of God By this meanes men are brought to misse-regard all Religion and wee that are the Preachers of the Word come to bee despised In the meane time it is not to be denyed but they are ceremonies which for the inconuenience they bring ought to be resisted and if wee bee pressed with such it is our part to expone our dislike of them in modestie and by the best wisest meanes we can vse to decline these which wee esteeme to bee hurtfull Not as our follies haue beene great in this kinde to runne before the time and seeke to amend matters by declinators and protestations whereby wee haue profited nothing onely wee haue incensed authoritie and hastened vpon our selues the same things which wee laboured to eschue Well these things cannot bee made vndone yet they should make vs wise for afterwards And now Brethren because the resolution we take at this time touching the Articles propounded will giue to the world a testimonie what manner of men wee are whether such as rule their proceedings by iudgement or are carried head-strong with conceits and opinions that wee bee nor misse-led by ignorance for that is the fault of many amongst vs wee inquire not of matters nor take paynes to vnderstand what hath beene the iudgement of the most wise and learned but follow vpon trust the opinions we haue beene bred with and of such as we affect to helpe this I say I will with your patience spend some time in the question of Ceremonies see what warrant they haue and how they should bee appointed then from the generall descend to speake of our particulars touching which I shall freely deliuer my owne minde and so conclude First then concerning Ceremonies howsoeuer some haue imagined them to bee superfluities which might well bee spared and that the Church of Rome hath made the very name of them hatefull aswell because of the multitude of them wherewith she oppressed Christians as for the ridiculous choice she made of most of them are such things as without which no publike action either Ciuill or Ecclesiastique can be rightly performed To this purpose a Politike Writer hath said well That as the flesh couereth the hollow deformity of the bones and beautifieth the bodie with naturall graces so Ceremonies such specially as ancient custome hath made reuerend couer the nakednesse of publike actions and distinguish them from priuate businesse that otherwise should not bee so well knowne The neglect of this in any State breedes confusion and with confusion the ruine and abolishment of the State it selfe whereof the examples were easie to be giuen in the Romane Republike and others if that were our subiect But wee are speaking of Church-Ceremonies concerning which no man will deny this generall truth That in euery publike dutie which God craues at our hands there is besides the matter and forme wherein the substance of the dutie consists a certaine externall forme required to the decent administration of the same As for example God hath commanded his Word to bee preached and the holy Sacraments to be ministred Baptisme by the Element of Water and in a prescript forme of words such as you know wee vse and the Sacrament of his blessed Body and Bloud in the Elements of Bread and Wine with certaine mysticall words added thereunto heere is the dutie to bee done and the substance of it yet for the ministration of the same in a due and decent manner there is place time and other circumstances moe required The substance of the dutie God hath giuen vs in the Word from which we may not goe but for these things that belong to the outward administration Ecclesiasticall wisedome hath to define what is conuenient what not Neque tamen permisit Dominus vagam effraenamque licentiam sayes Caluine sed cancellos vt ita loquar circudedit That is God hath not giuen his Church an illimited power to establish what Ceremonies she lists but hath enrayled her authoritie within borders which she may not passe 1 Cor. 14. and these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all things bee done honestly and by order Honestly that is after a good fashion in a decent sort and to the right ends namely the aduancement of Gods honour and the edification of his Church This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then they must be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by order that is appointed with deliberation and by such as haue the authoritie to ordaine them and being once appointed and concluded by Constitutions they must bee kept and performed by all that are subiect to the same This as one speakes well is that great Ecclesiasticall Canon by which all other Canons must bee squared this is the true Touch-stone of trying Ceremonies and the ballance wherein all Church Orders must be weighed The Ceremonies of the Church must be decent and comely without vanitie without all meretricious brauerie not superfluous but seruing to edification They must also be done to God honour and not be idolatrous or superstitious Generally in the Church all things must be done in order and no confusion be either of persons or proceedings for order hath proceeded from the Throne of the Almightie This fabricke of the World that wee see is vpholden by it States and Kingdomes are maintayned by it and without it nothing can flourish or prosper And if Order should haue place in all things sure the Church of God should not be without Order for our God whom wee serue is the God of Order and not of Confusion