have done so had they not been before these creatures since the command runs thus to worship him Ps 99.5 9. and to fall down before his footstool moreover how often do we find them falling down and worshipping at the appearance of that cloud or fire which was the Symbol of Gods presence When they saw the fire fall and consume the burnt offerings they fell upon their faces 1 Kings 18 38 39. When they saw the fire of God come down and the Glory of the Lord upon the house they bowed themselves with their faces to the Ground 2 Chron. 7.3 And yet because they did this not to the cloud or fire but to God there could be no Idolatry in this their action 4ly It is a thing impossible that such an action as this is should any ways be Guilty of Idolatry for Idolatry is false worship of a creature now where there is no worship of the creature as in this action there is not there can be no false worship of the creature And to evidence to every rational Capacity that nothing used in the Service of our Church can rationally be charged with any semblance of Idolatry and manifest the great and signal difference there is betwixt the actions of our Church which our Dissenters call Idolatrous and those which in the Church of Rome we do accuse as such I lay down this distinction viz 1. That we may Kneel bow down or may perform like acts of outward worship before any creature either so as to make that creature only the circumstance or the occasion of that worship or else so as to make that creature the object of those acts of worship When any Creature is rendred the object of our worship the mind doth actually or virtually intend to worship or pay an act of Reverence to the Creature which is thus made the object of our worship but when the Creature is only made the Circumstance or the occasion of the worship the mind intends to pay the act of worship only to another object in such a place or upon intimation or apprehension of the object which I worship which apprehension or intimation is caused by that Creature Thus when I come to Common Prayer read in the Church the Church is the circumstance of place the hour of time for the performance of that worship but God is the sole object of it when at the hearing of the Ave Mary Bell the Roman Catholick begins his Ave Mary the Blessed Virgin is the object the Bell is only the occasion of it and when they then Kneel down and bow they do not Kneel unto the consecrated Bell but to the Blessed Virgin 2ly This being so it is ridiculous to say we worship any thing because it is before us when we direct our outward worship to another object Since on the same account the Wisemen of the East who worship'd Christ before the Manger must be supposed to pay their worship to the Manger and they who meeting Christ Riding upon an Ass Saluted him with their Hosannas and bowed towards him must also pay their worship to the Ass And if upon appearance of the Devil we should fall upon our Knees and beg of God to be delivered from him we must be said to worship the very Devil by that action Moreover when we lift up our eyes and voices to the Heavens we also lift them up towards the Clouds and Stars but will it follow thence that by so doing we do not only worship God but the Material Heavens and those Glorious lights we see as was objected by the Pagans against the People of the Jews Wherefore to say that Protestants worship the Altar or the Eucharistick Elements because they worship God before them is to calumniate the Protestants as antiently the Heathens did the Christians affirming that they worshipped the Sun because they worshipped God toward the East and so by consequence towards the Rising Sun Wherefore to give a clear and Satisfactory Answer to all the instances of this nature which are alledged by Dissenters to prove the Church of England Guilty of this crime I say 1. That when we bow towards the Altar as we enter into or come out of the Church Chancel or Chappel where we worship God the Altar is not the object of our worship but only an accidental circumstance of it for we do not in the least intend by this obeysance to do an act of worship to the Communion Table or any thing placed there or elsewhere but to God alone for this the Church of England hath solemnly declared in these words Constit and Canons A.D. 1640. Can. 7. Whereas the Church is the house of God dedicated to his Holy worship and therefore ought to mind us both of the greatness and goodness of his Divine Majesty certain it is that the acknowledgment thereof not only inwardly in our hearts but also outwardly with our bodies must needs be pious in it self profitable to us and Edifying to others we therefore think it very meet and behoveful and heartily commend it to all good and well affected People Members of this Church that they be ready to tender to the Lord the said acknowledgment by doing reverence and obeisance both at their coming in and going out of the said Churches Chancels or Chappels according to the most Ancient Custom of the Primitive Church in the purest times and of this Church also for many years in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth The reviving therefore of this Ancient and laudable Custom we heartily commend to the serious consideration of all good People not with any intention to exhibit any Religious Worship to the Communion Table the East or Church or any thing contained therein in so doing or to perform the said gesture in Celebration of the Holy Eucharist upon any opinion of a Corporal Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ on the Holy Table or in the Mystical Elements but only for the advancement of Gods Majesty and to give him Alone that honor and glory which is due unto him and no otherwise Which Canon as it declares this act of Worship not to be given or intended to the Altar so doth it give us the true Reason why it is accidentally done towards the Altar viz. Because it is performed at our entrance into the immediate place of Worship to which entrance the Altar standeth opposite 2ly When at the name of Jesus we are wont to bow that bowing is not intended by us to the very name which is the occasion only of the Worship by putting us in mind of him that is named and of our highest obligation to him as being Jesus a Saviour to whom therefore we address our selves and recognize him as our only Saviour by that especial and peculiar act of devotion So that the adoration then performed is wholly and absolutely directed to the Lord Jesus as is declared by the Church in these words Constit can A. 1603. can 18 When in time
judgments and opinions that there is among us and that great liberty men take to vent their private sentiments in Prayer when they are not restrained that they shall honestly be able to say Amen to a conceived Prayer whereas in a set Form of Liturgy this inconvenience is avoided seeing we know before hand to what we are to say Amen and therefore if we do not like it may absent our selves 3ly How can we sollicite any persons or perswade any strangers to come to our Churches or join in Communion with us where we cannot promise them that the Devotions to be used there shall be innocent we cannot shew them how we worship God and thereby put them in a condition to judge for themselves or promise them as in the Primitive Church they might whilst prayer by the Spirit lasted that all our prayers shall be agreeable unto the mind of God or how can this be done without producing some prescribed Form by which we pray This seems to be one reason why all the Churches of the World have had their publick Forms of prayer that they might let every-body know how God is served by them And why the best men in the Reformed Churches have wished those happy days might come Thes Salm. de Liturg. part 3. n. 46. in which the same Form of Divine Worship might be observed in the Church and all her members with one heart and mouth might glorify God that so the unity of the spirit and charity among Believers might be preserved as far as may be 4ly By set Forms many mischiefs are prevented to which conceived prayer doth stand obnoxious for hereby care is taken that nothing through the ignorance of some or the negligence of others should be offered up to God which is contrary to the Faith or unworthy of his Divine Majesty on which account it was long since resolved by the Milevitan Council Cap. 12. that no prayers should be used in the Church but those which had been weighed by the most prudent or approved in a Synod And this the wisdom of the Heathens saw whence Plato adviseth De. Legibus l. 7. that whatsoever prayers or Hymns the Poets composed to the Gods they should first shew them to the Priests before they published them lest they should ask evil things instead of good L. 4. c. 17. And Alexander ab Alexandro saith that the Gentiles read their prayers out of a book before their sacrifices ne quid preposterè dicatur that nothing might be spoken preposterously which two may pass for Christian Reasons as seasonable with us as they were among them these times being very subject to these infirmities as our experience hath too sadly found 5ly Our Saviour saith Matt. 18.19 20. where two or three were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agreeing in the same voice to request any thing it should be granted and the Apostle prays Rom. 15.6 that with one mouth as well as heart we may glorify God now sure there is more Symphony in a good Form of prayer jointly put up by a whole Nation than there would be in mens extemporary effusions and in it we may be better said to glorify God with one mouth than by the great variety of prayers conceived and so the use of well composed Forms in publick Worship are upon this account to be preferred before extemporary effusions And Lastly To confess my own infirmities I find one great advantage in a form of prayer that being naturally thoughtful and apt to make deductions from what I read or hear I very often make some observations from the Psalms and Lessons of the day as I attend unto them and my thoughts eagerly pursuing them my Devotions are too often interrupted with wandring thoughts which though they may be pious in themselves yet must be my infirmities as far as they withdraw my heart from diligent attention to the prayers then put up to God Now when this happens to me whilst others are using their conceived prayers I know not what are the desires I have neglected and so I cannot when I recal my self offer up those desires to God begging his pardon for my wandrings but when I find my thoughts thus wandring in any part of the Church Service I presently recollect where they began to wander what the petitions were which thus escaped me and either presently if I have any opportunity or when I make up my accounts with God in my retirements I humbly offer them up to God beseeching his forgiveness of my wandring thoughts This to me seems a kind of satisfaction made to my good God and is a satisfaction to my mind and therefore whatsoever others may think of it it seems to me no small advantage of a Form above a new conceived prayer though no man that I know of hath taken any notice of it since therefore by the use of Forms we may best pray with understanding and more securely and assuredly may join with him that doth officiate and say Amen to his petitions since hereby others may be assured beforehand that they can join sincerely with us in the publick service and may particularly prepare their hearts beforehand so to do Seeing hereby the benefit which is promised to the Church from the Symphony of her petitions is best acquired and both people and Ministers may be relieved best against their various distractions and seeing hereby all unbecoming scandalous expressions which disturb the most devout and minister occasion of derision to the looser Christian are in the most considerable and solemn parts of Divine Worship best prevented seeing a Form may be used no probability of any prohibition of them being made apparent and Christians stand bound to yield obedience to their Superiors in lawful matters seeing a Form must be used in our publick Prayers by virtue of our Lords command to say Our Father and in our publick Hymns and Psalmody by reason of our inability to conceive them suddenly and lastly seeing the whole Church of God hath constantly used Forms in the performance of her publick service for thirteen hundred Years upon all these accounts I think it is highy convenient that they should be retained in the Church of God especially if we consider that our Church doth not wholly exclude the use of any Ministers pretended gift in this kind but gives him liberty to use it both before Dr. Whitnal of Gifts in publick Worship p. 48. and after Sermon provided we acknowledge this habit to be what it is and use it according to the Laws of God with reverence to the Divine Majesty and care we speak not unadvisedly of him or to him according to the Laws of the Church with sobriety modesty peaceableness and order so as not to disturb or divide the Church by bringing thereby the publick and stated order into disesteem and finally with justice to our selves and the common Christianity so as not to make this the sole way of praying in a due or
