were very iniurious the purpose of his hart was religious and godly the act most worthy of honour and renowne neither could Nathan choose but admire his vertuous intent exhort him to go forward and beseech God to prosper him therein But God saw the endlesse troubles which Dauid should be subiect vnto during the whole time of his regiment and therefore gaue charge to differre so good a worke till the dayes of tranquilitie and peace wherein it might without interruption be performed Dauid supposed that it could not stand with the duty which he owed vnto God to set himselfe in an house of Cedar trees and to behold the Arke of the Lords Couenant vnsetled This opinion the Lord abateth by causing Nathan to shew him plainely that it should be no more imputed vnto him for a fault then it had bene vnto the Iudges of Israell before him his case being the same which theirs was their times not more vnquiet then his nor more vnfit for such an action Wherefore concerning the force of negatiue arguments so taken from the authority of Scripture as by vs they are denied there is in all this lesse then nothing And touching that which vnto this purpose is borrowed froÌ„ the controuersies sometime handled betweene M. Harding and the worthiest Diuine that Christendome hath bred for the space of some huÌ„dreds of yeres who being brought vp together in one Vniuersitie it fell out in them which was spoken of two others They learned in the same that which in contrary CaÌ„ps they did practise Of these two the one obiecting that with vs arguments taken from authority negatiuely are ouer common the Bishops answer hereunto is that This kind of argument is thought to be good whensoeuer proofe is taken of Gods word and is vsed not only by vs but also by Saint Paul and by many of the Catholique Fathers Saint Paule saith God said not vnto Abraham In thy seeds all the nations of the earth shall be blessed but in thy seed which is Christ and thereof he thought he made a good argument Likewise sayth Origen The bread which the Lord gaue vnto his disciples saying vnto them Take and eate he differred not nor commanded to be reserued till the next day Such arguments Origen and other learned Fathers thought to stand for good whatsoeuer misliking Maister Harding hath found in theÌ„ This kind of proofe is thought to hold in Gods commaundements for that they be full and perfect and God hath specially charged vs that we should neither put to them nor take fro them and therefore it seemeth good vnto them that haue learned of Christ Vnus est magister vester Christus haue heard the voyce of God the Father from heauen Ipsum auâ—ite But vnto them that adde to the word of God what them listeth and make Gods will subiect vnto their will and breake Gods commaundements for their owne traditions sake vnto them is seemeth not good Againe the English Apologie alleaging the example of the Greekes how they haue neither priuate Masses nor mangled Sacraments nor Purgatories nor pardons it pleaseth Maister Harding to iest out the matter to vse the helpe of his wits where strength of truth failed him to answer with scoffing at negatiues The Bishops defence in this case is The auncient learned Fathers hauing to deale with impudent heretiques that in defence of their errors auouched the iudgement of all the old Bishops and Doctors that had bene before them and the generall consent of the primitiue and whole vniuersall Church and that with as good regard of truth and as faithfully as you do now the better to discouer the shamelesse boldnes nakednes of their doctrine were oftentimes likewise forced to vse the negatiue so to driue the same heretiques as we do you to proue their affirmatiues which thing to do it was neuer possible The ancient father Irenaeus thus stayed himselfe as we do by the negatiue Hoc neque Prophetae praedicauerunt néque Dominus docuit néque Apostoli tradiderunt This thing neither did the Prophets publish nor our Lord teach nor the Apostles deliuer By a like negatiue Chrysostome saith This tree neither Paule planted nor Apollo watered nor God increased In like sort Leo saith What needeth it to beleeue that thing that neither the Lawe hath taught nor the Prophets haue spoken nor the Gospell hath preached nor the Apostles haue deliuered And againe How are the new deuises brought in that our Fathers neuer knew S. Augustine hauing reekoned vp a great number of the Bishops of Rome by a generall negatiue saith thus In all this order of succession of Bishops there is not one Bishop found that was a Donatist Saint Gregory being himselfe a Bishop of Rome and writing against the title of vniuersall Bishop saith thus None of all my predecessors euer consented to vse this vngodly title No Bishop of Rome euer tooke vpon him this name of Singularity By such negatiues M. Harding we reproue the vanity and nouelty of your religion we tell you none of the catholique ancient learned Fathers either Greeke or Latine euer vsed either your priuate Masse or your halfe communion or your barbarous vnknowne prayers Paule neuer planted them Apollo neuer watered them God neuer increased them they are of your selues they are not of God In all this there is not a syllable which any way crosseth vs. For coÌ„cerning arguments negatiue euen taken from humane authorityâ— they are here proued to be in some cases very strong and forcible They are not in our estimation idle reproofes when the authors of needlesse innouations are opposed with such negatiues as that of Leo How are these new deuises brought in which our fathers neuer knew When their graue and reuerend superiours do recken vp vnto them as Augustine did vnto the Donatists large Catalogues of Fathers wondered at for their wisdome piety and learning amongst whom for so many ages before vs no one did euer so thinke of the Churches affaires as now the world doth begin to be perswaded surely by vs they are not taught to take exception hereat because such arguments are negatiue Much lesse when the like are taken from the sacred authority of Scripture if the matter it selfe do beare them For in truth the question is not whether an argument from scripture negatiuely may be good but whether it be so generally good that in all actions men may vrge it The fathers I graunt do vse very generall and large tearmes euen as Hiero the King did in speaking of Archimedes From henceforward whatsoeuer Archimedes speaketh it must be belieued His meaning was not that Archimedes could simply in nothing be deceiued but that he had in such sort approued his skill that he seemed worthy of credit for euer after in matters appertaining vnto the science he was skilfull in In speaking thus largely it is presumed that mens speeches will be taken according to the
but that concerning the points which hitherto haue beene disputed of they must agree that they haue molested the Church with needelesse opposition and henceforward as we said before betake themselues wholly vnto the triall of particulars whether euery of those thinges which they esteeme as principall be eyther so esteemed of or at all established for perpetuitie in holy scripture and whether any particular thing in our Church-politie bee receiued other then the scripture alloweth of eyther in greater thinges or in smaller The matters wherein Church-politie is conuersant are the publique religious duties of the Church as the administration of the word and sacraments prayers spirituall censures and the like To these the Church standeth alwayes bound Lawes of politie are laws which appoint in what maner these duties shal be performed In performance whereof because all that are of the Church cannot ioyntly and equally worke the first thing in politie required is a difference of persons in the Church without which difference those functions cannot in orderly sort bee executed Hereupon we hold that Gods clergie are a state which hath bene and will be as long as there is a Church vpō earth necessarie by the plaine word of God himselfe a state whereunto the rest of Gods people must be subiect as touching things that appertaine to their soules health For where politie is it cannot but appoint some to be leaders of others and some to be led by others If the blind leade the blind they both perish It is with the clergie if their persons be respected euen as it is with other men their qualitie many times farre beneath that which the dignitie of their place requireth Howbeit according to the order of politie they being the lightes of the world others though better and wiser must that way be subiect vnto them Againe for as much as where the clergie are any great multitude order doth necessarily require that by degrees they be distinguished wee holde there haue euer bene and euer ought to be in such case at least wise two sorts of Ecclesiasticall persons the one subordinate vnto the other as to the Apostles in the beginning and to the Bishops alwaies since wee finde plainely both in scripture and in all Ecclesiasticall records other ministers of the word and sacraments haue bene Moreouer it cannot enter into any mans conceipt to thinke it lawfull that euery man which listeth should take vpon him charge in the Church and therefore a solemne admittance is of such necessitie that without it there can be no church-politie A number of particularities there are which make for the more conuenient being of these principall perpetuall parts in Ecclesiasticall politie but yet are not of such constant vse and necessitie in Gods Church Of this kind are times and places appointed for the exercise of religion specialties belonging to the publike solemnitie of the word the sacraments and praier the enlargement or abridgement of functions ministeriall depending vpon those two principall before mentioned to conclude euen whatsoeuer doth by way of formalitie circumstance concerne any publique action of the Church Now although that which the scripture hath of thinges in the former kind be for euer permanent yet in the later both much of that which the scripture teacheth is not alwaies needfull and much the Church of God shall alwaies neede which the scripture teacheth not So as the forme of politie by thē set downe for perpetuitie is three waies faultie Faultie in omitting some things which in scripture are of that nature as namely the difference that ought to bee of Pastors when they grow to any great multitude faultie in requiring Doctors Deacons Widowes and such like as thinges of perpetuall necessitie by the law of God which in truth are nothing lesse faultie also in vrging some thinges by scripture immutable as their Layelders which the scripture neither maketh immutable nor at all teacheth for any thing either we can as yet find or they haue hitherto beene able to proue But hereof more in the bookes that followe As for those maruellous discourses wherby they aduenture to argue that God must needs haue done the thing which they imagine was to be done I must confesse I haue often wondred at their exceeding boldnesse herein When the question is whether God haue deliuered in scripture as they affirme he hath a complet particular immutable forme of Church-politie why take they that other both presumptuous and superfluous labour to proue he should haue done it there being no way in this case to proue the deede of God sauing only by producing that euidence wherein he hath done it But if there be no such thing apparent vpon record they do as if one should demaund a legacie by force and vertue of some written testament wherein there being no such thing specified hee pleadeth that there it must needes be and bringeth argumēts from the loue or good-will which alwaies the testatour bore him imagining that these or the like proofes will conuict a testament to haue that in it which other mē can no where by reading find In matters which concerne the actions of God the most dutiful way on our part is to search what God hath done and with meeknes to admire that rather thē to dispute what he in congruitie of reason ought to do The waies which he hath whereby to do all things for the greatest good of his Church are mo in number thē we can search other in nature thē that we should presume to determine which of many should be the fittest for him to choose till such time as we see he hath chosen of many some one which one wee then may boldly conclude to be the fittest because he hath taken it before the rest When we doe otherwise surely we exceede our bounds who and where we are we forget and therefore needfull it is that our pride in such cases be controld and our disputes beaten backe with those demands of the blessed Apostle How vnsearchable are his iudgements and his waies past finding out Who hath knowne the minde of the Lord or who was his counsellor The fourth Booke Concerning their third assertion that our forme of Church-politie is corrupted with popish orders rites and ceremonies banished out of certaine reformed Churches whose example therein we ought to haue followed The matter conteined in this fourth Booke 1 HOw great vse ceremonies haue in the Church 2 The first thing they blame in the kinde of our ceremonies is that wee haue not in them auncient Apostolicall simplicitie but a greater pompe statelinesse 3 The second that so many of them are the same which the Church of Rome vseth and the reasons which they bring to proue them for that cause blame worthy 4 How when they go about to expound what popish ceremonies they meane they contradict their owne arguments against popish ceremonies 5 An answere to the argument whereby they would proue that sith wee allow the customes
of our fathers to be followed we therefore may not allow such customes as the Church of Rome hath because we cānot account of thē which are in that Church as of our fathers 6 To their allegation that the course of Gods owne wisedome doth make against our conformitie with the Church of Rome in such things 7 To the example of the eldest Church which they bring for the same purpose 8 That it is not our best politie as they pretend it is for establishment of sound Religion to haue in these thinges no agreement with the Church of Rome being vnsound 9 That neither the papists vpbraiding vs as furnished out of their store nor any hope which in that respect they are said to conceiue doth make any more against our ceremonies then the former allegations haue done 10 The griefe which they say godly brethren conceiue at such ceremonies as we haue common with the Church of Rome 11 The third thing for which they reproue a great part of our ceremonies is for that as we haue them from the Church of Rome so that Church had them from the Iewes 12 The fourth for that sundry of them haue bene they say abused vnto idolatrie and are by that meane become scandalous 13 The fift for that we retaine them still notwithstanding the example of certaine Churches reformed before vs which haue cast them out 14 A declaration of the proceedings of the Church of England for the establishment of things as they are 1 SVch was the ancient simplicitie and softnes of spirit which sometimes preuailed in the world that they whose wordes were euen as oracles amongst men seemed euermore loth to giue sentence against any thing publiquely receiued in the Church of God except it were wonderfull apparently euill for that they did not so much incline to that seueritie which delighteth to reproue the least things it seeth amisse as to that charity which is vnwilling to behold any thing that dutie bindeth it to reproue The state of this present age wherein zeale hath drowned charitie skill meeknes wil not now suffer any mā to maruel whatsoeuer he shal hear reproued by whōsoeuer Those rites ceremonies of the church therefore which are the selfesame now that they were whē holy vertuous men maintained thē against prophane and deriding aduersaries her owne children haue at this day in derision Whether iustly or no it shall then appeare when all thinges are heard which they haue to alleage against the outward receiued orders of this church Which in as much as thēselues do compare vnto mint and comin graunting thē to be no part of those things which in the matter of politie are waightier we hope that for small things their strife will neither bee earnest nor long The sifting of that which is obiected against the orders of the church in particular doth not belong vnto this place Here we are to discusse onely those generall exceptions which haue bene taken at any time against them First therfore to the end that their nature and vse whereunto they serue may plainely appeare and so afterwardes their qualitie the better be discerned we are to note that in euery grand or main publique dutie which God requireth at the hāds of his Church there is besides that matter and forme wherein the essence therof consisteth a certaine outward fashion whereby the same is in decent sort administred The substance of all Religious actions is deliuered from God himself in few words For example sake in the sacraments Vnto the element let the word be added and they both doe make a sacrament saith S. Augustine Baptisme is giuen by the element of water and that prescript forme of words which the church of Christ doth vse the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is administred in the elements of bread and wine if those mysticall words be added thereunto But the due and decent forme of administring those holy sacramēts doth require a great deale more The end which is aimed at in setting downe the outward forme of all religious actiōs is the edification of the Church Now men are edified when either their vnderstanding is taught somewhat whereof in such actions it behoueth all men to consider or whē their harts are moued with any affectiō suteable therunto whē their minds are in any sort stirred vp vnto that reuerence deuotion attention due regard which in those cases seemeth requisit Because therfore vnto this purpose not only speech but sundry sēsible means besides haue alwaies bin thought necessary especially those means which being obiect to the eye the liueliest the most apprehensiue sense of all other haue in that respect seemed the fittest to make a deepe and strong impression from hence haue risen not onely a number of praiers readings questionings exhortings but euen of visible signes also which being vsed in performance of holy actions are vndoubtedly most effectual to open such matter as men when they know remēber carefully must needs be a great deale the better informed to what effect such duties serue We must not thinke but that there is some ground of reason euen in nature whereby it commeth to passe that no nation vnder heauen either doth or euer did suffer publique actiōs which are of waight whether they be ciuil and temporall or else spirituall and sacred to passe without some visible solemnitie the very strangenes whereof and difference from that which is common doth cause popular eyes to obserue and to marke the same Wordes both because they are common and doe not so strongly moue the phancie of man are for the most parte but sleightly heard and therfore with singular wisdome it hath bene prouided that the deeds of men which are made in the presence of witnesses should passe not onely with words but also with certaine sensible actions the memory wherof is farre more easie and durable then the memorie of speech can be The things which so long experience of all ages hath confirmed and made profitable let not vs presume to condemne as follies and toyes because wee sometimes know not the cause and reason of them A wit disposed to scorne whatsoeuer it doth not conceiue might aske wherefore Abraham should say to his seruant Put thy hand vnder my thigh and sweare was it not sufficient for his seruant to shew the Religion of an othe by naming the Lord God of heauen and earth vnlesse that straunge ceremonie were added In contracts bargaines and conueiances a mans worde is a token sufficient to expresse his wil. Yet this was the auncient maner in Israell concerning redeeming and exchanging to establish all things A man did pluck off his shooe and gaue it his neighbour and this was a sure witnesse in Israel Amongst the Romans in their making of a bondman free was it not wondred wherefore so great a doe should bee made The maister to present his slaue in some court to take him by the hand and not
