our spirituall ioy we reade those comfortable and selected portions of Scripture called Epistles and Gospels Now for the holie Communion it is so religiously penned and so reuerently performed in our Church as is most apt to kindle deuotion to inflame faith to raise vp the minde from earthly cogitations and to rauish the spirit with heauenly ioy for it is replenished with most zealous exhortations lowly confessions piercing praiers celestiall comforts angelicall lauding and praising of God and not presuming to come to the Lords table trusting in our owne righteousnesse but in his manifold and great mercies we beseech him to grant that we may so eate the flesh of his deare sonne and drinke his bloud that our bodies being clensed and our soules washed wee may euer dwell in him and he in vs. And though we are not woorthie of our selues so much as to gather vp the crums vnder his table yet after the reheatsall of Christs holy institution such is the mercy of God in the merits of Christ we are made partakers of this heauenly banquet euen of the precious bodie and bloud of Christ for the forgiuenesse of our sinnes and all other benefits of his passion So againe powring out praiers and rendring thanks and glorie to God on high we conclude the celebration of these reuerend mysteries pronouncing a blessing to the people departing Thus we repent and pray wee reioice and praie we thanke God and praie we confesse our faith and praie wee reade and praie we heare and praie we preach and praie we receiue the Sacraments and praie This is the order of our Church which may well be called the house of Praier Iacob when he awaked from the dreame of the ladder he said How reuerend is this place it is none other then the house of God and the gate of heauen So I say vnto you oh how reuerend is this Church of England where God is thus serued surely it is the house of God and this gracious seruing of him is the gate of heauen And thus much of the declaration and now I come to the confutation 28 As Iacob loued Ioseph aboue the rest of his children and in token thereof made him a partie coloured coat so God hath loued the Church of England aboue manie other Churches he hath decked and adorned her with sundrie gifts and graces so that she is like to a kings daughter in a beautifull garment of changeable colours Of Ioseph it is said that The archers shot at him and those archers were his brethren so of the Church of England it may bee saide that the archers shot at her and some of them were her owne children O mercifull God who would imagine that men borne and bred in so holy a Church should shoote so many venemous arrowes at their owne mother Some in their firie zeale haue called our Church musicke meretricious our reading of the Psalmes the tossing of tennis bals our briefe and piercing praiers cuts shreds our choice of the Epistles and Gospels the cutting and mangling of the Scripture the reading of Seruice and Homilies woorse then a stage plaie yea our vsing of the Letanie the Nicene Creed the Hymne of glorie the Creed of Athanasius the Euangelicall Hymnes and the Lords praier it selfe hath not escaped their censure What a world are wee growne vnto when thankesgiuing after childe-birth kneeling at the Communion reading the holy Scripture and funerall Sermons are made matters of reproch yea the whole Communion Booke some are said to call an idoll a Portuis a peece of Swines flesh yea the very Temples of God they are said to tearme temples of Baal idoll synagogues abominable sties But I hope my brethren of the Ministerie for whose loue I haue vndertaken this labour are for the most part more iudicious and of a milder temper yet because diuers of them stand as yet vnresolued imagining that we come neerer to the chuch of Rome then in dutie we should and therefore in the tendernesse of their conscience make scruple whether they may safely ioine with vs or no therefore I will bend my selfe to answer those arguments which in mine opinion doe most commonly intangle them that is certaine generall exceptions which are vniuersally opposed against the orders ceremonies of our Church These firie darts flie farre and wide the people men and women haue learned disdainfully to dash them in our faces these I hold it my dutie to quench or at least to doe mine endeuour I will therefore bring my bucket of water and commit the euent to the gracious goodnesse of Almightie God And for breuities sake I will reduce all these arguments into one the branches whereof shall bee handled in order Those orders and ceremonies which were neither commanded of God in holie Scripture nor practised in the Apostles times but are hereticall popish and antichristian being scandalous where they remaine and therfore cast out of other reformed Churches are in no wise to be imbraced or assented vnto by subscription but such say they are sundry of the orders and ceremonies of the Church of England therefore not to be imbraced nor yeelded vnto by Subscription 29 And first they require that nothing should be placed in Gods Church but those things onely which the Lord himselfe in his word commandeth Now it is supposed that we haue many rites which are not commanded as for example where is the Surplesse commanded where is the Ring in marriage commanded where is the Crosse in baptisme commanded where is kneeling at the Communion commanded These and a number of other things are vsed in our Church which as it is obiected God in his holie