before we venture upon that which is by most judicious persons in this Age and was by all the Primitive Fathers of the Church pronounced Schismatical as were all Altars set up in opposition to the Bishop of the Diocese wherein they were all Churches separating from and independent on his Government This therefore cannot prudently be done by us nor can we when we find it done by others safely join in Communion with them without plain evidence and full conviction of our freedom from that guilt And surely he must have a very good opinion of himself who confidently dares to say he hath plain evidence that what all Christians of former Ages and the most able and judicious persons of the present Age pronounce a Schism is indeed the duty of all good and pious Christians Now to confirm this motive let me request you to weigh these following Questions well Q. 1 If Schism in the general be of a dreadful and pernicious nature Whether the disturbance of the Churches Peace by erecting opposite Communions to the perpetuating Schism through all succeeding generations will not much aggravate the guilt of it and render it more dreadful to every peaceable and pious Christian consider therefore I beseech you that this if any is your Schism Q. 2 Who would not think it safer to yield to any imposition how heavy or how inconvenient soever provided that it were not plainly sinful than run the hazard of contracting such a pernicious guilt to chuse to hazard our exclusion from the body the Communion of Christs Church the priviledges of her Ordinances rather than yield unto a Constitution not directly sinful is certainly a great imprudence For seeing in matters of practice the dangerousness as well as the falsehood of an Assertion is very fitly and conscientiously to be considered especially when the danger is of offending God and ruining our souls Can it be prudent to venture upon that which if performed without good ground will certainly expose us to that danger where there appeareth no such evident conviction for the doing of it as can make amends for the danger of venturing on it Q. 3 Is it not reasonable to conceive that the wisdom of Christ should lay down Rules for the government and preservation of his body proportionably plain unto the moment of them and give us a full evidence in matters absolutely needful to be done or lest undone If then you only have some probabilities and plausible pretences for setting up or joining with these separate Communions or against joining in Communion with us but have no evident conviction of the necessity of the one or the unlawfulness of the other may you not rationally conclude that neither of them can be needful to be done in order to your everlasting welfare when then our actions tend so much unto the prejudice of our own souls and to the damage of the Church of Christ as doth our present Schism 't is Argument sufficient that God never intended to oblige us to it that he hath given us no clear conviction of that obligation Q. 4 Lastly Would any Prudent Legislator think it convenient for the publick that his greatest and most important commands should be neglected as often as there might appear some little probable evidence for some lesser duty that were inconsistent with them would he not think you be much better pleased with him that in such a case should stick to the greater duty and neglect the less than with him who should extreamly prejudice the publick by his adherence to his scruples about little matters And if so can it reflect dishonour upon God to presume him also pleased with that which we have reason to believe would please a good and prudent Governour in regard of its good influence on the publick for which he is especially concerned § 7 To these convincing Arguments collected from that Author I add these following conderations First That St Paul seems clearly to insinuate that a wilful departure from ordinary practice in such cases as these are doth argue a contentious disposition for when he treats of the dispute arising in the Church of Corinth whether their Women should be veiled or covered in the Church or not he argues for their being veiled from decency and the design of Nature in giving hair unto them for a covering and thus concludes his Argument if any man have a mind to be contentious so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth import it is sufficient to let him know that he contending for the appearance of Women in the Church unveiled contends against the custom of the Church 1 Cor. 11.16 for we at Jerusalem and all the other Churches of God have no such custom and if by this he will not be concluded he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of contention Why therefore may it not be said to you if you are minded to contend for sitting at the Sacrament for Baptizing without the sign of the Cross and without God-Fathers and God-Mothers for Praying without a stinted Liturgy in publick and without a Surplice and for separating on the account of all or any of these things imposed we have no such custom neither the Churches of God And if by this you will not be concluded in these matters how will you scape the charge of being lovers of Contention And sutable to this determination of St Paul was both the practice and advice of the most Holy Fathers of the Church St Austin truly saith Ep. 86. ad Casulanum presb That in those matters concerning which the Scripture hath delivered nothing certain the customs of the people of God and the Statutes of our Ancestors are to be received as a Law Epist 118. And again All matters of this kind may freely be observed nor can a grave and prudent Christian observe a better discipline Ad quam fortè Ecclesiam veneris ejus morem serva si cuiquam non vis esse scandalo nec quenquam tibi Ibid. than in these maters to act according to that custom which is observed by the Church to which he cometh And thus St. Ambrose did himself practise advising others to whatsoever Church they came to observe its customs if they would neither give nor take offence § 8 Secondly Consider that the same Apostle commands all Christians to give no offence to Jew or Gentile or the Church of God that is 1 Cor. 10.32 as one well descants on the place whatsoever without prejudice to Christian piety you can perform or leave undone be careful for the avoiding of offence to Jew or Gentile and much more to the Church of God to do or to abstain from doing Now do not you my Friends conceive your selves obliged to abstain from doing of the things enjoyned though lawful in themselves because they minister unto the scandal of weak Brethren why therefore should you not much more conceive your selves obliged to do them on the like supposition that you may not transgress
lawful to Communicate with us in Prayer and hearing of the word and in Receiving of the Sacrament upon occasion stand bound in Conscience so to do as oft as by the Magistrate you are required so to do and it can only be pretence of Conscience which doth induce you to forbear such Communion with us at these times for seeing negative precepts do bind always and at all times so that no man at any time may do what is forbidden by God It follows that there can be no prohibition against doing that at other times which we can sometimes do and which cannot be more or less lawful or unlawful for being done at one time than another as clearly seems to be the case with reference to your occasional Communion It therefore is to be suspected that men only pretend Conscience against that Communion with us at all times which they at sometimes can maintain And yet I wish there were no instances of men of your perswasions who when they are presented or when they find it necessary to qualifie them for an Office or to give a vote in which they may do service to their party will attend upon the publick worship used in our Churches and will receive the Sacrament according to the order of the Church of England who before never did and afterwards neglect to do so Now whilst men do thus vary in their practice according as their interest and as their circumstances vary they tempt men shrewdly to suspect that they act rather out of interest than Conscience in these matters and that they notwithstanding all their pretence to Conscience have either none at all or a bad Conscience for if they thought Communion with us in those Ordinances unlawful by doing it in the forementioned circumstances they only must be doing evil that good may come and making Conscience and Religion stoop to interest which is the proper character of Hypocrites but if they did conceive it lawful their Separation and refusal of it cannot be excused from Schism or from transgression of the injunctions of St. Paul If it be possible as much as in you lies live peaceably with all men follow after the things which make for peace give no offence unto the Church of God obey Superiors and submit your selves Ah my Dear Brethren by doing of these things you have given greater scandal unto others than your submission to the Constitutions of the Church of England could have done and therefore if you do indeed abstain from our Commuon for fear of giving scandal to weak Brethren do you more carefully abstain from matters of this nature which carry with them such a plain semblance of Hypocrisie that no pretence can hide no Charity excuse it Under this head I cannot pass by your violence in Petitioning His Sacred Majesty against His Royal Proclamation to the contrary for be it granted that the Law did authorize or give permission to you to Petition sure I am it laid upon you no necessity to do so and so this might have been forborn in compliance with the pleasure of his Majesty And if you do Reply That then you may by Proclamations be abridged of that liberty the Law affords you Consider I beseech you what it is that you expect and call for from Superiors viz. That for your sakes and out of pity to your weakness they would abate the exercise of their own power and with what equity and justice can you expect they should do this if you at their request will abate nothing of that liberty and power which the Law allows you § 17 2. If you cannot conform let me intreat you Religiously to abstain from censuring reproaching or speaking evil of your Governours in Church or State For this undoubtedly you may do and it doth very much concern you so to do For they who being Christians do reproach and do speak evil of their Civil Governours do that which the Wiseman would not permit the Jew to think of for his command runs thus Eccles 10.20 Curse not the King in thy heart or Entertain not any light vain contemptuous or dishonourable thoughts of him Assemb Annot. wish thou no evil to his Person Crown or Dignity in thy most secret retirements They do what all good men should tremble to commit for of such men St. Peter gives this Character Presumptuous are they 2 Pet. 2.10 self-willed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they do not tremble when they speak evil of Dignities Such persons dare to offer that to Gods Vicegerents to those who bear his Name or Character on Earth which Michael the Archangel durst not offer to the vilest and the worst of Creatures Jude 8 9. for he contending with the Devil durst not bring against him a railing accusation and yet it well deserves to be observed that if this sin was capable of pardon or excuse in any case or circumstances it must have been so in the reproaching of the then present Governours they being by consent of all Historians the greatest monsters of mankind and the most bloody Persecutors of the Christian Faith Moreover they who offend in the like kind against their Ecclesiastical Superiors do that which blessed Paul when he had ignorantly done to a corrupt High-Priest acknowledged as a crime condemned in the Law of God I wist not saith he that he was the High-Priest Acts 23.5 for it is written thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people they do that which the Conscience of a Jew could not let pass without just indignation and reproof for when St. Paul had said God shall smite thee thou whited wall v. 3 4. they presently cry out Revilest thou Gods High-Priest There lies indeed no obligation on us to call evil good or flatter our Superiors in their sins or judge well of them against the clearest evidence of Sense or Reason but then we are obliged not to cherish evil thoughts or harbour groundless jealousies of our Superiors much less must we express our inward apprehensions of them by opprobrious language or disrespectful carriage towards them And yet 't is but too evident that both the Writings and Discourses of Dissenters are too often stuft with these malevolent reflections in which they take the liberty of speaking evil of the Rulers of the people and of blaspheming Dignities and representing the Reverend Bishops as Popish Antichristian and Ithacian Prelates § 18 Lastly Let me conjure you by that affection which you bear unto the Name and Doctrine of our common Lord and Saviour and to the credit of the Protestant Religion to abstain carefully from all Seditious and Rebellious Principles and Practices and to do all you can to clear your selves from all suspicion of maintaining or approving of them For to deal plainly with you this is one great fault among you that you have many of you vented and more of you have practised sutably to those Opinions which are Seditious and Rebellious and these Opinions
Month or only at Easter and Penticost as was the ancient Custom of the Church of God Whether Baptism should be Administred by Dipping or by Sprinkling only whether by Dipping thrice as was the Custom of some Churches or only once as other Churches did whether only Men or Women only or both indifferently were to assist at the Baptizing of Adult persons He hath said do this in remembrance of me but hath not told us on what days the Lords Supper shall be Administred or how oft whether it should be received every day or every Sunday as in the Primitive Church the Custom was or every Month as in Cathedrals it is or thrice a year as is required by the Rubrick He hath not told us in plain words whether consecration of the Elements to be received be necessary and what words must be used in Consecration nor hath he told us who alone may Consecrate whether a Deacon or a Priest only or who alone shall be admitted to the Sacrament whether all visible Professors or sincere Believers only whether they must be first examined by Church Officers or only should examin their own Consciences He hath not told us whether the Bread to be received shall be of Wheat or of some other Grain whether one great Loaf or more Whether the Wine shall be mixt with Water or not or whether it shall be Claret Muskadine or any other sort of Wine whether we shall receive after Supper as Christ and his Apostles did or in the Morning as the Christians under persecution did whether we should receive it Full or Fasting Sitting Leaning Standing or Kneeling whether we should receive at a Communion Table or in our Seats and whether that Table shall be of Wood or Stone whether it shall be Round Long or Square whether it shall stand in the East or West end or in the Middle of the Church whether it shall have Rails or no Rails All or many of these things to omit many other Circumstances respecting Ordination and Church Discipline are left by Christ and his Apostles undetermined and if this Argues in him a defect of care and providence or of fidelity towards his Church as this objection doth Blasphemously suppose what remains but that our Blessed Saviour should be charged with these neglects it being certain from experience that he hath left us no particular injunctions for the determination of these matters And if he must be deemed less faithful in his House than Moses was because he is not so particular in the prescribing of such Rites I know not how we can excuse him from that guilt so Blasphemous is the result of this Objection And lastly seeing these Acts of Worship cannot be performed without some of these Circumstances which are thus left undetermined if the determination of them by Superiours be a sufficient cause for our Refusal to be present at or to joyn with them in these Ordinances we must have cause sufficient to renounce all Publick Worship Answ 4 4ly We say there is a manifest disparity betwixt the Gospel and the Jews state and that good reason may be given why tho all punctilio's were determined then it should not be so now For the People of the Jews lived all under one Civil Government whereas we Christians live under different forms of Government and are dispersed throughout divers Nations using divers Customs and therefore could not if at all conveniently