of the Holy Scripture our Church rather doth take for granted than prove too laboriously or uncertainly § 9. All immoderate extravagancies concerning interpretation of Holy Scripture avoided by our Church § 1. WHereas Moderation hath its name and being from the equal measures observed by it the first instance of the Moderation of our Church is most properly to be taken from the right rule and measure in Religion which this Church of ours constantly receives and holds close to by which she is safely preserved from all undue extremes having to her self the same rule and measure of her Moderation which the universal Church of Christ in all Ages hath had such a rule as is beyond all exception and is of undeniable Authority namely the Holy Scriptures which are the same right and just measure by which she measures out to others and desires to be measured by her self in whatever she receives and delivers out as matter of Faith and required practice in the necessary parts of Religion and the worship of God Whereas next to the extreme of them who have no Religion nor no Rule the vanity and extravagance of those is very notorious who set up themselves to be their own Rule which is done in the pretences of infallibility on one hand and enthusiasm on the other between that Rock and this Gulf the Moderation of our Church doth safely conduct its own judgment and practice and all that follow her In the Sixth Article of Religion see how our Church doth own the perfection of Holy Scripture as a Rule Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation and the reason why the Church of England doth require her self to be acknowledged of her own a Canon 3. 1603. as a true and Apostolical Church is because she teacheth and maintains the Doctrine of the Apostles and in the fourth Canon the Church censures all Impugners of the worship of God and whosoever shall affirm her Form containeth any thing in it repugnant to the Scriptures In the 36. Canon Article 2. All who are to subscribe are willingly and ex animo to affirm That the Book of Common-Prayer and of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God and Article 3. That he acknowledgeth all and every of the 39. Articles to be agreeable to the word of God In the 19th Article of Religion The visible Church of Christ is defined a Congregation of faithful men in the which the pure word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly administred according to Christs Ordinance And in the ordering of Bishops and Priests it is asked Be you perswaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity for eternal Salvation through Faith in Jesu Christ And are you determined with the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your Charge and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures The Answer is I am so perswaded and have so determined by Gods grace In the 20th Article of Religion it is declared It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing contrary to Gods word written neither to expound one place that it be repugnant to another From all which passages and many more which might be repeated out of the Monuments of our Church it is evident that as our Church is formed in her whole Constitution with an uniform respect to this Rule and hath framed her Articles Liturgy Homilies and Orders thereby so it doth require her self to be acknowledged in those but in subordination to this Rule and measure as before and superiour to it self which doth manifest the exceptions of many of the Separation to be very unreasonable who seem to give such deference to the Holy Scriptures and at the same time renounce Communion with the Church of England which doth so religiously hold to the Sacred Scriptures of which our Church in union with the whole Church of God is a sure Keeper a faithful Witness a zealous Defender and a most sober Interpreter § 2. The Moderation of the Church of England further appears in avoiding the extremes of those who take away from the true perfection of Scripture and of others who seem officiously to add thereunto Of the first sort of those who detract from the true perfection of Scripture are they who frame an additional Canon of their own as the Church of Rome doth who declares that the Apocryphal Writings and Traditions of men are nothing inferiour nor less Canonical than the Sovereign dictates of God as well for the Confirmation of doctrinal points pertaining to Faith as for ordering of Life and Manners and that both the one and the other ought to be embraced with the same affection of Piety and received with the like religious Reverence b Concil Trid. Sess 4. Decr. 1. not making any difference between them Thus as it is in the second part of the Homily of good works Christ reproved the Laws and Traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees because they were set up so high as though they had been equal with Gods Laws and above them They worship Me in vain that teach for Doctrines the Commandments of men For you leave the Commandments of God to keep your own Traditions Yet He meant not thereby to overthrow Mens Commandments for He Himself was obedient to the Princes and their Laws made for good order On the other extreme They of the Separation among us are busy to attribute to the Holy Scriptures such a perfection as God never intended them namely particularly to determine of all actions of Mankind and every matter of order and decency in Religion Between these two see by how even a thred our Church divides the controversy first asserting the real perfection of Scriptures as a Rule to be as much as need to be to be as great a perfection as God hath given it in order to its end namely to guide our belief and practice in things needful to Salvation Article 20. Besides the same namely Gods word written ought not the Church to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of salvation and in the same Article It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing contrary to Gods word written Yet the Article begins thus The Church hath power to Decree Rites and Ceremonies and hath Authority in controversies of Faith Wherein according to an accurate Moderation the Church doth behave itself in attributing to the Holy Scriptures their just and full perfection On the other hand our Church doth thankfully accept of that Christian Liberty which God hath left her and indeed which he hath given all particular Christians according to their
measures namely leave to determine their particular actions according to the general Rule of Holy Scriptures and sometimes of Prudence where other Laws are not given to determine their Liberty And indeed this Article of the sufficiency of the Scriptures and the use of them as a Rule is the very dividing point at which those of the Separation on either hand leave our Church and her Moderation at once For those who are ready on one hand to receive all Traditions which the Church of Rome can offer with affection and reverence equal to the written word of God so that as it is in our Homily c Homily of good works 3 d. Part. The Laws of Rome as they said were to be received of all men as the four Evangelists No Moderation can contain the extravagancies such belief leads them to On the other hand to accept of no appointment for outward order and government in the Church or Kingdom but what is set out in the express word of God for the direction of every particular action under pretence of defending Christian Liberty is verily so gross and unreasonable a Pharisaical confining it that this principle is the first Sanctuary of ignorance and disobedience in most of our Separatists who under an immoderate pretence to Religion and the honour of Scriptures really offer great abuse and disservice to both as it is a real abuse to a person though of honour to give him Titles which do not belong to him so it is an occasion to Atheists and prophane persons captiously to detract from the true perfection of Holy Writings when they find attributed to them such Titles as are false and imaginary We must take heed saith the judicious Hooker d Eccles Pol. l. 3. §. 8. lest in attributing to Scripture more than it can have the incredibility of that do cause even those things which it hath most abundantly to be less reverently esteemed On this foundation of our Churches Moderation in what she judgeth concerning the perfection of Holy Scripture both the Protestant and the Christian Religion is established For as Bishop Sanderson saith e Pref. to his Sermons The main Article of the Protestant Religion is The Holy Scriptures are a perfect Rule of Faith and manners so the very mystery of Puritanism is That no man may with a safe Conscience do any thing for which there may not be produced either command or example in Scripture § 3. We are to note the Moderation of the Church in her judgment of the letter and sense of Holy Scripture and in the use of such consequences as are duly drawn from thence Whereas the Romanists 1. look on the letter of Holy Scripture but as so many dead and unsensed Characters f Richworth's Dialogues J. S. Sure-footing of variable and uncertain signification g Niâ— Cusâ—nus Card. Ep. 7. ad â—â—hem 2. They make the sense of Scripture entirely depend on the Authority of their Church h V. Concil Trid. Sess 4. Decret de usu S. Scr. 3. They presume the Church of Rome only can make authentick all the Books of Holy Scripture i Nullum Capitulum nullusque liber Canonicus habetur absque illius authoritate Greg. 7. Dict. 16. in Concil Rom. and by her sole Authority is to determine which are to be Canonical 4. They will not allow the clear consequences of Scripture to prove any matter of doctrine k V. Discourse upon a Conference Apr. 3. 1676. In these as in many other instances our Sectaries generally agree with the Romanists 1. They also make the Holy Scripture a dead Letter without their interpretation 2. In making the sense which they vouch to be the Word of God 3. Such Scriptures as seem to serve their turn they allow others they reject 4. The clear consequences from Holy Scriptures against them they cast by as only the results of carnal reason Between these two opposers of Holy Scripture at present there appears this difference instead of an external infallible Interpreter on one side the other sets up the witness of their own private spirit for an infallible interpreter also When time serves They that make the difference can compromise it Amidst these extremes observe we the Wisdom and Moderation of the Church of England 1. It gives all due honour to the Letter of Holy Writ referring her self and her Sons chiefly to the Originals l V. B. of Homilies passim Caeterùm in lectione D. Scripturarum si quae occurrerint ambigua vel obscura in V. Test earum interpretatio ex fonte Hebraicae veritatis petatur in N. autem Graeci codices consulantur Reform Leg. Eccles de fide Cathol c. 12. using all care in keeping the Letter of Holy Scripture and preserving the Originals and setting them forth correctly and translating them as faithfully as may be 2. The sense of Scripture our Church accounteth chiefly as Scripture viz. The Word of God therein The mind of God being thought by our Church to consist not in words but in sense For is the Kingdom of God words and syllables m Translators of the Bible Pres 3. The clear consequences in Scripture are in our Church accounted a good proof in matters of doubtful Doctrine Whatsoever is not read therein nor proved thereby is not to be required saith our sixth Article Wherefore Mr Chillingworth n Chillingworth 's Pref. § 28. did not without reason thus declare I profess sincerely I believe all those Books of Scripture which the Church of England accounts Canonical to be the infallible word of God I believe all things evidently contained in them or even probably deducible from them o Simpliciter necessaria Rex appellat quae vel expressè Verbum Dei praecipit vel ex verbo Dei necessaria Consequentiâ vetus Ecclesia elicuit Rex Jacobus ad Card. Perr § 4. In our Church no one Version nor more are made equal much less superiour to the original Nothing is declared authentick but what is judged truly and originally so Although the Church of Rome hath declared the vulgar Translation to be only the authentick Scripture p Conc. Trid. Sess 4. Decr. 2. according to which all points in Question are to be decided and though the same in our Church hath been convinced by sundry learned men of some imperfections yet wherein it is most faithfully performed the innovations of Popery even from thence may be sufficiently manifested Other ancient Versions and Translations which have been of Holy Scripture our Church is so far from rejecting or undervaluing that it hath made great use of them and doth constantly acknowledge their usefulness and doth esteem them according to their antiquity and the approbation they have had in the Church of God Yea in the worst of our late times when the true Church of England was most of all accused of Popery and opposition to the Scriptures then were sundry learned and religious Sons of the Church diligently
