were from the Supream Order of Angels but must necessarily with his whole power contradict them and rebel Wherefore Reverend Lords from the duty of obedience and sidelity which I owe to the Parent of the holy Apostolical Seat and out of the Love of Union in the Body of Christ with it I do alone unice filially and obediently disobey contradict and rebel against the things contained in the foresaid Letter and especially as is before touched they most evidently verge towards the sin which is most abominable to our Lord Jesus Christ and most pernicious to mankind and are altogether adverse to the sanctity of the Apostolical Seat and are contrary to the Catholick Faith Nor may your discretion therefore determine any thing hard against me because all my contradiction and action in this Cause is not indeed contradiction or rebellion but a filial honouring of Gods command due to a Father and of you Briefly recollecting all I say that the holiness of the Apostolick Seat can do or hath power to do nothing but that which tendeth to edification and not to destruction For this is the plenitude of power to have power to do all to Edification But these that they call Provisions are not for Edification but for most manifest Destruction Therefore the Apostolick Seat cannot accept them because flesh and blood which shall not possess the Kingdom of God hath revealed them a â—â— not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is in Heaven III. Bishop Sanderson in his Oxford Praelections de Juramento saith as followeth The Reader is desired to see his whole words that he say not they are mangled or any thing omitted which he would have had put in and to consider how far the case of Oaths and Covenants Promises or Professions is the same PAge 30 31. 1. Simplicity above all things beseeineth an Oath That is The nature and obligation of an Oath is such that whoever shall bind himself by so sacred a bond to do any thing he may be altogether held by the Religion of an Oath and seriously from his heart intend and as much as in him lyeth diligently endeavour faithfully to do all that which he hath promised to do without all craft fraud or ill deceit or dissimulation See the rest there Page 32 33 34. Contrary to this simplicity of an Oath are two sorts of simulation one as to the foregoing part which is either antecedent or concomitant with the act of swearing of which though the former be the worser yet neither of them is free from perjury David seemeth to comprehend both in Psal 15. and 24. He that sweareth not deceitfully that is with a mind to deceive And He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not that is who when he hath bound himself by an Oath will rather even to his own great loss perform that which he incommodiously swore than for any temporal commodity violate his faith These things the greater part of men now in being seem to me not to think of or not seriously who fear not to swear without any ambage prolixly and in the very words whatsoever is proposed to them by such as have power to do them hurt Yea and think themselves the only wise men and disdainfully deride their simplicity and vain fear who lest they hurt their consciences forsooth do seek a knot in a rush and vex or sollicit the forms prescribed by such as can proscribe them And they securely free themselves from all crime and fear of Perjury and think they have well cared for themselves and their consciences if when they swear like the Jesuits they can but any how defend themselves by tacite equivocations or mental reservations or subtle forced interpretations and quite allen from the words Or else after they have sworn can find out some artificial evasion as a hole to get out by as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which so to defraud the Oath that taking the words yet the sense may be eluded by some Sophism and all the force of it wholly be enervated The old Christians received not this Theology The sounder Heathens received not this Moral Philosophy Much otherwise out of them saith Augustine They are perjured who keeping the words deceive the expectation of them that they swear to And otherwise saith Cicero That is to be kept which is so sworn as the mind of the Imposen conceived it should be done Read the proofs p. 34 c. 1. From many Texts of Scripture 2. From God's own example 3. From the nature of Truth 4. From the end of an Oath p. 38. which is the confirmation of a doubtful matter that is that of things otherwise uncertain and depending on humane credit there should be had such certainty as humane affairs require For an Oath was instituted by God by force of the Light of Natue for a remedy of humane defects about Truth that among mortals it should be Truths last garrison as oft as all other kinds of proof do fail But this end would be wholly overthrown and there could be no certain credit among men if it were free for the swearer at his own arbiterment what he speaketh in words to cause belief by some tacite ambiguity in swearing or after he hath sworn by finding out some new and as it were posthumous comment so to disable it as that it shall lose all its force and be utterly ineffectual If either of these were lawful an Oath should not be the end of strife but the beginning and should rather give occasion for new contradictions and strifes than end the old ones Open but this window once and then what can be thought of so false for the defence whereof some effâ—ge or lurking-hole may not he devised whereby it may be freed from being a lie In the mean time what perverseness is it that That should by dishonest men be turned into an instrument of deceiving which was instituted by the most wise God to be a help to credit or mens belief of one another Verily unless one will rather use God's sacred institution to another purpose than that to which it was instituted which a godly man will not easily do that which is the end of an Oath the same ought to be the end of the swearer And that is so to make the hearer to believe that he may become more certain and secure of the Truth of that which before was doubtful But he that dissembleth studieth to breed a false belief in the hearers and so doth not only suffer another to be deceived which yet is contrary to Charity when he may and ought to hinder it but also intendeth to deceive which is not only against all Justice and Honesty but it is also conjoyned with the greatest wrong to God and contempt of his name And verily to me scarce any other sort of Perjury doth more diametrically seem to be against either the scope of the third Commandment or the very words of not taking
