fills it full of quarrels strife and contentions Those that will promote the Peace of it must require Assent and Profession only to some few necessary things and in vain do men hope or expect that the whole Church of God should be of the same mind in many or all things In confessione scribendâ ut nihil quod omnino sit cognitu necessarium praetermittendum est ita quicquid addatur non necessarium etiamsi alicqui verum bonum sit id ad Ecclesiae divisionem in Sectas pertinet atque ad discordias rixas qui pacem concordiam in Ecclesia vult esse oportet eum rerum necessariarum confessione contentum esse frustra enim speraverit aliquis fore unquam ut cum Dei Ecclesia tam bene agatur ut de rebus omnibus omnes idem sentiant quare una illa reliqua est concordiae ratio si qui necessaria amplectuntur ferant se mutuo suas controversias inter se amanter humaniterque uti fratres tractent Acont ubi supra pag. 367. 5. Let this Confession Creed Symbol or Test of Communion be expressed as near as possible in the words of Scripture Nihil complectatur nisi expressum eisdem etiam verbis loquendi formulis quoad sciri potest quibus ipse Dei Spiritus usus est For there may be many men that will own and subscribe a Creed or Confession expressed in the words of the Holy Ghost which peradventure may scruple that which is expressed in our own All Protestants do grant that all things necessary to be believed and practised are plainly and clearly revealed and expressed in the holy and sacred Volumes What hinders then but that our Symbol Creed or Confession may be drawn up in the words of Scripture Do we imagine that our own words will be more apt and proper and fitter to obviate Hereticks than those of the Holy Ghost Shall we pretend to be more wise and cautious than the Divine Spirit Or do we know what is more or less liable to Cavils and Exceptions better than God himself What arrogance madness and presumption is this Are we wiser than God Or are we more prudent and advised than he whose understanding is infinite 6. Let nothing be condemned or rejected in this Creed or Symbol but what is inconsistent with the Faith of things absolutely necessary to Salvation Let no Errours be condemned in it but such as exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven If Errours of inferiour nature be condemned in it 't will become an Engine of Division and not an Instrument of Peace 't will exclude many from the Communion of the Church which ought to be received unto it and so be an occasion of Separation and Schism And I know nothing almost that hath occasioned more mischief and brought more fatal Calamities upon the Churches of Christ than the enlarging of Creeds and Confessions under pretence of obviating Errours and Heresies This one Engine hath caused more Schisms and Separations and shed more blood and caused more desolations than all the Heathen Persecutions and yet notwithstanding the Lamentable Experience of so many Ages 't is still kept in use And I believe the Devil is very loth to part with it he hath found such success and advantage by it that he will never forsake or abandon the use of it if possibly he can And there are many men and some that do pretend to be no Friends to him or his Interests that seem to be almost as loth to part with this blessed Invention as the Devil himself Optandum foret ut qui publica templa munera occupant in sua confessione doctrina ceremoniis aliisque se intra primorum Christianorum Apostolorum simplicitatem generalitatem continerent aut duodecim illis Catholicae Fidei Articulis Symbolo Apostol contentis hoc est paucis admodum paucis ceremoniis contenti essent in aliorum conscientias Dominium non usurparent adeo ut omnes absque animi offensione publicos illos coetus frequentare ibi inter se Eucharistiam celebrare possent Curcellaeus in his Preface to Episcopius 7. Let us know that the things absolutely necessary to Salvation and utterly inconsistent with it are but few The Learned and peaceable Author last but one mentioned reckons nothing directly necessary but Faith in the Son of God and nothing inconsistent with it but Unbelief of the same proportion By consequence he grants it necessary that we understand the depravation guilt of our own lives and natures and the purpose and resolution of God to judge the Living and the Dead Vid. Jac. Acont Strat. Satanae lib. 3. à pag. 123. ad pag. 131. And according to these apprehensions of things absolutely necessary both directly and by consequence he forms a Symbol which I will propose to the Reader 's view and consideration in his own words 1. Quod unus sit verus Deus is quem ille misit Jesus Christus Spiritus Sanctus quod non recte negatur alius esse Pater alius esse Filius quia Jesus Christus vere sit Dei Filius 2. Quod homo irae judicioque Dei sit obnoxius quod reviviscent mortui justi quidem ad sempiternam beatitudinem impii verò ad sempiternos cruciatus 3. Quod Deus Jesum Christum Filium suum in orbem miserit qui homo factus propter peccata nostra mortuus sit