the tenth part what therfore else can satisfie conscience that it erre not But they will say that â—thes are Jewish ceremonies which are aboâ—ished It is easie to say so but not so easie to prove For Jewish ceremonies are shadowes of things to come the body whereof is Christ Let them shew from Gods word that tythes are so accounted I am sure than God blames the faulty performance and resting in ceremonies but hee never blameth the neglect of ceremonies as of tythes when hee saith ye are cursed with a curse for yee have robbed me even this whole nation in not paying tythes Yea we never read that ever Christ said so much of any Jewish ceremony as of tythes these things ought ye not to leave undone If it be said that this maintenance cannot be proved out of the new testament I say that this wil trouble any man to prove for when Paul proves out of the law that the ministery of the new testament hath maintenance due doth he not say so hath the Lord ordained that hee that preacheth the Gospel should live of the Gospel and how is that As they of old lived at the altar by tythes so we now Againe doth not the Apostle say that tythes are due to the ministery of Christ that lives because they were due to Melchizedech to whom Abraham payed them as a Priest and tythe-taker and type of Christ who therefore should receive them but those that are in his stead to beseech you to be reconciled unto God The same reason that God gives why Levi should have Gods portion because God is his portion is it not true of ministers whom alone hee hath taken to bee ministers of the new testament It is true they are not Priests after the order of Melchizedech as Christ was yet the High-priest of our profession hath ordained us to live out of his portion which must bee his tythes due to him or else our consciences can never bee setled what it is Let them duely weigh this and when they can salve it up well as in the sight of God then may they heare of much more we hate Judaisme as much as they but we cannot beare that title except it be inflicted by Christ himselfe And thus by the helpe of God I have cleared their second exception upon which they separate because wee are not a true ministery SECT 15. The Brownists last opinion upon which they forsake our Church because wee have not a true worship WE are now come thorough Christs helpe unto their last exception against us which concernes the worship of God amongst us as if wee had not a true but an idolatrous worship of the true God This they doe so much detest and so do we too if they can prove it that they cannot with any good conscience have communion with us in it Doe not wee cleave to the onely true God by knowledge repentance faith feare love confidence joy thankfulnesse patience and adoration Doe wee not know God to bee the onely true God and therefore give him his true worship in spirit and truth according to his word Doe we not pray to him knowingly faithfully zealously penitently and obediently desiring to be made better Doe we not preach and heare his word carefully and reverently desiring to know and doe Doe wee not administer the sacraments of Christ and receive them with a desire and purpose to enter covenant with God to bee his people and keepe it unto our lives end Doe we not in all these lament our defects and others labouring to helpe what we can and what we cannot patiently suffer and lovingly mourne till Christ in the day of judgement fanne away the chaffe Doe we not publickely solemnize the Lords day that in the publicke use of Gods ordinances wee may learne to bee better and doe better till wee come to the full age in Christ Jesus How then can it be imagined that wee should not have a true worship Yes say the Brownists your worship is Ceremonial typical and stinted contrary to Christs will who would have you worship him in spirit and truth First they say it is a ceremonial worship will no worshippe please them but a slovenly one unbecomming the person of that God whom wee worship If our ceremonies were part of the worship as they of the Jewes or proper worship as many are reputed in the Church of Rome then they might talke aloud but when they are but outward accidents for the well and orderly carriage of the worship of God what hurt is in them Will it grieve any man to see Christians to worship their God in an humble comely and reverend way Nay would it not vexe any good soule to see them to doe otherwise They say that Christ was more faithfull in the house of God then Moses If therefore Moses prescribed Gods worship onely according to the patterne given much more doth Christ to which it is wickednesse to us to adde Indeed Christ is more faithfull then Moses for the law was given by Moses but grace and truth by Iesus Christ Moses gave a perfect shadow of our reconciliation under types but Christ gives a perfect body which hath nothing but truth in him and not a shadow of things as the things of Moses But what is this to decent ceremonies which are not types and shadowes of Christ and his but onely documents and signes of our humble and reverend respects to God As faithfull as Moses was yet even then had the Jewes ceremonies of order and comlinesse which were not disallowed by God or reprooved by his Prophets There are two sorts of ceremonies such as corrupt the worship of God and such as doe preserve by advancing the worship of God If they had made any types of Christ which God had not made they had corrupted the worship of God as the Brownists doe who when we tell them of the acts of the kings of Iudah about the worship of God they presently without the warrant of God tell us that they were types of Christ They may 〈◊〉 well say that the kings of other nations were types of Christ too because the Jewes were to have Kings according to other nations But when the devout Jewes did by their owne ceremonies labour to carry the worship of God in the most becomming way in this they did preserve the worship of God by advancing it Thus Salomons peace-offering was commanded but his advancement of that service was permitted to himself when he offered two twenty thousand oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep Did he now goe against the faithfulnesse of Moses when he commanded it not Did hre not likewise honour God with the solemnity of seven dayes and seven daies without particular warrant He was commanded to pray but when hee added this ceremony of his owne fit for that time of jubilation to stand before the Altar