We are agreed that to commit a sin by passion or sudden surprize is not so wicked as to do it on deliberation Nor is the doing it only so bad as undertaking to justifie it and encourage others to do the like XVIII We are agreed that God is jealous about holy things and that wilful corrupting his Church worship or discipline to the disgrace of religion and encouragement of wickedness is a heinous sin Especially to Approve such things XIX We are agreed that to make a deliberate Covenant that I will sin against God and to subscribe and declare this is a heinous aggravation of the sin e. g. When the high places were kept up in Judea if any had Covenanted to keep them up and purposed to transgress the wilfulness had been the greatness and dangerous signification of such sinning XX. We are agreed that Repentance is Gods condition of forgiveness and that for a man to resolve and Covenant to sin and to profess it openly to all the Church and that oft times and so to renounce Repentance is alas XXI Most sober Christians are agreed that Christians should be united upon the terms which Christ himself hath made in the baptismal Covenant and in their obedience to his Laws and that Papall Usurpations and imposing of things unnecessary as necessary to Union Communion or Ministration hath been the great cause of Schisms through the Christian world for about 1000 years at least And that they who will still obey such dividing Imposers do continue Schisms in the world by encouraging the causes of them XXII We are on both sides agreed that it were heinous hypocrisie and prophaneness if we should make our sacred Ministerial work the pretended reason for our sinning and should swear declare or subscribe that which we take to be false and do that which we take to be sin that we may have leave to preach against sin in others and so offer God a Sacrifice of iniquity and put a beam into our own eye that we may have leave to Preach against the mote that is in our brothers eye XXIII We are afraid of making Separatists and Anabaptists and tempting men to avoid us as scandalous men XXIV We are afraid lest by such wilful sin we should by a carnal interest to defend what we have once done be tempted to impenitence and to persecute the just XXV We are agreed that they that will run into willful heinous sin as they deserve to be forsaken of God so they cannot expect such a blessing on their Ministry as Conscionable upright men may do XXVI It is agreed that the ancient Christian Pasters Preached against the will of Princes for 300 years and after that against the will of Christian Princes Constartius Valens Theodosius Junior Vaientinian c. And not only Apostles said that God was to be obeyed rather than men but such as Timothy who was ordained by man were charged before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and dead at his appearing and Kingdom to preach the Gospel and be instant in season c. XXVII We are agreed that the Children of Christians when they grow up know no more of God of Heaven of Christ without teaching than the Children of Heathens do And therefore that the opening and applying the Gospel is needful in England as well as in America XXVIII It is so far from saving unbelievers or ungodly persons that they are the Children of Christians and in the visible Church that it maketh their case more miserable if not worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah XXIX As of old every single Church had usually many Presbyters and Deasons with the Bishop so it is undeniable that many of our Parishes have work enough for many Ministers and only want of maintenance is pretended for our present paucity with the want of worthy men XXX It is granted us that to alienate consecrated persons from the holy Ministry causlesly is greater Sacriledge than to alienate consecrated Lands Goods or Temples which are but means to the use of the said Ministry We are not here accusing our silencers of this heinous Sacriledge Their Righteous Judge and ours will quickly pass the final sentence But we dare not we will not sacrilegiously silence and alienate our selves lest we forsake our Lord and betray mens souls and be doomed as the slothful servant that hid his talent Mat. 25. and bring down more plagues upon the Land We fear when we read 1 Thes 2. 15 16. the signs that wrath was come to the utmost on the Jews even their forbidding men to preach the Gospel of salvation lest we should contribute to such a dreadful desertion of this Land SECT XVII The Case of the Ministers since they were silenced and their Practice with the Peoples WE humbly crave of those narrow Seers who venture to censure the generality for somewhat which they dislike in some persons that are neerest to themselves that they would truly understand the case and practice of their Brethren before they any further in Sermons and Writings provoke the Magistrate to execute the Laws upon them as Schiâ—maticks Seditious or what accusation is readiest at hand I. That the elder sort of the Nonconformists are ordained by Bishops and most of the rest by such Pastors of Churches of Cities Corporations and other Parishes associate as the times then allowed and that in this Ordination be the Ceremonious part right or wrong they are all by Consent or Covenant devoted to the sacred Ministry and that not for a time as hirelings but for life this is denied by none that we know of II. It is known to all Faithful Ministers and others who converse with the common sort of men that a great part of the people of England are ignorant of the very Essentials of Christianity and a great part dull and worldly neglecters of all serious religiousness and a great part senâ—ual drowned in filthy fleshly sins Besides the ignorance weakness and unwarrantable opinions and passions of many that are more seriously religious than the rest And that it is a hard work to cure one ignorant erroneous vitious soul And each one is precious and not to to be left in sin as desperate considering the everlasting consequents III. It is certain that most great Parishes especially in Cities and great Towns have more souls which call for Ministerial help than Conformists and Nonconformists if they lovingly joyned are able well to afford necessary help to IV. The Ministers that dwell in Cities or Corporations when they were cast out did quietly surrender Temples and Tythes But many of their people claimed the continuance of their Relation and Ministry and many professed that they could not trust their souls to the Pastoral guidance and care of many of those who were placed in the Temples in their stead and charged the neglect of their souls on such as refused V. The Bills of Mortality shew us that the 7 Parishes within the walls of
