on high his Donation of spiritual Authority was a Donation of Titles without Realities whereas he that said He that resisteth Kings resisteth God Rom. 13. The same Wisdom of God by whom Princes Reign said also He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and him that sent me These are the Prerogatives of spiritual Guides and were never esteemed words of course or formality in the Primitive Church And the Epistles of Ignatius an Apostolical Bishop vindicated by Vossius Dr. Hammond and Doctor Pearson are an admirable Comment in this Case upon obedite praepositis Be ye subject to the Bishop as unto the Lord Reverence your Bishops according unto the precepts of the Apostles he that acts of his own head without the Bishop is polluted in his Conscience attempt nothing in the Church against Episcopal Constitutions are known expressions in the writings of old Ignatius But I intend a more particular vindication under this Topick of Antiquity of this best of Reformed Churches First As to her Imposition of a Liturgy Secondly as to the Imposition of orderly Rites and Thirdly a Vindication of the Authority also as Primitive by which our Canons are established Briefly to each of these Thus the Fourteenth Canon of the Church of England is truely Primitive The Minister shall use the prescribed Forms and Rites in the Common-Prayer-Book without diminishing in regard of Preaching or any other respect or adding any thing in the matter or form thereof 1. The Minister shall use the prescribed Forms and Rites c. Thus in Synodo Epnuensi in the Order of the Celebration of Divine Offices the Metropolitical Church was the Standard for the whole Province to keep the better Decorum in all Sacred Administrations And in the Fourth Council of Toledo they declare it consonant with the ancient Canons of the Church Vt unus ordo orandi Psallendi conservetur nec diversa sit a nobis Ecclesiastica consuetudo quia una fide continemur Regno the same Forms and no other as the Council of Africa Canon 103. The Third Council of Carthage Canon 231. The Council of Laodicea Canon 181. And above all the Council of Milevis Canon 12. for a sufficient Reason there rendred Nec aliae preces nisi quae a Synodo Comprobatae dicerentur in Ecclesia ne aliquid contra fidem aut bonos more 's per ignorantiam aut minus studium sit Compositum So that hence our imposing of Forms upon Priests and People is clearly justiflable from the Practice of the Primitive Churches of Christ It is Recorded of Proclus the Patriarch of Constantinople in his Treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That St. Basil first and afterwards St. Chrysostom contracted the Liturgy of St. James that upon the account of mens slothfulness and prophaneness they might not Nauseate for the length and so Apostatize from the Apostolical Tradition of Liturgies The Liturgy now ascribed to St. James may be denied on good Reasons yet that St. James made a Liturgy the Council of Trullo long since acknowledged and is at this day by the Greek-Church openly owned and profest and amongst them to question it were the ready way to be laughed at as eminently ridiculous The Magdeburgenses have collected from some expressions of Origen on Jeremiah That it is without dispute a doubt that the Christians had Forms of Prayer in the Third Century Scal. lib. 6. 573. Edit Genev 1629. Scaliger de Emendatione temporum declares that he had himself seen an ancient Liturgy of Ignatius who exhorts by the way to one Common Prayer and to one mind in his Epistle to the Magnesians And what else means Justin Martyr by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 2. or Tertullian Tert. de oratione by his Oratio Legitima ordinaria and by that Form of Praying for the Emperours ut illis foret vita prolixa imperium securum senatus fidelis Exercitus fortis Apol. 30. domus tuta populus probus orbis quietus which some not improbably conjecture to be grounded on St. Pauls Charge to Timothy That Prayers be made for all then especially Kings c. making it Timothy's cheif care as Bishop of Ephesus rightly to Frame and Order the Publick Prayers of the Church And what else doth St. Cyprian intimate de Oratione publica nobis est communis oratio or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Constantine observed with the whole Assembly of Christians Recorded by Eusebius Eusebius de vita Constanti in lib. 4. cap. 17. 19 So that whether we consider the use of a Liturgy we are justified by the Fathers or the Imposition of it on the Clergy particularly with exclusion of their own conceptions the Church of England herein observes the prudence of the Ancient Councils and Synods long before Popery was introduced and so liable to such trifling exceptions from our Puritan Adversaries Again Secondly not to diminish in regard of Preaching the Prayers of the Church the Fourteenth Canon Commands us and that the Pulpit should not swallow up the Desk this Auditory is not to be taught to be the high prudence and politick zeal of the Ancient Churches of Christ You know that Justyn Martyr saith when the Reader had done then the Preacher exhorts in his Apology you know that in the primitive times as now there was a first and a second Service the one preceeded the other followed the Sermons or Homilies and so Preaching and Prayer did not shoulder out one another but walked hand in hand as friends and not as Antipodes in the holy Oratories The Sermons anciently came in post recitationem Evangelii after the rehearsal of the Gospel being usually a Discourse upon it and hence it is an easie collection that Preaching had its due esteem yet