the Testaments which the holy Ghost doth alwayes obserue Doctor D. Whit. against Reyn. c. 4. 199. Whitakers saith Christ committed his Church to be ruled by Pastors and Bishops for ever and not to Priests And after whereas their office is declared diversly in great variety of names yet is this name of Priests never once given them in any Gospell Epistle or booke of the new Testament D. Reynolds saith Seing our language doth D. Reynold cons Hart. p. 538. meane by priests sacrificers which in the Apostles language are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they neuer gaue the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Pastors of the Christian Church it followeth that they gaue them not the name of Priests 3. The papists themselves confesse yea Ballar l. 3. de Rom. Pont. c. 18. Bellar. sayth Apostoli in scripturis nunquam vocant sacerdotes Christianos sacerdotes sed solū Episcopos presbyteros The Apostles in the scriptuers neuer call Christian Priests by the name of priests but onely by the name of bishops and Presbytrs or Eders And elswhere Lib. 3. de sanct invoc cap. 4 he giues the reason to be this to distinguish them from the Leviticall preists and therefore seing the holie ghost hath constantlie kept this distinction of names between the Priests of the Law and the ministers of the Gospel we may not confound them 2. The Royalties of our Lord Iesus Esay 42. 8. both in his offices and in his titles are to be preserved whole and intire to him upon which no man without the Lords own grant may presume to enter But it is one of the royalties of our Lord Iesus to bee the sole and the onely Priest of the new Testament and so to be termed according to that hee holdeth Heb. 7. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. such priesthood as can not passe to another either for name or nature so that Augustine saith Aug. lib. de conf Evang. cap. 3. D. Whit. against Reyn. c. 4. p. 42. well Dominus Iesus Christus unus verus Rex unus verus sacerdos The Lord Iesus Christ is only true king and onely true Priest And D. Whitakers Christ hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. such a Priesthood as cannot passe to another but abideth onely with himselfe whereof it doth invincibly and necessarily ensue that the onely Priest of the new Testament is Iesus Christ Therefore this being one of the Royalties of our Lord Iesus ought to be preserned whole and entyre to him 3. VVhere there is a distinction in the things there must also bee a distinction in the names according to that of Tertul. fides nominum salus est proprietatum to keep De carn Chr. p. 19. the names right is a good means to keep the things right But there is a large and a wide distinction betweene the callings and the functions of the ministers of the Gosspell and the popish Priests Therefore there ought also to be a distinction in their names This reason Doctor Fulk presseth against the Papists seeing the holy Ghost had made such a broad difference betweene the D. Fulk ans to Hard. c. 6 names and offices of the Priests of the Law and the ministers of the Gospell those ancient Fathers that confounded those names which the spirit of God will haue to bee distinct cannot bee excused 4. The name of priest in our Language is appropriated to signifie no thing but a sacrificer so our best writers affirm Tindall Tynd. of the obed of Chr. Fulk loc cit D. Fulke the name of Priest is commonly taken to signifie a sacrificer which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greeke and Sacerdos in Latine By which names the ministers of the Gospel are never called by the holy Ghost so Doctor Reynolds the custome of our English Reyn. loc cit speech hath made the name of Priests proper to a man appoynted to sacrifice But the ministers of the Gospell cannot truely be Heb. 10. 10 called sacrificers because they haue no body and outward sacrifice to offer Therefore they cannot in true sense bee called Priests 5. To call the ministers of the Gospell by such a name as is never read in the new Testament is to put a scruple into the peoples heads that our calling and office hath no ground nor warrant in the word of God But to call them by the name of Priests is to call them by such a name as is never read in the new Testament in this sense as hath been shewed Therefore to call them by this name is to put a scruple into the peoples heads that our calling and office hath no ground in the word of God But this we may not Ergo. 1. Obiect Es 66. 21. where the Geneva Answ to the petition p. 12. sect 5. note doth shew that the ministers of the new Testament are to be termed Priests Answ Wee had need make much of this Scripture it is the onely place that is alleadged in all the booke in any matter of question the very same prophet would haue taught them better ad legem testimonium c. But to the point Esay doth not say they shall be called Priests Esay 8. 20. but they shall be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. into the place and into the roome of Priests i. to execute the same office and ministerie of teaching and preaching in the new Testament that the legall Priests did in the old for nothing is more usuall in the Prophets then figuratly under terms of the legal service Deut. 33. 10 to set out the service and worship that was to be used in the Gospel as ibid. there shal be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egipt yet we may not gather Esay 19. 19 thence as our brethrens logick will infer that therefore the Lords table must be called an Altar and not a Table there be infinite examples to this effect Now that Esay speakes not of the name of Priests 1. Cor. 10. 21. may appeare thus 1. Esay speaks of Luke and Timothy and Titus the first preachers of the Gentiles so saith the Geneva note which is alledged But they as we heard before were never called Priests Therefore Esay doth not here speake of the name of Priests 2. If our brethrens sence be good then the Ministers of the Gospell may well be called Sacerdotes Sacrificers D. Fulk ans to Hard. c. 5. for so is the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But thus they may not be called therefore this cannot be the sence 3. If by this place of Esay the preachers of the Gospell may be called Priests then by the same reason they may bee called Levits for the words be thus Of them I will take for Priests and Levits But this were too too Iewish and therefore as we said Esay onely meanes they shall haue the same place and
not that is good so neither in our freinds commend wee that which is euill as he well sayth nec bonis aduersariorum si quid honestum Hierom Pammach Ocean habuerint detrahendum est nec amicorum laudanda sunt vitia 4. Obiect Those men might haue better performed their obedience to God c what are these men they should assume so much Answ 1. wee haue assumed nothing Iust cōplaints not disloyall which becommeth not good subiects to lay open our complaynts to our gracious Soveraigne as the members send vp their greifes to the head 2. Neither doe wee seeke to abuse the Clergie but to honor them when wee desire they might in everie congregation shine as lampes both in life and doctrine 3. VVhat greater obedience to God then to bee found faithfull what better service to his Maiesty then to acquaint him with the wants of that body wherof he is the head what truer loue to the Church then to desire her perfection 4. VVee trust his Maiesty counteth it no trouble to heare his honest subiects complaynts as by his owne princely words wee are incouraged weary not to heare the complaints of the oppressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 92. aut ne Rex sis Preachers and ministers that humblie sue for redresse trouble not the Church but idle non residents dumb ministers couetous pluralists are the men which are setled in their dregges and will not haue their sowre lees drawne forth As for vs wee blesse God for our externall peace and heartily desyre the true internall peace that we may be all according to the Apostles rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4. 15. following the truth in loue and louinge in the truth and so we say with Hierome ad Theoph vnto our brethren that seeme to stand so much upon peace and quietnesse nihil grande est voce pacem praetendere opere destruere c. it is nothing to pretend peace in word and destroy it indeed VVee also would peace and we wish not onely but entreat peace the peace of Christ true peace pacem quae not ut adversarios subijciat sed ut amicos iungat such peace which may not subdue us as enemies but ioyn us as friends 5. Obiect They must prooue that those Vntruth 7. These are the peccant humors are the peccant humours of the Church which in truth is the least peccant of any other c. Ans 1. If these such like be not the Who come neerest the Catharsts peccant humors in the body of the Church there are none at all thus these men seem to come neerer to the Puritans Catharists then those whom they in their answer haue traduced that acknowledge all things pure in the Church and no thing amisse how farre are they from redressing that are so farre of from confessing their wants Ambrose well saith sensus vulneris est sensus vitae the sense of griefe is the sense of life 2. VVe wish even in our hearts it were as they say that our Church were least peccant in the world then should we haue no contention about humane rites Non-residents dumbe ministers Commendams faculties abuse of Excommunication and such like which are strange in other reformed Churches 3. Reverend Bishop Iewel where he saith we are come as neere as possibly we could to the Church of the Apostles neither meaneth How we are come neere the Apostles the abuses and peccant humors of our Church which he would never haue iustified nor yet all the ceremonies for else were he alledgeth out of Valafridius Abbas that in the beginning the cōmunion was ministred without any difference of apparrell and sheweth that it was so in Hieroms time defence Apol. 401. Neither yet doth hee meane that the discipline of the Primitiue Church is exactly restored for the booke it selfe confesseth that the godly discipline of the Primitiue Church is now wanting and besides In the commination hee sheweth in this place wherein the Church of England is departed from the Church of Rome which is not in the administration of discipline received from them and else where he reproveth Harding Defenc. apol 41. for saying Christ and his Apostles never ruled the Cburch in better order then it is now ruled by the Pope his Cardinais Our brethren say as much in effect that it is ruled as well by Bishops VVherefore his meaning must needes be that in doctrine and in the substance of the Sacraments we are come neere it and for the rest as neere as possibly we could that is as the times would permit and suffer And we desire our brethren to tell us in good sooth whether in the Primitiue Church of the Apostles the crosse in Baptisme the surplice in the Communion were used whether they read of any Chancellours officials c. Non-residents dumbe Ministers in those times It is all we desire that the discipline of our Church may be reduced to the forme of the Apostles government Lastly haue our brethren no more chariry then to wish that the petitioners whom they untruely call unquite and mal-contended humors were purged out of the land If they proceed on in such wishes they will giue us cause to complaine as Hierome doth of an uncharitable adversarie of his talibus institutus Apol. 3. advers Ruf. es disciplinis ut cui respondere non poteris caput auferas linguam quae tacere non potest seces You haue learned that whom you cannot answer his head you would chop off and cut out the tongue that you cannot silence but we wish better unto them with the Apostle if yee bee otherwise minded that God would reveale it unto you in his good time 6. Obiect To subscribe to that in respect Of subscription upon protestation c. of the times which in it selfe is vnlawfull proveth little lesse then hypocrisie c. Answ In these petitioners which subscribed to the booke in which terme is no disdaine at all there was neither dishonesty nor hypocrisie so to doe although they simply allow it not 1. They subscribed with protestation some with condition other some upon expositions giuen them which is no meere falsity but a cleere verity as some of our Bishops and their Registers do know and some of the subscribers are able to shew Fox p. 118. But this argueth no sincerity say our brethren VVhat would they then haue said of Reverend Cranmer who was sworne to the Pope upon protestation acknowledging his authority no further then it Zanch. Miscel p. 35. agreed with the expresse word of God Or what would our brethren haue thought of Zanchius that with some exceptions and interpretations subscribed to certaine Lutheran points of doctrine who aledgeth the iudgmēt of Calvin in the same matter to Gulielmus Holbracchus likewise urged by the Lutherans to subscribe praecise ut recuses non cōsulo c. nunc ergo exceptiones interponere necesse est quae
answere Non dico juga boum aut villam emi c. sed plane parvulos me lactare fateor c. I say not I haue bought oxen or a farme but I suckle little ones and therefore I see not how I can come without their great danger Vniversities are not maintained but hindred by non-residents when by this meanes the elder sort liue there like drones and keepe out yonger students that might doe more good As for the masters of howses most of their places are sufficient without other helps to maintaine them in competent sort the other might be provided of dignities without cure that they need not clog themselues with benefices Cathedrall Churches also may be served with residence of Prebends by course there is no necessity of continuall or long absence from their flockes for this cause the onely inconvenience is to their purse if they bee not perpetuall residents according to that Canon which forbiddeth Ne canonici non residentes quotidianas distributiones ex integro perciperent They should but so much want of their divident VVherefore most noble King 1. Seing sheepheards ought to attend upon their flock 2. and Stewards upon their charge 3. and every one must abide wherein hee is called 4. seeing ministers are watchmen 5. and they which flee from their flocks are idle shepheards and hirelings 6. they which feed not the flocks loue not Christ 7. and they which are absent cannot discharge the pastoral duties which are many 8. seeing non residency bringeth apparant danger to the flock 9. and maketh the Pastor inexcusable 10. and is condemned by the Canons and constitutions of the Church And further seeing nothing of any moment can bee alledged in excuse of Non-residents 1. Neither the smalenesse of living 2. nor largenesle of the parish 3. nor sufferance by some positiue lawes giving way to the time 4. nor absence upon some necessary occasion 5. Seing non-residency tendeth not to the maintenance of learning Court Church nor Vniversity we trust your Maiesty is resolved to cherish good Pastors and to see all Churches planted with such as shall reside to doe their duty among their people And to say with Ambrose Ego Amb epist 54. diligo eos vel Presbyteros vel Diaconos qui cum aliquo processerint nequaquam se patiuntur a suo diutius abesse munere I loue such Presbyters and Deacons who when they are gone abroade will not long be from their charge ARTIC 4. Of the Marriage of Ministers IT is well our Brethren consent with us for ratifying of the civill marriage of Ministers we would also that they did accord with us concerning their spirituall marriage whereof Ambrose thus writeth upon these words of the Apostle Vnius uxoris virum c. Prohibet bigamum Episcopum ordinari si vero ad altiorem sensum conscendimus inhibet Episcopum duas usurpare Ecclesias He forbiddeth a Bishop that hath two wiues to be ordained but if we will go to an higher sense he forbiddeth a Bishop or Pastor to usurp two Churches The fifth Article of Subscription Reasons against subscription to the book 1. MINISTERS were forced to subscribe to many things not warranted by the word In such cases the Apostle giveth this rule to whom we gaue not place by subjection not for an houre Gal. 2. 5. And Hierom confidently saith Ego libera voce reclamante mundo profiteor c. I doe Ierom. Augustine freely professe though the world say nay that the ceremonies of the Iewes are deadly and pernicious to Christians and whosoever observeth them is cast down into the Devils dungeon VVherefore in imposing subscription not to Iewish onely but which is worse to ceremonies used in the Popish Church they layd a yoake upon mens shoulders too heauy to beare Secondly seeing the preachers consented in all substantiall points of doctrine they should haue used their Christian liberty in such ceremonies according to the Apostles rule the kingdom of God is not meate nor drink nor by the like reason apparell but righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost for whosoever in those things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men let us follow those thing which concerne peace and wherewith one may edifie another Rom. 14. 18 19. Vniformity in ceremonies then should not haue been so strictly urged seeing there was a generall consent in doctrine but forbearance should haue been vsed in matters say indifferent for peace sake in una fide nihil officit Ecclesiae sanctae consuetudo diuersa Toletan 5. can 5. 3. Though it had been a fault in the preachers not to be conformable in these ceremonies yet did it not deserue so great a punishment as suspension degradation incarceration deprivation that Non-residents idle ignorant superstitious adulterous Clergie men were not so proceeded against as honest painful preachers what was this else but with the Pharisees to straine at a gnat and swallow a Camell Such severity in trifles was taxed long ago by Augustine hoc nimis doleo c. this They were wont to obserue the 8. day after baptisme Aug. contra Petil. 2. 37. Aliud est quod octave die baptizatornm nos celebramus much greeveth me that many things wholesomely commanded in Scriptures are not endevoured and all things are so full of humane presumptions that he is more censured that in his octaues setteth his bare feete upon the ground then he that is givē over to drunkennesse Epist 11. c. 19. 4. Profitable ministers though wanting in some externall matters should haue been borne with for the common good of the Church this course S. Paul tooke what then yet Christ is preached all manner of wayes whether under pretence or sincerely I therein ioy and will ioy Phil. 1. 18. Thus Hierom saith well Ecclesia numero superata Advers Ioan bierosol peccantium c. the Church overcome with the number of offenders doth pardon the shepheard to do the sheep good Yea the Canons allow a toleration for the profit of the Church Vbi Ecclesiae maxima utilitas vel necessitas postulet where the necessity or utility caus 1. q. 7. cap. 17. of the Church so requireth There was small reason to thrust out preachers for trifles there being such want of preachers 4000 Churches in England yet being without 5 Subscription was urged by force not by perswasion there was no course taken to resolue them that doubted and Bishops peremptorily required subscription without yeelding any reason further or satisfaction to the doubtfull contrary to the Apostle who saith not that we haue dominion over your faith 2. Cor. 1. 24. But they which urged subscription commanded they perswaded not mens conscience the Church of Rome some time was more equall as Leo 1. thus writeth plus erga corrigendos agat benevolentia quà m severitas plus cohortatio quà m comminatio plus Charitas quà m potestas c. with those that are to be corrected let Clemency prevaile more