Word hath no where commanded To which obiection I answer First that if vnder this word commanded they comprehend things commanded in generall then these and the like orders of our Church are commanded If they demand where I answer in euery place where God commands vs to obey our Prince For the meaning of Gods cōmandement is that we should obey the Prince in all things lawfull but things indifferent are things lawfull therefore God commands vs to obey our Prince in things indifferent But all these things are indifferent therfore in all these God commands vs to obey our Prince yea euen in this my text it is commanded when it is said Let all things be done honestly and by order Secondly if by commanded they vnderstand a particular command then I grant that these things are not so commanded but neither are their owne rites they so much desire any where thus commanded A white Surplesse I confesse is no where commanded neither is a blacke gowne or cloake any where commanded Kneeling at the Communion is no where commanded but neither is sitting or any other gesture which they allow any where commanded If our orders may not be receiued because they are not commanded then neither can
THE AVTHORITIE OF THE CHVRCH in making Canons and Constitutions concerning things indifferent And the obedience thereto required with particular application to the present estate of the Church of England Deliuered in a Sermon preached in the Greene yard NORWICH the third Sunday after Trinitie 1605. By FRAN. MASON Bacheler of Diuinitie and sometime fellovv of Merton College in Oxford And now in sundrie points by him enlarged EPH. 4. 3. Endeuour to keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace LONDON Printed for IOHN NORTON 1607. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER in God RICHARD Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Grace Primate and Metropolitane of all England and one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell c. THe loue and dutie which I owe to this Church of England most reuerend Father haue put into my hand this Oliue branch that is an exhortation to holy obedience and peaceable resolutions which alwaies haue beene the crowne and glorie of a Christian For when I pondered with my selfe how some of the Ministerie stand vnresolued and that as I take it because they doe not duly consider the nature of things indifferent and the dutie of a subiect to his Soueraigne I must confesse that my bowels of compassion were mooued and the fire of affection was kindled within me And therefore although many learned and iudicious men haue richly and plentifully handled this argument yet in commiseration of those my brethren I also haue aduentured to cast my poore mite into the treasurie hoping that as they walke amongst the fruitfull trees they will not disdaine to pull a little berrie from the lowest shrub The principall marke I shoote at is to doe my endeuour to settle the tender and trembling consciences of those which are not wedded to their owne conceits but haue bene carried away rather of weaknesse then of wilfulnesse that such of them as it shall please the Lord may be reduced to the Tabernacles of peace and follow the trueth in loue For alas who can but lament to see so many spend their short and precious time in such scandalous prosecution of ciuill contentions and some of them not altogether vnlike to Platoes Euthyphro who in his inconsiderate course went in all haste to accuse his own father But this Church God be thanked neuer wanted a Socrates to encounter and conuince them and make manifest to the world that they erred by misconstruction and vnaduised zeale O how much better had it beene to haue continued their labours in the Lords vineyard and by bending their vnited forces against Babylon to haue fought the Lords battails to the comfort of the godly who then might haue celebrated their triumph erected their trophae and decked their victorious heads with lawreall garlands O what a griefe ought this to be to their soules so to oppose themselues against such a learned and religious Church and so vnreuerently to traduce that holie Booke of Common Prayer a worke of so great and admirable excellencie concerning which I may truly affirme that it hath beene cut vp like an anatomie euery vaine of it hath beene opened euerie corner searched euery rubricke ransacked not a word but hath beene weighed in the ballance not a syllable but hath bene sifted to the vttermost and yet for all this like to the bridge of Caesar the more it is oppugned the stronger it stands The ceremonies wherof may aptly be resembled to the altar erected by the tribe of Reuben Gad and the halfe tribe of Manasses vpon the passages of Iordan at which the rest of the tribes were grieuously offended imagining that it had beene for sacrifice But when they were truely informed that it was onely for a memoriall that they had a part in the God of Israel they were well content they blessed God and Phinehas said This day we perceiue the Lord is among vs because you haue not done this trespasse In like maner some of our brethren haue beene offended at our ceremonies vpon an erroneous imagination of Poperie and superstition but the Church of England hath often manifested her innocencie and cleared herselfe of those imputations And therefore we hope that one day their eies being opened and their soules satisfied they will with the Princes of Israel blesse God and say with Phinehas This