SUNT MELIORA MIHI RICHARDUS HOOKER Exoniensis scholaris sociusque Collegij Corp. Chrisli Oxon deinde Londi Templi interioris in sacris magister Rectorque huius Ecelesiae scripsit octo libros Politiae Ecclesiasticae Angelicanae quorum tres desiderantur Obijt Antonio Don M.DC III. AEtat suae L. Posuit hoc pijssimo viro monumentum Ano. Don M. DC XXX V Guli Comper Armiger in Christo jesu quem genuit per Evangelium 1 Corinth 4. 15. OF THE LAW of ECCLESIASTICAL Polity Eight Books By RICHARD HOOKER LONDON Printed for Andrew Crook at the green Dragon in S Paul's Churchyard 1666. THE WORKS OF Mr. Richard Hooker That Learned and Judicious Divine IN EIGHT BOOKS OF Ecclesiastical Polity Completed out of his own Manuscripts Never before Published With an account of his LIFE and DEATH Dedicated to the Kings most Excellency Majesty CHARLES IId. By whose ROYAL FATHER near His Martyrdom the former Five Books than only extant were commended to His Dear Children as an excellent means to satisfy Private Scruples and settle the Public Peace of this Church and Kingdom JAM 3. 17. The Wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easy to be entreated full of mercy and good works without partiality and hypocrisy Plat. Multitadio investiganda verilalis ad proximos divertunt errores Min. Fel. LONDON Printed by Thomas Newcomb for Andrew Crook at the Green-Dragon in St. Paul's Churchyard 1666. To the KING'S most Excellent MAJESTY CHARLES TWO d By the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith etc. Most Gracious Sovereign ALthough I know how little leisure Great Kings have to read large Books or indeed any save only Gods the study belief and obedience of which is precisely commanded even to Kings Deut. 17.18,19 And from which whatever wholly diverts them will hazard to damn them there being no affairs of so great importance as their serving God and saving their own Souls nor any Precepts so wise just holy and safe as those of the Divine Oracles nor any Empire so glorious as that by which Kings being subject to God's Law have dominion over themselves and so best deserve and exercise it over their Subjects Yet having lived to see the wonderful and happy Restauration of Your Majesty to Your Rightful Kingdoms and of this Reformed Church to its just Rights Primitive Order and Pristine Constitution by Your Majesty's prudent care and imparalleled bounty I know not what to present more worthy of Your Majesty's acceptance and my duty than these Elaborate and Seasonable Works of the Famous and Prudent Mr. Richard Hooker now augmented and I hope completed with the Three last Books so much desired and so long concealed The publishing of which Volume so entire and thus presenting it to Your Majesty seems to be a blessing and honour reserved by God's Providence to add a further lustre to Your Majesty's glorious Name and happy Reign whose transcendent favour justice merit and munificence to the long afflicted Church of England is a subject no less worthy of admirasion then gratitude to all Posterity And of all things next Gods grace not to be abused or turned into wantonness by any of Your Majesty's Clergy who are highly obliged beyond all other Subjects to Piety Loyalty and Industry I shall need nothing more to ingratiate this incomparable Piece to Your Majesty's acceptance and all the English Worlds than those high commendations it hath ever had as from all prudent peaceable and impartial Readers so especially from Your Majesty's Royal Father who a few days before he was Crowned with Martyrdom commended to His dearest Children the diligent Reading of Mr. hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity even next the Bible as an excellent means to settle them in the Truth of Religion and in the Peace of this Church as much Christian and as well Reform as any under Heaven As if God had reserved this signal Honour to be done by the best of Kings and greatest Sufferers for this Church to Him who was one of the best Writers and ablest Defenders of it To this Completed Edition is added such particular accounts as could be got of the Author's Person Education Temper Manners Fortunes Life and Death which is now done with much exactness and proportion That hereby Your Majesty and all the World may see what sort of Men are fittest for Church-work which like the Building of Solomon's Temple is best carried on with most evenness of judgement and least noise of Passion Also what manner of Man he was to whom we all owe this Noble Work and durable Defence Which is indeed at once as the Tongues of Eloquent Princes are to themselves and their Subjects both a Treasury and an Armoury to enrich their friends and defend them against the Enemies of the Church of England Arare composition of unpassionate Reason and unpartial Religion the mature product of a Indicious Scholar a Loyal Subject an Humble Preacher and a most Eloquent Writer The very abstract and quintessence of Laws Humane and Divine a Summary of the Grounds Rules and Proportions of true Polity in Church and State Upon which clear solid and safe Foundations the good Order Peace and Government of this Church was anciently settled and on which while it stands firm it will be flourishing All other popular and specious pretensions being found by late sad experiences to be as novel and unfit so factious and fallacious yea dangerous and destructive to the Peace and Prosperity of this Church and Kingdom whose inseparable happiness and interests are bound up in Monarchy and Episcopacy The Politic and Visible managing of both which God hath now graciously restored and committed to Your Majesty's Sovereign Wisdom and Authority after the many and long Tragedies suffered from those Club Masters and Tub-Ministers who sought not fairly to obtain Reformation of what might seem amiss but violently and wholly to overthrow the ancient and goodly Fabric of this Church and Kingdom For finding themselves not able in many years to Answer this one Book long ago written in defence of the Truth Order Government Authority and Liberty in things indifferent of this Reformed Church agreeable to Right Reason and True Religion which makes this well tempered Piece a File capable to break the Teeth of any that venture to bite it they conspired at last to betake themselves to Arms to kindle those horrid fires of Civil Wars which this wise Author foresaw and foretold in his admirable Preface would follow those sparks and that smoke which he saw rise in his days So that from impertinent Disputes seconded with scurrilous Pamphlets they fled to Tumults Sedition Rebellion Sacrilege Parricide yea Regicide Counsels Weapons and Practices certainly no way becoming the hearts and hands of Christian Subjects nor ever sanctified by Christ for his Service or his Churches good What now remains but Your Majesty's perfecting and preserving that in this Church which you have with much prudence and tenderness so happily begun and prosecuted with more zeal than the establishment of Your own Throne The still crazy Church of England together with this Book its great and impregnable Shield do further need and humbly implore Your Majesty's Royal Protection under God Nor can Your Majesty by any generous instance and perseverance most worthy of a Christian King more express that pious and grateful sense which God and all good Men expect from Your Majesty as some retribution for his many miraculous mercies to Yourself then in a wise speedy and happy settling of our Religious peace with the least grievance and most satisfaction to all Your good Subjects Sacred Order and Uniformity being the centre and circumference of our Civil Tranquillity Sedition naturally rising out of Schism and Rebellion out of Faction The only cure and antidote against both are good Laws and Canons first wisely made with all Christian Moderation and Seasonable Charity next duly executed with justice and Impartiality which sober Severity is indeed the greatest Charity to the Public Whose Verity Unity Sanctity and Solemnity in Religious Concernments being once duly established must not be shaken or sacrificed to any private varieties and extravagancies Where the internals of Doctrines Morality Mysteries and Evangelical Duties being as they are in the Church of England sound and sacred the externals of decent Forms Circumstances Rites and Ceremonies being subordinate and servient to the main cannot be either evil or unsafe neither offensive to God nor good Christians For the attaining of which blessed ends of Piety and Peace that the sacred Sun and Shield of the Divine Grace and Power directing and protecting may ever shine upon Your Majesty's Person and Family Counsels and Power is the humble Prayer of Your Sacred Majesties most Loyal Subject and devoted Servant JOH. EXON TO THE READER I Think it necessary to inform my Reader that Doctor Gauden the late Bishop of Worcester hath also lately wrote and published the Life of Master Hooker and though this be not writ by design to oppose what he hath truly written yet I am put upon a neccessity to say That in it there be many Material Mistakes and more Omissions I conceive some of his Mistakes did proceed from a Belief in Master Thomas Fuller who had too hastily published what be hath since most ingenuously retracted And for the Bishop's Omissions I suppose his more weighty Business and Want of Time made him pass over many things without that due Examination which my better Leisure my Diligence and my accidental Advantages have made known unto me And now for myself I can say I hope or rather know there are no Material Mistakes in what I here present to you that shall become my Reader Little things that I have received by Tradition to which there may be too much and too little Faith given I will not at this distance of Time undertake to justify for though I have used great Diligence and compared Relations and Circumstances and probable Results and Expressions yet I shall not impose my Belief upon my Reader I shall rather leave him at liberty But if there shall appear any Material Ommission I desire every Lover of truth and the Memory of Master Hooker that it may be made known unto me And to incline him to it I here promise to acknowledge and rectify any such Mistake in a second Impression which the Printer says he hopes for and by this means my weak but faithful Endeavours may become a better Monument and in some degree more worthy the Memory of this Venerable Man I confess that when I consider the great Learning and Virtue of Master Hooker and what satisfaction and Advantages many Eminent Scholars and Admirers of him have had by his Labours I do not a little wonder that in Sixty years no man did undertake to tell Posterity of the Excellencies of his Life and Learning and the Accidents of both and sometimes wonder more at myself that I have been persuaded to it and indeed I do not easily pronounce my own Pardon nor expect that my Reader shall unless my Introduction shall prove my Apology to which I refer him The Copy of a Letter writ to Mr. Walton by Dr. King Lord Bishop of Chichester Honest ISAAC THough a Familiarity of Forty years' continuance and the constant experience of your Love even in the worst times be sufficient to endear our Friendship yet I must confess my affection much improved not only by evidences of private respect to those very many that know and love you but by your new demonstration of a Public Spirit testified in a diligent true and useful Collection of so many Material Passages as you have now afforded me in the Life of Venerable Mr. Hooker Of which since desired by such a Friend as yourself I shall not deny to give the Testimony of what I know concerning him and his learned Books but shall first here take a fair occasion to tell you that you have been happy in choosing to write the Lives of three such Persons as Posterity hath just cause to honour which they will do the more for the true Relation of them by your happy Pen of all which I shall give you my unfeigned Censure I shall begin with my most dear and incomparable Friend Dr. Donne late Dean of St. Paul's Church who not only trusted me as his Executor but three days before his death delivered into my hands those excellent Sermons of his which are now made public professing before Dr. Winniff Dr. Montford and I think yourself then present at his bedside that it was by my restless importunity that he had prepared them for the Press together with which as his best Legacy he gave me all his Sermon-Notes and his other Papers containing an Extract of near Fifteen hundred Authors How these were got out of my hands you who were the Messenger for them and how lost both to me and yourself is not now seasonable to complain but since they did miscarry I am glad that the general Demonstration of his Worth was so fairly preserved and represented to the World by your Pen in the History of his Life indeed so well that beside others the best Critic of our later time Mr. john Hales of Eton College affirmed to me He had not seen a Life written with more advantage to the Subject or more reputation to the Writer than that of Dr. Donnes After the performance of this task for Dr. Donne you undertook the like office for our Friend Sir Henry Wolton betwixt which two there was a Friendship begun in Oxford continued in their various Travels and more confirmed in the religious Friendship of Age and doubtless this excellent Person had writ the Life of Dr. Donne if Death had not prevented him by which means his and your Pre-collections for that Work fell to the happy manage of your Pen A Work which you would have declined if imperious persuasions had not been stronger than your modest resolutions against it And I am thus far glad that the first Life was so imposed upon you because it gave an unadvoidable cause of writing the second If not 't is too probable we had wanted both which had been a prejudice to all lovers of Honour and ingenuous Learning And let me not leave my Friend Sir Henry without this Testimony added to yours That he was a Man of as florid a Wit and elegant a Pen as any former or ours which in that kind is a most excellent Age hath ever produced And now having made this voluntary observation of our two deceased Friends I proceed to satisfy your desire concerning what I know and believe of the ever-memorable Mr. Hooker who was Schismaticorum Malleius so great a Champion for the Church of England's Rights against the Factious Torrent of Separatists that then ran high against Church-Discipline and in his unanswerable Books continues still to be so against the unquiet Disciples of their Schism which now under other names carry on their design and who as the proper Heirs of their Irrational Zeal would again rake into the scarce-closed Wounds of a newly bleeding State and Church And first though I dare not say I knew Mr. Hooker yet as our Ecclesiastical History reports to the honour of Igna●ius That he lived in the time of St. john and had seen him in his childhood so I also joy that in my minority I have often seen Mr. Hooker with my Father then Lord Bishop of London from whom and others at that time I have heard most of the material passages which you relate in the History of his Life and from my Father received such a Character of his Learning Humility and other Virtues that like Jewels of unvaluable price they still cast such a lustre as Envy or the Rust of Time shall never darken From my Father I have also heard all the circumstances of the Plot to defame him and how Sir Edwin Sandys outwitted his Accusers and gained their confession and could give an account of each particular of that Plot by that I judge it fitter to be forgotten and rot in the same Grave with the malicious Authors I may not omit to declare That my Father's knowledge of Mr. Hooker was occasioned by the Learned Dr. john Spencer who after the death of Mr. Hooker was so careful to preserve his unvaluable Sixth Seventh and Eighth Books of ECCLESIASTICAL POLITT and his other Writings that he procured Henry jackson then of Corpus-Christi College to transcribe for him all Mr. hooker's remaining written Papers many of which were imperfect for his Study had been rifled or worse used by Mr. Clark and another of principles too like his But as these Papers were they were endeavoured to be completed by his dear Friend Dr. Spencer who bequeathed them as a precious Legacy to my Father after whose death they rested in my hand till Dr. Abbot then Archbishop of Canterbury commanded them out of my custody authorising Dr. john Barkham his Lordship's Chaplain to require and bring them to him to Lambeth At which time I have heard they were put into the Bishop's Library and that they remained there till the Martyrdom of Archbishop Laud and were then by the Brethren of that Faction given with the Library to Hugh peter's as a reward for his remarkable service in those sad times of the Church's confusion And though they could hardly fall into a fouler hand yet there wanted not other endeavours to corrupt and make them speak that Language for which the Faction then fought which was To subject the Sovereign Power to the People I need not strive to vindicate Mr. Hooker in this particular his known Loyalty to his Prince whilst he lived the sorrow expressed by King james for his death the value our late Sovereign of everblessed Memory put upon his Works & now the singular Character of his worth given by you in the passages of his life especially in your Appendix to it do sufficiently clear him from that imputation And I am glad you mention how much value Robert Stapleton Pope Clement the Eighth and other eminent Men of the Romish persuasion have put upon his Books having been told the same in my youth by persons of worth that have traveled Italy Lastly I must again congratulate this undertaking of yours as now more proper to you then any other person by reason of your long knowledge and alliance to the worthy family of the Cranmers my old friends also who have been men of noted wisdom especially Mr. George Cranmer whose prudence added to that of Sir Edwin Sandys proved very useful in the completing of Mr. hooker's matchless Books one of their Letters I herewith send you to make use of if you think fit And let me say further you merit much from many of Mr. hooker's best friends then living namely from the ever-renowned Archb. Whitgist of whose imcomparable worth with the Character of the times you have given us a more short and significant account than I have received from any other Pen. You have done much for Sir Henry Savile his contemporary and familiar friend amongst the surviving Monuments of whose Learning give me leave to tell you so two are omitted his Edition of Euclid but especially his Translation of King james his Apology for the Oath of Allegiance into elegant Latin Which flying in that dress as far as Rome was by the Pope and Conclave sent unto Franciscus Snarez to Salamanca he then residing there as Precedent of that College with a command to answer it When he had perfected the work which he calls Defensio Fidei Catholica it was transmitted to Rome for a view of the Inquisitors who according to their custom blotted out what they pleased and as Mr. Hooker hath been used since his death added whatsoever might advance the Pope's Supremacy or carry on their own interest commonly coupling together Dep●nere & Occidere the deposing and killing of Princes Which cruel and unchristian Language Mr. john Salikell his Amanuensis when he wrote at Salamanca but since a Convert living long in my Fathers-house often professed the good old man whose Piety and Charity Mr. Salikell magnified much not only disavowed but detested Not to trouble you further your Reader if according to your desire my approbation of your work carries any weight will find many just Reasons to thank you for it and for this circumstance here mentioned not known to many may happily apprehend one to thank him who is Chichester Novemb. 13. 15. Sir Your ever-faithful and affectionate Old Friend Henry Chichester THE LIFE OF Mr. Richard Hooker THE INTRODUCTION I Have been persuaded by a Friend that I ought to obey to write The Life of RICHARD HOOKER the happy Author of Five if not more of the Eight Learned Books of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and though I have undertaken it yet it hath been with some unwillingness foreseeing that it must prove to me and especially at this time of my Age a Work of much labour to inquire consider research and determine what a needful to be known concerning him For I knew him not in his Life and must therefore not only look back to his Death now Sixty four years passed but almost Fifty years beyond that even to his Childhood and Youth and gather thence such Observations and Prognostics as may at least adorn if not prove necessary for the completing of what I have undertaken This trouble I foresee and foresee also that it is impossible to escape Censures against which I will not hope my well-meaning and diligence can protect me for I consider the Age in which I live and shall therefore but entreat of my Reader a suspension of them till I have made known unto him some Reasons which I myself would now fain believe do make me in some measure fit for this undertaking And if these Reasons shall not acquit me from all Censures they may at least abate of their severity and this is all I can probably hope for My Reasons follow About Forty years passed for I am now in the Seventieth of my age I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer now with God Grand Nephew unto the Great Archbishop of that name a family of noted prudence and resolution with him and two of his sisters I had an entire and free friendship One of them was the Wife of Dr. Spencer a Bosom-friend and sometime Compupil with Mr. Hooker in Corpus-Christi College in Oxford and after Precedent of the same I name them here for that I shall have occasion to mention them in this following Discourse as also George Cranmer their Brother of whose useful abilities my Reader may have a more authentic testimony than my Pen can purchase for him by that of our Learned Cambden and others This William Cranmer and his two forenamed Sisters had some affinity and a most familiar friendship with Mr. Hooker and had had some part of their Education with him in his House when he was Parson of Bishops-Born near Cantebury in which City their good Father then lived They had I say a great part of their Education with him as myself since that time a happy Cohabitation with them and having some years before read part of Mr. hooker's Works with great liking and satisfaction my affection on to them made me a diligent Inquisitor into many things that concerned him as namely of his Person his Nature the management of his Time his Wife his Family and the Fortune of him and his Which inquiry hath given me much advantage in the knowledge of what is now under my consideration and intended for the satisfaction of my Reader I had also a friendship with the Reverend Dr. Usher the late Learned Archbishop of Armagh and with Dr. Morton the late Learned and Charitable Bishop of Durham as also with the Learned John Hales of Eton College and with them also who loved the very name of Mr. Hooker I have had many discourses concerning him and from them and many others that have now put off Mortality I might have had more Informations if I could then have admitted a thought of any fitness for what by persuasion I have now undertaken But though that full Harvest be irrecoverably lost yet my Memory hath preserved some Glean and my diligence made such Additions to them as I hope will prove useful to the completing of what I intent In the discovery of which I shall be faithful and with this assurance put a period to my Introduction THE LIFE IT is not to be doubted but that Richard Hooker was born within the Precincts or in the City of Exeter A City which may justly boast that it was the Birth-place of him and Sir Thomas Bodley as indeed the County may in which it stands that it hath furnished this Nation with Bishop jewel Sir Francis Drake Sir Walter Raleigh and many others memorable for their Valour and Learning He was born about the Year of our Redemption One thousand five hundred fifty and three and of Parents that were not so remarkable for their Extraction or Riches as for their Virtue and Industry and God's Blessing upon both By which they were enabled to educate their Children in some degree of Learning of which our Richard Hooker may appear to be one fair Testimony And that Nature is not so partial as always to give the great Blessings of Wisdom and Learning and with them the greater Blessings of Virtue and Government to those only that are of a more high and honourable Birth His Complexion if we may guests by him at the Age of Forty was Sanguine with a mixture of Choler and yet his Motion was slow even in his Youth and so was his Speech never expressing an Earnestness in either of them but a Gravity suitable to the Aged And it is observe so far as Inquiry is able to look back at this distance of Time that at his being a Schoolboy he was an early Questionist quietly inquisitive Why this was and that was not to be remembered Why this was granted and that denied This being mixed with a remarkable Modesty and a sweet serene Quietness of Nature and with them a quick Apprehension of many perplexed parts of Learning imposed then upon him as a Scholar made his Master and others to believe him to have an inward Blessed Divine Light and therefore to consider him to a little wonder For in that Children were less pregnant less confident and more malleable then in this wiser but not better Age. This Meekness and conjuncture of Knowledge with Modesty in his Conversation being observed by his Schoolmaster caused him to persuade his Parents who intended him for an Apprentice to continue him at School till he could find out some means by persuading his rich Uncle or some other charitable Person to ease them of a part of their Care and Charge Assuring them that their Son was so enriched with the Blessings of Nature and Grace that God seemed to single him out as a special Instrument of his Glory And the good Man told them also that he would double his diligence in instructing him and would neither expect not receive any other Reward than the content of so hopeful and happy an employment This was not unwelcome news and especially to this Mother to whom he was a dutiful and dear Child and all Parties were so pleased with this Proposal that it was resolved So it should be And in the mean time his Parents and Master laid a Foundation for his future Happiness by instilling into his Soul the Seeds of Piety those Conscientious principles of Loving and fearing God of an early belief that he knows the very secrets of our Souls that he punisheth our Vices and rewards our Innocence that we should be free from Hypocrisy and appear to Man what we are to God because first or last the crafty man is catcht in his own snare These Seeds of Piety were so seasonably planted and so continually watered with the daily dew of God's Blessed Spirit that his Infant-vertues grew into such holy Habits as did make him grow daily into more and more favour both with God and Man which with the great Learning that he did attain to hath made Richard Hooker honoured in this and will continue him to be so to succeeding Generations This good Schoolmaster whose name I am not able to recover and am sorry for that I would have given him a better Memorial in this humble Monument dedicated to the memory of his Scholar was very solicitous with john Hooker than Chamberlain of Exeter and Uncle to our Richard to take his Nephew into his care and to maintain him for one year in the University and in the mean time to use his Endeavours to procure an Admission for him into some College still urging and assuring him that his Charge would not continue long for the Lads Learning and Manners were both so remarkable that they must of necessity be taken notice of and that God would provide him some second Patron that would free him and his Parents from their future care and charge These Reasons with the affectionate Rhetoric of his good Master and God's blessing upon both procured from his Uncle a faithful promise that he would take him into his care and charge before the expiration of the year following which was performed This Promise was made about the Fourth year of the Reign of Queen Mary and the Learned john jewel after Bishop of Salisbury having been in the first of this Queen's Reign expelled out of Corpus-Christi College in Oxford of which he was a Fellow for adhering to the truth of those Principles of Religion to which he had assented in the days of Her Brother and Predecessor Edward the Sixth and he having now a just cause to fear a more heavy punishment than expulsion was forced by forsaking this to seek safety in another Nation and with that safety the enjoyment of that Doctrine and Worship for which he suffered But the Cloud of that Persecution and Fear ending with the Life of Queen Mary the Affairs of the Church and State did then look more clear and comfortable so that he and many others of the same judgement made a happy return into England about the first of Queen Elizabeth in which year this john jewel was sent a Commissioner or Visitor of the Churches of the Western parts of this Kingdom and especially of those in Devonshire in which County he was born and then and there he contracted a friendship with john Hooker the Uncle of our Richard In the Third year of Her Reign this john jewel was made Bishop of Salisbury and there being always observed in him a willingness to do good and oblige his Friends and now a power added to it john Hooker gave him a visit in Salisbury and besought him for Charity's sake to look favourably upon a poor Nephew of his whom Nature had fitted for a Scholar but the estate of his Parents was so narrow that they were unable to give him the advantage of Learning and that the Bishop would therefore become his Patron and prevent him from being a Tradesman for he was a Boy of remarkable hopes And though the Bishop knew Men do not usually look with an indifferent eye upon their own children and Relations yet he assented so far to john Hooker that he appointed the Boy and his Schoolmaster should attend him about Easter next following at that place which was done accordingly And then after some Questions and Observations of the Boys Learning and Gravity and Behaviour the Bishop gave his Schoolmaster a Reward and took order for an Annual Pension for the Boys Parents promising also to take him into his care for a future preferment which was performed For about the Fourteenth year of his age which was Anno 1567. he was by the Bishop appointed to remove to Oxford and there to attend Dr. Cole than Precedent of Corpus-Christi College Which he did and Dr. Cole had according to a promise made to the Bishop provided for him both a Tutor which was said to be the Learned Dr. john Reynolds and a Clerks place in that College Which place though it were not a full maintenance yet with the contribution of his Uncle and the continued Pension of his Patron the good Bishop gave him a comfortable subsistence And in this condition he continued unto the Eighteenth year of his age still increasing in Learning and Prudence and so much in Humility and Piety that he seemed to be filled with the Holy Ghost and even like St. john Baptist to be sanctified from his Mother's Womb who did often bless the day in which she bore him About this time of his age he fell into a dangerous Sickness which lasted two Months All which time his Mother having notice of it did in her hourly Prayers as earnestly beg his life of God as the Mother of St. Augustine did that he might become a true Christian And their Prayers were both so heard as to be granted Which Mr. Hooker would often mention with much joy and pray that he might never live to occasion any sorrow to so good & Mother whom he would often say he loved so dearly that he would endeavour to be good even as much for her sake as for his own As soon as he was perfectly recovered from this Sickness he took a journey from Oxford to Exeter to satisfy and see his good Mother being accompanied with a Countryman and Companion of his own College and both on foot which was then either more in fashion or want of Money or their Humility made it so But on foot they went and took Salisbury in their way purposely to see the good Bishop who made Mr. Hooker and his Companion dine with him at his own Table which Mr. Hooker boasted of with much joy and gratitude when he saw his Mother and Friends And at the Bishops parting with him the Bishop gave him good Counsel and his Benediction but forgot to give him Money which when the Bishop had considered he sent a Servant in all hazel to call Richard back to him And at Richard's return the Bishop said to him Richard I sent for you back to lend you a Horse which hath carried me many & mile and I thank God with much ease And presently delivered into his hand a Walking-staff with which he professed he had traveled through many parts of Germany And he said Richard I do not give but lend you my Horse be sure you be honest and bring my Horse back to me at your return this way to Oxford And I do now give you Ten Groats to bear your charges to Exeter and here is Ten Groats more which I charge you to deliver to your Mother and tell her I send her a Bishop's Benediction with it and beg the continuance of her Prayers for me And if you bring my Horse back to me I will give you Ten Groats more to carry you on foot to the College And so God bless you good Richard And this you may believe was performed by both parties But alas the next news that followed Mr. Hooker to Oxford was That his Learned and Charitable Patron had changed this for a better life Which may be believed for that as he lived so he died in devout Meditation and Prayer and in both so zealously that it became a Religious question Whether his last Ejaculations or his Soul did first enter into Heaven And now Mr. Hooker became a Man of Sorrow and Fear Of sorrow for the loss of so dear and comfortable a Patron and of Fear for his future subsistence But Dr. Cole raised his spirits from this dejection by bidding him go cheerfully to his Studies and assuring him he should neither want Food not Raiment which was the utmost of his hopes for he would become his Patron And so he was for about Nine Months or not much longer for about that time this following accident did befall Mr. Hooker Edwin Sandys than Bishop of London and after Archbishop of York had also been in the days of Queen Mary forced by forsaking this to seek safety in another Nation where for many years Bishop jewel and he were Companions at Bed and Board in Germany and where in this their Exile they did often eat the Bread of Sorrow and by that means they there began such a friendship as time did not blot out but lasted till the death of Bishop jewel which was One thousand five hundred seventy and one A little before which time the two Bishop's meeting jewel began a story of his Richard Hooker and in it gave such a Character of his Learning and Manners that though Bishop Sandys was educated in Cambridge where he had obliged and had many Friends Yet his resolution was that his Son Edwin should be sent to Corpus-Christi College in Oxford and by all means be Pupil to Mr. Hooker though his Son Edwin was then almost of the same age For the Bishop said I will have a Tutor for my Son that shall teach him Learning by Instruction and Virtue by Example and my greatest care shall be of the last and God willing this Richard Hooker shall be the Man into whose hands I will commit my Edwin And the Bishop did so about Twelve Months after this resolution And doubtless as to these two a better choice could not be made For Mr. Hooker was now in the Nineteenth year of his age had spent five in the University and had by a constant unwearied diligence attained unto a Perfection in all the Learned Languages By the help of which as excellent Tutor and his unintermitted Study he had made the subtlety of all the Arts easy and familiar to himself and useful for the discovery of such Learning as lay hid from common Searchers So that by these added to his great Reason and his Industry added to both He did not only know more of Causes and Effects but what he knew he knew better than other men And with this Knowledge he had a most blessed and clear Method of Demonstrating what he knew to the great advantage of all his Pupils which in time were many but especially to his two first his dear Edwin Sandys and his as dear George Cranmer of which there will be a fair Testimony in the ensuing Relation This for his Learning And for his Behaviour amongst other Testimonies this still remains of him That in four years he was but twice absent from the Chapel prayers and that his Behaviour there was such as showed an awful reverence of that God which he then worshipped and prayed to giving all outward Testimonies that his Affections were set on Heavenly things This was his Behaviour towards God and for that to Man it is observable That he was never known to be angry or passionate or extreme in any of his desires never heard to repine or dispute with Providence but by a quiet gentle submission and resignation of his will to the Wisdom of his Creator bore the burden of the day with patience never heard to utter to an uncomely word And by this and a grave Behaviour which is a Divine Charm hebegot an early Reverence unto his Person even from those that at other rhymes and in other companies took a liberty to cast off that strictness of Behaviour and Discourse that is required in a Collegiate Life And when he took any liberty to be pleasant his Wit was never blemished with scoffing or the utterance of any conceit that bordered upon or might beget a thought of looseness in his hearers Thus innocent and exemplary was his Behaviour in his College and thus this good man continued till his Death still increasing in Learning in Patience and Piety In this Nineteenth year of his Age he was chosen December 24. 1573. to be one of the Twenty Scholars of the Foundation being elected and admitted as born in Devonshire out of which County a certain number are to be elected in Vacancies by the Founder's Statutes and now he was much encouraged for now he was perfectly incorporated into this beloved College which was then noted for an eminent Library strict Students and remarkable Scholars And indeed it may glory that it had Bishop jewel Doctor john Reynolds and Doctor Thomas jackson of that Foundation The first famous by his Learned Apology for the Church of England and his Defence of it against Harding The second for the learned and wise Menage of a public Dispute with john Hart of the Roman persuasion about the Head and Faith of the Church then Printed by consent of both parties And the third for his most excellent Exposition of the Creed and for his other Treatises all such as have given greatest satisfaction to men of the greatest Learning Nor was this man more eminent for his Learning then for his strict and pious Life testified by his abundant Love and Charity to all Men. In the year 1576. February 23. Mr. hooker's Grace was given him for Inceptor of Arts Doctor Herbert Westphaling a Man of noted Learning being then Vicechancellor and the Act following he was completed Master which was Anno 1577. His Patron Doctor Cole being that year Vicechancellor and his dear Friend Henry Savil of Merton College than one of the Proctors It was that Henry Savil that was after Sir Henry Savil Warden of Merton College and Provost of Eton He which founded in Oxford two famous Lectures and endowed them with liberal maintenance It was that Sir Henry Savil that translated and enlightened the History of Cornelim Tacitus with a most excellent Comment and enriched the World by his laborious and chargeable collecting the scattered pieces of St. chrysostom and the Publication of them in one entire Body in Greek in which Language he was a most judicious Critic It was this Sir Henry Savil that had the happiness to be a Contemporary and a most familiar Friend to our Richard Hooker and let Posterity know it And in this year of 1577. he was chosen Fellow of the College Happy also in being the Contemporary and Friend of Dr. john Reynolds of whom I have lately spoken and of Dr. Spencer both which were after and successively made Precedents of his College Men of great Learning and Merit and famous in their Generations Nor was Mr. Hooker more happy in his Contemporaries of his Time and College then in the Pupillage and Friendship of his Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer of whom my Reader may note That this Edwin Sandys was after Sir Edwin Sandys and as famous for his Speculum Europe as his Brother George for making Posterity beholden to his Pen by a Learned Relation and Comment on his dangerous and remarkable Travels and for his harmonious Translation of the Psalms of David the Book of job and other Poetical parts of Holy Writ into most high and elegant Verse And for Cranmer his other Pupil I shall refer my Reader to the Printed Testimonies of our Learned Master Cambden the Lord Tottenes Fines Morison and others This Cranmer whose Christian name was George was a Gentleman of singular hopes the eldest Son of Thomas Cranmer Son of Edward Cranmer the Archbishop's Brother He spent much of his Youth in Corpus-Christi College in Oxford where he continued Master of Arts for many years before he removed and then betook himself to Travel accompanying that worthy Gentleman Sir Edwin Sandys into France Germany and Italy for the space of three years and after their happy return he betook himself to an employment under Secretary Davison After whose fall he wen in place of Secretary with Sir Henry Killigrew in his Embassage into France and after his death he was sought after by the most Noble Lord Mount-Joy with whom he went into Ireland where he remained until in a Battle against the Rebels near Carlingford an unfortunate wound put an end both to his life and the great hopes that were conceived of him Betwixt Mr. Hooker and these his two Pupils there was a Sacred Friendship a Friendship made up of Religious Principles which increased daily by a similitude of Inclinations to the same Recreations and Studies a Friendship elemented in Youth and in an University free from self-ends which the Friendships of Age usually are not In this sweet this blessed this Spiritual Amity they went on for many years And as the Holy Prophet saith so they took sweet counsel together and walked in the House of God as Friends By which means they improved it to such a degree of Amity as bordered upon Heaven a Friendship so sacred that when it ended in this World it began in the next where it shall have no end And though this World cannot give any degree of pleasure equal to such a Friendship yet obedience to Parents and a desire to know the Affairs and Manners and Laws and Learning of other Nations that they might thereby become the more serviceable unto their own made them put off their Gowns and leave Mr. Hooker to his College Where he was daily more assiduous in his Studies still enriching his quiet and capacious Soul with the precious Learning of the Philosophers Casuists and Schoolmen and with them the Foundation and Reason of all Laws both Sacred and Civil and with such other Learning as lay most remote from the Track of Common Studies And as he was diligent in these so he seemed restless in searching the scope and intention of God's Spirit revealed to mankind in the Sacred Scripture For the Understanding of which he seemed to be assisted by the same Spirit with which they were written He that regardeth truth in the inward parts making him to understand Wisdom secretly And the good man would often say The Scripture was not writ to beget Pride and Disputations and Opposition to Government but Moderation and Charity and Humility and Obedience and Peace and Piety in Mankind of which no good man did ever repent himself upon his Deathbed And that this was really his Judgement did appear in his future Writings and in all the Actions of his Life Nor was this excellent man a stranger to the more light and airy parts of Learning as Music and Poetry all which he had digested and made useful And of all which the Reader will have a fair Testimony in what follows Thus he continued his Studies in all quietness for the space of Three or more years about which time he entered into Sacred Orders and was made both Deacon and Priest and not long after in obedience to the College Statutes he was to Preach either at St. Peter's Oxford or at St. Paul's Cross London and the last fell to his Allotment In order to which Sermon to London he came and immediately to the Shunamites House which is a House so called for that Besides the stipend paid the Preacher there is Provision made also for his Lodging and Diet two days before and one day after his Sermon This House was then kept by john Churchman sometimes a Draper of good note in Watling street upon whom after many years of Plenty Poverty had at last come like an armed man and brought him into a necessitous condition Which though it be a Punishment is not always an Argument of God's disfavor for he was a virtuous man I shall not yet give the like testimony of his Wife but leave the Reader to judge by what follows But to this House Mr. Hooker came so wet so weary and weatherbeaten That he was never known to express more Passion then against a Friend that dissuaded him from Footing it to London and for hiring him no easier an Horse supposing the Horse trotted when he did not and at this time also such a faintness and fear possessed him that he would not be persuaded two days quietness or any other means could be used to make him able to Preach his Sundays S●rmon but a warm Bed and Rest and Drink proper for a Cold given him by Mistress Churchman and her diligent attendance added unto it enabled him to perform the Office of the day which was in or about the year One thousand five hundred eighty and one And in this first public appearance to the World he was not so happy as to be free from Exceptions against a point of Doctrine delivered in his Sermon which was That in God there were two Wills an Antecedent and a Consequent Will His first Will That all mankind should be saved but his second Will was That those only should be saved that did live answerable to that degree of Grace which he had offered or afforded them This seemed to cross a late opinion of Mr. alvins and then taken for granted by many that had not a capacity to examine it as it had been by him and hath been since by Dr. jackson Dr. Hammond and others of great Learning who believe that a contrary opinion trenches upon the Honour and Justice of our Merciful God How he justified this I will not undertake to declare but it was not excepted against as Mr. Hooker declares in an Occasional Answer to Mr. Travers by john Elmer than Bishop of London at this time one of his Auditors and at last one of his Advocates too when Mr. Hooker was accused for it But the justifying of this Doctrine did not prove of so bad consequence as the kindness of Mistress Churchman's curing him of his late distemper and cold for that was so gratefully apprehended by Mr. Hooker that he thought himself bound in conscience to belive all that she said So that the good man came to be persuaded by her That he was a man of a tender constitution and that it was best for him to have a Wife that might prove a Nurse to him such an one as might both prolong his life and make it more comfortable and such a one she could and would provide for him if he thought fit to marry And he not considering that the Children of this World are wiser in their Generation then the Children of Light But like a true Nathaniel fearing no guile because he meant none did give her such a power as Eleazar was trusted with when he was sent to choose a wife for Isaac for even so he trusted her to choose for him Promising upon a fair Summons to return to London and accept of her choice and he did so in that or the year following Now the Wife provided for him was her Daughter joan who brought him neither Beauty nor Portion and for her Conditions they were too like that Wife 's which is by Solomon compared to a Dripping House So that he had no reason to rejoice in the Wife of his Youth but rather to say with the Holy Prophet W● is me that I am constrained to have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar This choice of Mr. hooker's if it were his choice may be wondered at but let us consider that the Prophet Ezekiel says There is a Wheel within a Wheel a secret Sacred Wheel of Providence especially in Marriages guided by his hand that allows not the Race to the swift nor Bread to the wise not good Wives to good Men And he that can bring good out of evil for Mortals are blind to such Reasons only knows why this Blessing was denied to patient job and as some think to meek Moses and to our as meek and patient Mr. Hooker But so it was and let the Reader cease to wonder for Affliction is a Divine Diet which though it be not pleasing to mankind yet Almighty God hath often very often imposed it as good though bitter Physic to those Children whose Souls are dearest to him And by this means the good man was drawn from the tranquillity of his College From that Garden of Piety of Pleasure of Peace and a sweet Conversation into the Thorny Wilderness of a busy World into those corroding cares that attend a Married Priest and a Countrey-Parsonage which was Draiton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire not far from Alesbury and in the Diocese of Lincoln to which he was presented by john Cheny Esquire than Patron of it the Nineth of December 1584. where he behaved himself so as to give no occasion of evil but as St. Paul adviseth a Minister of God in much patience in afflictions in anguishes in necessities in poverty and no doubt in long-suffering yet troubling no man with his discontents and wants And in this condition he continued about a year in which time his two Pupils Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer were returned from Travel and took a journey to Draiton to see their Tutor where they found him with a Book in his hand it was the Odes of Horace he being then tending his small allotment of Sheep in a common Field which he told his Pupils he was forced to do for that his Servant was then gone home to Dine and assist his Wife to do some necessary household business When his Servant returned and released him his two Pupils attended him unto his House where their best entertainment was his quiet company which was presently denied them for Richard was called to rock the Cradle and the rest of their welcome was so like this that they stayed but till next morning which was time enough to discover and pity their Tutor's condition And having in that time remembered and paraphrased on many of the innocent Recreations of their younger days and by other such like diversions given him as much present pleasure as their acceptable company and discourse could afford him they were forced to leave him to the company of his Wife and seek themselves a quieter Lodging But at their parting from him Mr. Cranmer said Good Tutor I am sorry your lot is fallen in no better Ground as to your Parsonage And more sorry your Wife proves not a more comfortable Companion after you have wearied your thoughts in your restless Studies To whom the good man replied My dear George if Saints have usually a double share in the miseries of this life I that am none ought not to repine at what my Wise Creator hath appointed for me but labour as indeed I do daily to submit to his Will and possess my Soul in Patience and Peace At their return to London Edwin Sandys acquaints his Father then Bishop of London and after Archbishop of York with his Tutors sad condition and solicits for his removal to some Benefice that might give him a more comfortable subsistence Which his Father did most willingly grant him when it should next fall into his power And not long after this time which was in the year One thousand five hundred eighty and five Mr. Alvy Master of the Temple died who was a man of a strict Life of great Learning and of so venerable Behaviour as to gain such a degree of love and reverence from all men that knew him that he was generally known by the name of Father Alvy At the Temple Reading next after the death of this Father Alvy the Archbishop of York being then at Dinner with the Judges the Reader and Benchers of that Society he met there with a Condolement for the Death of Father Alvy an high commendation of his Saintlike Life and of his great Merit both to God and Man and as they bewailed his Death so they wished for a like Pattern of Virtue and Learning to succeed him And here came in a fair occasion for the Bishop to commend Mr. Hooker to Father Alvies Place which he did with so effectual an earnestness and that seconded with so many other Testimonies of his worth that Mr. Hooker was sent for from Draiton Beauchamp to London and there the Mastership of the Temple proposed unto him by the Bishop as a greater freedom from his Country Cares the advantage of a better Society and a more liberal Pension than his Parsonage did afford him But these Reasons were not powerful enough to incline him to a willing acceptance of it his wish was rather to gain a better Country Living where he might be free from Noise so he expressed the desire of his Heart and eat that bread which he might more properly call his own in privacy and quietness But notwithstanding this averseness he was at last persuaded to accept of the Bishop's Proposal and was by * This you may find in the Temple Reconds Will. Ermstead was Master of the Temple at the Dissolution of the Priory and di●d 2. Eliz. Richard Alvey Bat. l. ivinity pa● 13. Fe● 2 Eliz. Magister sive Cujtos Demuns & Ecclestae nevi Templle died 27 Bez. Richard Hooker Succeeded that year by Patent in termini● as Alvy had ●● and he left it 32 Eliz. Tint year Dr. Belgey succeeded Richard Hooker Patent for Life made Master of the Temple the 17th of March 1585. He being then in the 34th year of his Age. And here I shall make a stop and that the Reader may the better judge of what follows give him a Character of the Times and Temper of the people of this Nation when Mr. Hooker had his Admission into this Place A Place which he accepted rather than desired and yet here he promised himself a virtuous quietness that blessed Tranquillity which he always prayed and laboured for that so he might in Peace bring forth the Fruits of Peace and glorify God by uninterrupted Prayers and praises for this he always thirsted and yet this was denied him For his Admission into this Place was the very beginning of those Oppositions and Anxieties which till then this Good man was a stranger to and of which the Reader may guests by what follows In this Character of the Times I shall by the Readers favour and for his information look so far back as to the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth a time in which the many pretended Titles to the Crown the frequent Treasons the Doubts of her Successor the late Civil War and the sharp Persecution that had raged to the effusion of so much Blood in the Reign of Queen Mary were fresh in the memory of all men and these begot fears in the most Pious and Wisest of this Nation lest the like days should return again to them or their present Posterity The apprehension of which Dangers begot an earnest desire of a Settlement in the Church and State believing there was no other probable way left to make them sit quietly under their own Vines and Figtrees and enjoy the desired Fruit of their Labours But Time and Peace and Plenty begot Self-ends and those begot Animosities Envy Opposition and Unthankfulness for those blessings for which they lately thirsted being then the very utmost of their Desires and even beyond their Hopes This was the temper of the Times in the beginning of her Reign and thus it continued too long For those very people that had enjoyed the desires of their hearts in a Reformation from the Church of Rome became at last so like the Grave as never to be satisfied but were still thirsting for more and more neglecting to pay that Obedience to Government and perform those Vows to God which they made in their days of Adversities and Fear so that in short time theree appeared three several Interests each of them fearless and restless in the prosecution of their Designs they may for distinction be called The active Romanists The restless Non-conformists of which there were many sorts and The passive peaceable Protestant The Counsels of the first considered and resolved on in Rome the second in Scotland in Geneva and in divers selected secret dangerous Conventicles both there and within the bosom of our own Nation the third pleaded and defended their Cause by Established Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil and if they were active it was to prevent the other two from destroying what was by those known Laws happily established to them and their Posterity I shall forbear to mention the very many and as Dangerous Plots of the Romanists against the Church and State because what is principally intended in this Digression is an account of the Opinions and Activity of the Non-conformists against whose judgement and practice Mr. Hooker became at last but most unwillingly to be engaged in a Book-war a War which he maintained not as against an Enemy but with the spirit of Meekness and Reason In which number of Non-conformists though some might be sincere and well-meaning men whose indiscreet zeal might be so like Charity as thereby to cover a multitude of Errors yet of this Party there were many that were possessed with an high degree of Spiritual wickedness I mean with an innate restless radical Pride and Malice I mean not those lesser sins that are more visible and more properly Carnal and sins against a man's self as Gluttony and Drunkenness and the like from which good Lord deliver us but sins of an higher nature because more unlike to the nature of God which is Love and Mercy and Peace and more like the Devil who is not a glutton nor can be drunk and yet is a Devil those wickednesses of Malice and Revenge and Opposition and a Complacence in working and beholding Confusion which are more properly his work who is the Enemy and disturber of mankind and greater sins though many will not believe it Men whom a furious Zeal and Prejudice had blinded and made incapable of hearing Reason or adhering to the ways of Peace Men whom Pride and Self-conceit had made to overvalue their own Wisdom and become pertinacious and to hold foolish and unmannerly disputes against those Men which they ought to Reverence and those Laws which they ought to obey Men that laboured and joyed to speak evil of Government and then to be the Authors of Confusion of Confusion as it is Confusion whom Company and Conversation and Custom had blinded and made insensible that these were Errors and at last became so restless and so hardened in their opinions that like those which perished in the  of Core so these died without repenting these spiritual wickednesses of which Coppinger and Hacket and their adherents are too sad testimonies And in these times which tended thus to Confusion there were also many others that pretended a Tenderness of Conscience refusing to submit to Ceremonies or to take an Oath before a lawful Magistrate and yet these very M●n did in their secret Conventicles Covenant and Swear to each other to be assiduous and faithful in using their best endeavours to set up a Church Government that they had not agreed on To which end there was many Select parties that wandered up and down and were active in sowing Discontents and Sedition by venomous and secret Murmurings and a Dispersion of scurrilous Pamphlets and Libels against the Church and State but especially against the Bishops by which means together with very bold and as indiscreet Sermons the Common people became so Fanatic as St. Peter observed there were in his time some that wrested the Scripture to their own destruction so by these men and this means many came to believe the Bishops to be Antichrist and the only Obstructers of God's Discipline and many of them were at last given over to such desperate delusions as to find out a Text in the Revelation of St. john that Antichrist was to be overcome by the sword which they were very ready to take into their hands So that those very men that began with tender meek Petitions proceeded to print public Admonitions and then to Satirical Remonstrances and at last having like David numbered who was not and who was for their Cause they got a supposed Certainty of so great a Party that they durst threaten first the Bishops and not long after both the Queen and Parliament to all which they were secretly encouraged by the Earl of Leicester then in great favour with her Majesty and the reputed Cherisher and Patron-general of these Pretenders to Tenderness of Conscience whom he used as a sacreligious snare to further his Design which was by their means to bring such an odium upon the Bishops as to procure an Alienation of their Lands and a large proportion of them for himself which Avaricious desire had at last so blinded his Reason that his ambitious and greedy Hopes had almost flattered him into present possession of Lambeth-house And to these strange and dangerous Undertake the Non-conformists of this Nation were much encouraged and heightened by a Correspondence and Confederacy with that Brotherhood in Scotland so that here they became so bold that one told the Queen openly in a * Mr. Dering Sermon She was like an untamed Heifer that would not be ruled by God's people but obstructed his Discipline And in Scotland they were more confident for there † See Bishop spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland they declared Her an Atheist and grew to such an height as not to be accountable for any thing spoken against Her No nor for Treason against their own King if spoken in the Pulpit Showing at last such a disobedience even to Him that His Mother being in England and then in distress and in prison and in danger of Death the Church denied the King their Prayers for Her and at another time when he had appointed a day of Feasting their Church declared for a general Fast in opposition to his Authority To this height they were grown in both Nations and by these means there was distilled into the minds of the common people such other venomous and turbulent Principles as were inconsistent with the safety of the Church and State And these vented so daringly that beside the loss of Life and Limbs the Church and State were both forced to use such other severities as will not admit of an excuse if it had not been to prevent Confusion and the perilous consequences of it which without such prevention would in short time have brought unavoidable ruin and misery to this numerous Nation These Errors and Animosities were so remarkable that they begot wonder in an ingenious Italian who being about this time come newly into this Nation writ scoffingly to a Friend in his own Country That the common people of England were wiser than the wisest of his Nation for here the very Women and Shopkeepers were able to judge of Predestination and determine what Laws were fit to be made concerning Church Government then what were fit to be obeyed or abolished That they were more able or at least thought so to raise and determine perplexed Cases of Conscience than the most Learned Colleges in Italy That Men of the slightest Learning and the most ignorant of the common people were mad for a new or Super or Re-Reformation of Religion and that in this they appeared like that man who would never cease to whet and whet his Knife till there was no Steel left to make it useful And he concluded his Letter with this observation That those very Men that were most busy in Oppositions and Disputations and Controversies and finding out the faults of their Governors had usually the least of Humility and Mortification or of the Power of Godliness And to heighten all these discontents and dangers there was also sprung up a Generation of Godless-men Men that had so long given way to their own Lusts and Delusions and had so often and so highly opposed the Blessed Motions of his Blessed Spirit and the inward Light of their own Consciences that they had thereby sinned themselves to a belief of what they would but were not able to believe Into a belief which is repugnant even to Humane nature for the Heathens believe there are many gods but these had sinned themselves into a belief that there is no God And so finding nothing in themselves but what is worse than nothing began to wish what they were not able to hope for That they should be like the Beasts that perish and in wicked company which is the Atheists Sanctuary were so bold as to say so Though the worst of mankind when he is left alone at midnight may wish but cannot then think it Into this wretched this reprobate condition many had then sinned themselves And now When the Church was pestered with them and with all these other Irregularities when her Lands were in danger of Alienation her Power at least neglected and her Peace torn to pieces by several Schisms and such Heresies as do usually attend that sin When the common people seemed ambitious of doing those very things which were attended with most dangers that thereby they might be punished and then applauded and pitied When they called the Spirit of Opposition a Tender Conscience and complained of Persecution because they wanted power to persecute others When the giddy multitude raged and became restless to find out misery for themselves and others and the r●●ble would herd themselves together and endeavour to govern and act in spite of Authority In this extremity fear and danger of the Church and State when to suppress the growing evils of both they needed a Man of Prudence and Pi●ty and of an high and fearless Fortitude they were blessed in all by john Whitgift his being made Archbishop of Canterbury of whom ingenious Sir Henry Wot●on that knew him well hath left this true Character That he was a Man of a Reverend and Sacred Memory and of the Premitive temper A Man of such a temper as when the Church by lowliness of Spirit did flourish in highest examples of Virtue And though I dare not undertake to add to his Character yet I shall neither do right to this Discourse nor to my Reader if I forbear to give him a further and short account of the life and manners of this excellent Man and it shall be short for I long to end this digression that I may lead my Reader back to Mr. Hooker where we left him at the Temple john Whitgift was born in the County of Lincoln of a Family that was ancient and noted to be prudent and affable and gentile by nature He was educated in Cambridge much of his Learning was acquired in Pembroke-Hall where Mr. Bradford the Martyr was his Tutor From thence he was removed to Peter-house from thence to be Master of Pembroke-Hall and from thence to the Mastership of Trinity College About which time the Queen made him her Chaplain and not long after Prebend of Ely and then Dean of Lincoln and having for many years passed looked upon him with much reverence and favour gave him a fair testimony of both by giving him the Bishopric of Worcester and which was not a usual favour forgiving him his First-fruits then by constituting him Vice-President of the Principality of Wales And having for several years experimented his Wisdom his Justice and Moderation in the menage of Her affairs in both these places She in the Twenty sixth of Her Reign made him Archbishop of Canterbury and not long after of Her Privy Council and trusted him to menage all Her Ecclesiastical Affairs and Preferments In all which Removes he was like the Ark which left a Blessing upon the place where it rested and in all his Employments was like jehoida that did good unto Israel These were the steps of this Bishop's Ascension to this place of Dignity and Cares in which place to speak Mr. Cambdens' very words in his Annals He devoutly consecrated both his whole life to God and bit painful labours to the good of his Church And yet in this place he met with many oppositions in the regulation of Church Affairs which were much disordered at his entrance by reason of the age and remissness of Bishop Grindal his immediate Predecessor the activity of the Non-conformists and their chief assistant the Earl of Leicester and indeed by too many others of the like Sacrilegious Principles With these he was to encounter and though he wanted neither courage nor a good cause yet he foresaw that without a great measure of the Queen's favour it was impossible to stand in the Breach that was made into the Lands and Immunities of the Church or to maintain the remaining Rights of it And therefore by justifiable Sacred Insinuations such as St. Paul to Agrippa Agrippa believest thou I know thou believest he wrought himself into so great a degree of favour with Her as by his pious use of it hath got both of them a greater degree of Fame in this World and of Glory in that into which they are now entered His merits to the Queen and Her Favours to him were such that she called him Her little black Husband and called his Servants Her Servants And She saw so visible and blessed a sincerity shine in all his cares and endeavours for the Churches and for Her good that She was supposed to trust him with the very secrets of Her Soul and to make him Her Confessor Of which She gave many Fair testimonies and of which one was That She would never eat flesh in Lent without obtaining a Licence from Her little black Husband And would often say She pio●●ed him because She trusted him and had eased Herself by laying the burden of all Her Clergy-cares upon his shoulders which She was certain he managed with Prudence and Piety I shall not keep myself within the promised Rules of Brevity in this account of his Interest with Her Majesty and his care of the Church's Rights if in this digression I should enlarge to particulars● and therefore my desire is that one example may serve for a testimony of both And that the Reader may the better understand it he may take notice that not many years before his being made Archbishop there passed an Act or Acts of Parliament intending the better preservation of Church Lands by recalling a Power which was vested in others to Sell or Lease them by lodging and trusting the future care and protection of them only in the Crown And amongst many that made a bad use of this Power or Trust of the Queens the Earl of Leicester was one and the good Bishop having by his Interest with Her Majesty put a stop to the Earls Sacrilegious designs they two fell to an open Opposition before her after which they both quitted the Room nor Friends in appearance But the Bishop made a sudden and a seasonable return to Her Majesty for he found her alone and spoke to her with great Humility and Reverence and to this purpose I beseech your Majesty to hear me with patience and to believe that yours and the Church's Safety are dearer to me than my Life but my Conscience dearer than both and therefore give me leave to do my Duty and tell you that Princes are deputed Nursing Fathers of the Church and owe it a Protection and therefore God forbid that you should be so much as Passive in her Ruins when you may prevent it or that I should-behold it without horror and detestation or should forbear to tell your Majesty of the Sin and Danger And though you and myself are born in an Age of Frailties when the Primitive Piety and Care of the Church's Lands and Immunities are much decayed yes Madam let me beg that you will but first consider and then you will believe there are such sins at Profaneness and Sacrilege for if there were not they could not have Names in Holy Writ and particularly in the New-Testament And I beseech you to consider that though our Saviour said He judged no man and to testify it would not judge nor divide the Inheritance betwixt the two Brethren nor would judge the Woman taken in Adultery yet in this point of the Church's Rights he was so zealous that he made himself both the Accuser and the judge and the Executioner to punish these sins witnessed in that he himself made the Whip to drive the Prophaners out of the Temple overthrew the Tables of the Money-changers and drove them out of it And consider that it was S. Paul that said to those Christians of his time that were offended with Idolatry yet Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacrilege Supposing I think Sacrilege to be the greater sin This may occasion your Majesty to consider that there is such a sin as Sacrilege and to incline you to prevent the Curse that will follow it I beseech you also to consider that Constantine the first Christian Emperor and Helena his Mother that King Edgar and Edward the Confessor and indeed many others of your Predecessors and many private Christians have also given to God and to his Church much Land and many Immunities which they might have given to those of their own Families and did not but gave them as an absolute Right and Sacrifice to God And with these Immunities and Lands they have entailed a Curse upon the Alienators of them God prevent your Majesty from being liable to that Curse And to make you that are trusted with their Preservation the better to understand the danger of it I beseech you forget not that besides these Curses the Church's Land and Power have been also endeavoured to be preserved as far as Humane Reason and the Law of this Nation have been able to preserve them by an immediate and most sacred Obligation on the Consciences of the Princes of this Realm For they that consult Magna Charta shall find that as all your Predecessors were at their Coronation so you also were sworn before all the Nobility and Bishops then present and in the presence of God and in his stead to him that anointed you to maintain the Church Lands and the rights belonging to it and this testified openly at the holy Altar by laying your Hands on the Bible then lying upon it And not only Magna Charta but many Modern Statutes have denounced a Curse upon those that break Magna Charta And now what account can be given for the breach of this Oath at the last Great Day either by your Majesty or by me if it be wilfully or but negligently violated I know not And therefore good Madam let not the late Lords Exceptions against the failings of some few Clergymen prevail with you to punish Posterity for the Errors of this present Age let particular Men suffer for their particular Errors but let God and his Church have their right And though I pretend not to prophecy yet I big Posterity to take notice of what is already become visible in many Families That Churchland added to an ancient Inheritance hath proved like a Moth fretting a Garment and secretly consumed both Or like the Eagle that stole a Coal from the Altar and thereby set her Nest on fire which consumed both her young Eagles and herself that stole it And though I shall forbear to speak reproachfully of your Father yet I beg you to take notice that a part of the Church's Rights added to the vast Treasure left him by his Father hath been conceived to bring an unavoidable Consumption upon both notwithstanding all his diligence to preserve it And consider that after the violation of those Laws to which he had sworn in Magna Charta God did so far deny him his Restraining Grace that be fell into greater sins than I am willing to mention Madam Religion is the Foundation and Cement of Humane Societies And when they that serve at God's Altar shall be exposed to Poverty then Religion itself will be exposed to scorn and become contemptible as you may already observe in too many poor Vicaridges in this Nation And therefore as you are by a late Act or Acts entrusted with a great Power to preserve or waste the Church's Lands yet dispose of them for jesus sake as the Donors intended Let neither falsehood nor flattery beguile you to do otherwise and put a stop I beseech you to the approaching ruins of God's Church as you expect comfort at the last great day For Kings must be judged Pardon this affectionate plainness my most dear Sovereign and let me beg to be still continued in your Favour and the Lord still continue you in his The Queen's patient hearing this affectionate Speech and Her future care to preserve the Church's Rights which till then had been neglected may appear a fair Testimony that he made Hers and the Churches good the chiefest of his cares and that She also thought so And of this there were such daily Testimonies given as begot betwixt them so mutual a joy and confidence that they seemed born to believe and do good to each other She not doubting his Piety to be more than all his opposers which were many and those powerful too nor his Prudence equal to the chiefest of Her Council who were then as remarkable for active Wisdom as those dangerous times did require or this Nation did everenjoy And in this condition he continued Twenty years in which time he saw some flow but many more ebbing of Her Favour towards all men that opposed him especially the Earl of Leicester So that God seemed still to keep him in Her Favour that he might preserve the remaining Church Lands and Immunities from Sacrilegious Alienations And this good man deserved all the honour and power with which She trusted him for he was a pious man and naturally of Noble and Grateful Principles He eased Her of all Her Church cares by his wise menage of them he gave Her faithful and prudent Counsels in all the extremities and dangers of Her Temporal Affairs which were very many he lived to be the chief comfort of Her life in Her declining age to be then most frequently with Her and Her assistant at Her private Devotions to be the greatest comfort of Her Soul upon Her Deathbed to be present at the expiration of Her last breath and to behold the closing of those eyes that had long looked upon him with reverence and affection And let this also be added That he was the chief Mourner at Her sad Funeral nor let this be forgotten that within a few hours after Her death he was the happy Proclaimer that King james Her Peaceful Successor was Heir to the Crown Let me beg of my Reader that he allow me to say a little and but a little more of this good Bishop and I shall then presently lead him back to Mr. Hooker and because I would hasten I will mention but one part of the Bishop's Charity and Humility but this of both He built a large Alms-house near to his own Palace at Croyden in Surrey and endowed it with maintenance for a Master and Twenty eight poor Men and Women which he visited so often that he knew their names and dispositions and was so truly humble that he called them Brothers and Sisters And whensoever the Queen descended to that lowliness to dine with him at his Palace in Lambeth which was very often he would usually the next day show the like lowliness to his poor Brothers and Sisters at Croyden and dine with them at his Hospital at which time you may believe there was joy at the Table And at this place he built also a fair Free-School with a good accommodation and maintenance for the Master and Scholars Which gave just occasion for Boyse Sisi than Ambassador for the French King and Resident here at the Bishop's death to say The Bishop had published many Learned Books but a Free-School to train up Youth and an Hospital to lodge and maintain aged and poor People were the best evidences of Christian Learning that a Bishop could leave to Posterity This good Bishop lived to see King james settled in Peace and then fell sick at Lambeth of which the King having notice went to visit him and found him in his Bed in a declining condition and very weak and after some short discourse the King assured him He had a great affection for him and high value for his Prudence and Virtues which were so useful for the Church that he would earnestly beg his life of God To which he replied Pro Ecclesi● Dei Pro Ecclesiâ Dei Which were the last words he ever spoke therein testifying That as in his Life so at his Death his chiefest care was of God's Church This john Whitgift was made Archbishop in the Year One thousand five hundred eighty and three In which busy place he continued Twenty years and some months and in which time you may believe he had many Trials of his Courage and Patience but his Motto was Vincit qui Patitur And he made it good Many of his many Trials were occasioned by the then powerful Earl of Leicester who did still but secretly raise and cherish a Faction of Non-conformists to oppose him especially one Thomas Cartwright a Man of noted Learning sometime Contemporary with the Bishop in Cambridge and of the same College of which the Bishop had been Master In which place there began some Emulations the particulars I forbear and at last open and high oppositions betwixt them and in which you may believe Mr. Cartwright was most faulty if his Expulsion out of the University can incline you to it And in this discontent after the Earls death which was One thousand five hundred eighty and eight Mr. Cartwright appeared a chief Cherisher of a Party that were for the Geneva Church-Government and to effect it he ran himself into many dangers both of Liberty and Life appearing at last to justify himself and his Party in many Remonstrances which he caused to be Printed and to which the Bishop made a first Answer and Cartwright Replied upon him and then the Bishop having rejoined to his Reply Mr. Cartwright either was or was persuaded to be satisfied for he wrote no more but left the Reader to be judge which had maintained their Cause with most Charity and Reason After some silence Mr. Cartwright received from the Bishop many Personal Favours and retired himself to a more Private Living which was at Warwick where he was made Master of an Hospital and lived quietly and grew rich and where the Bishop gave him a Licence to Preach upon promise not to meddle with Controversies but incline his hearers to Piety and Moderation And this promise he kept during his life which ended One thousand six hundred and two the Bishop surviving him but one year each ending his days in perfect charity with the other And now after this long digression made for the information of my Reader concerning what follows I bring him back to venerable Mr. Hooker where we left him in the Temple and where we shall find him as deeply engaged in a Controversy with Walter Travers a Friend and Favourite of Mr. Cartwrights as the Bishop had ever been with Mr. Cartwright himself and of which I shall proceed to give this following account And first this That though the Pens of Mr. Cartwright and the Bishop were now at rest yet there was sprung up a new Generation of restless Men that by Company and Clamours became possessed of a Faith which they ought to have kept to themselves but could not Men that were become positive in asserting That a Papist cannot be saved Insomuch that about this time at the Execution of the Queen of Scots the Bishop that Preached Her Funeral Sermon which was Dr. Howland than Bishop of Peterborough was reviled for not being positive for Her Damnation And beside this boldness of their becoming Gods so far as to set limits to his Mercies there was not only Martin Mar-Prelate but other venomous Books daily Printed and dispersed Books that were so absurd and scurrilous that the Graver Divines disdained them an Answer And yet these were grown into high esteem with the common people till Tom Nash appeared against them all who was a man of a sharp wit and the master of a scoffing Satyrical merry Pen which he employed to discover the absurdities of those blind malicious senseless Pamphlets and Sermons as senseless as they Nash his Answers being like his Books which bore these Titles An Almond for Parro● A Fig for my Godson Come crack me this Nut and the like So that his merry Wit made such a discovery of their absurdities as which is strange he put a greater stop to these malicious Pamphlets than a much wiser-man had been able And now the Reader is to take notice That at the Death of Father Allay who was Master of the Temple this Walter Travers was Lecturer there for the Evening Sermons which he Preached with great approbation especially of the younger Gentlemen of that Society and for the most part approved by Mr. Hooker himself in the midst of their oppositions For he continued Lecturer a part of his time Mr. Travers being indeed a Man of competent Learning of a winning Behaviour and of a blameless Life But he had taken Orders by the Presbytery in Antwerp and if in any thing he was transported it was in an extreme desire to set up that Government in this Nation For the promoting of which he had a correspondence with Theodore Beza at Geneva and others in Scotland and was one of the chiefest assistants to Mr. Cartwright in that design Mr. Travers had also a particular hope to set up this Government in the Temple and to that end used his endeavours to be Master of it and his being disappointed by Mr. hooker's admittance proved some occasion of opposition betwixt them in their Sermons Many of which were concerning the Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies of this Church insomuch that as St. Paul withstood St. Peter to his face so did they For as one hath pleasantly expressed it The Forenoon Sermon spoke Canterbury and the Afternoons Geneva In these Sermons there was little of Bitterness but each party brought all the Reasons he was able to prove his Adversaries Opinion erroneous And thus it continued a long time till the oppositions became so high and the consequences so dangerous especially in that place That the prudent Archbishop put a stop to Mr. Travers his Preaching by a positive Prohibition against which Mr. Travers appealed and petitioned Her Majesty and Her Privy Council to have it recalled where he met with many assisting powerful Friends but they were not able to prevail with or against the Archbishop whom the Queen had entrusted with all Church Power and he had received so fair a Testimony of Mr. hooker's Principles and of his Learning and Moderation that he withstood all Solicitations But the denying this Petition of Mr. Travers was unpleasant to divers of his party and the reasonableness of it became at last to be so magnified by them and many others as never to be answered So that intending the Bishops and Mr. hooker's disgrace they procured it to be privately Printed and scattered abroad and then Mr. Hooker was forced to appear as publicly and Print an Answer to it which he did and dedicated it to the Archbishop and it proved so full an Answer to have in it so much of clear Reason and writ with so much Meekness and Majesty of style that the Bishop began to wonder at the Man to rejoice that he had appeared in his Cause and disdained not earnestly to beg his Friendship even a familiar Friendship with a Man of so much quiet Learnning and Humility To enumerate the many particular Points in which Mr. Hooker and Mr. Travers dissented all or most of which I have seen written would prove at least tedious and therefore I shall impose upon my Reason no more than two which shall immediately follow and by which he may judge of the rest Mr. Travers excepted against Mr. Hooker for that in one of his Sermons be declared That the assurance of what we believe by the Word of God is not to us so certain as that which we perceive by Sense And Mr. Hooker confesseth he said so and endeavours to justify it by the Reasons following First I taught That the things which God promises in his Word are surer to us then what we touch handle or see But are we so sure and certain of them If we be Why doth God so often prove his Promises to us as he doth by Arguments drawn from our sensible experience For we must be surer of the proof then of the things proved otherwise it is no proof For example How is it that many men looking on the Moon at the sametime every one knoweth it to be the Moon as certainly as the other doth But many believing one and the same Promise have not all one and the same fullness of Perswassion For how falleth it out that men being assured of any thing by Sense can be no surer of it than they are when at the strongest in Faith that liveth upon the Earth hath always need to labour strive and pray that his assurance concerning Heavenly and Spiritual things may grow increase and be augmented The Sermon that gave him the cause of this his Justification makes the case more plain by declaring That there is besides this certainly of Evidence a certainty of Adherence In which having most excellently demonstrated what the Certainty of Adherence is he makes this comfortable use of it Comfortable he says as to weak Believers who suppose themselves to be faithless not to believe when notwithstanding they have their Adherence the Holy Spirit hath his private operations and worketh secretly in them and effectually too though they want the inward Testimony of it Tell this to a Man that hath a mind too much dejected by a sad sense of his sin to one that by a too severe judging of himself concludes that he wants Faith because he wants the comfortable Assurance of it and his Answer will be Do not persuade me against my knowledge against what I find and feel in myself I do not I know I do not believe Mr. hooker's own words follow Well then to favour such men a little in their weakness let that be granted which they do imagine be it that they adhere not to God's promises but are faithless and without belief But are they not grieved for their unbelief They confess they are Do they not wish it might and also strive that it may be otherways We know they do Whence cometh this but from a secret love and liking that they have of those things believed For no man can love those things which in his own opinion are not And if they think those things to be which they show they love when they desire to believe them then must it be that by desiring to believe they prove themselves true Believers For without Faith no man thinketh that things believed are Which Argument all the Subtleties of Infernal Powers will never be able to dissolve This is an Abridgement of part of the Reasons he gives for his Justification of this his opinion for which he was excepted against by Mr. Travers Mr. Hooker was also accused by Mr. Travers for that he in one of his Sermons had declared That he doubted not but that God was merciful to save many of our Forefathers living heretofore in Popish Superstition for as much as they sinned ignorantly And Mr. Hooker in his Answer professeth it to be his judgement and declares his Reasons for this charitable opinion to be as followeth But first he states the Question about justification and Works and how the Foundation of Faith is overthrown and then he proceeds to discover that way which Natural Men and some others have mistaken to be the way by which they hope to attain true and everlasting Happiness And having discovered the mistaken he proceeds to direct to that true way by which and no other Everlasting Life and Blessedness is attainable And these two ways he demonstrates thus they be his own words that follow That the way of Nature This the way of Grace the end of that way Salvation merited presupposing the Righteousness of men's works Their Righteousness a natural ability to do them that ability the goodness of God which created them in such perfection But the end of this way Salvation bestowed upon men as a gift Presupposing not their Righteousness but the forgiveness of their Unrighteousness justification their justification not their natural ability to do good but their hearty sorrow for not doing and unfeigned belief in him for whose sake not doers are accepted which is their Vocation their Vocation the Election of God taking them out of the number of lost Children their Election a Mediator in whom to be elect This Mediation inexplicable Mercy this Mercy supposing their misery for whom be vouchsafed to die and make himself a Mediator And he also declareth There is no meritorious cause for our justification but Christ no effectual but his Mercy and says also We deny the Grace of our Lord jesus Christ we abuse disannul and annihilate the benefit of his Passion if by a proud imagination we believe we can merit everlasting life or can be worthy of it This Belief he declareth is to destroy the very Essence of our Justification and he makes all opinions that border upon this to be very dangerous Tet nevertheless and for this he was accused considering how many virtuous and just Men how many Saints and Martyrs have had their dangerous opinions amongst which this was one That they hoped to make God some part of amends by voluntary punishments which they laid upon themselves Because by this or the like erroneous opinions which do by consequene overthrow the Merits of Christ shall Man be so bold as to write on their Graves Such men are damned there is for them no Salvation St. Austin says Errare possum Hareticus esse nolo And except we put a difference betwixt them that err ignorantly and them that obstinately persist in it how is it possible that any Man should hope to be saved Give me a Pope or a Cardinal whom great afflictions have made to know himself whose heart God hath touched with true sorrow for all his sins and filled with a love of Christ and his Gospel whose Eyes are willingly open to see the Truth and his Mouth ready to renounce all Error this one opinion of Merit excepted which he thinketh God will require at his hands and because he wanteth trembleth and is discouraged and yet can say Lord cleanse me from all my secret sins Shall I think because of this or a like Error such men touch not so much as the Him of Christ's Garment If they do wherefore should I doubt but that Virtue may proceed from Christ to save them No I will not be afraid to say to such a one You err in your opinion but be of good comfort you have to do with a Merciful God who will make the best of that little which you hold well and not with a captions Sophister who gathereth the worst out of every thing in which you are mistaken But it will be said The admittance of Merit in any degree overthroweth the Foundation excladeth from the hope of Mercy from all possibility of Salvation And now Mr. hooker's own words follow What though they hold the truth sincerely in all other parts of Christian Faith Although they have in some measure all the Virtues and Graces of the Spirit Although they have all other Tokens of God's Children in them Although they be far from having any proud opinion that they shall be saved by the worthiness of their Deeds Although the only thing that troubleth and molesteth them be a little too much dejection somewhat too great a fire arising from an erroneous conceit That God will require a worthiness in them which they are grieved to find wanting in themselves Although they be not obstinate in this Opinion Although they be willing and would be glad to forsake it if any one Reason were brought sufficient to disprove it Although the only cause why they do not forsake it ere they die be their ignorance of that means by which it might be disproved Although the cause why the ignorance in this point is not removed be the want of knowledge in such as should be able and are not to remove it Let me die says Mr. Hooker if it be ever proved That simply an Error doth exclude a Pope or Cardinal in such a case utterly from hope of life Surely I must confess That if it be an Error to think that God may be merciful to save men even when they err my greatest comfort is my error Were it not for the love I bear to this Error I would never wish to speak or to live I was willing to take notice of these two points as supposing them to be very material and that as they are thus contracted they may prove useful to my Reader as also for that the Answers be Arguments of Mr. hooker's great and clear Reason and equal Charity Other Exceptions were also made against him as That he prayed before and not after his Sermons that in his Prayers be named Bishops that be kneeled both when he prayed and he when he received the Sacrament and says Mr. Hooker in his Defence other Exceptions so like these as but to name I should have thought a greater fault then to commit them And 't is not unworthy the noting that in the menage of so great a Controversy a sharper reproof than this and one like it did never fall from the happy Pen of this humble Man That like it was upon a like occasion of Exceptious to which his Answer was Your next Argument consists of Railing and of Reasons to your Railing I say nothing to your Reasons I say what follows And I am glad of this fair occasion to testify the Dovelike temper of this meek this matchless Man and doubtless it Almighty God had blessed the Dissenters from the Ceremonies and Discipline of this Church with a like measure of Wisdom and Humility instead of their pertinacious Zeal than Obedience and Truth had kissed each other than Peace and Piety had flourished in our Nation and this Church and State had been blessed like jerusalem that is at unity with itself but that can never be expected till God shall bless the common people with a belief That Schism is a sin and that there may be offences taken which are not given and that Laws are not made for private men to dispute but to obey And this also maybe worthy of noting That these Exceptions of Mr. Travers against Mr. Hooker were the cause of his transcribing several of his Sermons which we now see Printed with his Books of his Answer to Mr. Travers his Supplication and of his most learned and useful Discourse of justification of Faith and Works and by their Transcription they fell into the hands of others that have preserved them from being lost as too many of his other matchless Writings have been and from these I have gathered many observations in this Discourse of his Life After the publication of his Answer to the Petition of Mr. Travers Mr. Hooker grew daily into greater repute with the most Learned and Wise of the Nation but it had a contrary effect in very many of the Temple that were zealous for Mr. Travers and for his Church Discipline insomuch that though Mr. Travers left the place yet the Seeds of Discontent could not be rooted out of that Society by the great Reason and as great Meekness of this humble Man For though the Chief Benchers gave him much Reverence and Encouragement yet he there met with many neglects and oppositions-by-those of Mr. Travers judgement insomuch that it turned to his extreme grief And that he might unbeguile and win them he designed to write a deliberate sober Treatise of the Church's power to make Cannons for the use of Ceremonies and by Law to impose an obedience to them as upon Her Children and this he proposed to do in Eight Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity intending therein to show such Arguments as should force an assent from all Men if Reason delivered in sweet Language and void of any provocation were able to do it And that he might prevent all prejudice he wrote before it a large Preface or Epistle to the Dissenting Brethren wherein there were such Bowels of Love and such a Commixture of that Love with Reason as was never exceeded but in Holy Writ and particularly by that of St. Paul to his dear Brother and Fellow-Laborer Philemon Then which none ever was more like this Epistle of Mr. hooker's So that his dear Friend and Companion in his Studies Doctor Spencer might after his Death justly say What admirable height of Learning and depth of judgement dwelled in the lowly mind of this truly humble Man great in all wise men's eyes except his own With what gravity and majesty of Speech his Tongue and Pen uttered Heavenly Mysteries whose eyes in the Humility of his Heart were always cast down to the ground How all things that proceeded from him were breathed as from the Spirit of Love as if he like the Bird of the Holy Ghost the Dove had wanted Gall Let those that knew him not in his Person judge by these living Images of his Soul his Writings The Foundation of these Books was laid in the Temple but he found it no fit place to finish what he had there designed and therefore solicited the Archbishop for a remove to whom he spoke to this purpose My Lord When I lost the freedom of my Cell which was my College yet I found some degree of it in my quiet Country Personage But I am weary of the noise and oppositions of this place and indeed God and Nature did not intend me for Contentions but for Study and Quietness And My Lord my particular Contests here with Mr. Travers have proved the more unpleasant to me because I believe him to be a good Man and that belief hath occasioned me to examine mine own Conscience concerning his opinions and to satisfy that I have consulted the holy Scripture and other Laws both Humane and Divine Whether the the Conscience of him and others of his judgement aught to be so far complied with us as to alter our Frame of Church-Government our manner of God's worship our praising and praying to him and our establish Ceremonies as often as their tender Consciences shall require us And in this Examination I have not only satisfied myself but have begun a Treatise in which I intent the satisfaction of others by a demonstration of the reasonableness of our Laws of Ecclesiastical Policy and therein laid a hopeful foundation for the Church's Peace and so as not to provoke your Adversary Mr. Cartwright nor Mr. Travers whom I take to be mine but not my enemy God knows this to be my meaning To which end I have searched many Books and spent many thoughtful hours and I hope not in vain for I write to reasonable men But My Lord I shall never be able to finish what I have begun unless I be removed into some quiet Country Parsenage where I may see God's Blessings Spring out of my Mother Earth and eat mine own Bread in peace and privacy A place where I may without disturbance Meditate my approaching Mortality and that great account which all flesh must at the great day give to the God of all Spirits this is my design and as these are the desires of my heart so they shall by God's assistance be the constant endeavours of the uncertain remainder of my life And therefore if your Grace can think me and my poor labours worthy such a favour Let me beg it that I may perfect what I have begun which is a blessing I cannot hope for in this place About the time of this request to the Bishop the Parsonage or Rectory of Boscom in the Diocese of Sarum and six miles from that City became void The Bishop of Sarum is Patron of it but in the vacancy of that See which was three years betwixt the death of Bishop Peirce and Bishop Caldwells admission into it the disposal of that and all Benefices belonging to it during the time of this said vacancy came to be disposed of by the Archbishop of Canterbury and he presented Richard Hooker to it in the year 1591. And Richard Hooker was also in this said year Instituted july 17. to be a minor Prebend of Salisbury the Corpse to it being nether-Havin about ten miles from that City which Prebend was of no great value but intended chiefly to make him capable of a better preferment in that Church In this Boscum he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and these were entered into the Register Book in Stationers-Hall the 9th of March 1592. but not printed till the year 1594. and then with the beforementioned large and affectionate Preface which he directs to them that seek as they term it the Reformation of the laws and orders Ecclesiastical in the Church of England of which Books I shall yet say nothing more but that he continued his laborious diligence to finish the remaining four during his life of all which more properly hereafter but at Boscum he finished and published but only the first four being then in the 39 year of his Age. He left Boscum in the year 1595. by a surrender of it into the hands of Bishop Caldwell and he presented Benjamin Russel who was Instituted into it 23 of june in the same year The Parsonage of Bishops Borne in Kent three miles from Canterbury is in that Archbishop's gift but in the latter end of the year 1594. Doctor William Redman the Rector of it was made Bishop of Norwich by which means the power of presenting to it was pro ca vice in the Queen and she presented Richard Hooker whom she loved well to this good living of Born the 7 of july 1595. in which Living he continued till his Death without any addition of Dignity or Profit And now having brought our Richard Hooker from his Birth-place to this where he found a Grave I shall only give some account of his Books and of his behaviour in this Parsonage of Borne and then give a rest both to myself and my Reader His first four Books and large Epistle have been declared to be printed at his being at Boscum Anno 1594. Next I am to tell that at the end of these four Books there is printed this Advertisement to the Reader I have for some causes thought it at this time more fit to let go these first four Books by themselves than to stay both them and the rest till the whole might together be published Such generalities of the cause in question as are here handled it will be perhaps not amiss to consider apart by way of Introduction unto the Books that are to follow concerning particulars in the mean time the Reader is requested to mend the Printers errors as noted underneath And I am next to declare that his fifth Book which is larger than his first four was first also printed by itself Anno 1597. and dedicated to his Patron for till them he chose none the Archbishop These Books were read with an admiration of their excellency in This and their just same spread itself into foreign Nations And I have been told more than forty years past that Cardinal Alen or learned Doctor Stapleton both English men and in Italy when Mr. hooker's four Books were first printed meeting with this general fame of them were desirous to read an Author that both the Reformed and the Learned of their own Church did so much magnify and therefore caused them to be sent for and after reading them boasted to the Pope which then was Clement the eighth that though he had lately said he never met with an English Book whose Writer deserved the name of an Author yet there now appeared a wonder to them and it would be so to his Holiness if it were in Latin for a poor obscure English Priest had writ four such Books of Laws and church Polity and in a Style that expressed so Grave and such Humble Majesty with clear demonstration of Reason that in all their readings they had not met with any that exceeded him and this begot in the Pope an earnest desire that Doctor Stapleton should bring the said four Books and looking on the English read a part of them to him in Latin which Doctor Stapleton did to the end of the first Book at the conclusion of which the Pope spoke to this purpose There is no Learning that this man hath not searched into nothing too hard for his understanding This man indeed deserves the name of an Author his Books will get Reverence by Age for there is in them such seeds of Eternity that if the rest be like this they shall last till the last Fire shall consume all Learning Not was this high the only testimony and commendations given to his Books for at the first coming of King james into this Kingdom he inquired of the Archbishop Whi●gift for his friend Mr. Hooker that writ the Books of Church Polity to which the answer was that he died a year before Queen Elizabeth who received the sad news of his Death with very much Sorrow to which the King replied and I receive it with no less that I shall want the desired happiness of seeing and discoursing with that Man from whose Books I have received such satisfaction Indeed my Lord I have received more satisfaction in reading a Leaf or Paragraph in Mr. Hooker thought it were but about the fashion of Churches or Church Music or the like but especially of the Sacraments than I have had in the reading particular large Treatises written but of one of those subjects by others though very Learned Men and I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected Language but a grave comprehensive clear manifestation of Reason and that backed with the Authority of the Scripture the Fathers and Schoolmen and with all Law both Sacred and Civil And though many others write well yet in the next Age they will be forgotten but doubtless there is in every page of Mr. hooker's Book the Picture of a Divine Soul such Pictures of Truth and Reason and drawn in so sacred colours that they shall never fade but give an immortal memory to the Author And it is so truly true that the King thought what he spoke that as the most Learned of the Nation have and still do mention Mr. Hooker with Reverence so he also did never mention him but with the Epithet of Learned or judicious or Reverend or Venerable Mr. Hooker Nor did his Son our late King Charles the first ever mention him but with the same Reverence enjoining his Son our now gracious King to be studious in M. hooker's Books And our learned Antiquary Mr. Cambden * In his Annals of El●● 1599 mentioning the Death the Modesty and other Virtues of Mr. Hooker and magnifying his Books wished that for the honour of this and benefit of other Nations they were turned into the Universal Language Which work though undertaken by many yet they have been weary and forsaken it but the Reader may now expect it having been long since begun and lately finished by the happy pen of Doctor Earl now Lord Bishop of Salisbury of whom I may justly say and let it not offend him because it is such a truth as ought not to be concealed from Posterity or those that now live and yet know him not that since Mr. Hooker died none have lived whom God hath blessed with more innocent Wisdom more sanctified Learning or a more pious peaceable primitive Temper so that this excellent person seems to be only like himself and our venerable Richard Hooker and only fit to make the learned of all Nations happy in knowing what hath been too long confined to the language of our little Island There might be many more and just occasions taken to speak of his Books which none ever did or can commend too much but I decline them and hasten to an account of his Christian behaviour and Death at Borne in which place he continued his customary rules of Mortification and Self-denial was much in Fasting frequent in Meditation and Prayers enjoying those blessed Returns which only Men of strict lives feel and know and of which Men of loose and Godless lives cannot be made sensible for spiritual things are spiritually discerned At his entrance into this place his Friendship was much sought for by Doctor Hadrian Saravia than one of the prebend's of Canterbury a Germane by birth and sometimes a Pastor both in Flanders and Holland where he had studied and well considered the controverted points concerning Episcopacy and Sacrilege and in England had a just occasion to declare his Judgement concerning both unto his Brethren Ministers of the Low Countries which was excepted against by Theodor Beza and others against whose exceptions he rejoyned and thereby became the happy Author of many Learned Tracts writ in Latin especially of three one of the Degrees of Ministers and of the Bishop's Superiority above the Presbytery a second against Sacrilege and a third of Christian obedience to Princes the last being occasioned by Gretzerus the Jesuit And it is observable that when in a time of Church tumults Beza gave his reasons to the Chancellor of Scotland for the abrogation of Episcopacy in that Nation partly by Letters and more fully in a Treatise of a threefold Episcopacy which he calls Divine Humane and Satanical this Doctor Saravia had by the help of Bishop Whitgift made such an early discovery of their intentions that he had almost as soon answered that Treatise as it became public and therein discovered how Beza's opinion did contradict that of calvin's and his adherents leaving them to interfere with themselves in point of Episcopacy but of these Tracts it will not concern me to say more than that they were most of them dedicated to his and the Church of England's watchful Patron john Whitgift the Archbishop and printed about the year in which Mr. Hooker also appeared first to the world in the Publication of his four Books of Ecclesiastical Polity This friendship being sought for by this Learned Doctor you may believe was not denied by Mr. Hooker who was by fortune so like him as to be engaged against Mr. Travers Mr. Cartwright and others of their Judgement in a controversy too like Doctor Saravia's So that in this year of 1595. and in this place of Borne these two excellent persons began a Holy Friendship increasing daily to so high and mutual affections that their two wills seemed to be but one and the same and designs both for the glory of God and peace of the Church still assisting and improving each others virtues and the desired comforts of a peaceable Piety which I have willingly mentioned because it gives a foundation to some things that follow This Parsonage of Borne is from Canterbury three miles and near to the common Road that leads from that City to Dover in which Parsonage Mr. Hooker had not been twelve months but his Books and the Innocency and Sanctity of his Life became so remarkable that many turned out of the road and others Scholars especially went purposely to see the Man whose Life and Learning were so much admired and alas as our Saviour said of St. john Baptist what went they out to see a Man Clothed in Purple and fine Linen no indeed but an obscure harmless Man a Man in poor Clothes his Loins usually girt in a course Gown or Canonical Coat of a mean Stature and stooping and yet more lowly in the thoughts of his Soul his body worn out not with Age but Study and Holy Mortifications his face full of Heat-Pimples begot by his unactivity and sedentary life And to this true Character of his Person let me add this of his Disposition and behaviour God and Nature blessed him with so blessed a hashfulness that as in his younger days his Pupils might easily look him out of countenance so neither then nor in his Age did he ever willingly look any Man in the face and was of so mild and humble a Nature that his poor Parish Clark and he did never talk but with both their Hats on or both off at the same time and to this may be added that though he was not purblind yet he was short or weak-sighted and where be fixed his eyes at the beginning of his Sermon there they continued till it was ended and the Reader has a Liberty to believe that his Modesty and Dim sight were some of the reasons why he trusted Mistress Churchman to choose a Wife for him This Parish Clark lived till the third or fourth year of the late long Parliament betwixt which time and Mr. hooker's Death there had come many to see the place of his Burial and the Monument dedicated to his memory by Sir William Cooper who still lives and the poor Clerk had many rewards for showing Mr. hooker's Grave-place and his said Monument and did always hear Mr. Hooker mentioned with Commendations and Reverence to all which he added his own knowledge and observations of his Humility and Holiness in all which Discourses the poor man was still more confirmed in his opinion of Mr. hooker's Virtues and Learning but it so fell out that about the said third or fourth year of the long Parliament the present Parson of Borne was Sequestered you may guests why and a Genevian Minister put into his good living This and other like Sequestrations made the Clerk express himself in a wonder and say They had Sequestered so many good Men that he doubted if his good Master Mr. Hooker had lived till now they would have Sequestered him too It was not long before this intruding Minister had made a party in and about the said Parish that were desirous to receive the Sacrament as in Geneva to which end the day was appointed for a Select Company and Forms and Stools set about the Altar or Communion Table for them to sit and eat and drink but when they went about this work there was a want of some Joynd-stools which the Minister sent the Clerk to fetch and then to fetch Cushions When the Clerk saw them begin to sit down he began to wonder but the Minister bade him cease wondering and lock the Church door To whom he replied Pray take you the Keys and lock me out I will never come more into this Church for all men will say my Master Hooker was a good Man and a good Scholar and I am sure it was not used to be thus in his days And report says The old man went presently home and died I do not say died immediately but within a few days after But let us leave this grateful Clerk in his quiet Grave and return to Mr. Hooker himself continuing our observations of his Christian behaviour in this place where he gave a holy Valediction to all the pleasures and allurements of Earth possessing his Soul in a virtuous quietness which he maintained by constant Study Prayers and Meditations His use was to Preach once every Sunday and he or his Curate to Catechise after the Second Lesson in the Evening Prayer His Sermons were neither long nor earnest but uttered with a grave Zeal and an humble Voice His Eyes always fixed on one place to prevent his imagination from wand'ring insomuch that he seemed to Study as he spoke the design of his Sermons as indeed of all his Discourses was to show Reasons for what he spoke And with these Reasons such a kind of Rhetoric as did rather convince and persuade then frighten men into Piety Studying not so much for matter which he never wanted as for apt illustrations to inform and teach his unlearned hearers by familiar examples and then make them better by convincing Applications never labouring by hard words and then by needless distinctions and subdistinctions to amuse his hearers and get glory to himself But glory only to God Which intention he would often say was as discernible in a Preacher as an Artificial from a Natural Beauty He never failed the Sunday before every Ember week to give notice of it to his Parishioners persuading them both to fast and then to double their Devotions for a Learned and Pious Clergy but especially for the last saying often That the life of a pious Clergyman was visible Rhetoric and so convincing That the most godless men though they would not deny themselves the enjoyment of their present Lusts did get secretly wish themselves like those of the strictest lives And to what he persuaded others he added his own example of Fasting and Prayer and did usually every Ember week take from the Parish Clerk the Key of the Church door into which place he retired every day and locked himself up for many hours and did the like most Fridays and other days of Fasting He would by no means omit the customary time of Procession persuading all both rich and poor if they desired the preservation of Love and their Parish Rights and Liberties to accompany him in his Perambulation and most did so In which Perambulation he would usually express more pleasant discourse then at other times and would then always drop some loving and facetious observations to be remembered against the next year especially by the boys and young people still inclining them and all his present Parishioners to meekness and mutual kindnesses and love because Love thinks not evil but covers a multitude of infirmities He was diligent to inquire who of his Parish were sick or any way distressed and would often visit them unsent for supposing that the fittest time to discover those Errors to which health and prosperity had blinded them And having by pious Reasons and Prayers moulded them into holy Resolutions for the time to come he would incline them to Confession and bewailing their sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthening of those holy Resolutions and as a Seal betwixt God and them of his mercies to their Souls in case that present sickness did put a period to their lives And as he was thus watchful and charitable to the sick so he was as diligent to prevent Lawsuits still urging his Parishioners and Neighbours to bear with each others infirmities and live in love because as St. john says He that lives in love lives in God for God is Love And to maintain this holy Fire of Love constantly burning on the Altar of a pure Heart his advice was to watch and pray and always keep themselves fit to receive the Communion and then to receive it often for it was both a confirming and a strengthening of their Graces This was his advice and at his entrance or departure out of any house he would usually speak to the whole Family and bless them by name insomuch that as he seemed in his youth to be taught of God so he seemed in this place to teach his Precepts as Enoch did by walking with him in all Holiness and Humility making each day a step towards a blessed Eternity And though in this weak and declining age of the World such examples are become barren and almost incredible yet let his memory be blessed with this true Recordation because he that praises Richard Hooker praises God who hath given such gifts to men and let this humble and affectionate Relation of him become such a pattern as may invite Posterity to imitate his Virtues This was his constant behaviour at Borne thus as Enoch so he walked with God thus did he tread in the footsteps of Primitive Piety and yet as that great example of meekness and purity even our Blessed jesus was not free from false accusations no more was this Disciple of his This most humble most innocent holy Man his was a slander parallel to that of chaste Susannaes' by the wicked Elders or that against St. Athanasius as it is Recorded in his life for that holy Man had Heretical enemies and which this age calls Trepanning The particulars need not a repetition and that it was false needs no other Testimony than the public punishment of his accusers and their open confession of his innocency 'T was said that the accusation was contrived by a Dissenting Brother one that endured not Church Ceremonies hating him for his Books sake which he was not able to Answer and his name hath been told me But I have not so much confidence in the Relation as to make my Pen fix a scandal on him to Posterity I shall rather leave it doubtful till the great day of Revelation But this is certain that he lay under the great charge and the anxiety of this accusation and kept it secret to himself for many months And being a helpless man had lain longer under this heavy burden but that the Protector of the innocent gave such an accidental occasion as forced him to make it known to his two dear Friends Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer who were so sensible of their Tutor's sufferings that they gave themselves no rest till by their disquisitions and diligence they had found out the Fraud and brought him the welcome news that his accusers did confess they had wronged him and begged his pardon To which the good man's reply was to this purpose The Lord forgive them and The Lord bless you for this comfortable news Now I have a just occasion to say with Solomon Friends are born for the days of Adversity and such you have proved to me And to my God I say as did the Mother of St. John Baptist Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the day wherein he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men And O my God neither my life nor my reputation are safe in mine own keeping but in thine who didst take care of me when I yet hanged upon my Mother's Breast Blessed are they that put their trust in thee O Lord for when false witnesses were risen up against me when shame was ready to cover my face when I was bowed down with an horrible dread and went mourning all the day long when my nights were restless and my sleeps broken with a fear worse than death when my Soul thirsted for a deliverance as the Hart panteth after the Rivers of Waters Then thou Lord didst bear my complaints pity my condition and art new become my Deliverer and as long as I live I will hold up my hands in this manner and magnify thy Mercies who didst not give me over as a prey to mine enemies O blessed are they that put their trust in thee and no prosperity shall make me forget those days of sorrow or to perform those vows that I have made to thee in the days of my fears and affliction for with such sacrifices thou O God art well pleased and I will pay them Thus did the joy and gratitude of this good Man's heart break forth and 't is observable that as the invitation to this slander was his meek behaviour and Dove like simplicity for which he was remarkable so his Christian Charity ought to be imitated For though the Spirit of Revenge is so pleasing to mankind that it is never conquered but by a Supernatural Grace being indeed so deeply rooted in Humane Nature that to prevent the excesses of it for men would not know Moderation Almighty God allows not any degree of it to any man but says Vengeance is mine And though this be said by God himself yet this revenge is so pleasing that man is hardly persuaded to submit the menage of it to the Time and Justice and Wisdom of his Creator but would hasten to be his own executioner of it And yet nevertheless if any man ever did wholly decline and leave this pleasing Passion to the time and measure of God alone it was this Richard Hooker of whom I write For when his slanderers were to suffer he laboured to procure their Pardon and when that was denied him his Reply was That however he would fast and pray that God would give them Repentance and Patience to undergo their Punishment And his Prayers were so for returned into his own bosom that the first was granted if we may believe a Penitent Behaviour and an open Confession And 't is observable that after this time he would often say to Dr. Saravia O with what quietness did I enjoy my Soul after I was free from the fears of my slander And how much more after a conflict and victory ever my desires of Revenge In the Year One thousand six hundred and of his Age Forty six he fell into a long and sharp sickness occasioned by a Cold taken in his Passage betwixt London and Gravesend from the malignity of which he was never recovered for till his death he was not free from thoughtful days and restless nights but a submission to his Will that makes the sick man's bed easy by giving rest to his Soul made his very languishment comfortable And yet all this time he was solicitous in his Study and said often to Dr. Saravia who saw him daily and was the chief comfort of his life That he did not beg a long life of God for any other reason but to live to finish his three remaining Books of POLITY and then Lord let thy Servant depart in peace which was his usual expression And God heard his Prayers though he denied the Church the benefit of them as completed by himself and 't is thought he hastened his own death by hastening to give life to his Books But this is certain that the nearer he was to his death the more he grew in Humility in holy Thoughts and Resolutions About a month before his death this good man that never knew or at least never considered the pleasures of the Palate became first to lose his Appetite then to have an averseness to all Food insomuch that he seemed to live some intermitted weeks by the smell of meat only and yet still studied and writ And now his Guardian Angel seemed to foretell him that his years were passed away as a shadow bidding him prepare to follow the Generation of his Fathers for the day of his dissolution drew near for which his vigorous Soul appeared to thirst In this time of his sickness and not many days before his death his House was robbed of which he having notice his Question was Are my Books and Written Papers safe And being answered That they were His Reply was Then it matters not for no other loss can trouble me About one day before his death Dr. Saravia who knew the very secrets of his Soul for they were supposed to be Confessors to each other came to him and after a Conference of the Benefit the Necessity and Safety of the Church's Absolution it was resolved the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacrament the day following To which end the Doctor came and after a short retirement and privacy they returned to the company and then the Doctor gave him and some of those friends that were with him the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Jesus Which being performed the Doctor thought he saw a reverend gaity and joy in his face but it lasted not long for his bodily infirmities did return suddenly and became more visible insomuch that the Doctor apprehended Death ready to seize him Yet after some amendment left him at night with a promise to return early the day following which he did and then found him better in appearance deep in contemplation and not inclinable to discourse which gave the Doctor occasion to require his present thoughts To which he replied That he was meditating the number and nature of Angels and their blessed Obedience and Order without which Peace could not be in Heaven and oh that it might be so on Earth After which words he said I have lived to see this World is made up of perturbations and I have been long preparing to leave it and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account with God which I now apprehend to be near And though I have by his Grace loved him in my youth and feared him in mine age and laboured to have a Conscience void of offence to him and to all men yet if thou O Lord be extreme to mark what I have done amiss who can abide it And therefore where I have failed Lord show mercy to me for I plead not my Righteousness but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness for his Merits who died to purchase a pardon for penitent sinners And since I owe thee a death Lord let it not be terrible and then take thine own time I submit to it Let not mine O Lord but let thy Will be done With which expression he fell into a dangerous slumber dangerous as to his recovery yet recover he did but it was to speak only these few words Good Doctor God hath heard my daily Petitions for I am at peace with all men and he is at peace with me and from which blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this World can neither give nor take from me More he would have spoken but his spirits failed him and after a short conflict betwixt Nature and Death a quiet sigh put a period to his last breath and so he fell asleep And here I draw his Curtain till with the most glorious Company of the Patriarches and Apostles the most noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors this most Learned most Humble holy Man shall also awake to receive an Eternal Tranquillity and with it a greater degree of Glory then common Christians shall be made partakers of In the mean time Bless O Lord Lord bless his Brethren the Clergy of this Nation with ardent desires and effectual endeavours to attain if not to his great Learning yet to his remarkable meekness his godly simplicity and his Christian moderation For these are praiseworthy these bring peace at the last And let the Labours of his life his most excellent Writings be bless with what he designed when he undertook them Which was Glory to thee O God on high Peace in thy Church and good will to mankind Amen Amen AN APPENDIX To the LIFE of Mr. Richard Hooker ANd now having by a long and Laborious search satisfied myself and I hope my Reader by imparting to him the true Relation of Mr. hooker's Life I am desirous also to acquaint him with some Observations that relate to it and which could not properly fall to be spoken till after his Death of which my Reader may expect a brief and true account in the following Appendix And first it is not to be doubted but that he died in the forty-seventh if not in the forty-sixth year of his Age which I mention because many have believed him to be more aged but I have so examined it as to be confident I mistake not and for the year of his death Mr. Cambden who in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth 1599 mentions him with a high commendation of his Life and Learning declares him to die in the year 1599 and yet in that Inscription of his Monument set up at the charge of Sir William Cooper in Born Church where Mr. Hooker was buried his Death is said to be in Anno 1603. but doubtless both mistaken for I have it attested under the hand of William Somner the Archbishop's Register for the Province of Canterbury that Richard hooker's Will bears date October the 26. in Anno 1600. and that it was proved the third of December following And this attested also that at his Death he left four Daughters Alice Sicily jane and Margaret that he gave to each of them a hundred pound that he left jone his Wife his sole Executrix and that by his Inventory his Estate a great part of it being in Books came to 1092l 91. 