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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	day_n	good_a	lord_n	2,726	5	3.8026	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48863	The harmony between the old and present non-conformists principles in relation to the terms of conformity, with respect both to the clergie, and the people : wherein a short history of the original of the English liturgy, and some reasons why several truly conscientious Christians cannot joyn with the church in it : humbly presented to publick consideration in order to the obtaining some necessary relaxation and indulgence : to which are added some letters that pass'd between the Lord Cecil, and Arch-bishop Whitgift.	Lobb, Stephen, d. 1699.; Whitgift, John, 1530?-1604.; Burghley, William Cecil, Baron, 1520-1598.	1682 (1682)	Wing L2726; ESTC R23045	77,527	105

English Liturgy was drawn up for the Ministers help in prayer a Book of Homilies was prepar'd to be read instead of preaching unto both which at first all such as had not a License were equally oblig'd But though a stinted form of preaching be in it self lawfull doth it therefore follow that 't is always expedient The like may be said of a form of prayer 3. That about things lawfull that is about such things as are in their own nature indifferent enquiry must be made after their expediency or inexpediency pro hic nunc For many things which are in Thesi lawfull are yet in Hypothesi because of their inexpediency sinfull To eat flesh is in it self lawfull but to eat flesh offer'd unto Idols when another acquaints thee with it is inexpedient and therefore sinfull There are many things that are lawfull which because they edifie not but offend and grieve such for whom Christ dyed are inexpedient yea as so circumstantiated are unlawfull and cannot without sins be complyed with The Apostle Paul in his Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians doth somewhat amply treat of this point where he sayes that though all things are lawfull yet all things are not expedient that is as the Apostle himself explains it all things edifie not All things i. e. all indifferent things are lawfull but not at all times in every circumstance for God's glory and therefore not expedient In the exercise of our liberty about things indifferent if we will follow the Apostle Paul we must take heed that we do nothing that affords grief or proves a stumbling block to those for whom Christ dyed but must endeavour that all things be to the Glory of God and the edification of Souls This is evident from Rom. 14. and 1 Cor. 10. If then the Ordinary Lord's dayes Service be in it self lawfull and indifferent yet if it's use be a grief and a stumbling block to those for whom Christ dyed no way conducive to God's glory nor the peoples edification its use is so very inexpedient as to become unlawfull yea sinfull unto such as know so much the which inexpediency remains notwithstanding any Humane Law to the contrary For when the case is as here stated the word of God shews it to be inexpedient and therefore cannot be altered by any law of man That the Lord's dayes Service though in it self lawfull is in its use inexpedient Some may argue thus namely It becomes all good Christians to mind the Peace and Edification of those Churches where they live and unto this we ought to have a special regard in the exercise of our liberty about things indifferent There is a manifest division among Protestants in this Kingdom the which hath prov'd very pernicious unto the Protestant Religion and if encreased cannot but be much more mischievous and therefore all men must take heed that in the use of their liberty they do not what necessarily tends to the multiplying divisions If we cannot Unite the Conformist and Non-conformist we must do all that lawfully we can to fix an Union between Conformist and Conformist yea and between Non-conformist and Non-conformist This every judicious and sober Christian will I presume grant from which concession 't is thus argued even from the supposition of the lawfulness of the Lord's day Service against the expediency of its use pro hic nunc If a Non conformist's using this service dothnot contribute any thing towards an Vnion with the Conformist but tends to the dividing the Non-conformist though the service be in it self lawfull yet its use is not expedient But a Non-conformists using this Service doth not contribute any thing towards an Union with the Conformist As Mr. Read's experience does evince for sayes he in his case Though we yield as far as we can in things lawfull there is no Vnion no Peace nor Agreement to be had with such men but tends to the dividing of the Non-conformists as is most manifest to any that will but deliberately consider the general practice of the Dissenting Brethren Therefore the use of the Lord's dayes Service pro hic nunc highly inexpedient and not to be done The multiplying divisions among good Protestants cannot be for God's glory nor for the edification of the people but has been and still is a stumbling block unto some and great grief unto others for whom Christ dyed and therefore a man should rather suffer than use it 'T is quaeryed by some whether or no the generality of Non-conformists do esteem the use of the ordinary Lord's dayes Service expedient In answer unto which I may safely assert that the generality of the Non-Conformists do at least consider the Conforming unto the Lord's dayes Service so very inexpedient that they cannot Conscientiously comply with it This is manifest from their