely it is that they used none Now those they used whether they were those used by our Saviour or others in form of praying cannot be determined nor therefore their example urged in that which our Church pretendeth not unto But the former will bee more evident in other ministrations also In Absolution the form is in the Liturgy in the visitation of the sick Imperative and authoritative as I may so speak and in a good sense so it is by his authority committed unto mee I absolve thee from all thy sin c. yet in the general absolution after the general confession at morning-prayer by which the former must bee expounded it is expressed to bee but declaratory by way of solemn and authoritative pronouncing and with the concurrence of prayer for efficacy of such declaration Almighty God who hast given power and commandment to declare and pronounce to his people being penitent the absolution and remission of their sins c. In Baptism the Holy Ghost and remission of sins is given and that by the ministration and the words spoken by the Minister So also in the Lords Supper the body and blood of Christ sacramentally is conferred by the words and action of the Minister none of which is in the power of any to bestow but God onely Shall wee therefore except against the fruits of those Ordinances or against the Minister for pronouncing such words and doing such actions Again as in the Absolution there goeth with the Pronounciation prayer also and so likewise in Baptism and the Lords Supper what hindereth but that the words may be taken under a precatory sense also and as including prayer which more expresly goeth both before and after The words therefore take thou the Holy Ghost do not argue an original or an inherent power but Ministerial onely and so as not excluding a precatory vertue also This to the first Reason The second is because they were the words of Christ himself to his Apostles what Proof 2 then were all Christs words to his Apostles peculiar to them Answ It was to his Apostles that hee gave the command of baptizing and teaching and of giving his last Supper Have none therefore power since to administer these Ordinances Again if no Minister can be made but by the Holy Ghost and his Authority and this Authority were proper onely to the Apostles because the words were spoken to them then is the Church deprived of the Holy Ghost ever since the Apostles nor hath power to ordain a Ministry The third reason is taken from the parallel of other administrations Proof wherein the words of institution in