shall abuse it upon the Supream Majesty himself 18. If the King subjecting himself to spiritual Guides and Governours shall afterwards refuse to be guided and governed by them according to the Word of God and living in notorious sin without Repentance shall wilfully contemn and despise all their holy and religious Censures that then these Governours are to refuse to administer the holy things of God unto him and to leave him to himself and to the secret Judgement of God wholly to resign and give over that spiritual charge and tuition over him which by calling from God and the King they did undertake And more then this they may not do And after all this We hold that he yet still retaineth and ought to retain intirely and solidly all that aforesaid supream power and Authority over the Churches of this Dominion in as ample a manner as if he were the most Christian Prince in the World 19. We acknowledge King JAMES to be our onely lawful Sovereign and unto him to be due all the aforesaid Supremacy and we renounce and abjure all Opinions Doctrines Practises whatsoever repugnant or contrary to the same as Anabaptistical and Antichristian and wish they may be severely punished 20. We never refused Obedience to any Lawes or Commandements of the King or State whatsoever but onely to such as we have proved or are ready to prove if we might be heard with indifferency to be contrary to the Word of God And we are ready to take our Solemn Oathes before the Throne of Justice that the onely cause of our refusal of Obedience to those Canons of the Prelates for which we are at present so extreamly afflicted is meere Conscience and a fear to sin against God And that if by due form of reasoning we may be convinced in our Consciences of the contrary we are as willing as any Subjects in the Realm to Obey and Conform 21. We refuse Obedience onely to such Canons as require the performance of such Acts and Rites of Religion as are rejected and abandoned of all other Reformed Churches as Superstitious Disorders Such as are special Mysteries of the Romish Antichristian Idolatry Such as have been controverted in the Church ever since the last breaking forth of the Light of the Gospel out of the cloud of Popery in Luthers time Such as all Protestant Writers and Defenders of our Faith beyond the Seas and most of our own Country men have either in general or particular condemned as vain idle and unprofitable Such as all the Faithful and Painful Pastors of this Realm and in a manner all States and degrees of the same would be content were removed and swept out of the Church and for which few or none are zealous but the Prelates and their Adherents 22. We deny no Authority to the King in matters Ecclesiastical but onely that which Christ Jesus the onely Head of the Church hath directly and precisely appropriated unto himself and hath denyed to communicate to any other creature or creatures in the World For we hold That Christ alone is the Doctor of the Church in matters of Religon and that the Word of Christ which he hath given unto his Church is of absolute perfection containing in it all parts of the true Religion both for Substance and Ceremony and a perfect direction in all Ecclesiastical matters whatsoever Unto and from which it is not lawful for any Man or Angel to add or detract 23. We are so far from making claim of any supremacy unto our selves and those Ecclesiastical Officers which we desire that we exclude from our selves and them as that of which we are utterly uncapable all Princely and Lordly state pompe and power whatsoever holding it a sin for any whosoever to exercise no not by commission from the Magistrate any Authority over the Body Goods Lives Liberty of any Man whosoever for any crime or offence whatsoever So that any one of the basest and most inferiour civil officers in a Kingdom hath and ought to have in our Judgement more Authority and Power over men then any or all the Ecclesiastical Officers in the same Kingdom or in the whole World Yea we hold that the highest Ecclesiastical Officer in the Church ought to be as subject unto the basest civil officers in the Kingdom as the meanest Subject in the Kingdom And that they ought not by virtue of their office to challenge any freedom or immunity at all from any Civil Subjection whatsoever belonging to any common Subject 24. We confine and bound all Ecclesiastical power within the limits onely of one particular Congregation holding that the greatest Ecclesiastical power ought not to stretch beyond the same And that it is an arrogating of Princely Supremacy for any Ecclesiastical person or Persons whosoever to take upon themselves Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over many Churches much more over whole Kingdomes and Provinces of Christians 25. We hold it utterly unlawful for any one Minister to take upon himself or accept of a sole Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over so much as one Congregation And therefore we hold that some of the sufficientest and most honest and godly men in the Congregation ought to be chosen by the Heads of Families to be adjoyned in Commission as assistants to the Minister in the spiritual Regiment of the souls of that Congregation of which he is the pastor 26. We hold that these Ecclesiastical Officers being so chosen by the Church or Congregation are to exercise over the said Congregation only a Spiritual Iurisdiction and power consisting in a carefull oversight of the outward behaviour of the Members of their Church That it be not scandalous offensive and unbeseeming Christians And if any Member shall be delinquent they are brotherly to admonish him shewing him the nature of his crime by the word of God And if after two or three admonitions he shew no tokens of sorrow and penitencie then are they to deny unto him the pledges and seales of the Church to wit the Sacraments If this cannot humble him but that he continue obstinate in that sin then they are by the mouth of the Minister in Congregation the whole Church consenting freely thereto denounce him to be no Member of the Kingdom of Heaven and so forbear to have any further charge over him untill God shall work the grace of Repentance in him in this manner they are to proceed against all apparent and Evident crimes only as Murder Adultery Theft Blasphemie Ribaldery Lying Slandering Profanation of the Sabothes contempt of Divine Worship Disobedience to the Civil Magistrate c. Neither ought the extreamest of the Ecclesiastical Censures any whit hinder the course of justice that the Civil Magistrate is to exercise against the same crimes for if a Traytor himself should be penitent the Church ought to forgive him and lovingly to imbrace him as a Son but the Magistrate ought to execute him if he should be obstinate in that crime As the Magistrate ought to cut him off
of sorrow for him they are to denounce him to be as yeâ— no member of the Kingdom of Heaven and of that Congregation and so are to leave him to God and the King And this is all the Ecclesiastical Authority and Jurisdiction that any spiritual Officers of the Church are to use against any man for the greatest crime that can be committed 10. They hold that the Officers of the Church are not to proceed unto the extreamest Censure against any man without the free consent of the whole Congregation it self 11. They hold that the Minister or any other particular Officer offending is as subject to these Censures as any other of the Congregation 12. They hold that if any Member of the Congregation having committed a scandalous sin shall of himself forsake the Worship of God and the Spiritual Communion with the Church that then the Ecclesiastical Officers have no authority or jurisdiction over him but only the Civil Magistrate and those unto whom he oweth Civil subjection as Parents Masters Landlords c. CHAP. VI. Concerning the Civil Magistrate 1. THey hold that the Civil Magistrate as he is a Civil Magistrate hath and ought to have Supream power over all the Churches within his Dominions in all causes whatsoever and yet they hold that as he is a Christian he is a Member of some one particular Congregation and ought to be as subject to the spiritual Regiment thereof prescribed by Christ in his Word as the meanest subject in the Kingdom and they hold that this Subjection is no more derogatory to his Supremacy than the Subjection of his body in sickness to