day we perceiue that the Lord is among vs because you haue not done this trespasse For the furtherance whereof I doe in all humilitie present this Oliue branch vnto your Grace whose eminent wisedome and godly care in suppressing innouations and preseruing the well setled state of this flourishing Church is most apparent And therefore as God hath directed the heart of our religious Souereigne to establish you the chiefe Pastor and Father of our Church so I beseech the Almightie to vouchsafe this fruit to your labours that your Grace may see the weake resolued the wilfull relented the wandring reduced and all of them returned to the bosome of the Church like the Doue to the Arke with leaues of Oliue in their mouths in token that all gall and bitternesse being laid aside the swelling flouds of discord are asswaged Your Graces in all humble dutie FRANCIS MASON THE AVTHORITY of the Church in making Canons and Constitutions concerning things indifferent and the obedience thereto required c. 1. Corinth 14. 40. Let all things be done honestly and by order 1 MY heartie desire and praier is to Almightie God the Father of mercy that he would so blesse the Ministerie of the Church of England that we all being linked in loue as it were with chaines of adamant might with one heart and one hand religiously build the Temple of the Lord reuerently performe holy obedience to God and the Prince carefully keepe our selues vnspotted and vnstained of this present world and faithfully feed the flocke of Iesus Christ that depends vpon vs. The comfortable accomplishment wherof whosoeuer shall maliciously hinder let him take heed lest a fearefull curse from the God of Iacob come like water into his bowels and like oile into his bones but whosoeuer shall praie for the peace of Ierusalem peace be vpon him and mercy and vpon the Israell of God The furtherance of which blessings to the glory of Christ and the good of the Church men and brethren beloued in the Lord is the marke I aime at and the scope I intend that we all like obedient children may keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace 2 Now this present Sermon by Gods gracious assistance shall be diuided into two generall parts The first an explication The second an application a briefe application of the text and a more ample application of the text to the present estate of the Church of England of which two points in order beseeching the God of all grace and peace to grant vs a blessing 3 And first who spake these words It is plaine that the holy Apostle S. Paul And seeing the holy
translated into Latin as a singular comfort for the whole Christian world in those dangerous daies and this seemeth to be the same vpon which Martin Bucer gaue his learned censure In the fift and sixt yeere of K. Edward the former booke was reformed and brought to such singular perfection that Archbishop Cranmer offered in Q. Maries time so he might be assisted by a few moe learned men to defend it against all commers And profound Ridley affirmed that the whole Diuine seruice was formed and fashioned to the true veine of Scripture D. Tailour auouched that there was set out by K. Edward the whole Church seruice with great deliberation and aduice of the best learned of the Realme authorized by the whole Parliament fully perfected according to the rules of Christian Religion in euery behalfe that no Christian conscience can be any way offended with any thing therein conteined Yea Caluin himselfe though he misliked some things in our Liturgie yet tearmed them tolerable but I perswade my selfe that Caluin would not call any thing tolerable which he iudged impious therefore I suppose that in hi◠iudgement there was no impietie at all yet some in our Church haue refused subscription euen in regard of those things which Caluin thought tolerable But to come to the forme of Common praier as it was established by Q. Elizabeth ô what blessings hath the Lord vouchsafed the people of this land by meanes of that booke how many millions of soules haue receiued comfort by it how many thousands of learned men haue commended and defended it you shall heare one for all euen that iudicious Iewel in whose opinion it containeth nothing either disagreeing from holy Scripture or misbeseeming sober men And yet it hath pleased our gracious souerainge that some things should be explaned that the publike forme of praier might be free not onely from blame but from suspition wherefore our venerable Conuocation considering how this booke hath beene allowed by such a world of witnesses and published by the Soueraigne authoritie of most learned religious princes and being perswaded that it containeth nothing but that which may bee tolerated with a good conscience and pondering how this Church hath beene troubled with turbulent spirits and withall hoping that Subscription might be a means to preserue the peace of the Church how could they doe lesse than commend the vse of this booke and binde all that heereafter shall bee admitted either to the ministerie or to any Ecclesiasticall promotion by their seuerall Subscriptions to approoue the same Moreouer because it were intolerable that they which haue desired consecration and obtained it at the hands of our reuerend Bishops and that as we are constantly perswaded in such forme as is agreeable to the blessed word of God should speake against their owne orders or against that hand wherewith they were consecrated therefore it is