disciplinary reconciliation Con. Nic. c. 13. had the memories of their names recommended in the Churches Prayers 4. Carth. c. 79. as persons of whom it hoped well which is I suppose intended by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Council of Nice though it be otherwise understood by the Greek Canonists and in Albaspinus his explicaton Conc. Arel 2. c. 12. THE SECOND BOOK CONCERNING CEREMONIES AND Ecclesiastical Constitutions CHAP. I. The lawful use of some Ceremonies in the Christian Church asserted SECT I. What we are here to understand by Ceremonies 1. AMong all the things appointed in our service there is nothing against which a heavier charge is drawn up than against the Ceremonies as they are ordinarily called common custom herein making use of a word which admittedâ— great variety and latitude of sense and signification For 1. The word Ceremonia Ceremony primarily encludeth the general exercise of all publick Religious Worship and Piety Scal. in Fest for as Scaliger noteth Ceremonia was as much as Sanctimonia being derived from Cerus which in the old â—atin signifieth the same with Sanctus and Serâ—â—us hath been observed to declare that omnia Sacra apud Latinos Ceremoniae dicuntur and to this purpose the old Constitutions of the twelve Tables declared Leg. 12. Tab. De Sacerdot officio Sacerdotum duo genera sunto unum quod praesit Ceremoniis sacris c. intending thereby all sacred actions of Religious service and in this large sense is this word sometimes used by some later Writers Luth. de piis Cerem servand Bucer Censur c. ultim as Luther and Bucer 2. This word sometimes among the ancient Christian Writers peculiarly expresseth the most solemn visible Symbols of the Grace of God in which sense also in the Augustan Saxon and Witemberg Confessions and the Apology of the Church of England the two New Testament Sacraments are called Ceremonies and Bishop Saunderson resolveth the sum or main Contents of the Gospel into these three things De Obl. Cors Prael 4. Sect. 32. the Mysteries of Faith to be believed the holy Ceremonial and Ecclesiastical Institutions and the maral Precepts Bishop Whitg Tr. 2. c. 1. And these Bishop Whitgist calleth substantial Ceremonies which a â— of the substance of Religion 3. This word sometimes encludeth all such practices as bear any external respect unto Religion whence some have called Holy-days by the name of Ceremonies and Gotofredus probably supposeth that fasting at least with some other external observations is so called in those words of the Code of Justinian Cod. Justin l. 3. Titl 12. Sect. 6. Quadraginta diebus qui auspicio Ceremoniarum Paschale tempus anticipant c. 4. In this present enquiry by Ceremonies must be understood some particular external and visible actions and circumstances which are not instituted by God but are in themselves things indifferent and are appointed in the Church for order and decency 2. And there is a vast difference between the things called Ceremonies in the Church of England and the chief part of those things which by an aequivocal use of the same word we commonly call Ceremonies in the Jewish Constitutions under the Mosaical Law For those Jewish Ceremonies which consisted in their Sacrifices Purifications or the proper Levitical and Temple worship were such things as used aright with respect to the Messias were the way and means whereby Gods acceptance was obtained and his grace and favour vouchsafed and did partake of a Sacramental nature and were not amiss by Durandus called the Sacramentalia Rational div Offic. Prooem Sect. 7. and did also prefigure Christ to come in the flesh And upon this account no such rites as these could ever be appointed or lawfully used but such only as were established by a divine Institution nor might they be any longer observed than that institution did either enjoin or warrant and allow them and hence both S. Aug. Ep. 19. Augustine and S. Hierome do justly and vehemently condemn and censure the observation of these things among Christians And of this nature was the whole paedagogy of the Mosaical Constitutions jointly considered and every branch thereof so far as it encludeth an owning of Judaism as the way of Gods acceptance especially Circumcision Sacrifice and such like services of the Jewish Temple the observing of which under the Gospel since the clear manifestation of Christianity would be to deny Christ to become in the flesh and to close with that as a way of obtaining grace from God and finding favour with him which is contrary to his will and standeth for ever abrogated by the Gospel And hence it may appear that he who would charge the use of all Ecclesiastical Rites appointed for Order and the promoting reverence in the service of God as if it encluded the same with reducing the Ceremonial Law of the Jews might with