propter nostram justitiam à mortuis excitatus 4. Quod si crediderimus Dei Filio per ejus nomen vitam consequuturi simus 5. Quod non sit in ullo alio salus non in beata Virgine aut Petro aut Paulo aut ullo alio Sancto vel quovis alio nomine quod non sit justitia in Lege neque in hominum mandatis aut inventis 6. Quod unus sit baptismus in nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Vid. pag. 373. lib. 7. Edit Oxon. In English thus 1. There is one True God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent with the holy Spirit and 't is falsly denyed that the Father is not another and the Son another because Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God 2. Man is liable to the Wrath and Judgment of God and the Dead shall rise the Just to everlasting happiness and the Wicked to everlasting torments 3. God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world who was made Man and died for our sins and rose again for our Justification 4. If we believe in the Son of God we shall obtain Life by his Name 5. There is Salvation in no other not in the blessed Virgin not in Peter Paul or any other Saint or Name There is no Righteousness in or by the Law or by the Commandments and Inventions of men 6. There is one Baptism in the Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost I have not set down the Creed of this Judicious Author as if I thought it the best
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Summatim Nor are they agreed in the origination of the word ×©×ž×™× Some will have it compounded of the words ×ž×™× and ×©× ibi sunt aquae there are waters Others will have it derived from the Arabick word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 altum esse And as great variety may be observed in the Translation of those words The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters but such varieties are endless I will only mention the different opinions of Criticks upon those words Psal 22.17 They pierced The word ×›×רי some think is derived from the Hebrew word כרה and that the Aleph in the middle is Epenthetical and the Jod in the end of the word is put for Vau either by the negligence of Transcribers or the fraud of the Jews out of spight to the Christian Religion Others think the radix of the word is כהר and that Aleph is put for Ajn by a permutation usual in the Eastern Languages Others think that the word is Syriack and that the radix is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that 't is here the infinitive Mood with the affix of the first Person which often admits the signification of the preter perfect Tense among the Hebrews This opinion they think is favoured by the Septuagint who Translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is of the same signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ferrarius informs us Other diversities of opinions there are concerning this word those that please may consult De Dieu Glassius Hottinger Amama Pocock in Porta Mosis with many others Are there not great diversity of opinions among Historians and Chronologers do they give the same account of things is there no diversity in their narrations Do the Greek and Roman Historiographers report the same things of the Emperours great Generals and men of War whose lives and actions they transcribe and transmit to future Ages and Generations Do they fix the same Epoches and Periods to the beginning and end of the four famous Empires that have succeeded each other in the world Are they agreed in what year of the Julian period to fix the Creation or how long it hath been existent Longomontanus reckons it existent 3964. Kepplerus 3993 years before the birth of our Lord. Ricciolus says in his Almagest that he hath proved in his Chronology that this duration of the world could not be extended farther than 4076 nor determined shorter than the year 3993 from the Nativity of our Lord And the most probable year of the intermediate space betwixt these two periods he thinks is the year 4063. See And Tacquet Astron lib. 1. p. 46. This is enough to prove the variety and uncertainty of Chronology to which many more might be added if it were to any purpose When will our Learned Commentators agree in their expositions of the dark and obscure parts of the Scripture When will they give the same sense of the Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelations Mr. Mede seems to have given the fairest account of them and yet the Learned Dr. More dissents from him in many of his interpretations as well as from Dr. Hammond and his admired Hugo Grotius And 't is not only among Christian Writers that this diversity is found but even among the Jewish Doctors I shall only give one instance thereof amongst numberless numbers that might be produced and that shall be from their expositions of the 53 Chap. of Isaiah Abravanel in his enquiry concerning the Subject of that Prophecy tells us that many of their Wise Men understand it על פשיח לעחיר ×œ×‘× de Messiah venturo and thus