Physitians can be said to be derogatory thereunto 2. They hold that those Civill Magistrates are the greatest Enemies to their own Supremacie that in whole or in part communicate the virtue and power thereof to any Ecclesiastical Officers And that there cannot be imagined by the wit of man a more direct means to check-mate the same than to make them Lords and Princes upon Earth to invest them with Civil Jurisdiction and Authority and to conform the state and limits of the Jurisdiction to the State of Kings and bounds of Kingdoms 3. They hold that there should be no Ecclesiastical Officer in the Church so high but that he ought to be subject unto and punishable by the meanest Civil Officer in a Kingdom City or Town not only for common crimes but even for the abuse of their Ecclesiastical Offices yea they hold that they ought to be more punishable than any other Subject whatsoever if they shall offend against either Civil or Ecclesiastical Laws 4. They hold that the Civil Magistrate is to punish with all severity the Ecclesiastical Officers of Churches if they shall intrude upon the rights and prerogatives of the Civil Authority and Magistracy and shall pass those bounds and limits that Christ hath prescribed unto them in his Word 5. They hold that the Pope is that Antichrist and therefore that Antichrist because being but an Ecclesiastical Officer he doth in the height of the pride of his heart make claim unto and usurp the Supremacy of the Kings and Civil Rulers of the Earth And they hold that all defenders of the Popish Faith all endeavours of reconcilement with that Church all plotters for tolleration of the Popish Religion all countenancers and maintainers of Seminary Priests and professed Catholicks and all deniers that the Pope is that Antichrist are secret enemies to the Kings Supremacy 6. They hold that all Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Officials c. have their Offices and Functions only by will and pleasure of the King and Civil States of this Realm and they hold that whosoever holdeth that the King may not without sin remove these Offices out of the Church and dispose of their Temporalities and maintenance according to his own pleasure or that these Offices are Jure Divino and not only or meerly Jure humano That all such deny a principal part of the Kings Supremacy 7. They hold that not one of these Opinions can be proved to be contrary to the Word of God and that if they might have leave that they are able to answer all that hath been written against any one of them FINIS TWELVE General Arguments Proving that the CEREMONIES Imposed upon the Ministers of the Gospel in England by our Prelates are unlawful And therefore That the Ministers of the Gospel for the bare and sole omission of them in Churh-Service for conscience sake are most unjustly charged of disloyalty to His MAJESTIE Mat. 18.23 If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evill but if I have spoken well why smitest thou me Printed in the Year 1660. To the Reader GOod Reader We come not as voluntaries into this field of Contention but dragg'd into it by the very hairs of our head If our cause be righteous and good Thou wilt easily grant in so great Imputations and Extremities inflicted upon us for the same that we can do no less than give reasons for our selves and it All the favour I require of thee is That thou wouldst look into our cause not by the flashing lighting 's that come out of the mouths of our Adversaries the Prelates but by the light of our own Reasons by which if thou shalt see the goodness of our cause and innocency of our persons than embrace it with us and in pity pray for us that without shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience we may endure patiently and meekly whatsoever God shall suffer to be inflicted upon us for the same in these wicked and licentious times THE FIRST ARGUMENT All Will-Worship is sin To use these Ceremonies in Church-Service in manner and form prescribed is a Will-Worship Ergo To use them is sin THE Proposition cannot be denied for the Apostle Paul plainly condemneth Will-Worship The Assumption may thus be proved All parts of Divine Service and Worship imposed only by the will and pleasure of Man upon the Ministers of Divine Service and that of necessity to be done is Will-Worship But to use these Ceremonies in manner and form prescribed is to use such Ceremonies as are 1. Parts of Divine Service and Worship 2. Imposed only by the pleasure and will of Men upon the Ministers of Divine Service 3. Of necessity to be done therein Ergo To use these Ceremonies in manner and form prescribed is a Will-Worship The Proposition is as clear as the Sun at noon-day The Assumption hath three parts 1. That they are parts of Divine Worship and Service This is proved evidently by this Argument All Mystical and Ecclesiastical Rites and formes of Divine Service instituted by Ecclesiastical authority to be Ministerial actions in the solemn Worship of God and performed in that manner and having that use in Divine Service that if God should but ratifie and confirm the same use they should then be parts of his true Worship I say all such Ceremonies are used as parts of Divine Worship But these Ceremonies
7.16 and those Ceremonies accounted Rudiments of the World Gal. 4.3 So that after faith that is the Gospel came that Law and the Ceremonies thereof gave place as being less perfect a childish Paedagogy and beggarly Rudiments 1 Cor. 13.10 11. Gal. 3.25 and 4.2 3 9. In respect of the more perfect Word of Christ Col. 3.16 2 Cor. 3.13.17 18. Who is that Messias who when he came did tell us all things concerning the outward worship of God Joh. 4.19 20 25 26. But Christ never told us the Ceremonies in question Therefore if the Negative Doctrine against Jewish Ceremonies instituted by God to the purposes aforesaid be part of the Gospell or Word of Christ much more is the Negative Doctrine against Ceremonies instituted by man to the same purposes without warrant of the word part of the Gospel Col. 2.20 22 23. Galat. 1.6 7 8 10. And the rather because the Word saith That they who burthen the Church with Ordinances of the world which are Traditions after the Commandemens and Doctrines of men do not hold Christ the heâ—d Col. 2.19 20 22. and 3.1 and opposing such Traditions to the Commandements of God and Faith of Jesus maketh them part of the Beasts Mark Revel 14.9 12. Hereunto accordeth that which is affirmed in the BOOK of Common-Prayer in the Preface of Ceremonies viz. Christ his Gospell is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses was but it is a Religion to serve God not in bondage of the Figure or shadow but in the freedome of spirit 4. Ministers refusing Conformity are Schismaticks This word Schisme according to the now received use thereof in the Church signifieth A voluntary rending of the Church only for matters of the outward Government therof So that Schismaticks are by Dr. Bancroft in his Notes before his Sermon at Pauls Cross an 1588. defined as out of Augustine to be such as retaining with us the true Faith seperate themselves from Orders and Ceremonies In which sence though Brownists so called may be deemed Schismaticks yet cannot Ministers refusing only to conforme be so accompted Because their Deprivation or Suspension notwithstansting they do not seperate themselves from the Church neither do they indeed forsake the Ministry of the Gospel which they desire before all worldly benefits whatsoever to execute with a good Conscience but are thrust from it and therefore If men driven by Excommunication out of the Church be not Schismatiques much lesse Ministers driven by deprivation or suspension only from the Execution of their Ministry This word Schisme is sometimes taken for any dissention in the Church whereby the Peace but not the Unity thereof is broken 1 Cor. 11.18 In which sense they are to be called Schismaticks who are specially to be blamed for such Dissention But if all the Prelates cannot give one Argument soundly concluded from the word to prove That the Ceremonies in question may be prescribed by authority and yielded unto by the Ministry without sin then are they Schismaticks according to the judgment of the Apostle who beseecheth the Brethren To mark them diligently who cause Division and Offences besides the Doctrine which they have learned and to avoid them For