as the Apostle speakes These things will be easily condescended vpon I meane that religious duties cannot bee performed without externall Rites that these Rites should bee qualited as I haue said established by Lawes and after they are established obeyed by such as are subiect Si enim velut in medio positae fingulorum arbitrio relictae fuerint quoniam nunquam futurum est vt omnibus idem placeat breui futura est rerum omnium confusio This is Caluines saying in the fourth Booke of his Institutions and tenth Chapter which Chapter I would earnestly recommend to your reading for these matters chiefly In such generals it may bee wee all agree but when wee come to particulars Tanta moribus hominum inest diuersitas tanta in animis varietas tanta in iudicijs ingenijsque pugna Such is the varietie of mens minds and opinions that scarce shall they euer bee brought to agree vpon any one thing For the Ceremonie which to one will seeme decent and comely will to another appeare not to be so Now in this case what is to bee done Some would haue vs search into the Apostolike times examine what then was in vse to bee done and follow that But this cannot well be the rule seeing the Apostles haue not deliuered in writing all that they did and diuers of the formes vsed by them which by occasion wee haue recorded are vnfit for these times and inconuenient such as the assembling of people
in close and secret meetings their Christnings in Riuers the ministring of the Lords Supper after meate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Church-Feasts the abhorring of leuened Bread abstayning from Bloud and that which is strangled the arbitrary maintenance of Ministers and other more particulars which to bring againe in vse were to alter and change in a sort the state of Christianitie it selfe So it being to vs vncertaine what the formes of the Apostles were in euery thing and the dissimilitude of their times and ours being so great they giue no sure direction that send vs to seeke the resolution of our differences in matters of this nature from them Reade Beza his eight Epistle written to that Reuerend Bishop Edmond Grindall then Bishop of London and you shall finde this to bee his iudgement His words are Scio duplicemesse de Ecclesiarum instauratione opinionem sunt qui Apostolicae ill◠simplicitati nihil adijciendum putant ac proinde quicquid Apostoli fecerunt faciendum quicquid autem succedens Apostolis Ecclesia ritibus primis adiecit semel abolendum existiment There are some sayes he who thinke that we should adde nothing vnto that first Apostolike simplicity but doe in euery thing according as they did And that whatsoeuer the succeeding Ages added in matters of Rites should be all abolished Because his answere and discourse is somewhat long I will remit you to the place and giue you the heads of it only first therefore he sayes that the doctrine of the Apostles is in it selfe so exact and perfect as we ought not to derogate nor adde any thing vnto it but next for the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church wee must not thinke so because the Apostles at the first could not set downe euery thing that was expedient for the Church and thereupon they proceeded by little and little and in such Rites as they instituted they had a speciall respect to the time places and persons wherof many were afterwards by the Church worthily abolished Hauing said this hee concludes Itaque quicquid ab Apostolis factitatum est quod ad ritus attinet nec statim nec sine aliqua exceptione sequendum existimo And Caluine whom I often name for the authority which he deseruedly carries with all Reformed Churches in the tenth Chapter of his fourth Booke of Institutions which place I formerly quoted hath to the same purpose these words In his quae cultum Numinis spectant solus Magister est audiendus quia autem in externa disciplina ceremonijs non voluit sigillatim praescribere quid sequi debeamus quòd istud pendêre à temporum conditione praeuideret neque iudicaret vnam omnibus saeculis formam conuenire confugere hic oportet ad generales quas dedit regulas vt ad eas exigantur quaecunque ad ordinem decorum praecipi recessitas Ecclesiae postulabit And after a few lines Prout Ecclesiae vtilitas requirit tam vsitatas mutare abrogare quà m nouas instituere ceremonias Ecclesiae licitum His iudgement is that the power of adding altering innouating and appointing Ceremonies remaynes with the Church to doe therein as shee in her wisedome shall thinke meete And certainly there is no other way to keepe away differences for matters of Rites and Ceremonies but this That euery man keepe the custome of the Church wherein he liues and obserue that which is determined by the Gouernours thereof For in things indifferent wee must alwayes esteeme that to bee best and most seemely which seemes so in the eye of publike authoritie Neither is it for priuate men to controll publike iudgement as they cannot make publike Constitutions so they may not controll nor disobey them being once made Indeed authoritie ought to looke carefully vnto this that it prescribe nothing but rightly appoint no Rites nor Orders in the Church but such as may set forward Godlinesse and Pietie yet put the case that some be otherwise established they must be obeyed by such as are members of that Church as long as they haue the force of a Constitution and are not corrected by the authoritie that made them Except this be there