practise such an uniformity of Ceremonies as we must have done if Christ had determined every Circumstance of his Worship as Moses did v. g. dipping in Baptism might be subject to little inconvenience in hot Countries but if this should have been enjoyned under the frozen Zone it might have hazarded the life of the Baptized person The Custom of some Countries doth make that decent and a sign of Reverence and therefore fit to be imposed or observed in those Countries which is in other Countries where no such Customs do obtain neither decent nor a sign of Reverence and so unfit to be required in those Countries See many other disparities in the Irenicum of Dr. Stillingfleet Answ 5 Lastly The fidelity of Moses here spoken of is only this that he did faithfully declare unto the Jews what God had spoken to him concealing nothing of what God had commanded from them he was faithful saith the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a Testimony of what was to be spoken Hebr. 3.5 And therefore the fidelity of Christ compared with it must not consist in prescribing Ceremonies but in declaring the whole Will of God discovered to him which that he punctually performed he himself assures us saying The Word which I speak is not mine Joh. 14.10 Joh. 12.49 50. but his that sent me I speak not of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a Commandment what I should say As the Father hath said to me so I speak Obj. 2 The Scripture is a Rule of even Ceremonies in Gods Worship for it gives prescriptions and directions in the New Testament concerning the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper Now if it doth not prescribe all Ceremonies requisite and convenient then it is only a partial and imperfect Rule of Cemonies in Gods Worship whereas we cannot but hold it to be a perfect adequate and total Rule of Ceremonial as well as Moral Worship for it is able to perfect the man of God and throughly to furnish him unto all good works Reply to Dr. Hammond p. 85 Answ 1. and so unto all Ceremonies that are good works So M. Jeans Answ To shew the Absurdity of this Argument take these few Instances of a like Nature The Scripture is a Rule of Justice and of Charity betwixt Man and Man and of Temperance towards our selves for it gives prescriptions and directions in the New Testament concerning all those Matters Now if it doth not prescribe all that is requisite and convenient to be prescribed in respect unto them then it is only a partial and imperfect Rule of Justice Charity and Temperance whereas we cannot but hold it to be a total adequate and perfect Rule of all particulars respecting Justice Charity and Temperance For it is able to perfect the man of God throughly furnish him to all good Works and so to all particular Acts of Justice that are good Works and so all Humane Laws concerning any Act of Justice Charity or Temperance which are not meerly penal but directive must be a Derogation from the Sufficiency of Scripture as well as the prescribing of a Ceremony Answ 2 2ly According to this Argument the Scripture must have prescribed both Time and Place and all the things which I have mentioned in Answer to the last Objection or else no Time or Place or any of those things which are left undetermined by it can be requisite or convenient to be used in the Worship of God So monstrously absurd is this way of Arguing In farther Confutation of this Argument
and as it grew more ancient its Constitutions grew more numerous and so the men of this opinion had they lived then as they did not none that we read of in those times ever pretending separation from any Church on these accounts they must have been obliged to separate from all the Churches then in being Come we to all the Churches of this present Age and we shall find that this opinion will oblige the Authors of it to separate from them also For the Church of Rome and all the Eastern Churches they must much more abominate on this account than any others because their Ceremonies are more numerous and many of them superstitious The Lutheran Churches have not only Lyturgies and other ancient Ceremonies which we observe but they have also Images many other observations which these men stile Superstitious Popish Antichristian Ceremonies In the Reformed Churches they will find Lyturgies of humane invention and change of Apparel for Divine Service even at Geneva they will find enjoyned a Book of Common Prayer composed by Calvin the Wafer Cake the use of God-Fathers in Baptism bidding of Prayer with divers other Coremonies no where commanded in the Holy Scripture and so as Dr. Durel largely proves it is in all Reformed Churches of the West I am not able saith Mr. Baxter to bear the thoughts of separating from almost all Christs Churches upon Earth but he that separateth from one or many Def. of the Princip of love p. 55. upon a Reason common to all doth virtually separate from all Since then it hath been proved that separating on the Account of this principle is virtually condemning and separating from all the Churches of this and all preceding Ages of the Christian World the Authors of it must renounce the principle or bear the blame both of condemning and separating from the whole Church of Christ throughout all Ages This Tenet gives a great advantage to Popery for it asserts that nothing circumstantial must be performed in Gods worship without particular direction from the Word Now it is certain that many circumstances of worship which concern Prayer Preaching of the Word Administration of the Sacraments Church Government the Exercise of Church discipline are not determined in the written Word of God and therefore it is needful if this principle be true either to own Traditions touching matters of this Nature to be received as the Word of God or to confess he hath appointed some infallible persons whether Pope or Councils it is not much material whose determinations in these matters must be received as the Word of God Now these two Tenets are the fundamental parts of Popery on which their other Doctrins and Practices depend and which if we admit we cannot rationally reject whatsoever these infallible Judges shall determine or deliver as the unwritten Word of God I shall conclude this head with a large Passage out of Mr. Baxter who in his defence of his principles of Love speaks thus There are men otherwise very honest and truly Godly who think that the Scripture is intended by God not only as a general Rule but a particular Law for all the very circumstances of worship and that the second Commandment in particular condemneth all that is the product or invention of man in or about the Worship of God and that to deny this is to deny the perfection of the Scriptures If this opinion prevail saith he what abundance of hurt will it do For 1. It draweth men into the dangerous guilt of adding to the Word of God under pretence of defending its perfection and extent For what is adding to the Word of God but making that to be commanded or forbidden by that Word which is not there commanded or forbidden Since therefore evident it is that all particular circumstances of worship are not by that Word prescribed as I have proved already whence it must necessarily follow that some necessary circumstances not there prescribed cannot be forbidden it is plain that this opinion which saith that all circumstances of worship are particularly prescribed in Scripture and that all not prescribed are forbidden there must add unto the Word of God 2ly It prepareth men for Infidelity and the denyal of the Authority of Holy Scripture for when men are made to believe that Scripture if it be a perfect Rule must be a Rule for those things which are not found in it at all they must be tempted when they cannot find all Accidents of worship particularly determined in it to suspect it as a delusory imperfect thing The Divine Will say it tells me not sufficiently and particularly what Books of Scripture are Canonical nor which of the various Readings are right nor whether it be to be divided into Chapters and Verses nor into how many nor in what Metre and Tune I must sing Psalms nor what persons shall be Pastors of Churches nor what Text I shall chuse next nor what Words or Method I shall use in my next Prayer or Sermon 3ly This opinion which seems to plead for the perfection of the Scripture Rule doth plainly charge it with imperfection and obscurity for it asserts that it is necessary in Order to the perfection of this Rule that it should have prescribed every particular circumstance and mode of worship fit and requisite to be used in Gods Service and it is farther requisite that it should do this clearly in all the instances forementioned since otherwise we cannot be assured that we act in all these modes and circumstances according unto its directions Now seeing it is certain that it hath not done so in all the instances forementioned in answer to the former Arguments since learned pious and judicious men can find no such determinations there and therefore judge dispute and act so variously in those matters because they find nothing delivered in those cases with so great clearness and particularity as may determine them in all these cases how to act I say this being so it must be evident that Scripture cannot be according to this supposition a sufficient plain and perfect Rule 4ly This mistake tends to cast all rational worship out of the Church by deterring men from inventing or studying how to do Gods Work aright for if all that man inventeth or deviseth without a particular direction from the Holy Scripture be forbidden by it then must we not study to find out the true Method of Praying or Preaching nor must we study what to say till we are speaking nor what time gesture place or words to use there being no particular direction for these things it being only said in general Study to shew thy self a Workman that needs not be ashamed Now banish Study and you banish Knowledge and rational Religion from the World 5ly This opinion will bring in all confusion instead of pure reasonable worship whilst every man is left to find that in Scripture which never was there one will think that he findeth one thing there and another
many other things of a like Nature which he most truly saith are all left to humane Determination ibid. §. 27.28 and to humane Prudence And yet according to his Argument seing no reason can be given why the Determination of most of them would not be equally useful in all Ages and all Churches they must be the matter of an Universal Law if of any and so of an Universal Law-giver and so cannot be left to humane Prudence or Determination Again when the same Person Argues against the Imposition of our Ceremonies thus Disp 5. Chap. 4. §. 3. If these things are needful now why not throughout all Ages and all Churches if therefore Christ did neither by himself nor his Apostles institute and impose these Rites then either the imposing of them is needless and consequently noxious or else you must say that Christ hath omitted a needful part of his Law which implyes that he was either ignorant what to do or neglective of his Affairs This Argument again condemns all the Churches of Christ throughout all Ages since the Apostles times who have always used some Ceremonies which neither Christ nor his Apostles thought fit to institute And 2ly It also renders it unlawful for humane Prudence to determine any of those things which saith he Christ and his Apostles have left undetermined they being mostly such as are or may be equally useful in all Ages of the Church and such of which it may be said whensoever they are determined by humane Prudence if they are needful now why not always c. CHAP. V. The CONTENTS Obj. 5. Those Ceremonies which God himself appointed to teach his Church by their signification may not now be used much less may those which man hath devised § 1. Answ 1. That as St. Paul submitted to some Jewish Rites unlawfully required by the Jewish Christians that he might gain the Jew and Minister to their Salvation so may the Christian submit to Ceremonies unfitly imposed by Superiors for like good ends Answ the 2d This Argument offers nothing against signs Natural and Customary such as are kneeling at the Sacrament the Cross in Baptism standing up at the Creed But only against signs arbitrary from the imposing of which the Excellent Bishop Taylor doth excuse our Church § 2. Obj. 6. The use of the Ceremonies is superstitious and therefore cannot be submitted to Answ By stating the true Notion of Superstition and shewing 1. That Superstition is a species of false Worship and therefore where no Worship is exhibited by the act done or intended by the Doer or Imposer of it as in the case of our Ceremonies there can be no Superstition in that Act. 2ly That Superstitious Worship undue as to the manner of it can only be performed by offering that as acceptable and pleasing to God or as an Exercise of Religion or an Acknowledgment of some of Gods Perfections which is not so 3ly All Superstition consisting Fundamentally in this mistake and formally in the ensuing Practice It follows that the Forbearance of an Act upon the like mistake viz. That we conceive it well-pleasing to God and tending to his Honor to forbear it when indeed it is not so is Superstition § 3. Hence our Dissenters must be Superstitious provided that the Rites that they refuse Submission to be lawful in themselves 1. Because they do and must esteem this their refusal as an Act of special Honour done to God 2ly Because they must esteem themselves by this forbearance Preservers of Gods Worship pure and spiritual 3ly Because they must esteem themselves under a necessity of displeasing God by joyning in Communion with us § 4. § 5. What is the true Import of Edification § 6. Obj. 7. We must not submit to the Institution or Introduction of New Sacraments And therefore not to the Institution of the Ceremonies of the Church of England they having the Nature of Sacraments § 7. Answ 1. That the Ceremonies of the Church of England are not appointed to be signs of Spiritual Grace or to confirm Grace to us 2ly That the designing of these Ceremonies to express signify or bring into our minds Spiritual Duties cannot make them Sacraments With reasons why the Representation of some Spiritual Duty by a mystical Rite cannot as properly pertain to the Nature of a Sacrament as the sealing some Spiritual Promise doth § 8. Many things required in Sacraments which are all wanting in our Ceremonies § 9. Mr. Baxters Arguments to prove the Cross as used in our Church a Sacrament are answered § 10. CHAP. V. BUt say Dissenters Obj. 5 If those Ceremonies which God himself ordained to teach his Church by their signification may not now be used § 1 much less may those which man hath devised now God hath abrogated his own not only those that were appointed to prefigure Christ but such also as served by their signification to teach moral duties and so as now without great sin none of them can be continued in the Church no not for signification and therefore to bring in others of like Nature is to Judaize To confirm this Argument they add that if men may impose such Ceremonies because of their significancy they may reduce into the Church of Christ all the whole Mass of Jewish Ceremonies as v. g. 1. Those of moral signification as the not eating of Blood to teach us to avoid cruelty towards the life of man and beast the not eating of unclean beasts to denote our abhorrence of the impurities and immoralities which by that abstinence the Jews were taught to refrain from the not touching any thing unclean to mind us of avoiding all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit to omit infinite instances of like Nature 2ly By the like reason many Jewish Rites which were Types and Shadows of things to come may be reduced into the Church upon other accounts as v. g. Circumcision to mind us of the Circumcision of the Heart the Paschal Lamb to signify our Gratitude for passing from Darkness unto Light or from our Spiritual Thraldom unto sin into the Liberty of the Sons of God all Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and all whereby they owned God to be the Author of Life and Death and all their temporal Mercies and did Acknowledge that they deserved to die for sin and all the Jewish Garments importing Spiritual Duties to be performed by their Priests with many things of a like Nature And indeed saith Bishop Taylor If the Church might add things Duct Dub. l. 3. c. 4. R. 20. § 7. or rituals of Signification then the Walls might be covered with the Figures of Doves Sheep Lambs Serpents Birds and the Communion Table with Wine Herbs Tapers Pidgeons Raisins Hony Milk and Lambs and whatsoever else the wit of man can invent But the manner of teaching these truths by Symbolical things actions is too low too suspicious too dangerous to be mingled with Divine Lyturgies Christ may as he please consign his own good things