for reading the holy Scripture is made agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers and a great deal more profitable and commodious It is more profitable because there are left out many things whereof some are untrue some uncertain some vain and superstitious and nothing is ordained to be read but the very pure word of God the holy Scriptures or that which is agreeable to the same and that in such a language and order as is most easy and plain for the understanding both of the Readers and the hearers It is also more commodious both for the shortness thereof and for the plainness of the order and that the rules be few and easy Since the Reformation those who love not to be contain'd in any good bounds when they read the Bible chuse to do it out of all Canonical Order or generally snap upon the Chapters fortuitously or affect for their most common reading the most difficult Books and Chapters The wisdom of our Church hath provided that the Old Testament may be read out every Year once f Tale aliquid audio esse nunc in Ecclesiâ Anglicanâ in quâ Psalterium singulis mensibus al solvitur totum utrumque Testamentum unico anno continuatâ lectione percurritur Vtinam reliquae Ecclesiae reformatae c. Spalaâ—ensis l. 7. c. 12. All the Psalms once every Month and the New Testament thrice every Year g V. The Order how the Holy Scripture is appointed to be read Yet with this Moderation some difficult and very mysterious places are excepted Yet so that the Church declares Though the rehearsal of the Genealogies and Pedigrees of the Fathers be not so much to the edification of the plain ignorant people Yet there is nothing so impertinently uttered in all the whole Book of the Bible but may serve to spiritual purpose in some respect to all such as will bestow their labours to search out the meaning h Homily of certain places of Scripture 2d Part. Thus manifest is it that our Church doth really intend edification in her Institutions and can the wit of man i B. Jer. Taylor Pref. to his Collection of Offices conceive a better temper and expedient than this of the Church of England that such Scriptures only and principally should be laid before them in daily Offices which contain in them all the mysteries of our Redemption and all the Rules of good Life That the people of the Church may not complain that the Fountains of our Salvation are stopt from them nor the Rulers of the Church that the mysteriousness of Scripture is abused And further to prevent the inconvenience of the vulgars use of Scripture there was a wholsome Injunction of Queen Elizabeth k 1559 §. 37. fit here to be mentioned That no man should talk or reason of Holy Scripture rashly or contentiously nor maintain any false doctrine or errour but shall commune on the same when occasion is given reverently humbly and in the fear of God for his comfort and better understanding For as it is in the Homily against contention Too many there be which upon Ale-benches and other places delight to set forth certain Questions not so much pertaining to edification as to Vain-glory whence they fall to chiding and contention With reference to which Injunction it was that some Bishops in their Articles of enquiry had this for a Question Whether any were known in their Diocese who profaned the Holy Scripture in Table-talk which was captiously misunderstood by many in their intemperate heats against the Bishops as if they thereby did forbid all sober Conference on any places of Holy Scripture whereas the Injunction of the Queen which ought still to have effect should reasonably interpret their enquiry which certainly was the ground thereof Besides many of those Bishops themselves when Masters of Colledges in the Universities observed and caused to be observed those Statutes which in most Colledges require reading of Scripture at Meals Ordering that Communication which is thereon to be such as in the Queens Injunction was before-mentioned § 7. Our Church according to great wisdom hath received such Books as Canonical of whose authority there was never any doubt in the Church l 39. Article 6. Scio tamen Vualdensem tenere quod declarandi approbandi Libros sacros sit in serie Patrum omnium fidelium ab Apostolis succedentium Fr. S. Clara. ad Artic. Confess Angl. 6. rejecting what truly are not of the Canon which the Church of Rome thrusts in of its own head and doth not leave out any which are as many have done in other times and places In relation to those Books whose Title is the Apocrypha the Moderation of our Church expresseth an excellent temper 1. In that in their Title as of uncertain Writings they are distinguisht from Canonical 2. All the Apocryphal Books are not recommended to be read in the Church 3. Nor on all days particularly not on the Lords Day as such 4. Those our Church doth use together with other Canonical Scripture as it plainly and publickly declares in her sixth Article of Religion and as St Hierom saith m S. Hier. Pres ad â—ild V. Eâ—â—phan c. 〈◊〉 for example of life and instruction of manners as Clemens Romanus to the Corinthians and other such Writings were read in the ancient Church n Sunt alii libri qui leguntur quidem sed nonscribuntur in Canone H. de S. Vic. Cap. 6. de scripturis c. but doth not apply them to establish any Doctrine as if they had such authority alone by themselves Our Church indeed doth prefer them before any other Ecclesiastical or private Writings because of the many excellent and sacred instructions in them for which good and religious use which may be made of them by all we do them the honour to bind them up with our Bibles though we make them not of equal authority thereby or of divine inspiration as we do not also either the English Meeter of the Psalms or the Epistle of the Translators of the Bible § 8. The Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures our Church according to great wisdom doth rather take for granted than labour much to prove such an undoubted principle of Religion justly supposing there is no reason either to question that the Church hath surely received those Divine Oracles or surely delivered them and therefore our sixth Article speaks of them as of whose authority there was never any doubt in the Church Our Church justly thus supposing immediately therefore applies her self in an Exhortation to a diligent reading the Holy Scriptures Homily 1. and so long as those of her Communion are by any just means convinced of their authority our Church according to a great Moderation leaves it to the Providence of God by what particular arguments of the many which lie before us we may come to this satisfaction Not causing the satisfaction of any to depend upon one sort
never were so appointed And on the other from the wild inordinacy of them who make their own private principle whatsoever it be the rule of Scripture interpretation Among all wisely making use of and asserting and recommending such means as are given for the conveyance or interpretation or both for the conveying and interpreting of Divine Writ Something further of which will more distinctly appear in the next Chapter CHAP. V. Of the Moderation of the Church in applying the Rule of Faith to it self § 1. Avoiding extremes on either hand in relation to the authority of the Vniversal Church § 2. The Decrees of Councils § 3. The Testimony of the Fathers § 4. Other Traditions § 5. Our Churches own Testimony § 6. The use of Reason § 7. The Testimony of the Spirit § 8. Of the testimony and operation of the Holy Spirit the judgment of our Church according to great Moderation more largely declared § 1. THE Moderation of the Church of England appears very great in her due applying this Rule of Faith to her self wisely and fitly making use of all those Instruments which are most proper and useful in conveying to us that Rule or which are most subservient to the right understanding our Rule avoiding either extreme of those who attribute too much or too little to those instruments of conveyance and interpretation Such as the Authority of the Universal Church The Decrees of Councils The Testimony of the Fathers Other Traditions The Witness of our own particular Church Right Reason alone The Testimony of the Spirit To all and every of these enumerated instruments either of certain conveyance or interpretation of Scripture our Church gives their due place and esteem according to their influence and use and no more which must needs demonstrate a great deal of Wisdom and Moderation in the judgment of the Church 1. The Universal Church it self is no where by the Church of England made the Rule of her Faith but a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ Art 20. Yet the judgment of the Catholick Church of Christ was always by the Church of England held in greatest veneration next unto the testimony of the Spirit of God himself because of those famous Promises made by Christ himself to the Church which we read of in the New Testament Yea in the Old Testament The Prophecies concerning the Messias and concerning the Church and the Ministers of the Church always are join'd together as I have sometime heard a great Prelate of our Church teach us And because whatever Arguments we have for the truth of Holy Scriptures as thanks be to God we have many beside yet also from the witness and keeping of the Church a Ecclesia non discernit sed niâ—a traditioni legitimae testatur quae sint Canonicae Scripturae Spalatens l. 7. ch 1. we receive the Holy Scriptures themselves and in the sixth Article In the name of Holy Scriptures the Church doth understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority there was never any doubt in the Church So that as the Archbishop of Spalato hath it we have recourse to the Church not as to an Authoritative Judge but as to a Treasure and Repository b Haec sunt quae Patres intra Canonem concluserunt Haec nobis à Patribus tradita S. Hieron Ruffinus in which the Canonical Books and all things necessary to Salvation are preserved by faithful Tradition Wherefore the Catholick Church it self is called not a Judge nor a Rule c Credo Ecclisiam credo Ecclesiae per Eâ—clesiam Non diâ—imus credo in Ecclesiam â—â—t credo in Ecclesiâ— Ep-Esâ—enâ— but more truly a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and for interpretation of Scripture and for our help in judging of Doctrines according to our Rule the Church of England values above all others the Judgment of the Catholick Church so far forth as we can attain the testimony of the Catholick Church by such instruments as are approved and undoubted For though d Second Diâ—â—native against Popery l. 1. â— 1. If by Catholick you mean all particular Churches in the World then though truth doth infallibly dwell amongst them yet you can never go to School to them all to learn it in such questions as are curious and unnecessary and by which the Salvation of Souls is not promoted Yet we know that in the Primitive Time the Christian Church was in a less compass and more undivided Wherefore if such matters which are most essential to the being and well-being of the Church are both delivered from that time and with their conveyance have been approved by the Church in common ever since If the Church may be a sure instrument of conveyance of the Books of Holy Scripture why not also of such matters wherein all so well agree from the first and do in no sort thwart the Tradition of the Holy Scripture it self Wherefore in the Canon set forth in our Church with the Articles of Religion 1571. it is caution'd That nothing be at any time taught either to be held or believed upon the account of Religion but what is agreeable to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament which the Catholick Fathers and antient Bishops have gathered from thence Which Golden Rule of our Church I find twice extoll'd by the Illustrious Grotius once e De imp sum potesta c. 6. §. 