they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies and with fair speech and flattering deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.17 18. By which Answer Protestants do sufficiently justifie their Separation from the Papists Much more may Ministers justifie their refusing to Conforme yet without Separation But when any such Argument shall be given which hath not yet been heard of then are Ministers refusing Conformity to be deemed Schismaticks In mean while this Position is to be taken for Petitio Principii FINIS A Treatise of Divine Worship Tending to prove that the Ceremonies imposed upon the Ministers of the Gospel in England in present Controversie are in their use unlawful CHAP. I. Of Divine Worship in general DIvine Worship is any action or service that is immediatly and directly performed unto God himself whether the true God or a false whether commanded by Divine Authority imposed by humane or assumed upon our own heads and pleasures For in this latitude of sense is Divine Worship to be conceived that it may comprehend under it both true and false Worship 2. Though all Actions and Services that Man performeth unto Man are not parts of Civil Worship yet every Action and Service that Man performeth directly to God is a part of Divine Worship and ought meerly to concern his own glory It being impossible to imagine how the Creature should perform any service or do any action to the Creator himself but Worship For the ground of Worship is the sence of some excellent eminency of goodness in the Party worshipped and defect and inability to do an answerable good to a good received in the party worshipping for we need not to worship God if we could be as good to him as he is to us and therefore except we should mock him because receiving all good from him we are not able to do the least good unto him all that we can do is to worship him that is to glorifie him above all things and debase our selves before him as nothing in his presence 3. All special things therefore done in the Service and Worship of God is Worship and a part of that honour that is done unto him And whatsoever special thing done in Divine Service is not a special honour and worship unto God must needs be a dishonour and abuse of his Majesty who requireth nothing but worship at our hands and unto whom we cannot possibly do any other good 4. If therefore a man shall do any special Action in the Service of God of which there is no use out of the same and that Action so done bring no special honour to God the doing of it is a prophanation of the Name of God For all special Actions done in the Service of God must either bring special honour to God or else they must needs dishonour him 5. Divine Worship is Internal only or External also Internal worship is meerly spiritual and performed only within the temple of mans heart of which none are witnesses but God and a mans own conscience All the inward motions of the heart directed unto God are parts of this VVorship as Faith Hope Confidence Love Fear and Joy in God c. which are all of them divers acts and parts of Inward worship in every one of which God is honoured All which spring from the apprehension of our own wants and Gods infinite excellency and goodness towards us We need not proceed any further in handling of this Worship it nothing appertaineth to our present purpose 6. External Worship is an expressing and setting forth of the Internal by outward signs and rites By which as by certain outward bodily shadows and colours the spiritual and Inward Worship of God is made visible and sensible to others CHAP. II. Of Ceremonies in
Worship due unto him Of which nature all natural Ceremonies seem to be and any instituted Ceremony may be if it have no reference to Religion in the Use 6. Though matters of Civill Order and Decency be very improperly called Ceremonies they being rather matters of substance and it being impiety wilfully and without necessity to neglect them in the Congregation of Saints or to do any thing contrary unto them Yet all things tending thereto may for Doctrine sake be referred to this head For though Gods worship do not consist in them yet Gods worship is prophaned in the wilfull contempt and neglect of them Yea as far forth as naturall and civill decency and comlinesse are outward shadowes of inward worship They may be safely reputed parts of divine worship 7. Matters therefore of Order and decency in the service of God are all such matters as are drawn from the ordinary civil Customes of men and which for any to neglect wilfully would seem to the reason of a naturall man a disorderly and unseemly thing As to come to the Assembly clothed and that in seemly and usuall apparell according to our civill Callings in the world to sit there quietly and in a comely manner in respect of composition of body to give as much as may be upper place to our civill Superiours that the place of meeting be fair swept that the Table of the Lord in the time of Communion be spread after the civil fashion of the Country with a fair table-cloth that men pray bare-headed c. These Orders used in civill Meetings of men wherein civill decency is observed and kept ought not to be neglected in religious Meetings and therefore they may be called common Ceremonies or Orders 8. These Ceremonies of civil Order and decency are of that nature and necessity that for the Magistrate wilfully to inhibite were sin in him and for any particular man not to use and observe as much as conveniently he can though Authority had never enjoyned them in particular were impiety And therefore they are of a far different nature from the Ceremonies in controversie For let it be supposed to be no sin to use these when the Magistrate enjoyneth them yea suppose them to be holy Ornaments and Rites yet if no Authority humane or divine had instituted them it had been no sin for any man to neglect them nay it were a foul sin to use them For example Our Lords spiritual enjoyn every Minister in Divine Service to wear a white linen Ephod or Surplice they may if it please them as lawfully enjoyn him to have painted before and behinde two fair red crosses but if a private man upon his own head should use his Surplice so though it be an honourable signe that he addeth it would be made a grievous crime 9. They therefore do but gull the simple of the world that from humane authority to institute such civil Orders as are above specified do inferre that man hath authority to bring into the service and worship of God such Ceremonies as are clean of another nature As though because the Magistrate may ordain such Ceremonies as without his ordinance were impiety for a man not to observe therefore he may ordain such Ceremonies which without his ordinance at least were impietie and wickedness for any to use CHAP. V. Of Ceremonies peculiar to Religion THose Ceremonies that are proper to Religion are such as in a peculiar manner are tied to religious persons actions and purposes only especially such as are in a special manner tied to the solemn worship of God In these Ceremonies consists the external form of divine worship and they are the outward badges and cognizances of the same 2. All Ceremonies used in the service of God are either civil Ceremonies to wit such as are also of the same use out of the service of God or holy Ceremonies to wit such wherein holiness consists in the due use of them or else they are prophane that is such as have no use or a superstitious use The Ceremonies in controversie are not civil * For then the bare omission of them would argue rudeness and incâ—vâ—lity Ceremonies again it is granted there is no holinesse in the use of them †Some nigher his M. have given it out that he would if hâ— cou'd hang those that put holinesse in them Therefore they are prophane Ceremonies and by consequent not to be mingled with holy things 3. As there are diversities of Religion and Churches so there are diversities of Rites and Ceremonies by which they are distinguished and Ceremonies are the partition walls whereby foâ— the most part one Church is divided from another For he that shall with a more narrow eye seek into these things shall see that for the most part the diversities and varieties of Ceremonies are the begetters of diversity of Doctrines and Opinions whereby one Religion differeth from another 4. The more one Church differeth from another in Rites and Ceremonies the more it