never so magnified as that the Liturgy should be laid aside to make way for the Sermon The most eminent Preachers as Basil Chrysostom and others were Compilers of Liturgies but could never endure as is clear by many passages in their writings that the people should throng more to their Discourses than to the pure Word of God read in the Church in Divine Service or to the common Devotions That was no Musick to the old zealous Saints the holy Bishops and Priests which now affords such a mighty pleasure to men of moderate principles the crouding of people to a Sermon and leaving the Church empty and wast at the solemn Prayers Thirdly Not only not to diminish on the account of Preaching But also in no other respect saith the Canon aforesaid nor to add any thing in the matter or form thereof a Constitution truely Primitive for in Ancient times ever since the ceasing of miraculous Gifts it was never permitted any Presbyters to add to or detract from the publick prescribed Service or to make any private Prayers of their own in the holy Oratories There is no footstep of Record or Monument in the Church of God whereby our
are curious of satisfaction in the Case before us Thirdly When we exchanged a Charles for an Oliver a Bishop for a Lay-elder the Oaths of Allegiance and Canonical Obedience for Covenants and Engagements and a Liturgy for a Directory you know the Consequence by a sad and dear-bought experience no sooner were Order and Decency removed from the holy Oratories no sooner were Priests and People indulged to their own fancies and conceptions in Preaching Hearing Administration and Reception of the Sacraments and Publick Prayers but immediately we had Pulpit against Pulpit Altar against Altar Preaching and Prayer placed as Antipodes Ordinance justling out Ordinance that to speak with Erasmus ingeniosa res fuit esse Christianos Such who never sate at the feet of Gamaliel stept up into the Chair of St. Paul the People were taught from the mouth of a Cannon and the Church swept with the Besom of Destruction The Weaver became inspired and had new Lights and glorious Discoveries the Mechanical Demetrius a precious dispencer of the Words and Sacraments and Alexander the Coppersmith could challeng the Reverend Assemblies at Gifts and Experiences The Souldier undertook to cut the Text and could as powerfully Preach Swords and Pray Granadoes and as devoutly curse Meroz as any of our Soul-searching Ministers who first pulled down King and Bishops by the form of Godliness and the Vertue of Hocus pocus That there might be no want of Labourers The Common-Reaper thrust his Sickle into the Lords Harvest and Common Shepherds qualified themselves for the oversight of the Flock of Christ and the Cloak and Apron Preach'd down Gowns and Universities and he whose occupation it was to mend the old Shoes of the Prophets had the possession of Desk and Pulpits Venting Treason Nonsence and Blasphemy by the Hour-glass we had a New-England Medley instead of Decorum and Reverence and an Amsterdam hotch-potch as many Religions as Babel had Languages instead of Uniformity and the Beauty of Holiness we began to number Articles of Religion almost by the Million as St. Austin said of the Donatists The Charisma of boldness acted the part of the Gift given by Imposition of hands and he that could neither Write nor Read by virtue of Lungs and Impudence was taught to pray Extempore in the Congregation of the Saints A Phrenzy became desirable for its Lucid intervals and it was thought a glorious attainment above others to be besides our selves our Churches were Garisons to keep out the Sacrifice of Obedience and its Notaries while by prophane boldness pious Nonsence and tumultuary Effusions men dayly offered unto God the Sacrifice of Fools We had Stones given us instead of Bread and amidst perpetual holding forth suffered a Famine of the Word and by all men not distracted Divines and Preachers Scholars and such as carried on the Work were very carefully distinguished some Oxford-Schismatick petitioned the pretended Parliament to send down Ministers to teach the Colledg-Graduates how to Preach down Learning and Sciences I suppose under the pretence that they stood in need of more powerful Instructers The progeny of Sects grew too Numerous for any other way of Arithmetick than the Stars of Heaven or Sands by the Sea-shore for multitude the Questions of our Creed almost as Numerous as the Letters of it such who boasted Communion with Christ in the purest Ordinances of Worship banished his Prayer from the Pulpit and imputed Blasphemy and Atheism to the glorious Form of the Saviour of the World The Ark of God was a kind of Noahs Ark with us where the unclean Beasts were herded up together without order or distinction and the Church our Mother once the joy of the whole Earth equally overwhelmed with grief and confusion We found her in the Wood as the Psalmist speaks of the Ark of Divine service stript of all her due Attendants and Solemnities and the Cathedrals turned to Stables Where the Sacriledg had some ingenuity To give so lively an instance of the vast difference between Laud the Glorious and the new Reformers of this best of Reformed Churches Tell me now ye prudential Clergy-men whose Moderation is a constant omission of the holy Rites and Offices of the Church does not the whole Kingdoms experience proclaim a Zeal for our Canons to be a Zeal according to knowledg Is it not the Policy and temporal Interest of a Priest aswell as his indispencible Duty to obey our orderly Constitutions Thou High and Mighty Master of the Politicks When was thy Mother