9. p. 181. in these words I cannot but commend that famous Canon of the Church of England That c. And again in one of his Epistles f Apologiâ— Eccl. Anglicanae Accessimus verò ad illam Ecclesiam in quâ omnia castè reverenter quantum nos assequâ— potâ—imus proximè ad priscorum temporum rationem §. 118. Inde enim putavimus restaurationem petendâ—m esse unde prima Religionis initia ducta essent §. 150. He takes occasion from this Canon of the Church to say He wonders any should deny In England they attribute more to the ancient Church than they do in France The form also of profession in the admission of Professors in Divinity in the University because it doth very fully express the sense of the Church of England I repeat the tenour thereof I from my heart do embrace and receive all the Holy Canonical Scripture in the Old and New Testament comprehended and all those things which the true Church of Christ Holy and Apostolick subject to the word of God and governed by the same doth reject I reject whatsoever it holds I hold Concerning the Church of England in this matter hear we what the Learned Casaubon hath declared in an Epistle to Heinsius g Ep. Ecclesiasticae p. 345. This saith he is my judgment Whereas there will and can be but one true Church we are not hastily to recede from those Doctrines of Faith which the consent of all the ancient Catholick Church hath approved and whereas I own no other Foundation of true
Religion than the Holy and Divine inspired Scriptures with Melancthon and the Church of England I wish all Doctrines of Faith were brought to us derived from the Fountain of Scripture by the Channels of Antiquity otherwise what end will there be of innovation And thus our King James of Happy Memory did declare in the words of St Austin That what could be proved the Church held and observed from its first beginning to those Times That to reject He did not doubt to pronounce to be an insolent piece of madness So that the counsel and judgment of the Church of England seems to be moderated according to the Sentence of St Hierom in his Epistle to Minerva My purpose is to read the Ancients to prove all to hold fast what is good and never to depart from the Faith of the Catholick Church and conformably King Charles I. h His Majesties fifth Paper to Mr. Henders My Conclusion is That albeit I never esteemed any Authority equal to the Scriptures yet I do think the unanimous consent of the Fathers and the universal practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most authentical Interpreters of Gods word For who can be presumed to understand the Doctrine and practice of the Christian Religion better than those who lived in the first and purest times Wherefore i Of Heresy §. 14. Dr Hammond reckons it among the piè Credibilia that a truly general Council cannot erre § 3. And because the Catholick Church is and hath been so much divided and the Monuments of the ancient Church Universally accepted do contain but a few determinations Therefore the Church of England moderately remits her Sons to the first four general Councils as in the 28th year of K. Henry 8. k Fullers Eccl. Hist ad An. 1536. it was Decreed That all ought and must utterly refuse and condemn all those opinions contrary to the said Articles contained in the three Creeds contained in the four Holy Councils that is to say in the Council of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and all other since that time in any point consonant to the same So in the Institution of a Christian Man set forth 1537. and approved by the Convocation 1543. 't is there said A true Christian man ought and must condemn all those opinions contrary to the twelve Articles of the Creed which were of a long time past condemned in the four Holy Councils that is to say c. Isaac Casaubon also in the name of King James to Cardinal Perron saith l Primo R. Eliz. c. 1 The King and the Church of England do admit the four first Oecumenical Councils and following the judgment of the Church the Law of the Kingdom doth declare m Dicimus Ecclesiam Britannicam adeò venerari Concilia generalia ut speciali statuto caverit nè quisquam spirituali jurisdictione praeditus praesumat censuras suas Ecclesiasticas aliter distringere vel administrare aut quicquam Haereticum pronunciare quod non à scripturis Canonicis quatuor Conciliis generalibus aut alio quocunque Concilio pro tali judicatum fuerit J. B. de antiq libertate Eccl. Brit. Thes 4. That none however Commission'd shall in any wise have authority or power to order or determine or adjudge any matter or cause to be Heresy but only such as heretofore have been determin'd ordered or adjudged to be Heresy by the authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first four general Councils or any of them or by any other general Council wherein the same was declared Heresy by the express and plain words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such as hereafter shall be ordered judged or determined to be Heresy by the Court of Parliament of this Realm with the Clergy in their Convocation Thus the authority of the four first general Councils are placed by our Church in the superiour order of Tradition forasmuch as Spalatensis according to St Austin n A plenariis Conciliis tradita Quarum est in Ecclesiâ salubrâ—â—ima authoritas S. Aug. Ep. 118. speaks of such Councils they have obtained a wholsom authority because from the Apostolick Declarations faithfully received they have explained the Holy Scriptures and beside because they have been approved by the Universal Church which with great reason contradicts what Curcellaeus p Curcell Rel. Christianae Instit l. 1. c. 15. hath delivered to depreciate the honour even of the first four Oecumenical Councils So that Mr Cressy in Answer to Dr Pierce might very well cite the Protestant acknowledgments of the Authority of Councils as that of Ridley Acts and Mon. p. 1288. Councils indeed represent the Vniversal Church and being so gathered together in the name of Christ they have the promise of the gift and guiding of the Spirit into all truth To the same purpose are named Bishop Bilson Hooker Potter c. Instead of all these he might have owned if he had pleased the judgment of our Church it self giving all due honour to general and Provincial Councils whose wholsome Decrees she hath accepted and imitated Yea our Church maintains the right of Provincial Synods taken away by the See of Rome q Tertullianus veneratur Provinciale Concilium quasi esset Oecumenicam assentiente sc universali vel iis decernentibus secundùm universale quomodo fit repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani virtualiter tota Ecclesia Neither is this honour diminisht by the further Moderation which our Church hath shown in not taking those for Councils or general Councils which are not such as neither the Council of Florence nor Lateran nor of Trent and we know that our Articles though they are very moderately framed are many of them directly oppos'd to those of Trent being in those points of Doctrine wherein the Church of Rome hath departed from the Catholick Church and made her Doctrines of design more than truth the unjust conditions of Communion A truly free and general Council we look upon as the best expedient on Earth for composing the differences of the Christian World if it might be had but we cannot endure to be abused by meer names of Titular Patriarchs but real Servants and Pensioners of the Popes with Combinations of interested parties instead of general Councils r Dr. Stillingfleet's first Part of an Answer c. 284. When Pope Paul III. call'd a Council then to be held at Mantua and King Henry VIII refusing thither to send He defended his Protestation in a Letter to the Emperour and other Christian Princes 1538. In which the King declares t Acts and Monuments p. 11â—2 Truly as our Forefathers invented nothing more holy than general Councils used as they ought to be so there is almost nothing that may do more hurt to the Christian Faith and Religion than general Councils if they be abused to lucre to gains to the establishment of errors And verily we suppose that it ought not to be called a General
Council where alone those men are heard which are determined for ever in all points to defend the Popish party and to arm themselves to fight in the Bishop of Romes quarrel though it were against God and the Holy Scriptures It is no general Council neither ought it to be called general where the same men be only Advocates and Adversaries defending his Primacy born by the ignorance of the World nourished by the ambition of the Bishops of Rome defended by places of Scripture falsly understood Neither secondly is our Churches honour to general Councils lessened because she declares they are not infallible as in our 21. Article of Religion When they be gathered together Forasmuch as they be an Assembly of Men whereof all be not governed with the spirit and word of God they may erre and sometime have erred even in things pertaining to God wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to Salvation have neither strength nor authority unless it be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture t Itaque legantur Concilia quidem Cum honore sed interim ad scripturam piam certam rectamque regulam examinentur Reform leg Eccl. c. 14. Notwithstanding they are not infallible yet for the establishing consent King James may be presumed to declare the sense of our Church of the use of such Councils lawfully assembled Come saith He u Rex Jacobus ad Card. Perr put it to the Issue allow a free general Council which may not depend upon the arbitrary will of one man and the Church of England is prepared to give a Reason of its Faith For even anciently it was a great complaint in the Church as the Fond of all their mischiefs x Nilus Archiep Thesâ—al l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Controversies were not determined after the Primitive Rite and manner § 3. Concerning the Testimony of the Fathers the Church of England hath observed the same wise Moderation in her judgment and use of them also no