cause misiudged for the persons fault Delictum personae Reg. Iuris 37. Reg. Iuris 76. non debet in detrimentum Ecclesiae redundare 1. Enormity against Excommunication by lay persons 1. THeir first defense is that whatsoever the Chancellour doth on this case he doth it in the authority of the ordinary Answ 1. It is a question whether the Bishop himselfe the Archdeacons or any other ordinary alone haue any power to excommunicate VVe are sure that neither Scripture or example of the primitiue Church will beare them out in it Our Saviours rule is Dic Ecclesiae tell it to the Church after the contempt whereof the party is to be held as an heathen publican that is to be excoÌ„municate But never was it yet heard that one man should stand for the Church That Dic Ecclesiae in some mans constructioÌ„ should be dic Episcopo dic CaÌ„cellario dic Officiali as the Papists wrest this place dic Ecclesiae that is dic Papae dic Pontifici Romano but of this matter more shal be said in the end of this treatise Then if they haue not this power in themselues they cannot transferre it to another as the law saith Nemo potest Reg. Iuris 79. plus iuris transferre in alium quam sibi coÌ„petere dignoscatur No man can giue more to an other then hee hath himselfe As the comparison is presumptuous to compare the Bishop to the King the Chancellour to the Lord Chancellour so the case is not alike for a civill power may bee committed over to others but a spirituall power cannot be transferred but ought to bee executed in every mans person as the Apostle saith hee that hath an office let him attend upon his office Rom. 12. 7. Salomon Cant. 8. 11. 12. No substitute in duties spirituall in the Canticles sheweth the difference of the Civill and Ecclesiasticall administration Salomon gaue his vineyard to keepers but my vineyard saith Christ which is mine is alwayes before me As wee mislike that Christ should haue any vicar in earth so neither should any of Christs ministers execute their charge by their vicars S. Peter 1. Pet. 5. 2. saith Feed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flocke which is in you that is alwayes in your sight The Canon law sayth Non potest esse Decr. Greg. lib. 5. tit 40 c. 5. Pastoris excusatio si lupus oves comedit pastor nescit It is no excuse of the shepheard if the Wolfe devoure the sheepe to say hee knowes it not It was never well with the Church since Prelates taking more upon them then in their own persons they could discharge committed their spirituall affaires to Deputies and Vicars Of this abuse Eckius a man otherwise bad enough complained in the popish Church Nostrates praelatos ordinem Apostolicum invertere c. Our Prelates invert the Apostolicke order who thinking spirituall things too heavy for them to beare doe use the helpe of Suffragans in their Pontificals of Officials in their Iudicials of Penitentiaries in absoluing sinners of Monkes in Preaching Iodocus Clictoveus in his sermons was wont thus to Hom. 2. de Stephano taunt such Adibunt per vicarios in paradysum in persona inferos Such shall by their vicars goe to heaven but in their own person to hell 3. Though the Ordinary had power to excommunicate alone and might transferre that power to another yet lay persons alone are not capable thereof For Christ when he sayd Whose sinnes yee remit are remitted whose sinnes yee retain are retained spake onely to the Apostles and Ministers Hereunto the Canons agree Indecorum est laicum esse vicarium Episcopi c. It is unfit for a lay man to be a Bishops vicar and secular â—ispel 2. c. 9 persons to iudge in the Church and a divers profession to be in one office And by the same Canon the Bishop that shall make a lay man his vicar is held to be Contemptor Canonum A contemner of the Canons But nothing is now more usuall then for lay men Civilians to be Chancellours and Vicars generall to Bishops The second defence The Chancellor Officiall Commissary decreeth the party to be excommunicate a Minister associate vnto him by exprresse authority from the Ordinary denounceth the sentence of excommunication Ans p. 22 Answ 1. This is but a new tricke and frivolous device who knoweth not the Minister assistant to the Chancellour who is for the most parte of the meanest and simplest of the Clergie is but a Cyphar he doth nothing but by his masters direction excoÌ„municateth and absolueth at his pleasure contrary to the Apostles rule to Timothy I charge thee c. that thou obserue these things without preiudice or prefering one 2 Tim. 5. 2 before another and doe nothing partially 2. By the Provincialls no sentence of Excommunication is good but in writing Linwood de senten excommun 6. sententiae latae sine specialibus literis dominorum quorum interest non ligant VVherfore this sentence of the Minister beeing not extant in writing vnder his seale and so deliuered is of no value in Law and the people vnder this colour are abused 3. It is vnlawfull for a lay Ciuilian in cases which appertayneth to correction to send out citations or to decree excommunications he must neither Investigare inquirere punire corrigere excommunicationum literas decernere And as he cannot doe it in his owne name so neither can he by the Law publish excommunications in another mans name The Law is Quod alicui suo non liceat nomine nec alieno Reg. iuris Bonif. 67. Linwood de licebit And the prouinciall is flat Ne laicus quouis exquisito colore sub suo uel alieno nomine c. that a lay person by any pretense 〈◊〉 coniug cum ex 1. vnder his owne or others name doe exercise no iurisdiction spirtual whatsoeuer And all such citations excommunications and processe are voyd not onely if the iudge bee a lay person but the Register also Thirdly they vse but the aduise and Ministrie of a wise ciuilian in decreeing who is to Ans p. 22. bee excommunicate Answ 1. If had beene to bee wished that Ecclesiasticall persons had not medled in such affaires wherein they haue no skill according to the auncient Canons Episcopus tuitionem testamentuÌ„ non suscipiat Carthag 4. 18. That the Bishop should not take vpon him the tuition of a testament Clerici ad sacrum Ministerium electi actibus saeculi renuntient Clergy-men must renounce all secular acts Auerens can 12. The Apostle saith no man that warreth entangleth 2. Tim. 2. 4 himselfe with the affaires of this life whereupon Ambrose well writeth Ecclesiasticus officium impleat quod spospondit a seculari Amb. in 2. 2. negotio alienus non enim convenit unum duplicem professionem habere a Clergie man must bee free from secular businesse for it is not fit that one should haue a
the multiplicite of excommunications tot hodie fiunt officiales quod vix est aliquis c. There are so many excommunications now a dayes by officials that scarce any man that feareth God can liue in the world with a safe conscience VVhervpon it was directed vt caveant ab earū multiplicatione c. That they should beware of multiplying excômunications lest they be brought to contempt These are the showers of Chancelors and officials excommunications that flee faster then lightening in tempest Object 9. In our vnderstanding the Minister of the parish doth giue his consent to the petition p. 23. Ans VVhat consent call yee this when the Chancellor or Officiall sendeth his mandate and the Minister must denounce the sentence of excommunication or be suspended himselfe doe yee count this consent sufficient what is the pastor here els but the officials slaue to denounce his censures VVhat is this els but against the Apostle to be the seruantes of men But 1 Cor. 7. 21 De 7. ordin Eccles as Hierome saith non in dominatione vt servos habeas sed in ministerio liberos preachers should not be vsed as servants with indignitie but as free men in their ministrie Object 10. They intend the inabling of everie particular pastor alone to excommunicate Answ to the petition ibid. Ans Neither is it our desire that every particular Pastor should be inabled to excomunicat vntruth We giue no such power to particular pastors himself alone against the Apost rule not as Lords ouer Gods heritage As the the other is slavish so this were popelike as Hierome will saith contenti sint honore suo sciant se patres esse non dominos Let them be content with theyr owne honor and know they are fathers and not Lords Obejct 11. If the pastor ought to be ioyned in commission there would followe a world of troubles Answ ibid. Answ Neither were it fitt that everie pastor should be ioyned in commission with the Chauncelor and attend vpon his courts for that were infinite and tedious for the pastors to withdrawe them from their flocks Cyprian will saith Neque in altari meretur nominari in sacerdotum prece 1. Pet. 5. 3. Lib. 1. ep 9. qui ab altari sacerdotes avocare volunt Hce deserues not to be mentioned in the Minicters praiers that would draw him from executing his Ministery But it shall euen now appeare what our desire is Our desire is that discipline may be administred according to the rules of Gods word or as things now stand seeing there are three persons in this busines to bee respected the Bishop in his diocese the officers and Ministers of the Bishop and the severall pastors VVee would haue euery mans right reserved that all matters of instance and ciuill pleas should be still referred to the Civill Iudges but matters of office as they are called excommunication and spirituall misdemeanors to be censured by the companie of presbyters in euerie Deanrie and division assisted if it please the kings Maiestie with some graue persons of the Lay sort to be assembled monethly together or otherwise as there shall bee cause and from them if there bee any iust agrevance appeale to be made to the bishop Synods of the Bishops and Presbyters necessary with his synod of presbyters For this course to appeale and referre doubtfull matters to synods is both agreable to scriptuers and practise of the ancient Church As in Antioch when the Church was troubled about cercumcision they sent to the Apostles and Elders about that question Act. 15. 2. Thus was it decreed in the great Nicene synode that in euery prouince bishops should assemble twice in the yeare to heare the complaints of such as were excommunicate can 5. The same decree is revived Antioch c. 20. Neither had they onely provinciall synods but the bishop for the same cause had his assembly of pastors Cyprian writing to the presbyters and deacons of Carthage saith A primordio Episcopatus mei statui nibil sine consilio vestro mea privatim sententia gerere c. Since Cypr. lib. 3. epist. 10. my first entrance into my Episcopall charge I dermined to doe nothing priuately of my self without your counsell Gregorie saith lest there be any dissention among brethren c. Lib. 7. epist 110. In unum convnire sacerdotis est c It is necessarie for the Priests to meet together quem negligentia reijcit cum omnium presbyterorum consilio refutetur whom his owne negligence maketh vnworthy let him be displaced by the councell of the presbyters Turenens 2. c. 7. For this cause it was not long since decreed by a provinciall synod singulis annis saltem synodus diocesane a singulis Reformat Ratisp art 35. Episcopis celebrant Euery yeare at the least let everie Bishop celebrate a synod in his diocese Thus if this course were taken Christs institution for the censure of excommunication shall be kept the Pastors shall bee reverenced the preaching of the word furthered people with long iournies not wearied manners shall bee duely corrected And thus much is insinuated by Cyprian Epist 3. ad Cornel. A Equum est iustum ut uniuscujusque causa illic audiatur ubi est crimen admissum singulis pastoribus sit portio gregis a scripta quam regat unusquisque gubernet rationem sui actus Domino redditurus It is right and iust that every mans cause bee heard where the fault is made and to every pastor a part of the flock should be committed to bee governed VVherefore most noble King 1. seeing The conclusion excommunication should bee decreed by an assembly according to Christs rule Matth. 18. 18. 2. Neither should there be any monark or sole commander in the spirituall regiment of the Church 3. If S. Paul did not excommunicate without the Pastors 4. If all that haue authoritie to preach haue right to the keyes 5. If they which haue a ioynt power of ordination haue also of iurisdiction 6. If by the word of God a Bishop and a Priest are all one 7. If all pastorall duties equally belong to all Pastors 8. If whatsoeuer appertaineth to the edifying of the Church is appendant to the pastors office 9 If it be safer that many excōmunicate by consent then one 10. If it hath been the practise of the Church to ioyne presbyters with Bishops in the spirituall regiment of the Church 11. If all Priests indifferently under the Law did separate and restore lepers whereunto answereth excommunication and reconciliation now 12. If presbyters sate in councels and gaue voyces and are allowed by the Law imperiall to excommunicate And further seing nothing can bee obiected of any moment 1. Neither S. Pauls delivering to Sathan of Alexander and Hymeneus 2. Neither of the Incestuous yong man at Corinth 3. seeing the key of knowledge which pastors haue is not to be severed from the keye of power 4. and as well may
for these things to take away many a true Sheppard and to commit or leaue the flock unto many a Wolfe and blind guide which will either make havock of them or lead them into the ditch of destruction Thirdly to leaue the Papists cause wholy 1. by retaining their ceremonies 2. suppressing our best Ministers 3. by withdrawing or mis-spending the gifts of themselues and others to mutuall brawles and so to giue them rest to mischiefe the Church and increase their Synagogue 4. by opening their mouth to blaspheme the Gospell by these our mutuall brables Fourthly to driue many hereby on the rock of Schisme and lamentable Separation the plentifull experience whereof hath bred much griefe in the hearts of the well affected Fifthly to undoe so many Ministers and their families of very good desert of the meanes of their maintenance to their utter undoing being so fitted for the Ministerie and unfitted for any thing else Sixthly to cause the Sabboth a morall precept of God to bee prophaned for ceremonies of mens addition and that in so many places of the Nation Seventhly to punish the people for the fault of their Pastor if any be For it is the Minister that conformeth not but by his silencing the people are plagued Pro. 29. 18. Hosea 4. 6. This is iniustice to punish one man for the offence of another Eightly to do a thing cleane contrary to that themselues pray for at least which Christ commands to pray for For Christ commands his to pray to the LORD of the harvest that he would thrust forth labourers into his harvest which when he hath done they thrust them out Math. 9. 38. Ninthly it utterly undoeth the Minister a painfull labourer of Iesus Christ as also his wife and children and disableth them to liue which by Gods apoyntment should be maintained 1. Cor. 9. 14. yea well maintainded 1. Tim. 5. 17. This is opposite to the law of loue Iustice Whereby it doth manifestly appeare that the Authour is very grosly abused because his whole minde is not published but so much onely as best serveth the Prelates turne a trick not unusuall with them for their advantage Witnesse amongst others the English translation of Bucanus his Common places Whereout the Authours discourse touching Discipline translated by Doctor Hill yea imprinted is taken and a discourse of Bishops governement put into the roome thereof both without Doctor Hils knowledge Nay hath not this Index expurgatorius tampered with the holy Scriptures themselues Obserue for the present but two places Act. 14. 23. is thus translated not onely in the Geneva but also in the former Church translation And when they had ordained them Elders by election But the new translation with the Rhemists leaveth out these words by election Why It is not to be suffered that the people should haue any hand in chusing their ministers but papal Bishops must do all 1. Cor. 12. 28. is translated both by the Geneva and former Church translation Helpers Governors but the new translators herein worse then the Rhemists translate it Helpes in governments foisting into the Text this preposition in Why They cannot abide Elders to assist the minister in governing Christ his Church So that Curchwardens are but the Prelats promoters But we must passe by this as their natural weaknesse seeing it is sucked in with the milk of their mother scil the Church of Rome from whom they haue receiued their callings also these corruptions thus by them pleaded for together with this unscholler like nay dishonest means of upholding the same 2 The tearmes of the main conclusion of the whole Tractate are to be considesidered scil It is necessary for a Minister to conforme to the ceremonies prescribed in the Church of England rather then to suffer deprivation Where it is to be noted 1. that he speaketh not one word in defence of the subscription required and yet most if not all these that are debarred from the execution of the worke of the Ministery in our Churches whether they haue been heretofore silenced or not are debarred principally for refusall of the sayd subscription To very little purpose therefore are his foure inferences layd down in the third page of his book nay in truth to very little purpose were his whole book were he able to iustifie all he hath written which all wise men may easily perceiue that he is never able to performe 2. That he speaketh so saintly for those ceremonies that not daring to say the required conformity is necessary either in it self or in respect of the Magistrates command he sayth onely this That it is necessaty rather then to suffer deprivation So that as in the Paragraph gelded by the Prelats it is evident that extra casum deprivationis a Minister is not to bee blamed for not conforming to them in this Authors iudgement nay that the Prelats are rather utterly to be blamed for requiring Conformity thereto 3 Every of those three arguments whereby hee endevoureth to proue this conclusion falleth as much too short of proving the conclusion as the conclusion it selfe doth of condemning the silenced Ministers of sin for not conforming rather then to suffer deprivation which are not deprived for not conforming but for not subscribing which he himselfe amongst his religious friends hath often both of old and also of late professed he neither would nor could yeeld to do for any mans pleasure under heauen what losse or punishment soever he suffered therefore The first Argument drawne from the doctrine and practise of the Apostles who taught that the Iewish Ceremonies were beggerly rudiments Traditions Will-worships Doctrines of Men c. and yet did practise the same besides many other iust exceptions is guilty of the fallacy à bene divisis ad male coniuncta seeing it is altogether as false that the Apostle did so teach and yet so practise in the same Churches as it is true that they did so teach and yet so practise at all For among the Iewes and in their Churches onely did they so practise to whom those Mosaicall Ceremonies were even lately before the saving ordinances of God given by God himself for their edification training up in religion to eternall life And the Author hath utterly failed to proue that the Apostles did so teach as is abouesayd in any of those Churches but onely in the Gentile Churches to whom they were never given by God to any such end nor indeed at all and there the Apostle Paul would not by any meanes suffer the use and practise of those Ceremonies to bee brought in no not for the space of an houre Galath 2. 5. but rather sharply reproved Peter and Barnabas openly and to the face for giving way thereunto Gal. 2. 14. lest by building againe the things hee had destroyed he should make himselfe a transgresser Gal. 2. 18. And hereto agree the rest Acts 21. 25. And if hee would not giue way no not for an houre that the Mosaicall Ceremonies should