with respect unto the manner And therefore it is well observed by Dr. Stillingfleet That many Superstitions condemned in Scripture chiefly consist in the forbearance of things lawful Serm. of Superst p. 37. on supposition that the forbearance of them was well pleasing to God The Superstition condemned Coloss 2.22 lay in supposing God to be pleased with their Forbearance of things lawful with their not touching tasting handling them and therefore was a negative Superstition And so it was in the dispute between Christ and the Pharisees about healing on the Sabbath day they thought it unlawful and therefore did abstain Christ thought it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day and therefore did it here was no positive observance on the Pharisees part yet here was Superstition in them and therefore the true Notion of Superstition doth extend to the Forbearance of things in themselves lawful as displeasing to God § 4 Now to apply these things that the Forbearance of the Ceremonies required by the Church of England on supposition that they are lawful in themselves and yet are by Dissenters abstained from as unlawful must be superstitious will be exceeding evident 1. Because they do and must according to their Principles esteem this their refusal to submit unto them when imposed as an act of special honor to God it being a declaration of their minds that they think God dishonoured by such acts and therefore dare not comply with them it can be only fear of sinning against God which can engage them with the hazard of their Estates and Ease c. thus to refuse obedience to the Commands of their Superiours They then must look on this refusal as a product of the fear of God and as an act of true obedience to him in opposition to the unjust Commands of men or an obeying God more than man and consequently they must esteem themselves more holy acceptable and well pleasing to God on the account of this Forbearance than Conformists are 2ly Because they do and must esteem Gods Worship corrupted by the use of these our Rites as to the Purity and the Spirituality of it and so they do esteem themselves by this Forbearance Preservers of his Worship pure and spiritual and free from that Idolatry and Superstition with which they charge it upon these accounts 3ly Because they do and must according to their principles rather refuse to joyn in the external Communion of our Church and rather bound to set up separate Communions than to comply with these our Rites now surely nothing but a necessity of displeasing God by joyning in Communion with us can warrant their refusal of it nothing but a necessity by God imposed on them of setting up such separate Communions in Order to the acceptable Worship of God can justify their Separation if therefore they mistake in Judging that such necessity is laid upon them as they must do if it be lawful to submit unto these Rites and hold Communion with us notwithstanding the necessity which lyes upon them to submit unto them they must be superstitious in that Practice which follows from this grand mistake § 5 In answer to the Close of this Objection it is said That these things edify by their Signification and therefore must be good and profitable and so not like unto vain Words and Actions To this it is replyed by Dissenters that many things of a like Nature when they are used by devout and thinking men may edify by their Signification and yet the imposition of them upon that account would scarce exempt them from the appearance of vanity As v. g. Should a Church Governor command his Subjects to appear in Armor in the Church to signify their Spiritual Warfare or to put on an Helmet to signify that they would manfully fight under Christs Banner or to drink Milk in token of their desire to feed on the sincere Milk of the Word or to use Vinegar and Gall in token of their Resolution to undergo the greatest Hardships for the Sake of Christ or to put on a pair of Spectacles to signify we are dim sighted in the things of Christ tho the Signification of these things might tend to edify the things required could hardly be excused from vanity 2ly They add that Edification in the Scripture Sense is quite another thing from this obscure way of teaching by Signification To edify our Brother in the Scripture Sense is to build him up and to confirm him and help him forward in the Christian Faith 1 Tim. 1.4 Jud. 20. The things by which the Church is said to receive Edification are of a better Nature viz. Walking in the Fear of God and in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost Act. 9 31. The Preaching of the Word 1 Cor. 14.3 4 5. Christian admonition and discourse Administring Grace unto the Hearer Eph. 4.29 The Graces of the Holy Spirit descending on Christs Members Eph. 4.16 Of the Edification of any indifferent and humane Ceremony the Scripture speaketh not one Word We are then said in Scripture to edify our Brother when we forbear indifferent and unnecessary things which through his weakness do cooperate towards his ruine Rom. 14.19 20. We do it by our Charity towards him in these things for Charity edifyeth 1 Cor. 8.1 By our Promotion of unity and so by the removal of such unnecessary things as do obstruct it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Edifie your selves into one 1 Thes 5.11 Answ But were this granted that some one or more of our Ceremonies seemed to you unprofitable and unserviceable to the use of Edifying what is that to you who only are concerned to know whether what your Superiors Command may lawfully be done by you and who Transgress your bounds when you presume to judge whether the things imposed be in their own Natures profitable edifying or convenient to be imposed for if they be as you conceive the fault supposed in the imposing of them is not yours but theirs whereas the fault in not submitting to them if lawful will most certainly be yours 2ly Whatsoever they are in themselves yet your submission to them in obedience to the lawful Commands of your Superiors for preservation of the Churches Peace for the prevention of Schism and all its dreadful consequents for the obtaining freedom to joyn in the Communion of the Church will doubtless highly tend to your Edification and your Profit as being a Submission to them for such Pious Christian ends as Christianity most stirictly doth oblige us to aim at and pursue and which are in themselves sufficient to sanctifie an action otherwise unprofitable and render it a Christian Duty Lastly to Kneel at the receiving of the Sacrament to express our Reverence and Humility to sign a Child with the Cross in token to the Congregation that he is listed among Christs Members or wear a Surplice for decency or distinction cannot be proved to be vain by any of the Instances forementioned Obj. 7 We cannot say Dissenters
lawfully submit to the institution § 7 or introduction of New Sacraments into the Church of God or use them being introduced without Divine Institution For a Sacrament according to the Catechism of the Church of England being an outward visible sign of inward Spiritual grace and both a means thereof and a pledg to assure us of it he only can have power to appoint a Sacramental sign who has right to promise and power to Minister that grace and therefore he alone who is the God of all grace can institute a Sacrament now that our Ceremonies some at least of them are Sacraments they endeavour to prove by these Arguments 1. All Mystical Bodily rites and signs of Spiritual grace administred to the Church of God in his Solemn Service to confirm grace and that by him who represents the Person of Christ are Sacraments but such are the greatest part of our Ceremonies for they being Administred to Edifie the Soul and Conscience must be Administred to confirm grace the Sacrament of the Lords Supper being for this cause alone 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 whereby the Soul is Edified must be also Sacraments 2ly No reason say they can be given why the representation of some Spiritual Duty by a Mystical Rite should not as properly pertain to the Nature of a Sacrament as the shadowing or Sealing some Spiritual promise and it seems altogether as lawful for Man to devise signs for the confirmations of his Faith as to admonish of and teach his Duty for what difference is there between an addition to the means of instruction appointed by God and to the means of our assurance prescribed by him the Commandments and Promises being so knit together that we cannot perform our Duty without assurance of some benefit by it from God Moreover to be a teacher of the understanding and exciter of devotion requireth power supernatural no less than to be a confirmer of the heart and he who hath Authority to ordain means effectual for any of these ends can bless them all and Man hath as much power to Seal what he cannot bestow as to teach by his own sign that which he cannot bless to that end Answ 1 1. It must be granted that it is not in the power of the Church to introduce new Sacraments truly and properly so called but then unto the Arguments produced to prove our Ceremonies to have the Nature of true Sacraments I Reply 1. That I know not any Ceremonies which by the Church of England are appointed to be signs of Spiritual grace or to confirm grace to us for it is one thing to appoint or use such Rites as in themselves are apt to signifie or mind us of Spiritual things or bring such things to our remembrance which the Church confessedly doth and it is another thing to appoint such Rites to be used to that end which the Church doth not by the bare using of the thing appointed we comply with the institution in the first sense but only by using of these Rites to such an end do we comply with it in the Second now where doth the Church of England require us to use her Ceremonies to such ends Where doth she say you shall wear a Surplice to put you in mind of that purity of Conversation which is required by the Ministers of Christ you shall Kneel to signifie or mind you of that Reverence you owe to God you shall receive the sign of the Cross to put you in mind of your Duty to confess and own a Crucified Saviour no sure that Ceremony is used to Persons not capable of being put in mind of any Duty only in token to the Congregation that they are listed amongst them who are engaged so to confess What enquiry doth the Church of England make whether any of her Members have used her Ceremonies to these ends or not When did she ever quarrel with or punish any for neglecting to use them to these ends Wherefore the whole foundation of this Argument is in my judgment false and rather grounded upon some fanciful expressions of some Writers of the Church of England than upon any of her own institutions and decrees she having no where said that she administers any of the forementioned Rites to confirm grace or doth appoint them to be signs of grace but only that she doth appoint them as being apt and proper in themselves to put good thoughts into us or to express our Reverence as beating on the Breast or sighing is apt to signifie or to express our Godly sorrow and looking up to Heaven to mind us of the wisdom and the power of the great Creator and of that Majesty who dwelleth there Answer 2 2ly If the design of these Ceremonies to signifie express or bring into my mind Spiritual things would make them Sacraments Then 1. the kiss of Charity and the love Feasts used and approved in the Apostles time and all the Ancient Ceremonies of the Church designed to signifie or represent Spiritual things must also be esteemed Sacraments they being all designed to Edifie the Soul and consequently the whole Church of Christ from the beginning to this present day must justly be obnoxious to this Sacrilegious guilt of adding to the Sacraments of Christ 2ly Then must all visible Creatures become Sacraments they being all designed by God to Edifie us by instructing us in and minding us of the Almighty power and Majesty of God Then 3ly Every Crucifix and Picture relating to Spiritual things every piece of Tapestry or Turky-work which contains any piece of sacred History whereby we may be Edified Every good Ballad Pious Book and Frontispiece set before it and even that Pack of Cards which lately was contrived to mind us of the Popish Plot must be a Sacrament If as the first Objection saith all Rites and Signs whereby the Soul is Edified or which have been designed to that end are Sacraments then all the Moral signs of the whole Jewish Law must be reputed Sacraments The Tabernacle the Altar the Sacrifices the Golden Candlestick the Lamp and Snuffers the Priests Garments the Phylacteries and Fringes which God Commanded them to wear for a Memorial the clean Beasts appointed to be Eaten and Offered and the unclean to be abstained from must all be Sacraments according to this Rule they being Rites appointed to signifie Spiritual things or Duties and so to Edifie the Soul and Conscience yea every good word we speak every instruction we deliver to our Child or Friend or our Parishioners every Publick Prayer must be a Sacrament for words are signs and these are words and therefore signs designed to Edifie the Soul Lastly If every thing designed to teach the understanding or to excite devotion only as objects and as occasions which the mind of Man may use or may reflect on to that end must be a Sacrament then every
