credenda agenda for every one of us Articles to bee beleeved and Commandements to bee kept These are common to all Christians in generall he that will be saved must thus beleeve and doe be he of what Nation or Church soever But as we are members of this or that Nationall Church there are to keepe S. Pauls word Facienda enjoyned us matters of Order and matters of Discipline The former two we receive from Christ only but for the other we must stoope to that Nationall Church wherein we live wee must conforme our selves to the Canons of that Church and performe all things in that order and manner which shee hath appointed for so reason and S. Paul require If I become a member of some great mans family or of any City or Corporation I must not bring in any new orders with me but I must observe those which I finde already established Yee expect as much from your servants in your particular families And is it fit that the Governors of the Church should suffer us to use what new fashions and phantasticall orders we list in the house of God All reasonable men will grant this to be very unreasonable Yea it hath beene concluded long since by those great Reformers under King Edward the sixt Acts and Mon. in Edw. 6. p. 1193. col 1. that The externe Rites and Ceremonies are APPOINTABLE BY SVPERIOR POVVERS in choosing whereof WE MVST OBEY THE MAGISTRATES And if any man shall use old or other Rites and thereby DISOBEY the superior powers the DEVOTION of his Ceremonies is made NAVGHT by his DISOBEDIENCE so that that which else might be good by pride and DISOBEDIENCE is now MADE NAVGHT This doctrine in those dayes was held so pure and justifiable that Bishop Bonner was commanded by the Kings Councell to preach it at S. Pauls Crosse Ibidem Indeed fit it is that the ancient and setled orders bee in force and finde obedience for they onely are allowed of by authority and therefore justifiable Fiant saith S. Paul Let them be done Wee may not then it seemes bee like stockes and stones like the pillars or pues in the Church alwayes in one posture something or other wee must be doing Wee must be sometimes kneeling sometimes standing otherwhiles bowing when and as we are commanded We must either be confessing our faith or our sinnes or receiving absolution for our sinnes Wee must be praying with the Priest or answering to the Priest or diligently observing what the Priest delivers you from God or praying God to incline your hearts to keepe those lawes which the Priest in Gods behalfe exhorts you to obey There is no idle time spared us in the house of God no time for sleep or wandering thoughts If any man doubt of the Churches authority in these points the Scripture will cleare these doubts for doth not S. Paul say plainly a 1 Cor. 11.34 Caetera cum venero disponam The rest will I set in order when I come Neither was this authority proper and peculiar to the Apostles by no meanes for S. Paul tells Titus b Eusch hist l. 3. c. 4. the first Bishop of Crete that c Titus 1.5 he had left him at Crete for this very cause that he might set in ORDER the things that were wanting such as S. Paul had not disposed of when hee was at Crete So much for the generall In particular if the Preacher turne seducer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the Bishops duty to stop his mouth Tit. 1.11 If an heretick breake forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the first and second admonition REIECT him d In this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Constit Apost l. 2. c. 8. cast him out of the Church Tit. 3.10 If any man fall into loose and foule sinnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Cumomni imperio Beza rebuke him with ALL AVTHORITY Tit. 2.15 If any man grow stubborn or refractory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie so much by Letter present him to the Bishop of the Diocesse that hee may bee made ashamed of his doings 2. Thessalonians 3.14 f 1 Tim. 6.3 If any man teach disobedience to Authority g Ibid. ver 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep aloofe from him have no communion with him Besides as we read of those that teach well so we read also of those that rule well in the Church 1. Tim. 5.17 But these Rulers could be no other then Bishops since by them h Cypr. ep 27. n. 1. Omnis actus Ecclesiae gubernatur every action of the Church is guided so Saint Cyprian Indeed manifest it is by all histories sacred and profane that in those times and in some hundreths of yeeres after there were no Governours in the Church but Bishops onely for i Cypr. ep 65. n. 65 the Apostles themselves were Bishops Saint Paul therefore can intend no other Rulers there besides Bishops Since then we are under their authority let us submit our selves to their authority let us do what we should do and