useth to differ in substance of Doctrine and the more one Church draweth nearer unto another in Ceremonies the more it draweth near unto it in substance of Doctrine The Churches of France and Scotland in substance of Doctrine do so much the more differ from the Synagogue of Rome by how much the farther they differ from her in Ceremonies than other Churches and some in the Church of England that do strive to come to Rome in Ceremonies come so much the nearer to her in Doctrine as might appear by divers instances if the matter were not too too apparent 5. He that hates the Religion it self hates all the shadowes and shews of the Religion and he that loves the shadows and Rites of a Religion he loves the Religion it self he loves a Pope well that loves the triple Crown he loves a Fryer well that dotes upon his Cowl and shaven crown and out of question he loves a Massepriest with all his heart that is mad upon his massing attire or any part thereof 6. As it is rudeness and want of civility to neglect or contemn a Civil Ceremony so it is prophanesse and irreligion to neglect or contemn a religious ceremony and as outward civility consists in the due use of civil Ceremonies so outward holiness and religion consists in the due use of all Religious Ceremonies Those Ceremonies therefore are prophane and not beseeming the true worship of God that are so far from any shew of holinesse in the use of them that they make the partie that refuseth the use of them to seem and to be reputed pure holy and precise of which nature our Ceremonies in controversie are 7. As Civil Ceremonies tend to the honor of them unto whom civil worship is due and is a part thereof So Religious Ceremonies tend to the honor of him unto whom religious worship is due and is a part thereof neither can a man possibly imagine how any thing should be religious whether a substance
damned for it 15. The more indifferent an action is in it self the more odious it ought to be unto us when we shall perceive it to hurt our brothers soul which ought to be a thousand times dearer unto us than his body or our own lives for he shews neither love nor mercy to his brother that had rather be the instrument of his everlasting damnation than omit the doing of a meer indifferent thing though he should incur therefore any bodily punishment whatsoever That Form therefore of Gods Service that consists in the use of such things indifferent as experience manifesteth are a scandal and by consequent a destruction to the souls of infinite numbers ought not to be used of any much less of those who are called by Christ to feed the souls of men and not to destroy them How scandalous these Ceremonies are to all how the omission of them cannot be scandalous to any but unto such as are worse scandalized already by embracing them requires a larger Treatise 16. No Magistrate that is a Christian will challenge authority to destroy the soul of any man and therefore he cannot upon his own meer will and pleasure without sin against God enjoyn any thing not required by God that evidently tendeth to the destruction of any mans soul and those subjects that being ready to perform any duty that God requireth unto the Magistrate shall refuse to do any such thing so required and shall patiently and meekly yield themselves to any punishment the Magistrate shall think good to lay upon them without resistance shall * A patient suffering when we cannot in conscience obey is the best obedience perform more true and loyal obedience unto his authority therein then any of those that shall yield obedience to any Laws of that kind enacted by never so good a Magistrate and in shew to never so good an end 17. No subject therefore can take any such authority from the hands of the Magistrate which may warrant him to do any thing that shall evidently destroy his brothers soul at any time much less in the Service and Worship of God wherein all things that are to be done ought to tend to the edification of his soul in a special manner 18. It is plain in the Word of God that the Kingdom of God that is the Service and Worship of God standeth not in meats and drinks nor any such external Rites having no authority from God When therefore without any commandment from God such external things shall be brought into the Service of God and made the very forms of the same such Rites must needs be false Worship and that form of Gods Service must needs be adulterate that is made to consist in such things For no authority can make that a part of Gods Kingdom that the word of God doth expresly deny to be a part thereof 19. Those Ceremonies therefore in present controversie being meerly by man brought into the Worship of God are by no means to be yielded unto for it is in effect to make the Kingdom of God to consist in meats and drinks or in such like things For if man hath authority to make the Kingdom of God consist in apparel c. he hath also authority if it please him to make it consist in eating and drinking and may make them a part of the Lyturgie as well as any of those things that are in controversie 20. Those peculiar Rites and Ceremonies which are in that manner and form used in the Service of God that if God himself did but ratifie and confirm that present use of them should then be parts of his true outward worship must needs as they are used without Gods Ordinance be parts of a false outward worship But our Surplices Crosses Kneeling at the Lords Supper c. are such that if God should but command to use them as we use them that is if he should require every Minister in Divine Service to wear a Surplice to note Joy Dignity or Sanctity or in Baptism to cross a child in sign c. Nâ—â— though he should express no use at all but barely enjoyn the things themselves to be used in his Service yet they should be parts of Gods true outward worship for whatsoever God tieth in a peculiar manner to his worship is a part thereof These Ceremonies therefore in controversie having such a use in the Service of God unto which they are peculiarly tied must needs be used as parts of Divine worship for else the bare ratifying of their present use could not make them true worship Being therefore as they are used parts of Divine Worship and not parts of true Divine Worship because not commanded of God they are parts of false Divine VVorship for that Divine VVorship that is not true VVorship is false VVorship FINIS A TREATISE OF THE NATURE USE OF Things Indifferent Tending to prove That the CEREMONIES in present Controversie amongst the Ministers of the Gospel in the Realm of England are neither in Nature or Use Indifferent Joh. 18.23 If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evill but if I have spoken well why smitest thou me Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you for my sake falsely Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you Printed in the Year 1660. The Printer to the Reader A Copy of this Treatise by the providence of God coming into my hand I thought it behooful for my Country-men that they should be made acquainted with it that by means thereof they might receive some light of the truth for which so many suffer The Author whosoever he is hath little cause to be offended with it The pains he hath taken in it doth perswade me that he cannot but desire the same in it self though danger and want of means might hinder him from publishing it But howsoever good Reader accept it as a Testimony of my Vows for the good of my Country the Weal whereof shall ever possess me though I cannot possess it Farewel A Treatise OF Things Indifferent CHAP. I. Of Things Indifferent in general A Thing Indifferent in the largest extent of sense is any Mean between two Extreams 2. Extreams properly are the uttermost bounds and limits of any thing being in direct opposition one unto the other 3. To be a Mean between two Extreams is so to be seated between them as that it stand equally affected to either enclining no more to the one than to the other 4. Hence the Latines call things indifferent Res mediae middle matters and that by reason of that analogy and proportion that is between them and those things that in Physical or Mathematical Dimensions possesse the middle place in any line figure or body For that is properly called the middle of any thing that in position being as near as can be to both