2d which was much more than he thought himself worth and which was not got by his Care much less by the good Housewifery of his Wife but saved by his trusty Servant Thomas Lane that was wiser than his Master in getting Money for him and more frugal than his Mistress in keeping it of which Will I shall say no more but that his dear Friend Thomas the Father of George Cranmer of whom I have spoken and shall have occasion to say more was one of the Witnesses to it One of his elder Daughters was married to one Chalinor sometime a Schoolmaster in Chichester & both dead long since Margaret his youngest Daughter was married unto Ezekiel Chark Bachelor in Divinity and Rector of S. Nicholas in Harbledown near Canterbury who● died about 16 years past and had a Son Ezekiel now living and in Sacred Orders being at this time Rector of Waldron in Sussex she left also a Daughter with both whom I have spoken not many months past and find her to be a widow in a condition that wants not but far from abounding and these two attested unto me that Richard Hooker their Grandfather had a Sister by name Elizabeth Harvey that lived to the Age of 121 years and died in the month of September 1663. For his other two Daughters I can learn little certainty but have heard they both died before they were Marriageable and for his Wife she was so unlike jepthaes' Daughter that she stayed not a comely time to bewail her Widowhood nor lived long enough to repent her second Marriage for which doubtless she would have found cause if there had been but four months betwixt Mr. hooker's and her death But she is dead and let her other infirmities be buried with her Thus much briefly for his Age the year of his Death his Estate his Wife and his Children I am next to speak of his Books concerning which I shall have a necessity of being longer or shall neither do right to myself of my Reader which is chiefly intended in this Appendix I have declared in his Life that he proposed eight Books and that his first four were Printed Anno 1594. and his fifth Book first printed and alone Anno 1597. and that he lived to finish the remaining three of the proposed eight but whether we have the last three as finished by himself is a just and Material Question concerning which I do declare That I have been told almost forty years past by one that very well knew Mr. Hooker and the affairs of his Family that about a month after the death of Mr. Hooker Bishop Whitgist than Archbishop of Canterbury sent one of his Chaplains to inquire of Mrs. Hooker for the three remaining Books of Polity writ by her Husband of which she would not or could not give any account and I have been told that about three months after the Bishop procured her to be sent for to London and then by his procurement she was to be examined by some of her Majesty's Council concerning the disposal of those Books but by way of preparation for the next days examination the Bishop invited her to Lambeth and after some friendly questions she confessed to him that one Mr. Charke and another Minister that dwelled near Canterbury came to her and desired that they might go into her Husband's Study and look upon some of his Writings and that there they two burnt and tore many of them assuring her that they were writings not fit to be seen and that she knew nothing more concerning them Her lodging was then in Kingstreet in Westminster where she was sound next morning dead in her Bed and her new Husband suspected and questioned for it but was declared innocent of her Death And I declare also that Doctor john Spencer mentioned in the Life of Mr. Hooker who was of Mr. hooker's College and of his time there and betwixt whom there was so friendly a friendship that they continually advised together in all their Studies and particularly in what concerned these Books of Polity this Doctor Spencer the three perfect Books being lost had delivered into his hands I think by Bishop Whitgift the imperfect Books or first rough draughts of them to be made as perfect as they might be by him who both knew Mr. hooker's hand-writing and was best acquainted with his intentions And a fair Testimony of this may appear by an Epistle first and usually printed before Mr. hooker's five Books but omitted I know not why in the last impression of the eight Printed together in Anno 1662. in which the Publishers seem to impose the three doubtful as the undoubted Books of Mr. Hooker with these two Letters I.S. at the end of the said Epistle which was meant for this john Spencer in which Epistle the Reader may find these very words which may give some Authority to what I have here written And though Mr. Hooker hastened his own Death by hastening to give Life to his Books yet he held out with his eyes to behold these Benjamins these Sons of his right Hand though to him they proved Benonics Sons of pain and sorrow But some evil disposed minds whether of Malice or Covetousness or wicked blind Zeal it is uncertain as soon as they were born and their Father's dead smothered them and by conveying the perfect Copies left unto us nothing but the old imperfect mangled droughts dismembered into pieces no favour no grace not the shadow of themselves remaining in them had the Father lived to behold them thus defaced he might rightly have named them Benonies the Sons of Sorrow but being the learned will not suffer them to die and be buried it is intended the world shall see them as they are the learned will find in them some shadows and resemblances of their Father's face God grant that as they were with their Brethren dedicated to the Church for messengers of Peace so in the strength of the little breath of Life that remaineth in them they may prosper in their work and that by satisfying the Doubts of such as are willing to learn they may help to give an end to the calamities of these our Civil Wars I. S. And next the Reader may note that this Epistle of Doctor Spencer's was writ and first Printed within four years after the death of Mr. Hooker in which time all diligent search had been made for the perfect Copies and then granted not recoverable and therefore endeavoured to be completed out of Mr. hooker's rough draughts as is expressed by the said Doctor Spencer since whose death it is now fifty years And I do profess by the Faith of a Christian that Doctor Spencer's Wife who was my Aunt and Sister to George Cranmer of whom I have spoken told me forty years since in these or in words to this purpose that her Husband had made up or finished Mr. hooker's last three Books and that upon her Husband's Deathbed or in his last sickness he gave them into her hand with a charge they should not be seen by any Man but be by her delivered into the hands of the then Archbishop of Canterbury which was Doctor Abbot or unto Doctor King Bishop of London and that she did as he enjoined her I do conceive that from Doctor Spencer's and no other Copy there have been divers Transcripts and wereto be found in several places as namely in Sir Thomas Bodlies' Library in that of Doctor Andrews late Bishop of Winton in the late Lord Conwayes in the Archbishop of Canterbury's and in the Bishop of Armaghs and in many others and most of these pretended to be the Authors own hand but much disagreeing being indeed altered and diminished as Men have thought fittest to make Mr. hooker's Judgement suit with their Fancies or give authority to their corrupt designs and for proof of a part of this take these following testimonies Doctor Barnard sometime Chaplain to Doctor Usher late Lord Archbishop of Armagh hath declared in a late Book called Clavi Trabales Printed by Richard Hodgkinson Anno 1661. that in his search and examination of the said Bishops Manuscripts he there found the three written Books which were the supposed sixth seventh and eighth of Mr. hooker's Books of Ecclesiastical Polity and that in the said three Books now printed as Mr. hooker's there are so many Omissions that they amount to many Paragraphs and which cause many incoherencies the Omissions are by him set down at large in the said Printed Book to which I refer the Reader for the whole but think fit in this place to insert this following short part of them First as there could be in Natural Bodies no Motion of any thing unless there were some first which moved all things and continued Unmoveable even so in Politic Societies there must be some unpunishable or else no Man shall suffer punishment for sith punishments proceed always from Superiors to whom the administration of justice belongeth which administration must have necessarily a Fountain that deriveth it to all others and receiveth not from any because otherwise the course of justice should go infinitely in a Circle every Superior having his Superior without end which cannot be therefore a well spring it followeth there is a Supreme head of justice whereunto all are subject but itself in subjection to none Which kind of Preeminency if some aught to have in a Kingdom who but the King shall have it King's therefore or no man can have lawful power to judge If Private men offend there is the Magistrate over them which judgeth if Magistrates they have their Prince if Princes there is Heaven a Tribunal before which they shall appear on Earth they are not accountable to any Here says the Doctor it breaks off abruptly And I have these words also attested under the hand of Mr. Fabian Phillips a man of note for his useful Books I will make Oath if I shall be required that Doctor Sanderson the late Bishop of Lincoln did a little before his Death affirm to me he had seen a Manuscript affirmed to him to be the hand-writing of Mr. Richard Hooker in which there was no mention made of the King or Supreme Governors being accountable to the People this I will make Oath that that good Man attested to me Fabian Phillips So that there appears to be both Omissions and Additions in the said last three printed Books and this may probably be one Reason why Doctor Sanderson the said Learned Bishop whose writings are so highly and justly valued gave a strict charge near the time of his Death or in his last Will that nothing of his that was not already Printed should be Printed after his Death It is well known how high a value our Learned King james put upon the Books writ by Mr. Hooker as also that our late King Charles the Martyr for the Church valued them the second of all Books testified by his commending them to the reading of his Son Charles that now is our Gracious King and you may suppose that this Charles the First was not a stranger to the pretended three Books because in a discourse with the Lord Say when the said Lord required the King to grant the truth of his Argument because it was the Judgement of Mr. Hooker quoting him in one of the three written Books the King replied they were not allowed to be Mr hooker's Books but however he would allow them to be Mr. hooker's and consent to what his Lordship proposed to prove out of those doubtful Books if he would but consent to the judgement of Mr. Hooker in the other five that were the undoubted Books of Mr. Hooker In this Relation concerning these three doubtful Books of Mr. hooker's my purpose was to inquire then set down what I observed and know which I have done not as an engaged Person but indifferently and now leave my Reader to give Sentence for their Legitimation as to himself but so as to leave others the same Liberty of believing or disbelieving them to be Mr. hooker's and 't is observable that as Mr. Hooker advised with Doctor Spencer in the design and manage of these Books so also and chiefly with this dear Pupil George Cranmer whose Sister was the Wife of Doctor Spencer of which this following Letter may be a Testimony and doth also give authority to some things mentioned both in this Appendix and in the Life of Mr. Hooker and is therefore added GEORGE CRANMERS' LETTER UNTO Mr. RICHARD HOOKER February 1598. WHat Posterity is likely to judge of these matters concerning Church Discipline we may the better conjecture if we call to mind what our own Age within few years upon better Experience hath already judged concerning the same It may be remembered that at first the greatest part of the Learned in the Land were either eagerly affected or favourably inclined that way The Books then written for the most part savoured of the Disciplinary Style it sounded everywhere in Pulpits and in common phrase of men's speech the contrary part began to fear they had taken a wrong course many which impugned the Discipline yet so impugned it not as not being the better form of Government but as not being so convenient for our State in regard of dangerous Innovations thereby like to grow * john Whitgift the Archbishop one man alone there was to speak of whom let no suspicion of flattery deprive of his deserved Commendation who in the defiance of the one part and courage of the other stood in the gap and gave others respite to prepare themselves to the defence which by the sudden eagerness and violence of their Adversaries had otherwise been prevented wherein God hath made good unto him his own Impress Vincit qui patitur for what contumelious indignities he hath at their hands sustained the world is witness and what reward of Honour above his Adversaries God hath bestowed upon him themselves though nothing glad thereof must needs confess Now of late years the heat of men towards the Discipline is greatly decayed their Judgements begin to sway on the other side the Learned have weighed it and found it light wise men conceive some fear left it prove not only not the best kind of Government but the very bane and destruction of all Government The cause of this Change in men's Opinions may be drawn from the general nature of Error disguised and clothed with the name of Truth which is mightily and violently to possess men at first but afterwards the weakness thereof being by time discovered to lose that reputation which before it had gained as by the outside of an House the passers by are oftentimes deceived till they see the conveniency of the Rooms within so by the very name of Discipline and Reformation Men were drawn at first to cast a fancy towards it but now they have not contented themselves only to pass by and behold afar off the forefront of this reformed house they have entered in even at the special request of Master-workmen and chief Builders thereof they have perused the Rooms the Lights the Conveniencies they find them not answerable to that report which was made of them nor to that opinion which upon report they had conceived So as now the Discipline which at first triumphed over all being unmasked beginneth to droop and hang down her head This cause of change in opinion concerning the Discipline is proper to the Learned or to such as by them have been instructed another cause there is more open and more apparent to the view of all namely the course of Practice which the Reformers have had with us from the beginning the first degree was only some small difference about Cap and Surplice but not such as either bred division in the Church or tended to the ruin of the Government established This was peaceable the next degree more stirring Admonitions were directed to the Parliament in peremptory sort against our whole Form of Regiment in defence of them Volumes were published in English and in Latin yet this was no more than writing Devices were set on foot to erect the Practice of the Discipline without Authority yet herein some regard of Modesty some moderation was used Behold at length it broke forth into open outrage first in writing by Martin in whose kind of dealing these things may be observed first that whereas T. C. and others his great Masters had always before set out the Discipline as a Queen and as the Daughter of God He chose to make her more acceptable to the people brought her forth as a Vice upon the Stage 2 This conceit of his was grounded as may be supposed upon this rare Polity that seeing the Discipline was by writing refuted in Parliament rejected in secret corners hunted out and decried it was imagined that by open railing which to the vulgar is commonly most plausible the State Ecclesiastical might have been drawn into such contempt and hatred as the overthrow thereof should have been most grateful to all Men and in manner desired of the common people 3. It may be noted and this I know myself to be true how some of them although they could not for shame approve so lewd an Action yet were content to lay hold on it to the advancement of their cause acknowledging therein the secret judgements of God against the Bishops and hoping that some good might be wrought thereby for his Church as indeed there was though not according to their construction For 4. Contrary to their expectation that railing Spirit did not only not further but extremely disgrace and prejudice their Cause when it was once perceived from how low degrees of contradiction at first to what outrage of Contumely and Slander they were at length proceeded and were also likely further to proceed A further degree of outrage was in Fact Certain * H●●e● and Cappergot Prophets did arise who deeming it not possible that God should suffer that to be undone which they did so fiercely desire to have done Namely that his holy Saints the favourers and Fathers of the Discipline should be enlarged and delivered from persecution and seeing no means of deliverance Ordinary were fain to persuade themselves that God must needs raise some extraordinary means and being persuaded of none so well as of themselves they forthwith must need she the instruments of this great work Hereupon they framed unto themselves an assured hope that upon their Preaching out of a Pease Cart all the multitude would have presently joined unto them and in amazement of mind have asked them Viri sratres quid agimus whereunto it is likely they would have returned an answer far unlike to that of St. Peter Such and such are Men unworthy to govern pluck them down Such and such are the Dear Children of God let them be advanced Of two of these Men it is meet to speak with all Commiseration yet so that others by their example may receive instruction and withal some light may appear what stirring affections the Discipline is like to inspire if it light upon apt and prepared minds Now if any Man doubt of what Society they were or if the Reformers disclaim them pretending that by them they were condemned let these points be considered 1. Whose associates were they before they entered into this frantic Passion whose Sermons did they frequent whom did they admire 2. Even when they were entering into it whose advice did they require and when they were in whose approbation whom advertised they of their purpose whose assistance by Prayers did they request But we deal injuriously with them to lay this to their charge for they reproved and condemned it How did they disclose it to the Magistrate that it might be suppressed or were they not rather content to stand aloof off and see the end of it and loath to quench the Spirit No doubt these mad practitioners were of their society with whom before and in the practice of their madness they had most affinity Hereof read Doctor bancroft's Book A third inducement may be to dislike of the Discipline if we consider not only how far the Reformers themselves have proceeded but what others upon their Foundations have built Here come the Brownists in the first rank their lineal descendants who have seized upon a number of strange opinions whereof although their Ancestors the Reformers were never actually possessed yet by right and interest from them derived the Brownists and Barrowists have taken possession of them For if the Positions of the Reformers be true I cannot see how the main and general Conclusions of Brownism should be false for upon these two points as I conceive they stand 1. That because we have no Church they are to sever themselves from us 2. That without Civil Authority they are to erect a Church of their own And if the former of these be true the latter I suppose will follow For if above all things Men be to regard their Salvation and if out of the Church there be no Salvation it followeth That if we have no Church we have no means of Salvation And therefore Separation from us in that respect is both lawful and necessary As also That men so separated from the false and counterfeit Church are to associate themselves unto some Church not to ours to the Popish much less therefore to one of their own making Now the ground of all these Inferences being this That in our Church there is no means of Salvation is out of the Reformers Principles most clearly to be proved For wheresoever any Matter of Faith unto Salvation necessary is denied there can be no means of Salvation But in the Church of England the Discipline by them accounted a Matter of Faith and necessary to Salvation is not only denied but impugned and the Professors thereof oppressed Ergo. Again but this Reason perhaps is weak Every true Church of Christ acknowledgeth the whole Gospel of Christ the Discipline in their opinion is a part of the Gospel and yet by our Church resisted Ergo. Again The Discipline is essentially united to the Church By which term Essentially they must mean either an essential part or an essential property Both which ways it must needs be That where that Essential Discipline is not neither is there any Church If therefore between them and the Brownists there should be appointed a Solemn Disputation whereof with us they have been oftentimes so earnest challengers It doth not yet appear what other answer they could possibly frame to these and the like Arguments wherewith they might be pressed but fairly to deny the Conclusion for all Premises are their own or rather ingenuously to reverse their own Principles before laid whereon so soul absurdities have been so firmly built What further proofs you can bring out of their high words magnifying the Discipline I leave to your better remembrance But above all points I am desirous this one should be strongly enforced against them because it wringeth them most of all and is of all others for aught I see the most unanswerable you may notwithstanding say That you would be heartily glad these their Positions might so be salved as the Brownists might not appear to have issued out of their Loins but until that be done they must give us leave to think that they have cast the Seed whereout these Tares are grown Another sort of Men there are which have been content to run on with the Reformers for a time and to make them poor instruments of their own designs These are a sort of Godless Politics who perceiving the Plot of Discipline to consist of these two parts The overthrow of Episcopal and erection of Presbyterial Authority and that this latter can take no place till the former be removed are content to join with them in the Destructive part of Discipline bearing them in hand that in the other also they shall find them as ready But when time shall come it may be they would be as loath to be yoked with that kind of Regiment as now they are willing to be released from this These men's ends in all their actions is Distraction their pretence and colour Reformation Those things which under this colour they have effected to their own good are 1. By maintaining a contrary Faction they have kept the Clergy always in awe and thereby made them more pliable and willing to buy their Peace 2. By maintaining an opinion of Equality among Ministers they have made way to their own purposes for devouring Cathedral Churches and Bishop's Livings 3. By exclaiming against abuses in the Church they have carried their own corrupt dealings in the Civil State more covertly for such is the nature of the multitude they are not able to apprehend many things at once so as being possessed with a dislike or liking of any one thing many other in the meantime may escape them without being perceived 4. They have sought to disgrace the Clergy in entertaining a conceit in men's minds and confirming it by continual practice that Men of Learning and specially of the Clergy which are employed in the chiefest kind of Learning are not to be admitted of sparingly admitted to Matters of State contrary to the practice of all well-governed Commonwealths and of our own till these late years A third sort of Men there are though not descended from the Reformers yet in part raised and greatly strengthened by them namely the cursed crew of Atheists This also is one of those Points which I am desirous you should handle most effectually and strain yourself therein to all points of motion and affection as in that of the Brownists to all strength and sinews of Reason This is a sort most damnable and yet by the general suspicion of the World at this day most common The causes of it which are in the parties themselves although you handle in the beginning of the fifth Book yet here again they may be touched but the occasions of help and furtherance which by the Reformers have been yielded unto them are as I conceive two Senseless Preaching and disgracing of the Ministry For how should not men dare to impugn that which neither by force of Reason nor by Authority of Persons is maintained But in the parties themselves these two causes I conceive of Atheism 1. More abundance of Wit than Judgement and of Witty then Judicious Learning whereby they are more inclined to contradict any thing then willing to be informed of the truth They are not therefore Men of sound Learning for the most part but Smatterers neither is their kind of Dispute so much by force Argument as by Scoffing Which humour of Scoffing and turning Matters most serious into merriment is now become so common as we are not to marvel what the Prophet means by the ●eat of Scorners nor what the Apostles by foretelling of Scorners to come our own Age hath verified their speech unto us which also may be an Argument against these Scoffers and Atheists themselves seeing it hath been so many Ages ago foretold That such Men the latter days of the World should afford which could not be done by any other Spirit save that whereunto things future and present are alike And even for the main question of the Resurrection whereat they stick so mightily was it not plainly foretold that men should in the latter times say Where is the promise of his coming Against the Creation the Ark and divers other Points exceptions are said to be taken the ground whereof is superfluity of Wit without ground of Learning and Judgement A second cause of Atheism is Sensuality which maketh men desirous to remove all stops and impediments of their wicked life amongst which because Religion is the chiefest so as neither in this life without shame they can persist therein nor if that be true without Torment in the life to come they whet their Wits to annihilate the Joys of Heaven wherein they see if any such be they can have no part and likewise the pains of Hell wherein their portion must needs be very great They labour therefore not that they may not deserve those pains but that deserving them there may be no such pains to seize upon them But what conceit can be imagined more base than that man should strive to persuade himself even against the secret instinct no doubt of his own Mind that his Soul is as the Soul of a Beast Mortal and corruptible with the Body Against which barbarous Opinion their own Atheism is a very strong Argument For were not the Soul a Nature separable from the Body how could it enter into discourse of things merely Spiritual and nothing at all pertaining to the Body Surely the Soul were not able to conceive any thing of Heaven no nor so much as to dispute against Heaven and against God if there were nor in it somewhat Heavenly and derived from God The last which have received strength and encouragement from the Reformers are Papists against whom although they are most bitter enemies yet unwittingly they have given them great advantage For what can any enemy rather desire than the breach and dissension of those which are Confederates against him Wherein they are to remember That if our Communion with Papists in some few Ceremonies do so much strengthen them as is pretended How much more doth this Division and Rent among ourselves especially seeing it is maintained to be not in light Matters only but even in Matter of Faith and Salvation Which overreaching Speech of theirs because it is so open to advantage for the Barrowist and the Papist we are to wish and hope for that they will acknowledge it to have been spoken rather in heat of affection then with soundness of judgement and that through their exceeding love that Creature of Discipline which themselves have bred nourished and maintained their mouth in commendation of her did soon overflow From hence you may proceed but the means of connexion I leave to yourself to another Discourse which I think very meet to be handled either here or else where at large the parts whereof may be these 1. That in this cause between them and us Men are to sever the proper and essential Points in Controversy from those which are accidental The most essential and proper are these two Overthrow of Episcopal Erection of Presbyterial Authority But in these two Points whosoever joineth with them is a counted of their number whosoever in all other Points agreeth with them yet thinketh the Authority of Bishops not unlawful and of Elders not necessary may justly be severed from their retinue Those things therefore which either in the Persons or in the Laws and Orders themselves are faulty may be complained on acknowledged and amended yet they no whit the nearer their main purpose For what if all Errors by them supposed in our Liturgy were amended even according to their own hearts desire if Nonresidence Pluralities and the like were utterly taken away are their Lay-Elders therefore presently authorised or their Sovereign Ecclesiastical jurisdiction established But even in their complaining against the outward and accidental Matters in Church-Government they are many ways faulty 1. In their end which they propose to themselves For in declaiming against abuses their meaning is not to have them redressed but by disgracing the present State to make way for their own Discipline As therefore in Venice if any Senator should discourse against the Power of their Senate as being either too Sovereign or too weak in Government with purpose to draw their Authority to a Moderation it might well be suffered but not so if it should appear he spoke with purpose to induce another State by depraving the present So in all Causes belonging either to Church or Commonwealth we are to have regard what mind the Complaining part doth bear whether of Amendment or Innovation and accordingly either to suffer or suppress it Their Objection therefore is frivolous Why may not Men speak against Abuses Yes but with desire to cure the Part affected not to destroy the Whole 2. A second fault is in their manner of Complaining not only because it is for the most part in bitter and reproachful terms but also it is to the common people Who are judges incompetent and insufficient both to determine any thing amiss and for want of skill and authority to amend it Which also discovereth their intent and purpose to be rather destructive then corrective 3. Thirdly Those very Exceptions which they take are frivolous and impertinent Some things indeed they accuse as impious which if they may appear to be such God forbid they should be maintained Against the rest it is only alleged That they are idle Ceremonies without use and that better and more profitable might be devised wherein they are doubly deceived For neither is it a sufficient Plea to say This must give place because a better may be devised because in our judgements of better and worse we oftentimes conceive amiss when we compare those things which are in device with those which are in practice For the Imperfections of the one are hid till by time and trial they be discovered the others are already manifest and open to all But last of all which is a Point in my Opinion of great regard and which I am desirous to have enlarged they do not see that for the most part when they strike at the State Ecclesiastical they secretly wound the Civil State For Personal Faults What can be said against the Church which may not also agree to the Commonwealth In both Statesmen have always been and will be always Men sometimes blinded with Error most commonly perverted by Passions Many unworthy have been and are advanced in both many worthy not regarded And as for abuses which they pretend to be in the Laws themselves when they inveigh against Nonresidence do they take it a matter lawful or expedient in the Civil State for a Man to have a great and gainful Office in the North himself continually remaining in the South He that hath an Office let him attend his Office When they condemn Plurality of Livings Spiritual to the Pit of Hell what think they of Infinite of Temporal Promotions By the Great Philosopher Pol. lib. 2. cap. 9 it is forbidden as a thing most dangerous to Commonwealths that by the same Man many great Offices should be exercised When they deride our Ceremonies as vain and frivolous were it hard to apply their Exceptions even to those Civil Ceremonies which at the Coronation in Parliament and all Courts of justice are used Were it hard to argue even against Circumcision the Ordinance of God as being a cruel Ceremony Against the Passover as being ridiculous should be gi●t a staff in their hand to eat a Lamb To conclude You may exhort the Clergy or what if you direct your Conclusion not to the Clergy in general but only to the Learned in or of both Universities You may exhort them to a due consideration of all things and to a right esteem and valuing of each thing in that degree wherein it ought to stand For it oftentimes falleth out that what Men have either devised themselves or greatly delighted in the price and the excellency thereof they do admire above desert The chiefest labour of a Christian should be know of a Minister to Preach Christ crucified In regard whereof not only worldly things but things otherwise precious even the Discipline itself is vile and base Whereas now by the heat of Contention and violence of Affection the Zeal of Men towards the one hath greatly decayed their love to the other Hereunto therefore they are to be exhorted to Preach Christ crucified the Mortification of the Flesh the Renewing of the Spirit not those things which in time of Strife seem precious but Passions being allayed are vain and childish GEO. CRANMER This Epitaph was long since presented to the World in Memory of Mr. Hooker by Sir William Cooper who also built him a fair Monument in Borne-Church and acknowledges him to have been his Spiritual Father THough nothing can be spoke worthy his Fame Or the Remembrance of that precious Name judicious Hooker though this cost be spent On him that hath a Lasting Monument In his own Books yet ought we to express If not his Worth yet ove Respectfulness Church Ceremonies he maintaiued Then Why Without all Ceremony should he die Was it because his Life and Death should be Both equal Patterns of Humility Or that perhaps this only glorious one Was above all to ask Why had he none Yet he that lay so long obscurely low Doth now preferred to greater Honours go Ambitious men Learn hence to be more wise Humility is the true way to rise And God in me this Lesson did Inspire To bid this humble Man Friend sit up higher TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD my very good Lord the Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY his Grace Primate and Metropolitan of all ENGLAND MOst Reverend in Christ the long continued The cause of Writing this General Discourse and more than ordinary favour which hither to your Grace hath been pleased to show towards me may justly claim at my hands some thankful acknowledgement thereof In which consideration as also for that I embrace willingly the ancient received course and conveniency of that Discipline which teacheth inferior Degrees and Orders in the Church of God to submit their Writings to the same Authority from which their allowable dealings whatsoever in such affairs must receive approbation I nothing fear but that your accustomed clemency will take in good worth the offer of these my simple and mean Labours bestowed for the necessary justification of Laws heretofore made questionable because as I take it they were not perfectly understood For surely I cannot find any great cause of just complaint that good Laws have so much been wanting unto us as we to them To seek Reformation of evil Laws is a commendable endeavour but for us the more necessary is a speedy redress of ourselves We have on all sides lost much of our first fervency towards God and therefore concerning our own degenerated ways we have reason to exhort with St. Gregory Let us return again unto that which we sometime were Greg. Nat. but touching the exchange of Laws in Practice with Laws in Device which they say are better for the State of the Church if they might take place the farther we examine them the greater cause we find to conclude although we continue the same we are the harm is not great These fervent Reprehenders of things established by Public Authority are always confident and bold spirited men But their confidence for the most part riseth from too much credit given to their own wits for which cause they are seldom free from Error The Errors which we seek to reform in this kind of men are such as both received at your own hands their first wound and from that time to this present have been proceeded in with that Moderation which useth by Patience to suppress boldness and to make them conquer that suffer Wherein considering the nature and kind of these Controversies the dangerous sequels whereunto they were likely to grow and how many ways we have been thereby taught Wisdom I may boldly aver concerning the first that as the weightiest conflicts the Church hath had were those which touched the Head the Person of our Saviour Christ and the next of importance those questions which are at this day between us and the Church of Rome about the Actions of the Body of the Church of God so these which have lastly sprung up from Compliments Rites and Ceremonies of Church Actions are in truth for the greatest part such silly things that very easiness doth make them hard to be disputed of in serious manner Which also may seem to be the cause why divers of the Reverend Prelacy and other most judicious men have especially bestowed their pains about the Matter of Jurisdiction Notwithstanding led by your Grace's example myself have thought it convenient to wade through the whole Cause following that method which searcheth the Truth by the causes of Truth Now if any marvel how a thing in itself so weak could import any great danger they must consider not so much how small the spark is that flieth up as how apt things about it are to take fire Bodies Politic being subject as much as Natural to dissolution by divers means there are undoubtedly more estates overthrown through diseases bred within themselves then through violence from abroad because our manner is always to cast a doubtful and a more suspicious eye towards that over which we know we have least power And therefore the fear of External dangers causeth forces at home to be the more united It is to all sorts a kind of Bridle it maketh virtuous Minds watchful it holdeth contrary Dispositions in suspense and it setteth those Wits on work in better things which could be else employed in worse whereas on the other side domestical Evils for that we think we can master them at all times are often permitted to run on forward till it be too late to recall them In the mean while the Commonwealth is not only through unsoundness so far impaired as those evils chance to prevail but farther also through opposition arising between the unsound parts and the sound where each endeavoreth to draw evermore contrary ways till destruction in the end bring the whole to ruin To reckon up how many Causes there are by force whereof Divisions may grow in a Commonwealth is not here necessary Such as rise from variety in Matter of Religion are not only the farthest spread because in Religion all men presume themselves interessed alike but they are also for the most part hotlier prosecuted and pursued then other strifes for as much as coldness which in other Contentions may be thought to proceed from Moderation is not in these so favourably construed The part which in this present quarrel striveth against the Current and Stream of Laws was a long while nothing feared the wisest contented not to call to mind how Errors have their effect many times not proportioned to that little appearance of Reason whereupon they would seem built but rather to the vehement affection or fancy which is cast towards them and proceedeth from other Causes For there are divers Motives drawing men to favour mightily those Opinions wherein their Persuasions are but weakly settled and if the Passions of the Mind be strong they easily sophisticate the Understanding they make it apt to believe upon very slender warrant and to imagine infallible Truth where scarce any probable show appeareth Thus were those poor seduced Creatures Hacquet and his other two adherents whom I can neither speak nor think of but with much commisseration and pity Thus were they trained by fair ways first accounting their own extraordinary love to his Discipline a token of Gods more than ordinary love towards them From hence they grew to a strong conceit that God which had moved them to love his Discipline more than the common sort of men did might have a purpose by their means to bring a wonderful work to pass beyond all men's expectation for the advancement of the Throne of Discipline by some Tragical Execution with the particularities whereof it was not safe for their Friends to be made acquainted of whom they did therefore but covertly demand what they thought of extraordinary Motions of the Spirit in these days and withal request to be commended unto God by their Prayers whatsoever should be undertaken by Men of God in mere Zeal to his Glory and the good of his distressed Church With this unusual and strange course they went on forward till God in whose heaviest worldly Judgements I nothing doubt but that there may lie hidden Mercy gave them over their own Inventions and left them made in the end an example for Headstrong and Inconsiderate Zeal no less fearful than Achitophel for Proud and Irreligious Wisdom If a spark of Error have thus far prevailed falling even where the Wood was green and farthest off to all men's thinking from any inclination unto furious Attempts must not the peril thereof be greater in men whose minds are of themselves as dry sewel apt beforehand unto Tumults Seditions and Broils But by this we see in a Cause of Religion to how desperate adventures men will strain themselves for relief of their own part having Law and Authority against them Furthermore Let not any man think that in such Divisions either part can free itself from inconveniencies sustained not only through a kind of Truce which Virtue on both sides doth make with Vice during War between Truth and Error but also in that there are hereby so fit occasions ministered for men to purchase to themselves well-willers by the colour under which they oftentimes prosecute quarrels of Envy or Inveterate Malice and especially because Contentions were as yet never able to prevent two Evils The one a mutual exchange of unseemly and unjust disgraces offered by men whose Tongues and Passions are out of rule the other a common hazard of both to be made a prey by such as study how to work upon all Occurrents with most advantage in private I deny not therefore but that our Antagonists in these Controversies may peradventure have met with some not unlike to Ithacius Sulp. Seve●● Epist. Hist. Eccles. who mightily bending himself by all means against the Heresy of Priscillian the hatred of which one Evil was all the Virtue he had became so wise in the end That every man careful of Virtuous Conversations studious of Scripture and given unto any abstinence in Diet was set down in his Calendar of suspected Priscillianists for whom it should be expedient to approve their soundness of Faith by a more licentious and loose behaviour Such Proctors and Patrons the Truth might spare Yet is not their grossness so intolerable as on the contrary side the scurrilous and more than Satirical immodesty of Martinism the first published Schedules whereof being brought to the hands of a grave and a very Honourable Knight with signification given that the Book would refresh his spirits he took it saw what the Title was read over an unsavoury sentence or two and delivered back the Libel with this Answer I am sorry you are of the mind to be solaced with these sports and sorrier you have herein thought mine affection to be like your own But as these sores on all hands lie open so the deepest wounds of the Church of God have been more softly and closely given It being perceived that the Plot of Discipline did not only bend itself to reform Ceremonies but seek farther to erect a popular authority of Elders and to take away Episcopal Jurisdiction together with all other Ornaments and means whereby any difference or inequality is upheld in the Ecclesiastical Order towards this destructive part they have found many helping hands diverse although peradventure not willing to be yoked with Elderships yet contented for what intent God doth know to uphold opposition against Bishops not without greater hurt to the course of their whole proceedings in the business of God and Her Majesty's service than otherwise much more weighty Adversaries had been able by their own power to have brought to pass Men are naturally better contented to have their commendable actions suppressed than the contrary much divulged And because the Wits of the multitude are such that many things they cannot lay hold on at once but being possessed with some notable either dislike or liking of any one thing whatsoever sundry other in the mean time may escape them unperceived Therefore if men desirous to have their Virtues noted do in this respect grieve at the same of others whose glory obscureth and darkness theirs it cannot be chosen but that when the ears of the people are thus continually beaten with exclamations against abuses in the Church these tunes come always most acceptable to them whose odious and corrupt dealings in secular affairs both pass by that mean the more covertly and whatsoever happen do also the least feel that scourge of vulgar imputation which notwithstanding they most deserve All this considered as behoveth the sequel of duty on our part is only that which our Lord and Saviour requireth harmless Discretion the wisdom of Serpents tempered with the innocent meekness of Doves For this World will teach them wisdom that have capacity to apprehend it Our wisdom in this case must be such as doth not propose to itself our own particular the partial and immoderate desire whereof poisoneth wheresoever it taketh place But the scope and mark which we are to aim at is the public and common good of all for the easier procurement whereof our diligence must search out all helps and furtherances of direction which Scriptures Counsels Fathers Histories the Laws and Practices of all Churches the mutual Conference of all men's Collections and Observations may afford Our industry must even anatomize every Particle of that Body which we are to uphold sound and because be it never so true which we teach the World to believe yet if once their affections begin to be alienated a small thing persuadeth them to change their opinions it behoveth that we vigilantly note and prevent by all means those evils whereby the hearts of men are lost which evil for the most part being personal do arm in such sort the Adversaries of God and his Church against us that if through our too much neglect and security the same should run on soon might we feel our estate brought to those lamentable terms whereof this hard and heavy sentence was by one of the Ancients uttered upon like occasions Dolens dico gemens denuncio sacerdotium quod apud nos intus cecidit foris diu stare non poterit Leg. Carol. Mag. fol. 421 But the gracious providence of Almighty God hath I trust put these Thorns of Contradiction in our sides lest that should steal upon the Church in a slumber which now I doubt not but through his assistance may be turned away from us bending thereunto ourselves with constancy constancy in labour to do all men good constancy in Prayer unto God for all men Her especially whose sacred power matched with incomparable goodness of Nature hath hitherto been Gods most happy instrument by him miraculously kept for works of so miraculous preservation and safety unto others that as By the Sword of God and Gedeon was sometime the cry of the people of Israel so it might deservedly be at this day the joyful Song of innumerable multitudes yea the Emblem of some Estates and Dominions in the world and which must be eternally confessed even with tears of thankfulness the true Inscription Style or Title of all Churches as yet standing within this Realm By the goodness of Almighty God Judg. 7.80 and his servant Elizabeth we are● That God who is able to make Mortality immortal give her such future continuance as may be no less glorious unto all Posterity than the days of Her Regiment passed have been happy unto ourselves and for his most dear Anointeds' sake grant them all prosperity whose Labours Cares and Counsels unfeignedly are referred to Her endless welfare through his unspeakable mercy unto whom we all owe everlasting praise In which desire I will here rest humbly beseeching your Grace to pardon my great boldness and God to multiply his Blessings upon them that fear his Name Your Graces in all duty RICHARD HOOKER A PREFACE To them that seek as they term it The Reformation of Laws and Orders Ecclesiastical IN THE Church of England THough for no other cause yet for this The Cause and occasion of handling these things and what might be wished in them for whose sakes so much pains is taken That Posterity may know we have not loosely through silence permitted things to pass away as in a Dream there shall be for men's information extant thus much concerning the present state of the Church of God established amongst us and their careful endeavour which would have uphold the same At your hands beloved in our Lord and Saviour jesus Christ for in him the love which we bear unto all that would but seem to be born of him it is not the Sea of your Gall and Bitterness that shall ever drown I have no great cause to look for other than the selfsame portion and lot which your manner hath been hitherto to lay on them that concur not in Opinion and Sentence with you But our hope it that the God of Peace shall notwithstanding man's nature too impatical of contumelious malediction enable us quietly and even gladly to suffer all things for that work sake which we covet to perform The wonderful seal and fervour wherewith ye have with stood the received Orders of this Church was the first thing which caused me to enter into consideration Whether as all your published Books and Writings peremptorily maintain every Christian man fearing God stand bound to join with you for the furtherance of that which ye term The Lord's Discipline Wherein I must plainly confess unto you that before I examined your sundry Declarations in that behalf it could not settle in my head to think but that undoubtedly such numbers of otherwise right well-affected and most religiously inclined minds had some marvellous reasonable enducements which led them with so great earnestness that way But when once as near as my slender ability would serve I had with travel and care performed that part of the Apostles advice and counsel in such cases whereby be willeth to try all things and was come at the length so far that there remained only the other clause to be satisfied wherein he concludeth that what good is must be held There was in my poor understanding no remedy but to set down this as my final resolute persuasion Surely the present Form of Church Government which the Laws of this Land have established is such as no Law of God nor Reason of Man hath hitherto been alleged of force sufficient to prove they do ill who to the uttermost of their power withstand the alteration thereof chose The other which instead of it we are required to accept is only by Error and misconceipt named the Ordinance of Jesus Christ no one Proof as yet brought forth whereby it may clearly appear to be so in very deed The Explication of which two things I have here thought good to offer into your own hands Heartily beseeching you even by the Meekness of jesus Christ whom I trust ye love That as ye tender the Peace and Quietness of this Church if there be in you that gracious Humility which hath ever been the Crown and Glory of a Christianly disposed mind If your own souls hearts and consciences the sound integrity whereof can but hardly stand with the refusal of Truth in personal respects be as I doubt not but they are things most dear and precious unto you Let not the Faith which ye have in our Lord Jesus Christ Jam. 2. 1. be blemished with partialities regard not who it is which speaketh but weigh only what is spoken Think not that ye read the words of one who bendeth himself as an Adversary against the Truth which ye have already embraced but the words of one who desireth even to embrace together with you the self same Truth if it be the Truth and for that cause for no other God he knoweth hath undertaken the burdensome labour of this painful kind of Conference For the plainer access whereunto let it be lawful for me to rip up the very bottom how and by whom your Discipline was planted at such time as this age we live in began to make first trial thereof The first Establishment of new Discipline by Mr. calvin's industry in the Church of Geneva and the beginning of strife about in amongst ourselves 2. A Founder it had whom for mine own part I think incomparably the wisest man that ever the French Church did enjoy since the hour it enjoyed him His bringing up was in the study of the Civil Law Divine knowledge he gathered not by hearing or reading so much as by teaching others For though thousands were debtors to him as touching knowledge in that kind yet be to none but only to God the Author of that most blessed Fountain The Book of Life and of the admirable dexterity of Wit together with the helps of other learning which were his Guides till being occasioned to leave France he sell at the length upon Geneva Which City the Bishop and Clergy thereof had a little before as some affirm forsaken being of likelihood frighted with the people's sudden attempt for abolishment of Popish Religion the event of which enterprise they thought it not safe for themselves to wait for in that place At the coming of Calvin thither the form of their Civil Regiment was popular as it continueth at this day Neither King nor Duke nor Nobleman of any authority or power over them but Officers chosen by the people out of themselves to order all things with public consent For Spiritual Government they had no Laws at all agreed upon but did what the Pastors of their Souls by persuasion could win them unto Calvin being admitted one of their Preachers and a Divinity-Reader amongst them considered how dangerous it was that the whole estate of that Church should hang still on so slender a thread as the liking of an ignorant multitude is if it have power to change whatsoever itself listeth Wherefore taking unto him two of the other Ministers for more countenance of the action albeit the rest were all against it they moved and in the end persuaded with much ado the people to bind themselves by solemn Oath first Never to admit the Papecy amongst them again and secondly To live in obedience unto such Orders concerning the Exercise of their Religion and the Form of their Ecclesiastical Government as those their true and faithful Ministers of God's Word had agreeably to Scripture set down for that end and purpose When these things began to be put in ure the people also what causes moving them thereunto themselves best know began to repent them of that they had done and irefully to champ upon the Bit they had taken into their Mouths the rather for that they grew by means of this Innovation into dislike with some Churches near about them the benefit of whose good friendship their State could not well lack It was the manner of those times whether through men's desire to enjoy alone the glory of their own enterprises or else because the quickness of their occasions required present dispatch so it was that every particular Church did that within itself which some few of their own thought good by whom the rest were all directed Such number of Churches then being though free within themselves yet small common Conference beforehand might have eased them of much after trouble But a great inconvenience it bred That every later endeavoured to be certain degrees more removed from Conformity with the Church of Rome than the rest before had been whereupon grew marvellous great dissimilitudes and by reason thereof jealousies heartburning jars and discords amongst them Which notwithstanding might have easily been prevented if the Orders which each Church did think fit and convenient for itself had not so peremptorily been established under that high commanding Form which rendered them unto the people as things everlastingly required by the Law of the Lord of Lords against whose Statutes there is no exception to be taken For by this mean it came to pass that one Church could not but accuse and condemn another of disobedience to the Will of Christ in those things where manifest difference was between them whereas the selfsame Orders allowed but yet established in more wary and suspense manner as bring to stand in force till God should give the opportunity of some General Conference what might be best for every of them afterwards to do This I say had both prevented all occasion of just dislike which others might take and reserved a greater liberty unto the Authors themselves of entering into farther Consultation afterwards Which though never so necessary they could not easily now admit without some fear of derogation from their credit And therefore that which once they had done they became for ever after resolute to maintain Calvin therefore and the other two his Associates stiffly refusing to administer the Holy Communion to such as would not quietly without contradiction and murmur submit themselves unto the Orders which their Solemn Oath had bound them to obey were in that quarrel banished the Town A few years after such was the levity of that people the places of one or two of their Ministers being fallen void they were not before so willing to be rid of their Learned Pastor as now importunate to obtain him again from them who had given him entertainment and which were loath to part with him had not unresistable earnestness been used One of the Town-Ministers that saw in what manner the people were bend for the Revocation of Calvin gave him notice of their affection in this sort Epist. Cal. 24. The Senate of Two hundred being assembled they all crave Calvin The next day a General Convocation they cry in like sort again all We will have Calvin that good and Learned Man Christ's Minister This saith he when I understood I could not choose but praise God nor was I able to judge otherwise then that this was the Lords doing and that it was marvellous in our eyes and that the Stone which the Builders refused Luk. 20. 19 was now made the Head of the Corner The other two whom they had thrown out together with Calvin they were content should enjoy their exile Many causes might lead them to be more desirous of him First It is yielding unto them in one thing might happily put them in hope that time would breed the like easiness of condescending further unto them For in his absence be had persuaded them with whom he was able to prevail that albeit himself did better like of Common Bread to be used in the Eucharist yet the other they rather should accept than cause any trouble in the Church about it Again they saw that the name of Calvin waxed every day greater abroad and that together with his fame their infamy was spread who had so rashly and childishly ejected him Besides it was not unlikely but that his credit in the World might many ways stand the poor Town in great stead As the truth is their Ministers Foreign estimation hitherto hath been the best stake in their Hedge But whatsoever secret respects were likely to move them for contenting of their minds Calvin returned as it had been another Tully to his old Home He ripely considered how gross a thing it were for men of his quality wise and grave men to live with such a multitude and to be Tenants at will under them as their Ministers both himself and others had been For the remedy of which inconvenience he gave them plainly to understand That if he did become their Teacher again they must be content to admit a complete Form of Discipline which both they and also their Pastors should now be solemnly sworn to observe for ever after Of which Discipline the Main and Principal parts were these A standing Ecclesiastical Court to be established Perpetual judges in that Court to be their Ministers others of the people annually chosen twice so many in number as they to be judges together with them in the same Court These two sorts to have the care of all men's manners power of determining of all kind of Ecclesiastical Causes and authority to Convent to Control to Punish as far as with Excommunication whom soever they should think worthy none either small or great excepted This device I see not how the wisest at that time living could have bettered if we duly consider what the present State of Geneva did then require For their Bishop and his Clergy being as it is said departed from them by Moonlight or howsoever being departed to choose in his room any other Bishop had been a thing altogether impossible And for their Ministers to seek that themselves alone might have coercive power over the whole Church would perhaps have been hardly construed at that time But when so frank an offer was made that for every one Minister there should be two of the people to sit and give voice in the Ecclesiastical Consistory what inconvenience could they easily find which themselves might not be able always to remedy Howbeit as ever more the simpler sort are even when they see no apparent cause jealous notwithstanding over the secret intents and purposes of wiser men this Proposition of his did somewhat trouble them Of the Ministers themselves which had stayed behind in the City when Calvin was gone some upon knowledge of the people's earnest intent to recall him to his place again had beforehand written their Letters of Submission and assured him of their allegiance for ever after if it should like him to hearken unto that Public Suit But yet misdoubting what might happen if this Discipline did go forward they objected against it the example of other Reformed Churches living quietly and orderly without it Some of the chiefest place and countenance amongst the Laity professed with greater stomach their judgements that such a Discipline was little better than Popish Tyranny disguised and tendered unto them under a new Form This sort it may be had some fear that the filling up of the Seats in the Consistory with so great a member of Laymen was but to please the minds of the people to the end they might think their own sway somewhat but when things came to trial of practice their Pastor's learning would be at all times of force to over-perswade simple men who knowing the time of their own Presidentship to be but short would always stand in fear of their Ministers perpetual authority And among the Ministers themselves one being so far in estimation above the rest the voices of the rest were likely to be given for the most part respectively with a kind of secret dependency and awe So that in show a marvellous indifferently composed Senate Ecclesiastical was to govern but in effect one only man should as the Spirit and Soul of the residue do all in all But what did these vain surmises boot Brought they were now to so straight an issue that of two things they must choose one Namely Whether they would to their endless disgrace with ridiculous lightness dismiss him whose restitution they had in so impotent manner desired or else condescend unto that demand wherein he was resolute either to have it or to leave them They thought it better to be somewhat hardly yoked at home then for ever abroad discredited Wherefore in the end those Orders were on all sides assented unto with no less alacrity of mind than Cities unable to hold out longer An. Dom. 1541. are wont to show when they take conditions such as liketh him to offer them which hath them in the narrow straits of advantage Not many years were over passed before these twice-sworn men adventured to give their last and hottest assault to the Fortress of the same Discipline childishly granting by common consent of their whole Senate and that under their Town-Seal a Relaxation to one Bertelier whom the Eldership had Excommunicated Further also decreeing with strange absurdity that to the same Senate it should belong to give final judgement in Matter of Excommunication and to absolve whom it pleased them clean contrary to their own former Deeds and Oaths The report of which Decree being fortwith brought unto Calvin Before saith he this Decree take place either my Blood or Banishment shall sign it Again two days before the Communion should be celebrated this speech was publicly to like effect Kill me if ever this hand do teach forth the things that are holy to them whom the Church hath judged despisers Whereupon for fear of tumult the forenamed Bertelier was by his friends advised for that time not to use the liberty granted him by the Senate nor to present himself in the Church till they saw somewhat further what would ensue After the Communion quietly ministered and some likelihood of peaceable ending of these troubles without any more a●● that very day in the afternoon besides all men's expectation concluding his ordinary Sermon he telleth them That because he neither had learned nor taught to strive with such as are in Authority therefore saith he the case so standing as now it doth let me use these words of the Apostle unto you I commend you unto God and the Word of his Grace and so bade them heartily Adieu It sometimes cometh to pass that the readiest way which a wise man hath to conquer is to fly This voluntary and unexpected mention of sudden departure caused presently the Senate for according to their wont manner they still continued only constant in unconstancy to gather themselves together and for a time to suspend their own Decree leaving things to proceed as before till they had heard the judgement of Four Helvetian Cities concerning the matter which was in strife This to have done at the first before they gave assent unto any order had showed some wit and discretion in them but now to do it was as much as to say in effect That they would play their parts on a stage Calvin therefore dispatcheth with all expedition his Letters unto some Principal Pastor in every of those Cities craving earnestly at their hands to respect this Cause as a thing whereupon the whole State of Religion and Piety in that Church did so much depend That God and all good men were now inevitably certain to be trampled under foot unless those Four Cities by their good means might be brought to give sentence with the Ministers of Geneva when the Cause should be brought before them yea so to give it that two things it might effectually contain The one an Absolute Approbation of the Discipline of Geneva as consonant unto the Word of God without any cautions qualifications ifs or and's the other an earnest Admonition not to innovate or charge the same His vehement request herein as touching both points was satisfied For albeit the said Helvetian Churches did never as yet observe that Discipline nevertheless the Senate of Geneva having required their judgement concerning these three Questions First After what manner by God's Commandment Epist. 166 according to the Scripture and unspotted Religion Excommunication is to be exercised Secondly Whether it may not be exercised some other way then by the Consistory Thirdly What the use of their Churches was to do in this case Answer was returned from the said Churches That they had heard already of those Consistorial Laws and did acknowledge them to be godly Ordinances drawing towards the prescript of the Word of God for which cause that they did not think it good for the Church of Geneva by innovation to change the same but rather to keep them as they were Which answer although not answering unto the former demands but respecting what Mr. Calvin had judged requisite for them to answer was notwithstanding accepted without any further Reply in as much as they plainly saw that when stomach doth strive with wit the match is not equal and so the heat of their former contentions began to slake The present inhabitants of Geneva I hope will not take it in evil part that the faultiness of their people heretofore is by us so far forth laid open as their own Learned Guides and Pastors have thought necessary to discover it unto the World For out of their Books and Writings it is that I have collected this whole Narration to the end it might thereby appear in what sort amongst them that Discipline was planted for which so much contention is raised amongst ourselves The Reasons which moved Calvin herein to be so earnest was as Beza himself testifieth Quod cam Urbem videret omnino his fro●nis indigere For that he saw how needful these Bridles were to be put in the Jaws of that City That which by Wisdom he saw to be requisite for that people was by as great wisdom compassed But wise men are men and the truth is truth That which Calvin did for establishment of his Discipline seemeth more commendable than that which he taught for the countenancing of it established Nature worketh in us all a love to our own Counsels The contradiction of others is a fan to inflame that love Our love set on fire to maintain that which once we have done sharpeneth the wit to dispute to argue and by all means to reason for it Wherefore a marvel it were if a man of so great capacity having such incitements to make him desirous of all kind of furtherances unto his cause could espy in the whole Scripture of God nothing which might breed at the least a probable opinion of likelihood that Divine Authority itself was the same way somewhat inclinable And all which the wit even of Calvin was able from thence to draw by sifting the very utmost sentence and syllable is no more then that certain speeches there are which to him did seem to intimate that all Christian Churches ought to have their Elderships endued with power of Excommunication and that a part of those Elderships every where should be chosen out from amongst the Laity after that Form which himself had framed Geneva unto But what Argument are ye able to show whereby it was ever proved by Calvin that any one sentence of Scripture doth necessarily enforce these things or the rest wherein your opinion concurreth with his against the Orders of your own Church We should be injurious unto Virtue itself if we did derogate from them whom their industry hath made great Two things of principal moment there are which have deservedly procured him honour throughout the World The one his exceeding pains in composing the Institution of Christian Religion the other his no less industrious travels for Exposition of holy Scripture according unto the same Institutions In which two things whosoever they were that after him bestowed their labour he gained the advantage of prejudice against them if they gainsaid and of glory above them if they consented His Writings published after the question about that Discipline was once begun omit not any the least occasion of extolling the use and singular necessity thereof Of what account the Master of Sentences was in the Church of Rome the same and more amongst the Preachers of Reformed Churches Calvin had purchased So that the perfectest Divines were judged they which were skilfullest in Calvins Writings His Books almost the very Canon to judge both Doctrine and Discipline by French Churches both under others abroad and at home in their own Country all cast according unto that mould which Calvin had made The Church of Scotland in erecting the Fabric of their Reformation took the selfsame pattern till at length the Discipline which was at the first so weak that without the staff of their approbation who were not subject unto it themselves it had not brought others under subjection began now to challenge Universal Obedience and to enter into open conflict with those very Churches which in desperate extremity had been relievers of it To one of those Churches which lived in most peaceable sort and abounded as well with men for their learning in other Professions singular as also with Divines whose equals were not elsewhere to be found a Church ordered by Gualters' Discipline and not by that which Geneva adoreth Unto this Church of Heidelburgh there cometh one who craving leave to dispute publicly defendeth with open disdain of their Government that to a Minister with his Eldership power is given by the Law of God to Excommunicate whomsoever yea even Kings and Princes themselves Here were the seeds sown of that controversy which sprang up between Beza and Erastus about the Matter of Excommunication Whether there ought to be in all Churches an Eldership having power to Excommunicate and a part of that Eldership to be of necessity certain chosen out from amongst the Laity for that purpose In which Disputation they have as to me it seemeth divided very equally the Truth between them Beza most truly maintaining the necessity of Excommunication Erastus as truly the nonnecessity of Lay-Elders to be Ministers thereof Amongst ourselves there was in King Edward's days some question moved by reason of a few men's scrupulosity touching certain things And beyond Seas of them which fled in the days of Queen Mary some contenting themselves abroad with the use of their own Service Book at home authorized before their departure out of the Realm others liking better the Common Prayer Book of the Church of Geneva translated Those smaller Contentions before begun were by this me an somewhat increased Under the happy Reign of Her Majesty which now is the greatest matter a while contended for was the wearing of the Cap and Surpless till there came Admonitions directed unto the High Court of Parliament by men who concealing their names thought it glory enough to discover their minds and affections which now were universally bend even against all the Orders and Laws wherein this Church is found uncomformable to the Platform of Geneva Concerning the Defender of which Admonitions all that I mean to say is but this There will come a time when three words uttered with Charity and Meekness shall receive a far more blessed Reward than three thousand Volumes written with disdainful sharpness of Wit But the manner of men's Writings must not alienate our hearts from the Truth if it appear they have the Truth as the Followers of the same Defender do think he hath and in that persuasion they follow him no otherwise then himself doth Calvin Beza and others with the like persuasion that they in this cause had the Truth We being as fully persuaded otherwise it resteth that some kind of trial be used to find out which part is in error By what means so many of the people are trained into the liking of that Discipline 3. The first mean whereby Nature teacheth men to judge good from evil as well in Laws as in other things is the force of their own discretion Hereunto therefore St. Paul referreth oftentimes his own speech to be considered of by them that heard him I speak as to them which have understanding Judge ye what I say Again afterward Judge in yourselves is it comely that a woman pray uncovered 1 Cor. 10. 13. & 11. 13. Luk. 12 56 57 The exercise of this kind of judgement our Saviour requireth in the jews In them of Berea the Scripture commendeth it Finally Whatsoever we do if our own secret judgement consent not unto it as fit and good to be done the doing of it to us is sin although the thing itself be allowable St. Paul's rule therefore generally is Let every man in his own mind be fully persuaded of that thing which he either alloweth or doth Acts 17. 11. Rom. 14. 5. Some things are so familiar and plain that Truth from Falsehood and Good from Evil is most easily discerned in them even by men of no deep capacity And of that nature for the most part are things absolutely unto all men's salvation necessary either to he held or denied either to be done or avoided For which cause St. Augustine acknowledgeth that they are not only set down but also plainly set down in Scripture So that he which heareth or readeth may without any great difficulty understand Other things also there are belonging though in a lower degree of importance unto the offices of Christian men Which because they are more obscure more intricate and hard to be judged of therefore God hath appointed some to spend their whole time principally in the study of things Divine to the end that in these more doubtful cases their understanding might be a light to direct others If the understanding power or faculty of the Soul Galen the  docen gen be saith the Grand Physician like unto bodily sight not of equal sharpness in all What can be more convenient than that even as the dark-sighted man is directed by the clear about things visible so likewise in matters of deeper discourse the wise in heart do show the simple where his way lieth In our doubtful Cases of Law what man is there who seeth not how requisite it is that Professors of skill in that Faculty be our Directors so it is in all other kinds of knowledge And even in this kind likewise the Lord hath himself appointed Mal. 2. 7. That the Priests lips should preserve knowledge and that other men should seek the truth at his mouth because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Gregory Nazianzen offended at the people's too great presumption in controlling the judgement of them to whom in such cases they should have rather submitted their own seeketh by earnest entreaty to stay them within their bounds Greg. Nazian Orat. qua se excusat Presume not ye that are Sheep to make yourselves Guides of them that should guide you neither seek ye to overslip the fold which they about you have pitched It sufficeth for your part if ye can well frame yourselves to be ordered Take not upon you to judge yourselves nor to make them subject to your Laws who should be a Law to you for God is not a God of Sedition and Confusion but of Order and of Peace Matth. 10. 14. But ye will say that if the Guides of the people be blind the common sort of men must not close up their own eyes and be led by the conduct of such If the Priest be partial in the Law the flock must not therefore depart from the ways of sincere Truth and in simplicity yield to be followers of him for his place sake and office over them Mal. 2. 9 Which thing though in itself most true is in your defence notwithstanding weak because the matter wherein ye think that ye see and imagine that your ways are sincere is of far deeper consideration than any one amongst Five hundred of you conceiveth Let the vulgar sort among you know that there is not the least branch of the Cause wherein they are so resolute but to the trial of it a great deal more appertaineth than their conceit doth reach unto I write not this in disgrace of the simplest that way given but I would gladly they knew the nature of that cause wherein they think themselves throughly instructed and are not by means whereof they daily run themselves without feeling their own hazard Judas v. 10. 2 Pet. 2. 12. upon the dint of the Apostles sentence against evil speakers as touching things wherein they are ignorant If it be granted a thing unlawful for private men not called unto Public Consultation to dispute which is the best State of Civil Policy with a desire of bringing in some other kind Calvin Instit. lib. 4 cap. 20. sect 8. them that under which they already live for of such Disputes I take it his meaning was If it be a thing confessed that of such Questions they cannot determine without rashness in as much as a great part of them consisteth in special Circumstances and for one kind as many Reasons may be brought as for another Is there any reason in the World why they should better judge what kind of Regiment Ecclesiastical is the fittest For in the Civil State more insight and in those affairs more experience a great deal must needs be granted them then in this they can possibly have When they which write in defence of your Discipline and commend it unto the Highest not in the least cunning manner are forced notwithstanding to acknowledge That with whom the Truth is they know not they are not certain what certainly or knowledge can the multitude have thereof The Author of the Petition directed to Her Majesty pag. 3. Weigh what doth move the common sort so much to favour this Innovation and it shall soon appear unto you that the force of particular Reasons which for your several Opinions are alleged is a thing whereof the multitude never did nor could so consider as to be therewith wholly carried but certain general Inducements are used to make saleable your Cause in gross And when once men have cast a fancy towards it any slight Declaration of Specialties will serve to lead forward men's inclineable and prepared minds The method of winning the people's affection unto a general liking of the Cause for so ye term it hath been this First in the hearing of the multitude the faults especially of higher Callings are ripped up with marvellous exceeding severity and sharpness of Reproof which being oftentimes doubt begetteth a great good opinion of Integrity zeal and Holiness to such constant reprovers of sin as by likelihood would never be so much offended at that which is evil unless themselves were singularly good The next thing hereunto is to impute all Faults and Corruptions wherewith the World aboundeth unto the kind of Ecclesiastical Government established Wherein as before by reproving Faults they purchased unto themselves with the multitude a name to be virtuous so by finding out this kind of Cause they obtain to be judged wise above others whereas in truth unto the Form even of jewish Government which the Lord himself they all confess did establish with like show of Reason they might impute those Faults which the Prophets condemn in the Governors of that Commonwealth as to the English kind of Regiment Ecclesiastical whereof also God himself though in another sort is Author the stains and blemishes found in our State which springing from the Root of Humane Frailty and Corruption not only are but have been always more or less yea and for any thing we know to the contrary will be till the World's end complained of what Form of Government soever take place Having gotten thus much sway in the hearts of men a third step is to propose their own Form of Church Government as the only sovereign remedy of all Evils and to adorn it with all the glorious Titles that may be And the Nature as of men that have sick bodies so likewise of the people in the crazedness of their Minds possessed with dislike and discontentment at things present is to imagine that any thing the virtue whereof they hear commended would help them but that most which they least have tried The fourth degree of Inducements is by fashioning the very notions and conceits of men's minds in such sort that when they read the Scripture they may think that every thing soundeth towards the advancement of that Discipline and to the utter disgrace of the contrary Pythagoras by bringing up his Scholars in speculative knowledge of numbers made their conceits therein so strong that when they came to the contemplation of things natural they imagined that in every particular thing they even beheld as it were with their eyes how the Elements of Number gave Essence and Being to the Works of Nature A thing in reason impossible which notwithstanding through their misfashioned preconceit appeared unto them no less certain then if Nature had written it in the very Foreheads of all the Creatures of God When they of the Family of Love have it once in their heads that Christ doth not signify any one Person but a Quality whereof many are partakers that to be raised is nothing else but to be regenerated or endued with the said quality and that when Separation of them which have if from them which have it not is here made this is judgement How plainly do they imagine that the Scripture every where speaketh in the favour of that Sect And assuredly the very cause which maketh the simple and ignorant to think they even see how the Word of God runneth currently on your side is That their minds are forestalled and their conceits perverted beforehand by being taught that an Elder doth signify a Layman admitted only to the Office of Rule or Government in the Church a Doctor one which may only Teach and neither Preach nor Administer the Sacraments a Deacon one which hath charge of the Alms-box and of nothing else That the Sceptre the Rod the Throne and Kingdom of Christ art a Form of Regiment only by Pastors Elders Doctors and Deacons that by Mystical Resemblance Mount Zion and Jerusalem are the Churches which admit Samaria and Babylon the Churches which oppugn the said Form of Regiment And in like sort they are taught to apply all things spoken of repairing the Walls and decayed parts of the City and Temple of God by Esdras Nehemias' and the rest As if purposely the Holy Ghost had therein meant to foresignify what the Authors of Admonitions to the Parliament of Supplications to the Council of Petitions to Her Majesty and of such other-like Writs should either do or suffer in behalf of this their Cause From hence they proceed to an higher point which is the persuading of men credulous and over-capable of such pleasing Errors That it is the special illumination of the Holy Ghost whereby they discern those things in the Word which others reading yet discern them not Dear Beloved saith St. John ● Joh. 4. 1. Give not credit unto every spirit There are but two ways whereby the Spirit leadeth men into all Truth the one extraordinary the other common the one belonging but unto some few the other extending itself unto all that are of God the one that which we call by a special divine excellency Revelation the other Reason If the Spirit by such Revelation have discovered unto them the secrets of that Discipline out of Scripture they must profess themselves to be all even Men Women and Children Prophets Or if Reason be the hand which the Spirit hath led them by for as much as Persuasions grounded upon Reason are either weaker or stronger according to the force of those Reasons whereupon the same are grounded they must every of them from the greatest to the least be able for every several Article to show some special Reason as strong as their Persuasion therein is earnest Otherwise how can it be but that some other sinews there are from which that everplus of strength in Persuasion doth arise Most sure it is That when men's Affections do frame their Opinions they are in defence of Error more earnest a great deal than for the most part sound Believers in the maintenance of Truth apprehended according to the nature of that evidence which Scripture yieldeth Which being in some things plain as in the Principles of Christian Doctrine in some things as in these Matters of Discipline more dark and doubtful frameth correspondently that inward assent which Gods most gracious Spirit worketh by it as by his Effectual Instrument It is not therefore the servant earnestness of their persuasion but the soundness of those Reasons whereupon the same is built which must declare their Opinions in these things to have been wrought by the Holy Ghost and not by the Fraud of that evil spirit which is even in his illusions strong ● Thes. 2. 11. After that the fancy of the common sort hath once thoroughly apprehended the Spirit to be Author of their Persuasions concerning Discipline then is instilled into their hearts that the same Spirit leading men into this opinion doth thereby seal them to be God's Children and that as the state of the times now standeth the most special taken to know them that are Gods own from others is an earnest affection that way This hath bred high terms of Separation between such and the rest of the World whereby the one sort are named The Brethren the Godly and so forth the other Worldlings Time-servers Pleasers of Men not of God with such like From hence they are easily drawn on to think it exceeding necessary for fear of quenching that good Spirit to use all means whereby the same may be both strengthened in themselves and made manifest unto others This maketh them diligent bearers of such as are known that way to incline this maketh them eager to take and seek all occasions of secret Conference with such this maketh them glad to use such as Counsellors and Directors in all their dealings which are of weight as Contracts Testaments and the like this maketh them through an unweariable desire of receiving instruction from the Masters of that Company to cast off the care of those very affairs which do most concern their estate and to think that then they are like unto Mary commendable for making choice of the better part Finally This is it which maketh them willing to charge yea oftentimes even to over-charge themselves for such men's sustenance and relief lest their zeal to the Cause should any way be unwitnessed For what is it which poor beguiled souls will not do through so powerful incitements In which respect it is also noted that most labour hath been bestowed to win and retain towards this Cause them whose judgements are commonly weakest by reason of their sex And although not Women loaden with sins 1 Tim. 3. 6. as the Apostle St. Paul speaketh but as we verily esteem of them for the most part Women propense and inclinable to holiness be otherwise edified in good things rather than carried away as captives into any kind of sin and evil by such as enter into their houses with purpose to plant there a zeal and a love towards this kind of Discipline yet some occasion is hereby ministered for Men to think that if the Cause which is thus furthered did gain by the soundness of proof whereupon it doth build itself it would not most busily endeavour to prevail where least ability of judgement is And therefore that this so eminent industry in making Proselytes more of that sex then of the other groweth for that they are deemed apt to serve as instruments and helps in the Cause Apt they are through the eagerness of their affection that maketh them which way soever they take diligent in drawing their Husbands Children Servants Friends and Allies the same way Apt through that natural inclination unto pity which breedeth in them a greater readiness then in men to be bountiful towards their Preachers who suffer want Apt through sundry opportunities which they especially have to procure encouragements for their Brethren Finally Apt through a singular delight which they take in giving very large and particular intelligence how all near about them stand affected as concerning the same Cause But be they Women or be they Men if once they have tasted of that Cup let any man of contrary opinion open his mouth to persuade them they close up their ears his Reasons they weigh not all is answered with rehearsal of the words of John 1 Joh. 4. 6. We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us As for the rest Ye are of the World for this World's pomp and vanity it is that ye speak and the World whose ye are heareth you Which cloak sitteth no less fit o● the lack of their Cause then of the Anabaptists when the Dignity Authority and Honour of God's Magistrates is upheld against them Show these eagerly-affected men their inability to judge of such matters their answer is God hath chosen the simple 1 Cor. 1. 17. Convince them of Folly and that so plainly that very children upbraid them with it they have their bucklers of like defence Christ's own Apostle was accounted mad Acts 26. 24. ●ap 5. 4. We Yools thought his life madness Marc. Tris. ad Asc●lap Vide Lactaut de Justi● lib. 5. cap. 16. August Epist. 50. The best men evermore by the sentence of the World have been judged to be out of their right minds When instruction doth them no good let them feel but the least degree of most mercifully tempered Severity they fasten on the head of the Lords Vicegerents here on Earth whatsoever they any where find uttered against the cruelty of Bloodthirsty men and to themselves they draw all the Sentences which Scripture hath in the favour of Innocency persecuted for the Truth yea they are of their due and deserved sufferings no less proud than those ancient disturbers to whom St. Augustine writeth saying Martyrs rightly so named are they not which suffer for their disorder and for the ungodly breach they have made of Christian Unity but which for Righteousness sake are persecuted For Agar also suffered persecution at the hands of Sara wherein she which did impose was holy and she unrighteous which did bear the burden In like sort with the Thiefs was the Lord himself crucified but they who were matched in the pain which they suffered were in the cause of their sufferings disjoined If that must needs be the true Church which doth endure persecution and not that which persecuteth let them ask of the Apostle what Church Sara did represent when she held her Maid in affliction For even our Mother which is free the Heavenly jerusalem that is to say The true Church of God was as he doth affirm prefigured in that very Woman by whom the Bondmaid was so sharply handled Although if all things be throughly scanned she did in truth more persecute Sara by proud resistance than Sara her by severity of punishment These are the paths wherein ye have walked that are of the ordinary sort of men these are the very steps ye have trodden and the manifest degrees whereby ye are of your Guides and Directors trained up in that School A custom of inuring your ears with reproof of faults especially in your Governors and use to attribute those faults to the kind of Spiritual Regiment under which ye live boldness in warranting the force of their Discipline for the cure of all such evils a slight of framing your conceits to imagine that Scripture every where favoreth that Discipline persuasion that the cause why ye find it in Scripture is the illumination of the Spirit that the same Spirit is a Seal unto you of your nearness unto God that ye are by all means to nourish and witness it in yourselves and to strengthen on every side your minds against whatsoever might be of force to withdraw you from it What hath caused so many of the Learneder so●t to approve the same Discipline 4. Wherefore to come unto you whose judgement is a Lantern of Direction for all the rest you that frame thus the people's hearts not altogether as I willingly persuade myself of a politic intent or purpose but yourselves being first over-borne with the weight of greater men's judgements on your shoulders is laid the burden of upholding the cause by Argument For which purpose Sentences out of the Word of God ye allege divers but so that when the same are aiscust thus it always in a manner falleth out That what things by virtue thereof ye urge upon us as altogether necessary are found to be thence collected only by poor and marvellous slight conjectures I need not give instance in any one sentence so alleged for that I think the instance in any alleged otherwise a thing not easy to be given A very strange thing sure it were that such a Discipline as ye speak of should be taught by Christ and his Apostles in the Word of God and no Church ever have found it out nor received it till this present time chose the Government against which ye bend yourselves be observed every where throughout all generations and ages of the Christian World no Church ever perceiving the Word of God to be against it We require you to find out but one Church upon the face of the whole Earth that hath been ordered by your Discipline or hath not been ordered by ours that is to say By Episcopal Regiment sithence the time that the Blessed Apostles were here conversant Many things out of Antiquity ye bring as if the purest times of the Church had observed the selfsame Orders which you require and as though your desire were that the Churches of old should be patterns for us to follow and even Glasses wherein we might see the practice of that which by you is gathered out of Scripture But the truth is ye mean nothing less All this is done for fashion sake only for ye complain of in as of an injury T. C. lib. 1. p. 97. that men should be willed to seek for examples and patterns of Government in any of those times that have been before Ye plainly hold that from the very Apostles times till this present age wherein yourselves imagine ye have sound out aright pattern of sound Discipline there never was any time safe to be followed which thing ye thus endeavour to prove Euseb. 3. l 32. Out of Egesippus ye say that Eusebius writeth How although as long as the Apostles lived the Church did remain a pure Virgin yet after the death of the Apostles and after they were once gone whom God vouchsafed to make Hearers of the Divine Wisdom with their own ears Lib. Stram Somewhat after the beginning Lib. 7. cap. 11. the placing of wicked Errors began to come into the Church Clement also in a certain place to confirm That there was corruption of Doctrine immediately after the Apostles times allegeth the Proverb That there are few Sons like their Fathers Socrates saith of the Church of Rome and Alexandria the most famous Churches in the Apostles times that about the year 430. the Roman and Alexandrian Bishops leaving the Sacred Function were degenerate to a Secular Rule or Dominion Hereupon ye conclude that it is not safe to fetch our Government from any other than the Apostles times Wherein by the way it may be noted that in proposing the Apostles times as a pattern for the Church to follow though the desire of you all be one the drift and purpose of you all is not one The chiefest thing which Lay-Reformers yawn for is that the Clergy may through Conformity in State and Condition be Apostolical poor as the Apostles of Christ were poor In which one circumstance if they imagine so great perfection they must think that Church which hath such store of Mendicant Friars a Church in that respect most happy Were it for the glory of God and the good of his Church indeed that the Clergy should be left even as bare as the Apostles when they had neither staff nor scrip that God which should lay upon them the condition of his Apostles would I hope endue them with the selfsame affection which was in that holy Apostle whose words concerning his own right-vertuous contentment of heart Phil. 4. 12. As well how to want as how to abound are a most fit Episcopal emprese The Church of Christ is a Body Mystical A Body cannot stand unless the parts thereof be proportionable Let it therefore be required on both parts at the hands of the Clergy to be in meanness of state like the Apostles at the hands of the Laity to be as they were who lived under the Apostles And in this Reformation there will be though little Wisdom yet some Indifferency But your Reformation which are of the Clergy if yet it displease you not that I should say ye are of the Clergy seemeth to aim at a broader mark Te think that he which will perfectly reform must bring the Form of Church-Discipline unto the State which then it was at A thing neither possible nor certain nor absolutely convenient Concerning the first what was used in the Apostles times the Scripture fully declareth not so that making their times the Rule and Canon of Church Polity ye make a Rule which being not possible to be fully known is as impossible to be kept Again Sith the later even of the Apostles own times had that which in the former was not thought upon in this general proposing of the Apostles times there is no certainty which should be followed especially seeing that ye give us great cause to doubt how far ye allow those times For albeit the lover of Antichristian building were not ye say as then set up yet the Foundations thereof were secretly and under the ground laid in the Apostles times So that all other times ye plainly reject and the Apostles own times ye approve with marvellous great suspicion leaving it intricate and doubtful wherein we are to keep ourselves unto the pattern of their times Thirdly Whereas it is the error of the common multitude to consider only what hath been of old and if the same were well to see whether still it continue if not to condemn that presently which is and never to search upon what ground or consideration the Change might grow Such rudeness cannot be in you so well born with whom Learning and judgement hath enabled much more sound to discern how far the times of the Church and the Orders thereof may alter without offence True it is the ancienter a Antiquitas ceremoniis arque fanis tantum sanctitatis tribuere consue vir quan●um adstruxerit verustatis A●● p. 746. the better Ceremonies of Religion are Howbeit not absolutely true and without exception but true only so far forth as those different ages do agree in the state of those things for which at the first those Rites Orders and Ceremonies were instituted In the Apostles times that was harmless which being now revived would be scandalous as their Oscula Sancta b Rom. 16. 16. 2 Cor. 13. 12. 1 Thes. 9 25. 1 Pet. 5. 14. In their meetings to serve God their manner was in the end to salute one another with a kiss using these words Peace be with you For which cause Tertullian doth call it Signaculum Orationis The Seal of Prayer lib. de Orat Those Feasts of Charity which being instituted by the Apostles were retained in the Church long after are not now thought any where needful What man is there of understanding unto whom it is not manifest how the way of providing for the Clergy by Tithes the device of Almshouses for the Poor the sorting out of the people into their several Pariso●ss together with sunury other things which the Apostles times could not have being now established are much more convenient and fit for the Church of Christ then if the same should be taken away for Conformities sake with the ancientest and first times The Orders therefore which were observed in the Apostles times are not to be urged as a Rule universally either sufficient or necessary If they be nevertheless on your part it still remaineth to be better proved That the Form of Discipline which ye entitle Apostolical was in the Apostles time exercised For of this very thing ye fail even touching that which ye make most account of as being Matter of Substance in Discipline I mean the Power of your Lay-Elders and the difference of your Doctors from the Pastors in all Churches So that in faith we may be bold to conclude That besides these last times which for insolency pride and egregious contempt of all good order are the worst there are none wherein ye can truly affirm that the complete Form of your Discipline or the Substance thereof was practised c Epist. Jud. vers 12. Concerning which Feasts Saint Chrysostom saith Statis diebus men●a● facieba●t communes & peracta synaxi post Sacromentorum Communionem inibant convivium divitibus quidem cibos afferentibus pauperibus aurera & qui nihil habebant enam vocatis in 1 Cor. 11. Rom. 27. Of the same Feasts is like sort Tertullian C●● in no● re de num●ne rationem sui 〈…〉 Vocatur enim id quod est pene● Gracol dilectio Q●an●isconque sumptibus constet lucru●● est ple●ath nomli● better 〈…〉 April cap. 35. The evidence therefore of Antiquity failing you ye fly to the judgements of such Learned men as seem by their Writings to be of opinion that all Christian Churches should receive your Discipline and abandon ours Wherein as ye heap up the names of a number of men not unworthy to be had in honour so there are a number whom when ye mention although it serve ye to purpose with the ignorant and vulgar sort who measure by tale and not by weight yet surely they who know what quality and value the men are of will think ye draw very near the dregs But were they all of as great account as the best and chiefest amongst them with us notwithstanding neither are they neither ought they to be of such reckoning that their opinion or conjecture should cause the Laws of the Church of England to give place much less when they neither do all agree in that opinion and of them which are at agreement the most part through a courteous enducement have followed one man as their Guide finally that one therein not unlikely to have swerved If any chance to say it is probable that in the Apostles times there were Lay-Elders or not to mislike the continuance of them in the Church or to affirm that Bishops at the first were a name but not a power distinct from Presbyters or to speak any thing in praise of those Churches which are without Episcopal Regiment or to reprove the fault of such as abuse that Calling All these ye Register for Men persuaded as you are that every Christian Church standeth bound by the Law of God to put down Bishops and in their rooms to erect an Eldership so authorized as you would have it for the Government of each Parish Deceived greatly they are therefore who think that all they whose names are cited amongst the Favourers of this Cause are on any such verdict agreed Yet touching some material points of your Discipline a kind of agreement we grant there is amongst many Divines of Reformed Churches abroad For first To do as the Church of Geneva did the Learned in some other Churches must needs be the more willing who having used in like manner not the slow and tedious help of proceeding by public Authority but the people's more quick endeavour for alteration in such an exigent I see not well how they could have stayed to deliberate about any other Regiment then that which already was devised to their hands that which in like case had been taken that which was easiest to be established without delay that which was likeliest to content the people by reason of some kind of sway which it giveth them When therefore the example of one Church was thus at the first almost through a kind of constraint or necessity followed by many their concurrence in persuasion about some material points belonging to the same polity is not strange For we are not to marvel greatly if they which have all done the same thing do easily embrace the same opinion as concerning their own doings Besides mark I beseech you that which Galen in matter of Philosophy noteth Galen Clas 2. lib. De cujusque anim peccat notitia arque medela for the like falleth out even in Questions of higher knowledge It fareth many times with men's opinions as with rumours and reports That which a credible person telleth is easily thought probable by such as are well persuaded of him But if two or three or four agree all in the same tale they judge it then to be out of Controversy and so are many times overtaken for want of due consideration either some common cause leading them all into error or one man's oversight deceiving many through their too much credulity and easiness of belief Though ten persons be brought to give testimony in any cause yet if the knowledge they have of the thing whereunto they come as witnesses appear to have grown from some one amongst them and to have spread itself from hand to hand they all are in force but as one testimony nor is it otherwise here where the Daughter Churches do speak their Mother's Dialect here where so many sing one Song by reason that he is the Guide of the Choir concerning whose deserved authority amongst even the gravest Divines Petition to the Q. Marry pag. 14. we have already spoken at large Will ye ask what should move those many Learned to be followers of one Man's judgement no necessity of Argument forcing them thereunto Your demand is answered by yourselves Loath ye are to think that they whom ye judge to have attained as sound knowledge in all points of Doctrine as any since the Apostles time should mistake in Discipline Such is naturally our affection that whom in great things we mightily admire in them we are not persuaded willingly that any thing should be amiss The reason whereof is Eccles. 10. 1. for that as dead Flies putrify the ointment of the Apothecary so a little Folly him that is in estimation for wisdom This in every profession hath too much authorized the judgement of a few This with Germans hath caused Luther and with many other Churches Calvin to prevail in all things Yet are we not able to define whether the Wisdom of that God who setteth before us in holy Scripture so many admirable patterns of Virtue and no one of them without somewhat noted wherein they were culpable to the end that to him alone it might always be acknowledged Thou only art holy thou only art just might not permit those worthy Vessels of his Glory to be in some things blemished with the stain of humane frailty even for this cause lest we should esteem of any man above that which behoveth Their calling for Trial by Disputation 5. Notwithstanding as though ye were able to say a great deal more than hitherto your Books have revealed to the World earnest Challengers ye are of trial by some public Disputation wherein if the thing ye crave be no more then only leave to dispute openly about those Matters that are inquestion the Schools in Universities for any thing I know are open unto you They have their yearly Acts and Commencements besides other Disputations both ordinary and upon occasion wherein the several parts of our own Ecclesiastical Discipline are oftentimes offered unto that kind of Examination the learnedest of you have been of late years noted seldom or never absent from thence at the time of those great Assemblies and the favour of proposing there in convenient sort whatsoever ye can object which thing myself have known them to grant of Scholastical courtesy unto Strangers neither hath as I think nor ever will I presume be denied you If your Suit be to have some great extraordinary confluence in expectation whereof the Laws that already are should sleep and have no power over you till in the hearing of thousands ye all did acknowledge your error and renounce the further prosecution of your cause Haply they whose authority is required unto the satisfying of your demand do think it both dangerous to admit such concourse of divided minds and unmeet that Laws which being once solemnly established are to exact obedience of all men and to constrain thereunto should so far stoop as to hold themselves in suspense from taking any effect upon you till some disputer can persuade you to be obedient A Law is the Deed of the whole Body Politic whereof if ye judge yourselves to be any part then is the Law even your Deed also And were it reason in things of this quality to give men audience pleading for the overthrow of that which their own very deed hath ratified Laws that have been approved may be no man doubteth again repealed and to that end also disputed against by the Authors thereof themselves But this is when the whole doth deliberate what Laws each part shall observe and not when a part refuseth the Laws which the whole hath orderly agreed upon Notwithstanding for as much as the cause we maintain is God be thanked such as needeth not to shun any trial might it please them on whose approbation the matter dependeth to condescend so far unto you in this behalf I wish heartily that proof were made even by solemn conference in orderly and quiet sort whether you would yourselves be satisfied or else could by satisfying others draw them to your party Provided always first In as much as ye go about to destroy a thing which is in force and to draw in that which hath not as yet been received to impose on us that which we think not ourselves bound unto and to overthrow those things whereof we are possessed that therefore ye are not to claim in any conference other than the Plaintiffs or Opponents part which must consist altogether in proof and confirmation of two things The one that our Orders by you condemned we ought to abolish the other that yours we are bound to accept in the stead thereof Secondly Because the Questions in Controversy between us are many if once we descend into particulars That for the easier and more orderly proceeding therein the most general be first discussed nor any Question left off nor in each Question the prosecution of any one Argument given over and another taken in hand till the issue whereunto by Replies and Answers both parts are come be collected read and acknowledged as well on the one side as on the other to be the plain conclusion which they are grown unto Thirdly For avoiding of the manifold inconveniences whereunto ordinary and extemporal Disputes are subject as also because if ye should singly dispute one by one as every man's own wit did best serve it might be conceived by the rest that haply some other would have done more the chiefest of you do all agree in this action that when ye shall then choose your speaker by him that which is publicly brought into Disputation be acknowledged by all your consents not to be his allegation but yours such as ye all are agreed upon and have required him to deliver in all your names The true Copy whereof being taken by a Notary that a reasonable time be allowed for return of Answer unto you in the like form Fourthly Whereas a number of Conferences have been had in other causes with the less effectual success by reason of partial and untrue reports published afterwards unto the World That to prevent this evil there be at the first a Solemn Declaration made on both parts of their Agreement to have that very Book and no other set abroad wherein their present authorized Notaries do write those things fully and only which being written and there read are by their own open testimony acknowledged to be their own Other circumstances hereunto belonging whether for the choice of time place and language or for prevention of impertinent and needless speech or to any end and purpose else they may be thought on when occasion serveth In this sort to broach my private conceit for the ordering of a public action I should be loath albeit I do it not otherwise then under correction of them whose gravity and wisdom ought in such cases to overrule but that so venturous boldness I see is a thing now general and am thereby of good hope that where all men are licenced to offend no man will show himself a sharp Accuser 6. What success God may give unto any such kind of Conference or Disputation No end of Contention without submission of both parts unto some Definitive Sentence we cannot tell But of this we are right sure that Nature Scripture and Experience itself have all taught the World to seek for the ending of Contentions by submitting itself into some judicial and definitive Sentence whereunto neither part that contendeth may under any pretence or colour refuse to stand This must needs be effectual and strong as for other means without this they seldom prevail I would therefore know whether for the ending of these irksome strifes wherein you and your Followers do stand thus formally divided against the authorized Guides of this Church and the rest of the people subject unto their Charge whether I say ye be content to refer your Cause to any other higher judgement than your own or else intent to persist and proceed as ye have begun till yourselves can be persuaded to condemn yourselves If your Determination be this we can be but sorry that ye should deserve to be reckoned with such Rom. 3. 17. of whom God himself pronounceth The way of Peace they have not known Ways of peaceable Conclusion there are but these two certain the one a sentence of judicial Decision given by authority thereto appointed within ourselves the other the like kind of sentence given by a more Universal authority The former of which two ways God himself in the Law prescribeth and his Spirit it was which directed the very first Christian Churches in the World to use the Latter The Ordinance of God in the Law was this Deut. 17. 8. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgement between blood and blood between plea etc. then shalt thou arise and go up unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose and thou shalt come unto the Priests of the Levites and unto the Judge that shall be in those days and ask and they shall show thee the sentence of Judgement and thou shalt do according to that thing which they of that place which the Lord hath chosen show thee and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee According to the Law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgement which they shall tell thee shalt thou do thou shalt not decline from the thing which they shall show thee to the right hand nor to the left And that man that will do presumptuously not harkening unto the Priest that standeth before the Lord thy God to manister there or unto the Judge that man shall die and thou shalt take away evil from Israel Acts 19 When there grew in the Church of Christ a question Whether the Genti'es believing might be saved although they were not circumcised after the manner of Moses nor did observe the rest of those Legal Rites and Ceremonies whereunto the Jews were bound After great Dissension and Disputation about it their conclusion in the end was to have it determined by sentence at Jerusalem which was accordingly done in a Council there assembled for the same purpose Are ye able to allege any just and sufficient cause wherefore absolutely ye should not condescend in this Controversy to have your judgement's overruled by some such Definitive Sentence Whether it fall out to be given with or against you that so these redious contentions may cease Te will perhaps make answer That being persuaded already as touching the truth of your Cause ye are not to hearken unto any sentence no not though Angels should define otherwise as the blessed Apostles own example teacheth Again That Men yea Councils may err and that unless the judgement given do satisfy your minds unless it be such as ye can by no further argument oppugn in a word unless you perceive and acknowledge it yourselves consonant with God's Word to stand unto it not allowing it were to sin against your own consciences But consider I beseech you first As touching the Apostle how that wherein be was so resolute and peremptory our Lord jesus Christ made manifest unto him even by Intuitive Revelation wherein there was no possibility of error That which you are persuaded of ye have it no otherwise then by your own only probable collection and therefore such bold asseverations as in him were admirable should in your months but argue rashness God was not ignorant that the Priests and judges whose sentence in Matters of Controversy he ordained should stand both might and oftentimes would be deceived in their judgement Howbeit better it was in the eye of his understanding that sometime an erroneous sentence Definitive should prevail till the same authority perceiving such oversight might afterwards correct or reverse it than that strifes should have respite to grow and not come speedily unto some end Neither wish we that men should do any thing which in their hearts they are persuaded they ought not to do but this persuasion ought we say to be fully settled in their hearts that in litigious and controversed causes of such quality the Will of God is to have them to do whatsoever the sentence of judicial and final Decision shall determine yea though it seem in their private opinion to swarve utterly from that which is right as no doubt many times the sentence amongst the jews did seem unto one part or other contending And yet in this case God did then allow them to do that which in their private judgement it seemed yea and perhaps truly seemed that the Law did disallow For if God be not the Author of confusion but of peace then can he not be the Author of our refusal but of our contentment to stand unto some Definitive Sentence without which almost impossible it is that either we should avoid confusion or ever hope to attain peace To small purpose had the Council of Jerusalem been assembled if one their determination being set down men might afterwards have defended their former opinions When therefore they had given their Definitive Sentence all Controverso● was at an end Things were disputed before they came to be determined Men afterwards were not to dispute any longer but to obey The Sentence of judgement finished their strife which their disputes before judgement could not do This was ground sufficient for any reasonable Man's conscience to build the duty of Obedience upon whatsoever his own opinion were as touching the matter before in question So full of wilfulness and self-liking is our nature that without some Definitive Sentence which being given may stand and a necessity of silence on both sides afterward imposed small hope there is that strifes thus for prosecuted will in short time quietly end Now it were in vain to ask you Whether ye could be content that the Sentence of any Court already erected should be so far authorized as that among the jews established by God himself for the determining of all Controversies That man which will do presumptuously not harkening unto the Priest that standeth before the Lord to minister there nor unto the Judge let him die Ye have given us already to understand what your opinion is in part concerning Her sacred Majesty's Court of High Commission the nature whereof is the same with that amongst the jews albeit the power be not so great Pref. Tract de Excom Presbyt The other way happily may like you better because Master Beza in his last Book save one written about these Matters professeth himself to be now weary of such Combats and Encounters whether by word or writing in as much as he findeth that Controversies thereby are made but Brawls And therefore wisheth that in some common lawful Assembly of Churches all these strifes may at once be decided Shall there be then in the mean while no doings Matth. 23.23 Yes There are the weightier Matters of the Law Judgement and Mercy and Fidelity These things we ought to do and these things while we contend about less we leave undone Happier are they whom the Lord when he cometh shall find doing in these things then disputing about Doctors Elders and Deacons Or if there be no remedy but somewhat needs ye must do which may tend to the setting forward of your Discipline do that which wisemen who think some Statute of the Realm more fit to be repealed then to stand in force are accustomed to do before they come to Parliament where the place of enacting is that is to say spend the time in re-examining more duly your cause and in more throughly considering of that which ye labour to overthrow As for the Orders which are established sith Equity and Reason the Law of Nature God and Man do all favour that which is in Being till orderly judgement of Decision be given against it it is but justice to exact of you and perverseness in you it should be to deny thereunto your willing obedience Not that I judge it a thing allowable for men to observe those Laws which its their hearts they are stredfastly persuaded to be against the Law of God But your persuasion in this case ye are all bound for the time to suspend and in otherwise doing ye offend against God by troubling his Church without any just or necessary cause Be it that there are some reasons inducing you to think hardly of our Laws Are those reasons demonstrative are they necessary or but mere probabilities only An Argument necessary and demonstrative is such as being proposed unto any man and understood she mind cannot chase but invardly assent Any one such reason dischargeth I grant the Gonscience and setteth it at full liberty For the public approbation given by the Body of this whole Church unto those things which are established doth make it but probable that they are good And therefore unto a necessary proof that they are not good it must give place But if the skilfullest amongst you can show that all the Books ye have hitherto written be able to afford any one argument of this nature let the instance be given As for probabilities What thing was there ever set down so agreeable with sound reason but some probable show against it might be made It is meet that when publicly things are received and have taken place General Obedience thereunto should cease to be exacted in case this or that private person led with some probable conceit should make open Protostation T. C lib. 3. p. 191. Peter or John disallow them and pronounce them naught In which case your answer will be That concerning the Laws of our Church they are not only condemned in the opinion of a private man but of thousands year and even of those amongst which divers are in public charge and authority At though when public consent of the whole hath established any thing every man's judgement being thereunto compared were not private howsoever his calling be to some kind of public charge So that of Peace and Quietness there is not any way possible unless the probable voice of every entire Society or Body Politic overrule all private of like nature in the same Body Which thing effectually proveth That God being Author of Peace and not of Confusion in the Church must needs be Author of those men's peaceable resolutions who concerning these things have determined with themselves to think and do as the Church they are of decreeth till they see necessary cause enforcing them to the contrary The Matter contrained in these Eight Books 7. Nor is mine own intent any other in these several Books of discourse then to make it appear unto you that for the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Land we are led by great reason to observe them and ye by no necessity bound to impugn them It is no part of my secret meaning to draw you hereby into hatred or to set upon the face of this cause any fairer gloss than the naked truth doth afford but my whole endeavour is to resolve the Conscience and to show as near as I can what in this Controversy the Heart is to think if it will follow the light of sound and sincere judgement without either cloud of prejudice or missed of passionate affection Wherefore seeing that Laws and Ordinances in particular whether such as we observe or such as yourselves would have established when the mind doth sift and examine them it must needs have often recourse to a number of doubts and questions about the nature kinds and qualities of Laws in general whereof unless it be throughly informed there will appear no certainty to stay our persuasion upon I have for that cause set down in the first place an Introduction on both sides needful to be considered declaring therein what Law is how different kinds of Laws there are and what force they are of according unto each kind This done because ye suppose the Laws for which ye strive are found in Scripture but those not against which we strive And upon this surmise are drawn to hold it as the very main Pillar of your whole cause That Scripture ought to be the only rule of all our actions and consequently that the Church Orders which we observe being not commanded in Scripture are offensive and displeasant unto God I have spent the second Book in sifting of this point which standeth with you for the first and chiefest principle whereon ye build Whereunto the next in degree is That as God will have always a Church upon Earth while the World doth continue and that Church stand in need of Government of which Government it behoveth himself to be both the Author and Teacher So it cannot stand with duty That man should ever presume in any wise to change and alter the same and therefore That in Scripture there must of necessity be found some particular Form of Ecclesiastical Polity the Laws whereof admit not any kind of alteration The first three Books being thus ended the fourth proceedeth from the general Grounds and Foundations of your cause unto your general Accusations against us as having in the orders of our Church for so you pretend Corrupted the right Form of Church Polity with manifold Popish Rites and Ceremonies which certain Reformed Churches have banished from amongst them and have thereby given us such example as you think we ought to follow This your Assertion hath herein drawn us to make search whether these be just Exceptions against the Customs of our Church when ye plead that they are the same which the Church of Rome hath or that they are not the same which some other Reformed Churches have devised Of those four Books which remain and are bestowed about the Specialties of that Cause which little in Controversy the first examineth the causes by you alleged wherefore the public duties of Christian Religion as our Prayers our Sacraments and the rest should not be ordered in such sort as with us they are nor that power whereby the persons of men are consecrated unto the Ministry be disposed of in such manner as the Laws of this Church do allow The second and third are concerning the power of jurisdiction the one Whether Laymen such as your Governing Elders are aught in all Congregations for ever to be invested with that power The other Whether Bishops may have that power over other Pastors and therewithal that honour which with us they have And because besides the Power of Order which all consecrated persons have and the Power of jurisdiction which neither they all nor they only have There is a third power a Power of Ecclesiastical Dominion communicable as we think unto persons not Ecclesiastical and most fit to be restrained unto the Prince our Sovereign Commander over the whole Body Politic The eighth Book we have allotted unto this Question and have sifted therein your Objections against those preeminences Royal which thereunto appertain Thus have I laid before you the Brief of these my Travels and presented under your view the Limbs of that Cause litigious between us the whole entire Body whereof being thus compact it shall be no troublesome thing for any man to find each particular Controversies resting place and the coherance it hath with those things either on which it dependeth or which depend on it 8. The case so standing therefore How just cause there is to fear the manifold dangerous events likely is ensue upon this intended Reformation if it did take place my Brethren as it doth the wisdom of Governors ye must not blame in that they further also forecasting the manifold strange and dangerous innovations which are more than likely to follow if your Discipline should take place have for that cause thought it hitherto a part of their duty to withstand your endeavours that way The rather for that they have seen already some small beginnings of the fruits thereof in them who concurring with you in judgement about the necessity of that Discipline have adventured without more ado to separate themselves from the rest of the Church and to put your speculations in execution These men's hastiness the warier sort of you doth not commend ye wish they had held themselves longer in and not so dangerously flown abroad before the feathers of the Cause had been grown their Error with merciful terms ye reprove naming them in great commiseration of minds 1 Pet. 2. 2. your poor Brethren They on the contrary side more bitterly accuse you as their false Brethren and against you they plead saying From your Breasts it is that we have sucked those things which when ye delivered unto us ye termed that heavenly Psal. 55. 13 sincere and wholesome Milk of God's Word howsoever ye now abhor as poison that which the virtue thereof hath wrought and brought forth in us Ye sometime our Companions Guides and Familiars with whom we have had most sweet Consultations are now become our professed Adversaries because we think the Statute-Congregation in England to be no true Christian Churches because we have severed ourselves from them and because without their leave or licence that are in Civil Authority we have secretly framed our own Churches according to the Platform of the Word of God For of that point between you and us there is no Controversy Also what would ye have us to do At such time as ye were content to accept us in the number of your own your Teaching we heard weread your Writings And though we would yet able we are not to forget with what zeal ye have ever professed That in the English Congregations for so many of them as be ordered according unto their own Laws the very Public Service of God is fraught as touching Matter with heaps of intolerable Pollutions and as concerning Form borrowed from the Shop of Antichrist hateful both ways in the eyes of the most Holy the kind of their Government by Bishops and Archbishops Pref. against Dr. Banner Antichristian that Discipline which Christ hath essentially tied that is to say so united unto his Church that we cannot account it really to be his Church which hath not in it the same Discipline that very Discipline no less there despised then in the highest Throne of Antichrist All such parts of the Word of God as do any way concern that Discipline no less unsoundly taught and interpreted by all authorised English Pastors then by Antichrists Factor themselves At Baptism Crossing at the Supper of the lord Kneeling at both a number of other the most notorious Badges of Antichristian Recognisance usual Being moved with these and the like your effectual discourses whereunto we gave most attentive ear till they entered even into our souls and were as fire within our bosoms We thought we might hereof be bold to conclude That sith no such Antichristian Synagogue may be accounted a true Church of Christ ye by accusing all Congregations ordered according to the Laws of England as Antichristian did mean to condemn those Congregations as not being any of them worthy the name of a true Christian Church Ye tell us now it is not your meaning But what meant your often threatenings of them who professing themselves the inhabitants of Mount Zion were too loath to depart wholly as they should out of Babylon Whereat our hearts being fearfully troubled we durst not we durst not continue longer so near her confines lest her plagues might suddenly overtake us before we did cease to be partakers with her sins for so we could not choose but acknowledge with grief that we were when they doing evil we by our presence in their Assemblies seemed to like thereof or at leastwise not so earnestly to dislike as became men heartily zealous of God's glory For adventuring to erect the Discipline of Christ without the leave of the Christian Magistrate haply ye may condemn us as fools in that we hazard thereby our estates and persons further than you which are that way more wise think necessary But of any offence or sin therein committed against God with what conscience can you accuse us when your own positions are That the things we observe should every of them be dearer unto us than ten thousand lives that they are the peremptory Commandments of God that no mortal man can dispense with them and that the Magistrate grievously sinneth in not constraining thereunto Will ye blame any man for doing that of his own accord which all men should be compelled to do that are not willing of themselves When God commandeth shall we answer that we will obey if so be Cesar will grant us leave Is Discipline an Ecclesiastical Matter or a Civil If an Ecclesiastical is must of necessity belong to the duty of the Minister and the Minister ye say holdeth all his Authority of doing whatsoever belongeth unto the Spiritual Charge of the House of God even immediately from God himself without dependency upon any Magistrate Whereupon it followeth as we suppose that the hearts of the people being willing to be under the Sceptre of Christ the Minister of God into whose hands the Lord himself hath put that Sceptre is without all excuse if thereby he guide them not Nor do we find that hitherto greatly ye have disliked those Churches abroad where the people with direction of their godly Ministers have even against the will of the Magistrate brought in either the Doctrine or Discipline of jesus Christ For which cause we must now think the very same thing of you which our Saviour did sometime utter concerning false-hearted Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 23. 3. They say and do not Thus the foolish Barrowist deriveth his Schism by way of Conclusion as to him it seemeth directly and plainly out of your principles Him therefore we leave to be satisfied by you from whom he hath sprung And if such by your own acknowledgement be persons dangerous although as yet the alterations which they have made are of small and tender growth the changes likely to ensue throughout all States and Vocations within this Land in case your desire should take place must be thought upon First Concerning the Supreme Power of the Highest they are no small Prerogatives which now thereunto belonging the Form of your Discipline will constrain it to resign as in the last Book of this Treatise we have showed at large Again it may justly be feared whether our English Nobility when the Matter came in trial would contentedly suffer themselves to be always at the Call and to stand to the sentence of a number of mean persons assisted with the presence of their poor Teacher a man as sometimes it happeneth though better able to speak yet little or no whit apt to judge than the rest From whom be their dealings never so absurd unless it be by way of Complaint to a Synod no Appeal may be made unto any one of higher Power is as much as the Order of your Discipline admitteth no standing in Equality of Courts no Spiritual judge to have any ordinary Superior on Earth but as many Supremacies as there are Parishes and several Congregations Neither is it altogether without cause that so many do fear the overthrow of all Learning as a threatened sequel of this your Intended Discipline Sap. 6. 24. For if the World's Preservation depend upon the multitude of the wise and of that sort the number hereafter be not likely to wax overgreat when that therewith the son of sirach professeth himself at the heart grieved men of understanding are already so little set by Eccles. 26. 29. How should their minds whom the love of so precious a jewel filleth with secret jealousy even in regard of the lest things which may any way hinder the flourishing estate thereof choose but misdoubt lest this Discipline which always you match with Divine Doctrine as her natural and true Sister be found unto all kinds of knowledge a Stepmother seeing that the greatest worldly hopes which are proposed unto the chiefest kind of Learning ye seek utterly to extirpate as Weeds and have grounded your Platform on such Propositions as do after a sort undermine those most renowned Habitations where through the goodness of Almighty God all commendable Arts and Sciences are with exceeding great industry hitherto and so may they for ever continue studied proceeded in and professed To charge you as purposely bend to the overthrow of that wherein so many of you have attained no small perfection were injurious Only therefore I wish that yourselves did well consider how opposite certain of your Positions are unto the state of Collegiate Societies whereon the two Universities consist Those Degrees which their Statutes bind them to take are by your Laws taken away yourselves who have sought them ye so excuse as that ye would have men to think ye judge them not allowable but tolerable only and to be borne with for some help which ye find in them unto the furtherance of your purposes till the corrupt estate of the Church may be better reform Your Laws forbidding Ecclesiastical Persons utterly the exercise of Civil Power must needs deprive the Heads and Masters in the same Colleges of all such Authority as now they exercise either at home by punishing the faults of those who not as children to their Parents by the Law of Nature but altogether by Civil Authority are subject unto them or abroad by keeping Courts amongst their Tenants Your Laws making permanent inequality amongst Ministers a thing repugnant to the Word of God enforce those Colleges the Seniors whereof are all or any part of them Ministers under the Government of a Master in the same Vocation to choose as oft as they meet together a new Precedent For if so ye judge it necessary to do in Synods for the avoiding of permanent inequality amongst Ministers the same cause must needs even in these Collegiate Assemblies enforce the like Except peradventure ye mean to avoid all such absurdities by dissolving those Corporations and by bringing the Universities unto the Form of the School of Geneva Which thing men the rather are inclined to look for in as much as the Ministry wherein to their Founders with singular Providence have by the same Statutes appointed them necessarily to enter at a certain time Hum. 