consider that this Canon is universall OMNIA fiant Let ALL THINGS be done Which is the second part II. OMNIA fiant Let ALL things be done ALL that are enjoyned Here is nothing at all left to our discretion nothing may be left undone when and where we please It is not for us then to take the Canons upon liking to observe one and neglect another we must make a conscience of obedience Rom. 13.5 We may not thinke it enough to stand at the Creed unlesse we say it also with the Minister audibly Can. 18. with a loud voyce Nor is it enough for us to stand up onely at the Gospel according to the k Quedam Canone quaedam consuetudine observanter Cod. Afric in prin Churches custome but we must also l Can. 18. bow at the name of Iesus not as if we were ashamed of what we did but with due and lowly reverence as it hath been accustomed Remembring that our Saviour sayes flatly Whosoever shall be ashamed of me of him shall the Sonne of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory St. Luk. 9.26 Neither is it sufficient for us to be bare in time of Divine service unlesse we also m Ibidem reverently kneele upon our knees when the Generall Confession Letany Prayers and Commandements are read according as is prescribed in the book of Common prayer But we must not doe these things or any of them negligently or carelesly as if we cared not whether we did them or so the Apostle sayes they must be done decently The third part III. DECENTER Decenter decently Decency stands first in order and reason good for decency makes way for all good order and drawes all wise men to be in love with that order which in it selfe is decent and decently observed We are met in the house of God in the house of Prayer to do God service
great in any subject to disallow a law of the King a law of a Realme by long study free disputation and VNIFORME DETERMINATION OF THE WHOLE CLERGIE consulted debated and CONCLVDED This is most agreeable to our Saviours doctrine S. Mat. 23. h S. Mat. 13.2.3 The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chaire in the chaire of the Law-maker the power is now in their hands ALL therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and doe Neither did our Saviour onely teach this doctrine but he practised it in his owne person giving us an example how to behave our selves in the like kind For our Saviour submitted himselfe freely to the orders of that Church wherein he lived as is to be seene by i S. Ioh. 2.13 his observing the feast of Easter and of k S. Ioh. 10.22 the Dedication of the Temple l S. Luk. 2.22 When his mother had beene purified himselfe was m Ib. presented to the Lord and n S. Luk. 2.24 for him an offering was made of a paire of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons And which was most intollerable o S. Luk. 2.21 hee was circumcised the eighth day If I should tell you of the severe Lawes in the Primative Church and those Penalties and Penances which were strictly imposed and submissively undergone by Offenders in those times it would strike you into an amazement You could not but wonder at the rigour of the Canons as also at the humility and patience of those Christians But our Church imposeth no such sharpe Orders it enjoyneth no such rigorous courses We complaine of ease we cannot of rigour And yet how few of us willingly obey these easie these decent Orders But Saint Paul is very strict for them he will have us to doe them and to doe them as they should be done even Decenter secundum ordinem Decently and in or according to Order My last part V. Decenter secundum ordinem Decently AND according to Order To doe our duties but in one of these onely is to submit our selves by halfes but Saint Paul will have both It is not then for us to judge of decency we must hold that to be decent which is according to order prescribed for both these goe together in my Text and we must keep them so We may not then conceit a decency to our selves without order This is to affront the Apostle and all authority This is to side a Numb 16. with Korah and is nota distinctionis a sure token whereby to discerne the Schismatically minded from peaceable and orderly Christians Consider good brethren where there is no order there can be no decency and where there is no decency there is as little order and there can be neither where every man is left to his owne liberty It is an observation of a great learned man that b Franc. a victor Relect. 