where judging of them as unliable to error according to the arguing of the 21. Article Because they are but men and sometimes have erred in things pertaining to God neither hath our Church any where swallowed their errors through the Veneration of their Piety and Antiquity Yet because of their Proximity to the Apostolick times and the just authority in the Church which for their Learning and Piety they have obtained and all along hath been given them Our Church in her Monuments gives a great deference to their judgment testimony and practice In the 31. Canon Forasmuch as the ancient Fathers of the Church led by the example of the Apostles appointed c. We following their Holy and Religious Example do Constitute and Decree Canon 32. According to the judgment of the ancient Fathers and the practice of the Primitive Church We do Ordain Canon 33. It hath been long since provided by many Decrees of ancient Fathers That c. According to which Examples we do Ordain Canon 60. Forasmnch as it hath been a solemn ancient and laudable Custom in the Church of God continued from the Apostles time That c. We will and appoint So in the 30. Canon The lawful use of the Cross in Baptism is explained from the practice of the Primitive Times And in King Edw. VI. Proclamation before the Common Prayer Book the reason for our Forms and Rites is justified from the practice of the Primitive Church and in the Preface concerning the Service of the Church Here you have an Order for Prayer and reading the Holy Scripture much agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers and in many other places where they are named and where they are not named The footsteps of their ancient Piety have very discernable impressions throughout the whole Constitution of our Church Wherefore as it is in the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws of England as was intended y Reform leg Eccles Angl. c. 15. Let the Authority and Reverence be continued to the Ancient and Orthodox Fathers but such as may be subject to the determination truth and authority of the Holy Scriptures For always the ancient Fathers z Neque enim quorumlibet disputationes quamvis Catholicorum laudatorum hominum velut seripturas Canonicas habere debemus ut nobis non liceat salvâ Honorificentiâ quae illis debetur hominibus aliquid in eorum seriptis improbare Talis ego sum in scriptis aliorum Tales volo esse intellectores meorum S. Aug. Ep. 3. V. Ep. 19. ad S. Hier. Chilingw Pref. §. 25. themselves refused any other kind of honour or respect frequently admonishing the Reader that he admit their opinions or interpretations but so far as he sees them agree with the Holy Writings So that since Protestants are bound by Canon to follow the ancient Fathers whosoever doth so with sincerity it is utterly impossible he should be a Papist And indeed the Reverence of the Church of England to the ancient Fathers as it is most regular and well govern'd so it is most uniform and constant whereas nothing is more ordinary with the Romanists than when they are prest and urg'd by the authority of the ancient Fathers against them to depreciate their testimonies and add some scurvy false insinuations concerning them as hath been often observed of C. Baronius Bellarmine Stapleton and others Whereas the constant Reverence of the Church of England to the ancient Fathers is such that the Romanists cannot but acknowledge it very often as De Cressy a Exomolog p. 102. 135. saith Indeed the Protestants in England make honourable mention of the Fathers They profess greater Reverence to Antiquity than any other Sect whatsoever § 4. There are many things of excellent use in themselves which come to be suspected and reproached because of the abuse they have had in the Roman Church Of which Tradition may be a great instance Because the Church of Rome hath made Tradition equal if not superiour to Holy Scripture therefore others run to the other extreme of undervaluing all kind of good and lawful Tradition not considering that Holy Scripture is Tradition Recorded And forgeting that in the Church of God one great proof of the integrity of the Canon of Holy Scripture it self hath been always Tradition which these men so confidently despise There are also some Traditions not contrary to the Holy Scripture which if they be rightly qualify'd have and ought to have great authority with us Wherefore upon all occasions is celebrated among us that famous passage of Vincentius Lirinensis b Vinc. Lir. adv Haer. c. 3. Whatsoever is universally delivered which every where which always which of all is believed that is accounted as indubitable and certain We receive not saith Bishop Bramhall to M. Militiere your upstart Traditions nor unwritten Fundamentals but we admit genuine universal Apostolical Traditions And we are so far from believing Tradition without allowing the Papacy That one of the
principal motives why we rejected the Papacy was the constant Tradition of the Vniversal Church § 5. Concerning our Churches own Testimony Her Modesty and Moderation hath been always exemplary so far from assuming the Title of Catholick to her self only as St Austin tells us the Arians did and since them the Romanists c S. Aug. Ep. 48. ad Vincen. That she hath counted it a sufficient honour to be an humble and nevertheless for that eminent Member of the Universal Church and with her a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and though she vindicates to her self an authority to interpret the Holy Scripture within the bounds of her own Discipline for the edification of her own Family in Truth and Love and also asserts to her self an Authority in Controversies of Faith Article 20. namely for the avoiding diversities of opinions and for the establishing consent touching true Religion yet I cannot well omit to observe the wise modesty of our Church in her asserting her own authority in Controversies of Faith which expression I may have leave to illustrate from such another instance of Wisdom and Moderation in the recognition required to be made of the Kings Supremacy in our subscription according to the 36. Canon and in our Prayers wherein we acknowledge Him Supreme Governour of this Realm in all Causes and over all Persons It is not said over all Causes as over all persons forasmuch as in some Causes Christian Kings do not deny some spiritual power of Gods Church distinct from its temporal Authority which yet refers to the King as their Supreme Keeper Moderator and Governour Even so the Church declares her Authority in Controversies of Faith not that the Church of England or any other Church no not the Universal Church hath power to make any thing which is in controversy matter of Faith which God hath not so made The Church owns that she hath no power against the truth but for the truth Neither may it expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Article 20. But she hath power to declare her own sense in the Controversy and that I may express my own meaning in better words than my own d Pref. of Bishop Sparrow's Collection of Eccl. Records c. To determine which part shall be received and profest for truth by her own Members and that too under Ecclesiastical penalty and censure which they accordingly are bound to submit to not as an infallible verity but as a probable truth and rest in her determination till it be made plain by as great authority that this her determination is an error or if they shall think it so by the weight of such reasons as are privately suggested to them yet are they still obliged to silence and peace where the decision of a particular Church is not against the Doctrine of the Vniversal Not to profess in this case against the Churches determination because the professing of such a controverted truth is not necessary but the preservation of the peace and unity of the Church is is not to assert infallibility in the Church but authority Wherefore Mr Chilingworth e Chilingw Pres §. 28. had very just reason to declare Whatsoever hath been held necessary to salvation either by the Catholick Church of all Ages or by the consent of Fathers measured by Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule or is held necessary either by the Catholick Church of this Age or by the consent of Protestants or even by the Church of England That against the Socinians and all others whatsoever I do verily believe and embrace Whereas the Pope and Church of Rome do challenge to themselves an authority supreme over all Causes and Persons by their Infallibility by which they exclude all others from their peace and themselves from emendation Neither are their followers much in the way thereunto by what Card. Bellarmine doth assert of this supreme Authority If the Pope saith he f C. Bellarm de Pontif. Ro. l. 4. c. 5. should err in commanding any Vices or forbidding any Vertues The Church is bound to believe those Vices are good and those Vertues are evil unless it would sin against Conscience g In bono sensu dedit Christus Petro potestatem saciendi de peccato non peccatum de non peccato peccatum c. Bell. c. 31. in Barklaium However in his Recognitions h Locuti sumus de actibus dubiis viâ—tâ—tum aut vitiorum Recogn operum c. B. p. 19. he minceth the matter in a distinction of doubtful and manifest Vices and Vertues O Blessed Guides of Souls How did the Illustrious Cardinal miss being Canoniz'd for that glorious Sentence and to help him for a Miracle to qualify him for an Apotheosis why did not some cry out of it So many words so many Miracles Thus many of the Romanists make the Pope such a Monarch in the Church as Mr Hobbs doth his Prince in the State i Hobbesius de Cive c. 7. art 26. c. 12. art 1. The interpretation of Holy Scripture the right of determining all Controversies to fix the rules of good and evil just and unjust honest and dishonest doth depend on his authority in the power of whom is the chief Government But this Doctrine is as bad Philosophy as that of the Cardinals is Divinity Among these excesses let us not forget the Moderation of our Church which holds she may revise what hath slipt from her wherefore in her 19. Article she declares As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred a charge agreeable to the Moderation of our Church considering what might have been further said which by the same proportions of reason she supposeth true of her self and of all others viz. That they are fallible and may erre § 6. Of the use of Reason with Reference to divine matters there may be elsewhere occasions in this Treatise to discourse * Ch. 6. §. 9 10. Yet here it is to be observed our Church doth not make its own reason a rule of Faith nor the sole Interpreter of Scripture much less the reason of private men yet because mankind hath no reasonable expectation of Miracles especially when ordinary means are sufficient and abounding and because the Holy Spirit of God in the testimony of his Church hath all along certainly conveyed to us the sense of many places beside That what is most needful to be heeded is very plain our Church doth allow and suppose rational mens perceiveing the sense of Scripture by the due use of their understanding which practice must also necessarily engage such to a high regard of what was anciently received in the Catholick Church For as nothing is held among us more agreeable to reason than our Religion so in expounding our Religion and in interpreting Scripture our Church makes use of the best and the truest reasons as is manifest in what she declares and enjoins and