the Eye and Glory of all the Christian Churches Was it not when the Ark was setled with a Decent Splendour amongst us When the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy enjoyed its full Authority and Encouragements When the venerable Courts of Justice dazled the eyes and brake the hearts of the most insolent offenders And all the parts of Divine Service performed with that Decorum as is enjoyned by the Canon of the Text with a solemn Reverence Since these things are so by experience lay then aside my moderate Brother this Lukewarm kind of Temper set a higher estimate on the Churches Peace and Honour and contribute to her recovery to some degrees at least of the ancient Lustre By doing all things decently and in order Fourthly The Ancient Fathers and Councils joyn with Scripture Reason and Experience as to this Power by me pleaded for from the Text in our Eclesiastical Superiors Thus St. Austin to Casulanus in things undetermined in the Word Mos populi Dei instituta majorum pro lege Dei tenenda sunt Hence St. Bernard Epist 7. of things absolutely good or absolutely evil the Case is Evident the one must be not done when commanded the other done though prohibited by Superiors inter haec sunt media quaedam in his fas non est sensum nostrum sententiae praescribere Magistrorum To both assents the old Tertullian in his Book De corona Militis where speaking of kneeling the sign of the Cross of standing at Prayers between Easter and Whitsuntide and many other Rites and Customs of the Primitive Church Harum aliarum ejusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules Scripturarum nullam invenies c. Hence thus much is clear from Antiquity that the Ancient Christians of the purest Ages of the Church were not in bondage to a Scruple nor startled at a Ceremony nor ever said to their Governours shew us a Text for such Rites and Orders They too well understood Christian Liberty and themselves to throw away their Time Interest Peace and Safety for the mere Fringes of the Garment of the body of Religion with our peevish and withal obstinate Renegadoes That conditional Assent and cautionary though not absolute Obedience we do owe to our spiritual Pastors and Governors albeit we have not express Commission out of Scripture for the very particulars cannot be denied by any Man in his senses for to dispute in such a Case instead of yielding Obedience is to declare to the World that when Christ ascended up
Moderate Clergy can make it probable that in the solemn and set Assemblies of Christians constantly observed a Presbyter was ever allowed to utter any thing of his own or others composing premeditated or extemporary without the approbation of his Bishop first had in the matter of Prayer which we now are discoursing of It is an impudent and untrue Assertion I wonder it could ever enter into any Mans mind that Ministers may of themselves curtail or add to the Service prescribed or modify the Worship of God But on the contrary as Baxter in his Cure of Church-Divisions doth well note no Man questioneth but some Form of Prayer was imposed on the Jewish Ministers of old and a Form of Prayer taught the Priests Joel 2.17 To which I add since the Word of God hath given us Forms of Worship of Praise and Prayer in the House of God If we will allow the Composers of those Forms to be of Gods own appointment which cannot be denyed we have in Scripture too in concurrence with the Ancient Church found out some appointed to make Prayers for other Pastors and Churches to offer up unto God And we find Titus for this purpose left in Creet to set in order what was wanting ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Grotius Pertinet and Timothy is charged with this Office as Bishop 1 Tim. 2.1 an Order is there given him touching the substance of Publick Prayer to be setled in the Assemblies of his Jurisdiction as Master Thorndyke notes and proves in his Treatise The Service of God in publick Assemblies in Timotheo mandata dat Episcopis so Grotius Again in the Imposition of orderly Rites attending on the publick Worship it was the stile of old Si quis praesumsâ—rit si quis contumaciter fecerit Anathema sit which is well Englished in our 34th Article by Laws established Whosoever shall through his private Judgment openly and wilfully and purposely break the Rites of Decency and Order enjoyned shall be censured c. Such therefore who are in profession Sons of the Church of England whose Imposition of a Liturgy and decent Rites is thus prudentially primitive and moderate and do wilfully and studiously violate the Orders prescribed by robbing God and the People of any parts of the publick Worship or Rites thereof upon the account of Preaching or the free Prayers of the Pulpit they do very wickedly I leave their own Consciences to condemn them till God himself doth which he will certainly do without a more honest and zealous adhesion to the Regular Constitutions It would be Ridiculously arrogant in me to prove out of Antiquity that the reading of the Litany the observation of the Feasts and Fasts Catechizing visiting the Sick and giving them their viaticum the Cross in Baptism the Rites of Decorum and the Decent Habits of the Clergy-men and many other Canons which this present Audience sufficiently knows to be truely consonant to the ancient Canons and primitive usage But you must give me leave to say that these are so far omitted not out of a prudential but schismatical Compliance Pudet haec opprobria nobis is too mild a reproof like that of Eli to his Sons It is no good report ye make the Lords People transgress Too meek a