the Church of Rome hath being not found in the word of God If we thinke this to extreme they reply that to draw meÌ„ froÌ„ great excesse it is not amisse though we vse them vnto somewhat lesse then is competent that a crooked stick is not stieightned vnlesse it be bent as farre on the cleane contrary side that so it may settle it selfe at the length in a middle estate of euennes between both But how can these coÌ„parisons stand them in any steed When they vrge vs to extreme opposition against the Church of Rome do they meane we should be drawne vnto it onely for a time and afterwards returne to a mediocrity or was it the purpose of those reformed churches which vtterly abolished all popish ceremonies to come in the end back againe to the middle point of euennesse and moderation Then haue we conceiued amisse of their meaning For we haue alwaies thought their opinion to be that vtter inconformity with the Church of Rome was not an extremity wherunto we should be drawne for a time but the very mediocrity it selfe wherein they meant we should euer continue Now by these comparisons it seemeth cleane contrarie that howsoeuer they haue bent themselues at first to an extreme contrariety against the Romish Church yet therin they wil continue no longer then only till such time as some more moderate course for establishmeÌ„t of the Church may be concluded Yea albeit this were not at the first their intent yet surely now there is great cause to leade theÌ„ vnto it They haue seene that experience of the former policie which may cause the authors of it to hang downe their heads When Germany had strickeÌ„ off that which appeared corrupt in the doctrine of the Church of Rome but seemed neuerthelesse in discipline still to reteine therewith very great conformitie Fraunce by that rule of policie which hath bene before mentioned tooke away the Popish orders which Germany did reteine But processe of time hath brought more light vnto the world whereby men perceiuing that they of the religion in France haue also reteined some orders which were before in the Church of Rome and are not commaunded in the word of God there hath arisen a sect in England which following still the very selfe same rule of policie seeketh to reforme euen the French reformation and purge out from thence also dregs of Popery These haue not taken as yet such roote that they are â—able to establish any thing But if they had what would spring out of their stocke and how farre the vnquiet wit of man might be caried with rules of such policie God doth know The triall which we haue liued to see may somewhat teach vs what posteritie is to feare But our Lord of his infinite mercie auert whatsoeuer euill our swaruings on the one hand or on the other may threaten vnto the state of his Church 9 That the Church of Rome doth hereby take occasion to blaspheme and to say our religion is not able to stand of it selfe vnlesse it leane vpon the staffe of their Ceremonies is not a matter of so great momeÌ„t that it did need to be obiected or doth deserue to receiue answer The name of blasphemy in this place is like the shoe of Hercules on a childs foote If the Church of Rome do vse any such kind of silly exprobration it is no such ougly thing to the eare that we should thinke the honour and credite of our religion to receiue thereby any great wound They which hereof make so perilous a matter do seeme to imagine that we haue erected of late a frame of some new religion the furniture whereof we should not haue borrowed from our enemies least they relieuing vs might afterwards laugh and gibe at our pouerty whereas in truth the Ceremonies which we haue taken from such as were before vs are not things that belong to this or to that sect but they are the auncient rites and customes of the Church of Christ whereof our selues being a part we haue the selfe same interest in them which our fathers before vs had from whom the same are descended vnto vs. Againe in case we had bene so much beholding priuately vnto them doth the reputation of one Church stand by saying vnto another I need thee not If some should be so vrine and impotent as to marre a benefite with reprochfull vpbraiding where at the least they suppose themselues to haue bestowed some good turne yet surely a wise bodies part it were not to put out his fire because his fond and foolish neighbour from whom he borrowed peraduenture wherewith to kindle it might happily cast him therewith in the teeth saying were it not for me thou wouldest freeze and not be able to heate thy selfe As for that other argument deriued from the secret affection of Papists with whom our conformitie in certaine Ceremonies is sayd to put them in great hope that their whole religion in time will haue reentrance and therefore none are so clamorous amongst vs for the obseruation of these Ceremonies as Papists and such as Papists suborne to speake for them whereby it clearely appeareth how much they reioyce how much they triumph in these things our aunswere hereunto is still the same that the benefite we haue by such ceremonies ouerweigheth euen this also No man which is not exceeding partiall can well deny but that there is most iust cause wherefore we should be offended greatly at the Church of Rome Notwithstanding at such times as we are to deliberate for our selues the freer our minds are from all distempered affections the sounder better is our iudgemeÌ„t When we are in a fretting mood at the Church of Rome and with that angry disposition enter into any cogitation of the orders rites of our Church taking particular suruey of them we are sure to haue alwayes one eye fixed vpon the countenance of our enemies and according to the blith or heauy aspect thereof our other eye sheweth some other sutable token either of dislike or approbation towards our owne orders For the rule of our iudgement in such case being onely that of Homer This is the thing which our enemies would haue what they seeme contented with euen for that very cause we reiect there is nothing but it pleaseth vs much the better if we espy that it gauleth them Miserable were the state condition of that Church the waighty affaires whereof should be ordered by those deliberations wherein such an humor as this were perdominant We haue most heartily to thanke God therefore that they amongst vs to whom the first consultations of causes of this kind fell were men which aiming at another marke namely the glorie of God and the good of this his Church tooke that which they iudged thereunto necessary not reiecting any good or conuenient thing onely because the Church of Rome might perhaps like it If we haue that which is meere and right although
Notwithstanding we do not deny alteration of laws to be sometimes a thing necessary as when they are vnnatural or impious or otherwise hurtfull vnto the publique community of mē and against that good for which humaine societies were instituted When the Apostles of our Lord Sauiour were ordained to alter the lawes of Heathnish Religion receiued throughout the whole world chosen I grant they were Paule excepted the rest ignorant poore simple vnschooled altogether and vnlettered men howbeit extraordinarilie indued with ghostly wisedome from aboue before they euer vndertooke this enterprise yea their authoritie confirmed by miracle to the end it might plainely appeare that they were the Lords Ambassadours vnto whose Soueraigne power for all flesh to stoope for all the kingdomes of the earth to yeeld themselues willingly conformable in whatsoeuer should be required it was their duty In this case therefore their oppositions in maintenance of publique superstition against Apostolique endeuours as that they might not condemne the wayes of their ancient predecessors that they must keepe Religiones traditas the rites which frō age to age had descended that the ceremonies of Religion had beene euer accompted by so much holier as elder these and the like allegations in this case were vaine friuolous Not to stay longer therefore in speech concerning this point we will conclude that as the change of such lawes as haue bene specified is necessary so the euidence that they are such must be great If we haue neither voice frō heauen that so pronounceth of them neither sentence of men grounded vpon such manifest and cleare proofe that they in whose hands it is to alter them may likewise infallibly euen in hart conscience iudge them so vpon necessitie to vrge alteration is to trouble and disturbe without necessitie As for arbitrary alterations when laws in themselues not simply bad or vnmeet are changed for better and more expedient if the benefit of that which is newly better deuised be but small sith the custome of easinesse to alter and change is so euill no doubt but to beare a tolerable soare is better then to venter on a dangerous remedy Which being generally thought vpon as a matter that touched neerly their whole enterprise whereas change was notwithstanding concluded necessary in regard of the great hurt which the Church did receiue by a number of things then in vse whereupon a great deale of that which had bene was now to be taken away and remoued out of the Church yeat sith there are diuerse waies of abrogating things established they saw it best to cut off presently such things as might in that sort be extinguished without danger leauing the rest to be abolished by disusage through tract of time And as this was done for the manner of abrogation so touching the stint or measure thereof rites ceremonies and other externall things of like nature being hurtfull vnto the Church either in respect of their quality or in regard of their nūber in the former there could be no doubt or difficulty what should be done their deliberation in the later was more hard And therefore in as much as they did resolue to remoue only such things of that kind as the Church might best spare reteining the residue their whole counsell is in this point vtterly cōdemned as hauing either proceeded from the blindnes of those times or from negligence or from desire of honour and glory or from an erroneous opinion that such things might be tollerated for a while or if it did proceed as they which would seeme most fauourable are content to thinke it possible from a purpose partly the easilier to draw Papists vnto the Gospell by keeping so many orders stil the same with theirs and partly to redeeme peace therby the breach wherof they might feare would insue vpon more thorow alteration or howsoeuer it came to passe the thing they did is iudged euill But such is the lot of all that deale in publique affaires whether of Church or cōmonwealth that which men list to surmise of their doings be it good or ill they must before hand patiently arme their minds to indure Wherefore to let go priuate surmises whereby the thing in it selfe is not made either better or worse if iust and allowable reasons might leade thē to do as they did then are these censures al frustrate Touching ceremonies harmelesse therfore in thēselues hurtful onely in respect of number was it amisse to decree that those things which were least needfull newliest come should be the first that were taken away as in the abrogating of a nūber of saints daies and of other the like customes it appeareth they did till afterwards the forme of common prayer being perfited articles of sound Religion and discipline agreed vpon Catechismes framed for the needfull instruction of youth Churches purged of things that indeed were burthensome to the people or to the simple offensiue and scandalous all was brought at the length vnto that wherein now we stand Or was it amisse that hauing this way eased the Church as they thought of superfluitie they went not on till they had pluckt vp euen those things also which had taken a great deale stronger and deeper roote those things which to abrogate without constraint of manifest harme thereby arising had bene to alter vnnecessarily in their iudgements the auncient receiued custome of the whole Church the vniuersall practise of the people of God and those very decrees of our fathers which were not only set downe by agreement of generall councels but had accordingly bin put in vre and so continued in vse till that very time present True it is that neither councels nor customes be they neuer so ancient and so generall can let the Church from taking away that thing which is hurtfull to be retained Where things haue bene instituted which being conuenient and good at the first do afterwards in processe of time waxe otherwise we make no doubt but they may be altered yea though councels or customes generall haue receiued them And therfore it is but a needles kind of opposition which they make who thus dispute If in those things which are not expressed in the Scripture that is to be obserued of the Church which is the custome of the people of God and decree of our forefathers then how can these things at any time be varied which heretofore haue bene once ordained in such sort Whereto we say that things so ordained are to be kept howbeit not necessarily any longer then till there grow some vrgent cause to ordaine the contrary For there is not any positiue law of men whether it be generall or particular receiued by formall expresse consent as in councels or by secret approbation as in customes it commeth to passe but the same may be taken away it occasion serue Euen as we all know that many things generally kept heretofore are now in like sort generally vnkept and abolished euery where Notwithstanding
till such things be abolished what exception can there be taken against the iudgement of S. Augustine who saith that Of things harmelesse whatsoeuer there is which the whole Church doth obserue throughout the world to argue for any mans immunitie from obseruing the same it were a point of most insolent madnes And surely odious it must needs haue bene for one Christian Church to abolish that which all had receiued and held for the space of many ages that without any detriment vnto Religion so manifest and so great as might in the eyes of vnpartiall men appeare sufficient to cleare thē from all blame of rash inconsiderate proceeding if in feruour of zeale they had remoued such things Whereas contrariwise so reasonable moderation herein vsed hath freed vs from being deseruedly subiect vnto that bitter kind of obloquie wherby as the Church of Rome doth vnder the colour of loue towards those things which be harmelesse maintaine extremely most hurtfull corruptions so we peraduenture might be vpbraided that vnder colour of hatred towards those things that are corrupt we are on the other side as extreme euen againts most harmelesse ordinances And as they are obstinate to retaine that which no man of any conscience is able wel to defend so we might be reckoned fierce and violent to teare away that which if our owne mouthes did condemne our consciences would storme and repine thereat The Romanes hauing banished Tarquinius the proud and taken a sollemne oath that they neuer would permit any man more to raigne could not herewith content themselues or thinke that tyrannie was throughly extinguished till they had driuen one of their Consuls to depart the Citie against whom they found not in the world what to obiect sauing onely that his name was Tarquine and that the common-wealth could not seeme to haue recouered perfect freedome as long as a man of so daungerous a name was left remaining For the Church of England to haue done the like in casting out of Papall tyranny and superstition to haue shewed greater willingnes of accepting the very ceremonies of the Turke Christs professed enemie then of the most indifferent things which the Church of Rome approueth to haue left not so much as the names which the Church of Rome doth giue vnto things innocent to haue eiected whatsoeuer that Church doth make accompt of be it neuer so harmelesse in it selfe and of neuer so auncient continuance without any other crime to charge it with then onely that it hath bene the hap thereof to be vsed by the Church of Rome and not to be commanded in the word of God this kind of proceeding might happily haue pleased some fewe men who hauing begun such a course themselues must needs be glad to see their example followed by vs. But the Almightie which giueth wisedome and inspireth with right vnderstanding whō soeuer it pleaseth him he foreseeing that which mans wit had neuer bene able to reach vnto namely what tragedies the attempt of so extreme alteration would raise in some parts of the Christian world did for the endlesse good of his Church as we cannot chuse but interpret it vse the bridle of his prouident restraining hand to stay those eager affections in some and to settle their resolution vpon a course more calme