〈…〉 to the 〈…〉 p. 5● your Laws bind them much more necessarily to forbear till some Parish abroad call for them Your opinion concerning the Law Civil is That the knowledge thereof might be spared as a thing which this Land doth not need Professors in that kind being few ye are the bolder to spurn at them and not to dissemble your minds as concerning their removal In whose Studies although myself have not much been conversant nevertheless exceeding great cause I see there is to wish that thereunto more encouragement were given as well for the singular Treasures of Wisdom therein contained as also for the great use we have thereof both in Decision of certain kinds of causes arising daily within ourselves and especially for Commerce with Nations abroad whereunto that knowledge is most requisite The Reasons wherewith ye would persuade that Scripture is the only rule to frame all our actions by are in every respect as effectual for proof that the same it the only Law whereby to determine all our Civil Controversies And than what doth let but that as those men may have their desire who frankly broach it already That the Work of Reformation will never be perfect till the Law of jesus Christ be received alone so Pleaders and Counsellors may bring their Books of the Common Law and bestow them as the Students of curious and needless Arts did theirs in the Apostles time Acts 19 19 I leave them to scan how for thosewords of yours may reach wherein ye declare That where as now many houses lie waste through inordinate Suits of Law Humb. Motion Page 74. This one thing will show the excellency of Discipline for the Wealth of the Realm and quiet of Subjects That the Church is to censure such a Party who is apparently troublesome and contentious and without REASONABLE CAUSE upon a mere Will and Stomach doth vex and molest his Brother and trouble the Country For mine own part I do not see but that it might very well agree with your Principles if your Discipline were fully planted even to send out your Writs of Surcease unto all Courts of England besides for the most things handled in them Counterp Pag. 108. A great deal further I might proceed and descend lower but for as much as against all these and the like difficulties your answer is That we ought to search what things are consonant to Gods Will not which be most for our own ease and therefore that your Discipline being for such is your Error the absolute Commandment of Almighty God it must be received although the World by receiving it should be clean turned upside down Herein lieth the greatest danger of all For whereas the name of Divine Authority is used to countenance these things which are not the Commandments of God but your own Erroneous Collections on him ye must father whatsoever ye shall afterwards be led either to do in withstanding the Adversaries of your Cause or to think in maintenance of your doings And what this may be God doth know In such kinds of Error the Mind once imagining itself to seek the execution of God's Will laboureth forthwith to remove both things and persons which any way hinder it from taking place and in such cases if any strange or new thing seem requisite to be done a strange and new opinion concerning the lawfulness thereof is withal received and broached under countenance of Divine Authority One example herein may serve for many to show That false opinions touching the Will of God to have things done are wont to bring forth mighty and violent practices against the hindrances of them And those practices new opinions more pernicious than the first yea most extremely sometimes opposite to that which the first did seem to intend Where the people took upon them the Reformation of the Church by casting out Popish Superstition they having received from their Pastors a General Instruction that whatsoever the Heavenly Father hath not planted Mat. 15. 13. must be rootod out proceeded in some foreign places so far that down went Oratories and the very Temples of God themselves For as they chanced to take the compass of their Commission stricter or larger so their dealings were accordingly more or less moderate Amongst others there sprang up presently one kind of men with whose zeal and forwardness the rest being compared were thought to be marvellous cold and dull These grounding themselves on Rules more general that whatsoever the Law of Christ commandeth not thereof Antichrist is the Author and that whatsoever Antichrist or his adherents did in the World the true Professors of Christ are to undo found out many things more than others had done the Extirpation whereof was in their conceit as necessary as of any thing before removed Hereupon they secretly made their doleful complaints every where as they went that albeit the World did begin to profess some dislike of that which was evil in the Kingdom of Darkness yet Fruits worthy of a true-Repentance were not seen and that if men did repent as they ought Guy de Bres c●ner lerreur des Anabapristes page 4. they must endeavour to purge the truth of all manner evil to the end there might follow a new World afterward wherein righteousness only should dwell Private Repentance they said ●●st appear by every man's fashioning his own life contrary unto the custom and orders of this present World both in greater things and in less To this purpose they had always in their mouths those greater things Charity Faith the true fear of God the Cross the Mortification of the flesh All their Exhortations were to set light of the things in this World to account riches and honour's vanity and in taken thereof not only to seek neither but if men were possessors of both even to cast away the one and resign the other that all men might see their unfeigned conversion unto Christ. Page 5. Page 16. Pag. 118 119. They were Solicitors of Men to Fasts to often Meditations of Heavenly things and as it were Conferences in secret with God by Prayers not framed according to the frozen manner of the World but expressing such fervent desires as might even force God to harken unto them Where they found men in Diet Attire Furniture of House or any other way observers of civility and decent order such they reproved as being carnally and earthly minded Every word otherwise then severely and sadly uttered Pag. 116 120. seemed to pierce like a Sword thereon them If any man were pleasant Page 124. their manner was presently with sighs to repeat those words of our Saviour Christ Luk. 6. 12. Woe be to you which now laugh for ye shall lament So great was their delight to be always in trouble that such as did quietly lead their lives they judged of all other men to be in most dangerous case Pag. 117. They so much affected to cross the ordinary custom in every thing that when other men's use was to put on better attire they would be sure to show themselves openly abroad in worses The ordinary names of the days in the week they thought it a kind of profaneness to use and therefore accustomed themselves to make no other distinction then by Numbers The first second third day From this they proceeded unto Public Reformation Page 40. first Ecclesiastical and then Civil Touching the former they boldly avouched that themselves only had the Truth which thing upon peril of their lives they would at all times defend and that since the Apostles lived the same was never before in all points sincerely taught Wherefore that things might again be brought to that ancient integrity which jesus Christ by his Word requireth they began to control the Ministers of the Gospel for attributing so much force and virtue unto the Scriptures of God read whereas the Truth was that when the Word is said to engender Faith in the Heart and to convert the Soul of Man or to work any such Spiritual Divine effect these speeches are not thereunto appliable as it is read or preached but as it is engrafted in us by the power of the Holy Ghost opening the eyes of our understanding and so revealing the Mysteries of God according to that which Jeremy promised before should be Jere. 31.34 saying I will put my Law in their inward parts and I will write it in their hearts The Book of God they notwithstanding for the most part so admired Page 25. that other disputation against their opinions then only by allegation of Scripture they would not hear Page 27. besides it they thought no other Writings in the World should be studied in so much as one of their great Prophets exhorting them to cast away all respects unto Humane Writings so far to his motion they condescended that as many as had any Books save the Holy Bible in their custody they brought and set them publicly on fire When they and their Bibles were alone together what strange fantastical opinion soever at any time entered into their heads their use was to think the Spirit taught it them Their frenzies concerning our Saviour's Incarnation the state of Souls departed and such like are things needless to be rehearsed And for as much as they were of the same Suit with those of whom the Apostle speaketh saying 2 Tim. 3. 7. They are still learning but never attain to the knowledge of truth it was no marvel to see them every day broach some new thing not heard of before Which restless levity they did interpret to be their growing to Spiritual Perfection and a proceeding from Faith to Faith Page 65. The differences amongst them grew by this mean in a manner infinite so that scarcely was there found any one of them the forge of whose Brain was not possessed with some special mystery Page 65. Whereupon although their mutual contentions were most fiercely prosecuted amongst themselves Page 135. yet when they came to defend the cause common to them all against the Adversaries of their Faction they had ways to lick one another whole the sounder in his own persuasion excusing THE DEAR BRETHREN Page 25. which were not so far enlightened and professing a charitable hope of the Mercy of God towards them notwithstanding their swerving from him in some things Page 71. Their own Ministers they highly magnified as men whose vocation was from God The rest their manner was to term disdainfully Scribes and Pharisees to account their Calling an Humane Creature Page 124. and to detain the people as much as might be from hearing them As touching Sacraments Baptism administered in the Church of Rome Page 764. they judged to be but an execrable Mockery and no Baptism both because the Ministers thereof in the Papacy are wicked Idolaters lewd Persons Thiefs and Murderer's cursed Creatures ignorant Beasts and also for that to baptise is a proper action belonging unto none but the Church of Christ whereas Rome is Antichrists Synagogue The custom of using Godfathers and Godmothers at Christen Page 748. they scorned Baptism of Infants although confessed by themselves Page 512. to have been continued even since the very Apostles own times yet they altogether condemned partly Page 518. because sundry errors are of no less antiquity and partly for that there is no Commandment in the Gospel of Christ which saith Baptise Infants but he chose in saying Page 722. Go Preach and Baptise doth appoint Page 726. that the Minister of Baptism shall in that action first administer Doctrine and then Baptism as also in saying Whosoever doth believe and is baptised Page 688. be appointeth that the party to whom Baptism is administered shall first believe and then be baptised to the end that Believing may go before this Sacrament in the Receiver no otherwise then Preaching in the Giver sith equally in both the Law of Christ declareth not only what things are required but also in what order they are required The Eucharist they received pretending our Lord and Saviour example after Supper Page 38. And for avoiding all those impieties which have been grounded upon the Mystical words of Christ This is my Body This is my Blood they thought it not safe to mention either Body or Blood in that Sacrament but rather to abrogate both and to use no words but these Take Page 122. eat declare the death of our lord Drink show forth our Lord's death In Rites and Ceremonies their Profession was hatred of all Conformity with the Church of Rome For which cause they would rather endure any torment then observe the solemn Festivals which others did in as much as Antichrist they said was the first inventor of them The pretended end of their Civil Reformation was That Christ might have dominion over all that all Crowns and Sceptres might be thrown down at his feet that no other might reign over Christian men but he no Regiment keep them in awe but his Discipline amongst them no Sword at all be carried besides his the Sword of Spiritual Excommunication For this cause they laboured with all their might in overturning the Seats of Magistracy Page 841. because Christ hath said Kings of Nations in abolishing the execution justice because Christ hath said Resist not evil in forbidding Oaths the necessary means of judicial trial Page 833. because Christ hath said Swear not at all Finally in bringing in Community of Goods Page 849. because Christ by his Apostles hath given the World such example to the end that men might excel one another not in Wealth the Pillar of Secular Authority but in Virtue These men at the first were only pitied in their Error and not much withstood by any Page 40. the great Humility Zeal and Devotion which appeared to be in them was in all men's opinion a pledge of their harmless meaning The hardest that men of sound understanding conceived of them was but this O quam honestâ voluntate miseri errand I actant de Justir lib. 5. cap. 19 Page 6. With how good a meaning these poor Souls do evil Luther made request unto Frederick Duke of Saxony that within his Dominion they might be favourably dealt with and spared for that their Error exempted they seemed otherwise right good men By means of which merciful Toleration they gathered strength much more than was safe for the State of the Commonwealth wherein they lived They had their secret Corner-meetings and Assemblies in the night the people flocked unto them by thousands Page 420. The means whereby they both alured and retained so great multitudes were most effectual First A wonderful show of zeal towards God wherewith they seemed to be even rapt in every thing they spoke Page 55. Secondly An hatred of sin and a singular love of integrity which men did think to be much more than ordinary in them by reason of the custom which they had to fill the ears of the people with Invectives against their authorised Guides as well Spiritual as Civil Thirdly The bountiful relief wherewith they eased the broken estate of such needy Creatures as were in that respcit the more apt to be drawn away Fourthly A tender compassion which they were thought to take upon the miseries of the common sort over whose heads their manner was even to pour down showers of tears in complaining that no respect was had unto them that their goods were devoured by wicked Cormorants their persons had in contempt Page 6. all Liberty both Temporal and Spiritual taken from them Page 7. that it was high time for God now to hear their groans and to send them deliverance Lastly A cunning slight which they had to stroke and smooth up the minds of their followers as well by appropriating unto them all the  Titles the good words and the gracious promises in Scripture as also by casting the contrary always on the heads of such as were severed from that retinue Whereupon the people's common aeclamation unto such deceivers was These are verily the Men of God these are his true and sincere Prophets If any such Prophet or Man of God Page 7. did suffer by order of Law condign and deserved punishment were it for Felony Rebellion Murder or what else that people so strangely were their hearts enchanted as though Blessed St. Stephen had been again Martyred did lament that God took away his most dear servants from them In all these things being fully persuaded that what they did Page 27. it was obedience to the Will of God and that all men should do the like there remained after speculation Practice whereby the whole World thereunto if it were possible might be framed This they saw could not be done but with mighty opposition and resistance against which Page 6. to strengthen themselves they secretly entered into a League of Association And peradventure considering that although they were many yet long Wars would in time waste them out they began to think whether it might not be that God would have them do for their speedy and mighty increase the same which sometime Gods own chosen people the people of Israel did Glad and fain they were to have it so which very desire was itself apt to breed b●th an opinion of possibility and a willingness to gather Arguments of likelihood that so God himself would have it Nothing more clear unto their seeming then that a New Jerusalem being often spoken of in Scripture they undoubtedly were themselves that New Jerusalem and the Old did by way of a certain Fegurative resemblance signify what they should both be and do Here they drew in a Sea of Matter by amplifying all things unto their own Company which are any where spoken concerning Divine Favours and Benefits bestowed upon the Old Commonwealth of Israel concluding that as Israel was delivered out of Egypt so they spiritually out of the Egypt of this World's servile thraldom unto Sin and Superstition As Israel was to root out the Idolatrous Nations and to plant instead of them a people which feared God so the same Lords good will and pleasure was now that these new Israelites should under the conduct of other Joshua's sampson's and gideon's perform a work no less miraculous in casting out violently the wicked from the Earth and establishing the Kingdom of Christ with perfect liberty And therefore as the cause why the Children of Israel took unto one Man many Wives might be lest the casualties of War should any way hinder the promise of God concerning their multitude from taking effect in them so it was not unlike that for the necessary propagation of Christ's Kingdom under the Gospel the Lord was content to allow as much Now whatsoever they did in such sort collect out of Scripture when they came to justify or persuade it unto others all was the Heavenly Father's appointment his commandment his will and charge Which thing is the very point in regard whereof I have gathered his Declaration For my purpose herein is to show that when the minds of men are once erroneously persuaded that it is the Will of God to have those things done which they fancy then Opinions are as Thorns in their sides never suffering them to take rest till they have brought their speculations into practice The lets and impediments of which practice their restless desire and study to remove leadeth them every day forth by the hand into other more dangerous opinions sometimes quite and clean contrary to their first pretended meanings So as what will grow out of such Errors as go masked under the cloak of Divine Authority impossible it is that ever the wit of man should imagine till time have brought forth the fruits of them For which cause it behoveth Wisdom to fear the sequels thereof even beyond all apparent cause of fear These men in whose mouths at the first sounded nothing but only Mortification of the Flesh were come at the length to think they might lawfully have their six or seven Wives apiece They which at the first thought judgement and justice itself to be merciless cruelty accounted at the length their own hands sanctified with being imbrued in Christian blood They who at the first were wont to beat down all Dominion and to urge against poor Constables Kings of Nations had at the length both Consuls and Kings of their own erection amongst themselves Finally they which could not brook at the first that any man should seek no not by Law the recovery of Goods injuriously taken or withheld from him were grown at the last to think they could not offer unto God more acceptable Sacrifice then by turning their Adversaries clean out of house and home and by enriching themselves with all kind of spoil and pillage Page 41. Which thing being laid to their charge they had in a readiness their answer That now the time was come when according to our Saviour's promise Matth. 5. ● The meek ones must inherit the Earth and that their title hereunto was the same which the righteous Israelites had unto the goods of the wicked Egyptians Exod. 11. 2. Wherefore sith the World hath had in these men so fresh experience how dangerous such active Errors are it must not offend you though touching the sequel of your present misperswasions much more be doubted than your own intents and purposes do haply aim at And yet your words already are somewhat when ye affirm that your Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons aught to be in this Church of England Mart. in his third Libel pag. 28. Whether Her Majesty and our State will or no When for the animating of your Confederates ye publish the Musters which ye have made of your own Bands and proclaim them to amount to I know not how many thousands when ye threaten that sith neither your Suits to the Parliament nor Supplications to our Convocation-House neither your Defences by Writing nor Challenges of Disputation in behalf of that Cause are able to prevail we must blame ourselves if to bring in Discipline some such means hereafter be used as shall cause all our hearts to ache That things doubtful are to be construed in the better part Demons●r in the Pref. is a Principle not safe to be followed in Matters concerning the Public State of a Commonweal But howsoever these and the like Speeches be accounted as Arrows idly shot at random without either eye had to any Mark or regard to their lighting place hath not your longing desire for the practice of your Discipline brought the Matter already unto this demurrer amongst you whether the people and their Godly Pastors that way affected ought not to make Separation from the rest and to begin the Exercise of Discipline without the Licence of Civil Powers which Licence they have sought for and are not heard Upon which question as ye have now divided yourselves the warier sort of you taking the one part and the forwarder in zeal the other so in case these earnest Ones should prevail what other sequel can any wise man imagine but this that having first resolved that Attempts for Discipline without Superiors are lawful it will follow in the next place to be disputed What may be attempted against Superiors which will not have the Sceptre of that Discipline to rule over them Yea even by you which have stayed yourselves from running headlong with the other sort somewhat notwithstanding there hath been done without the leave or liking of your lawful Superiors for the exercise of a part of your Discipline amongst the Clergy thereunto addicted And lest Examination of Principal Parties therein should bring those things to light which might hinder and let your proceedings behold for a Bar against that impediment one Opinion ye have newly added unto the rest even upon this occasion an Opinion to exempt you from taking Oaths which may turn to the molestation of your Brethren in that cause The next Neighbour Opinions whereunto when occasion requireth may follow for Dispensation with Oaths already taken if they afterwards be found to import a necessity of detecting aught which may bring such good men into trouble or damage whatsoever the cause be O merciful God what man's wit is there able to sound the depth of those dangerous and fearful evils whereinto our weak and impotent nature is inclineable to sink itself rather the● to show an acknowledgement of Error in that which once we have unadvisedly taken upon us to defend against the stream as it were of a contrary public resolution Wherefore if we any thing respect their Error who being persuaded even as ye are have gone further upon that persuasion than ye allow if we regard the present State of the highest Governor placed over us if the quality and disposition of our Nobles if the Orders and Laws of our famous Universities if the Profession of the Civil or the Practice of the Common Law amongst us if the mischiefs whereinto even before our eyes so many others have fallen headlong from no less plausible and fair beginnings than yours are There is in every of these Considerations most just cause to fear lest our hastiness to embrace a thing of so perilous consequence should cause Posterity to feel those evils which as yet are more easy for us to prevent than they would be for them to remedy 9 The best and safest way for you therefore my dear Brethren is The Conclusion of all To call your Deeds passed to a new reckoning to re-examine the cause ye have taken in hand and to try it even point by point argument by argument with all the diligent exactness ye can to lay aside the Gall of that Bitterness wherein your minds have hitherto ever-abounded and with meekness to search the Truth Think ye are Men deem it not impossible for you to err sift unpartially your own hearts whether it be force of Reason or vehemency of Affection which hath bred and still doth feed these Opinions in you If Truth do any where manifest itself seek not to smother it with glo●ing Delusion acknowledge the greatness thereof and think it your best Victory when the same doth prevail over you● That ye have been earnest in speaking or writing again and again the contrary way should be noblemish or discredit at all unto you Amongst so many so huge Volumes as the infinite pains of St. Augustine have brought forth what one hath gotten him greater love commendation and honour than the Book wherein he carefully collecteth his own oversights and sincerely condemneth them Many speeches there are of Jobs whereby his Wisdom and other Virtues may appear but the glory of an ingenuous mind he hath purchased by these words only Job 39 37. Behold I will lay mine hand on my mouth I have spoken once yet will I not therefore maintain Argument yea twice howbeit for that cause further I will not proceed Far more comfort it were for us so small is the joy we take in these strises to labour under the same yoke as men that look for the same eternal reward of their labours to be enjoined with you in Bands of indissoluble Love and Amity to live as if our persons being many our souls were but one rather than in such dismembered sort to spend our few and wretched days in a tedious prosecuting of wearisome contentions the end whereof if they have not some speedy end will be heavy even on both sides Brought already we are even to that estate which Gregory Nazianzen mournfully describeth Greg. Naz. in Apol. saying My mind leadeth me sith there is no other remedy to fly and to convey myself into some corner out of sight where I may scape from this cloudy tempest of maliciousness whereby all parts are entered into a deadly war amongst themselves and that little remnant of love which was is now consumed to nothing The only godliness we glory in is to find out somewhat whereby we may judge others to be ungodly Each others faults we observe as matter of exprobration and not of grief By these means we are grown hateful in the eyes of the Heathens themselves and which woundeth us the more deeply able we are not to deny but that we have deserved their hatred With the better sort of our own our fame and credit is clean lost The less we are to marvel if they judge vilely of us who although we did well would hardly allow thereof On our backs they also build that are lewd and what we object one against another the same they use to the utter scorn and disgrace of us all This we have gained by our mutual home-dissentions This we are worthily rewarded with which are more forward to strive then becometh men of virtuous and mild disposition But our trust in the Almighty is that with us Contentions are now at the highest float and that the day will come for what cause of despair is there when the Passions of former Enmity being allayed we shall with ten times redoubled tokens of our unfeignedly reconciled love show ourselves each towards other the same which Joseph and the Brethren of Joseph were at the time of their interview in Egypt Our comfortable expectation and most thirsty desire whereof what man soever amongst you shall any way help to satisfy as we truly hope there is no one amongst you but some way or other will The blessings of the God of Peace both in this World and in the World to come be upon him more than the Stars of the Firmament in number WHAT THINGS ARE HANDLED In the following BOOKS BOOK I. COncerning LAWS in General BOOK II. Of the use of Divine Law contained in Scripture Whether that be the only Law which ought to serve for our Direction in all things without exception BOOK III. Of Laws concerning Ecclesiastical Polity Whether the Form thereof be in Scripture so set down that no Addition or Charge is lawful BOOK IU. Of General Exceptions taken against the Laws of our Polity as being Popish and banished out of certain Reformed Churches BOOK V. Of our Laws that concern the Public Religious Duties of the Church and the manner of bestowing that Power of Order which enableth Men in sundry Degrees and Callings to execute the same BOOK VI. Of the Power of jurisdiction which the Reformed Platform claimeth unto Lay-Elders with others BOOK VII Of the Power of jurisdiction and the Honour which is annexed thereunto in Bishops BOOK VIII Of the Power of Ecclesiastical Dominion or Supreme Authority which with us the highest Governor or Prince hath as well in regard of Domestical jurisdictions as of that other Foreignly claimed by the Bishop of Rome OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK I. Concerning Laws and their several kinds in general The Matter contained in this First Book 1. THe cause of Writing this General Discourse concerning Laws 2. Of that Law which God from before the beginning hath set for himself to do all things by 3. The Law which Natural Agents observe and their necessary manner of keeping it 4. The Law which the Angels of God obey 5. The Law whereby Man is in his Actions directed to the Imitation of God 6. Mens first beginning to understand that Law 7. Of Man's Will which is the first thing that Laws of Action are made to guide 8. Of the Natural finding out of Laws by the Light of Reason to guide the Will unto that which is good 9 Of the benefit of keeping that Law which Reason teacheth 10. How Reason doth lead Men unto the making of Humane Laws whereby Politic Societies are governed and to agreement about Laws whereby the Fellowship or Communion of Independent Societies stanoeth 11. Wherefore God hath by Scripture further made known such Supernatural Laws as do serve for men's direction 12. The cause why so many Natural or Rational Laws are set down in holy Scripture 13. The benefit of having Divine Laws written 14. The sufficiency of Scripture unto the end for which it was instituted 15. Of Laws Positive contained in Scripture the Mutability of certain of them and the general use of Scripture 16. A Conclusion showing how all this belongeth to the Cause in question HE that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are not so well-governed as they ought to be The cause of writing this General Discourse shall never want attentive and  Hearers because they know the manifold defects whereunto every kind of Regiment is subject but the secret lets and difficulties which in public proceedings are innumerable and inevitable they have not ordinarily the judgement to consider And because such as openly reprove supposed disorders of State are taken for Principal Friends to the Common Benefit of all and for men that carry singular Freedom of Mind Under this fair and plausible colour whatsoever they utter passeth for good and currant That which wanteth in the weight of their Speech is supplied by the aptness of men's minds to accept and believe it Whereas on the other side if we maintain things that are established we have not only to strive with a number of heavy prejudices deeply rooted in the hearts of men who think that herein we serve the time and speak in favour of the present State because thereby we either hold or seek preferment but also to bear such Exceptions as Minds so avetted beforehand usually take against that which they are loath should be poured into them Albeit therefore much of that we are to speak in this present Cause may seem to a number perhaps tedious perhaps obscure dark and intricate for many talk of the Truth which never sounded the depth from whence it springeth And therefore when they are led thereunto they are soon weary as men drawn from those beaten paths wherewith they have been enured yet this may not so far prevail as to cut off that which the matter itself requireth howsoever the nice humour of some be therewith pleased or no. They unto whom we shall seem tedious are in no wise injured by us because it is in their own hands to spare that labour which they are not willing to endure And if any complain of obscurity they must consider that in these Matters it cometh no otherwise to pass then in sundry the works both of Art and also of Nature where that which hath greatest force in the very things we see is notwithstanding itself oftentimes not seen The stateliness of Houses the goodliness of Trees when we behold them delighteth the eye but that Foundation which beareth up the one that Root which ministereth unto the other nourishment and life is in the bosom of the Earth concealed and if there be occasion at any time to search into it such labour is then more necessary than pleasant both to them which undertake it and for the lookers on In like manner the use and benefit of good Laws all that live under them may enjoy with delight and comfort albeit the grounds and first original causes from whence they have sprung be unknown as to the greatest part of men they are But when they who withdraw their obedience pretend That the Laws which they should obey are corrupt and vicious For better examination of their quality it behoveth the very Foundation and Root the highest Wellspring and Fountain of them to be discovered Which because we are not oftentimes accustomed to do when we do it the pains we take are more needful a great deal then acceptable and the Matters which we handle seem by reason of newness till the mind grow better acquainted with them dark intricate and unfamiliar For as much help whereof as may be in this case I have endeavoured throughout the Body of this whole Discourse that every former part might give strength unto all that follow and every latter bring some light unto all before So that if the judgements of men do but hold themselves in suspense as touching these first more General Meditations till in order they have perused the rest that ensue what may seem dark at the first will afterwards be found more plain even as the latter particular decisions will appear I doubt not more strong when the other have been read before The Laws of the Church whereby for so many Ages together we have been guided in the Exercise of Christian Religion and the Service of the true God our Rites Customs and Orders of Ecclesiastical Government are called in question We are accused as men that will not have Christ Jesus to rule over them but have wilfully cast his Statutes behind their backs hating to be reform and made subject unto the Sceptre of his Discipline Behold therefore we offer the Laws whereby we live unto the General Trial and Judgement of the whole World heartily beseeching Almighty God whom we desire to serve according to his own Will that both we and others all kind of Partial affection being clean laid aside may have eyes to see and hearts to embrace the things that in his sight are most acceptable And because the Point about which we strive is the Quality of our Laws our first entrance hereinto cannot better be made then with consideration of the Nature of Law in general and of that Law which giveth Life unto all the rest which are commendable just and good namely the Law whereby the Eternal himself doth work Proceeding from hence to the Law first of Nature then of Scripture Of that Law which God from before the beginning hath set for himself to do all things by we shall have the easier access unto those things which come after to be debated concerning the particular Cause and Question which we have in hand 2. All things that are have some operation not violent or casual Neither doth any thing ever begin to exercise the same without some fore-conceived end for which it worketh And the end which it worketh for is not obtained unless the Work be also fit to obtain it by for unto every end every operation will not serve That which doth assign unto each thing the kind that which doth moderate the force and power that which doth appoint the form and measure of working the same we term a Law So that no certain end could ever be attained unless the Actions whereby it is attained were regular that is to say Made suitable fit and correspondent unto their end by some Canon Rule or Law Which thing doth first take place in the Works even of God himself All things therefore do work after a sort according to Law all other things according to a Law whereof some Superiors unto whom they are subject is Author only the Works and Operations of God have him both for their Worker and for the Law whereby they are wrought The Being of God is a kind of Law to his working for that Perfection which God is giveth Perfection to that he doth Those Natural Necessary and Internal Operations of God the Generation of the Son the Proceeding of the Spirit are without the compass of my present intent which is to touch only such Operations as have their Beginning and Being by a voluntary purpose wherewith God hath eternally decreed when and how they should be which Eternal Decree is that we term an Eternal Law Dangerous it were for the feeble Brain of Man to wade far into the doings of the most High whom although to know be Life and Joy to make mention of his Name yet our soundest knowledge is to know that we know him not as indeed he is neither can know him and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence when we confess without confession that his glory is inexplicable his greatness above our capacity and reach He is above and we upon Earth therefore it behoveth our words to be wary and few Our God is One or rather very Oneness and mere Unity having nothing but itself in itself and not consisting as all things do besides God of many things In which Essential Unity of God a Trinity Personal nevertheless subsisteth after a manner far exceeding the possibility of man's conceit The works which outwardly are of God they are in such sort of him being One that each Person hath in them somewhat peculiar and proper For being Three and they all subsisting in the Essence of one Deity from the Father by the Son through the Spirit all things are John 16. 13 14 15. That which the Son doth hear of the Father and which the Spirit doth receive of the Father and the Son the same we have at the hands of the Spirit as being the last and therefore the nearest unto us in order although in power the same with one Second and the First The wise and learned among the very Heathens themselves have all acknowledged some first cause whereupon originally the Being of all things dependeth Neither have they otherwise spoken of that Cause then as an Agent which knowing what and why it worketh observeth in working a most exact Order or Law Thus much is signified by that which Homer mentioneth a jupiters' counsel was accomplished Thus much acknowledged by Mercurius Trismegistus b The Creator made the whole world not with hands but by Reason Sub. in Ecleg Phys. Thus much confessed by Anaxagoras and Plato terming the Maker of the World an Intellectual Worker Finally the Stoics although imagining the first cause of all things to be Fire held nevertheless that the same Fire having Art did c Proceed by a certain and a set way in the making of the World O They all confess therefore in the working of that first cause that Counsel is used Reason followed a Way observed that is to say Constant Order and Law is kept whereof itself must needs be Author unto itself Otherwise it should have some worthier and higher to direct it and so could not itself be the first being the first it can have no other than itself to be the Author of that Law which it willingly worketh by God therefore is a Law both to himself and to all other things besides To himself he is a Law in all those things whereof our Saviour speaks saying John 5. 17. My Father worketh as yet so I. God worketh nothing without cause All those things which are done by him have some end for which they are done and the end for which they are done is a Reason of his Will to do them His Will had not inclined to create Woman but that he saw it could not be well if she were not created Gen. 2. 1● Non est bonum It is not good man should be alone therefore let us make an helper for him That and nothing else is done by God which to leave undone were not so good If therefore it be demanded why God having power and ability infinite the effects notwithstanding of that power are all so limited as we see they are The reason hereof is the End which he hath proposed and the Law whereby his Wisdom hath stinted the effects of his power in such sort that it doth not work infinitely but correspondently unto that end for which it worketh even all things in most decent and comely sort all things in measure number and weight Sapi. 8. 1. Sapi. 11. 17. The General End of God's External Working is the exercise of his most glorious and most abundant virtue Which abundance doth show itself in variety and for that cause this variety is oftentimes in Scripture expressed by the name of riches Ephes. 1. 7. Phillip 4. 19 Col. 2. 3. Prov. 15. 4. The Lord hath made all things for his own sake Not that any thing is made to be beneficial unto him but all things for him to show beneficence and grace in them The particular drift of every Act proceeding externally from God we are not able to discern and therefore cannot always give the proper and certain reason of his Works Howbeit undoubtedly a proper and certain Reason there is of every Finite Work of God in as much as there is a Law imposed upon it which if there were not it should be Infinite even as the Worker himself is They err therefore who think that of the Will of God to do this or that there is no Reason besides his Will Many times no Reason known to us but that there is no reason thereof I judge it most unreasonable to imagine in as much as he worketh all things not only according to his own Will Ephes. 1. 11. but the counsel of his own Will And whatsoever is done with counsel or wise resolution hath of necessity some reason why it should be done albeit that reason be to us in some things so secret that it forceth the wit of man to stand as the Blessed Apostle himself doth amazed thereat Rome 11 23. O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgements etc. That Law Eternal which God himself hath made to himself and thereby worketh all things whereof he is the Cause and Author that Law in the admirable frame whereof shineth with most perfect Beavey the Countenance of that Wisdom which hath testified concerning herself Prov. ● ●3 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way even before his works of old I was set up That Law which hath been the Pattern to make and is the Card to guide the World by that Law which hath been of God and with God everlastingly that Law the Author and Observer whereof is one only God to be blessed for ever how should either Men or Angels be able perfectly to behold The Book of this Law we are neither able nor worthy to open and look into That little thereof which we darkly apprehend we admire the rest with religious ignorance we humbly and meekly adore Seeing therefore that according to this Law he worketh Of whom through whom and for whom are all things although there seem unto us confusion and disorder in the affairs of this present world● Rom. 11. 36. Boet. lib. 4. de Consol. Philos. Tamen quoniam bonus mundum rector temperate recte fieri cuncta ne dubites Let no man doubt but that every thing is well done because the World is rule by so good a Guide as transgresseth not his own Law than which nothing can be more absolute perfect and just The Law whereby he worketh is Eternal and therefore can have no show or colour of mutability For which cause a part of that Law being opened in the Promises which God hath made because his Promises are nothing else but Declarations what God will do for the good of men touching those Promises the Apostle hath witnessed That God may as possibly deny himself and not be God as fail to perform them And concerning the Counsel of God he termeth it likewise a thing Unchangeable 2 Tim. 2. 13. Heb. ● 17. the Counsel of God and that Law of God whereof now we speak being one Nor is the freedom of the Will of God any whit abated let or hindered by means of this because the Imposition of this Law upon himself is his own free and voluntary act This Law therefore we may name Eternal being that order which God before all Ages hath fet down with himself for himself to do all things by The Law which Natural Agents have given them to observe and their necessary manner of keeping it 3. I am not ignorant that by Law Eternal the Learned for the most part do understand the Order not which God hath eternally purposed himself in all his Works to observe but rather that which with himself he hath set down as expedient to be kept by all his Creatures according to the several conditions wherewith he hath endued them They who thus are accustomed to speak apply the name of Law unto that only rule of working which Superior Authority imposeth whereas we somewhat more enlarging the sense thereof term any kind of Rule or Canon whereby Actions are framed a Law Now that Law which as it is laid up in the bosom of God they call Eternal receiveth according unto the different kind of things which are subject unto it different and sundry kinds of names That part of it which ordereth Natural Agents we call usually Nature's Law that which Angels do clearly behold and without any swerving observe is a Law Celestial and Heavenly the Law of Reason that which bindeth Creatures reasonable in this World and with which by reason they most plainly perceive themselves bound that which bindeth them and is not known but by special Revelation from God Divine Law Humane Law that which out of the Law either of Reason or of God Men probably gathering to be expedient they make it a Law All things therefore which are as they ought to be are conformed unto this Second Law Eternal and even those things which to this Eternal Law are not conformable are notwithstanding in some sort ordered by the First Eternal Law For what good or evil is there under the Sun what action correspondent or repugnant unto the Law which God hath imposed upon his Creatures but in or upon it God doth work according to the Law which himself hath eternally purposed to keep that is to say The First Eternal Law So that a twofold Law Eternal being thus made it is not hard to conceive how they both take place in d Id omne quod in rebus creatis sir est materia legis aeternae Th. l. 1 2. ● 93. art 4,5,6 Nullomondo aliquid legibus summi creatoris ordinationique subtrahitor à quo pax univerlitatis administratur August de Civit. Dei lib. 12. c. 22 Immo & pecca●um quateni● à Deo justè permirrkur cadit in legem aternam Etiam legi aterna subjicitur peccatum quateous voluntaria legis transgressio paenal● quoddam incommedum anime inserit juxtaillud Augustini Jutin●i Domine & sic est in poena sua sihi sit omnis animus in ordinatus Confes. lib. 1. cap. 12. Nec male scholastics Quemadmodum inquiunt videraus res naturales cunningentes hoc ipso quod à sine particulari suo atque ad●o à lege aterna exorbiran in candem legem arternam incidere quatenus consequuntur alium ●inem à lege etiam aternà ipsis in casu particulari constiturum Sic verisimile est homines etiam cum peccant & desciseunt à lege aeternam ut praecipiente reincidere in ordinem aeternae legis ut punientis all things Wherefore to come to the Law of Nature albeit thereby we sometimes mean that manner of working which God hath set for each created thing to keep yet for as much as those things are termed most properly Natural Agents which keep the Law of their kind unwittingly as the Heavens and Elements of the World which can do no otherwise then they do And for as much as we give unto Intellectual Natures the name of Voluntary Agents that so we may distinguish them from the other expedient it will be that wesever the Law of Nature observed by the one from that which the other is tied unto Touching the former their strict keeping of one Tenure Statute and Law is spoken of by all but hath in it more than men have as yet attained to know or perhaps ever shall attain seeing the travel of wading herein is given of God to the Sons of Men that perceiving how much the least thing in the World hath in it more than the wisest are able to reach unto the may by this means learn humility Moses in describing the Work of Creation attributeth speech unto God God said Let there be light Let there be a Firmament Let the Waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place Let the Earth bring forth Let there be Lights in the Firmament of Heaven Was this only the intent of Moses to signify the infinite greatness of God's Power by the easiness of his accomplishing such effects without travel pain or labour Surely it seemeth that Moses had herein besides this a further purpose ' namely first to teach that God did not work as a necessary but a voluntary Agent intending beforehand and decreeing with himself that which did outwardly proceed from him Secondly to show that God did then institute a Law natural to be observed by Creatures and therefore according to the manner of Laws the Institution thereof is described as being established by solemn injunction His commanding those things to be which are and to be in such sort as they are to keep that tenure and course which they do importeth the establishment of Natures Law This World's first Creation and the preservation since of things created what is it but only so far forth a manifestation by execution what the Eternal Law of God is concerning things natural And as it cometh to pass in a Kingdom rightly ordered that after a Law is once published it presently takes effect far and wide all States framing themselves thereunto even so let us think it fareth in the Natural course of the World Since the time that God did first proclaim the Edicts of his Law upon it Heaven and Earth have harkened unto his voice and their labour hath been to do his will He made a Law for the Rain He gave his Decree unto the Sea that the Waters should not pass his Commandment Now if Nature should intermit her course and leave altogether though it were but for a while the observation of her own Laws if those Principal and Mother Elements of the World whereof all things in this lower World are made should lose the qualities which now they have if the frame of that Heavenly Arch erected over our Heads should loosen and dissolve itself if Celestial Spheres should forget their wont motions and by irregular volubility turn themselves any way as it might happen if the Prince of the Lights of Heaven Psal. 19 5. which now as a Giant doth run his unwearied course should as it were through a languishing faintness begin to stand and to rest himself if the Moon should wander from her beaten way the times and seasons of the year blend themselves by disordered and confused mixture the Winds breathe out their last gasp the Clouds yield no Rain the Earth be defeated of Heavenly influence the Fruits of the Earth pine away as Children at the withered Breasts of their Mother no longerable to yield them relief What would become of Man himself whom these things now do all serve See we not plainly that obedience of Creatures unto the Law of Nature is the stay of the whole World Notwithstanding with Nature it cometh sometimes to pass as with art Let Phidias have rude and obstinate stuff to carve though his art do that it should his work will lack that beauty which otherwise in fitter matter it might have had He that striketh an Instrument with skill may cause notwithstanding a very unpleasant sound if the string whereon he striketh chance to be uncapable of harmony In the matter whereof things natural consist that of Theophrastus takes place theophra in Metaph. Much of it is oftentimes such as will by no means yield to receive that impression which were best and most perfect Which defect in the matter of things natural they who gave themselves unto the contemplation of nature amongst the Heathen observed often But the true original cause thereof Divine Malediction laid for the sin of Man upon these Creatures which God had made for the use of Man this being an Article of that saving truth which God hath revealed unto his Church was above thereach of their merely natural capacity and understanding But howsoever these swerving are now and then incident into the course of Nature nevertheless so constantly the Laws of Nature are by Natural Agents observed that no man denieth but those things which Nature worketh are wrought either always or for the most part after one and the same manner If here it be demanded Arist. Rhet. 1. cap. 35. What that is which keepeth Nature in obedience to her own Law we must have recourse to that higher Law whereof we have already spoken and because all other Laws do thereon depend from thence we must borrow so much as shall need for brief resolution in this point Although we are not of opinion therefore as some are that Nature in working hath before her certain exemplary draughts or patterns which subsisting in the bosom of the Highest and being thence discovered she fixeth her eye upon them as Travellers by Sea upon the Polestar of the World and that according thereunto she guideth her hand to work by imitation Although we rather embrace the Oracle of Hypocrates This an Acts 17. ●● That each thing both in small and in great fulfilleth the task which destiny hath set down And concerning the manner of excecuting and fulfilling the same What they do they know not yet is it in show and appearance as though they did know what they do and the truth is they do not discern the things which they look on Nevertheless for as much as the works of Nature are no less exact then if she did both behold and study how to express some absolute shape or mirror always present before her yea such her dexterity and skill appeareth that no intellectual Creature in the World were able by capacity to do that which Nature doth without capacity and knowledge it cannot be but Nature hath some Director of infinite knowledge to guide her in all her ways Who the guide of Nature but only the God of Nature In him we live move and are Those things which Nature is said to do are by Divine Art performed using Nature as an Instrument nor is there any such Art or Knowledge Divine in Nature herself working but in the guide of Nature's work Whereas therefore things natural which are not in the number of Voluntary Agents for of such only we now speak and of no other do so necessarily observe their certain Laws that as long as they keep those e Form in other Creatures is a thing proportionable n●● the si●ul in living Creatures 5 asi●e it is nor nor other wise di●ernable then only by effects According to the diversity of inward Forms things of the World are distinguished into their kinds Forms which give them their Being they cannot possibly be apt or inclinable to do otherwise then they do seeing the kinds of their operations are both constantly and exactly framed according to the several ends for which they serve they themselves in the mean while though doing that which is fit yet knowing neither what they do nor why It followeth that all which they do in this sort proceedeth originally from some such Agent as knoweth appointeth holdeth up and even actually frameth the same The manner of this Divine Efficiency being far above us we are no more able to conceive by our Reason than Creatures unreasonable by their Sense are able to apprehend after what manner we dispose and order the course of our affairs Only thus much is discerned that the Natural Generation and Process of all things receiveth order of proceeding from the settled stability of Divine Understanding This appointeth unto them their kinds of working the disposition whereof in the Purity of Gods own Knowledge and Will is rightly termed by the name of Providence The same being referred unto the things themselves here disposed by it was wont by the Ancient to be called Natural Destiny That Law the performance whereof we behold in things natural is as it were an authentical or an original Draught written in the bosom of God himself whose Spirit being to execute the same useth every particular nature every mere natural agent only as an Instrument created at the beginning and ever since the beginning used to work his own will and pleasure withal Vide Yh●m in Compend Theol. cap. 9 O●●ne quod u●ove●ur ab aliquo est quast instrumentum quod dam primi moventis Ride●alum est au●m eriam apud inductos ponere instrumentum moverinum ab aliquo principali ageme Nature therefore is nothing else but God's Instrument In the course whereof Dionysius perceiving some sudden disturbance is said to have cried out Aut Dens natura patitur aut mundi machina dissolvitur Either God doth suffer impediment and is by a greater than himself hindered or if that be impossible then hath he determined to make a present dissolution of the World the execution of that Law beginning now to stand still without which the World cannot stand This Workman whose servitor Nature is being in truth but only One the Heathens imagining to be moe gave him in the Sky the name of jupiter in the Air the name of june in the Water the name of Neptune in the Earth the name of Vesla and sometimes of Ceres the name of Apollo in the Sun in the Moon the name of Diana the name of AEolus and divers other in the Winds and to conclude even so many Guides of Nature they dreamt of as they saw there were kinds of things natural in the World These they honoured as having power to work or cease accordingly as men deseived of them But unto us there is one only Guide of all Agents Natural and he both the Creator and the Worker of all in all alone to be blessed adored and honoured by all forever That which hitherto hath been spoken concerneth Natural Agents considered in themselves But we must further remember also which thing to touch in a word shall suffice That as in this respect they have their Law which Law directeth them in the means whereby they tend to their own perfection so likewise another Law there is which toucheth them as they are sociable parts united into one Body A Law which bindeth them each to serve unto others good and all to prefer the good of the whole before whatsoever their own particular as we plainly see they do when things natural in that regard forget their ordinary natural wont That which is heavy mounting sometime upwards of its own accord and forsaking the Centre of the Earth which to itself is most natural even as if it did hear itself commanded to let go the good it privately wisheth and to relieve the present distress of Nature in common 4. But now that we may lift up our eyes as it were from the Tootstool to the Throne of God The Law which Angels on work by Psal. ●4 4. Heb 1. 7. Eph. 3. 10. Dan. 7. 10. Matth. 2● ●3 Heb. 12. 22. Luk. 2. 13. Matth. 6. 10. & 10. 10. Psal p. 11. 12 Luk. 15. 9 Heb. 1. 14. Acts. 10. 9 Dan. 9 23. Matth. 12. 10. Dan. 4. 10. Arist. Metaph. 12. cap. 9 Jo● 38. 9 Matth. 18. 10. Psal. 148. 2. Heb. 1. 6. ●ai 6. 3● and leaving these Natural consider a little the state of Heavenly and Divine Creatures Touching Angels which are Spirits Immaterial and Intellectual the glorious Inhabitants of those Sacred Palaces where nothing but Light and Blessed Immortality no shadow of matter for tears discontentments griefs and uncomfortable passions to work upon but all joy tranquillity and peace even for ever and ever doth dwell As in number and order they are huge mighty and royal Armies so likewise in perfection of obedience unto that Law which the Highest whom they adore love and imitate hath imposed upon them Such observants they are thereof that our Saviour himself being to set down the perfect Idea of that which we are to pray and wish for on Earth did not teach to pray or wish for more then only that here it might be with us as with them it is in Heaven God which moveth mere Natural Agents as an efficient only doth otherwise move Intellectual Creatures and especially his holy Angels For beholding the Face of God in admiration of so great excellency they all adore him and being rapt with the love of his beauty they cleave inseparably for ever unto him Desire to resemble him in goodness maketh them unwearable and even unsatiable in their longing to do by all means all manner of good unto all the Creatures of God but especially unto the Children of Men. In the countenance of whose Nature looking downward they behold themselves beneath themselves even as upward in God beneath whom themselves are they see that character which is no where but in themselves and us resembled Thus far even the Painims have approached thus far they have seen into the doings of the Angels of God Orpheus confessing that the Fiery Throne of God is attended on by those most industrious Angels careful how all things are performed amongst men and the Mirror of Humane Wisdom plainly teaching That God moveth Angels even as that thing doth stir Man's heart which is thereunto presented amiable Angelical Actions may therefore be reduced unto these three general kinds Th's is intimated wheresoever we find them termed the Sons of God as Job 1. 6. & 38. 7. 2 Pet. 2. 4. Judas vers 6. Psal. 148. 2. Luk. 7. 13. Matth. 26. 53. Psal. 148. 2. Heb. 12. 21. Apoc. 22. 9 First Most delectable Love arising from the visible apprehension of the Purity Glory and Beauty of God invisible saving only unto Spirits that are pure Secondly Adoration grounded upon the evidence of the greatness of God on whom they see how all things depend Thirdly Imitation bred by the presence of his exemplary goodness who ceaseth nor before them daily to fill Heaven and Earth with the rich treasures of most free and undeserved Grace Of Angels we are not to consider only what they are and do in regard of their own Being but that also which concerneth them as they are linked into a kind of Corporation amongst themselves and of Society or Fellowship with men Consider Angels each of them severally in himself and their Law is that which the Prophet David mentioneth All ye his Angels praise him Consider the Angels of God associated and their Law is that which disposeth them as an Army one in order and degree above another Consider finally the Angels as having with us that communion which the Apostle to the Hebrews noteth and in regard whereof Angels have not disdained to profess themselves our fellow servants From hence there springeth up a third Law which bindeth them to works of Ministerial employment Every of which their several Functions are by them performed with joy A part of the Angels of God notwithstanding we know have fallen and that their fall hath been through the voluntary breach of that Law which did require at their hands continuance in the exercise of their high and admirable virtue Impossible it was that ever their will should change or incline to remit any part of their duty without some object having force to avert their conceit from God and to draw it another way and that before they attained that high perfection of bliss wherein now the Elect Angels are without possibility of falling Of any thing more than of God they could not by any means like as long as whatsoever they knew besides God they apprehended it not in itself without dependency upon God because so long God must needs seem infinitely better than any thing which they so could apprehend Things beneath them could not in such sort be presented unto their eyes but that therein they must needs see always how those things did depend on God It seemeth therefore that there was no other way for Angels to sin but by reflex of their understanding upon themselves when being held with admiration of their own sublimity and honour the memory of their subordination unto God and their dependency on him was drowned in this conceit whereupon their adoration love and imitation of God could not choose but be also interrupted The fall of Angels therefore was Pride Joh. 8. 4● 1 Pet. 5. 8. Apoc. 9 11. Gen 3. 15. 1 Chro 21. 1. Job 1 7. de 2. 5. Joh. 13. 15. Acts 5. 3. Apoc. 20. 8. Since their fall their practices have been the clean contrary unto those beforementioned for being dispersed some in the Air some on the Earth some in the Water some amongst the Minerals Dens and Caves that are under the Earth they have by all means laboured to effect an Universal Rebellion against the Laws and as far as its them lieth utter destruction of the Works of God These wicked spirits the Heathens honoured instead of Gods both generally under the name of Dii inferi God's Infernal and particularly some in Oracles some in Idols some as Household Gods some as Nymphs In a word No foul and wicked spirit which was not one way or other honoured of Men as God till such time as Light appeared in the World and dissolved the works of the Devil Thus much therefore may suffice for Angels the next unto whom in degree are Men. The Law whereby Man is in his Actions directed to the Imitation of God 5. God alone excepted who actually and everlastingly is whatsoever he may be and which cannot hereafter be that which now he is not all other things besides are somewhat in possibility which as yet they are not in act And for this cause there is in all things an appetite or desire whereby they incline to something which they may be and when they are it they shall be perfecter than now they are All which Perfections are contained under the general name of Goodness And because there is not in the World any thing whereby another may not some way be made the perfecter therefore all things that are Arist. de An. lib. 1. cap. 4. are good Again sith there can be no goodness desired which proceedeth not from God himself as from the supreme cause of all things and every effect doth after a sort contain at leastwise resemble the cause from which it proceedeth All things in the World are said in some sort to seek the highest and to cover more or less the participation of God himself yet this doth no where so much appear as it doth in Man because there are so many kinds of Perfections which Man seeketh The first degree of Goodness is that General Perfection which all things do seek in desiring the continuance of their Being all things therefore coveting as much as may be to be like unto God in Being ever that which cannot hereunto attain personally doth seek to continue itself another way that is by Offspring and Propagation The next degree of Goodness is that which each thing coveteth by affecting resemblance with God in the constancy and excellency of those operations which belong unto their kind The Immutability of God they strive unto by working either always or for the most part after one and the same manner his absolute exactness they imitate by tending unto that which is most exquisite in every particular Hence have risen a number of Axioms in Philosophy showing Arist 2 de Coct cap. 9 Matth. 5. 48. Sap. 7. 27. How the works of nature do always aim at that which cannot be bettered These two kinds of Goodness rehearsed are so nearly united to the things themselves which desire them that we scarcely perceive the appetite to stir in reaching forth her hand towards them But the desire of those Perfections which grow externally is more apparent especially of such as are not expressly desired unless they be first known or such as are not for any other cause then for Knowledge itself desired Concerning Perfections in this kind that by proceeding in the Knowledge of Truth and by growing in the exercise of Virtue Man amongst the Creatures of this inferior World aspireth to the greatest Conformity with God This is not only known unto us whom he himself hath so instructed but even they do acknowledge who amongst men are not judged the nearest unto him With Plato what one thing more usual then to excite men unto the love of Wisdom by showing how much wise men are thereby exalted above men how knowledge doth raise them up into Heaven how it maketh them though not Gods yet ●as Gods high admirable and divine And Mercurius Trismegistus speaking of the virtues of a righteous Soul Such spirits saith he are never slayed with praising and speaking well of all men with doing good unto every one by word and deed because they study to frame themselves according to THE PATTERN of the Father of Spirits 6. In the Matter of Knowledge there is between the Angels of God Mens first beginning to grow to the knowl die of that Law which they are to observe Vide Isal. 7. 16. and the Children of Men this difference Angels already have full and complete knowledge in the highest degree that can be imparted unto them Men if we view them in their Spring are at the first without understanding or knowledge at all Nevertheless from this utter vacuity they grow by degrees till they come at length to be even as the Angels themselves are That which agreeth to the one now the other shall attain unto in the end they are not so far disjoined and severed but that they comest length to meet The Soul of Man being therefore at the first as a Book wherein nothing is and yet all things may be imprinted we are to search by what steps and degrees it riseth unto Perfection of Knowledge Unto that which hath been already set down concerning Natural Agents this we must add That albeit therein we have comprised as well Creatures living as void of life if they be in degree of nature beneath Men nevertheless a difference we must observe between those Natural Agents that work altogether unwittingly and those which have though weak yet some understanding what they do as Fishes Fowls and Beasts have Beasts are in sensible capacity as ripe even as men themselves perhaps more ripe For as Stones though in dignity of Nature inferior unto Plants yet exceed them in firmness of strength or durability of Being and Plants though beneath the excellency of Creatures endued with sense yet exceed them in the Faculty of Vegetation and of Fertility So Beasts though otherwise behind Men may notwithstanding in actions of Sense and Fancy go beyond them because the endeavours of Nature when it hath an higher perfection to seek are in lower the more remiss not esteeming thereof so much as those things do which have no better proposed unto them The Soul of Man therefore being capable of a more Divine Perfection hath besides the Faculties of growing unto sensible knowledge which is common unto us with Beasts a further hability whereof in them there is no show at all the ability of reaching * Merc. Tris. Aristotelical demonstration higher than unto sensible things Till we grow to some ripeness of years the Soul of Man doth only store itself with conceits of things of inferior and more open quality which afterwards do serve as Instruments unto that which is greater in the mean while above the reach of meaner Creatures is ascendeth not When once it comprehendeth any thing above this as the differences of time affirmations negations and contradiction in Speech we then count it to have some use of Natural Reason Whereunto if afterwards there might be added the right helps of true Art and Learning which helps I must plainly confess this age of the World carrying the name of a Learned Age doth neither much know not greatly regard there would undoubtedly be almost as great difference in maturity of judgement between men therewith enured and that which now men are as between men that are now and Innocents' Which speech if any condemn as being over Hyperbolical let them consider but this one thing No Art is at the first finding out so perfect as Industry may aftermake it yet the very first Man that to any purpose knew the way we speak of and followed it hath alone thereby performed more very near in all parts of Natural Knowledge then sithence in any one part thereof the whole World besides hath done In the poverty of that other new devised aid two things there are notwithstanding singular Ramistry Of marvellous quick dispatch it is and doth show them that have it as much almost in three days as if it had dwelled threescore years with them Again because the curiosity of Man's wit doth many times with persuade farther in the search of things than were convenient the same is thereby restrained unto such generalities as every where offering themselves are apparent unto men of the weakest conceit that need be So as following the Rules and Precepts thereof we may find it to be an Art which teacheth the way of speedy Discourse and restraineth the mind of Man that it may not wax overwise Education and Instruction are the means the one by use the other by precept to make our Natural Faculty of Reason both the better and the sooner able to judge rightly between Truth and Error Good and Evil. But at what time a man may be said to have attained so far forth the use of Reason as sufficeth to make him capable of those Laws whereby he is then bound to guide his actions This is a great deal more easy for common sense to discern then for any man by skill and learning to determine even as it is not in Philosophers who best know the nature both of Fire and Gold to teach what degree of the one will serve to purify the other so well as the Artisan which doth this by fire discerneth by Sense when the fire hath that degree of heat which sufficeth for his purpose Of Man's Will which is the thing that Laws of Action are made to guide Ephes. ● 23. 7. By Reason Man attaineth unto the knowledge of things that are and are not sensible it resteth therefore that we search how Man attaineth unto the knowledge of such things unsensible as are to be known that they may be done Seeing them that nothing can move unless there be some end the desire whereof provoketh unto motion How should that Divine Power of the Soul that Spirit of our Mind as the Apostle termeth it ever stir itself unto action unless it have also the like spur The end for which we are moved to work is sometimes the goodness which we conceive of the very working itself without any further respect at all and the cause that procureth action is the mere desire of action no other good besides being thereby intended Of certain turbulent wits it is said Sallust Illis quieta movere magna merces videbatur They thought the very disturbance of things established an hire sufficient to set them on work Sometimes that which we do is referred to a further end without the desire whereof we would leave the same undone as in their actions that gave Alms Matth. 6. 2. to purchase thereby the praise of men Man in Perfection of Nature being made according to the likeness of his Maker resembleth him also in the manner of working so that whatsoever we work as men the same we do wittingly work and freely Neither are we according to the manner of Natural Agents any way so tied but that it is in our power to leave the things we do undone The good which either is gotten by doing or which consisteth in the very doing itself causeth not action unless apprehending it as good we so like and desire it That we do unto any such end the same we choose and prefer before the leaving of it undone Choice there is not unless the thing which we take be so in our power that we might have refused and left it If fire consume the stubble it chooseth not so to do because the nature thereof is such that it can do no other To choose is to will one thing before another and to will is to bend our Souls to the having or doing of that which they see to be good Goodness is seen with the Eye of the Understanding and the Light of that Eye is Reason So that two Principal Fountains there are of Humane Action Knowledge and Will which Will in things tending towards any end is termed Choice Concerning Knowledge Deut. 30. 19 Behold saith Moses I have set before you this day good end evil life and death Concerning Will he addeth immediately Choose life that is to say the things that tend unto Life them choose But of one thing we must have special care as being a matter of no small moment and that is How the Will properly and strictly taken as it is of things which are referred unto the end that man desireth differeth greatly from that inferior natural desire which we call Appetite The object of Appetite is whatsoever sensible good may be wished for the object of Will is that good which Reason doth lead us to seek Affections as Joy and Grief and Fear and Anger with such like being as it were the sundry fashions and forms of Appetite can neither rise at the conceit of a thing indifferent nor yet choose but rise at the sight of some things Wherefore it is not altogether in our power whether we will be stirred with Affections or no. Whereas Actions which issue from the disposition of the Will are in the Power thereof to be performed or stayed Finally Appetite is the Wills Solicitor and the Will is Appetites Controller what we covet according to the one by the other we often reject Neither is any other desire termed properly Will but that where Reason and Understanding or the show of Reason prescribeth the thing desired It may be therefore a question Whether those operations of men are to be counted voluntary wherein that good which is sensible provoketh Appetite and Appetite causeth Action Reason being never called to counsel as when we eat or drink or betake ourselves unto rest and such like The truth is that such actions in men having attained to the use of Reason are voluntary For as the Authority of higher Powers bath force even in those things which are done without their privity and are of so mean reckoning that to acquaint them therewith it needeth not In like sort voluntarily we are said to do that also which the Will if it listed might hinder from being done although about the doing thereof we do not expressly use our Reason or Understanding and so immediately apply our Wills thereunto In cases therefore of such facility the Will doth yield her assent as it were with a kind of silence by not dissenting in which respect her force is not so apparent as in express Mandates or Prohibitions especially upon advice and consultation going before Where Understanding therefore needeth in those things Reason is the Director of Man's Will by discovering in Action what is good For the Laws of Welldoing are the Dictates of right Reason Children which are not as yet come unto those years whereat they may have again Innocents' which are excluded by Natural Defect from ever having thirdly Madmen which for the present cannot possibly have the use of right Reason to guide themselves have for their guide the Reason that guideth other men which are Tutors over them to seek and to procure their good for them In the rest there is that Light of Reason whereby good may be known from evil and which discovering the same rightly is termed right The Will notwithstanding doth not incline to have or do that which Reason teacheth to be good unless the same do also teach it to be possible For albeit the Appetite being more general may wish any thing which seemeth good be it never so impossible O mihi praeteritos referat si jupiter annos Alcin. de Deg. Plat. yet for such things the reasonable Will of Man doth never seek Let Reason teach impossibility in any thing and the Will of Man doth let it go a thing impossible it doth not affect the impossibility thereof being manifest There is in the Will of Man naturally that freedom whereby it is apt to take or refuse any particular object whatsoever being presented unto it Whereupon it followeth That there is no particular object so good but it may have the show of some difficulty or unpleasant quality annexed to it● in respect whereof the Will may shrink and decline it chose for so things are blended there is no particular evil which hath not some appearance of goodness whereby to insinuate itself For evil as evil cannot be desired if that be desired which is evil the cause is the goodness which is or seemeth to be joined with it Goodness doth not move by being but by being apparent and therefore many things are neglected which are most precious only because the value of them lieth hid Sensible Goodness is most apparent near and present which causeth the Appetite to be therewith strongly provoked Now Pursuit and Refusal in the Will do follow the one the Affirmation the other the Negation of Goodness which the Understanding apprehendeth grounding itself upon Sease unless some higher Reason do chance to teach the contraty And if Reason have taught it rightly to be good yet not so apparently that the Mind receiveth it with utter impossibility of being otherwise still there is place left for the Will to take or leave Whereas therefore amongst so many things as are to be done there are so few the goodness whereof Reason in such sort doth or easily can discover we are not to marvel at the choice of evil even then when the contrary is probably known Hereby it cometh to pass that Custom inuring the Mind by long practice and so leaving there a sensible Impression prevaileth more than reasonable Persuasion what way soever Reason therefore may rightly discern the thing which is good and yet the Will of Man not incline itself thereunto as oft as the prejudice of sensible Experience doth oversway Nor let any Man think that this doth make any thing for the just excuse of Iniquity for there was never sin committed wherein a less good was not preferred before a greater and that wilfully which cannot be done without the singular disgrace of Nature and the utter disturbance of that Divine Order whereby the pre-eminence of chiefest Acceptation is by the best things worthily challenged There is not that good which concerneth us but it hath evidence enough for itself if Reason were diligent to search it out Through neglect thereof abused we are with the show of that which is not sometimes the subrilty of Satan enveighling us as it did Eu● a 2 Cor. 11.3 sometimes the hastiness of our Wills preventing the more considerate Advice of sound Reason as in the b Luke 9.51 Apostles when they no sooner saw what they liked not but they forthwith were desirous of fire from Heaven sometimes the very custom of evil making the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary as in them over whom our Saviour spoke weeping c Matth. 23 37. O jerusalem how often and thou wouldst not Still therefore that wherewith we stand  and can no way excuse it is in doing evil we prefer a less good before a greater the greatness whereof is by Reason investigable and may be known The search of Knowledge is a thing painful and the painfulness of Knowledge is that which maketh the Will so hardly inclinable thereunto The Root hereof Divine Malediction whereby the * Sap. 9 15. A corruptible Body is heavy unto the Soul and the earthly Mansion keepeted down the Mind that is full of cares And hardly can we discern the things that are upon Earth & with great labour find we out the things which are before us Who can then seek out the things that are in Heaven Ephes. 5 14. Heb. 12.1.12 1 Cor. 16.15 Prov. 2. 4. Luk. 13.84 Instruments being weakened wherewithal the Soul especially in reasoning doth work it prefereth rest in Ignorance before wearisome labour to know For a spur of Diligence therefore we have a natural thirst after Knowledge engrafted in us But by Reason of that original weakness in the Instruments without which the Understanding part is not able in this World by discourse to work the very conceit of painfulness is as a bridle to stay us For which cause the Apostle who knew right well that the weariness of the flesh is an heavy clog to the Will striketh mightily upon this Key Awake thou that sleepest cast off all which presseth down watch labour strive to go forward and to grow in knowledge Of the Natural way of finding out Laws by Reason to guide the will unto that which is good 8. Wherefore to return to our former intent of discovering the Natural way whereby Rules have been found out concerning that Goodness wherewith the Will of Man ought to be moved in Humane Actions as every thing naturally and necessarily doth desire the utmost good and greatest Perfection whereof Nature hath made it capable even so Man Our felicity therefore being the object and accomplishment of our desire we cannot choose but wish and cover it All particular things which are subject unto Action the Will doth so far forth incline unto as Reason judgeth them the better for us and consequently the more available to our bliss If Reason err we fall into evil and are so far forth deprived of the general Perfection we seek Seeing therefore that for the framing of men's actions the knowledge of good from evil is necessary it only resteth that we search how this may be had Neither must we suppose that there needeth one Rule to know the good Arist. the An lib. 8. and another the evil by For he that knoweth what is strait doth even thereby discern what is crooked because the absence of straightness in bodies capable thereof is crookedness Goodness in Actions is like unto straightness wherefore that which is done well we term right For as the strait way is most acceptable to him that traveleth because by it he cometh soon to his journey's end so in Action that which doth lie the evenest between us and the end we desire must needs be the fittest for our use Besides which fitness for use there is also in rectitude Beauty as chose in obliquity deformity And that which is good in the Actions of Men doth not only delight as profitable but as amiable also In which consideration the Grecians most divinely have given to the Active perfection of Men a name expressing both Beauty and Goodness because Goodness in ordinary speech is for the most part applied only to that which is beneficial But we in the name of Goodness do here imply both And of discerning Goodness there are but these two ways the one the knowledge of the causes whereby it is made such the other the observation of those signs and tokens which being annexed always unto Goodness argue That where they are found there also Goodness is although we know not the cause by force whereof it is there The former of these is the most sure and infallible way but so hard that all eat it and had rather walk as men do in the dark by haphazard then tread so long and intricate Mazes for Knowledge sake As therefore Physicians are many times forced to leave such Methods of curing as themselves know to be the fittest and being overruled by their Patient's impatiency are fain to try the best they can in taking that way of cure which the cured will yield unto In like sort considering how the case doth stand with this present Age full of Tongue and weak of Brain behold we yield to the stream thereof into the Causes of Goodness we will not make any curious or deep inquiry to touch them now and then it shall be sufficient when they are so near at hand that easily they may be conceived without any far removed discourse That way we are contented to prove which being the worse in itself is notwithstanding now by reason of common imbecility the fitter and likelier to be brooked Signs and tokens to know good by are of sundry kinds some more certain and some less The most certain token of evident Goodness is if the general persuasion of all men do so account it And therefore a common received Error is never utterly overthrown till such times as we go from Signs unto Causes and show some manifest Root or Fountain thereof common unto all whereby it may clearly appear how it hath come to pass that so many have been overseen In which case surmises and slight probabilities will not serve because the universal consent of men is the perfectest and strongest in this kind which comprehendeth only the signs and tokens of Goodness Things casual do vary and that which a man doth but chance to think well of cannot still have the like hap Wherefore although we know not the cause yet thus much we may know that some necessary cause there is whensoever the judgements of all men generally or for the most part run one and the same way especially in matters of that discourse For of things necessarily and naturally done there is no more affirmed but this a They keep either always or for the most part one Tenure The general and perpetual voice of men is as the Sentence of God himself b Non potest er●●● contin● gare uhi omnes idem oplnamor Mta. Ticat in 1 Pol Quiequid in omnibus inlid viduis unive speciei communite● mess id causam communew habext oporiet quae est en●um individuorum species & na u●● lilem Quod & tora aliquia specie hr universalis parrienlari qe naturae sir instinctu Fleia de Christ. Rel. Si proficere cup● primo ●●e●● id ve rum pura qu●l sana mens cumn●um ho●●ian● atrestatur ●us● lafoy Compend cap. 1. For that which all men have at all times learned Nature herself must needs have taught and God being the Author of Nature her voice is but his Instrument By her from him we receive whatsoever in such sort we learn Infinite duties there are the goodness whereof is by this rule sufficiently manifested although we had no other warrant besides to approve them The Apostle St. Paul having speech concerning the Heathen saith of them c Rom. 2 1● They are a Law unto themselves His meaning is that by force of the Light of Reason wherewith God illuminateth every one which cometh into the World Men being enabled to know truth from falsehood and good from evil do thereby learn in many things what the Will of God is which will himself not revealing by any extraordinary means unto them but they by natural discourse attaining the knowledge thereof seem the Makers of those Laws which indeed are his and they but only the finders of them out A Law therefore generally taken is a directive rule unto goodness of operation Non licet naturale universaleque hominum judicium salser van unique existimare Ides Arist. lib. 10. cap. 2. The rule of Divine Operations outward is the definitive appointment of Gods own Wisdom set down within himself The rule of Natural Agents that work by simple necessity is the determination of the Wisdom of God known to God himself the Principal Director of them but not unto them that are directed to execute the same The rule of Natural Agents which work after a sort of their own accord as the Beasts do is the judgement of common sense or fancy concerning the sensible goodness of those objects wherewith they are moved The rule of Ghostly or Immaterial Natures as Spirits and Angels is their intuitive intellectual judgement concerning the amiable beauty and high goodness of that object which with unspeakble joy and delight doth set them on work The rule of Voluntary Agents on Earth is the sentence that Reason giveth concerning the goodness of those things which they are to do And the sentences which Reason giveth are some more some less general before it come to define in particular actions what is good The main principles of Reason are in themselves apparent For to make nothing evident of itself unto Man's understanding were to take away all possibility of knowing any thing Theoph. in Metaph. And herein that of Theophrastus is true They that seek a reason of all things do utterly overthrow Reason In every kind of Knowledge some such grounds there are as that being proposed the Mind doth presently embrace them as tree from all possibility of Error clear and manifest without proof In which kind Axioms or Principles more general are such as this That the greater good is to be chosen before the less If therefore it should be demanded what reason there is why the will of man which doth necessarily shun harm and covet whatsoever is pleasant and sweet should be commanded to count the pleasures of sin Gall and notwithstanding the bitter Accidents wherewith Virtuous Actions are compassed yet still to rejoice and delight in them Surely this could never stand with Reason but that Wisdom thus prescribing groundeth her Laws upon an infallible rule of Comparison which is That small difficulties when exceeding great good is sure to ensue and on the other side momentany benefits when the hurt which they draw after them is unspeakable are not at all to be respected This rule is the ground whereupon the Wisdom of the Apostle buildeth a Law enjoining Patience unto himself 1 Cor. 4. 17. The present lightness of our affliction worketh unto us even with abundance upon abundance an eternal weight of glory while we look not on the things which are seen but on the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Therefore Christianity to be embraced whatsoever calamities in those times it was accompanied withal Upon the same ground our Saviour proveth the Law most reasonable that doth forbid those crimes which men for gains sake fall into For a man to win the World if it be with the loss of his Soul what benefit or good is it Axioms less general yet so manifest that they need no farther proof are such as these God to be worshipped Parents to be honoured Matth 15.26 Others to be used by us as we ourselves would be by them Such things as soon as they are alleged all men acknowledge to be good they require no proof or further discourse to be assured of their goodness Notwithstanding whatsoever such principle there is it was at the first found out by discourse and drawn from out of the very Bowels of Heaven and Earth For we are to note that things in the World are to us discernible not only so far forth as serveth for our vital preservation but further also in a twofold higher respect For first if all other uses were utterly taken away yet the Mind of Man being by Nature speculative and delighted with contemplation in itself they were to be known even for mere Knowledge and Understandings sake Yea further besides this the knowledge of every the least thing in the World hath in it a second peculiar benefit unto us in as much as it serveth to minister Rules Canons and Laws for Men to direct those actions by which we properly term Humane This did the very Heathens themselves obscurely insinuate by making Themis which we call Ius or Right to be the Daughter of Heaven and Earth We know things either as they are in themselves or as they are in mutual relation one to another The knowledge of that which Man is in reference unto himself and other things in relation unto Man I may justly term the Mother of all those Principles which are as it were Edicts Statutes and Decrees in that Law of Nature whereby Humane Actions are framed First therefore having observed that the best things where they are not hindered do still produce the best Operations for which cause where many things are to concur unto one effect the best is in all congruity of Reason to guide the residue that it prevailing most the work principally done by it may have greatest perfection when hereupon we come to observe in ourselves of what excellency our Souls are in comparison of our Bodies and the divine part in relation unto the base of our Souls seeing that all these concur in producing Humane Actions it cannot be well Arist. Polit. 1. cap. 5. unless the chiefest do command and direct the rest The Soul than ought to conduct the Body and the Spirit of our Minds the Soul This is therefore the first Law whereby the highest power of the Mind requireth general obedience at the hands of all the rest concurring with it unto Action Touching the several grand Mandates which being imposed by the understanding Faculty of the Mind must be obeyed by the Will of Man they are by the same method found out whether they import our duty towards God or towards Man Touching the one I may not here stand to open by what degrees of discourse the Minds even of mere Natural Men have attained to know not only that there is a God but also what Power Force Wisdom and other properties that God hath and how all things depend on him Arist Polit. 1. cap 5. This being therefore presupposed from that known relation which God hath unto us a Piat in Th●at as unto children and unto all good things as unto effects whereof himself is the b Ar●st Metaph. lib. 8. cap. 2. principal cause these Axioms and Laws Natural concerning our duty have arisen c Plat. in Tim. That in all things we go about his aid is by Prayer to be craved d Arist. Ethic. lib. 8. cap. ult That be cannot have sufficient honour done unto him but the uttermost of that we can do to honour him we must which is in effect the same that we read e Deut. 6.4 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind Which Law our Saviour doth term f Matth. ●1 20 The first and the great Commandment Touching the next which as our Saviour addeth as like unto this he meaneth in amplitude and largeness in as much as it is the Root out of which all Laws of duty to Men-ward have grown as out of the former all Offices of Religion towards God the like Natural enducement hath brought men to know that it is their duty no less to love others than themselves For seeing those things which are equal must needs all have one measure if I cannot but wish to receive all good even as much at every man's hand as any man can wish unto his own soul how should I look to have any part of my desire herein satisfied unless myself be careful to satisfy the like desire which is undoubtedly in other men we all being of one and the same Nature To have any thing offered them repugnant to this desire must needs in all respects grieve them as much as me So that if I do harm I must look to suffer there being no reason that others should show greater measure of love to me than they have by me showed unto them My desire therefore to be loved of my equals in nature as much as possible may be imposeth upon me a natural duty of bearing to them-ward fully the like affection From which relation of equality between ourselves and them that are as ourselves what several Rules and Canons Natural Reason hath drawn for direction of life no man is ignorant as namely g Quod qu● in se approba● ●n alio reprubare non posse lib. in arenam C. de inos teft Quod quisque juris in alum slatuerer Ipsum quoque codem u l debere lib. quod qui●que An omni peni di injuril arque ul abslinendum lib. 1. sect 1. Qued vi out clain Matth. 82. 40. On these two Commandments hanseth the whole Law Gen. 39 9 Mark 10. 4. Acts 4. 37. & 5. 4. 2 Thes 3. ● That because we would take no harm we must therefore do none that sith we would not be in any thing extremely dealt with we must ourselves avoid all extremity in our dealings that from all violence and wrong we are utterly to abstain with such like which further to wade in would be tedious and to our present purpose not altogether so necessary seeing that on these two General Heads already mentioned all other specialties are dependent Wherefore the natural measure whereby to judge our doings is the sentence of Reason determining and setting down what is good to be done Which sentence is either mandatory showing what must be done or else permissive declaring only what may be done or thirdly admonitory opening what is the most convenient for us to do The first taketh place where the comparison doth stand altogether between doing and not doing of one thing which in itself is absolutely good or evil as it had been for joseph to yield or not to yield to the impotent desire of his lewd Mistress the one evil the other good simply The second is when of divers things evil all being not evitable we are permitted to take one which one saving only in case of so great urgency were not otherwise to be taken as in the matter of Divorce amongst the Jews The last when of divers things good one is principal and most eminent as in their act who sold their possessions and laid the price at the Apostles feet which possessions they might have retained unto themselves without sin Again in the Apostle St. Paul's own choice to maintain himself by his own labour whereas in living by the Church's maintenance as others did there had been no offence committed In goodness therefore there is a latitude or extent whereby it cometh to pass that even of good actions some are better than other some whereas otherwise one man could not excel another but all should be either absolutely good as hitting jump that indivisible Point or Centre wherein goodness consisteth or else missing it they should be excluded out of the number of well-doers Degrees of well-doing there could be none except perhaps in the seldomness and oftenness of doing well But the Nature of Goodness being thus ample a Law is properly that which Reason in such sort defineth to be good that it must be done And the Law of Reason or Humane Nature is that which men by discourse of Natural Reason have rightly found out themselves to be all for ever bound unto in their actions Laws of Reason have these marks to be known by Such as keep them resemble most lively in their voluntary actions that very manner of working which Nature herself doth necessarily observe in the course of the whole World The Works of Nature are all behoveful beautiful without superfluity or defect even so theirs if they be framed according to that which the Law of Reason teacheth Secondly Those Laws are investigable by Reason without the help of Revelation Supernatural and Divine Finally In such sort they are investigable that the knowledge of them is general the World hath always been acquainted with them according to that which one in Sophocles observeth Soph. Auti. concerning a Branch of this Law It is no child of two days or yesterday birth but hath been no man knoweth how long sithence It is not agreed upon by one or two or few but by all which we may not so understand as if every particular Man in the whole World did know and confess whatsoever the Law of Reason doth contain But this Law is such that being proposed no man can reject it as unreasonable and unjust Again there is nothing in it but any man having natural perfection of wit and ripeness of judgement may by labour and travel find out And to conclude principles the general thereof are such as it is not easy to find men ignorant of them La Rational therefore which men commonly use to call the Law of Nature meaning thereby the Law which Humane Nature knoweth itself in Reason universally bound unto which also for that cause may be termed most fitly the Law of Reason this Law I say comprehendeth all those things which Men by the Light of their Natural Understanding evidently know or at leastwise may know to be beseeming or unbeseeming virtuous or vicious good or evil for them to do Now although it be true which some have said that whatsoever is done amiss the Law of Nature and Reason thereby is transgressed because even those offences which are by their special qualities breaches of Supernatural Laws do also for that they are generally evil violate in general that principle of Reason which willeth universally to fly from evil yet do we not therefore so far extend the Law of Reason as to contain in it all manner of Laws whereunto reasonable Creatures are bound but as hath been showed we restrain it to those only duties which all men by force of Natural Wit either do or might understand to be such duties as concern all men Th. 1 2. q. 94 art 3. Omaeia peccara sunt in universum contra rationem & naturae legem Aug. de Civie Del 1. ●a cap. 1. Omne titlum naturae nocer ac per hoc contra naturam est De Doct Chr. lib. ● cap. 14. Certain half-waking men there are as St. Augustine noteth who neither altogether asleep in f●lly nor yet throughly awake in the light of true understanding have thought that there is not at all any thing just and righteous in itself but look wherewith Nations are enured the same they take to be right and just Whereupon their Conclusion is That seeing each sort of people hath a different kind of right from other and that which is right of its own nature must be every where one and the same therefore in itself there is nothing right These good folks saith he that I may not trouble their wits with the rehearsal of too many things have not looked so far into the World as to perceive that Do as thou wouldst be done unto is a sentence which all Nations under Heaven are agreed upon Refer this sentence to the love of God and it extinguisheth all heinous crimes Refer it to the love of thy Neighbour and all grievous wrongs it banisheth out of the World Wherefore as touching the Law of Reason this was it seemeth St. Augustine's judgement namely that there are in it some things which stand as principles universally agreed upon and that out of those Principles which are in themselves evident the greatest Moral duties we owe towards God or Man may without any great difficulty be concluded If then it be here demanded by what means it should come to pass the greatest part of the Law Moral being so easy for all men to know that so many thousands of men notwithstanding have been ignorant even of principal Moral Duties not imagining the breach of them to be sin I deny not but lewd and wicked custom beginning perhaps at the first amongst few afterwards spreading into greater multitudes and so continuing from time to time may be of force even in plain things to smother the light of Natural understanding because men will not bend their wits to examine whether things wherewith they have been accustomed be good or evil For example's sake that grosser kind of Heathenish Idolatry whereby they worshipped the very works of their own hands was an absurdity to Reason so palpable that the Prophet David comparing Idols and Idolaters together maketh almost no odds between them but the one in a manner as much without wit and sense as the other Psal. 115. 18. They that make them are like unto them and so are all that trust in them That wherein an Idolater doth seem so absurd and foolish is by the Wiseman thus expressed Wisd. 13.17 He is not ashamed to speakunto that which hath no life He calleth on him that is weak for health He prayeth for life unto him which in dead of him which hath no experience he requireth help For his journey he sueth to him which is not able to go For gain and work and success in his affairs he seeketh furtherance of him that hath no manner of power The cause of which senseless stupidity is afterwards imputed to custom Wisd. 14. 12. When a Father mourned grievously for his son that was taken away suddenly he made an image for him that was once dead whom now he worshipped as a god ordaining to his servants Ceremonies and Sacrifices Thus by process of time this wicked custom prevailed and was kept as a Law the Authority of Rulers the Ambition of Craftsmen and such like means thrusting forward the ignorant and increasing their superstition Unto this which the Wiseman hath spoken somewhat besides may be added For whatsoever we have hitherto taught or shall hereafter concerning the force of Man's natural understanding this we always desire withal to be understood that there is no kind of faculty or power in Man or any other Creature which can rightly perform the Functions allotted to it without perpetual aid and concurrence of that Supreme Cause of all things The benefit whereof as oft as we cause God in his justice to withdraw there can no other thing follow then that which the Apostle noteth even men endued with the Light of Reason Ephes. 4.17 to walk notwithstanding in the vanity of their mind having their cogitations darkened and being strangers from the Life of God through the ignorance which is in them because of the hardness of their hearts And this cause is mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the ignorance of Idolaters who see not how the manifest Law of Reason condemneth their gross iniquity and sui They have not in them Isai. 44. 18.19 saith he so much wit as to think Shall I bow to the stock of a tree All knowledge and understanding is taken from them for God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see That which we say in this case of Idolatry serveth for all other things wherein the like kind of general blindness hath prevailed against the manifest Laws of Reason Within the compass of which Laws we do not only comprehend whatsoever may be easily known to belong to the duty of all men but even whatsoever may possibly be known to be of that quality so that the same be by necessary consequence deduced out of clear and manifest principles For if once we descend unto probable Collections what is convenient foremen we are then in the Territory where free and arbitrary Determinations the Territory where Humane Laws take place which Laws are after to be considered 9 Now the due observation of this Law which Reason teacheth us The benefit of keeping that Law which Reason teacheth cannot but be effectual unto their great good that observe the same For we see the whole World and each part thereof so compacted that as long as each thing performeth only that work which is natural unto it it thereby preserveth both other things and also itself chose let any principal thing as the Sun the Moon any one of the Heavens or Elements but once cease or fail or swerve and who doth not easily conceive that the sequel thereof would be ruin both to itself and whatsoever dependeth on it And is it possible that Man being not only the noblest Creature in the World but even a very World in himself his transgressing the Law of his Nature should draw no manner of harm after it Yes Tribulation and anguish unto every soul that doth evil Good doth follow unto all things by observing the course of their nature and on the contrary side evil by not observing it but not unto Natural Agents that good which we call Reward not that evil which we properly term Punishment The reason whereof is because amongst Creatures in this World only Man's observation of the Law of his Nature is Righteousness only Man's transgression Sin And the reason of this is the difference in his manner of observing or transgressing the Law of his Nature He doth not otherwise then voluntarily the one or the other What we do against our wills or constrainedly we are not properly said to do it because the motive cause of doing it is not in ourselves but carrieth us as if the Wind should drive a Feather in the Air we no whit furthering that whereby we are driven In such cases therefore the evil which is done moveth compassion Men are pitied for it as being rather miserable in such respect then culpable Some things are likewise done by Man though not through outward force and impulsion though not against yet without their Wills as in Alienation of Mind or any the like inevitable utter absence of Wit and Judgement For which cause no Man did ever think the hurtful actions of furious Men and Innocents' to be punishable Again some things we do neither against nor without and yet not simply and merely with our Wills but with our Wills in such sort moved that albeit there be no impossibility but that we might nevertheless we are not so easily able to do otherwise In this consideration one evil deed is made more pardonable than another Finally that which we do being evil is notwithstanding by so much more pardonable by how much the exigence of so doing or the difficulty of doing otherwise is greater unless this necessity or difficulty have originally risen from ourselves It is no excuse therefore unto him who being drunk committeth incest and allegeth that his wits were not his own in as much as himself might have chosen whether his wits should by that mean have been taken from him Now Rewards and Punishments do always presuppose some thing willingly done well or ill without which respect though we may sometimes receive good or harm yet then the one is only a Benefit and not a Reward the other simply an Hurt not a Punishment From the sundry dispositions of Man's will which is the root of all his actions there groweth variety in the sequel of Rewards and Punishments which are by these and the like rules measured Voluntate sublarâ omnem actum parem esse lib. soediss simam de adult Bonam voluntatem plerunque pro sacto reputari l. si quis in Testament Take away the will and all acts are equal That which we do not and would do is commonly accepted as done By these and the like rules men's actions are determined of and judged whether they be in their own nature rewardable or punishable Rewards and Punishments are not received but at the hands of such as being above us have power to examine and judge our deeds How men come to have this authority one over another in External Actions we shall more diligently examine in that which followeth But for this present so much all do acknowledge that sith every man's heart and conscience doth in good or evil even secretly committed and known to none but itself either like or disallow itself and accordingly either rejoice very Nature exulting as it were in certain hope of reward or else grieve as it were Divos castè adeunto pietatem adhi bento Q●i secus faxit Deun ipse vindex crit in a sense of future punishment neither of which can in this case be looked for from any other saving only from him who discerneth and judgeth the very secrets of all hearts Therefore he is the only Rewarder and Revenger of all such Actions although not of such actions only but of all whereby the Law of Nature is broken whereof himself is Author For which cause the Roman Laws called The Laws of the Twelve Tables requiring offices of inward affection which the eye of Man cannot reach unto threaten the neglecters of them with none but Divine Punishment How Reason doth lea● Men unto the making of Humane Laws whereby Politic Societies are governed and to Agreement about Laws whereby the Fellowship or Communion of Independent Society standeth Arist. Rhher 1. 10. That which hitherto we have set down is I hope sufficient to show their brutishness which imagine that Religion and Virtue are only as Men will account of them that we might make as much account if we would of the contrary without any harm unto ourselves and that in Nature they are as indifferent one as the other We see then how Nature itself reacheth Laws and Statutes to live by The Laws which have been hitherto mentioned do bind men absolutely even as they are men although they have never any settled Fellowship never any solemn Agreement amongst themselves what to do or not to do But forasmuch as we are not by ourselves sufficient to furnish ourselves with competent store of things needful for such a life as our Nature doth desire a life fit for the dignity of man Therefore to supply those defects and imperfections which are in us living single and solely by ourselves we are naturally enduced to seek Communion and Fellowship with others This was the cause of men's uniting themselves at the first in Politic Societies which Societies could not be without government nor government without a distinct kind of Law from that which hath been already declared Two Foundations there are which beat up Public Societies the one a Natural Inclination whereby all men desire sociable life and fellowship the other an order expressly or secretly agreed upon touching the manner of their Union in living together The latter is that which we call the Law of a Commonweal the very Soul of a Politic Body the parts whereof are by Law animated held together and set on work in such Actions as the common good requireth Laws Politic ordained for External Order and Regiment amongst Men are never framed as they should be unless presuming the Will of Man to be inwardly obstinate rebellious and averse from all obedience unto the Sacred Laws of his Nature In a word unless presuming Man to be in regard of his depraved mind little better than a wild beast they do accordingly provide notwithstanding so to frame his outward actions that they be no hindrance unto the common good for which Societies are instituted unless they do this they are not perfect It resteth therefore that we consider how Nature findeth out such Laws of Government as serve to direct even Nature depraved to a right end All men desire to lead in this world an happy life The life is led most happily wherein all Virtue is exercised without impediment or let 1 1 Tim. 6. 8. The Apostle in exhorting men to contentment although they have in this world no more then very bare Food and Raiment giveth us thereby to understand that those are even the lowest of things necessary that if we should be stripped of all those things without which we might possibly be yet these must be left that destitution in these is such an impediment as till it be removed suffereth not the mind of Man to admit any other care For this cause first Gen. 1. 29. & 2. 17. & 4. 2. & 4. 20. God assigned Adam maintenance of Life and then appointed him a Law to observe For this cause after Men began to grow to a number the first thing we read they gave themselves unto was the Tilling of the Earth and the Feeding of Cattle Having by this mean whereon to live the principal actions of their life afterward are noted by the Exercise of their Religion True it is that the Kingdom of God must be the first thing in our purposes and desires Matth. 6.33 But in as much as a righteous life presupposeth life in as much as to live virtuously it is impossible except we live Therefore the first impediment which naturally we endeavour to remove is penury and want of things without which we cannot live Unto life many implements are necessary more if we seek as all men naturally do such a life as hath in it joy comfort delight and pleasure To this end we see how quickly sundry Arts Mechanical were found out in the very prime of the World Gen. 4.20,21 22. As things of greatest necessity are always first provided for so things of greatest dignity are most accounted of by all such as judge rightly Although therefore Riches be a thing which every Man wisheth yet no Man of judgement can esteem it better to be Rich then Wise Virtuous and Religious If we be both or either of these it is not because we are so born For into the World we come as empty of the one as of the other as naked in Mind as we are in Body Both which necessities of Man had at the first no other helps and supplies then only domestical such as that which the Prophet implieth Isai. 4g● 15. saying Can a Mother forget her child Such as that which the Apostle mentioneth 1 Tim. 5.8 saying He that careth not for his own is worse than an Infidel Such as that concerning Abraham Gen. 13. 19 Abraham will command his sons and his household after him that they keep the way of the lord But neither that which we learn of ourselves nor that which others teach us can prevail where wickedness and malice have taken deep root If therefore when there was but as yet one only family in the World no means of instruction Humane or Divine could prevent effusion of blood How could it be chosen but that when Families were multiplied and increased upon Earth Gen. 4. 8. after Separation each providing for itself Envy Strife Contention and Violence must grow amongst them For hath not Nature furnished Man with Wit and Valour and as it were with Armour which may be used as well unto extreme evil as good Yea were they not used by the rest of the World unto evil Unto the contrary only Gen. 6. 5. Gen. 5. by Seth Enoch and those few the rest in that Line We all make complaint of the iniquity of our times not unjustly for the days are evil But compare them with those times wherein there were no civil Societies with those times therein there was as yet no manner of Public Regiment established with those times wherein there were not above eight righteous persons living upon the face of the Earth 2 Pet. 2. 5. And we have surely good cause to think that God hath blessed us exceedingly and hath made us behold most happy days To take away all such mutual grievances injuries and wrongs there was no way but only by growing unto Composition and Agreement amongst themselves by ordaining some kind of Government public and by yielding themselves subject thereunto that unto whom they granted authority to rule and govern by them the peace tranquillity and happy estate of the rest might be procured Men always knew that when Force and Injury was offered they might be Defenders of themselves they knew that howsoever men may seek their own commodity yet if this were done with injury unto others it was not to be suffered but by all men and by all good means to be withstood Finally they knew that no man might in Reason take upon him to determine his own right and according to his own determination proceed in maintenance thereof in as much as every man is towards himself and them whom he greatly affecteth partial And therefore that strifes and troubles would be endless except they gave their common consent all to be ordered by some whom they should agree upon Without which consent there were no reason that one Man should take upon him to be Lord or Judge over another because although there be according to the opinion of some very great and judicious Men a kind of Natural Right in the Noble Arist. Polit. lib. 3. & 4. Wise and Virtuous to govern them which are of servile disposition nevertheless for manifestation of this their right and men's more peaceable contentment on both sides the assent of them whom are to be governed seemeth necessary To Fathers within their Private Families Nature hath given a supreme power for which cause we see throughout the World even from the first Foundation thereof all men have ever been taken as Lords and Lawful Kings in their own houses Howbeit over a whole grand multitude having no such dependency upon any one and consisting of so many Families as every Politic Society in the World doth impossible it is that any should have complete lawful power but by consent of men or immediate appointment of God because not having the Natural Superiority of Fathers their power must needs be either usurped and then unlawful or if lawful then either granted or consented unto by them over whom they exercise the same or else given extraordinarily from God unto whom all the World is subject It is no improbable opinion therefore which the Arch-Philosopher was of Arist. Polit. lib. 1. cap. 5. Vide & latonem in 3. de legibus That as the chiefest person in every household was always as it were a King so when numbers of households joined themselves in civil Societies together Kings were the first kind of Governors amongst them Which is also as it seemeth the reason why the name of Father continued still in them who of Fathers were made Rulers as also the ancient custom of Governors to do as Melchisedec and being Kings to exercise the Office of Priests which Fathers did at the first grew perhaps by the same occasion Howbeit not this the only kind of Regiment that hath been received in the World The inconveniences of one kind have caused sundry other to be devised So that in a word all Public Regiment of what kind soever seemeth evidently to have risen from deliberate Advice Consultation and Composition between Men judging it convenient and behoveful there being no impossibility in Nature considered by itself but that men might have lived without any Public Regiment Howbeit the corruption of our nature being presupposed we may not deny but that the Law of Nature doth now require of necessity some kind of Regiment so that to bring things unto the first course they were in and utterly to take away all kind of Public Government in the World were apparently to overturn the whole World The case of Man's nature standing therefore as it doth some kind of Regiment the Law of Nature doth require yet the kinds thereof being many Nature tieth not to any one but leaveth the choice as a thing arbitrary At the first when some certain kind of Regiment was once approved it may be that nothing was then further thought upon for the manner of governing but all permitted unto their Wisdom and Discretion which were to rule a Cum premeretur ini●io multitudo ab jis qui majores opes habebant a●l unum aliquem consugieban virtute prastantem qui cum prohiberet injeria renuiores aequitate consti ● vendô summos cum intimis parijure retinehar Cum id minùs cantingeret leges sunt inventae Cic. Ossic. lib. 2. Arist. Rher ad Alex. till by experience they found this for all parts very inconvenient so as the thing which they had devised for a remedy did indeed but increase the sore which it should have cured They saw that to live by one Man's will became the cause of all men's misery This constrained them to come unto Laws wherein all men might see their duties beforehand and know the penalties of transgressing them b Tanta est enim vis voluptatum ut & ●ignorantiam protelet in occasionem & conscientiam cer●rampat in dissimulationem Ter●ul lib. de Spectacul If things be simply good or evil and withal universally so acknowledged there needs no new Law to be made for such things The first kind therefore of things appointed by Laws Humane containeth whatsoever being in itself naturally good or evil is notwithstanding more secret than that it can be discerned by every man's present conceit without some deeper discourse and judgement In which discourse because there is difficulty and possibility many ways to err unless such things were set down by Laws many would be ignorant of their duties which now are not and many that know what they should do would nevertheless dissemble it and to excuse themselves pretend ignorance and simplicity which now they cannot And because the greatest part of Men are such as prefer their own private good before all things even that good which is Sensual before whatsoever is most Divine And for that the labour of doing good together with the pleasure arising from the contrary doth make men for the most part slower to the one and proner to the other than that duty prescribed then by Law can prevail sufficiently with them Therefore unto Laws that Men do make for the benefit of Men it hath seemed always needful to add Rewards which may more allure unto good than any hardness deterreth from it and Punishments which may more deter from evil than any sweetness thereto allureth Wherein as the generality is Natural Virtue rewardable and Vice punishable So the particular determination of the Reward or Punishment belongeth unto them by whom Laws are made Theft is naturally punishable but the kind of punishment is Positive and such lawful as Men shall think with discretion convenient by Law to appoint In Laws that which is Natural bindeth universally that which is Positive not so To let go those kind of Positive Laws which Men impose upon themselves as by vow unto God contract with Men or such like somewhat it will make unto our purpose a little more fully to consider what things are incident unto the making of the Positive Laws for the Government of them that live united in Public Society Laws do not only teach what is good but they enjoin it they have in them a certain constraining force and to constrain Men unto any thing inconvenient doth seem unreasonable Most requisite therefore it is that to devise Laws which all Men shall be forced to obey none but Wisemen be admitted Laws are Matters of Principal Consequence Men of common Capacity and but ordinary Judgement are not able for how should they to discern what things are fittest for each kind and state of Regiment We cannot be ignorant how much our obedience unto Laws dependeth upon this point Let a man though never so justly oppose himself unto them that are disordered in their ways and what one among them commonly doth not stomach at such Contradiction storm at Reproof and hate such as would Reform them Notwithstanding even they which brook it worst that Men should tell them of their duties when they are told the same by a Law think very well and reasonably of it For why They presume that the Law doth speak with all indifferency that the Law hath no side respect to their persons that the Law is as it were an Oracle proceeding from Wisdom and Understanding Howbeit Laws do not take their constraining force from the quality of such as devise them but from that power which doth give them the strength of Laws That which we spoke before concerning the Power of Government must here be applied unto the power of making Laws whereby to govern which power God hath over all and by the Natural Law whereunto he hath made all subject the lawful power of making Laws to command whole Politic Societies of Men belongeth so properly unto the same entire Societies that for any Prince or Potentate of what kind soever upon Earth to exercise the same of himself and not either by express Commission immediately and personally received from God or else by Authority derived at the first from their consent upon whose persons they impose Laws it is no better than mere tyranny Laws they are not therefore which Public Approbation hath not made so But Approbation not only they give who personally declare their assent by voice sign or act but also when others do it in their names by right originally at the least derived from them As in Parliaments Councils and the like Assemblies although we be not personally ourselves present notwithstanding our Assent is by reason of other Agents there in our behalf And what we do by others no reason but that it should stand as our Deed no less effectually to bind us then if ourselves had done it in person In many things Assent is given they that give it not imagining they do so because the manner of their assenting is not apparent As for example when an absolute Monarch commandeth his Subjects that which seemeth good in his own discretion hath not his Edict the force of a Law whether they approve or dislike it Again that which hath been received long sithence and is by custom now established we keep as a Law which we may not transgress yet what consent was ever thereunto sought or required at our hands Of this point therefore we are to note that sith Men naturally have no full and perfect power to command whole Politic Multitudes of Men therefore utterly without our consent we could in such sort be at no Man's commandment living And to be commanded we do consent when that Society whereof we are part hath at any time before consented without revoking the same after by the like Universal Agreement Wherefore as any Man's Deed past is good as long as himself continueth so the Act of a Public Society of Men done Five hundred years sithence standeth as theirs who presently are of the same Societies because Corporations are Immortal we were then alive in our Predecessors and they in their Successors do live still Laws therefore Humane of what kind soever are available by consent If here it be demanded how it cometh to pass that this being common unto all Laws which are made there should be found even in good Laws so great variety as there is We must note the Reason hereof to be the sundry particular ends whereunto the different disposition of that Subject or Matter for which Laws are provided causeth them to have a special respect in making Laws Arist. Polit. lib. 2. cap. 11●t A Law there is mentioned amongst the Grecians whereof Pillacus is reported to have been Author and by that Law it was agreed that he which being overcome with drink did then strike any man should suffer punishment double as much as if he had done the same being sober No man could ever have thought this reasonable that had intended thereby only to punish the injury committed according to the gravity of the Fact For who knoweth not that harm advisedly done is naturally less pardonable and therefore worthy of sharper punishment But for as much as none did so usually this way offend as men in that case which they wittingly fell into even because they would be so much the more freely outrageous It was for their public good where such disorder was grown to frame a Positive Law for remedy thereof accordingly To this appertain those known Laws of making Laws as that Lawmakers must have an eye to that place where and to the men amongst whom that one kind of Laws cannot serve for all kind of Regiment that where the Multitude beareth sway Laws that shall tend unto the preservation of that State must make common smaller Offices to go by lot for fear of strife and division likely to arise by reason that ordinary qualities sufficing for discharge of such Offices they could not but by many be desired and so with danger contended for and not miss without grudge and discontentment whereas at an uncertain lot none can find themselves grieved on whomsoever it lighteth chose the greatest whereof but few are capable to pass by Popular Election that neither the people may envy such as have those Honours in as much as themselves bestow them and that the chiefest may be kindled with desire to exercise all parts of rare and beneficial Virtue knowing they shall not lose their labour by growing in fame and estimation amongst the people If the Helm of chief Government be in the hands of a few of the wealthiest that then Laws providing for continuance thereof must make the punishment of contumely and wrong offered unto any of the common sort sharp and grievous that so the evil may be prevented whereby the rich are most likely to bring themselves into hatred with the people who are not wont to take so great offence when they are excluded from Honours and Offices as when their persons are contumeliously trodden upon In other kinds of Regiment the like is observed concerning the difference of Positive Laws which to be everywhere the same is impossible and against their Nature Now as the Learned in the Laws of this Land observe Staundf P●C ●ice to the Pleas of the Crown that our Statutes sometimes are only the Affirmation or Ratification of that which by Common Law was held before so here it is not to be omitted that generally all Laws Humane which are made for the ordering of Politic Societies be either such as establish some duty whereunto all Men by the Law of Reason did before stand bound or else such as make that a duty now which before was none The one sort we may for distinction sake call Mixedly and the other Merely Humane That which plain or necessary Reason bindeth Men unto may be in sundry considerations expedient to be ratified by Humane Law For example if Confusion of Blood in Marriage the liberty of having many Wives at once or any other the like corrupt and unreasonable Custom doth happen to have prevailed far and to have gotten the upper hand of Right Reason with the greatest part so that no way is left to rectify such foul disorder without prescribing by Law the same things which Reason necessarily doth enforce but is not perceived that so it doth or if many be grown unto that which the Apostle did lament in some concerning whom he writeth saying Judas vers 10. Arist. Eth. lib. 10. cap. 1● That even what things they naturally know in those very things as Beasts void of Reason they corrupted themselves Or if there be no such special accident yet for as much as the common sort are led by the sway of their sensual desires and therefore do more shun sin for the sensible evils which follow it amongst men then for any kind of sentence which Reason doth pronounce against it This very thing is cause sufficient why duties belonging unto each kind of Virtue albeit the Law of Reason teach them should notwithstanding be prescribed even by Humane Law Which Law in this case we term Mixed because the matter whereunto it bindeth is the same which Reason necessarily doth require at our hands and from the Law of Reason it differeth in the manner of binding only For whereas Men before stood bound in Conscience to do as the Law of Reason teacheth they are now by virtue of Humane Law become constrainable and if they outwardly transgress punishable As for Laws which are Merely Humane the matter of them is any thing which Reason doth but probably teach to be fit and convenient so that till such time as Law hath passed amongst men about it of itself it bindeth no man One example whereof may be this Lands are by Humane Law in some places after the owner's decease divided unto all his Children in some all descendeth to the eldest Son If the Law of Reason did necessarily require but the one of these two to be done they which by Law have received the other should be subject to that heavy sentence which denounceth against all that Decree wicked unjust and unreasonable things Wo. Whereas now which soever be received there is no Law of Reason transgressed Isa. 10. 1. because there is probable reason why either of them may be expedient and for either of them more than probable reason there is not to be found Laws whether mixtly or merely Humane are made by Politic Societies some only as those Societies are civilly united some as they are spiritually joined and make such a Body as we call the Church Of Laws Humane in this latter kind we are to speak in the Third Book following Let it therefore suffice thus far to have touched the force wherewith Almighty God hath graciously endued our Nature and thereby enabled the same to finde●out both those Laws which all Men generally are for ever bound to observe and also such as are most fit for their behoof who lead their lives in any ordered State of Government Now besides that Law which simply concerneth men as Men and that which belongeth unto them as they are Men linked with others in some Form of Politic Society there is a third kind of Law which toucheth all such several Bodies Politic so far forth as one of them hath Public Commerce with another And this third is The Law of Nations Between Men and Beasts there is no possibility or Sociable Communion because the Wellspring of that Communion is a Natural delight which Man hath to transfuse from himself into others and to receive from others into himself especially those things wherein the excellency of this kind doth most consist Arist. P. lit 1. cap 2 The chiefest Instrument of Humane Communion therefore is Speech because thereby we impart mutually one to another the Conceits of our Reasonable Understanding And for that cause seeing Beasts are not hereof capable for as much as with them we can use no such Conference they being in degree although above other Creatures on Earth to whom Nature hath denied sense yet lower than to be sociable Companions of Man to whom Nature hath given Reason It is of Adam said that amongst the Beasts Gen. 2. 