kept back none of thy counsell I have not strengthened the hands of wickednesse I have loved the godly as such though I have hated their indiscretions as well as my owne J have been kinde and courteous to those that have ill rewarded me Onely this is the truth J have loved the Church of God amongst us and the whole governement ecclesiasticall and temporall If any thing have appeared harsh I have excused it aâ— I was bound I have not indured to heare publike scandalls to bee layed upon them I have opposed gainesayers with earnestnesse of spirit others will say like a man but J will say and J am sure like a minister This hath fallen upon darke melancholick high lookt and sowre natures and so hath suffered a disgust Some have beene sowred but sweetned againe with the trade of the good word of God and the practise of affability Some have beene estranged till this contracted folly hath beene digested Some have complayned of chiding when my nature can chide nothing but sinne and disorder and some have hardned themselves in error and schisme To crosse me I feare and my tenets for the Church they have revenged upon themselves What these few will gaine in the issue I doe not know This I doubt that they will repent if greatnesse of stomack will let them looke backe againe when it is too late But for you my good people in whose hearts God hath writ mee by the preaching of Christ and his truth ye have not so runne in vaine Ye will not be deluded with their pretences and sweet words Yee have heard formerly from me all these grounds and oppositions of Brownisme which here J present unto you and here have J thus addressed them for you that they may keepe you from that snare of simple ones and that they may ever lie by you when J am dead and with my Christ to keepe you upright in the waies of our blessed Church I know that some of you beare a deare and tender affection to these few seduced ones though now they will not heare you Ye have lived in the same Church together like friends ye have delighted in the same word of God prayer and sacraments yee have sweetly comforted one another in the private communion of Saints and ye see that still they seeme to live unblameable lives towards men and that they pretend to delight still in the word of Christ which is the onely rule of salvation These things will give great advantage to them to worke upon you and to you to keepe intimate familiarity with them But in the feare of God I beseech you take heede weigh well what in this discourse J say and God give you understanding in all things Jt is no small charge to unchurch a church to unminister a ministery and to unworship a worship They must be sure of their hands that they can and will answer it to Christ with confidence when they have done it To doe it with a trembling heart is to doe it against conscience To doe it with full assurance of understanding is to doe it with sure warrants and precepts of Christ If they have such against our Church I am sure we shall finde them if not let them goe if they will but follow not them in the breach To keepe you out of it I have done as J doe and to gaine them too if they will not bee resolved without grounds J am sure they shall have no iust cause to except against my dealing with them They may except against me as an English Priest and Bishops creature as I heare but shall never against my course with them I have dealt with them with matter more then with words and because they pretend to two things to the scriptures and to conscience and I know a third thing in them weakenesse Therefore have J dealt with them accordingly J have compared scripture with scripture to finde out the truth but cannot finde theirs I have dealt conscionably with them in fighting with that onely weapon against them of their owne choosing the word of Christ And because they are weake I have not shewed my selfe a man in giving them any bitter language or exasperating termes As the barking of one dogge begets the barking of another though it bee against the Moone so is it with high words and therefore it were glorious and above a man if it were layed downe on all sides and partakings But as the waves of the sea when they meete not with a rocke but with the sands they returne backe-againe with a watery flash so have J done by them that all our matters may be done in love Indeede I have taken their affected name out of their mouthes separatists and given their right one unto them Brownists and this J have done out of conscience I finde by experience that the word Separation doth winne to their cause For when people of strong affections and weaker Iudgements doe reade of the necessity of separation in the scriptures and can not discerne how we have made separation from heathenisme and when we have beene thrust out of Rome because wee were unwilling to bee so bad as shee have maintayned our just standing from her in a divided way they have beene willing to hearken to a separating plott Therefore Browne being the leader amongst us to this breach if now time hath not made it worse then he intended it J can not nickname but inconscience call the childe after the fathers name Jt was Christs course ye are of your father the Devill his children ye are and so must I. Jt is true also that afterwards yee may finde some opinions gone against that are held by some that keepe Communion with our Church as of a true Church But I am sure they are the Brownists opinions also to whom I speake All that I can say therefore for that is this Jt may bee that some of you know or have heard of that Noble Moralizers fable of Amphiolus who when hee was in all his military accoutraments to give combate as hee thought to Argalus a Knight of the Sunne This mans wife dressed her selfe in her husbands armour and gave her husbands enemy meeting Amphiolus encounters valiantly gave a wound in the necke closeth overthrowes and gives a mortall wound in the body But when hee opened the armour viewes his Conquest and saw it was faire Parthenia Argalus his wife he could have no comfort of the day it became not a man so to ruine a woman Such is my case heere J say as a father of old I dare not write against a Bishop of my communion the love of brotherly peace is glorious in the Church even among men that otherwise differ in opinion But if they put on the armes of an enemy because they will bee so with whom I fight for truth I cannot helpe it if they meete with a blow though I glory not in it yea am sorry that there should be any such cause I
all that came into their communion They would runne into invited and unnecessary dangers This they called martyrdom whether they suffered from themselves or others I am sure also that our forsakers will not owne these for their setters up in all points if for nothing else yet for this they had Bishops Heere was a separation long and irkesom yet surely they will not be of such an episcopall separation Thirdly besides the separatiō of Lucifer who falling at odds with Eusebius Vercellensis about the ordination of honest Paulinus departed in choler from the peace of the church and made a proud breach wee reade about the yeare after Christ three hundred seventy one of one Audeus a Syrian who raised up by the cōmon opinion of his zeal and integrity a company of followers who would not pray with other Christians and Bishops crying these downe as being too rich who also gave this reason of their separation that in the bosome of the church were suffered usurers and impure livers These sometimes dwelt in solitary places by themselves and sometimes in the suburbs of cities They fained also great holinesse and chastity and dreamed God to have mans forme and humane parts But their sect outlived not their persons and I am sure also that our forsakers wil not acknowledge themselves to bee of this condemned breed Fourthly when the thoughts of the best christians were taken up with more weighty matters and the necessity of times had invited them to faith and doctrine or the vaile of darkenesse had covered too many hearts these pettie sidings beganne to vanish and were at last utterly extinct till the light of the