requisite that they should subscribe to the second branch that is the booke of Consecration And to the end that they which publikely instruct others should be seasoned themselues with true religion and no gappe left open to false or curious doctrines it is most fit that they subscribe to the third and last that is the booke of the articles of religion and this also though in more seuere maner was Caluins aduice to the duke of Sommerset In al these points the Church of England requireth subscription and is therfore sharply censured by her owne children But they which are such admirers of forraine Churches abroad let them a little in this very point compare the Church of England with that famous Church of Geneua First the Church of England requireth subscription of the Ministers and not of the common people but the Church of Geneua vrgeth not the Ministers onely but the people also Secondlie the Church of England requireth this approbation that her rites are not contrarie to the word of God but the Church of Geneua will haue her discipline receiued in a more high and glorious maner Thirdly the Church of England contenteth her-selfe onely with subscription but the Church of Geneua is more peremptorie requiring a solemne oth 19 After Subscription followeth Consecration or Imposition of hands which in the Church of England is performed with such words of wisdome and in such maner as flesh and bloud should not take vpon them to controle 20 And as our Church is carefull to make good Ministers so she hath a singular regard in placing them And because many Patrons in placing their Clerks haue golden gifts in more precious account then gifts of grace therefore the Chuch of England hath prouidently appointed an oth against Symonie And heere I beseech all my brethren of the Ministerie in the bowels of Christ Iesus to make a conscience of this oth when they enter their liuings For how can they expect that God will blesse their proceedings if they shall make their beginnings with Symonie and colour it ouer with periurie 21 And as our Church is desirous that men may enter their liuings with a good conscience so she is graciouslie prouident that they may discharge their dutie when they are entred Wherefore the law prouideth for their personall residence and in case of absence for a learned supply 21 And forasmuch as the Church of God in all ages hath had some which after good and plausible beginnings haue notwithstanding proued firebrands of schism sounded the trumpet of sedition therefore the oth of canonicall obedience is a touchstone to trie their present affections a bridle to curbe their future passions and a gracious meanes to preserue the precious peace and vnitie of the Church 23 Moreouer the messengers of peace should not onely be peaceable but also painfull in feeding the flocke of Christ and yet Sermons heeretofore in some places haue beene verie rare and daintie insomuch that father Latymer in his time compared them to strawberies which came but once a yeere Wherefore that in stead of strawberie Sermons there might bee a more plentifull prouision in the house of God our Church hath decreed that if the Ministers residing vpon their benefices be Preachers not lawfully hindered they shall preach euery Sabbath and if they be no Preachers they shall procure monthly Sermons 24 Furthermore because such is our selfe pleasing vanitie we thinke our selues fit to flie before our feathers be growne and sundrie to auoid the odious brand of dumbe dogges and idoll shepheards are readie to stretch and straine themselues aboue their strength being forward to speake when silence would better become them therefore it is wisely enacted that none shall preach but such as are allowed by the Bishop of the Diocesse In the meane time they must read Homilies that is holie and learned Sermons publikely set out by authoritie Surely dearely beloued quirking braines may haue their conceits and wanton wits may be more merrie then wise but when these things are iudiciously weighed
questions of discipline professeth that hee misliketh the frowardnesse of those men which for light scruples depart from the publike consent and hee protested to the English Church at Franckford that in externall rites he did show himselfe easie and flexible Wherefore I wish that you which in other things so magnifie and admire the person of Caluin would in this point follow the sound iudgement graue counsell and tractable disposition of Caluin But if you suppose those things which are imposed vpon you to be impieties then you dissent from M. Caluin who though he censured many things in our Church somewhat sharpely yet hee confessed that there was no manifest impietie and therefore the supposed blemishes of our Church hee accounted and tearmed tolerable but if you esteeme them intolerable remember you are men consider that you may be deceiued and therefore examine your grounds againe and againe without partiality and carry this Christian minde to forsake your selues to follow the trueth If you be ledde by example and pin your iudgement vpon other mens fleeues you must be content to bee tolde what an injurie you doe to the Church of England in suffering the opinions of priuate men to ouer-ballance with you the publike determination of such a nationall Church But if you will needs looke vpon examples then behold the former examples of Caluin and of that glorious martyr master Hooper who though hee did long withstand yet was not