avowed Principles and Practises 1. Their Principle is that in matters of Religion whatever is in it self lawfull and pro hic nunc expedient is their Duty The expediency of a lawfull thing makes it Duty It has therefore been the Conscientious endeavour of Non-conformists to find out the expediency of those things which are lawfull i. e. whether the use thereof is for God's glory and the edification of the people and they judge themselves bound in Conscience to do whatever lawfully they may to the end God may be glorified and the edification of immortal souls advanced 2. The Practice of the Non-conformists hath been by this Rule as they dare not do what is to God's dishonour so they are afraid to omit what will be for God's glory and for edification Their being turn'd out of their places to the impoverishing the families of some the great prejudice of all does evince they cannot venture on the doing what is to God's dishonour Their greivous sufferings on the account of their publique meetings do as manifestly demonstrate that they are afraid to omit what is for God's glory and the edification of the people To thefe considerations add that if these Conscientious Non-conformists had been convinced that the use of the ordinary Lord's dayes Service had been both lawfull and expedient that is had been for Gods glory and the people's good would they have lived so many a year in the neglect and omission of so excellent a duty What do they make conscience of one duty but no conscience of another Surely I cannot believe it For this reason I think my self oblig'd to conclude that the true reason why the generality of the Non-conforming Ministers who do not use this Service is because they think it inexpedient they believe it is not for Gods glory nor for edification they fear that should they use it they should dishonour God and be a scandal and grief to many for whom Christ dyed But II. There are others who consider the particular forms of worship appointed in the Liturgy for the ordinary Lords dayes service to be unlawfull of this opinion are some Presbyterians the Congregational generally and

the Anabaptist Here I 'll give the sense of the moderater sort of those who look on the present Liturgy as what cannot by them be used without sin The which I 'll do without an engaging my self so far in their defence as to espouse their quarrel As for my part I think moderation becomes all Christians especially English Protestants in a day wherein they are in danger of being destroyed by the common enemy the Papist This is not a time to fall out with one another and quarrel about lesser things for now the great and weighty matters of our Religion are in hazard there must be an exercise of Christian charity towards each other Let every man give that liberty to the conscience of another which he expects should be given his own for while the World endures there will be as different apprehensions about lesser matters as there are different complections among men and therefore there must be mutual forbearance or there will be no peace among us Methinks it lookes ill when men assume to themselves an unaccountable infallibility the which is attended with a proportionable severity in imposing their own sentiments on others This is not only common among the Papists but also to be observed too much among all sorts of Protestants whether Episcopal Presbyterian Independent or Anabaptist and is I verily believe one great reason of those violent Dissentions that are among us every one thinks that such as dissent from them do so without any solid reasons and therefore not to be tolerated Thus some of the Conforming Clergy esteem the Non-conformists dissent from them to be both unreasonable and intolerable and some Dissenters it may be are even with the Episcopal in those censures they pass on them and among the Non-conformists some who only desire that the subscriptions and abjurings of Covenants be remov'd are willing enough that the Liturgy be established with but a few amendments the which may be done by a Comprehensive Bill that hath nothing of Indulgence in it But really how weak soever the greatest part of the Non-conformists are 't is too manifest that they think that there are other Blocks which lye in their way to Conformity than subscriptions and abjurings whose Consciences should be regarded and who stand as much in need of an Indulgence as others do of a Comprehension If the Bill of comprehension should be comprehensive enough to take me in I think my self oblig'd to do my utmost that such Conscientious persons who through weakness cannot do as much as my self be at least indulg'd Conscience is a tender thing and is really the immediate directer of our actions against the plain convictions of which we must not go No Authority is sufficient to oblige any man to act against the plain convictions of conscience For which reason seeing the Dissenters are fully convinc'd in Conscience that they cannot lawfully conform to the present Terms of Lay-Communion there must be either some alteration of the Termes or some must suffer for Conscience sake whence then to shew the necessity of altering some things even for a comprehension and the indulging in other things for the ease of tender Consciences I 'll give the Reader an Historical Account of some of their reasonings against the Termes of Lay-Communion the which I will produce only to this end namely to shew that the reasons are such as may lay convictions on the Consciences of good and honest if not learned men Though men of great learning may be able