and Peace in the Church Our Church hath wisely distinguished between what is necessary absolutely and what only in some circumstances is necessary to Salvation Those things saith the Homily a 2d Part of the Homily of Scriptures that be plain to understand and necessary for Salvation every mans duty is to learn them and as for dark mysteries to be contented to be ignorant in them till such time as it shall please God to open those things unto them b Hom. 1. If it shall require to teach any truth or to do any thing requisite for our Salvation All those things saith St Chrysostom we may learn plentifully of the Scripture And in the 19. Article of the Church The Preaching of the pure word of God and the Administration of the Sacraments are made indispensable notes of the visible Church namely in all things that of necessity are requisite to the same and the 8th Article declares The three Creeds ought throughly to be believed and received for that they may be proved by most certain warrant of Holy Scripture where our Church gives the reason of her Faith and sheweth her earnestness in contending for it But the Moderation of our Church contains her self within the bounds of what is before made necessary The principal and essential points of the Doctrine of Salvation such as are fit to make up the unity of the Faith and constitute a Church are no other among us than what Christ and his Apostles at first made necessary which also the ancient Church received as necessary unto Baptism and for distinction of Heresy which fundamental Maxims of Christian Science are frequently and plainly repeated in Scripture and by our Church were first of all insisted on at the reformation of our Church as we see in the Institution of a Christian Man 1537. in the first Injunctions of our Kings and our Form of Catechism Whereas the Catechisms and Systems which have been set up in opposition to the Catechism and Articles of the Church of England have abounded with many doubtful and unnecessary definitions yet so insisted upon by some as if the Hinges of the Gate of Heaven turn'd upon those Propositions whereby many have agreed with Pope Pius the Fourth who by his Bull set out the Apostles Creed in a larger Edition of about as many more Articles without belief of which is declared no Salvation c Extra quam Nemo salvus esse potest Bulla Pii quarti super formâ Juramenti professionis fidei sub finem Concilii Trid. Unto such a strange Circumference is the body of their unnecessary belief extended whereas the Religion of our Church tends to the Center Which distinction of things necessary from what was not so King James according to the sense of our Church declares of great use to lay a foundation for the publick peace of the Church d Vt de necessariis conveniat omnis opera insumatur in non-necessariis libertati Christianae locus Rex Jacobus ad Card. Perr and of particular mens minds and the furtherance of true Faith and Piety § 2. Those Articles which are delivered by our Church for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and establishing consent touching true Religion 1. They are few especially those of positive Doctrine and the other negative positions were necessary to assert our liberty from the abuses and encroachments of the Romanists in their contrary affirmatives few if we consider either the time or the occasion of their being framed it being just about the meeting at Trent made it necessary for our Church to declare her sense of many Doctrines for the better satisfaction and directions of her Sons and to testify her equal conditions of Communion Especially also if we consider the cruel number of Articles which either the Westminster Divines or the Trent Councellors have imposed on their followers e Bishop â—ramball fol. p. 1018. Indeed the Romanists do call our Religion a negative Religion because in all the Controversies between us and them we maintain the negative that is we go as far as we dare or can with warrant from holy Scriptures and the Primitive Church and leave them in their excesses or those inventions which they themselves have added but in the mean while they forget that we maintain all those Articles and truths which are contained in any of the ancient Creeds of the Church which I hope are more than negative The Church of England saith Archbishop Laud f Archbishop Laud against Fisher 5. 14. comes far short of the Church of Romes severity whos 's Anathema's are not for 39. Articles but for very many more above one hundred in matter of Doctrine and that in many points as far remote from the foundation though to the far greater rack of Mens Consciences they must be all Fundamental if that Church have determined them Whereas the Church of England never declared that every one of her Articles are fundamentals in the Faith For it is one thing to say no one of them is superstitious or erroneous and quite another to say every one of them is fundamental Besides the Church of England prescribes only to her own Children and by those Articles provides but for her peaceable consent in those Doctrines of truth but the Church of Rome severely imposeth on all the World her Doctrine and that under pain of damnation § 3. These Articles of Religion are generally exhibited as Articles of Peace and consent not as Articles of Faith and Communion and as such they are propounded to all the Communicants in our Church g Schisin guarded p. 150. Bishop Lanies Sermons p. 48. in general For the avoiding Diversities of Opinions as the Title of the Articles is Not such a consent as Curcellaeus h Curcellaeus Religionis Christianae Institut C. 15. means where he supposeth some in the dregs of the Age of the Reformation obtrude their Confessions and Catechisms as a secondary rule if not of truth yet of consent such as ought to be urged only to an infallible truth 't is likely he might know many who did so But the consent designed to be established by our Articles is such a consent as may keep the Peace of our Church undisturbed according to the sense of the fifth Canon Where the Prohibition is directed against such as should speak against the 39. Articles as superstitious and erroneous such as may not with a good Conscience be subscribed to Whosoever shall hereafter affirm i Quicunque in posterum affirmabit c. Ecclesiae Anglic. Canon 5. not as the Council of Trent k Si quis contrà senserit Anathema sit Concil Trid. de peccato Originis directs its Anathema against those that shall so much as think diversly Wherefore our Church no where delivers our Articles as necessary to be believed neither by vertue of their own necessity or her own Command as several with Bishop Bramhall have noted For which reason subscription unto them is
our Church reformed Scintilla Altaris That to avoid excess of Dedications wherein others are too burthensome she sometimes uniteth two of the Apostles at once in one Festivity as S. Simon and Jude S. Philip and James § 8. The more immoderate is their reproach who brand our reformed Church for being guilty of Popery only because the memory of the just among us is blessed f Coâ—â—mus Martyres cultu dilectionis non servitutis S. Aug. c. Faus l. 22. Notwithstanding those very exceptors are really like the Romanists Canonizing and Sainting one another for being of some particular humour and faction in this for one that they will not keep a Festival or remember an Apostle with honour Indeed in the Church of Rome they have Canonized the worst of men and let any one tell the difference when many of those others Saint each other and affect no other Title but of your Holiness And here let any equal and intelligent Christians judge whether those who hold Communion with the Church of God notwithstanding sundry infirmities and failings ought not and may not more properly according to the stile of Scripture to be called Saints than those who separate from the outward Communion of Gods Church although they usurp the name peculiarly to themselves And here we cannot but observe the Modesty of those in Communion with the Church of England which is true Christian Moderation They never were so forward to rush suddenly as it were into the Holy of Holies in calling themselves and one another absolute Saints but rather while they are in their way and Pilgrimage chuse to be honoured with more modest titles even as Pythagoras in all Ages hath been commended for his Moderation in laying aside the great name of Wife and chose rather to be called a Lover of Wisdom § 9. The same Moderation which our Church useth toward Saints she observeth likewise with respect to the Holy Angels Yea indeed great is the modesty and sober wisdom of our Church in that it is no where excessively curious nor positive in determining of the nature actions knowledge number Orders or special Guardianship of Angels Our Church doth not deny that there is a distinct Order of Angels but no where takes upon her to show how those Orders are disposed But avoiding the extreme of those who are stupidly insensible of the conduct of Holy Angels the Church of England doth glorify God for their Creation for their admirable order and Ministry and affection to us we pray to God we may imitate their readiness and chearfulness in praising and serving him and ministring daily for the good of others yet our Church hath always held the Angels to be in the number of those who worship and not of those who are worshipped and for us to worship those who are themselves worshippers would be such a voluntary humility as is sinful namely to address our selves to such substitutes as God no where hath appointed to receive his peculiar honour g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. c. Cels l. 8. Neque Invocationibus Angelicis sed 〈◊〉 purè manifestè Orationes dirigens ad Dominum qui omnia sâ—it Iren. l. 2. c. 57. which the Synod of Laodicea A. D. 364. calls Idolatry § 10. The like Moderation doth our Church excellently well observe in the honour she gives to the Ever Blessed Virgin Mary so highly favoured of God as to be the Mother of our Lord whom our Church celebrates and always humbly calls her Blessed And as it is in the Institution of a Christian man set forth by the Convocation 1537. We may worthily say she is the most blessed of all other Women h Maria Mater Domini principatum inter Mulieres tenuit S. Aug. Scrm. 136. Hanc ego Christi Matrem veneror sed non illi Divae modò sed Deae nomen tribuens R. Jac. Apol. pro Jur. Honor Reginae judicium diligit Virgo Regia falso non eget honore de B. V. Mariâ S. Bernard Ep. 174. and we no where doubt but she is highly graced in Heaven as she received a most special priviledge upon Earth But our Church doth no where believe that she had an immaculate conception which the Romanists celebrate with an Holy-day on purpose Neither doth our Church believe she was ever raised from the dead and assumed into Heaven which they solemnize with another Festival Neither did Erasmus i Erasm Ecclesiastes l. 2. without cause admire how it came to pass they salute the Mother of Christ with more Religion than they invoke Christ himself or the Holy Spirit calling her the Fountain of all Grace and sundry expressions they use of the like affiance in the authority and merit of the Blessed Virgin to succour help and save Sinners as may be seen in the Rosary and Psalter and specially Litanies to the Virgin Mary k V. Consult Cassandr Art 20. p. 140. Jube Filio c. Cùm vix aliud in toto choro sit alienius à scripturis sanctis quod cum Evangelio Christi atque doctrinâ Apostolicâ perditiùs pugnet Wicelius de abusu Eccl. p. 392. In their form of auricular Confession they are taught thus to begin l Manuale Confessionum Cap. 10. p. 128. I Confess to the Omnipotent God to the Blessed Mary always Virgin c. and when they enter into their Monasteries they vow themselves to God and the Blessed Virgin and in all things they are so superdevout m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Virgin that an Oath by her is accounted most sacred and any of the Festivals may be sooner expunged than that of her Assumption into Heaven and although they prohibite the Bible yet they freely suffer sundry Books of Devotion to the Virgin Mary in the Mother tongue § 11. Our Church hath taken great care that a special honour be had to the Lords Day and that neither the Lords Day nor any other Festival be abused to Luxury or impiety n Haeccine solemnes dies decent quae alios non decent Tertull. Ita Festa moderanda ut neque nimia neque tam flagitiosè profanentur Bucer Censur c. 26. It appears from the Offices in our Liturgy the Rubricks Canons Homilies and Statutes of the Land and Injunctions of our Kings since the Reformation that there hath been a first and special care taken for the Holy Celebration of Sunday or Lords Day wherein we are equal to any Church among the Reformed o Vi. D. Crackenthorp Defens Eccl. Aug. c. 54. The other Festivals being over-ruled that in a Concurrence of Offices they may not disturb its Solemnity the very religious observation of which is earnestly also perswaded in our Homilies and especially in the 13. Canon with which agree the Injunctions of K. Edw. 6. and Q. Eliz. requiring p Coimus in coetum ut Deum quasi manu factâ precationibus ambiamus orantes coimus ad Divinarum literarum commemorationem