be used in the Gentile Churches although they had lately been unto the Iewes of whom came salvation Ioh. 4. 22. the heavenly Ordinances of GOD giuen them for their building up in grace how much lesse would hee haue suffered our rotten and accursed ceremonies to haue been brought in that never had better birth then from Hell by the Divell and Antichrist for the defacing of Gods glory and destruction of his people Wherefore the doctrine and practise of the Apostles is most fully and flatly against him in this poynt and his fallacious argument worse then sie upon it Yet further If those ceremonies did turn the Gentile Churches from the truth as he sayth quoting for proofe Tit. 1. 14. which once having in them the breath of life led the Iewes to the truth even to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Whither do ours that never had better breath in them then the poyson of destruction turne yea driue and thrust men As for the Apostles enioyning the Gentiles to abstain from bloud strangled himselfe doth giue sufficient answer to it Where by distinguishing hee sheweth that ours are not of the like kinde seeing the practise of the one stands in matter of abstinence and of the other in matter of action and so do differ toto coelo Finally it is needfull for this man in mine opinion to repent himselfe of his accusing the Apostles of the Lord yea the Holy Ghost it selfe to teach one thing and practise the contrary Which can be no lesse the holy Ghost it selfe being iudge then to build by doctrine and destroy by practise the same things and so to be guilty of transgression Gal. 2. 18. And his second argument is no better then the first being plainly guilty of the fallacy which Schollers call ignoratio elenchi for the argument lieth as if the duties therein mentioned were both affirmatiue which is utterly false For we professe our selues restrained by the negatiue part of the 2d Commandement Now let him if he can shew where any negatiue part of the first Table is to giue place to any affirmatiue of either first or second and then I will confesse that he hath spoken more then is to bee found in all his impertinent and confused rumble about this poynt and also that he hath anihilated that old distinction of Schoolemen scil of Commandements binding semper or ad semper neither will it suffice to tell us of Sacrifices of the old Testament which fell under the second commandement not immediatly but mediatly scil mediante praecepto ceremoniali so that in this as in the former there are very many words and much labour bestowed altogether beside the poynt in question and the whole argumentation is utterly deceitfull Moreover the one of the duties here by him compared scil the bearing witnesse against the Ceremonies is but one consequent among many flowing from our obedience to the second commandement in refusing the sayd conformitie Now what good dealing is this first to change the nature of the precept whereto we perform obedience in refusing the sayd conformity from negatiue to affirmatiue and then to put one consequent of many flowing from this obedience for the whole obedience it selfe If this be not deceitful dealing what is or can be Lastly if this Argument of his bee so firme and good against us as hee would haue his Reader beleeue then I desire him in his next to teach mee how to free Shadrach Meshach and Abednego mentioned Dan. 3. from being worthy of blame For if their case should fall under such Legier-demaine as this of his a man might call their refusing to fall downe before the golden image nothing more but a bearing witnesse against the image and say that they being great Magistrates did preferre the bearing witnesse against the image a lesse dutie before the duties of the Magistracie and of preserving their owne liues which by this mans reckning should be greater duties and so be guilty of sin in so doing For that the losse of the liues and deprivation of so great places in the Magistracie of three so gracious and eminent persons as these is of greater moment and consequence then the depriuation of any three of us from our Ministery none can reasonably deny The like may be sayd of very many of the Martyrs of Christ both former and later but a tast is as much as I intend this therefore shall suffice Neither is his third and last argument any thing lesse ill but rather worse if worse may be then either of the former For it is liable to both the parts of the Orthodox Protestants answer to the Papists argument of vniversality and more then so For first to patch up his forged vniversality hee foysteth in a multitude of corrupt Fathers brown-paper fellowes being Lutherans or worse which approving almost all the superstitious ceremonies of Papistry are in this case no competent iudges nor allowable witnesses Secondly he cannot be ignorant that all Orthodox Protestants do answer the Papists thus That an argument from humane authority in such a case is very insufficient And lastly he well knoweth that all incompetent iudges or witnesses set a part hee hath been offered to his face an Oliver for a Rowlād readily to be given him and more then so that is more witnesses of the truely Orthodox to be against him then he can find to be with him so that neither is this consent so universall as he boasteth of nor if it were is it any thing worth in this case and so both antecedent and consequence are both naught Also what a multitude of Papall nay worse then Papall rites both his ancienter and later witnesses maintain himself in this his Tractate being iudge I leaue to the Iudicious Reader to consider for they are so many and so beastly that I wil never once defile my pen with relating them Onely this question I will propound to the Author desiring him as in Gods presence to answer me scil Whether the residue of the Papists ceremonies may not be maintained by this argument as well as these of ours And if yea then why he doth not as well blame all Orthodox Protestants for rejecting the one as for refusing the other yea why hee doth not also perswade all Calvinists in matter of Ceremony to Conforme to Rome There are very many other weighty iust exceptions to be taken to the said arguments the Prossyllogismes brought for the proofe thereof but my purpose at this time in this place is only to touch them therefore not willing to hold thee any longer from the body of this treatise I take my leaue beseeching thee to take the paines advisedly to peruse it and God to make thee rightly to understand wisely to iudge of it also to giue thee grace to loue the known truth and to walk in the same according to al thy might For many are therefore given up to beleeue lies through strāge delusions because they received not the
God coÌ„maÌ„ds 2 Exercises of Religion Gods own ordinances 1 Preaching 2 Prophesying 3 Fasting 4 Dispossessing 3 Quiet and peace of the Church 4 People robbed of their Pastors 5 Painfull Pastors of their maintenance 2 Occasion of e-evill of 1 Sin 1 Abuse of censures in 1 Suspending 2 Excommunicating 1 Vainly 2 Vniustly 3 Vngodly 4 Ipso facto 3 Depriving 2 Prophanation of 1 Sabboth 2 Worship 3 Tyranny in Prelates 4 A foul-murdring ministry 1 Dumbe 2 Non-resident 5 Carnall liberty Atheisme grosse ignorance in the people 6 Contempt of GODS 1 Word 2 Ministery 2 Punishment Iudgements certainly following these evils 1 Bodily 2 Spirituall 2 Vsers a 2 In the persons against them b a Vsers 1 For loue 1 A Cloke of their 1 Ignorance 2 Slothfulnesse 3 Fleshlinesse 4 Covetousnesse 5 False and corrupt Doctrine 6 Scandalous life 2 A spur and sword unto their 1 Envy and Malice 2 Railing disgracing and persecuting of their 2 For feare 1 By present practise 1 Destroying former doctrine 2 Shutting up the mouth against corruptions 3 Quenching their zeale 4 Wounding their conscience 5 Reioycing the enemies of the truth 6 Grieving the friends of the truth 7 Estranged froÌ„ the better part 8 Linked to the worser part in 1 Affection 2 Practise 3 Fellowship 9 Confirming and countenacing the Prelates ungodly and tyrannous proceedings 10 Alluring occasioning others to fall by their 〈◊〉 2 By preparatioÌ„ unto 1 Subscription unlimited and ex animo to that all good Christians consciences do ex animo ablâ— 2 To plead for the great corruption of 1 Lordly Domination 2 Dumbe Ministery 3 Non-residency 3 To practise favour and maintaine them 4 To oppose and persecute 1 The cause of God 2 Their innocent godly breâ—â—â—â—â— b In persons against them 1 Refusing 1 God is glorified 2 The truth is iustified 3 The godly edified and strengthned 4 The adversaries mouthes stopped 5 The ignorant provoked to search and finde the truth 6 Themselues haue 1 Peace of conscience 2 Triall of patience 3 Note of faithfulnesse 4 Ioy in suffering 5 Increase of zeale 6 Hope of glory 2 Removing 1 Evill falleth 1 Corruptions in 1 Doctrine Of the Church 2 Ministery Of the Church 3 Government Of the Church 2 Scandall to the 1 Godly 2 Weake 3 Wicked 3 Prophanation in 1 Sacraments 2 Worship 3 Sabboth 4 Papistry Atheisme open wickednesse 2 Good flourisheth 1 Increase of faithfull Pastors 2 Increase of godlinesse in the people 3 Purity of 1 Doctrine 2 Worship 4 Peace loue and decent order in the Church 5 CoÌ„formity with the 1. Word 2 Best reformed Church 6 Gods blessing on 1 Church 2 Whole land BELLVM CEREMONIALE THE CEREMONIALL BATTELL Behold the Leaders and the Souldiers The better part disclaimes them The worser sort retaines them 1 God neuer planted nor his spirit inspired them 1 Sathan inspired them Man invented them 2 Christ hath freed us from them 2 Antichrist enthrales us vvith them 3 Holy Apostles neuer taught nor practised them 3 Romish Apostates euer taught practised them 4 Christian Churches reformed haue abolished them 4 Antichristian Romish church deformed retaines them 5 Word of God condemnes them 5 Masse booke justifieth them 6 Purest Writers conclude against them 6 Popish vvriters patronise them 7 Godly Martyres suffered for them 7 Vngodly Bishops persecute for them 8 The godly zealous Exiles vvithstood them 8 Carnall contentious Exiles stood for them 9 The most Reuerend Bishops vvisht them remoued to further the Gospell 9 The most tyrannous proud Prelates suppresseth the Gospel for them 10 Our soundest Doctors taught against them 10 Our popish Rabbins corrupt Statists plead for them 11 Our faithfull and vnreproued Pastors refuse them 11 All scandalous Non-residents Non-preaching Ministers use them 12 All sincere Professors are offended at them and detest them 12 All popish carnall vvicked haters of God rejoyce in them The Weapons 1 Offending svvord of the Spirit 2 Defending shield of 1 Faith 2 Patience 1 Offending 1 Svvord 2 edges 1 Railing slandering 2 persecuting imprisoning 2 Cannon 1 Excommunicating 2 Suspending 3 depriving of Living Lavv. 4 degrading or deposing 2 Defending by the buckler of authoritie 1 Fathers traditions 2 Mens precepts The Event of the Battell 1 Humiliation in Gods sight 1 Encrease of pride before God and Man 2 Exercise of Christian patience 2 Practise of Antichristian crueltie 3 Tryall of faithfullnesse 3 Discovery of unfaithfulnesse 4 Vnity of faith 4 Endlesse dissentions 5 Increase of loue among themselues 5 Increase of contentions among brethren 6 Godly zeale inflamed 6 Superstitious zeale occasioned 7 Conformity vvith Christ and the godly 7 Conformity vvith Antichrist and Worldlings 8 Peace of conscience 8 Conscience accusing 9 Ioy in suffering 9 Terror in persecuting 10 Furtherance of the Gospell 10 Hinderance of the Gospell 11 Christian liberty maintained 11 Bondage enforced 12 Offences remoued 12 Offences given 13 The elect conuerted 13 The vvicked hardened 14 The truth cleared 14 Papistry cloked 15 Gods blessing on their life labors that vvithstand them 15 Gods iudgments on the hand of them that maintaine them 16 Gods holy name glorified 16 Gods holy name blasphemed 17 Pleasing the godly greiuing the vvicked 17 Grieving the godly pleasing the vvicked 18 Confidence and gladnesse at the judgement day 18 Confusion and trembling before the iudgement seat of God THE DEFENCE OF THE PETITION FOR REFORMATION The Reply to the generall censures CENSVRE 1. IT is inconvenient and unsufferable to permit a long and well-setled state of governement to be so much as questioned Ans First then wherein the state is well-setled we neither make question nor desire alteration but where some wants and imperfections are found which are indeed no parts of our state but blemishes it is neither inconvenient for your Maiestie where you see cause to alter nor unsufferable in us to make question It is both honorable to your Maiestie to supply what is wanting to restore what is decaying to remoue what is offending and we trust not disloyall in us to desire some things to be questioned conferred upon which your M ry in your Christian policie seeth neither to be inconvenient nor insufferable It is an honour for Princes to adde to their predecessors worke as Iosua did to Moses Salomon to Davids Nehemiah to Zorobabels Religion is perfected by degrees and reformation can Religion perfected by degrees Lib. 7. in Luc. hardly be wrought in one age Ambrose saith well Non in principijs perfecta quaeruntur sed à principijs ad ea quae perfecta sunt pervenitur The perfection of things is not sought in their beginnings but men proceed from the beginnings to those things which are perfect The Law Imperiall saith Qui subtiliter factum emendat laudabilior Cod. lib. 1. tit 2. l. 1. Iustinian est eo qui primus invenit Hee that exactly bettereth that which is done deserues more commendation then he who first invented it And as
time Christians began to Crosse themselues with the signe of the crosse but it was not yet crept into the sacraments as a learned writer hath well observed for in his booke de Corona Militis where he mentioneth other ceremonies that were used in baptisme as milke honey c. he makes no mention of the crosse And lib. de Baptis entreating professedly of this sacrament Tert. de bapt and the ceremonies of it he hath not one tittle of the crosse In Chrysostomes time Chrys hom quod Christus sit Deus the crosse was crept further as all superstition will winde up like Ivy In sacra mensa c. crux fulget In the holy Supper the crosse appeares in his glory but yet Aug lib. 1. confess c. 11. de symb ad Cateches l. 4. c. 10. it was not impressed in the foreheads of such as were baptised In Augustines time the Catechumeni were signed with the signe of the crosse before baptisme but no such signe was used when they came to be baptized and therefore unlesse better authority can be brought then wee know of or Popish Bellarmine either Bellar. lib. 2. imag c. 29. who hath raked all corners to helpe himselfe we thinke the crosse in baptisme will be faine to fetch his pedigree out of the Popes Masse booke if happily it be able to deduce it thence 2 Obj. We must needes haue some ceremonies in the administration of the Sacrament why then not the crosse Answ VVe grant that some ceremonies may be used but if all be used why then not creame oyle salt and spittle c. Lumb 4. dist 3. for the Papists make but ceremonies of those And therefore it doth not follow some ceremonies may be used therefore the crosse in baptisme may be used It is evident then that there must be a choyce VVell let us see what must be the rule The ceremonies that must be used must haue three conditions 1. They must be such as serue for comelinesse and order sake as the Apostle saith Let all things he done comely and in order 1. Cor. 14. 40. But the crosse in baptisme is not such for if it make a Decorum in the Sacrament then Christ and his Apostles and all the reformed Churches of Geneva Scotland France Helvetia Belgia Poland c. that use it not must cōmit an Indecorum which were absurd to affirme Thus Peter Pet. Mart. class 4. c. 9. Martyr disputes against the schoolemen who affirmed that the word and water Pet. Mar. clas 4. c. 9. were of the essence of baptisme but the rest that were added oyle c. did facere ad honestatem decorum Sacramenti make to the honesting and adorning of the Sacrament Admit this saith he then it will follow that Iohn and Christ and the Primitiue Church hath baptized indecently disorderedly c. Quia eorum baptismus istis omnibus carebat Because their baptisme wanted all these things 2. The Ceremonies must not be scandalous and offensiue especially to our 1. Cor. 10. 32. brethren and to Gods Church but the crosse is offensiue and scandalous both to other Churches that account it a prophanation Szedig loc comm p. 169. of baptisme and to godly and good men at home among our selues yea M. Calfeild saith against the Papists that to crosse with the finger is both an idle ceceremony and unlawfull to Calf in answ Pet. Mart. loc cit to the treatise of the crosse art 2 p. 49. 3. They must not be idle and needlesse ceremonies but to such onely as be needfull See the whole Senate of the Apostles conclude in their councell It seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us to Act. 15. 28. lay no burthen upon you praeter necessaria haec beside these necessary things but the crosse in baptisme is not necessarie either ad esse to the being or bene esse to the wel being of the Sacrament not ad esse the very papists confesse nor ad bene esse because the Sacrament may be well enough Lumb ut supra without it as the very booke confesseth in private baptisme where no crosse is used yet the minister is prescribed to say I certifie you that ye haue done well and according Common booke cap. of priuat bapt to due order c. though they haue not crossed VVherfore most Noble King 1. seing the crosse in baptisme is a departing from the plaine simple institution of our Saviour Christ 2. Seing it is thrust out of the other Sacrament to which it had as good right as to this 3. Seing it was idolatrously abused in popery hath no necessary use now 4. Seing it encroacheth upon the very substance of the Sacr. 5. Seing it is but a late device hatched by the Pope 6. seing it is not a ceremonie pertaining to the decencie of a Sacrament 7 seing it is scandalous and offensiue to many good Christians both preachers and people Lastly seing it is an idle and needlesse ceremonie and so not warranted either in genere or in specie either in generall or in speciall termes as all the true worship of God must be we most humbly beseech Deu. 4. 2. 5. 32. your highnesse in the loue you haue to preserue the Sacraments of the Lord Iesus in such puritie as he hath left them that you will doe as good K. Ezekiah did who cleansed the house of God and caried 2. Chr. 29. 16 out the filth of it into the brooke Cedron 2 Against Interrogatories in Baptisme 1. TO utter an untrueth in such a place in such a presence in such an action so serious cannot be but a great and greevous sin according to that thou hast not lied to men but to God But to say as the book prescribeth in the Act. 5. 4. Com. Book cap. of Bapt. name and behalfe of the infant that it beleeues al the articles of the faith that it desires to be baptized into the faith of Christ is a great untrueth because the little infant neither beleeueth nor desireth any such like thing Nay as Augustine saith Aug. Epist cap. 7. quando ijs Christiana gratia subvenitur vocibus quibus possunt motibus reluctantur they shew themselves unwilling to bee baptised Therefore to affirme this It cannot be but a great and greevous sin 2. That which giveth strength to errour and heresie in Christian wisdom ought to bee avoided according to that non pones scandalum coram caeco Thou shalt not put a stumbling-block before the blinde Leu. 19. 14. But to affirme that the child beleeveth all the articles of the Christian faith is to giue strength to their errour that thinke Rom. 10. 17 Aug. ep 57. children haue faith which indeed they haue not as both the Scripture sheweth and the Fathers Therefore in Christian discretion and wisdom this occasion of errour is to be avoided 3. If the Infant be to be baptized into