cause a Sacrament because it is a mystical Rite whereby the soul spiritually feedeth upon Christ i. e. is edified in Christ These being Mystical Rites also whereby the soul is edified which it cannot be but also by feeding upon Christ It must needs follow That these Ceremonies are Sacraments The Assumption is their own for when they are urged with this That all things must be done to edification They all hold with one consent That they do edifie The tenth Argument It is a sin against Christ the sole Head of the Church for any one of his Ministers especially in the administration of Divine things either by Word or Signs solemnly to profess and acknowledge a spiritual homage to an usurped spiritual authority in the Church But to use these controverted Ceremonies in manner and Form prescribed is even in the solemn Service of Christ by solemn Signs to acknowledge a spiritual homage to the spiritual authority of Lord Archbishops and Bishops which is usurped Ergo It is a sin to use these Ceremonies THE Proposition may not be gainsaid For all spiritual power usurped over the Churches of God is an Antichristian authority and to profess spiritual homage thereunto is to profess spritual homage unto Antichrist which must needs be a sin The Assumption hath two parts 1. That these Ceremonies are an acknowledging by solemn signs a spiritual Homage to the spiritual authority of Archbishops and Bishops Which is most evident for it having been proved before that they are meer Ecclesiastical Religious and spiritual Actions enjoyned by an Ecclesiastical and spiritual authority They must needs be Signs of spiritual homage to the same authority For either the doing of a Religious and spiritual Action in obedience to a spiritual authority is a Sign of spiritual homage or no Actions can be a Sign thereof As therefore a Serving man being a civil person upon the Bishops pleasure wearing a Tawny Coat and a Chain of Gold holding up his Train going bare-headed before him holding a Trencher at his Table lighting him to the house of Office dressing his meat rubbing his Horses c. doth by these Actions as it were by solemn Signs acknowledge Civil homage to him being a Civil Lord and Master So a Minister of the Gospel and a Pastor of a particular Congregation being by his Office a meer spiritual man being commanded by the Bishop as he is a spiritual Lord and Master over the Church of God to wear a Tipper a square Cap a Priests Gown and Cloak a Surplice to make Crosses upon childrens faces to put Rings on Brides fingers c. and all this in their Divine Service I say a Minister doth thereby give solemn Signs and Tokens of spiritual homage to their spiritual Lordships even as by preaching the Word and administration of Sacraments and Prayer he professeth by solemn Signs a spiritual homage to the spiritual authority of Christ If they shall peremptorily affirm That they are only Civil matters as some in high place have done to my self then this will follow of it Whereas the Bishops command now Ministers to wear a Surplice a Priests Cloak c. he may command them to wear Tawny Coats and livery Cloaks and in their courses to wait and at end upon him as serving Creatures For there is no more Civil Authority shewed in requiring the one than the other if the one as well as the other be Civil matters Neither will it help their cause that the Magistrate requireth these things to be done For the Magistrate commanding Ecclesiastical matters to be done his commandment doth no more make them Civil than his commanding the Sacraments and other parts of Divine Worship to be administred duly doth make them Civil matters For the ratification by Civil authority the Constitutions of Ecclesiastical authority doth no more make them Civil matters than the ratification and confirmation of Civil matters by Ecclesiastical authority doth make them Ecclesiastical or spiritual matters Though therefore there is none of us that stand our in these matters but have ever been content to yield unto their Lordships all Câ—vil honour such as is given to Barons Earls Dukes and Princes yet except they were Gods and Christs we have no reason to give spiritual homage unto them which is it that in very deed they require in these things And therefore hence it comes to pass That as they turn out of their Palaces those Servants that refuse their Liveries and to do their civil Services So as though they were Lords and Masters in the Church they turn the Ministers out of their Offices and shut them out of the Church if they refuse to wear their spiritual Liveries and to do them spiritual and religious Service But I come to the second part of the Assumption 2. That the authority of our Lord Archbishops and Bishops is an usurped authority This is sufficiently proved of late by Mai. Jacob in his I. Assertion by many reasons only because the weight of the Argument leaneth upon it I will use one Reason Those Officers and Rulers in the Church that make claim to be of Divine Institution challenge to themselves Apostolical authority and jurisdiction as the only Successors of the Apostles to sit only in Moses Chair To have sole power of the Keys To cut from the visible Church and receive again To have power of creating and displacing all other Ecclesiastical Officers To be the Universal Pastors of whole Dukedoms and Kingdoms under whom all other Pastors are as Curates c. And yet for all this are such as stand and are supported only by humane Traditions and Ceremonies such as a Civil Magistrate may without sin put out of the Church and such as the true Churches of God may renounce and yet continue the true Church as Antichristian Usurpers and spiritual Tyrants I say all such Officers and Rulers exercise a usurped authority in the Church But our Archbishops and Bishops are such Rulers and Officers as are aforesaid Ergo They execute a usurped power over the Church The Proposition may easily be justified For if inferiour Officers viz. Pastors of particular Congregations have had and may have firm continuance in the Church without these humane devises and inventions If the Magistrate cannot without sin put them out of the Church And if those can be no true Churches that renounce to have particular Pastors and Ministers over them it must much more hold in such Church-Officers and Rulers as these are if their authority be lawful and good For whilest the Apostles lived they needed not any humane Traditions and devices to support their authority the Magistrates that sought to put them down sinned with a high hand And that was no Church that renounced and disclaimed their Office Authority and Jurisdiction The Assumption is as easily justified For 1. They make claim and title to all those Prerogatives before rehearsed in the first part of the Proposition and unto more than that as shall be proved if it
be denied 2. It is an Embleme of their own NO CEREMONY NO BISHOP Ergo No humane Tradition and Invention no Bishop Ergo The Office of a Bishop is supported by them either only or specially 3. Their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is derived from the King else it is a flat denial of his Supremacy Also themselves grant in their last Tables of Discipline That the King hath power to encrease or diminish the Circuit of a Bishopprick That he may make two or more Bishoppricks of one and one Bishopprick to be two or more Yea what should hinder but that he may devide the Bishopprick of London into eight hundred For where God hath not defined the number of Parishes that a Bishop is to raign over it must needs be a thing indifferent In which by their own Doctrines the King hath authority without sin to dispose If therefore the King may as well notwithstanding any thing in the Law of God Give the Keys of the Church to every particular Pastour of a Congregation over his own Congregation as to a Bishop over a Diocess which taketh away the very Essence of an English Bishop He may without sin take away the very Office of the Bishop which consists in having Jurisdiction over many Congregations Also it being not defined by the Word of God but left free what attire Bishops shall wear as also what maintenance they shall have The King having absolute power in things indifferent according to their own Doctrine He may turn them out of their Rochets and Parliament Robes Thrust them out of their Pallaces and put them to their stipends to live upon voluntary devotions of poor Christian People and then a man may easily imagine what the