a fairer plea of reason accuse all use of Seals or Ornamental Engravings to be a forging and counterfeiting the Kings Broad Seal and thereby to be deeply criminal 3. Yet it may be observed as a truth though in be not necessary for the just defence of any of those things commonly called Ceremonies in our Church that there were many particular things in the Ceremonial Law which singly taken and by themselves did only include some rational provisions and comely and fit Constitutions and had nothing in themselves which did necessarily restrain them to the Judaical state and such things where there is no design of any Jewish signification may lawfully be still made use of under the Gospel as still retaining what conveniency or decency they would have had if they had never been included in the Jewish Constitutions The appointment of the Jewish Tabernacle in the Wilderness is no sufficient ground to conclude it a sin for such Christians who sojourn in deserts and have minds far from Judaizing to build an House with boards for the place of their Christian Assemblies nor is the building our Churches with hewen stone to be censured as unlawful because such were the materials of Solomons Temple nor is it unlawful to use Vessels of Silver and Gold at the administring the Communion because such were the Vessels of the Tabernacle and the Temple and the like may be said of Tithes and some other things To this purpose Bucer determined in his Epistle to Alasco and P. Martyr to Bishop Hooper and Bishop Saunderson observeth De Oblig Cons Pral 4. Sect. 29. that all Ceremonials are not to be alike accounted of but those which concern order and decency are with prudence to be separated from those which prefigured Christ to come and that prudent Casuist well resolved that those things Which concerned order and decency are not now simply unlawful yet may they be many times inexpedient as they become dangerous by their scandal 4. And it is acknowledged and declared that the things with us called Ceremonies are in themselves
of his Ministry by determining that if any Bishop Can. Ap. 36. Conc. Antioch c. 17. Presbyter or Deacon being ordained did not undertake his Ministration he must be separated from the Christian Society and deprived of Ecclesiastical Communion And with equal severity they condemned that Minister who refused the regular work and place of his Ministry Can. Ap. 58. and him who undertook the place but minded not the work and duty behaving himself negligently in not attending the care of the people 5. From what I have expressed hitherto we may take a short prospect of the evills flowing from these contentions which are such as these the prejudicing men against the holy administrations of Gods service the promoting wrath and strife and the quenching Christian love the being a stumbling block to the weak hardning the careless and being an occasion of much irreligion grieving the godly and every way gratifying the Churches Enemies and hindring its welsare and the growth of piety the hurtful disturbance of the Churches Peace and endangering the Kingdoms interest and the promoting of dangerous and dreadsul Schisms nor is the disobedience to Magistrates and the deserting the Ministerial charge unconcerned herein And all these things if God in his mercy put not a stop to them by directing mens minds to a right understanding and turning their hearts into a more peaceable and amicable frame and temper may provealso very dangerous and hurtful in the next Generation to the dishonour of God the discredit of Religion and the ruine of many thousand souls which sad consequences plainly enough shew these unhappy contests rather to gratifie the designs of the destroyer than of the Saviour and to be fruits growing from a root of bitterness Ful. Church Hist l. 7. p. 401. In these respects I think he was not far from the mark who called this disagreement about Conformity the saddest difference that ever happened in the Church of England SECT VI. A proposal concerning due considerateness in this Case and the design of this treatise manifested 1. After I have shewed the sad fruits of these dissentions I must still acknowledge that I doubt not but that there are dissenters who act out of true principles of Conscience and design to walk in piety to God and in love and peace towards men to such persons though they be of different judgments yea though some of them too far indulge their passions I profess an hearty respect and brotherly love considering that wise and good men are lyable to mistake and err still retaining this as a testimony of their integrity that they are willing to be informed and in practice to embrace what is their duty when it shall be so evidenced 2. S. Cyprian who was a great promoter of Truth Piety and Peace and wrote some tracts purposely to correct the