Abraham circumcised his seruant as well as his sonnes Gen. 17. 13. the faith of the parent or of some that will undertake to be as a parent to it then it suffiseth the father or hee that will undertake to be as a parent to make confession of his faith The Antecedent is true because as the covenant runnes soe runnes the seale of the couenant but the couenant is made with the father in the faith of the father not with any relation to the faith of the child as appeareth by that I will bee thy Gen. 17. 7. God and the God of thy seed Therefore it is sufficient for the father or he that will be in stead of the father to make confession of his faith because as the scriptures shew it is the faith of the parents that brings the childe within the compasse 1. Cor. 7. 14 of the covenant of grace Ob. The interrogatories be most ancient Answ Antiquitie without verity is but vetustas erroris oldnesse of errour as Cyprian Cypri ad Pomp. lib. 2. ep 3. speaketh and again Non debemus attendere quid aliquis ante nos faciendum putaverit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus prior fecerit neque enim hominis consuetudinem sequi oportet sed Dei veritatem we are not to regard what any one hath thought good to do before us but what Christ did first before all neither should we follow the custom of men but the trueth of God Oyle in baptisme is ancient as appears by Tertullian and Cyprian so is exufflation used of the Church as Augustine speaks Tert. de resus Carn Cyp. lib. 1. epist 22. Ang. lib 2. de imp corrup c. 18. Ang. lib 1 de pecat remis c. 24. Mald. in Ioh. toto orbe diffusa in qua ubique omnes baptizandi infantuli exufflantur And yet the Church of England for good cause hath refused both In Augustines time and long before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was giuen to Infants Maldonatus the Iesuite confesseth it was so and that with opinion of necessity that children perished that died without it And yet the antiquitie of this cannot make it good as being contrarie to the doctrine of Paul Ergo every thing that is ancient is not 1. Cor. 11. 28. therefore by and by currant 2. It cannot be proved that the use of interrogatories is most ancient we reade in scripture of interrogatories ministred to Act. 8. 37. Tert. de spec c. 4. such as were of years and discretion as to the Eunuch Si credis c. Credo If thou beleeuest c. I beleeue And Tertul. saith aquam ingressi Christianam fidem in suae legis verba profitemur renunciasse nos diabolo ore nostro contestamur Being to be baptized we professe the Christian faith according to the words of the law we solemnely professe with our mouth that we haue renounced the Divell But of any Interrogatories that were ministred to Infants we read not at all in the book of God 3 Though the Fathers mention this use yet that many disliked it euen in their times appeareth by Tertullian himselfe lib. de bape who wisheth that infants may be kept till they can make their own answer least we promise that for thē which they wil neuer perform And Boniface the BB. moues the doubt to Aug. argues against it whē the Aug. epist 23. witnesses say the infant beleeues dicunt eos facere c. they say they do that which that age is not able to think 2. If they do beleeue yet it is a thing unknown to us 3. If a man should by and by ask the witnesses of the child whether it shall be a theef or no they will answer they cannot tell and if they cannot tell this how can they tell that it will beleeue Augustine a man so learned that he could haue helped the cause if there had been any helpe in it resolues the matter very weakly habet fidem .i. sacramentum fidei the infant hath faith Com. books c. of baptis .i. hath the sacrament of faith And yet by our booke the witnesses are caused to say it doth beleeue and it hath faith before it hath the sacrament of faith .i. the water of baptisme powred upon it Therfore Bucer one of their own authors better resolues the point shewing that it is Buc. lib. 1. de reg che c. 5. fittest for those that be of yeares and discretion to make promise of obedience at the same time whē they be baptised But that children doe it after they haue been catechised and taught the doctrine of Christ And so Szegedinus si baptizandus Szeg. de bap p. 167. est infans nec fides nec fidei confessio ab illo poscatur absurdū enim est id requirere ab infante quodnec Deus ipse ab illo requirit nec ille per aetatem habere nec exprimere potest Bez. in conf c. 4. 48. Of the same iudgement is Beza VVherfore most noble King 1. Seing the interrogatories giue men occasion to utter an untrueth before the Lord. 2. Seing they giue strength to their errour that thinke children haue faith which indeed they haue not 3. Seeing the infant is not baptized into his own faith but into the faith of his father or susceptor 4. seing it is ridiculous to say they do that which in the iudgment of any reasonable man they cannot doe 5. seeing the first and best Churches knew them not Lastly seing those Churches that received them yet had many learned and good men that upon good grounds disliked them we trust your Maiestie will establish that which shall bee more pleasing to God and better liking to your best affected subiects 3. Against confirmation 1. VVHere the gift is ceased there the ceremony and the signe must cease also as annoynting of the sicke used in the Apostles time is now ceased because the miraculous gift of healing is ceased Iam. 1. 14. but the gift of giving the graces of the HOLIE GHOST by imposition of hands is now ceased as Augustine saith neque enim temporalibus sensibilibus miraculis per manus impositionem Aug. lib. 3. de Bapt. c. 16. modo datur spiritus sanctus sicut antea dabatur c. And therfore seing the miraculous gift is ceased this kind of Imposition of hands which is the signe of it must cease also This is Chemnitions reason against the popish sacrament of confirmation and so Chemnic in exam fid de confu M. Calf art 4. treat of the crosse likwise that learned man M. Calfield saith Laying on of hands serued to good vse then when it pleased God at the instance of the Apostles prayers to conferre the visible graces of his spirit But now there is no such ministrie in the Church now that miracles be ceased to what end should we haue this imposition of hands the signe without the
Idolo si in Idoleio recumbere Tertul. de corou milit alienum est à fide quid ni Idolei habitu videre c. Nothing is to be given to the Idol so neither to be taken from the Idol if to sit down in the Idol-temple be strange from the faith why not to bee seen in the Idols habit 2 That simplicity and plainnesse which Christ and the Apostles and the Fathers in the best time of the Church used is fittest and meetest for the ministers of Christ according to that From the beginning it was not so where our Saviour Mat. 19. 8. Christ teacheth us to reduce and bring things backe to their first originall But our Saviour Christ and the Apostles and the Fathers in the best and purest times of the Church had neither cap nor surplice to minister in Therfore that ancient use is fittest to be retained still That Christ and his Apostles Luc. 4. 16. had no ministring garments it appeareth Luk. 4. where our Saviour Christ entred into the Synagogue and stood up to read the minister brought him not a surplice but a book And when Paul and Barnabas entred into the Synagogue and Act. 13. 36. the Ruler sent to them to preach they stood up without any more ado P. Martyr Pet. Mart. clas 4. c. 1. is cleere for this Papists saith hee despise us because wee haue no priestly garments when Christ his Apostles had none neither So likewise Epi. ad Hooper Defence of Apol. p. 401 Walfr de exord in ca. Eccles c. 24 B. Iewel brings authorities to proue it Walafridus and others to shew that the Massing garments came in by little and little So at first men celebrated in common apparrell as certaine of the East Churches are said to doe at this day M. Fox Mart. p. 5. Fox likewise saith That in the Apostles time little regard was had of dayes or meates or apparrell c. And therefore seeing Christ used no distinction of apparell herein wee desire but to bee like our master 3. That which doth not add grace and comelinesse to the ministery of the Gospell but maketh it ridiculous is to be removed But so do the Cap and Surplice it makes the minister of the Gospell ridiculous for first it brings him in like a Popish priest Elias was known to be a 2. King 1. 8. Prophet because he went like a Prophet i. in a Prophets garment so if men would haue the people take us for Ministers of the Gospell why bee wee still apparrelled like Popish priests Secondly this kinde of white apparrell is now grown into disgrace in our Churches because none but harlots that doe penance come so attired into the congregation and therefore seeing the surplice doth not add any grace unto the Minister of the Gospell but maketh him ridiculous it is therefore cleare that it is to be removed 4 That kinde of garment which procureth scruple of conscience to divers that weare it offence to many good Christians that behold it comfort to the Papists that loue it losse to the Church of the labours of many worthy men ought not to be used But such is the surplice as daily experience teacheth Therfore it is not to be used 1. Obj. To leaue every man to his owne Answ to the Petit. p. 11. sect 3. liberty implies confusion Answ No confusion at all for if our brethren will hold them to their owne grounds if the surplice be not urged by Princely authority they may not use it for when the learned man whom they tearme T. C. had demanded why the Bishop Thomas Cartwright Synod Loud anno 1571. cap. de Decanis Doct. Whit. p. 283. in the Synod Anno 1571. had taken away the gray Amice as a garment spotted with superstition and left the surplice which had been more filthily abused in Popery the Reuerend Archbishop replies that the Bishop took it away because it was not established by any law of this land And sith herein in our mind the Bishop did well in it that they will not suffer any rite or ornament to be used in this Church but such onely as are by publike authority established and therefore as we say if they will sticke to their owne grounds if the king do not urge the surplice by law they must not use it 2. Obj. Doe not their own words import Answ to the petit p. 11. that they may bee well used so they bee not urged Answ 1. That they may be used is one thing that they may be well used is another Many things may bee tolerated which cannot be iustified 2. The consequent is not good for if they be not urged by authority then they may not bee used as before is shewed 3. Obj. What is there in the Cap or Surplice Answ ibid. that should offend any man of iudgement Bucer P. Martyr Augustine Calvin Answ Then be like our brethren take all that be offended at the surplice to bee men of no iudgement Rev. Iewel a man as of more learning so of more modestie Defence Apol p. 399. loue confesseth that there were godly learned men that refused the apparell and that they had their grounds and reasons from authoritie to do so and our present Arch. BB. professeth there were some that never received the apparell whom saith ibid. p. 400. Doct. Whit. pag. 289. he I for my part haue alwayes reverenced and do reverence not onely for their singular vertue and learning but for their modestie also Peter Martyr their own author Pet. Mart. ep 3. amico cuidam resolveth that though the surplice may bee tolerated till things become to some stay yet it were much better that it were removed I saith he writing to a friend in England thinke as you doe that these things being indifferent of themselues make not a man either good or bad but as you also thinke so I thinke it more convenient that that garment and many things of that kind cum fieri commode poterit auferuntur i. that when conveniently it may bee done they be removed in the same epistle here quoted I like well saith he if you desire that Christian religion should aspire again to chaste simple purenesse for what should all godly men more wish for and to speak of my selfe I hardly suffer my selfe to be drawn frō that simple pure use which we all long used at Strasburgh where differēce of apparell in regard of the ministrie was taken away that manner as being the plainer and especially savouring of the Apostolike Churches I haue alwayes approved above all others and I pray God that it may be long continued there and wheresoever the Church of Christ is restored it may at length be received and therfore if the matter may passe upon this worthy mans verdict we shall soone agree Hemingius shewes that the ministers Clas 3. c. 16 of the Gospell in these parts utterly refused the
surplice because although the thing in it selfe were indifferent yet the abominable abuse of it in popery had made it not indifferent Osiander speaking of popish garments Cent. 3. lib. 3. c. 14. brought in by a false decree of Steuen Quod saith he profecto nihil aliud est quam umbras leviticas in clara luce Evangelij in EcclesiaÌ„ stulte reducere et ex Christianis hac quideÌ„ in parte Iudaeos facere Which in truth is nothing else then to bring into the Church shadows in the cleare light of the Gospell and to make in this respect of Christians Iewes As for Augustine and Calvin they onely affirme against the Anabaptists and their like that some things used by idolators and heathens may be used of Christians namely such things as haue a necessarie and honest use as wee may use the same Churches Bels pulpits that were used in popery but to infer of this that therefore we may use the Surplice is as weak a reasoÌ„ as if a man should gather that therfore we may use all the other trash Augustine resolueth well Egiptij saith he they had Aug. l. 2. de Doct. Christ. cap. 40. their idola onera their idols and their burthens And they had also vasa ornamenta vessels ornaments of gold silver c. The I sraelits abhorred their Idols and their burthens but their vessels and their ornaments of gold and siluer they turned to a better use he shews his meaning after that Idolaters and heathens haue some profitable and good things and those we may use and they haue some Idolatrous and burthenous things and those we may not use in which number because the surplice is therefore by S. Augustine rule we may not use it VVherefore most noble king seing the surplice is one of the massing garments in popery an habit not beseeming the Ministers of the Gospell 2. seing Christ and his Apostles and the Fathers in the better times of the Church made no distinction in apparrell 3. Seeing it doth not grace the ministery but make it ridiculous to the people 4. Seeing it offendeth the Protestant and giues hart unto the Papist 5. Seeing the gray Amice and other Popish garments are gone that could haue made as good a plea for themselues as the Surplice can 6. Seeing men of excellent learning and iudgement in sundry Christian kingdomes reformed haue disliked it as comming too neere to the Popish fashion wee trust your Princely Maiesty tendring the distresse of your Preachers the peace of the Church and the edification of your people will remoue this stumbling-block that a number of faithfull and good labourers either extruded or discouraged by such occasions may returne againe unto the Lords worke 6 For examination before the communion THat examination say they where need Answ to the petit p. 11. is should goe before the communion who disliketh And to haue it where no need is who requireth Therefore let vs rest in this not so neither but two exceptions be taken to our speech Except 1. That none should be admitted Answ ibid. to the blessed Sacrament of what state or condition soever he be except they were first examined were iniurious c. Answ Then this is our brethrens meaning that though there bee need yet if he be an old man or a man of any wealth or account though there be need and the man never so ignorant blockish and prophane yet it is iniurious inconvenient to take any tryall of him as if a man because he is old or rich or beareth some sway may therefore come still to his iudgement or as if we could be so excused 1. Cor. 11. 29. Mat. 24. 45 before God for giving the bread of the houshold to such as in our conscience and knowledge belong not to it onely because they are old and rich Our master chargeth us without distinction Mat. 7. 6. Giue not that which is holy unto Dogges Chrysostom hath a goodly saying If saith Chris hom 83. in Mat. he the keeping of a most cleare and sweete fountaine were committed to thee for thy sheep to drinke at and a sort of swine should come to puddle it and to foule it with their feet wouldst not thou restrain them wouldst thou suffer them to discend into it Behold not a fountaine of water but a fountaine of the bloud of the Spirit of Christ is comitted to thy keeping and wilt thou suffer wicked vile sinners to desceÌ„d into it pollute it And so he concludes If thou darest not prohibit the unworthy Dicito mihi c. sanguinem meuÌ„ profundi potius patiar quam â—â— the place sacratissimum illum sanguinem praeterquam digno concedam I had rather suffer mine own bloud to be powred out then that most holy bloud of Christ should bee given to any unworthy person Bucer doth much complaine of the neglect of this that some lib. 1. de regn Christ c. 4. ministers will let all come to avoyd their owne trouble c. The place is worth reading yea our owne Bishops haue decreed speaking of the minister Ad mysteriorum Synod Lond an 1571. cap. cancal communionem neminem admittet qui catechismum articulos fidei non didicerit He shall admit none to the partaking of these mysteries c. which hath not learned the Catechisme and Articles of faith And again in catechismo instituant omnes suos omnium aetatum atque ordinum non tantum puellas pueros sed etiam si opus est grandiores Let them instruct in the catechisme all theirs of all ages and degrees not onely boyes and girles but even the elder sort also if there be need 2. Except To examine every man c. Answ to the petit p. 12. sect 4. after the Consistorian fashion were insolent Answ Surely too many of us be too well acquainted with the Consistory fashion and we thinke it a proud fashion indeed to bring our deere brethren redeemed with the pretious price of the blood of Christ and borne continually in the hands of Angels to stand like poore prisoners at the barre as some haue done for the omitting the crosse and surplice Nay God forbid let it be farre from the soule and from the thought of every one of us we will be the servants of the Church and as Abigail said so wee 2. Cor. 4. 5. 1. Sam. 25. 41. Ioh. 13. 14. say in the humility of our hearts that we will bee ready to stoope downe to wash the feet of the meanest seruant of our Lord and Master VVherefore to thinke that because that which wee moue for may not be done in pride in insolencie with contempt of our brethren that therfore it may not be done at all no not in humility in meeknesse in tendernesse and loue is to reason as if men had made a fray with their wits And therefore seeing the matter is confessed to be needfull and
office in the teaching of the Gospell that the Priests and the Levits had in the teaching of the Law and this also is the plaine meaning of the Geneva note 2. Obj. These tearmes be iustified by divers pag. 12. s 5. of our learned Divines Answ Our best learned Divines are so farre from iustifying them that they condemne them D. Reynolds saith Sith Conf. c. 8. s 5. p. 619. the name of Priests haue relation to Sacrifice c. the charge of the Lord not to lay a stumbling-blocke might haue remoued that name from the ministers of the Gospell as the name of My Baal Hos 2. 16. with him our learned men consent D. Fulke Whitakers and the rest yea some of us can remember since that Reverend In Act. 14. in Test Rhem. Whit. ut sup Father D. Heton being then Vicechauncellor of Oxford two Iesuits were brought to the Assizes to bee arraigned for treason the Doctor being requested by the honourable Bench to speak something to them stood up and demanded of the Iesuits what they were They answered that they were Priests VVhy said he there be but two approved orders of Priests that I can read of in the Scriptures the order of Aaron and the order of Melchisedecke I pray you of what order are you Priests After some pause one of them answered they were Priests after the order of Melchisedeck Nay said the Doctor that yee be not for Melchisedeck had neither beginning of his dayes nor end of his life but you both haue had a beginning of your dayes and I beleeue shortly for your treason will haue an end of your liues also and therefore yee cannot be Priests after that order VVith this the poore Priests were dasht the people laughed and the Doctor was much commended And if the new Vicechauncellour haue found out a third kinde of priesthood which the old Vice-chancellour never heard of they may do well to enforme him of it at their leasure for our parts we must assent unto the Doctor that there be no other priests approved in the word of God but after one of these two orders and therefore the Ministers of the Church of England being priests after neither order must leaue the priesthood of the new Testament solely and entirely to the Son of God and content themselues with those titles and names of Pastors Preachers Ministers Elders c. wherewith the wisedome of the Holy Ghost hath endowed them 3. Obiect A Priest comes of presbyter But the ministers of the Gospell are called presbyteri Ergo they may be called Priests Answ VVe hope men are not to learn now that words are not to bee taken according to their derivation but according to their use for an Idiot in our speech commeth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet he that should say the Apostles might be well termed Idiotes because they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would prooue himselfe little Act. 4. 13. Col. 1. 1. lesse so likewise a frier comes of frater And yet he that should argue that therefore the ministers of the Gospell may bee called friers because they are called fratres should make but a frier-like conclusion Thomas Aquinas might haue taught Aquin. 22. qu. 91. art 1. 