so wedded to his owne opinion but that at last after long conference hee reformed himselfe and yeelded to the publike iudgement of the Chuch of England 32 If you relie vpon reasons artificially deduced are they probable or demonstratiue if probabilities onely what trueth is there in the world so sound but a carping wit may finde some probabilities against it The holy Scripture hath beene oppugned though without all trueth yet with some probabilitie And reason it selfe can borrow a reason from nature to reason against faith But how shall the conscience of a subiect bee discharged in disobeying the commandement of his Prince vpon deceiueable probabilities Indeed if you can produce any one necessarie and demonstratiue reason to prooue that the things imposed vpon you are contrarie to Gods word then it must needs bee confessed that you are bound in conscience to refraine for we must rather obey God then man But what if you thinke a reason to be necessarie when it is not may not you be taken for such as haue vnnecessarilie troubled the Church of God your reasons out of Scripture against our orders when they come to the scanning prooue no such matters of necessitie as you pretend As for example those places which you vrge in such peremptory maner for the lay presbiterie wherein consisteth the life and soule of your desired discipline And whosoeuer shall examine the quotations of your admonitions to the Parliament shall finde them in some part violations of Gods holie word What is it to abuse the maiestie of Scripture if this benot 40 But peraduenture you will replie that howsoeuer your arguments be in themselues yet to you they seeme inuinciblie to conclude our orders to be vnlawful according to the saying of S. Paul I know and am perswaded through the Lord Iesus that there is nothing vncleane of it selfe but vnto him that iudgeth any thing to be vncleane to him it is vncleane In regard wherof many of you pretend that the conformitie required is against your conscience but beware lest this conscience proove an erronious conscience If you say that an erronious conscience bindeth so farre that whatsoeuer is done against it is sinne in the doer and therefore though conformitie in it selfe were lawfull yet because you iudge it vnlawfull in you it were sinne If this be your replie then tell mee I praie you whether the errour of the conscience take awaie the sinne of the soule in disobeying the lawfull commandement of lawfull authoritie If it bee cleere that it doe not because transgression is transgression and sinne is sinne though an erroneous conscience crie a thousand times to the contrarie Then see I beseech you into what perplexities you cast your selues If you should conforme you tell vs that you should sinne because it is against your conscience and if you do not conforme wee must tell you that you sinne because it is vniustifiable disobedience Thus if your conscience vpon iust trial shall proue erronious you are euery way insnared and intangled but if you stand vpon the cleering of your conscience as though it were void of all errour then let it so appeare by the holy Scripture and let not such vehement affirmations bee supported by such weake and feeble inducements It behoueth you which withstand the ceremonies established by the sacred authoritie of such a religious Prince and such a nationall Church to stand vpon such pregnant and infallible proofes as may vndoubtedly perswade the conscience that the things commanded are vnlawfull or if you cannot then without all question you are bound in conscience to reforme your conscience or at lest to suspend your iudgement But how shall this be done If heeretofore you haue fixed both eies vpon the one side vouchsafe now to cast one eie vpon the learning wisdome grauitie of the other If heretofore you haue greedily deuoured the bookes of the one vouchsafe now without preiudice to reade and consider what is said by the other If heretofore you haue looked vpon your owne reasons through the vapour of affection and therfore haue conceiued them to be greater and goodlier then in trueth they were dispell now all mists and clouds of partiallitie and pray to God in humilitie that his precious trueth may shine vnto you If you doe thus then peraduenture those reasons which heeretofore seemed giants in your eies may prooue like little dwarfes and those which heeretofore obtruded themselues to a minde sophisticate with partialitie as demonstrations may perhaps appeare to a pure and single eie nothing else but slender and sillie collections And for the better performance let mee intreat you to haue alwaies one eie fixed vpon the nature of things indifferent and the other vpon the dutie of a subiect to his Soueraigne 41 Some men will say that they could bee content to yeeld but onely because they haue so long withstood by preaching and practising the contrarie Those men in so saying approoue the orders of the Church of England for lawfull and condemne their owne former and present resistance for vnlawfull and therefore if they carrie so tender a conscience as they pretend why then doe they not leaue that disobedience which their conscience iudgeth vnlawful and imbrace that obedience which they know to be lawful But they imagine that in so doing their credit should be blemished with a note of inconstancie As though it were any credit to bee constant in euill things or any discredit to change for the better Indeed a good name is a precious