fierceness of them especially who were of his own opinion viz de bono patientiae Cyp. in Conc. Carth. Epist ad Jubaian de zelo livore for want of better information but with openly avowed dislike of breach of communion lived and for what appeared to S. Austin died also in that errour about baptizing Hereticks Aug. Ep. 48. But had he rightly understood the truth he would no doubt have rejected his errour as those Bishops who were of the same opinion with him are related to have done Eus Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 3. Hieron adv Lucif Pamel in Vit. Cypr. both in the Eastern Church and in the African whereupon the Church enjoyed peace and was filled with exceeding abundant joy and Pamelius thinketh that S. Cyprian himself lived to do the same 3. And the women who out of love but in their errour came to anoint Jesus designing it as a rite belonging to his burial when they ought according to his doctrine which they did not yet understand to have believed that it was the day of his resurrection meeting with Jesus himself who expressed his favour unto them were forthwith ready to have their mistakes discovered and with joy upon conviction to yield both their judgments and thereupon their practices to be rectified Erring acts from mistake of judgment are herein of the same nature with other infirmities of Christians in that the being of them is consistent with the true nature of Christian life whereas the willful persisting in them and the designed promoting of them against evidence is contrary thereto For that is for men to resolve not to deny themselves or to submit to God but to oppose his mind and will if it be contrary to their own 4. Wherefore I must intreat my Reader if he be a person dissatisfied about the matters treated of in this discourse that he would make a stand and give me leave to propose what his own interest will engage him to admit That before he proceedeth any further he would seriously resolve himself these two things First whether with reflexion upon what hath been said he would not be heartily unwilling to stand charged in the sight of God with being any way sinfully instrumental unto so much hurt as is consequent upon being unwarrantably engaged in these contentions and oppositions Secondly whether he be resolvedly willing to lay aside all prejudice and designed serving any opinion or party and to aim impartially to keep a good conscience and in judgment and practice to entertain all evidences of truth in this enquiry about Conformity 5. If any man should answer either of these two things in the Negative he must be a man of an irreligious Spirit willing to ruine himself and of a pernicious Spirit ready to destroy others and whilst he remaineth thus strongly prepossessed he is never like to be advantaged by this discourse or any other of the same subject but it is most necessary for him to become better instructed in that chief principle of Christian practice to which he is yet a stranger viz. The great necessity in order to salvation of minding uprightness to God and the doing his will above gratifying his own affections or the pleasure of any other men But as to him who answereth these two things in the affirmative I only entreat him to proceed in the remaining part of this discourse with the same frame and temper of Spirit 6. I come now to examine the matters themselves to which Conformity referreth which from the premises appeareth to be of very considerable use and tendeth to the resolving divers cases of Conscience and if God please to vouchsafe so great a mercy to us to promote the Churches peace and Vnity the Ministers comfortable discharge of his duty the common advancement of Christianity and the Protestant profession and the particular edification of Christians In order to the contributing somewhat towards these excellent ends I have undertaken this discourse beseeching the God of wisdom and knowledge to guide and lead me that I may clearly understand and manifest what is truth and that he would so move on the hearts
them but this as some other ways of reserving them as found to be of ill use Hesych in Lev. 8. Hesychius speaketh of a custom of burning them which custom I suppose took its original from those Commands of God whereby he enjoyned the remainder of the Jewish Passcover and of the Sacrifices of thanksgiving and some others to be burnt with fire Exod. 12.10 Lev. 7.15 16 17. The Council of Mascon directed them to be given in the Church Conc. Matisc 2. c. 6. to such Christians as kept their Fasts there on the fourth and sixth days of the week which were the old stationary days The direction in our Rubrick is ordered with as much prudence as any of these if it be not to be preserred before them all for as there is no reason to doubt but that they may be eaten so can there be no reason produced