can bee no order and all must be filled with strife and contention But thou wilt say My conscience suffers mee not to obey for I am perswaded that such things are not right nor well appointed I answere thee in matters of this nature and qualitie the sentence of thy Superiours ought to direct thee and that is a sufficient ground to thy conscience for obeying But may not Superiours erre May not Councels decree that which is wrong This no man denyes and if they decree any thing against Scripture it is not to be obeyed for there that Sentence holds good Molius obedire Deo quam hominibus But if that which is decreed be not repugnant to the Word and that thou hast no more but thy owne collections and motions of thy conscience as thou callest it how strong soeuer thy perswasions bee it is presumption in thee to disobey the Ordinance of the Church And of this wee may bee sure whosoeuer denyes obedience to Church Ordinances in rebus medijs the same will not sticke to reiect Gods owne Word when it crosses his fancie Et videant isti sayes Caluine qui plus sapere volunt quam oportet qua ratione morositatem suam Domino approbent Nobis enim satisfacere istud Pauli debet nos contendendi morem non habere neque Ecclesias Dei With such a sentence I close all that I purposed to say of Ceremonies in generall Now hauing shewed you that Rites are necessary in a Church the qualities they should haue and obedience that must bee giuen vnto the Constitutions of the Church once being made I come to the particulars desired of vs to bee receiued these must bee seuerally considered because they are not all of the like respect some of them strike vpon the duties of our calling enioyning the practice thereof in places and at times where vsuall solemnitie cannot bee kept as to administrate Baptisme in priuate houses in the case of necessitie and the Communion to these that are sicke and in dying Others of them prescribe the obseruation of certayne things not in vse with vs as the confirming of Children and the keeping of some Festiuities throughout the yeere And there is a fift Article that requires our accustomed manner of sitting at the Communion to be changed in a more religious and reuerend gesture of kneeling ye shall not expect to heare all that may be said or is at this time expedient concerning these neither the time nor the strength of any one man I think will suffice to say all without interruption I know I speake to men of vnderstanding and my intent is to say no more of them then may serue to iustifie the aduise which I minde with Gods helpe to giue vnto you I begin with the Communion to the Sicke because this Article passed in the late Assembly
hath appeared to the contrarie in any of them the same We hold to haue proceeded from amongst you Albeit of all sorts of men yee are they that both of duetie were bound and by particular benefits obliged to haue continued your selues and by your sound doctrine and exemplarie life kept others in a reuerend obedience to Our commaundements What and how many abuses were offered Vs by many of the Ministrie there before Our happie comming to this Crowne though We can hardly quite forget yet We little like to remember Neither thinke We that any Prince liuing could haue kept himselfe from falling in vtter dislike with the Profession it selfe considering the many prouocations that were giuen vnto Vs But the loue of God and his truth still vpheld Vs And will by his grace so doe vnto the end of Our life Our patience alwayes in forgetting and forgiuing many faults of that sort and constant maintaining of true Religion against the aduersaries by whose hatefull practises We liue in greater perill then you all or any one of you should haue produced better effects amongst you then continuall resistance of our best purposes Wee wish We be not further prouoked and Gods truth which you professe of obedience vnto Principalities and Powers bee no longer neglected and slandered by such as vnder the cloake of seeming holinesse walke vnruly amongst you shaking hands as it were and ioyning in this their disobedience vnto Magistracie with the vpholders of Poperie Wherefore Our heartie desire is that at this time you make the World see by your proceedings what a dutiefull respect and obedience you owe to Vs your Souereigne Prince and naturall King and Lord that as We in loue care are neuer wanting vnto you so you in an humble submission vnto Our so iust demands be not found inferiour to others our Subiects in any of our Kindomes and that the care zeale of the good of God Church of the aduancing of Piety and Truth doth chiefly incite vs to the following of these matters God is our Witnesse The which that it may be before your eyes and that according to your callings you may striue in your particular places and in this generall meeting to do these things which may best serue to the promouing of the Gospel of Christ euen our prayers are earnest vnto God for you requiring you in this and other things to credit the Bearer hereof our trustie Seruant and Chaplaine the Deane of Winchester whom we haue expresly sent thither that he may bring vnto vs a true relation of the particular carriages of all matters and of the happie euent of your meeting which by Gods blessing who is the God of Order Peace and Truth we doe certainly expect vnto whose gracious direction wee commend you now and for euer Giuen at Theobalds the 10. Iulij 1618. THis Letter being once read