Gospel shined upon the church with fuller glorie againe Then as the enemy troubled the wheat with blasted corne our forsakers say they had a church againe In king Henry the eights and Luthers dayes they finde say they some congregations upon their bottome And indeed wee finde in stories that some of their vaine opinions crept into the heads of some right godly persons in other points who were ready to suffer for Christ and did so for it is hard not to fall from one extreamity to another if sound judgement according to the rule given doe not poise the lightnesse of affections But these in Germany were crowned with the name of Anabaptists whose doctrine and practise to overthrow the Church and state are well knowne and as well confuted and condemned by Luther Calvine Zanchius and an whole army of others But our forsakers I am sure will not own these in all points neither will they owne them because they forsake them also in some Fiftly therefore wee must goe lower yet and if wee come to the daies of blessed Queene Elizabeth after divers strugglings for excesses which surely is no friend to the Gospel among variety of judgements which know but in part wee meete with one Browne who first raiseth a new platforme of all the tenets of our forsakers if yet by time and age they have not made them worse This man after hee had infected some by preaching found meanes to poison others by writing of his Estate of true Christians and other pamphlets His conceits within this last age have lived and died by turnes as they have been the objects of discontēted or quiet spirits If humble soules have met with them they have seene in them the poison of peace the renting of the seamelesse coate of Christs church the building upon a covenant of workes and the hindering of the progresse of the Gospell in faith and love But if they have beene cast upon a raging sea of an unquiet and disjointed heart they have bred Barrowes Greenwoods Penries Robinsons Iohnsons Aynsworths and Smiths the onely men so farre as I know of that full straine who have tasted of more or lesse learning ill placed from Christs time downward Seeing therfore Browne is the first full-father of our forsakers who raised up their building to that height they would faine maintaine it at surely they can have no other name of justice then Brownists which they must hold except they can prove that theirs is a newer way Indeed Browne did afterward fall away from them and his owne tenets for the most part But seeing the first authour justly gives the name as that carpenter that builds an house for the building of it though afterward hee burne it down therefore I cannot bee so unjust as to suffer them by mee to bee called by any other then that they received from him in his new christianity If now you aske the issue of this discourse it is to draw to this conclusion that this church of theirs was never heard of till Brownes time and so I argue thus That which never was a true church from Christs time to the daies of Queene Elizabeth was not a true church then nor is a true church now for the gates of hell must not prevaile against it But the Brownists church was never a true church from Christs time to the dayes of Queene Elizabeth Therefore it was not a true church then nor is now as they would have it If they say that some of their opinions were of old I confesse it is true But let them shew but one church which either positively in all points which make their church to them a church or negatively in denying contrary tenets held by the true church and then they shall bee the true church for mee But it may bee they will say that the church of Rome thus disputes against us It is true and so doe wee against them about their church built up by the late councell of Trent affirming confidently that there was never one church but was under the curse of that councel if it had beene of force before But when they plead so against us wee goe to that which made true visible churches in the Apostles dayes and ever since that is professed submission to the rule of faith in the scriptures and a profession of faith in the trinity especially in Jesus Christ our Lord that rocke whereupon the church is built and so long as we have this wee feare not their plea. If they say that they doe thus much to make them a true church also It is true they doe it as wee doe and yet they denie us so doing to be a true church except wee be of their new covenant If therefore they cannot finde a church of that covenant till Brownes daies how can they bee a true church which hath never failed nor ever shall Let them duely consider this issue and God give them understanding in all things SECT 5. Of that name they would have Separatists and how unjustly assumed as a title of honour IT is most true that they are loath to acknowledge the name of Browne their father not sticking to brand him with the livery of a turne-coate if not Apostate and surely deserves to bee soundly
admits of no falshood But to cleare this more fully I shall by Gods assistance consider three things 1 What they say true of their owne members and ours 2 What they say false of the members of a true visible church 3 That their dreame of pollution is from their owne braines not from Christs ordinance This they say truely that the members of a true church are saints by calling Profession of saving truth as I have shewed makes such true members and all that so professe themselves though there be much chaffe among the wheate are such saints by calling He that professeth so much knowledge either actually or foederally as admits him to baptisme hath put on Christ And he that hath put on Christ though as an elect vessell as Paul or as one in Christ bearing no fruit and therefore justly to be cut off is certainely a saint by calling There are two sorts of saints by calling such as are sanctified by habituall infusions and actual expressements and such as are so by baptismal profession and many gifts of the spirit and so by consecration to God This may fall upon those that are justly rejected for their hypocrisie and wickednesse These two sorts have ever and ever shall to the end of the world make up the true members of a true visible church This secondly they say falsely that the members of a true visible church are onely such saints as are so regenerated as they have actual communion with Christ in all the acts of saving grace If they would spâ—ake of the Catholick Church It is the number of all faithfull people which are united to Christ by the union of the body head spirit and faith of truth By the first all members are knit together with the head in one body and so receive grace from the head according to the measure of everie member By the second it hath but one head As the body is but one so the head is but one from whence it receiveth the grace of life By the third the whole Church is directed and governed by one spirit which is the spirit of sanctification And by the fourth the whole church receiveth the doctrine once given to the saints which it cleaves unto for ever that in this foundation and love of union it may receive from Christ all saving doctrine with the comfortable fruits of it If they would speake of this catholick church let them draw up the members to that sanctitie which the word and world will