and moderate least as in other most ample and heretofore most flourishing dominions it hath since fallen out so likewise if in ours it had come to passe that the aduerse part being enraged and betaking it selfe to such practises as men are commonly wont to embrace when they behold things brought to desperate extremities and no hope left to see any other end then onely the vtter oppression and cleane extinguishment of one side by this meane Christendome flaming in all parts of greatest importance at once they all had wanted that comfort of mutuall reliefe wherby they are now for the time susteined and not the least by this our Church which they so much impeach till mutuall combustious bloudsheads and wastes because no other inducement will serue may enforce them through very faintnesse after the experience of so endlesse miseries to enter on all sides at the length into some such consultation as may tend to the best reestablishment of the whole Church of Iesus Christ. To the singular good whereof it cannot but serue as a profitable direction to teach men what is most likely to proue auaileable when they shall quietly consider the triall that hath bene thus long had of both kinds of reformation as well this moderate kind which the Church of England hath taken as that other more extreme and rigorous which certaine Churches elsewhere haue better liked In the meane while it may be that suspence of iudgement and exercise of charity were safer and seemelier for Christian men then the hote pursute of these controuersies wherein they that are most feruent to dispute be not alwayes the most able to determine But who are on his side and who against him our Lord in his good time shall reueale And sith thus farre we haue proceeded in opening the things that haue beene done let not the principall doers themselues be forgotten When the ruines of the house of God that house which cōsisting of religious soules is most immediatly the pretious temple of the holy Ghost were become not in his sight alone but in the eyes of the whole world so exceeding great that very superstition began euen to feele itselfe too farre growne the first that with vs made way to repaire the decayes thereof by beheading superstition was King Henry the eight The sonne and successour of which famous King as we know was Edward the Saint in whom for so by the euent wee may gather it pleased God righteous and iust to let England see what a blessing sinne and iniquitie would not suffer it to enioy Howbeit that which the wise man hath sayde concerning Enoch whose dayes were though many in respect of ours yet scarse as three to nine in comparison of theirs with whome hee liued the same to that admirable child most worthily may be applyed Though he departed this worlde soone yet fulfilled he much time But what ensued That worke which the one in such sort had begun and the other so farre proceeded in was in short space so ouerthrowne as if almost it had neuer bene till such time as that God whose property is to shew his mercies then greatest when they are neerest to be vtterly despaired of caused in the depth of discomfort and darknes a most glorious starre to arise and on her head setled the Crowne whome him selfe had kept as a lambe from the slaughter of those bloudie times that the experience of his goodnes in her own deliuerance might cause her mercifull disposition to take so much the more delight in sauing others whom the like necessity shold presse What in this behalfe hath bene done towards nations abroad the parts of Christendome most afflicted can best testifie That which
simple men who knowing the time of their owne Presidentship to bee but short would alwayes stand in feare of their ministers perpetuall authoritie and among the ministers themselues one being so farre in estimation aboue the rest the voyces of the rest were likely to be giuen for the most part respectiuely with a kinde of secret dependencie and awe so that in shewe a maruellous indifferently composed Senate Ecclesiasticall was to gouerne but in effect one onely man should as the Spirite and soule of the residue doe all in all But what did these vaine surmises boote Brought they were now to so straight an issue that of two thinges they must choose one namely whether they would to their endlesse disgrace with ridiculous lightnes dismisse him whose restitution they had in so impotent maner desired or else condescende vnto that demaund wherein hee was resolute eyther to haue it or to leaue them They thought it better to be somewhat hardly yoked at home then for euer abroad discredited Wherefore in the ende those orders were on all sides assented vnto with no lesse alacritie of minde then Cities vnable to holde out longer are wont to shewe when they take conditions such as it liketh him to offer them which hath them in the narrow streightes of aduantage Not many yeares were ouerpassed before these twice sworne men aduentured to giue their last and hotest assault to the fortresse of the same discipline childishly graunting by comon consent of their whole Senate that vnder their towne seale a relaxation to one Bertelier whom the Eldership had excommunicated further also decreeing with strange absurditie that to the same Senate it should belong to giue finall iudgemēt in matter of excōmunication and to absolue whom it pleased them cleane contrary to their owne former deedes and oaths The report of which decree being forth with brought vnto Caluin Before sayth he this decree take place either my bloud or banishment shall signe it Againe two dayes before the Cōmunion should be celebrated his speech was publiquely to like effect Kill me if euer this hand do reach forth the things that are holy to thē whom THE CHVRCH hath iudged despisers Whereupon for feare of tumult the forenamed Bertelier was by his friends aduised for that time not to vse the liberty granted him by the Senate nor to present himselfe in the Church till they saw somewhat further what would ensue After the Communion quietly ministred and some likelihood of peaceable ending these troubles without any more ado that very day in the afternoone besides all mens expectation concluding his ordinary sermon he telleth them that because he neither had learned nor taught to striue with such as are in authority therefore sayth he the case so standing as now it doth let me vse these words of the Apostle vnto you I commend you vnto God the word of his grace and so bad them hartily all A dew It sometimes commeth to passe that the readiest way which a wise man hath to conquer is to flie This voluntarie and vnexpected mention of sudden departure caused presently the Senate for according to their woonted maner they still continued onely constant in vnconstancy to gather themselues together and for a time to suspend their own decree leauing things to proceed as before till they had heard the iudgement of foure Heluetian Cities concerning the matter which was in strife This to haue done at the first before they gaue assēt vnto any order had shewed some wit discretion in thē but now to do it was as much as to say in effect that they would play their parts on stage Caluin therfore dispatcheth with all expedition his letters vnto some principall pastor in euery of those cities crauing earnestly at their hands to respect this cause as a thing whereupō the whole state of religion piety in that church did so much depend that God all good men were now ineuitably certaine to be trampled vnder foot vnlesse those foure Cities by their good means might be brought to giue sentence with the ministers of Geneua when the cause should be brought before them yea so to giue it that two things it might effectually containe the one an absolute approbation of the discipline of Geneua as consonant vnto the word of God without any cautions qualifications ifs or ands the other an earnest admonition not to innouate or change the same His vehemēt request herein as touching both points was satisfied For albeit the sayd Heluetian Churches did neuer as yet obserue that discipline neuerthelesse the Senate of Geneua hauing required their iudgement concerning these three questions First after what manner by Gods commaundement according to the Scripture and vnspotted religion excommunication is to be exercised Secondly whether it may not be exercised some other way then by the Consistorie Thirdly what the vse of their Churches was to do in this case answer was returned from the sayd Churches That they had heard already of those consistoriall lawes and did acknowledge them to be godly ordinances drawing towards the prescript of the word of God for which cause that they did not thinke it good for the Church of Geneua by innouation to change the same but rather to keepe them as they were Which aunswer although not aunswering vnto the former demaunds but respecting what Maister Caluin had iudged requisite for them to aunswere was notwithstanding accepted without any further reply in as much as they plainely saw that when stomacke doth striue with wit the match is not equall And so the heat of their former contentions began to flake The present inhabitants of Geneua J hope will not take it in euill part that the faltinesse of their people heretofore is by vs so farre forth layd open as their owne learned guides and Pastors haue thought necessarie to discouer it vnto the world For out of their bookes and writings it is that I haue collected this whole narration to the end it might thereby appeare in what sort amongst them that discipline was planted for which so much contention is raised amongst our selues The reasons which mooued Caluin herein to be so earnest was as Beza himselfe testifieth for that he saw how needfull these bridles were to be put in the iawes of that Citie That which by wisedome he saw to be requisite for that people was by as great wisedome compassed But wise men are men and the truth is truth That which Caluin did for establishment of his discipline seemeth more commendable then that which he taught for the countenancing of it established Nature worketh in vs all a loue to our owne counsels The contradiction of others is a fanne to inflame that loue Our loue set on fire to maintaine that which once we haue done sharpeneth the wit to dispute to argue and by all meanes to reason for it Wherefore a maruaile it were if a man of so great capacitie hauing such incitements to make him desirous of
all kind of furtherances vnto his cause could espie in the whole Scripture of God nothing which might breed at the least a probable opinion of likelihood that diuine authority it selfe was the same way somewhat inclinable And all which the wit euen of Caluin was able from thence to draw by sifting the very vtmost sentence and syllable is no more then that certaine speeches there are which to him did seeme to intimate that all Christian Churches ought to haue their Elderships indued with power of excommunication and that a part of those Elderships euery where should be chosen out frō amongst the laitie after that forme which himselfe had framed Geneua vnto But what argument are ye able to shew whereby it was euer prooued by Caluin that any one sentence of Scripture doth necessarily enforce these things or the rest wherein your opinion concurreth with his against the orders of your owne Church We should be iniurious vnto vertue it selfe if we did derogate from them whom their industrie hath made great Two things of principall moment there are which haue deseruedly procured him honour throughout the world the one his exceeding paynes in composing the Institutions of Christian Religion the other his no lesse industrious trauailes for exposition of holy Scripture according vnto the same institutions In which two things who soeuer they were that after him bestowed their labour he gayned the aduantage of preiudice against them if they gaine said and of glorie aboue them if they consented His writings published after the question about that discipline was once begunne omit not any the least occasion of extolling the vse and singular necessitie thereof Of what accompt the Maister of sentences was in the Church of Rome the same and more amongest the Preachers of reformed Churches Caluin had purchased so that the perfectest diuines were iudged they which were skilfullest in Caluins writings His bookes almost the very Canon to iudge both doctrine and discipline by French Churches both vnder others abroad and at home in their owne Countrey all cast according vnto that mould which Caluin had made The Church of Scotland in erecting the fabricke of their reformation tooke the selfe same paterne Till at length the discipline which was at the first so weake that without the staffe of their approbation who were not subiect vnto it themselues it had not brought others vnder subiection beganne now to challenge vniuersall obedience and to enter into open conflict with those very Churches which in desperate extremitie had bene relieuers of it To one of those Churches which liued in most peaceable sort and abounded as well with men for their learning in other professions singular as also with diuines whose equals were not elsewhere to be found a Church ordered by Gualters discipline and not by that which Geneua adoreth vnto this Church the Church of Heidelberge there commeth one who crauing leaue to dispute publiquely defendeth with open disdaine of their gouernement that To a Minister with his Eldership power is giuen by the law of God to excommunicate whomsoeuer yea euen kings and princes themselues Here were the seedes sowne of that controuersie which sprang vp betweene Beza and Erastus about the matter of excommunication whether there ought to be in all Churches an Eldership hauing power to excommunicate and a part of that Eldership to be of necessitie certaine chosen out from amongest the laity for that purpose In which disputation they haue as to me it seemeth deuided very equally the truth betweene them Beza most truly maintaining the necessitie of excommunication Erastus as truly the nonnecessitie of layelders to be ministers thereof Amongest our selues there was in King Edwards dayes some question moued by reason of a few mens scrupulositie touching certaine things And beyond Seas of them which fled in the dayes of Queene Mary some contenting themselues abroad with the vse of their owne Seruice booke at home authorised before their departure out of the Realme others liking better the Common prayer booke of the Church of Geneua translated those smaller contentions before begun were by this meane somewhat increased Vnder the happy raigne of her Maiesty which now is the greatest matter a while contended for was the wearing of the Cap and Surplesse till there came Admonitions directed vnto the high Court of Parliament by men who concealing their names thought it glory inough to discouer their minds and affections which now were vniuersally bent euen against all the orders and lawes wherein this Church is found vnconformable to the platforme of Geneua Concerning the defendor of which admonitions all that I meane to say is but this There will come a time when three words vttered with charitie and meeknesse shall receiue a farre more blessed reward then three thousand volumes written with disdainefull sharpnes of wit But the maner of mens writing must not alienate our hearts from the truth if it appeare they haue the truth as the followers of the same defendor do thinke he hath and in that perswasion they follow him no otherwise then himselfe doth Calvin Beza and others with the like perswasion that they in this cause had the truth We being as fully perswaded otherwise it resteth that some kind of tryall be vsed to find out which part is in error 3 The first meane whereby nature teacheth men to iudge good from euill as well in lawes as in other things is the force of their owne discretion Hereunto therefore Saint Paule referreth oftentimes his owne speech to be considered of by them that heard him I speake as to them which haue vnderstanding iudge ye what I say Againe afterward Iudge in your selues is it comely that a woman pray vncouered The exercise of this kind of iudgement our Sauiour requireth in the Iewes In them of Berea the Scripture commendeth it Finally whatsoeuer we do if our owne secret iudgement consent nor vnto it as fit and good to be done the doing of it to vs is sinne although the thing it selfe be allowable Saint Paules rule therefore generally is Let euery man in his owne minde be fully perswaded of that thing which he either alloweth or doth Some things are so familiar and plaine that truth from falshood and good from euill is most easily discerned in them euen by men of no deepe capacitie And of that nature for the most part are things absolutely vnto all mens saluation necessarie either to be held or denied either to be done or auoided For which cause Saint Augustine acknowledgeth that they are not onely set downe but also plainely set downe in Scripture so that he which heareth or readeth may without any great difficultie vnderstand Other things also there are belonging though in a lower degree of importance vnto the offices of Christian men which because they are more obscure more intricate and hard to be iudged of therefore God hath appointed some to spend their whole time principally in the studie of things diuine to