Paehmanides understands it Rabbi Saaidias understands it of Jeremy the Prophet and so doth Aben Esra and Rabbi Menachem with whom Grotius assents though not without some hesitation Jarchi and both the Kimchi's Father and Son understand it of the Jewish Nation which opinion he embraces and defends Vide eum si placet in Commentariis fol 78. The like diversity is found among the Mahumetans as those that please may find in Mr. Pococks specimen Historiae Arabum and his notes upon it as also in Hottingers Historia Orientalis When will the diversity of opinions concerning the Hebrew Points receive a determination Capellus in his Arcanum punctationis asserts the novelty of them so doth our Learned Walton Buxtorfius Junior asserts them in his Anti Critica Capellus defends his opinion with acrimony and scorn enough towards his adversary as may be seen throughout his whole defence Buxtorfius replies again and the Controversy is not yet ended nor I think like to be These things Create no disputes among Carpenters and Masons among Plough-men and Carters and Persons that live in an utter ignorance of them but they are and will be controversies among the Learned till Elias come And are there not as many controversies varieties and uncertainties in natural Philosophy as in what I have already mentioned are not all things variously argued there and are not mens Judgments in those matters as multifarious as their Persons in them Have not DesChartes and some other Philosophers of late overturned the whole Systeme of the Aristotelian Philosophy and may not others do the like by what they have established and are there not as great objections lying against their Novel Systemes as against those that they have rejected Or are the minds of ingenious and inquisitive men any more satisfied in the one than in the other Are Physicians agreed in the nature of Simples Drugs and Minerals have they any fixed Method for the Cure of Diseases are they agreed in the Nature and Causes of them Can they tell what causeth Convulsions and Epilepsies Are they agreed or satisfied in what Dr. Willis hath discoursed concerning them Do they know what causes an Ague or in what part of the body and in what vessels thereof that Fomes lies which at stated times ferments and produces those various Symptomes Are they agreed in their judgments about these things or are they ever like to be Do we not find new methods of Curing Diseases propounded every day which after they have had their turn upon the Stage they go off and others succeed them As the varieties in natural Philosophy are many and the differences among those that converse therein innumerable so are there the like among the Writers and Students in Metaphysicks What is there in that Science that is not variously argued and disputed When will they be agreed about the Principle of Individuals about the nature number of Causes about Quantity Habits Relations and other things past count and number When will they with one consent tell us the difference between the Decrees and Essence of God whether it be real virtual relative or by extrinsick denomination To these varieties and differences in Science add those that are found among Mathematicians in Astronomy and other parts of Mathematical Learning When will they be agreed about the Diameter and Circumference of the Earth when
against it as those that please may Read in the Life of Socrates and Sozomen prefixed to this Edition of their Works by Valesius So long as Christian Religion was a simple Profession of the Articles of Belief and a hearty prosecution of the Rules of good Life the fewness of the Articles and the clearness of the Rule was the cause of the seldom prevarication Dr. Taylor in his Liberty of Prophecying SECT XI BEfore I proceed to the remaining Proposals I must take leave by the way to speak with an Objection or two of some folks who are like to be troublesome That Conceived Prayers in Publick Assemblies are unlawful I never yet saw proved and I believe never shall Neither do I think it any such Novelty as some men imagine There are several Passages in the Fathers that make it seem very probable that they made use of Extemporate Conceptions I will mention a few of them Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non erubescimus denique sine monitore quia de pectoreoramus precantes sumus omnes Tertullian in Apologetico cap. 30. What Tertullian means by praying without a Monitor or Teacher and by praying out of the heart unless it be by a habit by present Conceptions I understand not Nor do I know how he that prays by a Form can be said to pray without a Teacher We worship with Supplications according to our ability 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the One God c. Origen contra Celsum l. 8. And in the same Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to present given in Ability which latter words expound the former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and makes it appear that their Prayers were