affoord Nay if they would speake of such members of the visible church who shall from Christ receive al spiritual blessings in heavenly things and be jointed into the body of Christ till they come to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ let them speake of all holinesse too so far as our knowledge in part can reach unto in this kingdome of heaven upon earth If further they would speak of such members as are fittest to beare rule in the visible church surely though Iudas be in as well as Peter by Christs his call and yong Timothy can worke the worke of the Lord as Paul doth yet surely they that are best and of ablest gifts are fittest for highest places in the visible church Which because the Brownists perceive therefore they having set up to themselves a governement of all the members which they cannot make good they thinke not onely the holiest persons to bee the fittest but the onely members of their visible churches If lastly they would speake of those that are the greatest comforts and ornaments of a visible church then surely holy persons are For Davids eies runne over with water when members in the church as well as others kept not Gods law yea and it is a fearfull reproach and tending to corruption to them that favour it But when they speake of such members onely in the visible church who are so holy as they imagine to whom if others joyne themselves in spirituall communion they are unchurched this surely hath no ground but in their owne braine This is an undoubted rule that it is Gods will that a mixed company be invited to the wedding of Christ the feast of the gospell which makes up a visible church The wedding of Christ is either compleate in heaven or begunne in the church To that in heaven a mixed company is not invited but conditionally for no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven To this in the church a mixed company is invited and thorough the power of the sweet word of grace comes both to the word and sacraments as Symon Magus to baptisme and the drunken and factious Corinthians to the supper of the Lord. And that it is Gods will to invite a mixed company appeares by texts examples and reasons The text is cleare in Gods commission Goe ye into the high-wayes and as many as ye finde invite to the marriage and also in his servants execution they went and gathered together all as many as they found both good and bad All these were members of this feast till God came and made the separation and when he did come hee blamed not his servants for inviting and guests for being in communion with the unworthy but friend how camest thou in hither But say they what is this kingdome of heaven Is it not the world Doth not Christ himselfe so expound it in opening the parable of the tares The Field is the world It is true hee saith the field is the world but hee saith not the kingdome of heaven is the world Surely the whole world lies in wickednesse and is farre different from the kingdom of heaven in the church· Therfore doth not Christ say the kingdome of heaven is like to the world but it is like unto a man this man is the son of man who raiseth to himselfe a visible church heere This he raiseth not in Jury onely but now the separation wall is broken downe in the world Here by vertue of his Gospel he doth sow the children of the Kingdome according to that promise of old I will sowe her to mee in the earth But the Devill that envies Christs Kingdome not the world sowes the Tares which are the children of that wicked one These Tares grow up in the Kingdome of Heaven which is in the field of the world with the good seed and so long as the Divell is the Divell and envies it will be so And it is Christs Judgement concerning them Let them alone till the harvest least while ye pluck up the Tares yee pull up the Wheate Surely they were other than the weeds of the world out of the Church These might have been plucked up without dangering the Church They were blasted Corne upon one stalke which from the power of the Gospel were called into the Church but degenerated by the
given to whelps This is true if we can helpe it But every wicked christian is not a swine or dog nor any alien from the coÌ„mon-wealth of Israel as the Canaanitish woman till her new faith made her a prosilite Not one of ten thousand of theÌ„ whom they so highly judge wil dare to trample the sacrament under their feet and all to rent the giver of it unto them But put case that some such miscreant might bee found because these reputed dogges and swine abuse it to themselves will you abuse it too in separating from it which exhibits so much good But they say perhaps the ministers might keep them away from it but do not By what authority might they Put case they had the authority of a judge which is false heere may a judge hang a thiefe before his trial So nor may hee discommon any from the Lords table till trial and sentence bee past If any wicked christian should say I am not excommunicate I will receive shall they disturbe Christs sonnes for the unmannerlinesse of such a servant Noe God is not the God of confusion but order Let them come at their own perill to our misery not to our sinne when wee have warned But say the Brownists we shall partake in other mens sins and so be polluted with such communions To make this vanish it is the third and last point propounded that remaines in this section to bee considered That their dreamed of pollution is from their owne braines not from the ordinance of Christ They account all then polluted that are in spiritual communion in the worship of God with wicked and ungodly men But the Prophets reproved many abuses and never taught any pollution neither did God appoint any sacrifice to expiate such pollution There was a sacrifice for the whole congregation to satisfy for their sinnes of ignorance but not to take off the guilt of pollution by a mixture in the service of God God tyed them all to the kingdome priesthood and temple and hee doth not tye men necessarily to sinne The godly people in the time of the law were never reprooved for the worship of God though wicked men were present Indeed the priests were blamed highly as violaters of the law because they put no difference betwixt the holy and the profane nor have shewed difference betwixt the uncleane and cleane and that justly too because God had made them teachers of the people and they neglected the sabbaths and because he had made them ordinary Iudges in these other cases according to his word But they never judged the godly polluted for not separating from the wicked in Gods service Againe Christ and his Apostles reproved many corruptions in churches yet never taught or practised separation upon a conceit of pollution Yea Christ commendeth the church of Thyatyra for living wel where corruption was Iezabel was suffered there yet as many as have not this doctrine nor knowne the depthes of satan hold fast till I come and he that overcommeth shal have power over the nations Surely the best were not polluted by the worst nor taught separation but constancy in good and reward at last But not to bee too large consider thoroughly but these three conclusions First God doth acquit the godly from the sinnes of the wicked though they bee mixed in the ordinances of God They that walke in my