here not to touch the unclean thing is only to purge our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit as is evident from the context of the words for the Apostle having mentioned the promises God had made to those who did separate themselves and touch not the unclean thing viz. that God would receive them and be a Father to them he infers wherefore beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit chap. 7.1 So that this Text cannot concern our Ceremonies unless it be asserted that whilst we use them we cannot cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit And 4ly The unclean thing here spoken of is plainly the Idolatry of the Heathens as that expression intimates what conjunction hath the Christian who is the Temple of God with Idols to touch this unclean thing is to Communicate with them in their Idolatry by eating of their Idol Feasts in the Temple of their Idols which is saith the Apostle to have Communion with Devils 1 Cor. 10.20 to partake of the Table of Devils v. 21. let us not therefore saith he who have taken upon us the Yoke of Christianity be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drawing in a contrary Yoke with the unfaithful for that the Apostle cannot by the unclean thing mean Marriage with an Infidel is evident because he saith the unbelieving Husband is sanctified to the beliving Wife 1 Cor. 7.14 if then these Ceremonies which we use cannot be proved to be Idols they must be unconcerned in this prohibition To the Argument from the Apostle Judes exhortation to hate the Garments spotted with the Flesh Defence of Dr. Morton p. 437. it is well Answered by Dr. Burges That as a Garment spotted with the Flesh of the unclean was no longer to be hated than till it was washed and being washed might again be used so is it with Ceremonies of indifferent nature which have been defiled 2ly To hate or flie the Garments spotted with the Flesh is only to hate every thing that doth defile tho in the least degree for so the Leprous and Unclean Garments did Hate saith the Reverend Dr. Hammond all the beginnings and the least degrees of impurity and uncleanness when therefore it can be proved that there is any degree of impurity or uncleanness in the use of our Ceremonies then only may this Text be urged against them And 3ly The refusal to Submit unto them tending to Disobedience and Schism and all the dreadful consequences which do follow from them may seem more likely to be forbidden by this Text than our Submission to them in Obedience to Authority Again whereas it is Objected That Christ reproved the Church of Pergamus and Thyatira for suffering Men to teach her Children to eat things Sacrificed to Idols Rev. 2.14 20. I Answer 1. That St. Paul hath taught us that it was not necessary in it self to eat Flesh offered to Idols for the Earth saith he is the Lords and the fulness thereof 1 Cor. 10.28 and so we may sufficiently be fed by other meat and yet he tells us that this meat may lawfully be eaten by the Christian that it is clean to the clean Tit. 1.15 and that 't is only through weakness that it can defile the Conscience and only is unclean to him that thinketh it to be so Rom. 14.14 and he gives free commission to all Men to eat it asking no question for Conscience sake 1 Cor. 10.27 and bids us as it were in flat contradiction to this Objection not to enquire or be follicitous whether the meat we eat have been by others so abused to Idolatry and if the offering of Flesh to an Idol doth not debar our freedom of using it to the sustaining of our Bodies why should the Superstitious use of a Ceremony make it unlawful to be used by others without that Superstition the eating therefore of things Sacrificed to Idols and teaching others so to do which was the thing condemned in those Churches by our Lord was only eating of them in the Idol Temples and at the Feasts of Idols so as to be partakers of the Table of Devils or to commit Idolatry by the participation of them which is so evident from the Context that he who runs may read it For 1. They are there also said to teach their Children to commit Fornication and to eat things offered to Idols Revel 2.14 20. Now all Men know that Fornication in the spiritual sense imports Idolatry 2ly They of the Church of Pergamus who taught her Children to eat things Sacrificed to Idols are said to hold the Doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel that is to Sacrifice to their Gods to eat and to bow down unto them or to entice them by the Daughters of Moab to this sin Numb 25.1 2 3. Lastly The Woman who seduced the Church of Thyatira to commit Fornication and to eat things Sacrificed to Idols is called Jezabel a Woman famous for her promotion of Idolatry Proceed we now to Answer the examples propounded in the Objection And § 8 1. Gen. 35.4 To that of Jacob who caused his Family to give unto him the Ear-rings which were in their Ears I Answer 1. That these Ear-rings were say some Interpreters the Ear-rings which adorned their Gods and so were parts of their strange Gods they were say others Ear-rings in which were graven the effigies of their Gods after the manner of the Gentiles and so they were plain Idols which ought to be abolished they were say others dedicated to some Numen according to the manner of the Syrians and the Phaenicians and so were actual instruments of Idolatry Now what doth this concern the Ceremonies of the Church of England which as she useth them are neither Idols nor instruments of Idolatry 2. Dan. 1.8 To the example of Daniel who would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings Meat nor with the Wine which he drank I Answer that it is on many accounts impertinent 1. Because according to the judgment of Mr. Calvin the pollution spoken of was not a Ceremonial pollution arising from the Idolatrous use of the meats but only Moral and occasional by their being Bates and Allurements to draw him to an irreligious forgetfulness of the service of God 2ly If the pollution was Ceremonial it might arise from a mixture of Meats forbidden by the Jewish Law with others lawful to be eaten and which if he refused he would not have eaten the full portion allowed by the King 3ly Esth 3.2 To the example of Mordecai refusing to bow to Haman 1. If he himself may be believed he did not refuse what he conceived lawful in it self because it was by others abused to Idolatry but because the Worship which by Haman was required was in it self Idolatrous as being Worship proper to the God of Heaven For thus he speaks Thou knowest Lord that it was neither out of Pride nor
of divine service the Lord Jesus Christ shall be mentioned due and lowly Reverence shall be done by all persons present as it hath been accustomed testifying by these outward Ceremonies and Gestures their inward Humility Christian Resolution and due Acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus Christ the true and Eternal Son of God is the only Savior of the world in whom alone all the Mercies Graces and Promises of God to mankind for this life and the life to come are fully and wholly comprised And 3ly When we Kneel at the Reception of the Blessed Sacrament Rubrick after the Communion we do not pay that outward act of Worship to the Elements of Bread and Wine but to that Savior whom they represent for the Church of England hath declared that thereby no adoration is intended or ought to be done unto the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received So that from the express declarations of the Church of England it appears that none of these things are by her made the objects of Religious Worship but only the occasions of tendring that Worship which we owe to God and therefore there is no appearance of Idolatry in the performance of these things Obj. 3 We are commanded to Separate from every Brother that walks disorderly 2 Thessal 3.6 § 3 And are forbidden to keep Company with any man who being call'd a Brother is a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Rayler or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such a one we must not Eat 1 Cor. 5.11 And if we may not Eat with Such a Person at our own Table may we Eat with him at the Holy Table of the Lord Now through the want of Discipline such Persons are admitted amongst you saith the Dissenter and therfore we dare nor joyn with you in that Ordinance Answ 1 I pray God this objection doth not make you meet together as the Apostle saith of the Corinthian Schismaticks 1 Cor. 11.17 not for the better but the worse For I much fear there may be found in those Assemblys which you resort to as more pure besides a crew of Schismaticks with whom according to the Discipline observed in the purest Ages of the Church the Christian ought not to communicate many who rail against Superiors and speak evil of Dignities and many who have once been open Rebels and have not publickly repented of those crimes and if you can communicate with them why not with such as usually do meet at our Communion Tables The wisdom which is from above is impartial Answ 2 Consider I beseech you that this argument will drive you as well from our Assemblies and from our Prayers as from our Communion Table for you may as well Argue thus him that I may not keep company with at home I may not keep company with at Church him that I must not joyn with in my Civil Converse I must not hold Communion with in Sacred him that I may not Eat with I may not Pray with as you do Argue thus him that I may not Eat with at my own I may not Eat with at the Table of the Lord. This is apparent from the occasion of the objected Precept viz. The Incestuous Person who was to be taken from among them v. 2. To be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh v. 5. To be purged out from the new lump v. 7. To be put away from among them v. 13. If therefore after admonition they continue obstinate and Refractory Offenders they are to be excluded from all Christs ordinances and to be esteemed as Publicans and Heathens Matt. 18.17 Accordingly they by the discipline observed in the purest Ages of the Church were actually excluded from Communion with her in all her Offices if then we may not joyn with them in one we may not joyn with them in other Ordinances till they have satisfyed the Church they being by this precept equally to be excluded from them all Scripture may also be as plausibly produced for the declining of Communion with them in publick Prayer and family devotions in hearing of a Sermon and the like as in receiving of the Sacrament for doth not David make it the Character of good and blessed men that they stand not in the Congregation of Sinners Doth he not say Psal 1.1 Psal 101.4 I will not know a wicked Person Answ 3 That even wicked Persons who are not Scandalously and Notoriously such but make profession of Obedience to the laws of Christ and are not by the Church cast out for acting contrary to their profession may be unblameably communicated with seems undenyable from the Example of our Saviour by whom Judas was certainly admitted to that Passover which spiritually did signify and represent Christ to them 1 Cor. 10.3 And by which rite they owned themselves the servants of the God of Israel v. 18. Whence none might eat thereof who were not Circumcised Exod. 12.48 That he was also present at the supper of our Lord I have fully proved already If then a person so unworthy and so regardless of the Law of Moses that he had actually resolved to take a reward to betray Innocent-blood If a Thief Psal 15.5 and a Covetous person was by our Lord admitted to the Passover If one who by our Lord was known to be in heart a Murtherer and a Betrayer of his Master was yet admitted by him to his Sacrament you see that sinners must be first notorious before they ought to be excluded and when they are so our Rubrick and our Canons give every Minister Authority to with-hold the Communion from them and therefore Authorise them to exercise the Discipline required in this case Hence also we may learn that to communicate with those whom we know to be wicked in this duty derives upon us no Communion in their Guilt for otherwise our Lord and his Disciples would not have joyned in Communion with that wicked one Answ 4 This precept is not directed to particular persons but to the Church of Corinth in the General as you may learn from v. 4. And therefore hence it only follows that it is the duty of Church Governors to exclude such persons from Communion with her but not that private persons should refrain Communion with the Church because they judge that they neglect their duty And therefore we do never read that Christ or his Apostles refused Communion with the Jewish Church or did neglect to go unto the Temple or the Synagogue because the Scribes and Pharisees neglected to perform their duty and our Apostle here doth never call the members of the Church of Corinth to separate from them who caused disorders in the Celebration of this Sacrament but only calls upon them to reform those disorderly proceedings And I beseech you to consider what a Gap would be laid open to perpetual Schisms if private persons were permitted to judge when their Superiors did neglect their duty in any part of publick worship