2. men this that aliud est etymologia nominis aliud est significatio The derivation of a name is one thing and the signification another yea Aristotle can shew us that verba significant ad placitum i. they signifie not of Arist. peripa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. themselves but accordingly as people consent and agree to use them but the name of Priest by common use of our people is taken up to signifie a sacrificer ut supra And therefore wee say of the name of Priests as Augustine saith of the name of fatum which some expounded in a good Aug. lib. 5. de civ Dei c. 1. sense sententiam teneat linguam corrigat Let him hold his meaning but let him mend his speech VVherefore most oble King 1. seing the holy Ghost who should be the framer of a Christians tongue hath kept a continuall distinction between the Priests of the Law and the ministers of the Gospell 2. seeing it is one of the royalties of the sonne of God to bee accounted and so called the onely Priest of the new Testament 3. seeing in our office and ministery wee quite differ from the popish Priests and so should differ in our names also 4. seeing the name of a Priest in our language imports a sacrificer which no man of iudgement will say is a fit name for a minister of the Gospell 5. seeing it leaues a scruple in the peoples heads 6. seeing the soundest and the best divines in the land haue disliked the title VVe therefore beseech your most excellent Majesty to take away the Popes liverie from us and to bestow upon us by your princely lawes those names and titles which the holy Ghost in great wisdom hath assigned us No doubt but to be continuall looking glasses and remembrances of our duty Against the Ring in Marriage THat there may be a civill use of the ring in Marriage wee make no question good divines approue it At Buc. loc cit Szeg. loc com p. 174. Pisc ib Mat. 23. 17. Nic. ad resp Bul. c. 30. q. 5. first it was used in the matrimoniall contract as appeareth by that in the decrees postquam arrhis sponsam sibi sponsus per digitum fidei annulo insignitum despōderit c. aut mox aut apto tempore c. ambo ad nuptialia foedera perducantur After that in pledge the bridegroom haue espoused unto himselfe the bride by putting upon her finger the ring of promise c. either immediately after or in convenient time let thē both be brought forth to the marriage bond And if it had been so used still we know no body that would haue disliked it but to bring every humane invention into the Church of God and there to offer it up to God in prayer maketh us to renew that complaint of Aug. ep 119 ad Ianuar. Augustine Ipsam religionem quam paucissimis celebrationem sacramentis misericordia Dei liberam esse voluit servilibus oneribus ita premunt ut tolerabilior sit conditio Iudaeorum c. That religion which God in mercy would haue to bee celebrated in a very few Sacraments they so loaden with seruile burthens as that the condition of the Iewes is more tolerable Beside the words that bee used with it be so strange in our language with this ring I the wed with my body I thee worship c. that no man can make any sense of them in true congruitie and though happily there may bee some far fetched meaning of the words yet there is not one of a thousand among our people that understands the meaning thereof and who willingly in an actiō so frequent of that moment will make people speake so as
the one shall not understand the other 10. Against longsomnesse of Service THat which serveth to the most edification and building up of the people of God that must especiallie be 1 Cor. 14. 4 5. Act. 20. 32. Eph. 4. 12. regarded in the Church assemblies But preaching doth much more edifie and build vp the people of God then this same long seruice Therefore it must rather bee respected Ambrose sayd well vpon these words let Ambr. in 1. Cor. 14 them speake by two or three viz. Ne occuparent diem linguis loquentes eorum interpretes non haberent tempus prophetae Scripturas discernendi qui sunt totias Eccl. illuminatores Let not them speak witb tongs and their interpreters take up the day so that the Prophets which are the light of the whole Church haue no time to open the Scriptures 2. It is a rule in divinitie that of two good duties if a man cannot doe both in Math. 12. 7 christian wisdome he must do the better So the Lord sayth I will haue mercie and not sacrifice And the Apostle sayth Christ 1. Cor. 1. 17. sent me not to baptize but to preach Now which of these two is the better we meane not in it self but in regard of the edification of Gods Church Let the scriptures decide Come let us go up to house of the Lord. And for what especially Is 2. 3 and cheiflie Ipse docebit nos vias suas the especial end is to know the wayes of God Bucer vpon these words sayth Precipuum opus indicatur veri christiani coetus sincera Lib. 1. de reg Christ c. 3. doctrina eius prompta obedientia The principall work of the true Christian congregation is noted to be sincere doctrine the ready obedience thereof See Gratians glosse Grat. 1. 9. 1. sect Interrogo Therefore seing preaching is the better when a man either through weaknes of body or want of tyme cannot do both wee take him bound to doe the better .i. to preach to the people 3. That which maketh the minister vnfitt to preach and the people vnfit to heare is to be amended But so doth the Opus tripart lib. 3. c. 1. same long and tedious service opus tripart In many Churches they read so long as scarsely any heareth all and if any stay there they commonly fall a sleepe bonum ergo fuit ut ita temperatae lectiones legantur in matutini ut fragilitas humana prae taedio non recedat Synod It was good that the lessons should be read in that order in morning prayer that mens frailty bee not wearied with Synod Ang. c. 8. the tediousnesse Augustine saith ut nimia festinatio in missae lectione religiosas aures offendit ita incongrua prolixitas fastidium generat me diocritatem igitur commendamus As the hudling in reading the masse offendeth the ears so excessiue tediousnesse is irckesome whereas a mean between botb is commendable Therefore this abuse ought to bee amended 1. Obiect This well befits these mens great devotion Answ If this argue want of devotion Answ to the pet p. 12. sect 6. in us to abridge the longsomnesse of Church service for preaching then surely the Doctors and Proctors and heads of houses in Oxford want devotion among whom no thing is more usuall in their Colledges then to abridge the prayers to go to S. Maries to the sermon 2. Againe this is such divinity as we never heard of to place all devotion in long prayer the Pharisees were Luc. 21. 47 Aug. de heres c. 57. Math. 6. 9. of this mynd and Enchits of old and the Monks and friers of late But our Saviour Christ belike measured devotion by some other rule who taught his disciples so short a prayer The humble publican said Luc. 11. 13 no more but this God bee mercifull to mee a sinner Platina writes of the Apostles that they did consecrare ad solam dominicam So Gregor lib. 7. epist 63. orationem he means they had no other set prayer then the Lords prayer VVhat shall we think they wanted devotion also Augustine writes of the religious men in Egipt dicuntur fraters in Egipto crebras quidem Epist 121. habere orationes sed eas tamen brovissimas raptim quodammodo iaculatas The Religious men in Egipt are sayd to haue frequent prayers but the same very short and as it were by sudden ejaculations This we speak Ast. 13. 15. On S. Michaels day the epist is Rev. 12. 7. there was a batell in heaven Michael c. as if this Michael fighing for the church were not Christ but an Angell p. 12. s 7. not to condemne long prayer when occasion serveth but to shew that even they that use shorter praiers may be devout 3. Beside all that we desire to be abridged is not prayer but a number of Scriptures unhandsomly shredded and pared from the rest many times neither fitly sorted as the lectures of the law and Prophets were nor truly applied to the present purpose 2. Obiect Some of these preachers spend almost an boure in senslesse and inconsequent prayer Answ 1. If devotion be measured by our bretherns rule then belyke those men be full of devotion for they pray long 2. If some spend the time in sencelesse and inconsequent prayer what doth this preiudice those faithfull and good teachers that spend it better 3. Obj. From this dislyke of all set and stinted frome of prayer c. Ibid. Ans Doe the Petitioners dislyke all set and stinted forme of prayer doe they Vntruths diuerse condemne the saying of the Lords prayer doe they refuse to vse it who told them so In the beginning of their booke they say wee maske vnder vnknowne names and yet now they can tell that we dislyke all set stinted form of prayer that some of vs omit the Lords prayer and some of vs refuse to vse it these be the strangest men wee haue heard of who though they know not a man nor his dwelling nor his country yet they can tell what prayers he vseth in his Church Nay they can tell his secret thoughts that though he vse the comunion book yet he disliketh all set and stinted kind of prayers But that our brethren would willingly blindfould themselues to traduce us they might haue well conceived by our words that wee dislike not all kind of set prayer because we desire not to haue the service removed but to haue it abridged VVherefore most noble King 1. seing preaching serveth most to the edification of the Church 2. Seing when both cannot be done the long prayer and the preaching it is Christian wisdom to do the better 3. Seeing the practise of both our Vniversities giues liberty this way 4. Seing nothing but mockes and untrue tales be opposed against it wee must renew our humble suite to your highnesse that the long and tedious service bee abridged where there bee preachers
that bee able with their faithfull and godly laboures to take up the time better 11. Against the abuse of Church songs and Musick VVHETHER our brethren yeeld to this or no we know not they haue so pleased themselves in a conceit of our moderation and the kings great devotion as they terme it in hearing the Organs that they forget to tell us their resolution therefore wee will iustifie the equitie of our request 1. In the Church of God nothing ought to bee done but that which serues to edification this is Pauls rule 1. Cor. 14. 26. But the Church Musick and songs as they bee now used in Cathedrall Churches and some Colledges with Organes and descant foreward and backward serue not to edification Therefore it ought not to be permitted in the Church of God The assumption or second proposition is proved thus If the Latine seruice in poperie served to no edification because the greatest part understood not that which was spoken then also this theatricall musick wherein the greatest part understand no thing serveth so Aug. terms it in psal 32. com c. 1. Class 3. c. 13 s 29. to as little Peter Martyr one of their own authors approveth this nec iure potest saith he retineri fracta illa Confragosa musica qua ita detinentur astantes ut verba etiamsi velint percipere minimè queant That broken and chaunting Musicke by which the standers by cannot though they would understand the meaning of the words ought not to be retained And so euen popish Aquinas Aquin. 22. qu. 91. art 2 huiusmodi musica instrumenta magis animum movent ad delectationem quam per ea formetur interius bona dispositio These musicall Iustruments doe rather affect the mind with delight then further any good dissposition in him And therefore as he saith the Church used not them Consil Aquisgran Cōci Aquis con 137. Decreed well Psalmi in Ecclesia non cursim excelsis inordinatis aut intemperatis vocibus sed plane dilucide cum compunctione cordis recitentur ut cantantium mens illorum dulcedine pascatur audientium aures pronunciatione demulceantur Let not the Psalmes in the Church be hurried over or sung with loud and strained throats but plainely and distinctly with feeling of the heart so as both the minde of the singer may bee fed with the melodie and the eares of the hearers refreshed with the words 2. That which draweth downe the mynde from meditation and heavenlie contemplation to sensuall and carnall delyte is not fit to be vsed in the house of God where all our affections are rather to be mounted and to be lifted vp But soe doth the same light and theatricall kind of musicke Therefore it is not to be vsed in the Church of God This reason hath both protestant and popish writers to approue it Peter Martyr saith Loc. cit If wee should see at this day Christian people runne to the Church as it were to a theater to delyte themselues with musike and songs as they daylie do at Paules church when the Organs and the anthems be sung abstinendum potius esset a re non necessaria we should rather abstayne from a thing not needfull then by occasion thereof hazard the soules of the commers So likewise Thomas Aquinas resolveth in his Aquin. vt supra summe 3. To bring in any part of the Leuiticall service into the Church of Christ is vtterly Heb. 7. 12. vnlawfull as the Apostle shews But this kynd of musike by Organs and Instruments was a part of Leuiticall service Therefore it is vtterly vnlawfull in 2 Chr. 29. 25. Bez. in colloq mompelg part 2. p. 36. Aquin. 22. q. 91. art 2. arg 4. the Church of Christ Beza not onelie vrgeth this but that deepe divine as they take him Aquinas saith the Church doth not receiue Musicall instruments to praise God with ne videatur iudaizare Lest shee seeme to Iudaize And he giues good reason why the Iews under the Law had such musick and Christians haue none 1. because in the old Ibid. ad 4. law the people were more carnall And the second because these instruments did figure some things to come namely the spirituall ioy which we haue in Christ 4. That which Christ and the Apostles and all the godly Fathers of the Church for six hundred years together thought to be the fittest and meetest musick for the Church that must we think to be fittest unlesse wee thinke to bee wiser then they But Christ and the Apostles and all the godly fathers of the Church for 600. yeares and more haue taken plaine voyce musick and not this kind of musick by Organes and descant to bee the fittest and meetest for Gods service as appeareth by their practise and precepts Math. 26. 30. Col 3. 16. Plinie saith of the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plin. apud Euseb lib. 3. cap. 30. Aug. lib. 10. canf c. 33. Christians that they did ante lucanos hymnos Christo Deo canere Sing Psalmes to Christ the Lord in the morning before day And Augustine reporteth of Athanasius tam modico flexu vocis faciebat sonare lectorem Psalmi ut pronuntianti vicinior esset quam canenti Hee made the reader of the Psalmes varie his voyce so little that he seemed rather to speake then to sing And Hierome dislikes that such as sing in the Ierom. epist ad Epiphan dist 82. Church should stretch their mouth and throat as though they were at a play And therefore this plaine voyce musick is fittest to be used in the service of God 1. Object Iust martyr qu 107. and Answ to the pet p. 12. Augustine lib. 10. c. 11. allowe musike Answ But what kynd of musick doe they allow Organs and curious pricke sung Augustine speaks but of singing of Aug. lib. 9. confess c. 6. 7. Epist. 119. c. 18. psalmes as may appeare in many places that liquida voce with a cleare plaine voice cōuenientissma modulatione a most fit and seemely tune for els where he professeth that where as some had brought In. Psal 32. com 1. in the vse of the harpe and citharane into the Church he by his authoritie remoued it Let no man maruaile sayth he that wee haue cast out the harpe and behold it is commanded to sound saying prayse the Lord vpon the harpe nemo convertat cor ad organa quod ei iubetur in se habet Let no man spend his efection vpon the musicall Instruments being to make melody in himselfe For Iustin Martyr though that bee none of his work because he there citeth Author apud Iustin. q. 107. Origen who liued after yet whosoeuer is the author he is directly against our brethren as dirictlie for us in this cause Instruments saith he be not vsed in the Church of God sed simplex cantio in eis manet there is nothing but plain singing nam
canere instrumentis in animis puerorum est To vse instruments is for babes and children Itaque in ecclesijs sublatus est tantum instrumentorum vsus relictum est canere simpliciter so that our brethren thinking by these authorities to helpe their cause haue indeed cut the throat of it The Papists themselues confesse that their harmonicall musicke is much later lib. 4. Chronol p. 729. then Iustine Martyr or Augustine either Genebrand confesseth that Pope Constantine sent Organs to King Pippin anno 757. as yet unknowne to the Germanes and Frenchmen and Beza sheweth by good authorities that they were first brought in by Pope Viteliane at the soonest and Colloqu Mompelg par 2. p. 37. into France anno 878. So long the Churches of Christ stood without them and it had been well with them if they had stood so still VVherefore most noble King 1. Seing this theatricall Musicke serveth not to edification in the Church to the which all things there used should serue by the Apostles rule 2. Seeing it hindereth edification in withdrawing the minde from contemplation and pulling it down to carnall delight 3. Seeing it was a part of the Leviticall service which is now ceased in Christ 4. Seing plain voice musicke was taken to be fittest for Gods service by Christ and the Apostles and all the Fathers in the best times of the Church we most humbly entreate your maiesty that this stage-like musicke may be removed and that which is fittest for edification and best beseeming the spirituall worship of the Gospell may be retayned 12. Against the prophanation of the Lords day HErein we both consent Hee is very Answ to pet p. 12. prophane say our brethren that desireth not this from his heart Now wee heartily thanke the holy God of Heaven even for this and we pray him that hath begun this good in our brethren to encrease it to the day of Iesus Christ Indeed the sanctifying of the Sabbath Esay 58. 13 Exod. 31. 13 is it that giveth life to all religion and therefore this being once well setled all religious and Christian duties will quickly follow VVherefore O most noble King not onely we the ministers that desire reformation but both your Vniversities the Vice Chancellors Doctors and heads of houses and the rest of the learned Clergy and obedient subiects expect this at your Highnesse hands that as you haue by your most Christian proclamation give Constant. Euseb lib. 4. c. 19. Theodos Valent. c. de ferijs Carolus magn 139. K. Canutus K. Iuas in martyrol Fox p. 73. Gythcon K. of Danes ibid. p. 755. Exod. 20. 10. charge for the sanctifying of the Lords day and for restraining of idle sports and games upon it as the godly Emperours and Kings haue done before So because through the backwardnes and disorder of many brutish people that day is not yet so carefullie regarded as it should bee It will please your highnesse so soone as God shall giue opportunitie to enact it as a Law that all your Maiesties people may not onely keep a rest but a religious and holy rest upon that day VVee know your highnesse knoweth the largenesse of your gates that they be as large as your kingdom and therefore will provide by godly and wholesome lawes according to the charge of your God which is uppon you that all within your gates i. within your hignesse government and dominions shall keepe the day of the Lords rest in all the holy duties and services of it 13. That the rest upon holy dayes be not so strictly urged Argument 1. IF Saints dayes may without any offence to God bee remooved then the strict observation thereof should not be so severely urged But the first is true for some Churches reformed haue de facto taken them away as brought in by men and de iure they might so do because the keeping of such times without speciall commandement seemeth to be an observing of dayes contrary to the Apostle Gal. 4. 10. and a consecrating of them to the memory of men which should onely be obserued to the Lord Rom. 14. 6. As Ambrose well saith qui calendas Ianuarias colit peccat quoniam homini mortuo defert divinitatis obsequium he that keepeth the calends of Ianuarie sinneth because he giveth divine worship to a dead man his reason is as good against holy dayes Amb. ser 17 kept in the memory of Christian men as Pagans for divine honor should be yeelded to neither Arg. 2. There should be a diffrence made between the rest upon the Lords day and other holy dayes But now there is no difference the rest being as strictly urged upon the one day as the other Ergo. The proposition is thus proved i. The Lord himselfe maketh a difference betweene the Sabboth and other holy dayes of his own appointment for upon the passeover day it was lawfull to dresse that which they did eate Exod. 12. 16 But not so upon the Lord day Exod. 16. 2. 3. 2. the Sabboth is of the Lords institution and so precisely to be kept holy dayes are but an Ecclesiasticall constitituon and therefore not in the observation to bee made equall to the other 3. Difference to be made in the obseruatiō of the Lords day and other holy dayes the rest upon the Lords day doth simply bind in conscience as all the commandements of God doe the rest of holy dayes doth not simply bind in conscience in respect of the thing commanded but as we are bound in conscience to obey our governours in all lawfull things for there is but one lawgiuer which is able to saue and to destroy Iam. 4. 12. 4. the constitutions of the Church haue observed this difference making greater restraint of labour upon the Lords day then upon other festivals upon the Lords day all ruralia opera works of husbandrie are forbidden Cabilonens c. 18. itinerari cum caballis to travel with horse or oxen Aurelian 3. 27. to keep Fairs or Markets upon the Lords day Coloni part 9. c. 10. no courts or pleas then to be holden Tarraconens c. 4. no dansing or playes or shewes to bee used Mogunt c. 61. All these canons and many more provide onely or chiefly pro diebus dominicis for the Lords dayes Argu. 3. That liberty which God hath given to worke six daies ought not where Exod. 20. 6 there is no urgent necessity to be restrained especially where there is a necessity to labour for where necessity requireth wee deny not but a day of cessation may be enioyned upon the worke dayes as when a generall day of fast or of thanksgiving is proclaimed yet even upon these daies necessary labours are excepted But the rest of holy daies is upon no necessity yea many pore men working a crash for necessity haue been fetched to the Courts and forced to pay large fees Ergo it impugneth the liberty which God hath given and so is unlawfull as it is