why the Communicants may not as well eat them as any other persons 3. The eating these Elements in the Church by the Communicants out of a reverent respect to the Sacrament for which they were consecrated is allowable and no way blameable Both our Articles and our Rubrick after the Communion Service do acknowledge that the sacramental Bread and Wine even in the Sacrament do remain in their proper substances which with other expressions in our Liturgy sufficiently exclude the Romish corruptions Yet since we believe this Sacrament to be an excellent Gospel Ordinance I suppose that out of respect thereunto devout Christians do generally acknowledge that even the Vessels particularly appointed for the Bread and Wine at the Communion and the Communion Table should not be used at mens ordinary meals and certainly a due respect to Gods Ordinance for which they are set apart will not allow this which was also condemned by the ancient Canons and it appears very reasonable that those Elements which were consecrated for the Sacrament may be used with at least as much reverence as the Communion Cup or Patine De Consc l. 4. c. 31. Sect. 3. And when Amesius truly asserteth that it necessarily followeth from the Religious honour of God that those things which have any respect unto Gods Worship ought to receive from us a privative honour even when they are not used to a holy use as heh instanceth in Bread and Wine left at the Communion which is to be honoured privatively that is care ought to be taken that it be not used contemptibly and sacred Phrases as sacramental words c. not to be used in sport even hence it will follow that they may be used with a relative honour that is so used as to express a reverence to those holy Ordinances to which they bear relation SECT III. Of the saving Regeneration of Infants in Baptism and the grounds upon which it may be asserted 1. THE next Office in the Book of Common Prayer is that of Baptism where that which requireth principal consideration is that every baptized Infant is declared Regenerate and thanks is returned to God after Baptism that he hath regenerated this Infant by his holy Spirit and the beginning of the Catechism declareth that the Child in Baptism was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven These expressions have been somewhat differently understood some applying them to a saving Regeneration of every baptized Infant others to a federal Regeneration or a Regeneration Sacramento tenus And I suppose it evident that if it can be certainly proved that every baptized Infant is savingly regenerated or if on the other side all the expressions in the Liturgy can be fairly and probably interpreted of a federal Regeneration which is generally acknowledged there can be then no doubt but all these expressions may be fitly and allowably used shall treat of both these senses because they both plead an allowance in our Church and indeed the latter doth not necessarily destroy but may well consist with the former 2. Beginning with the former I shall first shew what evidence there is that the acknowledging a saving regeneration of every Infant baptized hath been the Doctrine publickly received in this Church ever since the Reformation This is the more probable sense of that Rubrick before the Catechism in the former Book of Common Prayer and that at the end of Baptism in the present Book both which declare that Children baptized are undoubtedly saved that is as the first Book of Edw. VI. and our present Book do express it if they dye in their infancy and before they commit actual sin And our Book of Homilies declareth Hem. of Salvation of Mankind by Christ Part. 1. that Infants being baptized and dying in their infancy are by his Christs Sacrifice washed from their sins brought to Gods favour and made his children and inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven To these I shall and what Bishop Cranmer who was a great Instrument in our Reformation and Bishop Juell a principal Defender thereof write concerning Baptism complying with the sense here expressed Bishop Cranmer saith Of the Lords Supper lib. 1. c. 12. For this cause Christ ordained Baptism in water that as surely as we see feel and touch water with our bodies so assuredly ought we to believe when we be baptized that Christ is verily present with us and that by him we be new born again spiritually and washed from our sins and graffed in the stock of Christs own body so that as the Devil hath no power against Christ so hath he none against us so long as we remain graffed in that stock Def. of Apol. Part. 2. c. 11. Sect. 3. c. Bishop Juell declareth the Doctrine of the Church of England thus We confess and have evermore taught that in the Sacrament of Baptism by the death and blood of Christ is given remission of all manner of sin and