1. Sect. 5. n. 1. in the state of innocencie order should have beene observed and for that end if man had continued in that state there should have beene a power directive though not coercive to have prescribed order Non enim esset decora Respublica saith hee si quilibet SVO RITV Deum coleret etiamsi omnes recte viverent for the face of the Church could not be decent and comely if every man should serve God after his owne fashion though all men lived never so uprightly And what he speakes is not without reason for Paradise and hell are as different as may be But in hell there is no order Iob 10.22 Therefore in Paradise there must have beene order In heaven also there is decency and Order and uniformity as it is to be seene Apoc. 7. c In the ninth verse the Saints are all clothed q Revel 7.9 with white robes d Ibidem all stand before the Lambs throne e Ibidem v. 10. all cry with a loud voyce f Ibidem all use one and the same thankesgiving And as it is with the Saints so is it with the Angels vers 11. g Ibidem v. 11. They all stand round about the throne together h Ibidem they all fall downe before the throne together on their faces i Ibidem v. 12. they all use one and the same doxologie saying Amen Blessing and glory and wisedome and thankesgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen That the Saints have white robes is decent but that they are all clothed with white robes is orderly That they stand before the throne and fall downe before the throne is decent but that they all stand together and all fall downe together is orderly That they cry with a loud voice is decent that they all doe so together is orderly That they praise and glorifie God is seemely but that they all praise God in the selfe same words is secundum ordinem most agreeable to order Thus you see they 1 all worship together 2 after the same manner 3 in the same posture 4 the selfe same way 5 with robes of one and the same colour 6 and in the selfe same words not muttering betweene the teeth 7 but with a loud voice And is not this to give us an example how we ought to behave our selves in the Church of God surely our Church if you well observe may seeme to have set this heavenly patterne before her when shee made her Canons and Constitutions Let us then humbly and religiously submit our selves and doe all things according to that heavenly order which is injoyned Injoyned By whom By them that have power to injoyne it And who are they Kings and Bishops Kings Rom. 13. the most part of that Chapter tells you so And S. Peter seconds S. Paul in this point Submit your selves to EVERY ORDINANCE of man for the Lords sake to the KING as SVPREME as also to them that are sent or put in authority by Kings 1. S. Pet. 2.13 14. So then to Bishops because they are put in authority by Kings if they had no other claime But blessed be God they hold not only by this k As touching the Reverend Ordinaries of this land if there be any that dislike of their callings or conceive of the same as not grounded upon Apostolicall and for all the essentiall parts thereof upon Divine Right I would he were with Mr. Cotton in New England The holy Table c. 3. p. 64. but by an higher tenure l Rom. 13 1. since all powers are of God from him they have their spirituall Iurisdiction what ever it be S. Paul therefore yee see assumes this power to himselfe of setting things in order in the Church before any Prince became Christian 1 Cor. 11.34 The like power he acknowledgeth to be in Titus Tit. 1.5 And in all Bishops Heb. 13.17 Where he commands us to m Heb. 13.17 obey them that have the rule over us And who are they Even those
n Ibidem who watch for your soules and must give an account for your soules o Calvin in Heb. 13.17 These saith Calvin without doubt are the Pastors of the Church And a part of their duty it is to put us in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates Tit. 3.1 Every private man in his owne family expects that good order should bee kept And what order is that Such as the Master of the house prescribes For he may in his owne family injoyne what orders hee pleaseth so that they be not repugnant to the Lawes of our Superiors or contrary to the plaine word of God And shall a Prince or Bishop be in worse case then an ordinary house-keeper shall not the Prince have the same power in his owne dominions and a Bishop in his Bishoprick that every private man hath in his owne family shall it not be lawfull for them to provide such orders as are decent that may raise devotion and increase piety Surely if our Saviour or his Apostles had injoyned all orders in particular there had remained little or nothing for Bishops to shew their authority in p Heb. 13.17 Obedite praepositis vestris might have beene spared S. Paul needed not command us to obey our Rulers or Bishops For if we performe what God injoynes directly in terminis in particular we obey God herein and not our Governors But we are commanded to obey our Governors and therefore something is left to their disposing to their ordering Kings make Lawes and Bishops Canons Thus indeed it was of necessity in the beginning of Christianity Kings made lawes for the State and Bishops for the