saith of the church of Rome Alexandria the most famous Churches in the Apostles times that about the yeare 430. the Romain Alexandrian Bishops leauing the sacred function were degenerate to a secular rule or dominioÌ„ HereupoÌ„ ye coÌ„clude that it is not safe to fetch our gouernment from any other then the Apostles times Wherein by the way it may be noted that in proposing the Apostles times as a paterne for the Church to follow though the desire of you all be one the drift and purpose of you all is not one The chiefest thing which lay reformers yawne for is that the Cleargie may through conformitie in state and condition be Apostolicall poore as the Apostles of Christ were poore In which one circumstance if they imagine so great perfection they must thinke that Church which hath such store of mendicant Friers a Church in that respect most happy Were it for the glory of God and the good of his Church in deede that the Cleargie should be left euen as bare as the Apostles when they had neither staffe nor scrip that God which should lay vpon them the condition of his Apostles would I hope endue them with the selfesame affection which was in that holy Apostle whose words concerning his owne right vertuous contentment of heart As well how to want as how to abound are a most fit episcopall emprese The Church of Christ is a body mysticall A body cannot stand vnlesse the parts thereof be proportionable Let it therefore be required on both parts at the hands of the Cleargie to be in meannesse of state like the Apostles at the hands of the laitie to be as they were who liued vnder the Apostles and in this reformation there will bee though little wisedome yet some indifferencie But your reformation which are of the Cleargie if yet it displease ye not that I should say ye are of the Cleargie seemeth to aime at a broader marke Ye thinke that he which will perfectly reforme must bring the forme of Church discipline vnto the state which then it was at A thing neither possible nor certaine nor absolutely conuenient Concerning the first what was vsed in the Apostles times the scripture fully declareth not so that making their times the rule and Canon of Church politie ye make a rule which being not possible to be fully knowne is as impossible to be kept Againe sith the later euen of the Apostles owne times had that which in the former was not thought vpon in this generall proposing of the Apostolicall times there is no certaintie which should be followed especially seeing that ye giue vs great cause to doubt how far ye allow those times For albeit the louer of Antichristian building were not ye sâ—y as then set vp yet the foundations thereof were secretly and vnder the ground layd in the Apostles times so that all other times ye plainely reiect and the Apostles owne times ye approue with maruellous great suspition leauing it intricat and doubtfull wherein we are to keepe our selues vnto the paterne of their times Thirdly whereas it is the error of the common multitude to consider onely what hath bene of olde and if the same were well to see whether still it continue if not to condemne that presently which is and neuer to search vpon what ground or consideration the change might growe such rudenes cannot be in you so well borne with whom learning and iudgement hath enabled much more soundly to discerne how farre the times of the Church and the orders thereof may alter without offence True it is the auncienter the better ceremonies of religion are howbeit not absolutely true and without exception but true onely so farre forth as those different ages do agree in the state of those things for which at the first those rites orders and ceremonies were instituted In the Apostles times that was harmlesse which being now reuiued would be scandalous as their oscula sancta Those feastes of charitie which being instituted by the Apostles were reteined in the Church long after are not now thought any where needfull What man is there of vnderstanding vnto whom it is not manifest how the way of prouiding for the Cleargie by tithes the deuise of almes-houses for the poore the sorting out of the people into their seuerall parishes together with sundrie other things which the Apostles times could not haue being now established are much more conuenient and fit for the Church of Christ then if the same should be taken away for conformities sake with the auncientest and first times The orders therefore which were obserued in the Apostles times are not to be vrged as a rule vniuersally either sufficient or necessary If they bee neuerthelesse on your part it still remaineth to bee better prooued that the forme of discipline which ye intitle apostolicall was in the Apostles times exercised For of this very thing ye faile euen touching that which ye make most account of as being matter of substance in discipline I meane the power of your lay-elders and the difference of your Doctors from the Pastors in all Churches So that in summe we may be bold to conclude that besides these last times which for insolencie pride and egregious contempt of all good order are the worst there are none wherein ye can truly affirme that the complete forme of your discipline or the substance thereof was practised The euidence therefore of antiquitie failing you yee flie to the iudgements of such learned men as seeme by their writings to be of opinion that all Christian Churches should receiue your discipline and abandon ours Wherein as ye heape vp the names of a number of men not vnworthy to be had in honor so there are a number whom when ye mention although it serue ye to purpose with the ignorant and vulgar sort who measure by tale not by waight yet surely they who know what qualitie and value the men are of will thinke ye drawe very neare the dregs But were they all of as great account as the best and chiefest amongst them with vs notwithstanding neither are they neither ought they to be of such reckening that their opinion or coniecture should cause the lawes of the Church of England to giue place Much lesse when they neither do all agree in that opinioÌ„ and of theÌ„ which are at agreemeÌ„t the most part through a courteous inducement haue followed one man as their guide finally that one therein not vnlikely to haue swarued If any chance to say it is probable that in the Apostles times there were layelders or not to mislike the continuance of them in the Church or to affirme that Bishops at the first were a name but not a power distinct from presbyters or to speake any thing in praise of those Churches which are without episcopall regimeÌ„t or to reproue the fault of such as abuse that calling all these ye register for men perswaded as you are that euery christian
them to the contrary 7. Nor is mine owne intent any other in these seuerall bookes of discourse then to make it appeare vnto you that for the ecclesiasticall lawes of this land we are led by great reason to obserue them and ye by no necessitie bound to impugne them It is no part of my secret meaning to draw you hereby into hatred or to set vpoÌ„ the face of this cause any fairer glasse then the naked truth doth afford but my whole endeuour is to resolue the conscience and to shew as neare as I can what in this controuersie the hart is to thinke if it will follow the light of sound and sincere iudgement without either clowd of preiudice or mist of passionate affection Wherefore seeing that lawes and ordinances in particular whether such as we obserue or such as your selues would haue established when the minde doth sift and examine them it must needes haue often recourse to a number of doubts and questions about the nature kindes and qualities of lawes in generall whereof vnlesse it be throughly enformed there will appeare no certaintie to stay our perswasion vpon I haue for that cause set downe in the first place an introduction on both sides needfull to bee considered Declaring therein what law is how different kindes of lawes there are and what force they are of according vnto each kind This done because ye suppose the lawes for which ye striue are found in scripture but those not against which we striue vpon this surmise are drawne to hold it as the very maine pillar of your whole cause that scripture ought to be the onely rule of all our actions and consequently that the Church-orders which wee obserue being not commaunded in scripture are offensiue and displeasant vnto God I haue spent the second booke in sifting of this point which standeth with you for the first and chiefest principle whereon ye build Wherevnto the next in degree is that as God will haue alwayes a Church vpon earth while the worlde doth continue and that Church stand in neede of gouernment of which gouernment it behoueth himselfe to bee both the author and teacher so it cannot stand with dutie that man should euer presume in any wise to chaunge and alter the same and therefore That in Scripture there must of necessitie be found some particular forme of politie Ecclesiasticall the lawes whereof admit not any kinde of alteration The first three bookes being thus ended the fourth proceedeth from the generall grounds and foundations of your cause vnto your generall accusations against vs as hauing in the orders of our Church for so you pretend corrupted the right forme of Church politie with manifolde popish rites and ceremonies which certaine reformed Churches haue banished from amongst them and haue thereby giuen vs such examples as you thinke wee ought to follow This your assertion hath herein drawne vs to make search whether these bee iust exceptions against the customes of our Church when ye pleade that they are the same which the Church of Rome hath or that they are not the same which some other reformed Churches haue deuised Of those foure bookes which remaine and are bestowed about the specialties of that cause which lyeth in controuersie the first examineth the causes by you alleaged wherefore the publique duties of Christian religion as our prayers our Sacramants and the rest should not be ordered in such sort as with vs they are nor that power whereby the persons of men are consecrated vnto the ministerie be disposed of in such maner as the lawes of this Church doe allow The second and third are concerning the power of iurisdiction the one whether laâ— men such as your gouerning Elders are ought in all congregations for euer to bee inuested with that power the other whether Bishops may haue that power ouer other Pastors and there withall that honour which with vs they haue And because besides the power of order which all consecrated persons haue and the power of iurisdiction which neither they all nor they only haue there is a third power a power of Ecclesiasticall Dominion communicable as wee thinke vnto persons not Ecclesiasticall and most fit to be restrained vnto the Prince or Soueraigne commaunder ouer the whole body politique the eight booke we haue allotted vnto this question and haue sifted therein your obiections against those preeminences royall which thereunto appertâ—ine Thus haue J layd before you the briefe of these my trauailes and presented vnder your view the limmes of that cause litigious betweene vs the whole intier body whereof being thus compact it shall be no troublesome thing for any man to find each particular controuersies resting place and the coherence it hath with those things either on which it dependeth or which depend on it 8. The case so standing therefore my brethren as it doth the wisdome of gouernors ye must not blame in that they further also forecasting the manifold strange dangerous innouations which are more then likely to follow if your discipline should take place haue for that cause thought it hitherto a part of their dutie to withstand your endeuors that way The rather for that they haue seene alreadie some small beginninges of the fruits thereof in them who concurring with you in iudgement aboute the necessitie of that discipline haue aduentured without more adoe to separate themselues from the rest of the Church and to put your speculations in execution These mens hastines the warier sort of you doth not commend yee wish they had held themselues longer in and not so dangerously flowne abroad before the fethers of the cause had beene growne their errour with mercifull terms ye reproue naming them in great commiseration of mind your poore brethren They oâ— the contrary side more bitterly accuse you as their false brethreÌ„ against you they plead saying From your breasts it is that we haue sucked those thinges which when ye deliuered vnto vs ye termed that heauenly sincere and wholesome milke of Gods word howsoeuer yee now abhorre as poyson that which the vertue thereof hath wrought and brought forth in vs. Ye sometime our companions guides and familiars with whome we haue had most sweete consultations are now become our professed aduersaries because wee thinke the statute-congregations in Englande to bee no true Christian Churches because wee haue seuered our selues from them and because without their leaue or licence that are in Ciuill authoritie wee haue secretly framed our owne Churches according to the platforme of the worde of God For of that point betweene you and vs there is no controuersie Alas what would ye haue vs to doe At such time as ye were content to accept vs in the number of your owne your teachinges we heard we read your writinges and though wee would yet able wee are not to forget with what zeale yee haue euer profest that in the English congregations for so many of them as bee ordered according
They vnto whom we shall seeme tedious are in no wise iniuried by vs because it is in their owne hands to spare that labour which they are not willing to endure And if any complaine of obscuritie they must consider that in these matters it commeth no otherwise to passe then in sundry the workes both of art and also of nature where that which hath greatest force in the very things we see is notwithstanding it selfe oftentimes not seene The statelinesse of houses the goodlines of trees when we behold them delighteth the eye but that foundation which beareth vp the one that roote which ministreth vnto the other nourishment and life is in the bosome of the earth concealed if there be at any time occasion to search into it such labour is then more necessary then pleasant both to them which vndertake it and for the lookers on In like manner the vse and benefite of good lawes all that liue vnder them may enioy with delight and comfort albeit the groundes and first originall causes from whence they haue sprung be vnknowne as to the greatest part of men they are But when they who withdraw their obedience pretend that the lawes which they should obey are corrupt and vitious for better examination of their qualitie it behoueth the very foundation and roote the highest welspring and fountaine of them to be discouered Which because wee are not oftentimes accustomed to doe when wee doe it the paines wee take are more needefull a great deale then acceptable and the matters which wee handle seeme by reason of newnesse till the minde grow better acquainted with them darke intricate and vnfamiliar For as much helpe whereof as may be in this case I haue endeuoured throughout the body of this whole discourse that euery former part might giue strength vnto all that followe and euery later bring some light vnto all before So that if the iudgements of men doe but holde themselues in suspence as touching these first more generall meditations till in order they haue perused the rest that ensue what may seeme darke at the first will afterwardes be founde more plaine euen as the later particular decisions will appeare I doubt not more strong when the other haue beene read before The lawes of the Church whereby for so many ages together wee haue bene guided in the exercise of Christian religion and the seruice of the true God our rites customes and orders of Ecclesiasticall gouernment are called in question wee are accused as men that will not haue Christ Iesus to rule ouer them but haue wilfully cast his statutes behinde their backes hating to bee reformed and made subiect vnto the scepter of his discipline Behold therefore wee offer the lawes whereby wee liue vnto the generall triall and iudgement of the whole world hartily beseeching almightie God whome wee desire to serue according to his owne will that both wee and others all kinde of partiall affection being cleane laide aside may haue eyes to see and hearts to embrace the things that in his sight are most acceptable And because the point about which wee striue is the qualitie of our lawes our first entrance hereinto cannot better be made then with consideration of the nature of lawe in generall and of that lawe which giueth life vnto all the rest which are commendable iust and good nâ—mely the lawe whereby the Eternall himselfe doth worke Proceeding from hence to the lawe first of nature then of scripture we shall haue the easier accesse vnto those things which come after to be debated concerning the particular cause and question which wee haue in hand 2 All thinges that are haue some operation not violent or casuall Neither doth any thing euer begin to exercise the same without some foreconceiued ende for which it worketh And the ende which it worketh for is not obteined vnlesse the worke bee also fit to obteine it by For vnto euery ende euery operation will not serue That which doth assigne vnto each thing the kinde that which doth moderate the force and power that which doth appoint the forme and measure of working the same we tearme a Lawe So that no certaine ende could euer bee attained vnlesse the actions whereby it is attained were regular that is to say made suteable fit and correspondent vnto their ende by some Canon rule or lawe Which thing doth first take placâ— in the workes euen of God himselfe All thinges therefore doe worke after a sort according to lawe all other thinges according to a lawe whereof some superiours vnto whome they are subiect is author onely the workes and operations of God haue him both for their worker and for the lawe whereby they are wrought The being of God is a kinde of lawe to his working for that perfection which God is giueth perfection to that hee doth Those naturall necessary and internall operations of God the generation of the Sonne the proceeding of the Spirit are without the compasse of my present intent which is to touch onely such operations as haue their beginning and being by a voluntary purpose wherewith God hath eternally decreed when and how they should bee Which eternall decree is that wee tearme an eternall lawe Dangerous it were for the feeble braine of man to wade farre into the doings of the most High whome although to knowe bee life and ioy to make mention of his name yet our soundest knowledge is to know that wee know him not as indeede hee is neither can know him and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence when we confesse without confession that his glory is inexplicable his greatnesse aboue our capacitie and reach Hee is aboue and wee vpon earth therefore it behoueth our wordes to bee warie and fewe Our God is one or rather very onenesse and meere vnitie hauing nothing but it selfe in it selfe and not consisting as all things doe besides God of many things In which essentiall vnitie of God a Trinitie personall neuerthelesse subsisteth after a maner far exceeding the possibilitie of mans conceipt The works which outwardly are of God they are in such sort of him being one that each person hath in them somewhat peculiar and proper For being three and they all subsisting in the essence of one deitie from the Father by the Sonne through the Spirit all things are That which the Sonne doth heare of the Father and which the Spirit doth receiue of the Father the Sonne the same we haue at the haÌ„ds of the Spirit as being the last and therfore the nearest vnto vs in order although in power the same with the second and the first The wise and learned among the very Heathens themselues haue all acknowledged some first cause whereupon originally the being of all things dependeth Neither haue they otherwise spoken of that cause then as an Agent which knowing what and why it worketh obserueth in working a most exact order or lawe Thus much is signified by that which Homer mentioneth