by executing of them only should rebuke the Scorner which the Wiseman forbids Prov. 9.8 Here then our Saviors Rule seems to take place Give not that which is Holy unto Dogs Matt. 7.6 lest they turn again and rent you Such persons ought therefore only to be excluded from the Sacrament according to the Counsel and Direction of the Church of England but not entirely and without exception excommunicated from the Church Prim. Christian Part 3. p. 377. To this effect it is observed by Dr. Cave that the Primitive Church Relaxed the severity of their Discipline when great multitudes were concerned or such persons as were like to draw great numbers after them in this case saith He they thought it prudent and reasonable to deal with persons by somewhat milder and gentler methods lest by holding them to terms of Rigor and Austerity they should provoke them to fly off either to Heathenism or to Heresy This Course St. Cyprian and his Brethren took for as the concord of his Collegues and the benefit of uniting the Fraternity and healing the wound in the Church required they 1 Necessitati temporum succubuisse p. 52. §. 3. yeelded to the necessity of the times and admitted the lapsed to Communion upon tolerable hopes of their true repentance 2 Ad gentiles se vias saecularia opera convertat vel ad Hereticos Schismaticos rejectus ab Eccle. transeat ibid. §. 10. v §. 3 9. lest being excluded from the Church they out of desperation should fly back to the Worldy or joyn with Hereticks or Schismaticks And in like manner saith he did our Brother 3 Cornelius yield to the necessity of the times Cornelius necessitati succubuit ibid. §. 6. Admitting to Communion plebis maximam partem maximum Fratrûm numerum a great part of the common people or the Brethren which separated with him upon the satisfaction and repentance of Trophimus alone with whom as they first separated they returned Moreover to this accords the judgment of St. Austin who declareth that 4 Neque enim potest esse Salutaris à multis correptio nisi cum ille corripitur qui non habet sociam multitudinem cum autem idem morbus plurimos occupaverit nihil aliud bonis restat quà m dolor gemitus Contr. Epist Parmen l. 3. p. 61. B. Correption cannot be salutary when the offendor hath many partners and that when the same disease hath seiz'd on many there remains no other Remedy for Good men to use but Prayers and Sighs and Sorrow And again that when 5 Et revera si contagio peccandi multitudinem invaserit Divinae Disciplinae severa misericordia necessaria est nam Consilia separationis inania sunt perniciosa atque Sacrilega quia impia superba fiunt plus perturbant infirmos bonos quam corrigunt animosos malos ibid. lit D. the Contagion of sin hath ceased the whole multitude the severe mercy of Divine Discipline is necessary for then all Councils of separation are vain pernicious wicked and Sacrilegious because they will more disturb the pious that are weak then correct the wicked that are sturdy And to confirm the judgment of St Austin the 6 Synop Pur. Theol. disp 48 §. 30. Authors of the Dutch Synopsis have observed that the Prophets and pious Priests among the Jews did never in a general declension of the people recur to these severer Methods And * Neque enim duris remediis locus est ubi tota Ecclesia in morbo cubat Grot. 2 Cor. 12.6 Grotius and Estius observe from these words of St Paul to the Corinthians that he was in a Readiness to revenge all disobedience when their obedience was fulfilled that there was no place for severe Remedies when the disease had infected the whole Church And that the Apostle was forced to yield to this necessity Esth in locum because the Offendors in the Church of Corinth being many Compan to the Temple part 4. p. 548.549 they could not easily be excommunicated I conclude therefore with the judicious Dr. Cumber that till men be so humble as to be willing to suffer shame and undergo severities in this world that their Souls may be saved in the next we may advise them to private and particular acts of mortification and repentance but it will be in vain to impose them on this untractable generation since by imposing them in these circumstances the Church would make this holy means of Reformation rather despised then obeyed Prop. 8 Altho it is the Christians duty to withdraw from and to avoid the scandalous Professor and the disorderly Walker yet is this only then a duty when we can serve no Higher ends of piety or mercy in holding correspondence with them For he that doth command us to withdraw from him that walks disorderly doth leave it still our duty to admonish him as ae Brother and therefore still to maintain that correspondence with him which is necessary to that admonition 2 Thess 3.14 15. and to all other good endeavors to reclaim and gain our Brother And therefore tho our Lord knew well the obligation of this duty and the great scandal which the Scribes and Pharisees would take at his free converse with Publicans and Sinners he doth not only justify the fact as being done in order to their reformation and conversion but also represents it as an higher duty and more incumbent on him then the avoiding the familiarity of wicked men and bids those Pharisees who reckoned it their duty to renounce all familiarity with such men learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not Sacrifice And tho St. Paul permits not his Corinthians to have any fellowship with Unbelievers Matt. 9.13 or go unto their Idol Temples or their feasts yet he allows the coming of the unbeliever into their Assemblies 1 Cor. 14.23 as being that which might be instrumental to his conviction and conversion And v. 24 25. which is more observable St. Jude speaking of those impure Dreamers who defiled the Flesh c. saith thus v. 8. These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you they therefore did intrude into these feasts and consequently joyned with them at the Table of the Lord of which these feasts were an Appendix and yet St. Jude prescribes no separation of the Saints from these Assemblies on that account Lastly tho Eli's Sons were Sons of Belial Sam. 1.2 12. and knew not the Lord Altho they caused the People to abhor the offering of the Lord v. 17. and therefore to neglect to come to Shilo with them v. 24. yet are they also said to make the Lords People to transgress viz. By this neglect it therefore was the Peoples duty still to attend upon these Ordinances of the Lord tho this could not be done under these circumstances without Communion with these Sons of Belial and Ministring
therefore certain that God will give his Grace and Spiritual aid to all who do sincerely promise and engage to live according to their Baptismal Vow and this Sign being apt to signifie that aid and favor and used throughout so many Ages to that end I see not why the Bishop may not certifie the confirmed person of this truth by such a Sign And 2. It being only an indicatory Sign or Adumbration of this grace not an exhibitory Sign cannot be properly a Sacrament Having thus Answered the Objections against those Ceremonies which have been scrupled most and with most color and pretence of Reason by Dissenters it will be easy to Answer or to shew the vanity of their remaining scruples by attending to these following Propositions That the laudable Customs of the Catholick Church which are of present observation Prop. 1. Bishop Taylor Duct Dubit l. 3. c. 4. R. 15. §. 1. are fit to be observed by all Christians This we learn from St. Paul who reproves the Contentiousness of those who against the usages of Christians and of the Places where they lived would wear long hair with this We have no such Custom 1 Cor. 11.16.14 36. and pleads for order from the practice of all Churches of the Saints And also from the evidence of Reason for in such cases where there is no law the manners of Christians introduce a Law so far that we cannot recede from it without some probable cause i. e. we cannot do it without scandal and indeed it is an act of love to conform to the Customs of Christians with whom we do converse who either will think you blame their Customs or despise their persons if you comply not And that you look upon them as a company of ignorant persons who know not what they should do or as wicked persons who inconsiderately will do what they should not Besides it is a piece of Singularity to thwart and Cavil at and to refuse complyance with the Customs of the Churches where we are which have in them no apparent evil now Singularity is only laudable in matters that are excellent and pious never in matters of indifferency And therefore This is sufficient reason for the Custom of our Church in delivering the Sacramental Elements into the hand of the Communicant and Speaking to them severally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ap. 2. p. 97. E. For Justin Martyr declareth that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop having given thanks those who were called Deacons did distribute to every one that was present Bread and Wine mixt with Water and Tertullian informs us that they receiv'd the Eucharist non de aliorum manibus quà m presidentium De Cor. mil. c. 3. from the hands of no other persons than those who presided in the Church Moreover it was the Custom of the Priest to say to every on of them The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ c. August Resp ad Ores q. 49. Ambros de sacram l. 4. c. 5. And of the People severally to say Amen when they received it this was said every where saith Austin and so the Custom of distributing to all and of receiving severally by all must be the constant custom of the Church of Christ 2ly This is sufficient Reason for the retaining of God-Fathers and God-Mothers Compan part 3 p. 400. for in the Primitive Church the use of them was so early saith the Learned Dr. Comber that 't is not easie to fix the time of their beginning the most Ancient Fathers who speak of Baptism do mention them under the name of Offerers of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Justin Martir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Susceptores as Donysius Areop of Sponsores as Tertullian of Fideijussores or Suretys as St. Austin 2ly p. 399. This Custom was derived from the Jews as also was that of Infant Baptism for it is certain that the Rector of the house of judgment was to take care to Baptize the Infants of Proselytes and accordingly was to be called their Father And there was one appointed to hold the Child in Circumcision called the Master of the Covenant and by the Modern Jews who still retain this custom the Surety And very learned men believe this custom to be as ancient among the Jews as the times of Isaiah it being highly probable that those Witnesses mentioned chap. 8.2 at the naming of his Son were of the same nature with those we call God-Fathers God-Mothers And 3ly Tho one of the Reasons which made them the more necessary in the first Ages of the Church viz. those persecutions which cut off the Parents and so left the poor Infants uncapable of Christian education without the help of Sureties hath long since ceased yet are they still continued for Good ends As 1. 'To convenant in behalf of those Infants who cannot enter into covenant by themselves 2ly For the Security of the Church that the Children may be brought to Confirmation and own their covenant hereafter whence they are called Sureties 3ly That every Christian may have a Monitor who was present and concerned in his Vow whence they are stiled Witnesses And 4ly Whereas some object that the use of Sureties is made a necessary condition in our Lyturgy of administring Baptism to Infants because it is said This Infant must also faithfully for his part promise by you that are his Sureties The contrary to this is evident because no Sureties are required at the administration of private Baptism where our Baptismal Office declareth the child to be lawfully and sufficiently Baptized and so those words can only intimate that this which is in it self a thing expedient must be practised according to the Order and Constitution of the Church And 5ly Whereas it farther is objected that by these Sponsors the Parents are excluded and the Child is not admitted to Baptism in the Parents right Answer To this it is judiciously Answered by the Excellent Dr. Still Vnrens of Sâ—pâ— p. 381. That the Church by requiring Sponsors doth not exclude any title to Baptism which the child hath by the right of his Parents for the Sponsors may be supposed to appear in a threefold Capacity 1. As representing the Parents in offering up the Child to Baptism and so whatever right the Parents have that is challenged when the Child is brought to be Baptized 2ly As Representing the Child in the Answers that are made in Baptism And 3ly In their own Capacity when they promise to take care of the Good Education of the Child in the Principles of the Christian faith 3ly Ibid p. 404. This is sufficient Reason for the Answering of the Sureties in Baptism For as it is judiciously observed by Dr. Comber ' the Baptismal covenant was always made by Question and Answer which is taken notice of by many of the Ancients and seems to have been the Method in the Apostles days because St. Peter calls Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the Firing of London the Thirtieth of January a Day of Humiliation for the Execrable Murder of our R. Martyr Charles the First And that none can have just cause to doubt if they consider Est 9.28 1 Macch. 4.59 Zech. 7.5 that the Feasts of Purim and of Dedication were lawfully appointed by the Jews for an Ordinance for ever and that they had their stated Fasts of the Fifth and the Seventh Month to humble themselves at the remembrance of the Judgments God then brought upon them 3. He adds that the Great Blessings of an Apostolick Ministry and of the stability of the Martyrs in their Sufferings for Christ being so rare and notable a Mercy to the Church I confess I know no reason why the Churches of all succeeding Ages may not keep an Anniversary Day of Thanksgiving to God for Peter or Paul or Stephen as well as for the Powder-Plot deliverance I know not where God hath forbidden it directly or indirectly if his instituting the Lord's-day were a virtual Prohibition for Man to separate any more or if the Prohibition of adding to God's Word were against it they would be against other Days of Humiliation or Thanksgiving especially Anniversary Days which we confess they are not if the Reason be Scandal lest men should have the Honour instead of God I answer 1. An honour is due to Apostles and Martyrs in their places in due subordination to God 2ly Where the Case of Scandal is notorious it may become by that accident unlawful Const Can. An. 1640. Can. 7. and yet not be so in other times and places 3ly Our Church expresly hath declared that she gives Religious Worship unto God alone and doth observe these Daies to God and in them celebrate his Praises for his Apostles and for the assistance of his Grace and Spirit vouchsafed to them and the Great things done through that assistance by them for the good of men and so can Minister no Ground for such a Scandal 4ly p. 150. He saith that in the lawful Observation of Days it is most orderly to do as the Churches do which we live among and are to join with Especially if they do only that which hath been done by all the Churches of Christ about Twelve hundred years and upward as we do in the Observation of all our publick Festivals or that which hath been done from the beginning as in the Observation of the Easter Festival 5ly p. 151. He saith That it is long ago decided by the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.15 That we must not be contentious contemptuous nor censorious against one another about things of no Greater Moment than the Jewish Days were though some observed them without just cause because the Kingdom of God consisteth not in Meats and Drinks and Days but in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost and he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men we must follow therefore after the things which make for Peace and wherewith one may edify another which by submitting to the Constitutions of our Church concerning Festivals Dissenters certainly would do if they are capable of Edification by