that not in half or in part or by way of imagination or by sancy but whole full and perfect of all together so that now was S. Paul saith There is no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus 3. But it must be here noted that by the saving regeneration of baptized Infants it is not intended that their understandings or wills are guided to an high esteem and love of God and the Christian life which the Infant state is not capable of but this regeneration is mainly relative so that being regenerated by Baptism they are no longer the Children of wrath and under the curse due to original sin but are brought into a new state to be members of the body of Christ and thereby partakers of the favour of God And though some small seeds of gracious disposition may be in Infants who are capable thereof in the same manner as they are of corruption yet that regeneration or renovation of an Infant in Baptism whereby he is received into a state of remission and Salvation is very different from the regeneration of an adult person whereby his
right this would perpetuate endless quarrels between these parties and banish subjection from them both 3. And a very great consent of Writers of different perswasions in other things ight be produced to shew that such Oaths of Inferiours cannot be obligatory as Bishop Saunderson de Oblig Juram Praelec 4. sect 5. Prael 7. Sect. Conf. Aug. cap. de Vot Monach. 6. Aquinas 22 ae q. 89. a 9. ad 3 m Grot. de Jur. Bel. Pac. l. 2. c. 13. Sect. 20. Perkins Cases of Consc l. 2. c. 13. q. 3. Ames Cas Consc l. 4. c. 22. n. 26 30 35. and the Augustane Confession Thus God appointed that if the Father declared against the vow of his Daughter or the Husband against the vow of his Wife that vow should be void and of none effect Num. 30.3 4 Phil. de leg special ad praec 3m. c. which was as Philo Judaeus observeth because they were under the dominion of others and might vow things incommodious to them 4. But the King who hath in this Realm the chief Government in matters Ecclesiastical as well as in others did disallow and openly declare against this Oath by his Proclamation of Oct. 9. in the 19th year of his Reign which may be seen in the Bibliotheca Regia Judic Acad Oxon. p. 8. being many years since therein reprinted and was long before urged to this purpose by the University of Oxford After this among otehr large concessions the King declared that he could not consent to the Covenant both from Newport in the Isle of wight Sept. 29. 1648. and from Holmby May 12. 1647. Wherefore the King did several times manifest his disallowing the Covenant and even with particular respect to its endeavouring the alteration of the Government in the Church as may be collected from the view of his own words and thereby any intended obligation from this Oath to alter this Government became thenceforth void to all his subjects agreeably to the like case Num. 39.9 10 11 12 13. 5. A second Rule is That the doctrine of Christ should be the guide of our practice Now it was the tradition of the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 15.4 5 6. and Mar. 7 10 11 12. That though God commanded the honouring the Father and Mother which encluded the providing for them things convenient he who had made a vow not consistent with this duty ought not to relieve them against his vow And though there be some variety in the critical exposition of the words of the Evangelists divers taking the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Matthew and the Corban in S. Mark for the gift or thing devoted it self Lect. Var. l. 1. c. 4. Petitus for Josephus Ant. l. 4. c. 4. accounteth Corban to be the name of a votary who had vowed only to mind the Ministry of God Grot. de Jur. B. P. l. 2. c. 17. Coce in Gemar Sanh c. 7. others as Grotius Cocceius and some of our own Writers after Masius most probably esteem Corban to be the form of a Vow or Oath which the Jews express 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in all these different ways of resolution there is a sufficient agreement concerning the substance and sense of the Pharisaical doctrine But this their doctrine our Saviour condemneth as a transgressing the Commandment of God by their traditions Mat. 15.3 and making the Commandment of God of none effect v. 6. c. 6. Now the same command Honour thy Father and thy Mother and divers precepts of the Gospel doth enjoin obedience to Governours and Rulers And our Soveraign and our Laws do establish the present Government in the Church and thereby do require subjects to submit to it and receive it and therefore according to the doctrine of Christ no Vow or Oath ought to be accounted to disoblige men from this duty of obedience which is enjoined by the Commandment of God Second Paper of Proposals 1661. And the pretence made by some that they are