Tertullian yet there is a Church that is to say a Christian assembly But a Church as now we are to vnderstand it is a society that is a number of men belonging vnto some Christian fellowship the place and limites whereof are certaine That wherein they haue communion is the publike exercise of such duties as those mentioned in the Apostles acts Instruction Breaking of bread and Prayers As therefore they that are of the misticall body of Christ haue those inward graces and vertues whereby they differ from all others which are not of the same body againe whosoeuer appertaine to the visible body of the Church they haue also the notes of externall profession whereby the world knoweth what they are after the same manner euen the seuerall societies of Christian men vnto euery of which the name of a Church is giuen with addition betokening seuerally as the Church of Rome Corinth Ephesus England and so the rest must bee indued with correspondent generall properties belonging vnto them as they are publique Christian societies And of such properties common vnto all societies Christian it may not be denied that one of the very chiefest is Ecclesiasticall Politie Which word I therefore the rather vse because the name of gouernement as commonly men vnderstand it in ordinary speech doth not comprise the largenes of that whereunto in this question it is applied For when we speake of gouernment what doth the greatest part conceiue thereby but onely the exercise of superiority peculiar vnto rulers and guides of others To our purpose therefore the name of Church-politie will better serue because it conteineth both gouernement and also whatsoeuer besides belongeth to the ordering of the Church in publique Neither is any thing in this degree more necessarie then Church politie which is a forme of ordering the publique spirituall affaires of the Church of God 2 But we must note that he which affirmeth speech to bee necessary amongest all men throughout the world doth not thereby import that all men must necessarily speake one kind of language Euen so the necessitie of politie and regiment in all Churches may be held without holding any one certaine forme to bee necessarie in them all Nor is it possible that any forme of politie much lesse of politie Ecclesiasticall should bee good vnlesse God himselfe bee author of it Those things that are not of God sayth Tertullian they can haue no other then Gods aduersarie for their author Be it whatsoeuer in the Church of God if it bee not of God wee hate it Of God it must bee either as those things sometime were which God supernaturally reuealed and so deliuered them vnto Moses for gouernement of the common wealth of Israell or else as those thinges which men finde out by helpe of that light which God hath giuen them vnto that ende The verie lawe of nature it selfe which no man can deny but God hath instituted is not of God vnlesse that be of God whereof God is the author as well this later way as the former But for as much as no forme of Church-politie is thought by them to be lawfull or to bee of God vnlesse God be so the author of it that it bee also set downe in Scripture they should tell vs plainely whether their meaning be that it must be there set downe in whole or in part For if wholly let them shewe what one forme of politie euer was so Their owne to be so taken out of Scripture they will not affirme neither denie they that in part euen this which they so much oppugne is also from thence taken Againe they should tell vs whether onely that be taken out of Sripture which is actually and particularly there set downe or else that also which the generall principles and rules of Scripture potentially conteine The one way they cannot as much as pretend that all the partes of their owne discipline are in scripture and the other way their mouthes are stopped when they would pleade against all other formes besides their owne seeing the generall principles are such as do not particularly prescribe any one but sundry may equally be consonant vnto the generall axiomes of the Scripture But to giue them some larger scope and not to close them vp in these streights let their allegations bee considered wherewith they earnestly bend themselues against all which deny it necessarie that any one complete forme of Church politie should bee in Scripture First therefore whereas it hath beene told them that matters of faith and in generall matters necessarie vnto saluation are of a different nature from Ceremonies order and the kind of Church gouernement that the one are necessarie to bee expressely contained in the word of God or else manifestly collected out of the same the other not so that is necessarie not to receiue the one vnlesse there be some thing in Scripture for them the other free if nothing against them may thence bee alleaged although there do not appeare any iust or reasonable cause to reiect or dislike of this neuerthelesse as it is not easie to speake to the contentation of mindes exulcerated in themselues but that somewhat there will bee alwayes which displeaseth so herein for two things we are reprooued the first is misdistinguishing because matters of discipline and Church gouernement are as they say matters necessary to saluation and of faith whereas we put a difference betweene the one and the other our second fault is iniurious dealing with the Scripture of God as if it conteined onely the principall points of religion some rude and vnfashioned matter of building the Church but had left out that which belongeth vnto the forme and fashion of it as if there were in the Scripture no more then only to couer the Churches nakednesse and not chaines bracelets rings iewels to adorne her sufficient to quench her thirst to kill her hunger but not to minister a more liberall and as it were a more delitious and dainty dyet In which case our apologie shall not need to be very long 3 The mixture of those things by speech which by nature are diuided is the mother of all error To take away therefore that error which confusion breedeth distinction is requisite Rightly to distinguish is by conceipt of minde to seuer thinges different in nature and to discerne wherein they differ So that if wee imagine a difference where there is none because wee distinguish where wee should not it may not bee denied that wee misdistinguish The onely tryall whether wee do so yea or no dependeth vpon comparison betweene our conceipt and the nature of thinges conceiued Touching matters belonging vnto the Church of Christ this wee conceiue that they are not of one sute Some things are meerely of faith which things it doth suffice that wee knowe and beleeue some things not onely to bee knowne but done because they concerne the actions of men Articles about the Trinitie are matters of meere faith and
the house of God did therin establish lawes of gouernmēt for perpetuity lawes which they that were of the houshold might not alter shall we admit into our thoughts that the sonne of God hath in prouiding for this his houshold declared himselfe lesse faithfull then Moses Moses deliuering vnto the Iewes such lawes as were durable if those be changeable which Christ hath deliuered vnto vs we are not able to auoide it but that which to thinke were heinous impiety we of necessity must confesse euen the sonne of God himselfe to haue bene lesse faithfull then Moses Which argument shall need no touchstone to try it by but some other of the like making Moses erected in the wildernes a tabernacle which was moueable from place to place Salomon a sumptuous stately Temple which was not moueable Therfore Salomon was faithfuller then Moses which no man indued with reason will thinke And yet by this reasō it doth plainly follow He that wil see how faithful the one or the other was must cōpare the things which they bothe did vnto the charge which God gaue each of them The Apostle in making comparison betweene our Sauiour and Moses attributeth faithfulnes vnto bothe and maketh this difference betweene them Moses in but Christ ouer the house of God Moses in that house which was his by charge and commission though to gouerne it yet to gouerne it as a seruant but Christ ouer this house as being his owne intire possesion Our Lord and Sauiour doth make protestation I haue giuen vnto them the words which thou gauest me Faithfull therefore he was and concealed not any part of his fathers will But did any part of that will require the immutability of lawes concerning Church-polity They answer yea For else God should lesse fauour vs then the Iewes God would not haue their Churches guided by any lawes but his owne And seeing this did so continue euen till Christ now to ease God of that care or rather to depriue the Church of his patronage what reason haue we Surely none to derogate any thing from the ancient loue which God hath borne to his Church An heathen Philosopher there is who considering how many things beasts haue which men haue not how naked in comparison of them how impotent and how much lesse able we are to shift for our selues along time after we enter into this world repiningly concluded hereupon that nature being a carefull mother for them is towards vs a hard harted Stepdame No we may not measure the affection of our gratious God towards his by such differences For euen herein shineth his wisdome that though the wayes of his prouidence be many yea the ende which he bringeth all at the length vnto is one and the selfe same But if such kind of reasoning were good might we not euen as directly conclude the very same concerning laws of secular regiment Their owne words are these In the ancient Church of the Iewes God did command and Moses commit vnto writing all things pertinent as well to the ciuil as to the Ecclesiasticall state God gaue them lawes of ciuill regiment and would not permit their common weale to be gouerned by any other lawes then his owne Doth God lesse regard our temporal estate in this world or prouide for it worse then for theirs To vs notwithstanding he hath not as to them deliuered any particular forme of temporall regiment vnlesse perhaps we thinke as some do that the grafting of the Gentiles their incorporating into Israell doth import that we ought to be subiect vnto the rites and lawes of their whole politie We see then how weake such disputes are how smally they make to this purpose That Christ did not meane to set downe particular positiue lawes for all things in such sort as Moses did the very different manner of deliuering the lawes of Moses and the lawes of Christ doth plainly shew Moses had commaundement to gather the ordinances of God together distinctly and orderly to set them downe according vnto their seuerall kinds for each publique duty and office the laws that belong thereto as appeareth in the bookes themselues written of purpose for that end Contrariwise the lawes of Christ we find rather mentioned by occasion in the writings of the Apostles then any solemne thing directly written to comprehend them in legall sort Againe the positiue lawes which Moses gaue they were giuen for the greatest part with restraint to the land of Iurie Behold sayth Moses I haue taught you ordinances and lawes as the Lord my God commaunded me that ye should do euen so within the land whither ye go to possesse it Which lawes and ordinances positiue he plainely distinguisheth afterward from the lawes of the two Tables which were morall The Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voyce of the words but saw no similitude onely a voyce Then he declared vnto you his Couenant which he commaunded you to do the ten Commaundements and wrote them vpon two Tables of stone And the Lord commaunded me that same time that I should teach you ordinances and lawes which ye should obserue in the land whither ye go to possesse it The same difference is againe set downe in the next Chapter following For rehearsall being made of the ten Commaundements it followeth immediatly These words the Lord spake vnto all your multitude in the Mount out of the midst of the fire the cloude and the darknesse with a great voyce and added no more and wrote them vpon two Tables of stone and deliuered them vnto me But concerning other lawes the people giue their consent to receiue them at the hands of Moses Go thou neerer and heare all that the Lord our God sayth and declare thou vnto vs all that the Lord our God sayth vnto thee and we will heare it and do it The peoples alacritie herein God highly commendeth with most effectuall and heartie speech I haue heard the voyce of the wordes of this people they haue spoken well O that there were such an heart in them to feare me and to keepe all my Commaundements alwayes that it might go well with them and with their children for euer Go say vnto them Returne you to your tents But stand thou here with me and I will tell thee all the Commaundements and the Ordinances and the Lawes which thou shalt teach them that they may do them in the land which I haue giuen them to possesse From this later kind the former are plainely distinguished in many things They were not bothe at one time deliuered neither bothe after one sort nor to one end The former vttered by the voyce of God himselfe in the hearing of sixe hundred thousand men the former written with the finger of God the former tearmed by the name of a Couenant the former giuen to be kept without either mention of time how long or
ministrie should be vtterly taken away and their estate made againe dependent vpon the voluntary deuotion of men In these thinges they easily perceiue how vnfit that were for the present which was for the first age conuenient enough The faith zeale godlines of former times is worthily had in honour but doth this proue that the orders of the Church of Christ must bee still the selfesame with theirs that nothing may be which was not then or that nothing which then was may lawfully since haue ceased They who recall the Church vnto that which was at the first must necessarily set boundes and limits vnto their speeches If any thing haue bene receiued repugnant vnto that which was first deliuered the first things in this case must stand the last giue place vnto them But where difference is without repugnancie that which hath bene can be no preiudice to that which is Let the state of the people of God when they were in the house of bondage and their maner of seruing God in a strange land be compared with that which Canaan and Ierusalem did afford and who seeth not what huge difference there was betweene them In Aegypt it may be they were right glad to take some corner of a poore cottage there to serue God vpon their knees peraduenture couered in dust and strawe sometimes Neither were they therefore the lesse accepted of God but he was with them in all their afflictions and at the length by working their admirable deliuerance did testifie that they serued him not in vaine Notwithstanding in the very desert they are no sooner possest of some little thing of their owne but a tabernacle is required at their handes Beeing planted in the land of Canaan and hauing Dauid to be their King when the Lord had giuen him rest from all his enemies it greeued his religious minde to consider the growth of his owne estate and dignitie the affaires of religion continuing still in the former manner Beholde now I dwell in an house of Cedar trees and the Arke of God remaineth still within curtaines What hee did purpose it was the pleasure of God that Salomon his sonne should performe and performe it in maner suteable vnto their present nor their auncient estate and condition For which cause Salomon writeth vnto the King of Tyrus The house which I build is great and wonderfull for great is our God aboue all Gods Whereby it clearely appeareth that the orders of the Church of God may bee acceptable vnto him as well being framed sutable to the greatnes and dignitie of later as when they keepe the reuerend simplicitie of aunciente◠times Such dissimilitude therefore betweene vs and the Apostles of Christ in the order of some outward things is no argument of default 3 Yea but wee haue framed our selues to the customes of the Church of Rome our orders and ceremonies are Papisticall It is espied that our Church-founders were not so carefull as in this matter they should haue bene but contented themselues with such discipline as they took from the Church of Rome Their error we ought to reforme by abolishing all Popish orders There must bee no communion nor fellowship with Papistes neither in doctrine ceremonies nor gouernment It is not enough that wee are deuided from the Church of Rome by the single wall of doctrine reteining as we do part of their ceremonies and almost their whole gouernment but gouernment or ceremonies or whatsoeuer it be which is popish away with it This is the thing they require in vs the vtter relinquishment of all thinges popish Wherein to the ende wee may answer them according vnto their plaine direct meaning and not take aduantage of doubtfull speech whereby controuersies growe alwaies endlesse their maine position being this that nothing should bee placed in the Church but what God in his word hath commaunded they must of necessitie holde all for popish which the Church of Rome hath ouer and besides this By popish orders ceremonies and gouernment they must therefore meane in euery of these so much as the church of Rome hath embraced without commandement of Gods word so that whatsoeuer such thing we haue if the Church of Rome haue it also it goeth vnder the name of those thinges that are Popish yea although it be lawfull although agreeable to the word of God For so they plainely affirme saying Although the formes and ceremonies which they the Church of Rome vsed were not vnlawfull and that they contained nothing which is not agreeable to the word of God yet notwithstanding neither the word of God nor reason nor the examples of the eldest Churches both Iewish and Christian do permit vs to vse the same formes and ceremonies being neither commanded of God neither such as there may not as good as they and rather better be established The question therefore is whether we may follow the Church of Rome in those orders rites and ceremonies wherein wee doe not thinke them blameable or else ought to deuise others and to haue no conformitie with them no not as much as in these thinges In this sense and construction therefore as they affirme so we denie that whatsoeuer is popish wee ought to abrogate Their arguments to proue that generally all popish orders and ceremonies ought to be cleane abolished are in summe these First whereas wee allow the iudgement of Saint Augustine that touching those thinges of this kinde which are not commaunded or forbidden in the scripture wee are to obserue the custome of the people of God and decree of our forefathers how can we retaine the customes and constitutions of the Papistes in such things who were neither the people of God nor our forefathers Secondly although the formes and ceremonies of the Church of Rome were not vnlawfull neither did containe any thing which is not agreeable to the word of God yet neither the worde of God nor the example of the Eldest Churches of God nor reason doe permit vs to vse the same they being heretiques and so neare about vs and their orders beeing neither commaunded of God nor yet such but that as good or rather better may be established It is against the word of God to haue conformitie with the Church of Rome in such things as appeareth in that the wisdome of God hath thought it a good way to keepe his people from infection of Idolatry and superstition by seuering them from idolaters in outward ceremonies and therefore hath forbidden them to doe thinges which are in themselues very lawfull to be done And further whereas the Lorde was carefull to seuer them by ceremonies from other nations yet was he not so careful to seuer them from any as from the Aegyptians amongst whom they liued and from those nations which were next neighbours vnto them because from thē was the greatest feare of infection So that following the course which the wisdom of God doth teach it were more safe for