Church because then there were no Christian Kings either to authorize them to make such lawes or that would countenance them when they were made But after that q Isa 49.23 Kings became nursing Fathers to the Church Bishops in those pious and regular times made no Canons without the assent and consent and confirmation of Christian Kings And such are our Canons so made so confirmed This is one of those Prerogatives which r Reges Iudaeorum non res modo civicat domi militiaeque moderati sunt sed religionibus etiam sacrisque ceremoniis praefuerunt P. Cunaeus de Rep. Heb. l. 1. c. 14. godly Kings enjoyed and used in the Book of God King David ordered all things for the Arke and Tabernacle 1. Chron. c. 15.16.24 Thus Solomon for and in the Temple 2. Chron. 8.14 And Hezekiah did in like manner 2. Chron. c. 29.30.31 And doth not David order our behaviour in the Church O come let us 1. worship and 2. fall doune and 3. kneele before the Lord our maker Psal 95.6 This charge comes from Å¿ 1 Sam. i3 i4 a man after Gods owne heart and hee that disobeyes is not a man after Gods owne heart It comes from a King and subjects must obey It comes from such a King whom all good Kings are bound to imitate in his religious commands and all religious Christians are bound to obey these and the like commands No sooner did Kings and Emperours embrace the Christian faith but they made use of this Prerogative Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour t Euseb de vita Const M. l. 4. c. 23. ordained what dayes should be kept holydayes v Ib. c. 17. Hee appointed orders for the Church w Ib. c. 18. Hee provided a set forme of Common Prayer x Ib. c. 25. Hee confirmed under his seale the Canons made by Bishops in their severall Councels that so the greatest of his Princes and Commanders might not sleight them y Socrates l. 1. c. 6. Theod. l. 1. c. 10. Yea the Emperour himselfe professeth that his chiefe care was that there might be but 1. one faith 2. syncere charity 3. Et Consentiens religionis cultus and one manner of religious worship throughout his Dominions And z Donati vox est Quid est imperatori cum Ecclesia Optat. l 3. Sic Petilianus apud D. Aug. cont lit Petil. l. 2. c. 92. I finde not that any but Schismatickes and Heretickes were offended at it That in these matters the Emperour used the advice of Bishops is evident in that he had a Euseb de vita Const M. l. 1. c. 35. the Bishops alwayes in his company that b Sozom. hist l. 1. c. 9. he made an Act that the Decrees of Councels should be unchangeable c Ibidem and that it should be lawfull to appeale from the civill Magistrates to Bishops but no appeale from them I could justifie as much for William the Conqueror and Charles the Great but I hasten If a set order were not concluded upon by authority if every man should use that behaviour in the Church that likes him best and if every particular congregation should have that forme of service which they conceit best and might alter it at their pleasure Lord what diversity should wee have wee should have every yeere at least new Service bookes as wee have new Almanacks worke worke more worke for the Printers and as much variety of gestures as of faces in the Church And then d 1 Cor. 14.23 if there come in some that are unlearned or that are unbeleevers will they not say that yee are mad Whereas if they enter into a mannerly congregation and behold therein one and the same decency according to order e Ibidem v. 25. cadentes in faciem adorabunt Deum they will fall downe on their faces and worship God professing that God is in you of a truth Remember that f 1 Sam. 15.22 obedience is better then sacrifice True say you obedience to God is so But obedience to our Superiours is obedience to God For hath not God commanded g Rom. 13.1 Every soule to be subject to the higher powers Hath he not commanded us to h 1 S. Pet. 2.13 submit our selves to every ordinance of man If wee teach servants to obey their Masters or children to honour their parents you like wonderfull well of this doctrine you see it plainely set downe in holy Scripture And are not the other commands as plaine That we must submit to the higher powers for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 For the Lords sake 1. S. Pet. 2.13 As unto Christ Eph. 6.5 Surely saith Primasius S. Austines Scholer l Primas in Eph. 6. In his quae sunt commissa hominum potestati homines gâ—runt vicem Dei Tho. 1. â—ae q 100. 3m. Christo facitis quicquid propter Christum hominibus exhibetis yee do Christ service when yee obey your superiors for Christs sake So then in obeying our Bishops and Governors we obey k 1 S. Pet. 2.25 that great Bishop of our soules who hath commanded us to l Heb 13.17 submit our selves to them that have the rule over us And if we do not our duty to them that are set over us