〈◊〉 Pref. in Psal 43. names of the dayes of the weeke As Augustine thus writeth of dies Mercurij nolumus vt dicunt atque vtinaÌ„ corrigantur ne dicant We would not haue men cal it Mercury day or wednesday and I wish that order were taken that they might not so call it The very papists themselues confesse that the word Sunday is an heathenish calling And some of our best writers acknowledge that the name of Sunday the rest Fulk Rhemis annot in apoc 1. 10. had an heathenish beginning therefore were better to bee otherwise termed But passing over these lighter matters wee will first produce our reasons for a learned Ministry and then examine theirs in iustification or excuse of an unpreaching order in the Church Reasons and arguments shewing the necessity of a learned Ministry Arg. 1. THE Lord sayth by his prophet because thou hast refused knowledge I baue refused thee thow shalt be no Priest vnto mee Hos 4. 6. so sayth Gregory qui quae Dej sunt nesciunt a Deo nesciuntur they which know not the things of God are not knowen of him Pastorol par 1. c. 1. Arg. 2. Pastors and Ministers are the A learned Ministery necessary Lords stewards 1. Cor. 4. 1. but no man will appoynt an vnskilfull steward ouer his house as our Sauiour sayth who is a faithfull seruant and a wise whome his Master hath made ruler over his houshould to giue them meat in due season Math. 24. 25. Ergo ignorant unfit persoÌ„s much lesse are to be set over the Lords house Ambrose saith Si terrestrium rerum dispensatores idonei quaereÌ„di sunt quanto magis coelestiuÌ„ if fit stewards of earthily things must be sought for much more of heavenly in 1. Tim. 1. 3. Arg. 3. Hierom urgeth to this purpose that saying of our Saviour si infatuatuÌ„ est Hier. ad Heiodor sal c. if the salt loose his savour it is good for nothing but to be cast out Mat. 5. 13. Ergo ignorant ministers as unfatuate and unsavory salt should be cast out Arg. 4. Ignorance is excusable in the people my people goe into captivity because they haue no knowledge Esay 5. 13. much lesse is it to be suffered in the Minister this reason is alleadged by Leo si in laicis vix tolerabilis videtur inscitia quanto magis in ijs qui praesunt nec excusatione digna est nec venia If ignorance in lay men be intolerale much lesse in those that are set over them is it excusable or pardonable epist 22. ad Cler Constantinopol 5. That is not to bee suffered which tendeth to the ruine of faith but by an unlearned ministery faith decayeth which commeth by hearing the word preached Rom. 10. 17. thus reasoneth the Councell of Toletane 4. c. 24. let all their work be in preaching ut aedificent cunctos fidei scientiam c. that they may edifie all in the knowledge of faith 6. That should not bee permitted in the Church which giveth occasion to the destructions of mens souls But such is an unteaching ministery if the blind lead the blind both fall into the ditch Math. 15. 14. And it is as Hierome saith tanquam perforatam navim debilis gubernator regat as Hierom. ad Chromatium though an unskilfull Pilote should be set to guide a broken ship 7. S. Paul doth especially require this as an essentiall property in a minister to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt or able to teach 1 Tim. 3. 2. Hierom saith well Innocens absque sermone conversatio quantum exemplo prodest Hier. Ocean tantum silentio nocet An innocent conversation without teaching as it helpeth by example so it hindreth by silence And it is Origenes note upon these words of Paul wo is me if I preach not the Gospell c. propter hoc solum Tract â—3 in Math c. for this thing onely if I preach not not for conversation is this woe pronounced 8. That ought to bee declined which is sent as a punishment and iudgement upon the people But dumbe and ignorant ministers are a punishment c. as the Lord threatneh to take away the Prophet Esay 3. 2. And there shall bee like prophet like Priest Esay 24. 2. So saith Isidore as he is alleadged Aquisgran c. 25. pro malo merito plebis aufertur doctrina praedicationis Ergo c. 9. All those whom Christ sendeth are furnished with gifts accordingly Eph. 4. 8. 11. Hee hath given gifts vnto men c. some Apostles some Doctors c. Ieroboam made of the basest of his people to bee Priests of his golden calfes onely Aarons sonnes ministred to the Lord at Hierusalem 2. Chron. 13. 9. 10. VVhat shepheard will carry into the field a dogge that can not not barke for as Hierome well saith Hier. ocean latrata canum baculoque pastorum luporuÌ„ rabies deterrenda est the wolves rage the sheapheards staffe and dogges barking must asswage VVherefore seeing ignorant ministers are as dumb doggs Ieroboams Priests men of no gifts they are not sent of Christ c. 10. VVee will adioyne the consent of antiquity and decrees of Counsels that haue condemned rude and ignorant ministers Ca. Apostol 57. Episcopus aut presbyter qui negligentius c. A Bishop or presbyter that is negligent about the people and doth not instruct them in piety must be put from the Communion Valens ca. 2. pro aedificatione omnium Ecclesiarum c for the edifying of all Churches it pleaseth vs that not onely in cities but in all parishes we giue power to presbyters to preach that if the presbyter beeing sick cannot preach himselfe the homilies of the fathers be read by the Deacons Toletan 4 c. 24. Ignorantia mater c. Ignorance the mother of all errors is espcially to bee avoyded in the ministers of God who haue taken vpon them to preach to the people let such therefore know the Scriptures that all their work may consist in preaching and to edifie all in faith and manners Aquisgranens c. 13. ex Gregor praeconis officium suscepit he taketh upon him the office of a preacher whosoever commeth into the Priesthood The minister then or Priest if hee bee unskilfull of preaching what voyce can hee giue that hee is a dumbe crier Coloniens p. 4 c. 1. Officium parachorum c. the office of parish ministers consisteth in two things the dissemination of the word and administration of Discipline Obiections made in defense of an unlearned ministery answered Obiect 1. DOTH not the sufficiency of ministers Suscipere magis minus admit of his degrees Answ Doth it follow the sufficiency of ministers doth suscipere magis minus Ergo all need not preach VVee grant that there are diversities of gifts some haue lesse some greater but is it simply inferred that therfore they which haue no gifts at all should be admitted 2. Obi. Were the ministers of the Primitiue
Church all of them able to preach Answ It is untrue that there were No unpreaching Pastors in the primitiue Church any Ministers in the Primitiue Church which had charge of soules being not able to preach Chrysostome and Peter Martyr with others are onely named their words are not alleadged the first indeed saith Senioribus qui inutiliores sunt hoc baptizandi munus committimus verbum autem quod doceant sapientioribus Wee commit the office of Baptisme to some somewhat unprofitable but the preaching of the word to the wiser sort Peter In 1. Cor. 1. Martyr saith tingendi munus cuilibet in Ecclesia committi potest the office of dipping may bee committed to any But first these testimonies serue not for the Primitiue Church which reached not to Chrysostoms time if we speak properly yet Chrysostome speaketh but by way of Chrysost ibid cōparison that where ministers were they made choyce of the wisest for preaching in comparatione civili prudentia utitur hee speaketh by way of comparison as civill wise men use to do they were not then altogether unprofitable that baptized but in comparison And Peter Martyr speaketh not of ministers onely but his opinion was that any might dippe or lay on water the minister using the words which conceit wee leaue unto the Author Further wee deny not but that in some Churches Deacons and other Ministers baptized which preached not which use how commendable wee are not now to discusse But never shall it bee shewed that in the better and first ages of the Church any Minister had the charge of soules that could not preach as Chrysostome sheweth quoniam oportet eum quae sunt Rectoris habere idcirco subiunxit aptum ad docendum because hee must haue those things which belong to the Rector or spirituall governour hee addeth apt to teach c. this is not required of the people sed illi ante omnia adesse debet but hee must haue it aboue all which taketh upon him this office Lastly admit that such a corrupt use had crept into the Church to allow unpreaching pastors yet is it directly contrary to the Apostles precept who maketh it of the essence of the pastor to bee apt to teach 1. Tim. 3 2. such was also the practise of the Primitiue Church all their pastors were preachers Act. 20. 28. 1. Thess 5. 12. 1. Pet. 5. 2. 3. Obiect The urging of that strange doctrine that hee is no Minister that can not preach c. Answ The vrging of that doctrine Vntruth We so urge not that hee is no Minister that cannot preach what is it to the petitioners they so affirme not Is it all one to say there ought to bee no Ministers that can not preach they are not Ministers that can not preach why do our brethren whom the schooles might teach to dispute ad idem thus breake out into matters not in question betweene vs. VVee denie not but that such are Ministers though vnprofitable ones the sacraments giuen by them sacraments yet vnduly ministred and wee say of them as Augustine in a somewhat diuerse case in bonis sacramentis non Contra crescen lib. 1. c. 26. sunt boni quomodo in bona lege non sunt boni Iudaei The sacraments are good but they are no good Ministers of them 4. Object Hath it not made the Brownists confidently to reproch vs that our Church is no church c. Answ 1. Neither is it true that the Brownists condemne our Church and Sacraments Vntruth c. onely because some of the Ministers could not preach for they mislike also and condemne the most painfull preachers amongst us but they pretend many other reasons of their separation 2. Our brethren needed not therefore to haue cast the Brownists in our nose seeing it is well knowen that the ministers which desire reformation haue most of all other opposed themselues by writing to that faction 3. But is this a good argument the Brownists haue taken offence at unpreaching Ministers Ergo there may be such c. Nay rather the occasion of their offence stumbling should haue been removed 5. Object It is not possible to haue all Ministers men of worth till all church liuings bee very sufficient c. Answ Of like consequence is the argument A learned ministery possible that followeth The liuings are not sufficient to mayntayne preachers Ergo it is not possible to haue all preachers and men of worth 1. VVhy doe our brethren then of Oxford and Cambridge hinder the sufficiency of Ministers mayntenance as much as in them lyeth by gainsaying the Kings princely motion for disposing of the leases of impropriations to the vse of the incumbent preachers whereof wee shall haue cause to intreat afterward 2. This yet is no excuse for such vnsufficient Ministers as enioy sufficent liuings wherof there are a great number 3. Although the want of mayntenance bee a great let to a learned Ministerie yet it is possible though with much difficulty to plant preachers even where such defect is as in the Apostles tyme and many yeares before the Church was endowed and the next way to enlarge the Ministers mayntenance were to place every where worthy men whose painfull labours would provoke mens liberality At the least let such Churches as haue sufficient mayntenance first bee sufficiently provided of good men And for the enlarging of the rest the Prince and the state must bee humbly sued vnto And Clergy men for so much as lyeth in their power should shew themselues ready by their example 6. Obiect Many do please themselues in their extemporall gifts c. Answ Is not this also a goodly argument Of extemporal Preachers Many do please themselues in their extemporall gift c. and for their grosse ignorance haue deserved to be blotted out of the number of preachers ergo all Ministers need not to be preachers for this must bee the conclusion or else they do but trifle as though the presumption of the one doth excuse the idlenesse of the other because one shooteth too far shall another shoot too short An extemporall gift as wee simply allow not for the word of God must bee reverently handled so wee see not why men of long study and exercise may not where the present necessity is such shew their readinesse that way As Origene was sometime forced to doe singula rimari extemporaneus Homil. 8. in Levit. iste sermo non patitur Such extemporall preachers were Ioan. Antiochen presbyter and Honoratus Mussiliens episcopus extempore in Ecclesia declamator An extemporall preacher in the Church And as extemporall sermons are loose so bosome sermons that are verbatim delivered are too curious as wee condemne the one so wee commend not the other approving therein the iudgement of Augustine Donec significet i. se intelligere versandum est quod agitur multimoda varietate dicendi quod in potestate non habent qui praeparata
excusationem The grant or dispensation made by the Archbishop to hold more Churches a frivolous excuse Greg. lib. 3. tit 5. c. 6. Ad mandatum Papae c. At the commandement of the Pope one is not bound to provide for him that hath a benefice already who cannot bee provided for without scandall Extrav Ioan. tit 3. c. 1. Obtinentes plura beneficis curam animarum habentia ex dispensatione virtute illius non poterunt retinere nisi unum By vertue of a dispensation one can hold but one benefice This canon is repeated verbatim Extrav Com lib. 3. tit 2. c. 4. And it is the last canon in force of this matter 5. Obj. Some that would seeme to make more conscience then others do thinke that if they hold but one benefice with cure that it is no transgression of the Canons to heape vp and multiply other dignities as many as they can get Answ Yes even this also is forbidden by the Canons Venet. concil can 8. Abbatibus singulis diuersas cellas vel plura monasteria habere non licet c. It is not lawfull for Abbates to haue diuerse celles or monasteries one ought to be content with one Archdeaconrie Lateranens part 24. c. 5. Illud omninò est rationi contrarium c. It is against all reason that one person in diuerse Churches should haue an Archdeaconry and Deanery when as every office in the church requireth personall attendance Lateranens part 39. c. 6. Nullus debet habere plures vicarias None ought to haue diuers vicarages Decr. Greg. lib 3. tit 5. c. 5. The Canon caleth multitudinem praebendarum canonibus inimicā The multitude of prebends an enemy to the canons Thus by the Canon it is not Lawfull to hold many Monasteries Colledges Archdeaconries prebends only wee find liberty to hold a Church with cure and a prebend and that without dispensation habere personatum cum cura prebendam c. Dispensatio necessaria non existit Sext. decr lib. 3. tit 4. c. 6. Yea by the imperiall Law it was not lawfull for one to hold two ciuill offices nec sit concessum cuiquam c. Let it bee granted to none to haue two Magistracies and to exercise iudgement in both for it is not like that one man should suffice for two necessary duties for when he is present in one place he must needs bee wanting in the other and so bee wholy fit for neither but let him bee content with one Magistrates place leaving the other Cod. lib. 1. tit 52. leg 13. Iustinian Thus by this Imperiall constitution to hold two Chancellors or Registers places to bee a Iudge in two Courts is thought to be inconvenient 6. Obj. They desire to limit the Kings fauour seeing none except he bee the kings Chaplayne may hold three benefices with cure c. p. 18. Answ VVee take not vpon vs to limit the kings fauour but humbly beseech his excellent Maiestie that it would please him to limit his owne princely fauour that non-residents and pluralists to the hurt of Christs Church and dammage of many Christian soules vse no longer that cloake of their covetousnes 7. Object It is not knowne that there bee fiue in all the land that hold three such benefices Answ If there were but one to bee found that held three such benefices it were too much 2. Yet all the kings Chaplaynes if they were an hundreth might enioy the same fauour which who seeth not how inconvenient it would bee and it is against the Law of fauours quod alieni gratiose conceditur trahi non debet alijs in exemplū That which is granted of fauour to one should not bee a measure or example for other 3. Our brethren all this while say nothing of double beneficed men which are almost sance numbre the confuters should haue done well to haue mustered them as they haue done the other But whether they are double or treble beneficed men they may all bee ranged in the ranke of pluralists according to that rule in the Law Pluralis locatio duorum nomine contenta est Two make a plurall number 8. Obj. What good dealing is this c. To make the world beleeue it is acōmon fault c. Answ VVee take our brethrens confession that it is a fault though as they say no common fault to haue three benefices and wee pray you why is it not also a fault to haue two It is a fault to haue three because it argueth a covetous mind and such an one taketh vpon him more then hee can discharge both these faults concurre in accepting of two benefices where one for mayntenance may bee sufficient and two are more then a man can discharge VVherfore according to another rule in the Law Cum quid prohibetur prohibentur omnia quae sequuntur ex illo Reg. Iuris 84. when any thing is forbidden all things are forbidden which follow it VVherfore O most noble king 1 seeing a good shephard ought to bee conversant The conclusion among his flocke 2. Not giuen to lucre 3. must abide wherin he is called 4. Is not sufficient for one charge much lesse for two or three 5 Seeing he that worketh not in his charge must not eate 6. And by pluralities hirelings are mayntayned in the Church 7. By this means some men want and other overflow 8. And such pastors can not bee examples to theyr flockes 9. neyther is it fitte that one member should haue the office of diuerse 10. The practise of the Church in former tymes condemneth pluralities Seeing nothing can be objected to the contrary of any moment 1. That it is vnlawfull to haue not only two cities but two townes 2. That neither the smallnes of the liuing 3. Nor largenes of the parish is a sufficient excuse 4. Nor yet to hold them by dispensation 5. nor yet to haue many dignities without cure 6. or to hold them by speciall favour VVe trust your Maiesty in good time will see this abuse reformed which was sometime odious even among the Romanists Quis per Deum immortalem miserabilior aspectus esse Suggest Cardin abus 8. potest Christianum orbem peragranti quà m haec Ecclesiarum solicitudo O good God what more wretched sight can there be in the whole Christian world then this desolation of churches ARTIC 3. Of Impropriations Reasons and Arguments shewing that it is neither lawfull nor convenient for Ecclesiasticall corporations to demise their impropriate tythes to Lay Farmers 1. Arg. TYthes should be used according to the first institution but then they were permitted onely to the Priests Ergo they should now be proper to the Ministers of the Gospell Thus Damasus groundeth his reaso upon the equity of Moses Law which prohibiteth any stranger saving onely Aaron and his sonnes to eate of the holy things Exod. 29. 33. VVhereupon hee writeth thus Oblationes quae intra sanctam Ecclesiam offeruntur c. Oblations offered in the Church should by no