far from thinking that the Covenant obliged them to resist authority but yet it doth undoubtedly oblige to forbear their own consent to what they there renounced this would agree well with the intent of the Pharisees tradition while the Son might tell his Father that he acknowledged his vow could not oblige him to do his Father wrong but yet he was bound that in these present circumstances he might not consent to yield him relief But such things are of a direct contrary tendency to the doctrines of Christ 7. A third Rule is That every obligation of an Oath of contract ceaseth by the mutual content of the contractors and therefore had the Covenant been every way warrantable the obligation by contract therein to endeavour the alteration of the Government of the Church would have ceased by the Parliaments of all these three Nations disclaiming any such obligation 22ae q. 89. a. 9. ad 2m. De J. B. P. l. 2. c. 13. Sect. 18. De Obl. Juram Prael 7. Sec. 8. De Consc l. 4. c. 22. Sect. 37. And that such an Oath ceaseth to bind when we have the desire or consent of them to whose concernment it hath particular reference is asserted by such Writers as treat of this matter as Aquinas Grotius Bishop Saunderson Amesius and divers others and this hath been also admitted and insisted upon by some chief defenders of the Covenant particularly by Mr. Henderson in his first Paper to the King And the reason hereof is evident because every person society or community may recede from their own right and priviledge Thus after the two spies had made a general Oath to Rahab to preserve her and her Fathers house alive which was a priviledge she obtained by agreement between her and them it was resolved Jos 2.12 13 17 21. that this Oath should not bind if either she or her Fathers family were not within the doors of her house And thus if any two Kingdoms should by Oath engage to trafick in some commodities with none other but among themselves only if this contract be afterwards judged prejudicial to both their interests and the publick authority on both sides yield to have it altered and quit all claim of any such peculiar right of trade the obligation of that Oath is thereby dissolved 8. That the Covenant was designed to be an Oath of contract between divers subjects of these Nations appeareth because as it is all along stiled the solemn League and Covenant so in the beginning thereof it is declared We the Noblemen Barons c. determined to enter into a mutual and solemn League and Covenant and a mutual League cannot be otherwise than an Oath of contract And whereas this Oath in the sixth Article thereof is stiled their Vnion and Conjunction and in the end of it it is called an association and Covenant all this doth intimate that its obligation was intended towards one another Wherefore since any obligation from the
Covenant to alter the Government is disclaimed and rejected by the Parliaments of England and Ireland and also by the rescissory act as I find it termed in Scotland it must hereby become void though it had been otherwise binding 9. A fourth Rule is That what the general judgment of the best Christians of all ages have condemned as sin ought not to be admitted But they have all acknowledged it a sin that an Oath so far as it is against any right should be persisted in as being obligatory And it is as reasonable to doubt of ordinary travellers knowing the road they have long used as to question whether the most eminent Christians since Christ did ever arrive at the understanding of those plain duties of Religion which are of frequent practice 10. When Novatus made a Schism in the Roman Church against Cornelius he in delivering the Holy Sacrament gave to his followers this Oath Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Swear to me by the body and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ that thou wilt never leave me nor return to Cornelius and yet both S. Cyprian and other Catholick Bishops every where judged these men bound to return and condemned their continuance with Novatus in the breach of Peace and Unity Evagrius relateth Evagr. Hist l. 6. c. 6. that when Mauritius the Emperour sent Philippicus to command his Army they bound themselves by Oath not to owne him for their Commander but when the Emperour persisted in his purpose and sent a Bishop to treat with them they were at last satisfied that they ought to receive him notwithstanding their Oath And when Anacletus was set up to govern the Roman Church Vit. S. Bern. lib. 2. c. 5. in opposition to Innocentius the second some persons told S. Bernard that they could not receive Innocentius because they were bound by an Oath to hold to Anacletur against him But S. Bernard answered insanire eos qui rem illicitam Sacramenti patrocinio constare existimant that it is a madness to think that any