22. he sound not for himself any meet companion Civil Society doth more content the Nature of Man than any private kind of solitary living because in Society this good of Mutual Participation is so much larger than otherwise Herewith notwithstanding we are not satisfied but we covet if it might be to have a kind of Society and Fellowship even with all mankind Cic. Tu●● 5. & 1 de Legib. Which thing Socrates intending to signify professed himself a Citizen not of this or that Commonwealth but of the World And an effect of that very natural desire in us a manifest token that we wish after a sort an Universal Fellowship with all Men appeareth by the wonderful delight men have some to visit foreign Countries some to discover Nations not heard of in former Ages we all to know the Affairs and Dealings of other People yea to be in League of Amity with them And this not only for Trafficks sake or to the end that when many are confederated each may make other the more strong but for such cause also as moved the Queen of Sheba to visit Solomon and in a word because Nature doth presume that how many Men there are in the World so many Gods as it were there are or at leastwise such they should be towards Men. 1 King 10 1. 2 C●r●n g. 1. Matth. 13 42. Luke 11. 3 Touching Laws which are to serve Men in this behalf even as those Laws of Reason which Man retaining his original Integrity had been sufficient to direct each particular person in all his Affairs and Duties are not sufficient but require the access of other Laws now that Man and his Offspring are grown thus corrupt and sinful Again as those Laws of Polity and Regiment which would have served Men living in Public Society together with that harmless disposition which then they should have had are not able now to serve when men's iniquity is so hardly restrained within any tolerable bounds In like manner the National Laws of Natural Commerce between Societies of that former and better quality might have been other then now when Nations are so prone to offer violence injury and wrong Hereupon hath grown in every of these three kinds that distinction between Primary and Secondary Laws the one grounded upon sincere the other built upon depraved Nature Primary Laws of Nations are such as concern Embassage such as belong to the courteous entertainment of Foreigners and Strangers such as serve for Commodious Traffic and the like Secondary Laws in the same kind are such as this present unquiet World is most familiarly acquainted with I mean Laws of Arms which yet are much better known then kept But what matter the Law of Nations doth contain I omit to search The strength and virtue of that Law is such that no particular Nation can lawfully prejudice the same by any their several Laws and Ordinances more than a Man by his private resolutions the Law of the whole Commonwealth or State wherein he liveth For as Civil Law being the Act of a whole Body Politic doth therefore overrule each several part of the same Body so there is no reason that any one Commonwealth of itself should to the prejudice of another anaihilate that whereupon the whole World hath agreed For which cause the Lacedæmonians forbidding all access of strangers into their coasts Joseph lib. 2. ●● n●●a ra Appl. ●n are in that respect both by Josephus and Theodores deservedly blamed as being enemies to that Hospitality which for common Humanity's sake T●●● lib. 9 the sa●nd ● ●● Ass●ct all the Nations on Earth should embrace Now as there is great cause of Communion and consequently of Laws for the maintenance of Communion amongst Nations So amongst Nations Christian the like in regard even of Christianity hath been always judged needful And in this kind of correspondence amongst Nations the force of General Councils doth stand For as one and the same Law Divine whereof in the next place we are to speak is unto all Christian Churches a rule for the chiefest things by means whereof they all in that respect make one Church Ephe. 4. 5. as having all but One Lord one Faith and one Baptism So the urgent necessity of Mutual Communion for Preservation of our Unity in these things as also for Order in some other things convenient to be every where uniformly kept maketh it requisite that the Church of God here on Earth have her Laws of Spiritual Commerce between Christian Nations Laws by virtue whereof all Churches may enjoy freely the use of those Reverend Religious and Sacred Consultations which are termed Councils General A thing whereof Gods own Blessed Spirit was the Author a thing practised by the holy Apostles themselves Acts 15. 23. a thing always afterwards kept and observed throughout the World a thing never otherwise then most highly esteemed of till Pride Ambition and Tyranny began by factious and vile Endeavours to abuse that Divine Invention unto the furtherance of wicked purposes But as the just Authority of Civil Courts and Parliaments is not therefore to be abolished because sometimes there is cunning used to frame them according to the private intents of men over-potent in the Commonwealth So the grievous abuse which hath been of Councils should rather cause men to study how so gracious a thing may again be reduced to that first Perfection then in regard of stains and blemishes since growing be held for ever in extreme disgrace To speak of this matter as the cause requireth would require very long discourse All I will presently say is this Whether it be for the finding out of any thing whereunto Divine Law bindeth us but yet in such sort that Men are not thereof on all sides resolved or for the setting down of some Uniform Judgement to stand touching such things as being neither way matters of necessity are notwithstanding offensive and scandalous when there is open opposition about them Be it for the ending of strifes touching matters of Christian belief wherein the one part may seem to have probable cause of dissenting from the other or be it concerning matters of Policy Order and Regiment in the Church I nothing doubt but that Christian men should much better frame themselves to those Heavenly Precepts which our Lord and Saviour with so great instancy gave as concerning Peace and Unity Joh. 14. 27. if we did all concur in desire to have the use of Ancient Councils again renewed rather than these proceedings continued which either make all Contentions endless or bring them to one only Determination and that of all other the worst which is by Sword It followeth therefore that a new Foundation being laid we now adjoyn hereunto that which cometh in the next place to be spoken of namely wherefore God hath himself by Scripture made known such Laws as serve for direction of Men. 11. All things God only accepted besides the Nature which they have in themselves receive externally some Perfection from other things Wherefore God hath by Scripture further made known such Supernatural Laws as do serve for men's direction as hath been showed In so much as there is in the whole World no one thing great or small but either in respect of knowledge or of use it may unto our Perfection add somewhat And whatsoever such Perfection there is which our Nature may acquire the same we properly term our good our Sovereign Good or Blessedness that wherein the highest degree of all our Perfection consisteth that which being once attained unto there can rest nothing further to be desired and therefore with it our souls are fully content and satisfied in that they have they rejoice and thirst for no more Wherefore of good things desired some are such that for themselves we cover them not but only because they serve as Instruments unto that for which we are to seek Of this sort are Riches Another kind there is which although we desire for itself as Health and Virtue and Knowledge nevertheless they are not the last mark whereat we aim but have their further end whereunto they are referred So as in them we are not satisfied as having attained the utmost we may but our desires do still proceed These things are linked and as it were chained one to another We labour to eat and we eat to live and we live to do good and the good which we do Gal. 6. 8. He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting is as seed sown with reference unto a future Harvest But we must come at the length to some pause For if every thing were to be desired for some other without any stint there could be no certain end proposed unto our actions we should go on we know not whither yea whatsoever we do were in vain or rather nothing at all were possible to be done For as to take away the first efficient of our Being were to annihilate utterly our persons so we cannot remove the last final cause of our working but we shall cause whatsoever we work to cease Therefore something there must be desired for itself simply and for no other That is simply for itself desirable unto the nature whereof it is opposite and repugnant to be desired with relation unto any other The Ox and the Ass desire their food neither propose they unto themselves any end wherefore so that of them this is desired for itself But why By reason of their imperfection which cannot otherwise desire it whereas that which is desired simply for itself the excellency thereof is such as permitteth it not in any sort to be referred unto a further end Now that which Man doth desire with reference to a further end the same he desireth in such measure as is unto that end convenient but what he covereth as good in itself towards that his desire is ever infinite Vide Arist. Ethic lib. 10. c. 10. & Metaph. l. 12. cap. 5. & cap. 4 & cap. 20. So that unless the last good of all which is desired altogether for itself be also infinite we do evil in making it our end even as they who placed their felicity in wealth or honour or pleasure or any thing here attained because in desiring any thing as our final perfection which is not so we do amiss Nothing may be infinitely desired but that good which indeed is infinite For the better the more  that therefore most  wherein there is infinity of goodness So that if any thing  may be infinite that must needs be the highest of all things that are desired No good is infinite but only God therefore he is our felicity and bliss moreover desire tendeth unto union with that it desireth If then in him we be blessed it is by force of participation and conjunction with him Again it is not the possession of any good thing can make them happy which have it unless they enjoy the things wherewith they are possessed Then are we happy therefore when fully we enjoy God as an object wherein the Powers of our Souls are satisfied even with everlasting delight So that although we be men yet by being unto God united we live as it were the Life of God Happiness therefore is that estate whereby we attain so far as possibly may be attained the full possession of that which simply for itself is to be desired and containeth in it after an eminent sort the contentation of our desires the highest degree of all our Perfection Of such Perfection capable we are not in this life For while we are in the World we are subject unto sundry * Merc. Tris. imperfections grief of body defects of mind yea the best things we do are painful and the exercise of them grievous being continued without intermission so as in those very actions whereby we are especial'y perfected in this life we are not able to persist forced we are with very weariness and that often to interrupt them Which rediousness cannot fall into those operations that are in the state of bliss when our union with God is complete Complete union with him must be according unto every power and faculty of our minds apt to receive so glorious an object Capable we are of God both by Understanding and Will By Understanding as he is that Sovereign Truth which comprehends the Rich Treasures of all Wisdom By Will as he is that Sea of Goodness whereof whoso tasteth shall thirst no more As the Will doth now work upon that object by desire which is as it were a motion towards the end as yet unobtained so likewise upon the same hereafter received it shall work also by love Appetitus inhiantis fit amor fruentis saith St. Augustine The longing disposition of them that thirst is changed into the sweet affection of them that taste and are replenished Whereas we now love the thing that is good but good especially in respect of benefit unto us we shall then love the thing that is good only or principally for the goodness of beauty in itself The Soul being in this sort as it is Active perfected by love of that infinite good shall as it is Receptive be also perfected with those Supernatural Passions of Joy Peace and Delight All this endless and Everlasting Matth 25. The just shall go into life everlasting Matth. 22. They shall be as the Angels of God 2 Tim 4. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 4. Which Perpetuity in regard whereof our Blessedness is termed A Crown which withereth not doth neither depend upon the nature of the thing itself nor proceed from any natural necessity that our Souls should so exercise themselves for ever in beholding and loving God but from the Will of God which doth both freely perfect our nature in so high a degree and continue it so perfected Under Man no Creature in the World is capable of felicity and bliss First because their chiefest Perfection consisteth in that which is best for them but not in that which is simply best as ours doth Secondly because whatsoever External Perfection they tend unto it is not better than themselves as ours is How just occasion have we therefore even in this respect with the Prophet to admire the goodness of God Psal. 8. Lord what is man that thou shouldst exalt him above the works of thy hands so far as to make thyself the Inheritance of his Rest and the Substance of his Felicity Now if men had not naturally this desire to be happy how were it possible that all men should have it All men have Therefore this desire in Man is natural It is not in our power not to do the same how should it then be in our power to do it coldly or remissly So that our desire being natural is also in that degree of earnestness whereunto nothing can be added And is it probable that God should frame the hearts of all men so desirous of that which no man may obtain Comment in Procaem 2. Metaph. It is an Axiom of Nature that natural desire cannot utterly be frustrate This desire of ours being natural should be frustrate if that which may satisfy the same were a thing impossible for Man to aspire unto Man doth seek a triple Perfection first a sensual consisting in those things which very life itself requireth either as necessary Supplements or as Beauties and Ornaments thereof then an Intellectual consisting in those things which none underneath Man is either capable of or acquainted with lastly a Spiritual and Divine consisting in those things whereunto we tend by supernatural means here but cannot here attain unto them They that make the first of these three the scope of their whole life Phil. 3. 19 are said by the Apostle to have no God but only their Belly to be earthly-minded men Unto the second they bend themselves who seek especially to excel in all such Knowledge and Virtue as doth most commend Men. To this branch belongeth the Law of Moral and Civil Perfection That there is somewhat higher than either of these two no other proof doth need then the very Process of Man's desire which being natural should be frustrate if there were not some farther thing wherein it might rest at the length concented which in the former it cannot do For Man doth not seem to rest satisfied either with fruition of that wherewith his life is preserved or with performance of such actions as advance him most deservedly in estimation but doth further covet yea oftentimes manifestly pursue with great sedulity and earnestness that which cannot stand him in any stead for vital use that which exceedeth the reach of Sense yea somewhat above capacity of Reason somewhat Divine and Heavenly which with hidden exultation it rather surmiseth than conceiveth somewhat it seeketh and what that is directly it knoweth not yet very intentive desire thereof doth so incite it that all other known delights and pleasures are laid aside they give place to the search of this but only suspected desire If the Soul of Man did serve only to give him Being in this life than things appertaining unto this life would content him as we see they do other Creatures which Creatures enjoying what they live by seek no further but in his contentation do show a kind of acknowledgement that there is no higher good which doth any way belong unto them With us it is otherwise For although the Beauties Riches Honours Sciences Virtues and Perfections of all Men living were in the present possession of one yet somewhat beyond and above all this there would still be sought and earnestly thirsted for So that Nature even in this life doth plainly claim and call for a more Divine Perfection then either of these two that have been mentioned This last and highest estate of Perfection whereof we speak is received of Men in the nature of a a Matth. 5. 12. Rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven Aug. de Doct. Christ. cap. 6. Summa merces est ut isto persruamur Reward Rewards do always presuppose such duties performed as are rewardable Our natural means therefore unto Blessedness are our works nor is it possible that Nature should ever find any other way to Salvation then only this But examine the works which we do and since the first Foundation of the World what one can say My ways are pure Seeing then all flesh is guilty of that for which God hath threatened eternally to punish what possibility is there this way to be saved There resteth therefore either no way unto Salvation or if any then surely a way which is Supernatural a way which could never have entered into the heart of man as much as once to conceive or imagine if God himself had not revealed it extraordinarily For which cause we term it the Mystery or Secret way of Salvation And therefore St. Ambrose in this matter appealeth justly from Man to God b Ambros. contra ●ym Caeli mysterium doceat me Deus qui condidit non homo qui seipsum ignoravit Let God himself that made me let not Man that knows not himself be my instructor concerning the Mystical Way to Heaven c Magno & excellenti ingenio viri come se doctrinae penitus dididissent q●iquid laboris poterat impendi contemptis omnibus & privatis & publicis actionibus ad inquirendea veritatis studium contulerunt existimantes 〈…〉 esse p●● larius humanarum divina● vacute m que recum in vestigare ac scire rationem quà●n struendes pibus aut cumulandis hogoribus inhirete Sed neque adepti sunt id quod volehant & operam S●mul u●que indusiriam perdiderun ● Qu'a veritas id est arcanum summi Dei qui fecir omnia ingenio ac propriis sensibus non potest comprehendi Aliequi nihil inter Deum homine●●que distarer si consilla & diiposi●●o● illies Majestatis aeternae cogitatio assequeretur human Quod quia fieri non pervit ut homini per seipsum ratio divina notesceternon est past●● hominem Deus lumen sapientiae requirentem diu●●s abbera●e a● fine ullo ●ris effectu vagari per tenebras inextric●●illeses Aperuit oculos ejus aliquando & notionem veritatis munus ●●um secie ut & humanim sapientiam nullam esse mo●nstraret & erranci ac vago viam consequendae immortalitatis ostenderet lerer Laclant lib. 1. cap. 1. When Men of excellent wit saith Lactantius had wholly betaken themselves unto study after farewel bidden unto all kind as well of private as public Action they spared no labour that might be spent in the search of Truth holding it a thing of much more price to seek and to find out the reason of all Affairs as well Divine as Humane then to stick fast in the toil of piling up Riches and gathering together heaps of Honours Howbeit they both did fail of their purpose and got not so much as to quit their charges because Truth which is the secret of the most High God whose proper handiwork all things are cannot be compassed with that wit and those senses which are our own For God and Man should be very near Neighbours if Man's cogitations were able to take a survey of the Counsels and Appointments of that Majesty Everlasting Which being utterly impossible that the Eye of Man by itself should look into the bosom of Divine Reason God did not suffer him being desirous of the Light of Wisdom to stray any longer up and down and with bootless expense of travel to w●nder in darkness that had no passage to get out by His eyes at the length God did open and bestow upon him the knowledge of the Truth by way of Donative to the end that Man might both be clearly convicted of folly and being through Error out of the way have the path that leadeth unto immortality laid plain before him Thus far Lactantius Firmianus to show that God himself is the Teacher of the Truth whereby is made known the Supernatural way of Salvation and Law for them to live in that shall be saved In the Natural Path of Everlasting Life the first beginning is that ability of doing good which God in the day of Man's Creation endued him with from hence Obedience unto the Will of his Creator absolute Righteousness and Integrity in all his Actions and last of all the Justice of God rewarding the worthiness of his de●●●tss with the Crown of Eternal Glory Had Adam continued in his first estate this had been the way of life unto him and all his Posterity Whereas I confess notwithstanding with the d Se●t lib. 4. Sent didst 49. 6. Loveendo de s●rida justitiâ Deus nulli nostrum propter qua cun que merira est debtor perfectionis reddendae tam inteniae propter i●moderatum excessum ililus perfectionis ultra illa me●ica Sesed esto quod ex liberatiate s●d determin●sser meritis confer actum tam perfectum tanquam praemium tali quidem justitiâ qualis decer eum scillicet supererogantis in pramis Tatnen non sequitur ex h●c neccessario quo l per ilam just tia● si● reddenda perfectio perennis anquam ●●●nium imo a●undans secret retributio in beatirudine un●us momenti wittiest of the School-Divines that if we speak of strict Justice God could no way have been bound to requite Man's labours in so large and ample manner as Humane Felicity doth import in as much as the dignity of this exceedeth so far the others value But be it that God of his great Liberality had determined in lieu of Man's endeavours to bestow the same by the rule of that Justice which best beseemeth him namely the Justice of one that requireth nothing mincingly but all with pressed and heaped and even over-enlarged measure yet could it never hereupon necessarily be gathered that such Justice should add to the nature of that Reward the property of everlasting continuance sith Possession of Bliss though it should be but for a moment were an abundant retribution But we are not now to enter into this consideration how gracious and bountiful our good God might still appear in so rewarding the Sons of Men albeit they should exactly perform whatsoever duty their Nature bindeth them unto Howsoever God did propose this Reward we that were to be rewarded must have done that which is required at our hands we failing in the one it were in Nature an impossibility that the other should be looked for The Light of Nature is never able to find out any way of obtaining the Reward of Bliss but by performing exactly the Duties and Works of Righteousness From Salvation therefore and Life all flesh being excluded this way behold how the Wisdom of God hath revealed a way Mystical and Supernatural away directing unto the same end of life by a course which groundeth itself upon the guiltiness of sin and through sin desert of condemnation and death For in this way the first thing is the tender compassion of God respecting us drowned and swallowed up in misery The next is Redemption out of the same by the precious Death and Merit of a Mighty Saviour which hath witnessed of himself saying John 14. 6. I am the Way the way that leadeth us from misery into bliss This Supernatural Way had God in himself prepared before all Worlds The way of Supernatural Duty which to us he hath prescribed our Saviour in the Gospel of St. john doth note terming it by an excellency The Work of God John 6. 29. This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent Not that God doth require nothing unto happiness at the hands of men saving only a naked belief for Hope and Charity we may not exclude but that without belief all other things are as nothing and it the ground of those other Divine Virtues Concerning Faith the principal object whereof is that Eternal Verity which hath discovered the Treasures of hidden Wisdom in Christ. Concerning Hope the highest object whereof is that Everlasting Goodness which in Christ doth quicken the dead Concerning Charity the final object whereof is that incomprehensible Beauty which shineth in the countenance of Christ the Son of the Living God Concerning these Virtues the first of which beginning here with a weak apprehension of things not seen endeth with the intuitive Vision of God in the World to come the second beginning here with a trembling expectation of things far removed and as yet but only heard of endeth with Real and Actual Fruition of that which no Tongue can express the third beginning herewith a weak in inclination of heart towards him unto whom we are not able to approach endeth with endless Union the mystery whereof is higher than the reach of the thoughts of Men. Concerning that Faith Hope and Charity without which there can be no Salvation was there ever any mention made saving only in that Law which God himself hath from Heaven revealed There is not in the World a syllable muttered with certain truth concerning any of these three more than hath been supernaturally received from the Mouth of the Eternal God Laws therefore concerning these things are Supernatural both in respect of the manner of delivering them which is Divine and also in regard of the things delivered which are such as have not in Nature any cause from which they flow but were by the voluntary appointment of God ordained besides the course of Nature to rectify Nature's obliquity withal The cause why so many Natural or Rational Laws are set down in holy Scripture 12. When Supernatural Duties are necessarily exacted Natural are not rejected as needless The Law of God therefore is though principally delivered for instruction in the one yet fraught with Precepts of the other also The Scripture is fraught even with Laws of Nature insomuch that * Jus naturale est quod in lege & Evangelio con●inetur pag 1 ●● 1. Gratian defining Natural Right whereby is meant the right which exacteth those general duties the concern men naturally even as they are men termeth Natural Right that which the Books of the Law and the Gospel do contain Neither is it vain that the Scripture aboundeth with so great store of Laws in this kind For they are either such as we of ourselves could not easily have found out and then the benefit is not small to have them readily set down to our hands or if they be so clear and manifest that no man endued with Reason can lightly be ignorant of them yet the Spirit as it were borrowing them from the School of Nature as serving to prove things less manifest and to induce a persuasion of somewhat which were in itself more hard and dark unless it should in such fo●● be cleared the very applying of them unto cases particular is not without most singular use and profit many ways for men's instruction Besides be they plain of themselves or obscure the evidence of Gods own testimony added unto the natural assent of Reason concerning the certainty of them doth not a little comfort and confirm the same Wherefore in as much as our actions are conversant about things beset with many circumstances which cause men of sundry wits to be also of sundry judgements concerning that which ought to be done Requisite it cannot but seem the Rule of Divine Law should herein help our imbecility that we might the more infallibly understand what is good and what evil The first principles of the Law of Nature are easy hard it were to find men ignorant of them But concerning the duty which Nature's Law doth require at the hands of Men in a number of things particular so * joseph lib. secun●o contra Appi● Lacedamenii quomoto non sunt ob inhespitalitatem reprehendendi ●●lumque neglectum nupriaru● Elienses verò & Thebavi ●b coi●●um cum masculis pla● & impu●entem & contra na●uram qu●m recti & u●lites exercre putahant Cum. que hic omnino perpecroreni etiam suis legibus miscucre Vide Th. 12. q. 49 4.5.6 Lex naturae sic currupta suit apul Germanos ur larrocinium non reputar●nt peony arum August Auc quisquiro author est lib. the quaest. nor & ver rest Quis nes●●t quid ho●●● vitae contrairae au● ignorer quia quod sibi heri non vult al●s manime debeat lacere At verò naturalis lex eva ●●●● oppressa consuen●●lin delinque●di ●une oppreti matise●●ari sereptis ut Dei jedicium omnes audirent Non qub●●enireses obllrerate est ●ed quia maxius elup aurho h●●●●e carebat idolatriae ●udebitur timog Dei ●a terris non erat ●●●●icatio operabatur circa rem proximi avids eager concupisce●ia Data ergo lex est ut quae debantur authoritatem inherent & quae latere cooperat manifestarentur far hath the Natural Understanding even of sundry whole Nations been darkened that they have not discerned no not gross iniquity to be sin Again being so prone as wear ●o fawn upon ourselves and to be ignorant as much as may be of our own deformities without the feeling Sense whereof we are most wretched even so much the more because not knowing them we cannot as much as desire to have them taken away How should our festered sores be cured but that God hath delivered a Law as sharp as the two-edged sword piercing the very closest and most unsearchable corners of the heart which the Law of Nature can hardly Humane Laws by no means possibly reach unto Hereby we know even secret concupiscence to be sin and are made fearful to offend though it be but in a wand'ring cogitation Finally of those things which are for direction of all the parts of our life needful and not impossible to be discerned by the Light of Nature itself are there not many which few men's natural capacity and some which no man's hath been able to find out They are saith St. Augustine but a few and they endued with great ripeness of wit and judgement free from all such affairs as might trouble their Meditations instructed in the sharpest and the subtlest points of Learning who have and that very hardly been able to find out but only the Immortality of the Soul The Resurrection of the Flesh what Man did ever at any time dream of having not heard it otherwise then from the School of Nature Whereby it appeareth how much we are bound to yield unto our Creator the Father of all Mercy Eternal Thanks for that he hath delivered his Law unto the World a Law wherein so many things are laid open clear and manifest as a Light which otherwise would have been buried in darkness not without the hazard or rather not with the hazard but with the certain loss of infinite thousands of Souls most undoubtedly now saved We see therefore that our sovereign good is desired naturally that God the Author of that natural desire had appointed natural means whereby to fulfil it that Man having utterly disabled his Nature unto those means hath had other revealed from God and hath received from Heaven a Law to teach him how that which is desired naturally must now supernaturally be attained Finally we see that because those latter exclude not the former quite and clean as unnecessary therefore together with such Supernatural duties as could not possibly have been otherwise known to the World the same Law that teacheth them teacheth also with them such Natural duties as could not by Light of Nature easily have been known 13. In the first Age of the World God gave Laws unto our Fathers The benefit of having Divine Laws written and by reason of the number of their days their memories served in stead of Books whereof the manifold imperfections and defects being known to God he mercifully relieved the same by often putting then in mind of that whereof it behoved them to be specially mindful In which respect we see how many times one thing hath been iterated unto sundry even of the best and wisest amongst them After that the lives of Men were shortened means more durable to preserve the Laws of God from oblivion and corruption grew in use not without precise direction from God himself First therefore of Moses it is said Exod. 24.4 Host 8. 12. that he wrote all the words of God not by his own private motion and device For God taketh this act to himself I have written Furthermore were not the Prophets following commanded also to do the like Unto the holy Evangelist St. john Apoc. 1.11 & 14.13 August lib. 1. de Cons. Evang cap. ult how often express charge is given Scribe write these things Concerning the rest of our Lords Disciples the words of St. Augustine are Quidquid ille de suis factis & dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperavit Now although we do not deny it to be a matter merely accidental unto the Law of God to be written although writing be not that which addeth authority and strength thereunto Finally though his Laws do require at our hands the same obedience howsoever they be delivered his providence notwithstanding which hath made principal choice of this way to deliver them who seeth not what cause we have to admire and magnify The singular benefit that hath grown unto the World by receiving the Laws of God even by his own appointment committed unto writing we are not able to esteem as the value thereof deserveth When the question therefore is whether we be now to seek for any revealed Law of God otherwhere then only in the Sacred Scripture whether we do now stand bound in the sight of God to yield to Traditions urged by the Church of Rome the same obedience and reverence we do to his Written Law honouring equally and adoring both as Divine Our answer is No. They that so earnestly plead for the Authority of Tradition as if nothing were more safely conveyed then that which spreadeth itself by report and descendeth by relation of former Generations unto the Ages that succeed are not all of them surely a miracle it were if they should be so simple as thus to persuade themselves howsoever if the simple were so persuaded they could be content perhaps very well to enjoy the benefit as they account it of that common Error What hazard the Truth is in when it passeth through the hands of report how maimed and deformed it becometh they are not they cannot possibly be ignorant Let them that are indeed of this mind consider but only that little of things Divine which the * I mean those Historical Matters concerning the ancient state of the first World the Deluge the Sons of Noah the Children of Israel's deliverance one of Egypt the life and doings of Moses their Captain with such like The certain truth whereof delivered in holy Scripture is of the Heathen which had them only by report so in ermingled with fabulous vanities that the most which remaineth in them to be seen in the show of dark and obscure steps where some part of the Truth hath gone Heathen have in such sort received How miserable had the State of the Church of God been long ere this if wanting the Sacred Scripture we had no Record of his Laws but only the memory of man receiving the same by report and relation from his Predecessors By Scripture it hath in the Wisdom of God seemed meet to deliver unto the World much but personally expedient to be practised of certain men many deep and profound points of Doctrine as being the main original ground whereupon the Precepts of duty depend many Prophecies the clear performance whereof might confirm the World in belief of things unseen many Histories to serve as Looking-glasses to behold the Mercy the Truth the Righteousness of God towards all that faithfully serve obey and honour him yea many entire Meditations of Piety to be as Patterns and Precedents in cases of like Nature many things needful for Explication many for Application unto particular occasions such as the Providence of God from time to time hath taken to have the several Books of his holy Ordinance written Be it then that together with the principal necessary Laws of God there are sundry other things written whereof we might haply be ignorant and yet be saved What shall we hereupon think them needless shall we esteem them as riotous Branches wherewith we sometimes behold most pleasant Vines overgrown Surely no more than we judge our hands or our eyes superfluous or what part soever which if our Bodies did want we might notwithstanding any such defect retain still the complete Being of Men. As therefore a complete Man is neither destitute of any part necessary and hath some parts whereof though the want could not deprive him of his essence yet to have them standeth him in singular stead in respect of the special uses for which they serve In like sort all those writings which contain in them the Law of God all those venerable Books of Scripture all those Sacred Tomes and Volumes of holy Writ they are with such absolute perfection framed that in them there neither wanteth any thing the lack whereof might deprive us of life nor any thing in such wise aboundeth that as being superfluous unfruitful and altogether needless we should think it no loss or danger at all if we did want it 14. Although the Scripture of God therefore be stored with infinite variety of matter in all kinds The sufficiency of Scripture unto the end for which it was ins●●cured although it abound with all sorts of Laws yet the principal intent of Scripture is to deliver the Laws of Duties Supernatural Oftentimes it hath been in very solemn manner disputed whether all things necessary unto salvation be necessarily set down in the holy Scriptures U●rum cognitio supernaturalis necessary ●i●tori sit sufficienter tralita in sacra Scriptura This question proposal by Se●●●u● is affirmatively concluded or no. If we define that necessary unto salvation whereby the way to salvation is in any sort made more plain apparent and easy to be known then is there no part of true Philosophy no Art of account no kind of Science rightly so called but the Scripture must contain it If only those things be necessary as surely none else are without the knowledge and practice whereof it is not the will and pleasure of God to make any ordinary grant of salvation it may be notwithstanding and oftentimes hath been demanded how the Books of holy Scripture contain in them all necessary things when of things necessary the very chief is to know what Books we are bound to esteem holy which point is confessed impossible for the Scripture itself to teach Whereunto we may answer with truth that there is not in the World any Art or Science which proposing unto itself an end as every one doth some end or other hath been therefore thought defective if it have not delivered simply whatsoever is needful to the same end but all kinds of knowledge have their certain bounds and limits each of them presupposeth many necessary things learned in other Sciences and known beforehand He that should take upon him to teach men how to be eloquent in pleading causes must needs deliver unto them whatsoever Precepts are requisite unto that end otherwise he doth not the thing which he taketh upon him Seeing then no man can plead eloquently unless he be able first to speak it followeth that ability of speech is in this case a thing most necessary Notwithstanding every man would think it ridiculous that he which undertaketh by writing to instruct an Orator should therefore deliver all the Precepts of Grammar because his Profession is to deliver Precepts necessary unto eloquent speech yet so that they which are to receive them be taught beforehand so much of that which is thereunto necessary as comprehendeth the skill of speaking In like sort albeit Scripture do profess to contain in it all things which are necessary unto salvation yet the meaning cannot be simply of all things which are necessary but all things that are necessary in some certain kind or form as all things that are necessary and either could not at all or could not easily be known by the light of Natural discourse all things which are necessary to be known that we may be saved but known with presupposal of knowledge concerning certain Principles whereof it receiveth us already persuaded and then instructeth us in all the residue that are necessary In the number of these Principles one is the Sacred Authority of Scripture Being therefore persuaded by other means that these Scriptures are the Oracles of God themselves do then teach us the rest and lay before us all the duties which God requireth at our hands as necessary unto salvation Further there hath been some doubt likewise whether containing in Scripture do import express setting down in plain terms or else comprehending in such sort that by reason we may from thence conclude all things which are necessary Against the former of these two constructions instance hath sundry ways been given For our belief in the Trinity the Co-eternity of the Son of God with his Father the proceeding of the Spirit from the Father and the Son the duty of Baptising Infants These with such other principal points the necessity whereof is by none denied are notwithstanding in Scripture no where to be found by express literal mention only deduced they are out of Scripture by collection This kind of comprehension in Scripture being therefore received still there is no doubt how far we are to proceed by collection before the full and complete measure of things necessary be made up For let us not think that as long as the World doth endure the wit of man shall be able to sound the bottom of that which may be concluded out of the Scripture especially if things contained by collection do so far extend as to draw in whatsoever may be at any time out of Scripture but probably and conjecturally surmised But let necessary collection be made requisite and we may boldly deny that of all those things which at this day are with so great necessity urged upon this Church under the name of Reformed Church Discipline there is any one which their Books hitherto have made manifest to be contained in the Scripture Let them if they can allege but one properly belonging to their cause and not common to them and us and show the deduction thereof out of Scripture to be necessary It hath been already showed how all things necessary unto salvation in such sort as before we have maintained must needs be possible for men to know and that many things are in such sort necessary the knowledge whereof is by the light of Nature impossible to be attained Whereupon it followeth that either all flesh is excluded from possibility of salvation which to think were most barbarous or else that God hath by supernatural means revealed the way of life so far forth as doth suffice For this cause God hath so many times and ways spoken to the sons of men Neither hath he by speech only but by writing also instructed and taught his Church The cause of writing hath been to the end that things by him revealed unto the World might have the longer continuance and the greater certainty of assurance by how much that which standeth on Record hath in both those respects pre-eminence above that which passeth from hand to hand and hath no Pens but the Tongues no Book but the ears of Men to record it The several Books of Scripture having had each some several occasion and particular purpose which caused them to be written the Contents thereof are according to the exigence of that special end whereunto they are intended Hereupon it groweth that every Book of holy Scripture doth take out of all kinds of truth a Ephes. 5.25 Natural b 2 Tim. 3 8. Historical c Ti● 1. 12. Foreign d 2 Pet. 2.4 Supernatural so much as the matter handled requireth Now for as much as there have been Reasons alleged sufficient to conclude that all things necessary unto salvation must be made known and that God himself hath therefore revealed his Will because otherwise men could not have known so much as is necessary his surceasing to speak to the World since the publishing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the delivery of the same in writing is unto us a manifest token that the way of salvation is now sufficiently opened and that we need no other means for our full instruction than God hath already furnished us withal The main drift of the whole New Testament John 23. 31. is that which St. john setteth down as the purpose of his own History These things are written that ye might believe that jesus is Christ the Son of God and that in believing ye might have life through his Name The drift of the Old that which the Apostle mentioneth to Timothy 2 Tim. 3. 15. The holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation So that the general end both of Old and New is one the difference between them consisting in this That the Old did make wise by teaching salvation through Christ that should come the New by teaching that Christ the Saviour is come and that Jesus whom the Jews did crucify and whom God did raise again from the dead is he When the Apostle therefore affirmeth unto Timothy that the Old was able to make him wise to salvation it was not his meaning that the Old alone can do this unto us which live sithence the publication of the New For he speaketh with presupposal of the Doctrine of Christ known also unto Timothy 2 Tim. 3. 14. and therefore first it is said Continue thou in those things which thou hast learned and art persuaded knowing of whom thou hast been taught them Again those Scriptures he granteth were able to make him wise to salvation Vers. 15. but he addeth through the Faith which is in Christ. Wherefore without the Doctrine of the New Testament teaching that Christ hath wrought the Redemption of the World which Redemption the Old did foreshow he should work it is not the former alone which can on our behalf perform so much as the Apostle doth avouch who presupposeth this when he magnifieth that so highly And as his words concerning the Books of ancient Scripture do not take place but with presupposal of the Gospel of Christ embraced so our own words also when we extol the complete sufficiency of the whole entire Body of the Scripture must in like sort be understood with this caution That the benefit of Nature's Light be not thought excluded as unnecessary because the necessity of a Diviner Light is magnified There is in Scripture therefore no defect but that any man what place or cailing soever he hold in the Church of God may have thereby the light of his Natural Understanding so perfected that the one being relieved by the other there can want no part of needful instruction unto any good work which God himself requireth be it Natural or Supernatural belonging simply unto men as men or unto men as they are united in whatsoever kind of Society It sufficeth therefore that Nature and Scripture do serve in such full sort that they both jointly and not severally either of thou be so complete that unto Everlasting felicity we need not the knowlegde of any thing more than these two may easily furnish our minds with on all sides And therefore they which add Traditions as a part of Supernatural necessary Truth have not the Truth but are in Error For they only plead that whatsoever God revealeth as necessary for all Christian men to do or believe the same we ought to embrace whether we have received it by writing or otherwise which no man denieth when that which they should confirm who claim so great reverence unto Traditions is that the same Traditions are necessarily to be acknowledged divine and holy For we do not reject them only because they are not in the Scripture but because they are neither in Scripture nor can otherwise sufficiently by any Reason be proved to be a God That which is of God and may be evidently proved to be so we deny not but it hath in his kind although unwritten yet the self same force and authority with the written Laws of God It is by ours acknowledged That the Apostles did in every Church institute and ordain some Rites and Customs serving for the seemliness of Church Regiment which Rites and Customs they have not committed unto writing Whitakerus adverius Bellarmen quast 6. cap ● Those Rites and Customs being known to be Apostolical and having the nature of things changeable were no less to be accounted of in the Church than other things of the like degree that is to say capable in like sort of alteration although set down in the Apostles writings For both being known to be Apostolical it is not the manner of delivering them unto the Church but the Author from whom they proceed which doth give them their force and credit 15. Laws being imposed either by each man upon himself Of Laws Posisitive contained in Scripture the mutability of certain of them and the general use of Scripture or by a Public Society upon the particulars thereof or by all the Nations of Men upon every several Society or by the Lord himself upon any or every of these There is not amongst these four kinds any one but containeth sundry both Natural and Positive Laws Impossible it is but that they should fall into a number of gross Errors who only take such Laws for Positive as have been made or invented of men and holding this Position hold also that all Positive and none but Positive Laws are mutable Laws Natural do always bind Laws Positive not so but only after they have been expressly and wittingly imposed Laws Positive there are in every of those kinds beforementioned As in the first kind the Promises which we have passed unto Men and the Vows we have made unto God for these ar● Laws which we tie ourselves unto and till we have so tied ourselves they bind us not Laws Positive in the second kind are such as the Civil Constitutions peculiar unto each particular Commonweal In the third kind the Law of Heraldry in War is Positive And in the last all the Judicials which God gave unto the people of Israel to observe And although no Laws but Positive be mutable yet all are not mutable which be Positive Positive Laws are either permanent or else changeable according as the matter itself is concerning which they were first made Whether God or Man be the Maker of them alteration they so far forth admit as the Matter doth exact Laws that concern Supernatural duties are all Positive and either concern Men supernaturally as Men or else as parts of a Supernatural Society which Society we call the Church To concern Men as Men supernaturally is to concern them as duties which belong of necessity to all and yet could not have been known by any to belong unto them unless God had opened them himself in as much as they do not depend upon any Natural ground at all out of which they may be deduced but are appointed of God to supply the defect of those natural ways of salvation by which we are not now able to attain thereunto The Church being a Supernatural Society doth differ from Natural Societies in this that the persons unto whom we associate ourselves in the one are Men simply considered as Men But they to whom we be joined in the other are God Angels and holy Men. Again the Church being hoth a Society and a Society Supernatural Although as it is a Society it have the self same original grounds which other Politic Societies have namely the Natural inclination which all men have unto sociable life and consent to some certain Bond of Association which Bond is the Law that appointeth what kind of order they shall be associated in Yet unto the Church as it is a Society Supernatural this is peculiar that part of the Bond of their Association which belongs to the Church of God must be a Law Supernatural which God himself hath revealed concerning that kind of worship which his people shall do unto him The substance of the service of God therefore so far forth as it hath in it any thing more than the Law of Reason doth reach may not be invented of Men as it is amongst the Heathens but must be received from God himself as always it hath been in the Church saving only when the Church hath been forgetful of her duty Wherefore to end with a general Rule concerning all the Laws which God hath tied men unto Those Laws Divine that belong whether naturally or supernaturally either to men as men or to men as they live in Politic Society or to men as they are of that Politic Society which is the Church without any further respect had unto any such variable accident as the Estate of men and of Societies of men and of the Church itself in this World is subject unto all Laws that so belong unto men Isai. 29. 13. Their fear towards me was taught by the precept of men they belong for ever yea although they be Positive Laws unless being Positive God himself which made them alter them The reason is because the subject or matter of Laws in general is thus far forth constant Which matter is that for the ordering whereof Laws were instituted and being instituted are not changeable without cause Neither can they have cause of change when that which gave them their first institution remaineth for ever one and the same On the other side Laws that were made for Men or Societies or Churches in regard of their being such as they do not always continue but may perhaps be clean otherwise awhile after and so may require to be otherwise ordered then before the Laws of God himself which are of this nature no man endued with common sense will ever deny to be of a different constitution from the former in respect of the ones constancy and the mutability of the other And this doth seem to have been the very cause why St. john doth so peculiarly term the doctrine that teacheth salvation by Jesus Christ Apoc. 14. 6. Plaro in sine 2. Polir Evangelium AEternum An eternal Gospel because there can be no reason wherefore the publishing thereof should be taken away and any other instead of it proclaimed as long as the World doth continue Whereas the whole Law of Rites and Ceremonies although delivered with so great solemnity is notwithstanding clean abrogated in as much as it had but temporary cause of Gods ordaining it But that we may at the length conclude this first general introduction unto the Nature and Original Birth as of all other Laws so likewise of those which the Sacred Scripture containeth concerning the Author whereof even Infidels have confessed that he can neither err nor deceive Albeit about things easy and manifest unto all men by common sense there needeth no higher consultation because as a man whose wisdom is in weighty affairs admired would take it in some disdain to have his counsel solemnly asked about a toy so the meanness of some things is such that to search the Scripture of God for the ordering of them were to derogate from the reverend Authority and Dignity of the Scripture no less than they do by whom Scriptures are in ordinary talk very idly applied unto vain and childish trifles yet better it were to be superstitious then profane To take from thence our direction even in all things great or small then to wade through matters of principal weight and moment without ever caring what the Law of God hath either for or against our designs Concerning the custom of the very Paynims thus much Strabo witnesseth a Geogr. lib. 16. Men that are civil do lead their lives after one Common Law appointing them what to do For that otherwise a multitude should with harmony amongst themselves concur in the doing of onething for this is civilly to live or that they should in any sort manage community of life it is not possible Now Laws or Statutes are of two sorts For they are either received from Gods or else from Men. And our ancient Predecessors did surely most honour and reverence that which was from the Gods For which cause Consultation with Oracles was a thing very usual and frequent in their times Did they make so much account of the voice of their gods which in truth were no gods and shall we neglect the precious benefit of conference with those Oracles of the true and living God whereof so great store is left to the Church and whereunto there is so free so plain and so easy access for all men b Psal. 11● 98 By thy Commandments this was David's confession unto God thou hast made me wiser than mine enemies Again I have had more understanding than all my Teachers because thy Testimonies are my Meditations What pains would not they have bestowed in the study of these Books who traveled Sea and Land to gain the treasure of some few days talk with men whose wisdom the World did make any reckoning of c Vid● Orphei Carmin● That little which some of the Heathens did chance to hear concerning such matter as the Sacred Scripture plentifully containeth they did in wonderful sort affect their speeches as oft as they make mention thereof are strange and such as themselves could not utter as they did other things But still acknowledged that their wits which did every where else conquer hardness were with profoundness here over-matched Wherefore seeing that God hath endued us with Sense to the end that we might perceive such things as this present life doth need and with reason left that which Sense cannot reach unto being both now and also in regard of a future estate hereafter necessary to be known should lie obscure Finally with the Heavenly support of Prophetical Revelation Philo de Mos. which doth open those hidden Mysteries that Reason could never have been able to find out or to have known the necessity of them unto our everlasting good Use we the precious gifts of God unto his glory and honour that gave them seeking by all means to know what the Will of our God is what righteous before him in his sight what holy perfect and good that we may truly and faithfully do it 16. Thus far therefore we have endeavoured in part to open A Conclusion showing how all this belongeth to the cause in question of what nature and force Laws are according unto their several kinds The Law which God with himself hath eternally set down to follow in his own works The Law which he hath made for his Creatures to keep The Law of natural and necessary Agents The Law which Angels in Heaven obey The Law whereunto by the Light of Reason Men find themselves bound in that they are Men The Law which they make by composition for Multitudes and Politic Societies of Men to be guided by The Law which belongeth unto each Nation The Law that concerneth the Fellowship of all And lastly The Law which God himself hath supernaturally revealed It might peradventure have been more popular and more plausible to vulgar ears if this first discourse had been spent in extolling the force of Laws in showing the great necessity of them when they are good and in aggravating their offence by whom Public Laws are injuriously traduced But for as much as with such kind of matter the Passions of Men are rather stirred one way or other than their knowledge any way set forward unto the trial of that whereof there is doubt made I have therefore turned aside from that beaten path and chosen though a less easy yet a more profitable way in regard of the end we propose Lest therefore any man should marvel whereunto all these things tend● the drift and purpose of all is this even to show in what manner as every good and perfect gift Jam. 1.17 so this very gift of good and perfect Laws is derived from the Father of Lights to teach men a reason why just and reasonable Laws are of so great force of so great use in the World and to inform their m●ndeses with some method of reducing the Laws whereof there is present controversy unto their first original causes that so it may be in every particular Ordinance thereby the better discerned whether the same be reasonable just and righteous or no. Is there any thing which can either be thoroughly understood or sound judged of till the very first causes and principles from which originally it springeth Arist. Phys. 1. 1. cap. 1. be made manifest If all parts of knowledge have been thought by wise men to be then most orderly delivered and proceeded in when they are drawn to their first original seeing that our whole question concerneth the quality of Ecclesiastical Laws let it not seem a labour superfluous that in the entrance thereunto all these several kinds of Laws have been considered in as much as they all concur as principles they all have their forcible operations therein although not all in like aprent and manifest manner By means whereof it cometh to pass that the force which they have is not observed of many Easier a great deal it is for Men by Law to be taught what they ought to do then instructed how to judge as they should do of Law the one being a thing which belongeth generally unto all the other such as none but the wiser and more judicious sort can perform Arist. Ethic. 10. Intelligie de legum qualitate judicium Yea the wisest are always touching this point the readiest to acknowledge that sound to judge of a Law is the weightiest thing which any man can take upon him But if we will give judgement of the Laws under which we live first let that Law Eternal be always before our eyes as being of principal force and moment to breed in religious minds a dutiful estimation of all Laws the use and benefit whereof we see because there can be no doubt but that Laws apparently good are as it were things copied out of the very Tables of that High Everlasting Law even as the Book of that Law hath said concerning itself Prov. 8. 15. By me King's reign and by me Princes decree justice. Not as if Men did behold that Book and accordingly frame their Laws but because it worketh in them because it discovereth and as it were readeth itself to the World by them when the Laws which they make are righteous Furthermore although we perceive not the goodness of Laws made nevertheless sith things in themselves may have that which we peradventure discern not Should not this breed a fear into our hearts how we speak or judge in the worse part concerning that the unadvised disgrace whereof may be no mean dishonour to him towards whom we profess all submission and awe Surely there must be very manifest iniquity in Laws against which we shall be able to justify our contumelious Invectives The chiefest root whereof when we use them without cause is ignorance how Laws inferior are derived from that supreme or highest Law The first that receive impression from thence are Natural agents The Law of whose operations might be haply thought less pertinent when the question is about Laws for Humane actions but that in those very actions which most spiritually and supernaturally concern men the Rules and Axioms of Natural operations have their force What can be more immediate to our Salvation than our persuasion concerning the Law of Christ towards his Church What greater assurance of love towards his Church than the knowledge of that Mystical Union whereby the Church is become as near unto Christ as any one part of his flesh is unto other That the Church being in such sort his he must needs protect it what proof more strong then if a manifest Law so require which Law it is not possible for Christ to violate And what other Law doth the Apostle for this allege but such as is both common unto Christ with us and unto us with other things Natural Ephes. 5. 2. No man hateth his own flesh but doth love and cherish it The Axioms of that Law therefore whereby Natural agents are guided have their use in the Moral yea even in the Spiritual actions of men and consequently in all Laws belonging unto men howsoever Neither are the Angels themselves so far severed from us in their kind and manner of working but that between the Law of their Heavenly operations and the Actions of men in this our state of mortality such correspondence there is as maketh it expedient to know in some sort the one for the others more perfect direction Would Angels acknowledge themselves Fellow-servants with the Sons of Men Apoc. 19 10. but that both having One Lord there must be some kind of Law which is one and the same to both whereunto their obedience being perfecter is to our weaker both a Pattern and a Spur Or would the Apostles speaking of that which belongeth unto Saints 1 Pet. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 10. 1 Tim 5. 21. as they are linked together in the Bond of Spiritual Society so often make mention how Angels are therewith delighted if in things publicly done by the Church we are not somewhat to respect what the Angels of Heaven do Yea so far hath the Apostle St. Paul proceeded as to signify that even about the outward Orders of the Church which serve but for comeliness some regard is to be had of Angels 1 Cor. 11. 10. who best like us when we are most like unto them in all parts of decent demeanour So that the Law of Angels we cannot judge altogether impertinent unto the affairs of the Church of God Our largeness of speech how men do find out what things Reason bindeth them of necessity to observe and what it guideth them to choose in things which are left as Arbitary the care we have had to declare the different Nature of Laws which severally concern all men from such as belong unto men either civilly or spiritually associated such as pertain to the Fellowship which Nations or which Christian Nations have amongst themselves and in the last place such as concerning every or any of these God himself hath revealed by his holy Word all serveth but to make manifest that as the Actions of men are of sundry distinct kinds so the Laws thereof must accordingly be distinguished There are in men operations some Natural some Rational some Supernatural some Politic some finally Ecclesiastical Which if we measure not each by his own proper Law whereas the things themselves are so different there will be in our understanding and judgement of them confusion As that first Error showeth whereon our opposites in this cause have grounded themselves For as they rightly maintain that God must be glorified in all things and that the actions of men cannot tend unto his glory unless they be framed after his Law So it is their Error to think that the only Law which God hath appointed unto men in that behalf is the Sacred Scripture By that which we work naturally as when we breath sleep move Psal. 148. 7 8 9 we set forth the glory of God as Natural agents do albeit we have no express purpose to make that our end nor any advised determination therein to follow a Law but do that we do for the most part not as much as thinking thereon Rom. 1. 2● In reasonable and Moral actions another Law taketh place a Law by the observation whereof we glorify God in such sort as no Creature else under Man is able to do because other Creatures have not judgement to examine the quality of that which is done by them and therefore in that they do they neither can accuse not approve themselves Men do both as the Apostle teacheth yea those men which have no written Law of God to show what is good or evil Rom. 2. 15. carry written in their hearts the Universal Law of Mankind the Law of Reason whereby they judge as by a Rule which God hath given unto all Men for that purpose The Law of Reason doth somewhat direct Men how to honour God as their Creator but how to glorify God in such sort as is required to the end he may be an Everlasting Saviour this we are taught by Divine Law which Law both ascertaineth the truth and supplieth unto us the want of that other Law So that in Moral actions Divine Law helpeth exceedingly the Law of Reason to guide Man's life but in Supernatural it alone guideth Proceed we further Let us place Man in some Public Society with others whether Civil or Spiritual and in this case there is no remedy but we must add yet a further Law For although even here likewise the Laws of Nature and Reason be of necessary use yet somewhat over and besides them is necessary namely Humane and Positive Law together with that Law which is of commerce between Grand Societies the Law of Nations and of Nations Christian. For which cause the Law of God hath likewise said Rom. 13. 1. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers The Public Power of all Societies is above every Soul contained in the same Societies And the principal use of that Power is to give Laws unto all that are under it which Laws in such case we must obey unless there be reason showed which may necessarily enforce That the Law of Reason or of God doth enjoin the contrary Because except our own private and but probable resolutions be by the Law of Public Determinations overruled we take away all possibility of sociable life in the World A plainer example whereof then ourselves we cannot have How cometh it to pass that we are at this present day so rend with mutual contentions and that the Church is so much troubled about the Polity of the Church No doubt if men had been willing to learn how many Laws their actions in this life are subject unto and what the true force of each Law is all these controversies might have died the very day they were first brought forth It is both commonly said and truly That the best men otherwise are not always the best in regard of Society The reason whereof is for that the Law of men's actions is one if they be respected only as Men and another when they are considered as parts of a Politic Body Many men there are than whom nothing is more commendable when they are singled Arist. Ethic. lib. 5. cap. 3. And yet in Society with others none less fit to answer the duties which are looked for at their hands Yea I am persuaded that of them with whom in this cause we strive there are whose betters among men would be hardly found if they did not live amongst men but in some Wilderness by themselves The cause of which their disposition so unframable unto Societies wherein their live is for that they discern not aright what place and force these several kinds of Laws ought to have in all their actions Is there question either concerning the Regiment of the Church in general or about Conformity between one Church and another or of Ceremonies Offices Powers Jurisdictions in our own Church Of all these things they judge by that rule which they frame to themselves with some show of probability and what seemeth in that sort convenient the same they think themselves bound to practice the same by all means they labour mightily to uphold whatsoever any Law of Man to the contrary hath determined they weigh it not Thus by following the Law of Private Reason where the Law of Public should take place they breed disturbance For the better inuring therefore of men's minds with the true distinction of Laws and of their several force according to the different kind and quality of our actions it shall not peradventure be amiss to show in some one example how they all take place To seek no further job 31. 3. Psal. 145. 19 16. let but that be considered than which there is not any thing more familiar unto us our food What things are food and what are not we judge naturally by sense neither need we any other Law to be our Director in that behalf than the selfsame which is common unto us with Beasts But when we come to consider of food as of a benefit which God of his bounteous goodness hath provided for all things living the Law of Reason doth here require the duty of Thankfulness at our hands towards him at whose hands we have it And lest Appetite in the use of Food should lead us beyond that which is meet we owe in this case obedience to that Law of Reason which teacheth mediocrity in meats and drinks The same things Divine Law teacheth also as at large we have showed it doth all parts of Moral duty whereunto we all of necessity stand bound in regard of the life to come But of certain lendes of food the Jews sometime had and we ourselves likewise have a Mystical Religious and Supernatural use they of their Paschal Lamb and Oblations we of our Bread and Wine in the Eucharist Which use none but Divine Law could institute Now as we live in Civil Society the State of the Commonwealth wherein we live both may and doth require certain Laws concerning food which Laws saving only that we are Members of the Commonwealth where they are of force we should not need to respect as Rules of Action whereas now in their place and kind they must be respected and obeyed Yea the selfsame matter is also a subject wherein sometime Ecclesiastical Laws have place so that unless we will be Authors of Confusion in the Church our private discretion which otherwise might guide us a contrary way must here submit itself to be that way guided which the Public Judgement of the Church hath thought better In which case that of Zonara's concerning Fasts may be remembered Zonarin Can. Apust 65. Fast are good but let good things be done in good and convenient manner He that transgresseth in his Fasting the Orders of the holy Fathers the Positive Laws of the Church of Christ must be plainly told that good things do lose the grace of their goodness when in good sort they are not performed And as here men's private fancies must give place to the higher Judgement of that Church which is in Authority a Mother over them So the very Actions of whole Churches have in regard of Commerce and Fellowship with other Churches been subject to Laws concerning food the contrary unto which Laws had else been thought more convenient for them to observe as by that order of Abstinence from Strangled and Blood may appear an order grounded upon that Fellowship which the Churches of the Gentiles had with the Jews Acts 15.20 Thus we see how even one and the selfsame thing is under divers considerations conveyed through many Laws and that to measure by any one kind of Law all the Actions of Men were to confound the admirable Order wherein God hath disposed all Laws each as in nature so in degree distinct from other Wherefore that here we may briefly end Of Law there can be no less acknowledge then that her Seat is the Bosom of God her Voice the Harmony of the World All things in Heaven and Earth do her homage the very lest as feeling her care and the greatest as not exempted from her Power Both Angels and Men and Creatures of what condition soever though each in different sort and manner yet all with uniform consent admiring her as the Mother of their Peace and Joy OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity Book II. Concerning their First Position who urge Reformation in the Church of England Namely That Scripture is the only rule of all things which in this life may be done be men The Matter contained in this Second Book 1. AN Answer to their first Proof brought out of Scripture Prov. 2. 9 2. To their second 1 Cor. 10. 31. 3. To their third 1 Tim. 4. 5. 4. To their fourth Rom. 14. 23. 5. To their proofs out of Fathers who dispute negatively from the Authority of Holy Scripture 6. To their proof by the Scriptures custom of disputing from Divine Authority negatively 7. An Examination of their Opinion concerning the force of Arguments taken from humane Authority for the ordering of men's actions and persuasions 8. A Declaration what the truth is in this matter AS that which in the Title hath been proposed for the matter whereof we treat is only the Ecclesiastical Law whereby we are governed So neither is it my purpose to maintain any other thing then that which therein Truth and Reason shall approve For concerning the dealings of men who administer Government and unto whom the Execution of that Law belongeth they have their Judge who sitteth in Heaven and before whose Tribunal Seat they are accountable for whatsoever abuse or corruption which being worthily misliked in this Church the want either of Care or of Conscience in them hath bred We are no Patrons of those things therefore the best defence whereof is speedy redress and amendment That which is of God we defend to the uttermost of that ability which he hath given that which is otherwise let it wither even in the root from whence it hath sprung Wherefore all these abuses being severed and set apart which use from the corruption of men and not from the Laws themselves Come we to those things which in the very whole entire form of our Church-Polity have been as we persuade ourselves injuriously blamed by them who endeavour to overthrow the same and instead thereof to establish a much worse only through a strong misconceit they have that the same is grounded on Divine Authority Now whether it be that through an earnest longing desire to see things brought to a peaceable end I do but imagine the matters whereof we contend to be fewer than indeed they are or else for that in truth they are fewer when they come to be discussed by Reason than otherwise they seem when by heat of contention they are divided into many slips and of every Branch an heap is made Surely as now we have drawn them together choosing out those things which are requisite to be severally all discussed and omitting such mean Specialties as are likely without any great labour to fall afterwards of themselves I know no cause why either the number or the length of these Controversies should diminish our hope of seeing them end with concond and love on all sides which of his infinite love and goodness the Father of all peace and unity grant Unto which Scope that our endeavour may the more directly tend it seemeth fittest that first those things be examined which are as seeds from whence the rest that ensue have grown And of such the most general is that wherewith we are here to make our entrance A Question not moved I think any where in other Churches and therefore in ours the more likely to be soon I trust determined the rather for that it hath grown from no other root then only a desire to enlarge the necessary use of the Word of God which desire hath begotten an Error enlarging it further than as we are persuaded soundness of truth will bear For whereas God hath left sundry kinds of Laws unto men and by all those Laws the actions of men are in some sort directed T. C. l. 1. p. 59 60. They hold that one only Law the Scripture must be the Rule to direct in all things even so far as to the taking up of a Rush or Straw About which point there should not need any question to grow and that which is grown might presently end if they did yield but to these two restraints The first is Not to extend the actions whereof they speak so low as that Instance doth import of taking up a Straw but rather keep themselves at the least within the compass of Moral Actions Actions which have in them Vice of Virtue The second Not to exact at our hands for every action the knowledge of some place of Scripture out of which we stand bound to deduce it as by divers Testimonies they seek to enforce but rather as the truth is so to acknowledge that it sufficeth if such actions be framed according to the Law of Reason the general Axioms Rules and Principles of which Law being so frequent in Holy Scripture there is no let but in that regard even out of Scripture such duties may be deduced by some kind of Consequence as by long circuit of Deduction it may be that even all Truth out of any Truth may be concluded howbeit no man bound in such sort to deduce all his actions out of Scripture as if either the place be to him unknown whereon they may be concluded or the reference unto that place not presently considered of the action shall in that respect be condemned as unlawful In this we descent and this we are presently to examine 1. In all parts of knowledge rightly so termed things most general are most strong Thus it must be inasmuch as the certainty of our persuasion touching particulars dependeth altogether upon the credit of those Generalities out of which they grow The first pretended proof of the first Position out of Scripture Prov. 2. 9 T. C. lib. 1. p. 20. I say That the Word of God containeth whatsoeu●r things can fall into any part of man's life For in Solomon saith in the second Chapter of the Proverbs My son if thou receive my words etc. then they shalt understand justice and iudgement● and equity and every good way Albeit therefore every cause admit not such Infallible Evidence of proof as leaveth no possibility of doubt or scruple behind it yet they who claim the general assent of the whole world unto that which they teach and do not fear to give very hard and heavy sentence upon as many as refuse to embrace the same must have special regard that their first Foundations and Grounds be more than slender probabilities This whole Question which hath been moved about the kind of Church Regiment we could not but for our own resolution sake endeavour to unrip and sister following therein as near as we might the conduct or that judicial Method which serveth best for invention of Truth By means whereof having found this the Head Theorem of all their Discourses who plead for the change of Ecclesiastical Government in England namely That the Scripture of God is in such sort the rule of humane actions that simply whatsoever we do and are not by it directed thereunto the same is sin we hold it necessary that the proofs hereof be weighed Be they of weight sufficient or otherwise it is not ours to judge and determine only what difficulties there are which as yet withhold our assent till we be further and better satisfied I hope no indifferent amongst them will scorn or refuse to hear First therefore whereas they allege That Wisdom doth teach men every good way and have thereupon inferred that no way is good in any kind of action unless Wisdom do by Scripture lead unto it See they not plainly how they restrain the manifold ways which Wisdom hath to teach men by unto one only way of teaching which is by Scripture The bounds of Wisdom are large and within them much is contained Wisdom was Adam's Instructor in Paradise Wisdom endued the Fathers who lived before the Law with the knowledge of holy things by the wisdom of the Law of God David attained to excel others in understanding Psal. 119. 95. and Solomon likewise to excel David by the selfsame wisdom of God teaching him many things besides the Law The ways of well-doing are in number even as many as are the kinds of voluntary actions so that whatsoever we do in this World and may do it ill we show ourselves therein by well-doing to be wise Now if wisdom did teach men by Scripture not only all the ways that are right and good in some certain kind according to that of a 2 Tim. 3. 16. The whole Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to improve to correct and to instruct in righteousness that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect unto all good works He meaneth all and only those good works which belong unto us as we are Men of God and which unto salvation are necessary Or if we understand by men of God God's Ministers there is not required in them an universal skill of every good work or way but an hability to teach whatsoever men are bound to do that they may be saved And with this kind of knowledge the Scripture sufficeth to furnish them as touching matter S. Paul concerning the use of Scripture but did simply without any manner of exception restraint or distinction teach every way of doing well There is no Art but Scripture should teach it because every Art doth teach the way how to do something or other well To teach men therefore Wisdom professeth and to teach them every good way but not every good way by one way of teaching Whatsoever either men on Earth or the Angels of Heaven do know it is as a drop of that unemptiable Fountain of Wisdom which Wisdom hath diversely imparted her treasures unto the World As her ways are of sundry kinds so her manner of teaching is not merely one and the same Some things she openeth by the Sacred Books of Scripture some things by the glorious works of Nature with some things she inspireth them from above by spiritual influence in some things she leadeth and traineth them only by worldly experience and practice We may not so in any one special kind admire her that we disgrace her in any other but let all her ways be according unto their place and degree adored 2. That all things be done to the glory of God The second Proof out of Scripture 1 Cor. 10. 32. T. C. l. 1 p. 26 S. Paul saith That whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do we must do it to the glory of God but no man can glorify God in any thing but by obedience and there is no obedience but in respect of the commandment and word of God therefore it followeth that the Word of God directeth a man to all his actions the blessed Apostle it is true exhorteth The glory of God is the admirable excellency of that Virtue Divine which being made manifest causeth Men and Angels to extol his greatness and in regard thereof to fear him By being glorified it is not meant that he doth receive any augmentation of glory at our hands but his Name we glorify when we testify our acknowledgement of his glory Which albeit we most effectually do by the virtue of obedience nevertheless it may be perhaps a Question Whether S. Paul did mean that we sin as oft as ever we go about any thing without an express intent and purpose to obey God therein He saith of himself I do in all things please all men seeking not mine own commodity but rather the good of many that they may be saved Shall it hereupon be thought that St. Paul did not move either hand or foot but with express intent even thereby to further the common salvation of men We move we sleep we take the cup at the hand of our friend a number of things we oftentimes do only to satisfy some natural desire without present express and actual reference unto any Commandment of God Unto his glory even these things are done which we naturally perform and not only that which morally and spiritually we do For by every effect proceeding from the most concealed instincts of Nature his power is made manifest But it doth not therefore follow that of necessity we shall sin unless we expressly intent this in every such particular But be it a thing which requireth no more then only our general presupposed willingness to please God in all things or be it a matter wherein we cannot so glorify the Name of God as we should without an actual intent to do him in that particular some special obedience yet for any thing there is in this sentence alleged to the contrary God may be glorified by obedience and obeyed by performance of his will and his will be performed with an actual intelligent desire to fulfil that Law which maketh known what his will is although no special clause or sentence of Scripture be in every such action set before men's eyes to warrant it For Scripture is not the only Law whereby God hath opened his will touching all things that may be done but there are other kind of Laws which notify the will of God as in the former Book hath been proved at large nor is there any Law of God whereunto he doth not account our obedience his glory Do therefore all things unto the glory of God saith the Apostle be inoffensive both to the jews and Grecians and the Church of God even as I please all then in all things not seeking mine own commodity but manies that they may be saved In the least thing done disobediently towards God or offensively against the good of men whose benefit we ought to seek for as for our own we plainly show that we do not acknowledge God to be such as indeed he is and consequently that we glorify him not This the blessed Apostle teacheth but doth any Apostle teach that we cannot glorify God otherwise then only in doing what we find that God in Scripture commandeth us to do The Churches dispersed amongst the Heathen in the East part of the World are by the Apostle S. Peter exhorted 1 Pet. 2. 11. to have their conversation honest amongst the Gentiles that they which spoke evil of them as of evil doers might by the good works which they should see glorify God in the day of visitation As long as that which Christians did was good and no way subject unto just reproof their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the Heathens conversion unto Christ. Seeing therefore this had been a thing altogether impossible but that Infidels themselves did descents in matters of life and conversation when believers did well and when otherwise when they glorified their Heavenly Father and when not It followeth that somethings wherein God is glorified may be some other way known then only but the sacred Scripture of which Scripture the Gentiles being utterly ignorant did notwithstanding judge rightly of the quality of Christian men's actions Most certain it is that nothing but only sin doth dishonoar God So that to glorify him in all things is to do nothing whereby the Name of God may be blasphemed nothing whereby the salvation of Jew or Grecian Rom. 2. 34. or any in the Church of Christ may be let or hindered 1 Cor. 10. 33. Rom. 2. 23. nothing whereby his Law is transgressed But the Question is Whether only Scripture do show whatsoever God is glorified in 3. And though meats and drinks be said to be sanctified by the Word of God and by Prayer The first Scripture proi 1 Tim. 4. 5. and thirds which S. Easil said at moves and drinks 1 that they are cause tied into us by ●●●●● of God the same is do desynd ersloted of all things less whenever we have the used of The forth Scripture prof Tim. 4. 23. T. C. l. 1. p. 87. yet neither is this a Reason sufficient to prove That by Scripture we must of necessity be directed in every light and common thing which is incident unto any part of Man's life Only it showeth that unto us the Word that is to say the Gospel of Christ having not delivered any such difference of things clean and unclean as the Law of Moses did unto the Jews there is no cause but that we may use indifferently all things as long as we do not like Swine take the benefit of them without a thankful acknowledgement of his liberality and goodness by whose Providence they are enjoyed And therefore the Apostle gave warning beforeshifhed to that need of such as should enjoyed to abstain from meats which God hath streased to be received will thanksgiving by them which believe and know the Truth For every creature of God in good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving because it sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer The Gospel by not malling many things unclean as the Law did hath sanctified those things generally to asked which particularly each man unto himself must sanctify by a reverend and holy the ●● which will hardly be down so far as to serve their purpose who have imagined the World in such sort to sanctify all things that neither food saw he tastest nor Principle on nor in the World any thing done but this deed must needs be sin in them which do not first know it appointed unto them by Scripture before they do it 4. But to come unto that which of all other things in Scripture is most stood upon that place of S. Paul they say is of all other most clear where speaking of those things which are called indifferent in the end he concludeth That whatsoever is not of faith of sin his Faith is not But th' respect of the Word of God therefore whatsoever is not done by the Word of God is sin Whereunto the answer that albest the name of Faith being properly and strictly taken it must needs have reference unto some uttered word as the Object of belief nevertheless sith the ground of credit is the credibility of things credited and things are made credible either by the known condition and quality of the utterer or by the manifest likelihood of Truth Psal. 19.8 Apoc. 3. 14. 2 Cor. 1. 18. which they have in themselves hereupon it riseth that whatsoever we are persuaded of the same we are generally said to believe In which generality the Object of Faith may not so narrowly be restrained as if the same did extend no further then to the only Scriptures of God John 10. 38. Though saith our Saviour ye believe not me believe my works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him The other Disciples said unto Thomas John 20. 25. We have seen the Lord but his answer unto them was Except I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into them I will not believe Can there be any thing more plain then that which by these two Sentences appeareth Namely That there may be a certain belief grounded upon other assurance than Scripture any thing more clear then that we are said not only to believe the things which we know by another's relation but even whatsoever we are certainly persuaded of whether it be by reason or by sense Forasmuch therefore as a And if any will say that S. Paul meaneth there a full ●●● and perwasion that that which he doth is well it is granted that S. Paul doth is well done I grant it But from whance can that spring but from Faith How can we persuade and assure ourselves that we do well but whereas we have the Word of God for our warrant T. C. l. 1. c. 27. it is granted that S. Paul doth mean nothing else by Faith but only a full persuasion that that which we do it well done against which kind of Faith or persuasion as S. Paul doth count it sin to enterprise any thing b What also that so me even of those Heathen men have taught that nothing wight to be done whereof thou douhtest whether it be right or wrong Whereby if appeareth that even those which has no knowledge of the Word of God did see much of the equity of this which the Apostle requireth of a Christian man Aut that the chiefest diffarence is that where they seat men for the difference of good and evil to the light of reason In such things the Apostle sends them to the School of Christ in his Word which only is able through faith to give them assurance and resolution in their doings T. C. l. 1. p. 60. so likewise some of the very Heathen have taught as Tully That nothing aught to be done whereof thou doubtest whether it be right or wrong whereby it appeareth that even those which had no knowledge of the Word of God did see much of the equity of this which the Apostle requireth of a Christian man I hope we shall not seen altogether unnecessarily to doubt of the soundness of their opinion who think simply that nothing but only the Word of God can give us assurance in any thing we are to do and resolve us that we do well For might not the Jews have been fully persuaded that they did well to think if they had so thought that in Christ God the Father was although the only ground of this their Faith had been the wonderful works they saw him do Might not yea did not Thomas fully in the end persuade himself that he did well to think that body which now was raised to be the same which had been crucified John 20.21 That which gave Thomas this assurance was his sense Thomas Because thou hast seen thou believest saith our Saviour What Scripture had Tully for his assurance Yet I nothing doubt but that they who allege him think he did well to set down in Writing a thing so consonarie unto truth Finally We all believe that the Scriptures of God are Sacred and that they have proceeded from God ourselves we assure that we do right well in so believing We have for this point a Demoustration sound and infallible But it is not the Word of God which doth or possibly can assure us that we do well to think it his Word For if any one Book of Scripture did give testimony to all yet sell that Scripture which giveth credit to the rest would require another Scripture to give credit unto it neither could we ever come unto any pause whereon to rest our assurance this way so that unless beside Scripture there were something which might assure us that we do well we could nor think we do well no not in being assured that Scripture is a sacred and holy Rule of well-doing On which determination we might be contented to stay ourselves without further proceeding herein but that we are drawn on into a larger speech by reason of their so great earnestness who beat more and more upon these last alleged words as being of all other most pregnant Whereas therefore they still argue T.C. 1. 2. p. 58. That wheresoever faith is wanting there is sin and in every action not commanded faith is wanting Ergo in every action not commanded there is sin I would demand of them First forasmuch as the nature of things indifferent is neither to be commanded nor forbidden but left free and arbitrary how there can be any thing indifferent i● for want of Faith sin be committed when any thing not commanded is done So that of necessity they must add somewhat and at least wise thus set it down In every action not commanded of God or permitted with approbation Faith is wanting and for want of Faith there is sin The next thing we are to inquire is What those things be which God permitteth with approbation and how we may know them to be so permitted When there are unto one end sundry means as for example for the sustenance of our bodies many kinds of food many sorts of raiment to  our nakedness and so in other things of like condition Here the end itself being necessary but not so any one mean thereunto necessary that our bodies should he both fed and clothed howbeit no one kind of food or raiment necessary therefore we hold these things free in their own nature and indifferent The choice is left to our own discretion except a principal Bond of some higher duty remove the indifferency that such things have in themselves Their indifferency is removed if either we take away our own liberty Acts. 5. as Ananias did for whom to have sold or held his Possessions it was indifferent till his Solemn Vow and Promise into God had strictly bound him one only way or if God himself have precisely abridged the same by restraining us unto or by barring us from some one or more things of many which otherwise were in themselves altogether indifferent Many fashions of Priestly Attire there were whereof Aaron and his Sons might have had their free choice without sin Exod. 28.43 Levit. 11. but that God expressly tied them unto one All meats indifferent unto the Jew were it not that God by name excepted some as Swine's flesh Impossible therefore it is we should otherwise think then that what things God doth neither command nor forbid the same he permitteth with approbation either to be done or left undone 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful unto me saith the Apostle speaking as it seemeth in the person of the Christian Gentile for maintenance of liberty in things indifferent whereunto his answer is that nevertheless All things are not expedient in things indifferent there is a choice they are not always equally expedient Now in things although not commanded of God yet lawful because they are permitted the Question is What light shall show us the conveniency which one hath above another For answer their final Determination is That whereas the Heathen did send men for the difference of good and evil to the light of reason in such things the Apostle sendeth us to the school of Christ in his Word which only is able through faith to give us assurance and resolution in our doings Which word Only is utterly without possibility of ever being proved For what if it were true concerning things indifferent that unless the Word of the Lord had determined of the free use of them there could have been no lawful use of them at all which notwithstanding is untrue because it is not the Scriptures setting down such things as indifferent but their not setting down as necessary that doth make them to be indifferent yet this to our present purpose serveth nothing at all We inquire not now Whether any thing be free to be used which Scripture hath nor set down as free but concerning things known and acknowledged to be indifferent whether particularly in choosing any one of them before another we sin if any thing but Scripture direct us into this our choice When many meats are set before me all are indifferent none unlawful I take one as most convenient If Scripture require me so to do then is not the thing indifferent because I must do what Scripture requireth They are all indifferent I might take any Scripture doth not require of me to make any special choice of one I do notwithstanding make choice of one my discretion teaching me so to do A hard case that hereupon I should be justly condemned of sin Not let any man think that following the judgement of natural discretion in such cases we can have no assurance that we please God For to the Author and God of our nature how shall any operation proceeding in natural sort he in that respect unacceptable The nature which himself hath given to work by he cannot but be delighted with when we exercise the same any way without Commandment of his to the contrary My desire is to make this cause so manifest that if it were possible no doubt or scruple concerning the same might remain in any man's cogitation Some truths there are the verity whereof time doth alter As it is now true that Christ is risen from the dead which thing was not true at such time as Christ was living on earth and had not suffered It would be known therefore whether this which they teach concerning the sinful stain of all actions not commanded of God be a truth that doth now appertain unto us only or a perpetual truth in such sort that from the first beginning of the world unto the last consummation thereof it neither hath been nor can be otherwise I see not how they can restrain this unto any particular time how they can think it true now and not always true that in every action not commanced there is for want of Faith sin Then let them cast back their eyes unto former generations of men and mark what was done in the prime of the World Seth Enoch Noah Sem Abraham job and the rest that lived before any syllable of the Law of God was written did they not sin as much as we do in every action not commanded That which God is unto us by his Sacred Word the same he was unto them by such like means as Eliphaz in job describeth Job 2. 10. If therefore we sin in every action which the Scripture commandeth us not it followeth that they did the like in all such actions as were not by Revelation from Heaven exacted at their hands Unless God from Heaven did by vision still show them what to do they might do nothing not eat not drink not sleep not move Yea but even as in darkness candle light may serve to guide men's steps which to use in the day were madness so when God had once delivered his Law in writing it may be they are of opinion that then it must needs be sin for men to do any thing which was not there commanded them to do whatsoever they might do before Let this be granted and it shall hereupon plainly ensue either that the light of Scripture once shining in the world all other light of Nature is therewith in such sort drowned that now we need it not neither may we longer use it or if it stand us in any stead yet as Aristotle speaketh of men whom nature hath framed for the state of servitude saying Arist. Pal. 11 They have reason so far forth as to conceive when others direct them but little or none in directing themselves by themselves so likewise our natural capacity and judgement must serve us only for the right understanding of that which the sacred Scripture teacheth Had the Prophets who succeeded Moses or the blessed Apostles which followed them been settled in this persuasion never would they have taken so great pains in gathering together natural Arguments thereby to teach the faithful their Duties To use unto them any other Motive than Scriptures est Thou it is written had been to teach them other grounds of their Actions then Scripture which I grant they allege commonly but not only Only Scripture they should have alleged had they been thus persuaded that so far forth we do sin as we do any thing otherwise directed then by Scripture S. Augustine was resolute in points of Christianity to credit none how godly and learned soever he were unless he confirmed his sentence by the Scriptures or by some reason not contrary to them Let them therefore with S. Augustine reject and condemn that which is not grounded either on the Scripture August Ep. 18. or on some reason not contrary to Scripture and we are ready to give them our hands in token of friendly consent with them 5. But against this it may be objected The First Assertion endeavoured to be proved by the use of taking Arguments Negatively from the Authority of Scripture which kind of disputing is mual in the Fathers and is That the Fathers do nothing more usually in their Books then draw Arguments from the Scripture negatively in reproof of that which is evil Scriptures teach it not avoid it therefore these disputes with the Fathers are ordinary neither is it hard to show that the Prophets themselves have so reasoned Which Arguments being sound and good it should seem that it cannot be unsound or evil to hold still the same Asserrion against which hitherto we have disputed For if it stand with reason thus to argue Such a thing is not taught us in Scripture therefore we may not receive or allow it how should it seem unreasonable to think that whatsoever we may lawfully do the Scripture by commanding it must make it lawful But how far such Arguments do reach it shall the better appear by considering the matter wherein they have been urged First therefore this we constantly deny that of so many Testimonies as they are able to produce for the strength of Negative Arguments any one doth generally which is the point in question condemn either all opinions as false or all actions as unlawful which the Scripture teacheth us not The most that can be collected out of them is only that in some cases a Negative Argument taken from Scripture is strong whereof no man endued with judgement can doubt But doth the strength of some Negative Argument prove this kind of Negative Argument strong by force whereof all things are denied which Scripture affirmeth not or all things which Scripture prescribeth not condemned The Question between us is concerning matter of Action what things are lawful or unlawful for men to do The Sentences alleged out of the Fathers are as peremptory and as large in every respect for matter of Opinion as of action which argueth that in truth they never meant any otherwise to tie the one than the other unto Scripture both being thereunto equally tied as far as each is required in the same kind of necessity unto Salvation If therefore it be not unlawful to know and with full persuasion to believe much more than Scripture alone doth teach if it be against all Sense and Reason to condemn the knowledge of so many Arts and Sciences as are otherwise learned then in Holy Scripture notwithstanding the manifest Speeches of ancient Catholic Fathers which seem to close up within the bosom thereof all manner good and lawful knowledge wheresore should their words be thought more effectual to show that we may not in deeds and practice than they are to prove that in speculation and knowledge we ought not to go any further than the Scripture Which Scripture being given to teach matters of belief no less then of action the Fathers must needs be and are even as plain against credit besides the relation as against practice without the injunction of the Scripture S. Augustine hath said Aug cont. litter Peril l. 3. c. 6. Whether it be question of Christ or whether it be question of his Church or of what thing soever the question be I say not if we but if an Angel from Heaven shall tell us any thing beside that you have received in the Scripture under the Law and the Gospel let him be accursed In like sort Tertallian Tertul. de prescript advers We may not give ourselves this liberty to bring in any thing of our will T.C. l 2. p. 81. Augustine saith Whether it be question of Christ or whether it be question of his Church etc. And lest the Answer should restrain the general saying of Augustine unto the Doctrine of the Gospel so that he would thereby save out the Discipline even Tertullian himself before he was embrued with the Heresy of Montanus giveth Testimony unto the Discipline in these world We may not give ourselves etc. nor choose any thing that other men bring in of their will we have the Apostles themselves for Authors which themselves brought nothing of their own will but the Discipline which they received of Christ they delivered faithfully unto the people in which place the name of Discipline importeth not as they who allege it would fain have it construed but as any man who noteth the circumstance of the place and the occasion of uttering the words will easily acknowledge even the selfsame thing it signifieth which the name of Doctrine doth and as well might the one as the other there have been used To help them farther Hierom. centra Helvid Hilar. in Psal. 131. doth not S. Jerome after the selfsame manner dispute We believe it not because we read it not yea We ought not so much as to know the things which the Book of the Law containeth not saith S. Hilary Shall we hereupon then conclude that we may not take knowledge of or give credit unto any thing which sense or experience or report or art doth propose unless we find the same in Scripture No it is too plain that so far to extend their Speeches is to wrest them against their true intent and meaning To urge any thing upon the Church requiring thereunto that Religious Assent of Christian Belief wherewith the words of the Holy Prophets are received to urge any thing as part of that supernatural and celestially revealed Truth which God hath taught and not to show it in Scripture this did the ancient Fathers evermore think unlawful impious execrable And thus as their Speeches were meant so by us they must be restrained As for those alleged words of Cyprian T. C. l. r. p. 8. Let him hear what Cyprian saith The Christian Religion saith he shall find that &c Verè he mandatum legem comptectitur & Prophetas & in he verbo ownium Scripturarum volumina coarctantuo Hot natura hac ratis hac Demine verbi tui clam at authoritas he exore two andivinus hieinvenit consummationem nem omnis Religio Prinum of hocmandatum & ultimum hot it librovita cens●●t 'em indeficiencie & haminibus & Argella exhibes lessiemen Legat hoc unum verbum & in hot mandato medietur Christiana Religio & inseriet ex hoc Scripunta omulum dotle marum regelas emarisse & been naset & but reveral quicquid Ecclesiastica con●●●● disciplina & in omalous irthamessis & frivolum quaiquid dileetio non confirmal men confirmat The Christian Religion shall find that out of this Scripture Rules of all Doctrines have sprung and that from hence doth spring and hither doth return whatsoever the Ecclesiastical Discipline doth contain Surely this place would never have been brought forth in this cause if it had been but once read over in the Author himself out of whom it is cited For the words are uttered concerning that one principal Commandment of Love in the honour whereof hespeaketh after this sort Surely this Commandment containeth the Law and the Prophets and in this one Word is the Abridgement of all the Volumes of Scripture This Nature and Reason and the authority of thy Word O Lord doth proclaim this we have heard out of thy month herein the perfection of all Religion doth consist This is the first Commandment and the last This being written in the Book of Life is as it were an everlasting lesson both to Men and Angels Let Christian Religion read this one Word and meditate upon this Commandment and out of this Scriptrue it shall find the Rules of all Learning to have spring and from hence to have risen and hither to return whatsoever the Ecclesiastical Discipline containeth and that in all things it is vain and bootless which Charity confirmeth not Was this a sentence trow you of so great force to prove that Scripture is the only Rule of all the actions of men Might they not hereby even as well prove that one Commandment of Scripture is the only rule of all things and so exclude the rest of the Scripture as now they do all means besides Scripture But thus it fareth when too much desire of contradiction causeth our speech rather to pass by number then to stay for weight Well but Tertullian doth in this case speak yet more plainly The Scripture saith he denieth what it noteth not which are indeed the words of Tertullian But what the Scripture reckoneth up the Kings of Israel and amongst those Kings David the Scripture reckoneth up the sons of David and amongst those sons Tertul. lib. de Monog T. C. l. 2. p 81. And in another place Tertullian saith That the Scripture deniest that when it noteth nor Solomon To prove that amongst the Kings of Israel there was no David but only one no Solomon but one in the sons of David Tertullia's Argument will fitly prove For inasmuch as the Scripture did propose to reckon up all if there were moe it would have named them In this case the Scripture doth deny the thing it noteth not Howbeit I could not but think that man to do me some piece of manifest injury which would hereby fasten upon me a general Opinion as if I did think the Scripture to deny the very Reign of King Henry the Eighth because it no where noteth that any such King did reign Tertullia's speech is probable concerning such matter as he there speaketh of There was saith Tertullian no second Lamech like to him that had two wives the Scripture denieth what it noteth not As therefore it noteth one such to have been in that Age of the World so had there been moe it would by likelihood as well have noted many as one What infer we now hereupon There was no second Lamech the Scripture denieth what it noteth not Were it consonant unto reason to divorce these two Sentences the former of which doth show how the latter is retrained and not marking the former to conclude by the latter of them that simply whatsoever any man at this day doth think true is by the Scripture denied unless it be there affirmed to be true I wonder that a case so weak and feeble hath been so much persisted in But to come unto those their Sentences wherein matters of action are more apparently touched the Name of Tertullian is as before so here again pretended who writing unto his Wife two Books T. C. l. 2. p. 80. And that in indifferent things it is not enough that they be not against the Word but that they be according to the Word it may appear by other place where he saith That whatsoever pleaseth not the Lord displeaseth him and with hurt is received liv 2. ad uxorem and exhorting her in the one to live a Widow in case God before her should take him unto his mercy and in the other if she did marry yet not to join herself to an Infidel as in those times some Widows Christian had done for the advancement of their estate in this present world he urgeth very earnestly S. Paul's words Only in the Lord Whereupon he demandeth of them that think they may do the contrary what Scripture they can show where God hath dispensed and granted licence to do against that which the blessed Apostle so strictly doth enjoin And because in defence it might perhaps be replied Seeing God doth will that couples which are married when both are Infidels if either party chance to be after converted unto Christianity this should not make separation between them as long as the unconverted was willing to retain the other on whom the grace of Christ had shined wherefore then should that let the making of marriage which doth not dissolve marriage being made After great Reasons showed why God doth in Converts being married allow continuance with Infidels and yet disallow that the faithful when they are free should enter into bonds of Wedlock with such concludeth in the end concerning those women that so marry Quae Domino non plarent utique effendnt utique malo se inserunt They that please not the Lord do even thereby offend the Lord they do even thereby throw themselves into evil that is to say while they please him not by manying in him they do that whereby they incur his displeasure they make an offer of themselves into the service of that enemy with whose servants they link themselves in so near a bond What one syllable is there in all this prejudicial any way to that which we hold For the words of Tertullian as they are by them alleged are two ways misunderstood both in the former part where that is extended generally to all things in the Neuter Gender which he speaketh in the Feminine Gender of women's persons and in the latter where received with hurt is put instead of wilful incurring that which is evil And so in sum Tertullian doth neither mean nor say as is pretended Whatsoever pleaseth not the Lord displeaseth him and with hurt it received but Those women that please not the Lord by their kind of marrying do even thereby offend the Lord they do even thereby throw themselves into evil Somewhat more show there is in a second place of Tertullian which notwithstanding when we have examined T. C. l. 2 l. 81. And to come yet nearer where he disputeth against the wearing of crown or garland which is indifferent in itself to those which objecting asked Where the Scripture saith There man might nor wear a Crown He answereth by ask where the Scripture saith that they may wear And unto them replying that it is permitted which is not forbidden He answereth that it is forbidden which is not permitted Whereby appeareth that the Argument of the Scriptures negatively holdeth nor only in the Doctrine and Ecclesiastical Discipline but even in matters arbitrary and variable by the advice of the Church Where it is not enough that they be not forbidden unless there be some Word which doth permit the use of them It is not enough that the Scripture speaketh one against them unless it speak for them And finally where it displeaseth the Lord which pleaseth him not we must of necessity have the Word of his mountain declare his pleasure it will be found as the rest are The Roman Emperors custom was at certain Solemn times to bestow on his Soldiers a Donative which Donative they received wearing Garlands upon their heads There were in the time of the Emperors Severus and Antoninus many who being Soldiers had been converted unto Christ and notwithstanding continued still in that Military course of life In which number one man there was amongst all the rest who at such a time coming to the Tribune of the Army to receive his Donative came but with a Garland in his hand and not in such sort as others did The Tribune offended hereat demanded what this great singularity would mean To whom the Soldier Christianus sum I am a Christian. Many there were so besides him which yet did otherwise at that time whereupon grew a Question Whether a Christian Soldier might herein do as the unchristian did and wear as they wore Many of them which were very sound in Christian belief did rather commend the zeal of this man then approve his action Tertullian was at the same time a Moutanist and an enemy unto the Church for condemning that Prophetical Spirit which Montanus and his followers did boast they had received as it in them Christ had performed his last promise as if to them he had sent the Spirit that should be their Perfecter and final Instructor in the mysteries of Christian truth Which exulceration of mind made him apt to take all occasions of contradiction Wherefore in honour of that action and to gall their minds who did not so much commend it he wrote his Book de Corona Militis not dissembling the stomach wherewith he wrote it Tent de 〈…〉 For the first man he commended as one more constant than the rest of his Brethren Who presumed saith he that they might well enough serve two Lords Afterwards choler somewhat rising within him he addeth It doth even remain that they should also devise how to rid themselves of his Martyrdom towards the Prophecies of whose Holy Spirit they have already showed their disdain They mutter that their good and long peace it now in hazard I doubt not but serve of them send the Scriptures before truss up bag and baggage make themselves in a readiness that they may fly from City to City for that is the only point of the Gospel which they are careful not to forget I know even their Pastors very well what men they are in peace Lions Hearts in time of trouble and fear Now these men saith Tertullian They must be answered Where do we find it written in Scripture that a Christian man may not wear a Garland ● And as men's speeches uttered in heat of distempered affection have oftentimes much more eagerness than weight so he that shall mark the Proofs allege and the Answers to things objected in that Book will now and then perhaps espy the like imbecility Such is that Argument whereby they that wore on their heads Garlands are charged as transgressors of Nature's Law and guilty of Sacrilege against God the Lord o Nature inasmuch as Flowers in such sort worn can neither be smelled no● seen well by those that wear them And God made Flowers sweet and beautiful that being seen and smelled unto they might so delight Neither doth Tertullian bewray this weakness in striking only but also in repelling their strokes with whom he contendeth They ask saith he What Scripture is there which doth teach that we should not be crowned And what Scripture is there which doth teach that we should For in requiring on the contrary part the aid of Scripture they do give sentence beforehand that their part ought also by Scripture to be aided Which answer is of no great force There is no necessity that if I confess I ought not to do that which the Scripture forbiddeth me I should thereby acknowledge myself bound to do nothing which the Scripture commandeth me not For many inducements beside Scripture may lead me to that which if Scripture be against they all give place and are of no value yet otherwise are strong and effectual persuade Which thing himself well enough understanding and being not ignorant that Scripture in many things doth neither command nor forbid but use silence his resolution in fine is that in the Church a number of things are strictly observed whereof no Law of Scripture maketh mention one way or other that of things once received and confirmed by use long usage is a Law sufficient that in Civil affairs when there is no other Law custom itself doth stand for Law that inasmuch as Law doth stand upon Reason to allege Reason serveth as well as to cite Scripture that whatsoever is reasonable the same is lawful whosoever is the Author of it that the authority of custom is great finally that the custom of Christians was then and had been a long time not to wear Garlands and therefore that undoubtedly they did offend who presumed to violate such a custom by not observing that thing the very inveterate Observation whereof was a Law sufficient to bind all men to observe it unless they could show some higher Law some Law of Scripture to the contrary This presupposed it may stand then very well with strength and soundness of reason even thus to answer Whereas they ask what Scripture forbiddeth them to wear a Garland we are in this case rather to demand What Scripture commandeth them they cannot here allege that that is permitted which is not forbidden them no that is forbidden them which is not permitted For long received custom forbidding them to do as they did if so be it did forbid them there was no excuse in the world to justify their act unless in the Scripture they could show some Law that did licence them thus to break a received custom Now whereas in all the Books of Tertullian besides there is not so much found as in that one to prove not only that we may do but that we ought to do sundry things which the Scripture commandeth not out of that very Book these Sentences are brought to make us believe that Tertullian was of a clean contrary mind We cannot therefore hereupon yield we cannot grant that hereby is made manifest the Argument of Scripture negative to be of force not only in Doctrine and Ecclesiastical Discipline but even in matters arbitrary For Tertullian doth plainly hold even in that Book that neither the matter which he entreateth of was arbitrary but necessary inasmuch as the received custom of the Church did tie and bind them not to wear Garlands as the Heathens did yea and further also he reckoneth up particularly a number of things whereof he expressly concludeth Haram & aliaram ejusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules Scripturarum nullam invenies which is as much as if he had said in express words Many things thereare which concern the Discipline of the Church and the duties of men which to abrogate and take away the Scriptures negatively urged may not in any case persuade us but they must be observed yea although no Scripture be found which requireth any such thing Tertullian therefore undoubtedly doth not in this Book show himself to be of the same mind with them by whom his name is pretended 6. But first the sacred Scriptures themselves afford oftentimes such Arguments as are taken from Divine Authority both one way and other The first Assertion endeavoured to be confirmed by the Scripture● custom of disputing from Divine authority negatively 1 job. a. 9 God is light and there is in him no darkness at all Hebr. 6 1● It is impossible that God should ●e Num. 22.19 God is not as man that he should fve T. C. l 2. p. 41. It is not hard to show that the Prophets have reasoned Negatively As when in the person of the Lord the Prophet saith Whereof I have not spoken Jer. 19.3 And which never eatred into my heart Jer. 7. 31 32. And where he condemneth them because they have not asked counsel at the mouth of the Lord Isai. 30.2 And it may be showed that the same kind of Argument hath been used in things which are not of the substance of Salvation or Damnation and whereof there was no Commandment to the contrary as in the former there was Levit. 18. 31. and 30 3. Deut. 17. 16. In joshua the Children of Israel are charged by the Prophet that they asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord when they entered into Covenant with the Gibeanites joshua 19 14. And yet that Covenant was not made contrary unto any Commandment of God Moreover We read that when David had taken this counsel to build a Temple unto the Lord albeit the Lord had revealed before in his Word that there should be such a standing place where the Ark of the Covenant and the Service should have a certain abiding And albeit there was no Word of God which forbade David to build the Temple yet the Lord with commendation ●● his good affection and zeal he had to the advancement of his glory concludeth against David's Resolution to build the Temple with this Reason Namely That he had given no Commandment of this who should build it 1 Chron. 1● 6. The Lord hath commanded therefore it must be And again in like sort He hath not therefore it must not be some certainty concerning this point seemeth requisite to be set down God himself can neither possibly err nor lead into error For this cause his Testimonies whatsoever he affirmeth are always truth and most infallible certainty Yea further because the things that proceed from him are perfect without any manner of defect or maim it cannot be but that the words of his mouth are absolute and lack nothing which they should have for performance of that thing whereunto they tend Whereupon it followeth that the end being known whereunto he directeth his speech the Argument negatively is evermore strong and forcible concerning those things that are apparently requisite unto the same end As for example God intending to set down sundry times that which in Angels is most excellent hath not any where spoken so highly of them as he hath of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ therefore they are not in dignity equal unto him It is the Apostle S. Paul's Argument The purpose of God was to teach his people both unto whom they should offer sacrifice and what sacrifice was to be offered To burn their sons in fire unto Baal he did not command them he spoke no such thing neither came it into his mind therefore this they ought not to have done Which Argument the Prophet Jeremy useth more than once as being so effectual and strong that although the thing he reproveth were not only not commanded but forbidden them and that expressly yet the Prophet chooseth rather to charge them with the fault of making a Law unto themselves Levit. 18. 21 and 2. 3. Deut. 28. 10. than the crime of transgressing a Law which God had made For when the Lord had once himself pecisely set down a form of executing that wherein we are to serve him the fault appeareth greater to do that which we are not than not to do that which we are commanded In this we seem to charge the Law of God with hardness only in that with foolishness in this we show ourselves weak and unapt to be doers of his Will in that we take upon us to be Controllers of his Wisdom in this we fail to perform the thing which God seeth meet convenient and good in that we presume to see what is meet and convenient better than God himself In those actions therefore the whole form whereof God hath of purpose set down to be observed we may not otherwise do then exactly as he hath prescribed In such things Negative Arguments are strong Again with a Negative Argument David is pressed concerning the purpose he had to build a Temple unto the Lord Thus saith the Lord 1 Chron. 17.6 Thou shalt not build me an House to dwell in Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel spoke I one word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to feed my people saying Why have ye not built me an house Isai. 30. 1. The Jews urged with a negative argument touching the aid which they sought at the hands of the King of Egypt We to those rebellious children saith the Lord which walk forth to go down into Egypt and have not asked counsel at my mouth to strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh Finally the league of joshua with the Gibeonites is likewise with a Negative Argument touched It was not as it should be And why the Lord gave them not that advice They sought not counsel at the mouth of the lord By the virtue of which examples Josh 9.14 if any man should suppose the force of Negative Arguments approved when they are taken from Scripture in such sort as we in this question are pressed therewith they greatly deceive themselves For unto which of all these was it said that they had done amiss in purposing to do or in doing any thing at all which the Scripture commanded them not Our Question is Whether all be sin which is done without direction by Scripture and not whether the Israelites did at any time amiss by following their own minds without ask counsel of God No it was that people's singular privilege a favour which God vouchsafed them above the rest of the world that in the affairs of their estate which were not determinable one way or other by the Scripture himself gave them extraordinary direction and counsel as oft as they sought it at his hands Thus God did first by speech unto Noses after by Urim and Thummim unto Priests lastly by dreams and visions unto Prophets from whom in such cases they were to receive the answer of God Concerning joshua therefore thus spoke the Lord unto Moses saying Num. 27.21 He shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsel for him by the judgement of Urim before the Lord whereof had joshua been mindful the fraud of the Gibeonites could not so smoothly have past unespied till there was no help The Jews had Prophets to have resolved them from the mouth of God himself whether Egyptian aids should profit them yea or no but they thought themselves wise enough and him unworthy to be of their counsel In this respect therefore was their reproof though sharp yet just albeit there had been no charge precisely given them that they should always take heed of Egypt But as for David to think that he did evil in determining to build God a Temple because there was in Scripture no Commandment that he should build it were very injurious the purpose of his heart was religious and godly the act most worthy of honour and renown neither could Nathan choose but admire his virtuous intent exhort him to go forward and beseech God to prosper him therein Put God saw the endless troubles which David should be subject unto during the whole time of his Regiment and therefore gave charge to defer so good a work till the days of tranquillity and peace wherein it might without interruption be performed David supposed that it could not stand with the duty which he owed unto God to set himself in an house of Cedar-trees 1 Chron 17. T. C. l. 2. p. 50 Mr. Harding reproacheth the Bishop of Salisbury with this kind of reasoning unto whom the Bishop answereth The Argument of Authority negatively is taken to be good whensoever proof is taken of God's Word and is used not only by us but also by many of the Catholic Fathers A little after he showeth the Reason why the Argument of Authority of the Scripture negatively is good namely for that the Word of God is perfect In another place unto M. Harding casting him in the teeth with Negative Arguments he allulgeth places out of Irenaeus chrysostom Le● which reasoned Negatively of the Authority of the Scriptures The places which he allegeth be very full and plain in generality without any such restraints as the Answers imagined as they are there to be seen and to behold the Ark of the Lords Covenant unsettled This opinion the Lord abateth by causing Nathan to show him plainly that it should be no more imputed unto him for a fault than it had been unto the Judges of Israel before him his case being the same which theirs was their times not more unquiet than his nor more unfit for such an action Wherefore concerning the force of Negative Arguments so taken from the authority of Scripture as by us they are denied there is in all this less than nothing And touching that which unto this purpose is borrowed from the Controversies sometimes handled between Mr. Harding and the worthiest Divine that Christendom hath bred for the space of some hundreds of years who being brought up together in one University it fell out in them which was spoken of two others a Vest. Patere jugurtha ac Marius sub codem Africana milna●ies in iisdem castris didir●re quae rested in cotrariis facerent Art 1. Divis. 29. Gal. 3. Orig in Levit ●●m 5. They learned in the same that which in contrary Camps they did practice Of these two the one objecting that with us Arguments taken from Authority Negatively are over common the Bishops answer hereunto is that this kind of Argument is thought to be good whensoever proof is taken of God's Word and is used not only by in but also by S. Paul and by many of the Catholic Fathers S. Paul saith God said not unto Abraham In thy seeds all the Nations of the earth shall be blessed but In thy seed which is Christ and thereof he thought he made a good Argument Likewise saith Origen The Bread which the Lord gave unto his Disciples saying unto them Take and eat be deferred not nor commanded to be reserved till the next day Such Arguments Origen and other learned Father's thought to stand for good whatsoever misliking Mr. Harding hath sound in them This kind of proof is thought to hold in God's Commandments for that they be full and perfect and God hath specially charged us that we should neither put to them nor take from them and therefore it seemeth good unto them that have learned of Christ. Unus est magister vester Christus and have heard the voice of God the Father from Heaven Ipsum audite Matth. 25. Matth. 17. But unto them that add to the Word of God what them listeth and make Gods will subject unto their will and break God's Commandments for their own traditions sake unto them it seemeth not good Again the English Apology alleging the example of the Greeks how they have neither private Masses nor mangled Sacraments nor Purgatories nor Pardons it pleaseth Mr. Harding to jest out the matter Descent par 9 ed. 15. divis to use the help of his wits where strength of truth failed him and to answer with scoffing at Negatives The Bishop's defence in this case is The ancient learned Fathers having to deal with politic Heretics that in defence of their Errors avouched the judgement of all the old Bishops and Doctors that had been before them and the general consent of the Primitive and whole universal Church and that with as good regard of truth and as faithfully as you do now the better to discover the shameless boldness and nakedness of their doctrine were oftentimes likewise forced to use the negative and so to drive the same Heretics as we do you to prove their Affirmatives which thing to do it was never possible The ancient Father Iraeneus thus stayed himself as we do by the Negative Hoc neq Prophetae praedicaverunt neque Dominus docuit neque Apostoli tradiderunt Lib. 1. cap. 1. This thing neither did the Prophets publish nor our Lord teach nor the Apostles deliver By a like Negative chrysostom saith De incomp●na● De● ●om 3. Epist 93. c. 12. This tree neither Paul planted nor Apollo's watered nor God increased In like sort Leo saith What needeth it to believe that thing that neither the Law hath taught nor the Prophets have spoken nor the Gospel hath preached Epist. 97. 6. 30. Epist. 