Office of a Bishop would be worth For he that hath authority to prescribe to a Bishop and other Ministers the Forms Rites and Ceremonies of their Divine Service hath also power much more to prescribe moderate and appoint their Apparel Diet and manner of maintenance So that it is clear That the King may without sin disanul the Authorities Dignities and Prerogatives of Bishops Any of which shall be if it be denied proved to be matters of greater indifferency and therefore more appertaining to his Supremacy than the prescribing of Forms of Divine Service and mystical Rites of Religion For let the King take from the Bishop all indifferent things which he may do by their own Doctrine and a Bishop will be no Bishop as shall be proved if it be denied 4. There is no true and sober Christians but will say that the Churches of Scotland France the Low-Countries and other places that renounce such Archbishops and Bishops as ours are as Anticristian and usurping Prelates are true Churches of God which they could not be if the Authority and Prerogatives they claim to themselves were of Christ and not usurped For if it were the Ordinance of Christ Jesus That in every Kingdome that receiveth the Gospel There should be one Archbishop over the whole Kingdome One Bishop over many hundred Pastors in a Kingdome and all they invested with that authority and Jurisdiction Apostolicall which they claim jure Divino to be due unto them and to reside in them by the Ordinance of Christ Certainly that Church that should renounce and disclaim such an Authority ordained in the Church cannot be a true Church but a Synagogue of Sathan For they that should renounce and deny such must needs therein renounce and deny Christ himself Thus the Assumption is cleared The eleventh Argument All Humane Traditions and Rites enjoyned to be performed in Gods worship as necessary to Salvation are unlawfull These Ceremonies in controversie being but Humane Traditions are enjoyned to be performed in Gods worship as necessary to Salvation Ergo These Ceremonies are unlawfull THe Proposition is freely granted of all our Adversaries hitherto If any hereafter by reason of some difficulties the cause may be thrust into by granting the same shall be so desperate as to deny the same we shall be ready to make it good at any time The assumption is thus proved Whatsoever Humane Tradition Ceremony or Action that may without sin or inconvenience to any part of the Worship of God be omitted in the same and yet notwithstanding are injoyned and urged as more necessary than those Actions that are by the Word of God necessary to Salvation I say such humane Ceremonies and Traditions are injoined as necessary to Salvation But these Ceremonies are such as may without any sin or any inconvenience to any part of the Worship of God be omitted in the same and yet notwithstanding are enjoyned as more necessary for Christians to do than those Actions that are necessary to Salvation by the Word of God Ergo These Ceremonies in controversie are injoyned c. as necessary to Salvation He hath no blood of shame running in his veins that will deny the Proposition The Assumption hath two parts The first is this That these Ceremonies are such as may without sin or any inconvenience to any part of the worship of God be omitted This is evident For 1. if they could not be omitted without sin in Divine Worship they were Divine and not Humane Ordinances For example Though to go clothed to the Congregation be a Civil action yet because it is a sin for any to go naked to the Congregation It is a Divine Ordinance That men should go clothed thither And in this case as in any other case of sin a man ought rather never Worship God publickly than to go naked to the Congregation For the omission of a Good Action is no sin when it cannot be done but by committing of a sin 2. Divine Worship consisting in Prayer the Sacraments and the Word no wit of man can shew wherein the bare omission of any one of these Ceremonies is inconvenient to any one of these parts for what inconvenience can a man that is not drunk with the dreggs and lees of Popish Superstition finde it to publick Prayer to be said in the Congregation without a Priests Surplice The omission of ordinary pawses and Accents points and stopps the suppressing of the voice or a loud hooping and hallowing out of the words or an undistinct sounding of them were such actions as common reason will teach are inconvenient for Prayer and so inconvenient that a man ought never to pray publickly in the Congregation as the voyce thereof that should by Canon be tied thereto And the Magistrate though there were no Canon to the contrary ought to turn such out of the Ministry that should omit such matters in prayer But for a Minister to pray without a Surplice can be in reason no more inconvenient than for him to pray without Book without a pair of spectacles upon his nose And there may be as good reason given to prove it convenient for a man that saith a thing without Book to put on a pair of Spectacles as there can be to prove it convenient for him
Whereas it shall appear that no Christians in the world give more unto the same then we and that in very truth the cause that we maintain is for the King and Civil State against an Ecclesiasticall State that secretly and in a Mystery as we may hereafter have occasion to prove opposeth it selfe against the same If this protestation shall in any measure satisfie you Then we desire your Honourable Mediations for us to the highest If not That then we may know wherein it is defective and we shall be found ready to give all satisfaction CHAP. I. A PROTESTATION of the Kings Supremacy WE hold and maintain the same Authority and Supremacy in all causes and over all persons Civil and Ecclesiasticall granted by Statute to Queen Elizabeth and expressed and declared in the book of Advertisements and Injunctions and in Mr. Bilson against the Jesuites to be due in full and ample mannner without any limitation or qualification to the King and his Heirs and Successours for ever Neither is their to our knowledge any one of us but is and ever hath been most willing to subscribe and swear unto the same according to form of Statute And we desire that those that shall refuse the same may bear their own iniquity 2. We are so far from judging the said Supremacy to be unlawful that we are perswaded that the King should sin highly against God if he should not assume the same unto himself and that the Churches within his Dominions should sin damnably if they should deny to yield the same unto him yea though the Statutes of the Kingdom should deny it unto him 3. We hold it plain Antichristianism for any Church or Church Officers whatsoever either to arrogate or assume unto themselves any part or parcel thereof utterly unlawful for the King to give away or alienate the same from his own Crown and dignity to any spiritual potentates or rulers whatsoever within or without his dominions 3. We hold that though the Kings of this Realm were no Members of the Church but very Infidels yea persecutors of the truth that yet those Churches that shall be gathered together within these Dominions ought to acknowledge and yeild the said supremacy unto them And that the same is not tyed to their faith and Christianity but to their very Crown from which no subject or subjects have power to separate or disjoyne it 5. We hold that neither King nor civil estate are bound in matter of Religion to be subject and obedient to any Ecclesiastical person or persons whatsoever no further then they shall be able to convince their consciences of the truth thereof out of the Word of God Yea we think they should sin against God if they should ground their Religion or any part or parcel thereof upon the bare Testimony or Judgment of any man or of all the men in the world 6. We hold that no Churches or Church-Officers have power for any crime whatsoever to deprive the King of the least of his Royal Prerogatives whatsoeer much less to deprive him of his Supremacy wherein the Height of his Royal Dignity consists 7. We hold that in all things concerning this life whatsoever the Civil Jurisdiction of Kings and Civill States excelleth and ought to have preheminence over the Ecclesiasticall and that the Ecclesiasticall neither hath nor ought to have any power in the least degree over the bodies lives goods or liberty of any person whatsoever