hearing and joining in Good Prayers and Praises by reading of the Word by hearing of good Sermons and by commemoration of the Mercies we then celebrate § 13 And whereas Mr. Baxter adds that the Controversy whether it be lawful to keep Days as Holy in celebrating the Memorial of Christ's Nativity Circumcision Ascension c. p. 151 152. Disp 5. of Cer. Cap. 2. § 46. is the hardest part of this Question which he is not sufficient to determine I shall first lay down some few Arguments to justifie the Observation of these and other Holy-days prescribed by the Church of England And consider the Scruples he and others have against them And 1. I argue for the expedience of these Holy-days from the consideration of the end for which they have been instituted by the Wisdom of the Church for those things saith St. Austin are celebrated by the Churches Anniversaries which were very excelelnt when done Contra Faustum ManichauÌ„ Lib. 32. Cap. 12. and by their excellency have signalized certain Days that so the celebration of the Festival may preserve the whole some remembrance of them in our Hearts Now even Reason teacheth that the Day on which these things were done tends to excite the mind to more intent consideration of and so to effectual remembrance of the Mercies which we have received upon that Day Whence God himself requires his People to Remember that day in which they came out from Egypt out of the Land of Bondage Exod. 13.3 And of that very Night he saith It is a Night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out of Egypt this is that Night to be observed of all the Children of Israel in their Generations Exod. 12.42 Now if for the Remembrance of that Mercy God did not only order his People Israel to be continually meditating and discoursing of it Exod. 12.26 13 14. but also to observe the very Day for a Memorial Exod. 12.14 if he appointed the Feast of Pentecost to be observed in Memory of the Law then given from Mount Sinai to them the Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of their sustentation Forty years in the Wilderness why may not Christians though obliged daily to have these things in their remembrance observean Annual Festivity for the more full Commemoration of the Mercies they enjoy by virtue of our Lord's Nativity Ascension c. Again these Feasts have been instituted and observed by the Wisdom of the Church to give thanks to God for the benefits vouchsafed to us at those times and by such Persons now publick benefits are publickly to be acknowledged and celebrated with publick thanks which cannot better be performed than by prescribing stated Days for publickly Assembling to these ends And as St. Paul declares that the great liberality of the Corinthians would Glorifie God by causing many thanksgivings to him for that Grace 2 Cor. 9.12 so wil the Institution of such Festivals tend to his Glory by causing many thanksgivings for the Grace vouchsafed to us upon these Days both to us and to those Martyrs and Apostles whose Memories we celebrate Moreover no Man can deny buâ— the benefits flowing from the great actions of ouâ— Saviour and the advantages accruing to us froâ— the Apostles and Evangelists by their faithful preaching the Gospel of Christ and giving testimony by their Sufferings to the Truth of the samâ— Doctrine is to us more valuable and advantageous than any temporal benefit whatsoever If then 〈◊〉 be esteemed highly convenient to celebrate oâ—â— deliverance from the Gun-powder-Plot thâ— happy Restoration of our Prince our Laws anâ— Liberties with constant Anniversaries have wâ— not equal reason to celebrate the Memory oâ— those great Spiritual Mercies by like Anniversaries 2ly This may be further argued from thâ— utility and benefit which
which must therefore be unlawful according to this Argument because prescribed by no Apostle in the Holy Scriptures This is a business which if it were necessary would be equally necessary to all Ages Ob. 2. Ibid. and parts of the Catholick Church and therefore it cannot be necessary but it must be the matter of an universal law now God hath made no such law in Scripture and so Scripture sufficiency as the Catholick Rule of faith and universal obedience is utterly overthrown Answer The Answers given to the first objection do also manifestly shew the vanity of this for may it not as well be said of the Festivities of the Apostles and first Martyrs of the Church as of the feast of Christmas the Ascension of our Lord c. That If they are necessary to be observed they must be necessary to all Ages that God in Scripture hath made no law concerning them c. May it not as well be said that if Publick Assemblies are necessary to be set apart now that if any unprescribed forms of Prayer are necessary to be used now or any words in Scripture not prescribed in consecration or celebration of the Sacraments that if standing on the Lords day in time of Prayer if Stationary days if the Penitential Discipline observed in the Primitive Church were necessary in any Age or part of the Church they must be necessary in all Ages and parts of the Catholick Church and that God hath in Scripture made no laws concerning them and so Scripture sufficiency is and was by the observation of them overthrown 2ly Tho we do judge the observation of these Festivals expedient yet we by no means hold it necessary not by necessity of precept for we pretend not to any precept of this kind not as a necessary means for we acknowledge God may be duly praised and Worshipped and magnified for the mercies we then celebrate on other days and therefore we confess that * Non putandum Ecclesiam Christianam aliquancessitate astringi ad obser vationem immotam festorum dierum sed statuendum dies hosee humanâ authoritateconstitutos eddem posse tolli mutari c. Dav. in Coloss 2. v. 16. if the Church thinks fit she may leave all men to their liberty in the observing or not observing of these days only we add that sure the General Rule of doing all things for edification will warrant her appointment of them for the forementioned ends as well as the appointment of a Lecture-day or of a Sermon before the Assizes God himself hath appointed a day for the same purposes as these are pretended for Ob. 3. Ibid. for the Lords day is to commemorate the Resurrection as the great triumphant act of the Redeemer implying all the Rest of his works so that tho it be principally for the resurrection above any single work of Christ yet also for all the work of Redemption and the whole is on that day to be commemorated with Holy joy and praise now when God himself hath set apart one day in every week to commemorate the whole work of Redemption it seems an accusing of his Institutions of insufficiency to come after him to mend them and say we must have an Anniversary day for this or that part of the work Answer 1. That God did institute the Lords day for the particular Commemoration of the whole work of the Redemption is Gratis dictum what Scripture or what declaration of Any Father of the Church saith so 2ly This Argument makes it unlawful to set up a lecture upon any day but the Lords day for that day being appointed for publick reading and hearing of Gods Holy word for men to set up another day for that end is to accuse his institutions of insufficiency 3ly This Argument condemns the universal Church of Christ from the Apostles days for they did then observe the feast of Easter and so tho God had set apart a weekly Commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord they did come after him and observe an Anniversary day for the same thing and so according to this way of Arguing did more apparently accuse his institutions of insufficiency 4ly This objection seems to accuse the wisdom of Gods own institutions for tho the Jewish Sabbath was instituted with a peculiar respect to their deliverance out of Aegypt Deut. 5.15 yet for that mercy which was far inferior to those which Christians do enjoy by our Lords Birth his Death his Resurrection and Ascension he required other solemnities to be observed yearly viz. The great feast of the Passover why therefore may not the wisdom of the Church in imitation of this pattern besides the Lords day weekly set apart for celebrating the work of our Redemption require other solemnities to be observed yearly for a peculiar Commemoration of the most Signal parts of that Redemption Obj. 4 The fourth Commandment being one of the Decalogue seems to be of so High a nature that man must not presume to make the like Ibid. but it seems a doing the same or of like nature to what God hath done in the fourth Commandment if any man will make a necessary stated Holy day to the universal Church Answer 1. Who goes about to make a Necessary stated Holy day to the Universal Church sure none besides the Church of Rome pretendeth to give laws unto her But what the Universal Church hath thought fit to observe I hope our Church may prudently comply with and call upon her Children so to do 2ly Is not this done as much by the stated Festivals which you allow of as by those you do condemn was it not done as much by appointing the feast of Purim to be observed yearly and by ordaining that these days should be remembred and kept throughout every Generation Esth 9.27 28. every Family every Province and every City and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews nor the memorial of them perish from their seed was it not done as much by the whole Congregation of Israel when they ordained that the days of the Dedication of the Altar should be observed from year to year by the space of eight days And yet neither our Lord 1 Macc. 4.59 nor any of the Prophets charged them with violation of the 4th Commandment on that account or with presuming to do the like to that which God had done in the institution of it Object 5 Where there is no law sure we are there is no transgression but there is no law of God Commanding Christmas or other Holy-days therefore there is no trangression in not keeping them But then it is not sure that there is no transgression in keeping them therefore the surer side is to be taken Answer 1. That this Argument plainly destroys his former grant of the expedience of observing and enjoyning other Holy-days for which no law of God commanding them can be produced 2ly That this Argument may be retorted thus
him against vain-glorious and Pharisaical addresses against prayers used in an unknown tongue or not put up in Faith or put up in wrath against the prayer of him who lifts not up pure hands or who continues in his sin but the whole Scripture affords us not one caution against Forms of prayer either in publick or in private and therefore we may rationally suppose that they are not displeasing to him or unacceptable at the throne of Grace Argum. 2 Moreover our blessed Lord hath both commanded and approved a Form of prayer and therefore it unquestionably must be lawful His command to use a Form is evident 1. From those positive words Luke 11.2 when you pray say Our Father c. and though St Matthew varies the words of the command informing us that our Lord said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pray so yet may that please be very well consistent with the other and may import that those words should be used in our prayers for in the form of the Aaronical Benediction the command runs thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on this wise shall ye bless Numb 6.23 whereas the blessing was pronounced in the very form of words prescribed there And when God put the words into the mouth of Balaam which he was to speak he saith unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the Prophets Numb 23.5 Thus saith the Lord thus shall you say unto the house of Israel always imports these words shall you say or the Lord saith 2. The request of Christs Disciples was that He would teach them to pray as John had taught his Disciples Vid. Leight in Matt. 6.9 Now it being ordinary for the Jewish Doctors to compose Forms of prayer for their Scholars it is not to be doubted but that St John did so and consequently that our Lord did so for his Disciples And Thirdly This is farther evident from the words of the Lords Prayer they being not directed to man but God for 't is not said pray to your Father in Heaven that his Name may be hallowed but Our Father hallowed be thy Name And as such did the Antient Church of Christ receive and use it Christ saith Tertullian De Orat. c. 1. Novam orandi formulam determinavit appointed a new form of prayer and this we Christians do begin with In the Apostolick constitutions it is required to be used thrice a day and Austin saith l. 7. c. 25. Ep. 59. ad Paul Qu. 5. that almost the whole Church concluded the Communion Service with it So that if our Dissenters be not men of greater abilities than the Apostles were at least before Christs Resurrection and than the greatest Worthies of the Church after the Resurrection they cannot look upon it as a thing below them to observe this Form of Prayer Again our Lord approved of a Form of prayer by his using the Hymn called the Hallel with his Disciples at the Passover Matt. 26.30 by his presence at the Forms used in the Jewish Service V. 44. and by his thrice repeating the same words even when He used the greatest fervency in prayer Now hence do naturally flow such Corollaries as evidently shew the falsehood of the reasonings of the Dissenters against the lawfulness of Forms as v. g. 1. Hence it follows that such Forms cannot be unlawful worship forbidden by the Second Commandment unless our Lord did both prescribe and by his practice did approve unlawful worship 2. Hence it must follow that the using of a Form can be no hindrance to our Devotion attention fervency in prayer unless our Lord can be supposed to have prescribed that which was thus prejudicial to his Service 3. Hence it will also follow that the using of a Form cannot be prejudicial to the duty of using our own Gifts for had our Lord intended it to be the duty of all Ministers of the Gospel to use their own abilities in publick prayer in opposition to a Form sure He himself would not have given them such a Form to be used in their publick addresses to God De Orat. Dom. p. 141. wherein saith Cyprian we say Our Father because publica nobis est communis oratio it is our Common Prayer 4. Hence it is evident that praying by a Form is well consistent with praying by the Spirit for otherwise our use of the Lords Prayer would be repugnant to prayer by the Spirit Moreover the Saints of the Old Testament and Christ himself and his Disciples prayed as I have shewed by Forms and yet dare any say they prayed not by the Spirit yea all the Churches of Christ from the third Century and the devoutest persons of all the following ages have ever used Forms in publick and dare we say that none of all these Churches or persons ever prayed in publick by the Spirit yea do not France Geneva Holland and almost all Reformed Churches pray by Forms and when the Minister conceives a Prayer is not that prayer a Form unto the people who are confined to pray according to the words he utters as much as by the words prescribed by the Common Prayer and yet dares any one affirm that all these pray without the Spirit of God Argum. 3 But Thirdly Forms of prayer have constantly been used even by the confession of those who plead against them throughout the universal Church of Christ from the Third Century that is above 1300 years and are retained and approved by almost all Reformed Churches and therefore to condemn them as unlawful forbidden by the Second Commandment or by plain precept in the New Testament as impediments to attention and fervency in prayer and to the exercise of the Gifts vouchsafed to the Ministers of Christ to fit them for the work and lastly as false and unacceptable worship is to cast all these reproaches on the whole Church of Christ for so long time at least and to charge all her eminent and pious Clergy as persons guilty through their whole lives of tendring to God a false forbidden worship and being always guilty in their publick service of him of all the crimes forementioned which Nam hoc quin ita faciendum sit disputare insolentissimae insaniae est Ep. 118. p. 558. D. as St Austin truly saith is such a charge as will pronounce the Authors of it guilty of the most insolent madness The confessions of Dissenters to this effect may be seen in Smectymnuus * Answ to the Remonstr p. 7. p. 11. Thes Salm. part 3. loc com 47. N. 49. and the grand debate and the Assertion of Capellus that the use of publick forms obtained in the Vniversal Church through the whole world for above 1300 years will be made good from these considerations 1. That even Pliny †Epist l. 10. ep 97. apud Euseb l. 7. c. 30. p. 281. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth inform us that the Christians in his time did sing an Hymn to Christ as God That Dionysius