165. nor the Apostles have delivered And again How are the new devices brought in that our Fathers never knew S. Augustine having reckoned up a great number of the Bishops of Rome by a general Negative saith thus In all this order of succession of Bishops Lib 4. E● 32. there is not one Bishop found that was a Donatist S. Gregory being himself a Bishop of Rome and writing against the Title of Universal Bishop saith thus None of all my Predecessors ever consented to use this ungodly Title No Bishop of Rome ever took upon him this name of singularity By such Negatives Mr. Harding we reprove the vanity and novelty of your Religion We tell you none of the Catholic ancient learned Father either Greek or Latin ever used either your private Mass or your half Communion or your barbarous unknown prayers Paul never planted them Apollos never watered them God never increased them they are of yourselves they are not of God In all this there is not a Syllable which any way crosseth us For concerning Arguments Negative taken from Humane Authority they are here proved to be in some cases very strong and forcible They are not in our estimation idle reproofs when the Authors of needless Innovations are opposed with such Negatives as that of Leo How are these new devices brought in which our Fathers never knew When their grave and reverend Superiors do reckon up unto them as Augustin did to the Donatists large Catalogues of Fathers wondered at for their wisdom piety and learning amongst whom for so many Ages before us no one did ever so think of the Church's affairs as now the World doth begin to be persuaded surely by us they are not taught to take exception hereat because such Arguments are Negative Much less when the like are taken from the sacred authority of Scripture if the matter itself do bear them For in truth the question is not Whether an Argument from Scripture negatively may be good but whether it be so generally good that in all actions men may urge it The Fathers I grant do use very general and large terms even as Hiero the King did in speaking of Archimedes From henceforward whatsoever Archimedes speaketh it must be believed His meaning was not that Archimedes could simply in nothing be deceived but that he had in such fort approved his skill that he seemed worthy of credit for ever after in matters appertaining unto the science he was skilful in In speaking thus largely it is presumed that men's speeches will be taken according to the matter whereof they speak Let any man therefore that carrieth indifferency of judgement peruse the Bishop's speeches and consider well of those negatives concerning Scripture which he produceth out of Irenaeus chrysostom and Leo which three are chosen from among the residue because the sentences of the others even as one of theirs also do make for defence of negative Arguments taken from humane Authority and not from divine only They mention no more restraint in the one then in the other yet I think themselves will not hereby judge that the Fathers took both to be strong without restraint unto any special kind of matter wherein they held such Argument forcible Nor doth the Bishop either say or prove any more then that an Argument in some kinds of matter may be good although taken negatively from Scripture Their opinion concerning the force of Arguments taken from humane authority for the ordering of men's action or persuasions 7. An earnest desire to draw all things unto the determination of bare and naked Scripture hath caused here much pains to be taken in abating the estimation and credit of man Which if we labour to maintain as far as Truth and Reason will bear let not any think that we travel about a matter not greatly needful For the scope of all their pleading against man's Authority is to overthrow such Orders Laws and Constitutions in the Church as depending thereupon if they should therefore be taken away would peradventure leave neither face nor memory of Church to continue long in the world the world especially being such as now it is That which they have in this case spoken I would for brevity sake let pass but that the drist of their speech being so dangerous T. C. l. 1 p. 25. When the question is of the authority of a man it heldeth not th●r affirmatively not negatively The Reason is because the infirmity of man can never attain to the perfection of any thing whereby he might speak all things that are to be spoken to it neither yet be free from error in those things which he speaketh or giveth out And therefore this argument neither affirmatively nor negatively compelleth the hearer but only induceth him to some liking or disliking of that for which it is brought and is rather for an Orator to persuade the simpler sort then for a Disputer to enforce him that is learned 1 Cor. 1 ●1 joh ● 34 than words are not to be neglected Wherefore to say that simply an Argument taken from man's Authority doth hold no way neither Affirmatively nor Negatively is hard By a man's Authority we here understand the force which his word hath for the assurance of another's mind that buildeth upon it as the Apostle somewhat did upon their report of the house of Chloe and the Samaritans in a matter of far greater moment upon the report of a simple Woman For so it is said in S. john's Gospel Many of the Samaritans of that City believed in him for the saying of the woman which testified He hath told me all things that ever I did The strength of man's Authority is Affirmatively such that the weightiest affairs in the world depend thereon In judgement and justice are not hereupon proceedings grounded Saith not the Law that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word shall be confirmed This the Law of God would not say Deut. 19.15 Matth. 18. 16. if there were in a man's testimony no force at all to prove any thing And if it be admitted that in matter of Fact there is some credit to be given to the testimony of man but not in matter of opinion and judgement we see the contrary both acknowledged and universally practised also throughout the world The sentences of wise and expert men were never but highly esteemed Let the title of a man's right be called in question are we not bold to rely and build upon the judgement of such as are famous for their skill in the Laws of this Land In matter of State the weight many times of some one man's authority is thought reason sufficient even to sway over whole Nations And this is not only with the simple sort but the learneder and wiser we are the more such Arguments in some cases prevail with us The Reason why the simpler sort are moved with Authority is the conscience of their own ignorance whereby it cometh to pass that having learned men in admiration they rather fear to dislike them then know wherefore they should allow and follow their judgements chose with them that are skilful authority is much more strong and forcible because they only are able to discern how just cause there is why to some men's Authority so much should be attributed For which cause the name of Hypocrates no doubt were more effectual to persuade even such men as Galen himself then to move a silly Empiric So that the very selfsame Argument in this kind which doth but induce the vulgar sort to like may constrain the wiser to yield And therefore not Orators only with the people but even the very profoundest Disputers in all faculties have hereby often with the best learned prevailed most As for Arguments taken from humane Authority and that negatively for example sake if we should think the assembling of the people of God together by the sound of a Bell the presenting of Infants at the Holy Font by such as we commonly call their Godfathers or any other the like received custom to be impious because some men of whom we think very reverently have in their Books and Writings no where mentioned or taught that such things should be in the Church this reasoning were subject unto just reproof it were but feeble weak and unsound Notwithstanding even negatively an Argument from humane Authority may be strong as namely thus The Chronicles of England mention no more than only six Kings bearing the name of Edward since the time of the last Conquest therefore it cannot be there should be more So that if the question be of the authority of a man's testimony we cannot simply avouch either that affirmatively it doth not any way hold or that it hath only force to induce the simpler sort and not to constrain men of understanding and ripe judgement to yield assent or that negatively it hath in it no strength at all For unto every of these the contrary of most plain Neither doth that which is alleged concerning the infirmity of men overthrow or disprove this Men are blinded with ignorance and error many things escape them and in many things they may be deceived yea those things which they do know they may either forget or upon sundry indirect considerations let pass and although themselves do not err yet may they through malice or vanity even of purpose deceive others Howbeit infinite cases there are wherein all these impediments and lets are so manifestly excluded that there is no show or colour whereby any such Exception may be taken but that the testimony of man will stand as a ground of infallible assurance That there is a City of Rome that Pins Quintus and Gregory the thirteenth and others have been Popes of Rome I suppose we are certainly enough persuaded The ground of our persuasion who never saw the place nor persons before named can be nothing but man's testimony Will any man here notwithstanding allege those mentioned humane infirmities as Reasons why these things should be mistrusted or doubted of yea that which is more utterly to infringe the force and strength of man's testimony were to shake the very Fortress of God's truth For whatsoever we believe concerning Salvation by Christ although the Scripture be therein the ground of our belief yet the authority of man is if we mark it the key which openeth the door of entrance into the knowledge of the Scripture The Scripture doth not teach us the things that are of God unless we did credit men who have taught us that the words of Scripture do signify those things Some way therefore notwithstanding man's infirmity yet his Authority may enforce assent Upon better advice and deliberation so much is perceived and at the length confessed that Arguments taken from the Authority of men may not only so far forth as hath been declared but further also be of some force in Humane Sciences T. C. la. p. 10. Although this kind of Argument of Authority of men is good neither in humane n●r divine sciences yet it hath some small force in humane sciences for if such as naturally and in that he is a man he may come to some ripeness of judgement in those sciences which in divine maturi hath no force at all as of him which naturally and as he is a man can no more judge of them then a blind man of colours yea so far is it from drawing crolit If it be barely spoken without Reason and testimony of Scripture that it ea●rieth also a suspicion of untruth whatsoever proceedeth from him which the Apostle did well note when to signify a thing corruptly spoken and against the truth he saith that it is spoken according to man Rom. 3. He saith not as a wicked and flying man but simply as a man And although this corruption be reform in many yet for so m●ch as in whom the knowledge of the truth is most advanced there remaineth both ignorance and disordered affection's whereof either of them turneth him from speaking of the truth no man's authority with the Church especially and those that are called and persuaded of the Authority of the Word of God can bring any assurance unto the Conscience which force be it never so small doth show that they are not utterly naught But in Matters Divine it is still maintained stiffly that they have no manner force at all Howbeit the very self same reason which causeth to yield that they are of some force in the one will at the length constrain also to acknowledge that they are not in the other altogether unforcible For it the natural strength of man's wit may by experience and stucie attain unto such ripeness in the knowledge of things humane that men in this respect may presume to build somewhat upon their judgement what reason have we to think but that even in matters Divine the like wits furnished with necessary helps exercised in Scripture with like diligence and assisted with the grace of Almighty God may grow unto so much perfection of knowledge that men shall have just cause when any thing pertinent unto Faith and Religion is doubted of the more willingly to incline their minds towards that which the sentence of so grave wise and learned in that faculty shall judge most sound For the controversy is of the weight of such men's judgements Let it therefore be suspected let it be taken as gross corrupt repugnant unto the truth whatsoever concerning things divine above nature shall at any time be spoken as out of the mouths of mere natural men which have not the eyes wherewith heavenly things are discerned For this we contend not But whom God hath endued with principal gifts to aspire unto knowledge by whose exercises labours and divine studies he hath so blessed that the World for their great and rate skill that way hath them in singular admiration may we reject even their judgement likewise as being utterly of no moment For mine own part I dare not so lightly esteem of the Church and of the principal Pillars therein The truth is that the mind of man desireth evermore to know the truth according to the most infallible certainty which the nature of things can yield The greatest assurance generally with all men is that which we have by plain aspect and intuitive beholding Where we cannot attain unto this there● what appeareth to be true by strong and invincible demonstration such as wherein it is not by any way possible to be deceived thereunto the mind doth necessarily assent neither is it in the choice thereof to do otherwise And in case these both do fail than which way greatest probability leadeth thither the mind doth evermore incline Scripture with Christian men being received as the Word of God that for which we have probable yea that which we have necessary reason for yea that which we see with out eyes is not thought so sure as that which the Scripture of God teacheth because we hold that his speech revealeth there what himself seeth and therefore the strongest proof of all and the most necessarily assented unto by us which do thus receive the Scripture is the Scripture Now it is not required nor can be exacted at our hands that we should yield unto any thing other assent than such as doth answer the evidence which is to be had of that we assent unto For which cause even in matters Divine concerning some things we may lawfuly doubt and suspend our judgement inclining neither to one side or other as namely touching the time of the fall both of man and Angels of some things we may very well retain an opinion that they are probable and not unlikely to be true as when we hold that men have their souls rather by creation then propagation or that the Mother of our Lord lived always in the state of Virginity as well after his birth as before for of these two the one her virginity before is a thing which of necessity we must believe the other her continuance in the same state always hath more likelihood of truth then the contrary finally in all things than are our Consciences best resolved and in a most agreeable sore unto God and Nature settled when they are so far persuaded as those grounds of persuasion which are to be had will bear Which thing I do so much the rather set down for that I see how a number of souls are for want of right Information in this Point oftentimes grievously vexed When bare and unbuilded Conclusions are put into their minds they finding not themselves to have thereof any great certainty imagine that this proceedeth only from lack of Faith and that the Spirit God doth not work in them as it doth in true Believers by this means their hearts are much troubled they fall into anquish and perplexity whereas the truth is that how bold and confident soever we may be in words when it cometh to the point of trial such as the evidence is which the Truth hath either in itself or through proof such is the hearts assent thereunto neither can it be stronger being grounded as it should be I grant that proof derived from the authority of man's judgement is not able to work that assurance which doth grow by a stronger proof and therefore although ten thousand General Councils would set down one and the same definitive sentence concerning any Point of Religion whatsoever yet one Demonstrative Reason alleged or one Manifest Testimony cited from the mouth of God himself to the contrary could not choose but over-weigh them all inasmuch as for them to have been deceived it is not impossible it is that demonstrative Reason or Testimony Divine should deceive Howbeit in defect of proof infallible because the mind doth rather follow probable persuasions then approve the things that have in them no likelihood of truth at all surely if a Question concerning matter of Doctrine were proposed T. C. l. 2 p. 21. Of divers sentences of the Fathers themselves whereby some have likened them to brute Beasts without Reason which suffer themselves to be led by the judgement and authority of others some have preferred the judgement of one simple rude man alleging reason unto companies of learned men I will conte● myself at this time with two or three Sentences Ir●nevo saith whatsoever is to be showed in the Scripture cannot be showed but out of the scripture themselves l. 3 cap. 12 Jerome saith No man ●s he never so holy or eloquent hath any authority after the Apostles in Psal. 86. Augustin● saith That he will believe none how godly and learned soever he be unless he confirm his sentence by the Scriptures or by some reason nor contrary to them Ep. 18. And in another place Hear this The Lord saith hear not this Don●ius saith ●●gatus saith Vincentius saith Hilarius saith Ambrose saith Augustine saith but harken unto th● the Lord saith Ep 8. And again having to do with an Arrian he affirmeth that neither he ought to bring forth the Council of Ni●e nor the other the Council of Arimi●e thereby to bring prejudice each to other neither outh● the Arrian to be holden by the authority of the one nor himself by the authority of the other but by the Scriptures which are witnesses proper ●● neither but common to both matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason ought to be debated Cont. Max. Atrian p. 14. cap. And in another ●●ce against Petil. the Donarist he saith Let not these words he heard between us I say You say let us hear this Thus ●aith the lord And by and by speaking of the Scriptures he saith There let us seek the Church there let us try the cause De unit Eccles. cap. 3. Hereby it is manifest that the argument of the authority of man affirmatively in nothing worth and on the one side no kind of proof appearing there should on the other be alleged and showed that so a number of the Learnedest Divines in the World have ever thought although it did not appear what Reason or what Scripture led them to be of that judgement yet to their very bare judgement somewhat a reasonable man would attribute notwithstanding the common imbecillities which are incident unto our nature And whereas it is thought that especially with the Church and those that are called and persuaded of the Authority of the Word of God man's authority with them especially should not prevail it must and doth prevail even with them yea with them especially as far as equity requireth and farther we maintain it not For men to be tied and led by Authority as it were with a kind of captivity of judgement and though there be reason to the contrary not to listen unto it but to follow like Beasts the first in the Herd they know not nor care not whither this were brutish Again that authority of men should prevail with men either against or above Reason is no part of our belief Companies of learned men be they never so great and reverend are to yield unto Reason the weight whereof is no whit prejudiced by the simplicity of his person which doth allege it but being found to be sound and good the bare opinion of men to the contrary must of necessity stoop and give place Irenaeus writing against Martion which held one God Author of the Old-Testament and another of the New to prove that the Apostles preached the same God which was known before to the Jews he copiously allegeth sundry their Sermons and Speeches uttered concerning that matter and recorded in Scripture And lest any should be wearied with such store of Allegations in the end he concludeth While we labour for these Demonstrations out of Scripture and do summarily declare the things which many ways have been spoken be contented quietly to hear and do not think my speech redious Quoniam oftensiones quae sunt in Scriptures non possunt oftendi nisi ex ipsis Scriptures Because demonstrations that art in Scripture may not otherwise be showed then by citing them out of the Scriptures themselves where they are Which words make so little unto the purpose that they seem as it were offended at him which hath called them thus solemnly forth to say nothing And concerning the Verdict of S. Jerome If no man be he never so well learned have after the Apostles Authority to publish new Doctrine as from Heaven and to require the World's assent as unto truth received by Prophetical Revelation doth this prejudice the credit of learned men's judgements in opening that truth which by being conversant in the Apostles Writings they have themselves from thence learned S. A●gustine exhorteth not to hear men but to hearken what God speaketh His purpose is not I think that was we should stop our ears against his own exhortation and therefore he cannot mean simply that audience should altogether be denied unto men but either that if men speak one thing and God himself teach another than he not they to be obeyed or if they both speak the same thing yet then also man's speech unworthy of hearing not simply but in comparison of that which proceedeth from the mouth of God Yea but we doubt what the will of God is Are we in this case forbidden to hear what men of judgement think it to be If not than this Allegation also might very well have been spared In that ancient strife which was between the Catholic Fathers and Arrians Donatists and others of like perverse and froward disposition as long as to Fathers or Councils alleged on the one side the like by the contrary side were opposed impossible it was that ever the Question should by this mean grow unto any issue or end The Scripture they both believed the Scripture they knew could not give sentence on both sides by Scripture the controversy between them was such as might be determined In this case what madness was it with such kinds of proofs to nourish their contention when there were such effectual means to end all controversy that was between them Hereby therefore it doth not as yet appear that an Argument of Authority of man affirmatively is in matters Divine nothing worth Which Opinion being once inserted into the minds of the vulgar sort what it may grow unto God knoweth Thus much we see it hath already made thousands so headstrong even in gross and palpable Errors that a man whose capacity will scarce serve him to utter five words in sensible manner blusheth not in any doubt concerning matter of Scripture to think his own bare Yea as good as the Nay of all the wise grave and learned judgements that are in the whole world Which insolency must be repressed or it will be the very bane of Christian Religion Our Lords Disciples marking what speech he uttered unto them and at the same time calling to mind a common opinion held by the Scribes between which opinion and the words of their Master it seemed unto them that there was some contradiction which they could not themselves answer Matth. 17.10 with full satisfaction of their own minds the doubt they propose to our Saviour saying Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come They knew that the Scribes did err greatly and that many ways even in matters of their own profession They notwithstanding thought the judgement of the very Scribes in matters Divine to be of some value some probability they thought there was that Elias should come inasmuch as the Scribes said it Now no truth can contradict any truth desirous therefore they were to be taught how both might stand together that which they knew could not be false because Christ spoke it and this which to them did seen true only because the Scribes had said it For the Scripture from whence the Scribes did gather it w● not then in their heads We do not find that our Saviour reproved them of Error for thinking the judgement of the Scribes to be worth the objecting for esteeming it to be of any moment or value in matters concerning God We cannot therefore be persuaded that the will of God is we should so far reject the authority of men as to reckon it nothing No it may be a question whether they that urge us unto this be themselves so persuaded indeed Men do sometimes bewray that by deeds which to confess they are hardly drawn Mark then if this be not general with all men for the most part When the judgements of learned men are alleged against them what do they but either elevate their credit or oppose unto them the judgements of others as learned Which thing doth argue that all men acknowledge in them some force and weight for which they are loath the cause they maintain should be so much weakened as their Testimony is available Again what reason is there why alleging Testimonies as Proofs men give them some title of credit honour and estimation whom they allege unless beforehand it be sufficiently known who they are what reason hereof but only a common engrafted persuasion that in some men there may be found such qualities as are able to countervail those exceptions which might be taken against them and that such men's authority is not lightly to be shaken off Shall I add further that the force of Arguments drawn from the Authority of Scripture itself as Scriptures commonly are alleged shall being sifted be ●ound to depend upon the strength of this so much despised and debased authority of man Surely it doth and that oftener than we are aware of For although Scripture be of God and therefore the proof which is taken from thence must needs be of all other most invincible yet this strength at hath not unless it avouch the selfsame thing for which it is brought If there be either undeniable appearance that so it doth or reason such as cannot deceive than Scripture-proof no doubt in strength and value exceedeth all But for the most part even such as are readiest to cite for one thing Five hundred sentences of holy Scripture what warrant have they that any one of them doth mean the thing for which it is alleged Is not their surest ground most commonly either some probable conjecture of their own or the judgement of others taking those Scriptures as they do Which notwithstanding to mean otherwise then they take them it is not still altogether impossible So that now and then they ground themselves on Humane authority even when they most pretend Divine Thus it fareth even clean throughout the whole controversy about that Discipline which is so earnestly urged and laboured for Scriptures are plentifully alleged to prove that the whole Christian World for ever ought to embrace it Hereupon men term it The Discipline of God T. C. lib. 2. 2● It at any time it happened unto Augustine as it did against the Donatists and others to allege the authority of the ancient Fathers which had been heiu●e him yet this was not done before he had laid a sure foundation of his cause in the Scriptures and that also being provoked by the adversaries of the truth who hare themselves high of some Council or of some man of name that had ●avorcil that part Howbeit examine sister and resolve their alleged proofs till you come to the very root from whence they spring the heart wherein their strength lieth and it shall clearly appear unto any man of judgement that the most which can be inferred upon such plenty of Divine Testimonies is only this That some things which they maintain as far as some men can probably conjecture do seem to have been out of Scripture not absurdly gathered Is this a warrant sufficient for any man's conscience to build such proceedings upon as have been and are put in ure for the establishment of that cause But to conclude I would gladly understand how it cometh to pass that they which so peremptorily do maintain that Humane Authority is nothing worth are in the cause which they favour so careful to have the common sort of men persuaded that the wisest the godliest and the best learned in all Christendom are that way given seeing they judge this to make nothing in the World for them Again how cometh it to pass they cannot abide that Authority should be alleged on the other side if there be no force at all in Authorities on one side or other Wherefore labour they to strip their Adversaries of such furniture as doth not help Why take they such needless pains to furnish also their own cause with the like If it be void and to no purpose that the names of men are so frequent in their Books what did move them to bring them in or doth to suffer them there remaining Ignorant I am not how this is salved They do it but after the truth made manifest first by Reason or by Scripture They do it not but to control the enemies of truth who bear themselves bold upon Humane Authority making not for them but against them rather Which answers are nothing For in what place or upon what consideration soever it be they do it were it in their own opinion of no force being done they would undoubtedly refrain to do it 8. But to the end it may more plainly appear A Declaration what the truth is in this matter what we are to judge of their sentences and of the cause itself wherein they are alleged first it may not well be denied that all actions of men endued with the use of reason are generally either good or evil For although it be granted that no action is properly termed good or evil unless it be voluntarily yet this can be no let to our former Assertion That all actions of men endued with the use of reason are generally either good or evil because even those things are done voluntarily by us which other Creatures do naturally in as much as we might stay our doing of them if we would Beasts naturally do take their food and rest when it offereth itself unto them If men did so too and could not do otherwise of themselves there were no place for any such reproof as that of our Saviour Christ unto his Disciples Matth. 86. 40. Could ye not watch with me one hour That which is voluntarily performed in things tending to the end if it be well done must needs be done with deliberate consideration of some reasonable cause wherefore we rather should do it than not Whereupon it seemeth that in such actions only those are said to be good or evil which are capable of deliberation So that many things being hourly done by men wherein they need nor use with themselves any manner of consultation at all it may perhaps hereby seem that well or ill doing belongeth only to our weightier affairs and to those deeds which are of so great importance that they require advice But thus to determine were perilous and peradventure un●ound also I do rather incline to think that seeing all the unforced actions of men are voluntary and all voluntary actions tending to the end have choice and all choice presupposeth the knowledge of some cause wherefore we make it where the reasonable cause of such actions so readily offereth itself that it needeth not be sought for in those things though we do not deliberate yet they are of their nature apt to be deliberated on in regard of the will which may incline either way and would not any one way bend itself if there were not some apparent motive to lead it Deliberation actual we use when there is doubt what we should incline our wills unto Where no doubt is deliberation is not excluded as unpertinent unto the thing but as needless in regard of the Agent which seeth already what to resolve upon It hath no apparent absurdity therefore in it to think that all actions of men endued with the use of reason are generally either good or evil Whatsoever is good the same is also approved of God and according unto the sundry degrees of goodness the kinds of Divine approbation are in like sort multiplied Some things are good yet in so mean a degree of goodness that men are only not disproved nor disallowed of God for them Ephis 5. 29. Matth 5. 46. 1 ●ian 5. 8. No man hateth his own flesh If ye do good unto them that do so to you the very Publicans themselves do as much They are worse than Infidels that have no care to provide for their own In actions of this sort the very light of nature alone may discover that which is so far forth in the sight of God allowable Some things in such sort are allowed that they be also required as necessary unto salvation by way of direct immediate and proper necessity final so that without performance of them we cannot by ordinary course be saved nor by any means be excluded from life observing them In actions of this kind our chiefest direction is from Scripture for Nature is no sufficient Teacher what we should do that we may attain unto life everlasting The unsufficiency of the light of nature is by the light of Scripture so fully and so perfectly herein supplied that further light than this hath added there doth not need unto that end Finally some things although not so required of necessity that to leave them undone excludeth from Salvation are notwithstanding of so great dignity and acceptation with God that most ample reward in Heaven is laid up for them Hereof we have no Commandment either in Nature or Scripture which doth exact them at our hands yet those Motives these are in both which draw most effectually our minds unto them In this kind there is not the least action but it doth somewhat make to the accessary augmentation of our bliss Matth. 1● 42. For which cause our Saviour doth plainly witness that there shall not be as much as a cup of cold water bestowed for his sake without reward Hereupon dependeth whatsoever difference there is between the states of Saints in glory hither we refer whatsoever belongeth unto the highest perfection of man by way of service towards God Hereunto that servour and first love of Christians did bend itself causing them to sell their possessions and lay down the price at the blessed Apostles feet Acts 4. 31. 1 Thes. 2. 7 9 Hereat S. Paul undoubtedly did aim in so far abridging his own liberty and exceeding that which the bond of necessary and enjoined duty tied him unto Wherefore seeing that in all these several kinds of actions there can be nothing possibly evil which God approveth and that he approveth much more than he doth command and that his very Commandments in some kind as namely his Precepts comprehended in the Law of Nature may be otherwise known the● only by Scripture and that to do them howsoever we know them must needs he acceptable in his sight Let them with whom we have hitherto disputee consider well how it can stand with Reason to make the bare mandate of Sacred Scripture the only Rule of all good and evil in the actions of mortal men The testimonies of God are true the Testimonies of God are perfect the Testimonies of God are all-sufficient unto that end for which they were given Therefore accordingly we do receive them we do not think that in them God hath omitted any thing needful unto his purpose and left his intent to be accomplished by our devising What the Scripture purposeth the same in all points it doth perform Howbeit that here we swerve not in judgement one thing especially we must observe namely That the absolute perfection of Scripture is seen by relation unto that end whereto it tendeth And even hereby it cometh to pass the first such as imagine the general and main drift of the body of sacred Scripture not to be so large as it is nor that God did thereby intend to deliver as in truth he doth a full instruction in all things unto salvation necessary the knowledge whereof man by nature could not otherwise in this life attain unto They are by this very mean induced either still to look for new Revelations from Heaven or else dangerously to add to the Word of God uncertain Tradition that so the Doctrine of man's Salvation may be complete which Doctrine we constantly hold in all respects without any such thing added to be so complete that we utterly refuse as much as once to acquaint ourselves with any thing further Whatsoever to make up the Doctrine of man's Salvation is added as in supply of the Scriptures unsufficiency we reject it Scripture purposing this hath perfectly and fully done it Again the scope and purpose of God in delivering the Holy Scripture such as do take more largely than behoveth they on the contrary side racking and stretching it further than by him was meant are drawn into sundry as great inconveniences These pretending the Scriptures perfection infer thereupon T. C. lib. p. 6. Where this Doctrine is accused of bringing men to despair it hath wrong For when doubting is the way to despair against which this Doctrine offereth the remedy it must need● be that it bringeth comfort and joy to the conscience of man That in Scripture all things lawful to be done must needs be contained We count those things perfect which want nothing requisite for the end whereto they were instituted As therefore God created every part and particle of man exactly perfect that is to say in all points sufficient unto that use for which he appointed it so the Scripture yea every sentence thereof is perfect and wanteth nothing requisite unto that purpose for which God delivered the same So that if hereupon we conclude that because the Scripture is perfect therefore all things lawful to be done are comprehended in the Scripture we may even as well conclude so of every sentence as of the whole sum and body thereof unless we first of all prove that it was the drift scope and purpose of Almighty God in holy Scripture to comprise all things which man may practise But admit this and mark I beseech you what would follow God in delivering Scripture to his Church should clean have abrogated amongst them the Law of Nature which is an infallible knowledge imprinted in the minds of all the children of men whereby both general principles for directing of humane actions are comprehended and conclusions derived from them upon which conclusions groweth in particularity the choice of good and evil in the daily affairs of this life Admit this and what shall the Scripture be but a snare and a torment to weak Consciences filling them with infinite perplexities scrupulosities doubts insoluble and extreme despairs Not that the Scripture itself doth cause any such thing for it tendeth to the clean contrary and the fruit thereof is resolute assurance and certainty in that it teacheth but the necessities of this life urging men to do that which the light of Nature common discretion and judgement of itself directeth them unto on the other side this Doctrine teaching them that so to do were so sin against their own souls and that they put forth their hands to iniquity whatsoever they go about and have not first the sacred Scripture of God for direction how can it choose but bring the simple a thousand times to their wit's end how can it choose but vex and amaze them For in every action of common life to since out some sentence clearly and infallibly setting before our eyes what we ought to do seem we in Scripture never so expert would trouble us more than we are aware In weak and tender minds we little know what misery this strict opinion would breed besides the stops it would make in the whole course of all men's lives and actions make all things sin which we do by direction of Nature's light and by the rule of common discretion without thinking at all upon Scripture Admit this Position and Parents shall cause their children to sin as oft as they cause them to do any thing before they come to years of capacity and be ripe for Knowledge in the Scripture Admit this and it shall not be with Masters as it was with him him in the Gospel but servants being commanded to go Luke 7. ● shall stand still till they have errand warranted unto them by Scripture Which as it standeth with Christian duty in some cases so in common affairs to require it were most unfit Two opinions therefore there are concerning sufficiency of holy Scripture each extremely opposite unto the other and both repugnant unto truth The Schools of Rome teach Scripture to be unsufficient as if except Traditions were added it did not contain all revealed and supernatural Truth which absolutely is necessary for the children of men in this life to know that they may in the next be saved Others justly condemning this opinion grow likewise unto a dangerous extremity as if Scripture did not only contain all things in that kind necessary but all things simply and in such sort that to do any thing according to any other Law were not only unnecessary but even opposite unto salvation unlawful and sinful Whatsoever is spoken of God or things appertaining to God otherwise then as the truth is though it seem an honour it is an injury And as incredible praises given unto men do often abate and impair the credit of their deserved commendation so we must likewise take great heed lest in attributing unto Scripture more than it can have the incredibility of that do cause even those things which indeed it hath most abundantly to be less reverendly esteemed I therefore leave it to themselves to consider Whether they have in this First Point overshot themselves or not which God doth know is quickly done even when our meaning is most sincere as I am verily persuaded theirs in this case was OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity Book III. Concerning their Second Assertion That in Scripture there must be of necessity contained a Form of Church Polity the Laws whereof may in no wise be altered The Matter contained in this Third Book 1. WHat the Church is and in what respect Laws of Polity are thereunto necessarily required 2. Whether it be necessary that some particular Form of Church Polity be set down in Scripture sith the things that belong particularly to any such Form are not of necessity to salvation 3. That matters of Church Polity are different from matters of Faith and Salvation and that they themselves so teach which are out Reprovers for so teaching 4. That hereby we take not from Scripture any thing which thereunto with the soundness of truth may be given 5. Their meaning who first urged against the Polity of the Church of England that nothing ought to be established in the Church more than is commanded by the Word of God 6. How great injury men by so thinking should offer unto all the Churches of God 7. A shift notwithstanding to maintain it by interpreting Commanded as though it were meant that greater things only ought to be found set down in Scripture particularly and lesser framed by the general Rules of Scripture 8. Another Device to defend the same by expounding Commanded as if it did signify grounded as Scripture and were opposed to things sound out by the light of natural reason only 9 How Laws for the Polity of the Church may be made by the advice of men and how those being nor repugnant to the Word of God are approved in his sight 10. The neither Gods being the Author of Laws nor yet his committing of them to Scripture is any Reason sufficient to prove that they admit no addition or change 11. Whether Christ must needs intend Laws unchangeable altogether or have forbidden any where to make any other Law than himself did deliver ALbeit the substance of those Controversies whereinto we have begun to wade What the Church is and in what respect Laws of Pulky are thereunto necessarily required be rather of outward things appertaining to the Church of Christ then of any thing wherein the nature and being of the Church consisteth yet because the Subject or Matter which this Position concerneth is A Forms of Church Government or Church-Polity It therefore behoveth us so far forth to consider the nature of the Church as is requisite for men's more clear and plain understanding in what respect Laws of Polity or Government are necessary thereunto That Church of Christ which we properly term his body Mystical can be but one neither can that one be sensibly discerned by any man inasmuch as the parts thereof are some in Heaven already with Christ and the rest that are on earth albeit their natural persons be visible we do not discern under this property whereby they are truly and infallibly of that body Only our minds by intellectual conceit are able to apprehend that such a real body there is a body collective because it containeth an huge multitude a body mystical because the mystery of their conjunction is removed altogether from sense Whatsoever we read in Scripture concerning the endless love and the saving mercy which God showeth towards his Church the only proper subject thereof is this Church Concerning this Flock it is that our Lord and Saviour hath promised John 10. 22. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hands They who are of this Society have such Marks and Notes of distinction from all others as are not objects unto our sense only unto God who seeth their hearts and understandeth all their secret cogitations unto him they are clear and manifest All men knew Nathaniel to be an Israelite But our Saviour piercing deeper giveth further Testimony of him then men could have done with such certainty as he did and 1.47 Behold indeed an Israelite and 21. 15. in whom there is no guile If we profess as Peter did that we love the Lord and profess it in the hearing of men charity is prone to believe all things and therefore charitablemen are likely to think we do so as long as they see no proof to the contrary But that our love is sound and sincere that it cometh from a pure heart 1 Tim. 1 5. a good conscience and a faith unfeigned who can pronounce saving only the searcher of all men's hearts who alone intuitively doth known in this kind who are his And as those everlasting promises of Love Mercy and Blessedness belong to the mystical Church even so on the other side when we read of any duty which the Church of God is bound unto the Church whom this doth concern is a sensible known company And this Visible Church in like sort is but one continued from the first beginning of the World to the last end Which company being divided into two moieties the one before the other since the coming of Christ that part which since the coming of Christ partly hath embraced and partly shall hereafter embrace the Christian Religion we term as by a more proper name the Church of Christ. And therefore the Apostle affirmeth plainly of all men Christian that be they Jew or Gentiles bond or free they are all incorporated into one company they all make but a Ephes. 2. 16. That he might r. o n cise both unto God in one body one body The unity of which visible body and Church of Christ consisteth in that Uniformity which all several persons thereunto belonging have by reason of that one Lord whose servants they all profess themselves that one Faith which they all acknowledge that one Baptism wherewith they are all initiated The visible Church of Jesus Christ is therefore one in outward profession of those things which supernaturally appertain to the very Essence of Christianity and are necessarily required in every particular Christian man Ephes. 3. 16. That the Genries should be in their ●● also and of the ●●●●b●d● Let all the house of Israel know for certainty saith Peter that God hath made him both Lord and Christ even this jesus whom ye have crucified Christians therefore they are not which call not him their Master and lord And from hence it came that first at Antioch and afterward throughout the whole world all that were of the Church visible were called Christians ●ile T. p. 3. 7. art 3 1 Cor. 12. 13. Ephes. 4. 5. Acts. 2.36 John 13 13. Col. 3. 21. and 2. 1. even amongst the Heathen which name unto them was precious and glorious but in the estimation of the rest of the world even Christ Jesus himself was b 1 Cer. 1. 23. execrable for whose sake all men were so likewise which did acknowledge him to be their lord This himself did foresee and therefore armed his Church to the end they might sustain it without discomfort All these things they will do unto you for my name's sake yea the time shall come that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God good service These things I tell you that when the hour shall come ye may then call to mind how I told you beforehand of them Vide & Tanilum lib. An sal 15. Not qussitissturis ●●●it ass●●i● quos per flagiria invites vulgus Christianes' appellabat Au●ior nominis ejus Christus qui Tiberio 〈…〉 p●●●●●●rem Pension Pilatum 〈…〉 ●rat Repress●g in p●eserss exitiabilu superstitio r●●s●●● erumpehat ●●● and per judsam originem ejus mali jed per urhem ●●i●m quo cu●cta undique atrocia aus p●denda ●●●●●● ●●l bro●●●●● John 15. 21. ●●d 86. 2. 4. But our naming of Jesus Christ the Lord is not enough to prove us Christians unless we also embrace that Faith which Christ hath published unto the World To show that the Angel of Pergamus continued in Christianity behold how the Spirit of Christ speaketh Thou keepest my Name and thou hast not denied my Faith Concerning which Faith Apec 2. 13. T●cul de Virgin Veland The rule thereof saith Tertullian is one alone  and no way possible to be better framed anew What rule that is he showeth by rehearsing those few Articles of Christian belief Iter. Advers Ha●eses lib. ● 1. cap. 2. etc. And before Tertullian Irency The Church though scattered through the whole World unto the uttermost borders of the Earth hath from the Apostles and their Disciples received Belief The parts of which Belief he also reciteth in substance the very same with Tertullian and thereupon inferreth This Faith the Church being spread far and wide preserveth as if one House did contain them These things it equally embraceth as though it had even one Soul one Heart and no more It publisheth teacheth and delivereth these things with Uniform consent as if God had given it lut one only Tongue wherewith to speak He which amongst the Guides of the Church is best able to speak uttereth no more than this and less than this the most simple do not utter when they make Profession of their Faith Now although we know the Christian Faith and allow of it yet in this respect we are but entering entered we are not into the Visible Church before our admittance by the door of Baptism Wherefore immediately upon the acknowledgement of Christian Faith Acts 8. 38. & 22. 16. & 2. 41. the Eunuch we see was baptised by Philip Paul by Ananias by Peter a huge multitude containing Three thousand Souls which being once Baptised were reckoned in the number of Souls added to the Visible Church As for those Virtues that belong unto Moral Righteousness and honesty of life we do not mention them because they are not proper unto Christian Men as they are Christian but do concern them as they are Men. True it is the want of these Virtues excludeth from Salvation So doth much more the absence of inward belief of heart so doth despair and lack of Hope so emptiness of Christian Love and Charity But we speak now of the Visible Church whose Children are signed with this mark One Lord one Faith one Baptism In whomsoever these things are the Church doth acknowledge them for her Children them only she holdeth for Aliens and Strangers in whom these things are not found For want of these it is that Saracens Jews and Infidels are excluded out of the bounds of the Church Others we may not deny to be of the Visible Church as long as these things are not wanting in them For apparent it is that all Men are of necessity either Christians or not Christians If by External Profession they be Christians then are they of the Visible Church of Christ and Christians by External Profession they are all whose mark of Recognisance hath in it those things which we have mentioned yea although they be impious Idolaters wicked Heretics Persons excommunicable yea and cast out for notorious improbity Such withal we deny not to be the Imps and Limbs of Satan even as long as they continue such Is it then possible that the selfsame men should belong both to the Synagogue of Satan and to the Church of Jesus Christ Unto that Church which is his Mystical Body not possible● because that Body consisteth of none but only true Israelites true Sons of Abraham true Servants and Saints of God Howbeit of the Visible Body and Church of Jesus Christ those may be and oftentimes are in respect of the main parts of their outward Profession who inregard of their inward disposition of mind yea of External Conversation yea even of some parts of their very Profession are most worthily both hateful in the sight of God himself and in the eyes of the sounder part of the Visible Church Matth. 13.47 & 13. 24. most execrable Our Saviour therefore compareth the Kingdom of Heaven to a Net whereunto all which cometh neither is nor seemeth Fish His Church he compareth unto a Field where Tares manifestly known end seen by all Men do grow intermingled with good Corn and even so shall continue till the final consummation of the World God hath had ever and ever shall have some Church Visible upon Earth Exod. 23. ●● 106.19 20. 2 Kings 18 4. Jere 11.14 2 Kings 23. 17. l●i 17. 3. & 1. 4. & 60. 15. When the People of God whorshipped the Calf in the Wilderness when they adored the Brazen Serpent when they served the gods of Nations when they bowed their knees to Baal when they burnt Incense and offered Sacrifice unto Idols True it is the wrath of God was most fiercely inflamed against them their Prophets justly condemned them as an adulterous seed and a wicked generation of Miscreants which had forsaken the living God and of him were likewise forsaken in respect of that singular Mercy wherewith he kindly and lovingly embraceth his faithful Children Howbeit retaining the Law of God and the holy Seal of his Covenant Jere. 13. 11. the Sheep of his Visible Flock they continued even in the depth of their Disobedience and Rebellion 1 Kings 13. 8. Wherefore not only amongst them God always had his Church because he had thousands which never bowed their knees to Baal but whose knees were bowed unto Baal Jere. 13. 11. 1 Kings 19 18. even they were also of the Visible Church of God Nor did the Prophet so complain as if that Church had been quite and clean extinguished but he took it as though there had not been remaining in the World any besides himself that carcied a true and an upright heart towards God with care to serve him according unto his holy Will For lack of diligent observing the difference first between the Church of God Mystical and Visible then between the Visible sound and corrupted sometimes more sometimes less the oversights are neither few nor light that have been committed This deceiveth them and nothing else who think that in the time of the first World the Family of Noah did contain all that were of the Visible Church of God From hence it grew and from no other cause in the World that the African Bishops in the Council of Carthage knowing how the Administration of Baptism belongeth only to the Church of Christ and supposing that Heretics which were apparently severed from the sound believing Church could not possibly be of the Church of Jesus Christ thought it utterly against Reason That Baptism administered by men of corrupt belief should be accounted as a Sacrament And therefore in maintenance of Rebaptisation their Arguments are built upon the sore-alledged ground ●●●u●a In Council Car. Matth 7. 24. & 16. 18. & ●● 19 That Heretics are not at all any part of the Church of Christ. Our Saviour founded his Church on a Rock and not upon Heresy Power of Baptising he gave to his Apostles unto Heretics he gave it not Wherefore they that are without the Church and oppose themselves against Christ do but scatter his Sheep and Flock Without the Church Baptise they cannot Again Are Heretics Christians or are they not If they be Christians wherefore remain they not in God's Church If they be no Christians how make they Christians Or to what purpose shall those words of the Lord serve He which is not with me is against me And S●●●●●ium in ●●●● Con. il Matth. 12. 30. He which gathereth not with me scaltereth Wherefore evident it is that upon misbegotten Children and the brood of Antichrist without Rebaptisation the Holy Ghost cannot descend But none in this case so earnest as Cyprian I know no Baptism but one and that in Church only none without the Church where he that doth cast out the Devil hath the Devil He doth examine about Belief whose lips and words do breathe forth a Canker The faithless doth offer the Articles of Faith a wicked Creature forgiveth wickedness in the Name of Christ Antichrist signeth he which is cursed of God blesseth a dead carrion promiseth life a man unpeaceable giveth peace a blasphemer calleth upon the Name of God a profane person doth exercise Priesthood a Sacrilegious wretch doth prepare the Altar and in the neck of all these that evil also cometh the Eucharist a very Bishop of the Devil doth presume to consecrate All this was true but not sufficient to prove that Heretics were in no sort any part of the Visible Church of Christ and consequently their Baptism no Baptism This opinion therefore was afterwards both condemned by a better advised Council and also revoked by the chiefest of the Authors thereof themselves In Con●i●● 〈…〉 Vide H●●●● Dial. At●●● Lucif●●●a What is it but only the selfsame error and misconceit wherewith others being at this day likewise possessed they ask us where our Church did lurk in what Cave of the Earth it slept for so many hundreds of years together before the bath of Martin Luther As if we were of opinion that Luther did erect a new Church of Christ. No the Church of Christ which was from the beginning is and continueth unto the end Of which Church all parts have not been always equally sincere and sound In the days of Abia it plainly appeareth that judah was by many degrees more free from pollution than Israel as that solemn Oration showeth wherein he pleadeth for the one against the other in this wise 2 Chre. 13. O jeroboam and all Israel hear you me Have ye not driven away the Priests of the Lord the Sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you Priests like the people of Nations Whosoever cometh to consecrate with a young bullock and seven Rams the same may be a Priest of them that are no gods But we belong unto the Lord our God and have not forsaken him and the Priests the sons of Aaron minister unto the Lord every morning and every evening Burnt-offerings and sweet Incense and the Bread is set in order upon the pure Table and the Candlestick of Gold with the Lamps thereof to burn every evening for we keep the watch of the Lord o●r God but ye have for saken him In St. Paul's time the integrity of Rome was famous Corinth many ways reproved they of Galatia much more out of square In St. john's time Ephesus and Smyrna in far better state than Thyatira and Pergamus were We hope therefore that to reform ourselves if at any time we have done amiss is not to sever ourselves from the Church we were of before In the Church we were and we are so still Other diffcrence between our estate before and now we know none but only such as we see in judah which having sometime been Idolatrous became afterwards more sound religious Host 14. 15 & 17. by renouncing Idolatry and Superstition If Ephraim be joined to Idols the counsel of the Prophet is Let him alone If Israel play the Harlot let not Judah sin If it seem evil unto you Josh. 14. 15. saith joshua to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods whom your Fathers served beyond the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell But I and mine house will serve the lord The indisposition therefore of the Church of Rome to reform herself must be no stay unto us from performing our duty to God even as desire of retaining Conformity with them could be no excuse if we did not perform that duty Notwithstanding so far as lawfully we may we have held and do hold Fellowship with them For even as the Apostle doth say of Israel Rom. 11.28 that they are in one respect enemies but in another beloved of God In like sort with Rome we dare not communicate concerning sundry her gross and grievous abominations yet touching those main parts of Christian truth wherein they constantly still persist we gladly acknowledge them to be of the Family of Jesus Christ and our hearty prayer unto God Almighty is that being conjoined so far forth with them they may at the length if it be his will so yield to frame and reform themselves that no distraction remain in any thing but that we all may with one heart and one mouth glorify God the Father of our Lord and Saviour whose Church we are As there are which make the Church of Rome utterly no Church at all by reason of so many so grievous Errors in their Doctrines So we have them amongst us who under pretence of imagined corruptions in our Discipline do give even as hard a judgement of the Church of England itself But whatsoever either the one sort or the other teach we must acknowledge even Heretics themselves to be though a maimed part yet a part of the Visible Church If an Infidel should pursue to death an Heretic professing Christianity only for Christian Profession sake could we deny unto him the honour of Martyrdom Yet this honour all men know to be proper unto the Church Heretics therefore are not utterly cut off from the Visible Church of Christ. If the Fathers do any where as oftentimes they do make the true Visible Church of Christ and Heterical companies opposite they are to be construed as Separating Heretics not altogether from the company of Believers but from the fellowship of sound Believers For whereprofest unbelief is there can be no Visible Church of Christ there may be where sound belief wanteth Infidels being clean without the Church deny directly and utterly reject the very Principles of Christianity which Heretics embrace and err only by misconstruction Whereupon their opinions although repugnant indeed to the Principles of Christian Faith are notwithstanding by them held otherwise and maintained as most consonant thereunto Wherefore being Christians in regard of the general Truth of Christ which they openly profess yet they are by the Fathers every where spoken of as men clean excluded out of the right believing Church by reason of their particular Errors for which all that are of a sound belief must needs condemn them In this consideration the answer of Calvin unto Farell concerning the children of Popish Parents doth seem crazed Calvin Epish 1. Whereas saith he you ask our judgement about a matter whereof there is doubt amongst you whether Ministers of our Order professing the pure Doctrine of the Gospel may lawfully admit unto Baptism an Infant whose Father is a stranger unto our Churches and whose Mother hath salm from us unto the Papacy so that both the Parents are Popish Thus we have thought good to answer namely that it is an absurd thing for us to baptise them which cannot be reckoned Members of our Body And sith Papists children are such we see not how it should be lawful to Minister Baptism unto them Sounder a great deal is the answer of the Ecclesiastical College of Geneva unto Knox who having signified unto them that himself did not think it lawful to Baptise bastards or the children of Idolaters he meaneth Papists or of Persons Excommunicate till either the Parents had by repentance submitted themselves unto the Church or else their children being grown unto the years of understanding Epist. 283. should come and sue for their own Baptism For thus thinking saith he I am thought to be over severe Epist. 285. and that not only by them which are Popish but even in their judgements also who think themselves Maintainers of the Truth Master Knox's oversight herein they controlled Their Sentence was Wheresoever the Profession of Christianity hath not utterly perished and been extinct Infants are beguiled of their right if the Common Seal be denied them Which conclusion in itself is sound although it seemeth the ground is but weak whereupon they build it For the reason which they yield of their Sentence is this The promise which God doth make to the faithful concerning their Seed reacheth unto a thousand Generations it resteth not only in the first degree of Descent Infant's therefore whose Great Grandfathers have been holy and godly do in that respect belong to the Body of the Church although the Fathers and Grandfathers of whom they descend have been Apostates Because the tenure of the Grace of God which did adopt them Three hundred years ago and more in their Ancient Predecessors cannot with justice be defeated and broken off by their Parent's impiety coming between By which reason of theirs although it seem that all the World may be baptised in as much as no man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself yet we mean not at this time either to uphold or to overthrow it only their alleged conclusion we embrace so it be construed in this sort That for as much as men remain in the Visible Church till they utterly renounce the Profession of Christianity we may not deny unto Infants their right by withholding from them the public sign of holy Baptism if they be born where the outward acknowledgement of Christianity is not clean gone and extinguished For being in such sort born their Parents are within the Church and therefore their birth doth give them interest and right in Baptism Albeit not every Error and Fault yet Heresies and Crimes which are not actually repent of and forsaken exclude quite and clean from that Salvation which belongeth unto the Mystical Body of Christ yea they also make a Separation from the Visible sound Church of Christ altogether from the Visible Church neither the one nor the other doth sever As for the Act of Excommunication it neither shutteth out from the Mystical nor clean from the Visible but only from Fellowship with the Visible in holy duties With what congruity then doth the Church of Rome deny that her enemies whom she holdeth always for Heretics do at all appertain to the Church of Christ when her own do freely grant that albeit the Pope as they say cannot teach Heresy nor propound Error he may notwithstanding himself worship Idols think amiss concerning matters of Faith yea give himself unto Acts Diabolical even being Pope How exclude they us from being any part of the Church of Christ under the colour and pretence of Heresy when they cannot but grant it possible even for him to be as touching his own personal persuasion Heretical who in their opinion not only is of the Church but holdeth the chiefest place of Authority over the same But of these things we are not now to dispute That which already we have set down is for our present purpose sufficient By the Church therefore in this question we understand no other than only the Visible Church For preservation of Christianity there is not any thing more needful then that such as are of the Visible Church have mutual Fellowship and Society one with another In which consideration as the main Body of the Sea being one yet within divers Precincts hath divers names so the Catholic Church is in like sort divided into a number of distinct Societies every of which is termed a Church within itself In this sense the Church is always a Visible Society of Men not an Assembly but a Society For although the name of the Church be given unto Christian Assemblies although any number of Christian men congregated may be termed by the name of a Church yet Assemblies properly are rather things that belong to a Church Men are assembled for performance of Public Actions which Actions being ended the Assembly dissolveth itself and is no longer in being whereas the Church which was assembled doth no less continue afterwards then before Tertul. Exhort ad Caslie Ubi tres Ecclesia est licet laici Where but three are and they of the Laity also saith Tertullian yet there is a Church that is to say a Christian Assembly But a Church as now we are to understand it is a Society that is a number of men belonging unto some Christian Fellowship the place and limits whereof are certain That wherein they have communion is the Public Exercise of such duties as those mentioned in the Apostles Acts Instruction Breaking of Bread and Prayer Acts. 2. 47. As therefore they that are of the Mystical Body of Christ have those inward Graces and Virtues whereby they differ from all others which are not of the same Body Again whosoever appertain to the Visible Body of the Church they have also the notes of External Profession whereby the World knoweth what they are After the same manner even the several Societies of Christian men unto every of which the name of a Church is given with addition betokening severally as the Church of Rome Corinth Ephesus England and so the rest must be endued with correspondent general properties belonging unto them as they are Public Christian Societies And of such properties common unto all Societies Christian it may not be denied that one of the very chiefest is Ecclesiastical Polity Which word I therefore the rather use because the name of Government as commonly men understand it in ordinary speech doth not comprise the largeness of that whereunto in this question it is applied For when we speak of Government what doth the greatest part conceive thereby but only the exercise of Superiority peculiar unto Rulers and Guides of others To our purpose therefore the name of Church-Polity will better serve because it containeth both Government and also whatsoever besides belongeth to the ordering of the Church in public Neither is any thing in this degree more necessary than Church-Polity which is a Form of ordering the Public Spiritual Affairs of the Church of God 2. But we must note that he which affirmeth speech to be necessary amongst all men throughout the World doth not thereby import Whether it be necessary that some particular Form of Church-Polity be set down in Scripture sith the things that belong particularly unto any such Form are not of necessary to Salvation Tertul. de hibitu mul. AErouli sine necesse est quae Del non lunt Rom. 2. 15. Lact. lib. 6. c. 8. Ille legis hujus inventor disceptater lator Cic. 3. de Repub that all men must necessarily speak one kind of Language even so the necessity of Polity and Regiment in all Churches may be held without holding any one certain form to be necessary in them all nor is it possible that any Form of Polity much less of Polity Ecclesiastical should be good unless God himself be Author of it Those things that are not of God saith Tertullian they can have no other than God's Adversary for their Author Be it whatsoever in the Church of God if it be not of God we hate it Of God it must be either as those things sometimes were which God supernaturally revealed and so delivered them unto Moses for Government of the Commonwealth of Israel or else as those things which men find out by help of that light which God hath given them unto that end The very Law of Nature itself which no man can deny but God hath instituted is not of God unless that be of God whereof God is the Author as well this latter way as the former But forasmuch as no form of Church-Polity is thought by them to be lawful or to be of God unless God be so the Author of it that it be also set down in Scripture they should tell us plainly whether their meaning be that it must be there set down in whole or in part For if wholly let them show what one form of Polity ever was so Their own to be so taken out of Scripture they will not affirm neither deny they that in part even this which they so much oppugn is also from thence taken Again they should tell us whether only that be taken out of Scripture which is actually and particularly there set down or else that also which the general Principles and Rules of Scripture potentially contain The one way they cannot so much as pretend that all the parts of their own Discipline are in Scripture and the other way their mouths are stopped when they would plead against all other Forms besides their own seeing the general Principles are such as do not particularly prescribe any one but sundry may equally be consonant unto the general Axioms of the Scripture But to give them some larger scope and not to close them up in these straits Let their Allegations be considered wherewith they earnestly bend themselves against all which deny it necessary that any one complete Form of Church-Polity should be in Scripture First therefore whereas it hath been told them that matters of Faith and in general matters necessary unto Salvation are of a different nature from Ceremonies Order and the kind of Church Government and that the one is necessary to be expressly contained in the Word of God or else manifestly collected out of the same the other not so that it is necessary not to receive the one unless there be something in Scripture for them the other free if nothing against them may thence be alleged Although there do not appear any just or reasonable cause to reject or dislike of this nevertheless as it is not easy to speak to the contentation of minds exulcerated in themselves but that somewhat there will be always which displeaseth so herein for two things we are reproved * Two things misliked the one that we distinguish matters of Discipline or Church Government from matters of Faith and necessary unto Salvation The other that we are injurious to the Scripture of God in abridging the large and rich Continks thereof Their words are these You which distinguish between these and say that matters of Faith and necessary unto Salvation may not be tolerated in the Church unless they be expressly contained in the Word of God or manifestly gathered but that Ceremonies Order Discipline Government in the Church may not be received against the Word of God and consequently may be received if there be no word against them although there be none for them You I say distinguishing or dividing after this sort do prove yourself an evil divider As though matters of Discipline and kind of Government were not matters necessary to Salvation and of Faith It is no small injury which you do unto the Word of God to pin it in so narrow room as that it should be able to direct us but in the Principal Points of our Religion or as though the Substance of Religion or some rude and unfashioned matter of Building of the Church were uttered in them and those things were left out that should pertain to the Form and Fashion of it or as if there were in the Scriptures only to cover the Church's nakedness and not also Chains and Bracelets and Rings and other Jewels to adorn her and set her out or that to conclude There were sufficient to quench her thirst and kill her hunger but not to minister unto her a more liberal and as it were a more delicious and dainty diet These things you seem to say when you say that matters necessary to Salvation and of Faith are contained in Scripture especially when you oppose these things to Ceremonies Order Discipline and Government T. C. lib. 1. pag. 26. The first is Misdistinguishing because matters of Discipline and Church-Government are as they say matters necessary to Salvation and of Faith whereas we put a difference betwixt the one and the other Our second fault is Injurious dealing with the Scripture of God as if it contained only the Principal Points of Religion some rude and unfashioned matter of Building the Church but had lest out that which belongeth unto the form and fashion of it as if there were in the Scripture no more than only to cover the Church's nakedness and not Chains Bracelets Rings Jewels to adorn her sufficient to quench her thirst to kill her hunger but not to minister a more liberal and as it were a more delicous and dainty diet In which case our Apology shall not need to be very long That Matters of Discipline are different from Matters of Faith and Salvation and that they themselves so teach which are our Reprovers 3. The mixture of those things by speech which by Nature are divided is the Mother of all Error To take away therefore that Error which Confusion breedeth distinction is requisite Rightly to distinguish is by conceit of mind to sever things different in Nature and to discern wherein they differ So that if we imagine a difference where there is none because we distinguish where we should not it may not be denied that we misdistinguish The only trial whether we do so yea or no dependeth upon comparison between our conceit and the nature of things conceived Touching matters belonging to the Church of Christ this we conceive that they are not of one suit Some things are merely of Faith which things it doth suffice that we know and believe some things not only to be known but done because they concern the actions of men Articles about the Trinity are matters of mere Faith and must be believed Precepts concerning the Works of Charity are matters of Action which to know unless they be practised is not enough This being so clear to all men's understanding I somewhat marvel that they especially should think it absurd to oppose Church Government a plain matter of Action unto matters of Faith who know that themselves divide the Gospel into Doctrine and Discipline For if matters of T. C. lib. 2. pag. 1 We offer to show the Discipline to be a part of the Gospel And again p. 5. I speak of the Discipline as of a part of the Gospel If the Discipline be one part of the Gospel what other part can they assign ●●● Doctrine to answer in Division to the Discipline Discipline be rightly by them distinguished from matters of Doctrine why not matters of Government by us as reasonably set against matters of Faith Do not they under Doctrine comprehend the same which we intent by matters of Faith Do not they under Discipline comprise the Regiment of the Church When they blame that in us which themselves follow they give men great cause to doubt that some other thing than judgement doth guide their speech What the Church of God standeth bound to know or do the same in part Nature teacheth And because Nature can teach them but only in part neither so fully as is requisite for man's salvation not so easily as to make the way plain and expedite enough that many may come to the knowledge of it and so be saved therefore in Scripture hath God both collected the most necessary things that the School of Nature teacheth unto that end and revealeth also whatsoever we neither could with safety be ignorant of nor at all be instructed in but by Supernatural Revelation from him So that Scripture containing all things that are in this kind any way needful for the Church and the principal of the other sort This is the next thing wherewith we are charged as with an Error We teach that whatsoever is unto Salvation termed necessary by way of excellency whatsoever it standeth all men upon to know or do that they may be saved whatsoever there is whereof it may truly be said This not to believe is eternal death and damnation or This every soul that will live must duly observe Of which sort the Articles of Christian Faith and the Sacraments of the Church of Christ are All such things if Scripture did not comprehend the Church of God should not be able to measure out the length and the breadth of that way wherein for ever she is to walk Heretics and Schismatics never ceasing some to abridge some to enlarge all to pervert and obscure the same But as for those things that are accessary hereunto those things that so belong to the way of Salvation as to alter them is no otherwise to change that way than a path is changed by altering only the uppermost face thereof which be it laid with Gravel or set with Grass or paved with stones remaineth still the same path In such things because discretion may teach the church what is convenient we hold not the Church further tied herein unto Scripture then that against Scripture nothing be admitted in the Church lest that path which ought always to be kept even do thereby come to be overgrown with Brambles and Thorns Matth 23. 23. If this be unfound wherein doth the point of unsoundness lie Is it not that we make some things necessary some things accessary and appendent only For our Lord and Saviour himself doth make that difference by terming Judgement and Mercy and Fidelity with other things of like nature The greater and weightier matters of the Law Is it then in that we account Ceremonies wherein we do not comprise Sacraments or any other the like substantial duties in the exercise of Religion but only such External Rites as are usually annexed unto Church actions is it an oversight that we reckon these things and * The Government of the Church of Christ granted by Fenner himself to be thought a matter of great moment yet not of the substance of Religion Against Doctor Bridges p. 121. if it be Fenner which was the Author of that Book matters of Government in the number of things accessary not things necessary in such sort as hath been declared Let them which therefore think as  consider well their own words Do they not plainly compare the one unto Garments which cover the Body of the Church the other unto Rings Bracelets and Jewels that only adorn it The one to that Food which the Church doth live by the other to that which maketh her Diet liberal dainty and more delicious Is dainty fare a thing necessary to the sustenance or to the clothing of the Body rich attire If not how can they urge the necessity of that which themselves resemble by things not necessary Or by what construction shall any man living be able to make those comparisons true holding that distinction untrue which putteth a difference between things of External Regiment in the Church and things necessary unto Salvation 4. Now as it can be to Nature no injury That we do not take from Scripture any thing which may be thereunto given with soundness of Truth Arist. Pol. lib. 1. cap. 8 etc. Plato in Menex Arist. lib. 3. de Anima c. 45. that of her we say the same which diligent beholders of her works have observed namely that she provideth for all living Creatures nourishment which may suffice that she bringeth forth no kind of Creature whereto she is wanting in that which is needful Although we do not so far magnify her exceeding bounty as to affirm that she bringeth into the World the Sons of Men adorned with gorgeous attire or maketh costly buildings to spring up out of the Earth for them So I trust that to mention what the Scripture of God leaveth unto the Church's discretion in some things is not in any thing to impair the honour which the Church of God yieldeth to the sacred Scriptures perfection Wherein seeing that no more is by us maintained then only that Scripture must needs teach the Church whatsoever is in such sort necessary as hath been set down and that it is no more disgrace for Scripture to have left a number of other things free to be ordered at the discretion of the Church then for Nature to have lest it unto the wit of man to devise his own attire and not to look for it as the Beasts of the field have theirs If neither this can import nor any other proof sufficient be brought forth that we either will at any time or ever did affirm the sacred Scripture to comprehend no more then only those bare necessaries if we acknowledge that as well for particular application to special occasions as also in other manifold respects infinite Treasures of Wisdom are over and besides abundantly to be found in the holy Scripture yea that scarcely there is any noble part of knowledge worthy the mind of man but from thence it may have some direction and light yea that although there be no necessity it should of purpose prescribe any one particular form of Church-Government yet touching the manner of governing in general the Precepts that Scripture setteth down are not few and the examples many which it proposeth for all Church-Governors even in particularities to follow yea that those things finally which are of principal weight in the very particular Form of Church-Polity although not that Form which they imagine but that which we against them uphold are in the selfsame Scriptures contained If all this be willingly granted by us which are accused to pin the Word of God in so narrow room as that it should be able to direct us but in principal points of our Religion or as though the substance of Religion or some rude and unfashioned matter of building the Church were uttered in them and those things left out that should pertain to the form and fashion of it Let the cause of the Accused be referred to the Accusers own conscience and let that judge whether this accusation be deserved where it hath been laid Their meaning who first did plead against the Polity of the Church of England urging that Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded by the Word of God and what Scripture they thought they might ground this Assetion upon Deut. 4. 2. & 12. 32. Whatsoever I command you take heed you do it Thou shalt ●ut nothing theirto not take aught there from 5. But so easy it is for every man living to err and so hard to wrest from any man's mouth the plain acknowledgement of Error that what hath been once inconsiderately defended the same is commonly persisted in as long as wit by whetting itself is able to find out any shift be it never so sleight whereby to escape out of the hands of present contradiction So that it cometh herein to pass with men unadvisedly fallen into Error as with them whose state hath no ground to uphold it but only the help which by subtle conveyance they draw out of casual events arising from day to day till at length they be clean spent They which first gave out That nothing aught to be established in the Church which is not commanded by the Word of God thought this principle plainly warranted by the manifest words of the Law Ye shall put nothing unto the Word which I command you neither shall ye take aught therefrom that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God which I command you Wherefore having an eye to a number of Rites and Orders in the Church of England as marrying with a Ring Crossing in the one Sacrament Kneeling at the other observing of Festival days more than only that which is called the Lords day enjoining Abstinence at certain times from some kinds of Meat Churching of Women after Childbirth Degrees taken by Divines in Universities sundry Church Offices Dignities and Callings for which they found no Commandment in the holy Scripture they thought by the one only stroke of that Axiom to have cut them off But that which they took for an Oracle being sifted was repealed True it is concerning the Word of God whether it be by misconstruction of the sense or by falsification of the words wittingly to endeavour that any thing may seem Divine which is not or any thing not seem which is were plainly to abuse and even to falsify Divine Evidence which injury offered but unto men is most worthily counted heinous Which point I wish they did well observe with whom nothing is more familiar then to plead in these causes The Law of God the Word of the Lord Who notwithstanding when they come to allege what Word and what Law they mean their common ordinary practice is to quote by-speeches in some Historical Narration or other and to urge them as if they were written in most exact form of Law What is to add to the Law of God if this be not When that which the Word of God doth but deliver Historically we construe without any warrant as if it were legally meant and so urge it further than we can prove that it was intended do we not add to the Laws of God and make them in number seem more than they are It standeth us upon to be careful in this case For the sentence of God is heavy against them that wittingly shall presume thus to use the Scripture The same Asse●●ion we cannot hold without doing wrong unto all Churches 6. But let that which they do hereby intent be granted them let it once stand as consonant to Reason That because we are forbidden to add to the Law of God any thing or to take aught from it therefore we may not for matters of the Church make any Law more than is already set down in Scripture Who seeth not what sentence it shall enforce us to give against all Churches in the World in as much as there is not one but hath had many things established in it which though the Scripture did never command yet for us to condemn were rashness Let the Church of God even in the time of our Saviour Christ serve for example unto all the rest In their Domestical celebration of the Passover I ●●● 13. Caenaterium de que Matth. 27. 12. Ibide Caeral●●● nuptiali which Supper they divided as it were into two courses what Scripture did give commandment that between the first and the second he that was chief should put off the residue of his Garments and keeping on his Feast-robe only wash the feet of them that were with him What Scripture did command them never to lift up their hands unwashe in Prayer unto God which custom Aristaus be the credit of the Author more or less showeth wherefore they did so religiously observe Acts. 2. What Scripture did command the Jews every Festival day to fast till the sixth hour The custom both mentioned by josephus in the History of his own life and by the words of Peter signified Tedious it were to rip up all such things as were in that Church established yea by Christ himself and by his Apostles observed though not commanded any where in Scripture 7. Well yet a gloss there is to colour that Paradox and notwithstanding all this A shi●t to maintain that Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded in the Word of God namely that Commandments are or two sorts and that all things lawful in the Church are commanded if not by special I recept yet by general Rules in the Word 1 Cor. 10 32. & 14. 40. & 14.26 Rom. 14. 6. 9 T.C. l. 1 p 35. still to make it appear in show not to be altogether unreasonable And therefore till further reply come the cause is held by a feeble distinction that the Commandments of God being either general or special although there be no express word for every thing in specialty yet there are general Commandments for all things to the end that even such cases as are not in Scripture particularly mentioned might not be left to any to order at their pleasure only with Caution That nothing be done against the Word of God and that for this cause the Apostle hath set down in Scripture four general Rules requiring such things alone to be received in the Church as do best and nearest agree with the same Rules that so all things in the Church may be appointed not only not against but by and according to the Word of God The Rules are these Nothing scandalous or offensive unto any especially unto the Church of God All things in order and with seemliness All unto edification finally All to the glory of God Of which kind how many might be gathered out of the Scripture if it were necessary to take so much pains Which Rules they that urge minding thereby to prove that nothing may be done in the Church but what Scripture commandeth must needs hold that they tie the Church of Christ no otherwise then only because we find them there set down by the Finger of the Holy Ghost So that unless the Apostle by writing had delivered those Rules to the Church we should by observing them have sinned as now by not observing them In the Church of the Jews is it not granted That the appointment of the hour for daily Sacrifices the building of Synagogues throughout the Land to hear the Word of God and to pray in when they came not up to jerusalem the erecting of Pulpits and Chairs to teach in the order of Burial the Rites of Marriage with such like being matters appertaining to the Church yet are not any where prescribed in the Law but were by the Church's discretion instituted What then shall we think Did they hereby add to the Law and so displease God by that which they did None so hardly persuaded of them Doth their Law deliver unto them the selfsame general Rules of the Apostle that framing thereby their Orders they might in that respect clear themselves from doing amiss St. Paul would then of likelihood have cited them out of the Law which we see he doth not The truth is they are Rules and Canons of that Law which is written in all men's hearts the Church had for ever no less than now stood bound to observe them whether the Apostle had mentioned them or no. Seeing therefore those Canons do bind as they are Edicts of Nature which the Jews observing as yet unwritten and thereby framing such Church Order as in their Law were not prescribed are notwithstanding in that respect unculpable It followeth that sundry things may be lawfully done in the Church so as they be not done against the Scripture although no Scripture do command them but the Church only following the Light of Reason judge them to be in discretion meet Secondly unto our purpose and for the question in hand Whether the Commandments of God in Scripture be general or special it skilleth not For if being particularly applied they have in regard of such particulars a force constraining us to take some one certain thing of many and to leave the rest whereby it would come to pass that any other particular but that one being established the general Rules themselves in that case would be broken then is it utterly impossible that God should leave any thing great or small free for the Church to establish or not Thirdly if so be they shall grant as they cannot otherwise do that these Rules are no such Laws as require any one particular thing to be done but serve rather to direct the Church in all things which she doth so that free and lawful it is to devise any Ceremony to receive any Order and to authorize any kind of Regiment no special Commandment being thereby violated and the same being thought such by them to whom the judgement thereof appertaineth as that it is not scandalous but decent tending unto edification and setting forth the glory of God that is to say agreeable unto the general Rules of holy Scripture this doth them no good in the World for the furtherance of their purpose That which should make for them must prove that men ought not to make Laws for Church Regiment but only keep those Laws which in Scripture they find made The plain intent of the Books of Ecclesiastical Discipline is to show that men may not devise Laws of Church Government but are bound for ever to use and to execute only those which God himself hath already devised and delivered in the Scripture The selfsame drift the Admonitioners also had in urging that nothing ought to be done in the Church according unto any Law of Man's devising but all according to that which God in his Word hath commanded Which not remembering they gather out of Scripture General Rules to be followed in making Laws and so in effect they plainly grant that we ourselves may lawfully make Laws for the Church and are not bound out of Scripture only to take Laws already made as they meant who first alleged that principle whereof we speak One particular Platform it is which they respected and which they laboured thereby to force upon all Churches whereas these general Rules do not let but that there may well enough be sundry It is the particular Order established in the Church of England which thereby they did intend to alter as being not commanded of God whereas unto those general Rules they know we do not defend that we may hold any thing unconformable Obscure it is not what meaning they had who first gave out that grand Axiom and according unto that meaning it doth prevail far and wide with the Favourers of that part Demand of them wherefore they conform not themselves unto the Order of our Church and in every particular their answer for the most part is We find no such thing commanded in the Word Whereby they plainly require some special Commandment for that which is exacted at their hands neither are they content to have matters of the Church examined by general Rules and Canons As therefore in controversies between us and the Church of Rome that which they practise is many times even according to the very grossness of that which the vulgar sort conceiveth when that which they teach to maintain it is so nice and subtle that hold can very hardly be taken thereupon In which cases we should do the Church of God small benefit by disputing with them according unto the finest points of their dark conveyances and suffering that sense of their Doctrine to go uncontrolled wherein by the common sort it is ordinarily received and practised So considering what disturbance hath grown in the Church amongst ourselves and how the Authors thereof do commonly build altogether on this as a sure Foundation Nothing ought to be established in the Church which in the Word of God is not commanded Were it reason that we should suffer the same to pass without controlment Another Answer in defence of the former Assertion whereby the meaning thereof is opened in this sort All Church Orders must be commanded in the Word that is to say Grounded upon the Word and made according at the least wise unto the general Rules of holy Scripture As for such things as are found out by any Star or Light of Reason and are in that respect received so they be not against the Word of God all such things it holdeth unlawfully received in that current meaning whereby every where it prevaileth and stay till some strange construction were made thereof which no man would lightly have thought on but being driven thereunto for a shift 8. The last refuge in maintaining this Position is thus to construe it Nothing ought to be established in the Church but that which is commanded in the Word of God that is to say All Church Orders must be grounded upon the Word of God in such sort grounded upon the Word not that being sound out by some Star or Light of Reason or Learning or other help they may be received so they be not against the Word of God but according at leastwise unto the general Rules of Scripture they must be made Which is in effect as much as to say We know not what to say well in defence of this Position And therefore lest we should say it is false there is no remedy but to say that in some sense or other it may be true if we could tell how First that Scholy had need of a very  Reader and a tractable that should think it plain construction when to be commanded in the Word and grounded upon the Word are made all one If when a man may live in the state of Matrimony seeking that good thereby which Nature principally desireth he make rather choice of a contrary life in regard of St. Paul's judgement * 1 Cor 7. That which he doth is manifestly grounded upon the Word of God yet not commanded in his Word because without breach of any Commandment he might do otherwise Secondly whereas no man in Justice and Reason can be reproved for those actions which are framed according unto that known Will of God whereby they are to be judged and the Will of God which we are to judge our actions by no sound Divine in the World ever denied to be in part made manifest even by the Light of Nature and not by Scripture alone If the Church being directed by the former of these two which God hath given who gave the other that man might in different sort be guided by them both if the Church I say Arist. Polit. 1. do approve and establish that which thereby it judgeth meet and sindeth not repugnant to any word or syllable of holy Scripture who shall warrant our presumptuous boldness controlling herein the Church of Christ But so it is the name of the Light of Nature is made hateful with men the Star of Reason and Learning and all other such like helps beginneth no otherwise to be thought of then if it were an unlucky Comet or as if God had so accursed it that it should never shine or give light in things concerning our duty any way towards him but be esteemed as that Star in the Revelation called Wormword Apoc. 8. 10. which being fallen from Heaven maketh Rivers and Waters in which it falleth so bitter that men tasting them die thereof A number there are who think they cannot admire as they ought the power and authority of the Word of God if in things Divine they should attribute any force to Man's reason For which cause they never use reason so willingly as to disgrace Reason Their usual and common Discourses are unto this effect First 1 Cor 2. 14 The Natural Man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God For they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Secondly Col 2. 8 It is not for nothing that St. Paul giveth charge to beware of Philosophy that is to say such knowledge as Men by Natural Reason attain unto Thirdly Consider them that have from time to time opposed themselves against the Gospel of Christ and most troubled the Church with Heresy Have they not always been great admirers of Humane Reason Hath their deep and profound skill in Secular Learning made them the more obedient to the Truth and not armed them rather against it Fourthly They that fear God will remember how heavy his sentences are in this case 1 Cor. 1. 19 I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will cast away the Understanding of the Prudent Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this World Hath not God made the Wisdom of this World foolishness Seeing the World by Wisdom know not God In the Wisdom of God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save Believers Fifthly The Word of God in itself is absolute exact and perfect The Word of God is a two-edged sword as for the Weapons of Natural Reason they are as the Armour of Saul rather cumbersome about the Soldier of Christ then needful They are not of force to do that which the Apostles of Christ did by the power of the Holy Ghost My Preaching 1 Cor. 2. 4. therefore saith Paul hath not been in the enticing speech of Man's wisdom but in plain evidence of the Spirit of Power that your Faith might not be in the Wisdom of men but in the Power of God Sixthly If I believe the Gospel there needeth no reasoning about it to persuade me If I do not believe it must be the Spirit of God and not the Reason of Man that shall convert my heart unto him By these and the like Disputes an opinion hath spread itself very far in the World as if the way to be ripe in Faith were to be raw in Wit and Judgement as if Reason were an enemy unto Religion childish simplicity the Mother of Ghostly and Divine Wisdom The cause why such Declamations prevail so greatly is For that men suffer themselves in two respects to be deluded one is that the Wisdom of Man being debased either in comparison with that of God or in regard of some special thing exceeding the reach and compass thereof it seemeth to them not marking so much as if simply it were condemned another That Learning Knowledge or Wisdom falsely so termed usurping a name whereof they are not worthy and being under that name controlled their reproof is by so much the more easily misapplied and through equivocation wrested against those things whereunto so precious names do properly and of right belong This duly observed doth to the former Allegations itself make sufficient answer Howbeit for all men's plainer and fuller satisfaction First Concerning the inability of Reason to search out and to judge of things Divine if they be such as those properties of God and those duties of Men towards him which may be conceived by attentive consideration of Heaven and Earth We know that of mere Natural Men the Apostle testifieth How they knew both God and the Law of God Rom. 1.21.31 Other things of God there be which are neither so found nor though they be showed can ever be approved without the special operation of God's good Grace and Spirit Of such things sometime spoke the Apostle St. Paul declaring how Christ had called him to be a Witness of his Death and Resurrection from the Dead according to that which the Prophets and Moses had foreshowed Festus a mere Natural man an Infidel Acts 25. 19 a Roman one whose ears were unacquainted with such matter heard him but could not reach unto that whereof he spoke the suffering Acts 26. 24. and the rising of Christ from the dead he rejected as idle superstitious fancies not worth the hearing The Apostle that knew them by the Spirit and spoke of them with Power of the Holy Ghost I Cor. 2. 14 seemed in his eyes but learnedly mad Which example maketh manifest what elsewhere the same Apostle teacheth namely that Nature hath need of Grace whereunto I hope we are not opposite by holding that Grace hath use of Nature Secondly Philosophy we are warned to take heed of not that Philosophy which is true and sound Knowledge attained by Natural discourse of Reason but that Philosophy which to bolster Heresy or Error casteth a fraudulent show of Reason upon things which are indeed unreasonable and by that mean as by a stratagem spoileth the simple which are not able to withstand such cunning Col. 2. 8. Take heed lest any spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit He that exhorteth to beware of an enemy's policy doth not give counsel to be impolitic but rather to use all prudent foresight and circumspection lest our simplicity be overreached by cunning sleights The way not to be inveighled by them that are so guileful through skill is throughly to be instructed in that which maketh skilful against guile and to be armed with that true and sincere Philosophy which doth teach against that deceitful and vain which spoileth Thirdly But many great Philosophers have been very unsound in belief and many sound in belief have been also great Philosophers Could Secular Knowledge bring the one sort unto the love of Christian Faith Nor Christian Faith the other sort out of love with Secular Knowledge The harm that Heretics did they did it unto such as were unable to discern between sound and deceitful reasoning and the remedy against it was ever the skill which the Ancient Fathers had to descry and discover such deceit Insomuch that Cresconius the Heretic complained greatly of St. Augustine as being too full of Logical subtleties Heresy prevaileth only by a counterfeit show of Reason whereby notwithstanding it becometh invincible unless it be convicted of Fraud by manifest Remonstrance clearly true and unable to be withstood When therefore the Apostle requireth hability to convict Heretics Tit. 1. 9 11. can we think he judgeth it a thing unlawful and not rather needful to use the Principal Instrument of their Conviction the Light of Reason It may not be denied but that in the Father's writings there are sundry sharp invectives against Heretics even for their very Philosophical reasonings The cause whereof Tertullian confesseth not to have been any dislike conceived against the kind of such reasonings but the end Tert. de Retur Carnis We may saith he even in matters of God be made wiser by Reasons drawn from the Public Persuasions which are grafted in men's minds So they be used to further the Truth not to bolster Error so they make with not against that which God hath determined For there are some things even known by Nature as the Immortality of the Soul to many our God unto all I will therefore myself also use the sentence of some such as Plato pronouncing every Soul Immortal I myself too will use the secret acknowledgement of the communality bearing Record of the God of gods But when I hear men allege That which is dead is dead and While thou art alive be alive and After death an end of all even of death itself Then will I call to mind both that the heart of the people with God is accounted dust and that the very Wisdom of the World is pronounced Folly If then an Heretic fly also unto such vicious popular and secular conceits my answer unto him shall be Thou Heretic avoid the Heathen although in this ye be one that ye both belie God yet thou that dost his under the Name of Christ differest from the Heathen in that thou seemest to thyself a Christian. Leave him therefore his conceits seeing that neither will be learn thine Why dost thou having sight trust to a blind guide Thou which hast put on Christ take raiment of him that is naked If the Apostle have armed thee why dost thou borrow a stranger's shield Let him rather learn of thee to acknowledge than thou of him to renounce the Resurrection of the Flesh. In a word the Catholic Fathers did good unto all by that Knowledge whereby Heretics hindering the Truth in many might have furthered therewith themselves but that obstinately following their own ambitious or otherwise corrupted affections instead of framing their wills to maintain that which Reason taught they bent their wits to find how Reason might seem to teach that which their Wills were set to maintain For which cause the Apostle saith of them justly that they are for the most part Th. 3 1● men condemned even in and of themselves For though they be not all persuaded that it is truth which they withstand yet that to be error which they uphold they might undoubtedly the sooner a great deal attain to know but that their study is more to defend what once they have stood in then to find out sincerely and simply what truth they ought to persist in for ever Fourthly there is in the World no kind of knowledge whereby any part of Truth is seen but we justly account it precious yea that Principal Truth in comparison whereof all other knowledge is vile may receive from it some kind of light whether it be that Egyptian and Caldean wisdom Mathematical wherewith Moses and Daniel were furnished or that Natural Moral Acts 7. 22. Dan. 1. 17. 1 Kings 4. 29 30. Acts 22. 13. and Civil wisdom wherewith Solomon excelled all Men or that Rational and Oratorial wisdom of the Grecians which the Apostle St. Paul brought from Tarsus or that Judaical which he learned in jerusalem sitting at the feet of Gamaliel To detract from the dignity thereof were to injure even God himself who being that Light which none can approach unto hath sent out these lights whereof we are capable even as so many sparkles resembling the Bright Fountain from which they rise But there are that bear the title of Wisemen and Scribes and great Disputers of the World and are nothing indeed less than what in show they most appear These being wholly addicted unto their own wills use their wit their learning and all the wisdom they have to maintain that which their obstinate hearts are delighted with esteeming in the frantic error of their minds the greatest madness in the World to be Wisdom and the highest Wisdom foolishness Such were both Jews and Grecians which professed the one sort Legal and the other Secular skill neither enduring to be taught the Mystery of Christ Unto the glory of whose most blessed Name who so study to use both their Reason and all other Gifts as well which Nature as which Grace hath endued them with let them never doubt but that the same God who is to destroy and confound utterly that wisdom falsely so named in others doth make reckoning of them as of true Scribes Scribes by Wisdom instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 13. 52. Scribes against that Kingdom hardened in a vain opinion of Wisdom which in the end being proved folly must needs perish true Understanding Knowledge Judgement and Reason continuing for evermore Fifthly Unto the Word of God being in respect of that end for which God ordained it perfect exact and absolute in itself we do not add Reason as a Supplement of any maim or defect therein but as a necessary Instrument without which we could not reap by the Scriptures perfection that fruit and benefit which it yieldeth The Word of God is a two-edged sword Heb. 4. 12. put in the hands of reasonable men and Reason as the weapon that flew Goliath if they be as David was that use it Touching the Apostles he which gave them from above such Power for miraculous confirmation of that which they taught endued them also with Wisdom from above to teach that which they so did confirm Our Saviour made choice of Twelve simple and unlearned Men that the greater their lack of Natural wisdom was the more admirable that might appear which God supernaturally endued them with from Heaven Such therefore as knew the poor and silly estate wherein they had lived could not but wonder to hear the Wisdom of their speech and be so much the more attentive unto their teaching They studied for no Tongue they spoke withal of themselves they were rude and knew not so much as how to premeditate the Spirit gave them speech and cloquent utterance But because with St. Paul it was otherwise then with the rest in as much as he never conversed with Christ upon Earth as they did and his education had been scholastical altogether which theirs was not Hereby occasion was taken by certain Malignants secretly to undermine his great Authority in the Church of Christ as though the Gospel had been taught him by others then by Christ himself and as if the cause of the Gentiles conversion and belief through his means had been the learning and skill which he had by being conversant in their Books which thing made them so willing to hear him and him so able to persuade them whereas the rest of the Apostles prevailed because God was with them and by a miracle from Heaven confirmed his Word in their mouths They were mighty in deeds As for him being absent his Writings had some force in presence his Power not like unto theirs In sum concerning his Preaching their very byword was 2 Cor. 10 10. addle speech empty talk His Writings full of great words but in the Power of miraculous Operations His presence not like the rest of the Apostles Hereupon it ariseth that St. Paul was so often driven to make his Apologies Hereupon it ariseth that whatsoever time he had spent in the study of Humane Learning he maketh earnest protestation to them of Corinth that the Gospel which he had preached amongst them did not by other means prevail with them then with others the same Gospel taught by the rest of the Apostles of Christ. 1 Cor. 2.4 My Preaching saith he hath not been in the persuasive speeches of Humane Wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power that your faith may not be in the wisdom of men but in the Power of God What is it which the Apostle doth here deny Is it denied that his speech amongst them had been persuasive No for of him the sacred History plainly restifieth Acts 18. 4. 11. that for the space of a year and a half he spoke in their Synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Grecians How then is the speech of men made persuasive Surely there can be but two ways to bring this to pass the one Humane the other Divine Either St. Paul did only by art and natural industry cause his own speech to be credited or else God by miracle did authorize it and so bring credit thereunto as to the speech of the rest of the Apostles Of which two the former he utterly denieth For why If the Preaching of the rest had been effectual by miracle his only by force of his own learning so great inequality between him and the other Apostles in this thing had been enough to subvert their Faith For might they not with reason have thought that if he were sent of God as well as they God would not have furnished them and not him with the power of the Holy Ghost Might not a great part of them being simple haply have feared lest their assent had been cunningly gotten unto his doctrine rather through the weakness of their own wits than the certainty of that Truth which he had taught them How unequal had it been that all Believers through the Preaching of other Apostles should have their Faith strongly built upon the evidence of Gods own miraculous approbation and they whom he had converted should have their persuasion built only upon his skill and wisdom who persuaded them As therefore calling from men may authorize us to teach although it could not authorize him to teach as other Apostles did So although the wisdom of man had not been sufficient to enable him such a Teacher as the rest of the Apostles were unless God's miracles had strengthened both the one and the others Doctrine yet unto our ability both of teaching and learning the Truth of Christ as we are but mere Christian men it is not a little which the wisdom of man may add Sixthly Yea whatsoever our hearts be to God and to his Truth believe we or be we as yet faithless for our Conversion or Confirmation the force of Natural Reason is great The force whereof unto those effects is nothing without grace What then To our purpose it is sufficient that whosoever doth serve honour and obey God whosoever believeth in him that man would no more do this then innocents' and infants do but for the Light of Natural Reason that shineth in him and maketh him apt to apprehend those things of God which being by grace discovered are effectual to persuade reasonable minds and none other that honour obedience and credit belong aright unto God No man cometh unto God to offer him Sacrifice Reb. 11. 16. to pour out Supplications and Prayers before him or to do him any service which doth not first believe him both to be and to be a rewarder of them who in such sort seek unto him Let men be taught this either by Revelation from Heaven or by Instruction upon Earth by Labour Study and Meditation or by the only secret Inspiration of the Holy Ghost whatsoever the mean be they know it by if the knowledge thereof were possible without discourse of Natural Reason why should none be found capable thereof but only men nor men till such time as they come unto ripe and full ability to work by reasonable understanding The whole drift of the Scripture of God what is it but only to teach Theology Theology what is it but the Science of things Divine What Science an be attained unto without the help of Natural Discourse and Reason 1 Cor. 12. 1● judge you of that which I speak saith the Apostle In vain it were to speak any thing of God but that by Reason Men are able somewhat to judge of that they hear and by discourse to discern how consonant it is to Truth Scripture indeed teacheth things above Nature things which our Reason by itself could not reach unto Yet those things also we believe knowing by Reason that the Scripture is the Word of God In the presence of Festus a Roman and of King Agrippa a Jew St. Paul omitting the one who neither knew the Jews Religion not the Books whereby they were taught it speaks unto the other of things foreshowed by Moses and the Prophets and performed in Jesus Christ intending thereby to prove himself so unjustly accused that unless his Judges did condemn both Moses and the Prophets him they could not choose but acquit who taught only that fulfilled which they so long since had foretold His cause was easy to be discerned what was done their eyes were witnesses what Moses and the Prophets did speak their Books could quickly show It was no hard thing for him to compare them which knew the one and believed the other Acts 2● 22. King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know thou dost The question is how the Books of the Prophets came to be credited of King Agrippa For what with him did authorize the Prophets the like with us doth cause the rest of the Scripture of God to be of credit Because we maintain That in Scripture we are taught all things necessary unto Salvation hereupon very childishly it is by some demanded What Scripture can teach us the Sacred Authority of the Scripture upon the knowledge whereof our whole Faith and Salvation dependeth As though there were any kind of Science in the World which leadeth men unto knowledge without presupposing a number of things already known No Science doth make known the first Principles whereon it buildeth but they are always either taken as plain and manifest in themselves or as proved and granted already some former knowledge having made them evident Scripture teacheth all supernaturally revealed Truth without the knowledge whereof Salvation cannot be attained The main principal whereupon our belief of all things therein contained dependeth is That the Scriptures are the Oracles of God himself This in itself we cannot say is evident For then all men that hear it would acknowledge it in heart as they do when they hear that every whole is more than any part of that whole because this in itself is evident The other we know that all do not acknowledge when they hear it There must be therefore some former knowledge presupposed which doth herein assure the hearts of all Believers Scripture teacheth us that saving Truth which God hath discovered unto the World by Revelation and it presumeth us taught otherwise that itself is Divine and Sacred The question then being By what means we are taught this some answer That to learn it we have no other way then only Tradition as namely that so we believe because both we from our Predecessors and they from theirs have so received But is this enough That which all men's experience teacheth them may not in any wise be denied And by experience we all know that the first outward Motive leading men so to esteem of the Scripture is the authority of God's Church For when we know the whole Church of God hath that opinion of the Scripture we judge it even at the first an impudent thing for any man bred and brought up in the Church to be of a contrary mind without cause Afterwards the more we bestow our labour in reading or hearing the Mysteries thereof the more we find that the thing itself doth answer our received opinion concerning it So that the former enducement prevailing somewhat with us before doth now much more prevail when the very thing hath Ministered further Reason If Infidels or Atheists chance at any time to call it in question this giveth us occasion to sift what reason there is whereby the testimony of the Church concerning Scripture and our own persuasion which Scripture itself hath confirmed may be proved a truth infallible In which case the ancient Fathers being often constrained to show what warrant they had so much to rely upon the Scriptures endeavoured still to maintain the authority of the Books of God by Arguments such as unbelievers themselves must needs think reasonable if they judged thereof as they should Neither is it a thing impossible or greatly heard even by such kind of proofs so to manifest and clear that point that no man living shall be able to deny it without denying some apparent Principle such as all men acknowledge to be true Wherefore if I believe the Gospel yet is reason of singular use for that it confirmeth me in this my belief the more If I do not as yet believe nevertheless to bring me into the number of Believers except Reason did somewhat help and were an Instrument which God doth use unto such purposes what should it boot to dispute with Infidels or godless persons for their conversion and persuasion in that point Neither can I think that when grave and learned men do sometime hold that of this Principle there is no proof but by the testimony of the Spirit which assureth our hearts therein it is their meaning to exclude utterly all force which any kind of Reason may have in that behalf but I rather incline to interpret such their speeches as if they had more expressly set down that other motives and enducements be they never so strong and consonant unto Reason are notwithstanding ineffectual of themselves to work Faith concerning this Principle if the special Grace of the Holy Ghost concur not to the enlightening of our minds For otherwise I doubt not but men of wisdom and judgement will grant That the Church in this point especially is furnished with Reason to stop the mouths of her impious Adversaries and that as it were altogether bootless to allege against them what the Spirit hath taught us so likewise that even to our own selves it needeth Caution and Explication how the testimony of the Spirit may be discerned by what means it may be known lest men think that the Spirit of God doth testify those things which the spirit of error suggesteth The operations of the Spirit especially these ordinary which be common unto all true Christian men are as we know things secret and undiscernible even to the very soul where they are because their nature is of another and an higher kind then that they can be by us perceived in this life Wherefore albeit the Spirit lead us into all truth and direct us in all goodness yet because these workings of the Spirit in us are so privy and secret we theresore stand on a plainer ground when we gather by Reason from the quality of things believed or done that the Spirit of God hath directed us in both then if we settle ourselves to believe or to do any certain particular thing as being moved thereto by the Spirit But of this enough Acts 13. 36. & 2. 34. To go from the Books of Scripture to the sense and meaning thereof because the Sentences which are by the Apostles recited out of the Psalms to prove the Resurrection of Jesus Christ did not prove it if so be the Prophet David meant them of himself This Exposition therefore they plainly disprove and show by manifest Reason that of David the words of David could not possibly be meant Exclude the use of Natural reasoning about the sense of holy Scripture concerning the Articles of our Faith and then that the Scripture doth concern the Articles of our Faith who can assure us That which by right Exposition buildeth up Christian Faith being misconstrued breedeth Error between true and false construction the difference Reason must show 1 Pet. 3. 15. Can Christian men perform that which Peter requireth at their hands Is it possible they should both believe and be able without the use of Reason to render a Reason of their belief a Reason sound and sufficient to answer them that demand it be they of the same Faith with us or enemies thereunto May we cause our Faith without Reason to appear reasonable in the eyes of men This being required even of Learners in the School of Christ the duty of their Teachers in bringing them unto such ripeness must needs be somewhat more than only to read the Sentences of Scripture and then Paraphrastically to scholy them to vary them with sundry Forms of speech without arguing or disputing about any thing which they contain This method of teaching may commend itself unto the World by that easiness and facility which is in it but a Law or a Pattern it is not as some do imagine for all men to follow that will do good in the Church of Christ. Our Lord and Saviour himself did hope by disputation to do some good yea by disputation not only of but against the truth albeit with purpose for the truth That Christ should be the Son of David Matth. 22. 43. was truth yet against this truth our Lord in the Gospel objecteth If Christ be the Son of David how doth David call him Lord There is as yet no way known how to dispute or to determine of things disputed without the use of Natural Reason If we please to add unto Christ their example who followed him as near in all things as they could the Sermon of Paul and Barnabas set down in the Acts where the people would have offered unto them Sacrifice in that Sermon what is there but only Natural Reason to disprove their act Acts 13. 15. O men why do ye these things We are men even subject to the selfsame Passions with you We Preach unto you to leave these Vanities and to turn to the living God the God that hath not left himself without witness in that he hath done good to the World giving rain and fruitful Seasons filling our hearts with joy and gladness Neither did they only use Reason in winning such unto a Christian belief as were yet thereto unconverted but with Believers themselves they followed the selfsame course In that great and solemn Assembly of Believing Jews how doth Peter prove that the Gentiles were partakers of the Grace of God as well as they but by Reason drawn from those effects which were apparently known amongst them Acts 15. God which knoweth the hearts hath born them witness in giving unto them the Holy Ghost as unto you The light therefore which the Star of Natural Reason and Wisdom casteth is too bright to be obscured by the mist of a word or two uttered to diminish that opinion which justly hath been received concerning the force and virtue thereof even in matters that touch most nearly the principal duties of men and the glory of the Eternal God In all which hitherto hath been spoken touching the force and use of Man's Reason in things Divine I must crave that I be not so understood or construed as if any such thing by virtue thereof could be done without the aid and assistance of Gods most blessed Spirit The thing we have handled according to the question moved about it which question is Whether the Light of Reason be so pernicious that in devising Laws for the Church men ought not by it to search what may be fit and convenient For this cause therefore we have endeavoured to make it appear how in the Nature of Reason itself there is no impediment but that the selfsame Spirit which revealeth the things that God hath set down in his Law may also be thought to aid and direct men in finding out by the Light of Reason what Laws are expedient to be made for the guiding of his Church over and besides them that are in Scripture Herein therefore we agree with those men by whom Humane Laws are defined to be Ordinances which such as have lawful Authority given them for that purpose do probably draw from the Laws of Nature and God by discourse of Reason aided with the influence of Divine Grace And for that cause it is not said amiss touching Ecclesiastical Canons Violatores cap. ●… q 1. That by instinct of the Holy Ghost they have been made and consecrated by the reverend acceptation of the World 9 Laws for the Church are not made as they should be How Laws for the Regiment of the Church may be made by the advice of men following therein the Light of Reason and how those Laws being not repugnant to the Word of God are approved in his sight unless the Makers follow such direction as they ought to be guided by Wherein that Scripture standeth not the Church of God in any stead or serveth nothing at all to direct but may be let pass as needless to be consulted with we judge it profane impious and irreligious to think For although it were in vain to make Laws which the Scripture hath already made because what we are already there commanded to do on our parts there resteth nothing but only that it be executed yet because both in that which we are commanded it concerneth the duty of the Church by Law to provide that the looseness and slackness of men may not cause the Commandments of God to be unexecuted and a number of things there are for which the Scripture hath not provided by any Law but left them unto the careful discretion of the Church we are to search how the Church in these cases may be well directed to make that provision by Laws which is most convenient and fit And what is so in these cases partly Scripture and partly Reason must teach to discern Scripture comprehending Examples and Laws Laws some Natural and some Positive Examples neither are there for all cases which require Laws to be made and when they are they can but direct as Precedents only Natural Laws direct in such sort that in all things we must for ever do according unto them Positive so that against them in no case we may do any thing as long as the Will of God is that they should remain in force Howbeit when Scripture doth yield us Precedents how far forth they are to be followed when it giveth Natural Laws what particular order is thereunto most agreeable when Positive which way to make Laws unrepugnant unto them yea though all these should want yet what kind of Ordinances would be most for that good of the Church which is aimed at all this must be by Reason found out And therefore Luminis naturalis dictatum repellere non modo stultum est sed & impium August lib. 4. dle Trin. cap. 6. To refuse the conduct of the Light of Nature saith St. Augustine is not Folly alone but accompanied with Impiety The greatest amongst the School Divines studying how to set down by exact definition the Nature of an Humane Law of which nature all the Church's Constitutions are found not which way better to do it then in these words Out of the Precepts of the Law of Nature as out of certain common and undemonstrable Principles Man's Reason doth necessarily proceed unto certain more particular determinations Tho. Aqui. 2. q. 21. art 3 Ex pracepris Legis na●●ra lit qu●li ex quibusdam principii● Communibus & indemonstrabilibus necesse est quod ratio humana procedat ad aliqua magis particulariter disponenda Et istae particular di●● dispositiones adinventae secundum rationem humanam dicuntur leges humana observatis aliti conditionibus quae pertinent ad rationem legis Which particular determinations being found out according unto the Reason of Man they have the names of Humane Laws so that such other conditions be therein kept as the making of Laws doth require that is If they whose Authority is thereunto required do establish and publish them as Laws And the truth is that all our controversy in this cause concerning the Orders of the Church is What particulars the Church may appoint That which doth find them out is the force of Man's Reason That which doth guide and direct his Reason is first the general Law of Nature which Law of Nature and the Moral Law of Scripture are in the substance of Law all one But because there are also in Scripture a number of Laws particular and positive which being in force may not by any Law of Man be violated we are in making Laws to have thereunto an especial eye As for example it might perhaps seem reasonable unto the Church of God following the general Laws concerning the nature of Marriage to ordain in particular that Cosin-Germans shall not marry Which Law notwithstanding ought not to be received in the Church if there should be in the Scripture a Law particular to the contrary forbidding utterly the Bonds of Marriage to be so far forth abridged The same Thomas therefore whose definition of Humane Laws we mentioned before doth add thereunto this Caution concerning the Rule and Canon whereby to make them 1.2 Quest 95. Act 3. Humane Laws are Measures in respect of Men whose actions they must direct howbeit such Measures they are as have also their higher Rules to be measured by Which Rules are two the Law of God and the Law of Nature So that Laws Humane must be made according to the General Laws of Nature and without contradiction unto any Positive Law in Scripture otherwise they are ill made Unto Laws thus made and received by a whole Church they which live within the bosom of that Church must not think it a matter indifferent either to yield or not to yield obedience Is it a small offence to despise the Church of God 1 Cor. 22. ●● Prov. 6. 20. My Son keep thy Father's Commandment saith Solomon and forget not thy Mother's instruction bind them both always about thine heart It doth not stand with the duty which we owe to our Heavenly Father that to the Ordinances of our Mother the Church we should show ourselves disobedient Let us not say we keep the Commandments of the one when we break the Law of the other For unless we observe both we obey neither And what doth let but that we may observe both when they are not the one to the other in any sort repugnant For of such Laws only we speak as being made in form and manner already declared can have in them no contradiction unto the Laws of Almighty God Yea that which is more the Laws thus made God himself doth in such sort authorise that to despise them is to despise in them him It is a loose and licentious opinion which the Anabaptists have embraced holding That a Christian Man's liberty is lost and the Soul which Christ hath redeemed unto himself injuriously drawn into servitude under the yoke of Humane Power if any Law be now imposed besides the Gospel of Jesus Christ In obedience whereunto the Spirit of God and not the constraint of man is to lead us according to that of the blessed Apostle Such as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God Rom. 8. 14. and not such as live in thraldom unto men Their judgement is therefore that the Church of Christ should admit no Lawmakers' but the Evangelists The Author of that which causeth another thing to be is Author of that thing also which thereby is caused The light of Natural Understanding Wit and Reason is from God John 1. 5. he it is which thereby doth illuminate every man entering into the World If there proceed from us any thing afterwards corrupt and naught the Mother thereof is our own darkness neither doth it proceed from any such cause whereof God is the Author He is the Author of all that we think or do by virtue of that Light which himself hath given And therefore the Laws which the very Heathens did gather to direct their actions by so far forth as they proceed from the Light of Nature God himself doth acknowledge to have proceeded even from himself Rom. 1. 6. & 2. 