vs to cōforme our indifferent ceremonies to the Turkes which are farre off then to the Papists which are so neare Touching the example of the eldest Churches of God in one councell it was decreed that Christians should not decke their houses with baye leaues and greene boughes because the Pagans did vse so to doe and that they should not rest from their labours those daies that the Pagans did that they should not keepe the first day of euery month as they did Another councell decreed that Christians should not celebrate feastes on the birth daies of the Martyrs because it was the manner of the heathē O saith Tertullian better is the religion of the Heathen for they vse no solemnitie of the Christians neither the Lordes daye neither the Pentecost and if they knew them they would haue nothing to doe with them for they would be afraide least they should seeme Christians but we are not afraid to be called heathen The same Tertullian would not haue Christians to sit after they had prayed because the Idolaters did so Whereby it appeareth that both of particular men and of councels in making or abolishing of ceremonies heed hath bene taken that the Christians should not be like the Idolaters no not in those thinges which of themselues are most indifferent to b◠vsed or not vsed The same cōformitie is not lesse opposite vnto reason first in as much as Contraries must be cured by their contraries and therefore Poperie being Antichristianitie is not healed but by establishment of orders thereunto opposite The way to bring a drunken mā to sobrietie is to carry him as far frō excesse of drink as may be To rectifie a crooked sticke we bend it on the contrary side as farre as it was at the first on that side from whence we drawe it and so it commeth in the ende to a middle betweene both which is perfect straightnes Vtter Inconformitie therefore with the Church of Rome in these thinges is the best and surest policie which the Church can vse While we vse their ceremonies they take occasion to blaspheme saying that our religion cannot stand by it selfe vnlesse it leane vpon the staffe of their ceremonies They hereby conceiue great hope of hauing the rest of their popery in the end which hope causeth them to be more frozen in their wickednesse Neither is it without cause that they haue this hope cōsidering that which maister Bucer noteth vpō the 18. of Saint Mathew that where these thinges haue bene left Popery hath returned but on the other part in places which haue bene cleansed of these thinges it hath not yet bene seene that it hath had any entrance None make such clamors for these ceremonies as the Papists and those whom they suborne a manifest token how much they triumph and ioy in these thinges They breede griefe of minde in a number that are godly minded and haue Antichristianitie in such detestation that their mindes are martyred with the very sight of them in the Church Such godly brethren we ought not thus to grieue with vnprofitable ceremonies yea ceremonies wherein there is not onely no profit but also daunger of great hurt that may growe to the Church by infection which popish ceremonies are meanes to breede This in effect is the summe and substance of that which they bring by way of oppositiō against those orders which we haue commō with the church of Rome these are the reasons wherewith they would proue our ceremonies in that respect worthy of blame 4 Before we answere vnto these thinges we are to cut off that wherunto they from whom these obiections proceed do oftentimes flie for defence and succor when the force and strength of their argumēts is elided For the ceremonies in vse amōgst vs being in no other respect retained sauing onely for that to retaine thē is to our seeming good and profitable yea so profitable and so good that if we had either simply taken them cleane away or els remoued them so as to place in their stead others we had done worse the plaine direct way against vs herein had bin only to proue that all such ceremonies as they require to be abolished are retained by vs with the hurt of the Church or with lesse benefit thē the abolishmēt of thē would bring But for as much as they saw how hardly they should be able to perform this they took a more compendious way traducing the ceremonies of our church vnder the name of being popish The cause why this way seemed better vnto them was for that the name of Popery is more odious then very Paganisme amongst diuers of the more simple sorte so as whatsoeuer they heare named popish they presently conceiue deepe hatred against it imagining there cā be nothing cōtained in that name but needs it must be exceeding detestable The eares of the people they haue therfore filled with strong clamor The church of Englād is fraught with popish ceremonies They that fauour the cause of reformatiō maintaine nothing but the sinceritie of the Gospel of Iesus Christ All such as withstand them fight for the lawes of his sworne enemie vphold the filthy reliques of Antichrist and are defenders of that which is popish These are the notes wherewith are drawn from the harts of the multitude so many sighs with these tunes their mindes are exasperated against the lawfull guides and gouernours of their souls these are the voices that fil thē with general discōtentment as though the bosome of that famous Church wherin they liue were more noysome then any dungeon But when the authors of so scandalous incantations are examined and called to account how they can iustifie such their dealings when they are vrged directly to answere whether it be lawfull for vs to vse any such ceremonies as the Church of Rome vseth although the same be not cōmanded in the word of God being driuen to see that the vse of some such ceremonies must of necessitie be granted lawfull they go about to make vs beleeue that they are iust of the same opinion and that they only think such ceremonies are not to be vsed when they are vnprofitable or when as good or better may be established Which answer is both idle in regard of vs and also repugnant to themselues It is in regard of vs very vaine to make this answere because they know that what ceremonies we retaine common vnto the Church of Rome wee therefore retaine them for that we iudge them to be profitable and to be such that others in stead of them would be worse So that when they say that we ought to abrogate such Romish ceremonies as are vnprofitable or els might haue other more profitable in their stead they trifle and they beat the aire about nothing which toucheth vs vnlesse they meane that wee ought to abrogate all Romish ceremonies which in their iudgement haue either no vse or lesse vse then some
boughes or send New yeares-gifts vnto our friends or feast on those dayes which the Gentiles then did or sit after prayer as they were accustomed For so they inferre vpon the premises that as great difference as commodiously may be there should be in all outward ceremonies betweene the people of God and them which are not his people Againe they teach as hath bene declared that there is not as great a difference as may be betweene them except the one do auoide whatsoeuer rites and ceremonies vncommanded of God the other doth embrace So that generally they teach that the very difference of spirituall condition it selfe betweene the seruants of Christ and others requireth such difference in ceremonies betweene them although the one be neuer so farre disioyned in time or place from the other But in case the people of God and Belial do chaunce to be neighbours then as the daunger of infection is greater so the same difference they say is thereby made more necessary In this respect as the Iewes were seuered from the Heathen so most especially from the Heathen neerest them And in the same respect we which ought to differ howsoeuer from the Church of Rome are now they say by reason of our meerenesse more bound to differ from them in ceremonies then from Turkes A straunge kind of speech vnto Christian eares and such as I hope they themselues do acknowledge vnaduisedly vttered We are not so much to feare infection from Turkes as from Papists What of that we must remember that by conforming rather our selues in that respect to Turkes we should be spreaders of a worse infection into others then any we are likely to draw from Papists by our conformity with them in ceremonies If they did hate as Turkes do the Christians or as Cananites of old did the Iewish religion euen in grosse the circumstance of locall neernes in them vnto vs might happily enforce in vs a duty of greater separation from them then from those other mentioned But for as much as Papists are so much in Christ neerer vnto vs then Turkes is there any reasonable man trow you but will iudge it meeter that our ceremonies of Christian religion should be Popish then Turkish or Heathenish Especially considering that we were not brought to dwell amongst them as Israell in Canaan hauing not bene of them For euen a very part of them we were And when God did by his good Spirit put it into our hearts first to reforme our selues whence grew our separation and then by all good meanes to seeke also their reformation had we not onely cut off their corruptions but also estranged our selues from them in things indifferent who seeth not how greatly preiudiciall this might haue bene to so good a cause and what occasion it had giuen them to thinke to their greater obduration in euill that through a froward or wanton desire of innouation wee did vnconstrainedly those thinges for which conscience was pretended Howsoeuer the case doth stand as Iuda had beene rather to choose conformity in things indifferent with Israell when they were neerest opposites then with the farthest remoued Pagans So we in like case much rather with Papists then with Turkes I might adde further for more full and complete answere so much concerning the large oddes betweene the case of the eldest Churches in regard of those Heathens and ours in respect of the Church of Rome that very cauillation it selfe should be satisfied and haue no shift to flye vnto 8 But that no one thing may deteine vs ouer long I returne to their reasons against our conformity with that Church That extreme dissimilitude which they vrge vpon vs is now commended as our best safest policie for establishment of sound religion The ground of which politique position is that Euils must be cured by their contraries therfore the cure of the Church infected with the poyson of Antichristianity must be done by that which is therunto as cōtrary as may be A medled estate of the orders of the Gospell the ceremonies of popery is not the best way to banish popery We are cōtrarywise of opiniō that he which will perfectly recouer a sicke and restore a diseased body vnto health must not endeuor so much to bring it to a state of simple cōtrariety as of fit proportion in contrariety vnto those euils which are to be cured He that will take away extreme heat by setting the body in extremity of cold shall vndoubtedly remoue the disease but together with it the diseased too The first thing therefore in skilfull cures is the knowledge of the part affected the next is of the euill which do affect it the last is not onely of the kind but also of the measure of contrary things whereby to remoue it They which measure religion by dislike of the Church of Rome thinke euery man so much the more sound by how much he can make the corruptions thereof to seeme more large And therefore some there are namely the Arrians in reformed Churches of Poland which imagine the cancre to haue eaten so far into the very bones and marrow of the Church of Rome as if it had not so much as a sound beliefe no not cōcerning God himselfe but that the very beliefe of the Trinity were a part of Antichristian corruption and that the wonderfull prouidence of God did bring to passe that the Bishop of the Sea of Rome should be famous for his triple crowne a sensible marke whereby the world might know him to be that mysticall beast spoken of in the Reuelation to be that great and notorious Antichrist in no one respect so much as in this that he maintaineth the doctrine of the Trinity Wisdome therefore and skill is requisite to knowe what parts are sound in that Church and what corrupted Neither is it to all men apparant which complaine of vnsound parts with what kind of vnsoundnesse euery such part is possessed They can say that in Doctrine in Discipline in Prayers in Sacraments the Church of Rome hath as it hath in deede very foule and grosse corruptions the nature whereof notwithstanding because they haue not for the most part exact skill and knowledge to discerne they thinke that amisse many times which is not and the salue of reformation they mightily call for but where and what the sores are which need it as they wote full little so they thinke it not greatly materiall to search Such mens contentment must be wrought by stratageme the vsuall methode of art is not for them But with those that professe more then ordinary common knowledge of good from euill with them that are able to put a difference betweene things naught things indifferent in the Church of Rome we are yet at controuersie about the maner of remouing that which is naught whether it may not be perfectly helpt vnlesse that also which is indifferent be cut off with it so farre till no rite or ceremony remaine which
they be glad we are not to enuie them this their solace we do not thinke it a duty of ours to be in euery such thing their tormentors And whereas it is said that Popery for want of this vtter extirpation hath in some places taken roote and florished againe but hath not beene able to reestablish it selfe in any place after prouision made against it by vtter euacuation of all Romish ceremonies and therefore as long as we hold any thing like vnto them we put them in some more hope then if all were taken away as we deny not but this may be true so being of two euils to chuse the lesse we hold it better that the friends and fauorers of the Church of Rome should be in some kind of hope to haue a corrupt religion restored then both we and they conceiue iust feare least vnder colour of rooting out Popery the most effectuall meanes to beare vp the state of religion be remooued and so a way made either for Paganisme or for extreme barbāritie to enter If desire of weakening the hope of others should turne vs away from the course we haue taken how much more the care of preuenting our owne feare withhold vs from that wee are vrged vnto Especially seeing that our owne feare we knowe but wee are not so certaine what hope the rites and orders of our Church haue bred in the hearts of others For it is no sufficient argument thereof to say that in maintaining and vrging these ceremonies none are so clamorous as Papists and they whom Papists suborne this speech being more hard to iustifie then the former and so their proofe more doubtfull then the thing it selfe which they proue He that were certaine that this is true must haue marked who they be that speake for Ceremonies he must haue noted who amongst them doth speake oftnest or is most earnest he must haue bene both acquainted throughly with the religion of such and also priuy what conferences or compacts are passed in secret betweene them and others which kinds of notice are not wont to be vulgar and common Yet they which alleage this would haue it taken as a thing that needeth no proofe a thing which all men know and see And if so be it were graunted them as true what gaine they by it Sundry of them that be Popish are eger in maintenance of Ceremonies Is it so strange a matter to find a good thing furthered by ill men of a sinister intent and purpose whose forwardnesse is not therefore a bridle to such as fauour the same cause with a better and sincerer meaning They that seeke as they say the remouing of all Popish orders out of the Church and reckon the state of Bishop in the number of those orders do I doubt not presume that the cause which they prosecute is holy Notwithstanding it is their owne ingenuous acknowledgement that euen this very cause which they terme so often by an excellency The Lords cause is gratissima most acceptable vnto some which hope for pray and spoile by it and that our age hath store of