different Judgments and Interests of the divided World are now a Reconciliation is thought impossible and generally impracticable but because the very speculation of Peace is delightful we make in the Idea this Supposition § 8. Admit which is a case possible some few Families of well-bred and better disposed Persons but of as different Persuasions in the Extreams as any are among us were to settle together in some remote Island and had a singular inclination to compass a Communion with each other in what they might in Spiritual Matters The means to bring this about one would think must be the same which all wise Persons would take to convince another of a different Persuasion namely by moving upon such Principles as both agree in which being improv'd to the utmost they are capable of must be between them the common foundation of a possibility of agreement Suppose then upon this score a Romanist and an extream Dissenter should yet agree in the most Fundamental Articles of Faith contained in the received Creeds and in acknowledging the Holy Scriptures in their Original or admitting the Vulgar Version or the like and if they admit the four first General Councils so much the better Upon this Stock an accommodation must be negotiated amongst them 1. Neither pretending to be Dictators one to the other for that will spoil all but to acquiesce as these Principles and their best Reasons shall govern them to a fair entercourse in common For Union in Practice 2. No unjust condition of Communion must be enjoyned on either hand Nor any thing but what is very necessary and clear as well as they can agreed on according to those first Rules 3. Both must sincerely bear with one another in what they appear to differ and to forbear all occasions of giving mutual distast that may be 4. Sufficient security must be mutually given against such Principles the professing and pursuing of which necessarily destroys all Civil and Spiritual Communion As for Instance That Faith is not to be kept with those whom one part calls Hereticks Or that right of Dominion one over the other is founded in Saint-ship c. 5. For accommodation in Peace-sake if these and the like Principles and Doctrines be publickly and sufficiently renounced then they must mutually take care that the evil Consequence of either shall not be imputed to those particular Persons who do detest them and acknowledg them most impious This being the proper Foundation for Communion together in Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline the consequent business is to convince such as will admit of the Debate That those Doctrines and Practices which are received above and beside what are mutually agreed in do really contradict the clear Contents of the Scripture or the Judgment of the Universal Church and are not of safe influence on the Christian Religion It may do well to be shewn by Instances of Fact and the light of concurrent Tradition when the particular Innovations entred in by what occasions and degrees and the evil Consequences of them all Which will more effectually be performed if it can be demonstrated That most of this is acknowledged by the many of the sincere amongst themselves at quiet Intervals And if they can distinguish between what might be of Original good intent or had at least a plausible pretence and what is of manifest corruption So much of all this as was proper and belonging to the Church of England to perform that She may acquit her self from the Imputations of those who deny her Communion let the whole Church of God judg how carefully and how peaceably She hath done her part But those of the Church of Rome who have appeared desirous of Reconciliation have done it either for civility of Conversation or out of Design or without leave of their Superiors For admit Protestants could open a Door to the Peace of Christendom the Romanists * Num verò spem aliquam ostendunt Pontificii Moderationis leâ—ationis emendationis nihil profecto minùs quin execrandum Anathema dicunt c. Chemn ex Cone Trid. Sess 7. Can. 13. set a Bolt on their side by their Doctrine of Infallibility however they place it whereby they seem to think it unlawful to correct themselves of such Errors as most grievously divide the Church Therefore as the case stands the Learned Thorndike †Forbearance of Penalties Ch. 8. p. 38. professeth himself freely to be without any manner of hope that ever the See of Rome will abate any thing of their Rigour tho the Reformation should content themselves with these terms for I find by the proceeding of former Times that it is their Maxim To stand to that which they have once done And to mark those Popes to posterity that have abated any thing from the rigour of their Predecessors For being arrived at this greatness by this rigour and obstinacy in all pretences right or wrong they will always think themselves obliged in reason of State not to yeeld so much as the Cup in the Eucharist Not considering all this while that this rigour is the cause of Division The Remedy therefore must begin from those Parties which have given cause of the breach if they shall remit of their undue height and rigour and be content with those moderate bounds which God hath set them both for Doctrine and Government and yield themselves but capable of Error there may be a possibility of Vnion and Peace but while they persist to challeng an Infallibility of Judgment and uncontroulableness of Practice they do wilfully block up the way to all Reconciliation and Concord and stand guilty of all that grievous Schism under which the Church of God thus long and miserably suffers * Bp. Halls Remains p. 410. †Casaubon of Reformation p. 147. But This is the grand Mystery of Jesuitism and Politic Popery at this day to look upon all moderate Counsels as pernicious and destructive § 9. The design of Peace is generally applauded by all and indeed it is so excellent an undertaking it seems a great pity that any endeavours for it should at any time be blasted with suspicion misconstruction and ill success And whereas some have Objected against us that we are ready to chuse Pacisication with the Romish rather than with the Protestant Dissenter We Answer 1. in general with respect to both That true Christianity requires us to be Enemies to no one If any will be to us and to Truth the blame must lie at their Door who give the just cause If any require plainly sinful conditions indispensable to hold Communion with them in such a case the Command holds good Come out from among them and be ye separate The reason why in Disputation Reconciliation with the Romanists hath upon such terms mentioned bin spoken of is because They are they who have laid the Obstruction to all Union by their enormous Corruptions and it lies upon them to remove the Obstruction and no
of Women Burial-Service the Gloria Patri to come under the name of Popery Altho by no Instance was it ever made to appear That our Church agrees with the Romanist in any thing contrary to Scripture and the practice of the Primitive Church As she is truly also most remov'd from Fanaticism neither using nor encouraging any Enthusiastic way of Religion nor allowing any resisting of Authority under any Religious Pretences whatsoever Any one may be convinced that no formed Church in the Christian World is more truly Protestant than is the Church of England nor any which all things compared less compromiseth with Rome If they will but consider in our Articles Liturgy Canons Constitutions Practice Oaths of Supremacy c. how firmly our Church preserves and enforceth the Reformation Yea the Canons of 1640 did excellently take care for the suppressing the growth of Popery Canon 3. 6. and also of Socinianism Canon 4. Which Seeds of Socinianism have bin scattered amongst our Sectaries and have of late had great growth amongst them Yet nevertheless if such Friends as they should slip into greater Heresy so long as they are with them in the Schism there is a special respect due to them rather than to the close adherents of the Church of England who because they run not into the madness of their extremes and are not outragious too in that madness they are forward to clamour against our Church it self as Popish and turn their own silly Surmises into powerful Calumnies Neither do those who reproach our Constitution sufficiently call to mind what hath bin done all along since the Reformation by our Kings of England and the great Councils of the Kingdom and the Orders of the Church and the Industry of our Bishops for the suppression of the growth of Popery § 2. But as a sufficient Evidence that our Church according to its establishment doth in no sort favour Popery They must be very disingenuous and wanting to Truth who will not readily acknowledg that the Labours of our Bishops and our Conformable Clergy remain the most impregnable defence of the Reformation For who I pray have more strenuously and constantly opposed the Innovations and immoderate Extravagancies of the Church of Rome than our Bishops and the Learned Men in firm Communion with our Church even since Queen Mary's days when some were Martyrs and Confessors and whose Writings but theirs who have held firm Communion with our Church remain as the constant Bullwark of our Protestant Reformation Wherefore the Romanists keenest displeasure * Immortale odium nunquam sanabile vulnus Ardet adhuc Combos Tentyra Juven Sat. 15. and jealousie hath bin always against the Church of England because from Her they have always received as forcible repulses as any As nothing doth more stir up the anger of a Zealous Enemy than the equal behaviour of those they malign and a moderate carriage doth sometime provoke their sharpest hatred So certainly nothing hath more stir'd up the jealousy of the Romanists than the excellent temper which is observed in our Churche's Constitution 'T is for the sake of this poor Church alone said our most noble Lord Chancellor †that the March 6. 