15 and that he was the Writer of them in the Tables of their Hearts How much more than is he the Author of those Laws which have been made by his Saints endued further with the Heavenly Grace of his Spirit and directed as much as might be with such instructions as his Sacred Word doth yield Surely if we have unto those Laws that dutiful regard which their Dignity doth require it will not greatly need that we should be exhorted to live in obedience unto them I● they have God himself for their Author contempt which is offered unto them cannot choose but redound unto him The safest and unto God the most acceptable way of framing our lives therefore is with all Humility Lowliness and Singleness of Heart to study which way our willing Obedience both unto God and Man may be yielded even to the utmost of that which is due 10. Touching the Mutability of Laws that concern the Regiment and Polity of the Church That neither Gods being the Author of Laws nor his committing them to Scripture nor the continuance of the end for which they were instituted is any reason sufficient to prove that they are unchangeable changed they are when either altogether abrogated or in part repealed or augmented with farther additions Wherein we are to note that this question about the changing of Laws concerneth only such Laws as are Positive and do make that now good or evil by being commanded or forbidden which otherwise of itself were not simply the one or the other Unto such Laws it is expressly sometimes added how long they are to continue in force If this be no where expressed then have we no light to direct our judgements concerning the changeableness or immutability of them but by considering the nature and quality of such Laws The nature of every Law must be judged of by the end for which it was made and by the aptness of things therein prescribed unto the same end It may so fall out that the reason why some Laws of God were given is neither opened nor possible to be gathered by the Wit of Man As why God should forbid Adam that one Tree there was no way for Adam ever to have certainly understood And at Adam's ignorance of this point Satan took advantage urging the more securely a false cause because the true was unto Adam unknown Why the Jews were forbidden to Plough their Ground with an Ox and an Ass Deut. 22. 10 11. why to  themselves with mingled attire of Wool and Linen it was both unto them and to us it remaineth obscure Such Laws perhaps cannot be abrogated saving only by whom they were made because the intent of them being known unto none but the Author he alone can judge how long it is requisite they should endure But if the reason why things were instituted may be known and being known do appear manifestly to be of perpetual necessity then are those things also perpetual unless they cease to be effectual unto that purpose for which they were at the first instituted Because when a thing doth cease to be available unto the end which gave it being the continuance of it must then of necessity appear superfluous And of this we cannot be ignorant how sometimes that hath done great good which afterwards when time hath changed the ancient course of things doth grow to be either very hurtful or not so greatly profitable and necessary If therefore the end for which a Law provideth be perpetually necessary and the way whereby it provideth perpetually also most apt no doubt but that every such Law ought for ever to remain unchangeable Whether God be the Author of Laws by authorising that power of men whereby they are made or by delivering them made immediately from himself by word only or in writing also or howsoever notwithstanding the Authority of their Maker the mutability of that end for which they are made maketh them also changeable The Law of Ceremonies came from God Moses had commandment to commit it unto the Sacred Records of Scripture where it continueth even unto this very day and hour in force still as the Jew surmiseth because God himself was Author of it and for us to abolish what he hath established were presumption most intolerable Quod pro necesirate temporis Slatutum est ressante niece litate debet cessare pariter quod urgebar 1 q 1. But that which they in the blindness of their obdurate hearts are not able to discern sith the end for which that Law was ordained is now fulfilled past and gone how should it but cease any longer to be which hath no longer any cause of being in force as before That which necessity of some special time doth cause to be enjoined bindeth no longer then during that time but doth afterward become free Which thing is also plain even by that Law which the Apostles assembled at the Council of jerusalem did from thence deliver unto the Church of Christ the Preface whereof to authorize it was Quod pronecessit Act. 15. To the Holy Ghost and to us it hath seemed good Which style they did not use as matching themselves in Power with the Holy Ghost but as testifying the Holy Ghost to be the Author and themselves but only Utterers of that Decree This Law therefore to have proceeded from God as the Author thereof no faithful man will deny It was of God not only because God gave them the power whereby they might make Laws but for that it proceeded even from the holy Motion and Suggestion of that secret Divine Spirit whose sentence they did but only pronounce Notwithstanding as the Law of Ceremonies delivered unto the Jews so this very Law which the Gentiles received from the Mouth of the Holy Ghost is in like respect abrogated by decease of the end for which it was given Countery p. 8. But such as do not stick at this point such as grant that what hath been instituted upon any special cause needeth not to be observed that cause ceasing do notwithstanding herein fail they judge the Laws of God only by the Author and main end for which they were made so that for us to change that which he hath established they hold it execrable pride and presumption if so be the end and purpose for which God by that mean provideth be permanent And upon this they ground those ample Disputes concerning Orders and Offices which being by him appointed for the Government of his Church if it be necessary always that the Church of Christ be governed then doth the end for which God provided remain still and therefore in those means which he by Law did establish as being fittest unto that end for us to alter any thing is to lift up ourselves against God and as it were to countermand him Wherein they mark not that Laws are Instruments to rule by and that Instruments are not only to be framed according unto the general end for which they are provided but even according unto that very particular which riseth out of the matter whereon they have to work The end wherefore Laws were made may be permanent and those Laws nevertheless require some alteration if there be any unfitness in the means which they prescribe as tending unto that end and purpose As for example a Law that to bridle theft doth punish Thiefs with a quadruple restitution hath an end which will continue as long as the World itself continueth Theft will be always and will always need to be bridled But that the mean which this Law provideth for that end namely the punishment of quadruple restitution that this will be always sufficient to bridle and restrain that kind of enormity no man can warrant Insufficiency of Laws doth sometimes come by want of judgement in the Makers Which cause cannot fall into any Law termed properly and immediately Divine as it may and doth into Humane Laws often But that which hath been once most sufficient may wax otherwise by alteration of time and place that punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin may grow afterwards too week and feeble In a word we plainly perceive by the difference of those three Laws which the Jews received at the hands of God the Moral Ceremonial and Judicial that if the end for which and the matter according whereunto God maketh his Laws continue always one and the same his Laws also do the like for which cause the Moral Law cannot be altered Secondly That whether the Matter whereon Laws are made continue or continue not if their end have once ceased they cease also to be of force as in the Law Ceremonial it fareth Finally That albeit the end continue as in that Law of Theft specified and in a great part of those ancient Judicials it doth yet for as much as there is not in all respects the same subject or matter remaining for which they were first instituted even this is sufficient cause of change And therefore Laws though both ordained of God himself and the end for which they were ordained continuing may notwithstanding cease it by alteration of persons or times they be found unsufficient to attain unto that end In which respect why may we not presume that God doth even call for such change or alteration as the very condition of things themselves doth make necessary They which do therefore plead the Authority of the Lawmaker as an argument wherefore it should not be lawful to change that which he hath instituted and will have this the cause why all the Ordinances of our Saviour are immutable they which urge the Wisdom of God as a proof that whatsoever Laws he hath made they ought to stand unless himself from Heaven proclaim them disannulled because it is not in man to correct the Ordinance of God may know if it please them to take notice thereof that we are far from presuming to think that men can better any thing which God hath done even as we are from thinking that men should presume to undo some things of men which God doth know they cannot better God never ordained any thing that could be bettered Yet many things he hath that have been changed and that for the better That which succeedeth as better now when change is requisite had been worse when that which now is changed was instituted Otherwise God had not then left this to choose that neither would now reject that to choose this were it not for some new-grown occasion making that which hath been betterworse In this case therefore men do not presume to change God's Ordinance but they yield thereunto We offer to show the Discipline to be a part of the Gospel and therefore to have a Common Cause so that in the repulse of the Discipline the Gospel receives a check And again I speak of the Discipline as of a part of the Gospel and therefore neither under nor above the Gospel but the Gospel T. C. l. 1. p. 14. Tert. De Veland Virg. Mart. n 1. Sam. 14. Acts 15. requiring itself to be changed Against this it is objected that to abrogate or innovate the Gospel of Christ if Men or Angels should attempt it were most heinous and cursed sacrilege And the Gospel as they say containeth not only doctrine instructing men how they should believe but also Precepts concerning the Regiment of the Church Discipline therefore is a part of the Gospel and God being the Author of the whole Gospel as well of Discipline as of Doctrine it cannot be but that both of them have a Common Cause So that as we are to believe for ever the Articles of Evangelical Doctrine so the Precepts of Discipline we are in like sort bound for ever to observe Touching Points of Doctrine as for example the Unity of God the Trinity of Persons Salvation by Christ the Resurrection of the Body Life Everlasting the Judgement to come and such like they have been since the first hour that there was a Church in the World and till the last they must be believed But as for Matters of Regiment they are for the most part of another nature To make new Articles of Faith and Doctrine no Man thinketh it lawful new Laws of Government what Commonwealth or Church is there which maketh not either at one time or another The Rule of Faith saith Tertullian is but one and that alone  and impossible to be framed or cast a new The Law of outward Order and Polity not so There is no reason in the World wherefore we should esteem it as necessary always to do as always to believe the same things seeing every man knoweth that the Matter of Faith is constant the Matter chose of Action daily changeable especially the Matter of Action belonging unto Church Polity Neither can I find that Men of soundest judgement have any otherwise taught than that Articles of Belief and things which all men must of necessity do to the end they may be saved are either expressly set down in Scripture or else plainly thereby to be gathered But touching things which belong to Discipline and outward Polity the Church hath Authority to make Canons Laws and Decrees even as we read that in the Apostles times it did Acts 15. Which kind of Laws for as much as they are not in themselves necessary to Salvation may after they are made be also changed as the difference of times or places shall require Yea it is not denied I am sure by themselves that certain things in Discipline are of that nature as they may be varied by times places persons and other the like circumstances Whereupon I demand are those changeable Points of Discipline commanded in the Word of God or no If they be not commanded and yet may be received in the Church how can their former Position stand condemning all things in the Church which in the Word are not commanded If they be commanded and yet may suffer change How can this latter stand affirming all things immutable which are commanded of God Their distinction touching Matters of Substance and of Circumstance though true will not serve For be they great things or be they small if God have commanded them in the Gospel and his commanding them in the Gospel do make them unchangeable there is no reason we should more change the one than we may the other If the Authority of the Maker do prove unchangeableness in the Laws which God hath made then must all Laws which he hath made be necessarily for ever permanent though they be out of Circumstance only and not of Substance I therefore conclude that neither Gods being Author of Laws for Government of his Church nor his committing them unto Scripture is any reason sufficient wherefore all Churches should for ever be bound to keep them without change But of one thing we are here to give them warning by the way For whereas in this Discourse we have oftentimes professed that many parts of Discipline or Church Polity are delivered in Scripture they may perhaps imagine that we are driven to confess their Discipline to be delivered in Scripture and that having no other means to avoid it we are in fain to argue for the changeableness of Laws ordained even by God himself as if otherwise theirs of necessity should take place and that under which we live be abandoned There is no remedy therefore but to abate this Error in them and directly to let them know that if they fall into any such conceit they do but a little flatter their own cause As for us we think in no respect so highly of it Our persuasion is that no age ever had knowledge of it but only ours that they which defend it devised it that neither Christ nor his Apostles at any time taught it but the contrary If therefore we did seek to maintain that which most advantageth our own cause the very best way for us and the strongest against them were to hold even as they do that in Scripture there must needs be found some particular Form of Church Polity which God hath instituted and which * Disciplina est Christianae Ecclesae Politia à Den cius re● è Admitisican ● ● causa constituta ●● proprerea es eius verbo petenda & ob eandem causam omnium Ecclesiarum communi & omnium temponim Lib. 3 de Eccles. Duscip in Anala for that very cause belongeth to all Churches to all times But with any such partial eye to respect ourselves and by cunning to make those things seem the truest which are the fittest to serve our purpose is a thing which we neither like nor mean to follow Wherefore that which we take to be generally true concerning the Mutability of Laws the same we have plainly delivered as being persuaded of nothing more than we are of this * Arist. Ethic. lib. 10. cap. 1. That whether it be in Matter of Speculation or of Practice no untruth can possibly avail the Patron and Defender long and that things most truly are like most behovefully spoken Whether Christ have forbidden all change of those Laws which are set down in Scripture 11. This we hold and grant for Truth that those very Laws which of their own nature are changeable be notwithstanding uncapable of change is he which gave them being of Authority so to do forbid absolutely to change them neither may they admit alteration against the Will of such a Lawmaker Albeit therefore we do not find any cause why of right there should be necessarily an Immutable Form set down in holy Scripture nevertheless if indeed there have been at any time a Church Polity so set down the change whereof the sacred Scripture doth forbid surely for Men to alter those Laws which God for perpetuity hath established were presumption most intolerable To prove therefore that the Will of Christ was to establish Laws so Permanent and Immutable that in any sort to alter them cannot but highly offend God Thus they reason First a Heb. 3. 5. Either that commendation of the Son before the servant is a false testimony or the Son ordained a Permanent Government in the Church If Permanent than not to be changed What then do they that hold it may be changed at the Magistrate's pleasure but advise the Magistrate by his Positive Laws to proclaim That it is his will that if there shall be a Church within his Dominions he will mai● and deform the same M. M. pag 1● He that was as faithful as Moses left as clear instruction set the Government of the Church But Christ was as faithful as Moses E●g● Demensir of Discip. cap. 1. If Moses being but a servant in the House of God did therein establish Laws of Government for a perpetuity Laws which they that were of the Household might not alter Shall we admit into our thoughts that the Son of God hath in providing for this his Household declared himself less faithful than Moses Moses delivering unto the Jews such Laws as were durable if those be changeable which Christ hath delivered unto us we are not able to avoid it but that which to think were heinous impiety we of necessity must confess even the Son of God himself to have been less faithful than Moses Which Argument shall need no Touchstone to try it by but some other of the like making Moses erected in the Wilderness a Tabernacle which was movable from place to place Solomon a sumptuous and stately Temple which was not movable therefore Solomon was faithfuller than Moses which no man endued with reason will think And yet by this reason it doth plainly follow He that will see how faithful the one or other was must compare the things which they both did unto the charge which God gave each of them The Apostle in making comparison between our Saviour and Moses attributeth faithfulness unto both and maketh this difference between them Moses in but Christ over the House of God Moses in that House which was his by charge and commission though to govern it yet to govern it as a servant but Christ over this House as being his own entire possession Our Lord and Saviour doth make Protestation b John 17. Either God hath left a Prescript Form of Government now or else he is less careful under the New Testament then under the Old Demonst. of Dist. cap. 1. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me Faithful therefore he was and concealed not any part of his Fathers will But did any part of that will require the Immutability of Laws concerning Church Polity They answer Yea for else God should less favour us then the Jews God would not have their Churches guided by any Laws but his own And seeing this did so continue even till Christ now to ease God of that care or rather to deprive the Church of his Patronage what reason have we Surely none to derogate any thing from the ancient love which God hath borne to his Church An Heathen Philosopher there is who considering how many things Beasts have which Men have not how naked in comparison of them how impotent and how much less able we are to shift for ourselves a long time after we enter into this World repiningly concluded hereupon that Nature being a careful Mother for them is towards us a hardhearted Stepdame No we may not measure the affection of our gracious God towards his by such differences For even herein shineth his Wisdom that though the ways of his Providence be many yet the end which he bringeth all at the length unto is one and the selfsame But if such kind of reasoning were good might we not even as directly conclude the very same concerning Laws of Secular Regiment Their own words are these c Ecclesiast. Dist. lib. 1. In the ancient Church of the jews God did command and Moses commit unto writing all things pertinent as well to the Civil as to the Ecclesiastical State God gave them Laws of Civil Regiment and would not permit their Commonweal to be governed by any other Laws than his own Doth God less regard our Temporal estate in this World or provide for it worse than theirs To us notwithstanding he hath not as to them delivered any particular Form of Temporal Regiment unless perhaps we think as some do that the grafting of the Gentiles and their incorporating into Israel doth import that we ought to be subject unto the Rites and Laws of their whole Polity We see then how weak such Disputes are and how smally they make to this purpose Rom. 11. 17. Ephes. 2. 12 1● That Christ did not mean to set down particular Positive Laws for all things in such sort as Moses did the very different manner of delivering the Laws of Moses and the Laws of Christ doth plainly show Moses had Commandment to gather the Ordinances of God together distinctly and orderly to set them down according unto their several kinds for each Public Duty and Office the Laws that belong thereto as appeareth in the Books themselves written of purpose for that end chose the Laws of Christ we find rather mentioned by occasion in the writings of the Apostles than any solemn thing directly written to comprehend them in legal sort Again the Positive Laws which Moses gave they were given for the greatest part with restraint to the Land of jury Behold Deut. 4. 5. saith Moses I have taught you Ordinances and Laws as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should do so even within the Land whither ye go to possess it Which Laws and Ordinances Positive he plainly distinguished afterward from the Laws of the Two Tables which were Moral Vers. 12 13 14. The Lord spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voice of the words but saw no similitude only a voice Then he declared unto you his Covenant which he commanded you to do the Ten Commandments and wrote them upon Two Tables of Stone And the Lord commanded me that same time that I should teach you Ordinances and Laws which ye should observe in the Land whither ye go to possess it The same difference is again set down in the next Chapter following For rehearsal being made of the Ten Commandments it followeth immediately Deut. 5. 22. These words the Lord spoke unto all your multitude in the Mount out of the midst of the fire the cloud and the darkness with a great voice and added no more and wrote them upon two Tables of Stone and delivered them unto me But concerning other Laws the people give their consent to receive them at the hands of Moses Vers. 27. Go thou nearer and hear all that the Lord our God saith and declare thou unto us all that the Lord our God saith unto thee and we will hear it and do it The people's alacrity herein God highly commendeth with most effectual and hearty speech Vers. 28 29 30 31. I have heard the voice of the words of this people they have spoken well O that there were such an heart in them to fear me and to keep all my Commandments always that it might go well with them and with their Children for ever Go say unto them Return you to your Tents But stand thou here with me and I will tell thee all the Commandments and the Ordinances and the Laws which thou shalt teach them that they may do them in the Land which I have given them to possess From this latter kind the former are plainly distinguished in many things They were not both at one time delivered neither both after one sort nor to one end The former uttered by the voice of God himself in the hearing of Six hundred thousand men the former written with the Finger of God the former termed by the name of a Covenant the former given to be kept without either mention of time how long or of place where On the other side the latter given after and neither written by God himself nor given unto the whole multitude immediately from God but unto Moses and from him to them both by word and writing Finally The latter termed Ceremonies Judgements Ordinances but no where Covenants The observation of the latter restrained unto the Land where God would establish them to inhabit The Laws Positive are not framed without regard had to the place and persons for the which they are made If therefore Almighty God in framing their Laws had an eye unto the nature of that people and to the Country where they were to dwell if these peculiar and proper considerations were respected in the making of their Laws and must be also regarded in the Positive Laws of all other Nations besides then seeing that Nations are not all alike surely the giving of one kind of Positive Laws unto one only people without any liberty to alter them is but a slender proof that therefore one kind should in like sort be given to serve everlastingly for all But that which most of all maketh for the clearing of this point is * T. C. lib. 1. p. 35. Whereas you say That they the Jews had nothing but was determined by the Law and we have many things undetermined and left to the Order of the Church I will offer for one that you shall bring that we have lest ●o the Order of the Church to show you they that had twenty which were undecided of by the express Word of God That the Jews who had Laws so particularly determining and so fully instructing them in all affairs what to do were notwithstanding continually enured with causes exorbitant and such as their Laws had not provided for And in this point much more is granted us then we ask namely that for one thing which we have left to the Order of the Church they had twenty which were undecided by the express Word of God and that as their Ceremonies and Sacraments were multiplied above ours even so grew the number of those cases which were not determined by any express word So that if we may devise one Law they by this reason might devise twenty and if their devising so many were not forbidden shall their example prove us forbidden to devise as much as one Law for the ordering of the Church We might not devise no not one if their example did prove that our Saviour hath utterly forbidden all alteration of his Laws in as much as there can be no Law devised but needs it must either take away from his or add thereunto more or less and so make some kind of alteration But of this so large a grant we are content not to take advantage T. C. In the Table to his Second Book T. C. lib. 1. p. 446. If he will needs separate the Worship of God from the External Polity yet as the Lord set forth the one so he left nothing undescribed in the other Levit. 24 31. Men are oftentimes in a sudden passion more liberal than they would be if they had leisure to take advice And therefore so bountiful words of course and frank speeches we are contented to let pass without turning them to advantage with too much rigour It may be they had rather be listened unto when they commend the Kings of Israel which attempted nothing in the Government of the Church without the express Word of God and when they urge that God left nothing in his Word undescribed whether it concerned the Worship of God or outward Polity nothing unset down and therefore charged them strictly to keep themselves unto that without any alteration Howbeit seeing it cannot be denied but that many things there did belong unto the course of their Public Affairs wherein they had no express word at all to show precisely what they should do the difference between their condition and ours in these cases will bring some light unto the truth of this present Controversy Before the fact of the son of Shelomith there was no Law which did appoint any certain punishment for Blasphemers That wretched creature being therefore deprehended in that impiety was held in Ward till the mind of the Lord was known concerning his case The like practice is also mentioned upon occasion of a breach of the Sabbath day They find a poor silly creature gathering sticks in the Wilderness they bring him unto Moses and Aaron and all the Congregation they lay him in hold because it was not declared what should be done with him till God had said unto Moses Numb 15. 3● This man shall die the death The Law requireth to keep the Sabbath day but for the breach of the Sabbath what punishment should be inflicted it did not appoint Such occasions as these are rare And for such things as do fall scarce once in many ages of men it did suffice to take such order as was requisite when they fell But if the case were such as being not already determined by Law were notwithstanding likely oftentimes to come into question it gave occasion of adding Laws that were not before Thus it fell out in the case of those men polluted and of the daughters of Zelophehad whose causes Moses having brought before the Lord received Laws to serve for the like in time to come Numb 9 Numb 27. The Jews to this end had the Oracle of God they had the Prophets And by such means God himself instructed them from Heaven what to do in all things that did greatly concern their state and were not already set down in the Law Shall we then hereupon argue even against our own experience and knowledge Shall we seek to persuade men that of necessity it is with us as it was with them that because God is ours in all respects as much as theirs therefore either no such way of direction hath been at any time or if it hath been it doth still continue in the Church or if the same do not continue that yet it must be at the least supplied by some such mean as pleaseth us to account of equal force A more dutiful and religious way for us were to admire the Wisdom of God which shineth in the beautiful variety of all things But most in the manifold and yet harmonious dissimilitude of those ways whereby his Church upon Earth is guided from age to age throughout all Generations of Men. Gen. 18. 18. The Jews were necessarily to continue till the coming of Christ in the flesh and the gathering of Nations unto him So much the Promise made unto Abraham did import Gen. 48. 16. So much the Prophecy of jacob at the hour of his death did foreshow Upon the safety therefore of their very outward state and condition for so long the after good of the whole World and the Salvation of all did depend Unto their so long safety for two things it was necessary to provide namely the preservation of their state against foreign resistance and the continuance of their peace within themselves Touching the one as they received the Promise of God to be the Rock of their Defence against which who so did violently rush should but bruise and batter themselves so likewise they had his Commandment in all their affairs that way to seek direction and counsel from him men's Consultations are always perilous And it falleth out many times that after long deliberation those things are by their wit even resolved on which by trial are found most opposite to public safety It is no impossible thing for States be they never so well established yet by oversight in some one act or treaty between them and their potent opposites utterly to cast away themselves for ever Wherefore lest it should so fall out to them upon whom so much did depend they were not permitted to enter into War not conclude any League of Peace nor to wade through any act of moment between them and foreign States unless the Oracle of God or his Prophets were first consulted with And lest domestical disturbance should waste them within themselves because there was nothing unto this purpose more effectual then if the Authority of their Laws and Governors were such as none might presume to take exception against it or to show disobedience unto it without incurring the hatred and detestation of all men that had any spark of the fear of God therefore he gave them even their Positive Laws from Heaven and as oft as occasion required chose in like sort Rulers also to lead and govern them Notwithstanding some desperately impious there were which adventured to try what harm it could bring upon them if they did attempt to be Authors of Confusion and to resist both Governors and Laws Against such Monsters God maintained his own by fearful execution of extraordinary judgement upon them By which means it came to pass that although they were a people infested and mightily hated of all others throughout the World although by Nature hardhearted querulous wrathful and impatient of rest and quietness yet was there nothing of force either one way or other to work the ruin and subversion of their State till the time before mentioned was expired Thus we see that there was no cause of dissimilitude in these things between that one only People before Christ and the Kingdoms of the World since And whereas it is further alleged T. C. lib. 2. p. 440. That albeit in Civil Matters and things pertaining to this present life God hath used a greater particularity with them then amongst us framing Laws according to the quality of that People and Country yet the leaving of us at greater liberty in things civil is so far from proving the like liberty in things pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven that it rather proves a straighter bond For even as when the Lord would have his favour more appear by Temporal Blessings of this life towards the people under the Law then towards us he gave also Politic Laws most exactly whereby they might both most easily come into and most steadfastly remain in possession of those earthly benefits Even so at this time wherein he would not have his favour so much esteemed by those outward commodities it is required That as his care inprescribing Laws for that purpose hath somewhat fallen in leaving them to men's Consultations which may be deceived so his care for Conduct and Government of the life to come should if it were possible rise in leaving less to the order of men then in times past These are but weak and feeble Disputes for the Inference of that Conclusion which is intended For saving only in such consideration as hath been showed there is no cause wherefore we should think God more desirous to manifest his savour by Temporal Blessings towards them then towards us Godliness had unto them and it hath also unto us the promises both of this life and the life to come That the care of God hath fallen in earthly things and therefore should rise as much in Heavenly that more is left unto men's consultations in the one and therefore less must be granted in the other that God having used a greater particularity with them then with us for matters pertaining unto this life is to make us amends by the more exact delivery of Laws for Government of the life to come These are proportions whereof if there be any rule we must plainly confess that which truth is we know it not God which spoke unto them by his Prophets hath unto us by his only begotten Son those Mysteries of Grace and Salvation which were but darkly disclosed unto them have unto us more clearly shined Such differences between them and us the Apostles of Christ have well acquainted us withal But as for matter belonging to the outward Conduct or Government of the Church seeing that even in sense it is manifest that our Lord and Saviour hath not by Positive Laws descended so far into particularities with us as Moses with them neither doth by extraordinary Means Oracles and Prophets direct us as them he did in those things which rising daily by new occasions are of necessity to be provided for doth it not hereupon rather follow that although not to them yet to us there should be freedom and liberty granted to make Laws Yea but the Apostle St. Paul doth fearfully charge Timothy 1 Tim 6. 14. Job 18. 37. beforePontius Pilate to keep what was commanded him safe and sound till the appearance of our Lord jesus Christ. This doth exclude all liberty or changing the Laws of Christ whether by abrogation or addition or howsoever For in Timothy the whole Church of Christ receiveth charge concerning her duty And that charge is to keep the Apostles Commandment and his Commandment did contain the Laws that concerned Church Government And those Laws he straightly requireth to be observed without breach or blame till the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Scripture we grant every one Man's lesson to be the common instruction of all men so far forth as their cases are like and that religiously to keep the Apostles Commandments in whatsoever they may concern us we all stand bound But touching that Commandment which Timothy was charged with we swerve undoubtedly from the Apostles precise meaning if we extend it so largely that the Arms thereof shall reach unto all things which were commanded him by the Apostle The very words themselves do restrain themselves unto some special Commandment among many And therefore it is not said Keep the Ordinances Laws and Constitutions which thou hast received but that great Commandment which doth principally concern thee and thy calling That Commandment which Christ did so often inculcate unto Peter Job 21. 1● Acts 22. 18. that Commandment unto the careful discharge whereof they of Ephesus are exhorted Attend to yourselves and to all the flock wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you Bishops to Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased by his own blood Finally that Commandment which unto the same Timothy is by the same Apostle even in the same form and manner afterwards again urged 2 Tim 4. 1. I charge thee in the sight of God and the Lord jesus Christ which will judge the quick and dead at his appearance and in his Kingdom Preach the Word of God When Timothy was instituted in that Office than was the credit and trust of this duty committed unto his faithful care 1 Tim. 5. 20. The Doctrine of the Gospel was then given him As the precious Talon or Treasure of jesus Christ then received he for performance of this duty 1 Tim. 4. 24. The special Gift of the Holy Ghost To keep this Commandment immaculate and blameless Was to teach the Gospel of Christ without mixture of corrupt and unsound Doctrine such as a number even in those times intermingled with the Mysteries of Christian Belief Till the appearance of Christ to keep it so doth not import the time wherein it should be kept but rather the time whereunto the final reward for keeping it was reserved according to that of St. Paul concerning himself 2 Tim. 4. 7. I have kept the Faith for the residue there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall in that day render unto me If they that labour in this Harvest should respect but the present fruit of their painful Travel a poor encouragement it were unto them to continue therein all the days of their life But their reward is great in Heaven the Crown of Righteousness which shall be given them in that day is honourable The fruit of their industry then shall they reap with full contentment and satisfaction but not till then Wherein the greatness of their reward is abundantly sufficient to countervail the tediousness of their expectation Wherefore till then they that are in labour must rest in hope O Timothy keep that which is committed unto thy charge that great Commandment which thou hast received keep till the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. In which sense although we judge the Apostles words to have been uttered yet hereunto we do not require them to yield that think any other construction more sound If therefore it be rejected and theirs esteemed more probable which hold That the last words do import perpetual observation of the Apostles Commandment imposed necessarily for ever upon the Militant Church of Christ Let them withal consider That then his Commandment cannot so largely be taken to comprehend whatsoever the Apostle did command Timothy For themselves do not all bind the Church unto some things whereof Timothy received charge as namely unto that Precept concerning the choice of Widows So as they cannot hereby maintain that all things positively commanded concerning the affairs of the Church were commanded for perpetuity And we do not deny that certain things were commanded to be though positive yet perpetual in the Church They should not therefore urge against us places that seem to forbid change but rather such as set down some measure of alteration which measure if we have exceeded then might they therewith charge us justly Whereas now they themselves both granting and also using liberty to change cannot in reason dispute absolutely against all change Christ delivered no inconvenient or unmeet Laws Sundry of ours they hold inconvenient Therefore such Laws they cannot possibly hold to be Christ's Being not his they must of necessity grant them added unto his Yet certain of those very Laws so added they themselves do not judge unlawful as they plainly confess both in matter of Prescript Attire T. C. lib 3. p. 241. My Reasons do never conclude the unlawfulness of these Ceremonies of Burial but the inconvenience and inexpedience of them And in the Table Of the inconvenience nor of the unlawfulness of Popish Apparel and Ceremonies in Burial T. C. lib. 1. pag. 32. Upon the indefinite speaking of Mr. Calvin saying Ceremonies and External Disciple without adding all or some you go about subtly to make men believe That Mr. Calvin had placed the wh●le External Discipline in the Power and Arbitrement of the Church For it all External Discipline were Arbitrary and in the choice of the Church Excommunication also Which is a part of it might be cast away which I think you will not say And in the very next words before Where you will give to understand that Ceremonies and External Discipline are not prescribed particularly by the Word of God and therefore lest to the Order of the Church You must understand that all External Discipline is not lest to the Orders of the Church being particularly prescribed in the Scriptures no more than all Ceremonies are less to the Order of the Church as the Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper of the lord and of Rites appertaining to Burial Their own Protestations are that they plead against the inconvenience not the unlawfulness of Popish Apparel and against the inconvenience not the unlawfulness of Ceremonies in Burial Therefore they hold it a thing not unlawful to add to the Laws of Jesus Christ and so consequently they yield That no Law of Christ forbiddeth Addition unto Church Laws The Judgement of Calvin being alleged against them to whom of all men they attribute most whereas his words be plain That for Ceremonies and External Discipline the Church hath power to make Laws The answer which hereunto they make is That indefinitely the speech is true and that so it was meant by him namely That some things belonging unto External Discipline and Ceremonies are in the Power and Arbitrement of the Church but neither was it meant neither is it true generally That all External Discipline and all Ceremonies are left to the Order of the Church in as much as the Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord are Ceremonies which yet the Church may not therefore abrogate Again Excommunication is a part of External Discipline which might also be cast away if all External Discipline were Arbitrary and in the choice of the Church By which their answer it doth appear that touching the names of Ceremony and External Discipline they gladly would have us so understood as if we did herein contain a great deal more than we do The fault which we find with them is That they overmuch abridge the Church of her power in these things Whereupon they recharge us as if in these things we gave the Church a liberty which hath no limits or bounds as if all things which the name of Discipline containeth were at the Churches free choice So that we might either have Church Governors and Government or want them either retain or reject Church Censures as we lift They wonder at us as at men which think it so indifferent what the Church doth in Matter of Ceremonies that it may be feared lest we judge the very Sacraments themselves to be held at the Church's pleasure No the name of Ceremonies we do not use in so large a meaning as to bring Sacraments within the compass and reach thereof although things belonging unto the outward form and seemly Administration of them are contained in that name even as we use it For the name of Ceremonies we use as they themselves do when they speak after this sort T. C. lib. 3. p. 171. The Doctrine and Discipline of the Church as the weightiest things ought especially to be looked unto but the Ceremonies also as Mint and Cummin ought not to be neglected Besides in the Matter of External Discipline or Regiment itself we do not deny but there are some things whereto the Church is bound till the World's end So as the question is only how far the bounds of the Church's Liberty do reach We hold that the power which the Church hath lawfully to make Laws and Orders for itself doth extend unto sundry things of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and such other Matters whereto their opinion is That the Church's Authority and Power doth not reach Whereas therefore in Disputing against us about this point they take their compass a great deal wider than the truth of things can afford producing Reasons and Arguments by way of generality to prove that Christ hath set down all things belonging any way unto the Form of ordering his Church and hath absolutely forbidden change by Addition or Diminution great or small for so their manner of disputing is We are constrained to make our Defence by showing That Christ hath not deprived his Church so far of all Liberty in making Orders and Laws for itself and that they themselves do not think he hath so done For are they able to show that all particular Customs T C. lib. 1. p. 27. We deny not but certain things are lest to the Order of the Church because they are of the Nature of those which are varied by times places persons and other circumstances and so could not at once be set ●●wn and established forever Rites and Orders of Reformed Churches have been appointed by Christ himself No They grant that in Matter of Circumstance they alter that which they have received but in things of Substance they keep the Laws of Christ without change If we say the same in our own behalf which surely we may do with a great deal more truth then must they cancel all that hath been before alleged and begin to inquire afresh Whether we retain the Laws that Christ hath delivered concerning Matters of Substance yea or no. For our constant persuasion in this point is as theirs That we have no where altered the Laws of Christ further than in such Particularities only as have the nature of things changeable according to the difference of times places persons and other the like circumstances Christ hath commanded Prayers to be made Sacraments to be ministered his Church to be carefully taught and guided Concerning every of these somewhat Christ hath commanded which must be kept till the World's end On the contrary side in every of them somewhat there may be added as the Church shall judge it expedient So that if they will speak to purpose all which hitherto hath been disputed of they must give over and stand upon such particulars only as they can show we have either added or abrogated otherwise than we ought in the Matter of Church Poli●y Whatsoever Christ hath commanded for ever to be kept in his Church the same we take not upon us to abrogate and whatsoever our Laws have thereunto added besides of such quality we hope it is as no Law of Christ doth any where condemn Wherefore that all may be laid together and gathered into a narrow room First So far forth as the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ and his Invisible Spouse it needeth no External Polity That very part of the Law Divine which teacheth Faith and Works of Righteousness is itself alone sufficient for the Church of God in that respect But as the Church is a Visible Society and Body Politic Laws of Polity it cannot want Secondly Whereas therefore is cometh in the second place to be enquired what Laws are fittest and best for the Church they who first embraced that rigorous and strict opinion which depriveth the Church of Liberty ●sa● ●● 14. to make any kind of Law for herself inclined as it should seem thereunto Col. 2. ●2 for that they imagined all things which the Church doth without commandment of holy Scripture subject to that reproof which the Scripture itself useth in certain cases when Divine Authority ought alone to be followed Hereupon they thought it enough for the cancelling of any kind of Order whatsoever to say August Epist. ●● The Word of God teacheth it not it is a device of the Brain of Man away with it therefore out of the Church St. Augustine was of another mind who speaking of Fasts on the Sunday saith That he which would choose out that day to fast on should give thereby no small offence to the Church of God which had received a contrary Custom For in these things whereof the Scripture appointeth no certainty the use of the People of God or the Ordinances of our Fathers must serve for a Law In which case if we will dispute and condemn one sort by another's custom it will be but matter of endless contention where for as much as the labour of reasoning shall hardly be at into men's heads any certain or necessary truth surely it standeth us upon to take heed lest with the Tempest of Strife the Brightness of Charity and Love be darkened If all things must be commanded of God which may be practised of his Church I would know what commandment the Gileadites had to erect that Altar which is spoken of in the Book of joshua josh. 12. Did not congruity of Reason induce them thereunto and suffice for defence of their Fact I would know what commandment the Women of Israel had yearly to mourn and lament in the memory of jeph●hahs' daughter Judas 11. 4● what commandment the jews had to celebrate their Feast of Dedication never spoken of in the Law J●●●● 3● yet solemnised even by our Saviour himself what commandment finally they had for the Ceremony of Odours used about the Bodies of the Dead after which custom notwithstanding sith it was their custom our Lord was contented joh. 12. 4● that his own most precious Body should be entombed Wherefore to reject all Orders of the Church which Men have established is to think worse of the Laws of Men in this respect then either the judgement of wise men alloweth or the Law of God itself will bear Howbeit they which had once taken upon them to condemn all things done in the Church and not commanded of God to be done saw it was necessary for them continuing in defence of this their opinion to hold that needs there must be in Scripture set down a complete particular Form of Church Polity a Form prescribing how all the affairs of the Church must be ordered a Form in no respect lawful to be altered by Mortal Men. For Reformation of which oversight and error in them there were that thought it a part of Christian love and charity to instruct them better and to open unto them the difference between Matters of perpetual necessity to all men's salvation and Matters of Ecclesiastical Polity The one both fully and plainly taught in holy Scripture the other not necessary to be in such sort there prescribed The one not capable of any Diminution or Augmentation at all by Men the other apt to admit both Hereupon the Authors of the former opinion were presently seconded by other wittier and better learned who being loath that the Form of Church Polity which they sought to bring in should be otherwise then in the highest degree accounted of took first an exception against the difference between Church Polity and Matters of necessity to Salvation Secondly Against the Restraint of Scripture which they say receiveth injury at our hands when we teach that it teacheth not as well Matters of Polity as of Faith and Salvation Thirdly Constrained thereby we have been therefore both to maintain that distinction as a thing not only true in itself but by them likewise so acknowledged though unawares Fourthly And to make manifest that from Scripture we offer not to derogate the least thing that Truth thereunto doth claim in as much as by us it is willingly confessed That the Scripture of God is a Storehouse abounding with inestimable Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge in many kinds over and above things in this one kind barely necessary yea even that Matters of Ecclesiastical Polity are not therein omitted but taught also albeit not so taught as those other things before mentioned For so perfectly are those things taught that nothing ever can need to be added nothing ever cease to be necessary These on the contrary side as being of a far other nature and quality not so strictly nor everlastingly commanded in Scripture but that unto the complete Form of Church Polity much may be requisite which the Scripture teacheth not and much which it hath taught become unrequisite sometime because we need not use it sometimes also because we cannot In which respect for mine own part although I see that certain Reformed Churches the Scotish especially and French have not that which best agreeth with the Sacred Scripture I mean the Government that is by Bishops in as much as both those Churches are fallen under a different kind of Regiment which to remedy it is for the one altogether too late and too soon for the other during their present affliction and trouble This their defect and imperfection I had rather lament in such a case then exagitate considering that men oftentimes without any fault of their own may be driven to want that kind of Polity or Regiment which is best and to content themselves with that weich either the irremediable Error of former times or the necessity of the present hath cast upon them Fifthly Now because that Position first mentioned which holdeth it necessary that all things which the Church may lawfully do in her own Regiment be commanded in holy Scripture hath by the latter Defenders thereof been greatly qualified who though perceiving it to be over-extream are notwithstanding loath to acknowledge any oversight therein and therefore labour what they may to salve it up by construction we have for the more perspicuity delivered what was thereby meant at the first Sixthly How injurious a thing it were unto all the Churches of God for men to hold it in that meaning Seventhly And how unperfect their Interpretations are who so much labour to help it either by dividing Commandments of Scripture into two kinds and so defending that all things must be commanded if not in special yet in general Precepts Eightly Or by taking it as meant that in case the Church do devise any new Order she ought therein to follow the direction of Scripture only and not any Starlight of Man's Reason Ninethly Both which evasions being cut off we have in the next place declared after what sort the Church may lawfully frame to herself Laws of Polity and in what reckoning such Positive Laws both are with God and should be with Men. Tenthly Furthermore because to abridge the Liberty of the Church in this behalf it hath been made a thing very odious that when God himself hath devised some certain Laws and committed them to Sacred Scripture Man by Abrogation Addition or any way should presume to alter and change them it was of necessity to be examined Whether the Authority of God in making or his care in committing those his Laws unto Scripture be sufficient Arguments to prove That God doth in no case allow they should suffer any such kind of change Eleventhly The last refuge for proof That Divine Laws of Christian Church Polity may not be altered by extinguishment of any old or addition of new in that kind is partly a marvellous strange Discourse That Christ unless he would show himself not so faithful as Moses or not * Nisi Reip. suae statu in omnem constitu 〈…〉 Magistratus ordinary singulorum m●nera potes●●tem que de cripse ●it quae judi cio●um fer●q ratio habenda● quomodo civium finiendae ●ieris ●●a solum minus Ecclesiae Christianae provi lit quam Moses olim Judaicae sed quam à Lycurgo Solone Numa Civitati● suis prospectum si● ●ib de Ecclesiast. Discip. so wise as Lycurgus and Solon must needs have set down in holy Scripture some certain complete and unchangeable Form of Polity and partly a coloured show of some evidence where change of that sort of Laws may seem expressly forbidden although in truth nothing less be done I might have added hereunto their more familiar and popular disputes as The Church is a City yea the City of the Great King and the life of a City is Polity The Church is the House of the Living God and what house can there be without some order for the government of it In the Royal House of a Prince there must be Officers for Government such as not any Servant in the House but the Prince whose the House is shall judge convenient So the House of God must have Orders for the Government of it such as not any of the Household but God himself hath appointed It cannot stand with the Love and Wisdom of God to leave such Order untaken as is necessary for the due Government of his Church The numbers degrees orders and attire of Solomon's servants did show his Wisdom therefore he which is greater than Solomon hath not failed to leave in his House such Orders for Government thereof as may serve to be as a Looking-glass for his providence care and wisdom to be seen in That little spark of the Light of Nature which remaineth in us may serve us for the affairs of this life But as in all other Matters concerning the Kingdom of Heaven so principally in this which concerneth the very Government of that Kingdom needful it is we should be taught of God As long as Men are persuaded of any Order that it is only of Men they presume of their own understanding and they think to devise another not only as good but better then that which they have received By severity of punishment this presumption and curiosity may be restrained But that cannot work such cheerful Obedience as is yielded where the Conscience hath respect to God as the Author of Laws and Orders This was it which countenanced the Laws of Moses made concerning outward Polity for the Administration of holy things The like some Lawgivers of the Heathens did pretend but falsely yet wisely discerning the use of this persuasion For the better obedience sake therefore it was expedient that God should be Author of the Polity of his Church But to what issue doth all this come A man would think that they which hold out with such discourses were of nothing more fully persuaded then of this That the Scripture hath set down a complete Form of Church Polity Universal Perpetual altogether Unchangeable For so it would follow if the premises were sound and strong to such effect as is pretended Notwithstanding they which have thus formally maintained Argument in defence of the first oversight are by the very evidence of Truth themselves constrained to make this in effect their conclusion That the Scripture of God hath many things concerning Church Polity that of those many some are of greater weight some of less that what hath been urged as touching Immutability of Laws it extendeth in Truth no further then only to Laws wherein things of greater moment are prescribed Now these things of greater moment what are they The Defence of godly Ministers against Dr. Bridges 133. Forsooth Doctors Pastors Lay-Elders Elderships compounded of these three Synods consisting of many Elderships Deacons Women Church-servants or Widows free consent of the people unto actions of greatest moment after they be by Churches or Synods orderly resolved All this Form of Polity if yet we may term that a form of building when men have laid a few Rafters together and those not all of the foundest neither but howsoever all this Form they conclude is prescribed in such sort that to add to it any thing as of like importance for so I think they mean or to abrogate of it any thing at all is unlawful In which resolution if they will firmly and constantly persist I see not but that concerning the points which hitherto have been disputed of they must agree that they have molested the Church with needless opposition and henceforward as we said before betake themselves wholly unto the trial of particulars whether every of those things which they esteem as principal be either so esteemed of or at all established for perpetuity in holy Scripture and whether any particular thing in our Church Polity be received other than the Scripture alloweth of either in greater things or in smaller The Matters wherein Church Polity is conversant are the Public Religious Duties of the Church as the Administration of the Word and Sacraments Prayers Spiritual Censures and the like To these the Church standeth always bound Laws of Polity are Laws which appoint in what manner these duties shall be performed In performance whereof because all that are of the Church cannot jointly and equally work the first thing in Polity required is A difference of Persons in the Church without which difference those Functions cannot in orderly sort be executed Hereupon we hold That God's Clergy are a State which hath been and will be as long as there is a Church upon Earth necessarily by the plain Word of God himself a State whereunto the rest of God's people must be subject as touching things that appertain to their Soul's health For where Polity is it cannot but appoint some to be Leaders of others and some to be led by others Luk. 6. 39 If the blind lead the blind they both perish It is with the Clergy if their persons be respected even as it is with other men their quality many times far beneath that which the dignity of their place requireth Howbeit according to the Order of Polity they being The lights of the World Matth. 4. 14. others though better and wiser must that way be subject unto them Again for as much as where the Clergy are any great multitude order doth necessarily require that by degrees they be distinguished we hold there have ever been and ever aught to be in such case at leastwise two sorts of Ecclesiastical Persons the one subordinate unto the other as to the Apostles in the beginning and to the Bishops always since we find plainly both in Scripture and in all Ecclesiastical Records other Ministers of the Word and Sacraments have been Moreover it cannot enter into any Man's conceit to think it lawful that every man which listeth should take upon him charge in the Church and therefore a solemn admittance is of such necessity that without it there can be no Church Polity A number of Particularities there are which make for the more convenient Being of these Principal and Perpetual parts in Ecclesiastical Polity but yet are not of such constant use and necessity in God's Church Of this kind are times and places appointed for the Exercise of Religion Specialties belonging to the Public Solemnity of the Word the Sacraments and Prayer the Enlargement or Abridgement of Functions Ministerial depending upon those two Principals beforementioned To conclude even whatsoever doth by way of Formality and Circumstance concern any Public Action of the Church Now although that which the Scripture hath of things in the former kind be for ever permanent yet in the latter both much of that which the Scripture teacheth is not always needful and much the Church of God shall always need which the Scripture teacheth not So as the Form of Polity by them set down for perpetuity is three ways faulty Faulty in omitting some things which in Scripture are of that nature as namely the difference that ought to be of Pastors when they grow to any great multitude Faulty in requiring Doctors Deacons Widows and such like as things of perpetual necessity by the Law of God which in Truth are nothing less Faulty also in urging some things by Scripture Immutable as their Lay-Elders which the Scripture neither maketh Immutable nor at all teacheth for any thing either we can as yet find or they have hitherto been able to prove But hereof more in the Books that follow As for those marvellous Discourses whereby they adventure to argue That God must needs have done the thing which they imagine was to be done I must confess I have often wondered at their exceeding boldness herein When the question is Whether God have delivered in Scripture as they affirm he hath a complete particular Immutable Form of Church Polity why take they that other both presumptuous and superfluous labour to prove he should have done it there being no way in this case to prove the Deed of God saving only by producing that evidence wherein he hath done it But if there be no such thing apparent upon Record they do as if one should demand a Legacy by force and virtue of some Written Testament wherein there being no such thing specified he pleadeth That there it must needs be and bringeth arguments from the love or good will which always the Testator bore him imagining that these or the like proofs will convict a Testament to have that in it which other men can no where by reading find In matters which concern the Actions of God the most dutiful way on our part is to search what God hath done and with meekness to admire that rather than to dispute what he in congruity of Reason ought to do The ways which he hath whereby to do all things for the greatest good of his Church are more in number than we can search other in Nature then that we should presume to determine which of many should be the fittest for him to choose till such time as we see he hath chosen of many some one which one we then may boldly conclude to be the fittest because he hath taken it before the rest When we do otherwise surely we exceed our bounds who and where wear we forget And therefore needful it is that our Pride in such cases be controlled and our Disputes beaten back with those Demands of the blessed Apostle Rom. 11. 13. How unsearchable are his judgements and his Ways past finding out Who hath known the Mind of the Lord or who was his Counsellor OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK IU. Concerning their Third Assertion That our Form of Church-Politie is corrupted with Popish Orders Rites and Ceremonies banished out of certain Reformed Churches whose example therein we ought to have followed The Matter contained in this Fourth Book 1. HOw great use Ceremonies have in the Church 2. The First thing they blame in the kind of our Ceremonies is that we have not in them ancient Apostolical simplicity but a greater pomp and stateliness 3. The second that so many of them are the same which the Church of Rome useth and the Reasons which they bring to prove them for that cause blame-worthy 4. How when they go about to expound what Popish Ceremonies they mean they contradict their own Argument against Popish Ceremonies 5. An Answer to the Argument whereby they would prove that sith we allow the customs of our Fathers to be followed we therefore may not allow such customs as the Church of Rome hath because we cannot account of them which are in that Church as of our Fathers 6. To their Allegation that the course of Gods own wisdom doth make against our conformity with the Church of Rome in such things 7. To the example of the eldest Church which they bring for the same purpose 8. That it is not our best Polity as they pretend it is for establishment of sound Religion to h●ve in these things no agreement with the Church of Rome being unsound 9 That neither the Papists upbraiding us as furnished out of their store nor any hope which in that respect they are said to conceive doth make any more against our Ceremonies then the former Allegations have done 10. The grief which they say godly Brethren conceive at such Ceremonies as we have c●●●mens with the Church of Rome 11. The third thing for which they reprove a great part of our Ceremonies is for that as we have them from the Church of Rome so that Church had them from the Jews 12. The fourth for that sundry of them have been they say abused unto I●●aery and ar● by that mean become scandalous 13. The fifth for that we retain them still notwithstanding the example of certain Churches reform before us which have cast them out 14. A Declaration of the proceedings of the Church of England ●or the establisement of things as they are Now great use Ceremonies have in the Church SUch was the ancient simplicity and softness of spirit which sometimes prevailed in the World that they whose words were even as Oracles amongst men seemed evermore loath to give sentence against any thing publicly received in the Church of God except it were wonderful apparently evil for that they did not so much incline to that seventy which delighteth to reprove the least things in seeth amiss as to that Charity which is unwilling to behold any thing that duty bindeth it to reprove The state of this present Age wherein Zeal hath drowned Charity and Skill Meekness will not now suffer any man to marvel whatsoever he shall hear reproved by whomsoever Those Rites and Ceremonies of the Church therefore which are the selfsame now that they were when Holy and Virtuous men maintained them against profane and deriding Adversaries her own children have at this day in de●ision Whether justly or no it shall then appear when all things are heard which they have to allege against the outward received Orders of this Church Which inasmuch as themselves do compare unto Mint and Cummin Matth. 23. 23. The Doctrine and Discipline of the Church as the weighiust things ought especially to be looked unto but the Ceremonies also as Mint and Cummin ought not to be neglected T.C. l p. 1●1 granting them to be no part of those things which in the matter of Polity are weightier we hope that for small things their strife will neither be earnest no● long The fifting of that which is objected against the Orders of the Church in particular doth not belong unto this place Here we are to discuss only those general exceptions which have been taken at any time against them First therefore to the end that their nature and use whereunto they serve may plainly appear and so afterwards their quality the better be discerned we are to note that in every grand or main public duty which God requireth at the hands of his Church there is besides that matter and form wherein the essence thereof consisteth a certain outward fashion whereby the same is in decent sort administered The substance of all religious actions is delivered from God himself in few words For example sake in the Sacraments Unto the Element let the Word be added and they both do make a Sacrament saith S. Augustine Baptism is given by the Element of Water and that prescript form of words which the Church of Christ doth use the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is administered in the Elements of Bread and Wine if those mystical words be added thereunto But the due and decent form of administering those holy Sacraments doth require a great deal more The end which is aimed at in setting down the outward form of all religious actions is the edification of the Church Now men are edified when either their understanding is taught somewhat whereof in such actions it behoveth all men to consider or when their hearts are moved with any affection suitable thereunto when their minds are in any sort stirred up unto that reverence devotion attention and due regard which in those cases seemeth requisite Because therefore unto this purpose not only speech but sundry sensible means besides have always been thought necessary and especially those means which being object to the eye the liveliest and the most apprehensive sense of all other have in that respect seemed the sittest to make a deep and strong impression from hence have risen not only a number of Prayers Readins Questionings Exhorting but even of visible signs also which being used in perfomance of holy actions are undoubtedly most effectual to open such matter as men when they know and remember carefully must needs be a great deal the better informed to what effect such duties serve We must not think but that there is some ground of Reason even in Nature whereby it cometh to pass that no Nation under Heaven either doth or ever did suffer public actions which are of weight whether they be Civil and Temporal or else Spiritual and Sacred to pass without some visible solemnity The very strangeness whereof and difference from that which is common doth cause Popular eyes to observe and to mark the same Words both because they are common and do not so strongly move the fancy of man are for the most part but slightly heard and therefore with singular wisdom it hath been provided that the deeds of men which are made in the presence of Witnesses should pass not only with words but also with certain sensible actions the memory whereof is far more easy and durable than the memory of speech can be The things which so long experience of all Ages hath confirmed and made profitable let not us presume to condemn as follies and toys because we sometimes know not the cause and reason of them A wit disposed to scorn whatsoever it doth not conceive might ask wherefore Abraham should say to his servant Gen. 24. 2. Put thy hand under my thigh and swear was it not sufficient for his servant to show the Religion of an Oath by naming the Lord God of Heaven and Earth unless that strange Ceremony were added In Contracts Bargains and Conveyances a man's word is a token sufficient to express his will Ruth 4. 7. Yet this was the ancient manner in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to establish all things A man did pluck off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour and this was a sure witness in Israel Amongst the Romans in their making of a Bondman free was it not wondered wherefore so great a do should be made The Master to present his Slave in some Court to take him by the hand and not only to say in the hearing of the public Magistrate I will that this man become free but after these solemn words uttered to strike him on the cheek to turn him round the hair of his head to be shaved off the Magistrate to touch him thrice with a rod in the end a cap and a white garment to be given him To what purpose all this circumstance Among the Hebrews how strange and in outward appearance almost against reason Exod. 21. 6. that he which was minded to make himself a perpetual servant should not only testify so much in the presence of the Judge but for a visible token thereof have also his ear bored thorough with an awl It were an infinite labour to prosecute these things so far as they might be exemplified both in Civil and Religious actions For in both they have their necessary use and force a Dionys. p. 121. These sensible things which Religion hath allowed are resemblances framed according to things spiritually understood whereunto they serve as a hand to lead and a way to direct And whereas it may peradventure be objected that to add to Religious duties such Rites and Ceremonies as are significant is to institute new Sacraments sure I am they will not say that Numa Pompilius did ordain a Sacrament a significant Ceremony he did ordain in commanding the Priests b Liv. lib. ● Maru ad digitor usque involutan rem divinam facere significantes fidem in●andam sedemque ej●s etiam indexivis sucratam esse to execute the work of their Divine Service with their hands as far as to the fingers covered thereby signifying that fidelity must be defended and that men's right hands are the sacred seat thereof Again we are also to put them in mind that themselves do not hold all significant Ceremonies for Sacraments inasmuch as Imposition of hands they deny to be a Sacrament and yet they give thereunto a forcible signification For concerning it their words are these c Eccles. disc fol. 51. The party ordained by this ceremony was put in mind of his separation to the work of the Lord that remembering himself to be taken as it were with the hand of God from amongst others this might teach him not to account himself now his own nor to do what himself listeth but to consider that God hath set him about a work which if he will discharge and accomplish he may at the hands of God assure himself of reward and if otherwise of revenge Touching significant Ceremonies some of them are Sacraments some as Sacaments only Sacraments are those Fol. 32. which are signs and tokens of some general promised grace which always really descendeth from God unto the soul that duly receiveth them Other significant tokens are only as Sacraments yet no Sacraments Which is not our distinction but theirs For concerning the Apostles Imposition of hands these are their own words Magnum signum hoc & quasi Sacramentum usurparunt They used this sign or as it were Sacrament Concerning Rites and Ceremonies The first thing they blame in the kind of our Ceremonies is that we have not in them ancient Apostolical simplicity but a greater pomp and stateliness Lib. Eccles. disc & T. C. l. 3. p. 181. there may be fault either in the kind or in the number and multitude of them The First thing blamed about the kind of ours is That in many things we have departed from the ancient simplicity of Christ and his Apostles we have embraced more outward stateliness we have those Orders in the exercise of Religion which they who best pleased God and served him most devoutly never had For it is out of doubt that the first state of things was best that in the prime of Christian Religion faith was foundest the Scriptures of God were then best understood by all men all parts of godliness did then most abound and therefore it must needs follow that Customs Laws and Ordinances devised since are not so good for the Church of Christ but the best way is to cut off later inventions and to reduce things unto the ancient state wherein at the first they were Which Rule or Canon we hold to be either uncertain or at least wise unsufficient if not both For in case it be certain hard it cannot be for them to show us where we shall find it so exactly set down that we may say without all controversy These were the Orders of the Apostles times these wholly and only neither fewer nor more than these True it is that many things of this nature be alluded unto yea many things declared and many things necessariy collected out of the Apostles writings But is it necessary that all the Orders of the Church which were then in use should be contained in their Books Surely no. For if the tenor of their Writings be well observed it shall unto any man easily appear that no more of them are there touched then were needful to be spoken of sometimes by one occasion and sometimes by another Will they allow then of any other Records besides Well assured I am they are far enough from acknowledging that the Church ought to keep any thing as Apostolical which is not found in the Apostles Writings in what other Records soever it be found And therefore whereas St. Augustine affirmeth that those things which the whole Church of Christ doth hold may well be thought to be Apostolical although they be not found written T●m 7. the happed ●atra Donatist lib. ● a● 23. T. C. l. 1. p. 31. If this judgement of S. Augustine be a good judgement ●● found than there he some things commanded of God which are not in the scripture and therefore there is no sufficient Doctrine contained in Scripture whereby we may be saved For all the Commandments of God and of the Apostles are needful for our salvation Vide Ep ●●a this his judgement they utterly condemn I will not here stand in defence of S. Augustine's opinion which is that such things are indeed Apostolical but yet with this exception unless the Decree of some General Council have haply caused them to be received for of Positive Laws and Orders received throughout the whole Christian world S. Augustine could imagine no other Fountain save these two But to let pass S. Augustine they who condemn him herein must needs confess it a very uncertain thing what the Orders of the Church were in the Apostles times seeing the Scriptures do not mention them all and other Records thereof besides they utterly reject So that in tying the Church to the Orders of the Apostles times they tie it to a marvellous uncertain rule unless they require the observation of no Orders but only those which are known to be Apostolical by the Apostles own Writings But than is not this their rule of such sufficiency that we should use it as a touchstone to try the Orders of the Church by for ever Our end ought always to be the same our ways and means thereunto not so The glory of God and the good of the Church was the thing which the Apostles aimed at and therefore aught to be the mark whereat we also level But seeing those Rites and Orders may be at one time more which at another are less available unto that purpose what reason is there in these things to urge the state of our only age as a pattern for all to follow It is not I am right sure their meaning that we should now assemble our People to serve God in close and secret Meetings or that common Brooks or Rivers should be used for places of Baptism or that the Eucharist should be ministered after meat or that the custom of Church-feasting should be renewed or that all kind of standing provision for the Ministry should be utterly taken away and their Estate made again dependent upon the voluntary devotion of men In these things they easily perceive how unfit that were for the present which was for the first Age convenient enough The Faith Zeal and Godliness of former times is worthily had in honour but doth this prove that the Orders of the Church of Christ must be still the selfsame with theirs that nothing may be which was not then or that nothing which then was may lawfully since have ceased They who recall the Church unto that which was at the first must necessarily set bounds and limits unto their speeches If any thing have been received repugnant unto that which was first delivered the first things in this case must stand the last give place unto them But where difference is without repugnancy that which hath been can be no prejudice to that which is Let the state of the People of God when they were in the House of Bondage and their manner of serving God in a strange Land be compared with that which Canaan and jerusalem did afford and who seeth not what huge difference there was between them In Egypt it may be they were right glad to take some corner of a poor Cottage and there to serve God upon their knees peradventure covered in dust and straw sometimes Neither were they therefore the less accepted of God but he was with them in all their afflictions and at the length by working of their admirable deliverance did testify that they served him not in vain Notwithstanding in the very desert they are no sooner possessed of some little thing of their own but a Tabernacle is required at their hands Being planted in the land of Canaan and having David to be their King when the Lord had given him rest from all his Enemies it grieved his religious mind to consider the growth of his own estate and dignity the Affairs of Religion continuing still in the former manner 〈…〉 7. 2. Behold now I dwell in the house of Cedar trees and the Ark of God remaineth still within Curtains What he did purpose it was the pleasure of God that Solomon his Son should perform and perform it in manner suitable unto their present not their ancient estate and condition 2 Chron. 2. 5. For which cause Solomon writeth unto the King of Tyrus The House which I build is great and wonderful for great is our God above all gods Whereby it clearly appeareth that the Orders of the Church of God may be acceptable unto him as well being framed suitable to the greatness and dignity of latter as when they keep the reverend simplicity o● ancienter times Such dissimilitude therefore between us and the Apostles of Christ in the order of some outward things is no argument of default 3. Yea but we have framed ourselves to the customs of the Church of Rome our Orders and Ceremonies are Papistical Our Orders and Ceremonies blamed in that so many of them are the same which the Church of Rome useth Eccles. Discipl sol 12. T. C. lib. 1. p. 131. T. C. l. 1. p. 20. C.l.1 p 25. It is espied that our Church-founders were not so-careful as in this matter they should have been but contented themselves with such discipline as they took from the Church of Rome Their Error we ought to reform by abolishing all Popish Orders There must be no communion nor fellowship with Papists neither in Doctrine Ceremonies nor Government It is not enough that we are divided from the Church of Rome by the single wall of Doctrine retaining as we do part of their Ceremonies and almost their whole Government but Government or Ceremonies or whatsoever it be which is Popish away with it This is the thing they require in us the uttter relinquishment of all things Popish Wherein to the end we may answer them according to their plain direct meaning and not take advantage of doubtful speech whereby Controversies grow always endless their main Position being this that nothing should be placed in the Church but what God in his word hath commanded they must of necessity hold all for Popish which the Church of Rome hath over & besides this By Popish Orders Ceremonies and Government they must therefore mean in every of these so much as the Church of Rome hath embraced without commandment of God's word so that whatsoever such thing we have if the Church of Rome hath it also it goeth under the name of those thing that are Popish yea although it be lawful although agreeable to the word of God For so they plainly affirm saying T. C. lib. 1 p. 13● Although the Forms and Ceremonies which they the Church of Rome used were not unlawful and that they contained nothing which is not agreeable to the Word of God yet notwithstanding neither the Word of God nor reason nor the examples of the eldest Churches both jewish and Christian do permit us to use the same Forms and Ceremonies being neither commanded of God neither such as there may not as good as they and rather better be established The question therefore is whether we may sollow the Church of Rome in those Orders Rites and Ceremonies wherein we do not think them  or else aught to devise others and to have no conformity with them no not so much as in these things In this sense and construction therefore as they affirm so we deny that whatsoever is Popish we ought to abrogate Their Arguments to prove that generally all Popish Orders and Ceremonies ought to be clean abolished are in sum these First whereas we allow the judgement of S. Augustine T. C. l. 1. p. 30. that touching those things of this kind which are not commanded or sorbidden in the Scripture we are to observe the Custom of the People of God and the Decrees of our Forefathers how can we retain the Customs and Constitutions of the Papists in such things who were neither the People of God nor our Forefathers Secondly T. C. l. 1. p 131. although the Forms and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome were not unlawful neither did contain any thing which is not agreeable to the Word of God yet neither the Word of God nor the example o● the eldest Churches of God nor reason do permit us to use the same they being Heretics and so near about us and their Orders being neither commanded of God not yet such but that as good or rather better may be established It is against the Word of God to have conformity with the Church of Rome in such things as appeareth in that the wisdom of God hath thought it a good way to keep his People from infection o● Idolaty and Superstition by severing them from Idolaters in outward Ceremonies and therefore hath forbidden them to do things which are in themselves very lawful to be done And ●urther where as the Lord was careful to sever them by Ceremonies from other Nations yet was he not so careful to sever them from any as from the Egyptians amongst whom they lived and from those Nations which were next Neighbours to them because from them was the greatest fear of infection So that following the course which the wisdom of God doth teach T. C. l. 1 p. 132. it were more safe for us to conform our indifferent Ceremonies to the Turks which are far off then to the Papists which are so near Tom. 2. Graca ●3 Touching the example of the eldest Churches of God in one Council it was decreed that Christians should not deck their houses with Bay-leaves and green boughs because the Pagans did use so to do and that they should not rest from their labours those days that the Pagans did that they should not keep the first day of every month as they did Con. Africa cap. 27. Lib. the Idolat He seemeth to mean the feast of Easter day celebrated in the memory of our Saviour's resurrection and for that cause earned the Lords day Lib. de Anima Another Council decreed that Christians should not celebrate Feasts on the Birthday's of the Martyrs because it was the manner of the Heathen O saith Tertullian better is the Religion of the Heathen for they use no solemnity of the Christians neither the Lords day neither the Pentecost and if they knew them they would have nothing to do with them for they would be afraid lest they should seem Christians but we are not afraid to be called Heathens The same Tertullian would not have Christians to sit after they had paid because the Idolaters did so Whereby it appeareth that both of Particular men and of Counsels in making or abolishing of Ceremonies heed had been taken that the Christians should not be like the Idolaters no not in those things which of themselves are most indifferent to be used or not used The same conformity is not less opposite unto reason first inasmuch as contraries must be cured by their contraries and therefore Popery being Antichristianity is not healed but by establishment of Orders thereunto opposite The way to bring a drunken man to sobriety it to carry him as far from excess of drink as may be To rectify a crooked stick we bend it on the contrary side as far as it was at the first on that side from whence we draw it and so it cometh in the end to a middle between both which is perfect straightness Utter inconformity therefore with the Church of Rome in these things is the best and surest Policy which the Church can use While we use their Ceremonies they take occasion to blaspheme saying that our Religion cannot stand by itself unless it lean upon the staff of their Ceremonies a T. C. l. 3 p. 178. They hereby conceive great hope of having the rest of their Popery in the end which hope causeth them to be more frozen in their wickedness Neither is it without cause that they have this hope considering that which M. Bucer noteth upon the eighteenth of S. Matthew that where these things have been left Popery hath returned but on the other part in places which have been cleansed of these things it hath not yet been seen that it hath had any entrance b T. C. l. 3. p. 179. None make such clamours for these Ceremonies as the Papists and those whom they suborn a manifest token how much they triumph and joy in these things They breed grief of mind in a number that are godly minded and have Antichristianity in such detestation that their minds are Martyred with the very sight of them in the Church T. C. l. 3. p. 180. Such godly Brethren we ought not thus to grieve with unprofitable Ceremonies yea Ceremonies wherein there is not only no profit but also danger of great hurt that may grow to the Church by infection which Popish Ceremonies are means to breed This in effect is the sum and substance of that which they bring by way of opposition against those Orders which we have common with the Church of Rome these are the reasons wherewith they would prove our Ceremonies in that respect worthy of blame That whereas they who blame us in this behalf when reason evicteth that all such Ceremonies are not to be abolished make answer that when they condemn Popish Ceremonies their meaning is of Ceremonies unprofitable or Ceremonies instead whereof as good or better may be devised they cannot hereby get out of the briars but contradict and gainsay themselves in as much as their usual manner is to prove that Ceremonies uncommanded in the Church of God and yet used in the Church of Rome are for this very cause unprofitable to us and not so good as others in their place would be 4. Before we answer unto these things we are to cut off that whereunto they from whom these Objections proceed do oftentimes fly for defence and succour when the force and strength of their Argument is elided For the Ceremonies in use amongst us being in no other respect retained saving only for that to retain them is to our seeming good and profitable yea so profitable and so good that if we had either simply taken them clean away or else removed them so as to place in their stead others we had done worse the plain and direct way against us herein had been only to prove that all such Ceremonies as they require to be abolished are retained by us to the hurt of the Church or with less benefit than the abolishment of them would bring But forasmuch as they saw how hardly they should be able to perform this they took a more compendious way traducing the Ceremonies of our Church under the name of being Popish The cause why this way seemed better unto them was for that the name of Popery is more odious than very Paganism amongst divers of the more simple sort so whatsoever they hear named Popish they presently conceive deep hatred against it imagining there can be nothing contained in that name but needs it must be exceeding detestable The ears of the People they have therefore filled with strong clamours The Church of England is fraught with Popish Ceremonies they that favour the cause of Reformation maintain nothing but the sincerity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ All such as withstand them fight for the Laws of his sworn enemy uphold the filthy relics of Antichrist and are defenders of that which is Popish These are the notes wherewith are drawn from the hearts of the multitude so many sighs with these tunes their minds are exasperated against the lawful Guides and Governors of their souls these are the voices that fill them with general discontentment as though the bosom of that famous Church wherein they live were more noisome than any dungeon But when the Authors of so scandalous incantations are examined and called to account how can they justify such their dealings when they are urged directly to answer T. C. l. 3. p. 171. What an open untruth is it that this is one of our principles not to be lawful to use the same Ceremonies which the Papists did when as I have both before declared the contrary and even here have expressly added that they are not to be used when as good or better may be established Eccles. discip sol 100 whether it be lawful for us to use any such Ceremonies as the Church of Rome useth although the same be not commanded in the Word of God being driven to see that the use of some such Ceremonies must of necessity be granted lawful they go about to make us believe that they are just of the same Opinion and that they only think such Ceremonies are not to be used when they are unprofitable or when as good or better may be established Which Answer is both idle in regard of us and also repugnant to themselves It is in regard of us very vain to make this answer because they know that what Ceremonies we retain common unto the Church of Rome we therefore retain them for that we judge them to be profitable and to be such that others instead of them would be worse So that when they say that we ought to abrogate such Romish Ceremonies as are unprofitable or else might have other more profitable in their stead they trisle and they beat the Air about nothing which toucheth us unless they mean that we ought to abrogate all Romish Ceremonies which in their judgement have either no use or less use than some other might have But then must they show some commission whereby they are authorized to sit as Judges and we required to take their judgement for good in this case Otherwise their sentences will not be greatly regarded when they oppose their Me thinketh unto the Orders of the Church of England as in the Question about surplices one of them doth If we look to the colour black methinks is the more decent if to the form a garment down to the foot hath a great deal more comeliness in it If they think that we ought to prove the Ceremonies commodious which we have retained they do in this Point very greatly deceive themselves For in all right and equity that which the Church hath received and held so long for good that which public approbation hath ratified must carry the benefit of presumption with it to be accounted meet and convenient They which have stood up as yesterday to challenge it of defect must prove their challenge If we being Defendants do answer that the Ceremonies in question are godly comely decent profitable for the Church their reply is childish and unorderly to say T. C. l. 3. p. 176. As for your often repeating that the Ceremonies in question are godly comely and decent It is your old wont of demanding the thing in question and an undoubted Argument of your extreme poverty T. C. l. 3. p. 176. that we demand the thing in question and show the poverty of our cause the goodness whereof we are fain to beg that our Adversaries would grant For on our part this must be the Answer which orderly proceeding doth require The burden of proving doth rest on them In them it is frivolous to say we ought not to use bad Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and presume all such bad as it pleaseth themselves to dislike unless we can persuade them the contrary Besides they are herein opposite also to themselves For what one thing is so common with them as to use the custom of the Church of Rome for an Argument to prove that such and such Ceremonies cannot be good and profitable for us inasmuch as that Church useth them Which usual kind of disputing showeth that they do not disallow only those Romish Ceremonies which are unprofitable but count all unprofitable which are Romish that is to say which have been devised by the Church of Rome or which are used in that Church and not prescribed in the Word of God For this is the only limitation which they can use suitable unto their other Positions And therefore the cause which they yield why they hold it lawful to retain in Doctrine and in Discipline some things as good which yet are common to the Church of Rome is for that those good things are perpetual Commandments in whose place no other can come but Ceremonies are changeable So that their judgement in truth is that whatsoever by the Word of God is not changeable in the Church of Rome that Churches using is a cause why Reformed Churches ought to change it and not to think it good or profitable And lest we seem to father any thing upon them more than is properly their own let them read even their own words where they complain That we are thus constrained to be like unto the Papists in any their Ceremonies yea they urge that this cause although it were alone aught to move them to whom that belongeth to do them away T. C. l. 3. p. 177. And that this complaint of ours is just in that we are thus constrained to be like unto the Papists in any their Ceremonies and that this cause only ought to move them to whom that belongeh to do their away forasmuch as they are their Ceremonies the ●eal ●●r may further see in the Bishop of Salisbury who brings divers pro●is thereof forasmuch as they are their Ceremonies and that the Bishop of Salisbury doth justify this their complaint The clause is untrue which they add concerning the Bishop of Salisbury but the sentence doth show that we do them no wrong in setting down the state of the question between us thus Whether we ought to abolish out of the Church of England all such Orders Rites and Ceremonies as are established in the Church of Rome and are not prescribed in the Word of God For the Affirmative whereof we are now to answer such proofs of theirs as have been before alleged That our allowing ●he customs of our fathers to be followed is no proof that we may not allow some customs which the Church of Rome hath alth ●i●h we do not account of them as of our fathers 5. Let the Church of Rome be what it will let them that are of it be the people of God and our Fathers in the Christian Faith or let them be otherwise hold them for Catholics or hold them for Heretics it is not a thing either one way or other in this present question greatly material Our conformity with them in such things as have been proposed is not proved as yet unlawful by all this S. Augustine hath said yea and we have allowed his saying That the custom of the people of God and the decrees of our forefathers are to be kept touching those things whereof the Scripture hath neither one way nor other given us any charge What then Doth it here therefore follow that they being neither the people of God nor our Forefathers are for that cause in nothing to be followed This Consequent were good if so be it were granted that only the custom of the people of God and the Decrees of our forefathers are in such case to be observed But than should no other kind of latter Laws in the Church be good which were a gross absurdity to think S. Augustine's speech therefore doth import that where we have no divine Precept if yet we have the custom of the people of God or a Decree of our forefathers this is a Law and must be kept Notwithstanding it is not denied but that we lawfully may observe the positive constitutions of our own Churches although the same were but yesterday made by ourselves alone Nor is there any thing in this to prove that the Church of England might not by Law receive Orders Rites or Customs from the Church of Rome although they were neither the people of God nor yet our forefathers How much less when we have received from them nothing but that which they did themselves receive from such as we cannot deny to have been the people of God yea such as either we must acknowledge for our own forefathers or else disdain the race of Christ That the ●●u●e which the wisdom of God doth ●●ach maketh not against our ●●●u ●ity with the Church of Rome in such things 6. The Rites and Orders wherein we follow the Church of Rome are of no other kind that such as the Church of Geneva itself doth follow them in We follow the Church of Rome in more things yet they in some things of the same nature about which our present controversy is so that the difference is not in the kind but in the number of Rites only wherein they and we do follow the Church of Rome The use of Wafer-cakes the custom of Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptism are things not commanded nor forbidden in the Scripture things which have been of old and are retained in the Church of Rome even at this very hour Is conformity with Rome in such things a blemish unto the Church of England and unto Churches abroad an ornament Let them if not for the reverence they owe unto this Church in the bowels whereof they have received I trust that precious and blessed vigour which shall quicken them ●● eternal life yet at the least wise for the singular affection which they do bear towards others take heed how they strike lest they wound whom they would not For undoubtedly it cutteth deeper than they are aware of when they plead that even such Ceremonies of the Church of Rome as contain in them nothing which is not of itself agreeable to the Word of God ought nevertheless to be abolished and that neither the Word of God nor reason nor the examples of the eldest Churches do permit the Church of Rome to be therein followed Heretics they are and they are our Neighbours By us and amongst us they lead their lives But what then therefore is no ceremony of theirs lawful for us to use We must yield and will that none are lawful if God himself be a Precedent against the use of any But how appeareth it that God is so Hereby they say it doth appear T. C. l. ● p. 25. & 131. in that God severed his people from the Heathens but specially from the Egyptians and such Nations as were nearest Neighbours unto them by forbidding them to do those things which were in themselves very lawful to be done yea very profitable some and incommodious to be sorburn such things it pleased God to forbid them only because those Heathens did them with whom conformity in the same thing might have bred infection Thus in shaving cutting apparel-wearing Levit. 19 27. and 19 19 Deut 22 ●● and 14. 7. & Levit. 11. Ephes. 2. 14. yea in sundry kinds of meats also Swines-flesh Coneys and such like they were forbidden to do so and so because the Gentiles did so And the end why God forbade them such things wa● to sever them for fear of infection by a great and an high wall from other Nations as S. Paul teacheth The cause of more careful separation from the nearest Nations was the greatness of danger to be especially by them infected Now Papists are to us as those Nations were unto Israel Therefore if the wisdom of God be our Guide we cannot allow conformity with them no not in any such indifferent Ceremonies Our direct answer hereunto is that for any thing here alleged we may still doubt whether the Lord in such indifferent Ceremonies as those whereof we dispute did frame his People of set purpose unto any utter dissimilitude either with Egyptians or with any other Nation else And if God did not forbid them all such indifferent Ceremonies than our conformity with the Church of Rome in some such is not hitherto as yet disproved although Papists were unto us as those Heathens were unto Israel Levit. 1● 3. After the doings of the Land of Egypt wherein you dwelled ye shall not do saith the Lord and after the manner of the land of Canaan whither I will bring you shall ye not do neither walk in their Ordinances Do after my judgements and keep my Ordinances to walk therein I am the Lord your God The Speech is indefinite ye shall not be like them It is not general ye shall not be like them in anything or like unto them in any thing indifferent or like unto them in any indifferent ceremony of theirs Seeing therefore it is not set down how far the bounds of his speech concerning dissimilitude should reach how can any man assure us that it extendeth farther than to those things only wherein the Nations there mentioned were Idolatrous or did against that which the Law of God commandeth Nay doth it not seem a thing very probable that God doth purposely add Do after my judgement as giving thereby to understand that his meaning in the former sentence was but to bar similitude in such things as were repugnant unto the Ordinances Laws and Statutes which he had given Egyptians and Canaanites are for example sake named unto them because the Customs of the one they had been and of the other they should be best acquainted with But that wherein they might not be like unto either of them was such peradventure as had been no whit less unlawful although those Nations had never been So that there is no necessity to think that God for fear of infection by reason of nearness forbade them to be like unto the Canaanites or the Egyptians in those things which otherwise had been lawful enough For I would know what one thing was in those Nations and is here forbidden being indifferent in itself yet forbidden only because they used it In the Laws of Israel we find it written Levit. 15. 17 Ye shall not cut round the corners of your Heads neither shalt thou tear the tafis of thy Board These things were usual amongst those Nations and in themselves they are indifferent But are they indifferent being used as signs of immoderate and hopeless lamentation for the dead In this sense it is that the Law forbiddeth them For which cause the very next words following are Levit. 21. 3. Ye shall not cut your Flesh for the dead nor make any print of a mark upon you I am the lord The like in Leviticus where speech is of mourning for the dead They shall not make bald parts upon their Head nor shave off the locks of their Beard nor make any cutting in their Flesh. Again Deut. 14. 1. in Deut. Ye are the Children of the Lord your God ye shall not cut yourselves nor make you Baldness between your eyes for the Dead What is this but in effect the same which the Apostle doth more plainly express saying 1 Thes. 4. 13. Sorrow not as they do who have no hope The very light of Nature itself was able to see herein a fault that which those Nations did use having been also in use with others the ancient Roman laws do forbid That shaving therefore and cutting which the Law doth mention was not a matter in itself indifferent and forbidden only because it was in use amongst such Idolaters as were Neighbours to the people of God but to use it had a been crime though no other people or Nation under Heaven should have done it saving only themselves As for those Laws concerning attires Levit. 19 19 Deut. 2. 11. There shall no garment of Linen and Woollen come upon thee as also those touching food and diet wherein Swines-flesh together with sundry other meats are forbidden the use of these things had been indeed of itself harmless and indifferent so that hereby it doth appear how the Law of God forbade in some special consideration such things as were lawful enough in themselves Deut. 14. 7. Levit. 11. But yet even here they likewise fail of that they intent For it doth not appear that the consideration in regard whereof the Law forbiddeth these things was because those Nations did use them Likely enough it is that the Canaanites used to feed as well on Sheep as on Swines-flesh Levit. 19 19 and therefore if the forbidding of the latter had no other reason then dissimilitude with that people they which of their own heads allege this for reason can show I think some reason more than we are able to find why the former was not also forbidden Might there not be some other mystery in this Prohibition than they think of Yes Deut. 14. Levit. 11. some other mystery there was in it by all likelihood For what reason is there which should but induce and therefore much less enforce us to think that care of dissimilitude between the People of God and the Heathen Nations about them was any more the cause of forbidding them to put on Garments of sundry stuff then of charging the● withal not to sow their Fields with Meslin or that this was any more the cause of forbidding them to eat Swines-flesh than of charging them withal not to eat the flesh of Eagles Hawks and the like wherefore although the Church of Rome were to us as to Israel the Egyptians and Canaanites were of old yet doth it not follow that the wisdom of God without respect doth teach us to erect between us and them a partition wall of difference Ephes. 2. 14. in such things indifferent as have been hitherto disputed of That the example of the eldest Churches is not herein against us 7. Neither is the example of the eldest Churches a whit more available to this purpose Notwithstanding some fault undoubtedly there is in the very resemblance of Idolaters Were it not some kind of blemish to be like unto Infidels and Heathens it would not so usually be objected men would not think it any advantage in the causes of Religion to be able therewith justly to charge their Adversaries as they do T. C. l. 1. p. 132. The Counsels although they did not observe themselves always in making of Decrees this Rule ye● have kept this consideration continually in taking of their Laws that they would have the Christians differ from others in their Ceremonies Wherefore to the end that it may a little more plainly appear what force this hath and how far the same extendeth we are to note how all men are naturally desirous that they may seem neither to judge nor to do amiss because every Error and Offence is a stain to the beauty of Nature for which cause it blusheth thereat but glorieth in the contrary from whence it riseth that they which disgrace or depress the credit of others do it either in both or in one of these To have been in either directed by a weak and unperfect rule argueth imbecility and imperfection Men being either led by reason or by imitation of other men's examples if their Persons be odious whose example we choose to follow as namely if we frame our opinions to that which condemned Heretics think or direct our Actions according to that which is practised and done by them it lies as an heavy prejudice against us unless somewhat mightier than their bare example did move us to think or do the same things with them Christian men therefore having besides the common light of all men so great help of heavenly direction from above together with the Lamps of so bright examples at the Church of God doth yield it cannot but worthily seem reproachful for us to leave both the one and the other to become Disciples unto the most hateful sort that live to do as they do only because we see their example before us and have delight to follow it Thus we may therefore safely conclude that it is not evil simply to concur with the Heathens either in opinion or in action and that conformity with them is only then a disgrace when either we follow them in that they think and do amiss or follow them generally in that they do without other reason than only the liking we have to the pattern of their example which liking doth intimate a more universal approbation of them than is allowable Faustus the Manichee therefore objecting against the Jews that they forsook the Idols of the Gentiles but their Temples and Oblations and Altars and Priest hoods and all kind of Ministry of holy things they exercised even as the Gentiles did yea more superstituosly a great deal against the Catholic Christians likewise that between them and the Heathens there was in many things little difference Tom. ● ●sal Faust. Manich. lib. 30. cap. 4. From them saith Faustus ye have learned to hold that one only God is the Author of all their Sacrifices you have turned in Feasts of charity their Idols into Martyrs whom ye honour with the like Religious offices unto theirs The Ghosts of the dead ye appease with Wine and Delicates the Festival days of the Nations ye celebrate together with them and of their kind of life ye have utterly changed nothing S. Augustine's defence in behalf of both is that touching the matters of Action Jews and Catholic Christians were free from the Gentiles faultiness even in those things which were objected as tokens of their agreement with the Gentiles and concerning their consent in opinion they did not hold the same with the Gentiles because Gentiles had so taught but because Heaven and Earth had so witnessed the same to be truth that neither the one sort could err in being fully persuaded thereof T. C. l. 1. p. 132 Also it was decreed in another Council that they should not deck their houses with Bay leaves and green Houghs because the Pagangs did use so and that they should not rest their labour those days that the Pagans did that they should not keep the first day of every month as they did nor the other but err in case they should not consent with them In things of their own nature indifferent if either Councils or particular men have at any time with sound judgement misliked conformity between the Church of God and Infidels the cause thereof hath been somewhat else then only affectation of dissimilitude They saw it necessary so to do in respect of some special accident which the Church being not always subject unto hath not still cause to do the like For example in the dangerous days of trial wherein there was no way for the truth of Jesus Christ to triumph over Infidelity but through the constancy of his Saints whom yet a natural desire to save themselves from the flame might peradventure cause to join with Pagans in external Customs too far using the same as a cloak to conceal themselves in and a mist to darken the eyes of Insidels withal for remedy hereof those Laws it might be were provided which forbade that Christians should deck their houses with Boughs as the Pagans did use to do or rest those Festival days whereon the Pagans rested or celebrate such Feasts as were though not Heathenish yet such that the simpler sort of Heathens might be beguiled in so thinking them T. C. l. 3 p. 132 Tertul. saith O saith he better is the Religion of the Heathen for they use no solemnity of the Christians neither the Lords day neither etc. but are not afraid to called Hea. As for Tertullia's judgement concerning the Rites and Orders of the Church no man having judgement can be ignorant how just exceptions may be taken against it His opinion touching the Catholic Church was as un-indifferent as touching our Church the opinion of them that favour this pretended Reformation is He judged all them who did not Montanize to be but carnally minded he judged them still over-abjectly to fawn upon the Heathens and to curry favour with Infidel's Which as the Catholic Church did well provide that they might not do indeed so Tertullian over-often through discontentment carpeth injuriously at them as though they did it even when they were free from such meaning But if it were so that either the judgement of those Councils before alleged or of Tertullian himself against the Christians are in no such consideration to be understood as we have mentioned if it were so T. C. l. 1. p. 133. But having she wed this in general to be the God first and of his People afterwards to pew as much difference as can be commodiously between the People of God and others which are not I shall not etc. that men are condemned as well of the one as of the other only for using the Ceremonies of a Religion contrary unto their own and that this cause is such as ought to prevail no less with us than with them shall it not follow that seeing there is still between our Religion and Paganism the selfsame contrariety therefore we are still no less rebukeable if we now deck our Houses with Boughs or send New-year's gifts unto our Friends or seast on those days which the Gentiles than did or sit after Prayer as they were accustomed For so they infer upon the premises that as great difference as commodiously may be there should be in all outward Ceremonies between the People of God and them which are not his People Again they teach as hath been declared that there is not as great a difference as may be between them except the one do avoid whatsoever Rites and Ceremonies uncommanded of God the other doth embrace So that generally they teach that the very difference of Spiritual condition itself between the Servants of Christ and others requireth such difference in Ceremonies between them although the one be never so far disjoined in time or place from the other But in case the People of God and Belial do chance to be Neighbours then as the danger of infection is greater so the same difference they say is thereby made more necessary In this respect as the Jews were severed from the Heathen so most especially from the Heathen nearest them And in the same respect we which ought to differ howsoever from the Church of Rome are now they say by reason of our nearness more bound to differ from them in Ceremonies then from Turks A strange kind of speech unto Christianeus and such as I hope they themselves do acknowledge unadvisedly uttered We are not so much to fear infection from Turks as from Papists What of that we must remember that by conforming rather ourselves in that respect to Turks we should be spreaders of a worse infection into others than any we are likely to draw from Papists by our conformity with them in Ceremonies If they did ●ate as Turks do the Christian or as Canaanites did of old the Jewish Religion even in gross the circumstance of local nearness in them unto us might haply enforce in us a duty of greater separation from them then from those other mentioned But forasmuch as Papists are so much in Christ nearer unto us then Turks is there any reasonable man now you but will judge it meeter that our Ceremonies of Christian Religion should be Popish than Turkish or Heathenish Especially considering that we were not brought to dwell amongst them as Israel in Canaan having not been of them For even a very part of them we were And when God did by his good Spirit put it into our hearts first to reform ourselves whence grew our separation and then by all good means to seek also their Reformation had we not only cut off their corruptions but also estranged ourselves from them in things indifferent who seeth not how greatly prejudicial this might have been to so good a cause and what occasion it had given them to think to their greater obduration in evil that through a froward or wanton desire of Innovation we did unconstrainedly those things for which conscience was pretended Howsoever the case doth stand as juda had been rather to choose conformity in things indifferent with Israel when they were nearest opposites then with the farthest removed Pagans So we in like cases much rather with Papists than with Turks I might add further for a more full and complete Answer so much concerning the large odds between the case of the eldest Churches inregard of those Heathens and ours in respect of the Church of Rome that very cavillation itself should be satisfied and have no shift to fly unto That ●● is not outjest policy for the establishment of found Religion to have in these things no agreement with the Church of Rome being unfound 8. But that no one thing may detain us overlong I return to their Reasons against our conformity with that Church That extreme dissimilitude which they urge upon us is now commended as our best and safest policy for establishment of sound Religion The ground of which politic Position is That Evils must be cured by their contraries and therefore the cure of the Church infected with the poison of Antichristianity must be done by that which is thereunto as contrary as may be A meddled estate of the Orders of the Gospel and the Ceremonies of Popery is not the best way to banish Popery We are chose of opinion that he which will perfectly recover a sick and restore a diseased body unto health must not endeavour so much to bring it to a state of simple contrariety as of fit proportion in contrariety unto those evils which are to be cured He that will take away extreme heat T. C. l. 1 p. 13. Comment reason also doth ●each that contraries are cured by their contraries Now Christianity and Antichristianity the Gospel and Popery be contraries and therefore Antichristianity must be cured not by itself but by that which is as much as may be contrary unto it by setting the body in extremity of cold shall undoubtedly remove the disease but together with it the diseased too The first thing therefore in skilful cures is the knowledge of the part affected the next is of the evil which doth affect it the last is not only of the kind but also of the measure of contrary things whereby to remove it They which measure Religion by dislike of the Church of Rome think every man so much the more sound by how much he can make the corruptions thereof to seem more large And therefore some there are namely the Arrians in reformed Churches of Poland which imagine the Canker to have eaten so far into the very Bones and Marrow of the Church of Rome as if it had not so much as a sound belief no not concerning God himself but that the very belief of the Trinity were a part of Antichristian corruption and that the wonderful providence of God did bring to pass that the Bishop of the See of Rome should be famous for his triple Crown a sensible mark whereby the world might know him to be that Mystical Beast spoken of in the Revelation to be that great and notorious Antichrist in no one respect so much as in this that he maintaineth the Doctrine of the Trinity Wisdom therefore and skill is requisite to know what parts are sound in that Church and what corrupted Neither is it to all men apparent which complain of unsound parts with what kind of unsoundness every such part is possessed They can say that in Doctrine in Discipline in Prayers in Sacraments the Church of Rome hath as it hath indeed very foul and gross corruptions the nature whereof notwithstanding because they have not for the most part exact skill and knowledge to discern they think that amiss many times which is not and the salve of Reformation they mightily call for but where and what the sores are which need it as they wot full little so they think it not greatly material to search such men's contentment must be wrought by stratagem the usual method of Art is not for them But with those that profess more than ordinary and common knowledge of good from evil with them that are able to put a difference between things naught and things indifferent in the Church of Rome we are yet at controversy about the manner of removing that which is naught whether it may not be perfectly helped unless that also which is indifferent be cut off with it so far till no Rite or Ceremony remain which the Church of Rome hath being not found in the Word of God If we think this too extreme they reply that to draw men from great excess it not amiss though we use them unto somewhat less than is competent and that a crooked stick is not straightened T. C. l. 1. p. 132. If a man would bring a drunken man to sobriety the best and necceest way is to carry him as far from his excess in drink as may be and if a man could not keep a mean it were better to fault in prescribing thing le●e then he should drink then to fault in giving him more than he ought As we see to bring a stick which is crooked to be null we do not only bow it so far until it come to be strait but we bend it so far until we make it to be so crooked on the other side as it was before of the first side to this end that ●● the last it may bend strait and as it were in the midway be● with hoth the crooks unless it be bend as far on the clean contrary side that so it may settle itself at the length in a middle estate of evenness between both But how can these comparisons stand them in any stead When they urge us to extreme opposition against the Church of Rome do they mean we should be drawn unto it only for a time and afterwards return to a mediocrity Or was it the purpose of those Reformed Churches which utterly abolished all Popish Ceremonies to come in the end back again to the middle point of evenness and moderation Then have we conceived amiss of their meaning For we have always thought their Opinion to be that utter inconformity with the Church of Rome was not an extremity whereunto we should be drawn for a time but the very mediocrity itself wherein they meant we should ever continue Now by these comparisons it seemeth clean contrary that howsoever they have bend themselves at first to an extreme contrariety against the Romish Church yet therein they will continue no longer then only till such time as some more moderate course for establishment of the Church may be concluded Yea albeit this were not at the first their intent yet surely now there is great cause to lead them unto it They have seen that experience of the former Policy which may cause the Authors of it to hang down their heads When Germany had stricken off that which appeared corrupt in the Doctrine of the Church of Rome but seemed nevertheless in Discipline still to retain therewith very great conformity France by that rule of policy which hath been before mentioned took away the Popish Orders which Germany did retain But process of time hath brought more light into the world whereby men perceiving that they of the Religion in France have also retained some Orders which were before in the Church of Rome and are not commanded in the Word of God there hath arisen a Sect in England which following still the very selfsame Rule of policy seeketh to reform even the French Reformation and purge out from thence also dregs of Popery These have not taken as yet such root that they are able to establish any thing But if they had what would spring out of their stock and how far the unquiet wit of man might be carried with rules of such policy God doth know The trial which we have lived to see may somewhat teach us what posterity is to fear But our Lord of his infinite mercy avert whatsoever evil our swerving on the one hand or on the other may threaten unto the state of his Church 9 That the Church of Rome doth hereby take occasion to blaspheme That we are not to abolish our Ceremonies either because Papists upbraid us as having taken from them or for that they are said hereby to conceive I know not what great hopes and to say our Religion is not able to stand of itself unless it lean upon the staff of their Ceremonies is not a matter of so great moment that it did need to be objected or doth deserve to receive answer The name of blasphemy in this place is like the  of Hercules on a child's foot If the Church of Rome do use any such kind of silly exprobration it is no such ugly thing to the eat that we should think the honour and credit of our Religion to receive thereby any great wound They which hereof make so perilous a matter do seem to imagine that we have erected of late a frame of some new Religion the furniture whereof we should not have borrowed from our Enemies lest they relieving us might afterwards laugh and gibe at our poverty whereas in truth the Ceremonies which we have taken from such as were before us T. C. l. 3. p. 1●8 By using of these Ceremonies the Papists take occasion to blaspheme saying that one Religion cannot stand by itself unless it lean upon the staff of their Ceremonies are not things that belong to this or that Sect but they are the ancient Rites and Customs of the Church of Christ whereof ourselves being a part we have the selfsame interest in them which our Fathers before us had from whom the same are descended unto us Again in case we had been so much beholden privately unto them doth the reputation of one Church stand by saying unto another I need thee not If some should be so vain and impotent as to mar a benefit with reproachful upbraiding where at the least they suppose themselves to have bestowed some good turn yet surely a wise bodies part it were not ●o put out his fire because his fond and foolish Neighbour from whom he borrowed peradventure wherewith to kindle it might haply cast him therewith in the teeth saying Were it not for me thou wouldst freeze and not be able to heat thyself As for that other Argument derived from the secret affection of Papists T●●● 3. p. 179. To prove the Papists triumph and joy in these things I alleged further that there are none which make such clamours for these Ceremonies as the Papists and those which they suborn with whom our conformity in certain Ceremonies is said to put them in great hope that their whole Religion in time will have re-entrance and therefore none are so clamorous amongst us for the observation of these Ceremonies as Papists and such as Papists suborn to speak for them whereby it clearly appeareth how much they rejoice how much they triumph in these thi●… our answer hereunto is still the same that the benefit we have by such Ceremon●… over-weigheth even this also No man that is not exceeding partial can well d●… but that there is most just cause wherefore we should be offended greatly at the Church of Rome Notwithstanding at such times as we are to deliberate for ourselves the freer our minds are from all cistempered affections the sounder and better is our judgement When we are in a fretting mood at the Church of Rome and with that angry disposition enter into any cogitation of the Orders and Rites of our Church taking particular survey of them we are sure to have always one eye fixed upon the countenance of our Enemies and according to the blithe or heavy aspect thereof our other eye showeth some other suitable token either of dislike or approbation towards our own Orders For the rule of our Judgement in such case being only that of Homer This is the thing which our Enemies would have 〈…〉 what they seem contented with even for that very cause we reject and there is nothing but it pleaseth as much the better if we espy that is galleth them Miserable were the state and condition of that Church the weighty affairs whereof should be ordered by those deliberations wherein such an humour as this were predominant We have most heartily to thank God therefore that they amongst us to whom the first consultations of causes of this kind fell were men which aiming at another mark namely the glory of God and the good of this his Church took that which they judged thereunto necessary not rejecting any good or convenient thing only because the Church of Rome might perhaps like it If we have that which is meet and right although they be glad we are not to envy them this their solace we do not think it a duty of ours to be in every such thing their Tormentors And wherein it is said T.C. 1.3 p. 179. Thus they conceiving hope of having the rest of their Popery in the end it causeth them to be more frozen in their wickedness etc. For not the cause but the occasion also aught to be taken away etc. Although let the Reader judge whether they have cause given to hope that the tale of Popery yet remaining they shall the easilier hale in the whole body after considering also that Master Bucer noteth that where these things which have been lest there Popery hath returned but on the other part● in places which have been cleansed of these ●lreg● it hath not been seen that it hath has any entrance that Popery for want of this utter extirpation hath in some places takenroot and flourished again but hath not been able to re-establish itself in any place after provision made against it by utter evacuation of all Romish Ceremonies and therefore as long as we hold any thing like unto them we put them in some more hope than if all were taken away as we deny not but this may be true so being of two evils to choose the less we hold it better that the Friends and Favourers of the Church of Rome should be in some kind of hope to have a corrupt Religion restored then both we and they conceive just fear lest under colour of rooting out Popery the most effectual means to bear up the state of Religion be removed and so a way made either for Paganism or for extreme Barbarity to enter If desire of weakening the hope of others should turn us away from the course we have taken how much more the care of preventing our own fear withhold us from that we are urged unto Especially seeing that our own fear we know but we are not so certain what hope the Rites and Orders of our Church have bred in the hearts of others Fort it is no sufficient Argument therefore to say that in maintaining and urging these Ceremonies none are so clamorous as Papists and they whom Papists suborn this speech being more hard to justify than the former and so their proof more doubtful than the thing itself which they prove He that were certain that this is true must have marked who they be that speak for Ceremonies he must have noted who amongst them doth speak oftenest or is most earnest he must have been both acquainted thoroughly with the Religion of such and also privy to what conferences or compacts are passed in secret between them and others which kind of notice are not wont to be vulgar and common Yet they which allege this would have it taken as a thing that needeth no proof a thing which all men know and see And if so be it were granted them as true what gain they by it Sundry of them that be Popish are eager in maintenance of Ceremonies Is it so strange a matter to find a good thing furthered by ill men of a smister intent and purpose whose forwardness is not therefore a bridle to such as favour the same cause with a better and sincerer meaning They that seek as they say the removing of all Popish Orders out of the Church and reckon the state of Bishops in the number of those Orders do I doubt not presume that the cause which they prosecute is holy Notwithstanding it is their own ingenuous acknowledgement that even this very cause which they term so often by an excellency Eccl. ● dis ● 54. The Lords Cause is gratissima most acceptable unto some which hope for prey and spoil by it and that our Age hath store of such and that such are the very Sectaries of Dionysius the famous Atheist Now if hereupon we should upbraid them with Irreligious as they do us with Superstitious favourers if we should follow them in their own kind of Pleading and say that the most clamorous for this pretended Reformation are either Atheists or else Proctors suborned by Atheists the Answer which herein they would make unto us let them apply unto themselves and there an end For they must not forbid us to presume our cause in defence of our Church-orders to be as good as theirs against them till the contrary be made manifest to the World 10. In the mean while sorry we are The ●rief which they say godly Brethren conceive in regard of such Ceremonies as we have common with the Church of Rome T.C. ● 1. p. 180. There be numbers which have Antichristianity in such de●●station that they cannot without grief of mind behold them And afterward such godly Brethren are not easily to be grieved which they seem to be when they are thou Marryred in their minds for Ceremonies which to speak the best of them are unprofitable that any good and godly mind should be grieved with that which is done But to remedy their grief lieth not so much in us as in themselves They do not wish to be made glad with the hurt of the Church and to remove all out of the Church whereat they show themselves to be sorrowful would be as we are persuaded hurtful if not pernicious thereunto Till they be able to persuade the contrary they must and will I doubt not find out some other good mean to cheer up themselves Amongst which means the example of Geneva may serve for one Have not they the old Popish custom of using Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptism the old Popish custom of administering the blessed Sacrament of the holy Eucharist with Wafer-cakes These things than the Godly there can digest Wherefore should not the Godly here learn to do the like both in them and in therest of the like nature Some further mean peradventure it might be to assuage their grief if so be they did consider the revenge they take on them which have been as they interpret it the workers of their continuance in so great grief so long For if the maintenance of Ceremonies be a corrosive to such as oppugn them undoubtedly to such as maintain them it can be no great pleasure when they behold how that which they reverence is oppugned And therefore they that judge themselves Martyrs when they are grieved should think withal what they are whom they grieve For we are still to put them in mind that the cause doth make no difference for that it must be presumed as good at the least on our part as on theirs till it be in the end decided who have stood for Truth and who for Error So that till then the most effectual medicine and withal the most sound to ease their grief must not be in our opinion the taking away of those things whereat they are grieved but the altering of that persuasion which they have concerning the same For this we therefore both pray and labour the more because we are also persuaded that it is but conceit in them to think that those Romish Ceremonies whereof we have hitherto spoken are like T. C l. 3. p. 171. Although the corruptions in them strike no strait to the heart yet or gentle Poisons they consume by little and little leprous Clothes infectious to the Church or like soft and gentle Poisons the venom whereof being insensibly penicious worketh death and yet is never felt working Thus they say but because they say it only and the World hath not as yet had so great experience of their Art in curing the Diseases of the Church that the bare authority of their word should persuade in a cause so weighty they may not think much if it be required at their hands to show First by what means so deadly Infection can grow from similitude between us and the Church of Rome in these things indifferent Secondly for that it were infinite if the Church should provide against every such Evil as may come to pass it is not sufficient that they show possibility of dangerous Event unless there appear some likelihood also of the same to follow in us except we prevent it Nor is this enough unless it be moreover made plain that there is no good and sufficient way of prevention but by evacuating clean and by emprying the Church of every such Rite and Ceremony as is presently called in question Till this be done their good affection towards the safety of the Church is acceptable but the way they prescribe us to preserve it by must rest in suspense And lest hereat they take occasion to turn upon us the speech of the Prophet jeremy used against Babylon Rebold we have done our endeavour to cure the Discases of Babylon but she through her wilfulness doth rest uncured let them consider into what straits the Church might drive itself in being guided by this their counsel Their axiom is that the sound believing Church of Jesus Christ may not be like Heretical Churches in any of those indifferent things which men make choice of and do not take by prescript appointment of the Word of God In the word of God the use of Bread is prescribed as a thing without which the Eucharist may not be celebrated but as for the kind of Bread it is not denied to be a thing indifferent Being indifferent of itself we are by this axiom of theirs to avoid the use of unleavened Bread in their Sacrament because such bread the Church of Rome being Heretical useth But doth not the selfsame axiom bar us even from leavened Bread also which the Church of the Grecians useth the opinions whereof are in a number of things the same for which we condemn the Church of Rome and in some things erroneous where the Church of Rome is acknowledged to be found as namely in the Article of the Holy Ghosts proceeding and lest here they should say that because the Greek Church is farther off and the Church of Rome nearer we are in that respect rather to use that which the Church of Rome useth not let them imagine a reformed Church in the City of Venice where a Greek Church and Popish both are And when both these are equally near let them consider what the third shall do Without leavened or unleavened Bread it can have no Sacrament the word of God doth tie it to neither and their axiom doth exclude it from both If this constrain them as it must to grant that their axiom is not to take any place save in those things only where the Church hath larger scope it resteth that they search out some stronger reason than they have as yet alleged otherwise they constrain not us to think that the Church is tied unto any such rule axiom not then when she hath the widest field to walk in and the great store of choice Their exception against such Ceremonies a we have received from the Church of Rome that Church having taken them from the Jews 11. Against such Ceremonies generally as are the same in the Church of England and of Rome we see what hath been hitherto alleged Albeit therefore we do not find the one Churches having of such things to be sufficient cause why the other should not have them Nevertheless in case it may be proved that amongst the number of Rites and Orders common unto both there are Particulars the use whereof is utterly unlawful in regard of some special bad and noisome quality there is no doubt but we ought to relinquish such Rites and Orders what freedom soever we have to retain the other still As therefore we have heard their general exception against all those things which being not commanded in the Word of God were first received in the Church of Rome and from thence have been derived into ours sol●8 ●8 and T C l. 3 p. 181. Many of these Popish Ceremonies fault by reason of the pomp in them where they should be agreeable to the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ crucified T.C.l. 1. p. 132. ●●seb 1. 