double profession 2. But seing these causes as matrimoniall testamentarie decimarie are now annexed to the Episcopall iurisdiction such matters as they call of instance it is fit they bee referred to the Civilians In such cases let them not onely be advisers but iudges But as for matters of office as they are called which are meerly Ecclesiasticall wee suppose that Ministers are better able to iudge then Civilians and heerein it is not fit they should be assistants to advise much lesse iudges to determine let them containe themselues within their owne element 2. VVhereas wee are referred to the book of the perpetuall governement of the pag. 320. Church let it bee noted that there it is confessed that Iudges of the Civill law take not upon them the power of the keyes committed to the Apostles their suspensions excommunications c. they claim not by Gods law but by mans VVherefore seing it is confessed that this manner of Excommunication by lay men is humane the Petitioners request is reasonable that this abuse be reformed and such usurpers upon the keyes of the Church restrained Fourthly it is obiected If the discipline were once a foote wee should then heare tell of Ans p. 22. Lay Elders c. Answ 1. The Petitioners say nothing of Lay Elders in their Petition but that there haue been such Lay Elders in the Church which haue intermedled in the Ecclesiasticall affaires it cannot bee denied As Reverend D. Fulke confesseth Fulke ans to the Rhem. 1. Tim. ◠sect 13. out of S. Ambrose thus writing or else hee meaneth of those Elders that Saint Ambrose speaketh of upon the first verse of this chapter that were appointed onely for government not for teaching 2. Is not the like practised in the high commission for causes Ecclesiasticall wherein diverse Reverend persons of the civil state are Commissioners And let not our brethren bee so hot against Lay Elders seeing I hope they will not deny but that they may haue voices in Sinods And what greater inconvenience is it for lay men to bee assistants in Ecclesiasticall affaires then for Clergie Of lay Elders men to interpose themselues in Civill and why might not as well Civill persons if it so pleased the state be of the Convocation house as Ecclesiasticall of the parliament as it was practised in K. Henry the 8. his Fox p. 1182 raigne when that worthy Lord Crumwell was made vicegerent in matters Ecclesiasticall and was himselfe present in the assemblies and at the disputations of the Bishops 3. Yet are wee far from making him a Clergie man as the Confuters a little before confessed though they haue soone forgot themselues of Civilians in these words A chancellour or a commissary is not a lay man in this case And yet there is a great differēce between these lay Elders which are but assistants in the presbytery with others theirs who are sole agents and principals in Ecclesiasticall Courts And therefore we may retort the Confuters saying upon their own heads that they reproue others for speaking for Lay Elders and allow the same themselues But there is a principle in the Law Quod semel Reg. iuris 21. placuit iterum displicere non potest That with once did please cannot againe displease And Hierome could haue told them perdit Hieron Ocean authoritatē dicendi cujus sermo opere destruitur He looseth the authority of teaching that overthroweth his words by his works Of Excommunication for trifles THE excuse is that men are not excommunicated for trifles but for their contempt Ans p. 23. Answ Indeed according to our Saviour Christs rule hee that heareth not the Church Mat. 18. 18 must bee held as an heathen and publicane But it is not yet proved that the officiall and his Register make the Church neither shall our brethren bee ever able to shew it 2. It is true that the letters of Excommunication presuppose a contumacy and contempt preceding But he is not contumacious which at the first monition appeareth not upon every cause pretended as it may appeare by these reasons taken out of the Canons 1. First no man should bee excommunicate before the offence bee proved against him nemo Episcopus aliquem excommunicet priusquam causa probetur caus 2. qu. 1. c. 11. But his contumacy is not proued who vpon the first citation appeareth not for he may be ignorant of it or otherwise necessarily letted Ergo such an one is not to bee excommunicate 2. Such onely are to bee excommunicated as are otherwise incorrigible as by Christs rule he must be taken as an heathen and publican that refuseth to heare the adomonition of one of two lastly of the Church Anathema non debet imponi nisi illi qui aliter non potuerit corrigi Anathema ought not to bee imposed but vpon him that can not otherwise bee amended Concil Meldens c. 56. Excommunicatio non infligenda est nisi his qui aliter corrigi noluerint Excōmunication must be inflicted upon such as cannot otherwise bee corrected Coloniens par 13. c. 4. But they which once cited appeare not are not straight way incorrigible Ergo. c. 3. Excommunication should be onely inflicted for criminall offences Non nisi pro mortali debet imponi crimine Meldens ibid. Excommunicationis sententiae ob criminales tantum causas easque valdè graves lethales feruntur Augustans c. 33. As the Apostle bideth an heretike to be after once or twice admonition reiected Tit. 3. 10 As likwise the Law of the Land awardeth the writ de excōmunicato capiendo to take place onely when the Excommunication proceedeth vpon contempt of some originall matter of criminall offencee as of heresie refusing to come to the Church Incontinency vsury Simony Periury Idolatry But euery absence vpon the first citation proceedeth not of any such contempte VVherfore a man ought not to bee excommunicate for the fees of the court or Cans 23. q. 4. c. 27 such like Pro vindicta propriae iniuriae c. To bee revenged for your owne wrong you haue giuen sentence of Anathema which is against the Cannons penitus interdicimus we forbid that for covetousnes sake none dare to excommunicate any Lateranens sub innocent 3. c. 49. 4. The Canons allow that a man should bee twice or thrice cited before hee bee excōmunicate secunda vel tertia admonitione interposita excōmunicationis sentetia procedat Caus 24. 3. 15. Neither should the first citation be peremptory diem peremptorium ad primam citationem non statuendum especially Lateranens sub Alexan p. 3. c. 5. for Ecclesiasticall matters but upon great urgent necessity S. Paul alloweth a manifest heretick two admonitions before he be reiected Much more where the offence is not manifest a canonicall that is thrice admonition should be used according to the constitution of Oxford nemo excommunicationem promulget c. No man shall denounce Excommunication where the excesse is not
power of the keyes under the name of retayning and remitting sins Ioan. 20. 23. Therefore he that hath right to the one hath likewise to the other 2. VVhere sins upon the sufficient declaration of repentance are remitted there the censures of the Church ought to bee released Neither is it lawfull to hold the penitent long under the censures whē they haue sufficiently testified their repentance as the Apostle moveth the Corinthians to forgiue the incestuous person after he had sufficiently sorrowed hee then which 2. Cor. 2. 10 hath right to the more hath right to the lesse according to the Law cui licet quod Reg. iuris 53 est plus licet utique quod est minus If Pastors then and preachers haue power to remit sinnes in the name of Christ much more to release the temporall censures Arg. 5. To whom the power of order belongth the power also of Iurisdiction appertaineth S. Paul ioyneth them both The Pastors and Presbyters right in laying on of handes Extran Ioā tit 4. c. 5. together in Timothy 1. Tim. 5. 19. against an elder receeiue no accusation c. there is the power of iurisdiction vers 22. Lay hands suddēly on no mā there is the power of order the corrupt Extravagants will grant this proposition claues de quibus agimus in collatione sacerdotalis ordinis conferuntur the keyes whereof we entreat are conferred in the collation of Priestly order But Presbyters haue interest in conferring of orders 1. Tim. 4. 14. Despise not the gift that is in thee c. by the laying on of hands of the presbitery or Eldership Here it is evident that the Pastors and Presbyters layd on their hands together with the Apostle Some by the presbytery here understand the office of Eldership which Tymothy 1. Exposition Perpetual govern p. 78. was ordained unto but the words will not beare this sence for here is mentioned the imposition of hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the The place 1. Tim. 4. 14. of the Presbyters expounded 2. Exposition ibid. 249. Eldership How can the office it selfe put on hands the persons then not the office must of necessity be understood Some by the presbyters vnderstand Bishops but that can not bee for as yet in the Apostles tyme there was no distinction betweene Bishops and presbyters as it may appeare by S. Pauls description of Presbyters Pastors of old admitted to lay on hands a Bishop 1. Tim. 3. VVhich is common to the presbyters And this poynt followeth more fully to bee declared in the next argument Others say that the presbyters and Pastors 1. Exposition Ibid. p. 93. might lay hands on Timothy as well as Paul but at another tyme and to another end But S Paul saying in another place stirre vp the gifte of God which is in 2. Tim. 1. 6. the by the putting on of hands evidently sheweth that he at the same time put on hands with the presbyters for he speaketh of the same gifte in both places which was conferred vpon him by imposition of hands And further if the presbyters ioyned 4. Exposition with Paul in imposition of hands yet was it not of necessity as though S. Pauls Ibid. p. 94. hands had not beene sufficient without them to giue the holy ghost VVee answer that although it bee graunted that in respect of Pauls person who was an Apostle and had an extraordinary power and calling the imposition of hands by the presbytery was not essentially necessary yet in respect of the president and perpetuall order which was to be left to the Church of Christ it was necessary for it is not like that so wise an Apostle would els haue busied himselfe with so vnnecessary and superfluous a work in associating the Elders where he needed not But notwithstanding all these naked shiftes and deceitfull glosses this place of S. Paul is pregnant to proue the copartnership of presbyters in giuing of orders and thus was it practised by the Church afterward Carth. 4. c. 3. Omnes presbyteri qui praesentes sunt c. Let all the presbyters present lay their hands by the hand of the Bishop vpon his head that is to bee ordayned And can 24. Episcopus sine concilio Clericorum c. The Bishop must not ordayne Clarkes without a councell of his Clergie Object This Imposition of hands by the Perpet govern p. 251. presbyters was a consent rather then a consecration Answ That appeareth to be otherwise by that constitution of Vrban ordinationes factaesine communi sensu Clericorum irritae Ordinations made without the common consent Caus 12. q. 2. cap. 37. of the Clergie are voyd If the presbyters had not power and right of ordination there was no reason to make it voyd without them Ergo seeing presbyters haue a ioynt power in ordination iurisdiction is not to bee denyed vnto them Arg. 6. If both the name and office of a Bishop and presbyter by the word of God are all one then by the word of God the spirituall iurisdiction belongeth to them both But the first is true as Hierome proveth out of S. Paul Apostolus perspicuè docet eosdem esse presbyteros quos Episcopos c. The Apostle plainly teacheth that Presbbyters are the same with Bishops as Tit. 1. 5. he calleth them presbyters which vers 7. are named to bee bishops ad Evag. Bishop Iewell proveth by the Word that a Bishop and Presbyter are allone def apol p. 284. In 1. Tim. Hom. 11. 3. Reverend Bishop Iewel sheweth the same by the testimony of Hierom Chrysostome Ambrose Augustine that a Bishop and a Priest are all one Chrysostome saith Inter Episcopum Presbyterum interest ferè nihil There is almost no difference between a bishop and a Priest And then hee inferreth thus All these and more holy Fathers with S. Paul the Apostle for thus saying that a bishop and a priest are all one by M. Hardings advice must be holden for Heretickes If it be answered that the names were confounded in the Apostles but the office and functions were divers Bellar. lib. 1. de Cleric c. 25. This answer may bee easily removed for as a reverend writer telleth us The same charge and the same grace Perpetuall gover p. 203. concludeth the same function But S. Paul requireth the same graces in a Bishop and Presbyter 1. Tim. 3. Hierome sayth De Hier. Evag. Presbytero reticetur quia in Episcopo Presbyter reticetur c. There is no mention made of a Presbyter because he is contained in the name of a Bishop Ambrose saith Episcopi Presbyteri una ordinatio est c. There is one ordination of a Bishop and Presbyter but the Bishop is the first If they haue one ordination then they haue both one function by the word of God howsoever afterward the Church in pollicie hath distinguished them which was done as Hierome saith In schismatis remedium To avoyd schismes
Ergo seeing a Bishop and Presbyter are the same by the word of God iurisdiction doth of right belong to both Arg. 7. All pastorall duties doe equally belong unto the Pastors but to seperate the pretious from the vile is a Pastorall duty Ier. 15. 19. as it belongeth to the shepheard to seeke that which is lost Ezek 34. 4. that is to reconcile the penitent so also to separate the uncleane to correct the obstinate Augustine saith De corrept grat cap. 15. Pastoralis necessitas habet c. The Pastoral necessity requireth lest the contagion should spread further to separate the diseased sheepe from the sound Ergo it belongeth to Presbyters which are Pastors and haue their flockes Act. 20. 17. 28. to separate ane excommunicate the vile and uncleane Arg. 8. VVhatsoever belongeth to the gathering together of the Saints the work of the Ministery the edifying of the body of Christ is to be performed by the Pastors and Doctors with other Ministers of the Church for to this end hath Christ ordained these offices Ephes 4. 11. But to separate or excommunicate and recoÌ„cile are profitable to the said purposes This authority is given for edification 2. Cor. 10. 8. Ergo it belongeth to the Pastors and Teachers of the Church Arg. 9. The discipline should bee administred by such as are more likely to haue the spirit of direction and to whom with the least perill of the Church the censures might be exercised But an assembly of Presbyters are more like to haue the spirit of Direction as the Apostles and Presbyters assembled in councell saying It seemed good to the holy Ghost and Concil Affrican can 138. epist ad Coelestium to us Act. 15. 28. Thus saith the Councell of Affrican Vnlesse there be any that thinkes God inspireth one particular person with righteousnesse and forsaketh a number of Priests assembled in Synod Again there would arise lesse danger to the Church by this means for there is a rule in the Law Excommunicatus non potest excommunicare he that is excommunicate himselfe cannot excommunicate another caus 24. q. 1. c. 4. But a Bishop or any one Ecclesiasticall person may by many occasions stand under the censure of excommunication In what cases Bishops are liable to the censures of the church as if he haue two wiues caus 24. q. 3. c. 19. or if he bee a teacher of errour hee must bee delivered to Satan caus 24. q. 3. c 13. Pelagius or if he be an usurer caus 14. q. 4. c. 4. or a blasphemer or swearer Carth. 4. cap. 61. or a player at dice. Trullan c. 50. or be negligent in preaching and so continue can Apost 57. or giue orders for money Chalced. c. 2 Or be promoted for money Constant Conc. 6. gener c. 22. or make a lay man his vicar generall Hispatiens 2. c. 9. Or take upon him any civill office as vice-presidentship Iusticiariship Decr. Greg. 3. 58. 4. or sit in causes of bloud or giue sentence for the cutting off of any meber as of ears hands c. ibid. c 5. So writeth Alexander 3. in his rescript to the Bishop of Canterbury But a Bishop or any one man may stand excommunicate where an assembly or company cannot in this case by whom should the discipline be administred Ergo it is safer that the censures of the Church should bee disposed by many then by one Arg. 10. Presbyters by the word of God and practise of the Church are interessed in the spirituall rule and government of the Church but the Excommunication belongeth to the spirituall regiment Ergo For the proofe of the proposition first in the Scriptures wee find that the Apostles called together the Presbyters for the deciding of doubtfull questions and by the Apostle the Elders that labour in the word are made rulers the Elders that rule well especially they that labour in the word 1. Tim. 5. 17. they then that laboured in the word were also ruling Elders for how else should they haue a double honour being excluded from government which is counted one of the greatest honours of the Church Now the practise of the Church is most evident Hier. saith communi presbyterorum concilio Ecclesiae regebantur â—â—â—rom in â— 1. In the beginning Churches were governed by the common advise of presbyters caus 11. q. 3 c. 106. debent 12. sacerdotes Episcopum circumstare c. twelue Priests must stand by the Bisbop when he denounceth excommunication can 108. VVhen the penitent party was to bee reconciled the Bishop must bee assisted with as many caus 12. q. 2. c. 5. The Bishop could not dispose of the temporall things of the Church much lesse of spirituall inconsulto presbyterio not hauing before consulted with his presbitery neither was the assistance of the presbytery for decency and order onely but of necessity Episcopus nullius causam audiat absque praesentia clericorum aliter erit sententia irrita The Bishop shall heare no mans cause without the presence of his Clarks otherwise let the sentence bee voyd Carth. 4. c. 23. Thus it is evident that at the beginning the presbyters did assist the Bishops in the regiment and gouernment of the Church as is confessed also by our learned writers the government of the Church at the first was so apportioned that neither the presbyters should doe any thing without the Bishop Perpetual gover p. 307. nor the Bishop dispose matters of importance without his presbytery D. Fulke thus testifieth it is manifest that the authority of binding Ans to Rhem in 2 Cor. 2. sect 4. and loosing committing and retaining pertaineth generally to all the Apostles alike and to every pastor in his cure Thus was it in the beginning but by little and little in processe of time Bishops began to encroach upon presbyters and their office 1. Bishops had at the first but a priority before their presbyters they were not How Bishops by little and litile encroached upon Presbyters to suffer a presbyter to stand before them Carth. 4. 34. and within doores Collegam se presbyterorum esse cognoscat let the Bishop take himselfe to be the presbyters collegue and fellow but now Bishops are callled Prelats Ministers subditi their subiects 2. As yet the Bishops had no speciall kind of ordayning as differing in order from presbyters as Ambrose saith Episcopi presbyteri una ordinatio there is but one ordination of a presbyter and a Bishop uterque enim sacerdos for they are both but Priests or Ministers in 1. Tim. 3. afterward the Bishops brought in a speciall kind of consecration for themselues 3. Then they went further that whereas in giuing of Orders presbyters were ioyned with Bishops Carth. 4. c. 3. cited before they did assume that office to Hier. Evag. 10. themselues quid facit excepta ordinatione Episcopus c. What doth a Bishop that a Priest cannot doe ordination onely excepted 4. But not contented to stay here