of Alexandria makes mention of the Hymns used by the Christians in his time now these were Forms of Prayer or Praises De Orat. Dom. p. 152. That Cyprian doth sufficiently intimate the use of some Forms in the Carthaginian Church by describing the entrance or beginning thereof saying Sursum corda Lift up your hearts and the people Answering Habemus ad Dominum We lift them up unto the Lord. That Eusebius informs us concerning Constantine that he would take Books in his hands for the expressing with his Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De vita Constant l. 4. c. 17. the appointed Prayers and that he by so doing ordered his Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the manner of the Church of God That the Council of Laodicea decreed that there should be always the very same Service of Prayers Morning and Evening i. e. that there should be the same Morning Service Can. 18. and the same Evening Service continually And to assure us that the Council had a particular respect to FOrms of Prayer then in use in the next Canon Can. 19. it gives an account of some part of the order of that Service viz. that after the Sermon or Homily they had first the Prayer for the Catechumeni then the Prayer for the Penitents then three Prayers for the Faithful And that this Canon was received into the Code of Canons of the universal Church which was cited confirmed and established in the General Council of Chalcedon A. D. 451. Can. 1. That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the three prayers of the faithful were then so well known L. 2. cap. 59. that in the constitutions of the Apostles they are represented as saying the three Prayers standing every Lords Day without reciting what they were That when Paulus Samosatenus about the year 262. Euseb ubi supra took away the Psalms and Hymns which had been used to be sung in the Church pretending they were new and made by men of later date by a numerous Council called at Antioch he was censured for it and cast out of the Church of God Lastly that whereas the Constitutions Apostolical were first composed saith our incomparably Learned Bishop Pearson from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vindic. Ignat. p. 60 61 62. or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the instructions orders and constitutions made by Apostles and Apostolick men much changed indeed and interpolated in the seventh and eighth Books of those Constitutions we find Forms of prayers under their names for all Church Offices for the Catechumeni the Baptized the Penitents the Faithful the Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons the Celebration of the Lords Supper So that unless this whole eighth Book be wholly spurious and not only interpolated Haer. 45. n. 5.11 12.80 n. 7. we must have evidence of Forms of prayer like ours still used in the Church not only from the Fourth Century when Epiphanius cites thess constitutions but even from the days of the Apostles and haply these were the Liturgies of the Apostles so much spoken of and since so much encreased § 8 Moreover to convince men from plain evidence of reason in this matter it only will be needful to advertise them 1. That all premeditated Prayer in which we do consider what to say and in what words we should express our thoughts to God is in effect a stinted prayer for it is not the Writing or the Printing but the ordering and composing of the words which makes the Prayer a Form if therefore this be be done before we pray our prayer must be a Form 2. This being so the true state of the Question can be only this whether in our addresses to the most immense infinite eternal God we should use consideration or pray and praise him inconsiderately Whether we should deliberate and take good heed that we offend not with our tongues or speak without deliberation whatsoever cometh first into our thoughts Hos 14.2 Whether we should take unto our selves words and speak unto him as the Prophet Hoseah doth advise or should present our selves before him not knowing what to say And for our better satisfaction the Wise man doth advise us Eccles 5.2 not to be rash with our mouths nor let our hearts be hasty to utter any thing before God and that for an eternal reason viz. because God is in Heaven and we are on Earth Now what man in the world is hasty to offer any thing before God if he be not who prays ex tempore or who speaks rashly with his mouth if he doth not who speaks without deliberation or consideration what to say Secondly our own experience will inform us how natural it is to all mankind to take such good advice before hand when they present their thanks or their petitions to an Earthly Prince as may secure them that they deliver their requests in grave and decent Forms of words and can it therefore stand with the reverence we owe to the most Glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth to use to him what we durst not present unto a Prince or prudent Governour in such a serious matter as ought to be the subject of our Prayers This is the Argument by which God pleads against the lame and the imperfect sacrifices of his people saying if ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil and if you offer the lame and sick is it not evil Mal. 1.8 offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person implying that the great King of Heaven and Earth must be served with the best sacrifices we can tender to him and therefore with the best prayers and praises which we can conceive and that what earthly Princes may slight as beneath them must be unworthy to be offered to the King of Kings Moreover if we compare together both these kinds of prayer by Form and by extemporary effusions we shall find the former to be more expedient in our publick Worship for several momentous reasons concerning both our selves and others For 1. The Apostle doth require us 1 Cor. 14.15 and even reason doth inform us that we should pray with the understanding and that we cannot say Amen to that Prayer we understand not now what assurance can the people have in joining with a Minister who prays ex tempore and oft in mystical expressions of the Old Testament that he shall understand the meaning of his words whereas if constant Liturgies be used we may be well assured by our own reading or by the information of others of the meaning of them 2ly The Apostle intimates that 't is the duty of the hearer to say Amen to the Prayers offered up in publick and indeed otherwise we cannot well be said to join with the Minister in Prayer now this we cannot do sincerely unless we do approve the matter of the Prayer now what assurance can the people have in that great difference of
Which could not be if Peace and Concord could not obtain amongst those Nations where they dwell That precept therefore doth in effect oblige us to put up that Prayer which our Dissenters do except against 'T is true indeed so long as Satan and evil Men do sow the seeds of discord this is an happiness scarcely to be expected yet because it is an happiness to be wished for and because God alone is able to procure it we ought to beg it of him In this distracted State of Christendom we have but slender expectations that she should be a City wholly at unity within her self but yet I hope we may pray with our dear Lord that they may be one John 17.11 21. that they may be made perfect in one v. 23. and with blessed Paul that they may be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus Rom. 15.6 that they may with one mind and mouth glorify God As to the second instance of the Good-Friday Collect I answer Answ 2 That it doth perfectly accord with the devotion of the Antient Church of Christ See Comber p. 139 140. which put up their petitions for those that were without and were deceived that God would convert them saith the Liturgy of Clemens Sacram. p. 104. For Pagans and the calling of the Gentiles saith S. Ambrose and Gregory * Praesules tota secum congemiscente Ecclesia postulant precantur ut infidelibus donetur fides ut Idololatrae ab impietatis suae liberentur erroribus ut Judaeis ablato cordis velamine lux veritatis appareat ut Haeretici Catholicae fidei perceptione resipiscant ut schismatici spiritum redivivae charitatis accipiant Gennad de dogmat Eccles c. 30. For Hereticks and Schismaticks so that to quarrel with this Form of Prayer is to reproach the universal practice of the Church of Christ Secondly Since Scripture clearly saith that blindness in part is hapned to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved Rom. 11.25 26. And that God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all v. 32. seeing the Psalmist prays Psal 67.2 that Gods way may be known upon Earth his saving health among all Nations Seeing the Prophet Isaiah doth foretell that all the ends of the Earth shall see the salvation of God Isai 52.10 and the Divine that all the kingdoms of the world should become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 since God hath promised to give unto his Son the Heathen for his inheritance Psal 2.8 and the outmost part of the Earth for his possession and sent this great diffusive light into the world to enlighten every one that comes into the world John 1.9 even those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death Luke 1.79 and to guide their feet into the way of peace I say seeing these things are so I know not how we can scruple the praying for all Jews Turks Infidels without disputing the veracity of these Divine Predictions or the propriety of these Prayers And yet if there were any need of a distinction it is wonderful that they who do relieve themselves when pressed hard with the evidence of Scripture by the well known distinction of singula generum and genera singulorum will not allow the Church the benefit of that distinction and suffer her to mean in this most charitable collect All the Tribes or the dispersions of the Jews all sorts of Infidels all Nations professing themselves Servants of the great Prophet Mahomet all Sects of Hereticks and then their little scruples will have no shadow of appearance left To the third scruple the Prayer continued in the Litany that it may please God to have mercy upon all men Answ 3 I answer as before First L. 4. p. 152. That this also was the Prayer of the whole Church of Christ in which pax cunctis venia postulatur saith Arnobius whose Litany ran thus pour out the riches of thy mercy upon all men and women so the Liturgies of St. Basil Quam legem supplicationis sc quâ preces fiunt pro omnibus hominibus ita omnium sacerdotum omnium fidelium devotio concorditer tenet ut nulla pars mundi sit in qua hujusmodi orationes non celebrentur à populis Christianis de vocat Gent. l. 1. c. 12. p. 798. Siquidem Apostolus cujus ista sententia est ut omnes homines salvi fiant Deum velle sollicitissimè praecepti quod in omnibus Ecclesiis piissimè custoditur ut Deo pro omnibus hominibus supplicetur Idem ad Object Vincent Ob. 2. p. 336. Chrysostome St. James This rule of supplication saith Prosper the devotion of all Priests and all the faithful do so unanimously observe that there is no part of the world wherein such prayers are not celebrated by Christian people and therefore they cannot be scrupled or pronounced disagreeable to the mind of God in Scripture without accusing the whole Church of Christ as being guilty of that crime Secondly Seeing the Royal Psalmist saith that God is good to every man and that his tender mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 and the Apostle that he is the Saviour of all men 1 Tim. 4.10 I rather think with the Apostle that it is very sit that prayers intercessions 1 Tim. 2.1 and giving of thanks be made for all men and that this notwithstanding the exceptions of Dissenters is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved v. 3 4. Moreover must not all faithful Pastors pray that God would bless their labours and render them successful to the salvation of them that hear them and if this may be done acceptably why may they not then pray thus for all the members of other Congregations doth not God peremptorily command all men in all places to repent Acts 17.30 and may we not then pray that all may do what he commandeth yea doth not God himself thus wish concerning them whose carcases fell in the wilderness through unbelief O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and their Children for ever Deut. 5.29 and of them who walked after their own lusts O that they were wise that they would consider this that they would understand their latter end Deut. 32.29 And may not Christians comply with the example of their God and wish what he doth wish or can such wishes be contrary to his dispensations of hardning obstinate and stubborn sinners Dr. Comber Having then so good Authority so great Examples and so excellent Reason for this Universal Charity we ought not to be moved at the trifling objections of those men who scruple this Petition because it will not suit their systems of absolute Election and Reprobation And