thing not lawful of it self can be defended by their Oath Spelm. Conc. Brit. in leg Alf. 1. Novel 51. Dig. l. 2. Tit. 14. Jurisg whereas said he such disorderly agreements under whatsoever pretence of Religion they be established are to be accounted void and by the authority of God to be dissolved 11. That nothing otherwise unwarrantable can become a duty by any Oath was declared in the Ecclesiastical laws of Alfred and by the Councils of Basil Sess 4. of Lerida Can. 7. and of Toledo 8. Can. 2. and in several places of the civil Law Cod. l. 9. Tit. 8. Const 2. and by all our Protestant Writers treating of the vow of single life in the who have not the gift of continency And this is so agreeable to all rational principles that it was received among the ancient Roman laws Phil de leg special C. 22. q. 3. 4. lib. 2. Tit. 24. cap. 12. 19. before the Empire became Christian and is likewise declared by Philo the Jew And in the Canon Law Gratian resolved by divers ancient authorities that an Oath against the duty of obedience being sinful cannot oblige and the like is asserted in the Gregorian decretals both which are in this matter received with good approbation by Protestant Writers 12. Now I shall not think it necessary to answer objections but shall content my self no note that whatsoever objection may press some one of the rules above-mentioned doth still leave the main design secure unless all these rules could be invalidated And such objections as carry an appearance of proof that an Oath may oblige to what otherwise would not be warrantable have this manifest indication of mistake because they tend to uphold this monstrous position that men are bound to observe Gods commands and their duties no longer than till they shall please to make an Oath against them CHAP. III. Of the Declaration and Subscription referring to the Liturgy 1. SOme open acknowledgment or subscription not only to doctrines but also to other rules and Ecclesiastical Constitutions hath been a thing very usual in the Christian Church and in matters lawful and orderly hath been thought desireable to promote Peace and continue well established order therein and the expediency thereof standeth recommended by the wisdom and ordinary practice of the Church 2. In the Council of Nice Conc. Nicen c. 8. the returning Novatians who were received in the Clergy were required by subscription to testify that they would conform to the Catholick practice and the Constitutions and Decrees of the Catholick Church The ancient Custom of subscribing to their Synodical Constitutions Conc. Carth. gr c. 93. Conc. Carth. 2. Can. 13. is evident from divers ancient Councils which was also practised in the Carthaginian Territories where such who acted contrary to their profession or subscription were sharply sentenced And in the Constitutions of Justinian according to some Copies he who was to be ordained Bishop besides his subscribing to the doctrine of the Faith and his Oath against Simony was required to read the offices of the Church for the holy Communion and with the other Prayers of the Church Novel 123. edit Haloand those also appointed for Baptism And he who as he was required did testifie his allowance of these Prayers by reading them might as well have testified the same by any other vocal acknowledgment or subscription 3. Among the Protestants the practice of subscription to such things as also that which is more solemn an acknowledgment by Oath hath been frequently admitted In Poland after the consent chiefly touching the Lords Supper was established in the Synod of Sandomir 1570. between the Churches of those three Confessions the Bohemian Augustan and Helvetian Syn. Torun 2585. it was concluded in another following General Synod and attested by the Super-Intendents Ministers and Patrons of the several Confessions that none should be admitted into the Ministry or received into their Churches as a Minister unless among other qualifications consensui subscribat he subscribe to the consent and behave himself accordingly Which provision contained a prudential care that a due decorum should be kept even in the Agenda of Religion The French Church requireth a subscription to their Liturgy and the like may be observed in divers other places 4. In the Bohemian Church after the time of their ordination which was performed manuum Episcopalium impositione Ratio Discipl c. 2 Sect. 4. 5. p. 32 34. the Ministers were solemnly admitted to their particular ministration by their Visitor who amogn other things committed to them their liber Ritualis containing their form and rites of worship of the performance of which they were to take care and to which among other offices of their Ministry they did at their Ordination oblige themselves by a Religious Oath both to God and his Church Ratio Canon Examin in Bucer