statutes and ordinances shall bee my people but they whose heart walketh after detestable things I will recompence their way upon their owne head The soule that sinnes shall dye not he that is guiltlesse The wicked shall die in his iniquity but warne him and thou shalt deliver thy soule I am confident saith Paul that you will bee no otherwise minded but hee that troubleth you shall beare his judgmeÌ„t whosoever he be To the pure all things are pure but to the impure nothing is pure All there were in spirituall communion together yet God doth not cast the sinnes of the guilty upon the innocent but doth acquit the one and accuse the other Yea but say the Brownists God doth not acquit them that consent to the wickednesse of others This is most true we must neither sinne nor have fellowship with sinne nor consent to sinners If we doe we make other mens sinnes our owne Now we may be said to consent to sinne both in things lawfull and in things unlawfull In things unlawfull when wee have fellowship with wicked doers and are accessary to their offences and this may bee divers wayes whereof some are proper to superiours and some common to all Superiours may bee guilty of other mens sinnes two wayes by command and by connivence By the first if they injoyne that which is evill all the evill that is done upon their injunction is theirs whether it bee publike or private Nebuchadnezzar by law and edict was guilty of all the Idolatry and cruelty which did insue upon it Therefore woe to them that decree wicked decrees and write grievous things Saul was guilty of that murther done upon the Lords Priests and David of the death of Vriah because they commanded them By the second if they wincke at faults which are in their power to redresse Iehoasâ— tooke not away the high places and so was guilty of his peoples incense Ahab wincked at Bâ—nhadad and let him go when God had given him into his hands for death and was guilty Pilate wincked at the cruelty of the Jewes and notwithstanding all his washing was guilty David displeased not Adonjah from his youth nor said Why dost thou thus and so was guilty of his riot and rebellion All may be guilty of the sinnes of others both before the offence be committed and in and after it Before the offence by provocation counsell approbation and silence when called to speak By provocation either when men rage the heart and fire the passions by thwarting and daring words or actions as Iezabel who provoked her husband Ahab or when they allure and entise with sweet words as that Harlot Come let us fill our selves with love until the morning or with infecting and evill words By Counsel when men advise to any sinne Thus Ionadab was guilty of the incest of Amnon Herodias of the bloud of Iohn Baptist Demetrius of the uprore against Paul and Balaam of Israels Baal-peor By Approbation when men doe not onely doe such things as are worthy of death but favour them that doe them This may be done directly either by word of deed as when Saul consented to the death of Stephen and kept the garments of them that stoned him or by interpretation when a man is bound to withstand another mans sinne and doth not either by word or deed Moses hath given us a precept to speake in our places and told us the danger of silence To speake ill doth draw men into
and spread forth his hands toward heaven did hee corrupt the worship of God because Moses commanded it not If Princes hold their people faithfully to them to serve God and the King this is commanded them as the Law is committed to them but if Ioshuah doe it by setting up a stone in Shechem if Asa doe it by an oath and if Nehemiah doe it by subscription who hath required it Is Moses unfaithfull Are not these things permitted to them and us To remember Gods benefits is commanded but for Mordecai and the Iewes to doe it by the Feast of Purim who hath required it was it not onely permitted So it is with us wee have precepts and permissions under generall rules In conscience to the precepts wee preach and heare the word wee administer and receive the Sacrament wee pray both publikely and privately But in conscience to the permission we heare and preach from the Pulpit or from none with one in a gowne or cloake in white or in blacke wee receive standing sitting or kneeling we pray standing lying or sitting as necessity and order is put upon us by God and our superiours and as the worship of God may bee best advanced And what hurt is heere But say they these permissions are put upon us by peremptory Lawes contrary to our Christian liberty By a Law indeed they are bound to them with us but not contrary to Christian liberty for then Titus was in vaine left in Creta to set in order things that are wanting if Christians in the outward carriage of things might doe what they list Therefore I wish them brotherly to consider something concerning ceremonies and something concerning Christian liberty Ceremonies may be considered two wayes Before a Law hath bound this or that way and After the bond of a Law Before they may have not onely variety but contrariety and yet not displease God One eateth another eateth not yet God receiveth both one esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike yet if they bee charitable and fully perswaded in their own hearts God is not displeased But when a Law hath passed upon them those things that are permissions in themselves are precepts in their use as when the Church decreed the abstaining from stranguled and bloud so long as was convenient for the Churches of the Iewes As God loves that we should keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace in one faith so Paul joyes when hee beholds the order among the Colossians that all their things were done in love So long as wee are free wee are like the daughters of Zelophehad who so they kept within their owne tribe might marry whom they pleased so wee may looke which way we please and settle according to our pleasure But when the law of expediency is put upon us wee must say all things are lawfull but all things are not expedient When the law of Charity is put upon us wee must say if meate make my brother to offend I will eate no flesh while the world standeth And when the law of loyalty is put upon us we must say thou O Christian king art worth ten thousand of us the scandall of thee swallowes up the scandall of ten thousand persons therefore wee must doe as Ioab number the people no sinne in it selfe though we see inconveniences that may fall upon it Next concerning Christian liberty it doth not make us lawlesse for then were it vaine for any Church whatsoever to determine what is fit for ceremonies to bee done by them for then every one might flye to Christian liberty and say I will doe what I list my Christian liberty shall beare me out And how unfit this were every religious soule câ—n judge but it is a liberty that frees our consciences from inward bondage that we be not brought under the dominion of any thing I eate fish or flesh as is appointed but I am brought under the dominion of neither I weare white or blacke I stand or sit or kneele but I am brought under the dominion of none of them In my conscience my Christian liberty hath set me free but in my practise I am bound in these things to expediency charity or loyalty for the establishing