and againe as is the custome in all Letters of importance sent from his Maiestie The Archbishop resumed the heads of the same shewing how acceptable their acceptance would bee and on the otherside what inconuenients their refuse might bring vpon the Church hee declared also vnto them how they should bee well aduised before they thrust themselues wilfully in danger because whatsoeuer forwardnesse some amongst them seemed to haue for suffering in such cases they should or long fore-thinke the same and after they had tafled of the troubles of banishment a little would as others had done seeke home againe and acknowledge their ouersights Of this he told them they had examples many not one before their eyes and because the very night before he had receiued a Letter from Master Iohn Shairpe who was exiled the Kingdome for keeping that disordered Conuenticle at Abirdene contayning an earnest request to intercede with his Maiestie for libertie to returne into his Country with assurance he would conforme himselfe to all good orders in time comming hee made particular mention of him and of the Letter giuing the young man his due commendation for his good behauiour and the profit hee had made in his Studies since the time of his Banishment Besought them to be wife and not to commit any thing wherof afterwards they might repent to the disgrace both of themselues and their Ministerie This was the effect of his first speech which the Libeller so depraues as hee would make you thinke that hee lackt both iudgement to conceiue and dexteritie to vtter that which was meete to be spoken in such an audience but they are witnesses enow to confute his folly and falshood in that particular The like imputation he goes about to lay vpon Doctor Young the Deane of Winchester whom in one place he cals a Scottishman by birth as if he were now degenerated and had forgotten or forsaken his Countrey And in another place scornfully taxeth for the manner of his speech where as his affection to this Country and Church his care for the good of both and reputation he hath iustly purchased by his worthy parts in the Church where now hee liues deserued better and other acknowledgement It is true that by reason of the trust and credit committed to him by his Maiesty in this businesse the Archbishop of Saint Andrewes desired him to speake if so hee had any thing to say for seconding the Letter whereof he was Messenger and his words receiued at that time by one that stood by were these that followes MOst Honorable most Reuerend right Worshipfull and dearely beloued It might well become me according to the example of Elihu in the Historie of Iob in the presence of so wise so graue so religious and learnedan Assembly to waite in silence till the more ancient in yeares had spoken but that I know that the Souereigne Maiestie of our gracious Lord and Master the KING who hath regarded so much the lowlinesse of his Seruant as to send me vnto you at this time to be the Messenger of his will and pleasure now openly read in your eares will procure attention vnto a few words which shall be vttered with the vprightnesse and sinceritie of a heart wholy deuoted as vnto the glory of God honour of our great Master the KING so to the happy free and flourishing Estate of this Church and Kingdome vnto which I am tyed by so many strong bands that Moses the friend of God and Paul that chosen Vessell of Christ who are recorded in the holy Scriptures to haue exceeded in their affection to the people of Israel their deare Countrey men did not in that owe more vnto them then that which you all wel know I owe vnto you and would to God I were as able to pay so iust a debt as I am and euer shall be most ready and willing to acknowledge it Hic amor meus pondus meum for from this loue and dutie I owe vnto this place of my first and second birth God hee best knowes how the sorrowes of my heart haue bin inlarged since the time
all festiuall dayes The censures of the Church haue beene put in execution in all due forme against the obseruers ANS Yet the commemoration of the inestimable benefits of our redemption vpon these fiue dayes was not reckoned amongst the corruptions to be amended Neither did Pulpits sound nor were censures put in execution against preaching prayers and other holy exercises in these dayes for at that time the Preachers gaue all obedience to the acts of the Church made concerning these things But doe yee not see by the regraite made at this Assembly and by the acts complaints and ordinances by your selfe rehearsed that the abstayning from preaching and reading at these times hath not remoued from people their superstitious opinions of the times nor yet abolished the enormities and abuses committed in them Certainly nothing is so powerfull to abolish prophanenesse and roote on t superstition of mens hearts as the exercise of diuine worship in preaching praying and thanksgiuing chiefly then when the superstitious conceits of merit and necessitie are most pregnant in the heads of people as doubtlesse they are when the set times of these solemnities returne for then it is meetest to lance the oposteme when it is ripe Vpon these and such other reasons it pleased his Maiestie to require and our Church to condescend that commemoration of the benefits purchased to vs by the Natiuitie Death Resurrection and Ascension of our Sauiour should be made solemnely on these dayes according to the practise of all other