reprehension to such Sons of Corah or Diotrephes who by a barbarous disobedience to the Laws indeavour to bring into this Church tot schismata quot Sacerdotes Consider we again under this head of the Fathers and Councils the Authority confirming the present Canons of this Church and we shall find That also by undeniable evidence equally primitive with the Constitutions themselves We have such Canons as are treated on by Bishops and Priests but they do not with the Westminster-Conventicle of Divines meet without the Royal Call and Summons nor sit and act when the King Commands their dissolution with the Glascow-Assembly of spiritual Lay-elders but we own the Kings Power a parte ante to convene the Prelates and the Clergy-Representatives and a parte post to oblige their Subjects by their Confirmation to a Regular Obedience A clear primitive Practice assoon as ever God gave Kings to be Nursing-fathers to the Church as is admirably proved by Causabon Grotius Morney Duplessis our own Jewel Field Whitaker and others beyond all exceptions Now where King and Bishops thus joyn in Ecclesiastical Laws according to the constant Practice of Christs Church where Moses and Aaron the Oaths of Allegiance and Canonical Obedience meet together to oblige us there is not now the least pretence for a Man in Orders to despise such Rules as are truely Primitive in themselves when the Canons are treated on by the Episcopal Order which hath filled our Calendars with Saints our Histories with Fathers and Church with Martyrs and when this Order is subject to Kings and supported by Moses and both appointed of God for the Management of the Church under the blessed Jesus he is neither a true Priest nor Christian that denies obedience And here I do with all duty and submission most humbly beseech your Lordship and all under you advanced to any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to Countenance the truely-regular Clergy in their cheerful submission to the truly ancient Laws and Canons of this best of Reformed Churches When the Schismatick keeps a Faction in pay and allows Schism a Salary and gives a pension to the hollow-hearted Judas of moderate Principles to break and divide us 't is pitty the Zealous Conformist should want a Benefice whilest the Enemy thus nourisheth Vipers to eat their way through our Mothers Bowels God knows my heart I abhominate a private design when I thus speak as much as a moderation against the Rules of the Church of England I petition for a poorer sort of Brethren than my self for the Priest unbeneficed who is Ingenuous and Open-spirited Generous and Devout and a Lover of the Church of England And would not the primitive Canons of this Church be rather more than less observed If such an incarnate Seraphin had always the next Living of value in the Churches own gift If Self-interest should ever creep into a Cathedral it will first pull down the Honour and then the Walls It is not certainly for the peace or safety of our holy Mother that any Regular Conscientious Learned Priest should spend his time in a discontented Contemplation of his misfortunes whilest a barbarous Nonconformity without and Moderation within are sustained with a full and free enjoyment of all Creature-comforts in order to the ruining of the best of Churches This is I hope a pardonable digression as consonant with the Text and not repugnant to Antiquity in the Case before us as tending to increase and support the very little flock God knows of the truely zealous for our no less Ancient than Orderly Constitutions Fifthly To this Power of Ecclesiastical Superiours we have the harmonious assent also of all Reformed Churches Thete are two Excellent Books of Mr.
Armies of Israel be solemnly worshipped in the beauty of holiness and that the Rules of Order be observed by all the Inferiour Officers of the Church in their several stations Hic Ergo quae conducant leges tantum abest ut damnemus ut his ablatis dissolvi suis nervis Ecclesias totasque deformari ac dissipari contendamus So Calvin in the Tenth Chapter of the Fourth Book of Institutions Order and Decency are the hedges fencing the substance of Religion from all the Indignities of Sacriledg and Prophaneness as the glorious Laud spake quaintly and piously who became formidable to the Roman Interest by pursuing the External Decorum of my Text in the English Church The general Conclusion according to most Expositors upon this Text is briefly this There is a Power in Ecclesiastical Governours to make Laws and Canons and to decree Rites of Order and Decorum for the External Solemnization of Divine Service to which all under their Authority Priests and People are obliged to yield a regular and a conscientious Obedience Which I shall briefly and very plainly demonstrate by Scripture Reason and Experience Fathers Councils Reformed Churches and the Confession of Adversaries and so make Application to our selves As to the first I humbly offer Six unquestionable Scripture-Principles which this Reverend Audience is able to defend against the most Learned and Judicious Nonconformists First The Apostles intended Unity as in the known Chapter of Unity the Fourth to the Ephesians and to preserve Unity they recommend Order and Uniformity to the Church of Christ as appears sufficiently from Rom. 15.6 compared with Colossians 2.5 and this Canon of the Text. Secondly The Apostles at the first Preaching of the Gospel did not establish that Order which the State of the Church did afterwards require The rest will I set in order when I come 1 Cor. 11.29 Upon which words the Assembly of Divines are as politiquely