of good order in the Church or in the coÌ„mon-weale If they would but duely consider these two things they would never talk of permissions turned into lawes to prejudice Christian liberty Yea Christian wisedome would learne them too that religious worship is called by the name of outward ceremonies used in them as God calls praying bâ—wing of the knees and swearing lifting up our hands not because these are commanded duties in such acts of worship but because God permits and loves our well carriage in his worship according to generall rules though we have no particular precepts Yea but say they our ceremonies are typicall and Iewish ceremonies which hurt our worship They meane as I conceive they are teaching ceremonies not ceremonies of meere order but significant to put us in minde of duty I am sorry that this should be accounted a fault If they did not signifie how could they edifie Were they types and shadowes of the mysteries of the Gospell invented by men indeed Christ were ill advised not to ordaine them But being onely moâ—al documents and monitors of some duties I wonder where their guilt lies If I had an hundred boxes in my house for my uses and some few of them had a marke upon them to direct me where my mony lay that I might be carefull of that doth this savour of want of naturall wisedome So neither doth it taste of want of spirituall wisedome to set a marke upon some few ceremonies to put me in minde of my duty to Christ What are these say they but images set up to our selves for religious use What to worship to adore God in or by No but to reminde us of what we ought to doe And this was the practise of the Church in all ages Abraham put his servants hand under his thigh in swearing surely to signifie his subjection to him in that businesse about the promised seede Moses set up an Altar when Amaleck was overthrowne and called it Iehovah Nissi to signifie that the Lord was their banner The two tribes and a halfe built an altar not to distinguish their borders but to signifie that they were Gods people and that they had all one God to whom they and their posterity must sacrifice upon his owne altar Samuel set up a stone when the Philistims were discomforted and called it Eben-Ezer to signifie that the Lord helped them When Christ the truth was come hee used humane significant ceremonies as the feast of dedication sitting at the Passeover a signe of rest the water pots of the jewish purifications the custome of embalming beside other formalities of
the synagogue The Corinthians had the womens vaile in the congregation to signifie subjection and the kisse of peace to signifie love Other Christians had Agapae at the sacrament in the roome whereof the Christians offertory was brought in for pious uses to signifie that love they should have one to another So wee have standing at the beliefe to signifie that it is not a prayer and that wee are ready to confesse our faith kneeling at the commandements to signifie the honour we have to that God that gave it and that wee must be ready to dart up prayer for our obedience and kneeling at the sacrament to signifie an humble acknowledgement of Gods love for so great a benefit And doe wee and all these saints before us set up images to our selves in these ceremonies for religious uâ—e God forbid The practise of these saints when the lawes of God were purely taught and kept teach us that though we my not set up an image to worship God by or in yet may we set up some edifying signes to put us in minde of those duties wee owe to God The Patriarchs may build altars give their children proper names to be admonishing signes of their duties to God and we may set all our sences on work that way We may set up a poste in a darke and dangerous passage that when I goe that way and touch it it may signifie my danger and I may avoide it I may set a watch-man in a towre to give a sound when the enemy comes that he may signifie my enemies approach and I may avoid him I may set up a Sea marke to signifie a Rocke neere that I split not upon it And may not we be as wise for our soules as for our bodies God forbid I am sure he hath no where forbidden it therefore it is not against Christ If it be not against him it is for him saith our Saviour Why then say they have we cast out all the significant ceremonies of Popery Not for their significancy barely but for their weight and measure They are not to them onely as outward garnishments of worship but as proper worship efficacious and meritorious their number stifles devotion and fills it with shewes without substance A cup of water refreshes but an whole Well of water choakes Yea an hundred Sermons weekly would not edifie they would eate out our conscience in our particular callings much more would an hundred ceremonies eate out the substance of our generall callings when a few may much refresh and profit if judgement over-power fancie and affection Yea but say they our significant ceremonies were taken from Idolaters and limbs of Antichrist who have abused them Were this true yet take the drosse from the silver and make a vessel for the finer but it is false Though they have had such as ours and have still yet ours are our owne and were never theirs in speciall Fire and water are contrary yet they agree in their kind they are both elements so ours are ceremonies and so are theirs but otherwise they differ as fire and water they scorne therefore ours and we deride theirs We read of sacrifices offered to Devils yet some of this was sold in shambles and some the Heathens made feasts of It was all the same flesh in kind but not in use The christians did damnably if they went to it when it was sacrificed yea and if they went to their Idol feasts when they blessed an idol it was idolatry but if they bought part of that flesh in the Shambles and eate it or went to their private feasts when they eate of it for ought they knew without reference to the Idol then saith Paul Eate making no question for conscience sake So say we of our crosse Surplice kneeling they were ordinances before Idolators abused them If they take them and blesse an Idol with them be it upon their own pates but if we be invited to them in a better use and not know nor have just cause to suspect any lurking Idolatry why should wee make so many needlesse questions about the use of them Put case such as they are pertained to Idolaters So did Goliahs sword yet David laid it up in an holy place for better use So did bowing belong to Baal prostrating the whole body to Idols kissing to the Calves kissing the hand to the hoste of heaven lifting up the eies stretching forth both hands showting for joy sitting or lying along upon the ground or on a carpet to idols yet all these we may use in the worship of the true God So for our ceremonies such as they are pertained to idolaters but were not idolatrous of themselves The crosse was used as a signe of profession before idolatrie prevailed The white garment was ordained as a cover-sloven in the poverty of the Church kneeling was used as an act of reverence before the breaden God was hatcht And may not we lawfully use them now to shew that we are in communion and fellowship with that blessed and persecuted Church without such noises and schismes Yea but in our worship there is say they as