Extemporate To this same sense some understand those words of Justin Martyr The President as his Ability serves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sends up Prayers and Thanksgivings the People joyfully saying Amen Apol. 2. cap. 39. But 't is objected that those that use that way of Praying do many times speak Nonsense and blaspheme in their Addresses and Supplications to God Almighty to which I have these few things to say 1. I believe those that make this report of mens Extemporate Conceptions do not speak upon their own knowledge they having little or no Communion with such as make use of them and those that are their Informers peradventure may be none of the most upright just and impartial men but may put an ill sense upon words that are very innocent and of sound and safe signification 2. Let this Objection be acknowledged true what can reasonably be inferred from it Is it unlawful to be used because some men have not skill enough to perform it Will not the same Argument hold against Preaching And may it not with as much reason be said some men Preach Nonsense False Doctrine Slanders others Preach foolishly and pedantickly not to the Edification but to the Amazement of their Congregations and therefore Preaching is unlawful If this Method of Argumentation be good in one case 't is good in both but I am of Opinion 't is good in neither and that the better way of Arguing from those miscarriages is thus Some men are neither able to Pray extemporately in a decorous manner nor to Preach soundly and to the Edification of their hearers therefore they must let it alone till they be better instructed in the one and in the other Or in Prayer let them use a Form which I do not doubt is lawful and in their Sermons let them take assistance from Books whose Authors were better skill'd in the Art of Preaching than themselves but in the mean time let them not condemn those that need not these Helps and Assistances but can Pray and Preach in comely grave and profitable manner out of the abundance of their own hearts Another Objection as wise as the former is this In Extemporate Prayers men set their hands to a blank and say Amen to they know not what they give the same blind Assent to the Prayers of every Priest or Extemporizer that the Papists do in things doctrinal to the Authority of the Church This very silly Objection hath been insisted on urged against Extemporate Prayers by some very great men To which I reply 1. If men said Amen to Petitions before they heard them or before He that Prayes had expressed himself in words concerning them there might be something of sense and truth in it but Assenting to Petitions before they are made and uttered is a thing that I understand not nor those I believe that have Communion in those kind of Prayers and if Persons do not give their Assent till the Petition be formed or expressed by words I hope they may deny their Assent if they judge the matter of it unlawful 2. According to this Doctrine no man can joyn with another in Prayer safely unless he know aforehand what is the Matter and Contents of it and thus we must have Forms of Prayer for all occasions and emergencies if it were possible to hit of them as well as for ordinary Cases or else persons may set their hands to a blank and say Amen to they know not what We must have an Universal Form of Blessing before Meat and of Thanksgiving after it or Form of Prayer for all Masters of Families Tutors c. which must be alwaies used and no other Form a Notion that some of those that are in Bedlam may possibly believe but it would be strange that any that are out of that place should believe it unless some few that ought to be sent thither 3. The experience of multitudes of good and pious People doth confute this Objection every day They are sure they do joyn heartily in Extemporate Prayers and that they do not set their hands to a blank or say Amen to they know not what They know that they Assent not to Petitions before they be expressed and that they do Dissent where they do not approve them though 't is very seldom that they have occasion for it For who are those persons that express themselves in words sinful blasphemous and without sense they do not know But enough of this and peradventure some may think I have said too much to take notice only of such a brainless Objection This is sufficient to my purpose that Dissent from a Publick Lyturgy and the Use of Conceived Prayers are no Reasons for making Churches or Persons Schismatical If any things of this nature are enough to denominate single Persons or Societies of Men Schismatical 't is in the Power of those that are uppermost to make whom they please Schismaticks Persons and Churches may walk in all the Statutes and Commandments of the Lord blameless and yet be cut off from the Church of God as Schismatical and consequently be excluded Life Eternal for 't is affirmed of late that whoever is cut off from a particular True Church is cut off from the Church Universal out