reserved and silent as in the case of Sacriledg in their Annotations ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pertinet so Grotius ad ordinem pertinet Ecclesiasticum so Pareus Certum est Paulum non nisi de externo decoro loqui saith Calvin quod ut in Ecclesiae libertate positum est ita pro temporum locorum hominum conditione constitui debet The Second Scripture-principle Thirdly The Apostles expected such a Setlement to be made by those to whom they entrusted the Government of the Church For this cause left I thee in Creet to set in order the things that are wanting or as the Original left undone Titus 1.5 Upon which Walo Messalinus or Salmasius he who called the blessed Dr. Hammond Nebulo for defending of Bishops he himself does acknowledg That Titus had an Episcopal Power at least in the Judgment of all the Greek Fathers particularly quoting St. Chrysostom Theodoret Theophilact and others To set in Order the things that are wanting quae ego ob brevitatem temporis impedimenta a Custodibus ordinare non potui So Calvin and Grotius Hence two things are very naturally and genuinely deducible First That St. Paul as to External Order for he omitted no Essentials had left some things undone in the Church in his own Judgment fit to be afterwards at Creet established Secondly He committed the accomplishment of these Externals relating to the Discipline and Decency of the Church to the at least Episcopal some say Archiepiscopal Titus as having under him many Bishops which is the Third Scripture-principle Fourthly The Apostles gave certain Canons to direct Church-Governours in in such Ecclesiastical Establishments to prescribe such things which according to the conditions of times and places should seem most expedient to Order Honesty Edification and Peace according to 1 Cor. 10.31 32. 1 Cor. 14.26 1 Cor. 11.27 29. and the precept of the Text. Hence Calvin soundly teacheth his too credulous Proselytes in deeper Mysteries that such Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons are not to be esteemed as humane Traditions quia fundatae sunt in generali lege Omnia decenter c. Whence in his Institutions lib. 4. Cap. 10. He determines concerning kneeling at publick Prayers in obedience to such Church-constitutions to be a Divine as well as Human Institution Divine as founded in the general Precept Let all things be done decently and in order And Human as framed by Governours according to that general Injunction of the Apostl's Hence Beza in Confessione fidei cap. 5. all such Laws as to their end and foundation sunt Divinae Coelestes Which is the fourth Principle of the holy Oracles Fifthly The Apostles gave only general Rules and so supposed a Power in the Governours to frame thence particular Rites consonant with their general Canons Thence Calvin non potest haberi quod Paulus hic exigit nisi additis observationibus tanquam vinculis quibus ordo servetur But more plainly Pareus facit Ecclesiae potestatem de ordine decoro Ecclesiastico liberis disponendi ferendi leges The only question is Where this Power was placed for at this time Kings were not nursing Fathers to the Church for this cause left I thee to set in order as before exprest it was lodged in the Bishops and Governours of the Church by the blessed Apostles which is the fifth Principle consonant with the holy Oracles Lastly the Five former Principles supposed That we ought to obey such orderly Canons is included under obedite praepositis Heb. 13.17 There are two words in that Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obey and submit your selves The one relating to active and the other to passive Obedience If Church-Governours do give out Precepts and Directions for the Policy of the Church or the Decorum or Order of Divine Service here obedite praepositis takes place according to the former Principles and there is a passive Subjection due called Submission by the Casuists where we cannot pay the other active Obedience but in doubtful Cases praesumptio est pro Autoritate imponentis say Divines And so much briefly for Scripture-Evidence 2. The Light of Nature and right Reason doth apologize for this Power in our Ecclesiastical Superiours This Topique to the great advantage of the cause Dr. Stillingfleet in his Irenicum Book the first the third fourth fifth and sixth Chapters hath taken out of my hands He there proves that the Light of 1. Nature dictates that there be a Society for the worship of God 2. That this Church-society be governed in a decent and orderly manner 3. That there be a Distinction of Persons and a Superiority of Powers 4. That the Governours be reverenced according to their Employments and Offices and Obedience paid to their solemn Constitutions 5. Lastly That every offender do give an account of his actions to such Governours and submit to their Censures So far Nature goes as that learned Man fully demonstrates which is sufficient as to the Second Particular referring thither because I cannot add and will not diminish all that