bad as all behinde wee have a stinted worship by that foule idol the common prayer booke and so we worship not in spirit and truth Doe we not worship in spirit when the spirit moves towards heaven as well as the flesh Doe wee not worship in truth when our petitions are true petitions uttered with a true tongue according to the truth of our hearts Doe wee not worship in spirit and truth when with such petitions heart and tongue we seek to God in all places not trusting in any Certainely wee doe and should doe farre better were it not for them who disgrace our common-prayer booke and draw the hearts of Gods people from it Yet those that know the vanity of their words and trust them not know also that they even when they use that booke to send their prayers tâ— heaven by doe pray in spirit and truth God bearing them witnesse by the holy Ghost How can they pray in spirit say they when they use him not what Is there no spirit but our owne Surely there is a publicke spirit and a private spirit The first hath wrought in the holy saints and army of martyrs who have laied up stocks of praier for us generations that follow them and by the blessed providence of God they are come into our hands There wee see how they prayed for us before we were There we learne to pray of them of whom the world was not worthy This spirit we use as well as our owne and it is pitty that any Christian that can pray to God by his owne dexterity of spirit should yet contemne the workings and helpings of the publicke spirit without whom the world had never had such a benefit But alasse say they our spirits are quite stinted when they are fettered with words
Booke it hath three degrees the Beginning Middle and End of it In the beginning of it there is reading of Psalmes principally to raise up our affections and of other Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament to confirme our judgements in the truth and to helpe us to search whether things heard are so or no. There is confession of our faith that wee may professe it as a briefe rule from Scriptures to try whether we stand in the faith whereto we may referre the truths of faith in the Scriptures And we have Prayers wherein wee are not long at once or with a breath but have distinct and divided salutations praises and Petitions for our selves chiefe members and the Church that we may the better hold out unto the end without distractions All this I am sure none if they understand can justly blame Onely there is one thing worth notice which doth hardly relish to some fewe and can by no meanes be indured by the Brownists and that is the Litany This stickes most because they are more carefull to make objections against it then answers for it that they may have comfort and peace with us Therefore with Christs helpe I shall indeavour two things to shew the reason of the name and how they may satisfie themselves against such scruples as may arise It is called a Litany which is an humble prayer whose use is most for adversity It comes of a word that signifies to supplicate from whence comes suppliant prayers The ancient Churches were full of them as I could shew which usually beganne with Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us and why should ours be empty seeing wee would be accounted as good Christians as they There are divers exceptions against ours therefore let us see next how they may satisfie themselvs against them There is no Church that I know but must have a favourable construction of some things and so must ouâ—s yet in this I see not but that all excepters may be fully satisfied The exceptions that I have yet met with are against the manner of this prayer and against the matter of it Against the manner they say that it is with repetitions of the people and interlocutary passages As for that I finde that in the scriptures God hath commanded publicke prayers that is that Presbyter and people should pray but he hath not commanded any forme or manner to carry their prayers in but onely that it bee done to edification Therfore he hath left that free to the wisdome and judgement of the governours And this we have often experience of that if a continued prayer be but halfe so long some will bee nodding before it bee done whereas if they be kept busie by the matter in hand they are more vigilant But say they he hath given us the Lords prayer all in one length and set Amen in the latter end This is true yet marke he said to his disciples when yee pray say Our Father and Amen too and hee hath not told them in what manner they should say it when they pray together whether one should say the Petitions and the rest Amen or whether all should say the Petitions and Amen too In this he hath left them to edifâ—cation and us also But it is said that some parts of the Litany are so said that the reader shewes onely what they must pray for and the people make the suite as when they say from such and such a thing good Lord deliver us and this seemes to bee absurd That the people should make it without the minister is not injoyned that the minister doth not intend and make the suite is false except hee bee carelesse and wicked As the people say Amen aloude and the minister saith it too though happly not so loude so the minister intends and saith Good Lord deliver us though the people in turnes exceede in voice Against the matter of this prayer many things are objected few things weighed and nothing proved but evident quarrels There are exceptions against words and phrases and against suites conveyed in them The wordes and phrases are by thy crosse and passion by thy pretious death c. Which some of them out of the leâ—ity of minde call conjuring some out of worse cal swearing as if none could out sweare the Litany Let them take heede how they blaspheme the piety of Gods servants It was none of Elies goodnesse when hee reproached the prayers of Hannah as if shee were drunke when shee made them Let them apply this to themselves It will not be denied but that Christ brought us a great benefit by all these For what hee did as a publicke person hee did for us and our salvation in one degree or other Now what is this but a praying that all these acts and passions of Christ in their vertue and merit bee applyed to us by Gods love that wee may finde the profit of them But now the suites that wee convey in the words of that good Prayer are troublesome to them both when we sue for things and Persons As for things wee pray against two things which they doe not like against sudden death and against the sinnes of our forefathers As for the first there is a double sudden death sudden in time and sudden for want of preparation God hath said that hee will come before that wee are aware like a thiefe in the night His will bee done wee pray not against that But wee pray that his comming may not be so sudden but that through wisdome given we may set our houses in order and bee as the wise virgines having our lampes and oyle in a readinesse and from such sudden death good Lord deliver us As for the sinnes of our forefathers which being dead are now out of the state of forgivenesse wee pray not that their sinnes bee forgiven them but that they bee not remembred to be punished in us God punisheth to the third and fourth generation and the Psalmist saith Let the iniquitie of his fathers be remembred before the Lord and let not the sinne of his mother be blotted out that their posterity bee cut off and in the generations following their names bee blotted out And because these comminations have conditions of Repentance annexed to them doe not wee well to repent and cry to God remember not the iniquity of forefathers for feare of those sinnes that have gone before us But yet they like not the Persons that we pray for when wee say that God would have mercy upon all men For Christ saith he prayed not for the world but our Church cares not whom they pray for Indeed because wee finde that wee have a Precept pray for all men and an holy practise Let the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee therefore wee doe as wee are bound in praying for all men