reformed Churches And there is no question the errours of the multitude shall hereby bee farre more easily remoued then by any prohibition that can be made to the contrary and therewithall the people better instructed in the principall grounds of Religion then they could by occasionall Doctrine as also the honour of God more highly aduanced for wee know that ordinary seruices are performed with lesse regard and more coldly then these which come more rarely to bee celebrated Of all these the hope is the greater that now wee owe it to our King vnder God the Churches are planted with able and sufficient Pastors meete to discharge these duties So by the Assembly at Perth there is nothing concluded either contrarious to any former constitution of the Church or to any sound Doctrine deliuered from Pulpits in former times Which that it may appeare I will set downe the Act it selfe as it was concluded The Act about Festiuities AS Wee abhorre the superstitious obseruation of festiuall dayes by the Papists and detest all licentious and profane abuse thereof by the common sort of Professors so Wee thinke that the inestimable benefits receiued from God by our Lord Iesus Christ his Birth Passion Resurrection Ascension and sending downe of the holy Ghost was commendably and godly remembred at certayne particular dayes and times by the whole Church of the world and may be also now Therefore the Assembly ordaynes that euery Minister shall vpon these dayes haue the Commemoration of the foresaid inestimable benefits and make choyce of seuerall and pertinent Texts of Scripture and frame their Doctrine and Exhortations thereto and rebuke all superstitious obseruation and licentious profanation thereof In the narratiue of this Act the Assembly professes to abhorre all that was condemned by any Ecclesiasticall Constitution touching the obseruation of these dayes It is therefore consonant to former Acts. In the Conclusion the Pastors are appointed to rebuke all superstitious obseruation and licencious profanation thereof This agrees with all the sound Doctrine deliuered from Pulpits concerning this point That which is interlaced in the Canon Saint Augustine affirmes to bee Apostolique Epist 118. ad Ianuarium Illa autem quae non scripta sed tradita custodimus quae quiden toto terrarum orbe obsernantur dantur intelligi vel ab ipsis Apâ—stolâ—s vel à plenarijs Concilijs quorum est in Ecclesia saluberrima autoritas commendata atque statuta retinere sicuti quod Domini Passio Resurrectio Ascensio in coelum adâ—eâ—tus de coelo Spiritus Sancti anniuersaria solennuate celebrantur si quid aliud tale occurreret quod seruatur ab vniuersa quacunque se diffundit Ecclesia that is Whatsoeuer things are not written but by Tradition obserued through the whole world must be thought to haue beene prescribed by the Apostles themselues or then to haue beene ordayned by generall Councells whose authoritie hath euer beene great in the Church as namely The anniuersary celebration of the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord with the descending of the holy Ghost or any such like thing that is obserued by the whole Church diffused through the world And in the same Epistle hee affirmes that it is most insolent madnesse to doubt if that should bee obserued which the Church vniuersally keepes Similiter etiam si quid horum tota per orbem frequentat Ecclesia nam hoc quin ita faciendum sit disputare insolentissimae insaniae est This conclusion of the Church his Maiesties pleasure was to ratifie by Act of Councell and command cessation from labour vpon these fiue dayes to the end the holy Exercises appointed to be done thereon might be the better attended PP Piscator describes a festiuall day on this manner Festum propriè loquendo est publica solennis ceremonia mandata à Deo vt certo anni tempore cum singulari laetitia obeatur ad gratias agendum Deo pro certo aliquo beneficio in populum suum collato A feast in proper speech is a publique and solemne ceremonie commanded by God to bee celebrated a certayne time of the yeare with singular gladnesse to giue thankes to God for some certayne benefit bestowed on his people Hooker intreating this Argument entitules the subiect Festiuall dayes He makes festiuall solemnities to be nothing else but the due mixture as it were of these three elements Prayses set forth with chearfull alacritie of minde Delight expressed by charitable largenesse more then common bountie and sequestration from ordinary labours By these descriptions wee may see that the Sabbath day is not properly a festiuall day The ordinary Sabbath is weekely The festiuall is Anniuersary Wee may fast vpon the ordinary Sabbath but wee cannot fast and mourne vpon a festiuall day c. Vpon the ordinary Sabbath all the parts of Gods worship may bee performed Vpon festiuall dayes proper Texts Epistles Gospels Homilies and Sermons are framed for the mysterie of that day So that the ordinary Sabbath is morall and for the worship of God in generall the festiuall is mysticall Essentialia festi the essentiall parts of a festiuall day are cessation from worke hearing of the Word participation of the Sacraments commemoration of diuine mysleries may be performed vpon the ordinary Sabbath but to make vp a festiuall day Bellarmine requires a determination of day signification and representation of the mysteries wrought on such dayes ANS The description made by Piscator is proper onely to the festiuall