1678. State hath bin so much disturbed It is her Truth and Peace her Decency and Order which they labour to undermine and pursue with so restless a malice And since they do so it will be necessary for us to distinguish between Popish and other Recusants between them that would destroy the whole Flock and them that only wander from it As for those of our Separatists who have sometimes menaged Debates with the Romanists the cunning Adversary commonly lets them alone for how seldom do we see a Romanist write against or oppose a Nonconformist and be in much earnest against him Not merely because he thinks such inconsiderable but because these are doing their Work for them as fast as they can * Hoc Ithacuâ— velit Magno mercentur Atrida Whereas those Contests which have bin menaged upon the Principles of our Church's Reformation have given the Romanists greatest awe and have always exercised their utmost strength § 3. Wherefore those of the Separation who have bin concerned in these Clamours and Surmises of our Church favouring Popery have acted therein as appears first very falsly and then very imprudently in reproaching so excellent a Reformation and by joining with them in their opposing our Church they strengthen the hands of the Romanists whom they pretend to oppose to the great scandal of the Christian Religion and great mischief to the true Protestant Interest Which caused Bishop Morton in his Epistle to the Nonconformists to tell them Beside their notorious Scandals given to the Church of God it self of their breaking the Hedg of Peace and opening the Gap for the wild Bore out of the Romish Forest to enter in and root out that goodly Vine which many Pauls industrious Bishops many Apollo's faithful Martyrs have planted and watered Even as Josephus * notes the Divisions of the Jews laid †Prol. ad bel Jud. them open to their overthrow And by their several Divisions which they help to propagate among us they join with the Romanists in endeavouring to overthrow and destroy our Constitution While they are crumbling into Factions biting and devouring one another a vigilant Adversary who is intent upon his advantage and opportunities may when he spieth his time over-master them with much more ease and less resistance †Bishop Sanderson's Preface to his Sermons Ad rerum momenta cliens seseque daturus Victori And the more unreasonable and vehement they are in their clamours the more they help the Roman Engineer to confound and overturn Therefore Arch-Bishop Whitgift ¶ Arch-Bp Whitgift Answ to the Admon p. 55. See his Letter to Q. Eliz. Fuller's Hist l. 9. now above a hundred years since said I am persuaded you and they do the Pope great good Service and he would not miss you for any thing For what is his desire but to have this Church of England which he hath cursed utterly defaced and discredited to have it by any means over-thrown if not by Foreign Enemies yet by Domestic Dissention And what apter Instruments could he have for that purpose than you who under pretended Zeal overthrow what others have built under colour of Purity seek to bring in Deformity under cloâ—e of Equality would usurp as great Tyranny and Lofty lordliness over your Parishes as ever the Pope of Rome over the whole Church Which also was the judgment of the University of Oxford 1603. Verily these Men are like Sampson 's Foxes they have their heads severed indeed the one sort looking toward the Papacy the other to the Presbytery but they are tied together by the Tails with Fire-brands between them to the injury of the Church Who would ever have thought said Bishop Bancroft 1588 in a Sermon at St. Pauls that we should ever have lived
As to those among us who are most moderate it may be wisht they will afford their own Example in what they allow in Discourse and that they would labour as effectually to prevail on those who depend on their Judgments and Example § 3. Whereas many of our Dissenting Brethren profess they desire the Interest of Jesus Christ may be promoted and that sanctity of Life and the pure Worship of God and the Communion of Saints and the Edification of the Church and the Reformed Protestant Religion may be maintained and encreased and in all Debates they appeal to the Holy Scriptures and many of them say they are desirous to rectify Mistakes and to lay aside all prejudice and passion and partiality and profess they desire their Judgments and Practices may be guided in the ways of Truth and Peace Supposing all this if we meet with such as will admit what follows into fair consideration I should think it the most proper means by some such degrees as follow to bring them if it be possible to understand the good Constitution of things among us 1. By letting such by clear Instances see how unmoveably we hold the Faith and Doctrine of Christ delivered in Holy Scripture which together with the whole Church of God the Church of England doth keep inviolably witness unto them faithfully and so constantly appeal to as the only perfect Rule of Faith and Manners V. Ch. 4. 2. Since the best and most useful sort of Moderation is that which governs us as we ought in the real Practice of Vertue and Goodness whereunto tend all the Moderation of the Laws and the Doctrine and Discipline of God's Church yet which is a lamentable thing to consider this is most silently past over and scarce known by the Name at that same time that a huge clamour is rais'd among us for Moderation in Religion in which all that are concerned may know and understand that the great Design and Desire of our Church is to promote holiness of Life Among us all may not only be as holy as they will but that they may be so they are assisted and encouraged most earnestly by the Laws and Constitutions and Offices and Councils of our Church which if they were rightly understood would be known uniformly to tend to no less 3. Such may consider that all the appointed means of Grace and Salvation are by our Church publicly and amply taken care of as duly and effectually as may be 4. In a Church where substantial Piety is so truly procured throughout the whole Constitution it might at least mitigate the great offence taken to consider what is more largely shewed Ch. 8. That our Church never did own her very few Ceremonies any other than accidental and mutable Circumstances for Order and Comeliness-sake but never asserted them any essential or necessary part of God's Worship Such may also consider the Rules of reasonable behaviour and submission to the Church as are moderately laid down Chap. 6. § 10. 5. Because our Dissenters by their dividing from us seem to endanger very much the Interest of the Reformed Religion which they appear so zealous to uphold Let them be pleased to consider the real danger of their being acted by Romish Agents and Incendiaries while they take the second direct course to destroy this reformed Establishment among us as is more particularly considered in Chap. 17. 6. Such may do well to consider truly those easy and proper Consequences which follow the Consideration of the Church being a Society with relation to a Christian Kingdom as ours is from whence sundry special Obligations may be inferred to bind every one who calls himself Christian to maintain the Peace and union of such a Society especially if we look on the Church as a Society formed by God himself and therefore common Christians are not to look upon themselves as Spiritual Governors as if they had any power in themselves to constitute new Bounds or new Extents to its Being or Authority but are to think they have an easier and safer task quietly to accept and obey that which is constituted by lawful Authority in all things not repugnant to the revealed Will of God And since every one's being of the Church doth suppose their duty to communicate in those Sacraments and Holy Offices which are appointed as a public Sign before God and Man that we do confess Christ Jesus and is an evidence of our holding communion with God's Church and that we are obedient to the Laws of this Society and the Government thereof in that fixed part of the Church we live in it follows that we are obliged unto the Peace of this Church by the intent of our Baptismal Vow when we were incorporated as Members of Christ's Body the Church And we are bound to maintain the same Peace of this Society of the Church as we live in a Christian Kingdom where the Religion of the Kingdom is so great a part of its Laws Upon which account Schism renders the safety of Kingdoms very hazardous beside that it looseth the Bands of all Friendship Sacred and Civil and breeds enmity among nearest Relations and Neighbours It tends exceedingly to the dishonour of the Public Laws and opens a gap to the most dissolute making void the exercise and effect of the Discipline of the Church upon the scandalous which otherwise to the prophane World would prove terrible as an Army with Banners It is the only way any can take to destroy all being of a Visible Church to corrupt her Doctrine and destroy her Power and is so great a sin as Martyrdom it self cannot expiate it Such do as much as they can make void the Design of our Blessed Saviour Who died that be might gather into one the Children of God that are scattered abroad 11 S. John 52. the night before our Lord was betrayed when he instituted the Sacrament of Unity How fervently did he pray for the Peace of the Church 17 S. John 11. Holy Father keep through thy own Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as I am one V. 21. That they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me Whereas these Schisms which we have tend to weaken or take away the greatest outward Witness we have of the truth of Holy Scriptures and of our very Christianity namely the Testimony of God's Church from the beginning and do expose our most excellent Religion to the contempt and entertainment of Atheists The sad account for which let them beware of who make it their idle business to defame the Church in her Holy Offices and alienate all whom they can from her Communion Let them pretend what they will in the mean time to intimate Communion with God they indeed take away the Unity of the Church as much as in them lies but in effect they take it away from themselves and they cut themselves off from Communion with the rest of the
employed in defending and illustrating the Holy Scriptures in the admirable Edition of their Originals and their most famous and approved Versions Although our Sacred Polyglot Bible hath no more escaped its Prohibition at Rome q Indice librorum probibitorum Alexandri 7. Pontif. Max. jussu edito Biblia Briani Waltoni Angli cui Titulus c. than it did the feeble assaults of some others here at home 2. Whereas the Church of Rome will not allow Translations ordinarily to be made into the vulgar tongue r Prohibentur Biblia linguà vulgari c. Monition general Reg. 5. cum Indicâ— libr. prohib Alex. 7. P. V. Concil Trid. Sess 22. Can. 9. unless in a particular policy to serve some extraordinary occasion as when the Doway Translation was admitted as they tell us because of the importunity of Hereticks And when such Translations are unwillingly made they are not suffer'd without particular Licence Å¿ Non sine jacâ—ltate in scriptis habita Reg. In l. Concil Tâ—id obtained under the hand of the Bishop or Inquisitor by the advice of the Confessor which some call a Prudential dispensing of Scripture t V. Pref. to the Doway Bible Yea such Faculties of licensing sometimes in shew of Moderation are granted to the Bishops as was done by Pope Pius IV. but soon after they are recalled again very strictly which was performed by P. Clement VIII and also by P. Paul V. in a very smart Breve dated 1612. u The Translators of the Engl. Bibl. to the Reader So much are they afraid of the light of the Scripture that they will not trust the people with it no not as it is set forth by their own sworn men no not with the licence of their own Bishops and Inquisitors The Church of England from time to time hath taken a just care to have the holy Originals rendred into the common Language that all Gods people may be enriched more and more in the knowledg of God as Epiphanius tells us the ancient Church had its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Interpreters of the Divine Books and therefore the Translation of the Holy Bible in English hath by the Command of Authority had its several reviews and its Translation also into the Welch or British Language hath been ordered in the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth 3. Whereas in the Translation of the Holy Bible many have attemper'd their Versions to their own private and particular sentiments as is notoriously done in the English Translations at Doway and Rhemes and as Grotius x Inter multa quae fidei nocent hoc non est minimum quod versionem quisque attemperat ad suas sententias sua cuique Deus fit dira cupido hoc vero non est Idola sacere imò semet collocare in templo Dei Gro. Animadv ad Artic. 