they forbid a presbyter Benedictionem super plebem in Ecclesia fundere To pronounce benediction or blessing over the people in the Church Agathens can 30. 5. Nay it was not lawfull for the presbyter the Bishop being present either to pray or doe any sacred action vnlesse he were bid Gelas decr 8. 6. But it was too painful for the bishop to take vpon him these ministeriall functions of praying preaching celebrating the Sacraments and therfore they were content to remit these duties to the Presbyters But confirmation was appropriated vnto Bishops Disce hanc observationem ad honorem Hier. advers Luciferan esse potius sacerdotij quam legis necessitatem This observation is rather for the honour of the Preisthood then by necessity of any Law 7. But yet in Hieroms time though presbyters â—dicens â—6 17. were excluded from ordination and coÌ„firmation they enterposed themselues in the iurisdiction of the Church Nos habemus Hier. in Esa 3. senatum nostrum c. As the Romanes had their Senate so the Church had a presbitery by whose counsell all things were done Thus by litile and litle haue Bishops nibled vpon the presbyters leaving them the laborious works and taking the honors to themselues VVe desire that things onely may returne to their first institution Obiections answered 1. Obj. SAint Paul himselfe alone did deliuer Two kinds of delivering up to Satan Alexander and Hymeneus to Satan that is excommunicate them 1. Tim. 2. 20. Therfore excommunication many be decreed by one Answ 1. VVee may here vnderstand a double kind of deliuering vp to Satan Extraordinarie How S. Paul deliuered up to Satan when as satan did torment the bodies of such as were delivered vp as Satan tried Iob thus thinketh Chrisost vpon this place for like as the Apostles had then the gift of healing to lose faithful men froÌ„ the bonds of satan so had they power to giue over the obstinat to satan This power extraordinary might be executed by the Apostles Act. 5. Act. 13. alone as Peter did upon Ananias Saphira and Paul vpon these two blasphemous persons There was an odinary delivring vp to Satan by Excommunication quia diabolo traditur qui ab Ecclesiastica communione â—erbis Apost ser 98. removetur Because he is deliuered to the deuill that is remoued from the fellowship of the Church for without the Church is the diuell August This kind of delivering to Satan Paul excercised together with the Church 1. Cor. 5. 5. 2. Or rather taking this for the same kind of delivering to Satan there mentioned The Apostle is named here not as the sole but principall agent as in another place hee maketh mention only of the imposition of his hands 2. Tim 1. 6. yet the presbytery imposed hands with him 1. Tim. 4. 14. So then here the Apostle onely expresseth the act done that they were delyuered as for the maner how it was done we must haue recourse to the Apostles practise before in the Church of Corinch as Chrisostom well noteth on this place quommodo illum tradiderit audi congregatis vobis spiritu meo c. But how the Apostle delivered him heare Hom. 5. in 2 Tim. c. 1. when you are gathered together and my spirit and so he referreth vs to that place 1. Cor. 5. 2. Object There the Apostle did send his mandate and the rest did but execute it Paul Parpet gov p. 125. asked not theyr consent but tried theyr obedience For this cause did I write that I might see the proofe of you whether yee would bee obedient in all things 2. Cor. 2. Answ 1. If followeth not because the Apostle tried their obedience therefore â—dicens â—6 17. they had no power to excommunicate for they were to bee directed by the Apostle in their administring and executing of that power 2. So as they in their spirituall obedience were to forgiue where the Apostle would haue them to forgiue so there was in the Apostle a mutuall correspondence to forgiue where they did forgiue 2. Cor. 2. 10. There was then a concurrance of theyr powers in this action 3. That the Church of Corinth did concur as principall agents not as Ministers onely with the Apostle in this act of Excommunication is shewed bfore arg 3 Obj. 3. We will allow every Pastor and preacher the key of knowledge to discerne but not the key of power to excoÌ„municate and absolue Answ 1. These 2 keyes of knowledge and power though in some respect they differ Of the key of knowledge and the key of power yet in vse they ought alway bee ioyned together and in effect are the same for the key of power is the key of the kingdome of heauen giuen to Peter and the rest of the Apostles math 16. 19. I will giue thee the keyes of the kingdom of heaven soe the keye of knowledge is that wherby heauen is opened as our Saviour sayth Luc. 11. 92. Wo vnto you interpreters of the Law for you haue taken away the key of knowledge as Ambrose sheweth clauem Petri fidem esse dixerim petri per quam Ambr. set 38. caelos aperuit the key of Peter I call the faith of Peter by the which he opened the heavens 3. As then the Priest in the law did not onely discerne betweene leper and leper but did giue sentence of separation so the Pastors which haue the keyes of discerning should haue the key of excluding or receiuing who is able better to iudge then he that can discerne 4. The corrupt extravagant that brought in the disioyned vse of the keyes confesseth ad aliquid convenienter definiendum vtraque Extrav Ioan it 14. c. 5. clauis cognossendi definiendi necessaria requiritur to define any thing well both the keyes of determining and discerning are necessary Object 4 The priuate vse of the keyes in appointing offenders to forbeare for a tyme Perpet gov p. 316. the Lords table wee deny not to presbyters but not the publicke vse to exclude an impenitent person from all fellowship of the faithfull Answ 1. This distinction of the priuate and publike vse of the keyes is but an humane invention the Scripture knoweth no such difference he that hath right to the one hath interest in the other the generall commission giuen to all pastors is Whose sins yee remit are remitted Here is no Ioh. 20. 23. limitation of remitting publikly or privatly 2. it is more to separate from the sacramets then from the prayers only of the Church He then that can doe the more is inabled to doe the lesse 3. The Canons doe take those for all one Communione Sardicens can 16. 17. priuare abijcere To depriue of the communion and cast out Exterminare de Eeclesia separare a communione To thrust out of the Church and put from the Communion 5. Object If Bishops haue any further auhoritie then standeth with good reason and the
the publick use of the keyes be committed to Pastors as the private 5. And seeing presbyters in citties haue dealt with the censures the Pastors of the country should not be excluded 6. Neither is the frequenting of Synods any hinderance to the Ecclesiasticall presbytery 7. 8. 9. Nor any other inconvenience need to be feared VVe trust your Maiesty will follow the example of David to distribute the offices indifferently among the sonnes of Aaron 1. Chronicl 24. 4. that a Theodoret. lib. 5. c. 37. few onely haue not the preeminence and the rest bee despised Theodosius the Emperour when hee was excommunicate a levi homuncione of a light cockbrain fellow because hee granted not the thing which he requested would not enter into the Church before hee had been of the same party absolued As we condemne the malepartnesse of the Priest no such authority beeing giuen to any one in the world to censure Kings so thus far wee wish that good Emperour to be followed that the censures of the church may be reverēced being first restored to the originall institution We aske nothing but what your Maiesty hath given hope of that discipline 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 43. B. Bilson p. 320. Perpet gov be preserved in puritie according to the word and which some of the greatest opposites to this cause haue granted We take the power of the keys to be common to al that haue pastorall charge of soules in their degree And so wee conclude this matter with that sentence of Hierom which wee desire our reverend Bishops to think uppon sicut presbyteri c. as presbyters know that by the custome of the Church they are made subiect to him that is set over them ita Episcopi se noverint magis consuetudine quam dispensationis dominicae veritate presbyteris esse maiores in commune debere Ecclesiam regere So let Bishops know that rather by custome then any divine dispensation they are greater then presbyters and ought to governe the Church in common in 1. c. ad Titum citatur distinct 95. c. 5 And Hierome againe saith Episcopi sacerdotes se esse noverint non dominos honorent Clericos quasi Clericos ut ipsis a clericis quasi Episcopis honos deferatur scitum est illud oratoris Bomitij cur ego te habeam ut principem cum me non habeas ut senatorem If Bisbops will be counted as chiefe and principall they must admit their Pastors to bee as Senators and of their Councell Hierom. ad Nepotian 4. Against extorting of unreasonable fees Obj. 1. There are severe lawes made already in that behalfe p. 24. Answ Notwithstanding the severe canons provided against the extorting of unreasonable fees who knoweth not what intollerable exactions are used in Ecclesiasticall Courts The time was when the Cod. lib. 9. tit 27. Leg. 3. Gratian. Iudge ought to take nothing for his sentence when nothing was to be exacted of the innocent party Colon. p. 13. c. 7. speciem aequitatis non habet quod ab Innocentibus absolutis quippiam expensarum nomine exegatur when nothing was to bee taken of the poorer sort a pauperibus non valentibus solvere nihil recipiatur append Basil c. 10. It is not aboue 250. yeares since when this order was taken by Iohn Stratford of Canterbury Liuwood de censen c. Saeva that ministers should pay for their letters of orders but 6 pence for their letters of institution but 12 pence It hath bin decreed that none should exact ultra statuta Caus 16. q. 1. c. 62. leo Extr. com l. 3. tit 10. c. 1. patrum beyond the rates appointed and should take lesse then the custome not more But how the world is changed who can be ignorant what large fees are payed for sentence innocents not spared the pore not pittied for probates of testaments double required to that which the statute aloweth for acquittances Executors some ten some twenty yeares after are forced to pay some forty some fifty Shillings some more Letters of institution are growen from twenty Shillings in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reigne to foure or fiue pound Letters of orders taxed in many places after the same rate Archdeacons in their visitation haue exacted twelue pence sixteen pence yea two Shillings for the article books not much more aboue three pence And not long since when the fifth of August was commanded to be solemnised for the Kings deliverance in some dioceses the Church-wardens were urged to pay twenty pence for copies of the letters It were too long to reckon up al the exorbitant courses of these Ecclesiasticall courts and officers which since the canon made in the convocation anno 1597. haue been more intollerable then before and seing convocation canons are no more regarded wee desire that their exactions may be restrayned by parliament statutes that some of the ancient lawes may bee revived against such as either the law of Theodosius to be punished fourefould or the decree of Innocent the 3. Extorta restitu it Cod. lib. 9. tit 27. l. 6. tantundem pauperibus eroget to restore what is exacted and to giue so much to the poore or of Benedict the 12. that they pay twice so much within two moneths or Decr. Greg. lib. 3. c. 49. c. 8. Extrav com lib. 3. tit 10 c. 1. can 24. els be suspended from their office or the decree of the 8. generall Councell concerning such enormities aut corrigatur aut deponatur that if they bee not amended they should be deposed 5. Of farming of iurisdiction Censure IT is of it selfe a matter indifferent neither good nor evill but as it is used p. 24. Answ And doe our brethren hold the farming of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction to be so indifferent a thing How is it possible when some Chancellours and officials pay 20. some 30. some 50 poūd yearly for their place registers some an hundred some 200 pound some more but that they should extort in their office and by unreasonable and intollerable exactions make up their hard rents Is this thing neither good nor evill VVe wonder that men professing the Gospell should bee thus besotted and blinded seeing the papall Hierarchie hath detested such corruptions Lateranens par 1. c. 15. quidam pro certae pecuniae quantitate jurisdictionem Episcopalem exercent qui de caetero praesumpserit sic facere officio suo privetur Episcopus conferendi hoc officiū potestatē amitttat both the officer that farmeth his office shall bee deprived and the Bishop loose the gift So was it also decreed Coloniens sub Adulph med 3. c. 3. Non licet praelatis officia sua pro pecunia alicui committere that no prelates should let out their offices for mony 6. Of the restraint of marriage at certaine times Obiect IT is falsely called a popish canon it was anciently used in the Church Laodicen c. 52. and being rightly used is commendable c. Ans to
Petit. p. 24. Answ 1. The 52. canon of the Laodicene Councell which decreeth that marriage should not bee solemnized in Lent doth no more shew that the restraint of marriage is not superstitious then because can 24. mention is made of 7. Ecclesiasticall orders and can 48. of chrisme to bee used after baptisme it might be inferred that neither are these observations popish VVe count not onely those corruptions popish which the pope in his ruffe invented but those of Elder time which hee hath retayned and seing the mysterie of iniquitie wrought in the Apostles time it is no marvaill if it wrought in the time of this Councell 2. This canon obiected maketh but one restraint of Marriage in time of lent but the Church of Rome brought in three froÌ„ More times of restraint for mariage observed in EnglaÌ„d then in the popish Church Advent to the Epiphany from Sepauagesima to the octaves of Easter from the RogatioÌ„ week to the octaues of peÌ„tecost all which times are strictly urged in Engl. still And yet the last time interdicted at Pentecost the Tridentine Chapter hath dispensed with Ses 24. cap. 10. So that heerein Protestants are more superstitious then Papists 3 This canon for restraint of marriage had but a superstitious beginning it was prohibited against such festivals because of the holinesse of the time so that these absur dities follow that marriage is a disgrace to these times which the Apostle calleth honorable Heb. 13 4. And that some time are more holy then other contrary to the Apostle Galath 4. 10. And if marriage bee not fit to be solemnized then all matrimoniall duties might as well bee forbidden and so married persons should bee forced to forbeare and to absteine the third part of the yeare who iudgeth not how inconvenient this would be 4. But seeing marriage in these times may bee lawfull by dispensation to what other use serued that canon then to draw advantage to their purses If they can make it lawfull for mony to some as well may the parliameÌ„t make it lawful to all persons without money And so the Petitioners request is resonable that day of fast onely excepted this al other Popish inconvenient canons should bee abrogated according to the statute of Henry 8. that such canons as by the 32. Commissioners to be nominated by the king should be found contrary to the word of God and the law of the land be abolished This acte was made ann Henry 8. 25. c. 19. repealed ann 1. 92. of P M. reviued ann Eliz. 1. c. 1. VVe desire onely the execution of it 7. of the long somnesse of Ecclesiasticall suites Obiect IT is not the fault of the Court or Iudge c. but some time the error of pleading the intricatnesse of the cause cunning of proctors c Answ 1. None of these pretenses can excuse the length of sutes 1. If the error Cod. lib. 2. tit 28. c. 1. be in the forme of pleading let Constantins law take place Iuris formulae te aucupatione syllabarum amputentur They sbould not stand soe strictly vpon termes and querks of lawe but goe directlie to the equitie of the cause as Innocent wrote to the Bishop of Hereford Non secundum formam Lateranens par 7. c. 13. in literis expressam sed secundum vigorem iustitiae iudicandum Iudge not according to the termes of the letter but after the tenure of iustice 2. If the fault be in the advocate let Iustinians law be executed Cod. lib. 3. tit 1. c. 11. Puniatur in duab libris auri Let a fine be set on his head 3. If the proctors trifle and make vnnecessary pleas let Theodosiê° law be revived that the iudge may remoue theÌ„ ab executione from their practise vt sciant causas à se non esse deludendas that they may learne not to delude causes 4. If the Clients be perverse Cod. lib. 3. tit 3. c. 2 and absent themselues Iustinian also hath taken order for that The Iudge may determine the suite in their absence and against their willes 2. Now for the time to be limited for the determination of suites the ciuill law prescribeth two yeares for criminall causes three years for ciuill pecuniarie suits The canon law also setteth for the Extav com lib. 1. tlt 9. c. 1. Sixtus 4. hearing of Ecclesiasticall suites betweene partie and partie two yeares But this is to bee presupposed in most difficult and intricare causes for the determining of some other civill or criminall a lesse time is limited as the space of 20. dayes Sciant Cod. lib. 1. t. 5. leg zeno Iudices intra viginti dierum spatium debere se prefata litigia postquam orta fuerint terminare And generallie this respect of Clergie mens suites Vt disceptatio litis Cans 11. q. 1. c. 45. duorum mensium spatium non excedat They should not exceed two monethes It were to be wished that some of these lawes What time may be thought meet to be limited for the detaining of suites were restored that a certaine time should be prefixed for a finall end of suites A yeare or two at the most might suffice for the deciding of the most intricate causes Now the Iudge Register advocate proctor are all agreed to prolong suits for their aduantatage and so as the prophete saith they wrape it vp Mic. c. 7 3. But the chiefe fault is in the Iudge who might abridge suits if he would And therefore Iustinian punisheth the Iudge in 10 Cod. lib. 1. tit 1. leg 11. pound of gould that determineth not causes within the time prescribed Leo the 10 decreeth theÌ„ to be excoÌ„municate Iudices causas coram eis pendentes sub poena excoÌ„municationis terminare debent The like Latran sub Leon. 10. sess 11. course if it were taken with our Ecclesiastical Iudges the whole kingdom would soone finde great ease 8. Of the oath ex officio Object THE oath ex officio is used as it ought to be by men of wisdome experience conscience c. Answ p. 25. Answ The oath ex Officio wee desire that it were in Ecclesiasticall courts more sparingly used or rather never used and in these poynts reformed wherein we think it is enforced contrary to the word of God and the law of this land 1. The oath whereby a man is forced to accuse himselfe should not be used in ordinarie proceedings and in trifling and common causes as now it is but in weightie and great matters which tend to the disturbance of the common peace or are against the State such as are handled in the most honourable Court of the Starre-chamber and it should bee used rather in civill causes then canonicall as in matters of trust Exod. 22. 11. And so by the Imperiall law in actione depositi a man might be onerated with an oath Cod. lib. 4. tit 1. leg 10. So in action of debt the debter might be put to his