to answer them yet if they be such as are unanswerable in the judgmenr of the Dissenters 't is sufficient for the purpose for which I produce them Those arguments may be strong in the judgment of some which are not so in the opinion of others My province then is only to propose not to defend the arguments that are cogent in moving some Dissenters to conclude that as Lay-men they cannot conform unto the imposed Termes of the Church of England For to the compleat Communion of Lay-men there is required a conformity not only to the ordinary Lord's dayes Service but moreover unto their Modes of Administring the Sacraments But that unto this they cannot conform I will essay particularly to evince by shewing more generally why they can't conform to the Terms impos'd on the people and then more particularly why they can't submit unto the Rubrick about baptizing their children nor Communicate with them in the Lord's Supper and in fine give several reasons why others can't with a safe Conscience attend on the Reading of the ordinary Lord's dayes Service 1. Why some cannot Conscientiously comply with the Termes of Communion imposed by the Church on the people 1. More generally Because there are so many things which the Church of England acknowledges to be in their own nature indifferent that are made so necessary apart of Religion as to be Termes of Communion with them They take the Word of God contained in the writings of the Old and New Testament to be the only Rule of the whole and of every part of their Religion whence what is enjoyned them as so necessary a part of Religion as to be made a Term of Communion they cannot conform thereunto unless it be agreeable to the Word of God A Term of Christian Communion is a very necessary part of Christ's Religion the non-embracing which deprives a person of the benefit and advantage of the Sacraments and therefore they must be no other than what our Lord Christ has in his Word made so If any man or society of men assume unto themselves a power concerning matters of Religion which Christ never gave them they think they cannot be faithfull unto Christ if they subject themselves unto them in their exercise of such an irregularly assumed power Christ Jesus is the Sole Lord of his Church and Law-giver in it and therefore the alone Author of the whole of Christian Religion for which reason they cannot receive any such additions as are made meerly by men as parts much less as necessary parts of Christian Religion they know that there are some who say the Imposition may be sinfull when a compliance therewith is a duty But this in matters of Religion especially in the present case they do not understand because when lawfull Authority commands any thing sinfully the great reason why 't is sinfull is because 't is in other manner than according to the Word of God but if the command be not according to God's Word how can their obedience be so All obedience is to a command and such is the connexion between the command and the obedience that we must consider the obedience to be as is the command If the command be out of the Lord and sinfull the obedience thereunto cannot be in the Lord and a duty If the command be not for the Lord but against him the obedience cannot be for the Lord. But that our obedience must be in and for the Lord is acknowledged by the

Church of England But there are many things in their own nature according to the confession of the Church os England indifferent which yet are made so necessary a part of Christian Religion as to be enjoyned as Termes of Christian Communion Whoever conscientiously refuses to be present at their publique Prayers or to kneel at the Sacrament is by the 27th Canon deprived of the Sacrament yea and though the Minister who shall wittingly administer the same to notorious offenders and perjur'd villains incurres not for such a default the pain of Suspension Yet no Minister when he celebrateth the Communion shall wittingly Administer the same to any but to such as kneel under pain of Suspension nor under the like pain to any that refuse to be present at Publique Prayers according to the Orders of the Church of England Thus not only a form os Prayer but this particular form of Prayer in which form there are many things with which these Dissenters cannot comply are made so necessary a part of Religion that if they conform not unto them they are denyed the Lord's Supper and what Minister soever admits such unto the communion is lyable unto a suspension a greater punishment than is threatned against those Ministers who admit such as commit the horrible sin of perjury Moreover though they are convinc'd in conscience they sin if they kneel yet they cannot be admitted unto the Lord's Supper unless they kneel Let us put the best sense on these things and 't is this As the notorious offender and perjur'd villain cannot be admitted to the Sacrament because he complyes not with God's Terms the Holyest man on earth cannot be admitted unless he complies with Man's Termes But what is this less than setting up mans posts with Gods or a setting as high if not a higher value on the precepts of men as on the commands of God But seeing our Lord Christ has purchased a liberty for them whereby they may be admitted to the Sacrament on easier Termes than Man will permit they must abide by this liberty in doing which they do but discharge their duty in asserting the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Sole Author of the whole of Christian Religion and of all the Termes of Christian Communion But 2. To be more