such and that such are the very sectaries of Dionysius the famous Atheist Now if hereupon we should vpbraide them with irreligious as they do vs with superstitious fauourers if we should follow them in their owne kind of pleading and say that the most clamorous for this pretended reformation are either Atheists or else proctors suborned by Atheists the answer which herein they would make vnto vs let them apply vnto themselues and there an end For they must not forbid vs to presume or cause in defence of our Church-orders to be as good as theirs against them till the contrary be made manifest to the world 10 In the meane while sory we are that any good and godly mind should be grieued with that which is done But to remedy their griefe lieth not so much in vs as in themselues They do not wish to be made glad with the hurt of the Church and to remoue all out of the Church whereat they shew themselues to be sorrowfull would be as we are perswaded hurtfull if not pernitious thereunto Till they be able to perswade the contrary they must and will I doubt not find out some other good meanes to cheere vp themselues Amongst which meanes the example of Geneua may serue for one Haue not they the old Popish custome of vsing Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptisme the old Popish custome of administring the blessed Sacrament of the holy Eucharist with Wafer cakes Those thing◠the godly there can digest Wherefore should not the godly here learne to do the like both in them and in the rest of the like nature Some further meane peraduenture it might be to asswage their griefe if so be they did cōsider the reuenge they take on them which haue bene as they interpret it the workers of their continuance in so great griefe so long For if the maintenance of Ceremonies be a corrosiue to such as oppugne them vndoubtedly to such as mainteine them it can be no great pleasure when they behold how that which they reuerence is oppugned And therefore they that iudge themselues Martyrs when they are grieued should thinke withall what they are when they grieue For we are still to put them in mind that the cause doth make no difference for that it must be presumed as good at the least on our part as on theirs till it be in the end decided who haue stood for truth and who for error So that till then the most effectuall medicine and withall the most sound to ease their griefe must not be in our opinion the taking away of those things whereat they are grieued but the altering of that perswasion which they haue concerning the same For this we therefore both pray and labour the more because we are also perswaded that it is but conceipt in them to thinke that those Romish Ceremonies whereof we haue hetherto spoken are like leprous clothes infectious vnto the Church or like soft and gentle poysons the venome whereof being insensibly pernicious worketh death and yet is neuer felt working Thus they say but because they say it onely and the world hath not as yet had so great experience of their art in curing the diseases of the Church that the bare authoritie of their word should perswade in a cause so waightie they may not thinke much if it be required at their hands to shewe first by what meanes so deadly infection can growe from similitude betweene vs and the Church of Rome in these thinges indifferent Secondly for that it were infinite if the Church should prouide against euery such euill as may come to passe it is not sufficient that they shewe possibilitie of dangerous euent vnlesse there appeare some likelihood also of the same to follow in vs except we preuent it Nor is this inough vnlesse it be moreouer made plaine that there is no good and
sufficient way of preuention but by euacuating cleane and by emptying the Church of euerie such rite and Ceremonie as is presently called in question Till this be done their good affection towards the safety of the Church is acceptable but the way they prescribe vs to preserue it by must rest in suspense And least hereat they take occasion to turne vpon vs the speech of the Prophet Ieremie vsed against Babylon Behold we haue done our endeuour to cure the diseases of Babylon but she through her wilfulnesse doth rest vncured let them consider into what straights the Church might driue it selfe in being guided by this their counsell Their axiome is that the sound beleeuing Church of Iesus Christ may not be like Hereticall Churches in any of those indifferent things which men make choyce of and do not take by prescript appointment of the word of God In the word of God the vse of bread is prescribed as a thing without which the Eucharist may not be celebrated but as for the kind of bread it is not denied to be a thing indifferent Being indifferent of it selfe we are by this axiome of theirs to auoide the vse of vnleauened bread in their Sacrament because such bread the Church of Rome beeing Hereticall vseth But doth not the selfe same axiome barre vs euen from leauened bread also which the Church of the Grecians vseth the opinions whereof are in a number of things the same for which we condemne the Church of Rome and in some things erroneous where the Church of Rome is acknowledged to be sound as namely in the Article proceeding of the holy Ghost And least here they should say that because the Greeke Church is farther off the Church of Rome nearer we are in that respect rather to vse that which the Church of Rome vseth not let them imagine a reformed Church in the Citie of Venice where a Greeke Church and a Popish both are And when both these are equally neare let them consider what the third shall doe Without eyther leauened or vnleauened bread it can haue no sacrament the word of God doth tye it to neither and their axiome doth exclude it from both If this constraine them as it must to grant that their axiome is not to take any place saue in those things only where the Church hath larger scope it resteth that they search out some stronger reason then they haue as yet alleaged otherwise they constraine not vs to thinke that the Church is tyed vnto any such rule or axiome no not then when she hath the widest field to walke in and the greatest store of choice 11 Against such Ceremonies generally as are the same in the Church of England and of Rome we see what hath bene hetherto alleaged Albeit therefore we do not finde the one Churches hauing of such thinges to be sufficient cause why the other should not haue them neuerthelesse in case it may be proued that amongst the number of rites and orders common vnto bothe there are particulars the vse whereof is vtterly vnlawfull in regard of some speciall bad and noysome qualitie there is no doubt but we ought to relinquish such rites and orders what freedome soeuer we haue to retaine the other still As therefore wee haue heard their generall exception against all those thinges which being not commanded in the word of God were first receiued in the Church of Rome and from thence haue bene deriued into ours so it followeth thâ—t now we proceede vnto certaine kinds of them as being excepted against not only for that they are in the Church of Rome but are besides either Iewish or abused vnto Idolatry and so growne scandalous The Church of Rome they say being ashamed of the simplicitie of the Gospell did almost out of all religions take whatsoeuer had any faire gorgeous shew borrowing in that respect froÌ„ the Iewes sundry of their abolished Ceremonies Thus by foolish and ridiculous imitation all their Massing furniture almost they tooke from the law least hauing an Altar and a Priest they should want vestments for their stage so that whatsoeuer we haue in common with the church of Rome if the same be of this kind we ought to remoue it Constantine the Emperour speaking of the keeping of the feast of Easter saith That it is an vnworthy thing to haue any thing common with that most spitefull company of the Iewes And a little after he saith that it is most absurd and against reason that the Iewes should vaunt and glory that the Christians could not keepe those thinges without their doctrine And in an other place it is said after this sort It is conuenient so to order the matter that we haue nothing common with that nation The councell of Laodicea which was afterward confirmed by the sixt generall Councell decreed that the Christians should not take vnleaâ—ened bread of the Iewes or communicate with their impietie For the easier manifestation of truth in this point two things there are which must be considered namely the causes wherefore the church should decline from Iewish Ceremonies and how farre it ought so to doe One cause is that the Iewes were the deadliest and spitefullest enemies of Christianitie that were in the world and in this respect their orders so farre forth to be shunned as we haue already set downe in handling the matter of heathenish Ceremonies For no enemies being so venemous against Christ as Iewes they were of all other most odious and by that meane least to be vsed as fit Church paternes for imitation An other cause is the solemne abrogation of the Iewes ordinances which ordinances for vs to resume were to checke our Lord himselfe which hath disanulled them But how farre this second cause doth extend it is not on all sides fully agreed vpon And touching those thinges whereunto it reacheth not although there be small cause wherefore the Church should frame it selfe to the Iewes example in respect of their persons which are most hatefull yet God himselfe hauing bene the author of their lawes herein they are notwithstanding the former consideration still worthy to be honoured and to be followed aboue others as much as the state of things will beare Iewish ordinances had some things naturall and of the perpetuitie of those things no man doubteth That which was positiue wee likewise knowe to haue bene by the comming of Christ partly necessary not to bee kept and partly indifferent to be kept or not Of the former kinde Circumcision and sacrifice were For this point Stephen was accused and the euidence which his accusers brought against him in iudgement was This man ceaseth not to speake blasphemous words against this holy place and the lawe for we haue heard him say that this Iesus of Nazaret shall destroy this place and shall change the ordinances that Moses gaue vs. True it is that this doctrine was then taught which vnbeleeuers condemning for blasphemie did therein commit that
is so different from that of the reformed Churches Beeing asked to what Churches ours should conforme it selfe and why other reformed Churches should not as well frame themselues to ours their answere is That if there be any Ceremonies which wee haue better then others they ought to frame themselues to vs if they haue better then we then we ought to frame our selues to them if the Ceremonies be alike commodious the later Churches should conforme themselues to the first as the younger daughter to the elder For as S. Paul in the members where all other things are equal noteth it for a marke of honor aboue the rest that one is called before another to the Gospell so is it for the same cause amongest the Churches And in this respect he pincheth the Corinthes that not being the first which receiued the Gospell yet they would haue their seuerall maners from other Churches Moreouer where the Ceremonies are alike commodious the fewer ought to conforme themselues vnto the moe For as much therefore as all the Churches so farre as they know which pleade after this manner of our confession in doctrine agree in the abrogation of diuers things which we reteine our churches ought either to shew that they haue done euill or else she is found to be in fault that doth not conforme her selfe in that which she cannot denie to be well abrogated In this axiome that preseruation of peace and vnitie amongst Christian Churches should be by al good meanes procured we ioyne most willingly and gladly with them Neither denie we but that to th' auoyding of dissention it auaileth much that there be amongst theÌ„ an vnitie as well in ceremonies as in doctrine The only doubt is about the manner of their vnitie how far churches are bound to be vniforme in their ceremonies what way they ought to take for that purpose Touching the one the rule which they haue set down is that in ceremonies in differeÌ„t all churches ought to be one of them vnto another as like as possibly they may be Whcih possibly we cannot otherwise conster theÌ„ that it doth require them to be euen as like as they may be without breaking any positiue ordinance of God For the ceremonies wherof we speake being matter of positiue law they are indifferent if God haue neither himselfe coÌ„manded nor forbidden theÌ„ but left theÌ„ vnto the Churches discretion So that if as great vniformitie bee required as is possible in these things seeing that the law of God forbiddeth not any one of theÌ„ it followeth that from the greatest vnto the least they must be in euery Christian Church the same except meere impossibilitie of so hauing it be the hinderaÌ„ce To vs this opinion seemeth ouer extreame violent wee rather incline to thinke it a iust and reasonable cause for any Church the state whereof is free and independent if in these things it differ from other Churches only for that it doth not iudge it so fit expedient to be framed therin by the patterne of their example as to bee otherwise framed then they That of Gregorie vnto Leander is a charitable speech and a peaceable In vnâ fide nil officit Ecclesiae sanctae consuetudo diuersa Where the faith of the holy Church is one a difference in customes of the Church doth no harme That of S. Augustine to Cassulanus is somewhat more particular and toucheth what kinde of ceremonies they are wherein one Church may vary from the example of an other without hurt Let the faith of the whole church how wide so euer it haue spred it selfe be alwaies one although the vnitie of beliefe be famous for varietie of certain ordinances wherby that which is rightly beleeued suffereth no kind of let or impediment Caluin goeth further As concerning rites in particular let the sentence of Augustine take place which leaueth it free vnto all Churches to receiue their owne custome Yea sometime it profiteth and is expedient that there be difference least men should thinke that religion is tyed to outward ceremonies Alwayes prouided that there be not any emulation nor that churches delighted with noueltie affect to haue that which others haue not They which graunt it true that the diuersitie of Ceremonies in this kind ought not to cause dissention in churches must eyther acknowledge that they graunt in effect nothing by these words or if any thing be granted there must as much be yeelded vnto as we affirme against their former strict assertion For if Churches be vrged by way of dutie to take such ceremonies as they like not of how can dissention be auoyded Will they say that there ought to be no dissention because such as are vrged ought to like of that whereunto they are vrged If they say this they say iust nothing For how should any Church like to be vrged of dutie by such as haue no authoritie or power ouer it vnto those things which being indifferent it is not of dutie bound vnto them Is it their meaning that there ought to be no dissention because that which Churches are not bound vnto no man ought by way of dutie to vrge vpon them and if any man doe he standeth in the sight both of God and men most iustly blameable as a needelesse disturber of the peace of Gods Church an author of dissention In saying this they both condemne their owne practise when they presse the Church of England with so strict a bond of dutie in these thinges and they ouerthrowe the ground of their practise which is that there ought to bee in all kinde of ceremonies vniformitie vnlesse impossibilitie hinder it For proofe whereof it is not enough to alleage what S. Paul did about the matter of collections or what Noble-men doe in the liueries of their seruants or what the Councell of Nice did for standing in time of prayer on certain daies because though S. Paule did will them of the Church of Coriâ—th euery man to lay vp somewhat by him vpon the Sunday and to reserue it in store till himselfe did come thither to send it vnto the Church of Ierusalem for reliefe of the poore there signifying withall that he had taken the like order with the Churches of Galatia yet the reason which hee yeeldeth of this order taken both in the one place and the other sheweth the least part of his meaning to haue bene that whereunto his wordes are writhed Concerning collection for the Saintes hee meaneth them of Ierusalem as I haue giuen order to the Church of Galatia so likewise doe ye saith the Apostle that is in euery first of the weeke let each of you lay aside by himselfe and reserue according to that which God hath blessed him with that when I come collections be not then to make and that when I am come whom you shall choose them I may forthwith sende away by letters to carrie your beneficence vnto Ierusalem Out of which wordâ— to conclude