much lesse of the Kings and Rulers of the Earth 8. We hold that Kings by virtue of their supremacy have power yea also that they stand bound by the Law of God to make Laws Ecclesiastical such as shall tend to the good ordering of the Churches in their Dominions And that the Churches ought not to be disobedient to any of their Lawes so far as in obedience unto them they do not that which is contrary to the Word of God 9. We hold that though the King shall command any thing contrary to the Word unto the Churches that yet they ought not to resist him therein but onely peaceably to forbear Obedience and sue unto him for grace and mercy and where that cannot be obtained meekely to submit themselves to the punishment 10. We hold that the King hath power by virtue of his supremacy to remove out of the Churches whatsoever he shall discern to be practised therein not agreeable to the Word of God And if he shall see any defect either in the Worship of God or in the Ecclesiastical Discipline he ought by his royal Authority and power to procure and force the redress thereof yea though it be without the consent and against the will of the Ecclesiastical Governers themselves 11. We hold that the King hath as much Authority over the Body Goods and Affaires of Ecclesiastical Persons as of any other of his Subjects whatsoever And that by his Authority he may force them not onely to all civil duties belonging unto them but also unto Ecclesiastical afflicting as great punishment upon them for the neglect thereof as upon any other of his Subjects 12. We hold that he hath power to remove out of the Churches all Scandalous Schismatical and Heretical Teachers and by all due severity of Lawes to repress them 13. We hold that all Ecclesiastical Lawes made by the King not repugnant to the Word of God do in some sort bind the consciences of his Subjects and that no subject ought to refuse obedience to any such Law 14. We hold that the King onely hath power within his Dominions to convene Synods or general Assemblies of Ministers and by his Authority Royal to ratifie and give life and strength to their Canons and Constitutions without whose ratification no man can force any subject to yeild any Obedience unto the same 15. We hold that though the King may force the Churches to be subject and obedient unto him and to be Members of the Common-wealth yet that the Churches severally or joyntly have no power to force him or any Subject against their will to any service unto them or to any religions duty whatsoever No nor to be so much as a Member of any Church 16. We hold that the King ought not to be subject to the Ecclesiastical Censures of any Churches Church Officers or Synods whatsoever but onely to that Church and those Officers of his own Court and Houshold unto whom in reverence of their Religion and of the spiritual Graces of God he sees shining in them he shall of his own free will subject and commit the Regiment of his Soul in whom there can be no suspition nor fear of any partiality or unjust or rigorous dealing against him 17. We hold that if any Ecclesiastical Governours call them by what name you will shall abuse their Ecclesiastical Authority in the execution of their censures upon any man whosoever That the King and Civil States under him have power to punish them severely for it much more if they
from the Civil Communion of men so ought the Congregation of which he is a Member cut him off from all spiritual Communion with them If any one of the Ecclesiastical Officers themselves shall sin he is subject to the censures of the rest as any other member of the congregation If they shall all sin scandalously either in the execution of their Office or in any other ordinarie manner Then the Congregation that chose them freely hath as free power to depose them and to place others in their room If the Congregation shall erre either in choosing or deposing of her spiritual Officers Then hath the Civil Magistrate alone power and authority to punish them for their fault co compel them to make better choise or to defend against them those Officers that without just causes they shall depose or deprive 27. We hold that those Ecclesiastical Persons that make claim to greater power and authority then this Especially they that make claim Iure Divino of power and Iurisdiction to meddle with other Churches then that one Congregation of which they are or ought to be members Do usurp upon the Supremacy of the Civil Magistrate who alone hath and ought to have as we hold and maintain a power over the several Congregations in his Dominions and who alone ought by his authority not only to prescribe common Laws and Canons of uniformity and consent in Religion and worship of God unto them all But also to punish the offences of the several Congregations that they shall commit against the laws of God the policy of the Realm and the Ecclesiastical Constitutions enacted by his authority 28. We hold that the King ought not to give this authority away or to commit it to any Ecclesiastical Person or Persons whatsoever But ought himself to be as it were Archbishop and general overseer of all the Churches within his Dominions and ought to imploy under him his honourable Counsel his Iudges Leiftenants Iustices Constables and such like to oversee the Churches in the several divisions of their civil Regiments visiting them and punishing by their civil power whatsoever they shall see amiss in any of them Especially in the Rulers and Governers 29. For as much as no people are more hated persecuted and wronged of the wicked world then the true Churches of Christ We hold that no people in the Earth stand in more need of the civil Magistrate then they And that it is the greatest outward blessing they can injoy in this life to live under the Protection of their Swords Scepters the greatest cause of mourning when the same shall be bent against them And we hold those Churches to be no true Churches of Jesus Christ that living in any Country shall refuse subjection to the civil Regents and Governers of the same be they in respect of Religion never such Paganish Infidells 30. We hold it utterly unlawfull for any Christian Churches whatsoever by any armed force or power against the will of the civil magistracy and State under which they live To erect and set up in publique the true worship and service of God or to beat down or suppress any superstition or Idolatry that shall be countenanced and maintained by the same Only Every man is to look to himself that he communicate not with the evils of the times induring what it shall please the State to inflict and seeking by all honest and peaceable means all reformation of publick abuses onely at the hands of civil publicke persons and all practises contrarie to these we condemn as seditious and sinfull 31. All that we crave of his Majestie and the State is that by his and their permission and under their protection and approbation it may be lawfull for us to serve and worship God in all things according to his revealed will and the manner of all other reformed Protestant Churches that have made separation from Rome that we may not be forced against our consciences to stain and pollute the simple and syncere worship of God prescribed in his word with any humane Traditions and Rites whatsoever but that in Divine worship we may be actors only of those things that may for matter or manner either ingeneral or special be concluded out of the word of God Also to this end that it may be lawfull for us to exhibite unto them and unto their Censure a true and syncere Confession of our faith containing the main Grounds of our Religion unto which all other doctrines are to be consonant as also a Form of Divine worship and Ecclesiastical Government in like manner warranted by the word and to be observed of us all under any civil punishment that it shall please the said Majestie and state to inflict under whose authority alone we desire to exercise the same and unto whose punishment alone we desire to be subject if we shall offend against any of those Lawes and Canons that themselves shall approve in manner aforesaid and our desire is Not to worship God in dark corners but in such publick places and at such convenient times as it shall please them to assigne to the intent that they and their officers may the better take notice of our offences if any such shall be committed in our