particular in shewing why they cannot joyn with the Church in the Sacraments In doing which I 'll contract my self in giving you no other than what I find in the Altar of Damascus 1. Of Baptism I 'll only offer a very little that is insisted on in my Author and therefore will pass by that passage in the Second Prayer before Baptism where the Remission of sins is defired by Spiritual Regeneration As if the pardon of sin consisted rather in the Sanctification of the soul than the dissolving the obligation to punishment and consider the Interrogatories which are these Dost thou forsake the Devil and all his works c. Dost thou believe c. Wilt thou be Baptized in this Faith The Child hath not Understanding nor Faith nor desire of Baptism And how be it the child had Faith can the God-father tell absolutely and in particular that this Child whom he presenteth doth Believe desire Baptism or forsake the Devil It is a foolish thing and great mockery of God's service to demand that of Infants which was at the first demanded of such as were come to years of discretion and were converted from Gentilism The children of Faithfull Parents are within the Covenant of Grace whereupon it is that they are made partakers of the Seal of the Covenant The Covenant being made with the Parents in their Faith and not the Faith of the child the Parents should give confession of their own Faith and not of the Faith of the child which is not because their own Faith is the condition of the Covenant upon their part whereupon God promiseth to be their God and the God of their Seed Whereupon also it followeth that the Father of the child should present the child and give confession and not another because the Covenant is made with him and his Seed and the child is his Seed not the Seed of another whom we call Godfather The Natural Father is the proper God-father Others may be Witnesses of Baptism but that the Father should or can resign this duty to another I deny After that the child is dipped or sprinkled and Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost the Priest maketh a Cross upon the child's Forehead Saying We receive this child into the Congregation of Christ's Flock and do sign with the sign of the Cross in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ Crucified and Manfully to fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and to continue Christ's Faithfull Souldier and Servant unto his Lifes end He saith not we have received but we do receive as if the child were not received by Baptism but by Grossing or as if the child were again received by Crossing which was before received by Baptism This signing with the cross is no decent gesture it is rather like a jugglers gesture than a gesture of decency and comeliness It must then be used as a Symbolical and Significant Rite But we have no such sign set down in the Word of God as to make two Cross Lines in the Air with our fingers to represent the cross of a Tree or to signifie unto us that we should not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ c. Thou shalt make unto thy self no Image that is any Representation forged in thy own brain to be set up in the Worship of God Admit once the Aerial Cross in Baptism ye cannot refuse to set up the material Cross and the Rood in the Kirck nor the Wooden or Stone Crosses in the High-way For all may signifie the same thing that the Cross on the forehead And by this reason every one may wear a Silver Cross upon his forehead also Further not only other significant crosses material may be brought in upon this ground but also the rest of the beggarly ceremonies of Baptism to deface and deform the purity plainness and simplicity of Christ's institution As to put salt into the mouth of the child to anoint with Oyl the breast and shoulders and the top of the head with Holy Crism and to put a burning Taper into his hands c. for these Toyes had their own glorious signification as well as the Cross Lastly What doth it signifie but that which is already signified in baptism The same valour and courage and constant profession and fighting under Christ's banner is a part of that Grace which is sealed by baptism But besides that it is a significant toy it is also esteemed effective for they say that the infant by it is dedicated to the service of him that dyed on the cross Who did sanctifie this sign for such an use Are men able to

such fondness of his own Composures But left it to Austine the Monk whom he sent over into England when he consulted him in it either to use the Roman or the French Rituals or any other as he should find they were most likely to edifie the people But After this there were great variations for as any Prelate came to be Canonized or held in high esteem by the people some private Collects or particular Forms that he had used were practised in his or perhaps as his Fame spread in the Neighbouring Diocess Thus the Liturgie as it's first rise was in Austine's time or thereabout which was occasioned by the Errors that then did infest the Churches at which time the Ministers would vent their Errors in their very Prayers even so by degrees it received remarkable Additions some part brought in at one time and some at another So says Dr. Burnet In every Age there were notable Additions made and all Writers allmost in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries employed their Fancies to find out Mystical Significations for every Rite that was then used and so as a new Rite was added it was no hard matter to add some Mystery to it This had made the Office