3. ● 17. Sae●●● ● 3 ●● 1 C●●●il ●nd 〈…〉 so it followeth that now we proceed unto certain kinds of them as being excepted against not only for that they are in the Church of Rome but are besides either jewish or abused unto Idolatry and so grown scandalous The Church of Rome they say being ashamed of the simplicity of the Gospel did almost out of all Religions take whatsoever had any fair and gorgeous show borrowing in that respect from the Jews sundry of their abolished Ceremonies Thus by foolish and tidiculous imitation all their Massing furniture almost they took from the Law lest having an Altar and a Priest they should want Vestments for their Stage so that whatsoever we have in common with the Church of Rome if the same be of this kind we ought to remove it Constantine the Emperor speaking of the keeping of the Feast of Easter saith That it is an unworthy thing to have any thing common with that most spiteful company of the jews And a little after he saith That it is most absurd and against reason that the jews should vann● and glory that the Christians could not keep those things without their Doctrine And in another place it is said after this sort It is convenient so to order the matter that we have nothing common with that Nation This Council of Laodicea which was afterward confirmed by the first General Council decreed that the Christians should not take anleavened Briad of the jews or communicate with their impiety For the easier manifestation of truth in this point two things there are which must be considered namely the causes wherefore the Church should decline from jewish Ceremonies and how far it ought so to do One cause is that the Jews were the deadliest and spitefullest Enemies of Christianity that were in the world and in this respect their Orders so far forth to be shunned as we have already set down in handling the Matter of Heathenish Ceremonies For no enemies being so venomous against Christ as Jews they were of all other most odious and by that mean lest to be used as ●it Church Patterns for Imitation Another cause is the Solemn Abrogation of the Jews Ordinances which Ordinances for us to resume were to chock our Lord himself which hath disannulled them But how far this second cause doth extend it is not on all sides fully agreed upon And touching those things whereunto it reacheth not although there be small cause wherefore the Church should frame itself to the Jews example in respect of their persons which are most hateful yet God himself having been the Author of their Laws herein they are notwithstanding the former consideration still worthy to be honoured and to be followed above others as much as the state of things will bear Jewish Ordinances had some things Natural and of the perperuity of those things no man doubteth That which was Positive we likewise know to have been by the coming of Christ partly necessary not to be kept and partly indifferent to be kept or not Of the former kind Circumcision and Sacrifice were For this point Stephen was accused and the Evidence which his Accusers brought against him in judgement was This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy Place and the Law Acts 6. 13 14. for we have heard him say That this jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the Ordinances that Moses gave us True it is that this Doctrine was then taught which Unbelievers condemning for Blasphemy did therein commit that which they did condemn The Apostles notwithstanding from whom Stephen had received it did not so ●each the Abrogation no not of those things which were necessarily to cease but that even the Jews being Christian might for a time continue in them And therefore in jerusalem the first Christian Bishop not circumcised was Mark Vi●le Nicep● lib. p. cap. 25. & Sulpie S●ver p. 149. in Eli● ●lan● and he not Bishop till the days of Adrian the Emperor after the overthrow of jerusalem there having been Fifteen Bishops before him which were all of the Circumcision The Christian Jews did think at the first not only themselves but the Christian Gentiles also bound and that necessarily to observe the whole Law Acts 15. There went forth certain of the Sect of Pharisees which did believe and they coming unto Antioch taught that it was necessary for the Gentiles to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses Whereupon there grew dissension Paul and Barnabas disputing against them Acts 21.25 The determination of the Council held at jerusalem concerning this Matter was finally this Touching the Gentiles which believe we have written and determined that they observe no such thing Their Protestation by Letters is For as much as we have heard that certain which departed from us have troubled you with words and cumbered your minds saying Ye must be circumcised and keep the Law know that we gave them no such Commandment Paul therefore continued still teaching the Gentiles not only that they were not bound to observe the Laws of Moses but that the observation of those Laws which were necessarily to be abrogated was in them altogether unlawful In which point his Doctrine was misreported as though he had every where Preached this not only concerning the Gentiles but also touching the Jews Wherefore coming unto james and the rest of the Clergy at jerusalem they told him plainly of it saying Acts. 21. 20. Thou seest Brother how many thousand jews there are which believe and they are all zealous of the Law Now they are informed of thee that thou reachest all the jews which are amongst the Gentiles to forsake Moses and sayest that they ought not to circumcise their children neither to live after the Customs And hereupon they gave him counsel to make it apparent in the eyes of all men that those flying reports were untrue and they himself being a Jew kept the Law even as they did In some things therefore we see the Apostles did teach That there ought not to be Conformity between the Christian Jews and Gentiles How many things this Law of Inconformity did comprehend there is no need we should stand to examine This general is true That the Gentiles were not made conformable unto the Jews in that which was necessarily to cease at the coming of Christ. Touching things Positive Acts. 19 20. which might either cease or continue as occasion should require the Apostles tendering the zeal of the Jews thought it necessary to bind even the Gentiles for a time to abstain as the Jews did from things offered unto Idols from Blood from Strangled Acts 16.4 These Decrees were every where delivered unto the Gentiles to be straightly observed and kept In the other Matters where the Gentiles were free and the Jews in their own opinion still tied the Apostles Doctrine unto the Jews was Condemn not the Gentile unto the Gentile Despise not the jew The one sort Rom. 14. 10. they warned to take heed that scrupulosity did not make them rigorous in giving unadvised sentence against their Brethren which were free the other that they did not become scandalous by abusing their liberty and freedom to the offence of their weak Brethren which were scrupulous From hence therefore two Conclusions there are which may evidently be drawn the first That whatsoever Conformity of Positive Laws the Apostles did bring in between the Churches of Jews and Gentiles it was in those things only which might either cease or continue a shorter or a longer time as occasion did most require the second That they did not impose upon the Churches of the Gentiles any part of the Jews Ordinances with Bond of necessary and perpetual observation as we all both by doctrine and practice acknowledge but only in respect of the conveniency and fitness for the present state of the Church as than it stood The words of the Councils Decree concerning the Gentiles are It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no more burden saving only these things of necessity Abstinence from Idol-off rings from strangled and Blood and from Fornication So that in other things Positive which the coming of Christ did not necessarily extinguish the Gentiles were left altogether free Neither ought it to seem unreasonable that the Gentiles should necessarily be bound and tied to Jewish Ordinances so far forth as that Decree importeth For to the Jew who knew that their difference from other Nations which were Aliens and Strangers from God did especially consist in this That God's People had Positive Ordinances given to them of God himself it seemed marvellous hard that the Christian Gentiles should be incorporated into the same Commonwealth with Gods own chosen People and be subject to no part of his Statues more than only the Law of Nature which Heathens count themselves bound unto It was an opinion constantly received amongst the Jews Lib. qui Seder Olam inscribitur that God did deliver unto the sons of Noah seven Precepts Namely To live in some Form of Regiment under First 1 Public Laws Secondly 2 To serve and call upon the Name of God Thirdly 3 to shun Idolatry Fourthly 4 Not to suffer effusion of the Blood Fifthly 5 to abhor all unclean knowledge in the Flesh Sixthly 6 To commit no Rapine Seventhly 7 and finally Not to eat of any living Creature whereof the Blood was 't first let out If therefore the Gentiles would be exempted from the Law of Moses yet it might seem hard they should also cast off even those things Positive which were observed before Moses and which were not of the same kind with Laws that were necessarily to cease And peradventure hereupon the Council saw it expedient to determine that the Gentiles should according unto the third the seventh and the fifth of those Precepts abstain from things sacrificed unto Idols from Strangled and Blood and from Fornication The rest the Gentiles did of their own accord observe Heb. 13. 4. 1 Cor. 5. 11. Gal. 5. 19 Nature leading them thereunto And did not Nature also teach them to abstain from Fornication No doubt it did Neither can we with reason think That as the former two are Positive so likewise this being meant as the Apostle doth otherwise usually understand it But very Marriage within a number of degrees being not only by the Law of Moses but also by the Law of the sons of Noah for so they took it an unlawful Leu●e 18. discovery of nakedness This discovery of nakedness by unlawful Marriages such as Moses in the Law reckoneth up I think it for mine own part more probable to have been meant in the words of that Canon than Fornication according unto the scase of the Law of Nature Words must be taken according to the matter whereof they are uttered The Apostles command to abstain from Blood Construe this according to the Law of Nature and it will seem that Homicide only is forbidden But construe it in reference to the Law of the Jews about which the question was and it shall easily appear to have a clean other sense and in any man's judgement a truer when we expound it of eating and not of shedding blood So it we speak of Fornication he that knoweth no Law but only the Law of Nature must needs make thereof a narrower construction than he which measureth the same by a Law wherein sundry kinds even of Conjugal Copulation are prohibited as impure unclean unhonest 1 Cor. 5.1 St. Paul himself doth term Incestuous Marriage Fornication If any do rather think that the Christian Gentiles themselves through the loose and corrupt Custom of those times took simple Fornication for no Sin and were in that respect offensive unto believing Jews which by the Law had been better taught Our proposing of another conjecture is unto theirs no prejudice Some things therefore we see there were wherein the Gentiles were forbidden to be like unto the Jews some things wherein they were commanded not to be unlike Again some things also there were wherein no Law of God did let but that they might be either like or unlike as occasion should require And unto this purpose Leo saith Leo in Jejun mens sept Ser. 9 Apostolical Ordinance beloved knowing that our Lord jesus Christ came not into this world to undo the Law hath in such sort distinguished the Mysteries of the Old Testament that certain of them it hath chosen one to benefit Evangelical knowledge withal and for that purpose appointed that those things which before were jewish might now be Christian Customs The cause why the Apostles did thus conform the Christians as much as might be according to the pattern of the Jews was to rein them in by this mean the more and to make them cleave the better The Church of Christ hath had in no one thing so many and so contrary occasions of dealing as about Judaisme some having thought the whole Jewish Law wicked and damnable in itself some not condemning it as the Former sort absolutely have notwithstanding judged it either sooner necessary to be abrogated or further unlawful to be observed then truth can bear some of scrupulous simplicity urging perpetual and universal observation of the Law of Moses necessary as the Christian Jews at the first in the Apostles times some as Heretics holding the same no less even after the contrary determination set down by consent of the Church at jerusalem finally some being herein resolute through mere infidelity and with open professed enmity against Christ as unbelieving Jews To control slanderers of the Law and Prophets such as Marcionites and Manichees were the Church in her Liturgies hath intermingled with Readins out of the New Testament Lessons taken out of the Law and Prophets whereunto Tertullian alluding saith of the Church of Christ Tertul. de prascript advers haeret T.C. lib. 3. p. 171. What an abusing also is it to affirm the mangling of the Gospels and Epistles to have been brought into the Church by godly and learned Men T. C. lib. 1. p. 216. Seeing that the office and function of Priests was after our Saviour Christ's Ascension naught and ungodly the name whereby they were called which did exercise that ungodly function cannot be otherwise taken then in the evil part It intermingleth with Evangelical and Apostolical Writings the Law and the Prophets and from thence it drinketh in that Faith which with Water is sealeth clotheth with the Spirit nourisheth with Eucharist with Martyrdom setteth forward They would have wondered in those times to hear that any man being not as Favourer of Heresy should term this by way of disdain Mangling of the Gospels and Epistles They which honour the Law as an Image of the Wisdom of God himself are notwithstanding to know that the same had an end in Christ. But what Was the Law so abolished with Christ that after his Ascension the Office of Priests became immediately wicked and the very name hateful as importing the exercise of an ungodly function No as long as the glory of the Temple continued and till the time of that final desolation was accomplished the very Christian Jews did continue with their Sacrifices and other parts of Legal Service That very Law therefore which our Saviour was to abolish did not so soon become unlawful to be observed as some imagine nor was it afterward unlawful so far that the very name of Altar of Priests of Sacrifice itself should be banished out of the World For though God do now hate Sacrifice whether it be Heathenish or Jewish so that we cannot have the same things which they had but with impiety yet unless there be some greater let then the only evacuation of the Law of Moses the names themselves may I hope be retained without sin in respect of that proportion which things established by our Saviour have unto them which by him are abrogated And so throughout all the writings of the Ancient Fathers we see that the words which were do continue the only difference it that whereas before they had a literal they now have a metaphorical use and are as so many notes of remembrance unto us that what they did signify in the Letter is accomplished in the Truth And as no man can deprive the Church of this liberty to use names whereunto the Law was accustomed so neither are we generally forbidden the use of things which the Law hath though it neither command us any particularity as it did the Jews a number and the weightiest which it did command them are unto us in the Gospel prohibited Touching such as through simplicity of error did urge universal and perpetual observation of the Law of Moses at the first we have spoken already Against Jewish Heretics and false Apostles teaching afterwards the selfsame St. Paul in every Epistle commonly either disputeth or giveth warning Jews that were zealous for the Law but withal Infidels in respect of Christianity and to the name of Jesus Christ most spiteful enemies did while they flourished no less persecute the Church than Heathens and after their Estate was overthrown they were not that way so much to be feared Howbeit because they had their Synagogues in every famous City almost throughout the World and by that means great opportunity to withdraw from the Christian Faith which to do they spared no labour this gave the Church occasion to make sundry Laws against them As in the Council of Laodicea Council Laod. Can. 37 3● T. C. lib. 1. p. 131. The Festival Presents which jews or Heretics use to send must not be received nor Holidays solemnised in their company Again From the jews Men ought not to receive their Unlevened Bread nor to communicate with their Impieties T. C. lib. 3. p. 176. ● Which Council was afterwards indeed confirmed by the Sixth General Council But what was the true sense or meaning both of the one and the other Were Christians here forbidden to communicate in Unleavened Bread because the Jews did so being Enemies of the Church He which attentively shall weigh the words will suspect that they rather forbid communion with Jews than imitation of them much more Council Constantinop 6. cap. 11. if with these two Decrees be compared a third in the Council of Constantinople Let no man either of the Clergy or Laity eat the Unleavened of the jews nor enter into any familiarity with them nor send for them in sickness nor take Physic at their hands nor as much as go into the ●ath with them If any do otherwise being a Clergyman let him be deposed if being a Lay-person let Excommunication be his punishment If these Canons were any Argument that they which made them did utterly condemn similitude between the Christians and Jews in things indifferent appertaining unto Religion either because the Jews were enemies unto the Church or else for that their Ceremonies were abrogated these Reasons had been as strong and effectual against their keeping the Feast of Easter on the same day the Jews kept theirs and not according to the Custom of the West Church For so they did from the first beginning till Constantine's time For in these two things the East and West Churches did interchangeably both confront the Jews and concur with them the West Church using Unleavened Bread as the Jews in their Passover did but differing from them in the day whereon they kept the Feast of Easter chose the East Church celebrating the Feast of Easter on the same day with the Jews but not using the same kind of Bread which they did Now ● so be the East Church in using Leavened Bread had done well either for that the Jews were enemies to the Church or because Jewish Ceremonies were abrogated How should we think but that Victor the Bishop of Rome whom all judicious men do in that behalf disallow did well to be so vehement and fierce in drawing them to the like dissimilitude for the Feast of Easter Again If the West Churches had in either of those two respects affected dissimilitude with the Jews in the Feast of Easter What reason had they to draw the Eastern Church herein unto them which reason did not enforce them to frame themselves unto it in the ceremony of Leavened Bread Difference in Rites should breed no controversy between one Church and another but if controversy be once bred it must be ended The Feast of Easter being therefore litigious in the days of Constantine who honoured of all other Churches most the Church of Rome which Church was the Mother from whose Breasts he had drawn that food which gave him nourishment to eternal life fith Agreement was necessary and yet impossible unless the one part were yielded unto his desire was that of the two the Eastern Church should rather yield And to this end he useth sundry persuasive speeches When Stephen Bishop of Rome going about to show what the Catholic Church should do had alleged what the Heretics themselves did namely That they received such as came unto them and offered not to Baptise them anew St. Cyprian being of a contrary mind to him about the matter at that time in question which was Whether Heretics converted aught to be rebaptised yea or no answered the Allegation of Pope Stephen with exceeding great stomach saying Cypr. ad Pompey lib. cont. Epist. Stephani To this degree of wretchedness the Church of God and Spouse of Christ is now come that her ways she frameth to the example of Heretics that to celebrate the Sacraments which Heavenly Instruction hath delivered light itself doth borrow from darkness and Christians do that which Antichrists do Now albeit Constantine have done that to further a better cause which Cyprian did to countenance a worse namely the Rebaptisation of Heretics and have taken advantage at the odiousness of the Jews as Cyprian of Heretics because the Eastern Church kept their Feast of Easter always the Fourteenth day of the Month as the Jews did what day of the week soever it fell or howsoever Constantine did take occasion in the handling of that cause to say * Sur. Eccle. first hist. lib 5. cap. 21. Flerique in Asia minore antiqui●us 14 die mensis ratione dict Sahbati habits hoc festum observaruar Quod dum facitbeur cum aluns qui aliam rationem in codem festo agendo sequehaneur usque to nequaquam dissenseruat quoud Victor Episcopus Romanus supra modum iracundi● inflamnaths om●css in Asian quetant appella●i excommunicaverit Ob quod ●ictum Ire●●no Episcopus Lugdunt in Victorem per Epelosem graviter invectus est Euseb. de vira Constant. lib. 3. cap. 19 Quid preslabilias quidve augustius esse poterat quam u● hoc sestum per quod shem immortalicatis noble essentar●m h●bemu● uno moilo & ratione apud omnes integre slace●eque observaretur Ac primum omnium indignum plane videbettir ut ritum & con●erudinem imicantes jurizoruin qui quoniam su●s ipsorum manus im●●al scelete polluerua●r me●iro ut seelenstos ●ecet caeco animorum errore tenent●r irretiti islud s●slum sanctissimum ageremus In nostra enim situt● est poteflare ut illorum more rejec●o verio●e ac m●gi●●●ncero institute quod quidem usque à passionis die hactenus recoluimus hujus festi celebrationem ad posterorum seculorum memoriam propagemus Nistil igitur si● nobis cum Judeorum turba omne●●● odlusa maxim It is unworthy to have any thing common with that spiteful Nation of the jews Shall every Motive Argument used in such kind of Conferences be made a rule for others still to conclude the like by concerning all things of like nature when as probable enducements may lead them to the contrary Let both this and other Allegations suitable unto it cease to bark any longer idly against that truth the course and passage whereof it is not in them to hinder 12. But the weightiest Exception Their Exception against such Ceremonies as have been abused by the Church of Rome and are said in that respect to be scandalous and of all the most worthy to be respected is against such kind of Ceremonies as have been so grossly and shamefully abused in the Church of Rome that were they remain they are scandalous yea they cannot choose but be stumbling blocks and grievous causes of offence Concerning this point therefore we are first to note What properly it is to be scandalous or offensive Secondly What kind of Ceremonies are such And thirdly When they are necessarily for remedy thereof to be taken away and when not The common conceit of the vulgar sort is Whensoever they see any thing which they mislike and are angry at to think that every such thing is scandalous and that themselves in this case are the men concerning whom our Saviour spoke in so fearful manner saying Matth. 18. 6. Whosoever shall scandalise or offend any one of these little ones which believe in me that is as they construe it Whosoever shall anger the meanest and simplest Artisan which carrieth a good mind by not removing out of the Church such Rites and Ceremonies as displease him better he were drowned in the bottom of the Sea But hard were the case of the Church of Christ if this were to scandalise 1 Pet. 2. 8. 2 Sam. 12. 13. Rom. 2. 14. Ezek. 36. 20. Tertul. lib. de Virgin Veland Men are scandalised when they are moved led and provoked unto sin At good things evil men may take occasion to do evil and so Christ himself was a Rock of Offence in Israel they taking occasion at his poor estate and at the ignominy of his Cross to think him unworthy the Name of that Great and Glorious Mesias whom the Prophets describe in such ample and stately terms But that which we therefore term offensive because it inviteth men to offend and by a dumb kind of provocation encourageth moveth or any way leadeth unto sin must of necessity be acknowledged actively scandalous Now some things are so even by their very essence and nature so that wheresoever they be found they are not neither can be without this force of provocation unto evil of which kind all examples of sin and wickedness are Thus David was scandalous in that bloody act whereby he caused the enemies of God to be blasphemous Thus the whole state of Israel was scandalous when their public disorders caused the Name of God to be ill spoken of amongst the Nations It is of this kind that Tertullian meaneth Offence or scandal if I be not deceived saith he is when the example not of a good but of an evil thing doth set men forward to ●●● sin Good things can scandalise none save only evil minds Good things have no scandalising Nature in them Yet that which is of it own nature either good or at least not evil may by some accident become scandalous at certain times and in certain places and to certain men the open use thereof nevertheless being otherwise without danger The very Nature of some Rites and Ceremonies therefore is scandalous as it was in a number of those which the Manichees did use and is in all such as the Law of God doth forbid Some are offensive only through the Agreement of Men to use them unto evil and not else as the most of those things indifferent which the Heathens did to the service of their false gods which another in heart condemning their Idolatry could not do with them in show and token of Approbation without being guilty of scandal given Ceremonies of this kind are either devised at the first unto evil as the Eunomian Heretics in dishonour of the Blessed Trinity brought in the laying on of Water but once to cross the custom of the Church which in Baptism did it thrice Or else having had a profitable use they are afterwards interpreted and wrested to the contrary as those Heretics which held the Trinity to be three distinct not Persons but Natures abused the Ceremony of three times laying on Water in Baptism unto the strengthening of their Heresy The Element of Water is in Baptism necessary once to lay it on or twice is indifferent For which cause Gregory making mention thereof saith Epist. a● Le●ndrum Hisp. To dive an Insant either thrice or but once in Baptism can be no way a thing reprovable seeing that both in three times washing the Trinity of Persons and in one the Unity of the Godhead may be signified So that of these two Ceremonies neither being hurtful in itself both may serve unto good purpose yet one was devised and the other converted unto evil Now whereas in the Church of Rome certain Ceremonies are said to have been shamefully abused unto evil as the ceremony of Crossing at Baptism of Kneeling at the Eucharist of using Wafercakes and such like the question is Whether for remedy of that evil wherein such Ceremonies have been scandalous and perhaps may be still unto some even amongst ourselves whom the presence and sight of them may confirm in that ●ormer error whereto they served in times past they are of necessity to be removed Are these or any other Ceremonies we have common with the Church of Rome scandalous and wicked in their very nature This no man objecteth Are any such as have been polluted from their very birth and instituted even at the first unto that thing which is evil That which hath been ordained impiously at the first may wear out that impiety in tract of time and then what doth let but that the use thereof may stand without offence The names of our Months and of our Days we are not ignorant from whence they came and with what dishonour unto God they are said to have been devised at the first What could be spoken against any thing more effectual to stir hatred then that which sometime the Ancient Fathers in this case speak Yet those very names are at this day in use throughout Christendom without hurt or scandal to any Clear and manifest it is that things devised by Heretics yea devised of a very heretical purpose even against Religion Hon. 11. de Pasch. Idolatriae consuetudo in rantum homini● occoec●verat ut Solis Lunae Martis atque Mercurii Jovis Veneris Saturni & divers●s Elementorum ac Daemonum appellationibus dies voci●a●ent & luci tenebrarum nomen imp●nerent ●●da de ratione temp. cap. 4. Octavus dits Idem primus est ad quem reditur indeque rutius Hehdemada incho●tur His nomina ● planetis Gentilitas indidi● ha bear se credentes à Sole Spiritum à Luna corpus à Marte sangulnem à Mercurlo ingenium & linguam à ●o●e temperanuam à Venere voluptatem à Saturno ●ardita●em Isid. Hisp. lib. 5. Reymol cap. 32. Dies dicti à Diis quorum nomina Romani quibuscam syderibus sactave●uni and at their first devising worthy to have been withstood may in time grow meet to be kept as that Custom the inventors whereof were the Eunomian Heretics So that customs once established and confirmed by long use being presently without harm are not in regard of their corrupt original to be held scandalous But concerning those our Ceremonies which they reckon for most Popish they are not able to avouch that any of them was otherwise instituted then unto good yea so used at the first It followeth then that they all are such as having served to good purpose were afterwards converted unto the contrary And sith it is not so much as objected against us that we retain together with them the evil wherewith they have been infected in the Church of Rome I would demand Who they are whom we scandalise by using harmless things unto that good end for which they were first instituted Amongst ourselves that agree in the approbation of this kind of good use no man will say that one of us is offensive and scandalous unto another As for the favourers of the Church of Rome they know how far we herein differ and descent from them which thing neither we conceal and they by their public writings also profess daily how much it grieveth them So that of them there will not many rise up against us as witnesses unto the Indictment of Scandal whereby we might be condemned and cast as having strengthened them in that evil wherewith they pollute themselves in the use of the same Ceremonies And concerning such as withstand the Church of England herein and hate it because it doth not sufficiently seem to hate Rome they I hope are far enough from being by this mean drawn to any kind of Popish Error The multitude therefore of them unto whom we are scandalous through the use of abused Ceremonies is not so apparent that it can justly be said in general of any one sort of men or other we cause them to offend If it be so that now or then some few are espied who having been accustomed heretofore to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome are not so scoured of their former rust as to forsake their ancient persuasion which they have had howsoever they frame themselves to outward obedience of Laws and Orders because such may misconstrue the meaning of our Ceremonies and so take them as though they were in every sort the same they have been Shall this be thought a reason sufficient whereon to conclude that some Law must necessarily be made to abolish all such Ceremonies They answer that there is no Law of God which doth bind us to retain them And St. Paul's rule is that in those things from which without hurt we may lawfully abstain we should frame the usage of our Liberty with regard to the weakness and imbecility of our Brethren Wherefore unto them which stood upon their own defence saying All things are lawful unto me he replieth 1 Cor. 6. 12. But all things are not expedient in regard of others All things are clean all Meats are lawful but evil unto that man that eateth offensively If for thy meat's sake thy Brother be grieved thou walkest no longer according to Charity Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died Dissolve not for foods sake the work of God We that are strong must bear the imbecility of the impotent and not please ourselves It was a weakness in the Christian Jews and a maim of judgement in them that they thought the Gentiles polluted by the eating of those meats which themselves were afraid to touch for fear of transgressing the Law of Moses yea hereat their hearts did so much rise that the Apostle had just cause to fear lest they would rather forsake Christianity then endure any fellowship with such as made no conscience of that which was unto them abominable Rom. 14. & 19 ● And for this cause mention is made of destroying the weak by meats and of dissolving the work of God which was his Church a part of the Living Stones whereof were believing Jews Now those weak Brethren before mentioned are said to be as the Jews were and our Ceremonies which have been abused in the Church of Rome to be as the scandalous Meats from which the Gentiles are exhorted to abstain in the presence of Jews for fear of averting them from Christian Faith Therefore as Charity did bind them to refrain from that for their brethren's sake which otherwise was lawful enough for them so it bindeth us for our brethren's sake likewise to abolish such Ceremonies although we might lawfully else retain them But between these two cases there are great odds For neither are our weak Brethren as the Jews nor the Ceremonies which we use as the meats which the Gentiles used The Jews were known to be generally weak in that respect whereas chose the imbecility of ours is not common unto so many that we can take any such certain notice of them It is a chance if here and there some one be found and therefore seeing we may presume men commonly otherwise there is no necessity that our practice should frame itself by that which the Apostle doth prescribe to the Gentiles Again their use of meats was not like unto our Ceremonies Vile Harm nop lib. 1. cit 1. sect 28. that being a matter of private action in common life where every man was free to order that which himself did but this a public constitution for the ordering of the Church And we are not to look that the Church should change her public Laws and Ordinances made according to that which is judged ordinarily and commonly fittest for the whole although it chance that for some particular men the same be found inconvenient especially when there may be other remedy also against the sores of particular incoveniences In this case therefore where any private harm doth grow we are not to reject instruction as being an unmeet plaster to apply unto it neither can we say that he which appointeth Teachers for Physicians in this kind of evil is T. C. lib. 3. p. 178. As if a man would set one to watch a child all day long lest he should hurt himself with a Knife whereas by taking away the Knife from him the danger is avoided and the service of the man better employed For a Knife may be taken from a child without depriving them of the benefit thereof which have years and discretion to use it But the Ceremonies which Children do abuse if we remove quite and clean as it is by some required that we should then are they not taken from Children only but from others also which is as though because Children may perhaps hurt themselves with Knives we should conclude that therefore the use of Knives is to be taken quite and clean even from men also Those particular Ceremonies which they pretend to be so scandalous we shall in the next Book have occasion more throughly to sift where other things also traduced in the public duties of the Church whereunto each of these appertaineth are together with these to be touched and such Reasons to be examined as have at any time been brought either against the one or the other * T. C. lib. 3. p. 177. It is not so convenient that the Minister having so many necessary points to bestow his time in should be driven to spend it in giving warning of not abusing them of which although they were used to the best there is no probe In the mean while against the conveniency of curing such evils by instruction strange it is that they should object the multitude of other necessary Matters wherein Preachers may better bestow their time then in giving men warning not to abuse Ceremonies A wonder it is that they should object this which have so many years together troubled the Church with quarrels concerning these things and are even to this very hour so earnest in them That if they write or speak publicly but five words one of them is lightly about the dangerous estate of the Church of England in respect of abused Ceremonies How much happier had it been for this whole Church if they which have raised contention therein about the abuse of Rites and Ceremonies had considered in due time that there is indeed store of Matters fitter and better a great deal for Teachers to spend time and labour in It is through their importunate and vehement Asteve●ationss more than through any such experience which we have had of our own that we are enforced to think it possible for one or other now and then at leastwise in the prime of the Reformation of our Church to have stumbled at some kind of Ceremonies Wherein for as much as we are contented to take this upon their credit and to think it may be sith also they further pretend the same to be so dangerous a Snare to their Souls that are at any time taken therein they must give our Teacher's leave for the saving of those Souls be they never so few to intermingle sometime with other more necessary things Admonition concerning these not unnecessary Wherein they should in reason more easily yield this leave considering that hereunto we shall not need to use the hundredth part of that time which themselves think very needful to bestow in making most bitter Invectives against the Ceremonies of the Church Our Ceremonies excepted against for that some Churches Reform before ours have cast cut those things which we notwithstanding their example to the contrary do retain still 13. But to come to the last point of all The Church of England is grievously charged with forgetfulness of her duty which duty had been to train herself unto the Pattern of their Example that went before her in the Work of Reformation a T. C. lib 1. p. 133. For as the Churches of Christ ought to be most unlike the Synagogue of Antichrist in their indifferent Ceremonies so they ought to be most like one unto another and for preservation of Unity to have as much as possible may be all the same Ceremonies And therefore St. Paul to establish this order in the Church of Corinth b 1 Cor. 16. 1. that they should make their gatherings for the Poor upon the first day of the Sabbath which is our Sunday allegeth this for a Reason That he had so ordained in other Churches Again As children of one Father and Servants of one Family so all Churches should not only have one Diet in that they have one Word but also wear as it were one Livery in using the same Ceremonies Thirdly c Can. ●● The Canon of that Council which is here cic●● doth provide against kneeling as Prayer on Sundays or for fifty days after Easter on any day and not at the Feast of Pentecost only This Rule did the Great Council of Nice follow when it ordained That where certain at the Feast of Pentecost did pray Kneeling they should pray Standing The reason whereof is added which is That one Custom ought to be kept throughout all Churches It is true That the diversity of Ceremonies ought not to cause the Churches to descent out with another But yet it maketh most to the avoiding of Dissension that there be amongst them an Unity not only in Doctrine but also in Ceremonies d T. C. lib 1. ●● 182. 183. And therefore our Form of Service is to be amended not only for that it cometh too near that of the Papists but also because it is so different from that of the Reformed Churches Being asked to what Churches ours should conform itself and why other Reformed Churches should not as well frame themselves to ours Their answer is That if there be any Ceremonies which we have better than others they ought to frame themselves to us If they have better than we than we ought to frame ourselves to them If the Ceremonies be alike commodious tha latter Churches should conform themselves to the first as the younger Daughter to the Elder e Rom. 15.5.7 For as St. Paul in the Members where all other things are equal noteth it for a mark of honour above the rest that one is called before another to the Gospel so is it for the same cause amongst the Churches f 1 Cor. 14. 37. And in this respect he pincheth the Corinth's that not being the first which received the Gospel yet they would have their several manners from other Churches Moreover where the Ceremonies are alike commodious the fewer aught to conform themselves unto the moe For as much therefore as all the Churches so far as they know which plead after this manner of our Confession in Doctrine agree in the Abrogation of divers things which we retain Our Church ought either to show that they have done evil or else she is found to be in fault that doth not conform herself in that which she cannot deny to be well abrogated In this Axiom that Preservation of Peace and Unity amongst Christian Churches should be by all good means procured we join most willingly and gladly with them Neither deny we but that to the avoiding of Dissension it availeth much that there be amongst them an Unity as well in Ceremonies as in Doctrine The only doubt is about the manner of their Unity How far Churches are bound to be Uniform in their Ceremonies and what way they ought to take for that purpose Touching the one the Rule which they have set down is That in Ceremonies indifferent all Churches ought to be one of them unto another as like as possibly they may be Which possibly we cannot otherwise construe then that it doth require them to be even as like as they may be without breaking any Positive Ordinance of God For the Ceremonies whereof we speak being Matter of Positive Law they are indifferent if God have neither himself commanded nor forbidden them but left them unto the Church's discretion so that if as great Uniformity be required as is possible in these things seeing that the Law of God forbiddeth not any one of them it followeth that from the greatest unto the least they must be in every Christian Church the same except mere impossibility of so having it be the hindrance To us this Opinion seemeth over-extream and violent We rather incline to think it a just and reasonable cause for any Church the State whereof is free and independent if in these things it differ from other Churches only for that it doth not judge it so fit and expedient to be framed therein by the pattern of their example as to be otherwise framed than they That of Gregory unto Leander is a charitable Speech and a peaceable In una side nil officit Ecclesiae sancta consuetudo diversa Where the Faith of the Holy Church is one a difference in Customs of the Church doth no harm That of St. Augustine to Cassulanus is somewhat particular and toucheth what kind of Ceremonies they are wherein one Church may vary from the example of another without hurt Let the Faith of the whole Church how wide soever it hath spread itself be always one although the Unity of Belief be famous for variety of certain Ordinances whereby that which is rightly believed suffereth no kind of let or impediment Calvin goeth further Respon ad Med. As concerning Rites in particular let the sentence of Augustine take place which leaveth it free unto all Churches to receive their own Custom Yea sometime it profiteth and is expedient that there be difference lest men should think that Religion is tied to outward Ceremonies Always provided that there be not any emulation nor that Churches delighted with novelty affect to have that which others have not They which grant it true That the diversity of Ceremonies in this kind ought not to cause dissension in Churches must either acknowledge that they grant in effect nothing by these words or if any thing be granted there must as much be yielded unto as we affirm against their former strict Assertion For if Churches be urged by way of duty to take such Ceremonies as they like not of How can dissension be avoided Will they say that there ought to be no dissension because such as are urged aught to like of that whereunto they are urged If they say this they say just nothing For how should any Church like to be urged of duty by such as have no authority or power over it unto those things which being indifferent it is not of duty bound unto them Is it their meaning that there ought to be no dissension because that which Churches are not bound unto no man ought by way of duty to urge upon them And if any man do he standeth in the sight both of God and Men most justly  as a needless Disturber of the Peace of God's Church and an Author of Dissension In saying this they both condemn their own practice when they press the Church of England with so strict a bond of duty in these things and they overthrow the ground of their practice which is That there ought to be in all kind of Ceremonies Uniformity unless impossibility hinder it For Proof whereof it is not enough to allege what St. Paul did about the Matter of Collections or what Noblemen do in the Liveries of their Servants or what the Council of Nice did for Standing in time of Prayer on certain days Because though St. Paul did will them of the Church of Corinth a T. C. lib. 1. p. 133. And therefore St. Paul to establish this order in the Church of Corinth that they should make their Gatherings for the Poor upon the first day of the Sabbath which is our Sunday allegeth this for a Reason that he had so ordained in other Churches every man to lay up somewhat by him upon the Sunday and to reserve it in store till himself did come thither to send it unto the Church of jerusalem for relief of the Poor there signifying withal that he had taken the like order with the Churches of Galatia yet the reason which he yieldeth of this order taken both in the one place and the other showeth the least part of his meaning to have been that whereunto his words are writhed b 1 Cor. 16. 1. Concerning Collection for the Saints he meaneth them of jerusalem as I have given order to the Church of Galatia so likewise do ye saith the Apostle that is In every first day of the week let each of you lay aside by himself and reserve according to that which God hath blessed him with that when I come collections be not then to make and that when I am come whom you shall choose them I may forthwith send away by Letters to carry your beneficence unto Jerusalem Out of which words to conclude the duty of Uniformity throughout all Churches in all manner of indifferent Ceremonies will be very hard and therefore best to give it over But perhaps they are by so much the more loath to forsake this Argument for that it hath though nothing else yet the name of Scripture to give it some kind of countenance more than the pretext of Livery-coats affordeth them For neither is it any man's duty to  all his children T. C. lib. 3. p. 133. So that as children of one Father and servants of one Master he will have all the Churches not only have one ●ict In that they have one word but also wear as it were one Livery in using the same Ceremonies T. C. lib. 1. p. 133. This Rule did the Great Council of Nice f●llow etc. Die Domini ● & per omnem Pentecestem nec de genien be adorare & jejunium solvere etc. De Cir● Milu●s or all his servants with one weed nor theirs to  themselves so if it were left to their own judgements as these Ceremonies are left of God to the judgement of the Church And seeing Churches are rather in this case like divers Families then like divers servants of one Family because every Church the state whereof is independent upon any other hath authority to appoint orders for itself in things indifferent therefore of the two we may rather infer That as one Family is not abridged of liberty to be clothed in Friars Grey for that another doth wear Clay colour so neither are all Churches bound to the selfsame indifferent Ceremonies which it liketh sundry to use As for that Canon in the Council of Nice let them but read it and weigh it well The ancient use of the Church throughout all Christendom was for fifty days after Easter which fifty days were called Pentecost though most commonly the last day of them which is Whitsunday he so called in like sort on all Sundays throughout the whole year their manner was to stand at Prayer Whereupon their meetings unto that purpose on those days had the name of Stations given them Of which Custom Tertullian speaketh in this wise It is not with us thought sit either to fast on the Lord's day or to pray kneeling The same immunity from Fasting and Kneeling we keep all the time which is between the Feasts of Easter and Pentecost This being therefore an order generally received in the Church when some began to be singular and different from all others and that in a Ceremony which was then judged very convenient for the whole Church even by the whole those few excepted which break out of the common Pale the Council of Nice thought good to enclose them again with the rest by a Law made in this sort Because there are certain which will needs kneel at the time of Prayer on the Lord's day and in the fifty days after Easter the holy Synod judging it meet that a convenient custom be observed throughout all Churches hath decreed That Standing we make our Prayers to the lord Whereby it plainly appeareth that in things indifferent what the whole Church doth think convenient for the whole the same if any part do wilfully violate it may be reform and inraised again by that general authority whereunto each particular is subject and that the Spirit of singularity in a few aught to give place unto public judgement this doth clearly enough appear but not that all Christian Churches are bound in every indifferent Ceremony to be uniform because where the whole Church hath not tied the parts unto one and the same thing they being therein left each to their own choice may either do as others do or else otherwise without any breach of duty at all Concerning those indifferent things wherein it hath been heretofore thought good that all Christian Churches should be uniform the way which they now conceive to bring this to pass was then never thought on For till now it hath been judged that seeing the Law of God doth not prescribe all particular Ceremonies which the Church of Christ may use and in so great variety of them as may be found out it is not possible That the Law of Nature and Reason should direct all Churches unto the same things each deliberating by itself what is most convenient The way to establish the same things indifferent throughout them all must needs be the judgement of some Judicial authority drawn into one only sentence which may be a rule for every particular to follow And because such authority over all Churches is too much to be granted unto any one mortal man there yet remaineth that which hath been always followed as the best the safest the most sincere and reasonable way namely the Verdict of the whole Church orderly taken and set down in the Assembly of some General Council But to maintain That all Christian Churches ought for Unities sake to be uniform in all Ceremonies and then to teach that the way of bringing this to pass must be by mutual imitation so that where we have better Ceremonies than others they shall be bound to follow us and we them where theirs are better How should we think it agreeable and consonant unto reason For sith in things of this nature there is such variety of particular inducements whereby one Church may be led to think that better which another Church led by other inducements judgeth to be worse For example the East Church did think it better to keep Easter day after the manner of the Jews the West Church better to do otherwise the Greek Church judgeth it worse to use Unleavened Bread in the Eucharist the Latin Church leavened One Church esteemeth it not so good to receive the Eucharist sitting as standing another Church not so good standing as sitting there being on the one side probable Motives as well as on the other unless they add somewhat else to define more certainly what Ceremonies shall stand for best in such sort That all Churches in the World shall know them to be the best and so know them that there may not remain any question about this point we are not a whit the nearer for that they have hitherto said They themselves although resolved in their own judgements what Ceremonies are best foreseeing that such as they are addicted unto be not all so clearly and so incomparably best but others there are or may be at leastwise when all things are well considered as good knew not which way smoothly to rid their hands of this matter without providing some more certain rule to be followed for establishment of Uniformity in Ceremonies when there are divers kinds of equal goodness And therefore in this case they say That the latter Churches and the fewer should conform themselves unto the elder and the moe Hereupon they conclude T. C. lib. 3. p. 133. If the Ceremonies be alike commodious the latter Churches should conform themselves to the first etc. And again The fewer aught to conform themselves unto the more that for as much as all the Reformed Churches so far as they know which are of our Confession in Doctrine have agreed already in the Abrogation of divers things which we retain Our Church ought either to show that they have done evil or else she is found to be in fault for not conforming herself to those Churches in that which she cannot deny to be in them well abrogated For the authority of the first Churches and those they account to be the first in this cause which were first Reform they bring the comparison of younger Daughters conforming themselves in attire to the example of their elder Sisters wherein there is just as much strength of Reason as in the Livery Coats beforementioned St. Paul they say noteth it for a mark of special honour that Epanetus' was the first man in all Athaia which did embrace the Christian Faith after the same sort he toucheth it also as a special pre-eminence of junius and Andronicus that in Christianity they were his Ancients The Corinthians he pincheth with this demand Rom. 16 5. 1 Cor. 14 35. Hath the Word of God gone out from you or hath it lighted on you alone But what of all this If any man should think that alacrity and forwardness in good things doth add nothing unto men's commendation the two former speeches of St. Paul might lead him to reform his judgement In like sort to take down the stomach of proud conceited men that glory as though they were able to set all others to School there can be nothing more fit than some such words as the Apostles third sentence doth contain wherein he teacheth the Church of Corinth to know that there was no such great odds between them and the rest of their Brethren that they should think themselves to be Gold and the rest to be but Copper He therefore useth speech unto them to this effect Men instructed in the knowledge of jesus Christ there both were before you and are besides you in the world ye neither are the Fountain from which first nor yet the River into which alone the Word hath flowed But although as Epanetus' was the first man in all Achaia so Corinth had been the first Church in the whole World that received Christ the Apostle doth not show that in any kind of things indifferent whatsoever this should have made their example a Law unto all others Indeed the example of sundry Churches for approbation of one thing doth sway much but yet still as having the force of an example only and not of a Law They are effectual to move any Church unless some greater thing do hinder but they bind none no not though they be many saving only when they are the major part of a General Assembly and then their voices being more in number must oversway their judgements who are fewer because in such cases the greater half is the whole But as they stand out single each of them by itself their number can purchase them no such authority that the rest of the Churches being fewer should be therefore bound to follow them and to relinguish as good Ceremonies as theirs for theirs Whereas therefore it is concluded out of these so weak Premises T. C. lib. 3. p. 183. Our Church ought either to show that they have done evil or else she is sound to be insault that doth not conform herself in that which she cannot deny to be well abrogated that the retaining of divers things in the Church of England which other Reformed Churches have cast out must needs argue that we do not well unless we can show that they have done ill what needed this wrist to draw out from us an accusation of foreign Churches It is not proved as yet that if they have done well our duty is to follow them and to forsake our own course because it differeth from theirs although indeed it be as well for us every way as theirs for them And if the proofs alleged for confirmation hereof had been sound yet seeing they lead no further then only to show that where we can have no better Ceremonies theirs must be taken as they cannot with modesty think themselves to have found out absolutely the best which the wit of men may devise so liking their own somewhat better than other men's even because they are their own they must in equity allow us to be like unto them in this affection Which if they do they ease us of that uncourteous burden whereby we are charged either to condemn them or else to follow them They grant we need not follow them if our own ways already be better And if our own be but equal the Law of Common Indulgence alloweth us to think them at the least half a thought the better because they are our own which we may very well do and never draw any Indictment at all against theirs but think commendably even of them also A Declaration of the proceedings of the Church of England for establishment of things as they are 14. To leave Reformed Churches therefore and their Actions for Him to judge of in whose sight they are as they are and our desire is that they may even in his sight be found such as we ought to endeavour by all means that our own may likewise be Somewhat we are enforced to speak by way of Simple Declaration concerning the proceedings of the Church of England in these affairs to the end that men whose minds are free from those partial constructions whereby the only name of Difference from some other Churches is thought cause sufficient to condemn ours may the better discern whether that we have done be reasonable yea or no. The Church of England being to alter her received Laws concerning such Orders Rites and Ceremonies as had been in former times an hindrance unto Piety and Religious Service of God was to enter into consideration first That the change of Laws especially concerning matter of Religion must be warily proceeded in Laws as all other things humane are many times full of imperfection and that which is supposed behoveful unto men proveth oftentimes most pernicious The wisdom which is learned by tract of time findeth the Laws that have been in former ages established needful in latter to be abrogated Besides that which sometime is expedient doth not always so continue and the number of needless Laws unabolished doth weaken the force of them that are necessary But true withal it is that Alteration though it be from worse to better hath in it inconveniences and those weighty unless it bein such Laws as have been made upon special occasions which occasions ceasing Laws of that kind do abrogate themselves But when we abrogate a Law as being ill made the whole cause for which it was made still remaining Do we not herein revoke our very own deed and upbraid ourselves with folly yea all that were makers of it with oversight and with error Further if it be a Law which the custom and continual practice of many ages or years hath consumed in the minds of men to alter it must needs be troublesome and scandalous It amazeth them it causeth them to stand in doubt whether any thing be in itself by nature either good or evil and not all things rather such as men at this or that time agree to account of them when they behold even those things disproved disannulled rejected which use had made in a manner natural What have we to induce men unto the willing obedience and observation of Laws but the weight of so many men's judgements as have with deliberate advice assented thereunto the weight of that long Experience which the World hath had thereof with consent and good liking So that to change any such Law must needs with the common sort impair and weaken the force of those Grounds whereby all Laws are made effectual Notwithstanding we do not deny alteration of Laws to be sometimes a thing necessary as when they are unnatural or impious or otherwise hurtful unto the Public Community of Men and against that good for which Humane Societies were instituted When the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour were ordained to alter the Laws of Heatherish Religion received throughout the whole World chosen I grant they were Paul excepted the rest ignorant poor simple unschooled altogether and unlettered men howbeit extraordinarily endued with ghostly Wisdom from above before they ever undertook this Enterprise yea their authority confirmed by Miracle to the end it might plainly appear that they were the Lords Ambassadors unto whose Sovereign power for all flesh to stoop for all the Kingdoms of the Earth to yield themselves willingly conformable in whatsoever should be required it was their duty In this case therefore their oppositions in maintenance of Public Superstition against Apostolic endeavours as that they might not condemn the ways of their ancient Predecessors that they must keep Religiones Traditas the Rites which from age to age had descended that the Ceremonies of Religion had been ever accounted by so much holier as elder these and the like Allegations in this case were vain and frivolous Not to stay longer therefore in speech concerning this point we will conclude That as the change of such Laws as have been specified is necessary so the evidence that they are such must be great If we have neither voice from Heaven that so pronounceth of them neither sentence of men grounded upon such manifest and clear proof that they in whose hands it is to alter them may likewise infallibly even in heart and conscience judge them so upon necessity to urge alteration is to trouble and disturb without necessity As for Arbitrary Alterations when Laws in themselves not simply bad or unmeet are changed for better and more expedient if the benefit of that which is newly better devised be but small sith the custom of easiness to alter and change is so evil no doubt but to bear a tolerable sore is better than to venture on a dangerous remedy Which being generally thought upon as a matter that touched nearly their whole enterprise whereas change was notwithstanding concluded necessary in regard of the great hurt which the Church did receive by a number of things then in use whereupon a great deal of that which had been was now to be taken away and removed out of the Church yet sith there are divers ways of abrogating things established they saw it best to cut off presently such things as might in that sort be extinguished without danger leaving the rest to be abolished by disusage through tract of time And as this was done for the manner of Abrogation so touching the stint or measure thereof Rites and Ceremonies and other external things of like nature being hurtful unto the Church either in respect of their quality or in regard of their number in the former there could be no doubt or difficulty what should be done their deliberation in the latter was more hard And therefore in as much as they did resolve to remove only such things of that kind as the Church might best spare retaining the residue their whole Counsel is in this point utterly condemned as having either proceeded from the blindness of those times or from negligence or from desire of honour and glory or from an erroneous opinion that such things might be tolerated for a while or if it did proceed as they which would seem most  are content to think it possible from a purpose partly the easilier to draw Papists unto the Gospel T. C. lib. 2. p. 29. It may well be their purpose was by that temper of Popish Ceremonies with the Gospel partly the easilier to drew the Papists to the Gospel &c partly to redeem Peace thereby by keeping so many orders still the same with theirs and partly to redeem peace thereby the breach whereof they might fear would ensue upon more thorough alteration or howsoever it came to pass the thing they did is judged evil But such is the lot of all that deal in Public Affairs whether of Church or Commonwealth that which men list to surmise of their doings being it good or ill they must beforehand patiently aim their minds to endure Wherefore to let go private surmises whereby the thing in itself is not made either better or worse if just and allowable Reasons might lead them to do as they did then are all these censures frustrate Touching Ceremonies harmless therefore in themselves and hurtful only in respect of number Was it amiss to decree That those things which were least needful and newliest come should be the first that were taken away as in the abrogating of a number of Saints days and of other the like custom it appeareth they did till afterwards the Form of Common Prayer being perfected Articles of sound Religion and Discipline agreed upon Catechisms framed for the needful instruction of Youth Churches purged of things that indeed were but thensom to the people or to the simple offensive and scandalous all was brought at the length unto that wherein now we stand Or was it amiss that having this way eased the Church as they thought of superfluity they went not on till they had plucked up even those things also which had taken a great deal stronger and deeper root those things which to abrogate without constraint of manifest harm thereby arising had been to alter unnecessarily in their judgements the ancient received custom of the whole Church the universal practice of the people of God and those very decrees of our Fathers which were not only set down by agreement of General Councils T.C. lib. 3. p. 33. but had accordingly been put in ure and so continued in use till that very time present True it is That neither Councils nor Customs be they never so ancient and so general can let the Church from taking away that thing which is hurtful to be retained Where things have been instituted which being convenient and good at the first do afterward in process of time wax otherwise we make no doubt but they may be altered yea though Councils or Customs General have received them And therefore it is but a needless kind of opposition which they make who thus dispute T.C. lib. 3. p. 33. If in those things which are not expressed in the Scripture that is to be observed of the Church which is the custom of the people of God and decree of our Forefathers then how can these things at any time be varied which heretofore have been once ordained in such sort Whereto we say that things so ordained are to be kept howbeit not necessarily any longer than till there grow some urgent cause to ordain the contrary For there is not any Positive Law of Men whether it be general or particular received by formal express consent as in Councils or by secret approbation as in Customs it cometh to pass but the same may be taken away if occasion serve Even as we all know that many things generally kept heretofore are now in like sort generally unkept and abolished every where Notwithstanding till such things be abolished what exception can there be taken against the judgement of St. Augustine who saith August Epist. 118. That of things harmless whatsoever there is which the whole Church doth observe throughout the World to argue for any man's immunity from observing the same it were a point of most insolent madness And surely odious it must needs have been for one Christian Church to abolish that which all had received and held for the space of many ages and that without any detriment unto Religion so manifest and so great as might in the eyes of unpartial men appear sufficient to clear them from all blame of rash and inconsiderate proceeding if in servor of zeal they had removed such things Whereas chose so reasonable Moderation herein used hath freed us from being deservedly subject unto that bitter kind of obloquy whereby as the Church of Rome doth under the colour of love towards those things which be harmless maintain extremely most hurtful corruptions so we peradventure might be upbraided that under colour of hatred towards those things that are corrupt we are on the other side as extreme even against most harmless Ordinances and as they are obstinate to retain that which no man of any conscience is able well to defend So we might be reckoned fierce and violent to tear away that which if our own mouths did condemn our consciences would storm and repine thereat The Romans having banished Tarqvinius the Proud and taken a Solemn Oath that they never would permit any man more to reign could not herewith content themselves or think that Tyranny was throughly extinguished till they had driven one of their Consuls to depart the City against whom they found not in the world what to object saving only that his name was Tarquin and that the Commonwealth could not seem to have recovered perfect freedom as long as a man of so dangerous a name was left remaining T. C. lib. 3. p. 131. For indeed it were more sase for us to conform our indifferent Ceremonies to the Turks which are far off then to the Papish which are so near For the Church of England to have done the like in casting out Papal Tyranny and Superstition to have showed greater willingness of accepting the very Ceremonies of the Turk Christ's professed enemy then of the most indifferent things which the Church of Rome approveth To have left not so much as the names which the Church of Rome doth give unto things innocent To have ejected whatsoever that Church doth make account of be it never so harmless in itself and of never so ancient continuance without any other crime to charge it with then only that it hath been the hap thereof to be used by the Church of Rome and not to be commanded in the Word of God This kind of proceeding might happily have pleased some few men who having begun such a course themselves must needs be glad to see their example followed by us But the Almighty which giveth wisdom and inspireth with right understanding whomsoever it pleaseth him he foreseeing that which man's wit had never been able to reach unto namely what Tragedies the attempt of so extreme alteration would raise in some parts of the Christian World did for the endless good of his Church as we cannot choose but interpret it use the Bridle of his Provident restraining hand to stay those eager affections in some and to settle their resolution upon a course more calm and moderate lest as in other most ample and heretofore most flourishing Dominions it hath since fallen out so likewise if in ours it had come to pass that the adverse part being enraged and betaking itself to such practices as men are commonly wont to embrace when they behold things brought to desperate extremities and no hope left to see any other end them only the utter oppression and clean extinguishment of one side By this mean Christendom flaming in all parts of greatest importance at once they all had wanted that comfort of mutual relief whereby they are now for the time sustained and not the least by this our Church which they so much impeach till Mutual Combustions Bloodsheds and Wastes because no other enducements will serve may enforce them through very faintness after the experience of so endless miseries to enter on all sides at the length into some such consultation as may tend to the best re-establishment of the whole Church of Jesus Christ To the singular good whereof it cannot but serve as a profitable direction to teach men what is most likely to prove available when they shall quietly consider the trial that hath been thus long had of both kinds of Reformation as well this moderate kind which the Church of England hath taken as that other more extreme and rigorous which certain Churches elsewhere have better liked In the mean while it may be that suspense of judgement and exercise of Charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men than the hot pursuit of these Controversies wherein they that are more fervent to dispute be not always the most able to determine But who are on his side and who against him our Lord in his good time shall reveal And sith thus far we have proceeded in opening the things that have been done let not the principal doers themselves be forgotten When the ruins of the House of God that House which consisting of Religious Souls is most immediately the precious Temple of the Holy Ghost were become not in his sight alone but in the eyes of the whole World so exceeding great that very Superstition began even to feel itself too far grown the first that with us made way to repair the decays thereof by beheading Superstition was King Henry the Eighth the Son and Successor of which famous King as we know was Edward the Saint In whom for so by the event we may gather it pleased God Righteous and Just to let England see what a blessing sin and iniquity would not suffer it to enjoy Howbeit that which the Wiseman hath said concerning Enoch whose days were though many in respect of ours yet scarce as three to nine in comparison of theirs with whom he lived the same to that admirable child most worthily may be applied Though he departed this world soon yet fulfilled be much time But what ensued That work which the one in such sort had begun and the other so far proceeded in was in short space so overthrown as if almost it had never been Till such time as that God whose property is to show his mercies than greatest when they are nearest to be utterly despaired of caused in the depth of discomfort and darkness a most glorious Star to arise and on her head settled the Crown whom himself had kept as a Lamb from the slaughter of those bloody times that the experience of his goodness in her own deliverance might cause her merciful disposition to take so much the more delight in saving others whom the like necessity should press What in this behalf hath been done towards Nations abroad the parts of Christendom most afflicted can best testify That which especially concerneth ourselves in the present matter we treat of is the state of Reformed Religion a thing at her coming to the Crown even raised as it were by miracle from the dead a thing which we so little hoped to see that even they which beheld it done searcely believed their own senses at the first beholding Yet being then brought to pass thus many years it hath continued standing by no other worldly mean but that one only hand which erected it that hand which as no kind of imminent danger could cause at the first to withhold itself so neither have the practices so many so bloody following since been ever able to make weary Nor can we say in this case so justly that Aaron and Her the Ecclesiastical and Civil States have sustained the hand which did lift itself to Heaven for them as that Heaven itself hath by this hand sustained them no aid or help having thereunto been ministered for performance of the Work of Reformation other than such kind of help or aid as the Angel in the Prophet Zechariah speaketh of saying Neither by an army nor strength but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Which Grace and Favor of Divine Assistance having not in one thing or two showed itself nor for some few days or years appeared but in such sort so long continued our manifold sins and transgressions striving to the contrary What can we less thereupon conclude then that God would at leastwise by tract of time teach the World that the thing which he blesseth defendeth keepeth so strangely cannot choose but be of him Wherefore if any refuse to believe us disputing for the Verity of Religion established let then believe God himself thus miraculously working for it and with life even for ever and ever unto that Glorious and Sacred Instrument whereby he worketh OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK V. Concerning their Fourth Assertion That touching several Public Duties of Christian Religion there is amongst us much Superstition retained in them and concerning Persons which for performance of those Duties are endued with the Power of Ecclesiastical Order our Laws and Proceedings according thereunto are many ways herein also corrupted The Matter contained in this Fifth Book 1. TRue Religion is the Root of all true Virtues and the stay of all Well-ordered Commonwealths 2. The must extreme opposite to true Religion is affected Atheism 3. Of Superstition and the Rest thereof either misguided zeal or Ignorant fear of Divine glory 4. Of the Redress of Superstition in God's Church and concerning the Question of this Book 5. Four General Propositions demanding that which may reasonably be granted concerning Matters of outward Form in the Exercise of true Religion And fifthly Of a Rule and safe not reasonable in these Cases 6. The first Proposition touching judgement what things are convenient in the outward public ordering of Church affairs 7. The second Proposition 8. The third Proposition 9 The fourth Proposition 10. The Rule of men's private spirit not safe in these Cases to be followed 11. Plans' for the Public Service of God 12. The Solemnity of Erecting Churches condemned the Hallowing and Dedicating of them scanned by the Adversary 13. Of the names whereby we distinguish our Churches 14. Of the Fashion of our Churches 15. The Sumptuousness of Churches 16. What Holiness and Virtue we ascribe to the Church more than other places 17. Their pretence that would have Churches utterly vazed 18. Of Public Teaching or Preaching and the first kind thereof Catechising 19 Of Preaching by reading publicly the Books of holy Scripture and concerning supposed Untruths in those Translations of Scripture which we allow to be read as also of the choice which we make in reading 20. Of Preaching by the Public Reading of other profitable Instructions and concerning Books Apocryphal 21. Of Preaching by Sermons and whether Sermons be the only ordinary way of Teaching whereby man are brought to the saving knowledge of God's Truth 22. What they attribute to Sermons only and what we to Reading also 23. Of Prayer 24. Of Public Prayer 25. Of the Form of Common Prayer 26. Of them which like not to have any Set Form of Common Prayer 27. Of them who allowing a Set Form of Prayer yet allow not ours 28. The Form of our Liturgy too near the Papists too far different from that of other Reformed Churches as they pretend 29. Attire belonging to the Service of God 30. Of gesture in Praying and of different places chosen to that purpose 31. Easiness of Praying after our Form 32. The length of our Service 33. Instead of such Prayers as the Primitive Churches have used and those that be Reform now use we have they say divers short cuts or shreadding rather Wishes them Prayers 34. Lessons intermingled with our Prayers 35. The number of our Prayers for Earthly things and our oft rehearsing of the Lords Prayer 36. The People saying after the Minister 37. Our manner of Reading the Psalms otherwise then the rest of the Scripture 38. Of Music with Psalms 39 Of Singing or Saying Psalms and other parts of Common Prayer wherein the People and the Minister answer one another by course 40. Of Magnificat Benedictus and Nune Dimittis 41. Of the Litany 42. Of Athanasus Creed and Gloria Patri 43. Our want of particular Thanksgiving 44. In some things the Matter of our Prayer as they affirm is unsound 45. When thou hast overcome the sharpness of Death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven unto all Believers 46. Touching Prayer for Deliverance from Sudden Death 47. Prayer for these things which we for our worthiness dare not ask God for the worthiness of his Sin would vouchsafe to grant 48. Prayer to be evermore delivered from all Adversity 49. Prayer that all Men may find Mercy and if the will of God that all Men might be Saved 50. Of the Name the Author and the force of Sacraments which force consisteth in this That God hath ordained them as means to make us partakers of him in Christ and of life through Christ. 51. That God is in Christ by the Personal Incarnation of the Son who is very God 52. The Misinterpretations which Heresit hath made of the manner how God and Man are united in one Christ. 53. That by the union of the one with the other Nature in Christ there groweth neither gain nor loss of Essential Properties to either 54. What Christ hath obtained according to the Flesh by the union of his Flesh with D●iey 55. Of the Personal presence of Christ every where and in what sense it may be granted he is every where present according to the Flesh. 56. The union or mutual Participation which is between Christ and the Church of Christ in this present World 57 The necessity of Sacrament unto the Participation of Christ. 58. The Substance of Baptism the Rites or Solemnities thereunto belonging and that the Substance thereof being kept other things in Baptism may give place to necessity 59 The Ground in Scripture whereupon a necessity of outward Baptism hath been built 60. What kind of necessity in outward Baptism hath been gathered by the words of our Saviour Christ and what the true necessity thereof indeed is 61. What things in Baptism have been dispensed with by the Father respecting necessity 62. Whether Baptism by Women be true Baptism good and affected to them that receive it 63. Of Interrogatories in Baptism touching Faith and the purpose of a Christian life 64. Interrogatories proposed unto Infants in Baptism and answered a● in their names by Godfathers 65. Of the Cross in Baptism 66. Of Confirmation after Baptism 67. Of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. 68 Of faults noted in the Form of Administering that holy Sacrament 69. Of Festival days and the natural ceases of their convenient Institution 70. The manner of celebrating Festival days 71. Exceptious against our keeping of other Festival days besides the Sabbath 72. Of Days appointed as well for ordinary as for extraordinary Fasts in the Church of God 73. The Celebration of Matrimony 74. The Churching of Woman 75. The Rites of Burial 76. Of the Nature of that Ministry which serveth for performance of Divine Duties in the Church of God and how happiness not eternal only but also Temporal doth depend upon it 77. Of Power given unto Men to execute that Heavenly Office of the Gift of the Holy Ghost is Ordination and whether conveniently the Power of Order may be sought or sued for 78. Of Degrees whereby the Power of Order is distinguished and concerning the Attire of Ministers 79. Of Oblations Foundations Endowments Tithes all intended for Perpetuity of Religion which purpose being chiefly fulfilled by the Clergies certain and sufficient maintenance must needs by Alienation of Church-living be made frustrate 80. Of Ordinatious lawful without Title and without any Popular Election precedent but in no case without regard of due Information what their quality is that enter into holy Orders 81. Of the Learning that should be in Ministers their Residence and the number of their Livings FEw there are of so weak capacity but public evils they easily espy True Religion is the Root of all true Virtues and the stay of all wel-ordered Commonweals fewer so patient as not to complain when the grievous inconveniences thereof work sensible smart Howbeit to see wherein the harm which they feel consisteth the Seeds from which it sprang and the method of curing it belongeth to a skill the study whereof is so full of toil and the practice so beset with difficulties that wary and respective men had rather seek quietly their own and wish that the World may go well so it be not long of them them with pain and hazard make themselves advisers for the common good We which thought it at the very first a sign of cold Affection towards the Church of God to prefer private case before the labour of appeasing public disturbance must now of necessity refer events to the gracious providence of Almighty God and in discharge of our duty towards him proceed with the plain and unpartial defence of a Common Cause Wherein our endeavour is not so much to overthrow them with whom we conted as to yield them just and reasonable causes of those things which for want of due consideration heretofore they misconceived accusing Laws for men's oversights importing evils grown through personal defects unto that which is not evil framing unto some Sores unwholesome Plasters and applying othersome where no sore is To make therefore our beginning that which to both parts is most acceptable We agree That pure and unstained Religion ought to be the highest of all cares appertaining to Public Regiment as well in regard of that a Psal. 144. 1. C. Th. lib. 16. lit 2 Gaudere &c gioriare e● fide semper volumus scient ● magio rel●gionibus quaim officiio is labour corporis ●el sudore sos●ram rempublicam concineri aid and protection which they who faithfully serve God confess they receive at his merciful hands as also for the force which Religion hath to qualify all sorts of Men and to make them in public affairs the more serviceable Governors the apt to rule with Conscience Inferiors for Conscience sake the willinger to obey It is no peculiar conceit but a matter of sound consequence that all duties are by so much the better performed by how much the Men are more Religious from whose Abilities the same proceed For if b Est Arist. Mag● Moral lib. 1. cap. 1. the course of Politic affairs cannot in any good sort go forward without fit Instruments and that which sitteth them be their Virtues Let Polity acknowledge itself indebted to Religion Godliness being the chiefest top and Wellspring of all true virtues even as God is of all good things So natural is the Union of Religion with Justice that we may boldly deem there is neither where both are not For how should they be unseignedly just whom Religion doth not cause to be such or they Religious which are not found such by the proof of their just actions c Philo de Dec. Precept If they which employ their labour and travel about the public administration of Justice follow it only as a trade with unquenchable and unconscionable thirst of gain being not in heart persuaded that d 2 Chro. 1● 6 Justice is Gods own Work and themselves his Agents in this business the Sentence of Right God's own verdict and themselves his Priests to deliver it Formalities of Justice do but serve to smother right and that which was necessarily ordained for the common good is through shameful abuse made the cause of common misery The same Piety which maketh them that are in authority desirous to please and resemble God by Justice inflameth every way Men of action with Zeal to do good as far as their place will permit unto all Arist. Ethic. lib. 1. cap. 2. For that they know is most Noble and Divine Whereby if no natural nor casual inability cross their desires they always delighting to enure themselves with actions most beneficial to others cannot but gather great experience and through experience the more wisdom because Conscience and the fear of swerving from that which is right maketh them diligent observers of circumstances the loose regard whereof is the Nurse of Vulgar Folly no less than Solomon's attention thereunto was of natural furtherances the most effectual to make him eminent above others Eccles. 12. 10. For he gave good heed and pierced every thing to the very ground and by that means became the Author of many Parables Concerning Fortitude sith evils great and unexpected the true touchstone of constant minds do cause oftentimes even them to think upon Divine power with fearfullest suspicions Wisd. 17.13 which have been otherwise the most secure despisers thereof how should we look for any constant resolution of mind in such cases saving only where unfeigned affection to God-ward hath bred the most assured confidence to be assisted by his hand For proof whereof let but the Acts of the ancient Jews be indifferently weighed from whose magnanimity in causes of most extreme hazard those strange and unwonted resolutions have grown which for all circumstances no people under the Roof of Heaven did ever hitherto match And that which did always animate them was their mere Religion Without which if so be it were possible that all other Ornaments of Mind might be had in their full perfection nevertheless the mind that should possess them divorced from Piety could be but a spectacle of commiseration even as that Body is which adorned with sundry other admirable Beauties wanteth Eyesight the chiefest Grace that Nature hath in that kind to bestow They which commend so much the felicity of that innocent World wherein it is said That men of their own accord did embrace fidelity and honesty not for fear of the Magistrate or because revenge was before their eyes ● if at any time they should do otherwise but that which held the people in awe was the shame of ill-doing the love of equity and right itself a bar against all oppressions which greatness of power causeth They which describe unto us any such estate of happiness amongst men though they speak not of Religion do notwithstanding declare that which is in truth her only working For if Religion did possess sincerely and sufficiently the hearts of all men there would need no other restraint from evil This doth not only give life and perfection to all endeavours wherewith it concurreth but what event soever ensues it breedeth if not joy and gladness always yet always patience satisfaction and reasonable contentment of mind Whereupon it hath been set down as an Axiom of good experience that all things religiously taken in hand Psal. 1. 3. are prosperously ended because whether men in the end have that which Religion did allow them to desire or that which it teacheth them contentedly to suffer they are in neither event unfortunate Arist. Ethic. lib. 1. cap. 10. But lest any man should here conceive that it greatly skilleth not of what sort our Religion be in as much as Heathens Turks and Infidels impute to Religion a great part of the same effects which ourselves ascribe hereunto they having ours in the same detestation that we theirs It shall be requisite to observe well how far forth there may be agreement in the effects of different Religions First By the bitter strife which riseth oftentimes from small differences in this behalf and is by so much always greater as the matters is of more importance we see a general agreement in the secret opinion of men that every man ought to embrace the Religion which is true and to shun as hurtful whatsoever dissenteth from it but that most which doth farthest dissent The generality of which persuasion argueth That God hath imprinted it by nature to the end it might be a spur to our industry in searching and maintaining that Religion from which as to swerve in the least points is error so the capital enemies thereof God hateth as his deadly foes aliens and without repentance children of endless perdition Such therefore touching man's immortal state after this life are not likely to reap benefit by their Religion but to look for the clean contrary in regard of so important contrariety between it and the true Religion Nevertheless in as much as the errors of the most seduced this way have been mixed with some truths we are not to marvel that although the one did turn to their endless woe and confusion yet the other had many notable effects as touching the affairs of this present life There were in these quarters of the World Sixteen hundred years ago Cas. de Bell. G●● lib. 6. certain speculative Men whose Authority disposed the whole Religion of those times By their means it became a received opinion that the Souls of Men departing this life do slit out of one Body into some other Which opinion though false yet entwined with a true that the Souls of Men do never perish abated the fear of death in them which were so resolved and gave them courage unto all adventures The Romans had a vain superstitious custom in most of their enterprises to conjecture before hand of the event by certain tokens which they noted in Birds or in the Entrails of Beasts or by other the like frivolous Divinations From whence notwithstanding as oft as they could receive any sign which they took to be  it gave them such hope as if their gods had made them more than half a promise of prosperous success Which many times was the greatest cause that they did prevail especially being men of their own natural inclination hopeful and strongly conceited whatsoever they took in hand But could their fond Superstition have furthered so great attempts without the mixture of a true persuasion concerning the unresistable force of Divine Power Upon the wilful violation of Oaths execrable Blasphemies and like contempts offered by Deriders of Religion even unto false gods fearful tokens of Divine Revenge have been know to follow Which occurrents the devouter sort did take for manifest Arguments that the gods whom they worshipped were of power to reward such as sought unto them and would plague those that feared them not In this they erred For as the Wise man rightly noteth cunning such it was not the power of them by whom they swore 2. Wisd. 14.13 but the vengeance of them that sinned which punished the offences of the ungodly It was their hurt untruly to attribute so great power unto false gods Yet the right conceit which they had that to perjury vengeance is due was not without good effect as touching the course of their lives who feared the wilful violation of Oaths in that respect And whereas we read so many of them so much commended some for their mild and merciful disposition some for their virtuous severity some for integrity of life all these were the fruits of true and infallible principles delivered unto us in the World of God as the Axioms of our Religion which being imprinted by the God of Nature in their hearts also and taking better root in some them in most others grew though not from yet with and amidst the heaps of manifold repugnant Errors which Errors of corrupt Religion had also their suitable effects in the lives of the selfsame parties Without all controversy the purer and perfecter our Religion is the worthier effects it hath in them who steadfastly and sincerely embraceit in others not They that love the Religion which they prosess may have failed in choice but yet they are sure to reap what benefit the same is able to afford whereas the best and foundest professed by them that bear it not the like affection yieldeth them retaining it in that sort no benefit David was a Man after Gods own heart so termed because his affection was hearty towards God Beholding the like disposition in them which lived under him it was his Prayer to Almighty God 1 Chro. 19 17. O keep this for ever in the purpose and thoughts of the heart of this people But when after that David had ended his days in peace they who succeeded him in place for the most part followed him not in quality when their Kings some few excepted to better their worldly estate as they thought left their own and their people's ghostly condition uncared for by woeful experience they both did learn That to forsake the true God of Heaven is to fall into all such evils upon the face of the earth as men either destitute of Grace Divine may commit or unprotected from above endure Seeing therefore it doth thus appear that the safety of all Estates dependeth upon Religion that Religion unfeignedly loved perfecteth men's abilities unto all kinds of virtuous Services in the Commonwealth that men's desire in general is to hold no Religion but the true and that whatsoever good effects do grow out of their Religion who embrace instead of the true a false the Roots thereof are certain sparks of the Light of Truth intermingled with the darkness of Error because no Religion can wholly and only consist of untruths we have Reason to think That all true Virtues are to honour true Religion as their Parent and all well ordered Commonweals to love her as their chiefest stay The most extreme opposite to true Religion is affected Atheism 2. They of whom God is altogether unapprehended are but few in number and for grossness of wit such that they hardly and scarcely seem to hold the place of Humane Being These we should judge to be of all others most miserable but that a wretcheder sort there are on whom whereas nature hath bestowed riper capacity their evil disposition seriously goeth about therewith to apprehend God as being not God Whereby it cometh to pass that of these two sorts of men both godless the one having utterly no knowledge of God the other study how to persuade themselves that there is no such thing to be known Wisd. 3.21 Such things they imagine and go astray because their own wickedness hath blinded them Arist. Ethic. lib. 6. cap. 3. The Fountain and Wellspring of which Impiety is a resolved purpose of mind to reap in this World what sensual profit or pleasure soever the World yieldeth and not to be barred from any whatsoever means available thereunto And that is the very radical cause of their Atheism no man I think will doubt which considereth what pains they take to destroy those principal Spurs and Motives unto all Virtue the Creation of the World the Providence of God the Resurrection of the Dead the Joys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the endless pains of the wicked yea above all things the Authority of the Scripture because on these Points it evermore beateth and the Souls immortality which granted draweth easily after it the rest as a voluntary train Is it not wonderful that base desires should so extinguish in men the sense of their own excellency as to make them willing that their souls should be like to the souls of beasts mortal and corruptible with their bodies till some admirable or unusual accident happen as it hath in some to work the beginning of a better alteration in their minds disputation about the knowledge of God with such kind of persons commonly prevaileth little Sus●n vers 9 They turned away their mind and cast down their eyes that they might not see Heaven nor remember just judgements For how should the brightness of Wisdom shine where the windows of the soul are of very se● purpose closed True Religion hath many things in it the only mention whereof galleth and troubleth their minds Being therefore loath that enquiry into such matters should breed a persuasion in the end contrary unto that they embrace it is their endeavour to banish as much as in them lieth quite and clean from their cogitation whatsoever may sound that way But it cometh many times to pass which is their torment that the thing they eat doth follow them truth as it were even obtruding itself into their knowledge and not permitting them to be so ignorant as they would be Whereupon inasmuch as the nature of man is unwilling to continue doing that wherein it shall always condemn itself they continuing still obstinate to follow the course which they have begun are driven to devise all the shifts that wit can invent for the smothering of this light all that may but with any the least show of possibility stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false but cannot think it so Hat est summa delicti nolle agnoscere quim ignorare non possi● Cy●● de Idol Vanit without some scruple and fear of the contrary Now because that judicious learning for which we commend most worthily the ancient Sages of the World doth not in this case serve the turn these trenchermates for such the most of them be frame to themselves a way more pleasant a new method they have of turning things that are serious into mockery an Art of Contradiction by way of scorn a learning wherewith we were long sithence forewarned 2 Pet. 3.8 Judas vers 38. that the miserable times whereinto we are fallen should abound This they study this they practise this they grace with a wanton superfluity of wit too much insulting over the patience of more virtuously disposed minds For towards these so forlom creatures we are it must be confessed too patient In zeal to the glory of God Babylon hath exceeded Zion ●●● 3. 29. We want that decree of Nebuchodonosor the fury of this wicked brood hath the reins too much at liberty their tongues walk at large the spit-venom of their poisoned hearts breaketh out to the annoyance of others what their untamed lust suggesteth the same their licentious mouths do every where set abroach With our contentions their irreligious humour also is much strengthened Nothing pleaseth them better than these manifold oppositions about the Matter of Religion as well for that they have hereby the more opportunity to learn on one side how another may be oppugned and so to weaken the credit of all unto themselves as also because by this not pursuit of lower controversies amongst men professing Religion and agreeing in the principal foundations thereof they conceive hope that about the higher principles themselves time will cause alteration to grow For which purpose when they see occasion they stick not sometime in other men's persons yea sometime without any vizard at all directly to try what the most religious are able to say in defence of the highest points whereupon all Religion dependeth Now for the most part it so falleth out touching things which generally are received that although in themselves they be most certain yet because men presume them granted of all we are hardliest able to bring such proof of their certainty as may satisfy gainsayers when suddenly and besides expectation they require the same at our hands Which impreparation and unreadiness when they find in us they turn it to the soothing up of themselves in that cursed fancy whereby they would fain believe that the hearty devotion of such as indeed fear God is nothing else but a kind of harmless error bred and confirmed in them by the sleights of wiser men For a politic use of Religion they see there is and by it they would also gather that Religion itself is a mere politic device forged purposely to serve for that use Men fearing God are thereby a great deal more effectually then by Positive Laws restrained from doing evil in as much as those Laws have no farther power than over our outward actions only whereas unto men's inward cogitations unto the privy intents and motions of their hearts Vos ●relera ●●m sli puustis nos &c cogitare p●ecor● est ● vos conscios rimetis nos etiam co●●cientiam sol●m sine qua esse non possumus Minu. Fel. in Or●av Religion serveth for a bridle What more savage wild and cruel than Man if he see himself able either by fraud to over-teach or by power to over-bear the Laws whereunto he should he subject Wherefore in so great boldness to offend it behoveth that the World should be held in awe not by a vain surmise but a true apprehension of somewhat which no man may think himself able to withstand This is the politic use of Religion In which respect there are of these wise malignants some who have vouchsafed it their marvellous  countenance and speech very gravely affirming That Religion honoured addeth greatness and contemned bringeth ruin unto Commonweals Summum presidium regni est justi●io ob apertos tumaltus & religio o● occultos Carda de Sapien. lib. 3. That Princes and States which will continue are above all things to uphold the reverend regard of Religion and to provide for the same by all means in the making of their Laws But when they should define what means are best for that purpose behold they extol the wisdom of Paganisin they give it out as a mystical precept of great importance that Princes and such as are under them in most authority or credit with the people should take all occasions of rare events and from what cause soever the same do proceed yet wrest them to the strengthening of their Religion and not make it nice for so good a purpose to use if need be plain forgeries Thus while they study to bring to pass that Religion may seem but a matter made they lose themselves in the very maze of their own discourses as if Reason did even purposely forsake them who of purpose forsake God the Author thereof For surely a strange kind of madness it is that those men who though they be void of Piety yet because they have wit cannot choose but know that treachery guile an deceit are things which may for a while but do not use long to go unespied should teach that the greatest honour to a State is perpetuity and grant that alterations in the Service of God for that they impair the credit of Religion are therefore perilous in Commonweals which have no continuance longer than Religion hath all reverence done unto it and withal acknowledge for so they do that when people began to espy the falsehood of Oracles whereupon all Gentilism was built their hearts were utterly averted from it and notwithstanding Counsel Princes in sober earnest for the strengthening of their States to maintain Religion and for the maintenance of Religion not to make choice of that which is true but to authorize that they make choice of by those false and fraudulent means which in the end must needs overthrow it Such are the counsels of men godless when they would show themselves politic devisers able to create God in Man by art 3. Wherefore to let go this execrable crew Of Superstition and the Roo● thereof either misguided Zeal or ignorant Feat of Divine glory and to come to extremities on the contrary hand two affections there are the forces whereof as they bear the greater or lesser sway in man's heart frame accordingly to the stamp and character of his Religion the one Zeal the other Fear Zeal unless it be rightly guided when it endeavoreth most busily to please God forceth upon him those unseasonable offices which please him not For which cause if they who this way swerve be compared with such sincere found and discreet as Abraham was in Matter of Religion the service of the one is like unto slattery the other like the faithful sedulity of friendship Zeal 2 Chron. 20. 7. Abraham thy friend except it be ordered aright when it bendeth itself unto conflict with all things either in deed or but imagined to be opposite unto Religion useth the Razor many times with such eagerness that the very life of Religion itself is thereby hazarded through hatred of Tares the Corn in the Field of God is plucked up So that Zeal needeth both ways a sober guide Fear on the other side if it have not the light of true understanding concerning God wherewith to be moderated breedeth likewise Superstition It is therefore dangerous that in things Divine we should work too much upon the spur either of zeal or fear Fear is a good Solicitor to Devotion Howbeit sith fear in this kind doth grow from an apprehension of Deity endued with  power to hurt and is of all affections anger excepted the unaptest to admit any conference with Reason for which cause the Wise man doth say of Fear that it is a betrayer of Wisd. 19 11. the forces of reasonable understanding therefore except men know beforehand what manner of service pleaseth God while they are fearful they try all things which fancy offereth Many there are who never think on God but when they are in extremity of fear and then because what to think or what to do they are uncertain perplexity not suffering them to be idle they think and do as it were in a frenzy they know not what Superstition neither knoweth the right kind nor observeth the due measure of actions belonging to the Service of God but is always joined with a wrong opinion touching things Divine Superstition is when things are either abhorred or observed with a zealous or fearful but erroneous relation to God By means whereof the superstitious do sometimes serve though the true God yet with needless offices and defraud him of duties necessary sometime load others then him with such honours as properly are his The one their over sight who miss in the choice of that wherewith they are affected the other theirs who fail in the election of him towards whom they show their devotion This the crime of Idolatry that the fault of voluntary either niceness or superfluity in Religion The Christian World itself being divided into two grand parts it appeareth by the general view of both that with Master of Heresy the West hath been often and much troubled but the East part never quiet till the deluge of misery wherein now they are overwhelmed them The chiefest cause whereof doth seem to have lain in the restless wits of the Grecians evermore proud of their own curious and subtle inventions which when at any time they had contrived the great facility of their Language served them readily to make all things fair and plausible to men's understanding Those grand Heretical Impieties therefore which most highly and immediately touched God and the glorious Trinity were all in a manner the Monsters of the East The West bred fewer a great deal and those commonly of a lower nature such as more nearly and directly concerned rather men than God the Latins being always to capital Heresies less inclined yet unto gross Superstition more Superstition Mark 7.5 such as that of the Pharisees was by whom Divine things indeed were less because other things were more divinely esteemed of than Reason would the Superstition that riseth voluntarily and by degrees which are hardly discerned mingling itself with the Rites even of very Divine Service done to the only true God must be considered of as a creeping and encroaching evil an evil the first beginnings whereof are commonly harmless so that it proveth only then to be an evil when some farther accident doth grow unto it or itself come unto farther growth For in the Church of God sometimes it cometh to pass as in over-battle grounds the Fertile disposition whereof is good yet because it exceedeth due proportion it bringeth forth abundantly through too much rankness things less profitable whereby that which principally it should yield being either prevented in place or defrauded of nourishment faileth This if so large a discourse were necessary might be exemplified even by heaps of Rites and Customs now superstitious in the greatest part of the Christian World which in their first original beginnings when the strength of virtuous devout or charitable affection bloomed them no man could justly have condemned as evil Of the Redress of Superstition in God's Church and concerning the question of this Book 4. But howsoever Superstition doth grow that wherein unsounder times have done amiss the better ages ensuing must rectify as they may I now come therefore to those accusations brought against us by Pretenders of Reformation the first in the rank whereof is such That if so be the Church of England did at this day therewith as justly deserve to be touched as they in this cause have imagined it doth rather would I exhort all sorts to seek pardon even with tears at the hands of God then meditate words of defence for our doings to the end that men might think favourably of them For as the case of this World especially now doth stand what other stay or succour have we to lean unto saving the testimony of our Conscience and the comfort we take in this that we serve the living God as near as our Wits can reach unto the knowledge thereof even according to his own will and do therefore trust that his mercy shall be our safeguard against those enraged Powers abroad which principally in that respect are become our Enemies But sith no man can do ill with a good Conscience the consolation which we herein seem to find is but a mere deceitful pleasing of ourselves in error which at the length must needs turn to our greater grief if that which we do to please God most be for the manifold defects thereof offensive unto him For so it is judged our Prayers our Sacraments our Fasts our Times and Places of Public meeting together for the worship and service of God our Marriages our Burials our Functions Elections and Ordinations Ecclesiastical almost whatsoever we do in the exercise of our Religion according to Laws for that purpose established all things are some way or other thought faulty all things stained with Superstition Now although it may be the wiser sort of men are not greatly moved hereat considering how subject the very best things have been always unto cavil when Wits possessed either with disdain or dislike thereof have set them up as their mark to shoot at safe notwithstanding it were not therefore to neglect the danger which from hence may grow and that especially in regard of them who desiring to serve God as they ought but being not so skilful as in every point to unwind themselves where the shares of glozing speech do lie to entangle them are in mind not a little troubled when they hear so bitter invectives against that which this Church hath taught them to reverence as holy to approve as lawful and to observe as behoveful for the exercise of Christian duty It seemeth therefore at least for their sakes very meet that such as blame us in this behalf be directly answered and they which follow us informed plainly in the Reasons of that we do On both sides the end intended between us is to have Laws and Ordinances such as may rightly serve to abolish Superstition and to establish the service of God with all things thereunto appertaining in some perfect form There is an inward a Rom. 12. 1 reasonable and there is a b Luke 1. 23. solemn outward serviceable Worship belonging unto God Of the former kind are all manner of virtuous Duties that each man in reason and conscience to God-ward oweth Solemn and serviceable Worship we name for Distinction sake whatsoever belongeth to the Church or Public Society of God by way of External adoration It is the later of these two whereupon our present question groweth Again this later being ordered partly and as touching Principal matters by none but Precepts Divine only partly and as concerning things of Inferior regard by Ordinances as well Human as Divine about the substance of Religion wherein Gods only Law must be kept there is here no controversy the Crime now intended against us is that our Laws have not ordered those inferior things as behoveth and that our Customs are either Superstitious or otherwise amiss whether we respect the exercise of Public duties in Religion or the Functions of Persons authorised thereunto 5. It is with Teachers of Mathematical Sciences usual Four general Propositions demanding what which may reasonably be granted concerning matters of Outward form in the exercise of true Religion And five of a Rule not use nor reasonable in those cases for us in this present question necessary to lay down first certain reasonable demands which in most Particulars following are to serve as Principles whereby to work and therefore must be beforehand considered The men whom we labour to inform in the truth perceive that so to proceed is requisite For to this end they also propose touching Customs and Rites indifferent their general Axioms some of them subject unto just Exceptions and as we think more meet by them to be farther considered than assented unto by us As that In outward things belonging to the Service of God Reformed Churches ought by all means to shun conformity with the Church of Rome that The first Reformed should be a Pattern whereunto all that come after might to conform themselves that Sound Religion may not use the things which being not commanded of God have been either devised or abused unto Superstition These and the rest of the same consort we have in the Book going before examined Other Canons they allege and Rules not unworthy of approbation as That in all such things the glory of God and the edification or ghostly good of his People must be sought that nothing should be undecently or murderly done But forasmuch as all the difficulty is in discerning what things do glorify God and edify his Church what not when we should think them decent and fit when otherwise because these Rules being too general come not near enough unto the matter which we have in hand and the former Principles being nearer the purpose are too far from Truth we must propose unto all men certain Petitions incident and very material in Causes of this nature such as no man of moderate judgement hath cause to think unjust or unreasonable The First Proposition touching Judgement what things are convenient in the outward public ordering of Church Affairs 6. The first thing therefore which is of force to cause Approbation with good conscience towards such Customs or Rites as publicly are established is when there ariseth from the due consideration of those Customs and Rites in themselves apparent reason although not always to prove them better than any other that might possibly be devised for who did ever require this in man's Ordinances yet competent to show their conveniency and fitness in regard of the use for which they should serve Now touching the nature of religious Services and the manner of their due performance thus much generally we know to be most clear that whereas the greatness and dignity of all manner of Actions is measured by the worthiness of the Subject from which they proceed and of the Object whereabout they are conversant we must of necessity in both respects acknowledge that this present World affordeth not any thing comparable unto the public Duties of Religion For if the best things have the perfectest and best operations it will follow that seeing Man is the worthiest Creature upon earth and every Society of Men more worthy than any Man and of Societies that most excellent which we call the Church there can be in this World no work performed equal to the exercise of true Religion the proper operation of the Church of God Again forasmuch as Religion worketh upon him who in Majesty and Power is infinite as we ought we account not of it unless we esteem it even according to that very height of Excellency which our hearts conceive john 4. 24. Wisd. 6. 10. 1 Chron. 29. 19 when Divine sublimity itself is rightly considered In the powers and faculties of our Souls God requireth the uttermost which our unfeigned affection towards him is able to yield So that if we affect him not far above and before all things our Religion hath not that inward perfection which it should have neither do we indeed worship him as our God That which inwardly each man should be the Church outwardly aught to testify And therefore the Duties of our Religion which are seen must be such as that affection which is unseen aught to be Signs must resemble the Things they signify If Religion bear the greatest sway in our Hearts our outward religious Duties must show it as far as the Church hath outward Ability Duties of Religion performed by whole Societies of men aught to have in them 1 Chron. ● 5. according to our power a sensible Excellency correspondent to the Majesty of Him whom we worship Yea then are the public Duties of Religion best ordered when the Militant Church doth resemble by sensible means as it may in Delectatio Domini in Ecclesia est Ecclesia ver● est imago Coelestium Ambros de interpel Dan. Faci● in terris opera coelorum Sidon Apol. Epist. lib. 6. such cases that hidden Dignity and Glory wherewith the Church Triumphant in Heaven is beautified Howbeit even as the very heat of the Sun itself which is the life of the whole World was to the people of God in the Desert a grievous annoyance for ease whereof his extraordinary Providence ordained a Cloudy Pillar to  them So things of general use and benefit for in this world What is so perfect that no Inconvenience doth ever follow it● may by some accident be incommodious to a few In which case for such private Evils remedies thereare of like condition though public Ordinances wherein the Common good is respected be not stirred Let our first Demand be therefore That in the External Form of Religion such things as are apparently or can be sufficiently proved effectual and generally fit to setforward Godliness either as betokening the greatness of God or as beseeming the Dignity of Religion or as concurring with Celestial Impressions in the minds of men may be reverently thought of some few rare casual and tolerable or otherwise curable Inconveniences notwithstanding The Second Proposition 7. Neither may we in this Case lightly esteem what hath been allowed as fit in the judgement of Antiquity and by the long continued practice of the whole Church from which unnecessarily to swerve Experience never as yet hath found it safe For Wisdom's sake we reverence them no less that are young or not much less then if they were stricken in years And therefore of such it is rightly said That the ripeness of Understanding is grey Hair and their Virtue's old Age. But because Wisdom Wisdom 4. 9 and Youth are seldom joined in one and the ordinary course of the World is more according to Iob's Observation who giveth men advice to seek Wisdom Job 10 12. amongst the Ancient and in the length of Day's Understanding therefore if the Comparison do stand between Man and Man which shall hearken unto other sith the Aged for the most part are best experienced least subject to rash and unadvised Passions it hath been ever judged reasonable That their Sentence in matter of Counsel should be better trusted and more relied upon than other men's The goodness of God having furnished men with two chief Instruments both necessary for this life Hands to execute and a Mind to devise great things the one is not profitable longer than the vigour of Youth doth strengthen it nor the other greatly till Age and Experience have brought it to Perfection In whom therefore Time hath not perfected Knowledge such must be contented to follow them in whom it hath For this Cause none is more attentively heard than they whose Speeches are as david's were I have been Young and now am Old much I have seen and observed in the World Sharp and subtle discourses of Wit procure many times very great applause but being laid in the Balance with that which the habit of sound Experience plainly delivereth they are over-weighed God may endue Men extraordinarily with Understanding as it pleaseth him But let no Man presuming thereupon neglect the Instructions or despite the Ordinances of his Elders sith he whose gift Wisdom is hath said Ask thy Father and he will show thee thine Ancients Deut ●2 7 and they shall tell thee It is therefore the Voice both of God and Nature not of Learning only that especially in matters of Action and Policy Arist. Eth. 6. cep 1● The sentences and judgements of Men experienced aged and wise yea though they speak without any proof or demonstration are no less to be harkened unto than as being Demonstrations in themselves because such men's long Observation is as an Eye wherewith they presently and plainly behold those Principles which sway over all Actions Whereby we are taught both the Cause wherefore Wisemen's Judgements should be credited and the Mean how to use their Judgements to the increase of our own Wisdom That which showeth them to be Wise is the gathering of Principles out of their own particular Experiments And the framing of our particular Experiments according to the Rule of their Principles shall make us such as they are If therefore even at the first so great account should be made of Wise men's Counsels touching things that are Publicly done as time shall add thereunto continuance and approbation of succeeding Ages their Credit and Authority must needs be greater They which do nothing but that which men of Account did before them are although they do amiss a Greger N●z Bas● the Spirit Sanct. cap. 7. yet the less faulty because they are not the Authors of harm And doing well their Actions are freed from prejudice and novelty To the best and wisest while they live the World is continually a froward Opposite a curious Observer of their Defects and Imperfections their Virtues it afterwards as much admireth And ●or this cause many times that which most deserveth approbation would hardly be able to find favour if they which propose it were not content to profess themselves therein Scholars and Followers of the Ancients For the World will not endure to hear that we are wiser than any have been which went before In which consideration there is cause why we should be slow and unwilling to change without very urgent necessity the ancient Ordinances Rites and long approved Customs of our venerable Predecessors The love of things Ancient doth argue b Bas● the Spirit Sanct. cap 7. stayedness but levity and want of Experience maketh apt auto Innovations That which Wisdom did first begin and hath been with Good men long continued challengeth allowance of them that succeed although it plead for itself nothing That which is new if it promise not much doth fear Condemnation before Trial till Trial no man doth acquit or trust it what good soever it pretend and promise So that in this kind there are few things known to be Good till such time as they grow to be Ancient The vain pretence of those glorious Names where they could not be with any truth neither in reason ought to have been so much alleged hath wrought such a prejudice against them in the minds of the Common sort as if they had utterly no force at all whereas especially for these Observances which concern our present Question Antiquity Custom and Consent in the Church of God making with the which Law doth establish Arist. Ethie 2. c 9 Modici nulla sear ratio haberi soler Tiraquel de jud in reb exig cap. 10. are themselves most sufficient reasons to uphold the same unless some notable public inconvenience enforce the contrary For a small thing in the eye of Law is as nothing We are therefore bold to make our second Petition this That in things the fitness whereof is not of itself apparent nor easy to be made snfficiently manifest unto all yet the Judgement of Antiquity concurring with that which is received may induce them to think it not unfit who are not able to allege any known weighty Inconvenience which it hath or to take any strong Exception against it The Third Proposition 8. All things cannot be of ancient continuance which are expedient and needful for the ordering of Spiritual Affairs but the Church being a Body which dieth not hath always power as occasion requireth no less to ordain that which never was than to ratify what hath been before To prescribe the Order of doing in all Things Philo. pag. 31. Is a peculiar Prerogative which Wisdom hath as a Queen or sovereign Commandress over other Virtues This in every several Man's Actions of Common Life appertaineth unto Moral in Public and Politic secular Affairs unto Civil Wisdom In like manner to devise any certain Form for the outward Administration of Public Duties in the Service of God or Things belonging thereunto and to find out the most convenient for that use is a point of Wisdom Ecclesiastical It is not for a Man which doth know or should know what Order is and what Peaceable Government requireth T. C. lib. 3. pag. 191. to ask Why we should hang our judgement upon the Church's Sleeve and why in Matters of Order more than in Matters of Doctrine The Church hath Authority to Establish That for an Order at one time which at another time it may Abolish and in both do well But That which in Doctrine the Church doth now deliver rightly as a Truth no Man will say that it may hereafter recall and as rightly avouch the contrary Laws touching Matter of Order are changeable by the Power of the Church Articles concerning Doctrine not so We read often in the Writings of Catholic and Holy men rouching Matters of Doctrine This we believe This we bold This the Prophets and Evangelists have declared This the Apostles have delivered This Martyrs have sealed with their Blood and confessed in the midst of Torments to This We cleave as to the Anchor of Our Souls against This though an Angel from Heaven should Preach unto us We would not believe But did we ever in any of Them read touching Matters of mere Comcliness Order and Decency neither Commanded nor Prohibited by any Prophet any Evangelist any Apostle Although the Church wherein we live do ordain them to be kept although they be never so generally observed though all the Churches in the World should Command them though Angels from Heaven should require our Subjection thereunto I would hold him accursed that doth obey Be it in Matter of the one kind or of the other what Scripture doth plainly deliver to that the First place both of Credit and Obedience is due The Next whereunto is whatsoever any Man can necessarily conclude by Force of Reason After These the Voice of the Church succeedeth That which the Church by her Ecclesiastical Authority shall probably think and define to be True or Good must in congruity of Reason overrule all other Inferior Judgements whatsoever To them which ask Why we thus hang our Judgement on the Church's Sleeve I answer with Solomon Because a Eccles. 4. 