called barren If one of these be God's Word the Nonconformists think that the other is contrary to it 4. In the old Book in the Psalms there are whole verses left out which are in the Hebrew Text and our new Translation and divers translated in a quite different sense the former following the Septuagint 5. The Rubrick for Christmas day is Then shall follow the Collect of the Nativity which shall be said continually unto New-years day And the Collect for all these several daies is Aâ—mighty God which hast given us thine only begotten Son to take our Nature upon him and THIS DAY to be born of a pure Virgin So the Collect on Whitsunday is God which upon this day c. The Rubrick is The same Collect to be read Munday and Teesday So on Christmas day and seven daies after Because thou hast given Jesus Christ thine only Son to be born as on this day for us c. And on Whitsunday and six daies after According to whose most true promise the Holy Ghost came down this day from Heaven These things and such other we must approve in the foresaid Approbation of all things in the old Common-Prayer-Book V. We must Assent Approve and Consent to all the mis-translations in the present Liturgy as well as to justifie the old Edition That before-cited Psal 105. 28. is in the present Book and so are the rest of the omissions and differences in the Psalms before mentioned which are many Different Translations which have all the same sense may be all called God's Word because their sense is so But where they have different senses so far one of them is contrary to God's Word For God's Word is one and true and not contrary to it self The question is not whether these faulty Translations were not a good work and a great mercy to the Church till we had a better Nor whether they may not be lawfully used where there is no better Yea or where there is a better if the Command of Governours or Concord make it best for that time and place But it is Whether all the faults of the Translation may be Assented Approved and Consented to We commit some failings and sins every day but we may not Approve of them and profess that we Consent so to do 2. Some Conformists here think that the Declaration is to be taken properly without any force or distorting and they say that both Translations are justifiable because one followeth the Hebrew and the other the Septuagint and Christ and his Apostles have justified both by using them But others of them hold that this instance proveth that by All things Assented and consented to must be meant only All things that are not by humane frailty mistaken or erroneous or els that by Assenting and Approving must be meant no more than Assenting that they may be Used And so they consent with the Nonconformists in the matter but not in the exposition of the words And to the former they say 1. That there are other mistranslations besides those that follow the septuagint 2. That Christ and the Apostles by citing some Texts according to the septuagint do not thereby approve of all the rest for they cite others otherwise 3. That by citing them they justifie not alwaies the translation but only the sense so far as it is cited for it being that scripture which the people then commonly used 3. And they say that if this objection should hinder mens Assenting to the Liturgy it might as well hinder their Assenting to the Bible in our translations And indeed we know no Nonconformist who would declare or subscribe that he doth Assent to Approve and Consent to all things Contained in the Bible according to any Translation but only all things Contained in the Bible as it was delivered by the sacred writers and in all Translations so far as they truly signifie or express that to us But if they might but say as one part expounds the Declaration We Assent c. To all things Contained c. That are not by humane frailty mistaken they would soon Conform herein 6. The Calendar in the Common Prayer appointeth the publick reading of the Books called Apocrypha beginning September 28. And so Continuing to November 24. Every day of the week except the proper Lessons interposed Part of the Apocrypha to be read are the Book of Tobit Judith Bell and the Dragon c. 2. Learned Bishops and Divines of the Church of England have written to prove that these Books are not only Aprocryphal but fabulous and have manifest untruths As that the intralls of a fish will drive away all Devils and keep them from returning When Christ saith This kind goeth not out but by Fasting and Prayer And when the Angel saith that He was the son of Ananias of the tribe of Napthali c. 3. These Books are to be read just in the place and order as the Sacred Scriptures are and under the same title of the First Lesson Only called Apocrypha in the Bibles But 1. It is not appointed that the Priest tell the people so 2. If it were they understand not Commonly what Apocrypha signifieth 3. If they were sometime told it they forget it and apply not that name to every Lesson that they thence hear 4. It is not denyed that the sounder Books that are Apocrypha may be read in the Church as a Homily may be with due notice of their difference from the Canonical Books But the question is whether not only they but the Books proved fabulous by many Protestants may be there read and that instead of so much of the holy Scripture then omitted and that without any better notice given to the Common people of the difference 5. And the chief doubt is whether this may not only be done but also the Calendar as so appointing it may be Approved of and Consented to by us all 7 It hath been before opened that no Parent is permitted to be Godfather to his own Child or to speak one word at his baptizing to enter him into the Covenant of God or dedicate him to him nor to promise in his name nor to undertake any part of his Christian education nor so much as to be urged to be present Nor is there a word to intimate that the Godfathers represent the Parent or speak in his name or stead but the contrary is implyed Though the Parents are to procure these God fathers 2. It hath also been before shewed how great a Controversie it is whether Infants Right to Gods promises and Church state be not by that Covenant I will be thy God and the God of thy seed implyed in 1. Cor. 7. 14. els were your Children unclean but now are they holy And so whether Infants have any right upon a Godfathers words there who never took them for his own if on the Parents account they have no right And whether such Godfathers act be truly the Child 's in