32. hath charged Beza and Piscator and others for inclining their Translations somewhat to their particular suppositions and opinions and as King James at the Conference at Hampton-Court noted the same of the Geneva Version The Moderation of the Church of England hath been such even beyond the care of all kind of Elective Philosophers that she appears sincerely to have espoused the Truth it self without any Dowry y Veritas sine Dote Herbert de Verit. of interest and affection to opinions The more gross was the calumny of Gregory Martin to our Translators of the Bible It is evident you regard neither Hebrew nor Greek but only your Heresy Whereas our Church hath followed no particular Versions but wisely consulted the others then extant which could come to the Translators hands as they themselves testify and enumerate in the Preface to the Bishops Bible the better to enable them to attain the true sense of the Original Not making a second hand Translation such as the Rhemish which was but a Translation of the vulgar yet avoiding also as the Translators of our Bible themselves profess On one side the scrupulosity of the Puritans who leave the old Ecclesiastical words and be take themselves to other as when they put washing for baptism and Congregation instead of Church as also on the other side we have shunned the obscurity of the Papists in their azymes tunike holocausts prepuce and a number of such like yet such is the further modesty and Moderation of our Church it doth not assume to her self to have perfected or made absolute her labour herein but owns it such as may be made more consummate upon further light and experience § 5. Between the extremes of those who on one hand keep the Holy Scriptures from the vulgar as doth the Church of Rome and on the other hand those who account the Scriptures fit only for the vulgar as many of our Sectaries who think themselves already so perfect as to be above consulting the word of God as they call it without them The Church of England according to an excellent Moderation commends unto all of her Communion even to the vulgar a diligent hearing and reading the Holy Scriptures z K. Edw. 6. Inj. 1547. Q. Eliz. Inj. 1559. as appears in sundry places of the Homilies more particularly in the first Homily which is a fruitful exhortation to the reading and knowing of Holy Scripture That man saith the Homily a Homily 1. is ashamed to be called a Lawyer Astronomer Physician Philosopher that is ignorant in the Books of Law Astronomy Physick Philosophy and how can any man then say that he professeth Christ and his Religion if he will not apply himself to read hear and know the Books of Christian Doctrine b The Collect for the second Sunday in Advent Inter Libros prohibitos non habet Ecclesia Anglicana Libros sacros à Deo profectos Rex Jacobus c Severi Homines centum circiter Bibliorum editiones prohibent proscribunt Bened. Turretinus 1619. And though the people by daily hearing of Holy Scripture read in the Church should continually more and more encrease in Christian Knowledge yet it is intended and required that especially the Clergy and Gods Ministers in the Congregation should by often reading and meditating on Gods word be stirred up to Godliness themselves and be more able to exhort others and confute the Adversaries of the Truth as we observe from the Preface concerning the service of the Church and at the beginning of the second part of the Homilies there is a particular Admonition to all Ministers Ecclesiastical That they above all others do aptly plainly and distinctly read the Holy Scriptures § 6. For the governing our reading of Holy Scriptures whereas before the Reformation the Godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers was broken d Pres of the service of the Church and neglected by planting in uncertain stories and legends so that many Books of the Bible were but begun and never read through Now the order e Preface concerning the Service of the Church for Prayer and
and establishing Truth and Peace with all freedom from prejudice and passion hath appeared throughout the whole frame of our Liturgy Articles and Homilies and Constitutions and Versions we have of Holy Scripture any who are sincere themselves may easily acknowledg if they will truly consider the same For as our Homily of Holy Scripture saith Without a single Eye pure Intent and good Mind nothing is allowed before God And in the Homily of Prayer earnest complaint is made of such as would deface the plain and simple Religion of Christ In pursuance of these sincere designs of Piety Truth Peace and Order the Moderation of our Church in her Reformation will the more certainly appear founded in Justice If we consider 1. Our Church hath not made Truth to submit to her Authority but hath chearfully and sincerely submitted her self to Truth She hath not had a weight and a weight to buy the Truth by one and to sell it by another but hath judged of all Truth and the degrees of its necessity by the Standard which God hath given his Church namely the Holy Scriptures the only Rule of her Faith So in rejection of Error our Church hath bin impartial to either extreme 2. Our Church holds no such Doctrines as necessarily or by consequence overthrow a good Life and the practice of Devotion For this we must say for the Constitution of our Church The Vices among us are in no wise the Consequences of our Doctrines Neither have we any such Moderation among us to reconcile the pleasures and profits of Sin with the hope of happiness hereafter subjecting the most divine things to most vile purposes which tends to make the World believe that Christian Religion is a cheat and its Priests the most vile Imposters of any Whatever the scandalous opinions and practices of the Adversaries of our Church have done to the great hindrance of the conversion of many and the injury of Christianity Our Church of England gives no offence to Jew or Greek Mahumetan or Heathen 3. Our Church hath not squared the frame of its Ecclesiastical Policy by the ends of Secular Grandure or external Pomp as if she could put off Christianity to put on worldly Glory and as if we believed in such a Messias as the Jews expected rather than in the crucified Jesus whose Kingdom is not of this World And here rather than stay the Reader too long I commit to his reflection how the peculiar Doctrines of the Roman Church tend to the encrease of their Power or their Patrimony * Non est amplius Ecclesia sed Respublica quaedam humana sub Papa Monarchiâ temporali Spalatensis in profect Consil rather than that Interest of the Christian Religion which the whole constitution of our Church is framed first to regard Here might properly be considered the intolerable Charge which the Moderation of our Church justly saves us in that expence which unjustly follows Popery The one Doctrine of Purgatory will cost any one very dear upon the belief of it How many Indulgences Masses Jubilees c. must be paid for ¶ V. Fullers Eccl. hist ad an H. 8. 27. V. Romish Horse-leach V. Brutum fulmen Tanti videlicet nobis constitit âmicitia urbis Romae Apol. Eccl. Angl. § 160. 4. Our Church by its Moderation hath been far from driving on any corrupt designs Whereas the Moderation of the Romish Church hath been always noted very artificial Whence they have moderate explications for the doubtful Indulgences for the soft Austerities for the soure Legends for the credulous Visions for the Enthusiast fair interpretations for what may seem harsh a mild sence for their turn and a strict sense also to keep up the Authority of their Church fair and goodly Baits to entangle Proselytes but when they are engaged they may find themselves caught with a bearded Hook Even such sometime is the seeming Moderation and Self-denial which is cherished in our Sectaries by those who actuate them that so they may more effectually divide and propagate such Division Whereas those who are truly principled according to the Moderation of our Church are made to be more constant and consistent to themselves and to Truth not to turn to one hand of Popery nor to the other hand of Enthusiasm in any sinful compliance which rather than admit if the case requires they can suffer Martyrdom as did sundry of the first Compilers of our Common-prayer-book and many since even in the late times and all kinds of Sufferings beside 5. The Moderation also of our Church in its Reformation thus founded in Justice hath caused her to avoid such Corruptions as render the Sincerity of others very doubtful We have not by Arts and devised Subtilties gone about to palliate nor by Power and Authority to uphold any Errors whatsoever nor promoted Ecclesiastical Policy by gratifying the corrupt inclinations of Men Neither the Doctrines nor Policy of our Church are kept up by pious or impious Frauds equivocations of Oaths false Miracles pretended Revelations counterfeit Reliques Forgeries and Expurgation of Books devotional Ignorance exquisite Arts of defaming our Adversaries and sometime extream Cruelty This Justice in which the Moderation of our Church is founded makes those of our Church careful to take and heedful to keep our Oaths and Vows whereas among the Romanists easy dispensations dissolve those sacred Bands of Society What think we saith our Homily of good works ¶ â—2 Part. of those that vow Chastity and yet as is very moderately expressed how their Vows are kept it is more honest to pass over in silence They vow Poverty and yet their Possessions and Riches are equal to those of Princes under pretence of Obedience to their Fathers in Religion by their Rules and Canons they are made free from the Obedience of their natural Father and Mother According to the same principle of Justice governing our Church the forms and practices of our Church do not contradict our general Rules of Faith because we believe in the Holy Trinity therefore we do not worship Saints and Angels because we believe the Holy Catholic Church therefore we believe not in the Church of Rome 6. The same Moderation of the Church founded in Justice hath governed her Reformation in using or rejecting things indifferent which have bin abused The Wisdom and Moderation of our Church having bin far from judging that things which have been abused to ill purposes can never be lawfully or profitably used which principle might lay waste all Ecclesiastical or Civil Societies of any good Orders and Appointments for there is nothing so good but either hath bin or is capable to be abused very grosly Wherefore our Church doth well distinguish between what is abused by the fault of ill Men * Si quid vitil accessâ—t vitium tellatur râ—s verò restituatâ—r concordia â—latur Wicelii Meth. Concord c. 5. and what in the nature of the thing it self tends to promote such an abuse