Congregations and assemblies that they may punish the same accordingly And we desire we may be subject to no other Spiritual Lords but unto Christ nor unto any other Temporal Lords but unto themselves whom alone in this Earth we desire to make our Judges and supreame Governers and Overseers in all causes Ecclesiastical whatsoever renouncing as Antichristian all such Ecclesiastical powers as arrogate and assume unto themselves under any pretence of the Law of God or man the said power which we acknowledge to be due only to the Civil Magistrate 32. So long as it shall please the King and civil State though to the great derogation of their own authority as we may have occasion hereafter to prove to maintain in this Kingdom the State of the Hierarchy or Prelacie We can in Honour to his Majestie and the State and in desire of peace be content without envy to suffer them to injoy their state and dignity and to live as brethren amongst those ministers that shall acknowlege spiritual homage unto their spiritual Lordships paying unto them all temporal duties of tenths and such like yea and joyning with them in the service and worship of God so far as we may do it without our own particular communicating with them in those humane Traditions and rites that in our consciences we judge to be unlawfull Only we crave in all dutifull manner that which the very Law of Nature yeeldeth unto us that for as much as they are most malicious enemies unto us and do apparently thirst either after our blood or shipwrack of our faith and consciences that they may not hence forth be our judges in these causes but that we may both of us stand as parties at the bar of
even for the Divine Calling and Ordinance sake CHAP. V. Concerning the Censures of the Church 1. THey hold that the spiritual keyes of the Church are by Christ committed to the aforesaid spiritual Officers and Governors and unto none other which keyes they hold that they are not to be put to this use to lock up the Crowns Swords or Scepters of Princes and Civil States or the Civil Rights Prerogatives and Immunities of Civil Subjects in the things of this Life or to use them as picklocks to open withal mens Treasuries and Coffers or as keyes of Prisons to shut up the bodies of men for they think that such a Power and Authority Ecclesiastical is fit only for the Antichrist of Rome and the consecrated Governours of his Synagogues who having no Word of God which is the Sword of the Spirit to defend his and their usurped Jurisdiction over the Christian World doth unlawfully usurp the lawful Civil Sword and Power of the Monarchs and Princes of the Earth thereby forcing men to subject themselves to his spiritual vassalage and Service and abusing thereby the spiritual Keyes and Jurisdiction of the Church 2. They hold that by vertue of these Keyes they are not to make any curious Inquisitions into the secret or hidden vices or crimes of men extorting from them a confession of those faults that are concealed from themselves and others or to proceed to molest any man upon secret suggestions private suspition or uncertain fame or for such crimes as are in question whether they be crimes or no But they are to proceed only against evident and apparent crimes such as are either granted to be such of all civil honest men or of all true Christians or at least such as they are able by evidence of the Word of God to convince to be sins to the conscience of the Offender As also such as have been either publikely committed or having been committed in secret are by some good means brought to light and which the delinquent denying they are able by honest and sufficient testimony to prove against him 3. They hold that when he that hath committed a scandalous crime cometh before them and is convinced of the same they ought not after the manner of our Ecclesiastical Courts scorn deride taunt and revile him with odious and contumelious speeches eye him with big and stern looks procure Proctors to make Personal Invectives against him make him dance attendance from Court day to Court day and from Term to Term frowning at him in presence and laughing at him behind his back but they are though he be never so obstinate and perverse to use him brotherly not giving the least personal reproaches or threats but laying open unto him the nature of his sin by the light of Gods Word are only by donouncing the judgements of God against him to terrifie him and so to move him to repentance 4. They hold that if the party offending be their civil Superiour that then they are to use even throughout the whole carriage of their Censure all civil Complements Offices and Reverence due unto him That they are not to presume to convent him before them but are themselves to go in all civil and humble manner unto him to stand bare before him to bow unto him to give him all civil Titles belonging unto him and if he be a King and Supream Ruler they are to kneel down before him and in the humblest manner to censure his faults so that he may see apparently that they are not carried with the least spice of malice against his Person but only with zeal of the health and salvation of his soul 5. They hold that the Ecclesiastical Officers laying to the charge of any man any Errour Heresie or false Opinion whatsoever do stand bound themselves first to prove that he holdeth such an errour or heresie and secondly to prove directly unto him that it is an errour by the Word of God and that it deserveth such a censure before they do proceed against him 6. They hold that the Governours of the Church ought with all patience and quietness hear what every Offender can possibly say for himself either for Qualification Defence Apology or Justification of any supposed crime or errour whatsoever and they ought not to proceed to censure the grossest offence that is untill the Offender have said as much for himself in his defence as he possibly is able And they hold it an evident Character of a corrupt Ecclesiastical Government where the parties convented may not have full liberty to speak for themselves considering that the more liberty is granted to speak in a bad cause especially before those that are in Authority and of judgment the more the iniquity of it will appear and the more the Justice of their Sentence will shine 7. They hold that the Oath ex officio whereby Popish and English Ecclesiastical Governours either upon some secret informations or suggestions or private suspitions go about to bind mens consciences to accuse themselves and their friends of such crimes or imputations as cannot by any direct course of Law be proved against them and whereby they are drawn to be instruments of many heavy crosses upon themselves and their friends and that often for those Actions that they are perswaded in their consciences are good and holy I say that they hold that such an Oath on the urgers part is most damnable and tyrannous against the very Law of Nature devised by Antichrist through the inspiration of the devil that by means thereof the professors and practizers of the true Religion might either in their weakness by per jury damn their own souls or be drawn to reveal to the Enemies of Christianity those secret religious acts and deeds that being in the perswasion of their consciences for the advancement of the Gospel will be a means of heavy sentences of condemnation against themselves and their dearest friends 8. They hold that Ecclesiastical Officers have no power to proceed in Censure against any Crime of any Person after that he shall freely acknowledge the same and profess his hearty penitency for it And that they may not for any crime whatsoever lay any bodily or pecuniary mulct upon them or impose upon them any Ceremonial Mark or Note of shame such as is the white sheet or any such like or take any fees for any cause whatsoever but are to accept of as a sufficient satisfaction a private submission and acknowledgment if the Crime be private and a publike if the crime be publike and notorious 9. They hold that if a Member of the Church be obstinate and shew no signs and tokens of repentance of that crime that they by evidence of Scripture have convinced to be a crime that then by their Ecclesiastical Authority they are to deny unto him the Sacrament of the Supper And if the suspension from it will not humble him then though not without humbling themselves in prayer fasting and great demonstration