the dutie of vniformitie throughout all Churches in all manner of indifferent ceremonies will bee very hard and therefore best to giue it ouer But perhaps they are by so much the more loth to forsake this argument for that it hath though nothing else yet the name of Scripture to giue it some kinde of countenance more then the next of liuerie coates affordeth them For neither is it any manâ— dutie to cloth all his children or all his seruants with one weede nor theirs to cloath themselues so if it were left to their owne iudgements as these ceremonies are lâ—ft of God to the iudgement of the Church And seeing Churches are rather in this case like diuerse families then like diuers seruants of one family because euery Church the state whereof is independent vpon any other hath authoritie to appoint orders for it selfe in thinges indifferent therefore of the two we may rather inferre that as one familie is not abridged of libertie to be clothed in Fryers gray for that an other doth weare clay-colour so neither are all Churches bound to the selfe same indifferent Ceremonies which it liketh sundry to vse As for that Canon in the Councell of Nice let them but read it and waigh it well The auncient vse of the Church throughout all Christendome was for fiftie dayes after Easter which fifty dayes were called Pentecost though most commonly the last day of them which is Whitsunday be so called in like sort on all the Sundayes throughout the whole yeare their manner was to stand at praier whereupon their meetinges vnto that purpose on those dayes had the name of Stations giuen them Of which custome Tertullian speaketh in this wise It is not with vs thought sit either to fast on the Lordes day or to pray kneeling The same immunitie from fasting and kneeling we keepe all the time which is betweene the Feasts of Easter and Pentecost This being therefore and order generally receiued in the Church when some began to be singular and different from all others and that in a ceremonie which was then iudged very conuenient for the whole Church euen by the whole those fewe excepted which brake out of the common pale the Councell of Nice thought good to inclose them againe with the rest by a lawe made in this sort Because there are certaine which will needs kneele at the time of praier on the Lordes day and in the fiftie dayes after Easter the holy Synode iudging it meet that a conuenient custome be obserued throughout all churches hath decreed that standing wee make our praiers to the Lord. Whereby it plainely appeareth that in things indifferent what the whole Church doth thinke conuenient for the whole the same if any part doe wilfully violate it may be reformed and inrayled againe by that generall authority whereunto ech particular is subiect and that the spirit of singularitie in a few ought to giue place vnto publike iudgement this doth clearely enough appeare but not that all Christian Churches are bound in euery indifferent ceremonie to be vniforme because where the whole hath not tyed the parts vnto one and the same thing they being therein left each to their owne choyce may either do as other do or else otherwise without any breach of dutie at all Concerning those indifferent thinges wherein it hath beene heretofore thought good that all Christian Churches should bee vniforme the way which they now conceiue to bring this to passe was then neuer thought on For till now it hath bene iudged that seeing the lawe of God doth not prescribe all particular ceremonies which the Church of Christ may vse and in so great varietie of them as may be found out it is not possible that the lawe of nature and reason should direct all Churches vnto the same thinges each deliberating by it selfe what is most conuenient the way to establish the same things indifferent throughout them all must needs be the iudgement of some iudiciall authoritie drawne into one onely sentence which may be a rule for euery particular to follow And because such authoritie ouer all Churches is too much to be granted vnto any one mortall man there yet remaineth that which hath bene alwayes followed as the best the safest the most sincere and reasonable way namely the verdict of the whole Church orderly taken and set downe in the assembly of some generall councell But to maintaine that all Christian Churches ought for vnities sake to be vniforme in all ceremonies then to teach that the way of bringing this to passe must be by mutuall imitation so that where we haue better ceremonies then others they shall bee bound to followe vs and we them where theirs are better how should we thinke it agreeable and consonant vnto reason For sith in things of this nature there is such varietie of particular inducements whereby one Church may be led to thinke that better which another Church led by other inducements iudgeth to be worse For example the East Church did thinke it better to keepe Easter day after the manner of the Iewes the West Church better to do otherwise the Greeke Church iudgeth it worse to vse vnleauened bread in the Eucharist the Latine Church leauened one Church esteemeth it not so good to receiue the Eucharist sitting as staÌ„ding another Church not so good standing as sitting there being on the one side probable motiues as well as on the other vnlesse they adde somewhat else to define more certainely what ceremonies shall stand for best in such sort that all Churches in the world shall know them to be the best and so know them that there may not remaine any question about this point we are not a whit the neerer for that they haue hitherto said They themselues although resolued in their owne iudgements what ceremonies are best the foreseeing that such as they are addicted vnto be not all so clearely and so incomparably best but others there are or may be at least wise when all things are well considered as good knewe not which way smoothly to rid their hands of this matter without prouiding some more certaine rule to be followed for establishment of vniformitie in ceremonies when there are diuerse kinds of equall goodnesse and therefore in this case they say that the later Churches the fewer should conforme themselues vnto the elder and the mo Hereupon they conclude that for as much as all the reformed Churches so farre as they know which are of our confession in doctrine haue agreed already in the abrogation of diuerse things which we reteine our Church ought either to shew that they haue done euill or else she is found to be in fault for not conforming her selfe to those Churches in that which she cannot deny to be in them well abrogated For the authoritie of the first Churches and those they accompt to be the first in this cause which were first reformed they bring the comparison of younger daughters conforming themselues
in attire to the example of their elder sisters wherein there is iust as much strength of reason as in the liuery coates before mentioned S. Paul they say noteth it for a marke of speciall honor that Epaenetus was the first man in all Achaia which did embrace the Christian faith after the same sort he toucheth it also as a speciall preeminence of Iunias and Andronicus that in Christianity they were his auncients the Corinthians he pincheth with this demaund Hath the word of God gone out from you or hath it lighted on you alone But what of all this If any man should thinke that alacrity forwardnes in good things doth adde nothing vnto mens commendation the two former speeches of S. Paule might leade him to reforme his iudgement In like sort to take downe the stomacke of proud conceited men that glorie as though they were able to set all others to schoole there can be nothing more fit then some such words as the Apostles third sentence doth containe wherein he teacheth the Church of Corinth to know that there was no such great oddes betweene them and the rest of their brethren that they should thinke themselues to be gold and the rest to be but copper He therefore vseth speech vnto them to this effect Men instructed in the knowledge of Iesus Christ there both were before you and are besides you in the word ye neither are the fountaine from which first nor yet the riuer into which alone the word hath flowed But although as Epaenetus was the first man in all Achaia so Corinth had bene the first Church in the whole world that receiued Christ the Apostle doth not shew that in any kind of things in different whatsoeuer this should haue made their example a law vnto all others Indeed the example of sundry Churches for approbation of one thing doth sway much but yet still as hauing the force of an example onely and not of a lawe They are effectuall to moue any Church vnlesse some greater thing do hinder but they bind none no not though they be many sauing onely when they are the maior part of a generall assembly and then their voyces being moe in number must ouersway their iudgements who are fewer because in such cases the greater halfe is the whole But as they stand out single each of them by it selfe their number can purchase them no such authority that the rest of the Churches being fewer should be therefore bound to follow them and to relinquish as good ceremonies as theirs for theirs Whereas therefore it is concluded out of these so weake premisses that the reteining of diuerse things in the Church of England which other reformed Churches haue cast out must needs argue that we do not well vnlesse we can shewe that they haue done ill what needed this wrest to draw out from vs an accusation of forraine Churches It is not proued as yet that if they haue done well our duty is to followe them and to forsake our owne course because it different from theirs although indeed it be as well for vs euery way as theirs for them And if the proofes alleaged for conformation hereof had bene â—ound yet seeing they leade no further then onely to shew that where we can haue no better ceremonies theirs must be taken as they cannot with modesty thinke themselues to haue found out absolutely the best which the wit of men may deuise so liking their owne somewhat better then other mens euen because they are their owne they must in equitie allow vs to be like vnto them in this affection which if they do they case vs of that vncourteouâ— burden whereby we are charged either to condemne them or else to followe them They graunt we need not followe them if our owne wayes already be better And if our owne be but equall the law of common indulgence alloweth vs to thinke them at the least halfe a thought the better because they are our owne which we may very well do and neuer drawe any inditement at all against theirs but thinke commendably euen of them also 14 To leaue reformed Churches therefore their actions for him to iudge of in whose sight they are as they are and our desire is that they may euen in his sight be found such as we ought to endeuour by all meanes that our owne may likewise be somewhat we are inforced to speake by way of simple declaration concerning the proceedings of the Church of England in these affaires to the end that men whose minds are free from those partiall coÌ„structions wherby the only name of difference froÌ„ some other Churches is thought cause sufficient to condeÌ„ne ours may the better discerne whether that we haue done be reasonable yea or no. The Church of EnglaÌ„d being to alter her receiued laws coÌ„cerning such orders rites and ceremonies as had bene in former times an hinderance vnto pietie and Religious seruice of God was to enter into consideration first that the change of lawes especially concerning matter of Religion must be warily proceeded in Lawes as all other things humaine are many times full of imperfection and that which is supposed behoofefull vnto men proueth often-times most pernicious The wisedome which is learned by tract of time findeth the lawes that haue bene in former ages establisht needfull in later to be abrogated Besides that which sometime is expedient doth not alwaies so continue and the number of needlesse lawes vnabolisht doth weaken the force of them that are necessarie But true withall it is that alteration though it be from worse to better hath in it inconueniences and those waighty vnlesse it be in such laws as haue bene made vpon special occasions which occasions ceasing laws of that kind do abrogate themselues But when we abrogate a law as being ill made the whole cause for which it was made still remaining do we not herein reuoke our very owne deed and vpbraid our selues with folly yea all that were makers of it with ouer sight and with error Further if it be a law which the custome continuall practise of many ages or yeares hath confirmed in the minds of men to alter it must needs be troublesome and scandalous It amazeth them it causeth theÌ„ to stand in doubt whether any thing be in it selfe by nature either good or euil not al things rather such as men at this or that time agree to accoÌ„pt of them wheÌ„ they behold euen those things disproued disanulled reiected which vse had made in a maner naturall What haue we to induce meÌ„ vnto the willing obedience obseruation of lawes but the waight of so many meÌ„s iudgement as haue with deliberate aduise assented thereunto the waight of that long experience which the world hath had thereof with consent good liking So that to change any such law must needs with the common sort impaire and weaken the force of those grounds whereby all lawes are made effectual
hath wrong For when doubting it the way to dispaire against which this doctrine offereth the remedie it must needs be that it bringeth comfort and â—â—y to the consciencâ— of man Due 7.8 What the Church is and in what respect lawes of polity are thereunto necessarily required Ioh. 10.28 Ioh. 1.47 Ioh. 21.15 1. Tim. â— 5 a Eph. 2.16 that he might reconcile bothe vnto God in one body Eph. 3.16 that the Gentiles should be inheritors also and of the same body Vide Th. p. 3. q. 7. ar 3. 1 Cor. 12.13 Eph. 4.5 Act. 2.36 Ioh. 13.13 Col. 3.24 Col. 4.1 a 1. Cor. 1.23 Vide Tacitum lib. Annal. 15. Nero quaesitissâ—mis poenis affecit quos per flagitia inuisos vulgus Christianos appellabat Auctor nominis eius Christus qui Tiberio imperitante per procuratotem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat Repressáque in presenâ— exitiabilis superstitio rursus etumpebat non modo per Iudaeam originem eius mali sed per vrbem etiam quo cuncta vndique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque Ioh. 15.21 Ioh. 16.2.4 Apoc. 2.13 Tertul. de virgin veland Iren. aduers. haer lib. 1. cap. 2. 3. Act. 8.38 Act. 22.16 Act. 2.41 Matth. 13.47 Math. 13. â—4 Exod. 32. Psal. 106.19.20 2. King 18.4 Ier. 11.13 2. King 22.17 Esa. 57.3 Esa. 1.4 Esa 60.15 Ier. 13.11 â— King 19.18 Fortunat. in Concil Car. Math. 7.24 Math. 16 1â— Math. 28.19 Secundinus in eodem conci Math. 12.30 In Concilio Niceno vide Hierony dial aduers. Luciferia 2. Chron. 1â— Hos. 4.15 17. Ios. 24.15 Rom. 11.28 Cal. Epist. 149. Epist. 283. Epist. 285. Tertul. exhort ad castit vbi treâ— Ecclesia est licet laici Act. 2.47 VVhether it be necessarie that some particular forme of Church-poliâ—y be set downe in Scriptureâ— sith the things that belong particularly vnto any such forme are not of necessitie to saluation Tertul. â—â— haâ—â—bitu mul. Aemuli sint necesse est quae Dei non sunt Rom. 2.15 Lactan. lib. 6. ca. 8. Ille legiâ— huius inuentor disceptator lator Cic. T â— de 〈◊〉 Two things misliked the one that we distinguish matters of discipline or Church-gouernâ—â—nt from matters of faith and necessarie vnto saluation â— the other that we are iniurious to the Scripture of God 〈◊〉 abridging the large and rich contentâ— thereof Their words are these You which distinguish betweene these and say that matter of faith and necessarie vnto saluation may not be toleraâ—â— in the Church vnlesse they be expressely conteined in the word of God or manifestly gathered but that ceremonies order dâ—scipline gouernment in the Church may not be receiued against the word of God and consequently may be receiued if there be no word against them although there be none for them you I say distinguishing or diuiding after this sort do proue your selfe an euill diuider Although matters of discipline and kind of gouernement were not matters necessary to saluation and of faith It is no small iniurie which you do vnto the word of God to pin it in so narrow roome as that it should be able to dirâ—ct 〈◊〉 in the principall points of our religion or as though the substance of religion or some rude and vnfashioned matter of building of the Church were vâ—tered in them and thâ—â—e thingâ— were left out that should pertaine to the forme and fashion of it or as if there were in the scriptures onely to couer the Churches nakednesse and not also chaâ—nes and bracelets and rings and other iewels to adorne her and set her out or that to conclude these were sufficient to quench her thirst and kill her hunger but not to minister vnto her a more liberall and as it were a more delitious and dainty dyes Those things you seeme to say when you say that matters necessary to saluation and of faith are contained in scripture especially when you oppose these things to ceremonies order discipline and gouernement T. C. lib. 1 p. 16. That matters of discipline are different from matters of faith and saluation and that they them selues so teach which are our reproouers T. C. lib. 2. pag. 1. We offer to shewe the discipline to be a part of the Gospell And againe pag. 5 â— speake of the discipline as of a part of the Gospell If the discipline be one part of the Gospell what other part can they assigne but doctrine to answer in diuision to the discipline Matth. 23.23 a The gouernement of the Church of Christ graunted by Fennar himselfe to be though a matter of great moment yet not of the substance of religion Against D Bridges pag. 121. if it be Fennar which was the author of that Booke That we doe not take from Scripture any thing which may be thereunto giuen with soundnesse of truth Arist. pol. li. 1. cap. 8. Plato in Menex Arist. lib. 3. de Anima cap. 45. Their meaning who first did pleaâ—e against the politie of the Church of England vrging that Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commaunded by the word of God and what scripture they thought they might ground this assertion vpon Deut. 4.2 Deut. 12.32 VVhatsoeuer I commaund you take heed you do itâ— thou shalt put nothing thereto nor take oughâ—â— therefrom The same assertion we cannot hold without doing wrong vnto all Churches Ioh. â—3 Caenatorium de quâ— Math. 22.12 Ibi de caenatoriâ— nuâ—tiali Act. 2. A shift to maintaine that Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded in the word of God Namely that commandements are of two sorts and that all things lawfull in the Church are commanded if not by speciall precepts yet by generall rules in the word 1. Cor. 10.32 1. Cor. 14.40 1. Cor. 14 26. Rom. 14.6.7 T. C. l. 1. p. 35. Another aunswere in defence of the former assertion whereby the meaning thereof is opened in this sort All Church orders must be commaunded in the word that is to say grounded vpon the word and made according at the leastwise vnto the generall rules of holy Scripture As for such things as are found out by any starre or light of reason and are in that respect receiued so they be not against the word of God all such things it holdeth vnlawfully receiued Arist. polit 1. 1. Cor. 7. Apoc. 8.10 1. Cor. 2.14 Col. 2. â— 1. Cor. 1.19 1. Cor. â— Rom. 1.21 verse 31. Act. 25.19 Act. 26.24 1. Cor. 2.14 Col. 2.8 Tit. 1.9.11 Tertul. de Resur carnis Tit. 3.11 Act. 7.22 Dan. 1.17 1. King 4.29.30 Act. 22.3 Matth. 13.52 Hebr. 4.12 â— Cor. 10.10 1. Cor. 2.4 Act. 18. â—1 v. 4. Heb. 11.6 1. Cor. 10.15 Act. 26.22 Act. 13.36 cap. 2.34 1. Pet. 3.15 Matth. 22.43 Act. 14.15 Act. 15. c. Viâ—latores 25. q. 1. How lawes for regiment of the Church may be made by the aduise of meÌ„ following therein the light of reasoÌ„ and how those lawes being not repugnant to the word of