Durell entitled Ecclesiae Anglicanae adversus schismaticorum criminationes vindiciae and The Church of England not condemned by any other Reformed Churches both so well known to this Audience as sufficiently satisfactory in this Particular to all intelligent and unbiast persons that they spare me the Labour of any farther Discourse And indeed our Mother the Church of England is so far Justified against all imaginable rational Opposers from the publiquely-printed harmony of Confessions in which book are inserted also the Thirty nine Articles and by the publick open practice of our neighbour-nations we not condemning them nor they us that our enemies have recourse to Clamour and Noise and want only an opportunity by Swords and Pistols to encounter our Reasons and Demonstrations Club-Law must once again gain that advantage when occasion offers which they despair of by Arguments and Disputations They are not for treating like Men but fighting like Beasts Men neither to be broke nor to be softned all Anvil and Adamant and Nonconformists in all other Kingdoms and over all the Christian World as well as to the Church of England as is admirably proved by the Learned Author aforesaid All the Reformed Churches maintain this Principle That every National Church hath Power to make Laws for herself in outward things not expresly commanded or forbidden in the Word and that they may vary according to Times Places and Persons and other Circumstances and not one of them but hath acted according to this Principle in making Laws different from their Neighbour Churches I therefore pass to the last Particular not only Scriptures Reason Experience Fathers Councils and Reformed Churches but our Nonconformists and very Dissenters by their Confessions and Practices own this Power in Ecclesiastical Superiors however refractory to our present Constitutions And first I cite Calamy in his Convenant-Sermon who tells us That the Covenant is to be taken standing the head uncovered and the right hand bare must be lift up which are emphatical Cermonies sayeth the Man of God and Significant that we call God to witness c. Here I note that there are as many Cermonies in this unlawful Oath as the Church of England hath in her whole Worship legally authorized and the Ceremonies are significant too as well as ours 2. I cite the preface to the Directory where the thorough-Reformers thus conclude We are resolved to lay aside the Common prayer-book and set up the Directory instead thereof where we hold forth what is of Divine Institution in every Ordinance and other things not of Divine Appointment we do hold forth according to the Rules of Christian prudence consonant with the general Canons of the Word of God But now I demand By what Law of God or Man have you the Sole Priviledg of thus holding forth Why may not the Church of England use the same liberty of her Christian prudence agreeable to the Rules of the Word dic Quintiliane colorem If this Priviledg be granted to a Directory without Law set up why not to a Liturgy legally established and if granted the Church of England hath thus proceeded in the Liturgy prescribed viz. by Christian prudence and the Canons of the Word 3. I cite a not unlearned-Treatise of the Presbyterian entitled An Alarum by way of answer to the last warning-peice where the Authors tell us That no Man endued with right Reason but will say there is a necessity of a Government if of a Government then of an Vniformity else it will be confused therefore there is a necessity that every man should observe such Orders Time Place and Gestures as the Parliament and Assembly but why not as the King Bishops and Clergy shall appoint Very sound and good It follows No man that hath any use of Conscience in any thing but he will acknowledg that he is bound in Conscience to obey the Laws of the Land in things indifferent and deserves Censure for being turbulent even in matters of Worship But now the Case is altered the Nonconformists being not in Throne of Government it is false Doctrine at present in the Church of England 4. I cite Mr. Baxter who writing to his Brethren Brandon and Caryl cleaves a hair Let me be bold to tell my Brethren of the Ministry That though I deny them to have any Authority against the Word yet so great is their Authority as Guides and Governors of the Church in things agreeable to and but generally determined in the Word that the want of the knowledg of this Truth hath been the occasion of all the Schisms and Confusions in England And till we have taught even our godly people what Obedience is due to there spiritual Guides the Church of England will never have any good or established Order I say again we are broken for want of the knowledg of this Truth and till it be better known we shall never be bound up and healed To which if you add the formal Covenant of the Brethren of New England for admission of Members even these precious Saints will condemn themselves or must justify this best of Reformed Churches Thus I have by Scripture Reason Experience Fathers Councils Reformed Churches and the Confessions and Practices of the Nonconformists themselves plainly proved a Power in Church-governors to make Canons and decree Rites for the external Solemnity and Decorum and Order of Divine Service to which all Priests and People are to yeild Obedience under their Government and Jurisdiction quod erat demonstrandum From the preceeding Discourse I do as a zealous Brother reprove my Brethren of moderate Principles as Commentators as Casuists and as pretenders to the Politicks And so with a brief Exhortation to all my reverend Brethren shall conclude the Discourse 1. They are abominable Commentators They shall always sign the Infant baptized with the Cross that is to say the Children of Conformists but the Canon says not it must be done to the Seed of the righteous Not marry without Banes or Licence at uncanonical Hours or prohibited times or without the consent of their Parents or Governors that is The Minister shall not do it gratis but if soundly payd it is no Disobedience against the Canon of the Church He shall not diminish the Prayers of the Church on the account of Preaching or any other respect that is to say unless it be to increase the Salary or to lengthen the Sermon for to make way for the freely conceived Directory-way of canting in the Pulpit He shall read the Letany on Wednesdays and Fridays every week Antiphrasis voces tibi per contraria signat Canonical Obedience in omnibus licitis et honestis that is as far as the new Saints will permit upon whom they depend for a Maintenance The confirming their Doctrins by Scripture according to Exposition of the Fathers and their Mothers own Articles Populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas Whensoever they officiate to wear the Surplice that is if their precious Benefactors do not account