That little strength wee have is apt to false us by faith wee stand and still there is something lacking to our faith And thus it comes that wee hardly keepe our feete steady Wee are also too much in love with that way that hath most danger in it The spirit is willing but the flesh is weake and is ready to eate poyson for wholesome foode sometimes out of custome sometimes out of curiositie and sometimes out of an ill appetite wee have got to unwholesome things But if wee doe wisely consider these things in one another wee will bee full of compassion And as they that consider not are full of fierce and fiery censure as Iudah to Tamar bring her forth and let her be burnt not considering his owne guilt so they that doe it are led by the contrary spirit As when wee consider a man aloft who totters is apt to fall and unable to keepe his feete in a setled posture our bowels yearne our flesh drops feare and wee are out of our selves with sudden apprehension so is it with a man that considers his brother hee puts him on by fellow feeling Yea then wee will prudently deale one with another to keep up As wee see dispositions gifts vertues or faults wee wisely fore-thinke how to maintaine the best and prevent the worst Besides this considering brings us to Pauls rule If a brother fall by infirmity not by pride and selfe conceit restore him with the spirit of meekenesse with a tender heart and hand set him in joynt againe For want of this consideration too many Christians are ready to faile The frailety of the flesh the opposition of grace is little considered and so there is neither wisedome compassion or meeknesse to heale Men difference not stubborne faylers for whom there is a rod of iron and weake failers for whom there is a Spirit of meekenesse Men discerne not sinners of custome who are as blacke-moores and sinners overtaken who with stripes must not bee driven quite away and so doe more hurt than good But bee more wise to consider hereafter than before This moved Paul to say Hee that stands let him take heed lest hee fall This moved Iohn to say little children keepe your selves from Idols Yea this mooved CHRIST to say When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Out of such consideration I have laboured to give this revalsion and Antidote And if our forsakers had had it too it might have saved mee a labour and they might with it have had more wisdome meeknesse and compassion and lesse heart-dividing censures The Apostle would have us also make such use of publike assemblies that wee may exhort one another Hee knowes that it is a great worke to continue in love to God his truth and Saints and in good workes Pride is one of the last sinnes that dye It is like a man of a strong heart which hardly yeelds his heart is more in compasse than another mans It will worke it selfe out of lesse sinne and more grace and where pride is there is contention and so lesse truth and love Againe superfluity of maliciousnesse drownes the whole nature of man Even when the head floates with Christ the heart is too much drencht in this It is crossed and will crosse againe like the devils cocke to spurre all opposites and hence also comes losse of truth and love Againe the spirit of a man lusteth after envy This makes the eye evill because God is good It desires to bee in the uppermost forme like the two sonnes of Zebedeus Therefore Ioseph the reformed Prodigall and the last workers in the Vineyard are grumbled at and hence also is lesse truth and love Lastly truth and love enter at a narrow passage and Christ comes not with all his mighty power at first As the Sea is not sifted thorow the narrow crevises of the earth at once so is it with truth and love And as a Conquerour that leaves most of his Armie behinde him subdues not presently so it is with Christ and us Wee are not able to receive his truth and love together neither stands it with his dispensation wee being not extraordinary but ordinary servants who must attaine by industry Hence therefore men dreaming that they have attained when there is much behind doe ill use what truth and love they have and so faile foulely Neither is it lesse difficult to continue in good workes The fountaine is apt to be dry that is a good heart If out of the belly doe not flow rivers of waters of life no waters will runne to the living How soon is this streame dryed up because men live not with Christ the spring-head Besides men are not altogether for gathering this worlds goods to spend it upon their lusts They forget that there is a time to scatter and then they cast not their bread upon the waters they beleeve not that they shall finde it so Lastly men have three bad thoughts that keepe them from good workes They thinke that no man is more worthy to have then themselves Some are wicked and not worthy some are good yet themselves are better some are idle and will live upon the spoile and some are painefull and therefore the better able to provide for themselves still selfe is thought to be the onely man to have They thinke themselves againe the absolute owners of what they have It is their owne as Nabal said why should they give it to others This they willingly thinke not that they are stewards and so are kept backe Lastly they thinke this worlds goods the onely commanders of men and things and therefore they will not put themselves out of them that they may rule all Now because it is so difficult a work not only to continue in good works but in truth and love which must make them excellent therefore the Apostle would have us so improve our selves by the fellowship of publike assemblies that we may be able to exhort one another Such is the inconstancie of nature in all good courses that it is easily apt to change from good to worse Moses was but a while gone and Israel fell to idolatry Paul wondred that the Galathians were so soone turned to another Gospel Yea such is our slownesse in good that we had need be spurred continually Ephesus forsakes her first love Yea and when Christs hearers heard they must be exhorted to heare and when the Thessalonians did edifie one another they must bee exhorted to doe it Men are in a dead sleepe and they are loth to be awaked as the sluggard they thinke themselves able to exhort themselves they love not many masters they see not how frozen they are till their owne hearts smite them as Davids till God raise up some adversary to reproach them or till God take them in hand himselfe by some heavie visitation Therefore saith Paul