swell out of measure and there was a great variety of them Missals Breviaries Rituals Pontificals Portoises Pies Graduals Antiphorals Psalteries Hours and a great many more Out of these was the English Service taken which as it had no higher Rise than that of Gregorie's or at most Ambrose's Liturgy in like manner it was a Composition of time the Remaining parts having different Fathers some hundred years younger than the Apostles This I 'le evince particularly out of Bellarmine who as his Interest prompted him made diligent search after the Antiquity of the several parts of the Romish Service Book 1. The Versicle Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost was as Alcuinus thought Composed by St. Hierome at the request of Pope Damasus But as Walfrid Strabo 't was composed by the Nycene Council sometime before Hierome it may be to shew their Detestation to the Arrian Heresie which was some hundred years after Christ 2. The Kyrie Eleison i. e. Lord have mercy on us is foolishly supposed to be us'd ever since the Apostles days because 't is found in St. James's feigned Liturgy but Bellarmine cannot say that 't was us'd in the Roman Liturgy Two Hundred years before Gregory the Great who liv'd about the year 600. 3. Dominus Vobiscum or the Lord be with you An ancient Salutation us'd by Believers in the Old Testament times about which Petrus Damianus wrote a Book with this Title Dominus vobiscum Tho' this was an ancient Salutation in use among old Believers when they met one another yet we have no evidence that 't was brought into the Liturgie as a part of solemn and set Worship until the first Council at Bracca Can. 21. enjoyn'd it the Bishops and Priests 4. The Collects which were the short Prayers of several Popes and others Cannoniz'd for Saints were brought into the Liturgy by Pope Gregory almost 600 years after Christ 5. The Te Deum Laudamus or that Hymn which begins thus We praise thee O God tho' it be not found in the Sacred Scriptures yet 't was saith Bellarmine given the Church by Inspiration at the Baptism of St. Austine at which time St. Ambrose and St. Austine did extempore and alternately to the Astonishment of the people sing this Hymne as Dacius Episcopus Mediolanensis reports 6. After the Lessons the Responses which are so call'd saies Rabanus because one who begins is answer'd by the rest were first invented by the Italian Churches was not within several hundred years after Christ By these Intimations concerning the Antiquity of some parts of the English Service 't is evident That as all stinted Liturgies compared with the most primitive practices are new so our Liturgie which was taken out of Gregories A Liturgie not so ancient as that of Ambrose and which in process of time was strangely alter'd is much more new unto which the Dissenters cannot firmly adhere if they will as they think they ought make the most Primitive Practice the pattern and Rule of theirs What need any other Impositions on the Ministers of the Gospel or on the people now than were on 'em the first 300 years And why shall we be wiser than our first Fore-Fathers Is it not a duty to have a just respect to Antiquity Why not then to that Antiquity that comes nearest unto the Apostles days Whatever some may think there are many among the Dissenters who are fully perswaded that untill all things in Religion be reduc'd to the ancient Constitution established by the Lord Christ and his Apostles adher'd unto by those who for some hundred years followed 'em the Church of God will never flourish This is the Rule they must walk by c. or Sin against God to avoid which Sin they refuse to joyn with the Church of England in her Liturgie that is so beside the practice of the Primitive Christians Let these few of the many Arguments which the Dissenters have offered against the lawfulness of the English Liturgy satisfie the Reader On this I have the more fully insisted to the end those Sober Conformists who it may be have not considered the Reasons why the Dissenters cannot conform to the English Liturgie may see thas 't is not Honnour nor Fancy but Conscience that is the ground of their Non-Conformity I 'm very Confident that a great part of the Dissenters I speak not of all because I know 'em not would with all their Hearts Conform to all is requir'd of 'em by the Church of England could they do it with a safe Conscience and surely such among the Conformists who will consider these Reasonings of the Dissenters and who do not measure the Consciences of other Men by the Light and Latitude of their own cannot but conclude that there are some Nonconformists who cannot with a safe conscience conform but should they do it 't would be against the plain convictions of consciences As 't is not humour nor fancy that occasions their Dissent from the Church so 't is more than meer scruple of conscience These Dissenters are under strong convictions of Conscience that they sin if they conform This is certainly the case of many who are as fully perswaded that the Conformists do err as the Conformist can be that they do so This being their case the question is whether notwithstanding these plain convictions of Conscience they must conform and act contrary to their convictions Whether they may safely sin against God to the end they may render the Obedience required by man It hath been heretofore asserted by all sorts of Christians whether Protestant or Papist 1. That God must be obeyed rather than man And 2. That no authority is sufficient to oblige any to act contrary to the plain convictions of Conscience Yea