the Garment Popish and take occasion hence to withdraw the Creature-comforts Not give the Sacrament to any men but such as kneel that is if the posture be approved by such as have Communion with the Lord Jesus in the purest Ordinances To bid Prayer before Sermon is to pray by the Spirit and as breisly as conveniently we may is more or less half an hour or a full glass according to the Judgment or contribution of the Saints The Sick shall be prayed for by the Form at the Visitation prescribed that is the Parish-clark shall keep the Ticket till the Soul-searcher is in the Pulpit The same Form to be used in private unless the Schismatick puts his hand in his pocket and makes a Present and then the case is altered and the Law not violated No Man vows Poverty when he swears to obey the Bishop But the Man of God can sometimes supererogate He shall preach one Sermon every Lords day that is to say two at the least He shall use Catechizing in the afternoon that is if the people et vox populi vox Dei had not much rather have a Sermon And the Desk is unhallowed It is no Sermon neither unless it come from the holy Mount After all we must have a strain of Sternhold and Hopkins after Sermons for our godly solace while precious the Man cons over the Heads of the foregoing Discourse a way of singing and canting which hath neither Law of the Land nor Canon of a Synod to justify its use nor any Approbation upon Record either of Civil or Ecclesiastical Superiors but the people love to have it so By this craft these Men of God have their wealth and this shall be observed not required above all the Churches ancient and laudable Constitutions thus precious Man Divines for Money and the small Levite for handfuls of Barley and pieces of Bread and turns Spiritual Pedlar to avoid the Statutes of Vagrants and both sells the Church for a Subsistence and rebels against the orderly Laws and Constitutions Secondly We will consider him as a Casuist likewise and then the Commentator will appear to be less ridiculous With our Brother-Conformists of moderate Opinions to comply with a Faction against the Church and the Laws for a benevolence is to be a Jew with Jews and a Gentile with Gentiles and being crafty to take their Money then they catch the People with guile as the Apostle did in the conversition of Souls admirable Casuists who cannot or will not reconcile St. Pauls two Sentences Becoming all things to all men and if I yet please men I should not be the Servant of Jesus Christ the best Salvo they have is a late Act of Parliament which being duely executed It did appear there was no difference between the Purses and the Consciences of Nonconformists rather than lose an Office of profit the Conscience was satisfied that he could communicate with the Church and kneel at the Eucharist and was not defiled with the company of Sinners at the holy Ordinance So that he that gains the Purse gains the Soul of our precious Dissenters a use of Consolation to our moderate Casuists But if this doth not help them they are certainly lost to all intents and purposes It must not be Paul a servant of Jesus Christ but something else If such imitate that zealous Apostle who by omission of known Ministerial Duties have forfeited the Faith of a Priest and the Feast of a good Conscience who subscribe with their hands and something besides which ex animo signifies in some approved Dictionaries and yet Pope Interest is supream over Kings and Bishops and can dispence with all imaginable engagements to Ecclesiastical Superiors and Constitutions For Sixty years and upwards our present Canons have been obligatory upon us but these Casuists can tell you that a Custom of Five or Six years If it let in the Evangelical Graces of profit and ease can prescribe against the Custom aforesaid and every offender against this New Law must be called a Hyperbolical Conformist to the Church of England But I humbly conceive with submission to better Judgments that for a Priest after Subscription neither to obey the Churches Laws nor to require it of others to serve upon his holy Mother all his sordid and degenerous ends and keep open her bleeding Wounds for his own advantage and to turn Renegadoe as a Souldier for pay flies to the Tents of Enemies is a Crime that doubles its malignity from the Quality of the Actor and if possible we want a number above the plural to express so complicated a wickedness 3. I do as little understand the Politicks of these men as their Casuistical Divinity or barbarous Commentaries what they call a prudential Compliance is only the want of Courage and Resolution their Moderation is an open defiance to that Heroical integrity which should speak the Priest a Saint and a Gentleman It is with these men as Tacitus said of Fabius Valens Captain to Velleius utrumque consilium aspernatus est quod inter ancipitia deterrimum est nec providit It is so with these partial Conformists they have not Courage enough to embark heartily on one side nor Providence enough to escape the hatred of both It were more politick to take the advice of Suetonius Quando non efficias quin alterum habiturus sis inimicum aut socium Jacienda tunc est alea alterutri adhaerendum est Let them be either thorow Conformists or Non-conformists the middle moderate practice is attended on with an Episcopal Rod executing the Canon against Revolters and an angry God who as he hateth robbery for burnt-offerings so he abhors the Priest that curtails the Sacrifice of Obedience Nay to add more torment to their lives there is a Sacrilegious Layman who believes in his Conscience he may as well diminish the Titles as the Priest the Service Wilt thou sue him in the Court of the Bishop whose Orders thou dost despise Wilt thou fly to that Law in thy necessity to which in point of Duty thou hast denyed thy homage When the same Law puts thy Bread into thy mouth and the Common-prayer-book into thy hand Wilt thou Read the Litturgy in the way of Moderation and take the Lay-man by the Throat for the uttermost farthing Hast thou Confidence enough to accuse him of Sacriledg before the Right Reverend Diocesan when Clodius accusat maechos Catilina Cethegum These things duly considered suffer I beseech you my reverend Brethren The Word of Exhortation 1. It is taken for granted that the reading of Divine Service as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If first beseech you therefore to read this Worship with all imaginable Devotion and Reverence let us be a sort of incarnate Seraphins when we officiate by the Liturgy in the holy Oratories thus we shall silence the calumny equally uncharitable and ridiculous of the Presbyterian Divines who in their grand debates briskly tell us that an able and holy Ministry flows
immediately from Pulpit-conceptions according to the variety of Subjects and occasions and that Men are apt to lose a great deal of affection by the constant use of the same Forms let us with the blessed Jesus pray earnestly using the same Words be truly zealous at the Prayers of our Church and demonstrate that inward fervour by the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we shall silence these insipid vain-glorious Canters who place all their Religion in their rude impremeditated and tumultuary effusions The reverend Doctor Fell in his life of Doctor Hammond observes of that Divine the late glory of the Church of England that his transport at his Prayer threw him sometimes prostrate on the earth that his tears would interrupt his Words in the Common Service of the Church let these men know that revile Liturgy by our following this eminent Priest in holy fervors that the Votary not the Prayer is in fault when ever zeal is wanting at the publick Devotions 2. With Submission to better Judgments the Canons relating to Divine Service would be more carefully observed amongst us if in Cities Corporations and the most Populous places the Ten-pound-Man did not read the Service I therefore request that the Searcher Melter and Establisher of Souls may read the Prayers of the Church and that he may not be permitted in the least to curtail the solemn Worship for his own private conceptions and then the People will begin to consider with themselves whether God do not require something else besides Ears and Elbows in the Congregation of the Saints 3. I do humbly Request that all that Preach Twice every Sunday and forget Catechising that they would once more Read the Fourty sive Canon and Fifty ninth Constitution I must and do openly profess that I understand not the English Tongue if two Sermons every Lords Day be equally Canonical with this Duty of Instructing the younger sort in the Churches Catechism in order to Confirmation 4. That I may not be misconstrued as Enemy to Preaching I do freely consent from my heart that every Minister with Cure of Souls do herein consult his own prudence I shall not contend whether once or twice but I presume the former to be more consonant to the Ecclesiastical Constitutions but let the Clergy Preach every day of the week provided the old Canon be observed That every Preacher in this Province take a special care that they Teach or Deliver no other Doctrines than what is consonant with the Word of God and Collected thence by the Ancient Fathers and godly Bishops Unless this ancient good wholesom Rule be carefully put in practice the Church will be more edified by our Silence than our Sermons 5. What if the Feasts and Fasts and Letany-days of the Church were Canonically and Conscientiously observed amongst us It would infinitely promote true Piety the Churches Peace and I know no pretence against it but Pride and Interest Applause and Benevolence which too frequently cancel all our Vows and Obligations 6. Let us think the Nation and Church wiser than a particular Priest and the Liturgy more weighty than our own Pulpit effusions and confine our selves to the Canonical way of bidding Prayers with that brevity that the Canon-prayer mentions God is not taken with the Novelty of our expressions but possibly the People is the Idol to which we sacrifice and from whom we expect an answer to our petitions and then there is some Reason for a long-winded Cant before the Pulpit-Discourse because the rabble do admire what is equally ridiculous with themselves Lastly The Seventy fifth Canon must never be forgotten enjoyning a Regular Life and Conversation and this joyned with a publick Spirit that abominates a compliance against the Rules of Conscience and Honour is absolutely requisite to the doing all things decently and in order FINIS