9 Two are better than One. Yea Simply saith b Basil. Ep. 68 ● 8. c. Quae Contra. Turpis est omnis pa●s u●iverio suo non congraca● Basil and Universally whether it be in Works of Nature or of Voluntary Choice and Counsel I see not any thing done as it should be is it be wrought by an Agent singling itself from Consorts The Jews have a Sentence of good advice c R. Ishmael in Cap. Pa● Take not upon Thee to be a judge alone there is no sole judge but One only Say not to Others Receive my Sentence when their Authority is above thine The bare consent of the whole Church should itself in These things stop their Mouths who living under it dare presume to bark against it There is saith d Cassian de Incarn l. 2. c. ● Cassianus no Place of Audience left for them by whom Obedience is not yielded to that which all have agreed upon Might we not think it more than wonderful that Nature should in all Communities appoint a Predominant Judgement to sway and overrule in so many things or that God himself should allow so much Authority and Power unto every Poor Family for the ordering of All which are in it and the City of the Living God which is his Church be able neither to Command nor yet to Forbid any thing which the Meanest shall in that respect and for her sole Authorities sake be bound to obey We cannot hide or dissemble that Evil the grievous inconvenience whereof we feel Our dislike of them by whom too much heretofore hath been attributed unto the Church is grown to an Error on the contrary hand so that now from the Church of God too much is derogated By which removal of one Extremity with another the World seeking to procure a Remedy hath purchased a mere Exchange of the Evil which before was felt Suppose we that the Sacred Word of God can at their hands receive due honour by whose Incitement the Holy Ordinances of the Church endure every where open contempt No it is not possible they should observe as they ought the One who from the Other withdraw unnecessarily their Own or their brethren's Obedience Surely the Church of God in this Business is neither of Capacity I trust so weak no● so unstrengthened I know with Authority from Above but that her Laws may exact Obedience at the hands of her own Children and enjoin Gainsayers silence giving them roundly to understand That where our Duty is Submission weak Oppositions betoken Pride We therefore crave Thirdly to have it granted That where neither the Evidence of any Law Divine nor the Strength of any Invincible Argument otherwise found out by the Light of Reason not any Notable Public Inconvenience doth make against that which our own Laws Ecclesiastical have although but Newly instituted for the Ordering of these Affairs the very Authority of the Church itself at the least in such Cases may give so much Credit to her own Laws as to make their Sentence touching Fitness and Conveniency weightier than any bare or naked Conceit to the contrary especially in them who can owe no less than Childlike obedience to her that hath more than Motherly Power The Fourth Proposition 9 There are Ancient Ordinances Laws which on all sides are allowed to be Just and Good yea Divine and Apostolic Constitutions which the Church it may be doth not always keep nor always justly deserve blame in that respect For in Evils that cannot be removed● without the manifest danger of Greater to succeed in their rooms Wisdom of necessity must give place to Necessity All it can do in those Cases is to devise how that which must be endured may be mitigated and the Inconveniences thereof countervailed as near as may be that when the Best things are not possible the best may be made of Those that are Nature than which there is nothing more constant Numb 31. ●● nothing more uniform in all her ways doth notwithstanding stay her Hand yea and change her Course when That which God by Creation did command he doth at any time by Necessity countermand It hath therefore pleased himself sometime to unloose the very Tongues even of Dumb Creatures and to teach them to plead This in their Own Defence lest the Cruelty of Man should persist to afflict them for not keeping their wont Course when some invincible Impediment hath hindered If we leave Nature and look into Art the Workman hath in his Heart a Purpose he carrieth in mind the whole Form which his Work should have there wanteth not him Skill and Desire to bring his Labour to the best effect only the Matter which he hath to work on is unframable This Necessity excuseth him so that nothing is derogated from his Credit although much of his Work 's perfection be found wanting Touching Actions of Common Life there is not any Defence more favourably heard than theirs who allege sincerely for themselves That they did as Necessity constrained them For when the Mind is rightly ordered and affected as it should be in case some external Impediment crossing well-advised Desires shall potently draw Men to leave what they principally wish and to take a Course which they would not Necessitas quicqaul coegit defen●it ●ence Con●ro● lib. 2. if their Choice were free what Necessity forceth Men unto the same in This Case it maintaineth as long as nothing is committed simply in itself evil nothing absolutely sinful or wicked nothing repugnant to that Immetable Law whereby whatsoever is condemned as Evil can never any way be made Good The casting away of Things profitable for the sustenance of Man's Life is an unthankful Abuse of the Fruits of God's good Providence towards Mankind Acts 27. 30. Which Consideration for all that did not hinder Saint Paul from throwing Corn into the Sea when care of saving men's Lives made it necessary to lose that which else had been better saved Neither was this to do Evil to the end that Good might come of it For of Two such Evils being not both evitable the choice of the Less is not Evil. And Evils must be in our constructions judged inevitable if there be no apparent ordinary way to avoid them Because where Counsel and Advice bear rule of God's extraordinary Power without extraordinary Warrant we cannot presume In Civil Affairs to declare what sway Necessity hath ever been accustomed to bear were labour infinite The Laws of all States and Kingdoms in the World have scarcely of any thing more common use Should then only the Church show itself inhuman and stern absolutely urging a rigorous observation of Spiritual Ordinances without relaxation or exception what Necessity soever happen We know the contrary Practice to have been commended by him Luke 6. 4. upon the warrant of whose Judgement the Church most of all delighted with merciful and moderate courses doth the ostner condescend unto like equity permitting in cases of Necessity that which otherwise it disalloweth and forbiddeth Cases of Necessity being sometime but urgent sometime extreme the consideration of Public Utility is with very good advice judged at the least equivalent with the easier kind of Necessity Cause necessitatis & 〈…〉 aequipa ●●n●ur injure Ab Paner ad ●●w super nu 15 de● ebb Eccles. non a●●cu Now that which causeth numbers to storm against some necessary tolerations which they should rather let pass with silence considering that in Polity as well Ecclesiastical as Civil there are and will be always Evils which no art of man can cure breaches and leaks moe than man's wit hath hands to stop that which maketh odious unto them many things wherein notwithstanding the truth is that very just regard hath been had of the Public good that which in a great part of the weightiest Causes belonging to this present Controversy hath ensnared the Judgements both of sundry good and of some well learned men is the manifest truth of certain general Principles whereupon the Ordinances that serve for usual practice in the Church of God are grounded Which Principles men knowing to be most sound and that the ordinary practice accordingly framed is good whatsoever is over and besides that ordinary the same they judge repugnant to those true Principles The cause of which Error is Ignorance what restraints and limitations all such Principles have in regard of so manifold varieties 〈…〉 Arist. Ech. l. 1. c. 7. as the matter whereunto they are appliable doth commonly afford These varieties are not known but by much experience from whence to draw the true bounds of all Principles to discern how far forth they take effect to see where and why they fail to apprehend by what degrees and means they lead to the practice of things in show though not indeed repugnant and contrary one to another requireth more sharpness of Wit more intricate circuitions of Discourse more industry and depth of Judgement than common Ability doth yield So that general Rules till their limits be fully known especially in matter of Public and Ecclesiastical affairs are by reason of the manifold secret Exceptions which lie hidden in them no other to the eye of man's understanding than Cloudy mists cast before the eye of Common sense They that walk in darkness know not whither they go And even as little is their certainty whose opinions Generalities only do guide With gross and popular Capacities nothing doth more prevail than unlimited Generalities because of their plainness at the first fights nothing less with men of Exact Judgement because such Rules are not safe to be trusted over-farr General Laws are like general Rules of Physic according whereunto as no Wise man will desire himself to be cured if there be joined with his Disease some special Accident in regard whereof that whereby others in the same Insirmity but without the like Accident recover health would be to him either hurtful or at the least unprofitable So we must not under a colourable commendation of holy Ordinances in the Church and of reasonable causes whereupon they have been grounded for the Common good imagine that all men's cases ought to have one measure Not without singular wisdom therefore it hath been provided That as the ordinary course of Common affairs is disposed of by General Laws so likewise men's rarer incident Necessities and utilities should be with special equity considered From hence it is that so many Privileges Immunities Exceptions and Dispensations have been always with great equity and reason granted not to turn the edge of Justice not to make void at certain times and in certain men through mere voluntary grace or benevolence that which continually and universally should be of force as some men understand it but in very truth to practise General Laws according to their right meaning We see in Contracts and other dealings which daily pass between man and man that to the utter undoing of some many things by strictness of Law may be done which equity and honest meaning forbiddeth Not that the Law is unjust but unperfect nor Equity against but above the Law binding men's Consciences in things which Law cannot reach unto Will any man say That the virtue of private Equity is opposite and repugnant to that Law the silence whereof it supplieth in all such private Dealing No more is public Equity against the Law of public Affairs albeit the one permit unto some in special Considerations that which the other agreeably with general Rules of Justice doth in general sort forbid For sith all good Laws are the Voices of right Reason which is the Instrument wherewith God will have the World guided and impossible it is that Right should withstand Right it must follow that Principles and Rules of Justice be they never so generally uttered do no less effectually intend then if they did plainly express an Exception of all Particulars wherein their literal Practice might any way prejudice Equity And because it is natural unto all men to wish their own extraordinary Benefit when they think they have reasonable Inducements so to do and no man can be presumed a competent Judge what Equity doth require in his own Case the likeliest Mean whereby the wit of man can provide that he which useth the benefit of any special benignity above the common course of others may enjoy it with good Conscience and not against the true purpose of Laws which in outward show are contrary must needs be to arm with Authority some fit both for Quality and Place to administer that which in every such particular shall appear agreeable with Equity wherein as it cannot be denied but that sometimes the practice of such Jurisdiction may swarve through error even into the very best and for other respects where less Integrity is So the watchfullest Observers of Inconveniences that way growing and the readiest to urge them in disgrace of authorized Proceedings do very well know that the disposition of these things resteth not now in the hands of Popes who live in no Worldly awe or subjection but is committed to them whom Law may at all times bridle and Superior power control yea to them also in such sort that Law itself hath set down to what Persons in what Causes with what Circumstances almost every faculty or favour shall be granted leaving in a manner nothing unto them more than only to deliver what is already given by Law Which maketh it by many degrees less reasonable that under pretence of inconveniences so easily stopped if any did grow and so well prevented that none may men should be altogether barred of the liberty that Law with equity and reason granteth These things therefore considered we lastly require That it may not seem hard if in Cases of Necessity or for Common utilities sake certain profitable Ordinances sometimes be released rather than all men always strictly bound to the general rigour thereof 10. Now where the Word of God leaveth the Church to make choice of her own Ordinances The Rule of men's in state spirits not safe in these Cases to be followed if against those things which have been received with great reason or against that which the Ancient practice of the Church hath continued time out of mind or against such Ordinances as the Power and Authority of that Church under which we live hath in itself devised for the Public good or against the discretion of the Church in mitigating sometimes with favourable Equity that rigour which otherwise the literal generality of Ecclesiastical Laws hath judged to be more convenient and meet if against all this it should be free for men to reprove to disgrace to reject at their own liberty what they see done and practised according to Order set down if in so great variety of ways as the wit of man is easily able to find out towards any purpose and in so great liking as all men especially have unto those Inventions whereby some one shall seem to have been more enlightened from above than many thousands the Church did give every man licence to follow what himself imagineth that God's Spirit doth reveal unto him or what he supposeth that God is likely to have revealed to some special Person whose Virtues deserve to be highly esteemed What other effect could hereupon ensue but the utter confusion of his Church under pretence of being taught led and guided by his Spirit the gifts and graces whereof do so naturally all tend unto Common peace that where such singularity is they whose Hearts it possesseth aught to suspect it the more in as much as if it did come of God and should for that cause prevail with others the same God which revealeth it to them would also give them power of confirming it unto others either with miraculous operation or with strong and invincible remonstrance of sound Reason such as whereby it might appear that God would indeed have all men's Judgements give place unto it whereas now the error and unsufficience of their Arguments doth make it on the contrary side against them a strong presumption that God hath not moved their hearts to think such things as he hath not enabled them to prove And so from Rules of general Direction it resteth that now we descend to a more distinct explication of Particulars wherein those Rules have their special efficacy Places for the Public service of God 11. Solemn Duties of Public Service to be done unto God must have their places set and prepared in such sort as beseemeth actions of that regard Adam even during the space of his small continuance in Paradise had a Gen. 3. 8. where to present himself before the lord Adam's Sons had out of Paradise in like sort b Gen. 4.3 whither to bring their Sacrifices The Patriarches used c Gen. 13.4 Altars and d 22. 1. Mountains and e 21.33 Groves to the selfsame purpose In the vast Wilderness when the People of God had themselves no settled Habitation yet a movable f Exod. 2● Tabernacle they were commanded of God to make The like Charge was given them against the time they should come to settle themselves in the Land which had been promised unto their Fathers g Deut. 12. 5. To shall seek that Place which the Lord your God shall choose When God had chosen jerusalem and in jerusalem Mount h 2 Chron. 3.1 Moriah there to have his standing Habitation made it was in the chiefest of i 2 Chron. ● 7 Psalm 132. 5. David's desires to have performed so good a work His grief was no less that he could not have the honour to build God a Temple than their anger is at this day who by't asunder their own tongues with very wrath that they have not as yet the Power to pull down the Temples which they never built and to levelly them with the ground It was no mean thing which he purposed To perform a work so majestical and stately was no small Charge Therefore he incited all men unto bountiful Contribution 1 Chron. 25.5 and procured towards it with all his Power Gold Silver Brass Iron Wood Precious Stones in great abundance 1 Chron. 29.3 Yea moreover Because I have saith David a joy in the House of my God I have of my own Gold and Silver besides all that I have prepared for the House of the Sanctuary given to the House of my God three thousand Talents of Gold even the Gold of Ophir seven thousand Talents of fined Silver After the overthrow of this first House of God a second was instead thereof erected but with so great odds jer. ● 14. Agg● 2. 4. that they went which had seen the former and beheld how much this later came behind it the beauty whereof notwithstanding was such that even This was also the wonder of the whole World Besides which Temple there were both in other parts of the Land and even in jerusalem by process of time no small number of Synagogues for men to resort unto Our Saviour himself and after him the Apostles frequented both the one and the other The Church of Christ which was in jerusalem and held that Profession which had not the Public allowance and countenance of Authority could not so long use the exercise of Christian Religion but in private only Act. ● 19 & 8. ● & 9 46. So that as Jews they had access to the Temple and Synagogues where God was served after the Custom of the Law but for that which they did as Christians they were of necessity forced other where to assemble themselves And as God gave increase to his Church they sought out both there and abroad for that purpose not the fittest for so the times would not suffer them to do but the safest places they could In process of time some while● by sufferance some while by special leave and favour they began to erect to themselves Oratories not in any sumptuous or stately manner which neither was possible by reason of the poor estate of the Church and had been perilous in regard of the World's envy towards them At length when it pleased God to raise up Kings and Emperors favouring sincerely the Christian Truth that which the Church before either could not or durst not do was with all alacrity performed Temples were in all Places erected No cost was spared nothing judged too dear which that way should be spent The whole World did seem to exult that it had occasion of pouring out Gifts to so blessed a purpose That cheerful Devotion which David this way did exceedingly delight to behold and wish that the same in the Jewish People might be perpetual 1 Chron. 29. 17. 18. was then in Christian People every where to be seen Their Actions till this day always accustomed to be spoken of with great honour are now called openly into question They and as many as have been followers of their Example in That thing we especially that worship God either in Temples which their hands made or which other men sithence have framed by the like pattern are in that respect charged no less than with the sin of Idolatry Our Churches in the foam of that good spirit which directeth such fiery tongues they term spitefully the Temples of Baal idle Synagogues abominable Sties 12. Wherein the first thing which moveth them thus to cast up their poisons The solemnity of erecting Churches condemned by ●a● p. 130. The hollowing and dedicating of them scorned p. 141. are certain Solemnities usual at the first erection of Churches Now although the same should be blame-worthy yet this Age thanks be to God hath reasonably well for-born to incur the danger of any such blame It cannot be laid unto many men's charge at this day living either that they have been so curious as to trouble the Bishops with placing the first Stone in the Churches they built or so scrupulous as after the erection of them to make any great ado for their Dedication In which kind notwithstanding as we do neither allow unmeet nor purpose the stiff defence of any unnecessary Dur●n● l. rational lib. 1. cap. 6. & the conseer d. 1. c. tabernaculum Greg. Mog lib. 10. epist. 12. & lib. ● epist. 71. & 1. ● epist. 63. Custom heretofore received so we know no reason wherefore Churches should be the worse if at the first erecting of them at the making of them public at the time when they are delivered as it were into God's own possession and when the use whereunto they shall ever serve is established Ceremonies sit to betoken such intents and to accompany such Actions be usual as a Greg. Nazia● orat in the purest times they have been When b Vide Euseb. de vitu Constant l. 1. c. 41. 13 64. 44 Constantine had finished an House for the Service of God at jerusalem the Dedication he judged a matter not unworthy about the solemn performance whereof the greatest part of the Bishops in Christendom should meet together Which thing they did at the Emperor's motion each most willingly setting forth that Action to their power some with Orations some with Sermons some with the sacrifice of Prayers unto God for the peace of the World for the Church's safety for the emperor 's and his children's good c Athanasius Apol ad Constanti●● By Athanasius the like is recorded concerning a Bishop of Alexandria in a work of the like devout magnificence So that whether Emperors or Bishops in those days were Church-founders the solemn Dedication of Churches they thought not to be a work in itself either vain or superstitious Can we judge it a thing seemly for any man to go about the building of an House to the God of Heaven with no other appearance than if his end were to rear up a Kitchen or Parlour for his own use Or when a work of such nature is finished remaineth there nothing but presently to use it and so an end It behoveth that the place where God shall be served by the whole Church be a public place for the avoiding of Privy Conventicles which covered with pretence of Religion may serve unto dangerous practices Yea though such Assemblies be had indeed for Religion's sake hurtful nevertheless they may easily prove as well in regard of their fitness to serve the turn of Heretics and such as privily will soon adventure to instill their poison into men's minds as also for the occasion which thereby is given to malicious persons both of suspecting and of traducing with more colourable show those Actions which in themselves being holy should be so ordered that no man might probably otherwise think of them Which considerations have by so much the greater weight for that of these inconveniences the Church heretofore had so plain experience when Christian men were driven to use Secret Meetings because the liberty of Public places was not granted them There are which hold that the presence of a Christian multitude and the Duties of Religion performed amongst them do make the place of their Assembly public even as the presence of the King and his Retinue maketh any man's House a Court But this I take to be an error in as much as the only thing which maketh any Place public is the public assignment thereof unto such Duties As for the Multitude there assembled or the Duties which they perform it doth not appear how either should be of force to insuse any such Prerogative Not doth the solemn Dedication of Churches serve only to make them public but farther also to surrender up that right which otherwise their Founders might have in them and to make God himself their Owner For which cause Exod. 40.34 1 ●eg 8. 11. at the Erection and Consecration as well of the Tabernacle as of the Temple it pleased the Almighty to give a manifest sign that he took possession of both Finally Exod 40. 9 it not fi●th in solemn manner the Holy and Religious use whereunto it is intended such Houses shall be put 1 Reg. 8. These things the wisdom of Solomon did not account superfluous He knew how easily that which was meant should be holy and sacred might be drawn from the use whereunto it was first provided he knew how bold men are to take even from God himself how hardly that House would be kept from impious profanation he knew and right wisely therefore endeavoured by such Solemnities to leave in the minds of men that impression Levit. 16. 2. The place named holy which might somewhat restrain their boldness and nourish a reverend affection towards the House of God For which cause when the first House was destroyed and a new in the stead thereof erected by the Children of Israel after their return from captivity they kept the dedication even of this House also with joy Ezr. 6. 16. Matth. 21. 13. The Argument which our Saviour useth against Prophaners of the Temple he taketh from the use whereunto it was with Solemnity consecrated And as the Prophet jeremy forbiddeth the carrying of Burdens on the Sabbath jer. ●● 24. because that was a Sanctified day So because the Temple was a Place sanctified our Lord would not suffer Mark 11. 16. no not the carriage of a Vessel through the Temple These two Commandments therefore are in the Law conjoined Levit. 29. ● Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary 1 Cor. 11. 22. Out of those the Apostles words Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in albeit Temples such as now were not then erected for that exercise of Christian Religion Per ●unia● it hath been nevertheless not absurdly conceived that he teacheth what difference should be made between House and House that what is fit for the Dwelling Place of God and what for Man's Habitation be sheweth● requireth that Christian men at their Own home take Common food and in the House of the Lord none but that food which is heavenly he instructeth them that as in the one place they use to refresh their Bodies so they may in the other learn to seek the nourishment of their Souls and as there they sustain Temporal life so here they would learn to make provision for Eternal Christ could not suffer that the Temple should serve for a place of Mart not the Apostle of Christ that the Church should be made an Inn When therefore we sanctify or hollow Churches that which we do as ooly to testify that we make them Places of public resort that we invest God himself with them that we sever them from Common uses In which action other Solemnities than such as are decent and fit for that purpose we approve none Indeed we condemn not all as unmeet the like whereunto have either been devised or used haply amongst Idolaters For why should conformity with them in matter of Opinion be lawful when they think that which is true if in action when they do that which is meet it be vot lawful to be like unto them Are we to forsake any true Opinion because Idolaters have maintained it or to shun any requisite action only because we have in the practice thereof been prevented by Idolaters It is no impossible thing but that sometimes they may judge as tightly what is decent about such external affairs of God as in greater things what is true Not therefore whatsoever Idolaters have either thought or done but let whatsoever they have either thought or done idolatrously be so far forth abhorred For of that which is good even in evil things God is Author Of the names whereby we distinguish our Churches 13. Touching the names of Angels and Saints whereby the most of our Churches are called as the custom of so naming them is very ancient so neither was the cause thereof at the first nor is the use and continuance with us at this present hurtful That Churches were consecrated unto none but the Lord only the very General name itself doth sufficiently show ● From K●●●n and Kyre and by adding letters of aspiration Chyich is as much as by plain Grammatical construction Church doth signify no other thing than the Lords House And because the multitude as of Persons so of things particular causeth variety of Proper names to be devised for Distinction sake Founders of Churches did herein that which best liked their own conceit at the present time yet each intending that as oft as those Buildings came to be mentioned the name should put men in mind of some memorable thing or person Thus therefore it cometh to pass that all Churches have had their names (h) Vid. Sac. l 1 c. 16. Ecclis 4. 6. 30 Mist. Trip. l. 41. 11. some as memorials of peace some of wisdom some in memory of the Trinity itself some of Christ under sundry Titles of the blessed Virgin not a few many of one Apostle Saint or Martyr many of all In which respect their commendable purpose being not of every one understood they have been in latter ages construed as though they had superstitiously meant either that those places which where denominated of Angels and Saints should serve for the worship of so glorious Creatures or else those glorified Creatures for defence protection and patronage of such places A thing which the Ancients do utterly disclaim To them saith St. Augustine V. Aug. l ● de civ Dei c. 27. l. 12 c. 10. Epi. 49. at Deogr● The duty which Christian men performed in keeping ●●stvaldodicariunss S. Basil termeth acknowledging the sense to have been withal Basil. in Pi● 114. appoint no Churches because they are not to us as Gods Again The Nations to their Gods erected Temples we not Temples unto our Martyrs as unto Gods but Memorials as unto dead men whose spirits with God are still living Divers considerations there are for which Christian Churches might first take their names of Saints as either because by the Ministry of Saints it pleased God there to show some rare effect of his power or else in regard of death which those Saints having suffered for the testimony of Jesus Christ did thereby make the places where they died uénerable or thirdly for that it liked good and virtuous men to give such occasion of mentioning them often to the end that the naming of their Persons might cause enquiry to be made and meditation to be had of their virtues Wherefore seeing that we cannot justly account it Superstition to give unto Churches those sore-reheased names as memorials either of holy Persons or Things if it be plain that their Founders did with such meaning name thém shall not we in otherwise taking them offer them injury Or if it be obscure or uncertain what they meant yet this construction being more favourable Charity I hope constraineth no man which standeth doubtful of their minds to lean to the hardest and worst interpretation that their words can carry Yea although it were clear that they all for the error of some is manifest in this behalf had therein a supertitious intent Wherefore should their fault prejudice us who as all men know do use by way of mere Distinction the names which they of Superstition gave In the use of those names whereby we distinguish both days and months are we culpable of Superstition because they were who first invented them The sign Castor and Pallux superstitiously given unto that Ship wherein the Apostle sailed polluteth not the Evangelists pen Acts 28. 11. who thereby doth but distinguish that Ship from others If to Daniel there had been given no other name but only Beltisbazzar Dan. 4. 5. Vide Scal. de emendar temp. l. 6. p. 277. given him in honour of the Babylonian Idol Belti Should their Idolatry which were the Authors of that Name cleave unto every man which had so termed him by way of personal difference only Were it not to satisfy the minds of the simpler sort of men these nice curiosities are not worthy the labour which we bestow to answer them 14. The like unto this is a fancy Of the fashion of our Churches which they have against the fashion of our Churches as being framed according to the pattern of the Jewish Temple A fault no less grievous if so be it were true than if some King should build his Mansion-house by the model of Solomon's Palace So far forth as our Churches and their Temple have one end What should let but that they may lawfully have one from The Temple was for Sacrifice and therefore had Rooms to that purpose such as ours have none Our Churches are places provided that the people might there assemble themselves in due and decent manner according to their several degrees and orders Which thing being common unto us with Jews we have in this respect our Churches divided by certain partitions although not so many in number as theirs They had their several for Heathen Nations their several for the people of their own Nation their several for Men their several for Women their several for their Priests and for the High Priest alone their several There being in ours for local distinction between the Clergy and the rest which yet we do not with any great strictness or curiosity observe neither but one partition the cause whereof at the first as it seemeth was that as many as were capable of the holy Mysteries might there assemble themselves and no other creep in amongst them this is now made a matter so heinous as if our Religion thereby were become even plain Judaisme and as though we retained a Most Holy Place whereinto there might not any but the High Priest alone enter accouling to the custom of the Jews 15. Some it highly displeaseth that so great expenses this way are employed The sumptuousness of Churches The Mother of such Magnificence they think is but only a proud ambitious desire to be spoken of far and pride Suppose we that God himself delighteth to dwell sumptuously or taketh pleasure in chargeable p●mp No Then was the Lord most acceptably served when his Temples were rooms borrowed within the houses of poor men This was suitable unto the nakedness of jesus Christ and the simplicity of his Gospel What thoughts or cogitations they had which were Authors of those things the use and benefit whereof hath descended unto ourselves as we do not know so we need not search It cometh we grant may times to pass that the works of men being the same their drifts and purposes therein are divers The charge of Herod about the Temple of God was ambitious yet Solomon's virtuous Constantine's holy But howsoever their hearts are disposed by whom any such thing is done in the World shall we think that it baneth the work which they leave behind them or taken away from others the use and benefit thereof Touching God himself hath he any where revealed that it is his delight to dwell beggarly and that he taketh no pleasure to be worshipped saving only in poor Cottages Even than was the Lord at acceptably honoured of his people as ever when the statelyest places and things in the whole World were sought out to adorn his Temple Arist. Eth. l 4. c 2. Philo. Jud. This is most suitable decent and fit for the greatness of Jesus Christ for the sublimity of his Gospel except we think of Christ and his Gospel as a Folis ●hesaari in perialis quarto● compica●us sacrorum vasorum pr●●la En inqui● qualibus vasis ministrative Ha ●i● alios The●●a er h●l Eccles l. 3. c. 12. the Officers of julian did As therefore the Son of sirach giveth verdict concerning those things which God hath wrought b Eccles. 39 34. A man need not say This is worse than that this more acceptable to God that less for in their season they are all worthy praise the like we may also conclude as touching these two so contrary ways of providing in meaner or in costlier sort for the honour of Almighty God A man need not say This is worse than that this more acceptable to God that less for with him they are in their season both allowable the one when the state of the Church is poor the other when God hath enriched it with plenty When they which had seen the beauty of the first Temple built by Solomon in the days of his great prosperity and peace beheld how far it excelled the second which had not Builders of like ability the tears of their grieved eyes the Prophets c egg 2.5 10 endeavoured with comforts to wipe away Whereas if the House of God were by so much the more perfect by how much the glory thereof is less they should have done better to rejoice than weep their Prophets better to reprove than comfort It being objected against the Church in the times of universal persecution that her Service done to God was not solemnly performed in Temples fit for the honour of Divine Majesty their most convenient answer was that d Minu● ●●● in Oc●a● The best Temples which we can dedicate to God are our sanctified Souls and Bodies Whereby it plainly appeareth how the Fathers when they were upbraided with that defect comforted themselves with the meditation of Gods most gracious and merciful nature Who did not therefore the less accept of their hearty affection and zeal rather than took any great delight or imagined any high perfection in such their want of external Ornaments which when they wanted the cause was their only lack of ability ability serving they wanted them not Before the Emperor Constantine's time Euseb. l. 8. c. ● under Severus Guardian Philip and Galienus the state of Christian affairs being tolerable the sooner Buildings which were but of mean and small estate contented them not spacious and ample Churches they erected throughout every City No Envy was able to be their hindrance no practice of Satan or fraud of men available against their proceedings herein while they continued as yet worthy to feel the aid of the arm of God extended over them for their safety Euseb. l. 8. c. 8. These Churches Dioclesian caused by solemn Edict to be afterwards overthrown Maximinus with like authority giving leave to erect them the hearts of all men were even rapt with Divine joy to see those places which tyrannous impiety had laid waste recovered as it were out of mortal calamity Euseb. l. 10. c. ● Churches reared up to an height immeasurable and adorned with far more beauty in their restauration than their Founders before had given them Whereby we see how most Christian minds stood then affected we see how joyful they were to behold the sumptuous stateliness of Houses built unto God's glory If we should over and besides this allege the care which was had that all things about the Tabernacle of Moses might be as beautiful gorgeous and rich as Art could make them or what travel and cost was bestowed that the goodliness of the Temple might be a Spectacle of admiration to all the world this they will say was figurative and served by God's appointment but for a time to shadow out the true everlasting glory of a more Divine Sanctuary whereinto Christ being long fithence entered it seemeth that all those curious exornations should rather cease Which thing we also ourselves would grant if the use thereof had been meetly and only mystical But sith the Prophet David doth mention a natural conveniency which such kind of bounteous Expenses have as well for that we do thereby give unto God a testimony of our cheerful affection 1 Chron. 28. 14. which thinketh nothing too dear to be bestowed about the furniture of his Service as also because it serveth to the world for a witness of his Almightiness 2 Chron. 2. ● whom we outwardly honour with the chiefest of outward things as being of all things Himself incomparably the greatest Besides were it not also strange if God should have made such store of glorious Creatures on Earth and leave them all to be consumed in Secular vanity allowing none but the base sort to be employed in his own service Matth 6. 29. To set forth the Majesty of Kings his Vicegerents in this world the most gorgeous and rare treasures which the world hath are procured We think belike Malac. ● 8. that he will accept what the meanest of them would disdain If there be great care to build and beautify these corruptible Sanctuaries little or none that the living Temples of the Holy Ghost the dearly redeemed Souls of the people of God may be edified huge expenses upon Timber and Stone but towards the relief of the poor small devotion Cost this way infinite and in the mean while Charity cold we have in such case just occasion to make complaint as Saint jerom did Ad Nepotian de vira Cle●● The walls of the Church there are ●now contented to build and to underset it with goodly Pillars the Marbles are polished the Roofs shine with Gold the Altar hath Precious Stones to adorn it and of Christ's Ministers no choice at all Ad Demetr Epist. 12. ad Gaudentium The same jerom both in that place and elsewhere debaseth with like intent the glory of such Magnificence a thing whereunto men's affections in those times needed no spurr thereby to extol the necessity sometimes of Charity and Alms sometimes of other the most principal Duties belonging unto Christian men which Duties were neither so highly esteemed as they ought and being compared with that in question the directest Sentence we can give of them both as unto me it seemeth is this God who requireth the one as necessary accepteth the other also as being an honourable work 16. Our opinion concerning the force and virtue which such Places have What Holiness and Virtue we ascribe to the Church more than other places is I trust without any blemish or slain of Heresy Churches receive as every thing else their chief perfection from the end whereunto they serve Which end being the public worship of God they are in this consideration Houses of greater Dignity than any provided for meaner purposes For which cause they seem after a sort even to mourn as being injured and defrauded of their right when places not sanctified as they are prevent them unnecessarily in that pre-eminence and honour Whereby also it doth come to pass that the Service of God hath not then itself such perfection of grace and comeliness as when the dignity of place which it wisheth for doth concur Again albeit the true worship of God be to God in itself acceptable who respecteth not so much in what place as with what affection he is served and therefore Moses in the midst of the Sea job on the Dunghill Ezechias in Bed jeremy in Mire jonas in the Whale Daniel in the Den the Children in the Furnace the Thief on the Cross Peter and Paul in Prison calling unto God were heard Exhort ad bap● ● p●enitent as S. Basil noteth manifest notwithstanding it is that the very majesty and holiness of the place where God is worshipped hath in regard of us great virtue force and efficacy for that it serveth as a sensible help to stir up devotion and in that respect no doubt bettereth even our holiest and best actions in this kind As therefore we every where exhort all men to worship God even so for performance of this Service by the people of God assembled we think not any place so good as the Church neither any exhortation so sit as that of David O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness Psal. 96.9 17. For of our Churches thus it becometh us to esteem Their pretence that would have Churches utterly rozed howsoever others rapt with the pang of a furious zeal do pour out against them devout blasphemies crying a Psal. 137. 7. Down with them down with them even to the very ground For to Idolatry they have been abused And the places where Idols have been worshipped are by b Deut. 12.2 the Law of God devote to utter destruction For extentions of which Law the c 2 Chron. 17. 6. 2 Chron. 29. 2. Chron. 3. Kings that were godly as Asa Jehosaphat Ezechia Josia destroyed all the High places Altars and Groves which had been erected in Juda and Israel He that said Thou shalt have no other gods before my face hath likewise said Thou shalt utterly deface and destroy all these Synagogues and places where such Idols have been worshipped This Law containeth the Temporal punishment which God hath set down and willeth that men execute for the breach of the other Law They which spare them therefore do but reserve as the Hypocrite Saul did exterable things to worship God withal The truth is that as no man serveth God and loveth him not so neither can any man sincerely love God and not extremely abhor that sin which is the highest degree of Treason against the Supreme Guide and Monarch of the whole world with whose Divine Authority and Power it investeth others By means whereof the state of Idolaters is two ways miserable First In that which they worship a Isa. 8. 21.4 20. Host 14.4 Isa. 41. 24. they find no succour and secondly At his hands whom they ought to serve there is no other thing to be looked for but the effects of most just displeasure the b Psal. 115. ● ●1 13. Rom. 1. 24. withdrawing of Grace c Judic 6.13 dereliction in this world and in the world to come d Apoc. 21.8 Isa. ● 21. confusion e Acts 14. 14. Paul and Barnabas when Infidels admiring their virtues went about to sacrifice unto them rend their Garments in token of horror and as frighted persons run crying thorough the press of the people O men wherefore doy● these things They knew the force of that dreadful f Deut. 28. 20. Curse whereunto Idolatry maketh subject Nor is there cause why the guilty sustaining the same should grudge or complain of Injustice For whatsoever Evil befalleth in that respect g Jer. 2. 17. themselves have made themselves worthy to suffer it As for those things either whereon or else wherewith Superstition worketh polluted they are by such abuse and deprived of that Dignity which their Nature delighteth in For there is nothing which doth not grieve and as it were even loathe itself whensoever iniquity causeth it to serve unto vile purposes Idolatry therefore maketh whatsoever it toucheth the worse Howbeit sith Creatures which have no understanding can show no will and where no will is there is no sin and only that which sinneth is subject to punishment Which way should any such Creature be punishable by the Law of God There may be cause sometime to abolish or to extiguish them But surely never by way of punishment to the things themselves Yea farther howsoever the Law of Moses did punish Idolaters we find not that God hath appointed for us any definite or certain temporal judgement which the Christian Magistrate is of necessity for ever bound to execute upon Offenders in that kind much less upon things that way abused as mere instruments For what God did command touching Canaan the same concerneth not us any otherwise than only as a fearful pattern of his just displeasure and wrath against sinful Nations It teacheth us how God thought good to plague and afflict them it doth not appoint in what form and manner we ought to punish the sin of Idolaty in all others Unless they will say that because the Israelites were commanded to make no Covenant with the people of that Land therefore Leagues and Truces made between Superstitious Persons and such as serve God aright are unlawful altogether or because God commanded the Israelites to smite the Inhabitants of Canaan and to root them out that therefore reformed Churches are bound to put all others to the edge of the sword Now whereas Commandment was also given to destroy all places where the Canaanites had served their gods Deut. 12. 2. and not to convert any one of them to the honour of the true God this Precept had reference unto a special intent and purpose which was that there should be but one only Place in the whole Land whereunto the People might bring such Offerings Gifts and Sacrifices as their Levitical Law did require By which Law severe charge was given them in that respect not to convert those places to the worship of the living God where Nations before them had served Idols Deut. 1● 4 5. But to seek the place which the Lord their God should choose out of all their Tribes Besides it is reason we should likewise consider how great a difference there is between their proceedings who erect a new Commonwealth which is to have neither People nor Law neither Regiment nor Religion the same that was and theirs who only reform a decayed estate by reducing it to that perfection from which it hath swarved In this case we are to retain as much in the other as little of former things as we may Sith therefore Examples have not generally the force of Laws which all men ought to keep but of Counsels only and Persuasions not amiss to be followed by them whose Case is the like surely where Cases are so unlike as theirs and ours I see not how that which they did should induce much less any way enforce us to the same practice especially considering that Groves and Hill-altars were while they did remain both dangerous in regard of the secret access which People superstitiously given might have always thereunto with ease neither could they remaining serve with any fitness unto better purpose whereas our Temples their former abuse being by order of Law removed are not only free from such peril but withal so conveniently framed for the people of God to serve and honour him therein that no man beholding them can choose but think it exceeding great pity they should be ever any otherwise employed Yea but the  of Amalek you will say were fit for sacrifice and this was the very conceit which sometime deceived Soul It was so Nor do I any thing doubt but that Saul upon this conceit might even lawfully have offered to God those reserved spoils had not the Lord in that particular case given special charge to the contrary And therefore notwithstanding the commandment of Israel to destroy Canaanites Idolaters may be converied and live So the Temples which have served Idolatry as Instruments may be sanctified again and continue albeit to Israel commandment have been given that they should destroy all Idolatrous places in their Lead and to the good Kings of Israel commendation for fulfilling to the evil for disobeying the same Commandment sometimes punishment always sharp and severe reproof hath even from the Lord himself befallen Thus much it may suffice to have written in defence of those Christian Oratories the overthrow and ruin whereof is desired not now by Infidels Pagans or Turks but by a special refined Sect of Christian Believers pretending themselves exceedingly grieved at our Solemnities in erecting Churches at the Names which we suffer them to hold at their form and fashion at the stateliness of them and costliness at the opinion which we have of them and at the manifold supertitious abuses whereunto they have been put 18. Places of public resort being thus provided for Of public teaching or preaching and the first kind thereof Catechising our repair thither is especially for mutual conference and as it were commerce to be had between God and us Because therefore want a Contraria for●a in quibut homines sibi intecem oppunannar secundum exercitia & desideria & opiniones ●unla provenlunt exignoranth sicut c●cus ex p●●vatione sui visu● vagatur ubique & laeditur Scientio veriratis rollit hominum iaimidria● & adlum He promisit sancte Theologia dicens Habitabit agnus cum lupo Et olsig●at rarionem ●eple●a est terra sapiendo Domini ●●set AEgpt in Mo● Honnebuch lib. 3. cap. 12. of the knowledge of God is the cause of all iniquity amongst men as chose the ground of all our happiness and the seed of whatsoever perfect virtue groweth from us is a right opinion touching things divine this kind of knowledge we may justly set down for the first and chiefest thing which God imparteth unto his People and our duty of receiving this at his merciful hands for the first of those religious Offices wherewith we publicly honour him on earth For the instruction therefore of all sorts of men to eternal life it is necessary that the sacred and saving truth of God be openly published unto them Which open publication of heavenly mysteries is by an excellency termed preaching For otherwise there is not any thing publicly notified but we may in that respect rightly and properly say it is preached So that when the School of God doth use it as a word of Art Luc. 8.39 we are accordingly to understand it with restraint to such special matter as that School is accustomed to publish We find not in the World any People that have lived altogether without Religion And yet this duty of Religion which provideth that publicly all sorts of men may be instructed in the fear of God is to the Church of God and hath been always so peculiar that none of the Heathens how curious Vide Terrol de praset advers her soever in searching out all kinds of outward Ceremonies like to ours could ever once so much as endeavour to resemble herein the Church's care for the endless good of her Children Ways of teaching there have been sundry always usual in God's Church The Jews Catech. called Letach Tob. For the first introduction of youth to the knowledge of God the Jews even till this day have their Catechisms With Religion it fareth as with other Sciences the first delivery of the Elements thereof must for like consideration b Inciplen●ibus brev ùs ac simpliciàs tradi praecepra ●●gss convenit Aut enim difficaltate institutionis tam numerose at que perplex dete●reri solenu aureo rempore quo praecipuè alenda ingenia atque indulgentis quadam enutrienda sunt asperiorum rerum tractaru atter antur Fab. proam l. 1. Inci●ienrihon no●●is exponers in●o populi Romani i●a videntur posse ●r adi commodissum● si primo leri aesimplici vi● post deinde ●digentissima arque exoctissima interpretatione singula tralantar Alinqui si station ah laitio rudem ad huc & infermu●●ni●●g●o lahore ej● supe etiam dissien●ia quae pletumque juvenes averti● ●en●● ad ●●● perdutemus ad quod leviore via ductus sine magno lahore & sine ulla diffidentia me●rius perduci pornif●et Institus Impur l. ● ●it 1. be framed according to the weak and slender capacity of young Beginners unto which manner of teaching Principles in Christianity the Apostle in the sixth to the Hebrews is himself understood to allude For this cause therefore as the Decalogue of Moses declareth summarily those things which we ought to do the Prayer of our Lord whatsoever we should request or desire Vide ●●uff in Symb. so either by the Apostles or at the leastwise out of their Writings we have the substance of Christian Belief compendiously drawn into few and short Articles to the end that the weakness of no man's wit might either hinder altogether the knowledge or excuse the utter ignorance of needful things Such as were trained up in these Rudiments and were so made fit to be afterward by Baptism received into the Church the Fathers usually in their Writings do term Hearers as having no farther communion or fellowship with the Church Tert. de poeniteur A● alius est ti●ctis Christus Alius audientibus Audientes optare intinctionem 〈…〉 pr●●sumere apor●●re Cyprian Epist. 17. l. 3. Audientibus vigilantia vestea non di sit Rupert de divin office lib. 4. cap. 18. Audience quisqueregulam filei Catechumenus dicitur Catechumenus namque Auditor interpretatur than only this that they were admitted to hear the Principles of Christian Faith made plain unto them Catechising may be in Schools it may be in private Families But when we make it a kind of Preaching we mean always the public performance thereof in the open hearing of men because things are preached not in that they are taught but in that they are published Of Preaching by reading publicly the Books of holy Scripture and concerning supposed untru his in those Translations Scripture which we allow to be read as also of the choice which we make in reading 19 Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles were in their times all Preachers of God's Truth some by Word some by Writing some by both This they did partly as faithful Witnesses making mere relation what God himself had revealed unto them and partly as careful Expounders Teachers Persuaders thereof The Church in like case Preacheth still first publishing by way of Testimony or relation the truth which from them she hath received even in such sort as it was received written in the sacred volumes of Scripture Secondly by way of explication discovering the mysteries which lie hid therein The Church as a Witness preacheth his mere revealed Truth by reading publicly the Sacred Scripture So that a second kind of preaching is the reading of holy Writ For thus we may the boldlier speak being strengthened a Acts 15. 21. with the examples of so reverend a Prelate as saith that Moses from the time of ancient Generations and Ages long since past had amongst the Cities of the very Gentiles them that preached him in that he was read every Sabbath day For so of necessity it must be meant in as much as we know that the Jews have always had their weekly Readins of the Law of Moses but that they always had in like manner their weekly Sermons upon some part of the Law of Moses we no where find Howbeit still we must here remember that the Church by her public reading of the Book of God preacheth only as a Witness Now the principal thing required in a Witness is Fidelity Wherefore as we cannot excuse that Church which either through corrupt translations of Scripture delivereth instead of divine Speeches any thing repugnant unto that which God speaketh or through falsified additions proposeth that to the people of God as Scripture which is in truth no Scripture So the blame which in both these respects hath been laid upon the Church of England is surely altogether without cause Touching Translations of Holy Scripture albeit we may not disallow of their painful travels herein who strictly have tied themselves to the very Original letter yet the judgement of the Church as we see by the practice of all Nations Greeks Latins Persians Syrians AEthiopians Arabians hath been ever That the fittest for public Audience are such as following a middle course between the rigour of literal Translators and the liberty of Paraphrasts do with greatest shortness and plainness deliver the meaning of the Holy Ghost Which being a labour of so great difficulty the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for So that except between the words of translation and the mind of Scripture itself there be Contradiction every little difference should not seem an intolerable blemish necessarily to be spunged out Psal. 105 28. Whereas therefore the Prophet David in a certain Psalm doth say concerning Moses and Aaron that they were obedient to the word of God and in the selfsame place ●or allowed Translation saith they were not obedient we are for this cause challenged as manifest Gainsayers of Scripture even in that which we read for Scripture unto the people But for as much as words are resemblances of that which the mind of the Speaker conceiveth and Conceits are Images representing that which is spoken of it followeth that they who will judge of words should have recourse to the things themselves from whence they rise In setting down that Miracle at the sight whereof Peter fell down astonished before the feet of Jesus and cried Depart Lord I am a Sinner the k Luke 5. 6 7. Evangelist St. Luke saith the store of the Fish which they took was such that the Net they took it in brake and the Ships which they loaded therewith sunk l John 1● 21. St. john recording the like Miracle saith That albeit the Fishes in number were so many yet the Net with so great a weight was not broken Suppose they had written both of one Miracle Although there be in their Words a manifest show of jar yet none if we look upon the difference of matter with regard whereunto they might both have spoken even of one Miracle the very same which they spoke of divers the one intending thereby to signify that the greatness of the burden exceeded the natural ability of the instruments which they had to bear it the other that the weakness thereof was supported by a supernatural and miraculous addition of strength The Nets as touching themselves brake but through the power o● God they held Are not the words of the a Matth. 5 1. Prophet Micheas touching Bethleem Thou Bethleem the least and doth not the very b Matth. 3. 6. Evangelist translate these words Thou Bethleem not the least the one regarding the quantity of the Place the other the dignity Micheas attributeth unto it smallness in respect of circuit Matthew greatness in regard of honour and estimation by being the native soil of our Lord and Saviour Christ. Sith therefore Speeches which gainsay one another must of necessity be applied both unto one and the selfsame Subject sith they must also the one affirm the other deny the selfsame thing what necessity of contradiction can there be between the Letter of the Prophet David and our authorised Translation thereof if he understanding Moses and Aaron do say They were not disobedient we applying our speech to Pharaoh and the Egyptians do say of them They were not obedient Or which the matter itself will easily enough likewise suffer if the Egyptians being meant by both it be said that they in regard of c Exod. 10. 24. their offer to let go the People when they saw the fearful darkness disobeyed not the Word of the Lord and yet that they did not obey his Word in as much as the Sheep and  at the selfsame time they withheld Of both Translations the better I willingly acknowledge that which cometh nearer to the very letter of the Original verity yet so that the other may likewise safely enough be read without any per●l at all of  as much as the least jot or syllable of God's most sacred and precious Truth Which Truth as in this we do not violate so neither is the same gainsayed or crossed no not in those very Preambles placed before certain readings wherein the steps of the Latin Service-Book have been somewhat too nearly followed As when we say Christ spoke d The Gospel as the second Sunday after Easter and on the twentieth after Trinity to his Disciples That which the Gospel declareth he spoke e John 10 1● Matth. 21 1. unto the pharisees For doth the Gospel affirm he spoke to the Pharisees only doth it mean that they and besides them no man else was at that time spoken unto by our Saviour Christ If not then is there in this diversity no contrariety I suppose it somewhat probable that St. john and St. Matthew which have recorded those Sermons heard them and being Hearers did think themselves as well respected as the Pharisees in that which their Lord and Master taught concerning the Pastoral care he had over his own Flock and his offer of Grace made to the whole World which things are the matter whereof he treateth in those Sermons Wherefore as yet there is nothing found wherein we read for the Word of God that which may be condemned as repugnant unto his Word Furthermore somewhat they are displeased in that we follow not the method of Reading which f T. C. l. 2. p. 381. Although it be very convenient which is used in some Churches where before Preaching time the Church assembled hath the Sorpreres read yet neither is this nor any other O●ler●● bore Public reading in the Church necessary had in their judgement is most commendable the method used in some foreign Churches where Scriptures are read before the time of Divine Service and without either choice or stint appointed by any determinate Order Nevertheless till such time as they shall vouchsafe us some just and sufficient reason to the contrary we must by their patience if not allowance retain the g Aug. the Civ Dei l. 22. c. 8. F●●o silentio Scriprorarum suat lecta divine solennia That for several times several pieces of Scripture were read as part of the Service of the Greek Church and Fathers thereof in their sundry Homilles and other Writings do all testify the like Order in the Syrian Churches is clear by the very inscriptions of Chapters throughout their Translation of the New Testament See the Edition at Vienna Par● and A●thrup ancient received Custom which we now observe For with us the reading of the Scripture in the Church is a part of our Church-Liturgy a special Portion of the Service which we do to God and not an exercise to spend the time when one doth wait for another's coming till the assembly of them which shall afterwards worship him be comple● Wherefore as the form of our Public Service is not voluntary so neither are the parts thereof left uncertain but they are all set down in such order and with such choice as hath in the wisdom of the Church seemed best to concur as well with the special occasions as with the general purpose which we have to glorify God Of Preaching by the Public reading of other profitable instructions and concerning Books Apocryphal 20. Other Public readings there are of Books and Writings not Canonical whereby the Church doth also preach or openly make known the Doctrine of virtuous conversation whereupon besides those things in regard whereof we are thought to read the Scriptures of God amiss it is thought amiss that we read in our Churches any thing at all besides the Scriptures To exclude the reading of any such profitable instruction as the Church hath devised for the better understanding of Scripture or for the easier training up of the People in holiness and righteousness of life they a T. C. l. 1. p 196. Neither the Homiles nor the Apocrypha are at all to be read in the Church Wherein first it is good to consider the Order which the Lord kept with his People in times past when he commanded Exod. 30. 25. that no Vessel nor no instrument either Bosom or Fleshhook or Pan should once come into the Temple but those only which were sanctified and set apart for that use And in the Book of Numbers he will have no other Trumpets blown to call the People together but those only which were set apart for that purpose Numb 10.2 plead that God in the Law would have nothing brought into the Temple neither Besoms nor Fleshhooks nor Trumpets but those only which were sanctified that for the expounding of darker places we ought to follow the Jews * T. C. l. 1 p. 157. Besides this the Policy of the Church of God is times past is to be followed etc. Polity who under Antiochus where they had not the commodity of Sermons appointed always at their Meetings somewhat out of the Prophets to be read together with the Law and so by the one made the other plainer to be understood That before and after our Saviour's coming they neither read Onkelos nor Ionathan's Paraphrase though having both but contented themselves b Acts 13. 15. Acts 15. 21. with the reading only of Scriptures that if in the Primitive Church there had been any thing read besides the Monuments of the Prophets and Apostles c Justin Apol. 2. Origen Hom. 1. super Exod. ● in Judie justin Martyr and Origen who mention these would have spoken of the other likewise that d Council La●d c. ●9 the most ancient and best Counsels forbid any thing to be read in Churches saving Canonical Scripture only that when e Council Vasens 2. other things were afterwards permitted f Concl. Co●on par 2. fault was found with it it succeeded but ill the Bible itself was thereby in time quite and clean thrust out Which Arguments if they be only brought in token of the Author's goodwill and meaning towards the cause which they would set forward must accordingly be accepted of by them who already are persuaded the same way But if their drift and purpose be to persuade others it would be demanded by what Rule the legal hallowing of Besoms and Fleshhooks must needs exclude all other readings in the Church save Scripture Things sanctified were thereby in such sort appropriated unto God as that they might never afterwards again be made common For which cause the Lord to sign and mark them as his own g Ex. 30. 25. 32. appointed oil of holy ointment the like whereunto it was not lawful to make for ordinary and daily uses Thus the h Exod. 40.15 anointing of Aaron and his Sons tied them to the Office of the Priesthood for ever the anointing not of those Silver Trumpets which i Numb 10.2 Moses as well for Secular as Sacred uses was commanded to make not to sanctify but the Unction of the k Exod. 27. 3. & 30. 36,27 28. Tabernacle the Table the Laver the Altar of God with all the instruments appertaining thereunto this made them for ever holy unto him in whose service they were employed But what of this Doth it hereupon follow that all things now in the Church from the greatest to the least are unholy which the Lord hath not himself precisely instituted for so l T. C. l. 1. p. 197. The Lord would by these Rudiments and P●dagogieses teach that he would have nothing brought into the Church but that which he had appointed those Rudiments they say do import Then is there nothing holy which the Church by her Authority hath appointed and consequently all positive Ordinances that ever were made by Ecclesiastical Power touching Spiritual affairs are profane they are unholy I would not with them to undertake a Work so desperate as to prove that for the People's instruction no kind of Reading is good but only that which the Jews devised under Antiochus although even that he also mistaken For according to m Esias Thesh in veron Pat●r Elius the Levite out of whom it doth seem borrowed the thing which Antiochus forbade was the Public reading of the Law and not Sermons upon the Law Neither did the Jews read a Portion of the Prophets together with the Law to serve for an interpretation thereof because Sermons were not permitted them But instead of the Law which they might not read openly they read of the Prophets that which in likeness of matter came nearest to each Section of their Law Whereupon when afterwards the liberty of reading the Law n Acts 15.21 was restored the selfsame Custom o Acts 13. 15 as touching the Prophets did continue still If neither the Jews have used publicly to read their Paraphrasts nor p T. C. l. 1. 197. This Practice continued still in the Churches of God after the Apostles times as may appear by the second Apology of justin Martyr Idem p. 198. It was decreed in the Council of Laodicea that nothing should be read in the Church but the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament Afterwards as corruptions grew in the Church the reading of Homilies and of Martyr's lives was permitted But besides the evil success thereof that Use and Custom was controlled as may appear by the Council of Collen albeit otherwise Popish The bringing in of Homilies and Martyrs lives hath thrust the Bible clean out of the Church or into a Corner the Primitive Church for a long time any other Writings than Scripture except the Cause of their not doing it were some Law of God or Reason forbidding them to do that which we do why should the latter Ages of the Church be deprived of the Liberty the former had Are we bound while the World standeth to put nothing in practice but only that which was at the very first Concerning the Council of Laodicea is it forbiddeth the reading of those things which are not Canonical so it maketh some things not Canonical which are The Apocalypse Their Judgement in this we may not and in that we need not follow We have by thus many years experience found that exceeding great good not encumbered with any notable inconvenience hath grown by the Custom which we now observe As for the harm whereof judicious men have complained in former times it came not of this that other things were read besides the Scripture but that so evil choice was made With us there is never any time bestowed in Divine Service without the reading of a great part of the holy Scripture which we acount a thing most necessary We dare not admit any such Form of Liturgy as either appointeth no Scripture at all or very little to be read in the Church And therefore the thrusting of the Bible out of the House of God is rather there to be feared where men esteem it a matter a T. C. l. 2. p. 381. It is untrue that simple reading is necessary in the Church A number of Churches which have no such Order of simple reading cannot be in this point charged with the breach of God's Commandment which they might be if simple reading were necessary By simple reading he meaneth the Custom of bare Reading more than the Preacher at the same time expoundeth unto the People so indifferent whether the same be by solemn appointment read publicly or not read the bare Text excepted which the Preacher haply chooseth out to expound But let us here consider what the Practice of our Fathers before us hath been and how farforth the same may be followed We find that in ancient times there was publicly read first the b Colmus ad divinarum literarum commemorationem Tertul. Apol. p. 692. Scripture as namely something out of the Books of the c Judaicorum Historiarum libri readiri sunt ab Apostolis legendi in Ecclestis Orig. in Jos. Hom. 15. Prophets of God which were of old something out of d justin. Apol. 2. p. 162. Factum est ut iste die Dominica Prophetica lectione jam lecta ante astate adslance qui lectionem S. Pauli proferret be●isimus Autistes Ambrestus etc. Sulp● Sever. l. 3. de vita S. Mart. the Apostles Writings and lastly out of the holy e Vide Council V●ss ● habitum an Dom. 444. tom Council 2. p. 19 Item Synod La●d c. 16. Cypr. l. 2. epist. 5. & l. 4. epist. 5. Amb. l. 1. office c. ● & epist. 75. & lib. de Helio arque jejunio cap. 20. Evangelists some things which touched the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ himself The cause of their reading first the old Testament than the New and always somewhat out of both is most likely to have been that which justin Martyr and Saint August observe in comparing the two Testaments Just. quaest. 101. The Apostles saith the one hath taught us as themselves did learn first the Precepts of the Law and then the Gospels For what else is the Law but the Gospel foreshowed What other the Gospel than the Law fulfilled In like sort the other August quaest. 33. in Num. What the Old Testament hath the very same the New containeth but that which lieth there at under a shadow in here brought forth into the open Sun Things there prefigured are here performed Again In the Old Testament there is a close comprehension of the New in the New an open discovery of the Old To be short the method of their Public readings either purposely did tend or at the leastwise doth fitly serve W●ss St●ab de rebes Ecsiast cap. 22. That from smaller things the minds of the Hearers may go forward to the Knowledge of greater and by degrees climb up from the lowest to the highest things Now besides the Scripture the Books which they called Ecclesiastical were thought not unworthy sometime to be brought into public audience and with that Name they entitled the Books which we term Apocryphal Under the selfsame Name they also comprised certain no otherwise annexed unto the New than the former unto the Old Testament as a Book of Hermes Epistles of Clement and the like According therefore to the Phrase of Antiquity these we may term the New and the other the Old Ecclesiastical Books or Writings For we being directed by a Sentence I suppose of Saint jerom who saith ●eron in ●rol●g Galeat That All Writings not Canonical are Apocryphal use not now the Title Apocryphal as the rest of the Fathers ordinarily have done whose Custom is so to name for the most part only such as might not publicly be read or divulged Ruffinus therefore having rehearsed the selfsame Books of Canonical Scripture which with us are held to be alone Canonical Ruffinus in Symbol Apost. apud Cypr. addeth immediately by way of caution We must know that other Books there are also which our Forefathers have used to name not Canonical but Ecclesiastical Books as the Book of Wisdom Ecclesiasticus Toby Judith the Macchabees in the Old Testament in the New the Book of Hermes and such others All which Books and Writings they willed to be read in Churches but not to be alleged as if their authority did bind us to build upon them our Faith Other Writings they named Apocryphal which they would not have read in Churches These things delivered unto us from the Fathers we have in this place thought good to set down So far Ruffinus He which considereth notwithstanding what store of false and forged Writings dangerous unto Christian Belief and yet bearing a V●le Gelas. decree non Council 2. p. 532. glorious Inscriptions began soon upon the Apostles times to be admitted into the Church and to be honoured as if they had been indeed Apostolic shall easily perceive what cause the Provincial Synod of b Cires An. Dom. 366. Laodicea might have as then to prevent especially the danger of Books made newly Ecclesiastical and for feat of the fraud of Heretics to provide that such Public readings might be altogether taken out of Canonical Scripture Which Ordinance respecting but that abuse which grew through the intermingling of Lessons Human with Sacred at such time as the one both affected the Credit and usurped the Name of the other as by the Canon of c Council Car●●ag 3. c. 47. Prae●e● S●ip●● as Cano●● c●s nihil in Ecclesis ligatur su● nomine Divinarum scriprerarum Cire● An. Dom. 401. a later Council providing remedy for the selfsame Evil and yet allowing the old Ecclesiastical Books to be read it doth more plainly and clearly appear neither can be construed nor should be urged utterly to prejudice our use of those old Ecclesiastical Writings much less of Homilies which were a third kind of Readins usual in former times a most commendable Institution as well then d Council Vasen ● habitum An. Dom. 444. tom Council p. 19 Si Presbyter all qua infirmiraprehibente pee se●psum non potuerit praeli●are ●anctorum Partum Homilly à Diaconibus recitentur to supply the casual as now the necessary defect of Sermons In the heat of general Persecution whereunto Christian Belief was subject upon the first promulgation thereof throughout the World it much confirmed the courage and constancy of weaker minds when public relation was made unto them after what manner God had been glorified through the sufferings of Martyrs famous amongst them for Holiness during life and at the time of their death admirable in all men's eyes through miraculous evidence of Grace divine assisting them from above For which cause the Virtues of some being thought expedient to be annually had in remembrance above the rest this brought in e Council Car●tlug 3. Can. 13. & Greg. Tu●on de gloris in●e● ca 16. & ●adria epist. ad Coral Magu a fouth kind of Public Reading whereby the lives of such Saints and Martyrs had at the time of their yearly Memorials solemn recognition in the Church of God The fond imitation of which laudable Custom being in later Ages resumed where there was neither the like cause to do as the Fathers before had done nor any Care Conscience or Wit in such as undertook to perform that Work some brainless men have by great labour and travel brought to pass that the Church is now ashamed of nothing more than of Saints If therefore Pope f Gelas. c●e● An. Do. 432. to Council p. 451. Gelasim did so long sithence see those defects of Judgement even then for which the reading of the Acts of Martyrs should be and was at that time forborn in the Church of Rome we are not to marvel that afterwards Legends being grown in a manner to be nothing else but heaps of frivolous and scandalous vanities they have been even with disdain thrown out the g Council Co●on celebra● An. Dom. 1535 pa●●a cap. 5. Melch. Can. ●ocor theol lib. 1● Vir. the tr●d ●●se lib. 5. very Nests which bred them abhorring them We are not therefore to except only Scripture and to make confusedly all the residue of one suit as if they who abolish Legends could not without incongruity retain in the Church either Homilies or those old Ecclesiastical Books Which Books in case myself did think as some others do safer and better to be left publicly unread nevertheless as in other things of like nature even so in this h In cremum ●ar●a●heum sicliterrum● qui conceptus propitus ●atrum desiai●i onibus antepodunt c. ●nde Relig●o In Extra my private Judgement I should be loath to oppose against the force of their Reverend Authority who rather considering the Divine excellency of some things in all and of all things in certain of those Apocrypha which we publicly read have thought-it better to let them stand as a lift or marginal border unto the Old Testament and though with Divine yet as Human compositions to grant at the least unto certain of them public audience in the House of God For in as much as the due estimation of heavenly Truth dependeth wholly upon the known and approved authority of those famous Oracles of God it greatly behoveth the Church to have always most especial care lest through confused mixture at any time Human usurp the room and Title of Divine Writings Hieron praes ad libros ●alom Aug de p●●●d Sanct. Wherefore albeit for the People's more plain instruction as the ancient use hath been we read in our Churches certain Books besides the Scripture yet as the Scripture we read them not All men know our professed opinion touching the difference whereby we sever them from the Scripture l. 1. c. 14. Praefat. gloss ord & Lyr. ad pr●● Hieron in job. And if any where it be suspected that some one or other will haply mistake a thing so manifest in every man's eye there is no  but that as often as those Books are read and need so requireth the style of their difference may expressly be mentioned to bar even all possibility of Error It being then known that we hold not the Apocrypha for sacred as we do the holy Scripture but for human compositions the subject whereof are sundry Divine matters let there be reason showed why to read any part of them publicly it should be unlawful or hurtful unto the Church of God I hear it said that many things in them are very frivolous and unworthy of public audience T. C. l. 2. p. 400 401. yea many contrary plainly contrary to the holy Scripture Which hitherto is neither sufficiently proved by him who saith it and if the proofs thereof were strong yet the very allegation itself is weak Let us therefore suppose for I will not demand to what purpose it is that against our Custom of reading Books not Canonical they bring exceptions of matter in those Books which we never use to read suppose I say that what faults soever they have observed throughout the passages of all those Books the same in every respect were such as neither could be construed nor aught to be censured otherwise than even as themselves pretend Yet as men through too much haste oftentimes forget the Errand whereabout they should go so here it appeareth that an eager desire to take together whatsoever might prejudice or any way hinder the credit of Apocryphal Books hath caused the Collector's Pen so to run as it were on Wheels that the mind which should guide it had no leisure to think whether that which might haply serve to withhold from giving them the Authority which belongeth unto Sacred Scripture and to cut them off from the Canon would as effectually serve to shut them altogether out of the Church and to withdraw from granting unto them that public use wherein they are only held as profitable for instruction Is it not acknowledged that those Books are Holy that they are Ecclesiastical and Sacred ●●arm Conses sect 1. ●d con art 6. Lubert de pincip Christ. doug● L●●●● that to term them Divine as being for their excellency next unto them which are properly so termed is no way to honour them above desert yea even that the whole Church of Christ as well at the first as sithence hath most worthily approved their fitness for the public informations of Life and manners Is not thus much I say acknowledged and that by them who notwithstanding receive not the same for any part of Canonical Scripture by them who deny not but that they are Faulty by them who are ready enough to give instances wherein they seem to contain matter scarce agreeable with holy Scripture So little doth such their supposed Faultiness in moderate men's Judgements enforce the removal of them out of the House of God that still they are judged to retain worthily those very Titles of Commendation than which there cannot greater be given to Writings the Authors whereof are Men. As in truth if the Scripture itself ascribing to the Persons of Men Righteousness in regard of their manifold virtues may not rightly be construed as though it did thereby clear them and make them quite free from all faults no reason we should judge it absurd to commend their Writings as Reverend Holy and Sound wherein there are so many singular Perfections only for that the exquisite Wits of some few peradventure are able dispersedly here and there to find now a word and then a sentence which may be more probably suspected than easily cleared of Error by as which have but conjectural knowledge of their meaning Against immodest Invectives therefore whereby they are charged as being fraught with a The Lib●● of Metaphys School p. art 34. outrageous Lies we doubt not but their more allowable censure will prevail who without so passionate terms of disgrace do note a difference great enough between Apocryphal and other Writings a difference such as b Joseph cent App. lib. 1. josephus and Epiphanius observe the one declaring that amongst the Jews Books written after the days of Artaxerxe were not of equal credit with them which had gone before in as much as the Jews since that time had not the like exact succession of Prophets the c Epist. in An●y●or other acknowledging that they are profitable although denying them to be Divine in such construction and sense as the Scripture itself is so termed With what intent they were first published Prael ad lib. Eccles. those words of the Nephew of Jesus do plainly enough signify After that my Grandfather Jesus had given himself to the reading of the Law and the Prophets and other Books of our Fathers and had gotten therein sufficient judgement he purposed also to write something pertaining to Learning and Wisdom to the intent that they which were desirous to learn and would give themselves to these things might profit much more in living according to the Law Their end in writing and ours in reading them is the same The Books of judith Toby Baruch Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus we read as serving most unto that end The rest we leave unto men in private Neither can it be reasonably thought because upon certain solemn occasions some Lessons are chosen out of those Books and of Scripture itself some Chapters not appointed to be read at all that we thereby do offer disgrace to the Word of God or lift up the Writings of men above it For in such choice we do not think but that Fitness of Speech may be more respected than Worthyness If in that which we use to read there happen by the way any Clause Sentence or Speech that soundeth towards Error should the mixture of a little dross constrain the Church to deprive herself of so much Gold rather than learn how by Art and Judgement to make separation of the one from the other To this effect very fitly from the counsel that St. jerem giveth Lata of taking heed how she read the Apocrypha as also by the help of other learned men's Judgements delivered in like case we may take direction But surely the Arguments that should bind us not to read them or any part of them publicly at all must be stronger than as yet we have heard any Of Preaching by Sermons● and whether Sermons be the only u●●llnary way of Teaching whereby men are brought to the saving knowledge of God's Truth 21. We marvel the less that our reading of Books not Canonical is so much impugned when so little is attributed unto the reading of Canonical Scripture itself that now it hath grown to be a question whether the Word of God be any ordinary mean to save the Souls of men in that it is either privately studied or publicly read and so made known or else only as the same is preached that is to say explained by a lively voice and applied to the People's use as the Speaker in his Wisdom thinketh meet For this alone is it which they use to call Preaching The public reading of the Apocrypha they condemn altogether as a thing effectual unto Evil the bare reading in like sort of whatsoever yea even of Scriptures themselves they mislike as a thing uneffectual to do that good which we are persuaded may grow by it Our desire is in this present Controversy as in the rest not to be carried up and down with the waves of uncertain Arguments but rather positively to lead on the minds of the simpler sort by plain and easy degrees till the very nature of the thing itself do make manifest what is Truth First therefore because whatsoever is spoken concerning the efficacy or necessity of God's Word the same they tie and restrain only unto Sermons howbeit not Sermons read neither for such they also abhor in the Church but Sermons without Book Sermons which spend their life in their birth and may have public audience but once For this cause to avoid ambiguities wherewith they often entangle themselves not marking what doth agree to the Word of God in itself and what in regard of outward accidents which may befall it we are to know that the Word of God is his Heavenly Truth touching matters of eternal life revealed and uttered unto Men unto Prophets and Apostles by immediate Divine Inspiration from them to us by their Books and Writings We therefore have no Word of God but the Scripture Apostolic Sermons were unto such as heard them his Word even as properly as to us their Writings are Howbeit not so our own Sermons the exposition which our discourse of Wit doth gather and minister out of the Word of God For which cause in this present question we are when we name the Word of God always to mean the Scripture only The end of the Word of God is to save and therefore we term it the Word of Life The way for all men to be saved is by the knowledge of that Truth which the Word hath taught And sith Eternal life is a thing of itself communicable unto all it behoved that the Word of God the necessary mean thereunto be so likewise Wherefore the Word of Life hath been always a Treasure though precious yet easy as well to attain as to find lest any man desirous of life should perish through the difficulty of the way To this and the Word of God no otherwise serveth than only in the nature of a Doctrinal Instrument It saveth because it maketh wise unto Salvation Wherefore the ignorant it saveth not they which live by the Word must know it And being itself the Instrument which God hath purposely framed thereby to work the knowledge of Salvation in the hearts of men what cause is there wherefore it should not of itself be acknowledged a most apt and a likely mean to leave an apprehension of things Divine in our understanding and in the mind an assent thereunto For touching the one sith God who knoweth and discloseth best the rich tresures of his own Wisdom hath by delivering his Word made choice of the Scriptures as the most effectual means whereby those treasures might be imparted unto the World it followeth That no man's understanding the Scripture must needs be even of itself intended as a full and perfect discovery sufficient to imprint in us the lively Character of all things necessarily required for the attainment of Eternal Life And concerning our assent to the Mysteries of Heavenly truth seeing that the Word of God for the Author's sake hath credit with all that confess it as we all do to be his Word every Proposition of holy Scripture every Sentence being to us a Principle if the Principles of all kinds of Knowledge else have that virtue in themselves whereby they are able to procure our Assent unto such Conclusions as the industry of right Discourse doth gather from them we have no reason to think the Principles of that Truth which tendeth unto man's everlasting happiness less forcible than any other when we know that of all other they are for their certainty the most infallible But as every thing of price so this doth require travel We bring not the knowledge of God with us into the World And the less our own opportunity or ability is that way the more we need the help of other men's Judgements to be our direction herein Nor doth any man ever believe into whom the doctrine of Belief is not instilled by instruction some way received at the first from others Wherein whatsoever fit means there are to notify the Mysteries of the Word of God whether Publicly which we call Preaching or in Private howsoever the Word by every such mean even ordinarily doth save and not only by being delivered unto men in Sermons Sermons are not the only Preaching which doth save Souls For concerning the use and sense of this word Preaching which they shut up in so close a Prison although more than enough have already been spoken to redeem the liberty thereof yet because they insist so much and so proudly insult thereon we must a little enure their Ears with hearing how others whom they more regard are in this Case accustomed to use the selfsame language with us whose manner of speech they deride a Paraenet ad Gent. p. 17. justin Martyr doubteth not to tell the Grecians That even in certain of their Writings the very Judgement to come is preached not the b Council Va●i● 2. c 2. Council of Vaeus to insinuate that Presbyters absent through infirmity from their Churches might be said to preach by those Deputies who in their stead did but read Homilies nor the c Council Tol. 4 cap. 11. Council of Toledo to call the usual Public reading of the Gospels in the Church Preaching nor d Rupert de Divin Offic. l. 1. c. 12 13. Isid. de Eccles. Offic. l. 1. c. 10. others long before these our days to write that by him who but readeth a Lesson in the Solemn Assembly as part of Divine Service the very Office of Preaching is so farforth executed Such kind of speeches were then familiar those Phrases seemed not to them absurd they would have marvelled to hear the e The libel of School part 11 T. C. lib. 2. pag. 388. Saint Paul's Writing is no more Preaching than his Pen or his Hand is his Tongue seeing they cannot be the same which cannot be made by the same Instruments Outcries which we do because we think that the Apostles in writing and others in reading to the Church those Books which the Apostles wrote are neither untruly nor unfitly said to preach For although men's Tongues and their Pens differ yet to one and the selfsame general if not particular effect they may both serve It is no good Argument St. Paul could not write with his Tongue therefore neither could he preach with his Pen. For Preaching is a general end whereunto Writing and Speaking do both serve Men speak not with the Instruments of Writing neither write with the Instruments of Speech and yet things recorded with the one and uttered with the other may be f Evangelizo manu & scriptione Rainol de Rom. Eccles. Idolola praef. ad Co. Essex preached well enough with both By their Patience therefore be it spoken the Apostles preached as well when they wrote as when they spoke the Gospel of Christ and our usual Public reading of the Word of God for the People's instruction is Preaching Nor about words would we ever contend were not their purpose in so restraining the same injurious to God's most Sacred Word and Spirit It is on both sides confessed That the Word of God outwardly administered his g John 6.46 Mat. 16 17. 2 Cor. 4. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 3● Acts 16. 14. Spirit inwardly concurring therewith converteth edifieth and saveth Souls Now whereas the external Administration of his Word is as well by reading barely the Scripture as by explaining the same when Sermons thereon be made in the one they deny That the Finger of God hath ordinarily certain principal operations which we most steadfastly hold and believe that it hath in both What they attribute to Sermons only and what we to Reading also 22. So worthy a part of Divine Service we should greatly wrong if we did not esteem Preaching as the blessed Ordinance of God Sermons as Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven as Wings to the Soul as Spurs to the good Affections of Man unto the Sound and Healthy as Food as Physic unto diseased Minds Wherefore how higly soever it may please them with words of Truth to extol Sermons they shall not herein offend us We seek not to derogate from any thing which they can justly esteem but our desire is to uphold the just estimation of that from which it seemeth unto us they derogate more than becometh them That which offendeth us is first the great disgrace which they offer unto our Custom of bare reading the Word of God and to his gracious Spirit the Principal virtue whereof thereby manifesting itself for the endless good of men's Souls even the Virtue which it hath to convert to edify to save Souls this they mightily strive to obscure and Secondly The shifts wherewith they maintain their opinion of Sermons whereunto while they labour to appropriate the Saving power of the Holy Ghost they separate from all apparent hope of Life and Salvation thousands whom the goodness of Almighty God doth not exclude Touching therefore the use of Scripture even in that it is openly read and the inestimable good which the Church of God by that very mean hath reaped there was we may very well think some cause which moved the Apostle Saint Paul to require 2 Thes. ● 27. Colos. ● 16 that those things which any one Churches affairs gave particular occasion to write might for the Instruction of all be published and that by reading 1. When the very having of the Books of God was a matter of no small charge and difficulty in as much as they could not be had otherwise than only in written Copies it was the necessity not of Preaching things agreeable with the Word but of reading the Word itself at large to the People which caused Churches throughout the World to have public care that the sacred Oracles of God being procured by Common charge might with great sedulity be kept both entire and sincere If then we admire the providence of God in the same continuance of Scripture notwithstanding the violent endeavours of Infidels to abolish and the fraudulence of Heretics always to deprave the same shall we set light by that Custom of Reading from whence so precious a benefit hath grown 2. The Voice and Testimony of the Church acknowledging Scripture to be the Law of the Living God is for the truth and certainty thereof no mean Evidence For if with Reason we may presume upon things which a few men's depositions do testify suppose we that the minds of men are not both at their first access to the School of Christ exceedingly moved yea and for ever afterwards also confirmed much when they consider the main consent of all the Churches in the whole World witnessing the Sacred Authority of Scriptures ever since the first publication thereof even till this present day and hour And that they all have always so testified I see not how we should possibly wish a proof more palpable than this manifest received and every where continued Custom of Reading them publicly as the Scriptures The Reading therefore of the Word of God as the use hath ever been in open Audience is the plainest evidence we have of the Church's assent and acknowledgement that it is his Word 3. A further commodity this Custom hath which is to furnish the very simplest and rudest sort with such infallible Axioms and Precepts of Sacred Truth delivered even in the very letter of the Law of God as may serve them for Rules whereby to judge the better all other Doctrines and Instructions which they hear John 5. 39 Isa. 8. 22. For which end and purpose I see not how the Scripture could be possibly made familiar unto all unless far more should be read in the People's hearing than by a Sermon can be opened For whereas in a manner the whole Book of God is by reading every year published a small part thereof in comparison of the whole may hold very well the readiest Interpreter of Scripture occupied many years 4. Besides wherefore should any man think but that Reading itself is one of the ordinary means whereby it pleaseth God of his gracious goodness to instill that Celestial Verity which being but so received is nevertheless effectual to save Souls Thus much therefore we ascribe to the Reading of the Word of God as the manner is in our Churches And because it were odious if they on their part should altogether despise the same they yield that Reading may set forward but not begin the work of Salvation That a T. C. l. 2. p. 376 377 395. Faith may be nourished therewith but not bred That b Pag. 3. 8. herein men's attention to the Scriptures and their speculation of the Creatures of God have like efficacy both being of power to augment but neither to effect Belief without Sermons That if c Pag. 383. any believe by Reading alone we are to account it a miracle an extraordinary work of God Wherein that which they grant we gladly accept at their hands and with that patiently they would examine how little cause they have to deny that which as yet they grant not The Scripture witnesseth 2 Chro. ●● 16 that when the Book of the Law of God had been sometime missing and was after found the King which heard it but only read tore his  and with tears confessed 2 Chro. 34.3 Great is the wrath of the Lord upon us because our Fathers have not● kept his Word to do after all things which are written in this Book This doth argue that by bare reading for of Sermons at that time there is no mention true Repentance may be wrought in the hearts of such as fear God and yet incur his displeasure the deserved effect whereof is Eternal death So that their Repentance although it be not their first entrance is notwithstanding the first step of their re-entrance into Life and may be in them wrought by the Word only read unto them Besides it seemeth that God would have no man stand in doubt but that the reading of Scripture is effectual as well to lay even the first foundation as to add degrees of farther perfection in the fear of God And therefore the Law saith Deut. 31. 13. Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel that Men Women and Children may hear yea even that their Children which as yet have not known it may hear it and by hearing it so read may learn to fear the lord Our Lord and Saviour was himself of opinion Luke 16. 29. That they which would not be drawn to amendment of Life by the Testimony which Moses and the Prophets have given concerning the miseries that follow Sinners after death were not likely to be persuaded by other means although God from the very Dead should have raised them up Preachers Many hear the Books of God and believe them not Howbeit their unbelief in that case we may not impute unto any weakness or insufficiency in the mean which is used towards them but to the wilful bent of their obstinate hearts against it With minds obdurate nothing prevaileth As well they that preach as they that read unto such shall still have cause to complain with the Prophets which were of old Who will give credit unto our Teaching But with whom ordinary means will prevail surely the power of the World of God even without the help of Interpreters in God's Church worketh mightily not unto their confirmation alone which are converted but also to their conversion which are not It shall not boot them who derogate from reading to excuse it when they see no other remedy as if their intent were only to deny that Aliens and Strangers from the Family of God are won or that Belief doth use to be wrought at the first in them without Sermons For they know it is our Custom of simple Reading not for conversion of Infidels estranged from the House of God but for instruction of Men baptised bred and brought up in the bosom of the Church which they despise as a thing uneffectual to save such Souls In such they imagine that God hath no ordinary mean to work Faith without Sermons The reason why no man can attain Belief by the bare contemplation of Heaven and Earth is for that they neither are sufficient to give us as much as the least spark of Light concerning the very principal Mysteries of our Faith and whatsoever we may learn by them the same we can only attain to know according to the manner of natural Sciences which mere discourse of Wit and Reason findeth out whereas the things which we properly believe be only such as are received upon the credit of Divine Testimony Seeing therefore that he which considereth the Creatures of God findeth therein both these defects and neither the one nor the other in Scriptures because he that readeth unto us the Scriptures delivereth all the Mysteries of Faith and not any thing amongst them all more than the mouth of the Lord doth warrant It followeth in those own respects that our consideration of Creatures and attention unto Scriptures are not in themselves and without-Sermons things of like disability to breed or beget Faith Small cause also there is why any man should greatly wonder as at an extraordinary work if without Sermons Reading be sound to effect thus much For I would know by some special instance what one Article of Christian Faith or what duty required unto all men's Salvation there is which the very reading of the Word of God is not apt to notify Effects are miraculous and strange when they grow by unlikely means But did we ever hear it accounted for a Wonder that he which doth read should believe and live according to the will of Almighty God Exod. 14.7 Reading doth convey to the Mind that Truth without addition or diminution which Scripture hath derived from the Holy Ghost And the end of all Scripture is the same which Saint john proposeth in the writing of that most Divine Gospel John 20. 31. namely Faith and through Faith Salvation Yea all Scripture is to this effect in itself available Prov. 1. 2,3,4 Rom. 1. 16. 2 Tim. 3. 15. as they which wrote it were persuaded unless we suppose that the Evangelists or others in speaking of their own intent to instruct and to save by writing had a secret Conceit which they never opened to any a Conceit that no man in the World should ever be that way the better for any Sentence by them written till such time as the same might chance to be preached upon or alleged at the least in a Sermon Otherwise if he which writeth doth that which is forceable in itself how should he which readeth be thought to do that which in itself is of no force to work Belief and to save Believers Now although we have very just cause to stand in some jealousy and fear lest by thus overvaluing their Sermons they make the price and estimation of Scripture otherwise notified to fall nevertheless so impatient they are that being but requested to let us know what causes they leave for men's encouragement to attend to the reading of the Scripture if Sermons only be the power of God to save every one which believeth that which we move for our better learning and instruction-sake turneth unto anger and choler in them they grow altogether out of quietness with it T. C. l. 2. p. 376. they answer fumingly that they are ashamed to defile their Pens with making answer to such idle questions yet in this their mood they cast forth somewhat wherewith under pain of greater displeasure we must rest contented They tell us the profit of Reading is singular in that it serveth for a Preparative unto Sermons it helpeth prettily towards the nourishment of Faith which Sermons have once engendered it is some stay to his mind which readeth the Scripture when he findeth the same things there which are taught in Sermons and thereby perceiveth how God doth concur in opinion with the Preacher besides it keepeth Sermons in memory and doth in that respect although not feed the Soul of man yet help the retentive force of that stomach of the mind which receiveth ghostly ●ood at the Preachers hands But the principal cause of writing the Gospel was that it might be preached upon or interpreted by public Ministers apt and authorized thereunto Is it credible that a superstitious conceit for it is no better concerning Sermons should in such sort both darken their Eyes and yet sharpen their Wits withal that the only true and weightly cause why Scripture was written the cause which in Scripture is so often mentioned the cause which all men have ever till this present day acknowledged this they should clean exclude as being no cause at all and load us with so great store of strange concealed causes which did never see light till now In which number the rest must needs be of moment when the very chiefest cause of committing the Sacred Word of God unto Books is surmised to have been lest the Preacher should want a Text whereupon to scholie Men of Learning hold it for a slip in Judgement when offer is made to demonstrate that as proper to one thing which Reason findeth common unto more Whereas therefore they take from all kinds of teachings that which they attribute to Sermons it had been their part to yield directly some strong reason why between Sermons alone and Faith there should be ordinarily that coherence which causes have with their usual effects why a Christian man's belief should so naturally grow from Sermons and not possibly from any other kind of teaching In belief there being but these two operations Apprehension and Assent Do only Sermons cause Belief in that no other way is able to explain the mysteries of God that the mind may rightly apprehend or conceive them as behooveth We all know that many things are believed although they be intricate obscure and dark although they exceed the reach and capacity of our Wits yea although in this World they be no way possible to be understood Many things believed are likewise so plain that every Common Person may therein be unto himself a sufficient Expounder Finally to explain even those things which need and admit explication many other usual ways there are besides Sermons Therefore Sermons are not the only ordinary means whereby we first come to apprehend the Mysteries of God Is it in regard then of Sermons only that apprehending the Gospel of Christ we yield thereunto our unfeigned assent as to a thing infallibly true They which rightly consider after what sort the heart of man hereunto is framed must of necessity acknowledge that who so assenteth to the words of Eternal life doth it in regard of his Authority whose words they are This is in man's conversion unto God the first step whereat his race towards Heaven beginneth Unless therefore clean contrary to our own experience we shall think it a miracle if any man acknowledge the Divine authority of the Scripture till some Sermon have persuaded him thereunto and that otherwise neither conversation in the bosom of the Church nor religious Education nor the reading of Learned men's Books nor Information received by conference nor whatsoever pain and diligence in hearing studying meditating day and night on the Law is so far blessed of God as to work this effect in any man how would they have us to grant that Faith doth not come but only by heating Sermons a T. C. l. r. p. 375. Fain they would have us to believe the Apostle Saint Paul himself to be Author of this their Paradox only because he hath said that it pleaseth God by the b 1 Cor. 1.21 foolishness of Preaching to save them which believe and again c Rom. 10.14 How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard How shall they hear without a Preacher How shall men preach except they be sent To answer therefore both Allegations at once The very substance of what they contain is in few but this Life and Salvation God will have offered unto all his will is that Gentiles should be saved as well as Jews Salvation belongeth unto none but such as call upon the Name of our Lord jesus Christ. Which Nations as yet unconverted neither do not possibly can do till they believe What they are to believe impossible it is they should know till they bear it Their Hearing requireth our Preaching unto them d Apologet. c. 18. in finc Tertullian to draw even Painyms themselves unto Christian Belief willeth the Books of the Old Testament to be searched which were at that time in Ptolemics Library And if men did not lift to travel so far though it were for their endless good he addeth that in Rome and other places the Jews had Synagogues whereunto every one which would might resort that this kind of Liberty they purchased by payment of a standing Tribute that there they did openly e This they did in a tongue which to all learned men amongst the Heathens and to a great part of the simplest was familiarly known as appeareth by a supplication offered unto the Emperor justinian wherein the Jews make request that it might be lawful for them to read the Greek Translations of the 70. Interpreters in their Synagogues as their Custom before had been Anthem 145. Cel. 10. incipit AEqaum sanc read the Scriptures and whosoever will bear saith Tertullian he shall find God whosoever will study to know shall be also fain to believe But sith there is no likelihood that ever voluntarily they will seek Instruction at our hands it remaineth that unless we will suffer them to perish Salvation itself must seek them it behooveth God to send them Preachers as he did his elect Apostles throughout the World There is a Knowledge which God hath always revealed unto them in the works of Nature This they honour and esteem highly as profound Wisdom howbeit this Wisdom saveth them not That which must save Believers is the knowledge of the Cross of Christ the only Subject of all our Preaching And in their Eyes what seemeth this but Folly It pleaseth God by the foolishness of Preaching to save These Words declare how admirable force those Mysteries have which the World do deride as Follies they show that the Foolishness of the Cross of Christ is the Wisdom of True Believers they concern the Object of our Faith the f I● the Apostle u●eth the went and Matter preached of and believed in by Christian men This we know that the Grecians or Gentiles did account Foolishness but that they did ever think it a fond or unlikely way to seek men's Conversion by Sermons we have not heard Manifest therefore it is that the Apostle applying the name of Foolishness in such sort as they did must needs by the Foolishness of Preaching mean the Doctrine of Christ which we learn that we may be saved but that Sermons are the only manner of teaching whereby it pleaseth our Lord to save he could not mean In like sort where the same Apostle proveth that as well the sending of the Apostles as their preaching to the Gentiles was necessary dare we affirm it was ever his meaning that unto their Salvation who even from their tender Infancy never knew any other Faith or Religion that only Christian no kind of Teaching can be available saving that which was so needful for the first universal Conversion of Gentiles hating Christianity neither the sending of any sort allowable in the one case except only of such as had been in the other also most fit and worthy Instruments Belief in all sorts doth come by harkening and attending to the Word of Life Which Word sometime proposeth and preacheth itself to the Hearer sometime they deliver it whom privately Zeal and Piety moveth to be Instructors of others by conference sometime of them it is taught whom the Church hath called to the Public either reading thereof or interpreting All these tend unto one effect neither doth that which St. Paul or other Apostles teach concerning the necessity of such Teaching as theirs was or of sending such as they were for that purpose unto the Gentiles prejudice the efficacy of any other way of Public instruction or enforce the utter disability of any other men's Vocation thought requisite in this Church for the saving of Souls where means more effectual are wanting Their only proper and direct proof of the thing in question had been to show in what sort and how far man's Salvation doth necessarily depend upon the knowledge of the Word of God what Conditions Properties and Qualities there are whereby Sermons are distinguished from other kinds of administering the Word unto that purpose and what special Property or Quality that is which being no where found but in Sermons maketh them effectual to save Souls and leaveth all other Doctrinal means besides destitute of vital efficacy These pertinent Instructions whereby they might satisfy us and obtain the Cause itself for which they contend these things which only would serve they leave and which needeth not sometime they trouble themselves with fretting at the ignorance of such as withstand them in their Opinion sometime they a ● c. ● ● p. 373. This sail of Readers The Bishops more than beggarly Presents Those Rascal Ministers fall upon their poor Brethren which can but read and against them they are bitterly eloquene If we allege what the Scriptures themselves do usually speak for the saving force of the Word of God not with restraint to any one certain kind of delivery but howsoever the same shall chance to be made known yet by one trick or other they always b T C. l. a. p. 37. restrain it unto Sermons Our Lord and Saviour hath said c John 3. 39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternal life But they tell us he spoke to the Jews which Jews before had heard his Sermons and that peradventure it was his mind they should search not by reading nor by hearing them read but by attending whensoever the Scriptures should happen to be alleged in Sermons Furthermore having received Apostolical Doctrine d Gal. 1. 9 the Apostle Saint Paul hath taught us to esteem the same as the Supreme Rule whereby all other Doctrines must for ever be examined Yea but in as much as the Apostle doth there speak of that he had Preached he flatly maketh as they strangely affirm his Preachings or Sermons the Rule whereby to examine all And then I beseech you what Rule have we whereby to judge or examine any For if Sermons must be our Rule because the Apostles Sermons were so to their Hearers then sith we are not as they were Hearers of the Apostles Sermons it resteth that either the Sermons which we hear should be our Rule or that being absurd therewill which yet hath greater absurdity no Rule at all be remaining for Trial what Doctrines now are corrupt what consonant with heavenly Truth 1. Tim. 3 16. Again let the same Apostle acknowledge all Scripture profitable to teach to improve to correct to instruct in Righteousness Still notwithstanding we err if hereby we presume to gather that Scripture read will avail unto any one of all these uses they teach us the meaning of the words to be that so much the Scripture can do if the Minister that way apply it in his Sermons otherwise not Finally they never hear Sentence which mentioneth the Word or Scripture but forthwith their Glosses upon it are the Word preached the Scripture explained or delivered unto us in Sermons Sermons they evermore understand to be that Word of God which alone hath vital Operation the dangerous sequel of which Construction I wish they did more attentively weigh For sith Speech is the very Image whereby the mind and soul of the Speaker conveyeth itself into the bolom of him which heareth we cannot choose but see great reason wherefore the Word that proceedeth from God who is Himself very Truth and Life should be as the Apostle to the Hebrews noteth lively and mighty in operation Heb. 4. 12. sharper than any two-edged Sword Now if in this and the like Places we did conceive that our own Sermons are that strong and forcible Word should we not hereby impart even the most peculiar glory of the Word of God unto that which is not his word For touching our Sermons that which giveth them their very being is the wit of man and therefore they oftentimes accordingly taste too much of that over-corrupt Fountain from which they come In our speech of most holy things our most frail affections many times are bewrayed Wherefore when we read or recite the Scripture we then deliver to the People properly the Word of God As for our Sermons be they never so sound and perfect his Word they are not as the Sermons of the Prophets were no they are but ambiguously termed his Word because his Word is commonly the Subject whereof they treat and must be the Rule whereby they are framed Notwithstanding by these and the like shifts they derive unto Sermons alone whatsoever is generally spoken concerning the Word Again what seemeth to have been uttered concerning Sermons and their efficacy or necessity in regard of Divine matter and must consequently be verified in sundry other kinds of teaching if the Matter be the same in all their use is to fasten every such Speech unto that one only manner of teaching which is by Sermons that still Sermons may be all in all a T. C. l 2. p. 381. Thus because Solomon declareth that the People decay or perish for want of Knowledge where b Prov. 29.18 no Prophesying at all is they gather that the hope of Life and Salvation is cut off where Preachers are not which prophecy by Sermons how many soever they be in number that read daily the Word of God and deliver though in other sort the selfsame matter which Sermons do The people which have no way to come to the knowledge of God no prophesying no teaching perish But that they should of necessity perish where any one way of knowledge lacketh is more than the words of Solomon import c T. C. l. a. p. 379. Another usual point of their Art in this present question is to make very large and plentiful Discourses how Christ is by Sermons d 2 Cor. 2.16 lifted up higher and made more e 2 Tim. 2 15. apparent to the eye of Faith how the f Matth 16.19 savour of the Word is more sweet being brayed and more able to nourish being divided by Preaching then by only reading proposed how Sermons are the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and do open the Scriptures which being but read remain in comparison still clasped how God g 1 Cor. 3. 6. giveth richer increase of grace to the Ground that is planted and watered by Preaching than by bare and simple Reading Out of which premises declaring how attainment unto life is easier where Sermons are they conclude an h T. C. l. 2. p. 380. No Salvation to be looked for where no Preaching  impossibility thereof where Sermons are not Alcidimas the Sophister hath many arguments to prove that voluntary and extemporal far excelleth premeditated speech The like whereunto and in part the same are brought by them who commend Sermons as having which all men I think will acknowledge sundry i ● C. C. l. 2. p. 364. peculiar and proper virtues such as no other way of Teaching besides hath Aptness to follow particular occasions presently growing to put life into words by countenance voice and gesture to prevail mightily in the sudden affections of men this Sermons may challenge Wherein notwithstanding so eminent properties whereof Lessons are haply destitute yet Lessons being free from some inconveniences whereunto Sermons are more subject they may in this respect no less take then in other they must give the hand which betokeneth preeminence For there is nothing which is not some way excelled even by that which it doth excel Sermons therefore and Lessons may each excel other in some respects without any prejudice unto either as touching that vital force which they both have in the work of our Salvation To which effect when we have endeavoured as much as in us doth lie to find out the strongest causes wherefore they should imagine that Reading is itself so unavailable T. C. l. 2. p. 395. the most we can learn at their hands is that Sermons are the Ordinance of God the Scriptures dark and the labour of Reading easy First therefore as we know that God doth aid with his grace and by his special providence evermore bless with happy success those things which himself appointeth so his Church we persuade ourselves he hath not in such sort given over to a reprobate sense that whatsoever it deviseth for the good of the Souls of men the same he doth still accurse and make frustrate Or if he always did defeat the Ordinances of his Church Deut. 31. 13. is not reading the Ordinance of God Wherefore then should we think that the force of his secret grace is accustomed to bless the labour of dividing his Word according unto each man's private discretion in public Sermons and to withdraw itself from concurring with the public delivery thereof by such selected portions of Scriptures as the whole Church hath solemnly appointed to be read for the People's good either by ordinary course or otherwise according to the exigence of special occasions Reading saith a De Eccles. office l. 1. c. 10. Isidore is to the Hearers no small edifying To them whose b Psal. 1. 2. delight and meditation is in the Law seeing that happiness and bliss belongeth it is not in us to deny them the benefit of heavenly Grace And I hope we may presume that a rare thing it is not in the Church of God even for that very Word which is read to be both presently their c Psal. 119. 16. joy and afterwards their study that hear it d Aug. in Ps. ●6 S. Augustin speaking of devout men noteth how they daily frequented the Church how attentive ear they gave unto the Lessons and Chapters read how careful they were to remember the same and to muse thereupon by themselves e Cyprian 1. 2. Epist. 5. Lector personat verba sublimia Evangelium Christi 1. gs a frottibus conspieitur cum giudio fraternitatis auditur St. Cyprian observeth that Reading was not without effect in the hearts of men Their joy and alacity was to him an argument that there is in this Ordinance a blessing such as ordinarily doth accompany the administration of the Word of Life It were much if there should be such a difference between the hearing of Sermons preached and of Lessons read in the Church that he which presenteth himself at the one and maketh his Prayer with the Prophet f Psal. 119. 33 35. David Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes direct me in the path of thy commandments might have the ground of usual experience whereupon to build his hope of prevailing with God and obtaining the Grace he seeketh they chose not so who crave the like assistance of his Spirit when they give ear to the reading of the other In this therefore Preaching and Reading are equal that both are approved as his Ordinances both assisted with his Grace And if his Grace do assist them both to the nourishment of faith already bred we cannot without some very manifest cause yielded imagine that in breeding or begetting faith his grace doth cleave to the one and utterly forsake the other Touching hardness which is the second pretended impediment T. C. l. 2. p. 383. 384 392. as against Homilies being plain and popular instructions it is no bar so neither doth it infringe the efficacy no not of Scriptures although but read The force of reading how small soever they would have it must of necessity be granted sufficient to notify that which is plain or easy to be understood And of things necessary to all men's salvation we have been hitherto accustomed to hold especially sit hence the publishing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ whereby the simplest having now a Key unto Knowledge which the Eunuch in the Acts did want Acts. ● 31. our Children may of themselves by reading understand that which he without an Interpreter could not they are in Scripture plain and easy to be understood As for those things which at the first are obscure and dark when memory hath laid them up for a time Judgement afterwards growing explaineth them Scripture therefore is not so hard but that the only reading thereof may give life unto willing Hearers The easy performance of which holy labour is in like sort a very cold Objection to prejudice the virtue thereof For what though an Infidel yes though a Child may be able to read there is no doubt but the meanest and worst amongst the People under the Law had been as able as the Priests themselves were to offer Sacrifice Did this make Sacrifice of no effect unto that purpose for which it was instituted In Religion some duties are not commended so much by the hardness of their execution as by the worthiness and dignity of that acceptation wherein they are held with God We admire the goodness of God in nature when we consider how he hath provided that things most needful to preserve this life should be most prompt and easy for all living Creatures to come by Is it not as evident a sign of his wonderful providence over us when that food of Eternal life upon the utter want whereof our endless death and destruction necessarily ensueth is prepared and always set in such a readiness that those very means than which nothing is more easy may suffice to procure the same Surely if we perish it is not the lack of Scribes and learned Expounders that can be out just excuse The Word which saveth our Souls is near us we need for knowledge but to read and live Apoc. 1 3. The man which readeth the Word of God the Word itself doth pronounce blessed if he also observe the same Now all these things being well considered it shall be no intricate matter for any man to judge with indifferency on which part the good of the Church is most conveniently sought whether on ours whose opinion is such as hath been showed or else on theirs who leaving no ordinary way of Salvation for them unto whom the T. C. l. 2. p. 353. p. 373. Word of God is but only read do seldom name them but with great disdain and contempt who execute that Service in the Church of Christ. By means whereof it hath come to pass that Churches which cannot enjoy the benefit of usual Preaching are judged as it were even forsaken of God forlorn and without either hope or comfort chose those places which every day for the most part are at Sermons as the flowing sea do both by their emptiness at times of reading and by other apparent tokens show to the voice of the living God this way sounding in the ears of men a great deal less reverence than were meet But if no other evil were known to grow thereby who can choose but think them cruel which doth hear them so boldly teach Pag. 364. 375. 382 383 384. that if God as to him there nothing impossible do haply save any such as continue where they have all other means of instruction but are not taught by continual preaching yet this is miraculous and more than the fitness of so poor instruments can give any man cause to hope for that Sacraments are not effectual to Salvation Pag. 392. except men be instructed by Preaching before they be made Partakers of them yea that both Sacraments and Prayers also where Sermons are not Pag. 364. do not only not feed but are ordinarily to further condemnation What man's heart doth not rise at the mention of these things● It is true that the weakness of our Wits and the dulness of our Affections do make us for the most part even as our Lords own Disciples were for a certain time hard and slow to believe what is written For help whereof expositions and exhortations are needful and that in the most effectual manner The principal Churches throughout the Land and no small part of the rest being in this respect by the goodness of God so abundantly provided for they which want the like furtherance unto knowledge wherewith it were greatly to be desired that they also did abound are yet we hope not left in so extreme desticution that justly any men should think the ordinary means of Eternal life taken from them because their teaching is in public for the most part but by Reading For which cause amongst whom there are not those helps that others have to set them forward in the way of Life such to dishearten with fearful Sentences as though their Salvation could hardly be hoped for is not in our understanding so consonant with Christian Charity We hold it safer a great deal and better to give them a Ecclus 51. 26.27 Matth. 12. ●● encouragement to put them in mind that it is not the deepness of their Knowledge but the b 1 Tim. 1. 3. Rom. 14. 1. 1 Thes. 3. 10. singleness of their Belief which God accepteth That they which c Matth. 5. 6. hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be satisfied That no d Phil. 1. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 10. Matth. 3. 9 imbecility of Means can prejudice the truth of the promise of God herein That the weaker their helps are the more their need is to sharpen the edge of their own e 1 Thes. 4. 18. Pet. 10. ●4 Judas vers 20. 1 Per. 4. 10. industry And that f Luke 11. 31. painfulness by feeble means shall be able to gain that which in the plenty of more forcible instruments is through sloth and negligence lost As for the men with whom we have thus fart taken pains to confer about the force of the Word of God either read by itself or opened in Sermons their speeches concerning both the one and the other are in truth such as might give us very just cause to think that the reckoning is not great which they make of either For howsoever they have been driven to devise some odd kind of blind uses whereunto they may answer that reading doth serve yet the reading of the Word of God in public more than their Preachers bare Text who will not judge that they deem needless when if we chance at any time to term it necessary as being a thing which God himself did institute amongst the Jews for purposes that touch as well us as them a thing which the Apostles commend under the Old and ordain under the New Testament a thing whereof the Church of God hath ever since the first beginning reaped singular Commodity a thing which without exceeding great detriment no Church can omit they only are the men that ever we heard of by whom this hath been crossed and gainsaid they only the men which have given their peremptory sentence to the contrary T. C. l. 2. p. 381. It is untrue that simple Reading is necessary in the Church And why untrue Because although it be very convenient which is used in some Churches where before Preaching-time the Church assembled hath the Scriptures read in such order that the whole Canon thereof is oftentimes in one year run through yet a number of Churches which have no such order of simple Reading cannot be in this point charged with breach of God's commandment which they might be if simple Reading were necessary A poor a cold and an hungry cavil Shall we therefore to please them change the Word Necessary and say that it hath been a commendable Order a Custom very expedient or an Ordinance most profitable whereby they know right well that we mean exceedingly behoouful to read the Word of God at large in the Church whether it be as our manner is or as theirs is whom they prefer before us It is not this that will content or satisfy their minds They have against it a marvellous deep and profound Axiom T. C. l. 2. p. 372. that Two things to one and the same end cannot but very improperly be said most profitable And therefore if Preaching be most profitable to man's Salvation then is not Reading if Reading be then Preaching is not Are they resolved then at the leastwise if Preaching be the only ordinary mean whereby it pleaseth God to save our Souls what kind of Preaching it is which doth save Understand they how or in what respect there is that force or virtue in Preaching We have reason wherefore to make these Demands for that although their Pens run all upon Preaching and Sermons yet when themselves do practise that whereof they write they change their Dialect and those words they eat as if there were in them some secret sting It is not their phrase to say they Preach or to give to their own instructions and exhortations the name of Sermons the pain they take themselves in this kind is either opening or Lecturing or Reading or Exercising but in no case Preaching a T. C. l. 2. p. 38. And in this present Question they also warily protest that what they ascribe to the virtue of Preaching they still mean it of good Preaching Now one of them saith that a good Sermon b Complaint of the Commin●●● must expound and apply a large portion of the Text of Scripture at one time Another giveth us to understand that sound Preaching c Dr. Som●● Painter p. 21 is not to do as one did at London who spent most of his time in Invectives against good men and told his Audience how the Magistrate should have an eye to such as troubled the peace of the Church The d T. C. lib. 2. pag. 335. best of them hold it for no good Preaching when a man endeavoureth to make a glorious show of Eloquence and Learning rather than to apply himself to the capacity of the simple But let them shape us out a good Preacher by what pattern soever pleaseth them best let them exclude and enclose whom they will with their definitions we are not desirous to enter into any contention with them about this or to abate the conceit they have of their own ways so that when once we are agreed what Sermons shall currently pass for good we may at length understand from them what that is in a good Sermon which doth make it the Word of Life unto such as hear If substance of matter evidence of things strength and validity of arguments and proofs or if any other virtue else which Words and Sentences may contain of all this what is there in the best Sermons being uttered which they lose by being read But they utterly deny that the reading either of Scriptures or Homilies and Sermons can ever by the ordinary grace of God save any Soul So that although we had all the Sermons word for word which james Paul Peter and the rest of the Apostles made some one of which Sermons was of power to convert thousands of the Hearers unto Christian Faith yea although we had all the instructions exhortations consolations which came from the gracious lips of our Lord Jesus Christ himself and should read them ten thousand times over to Faith and Salvation no man could hereby hope to attain Whereupon it must of necessity follow that the vigour and vital efficacy of Sermons doth grow from certain accidents which are not in them but in their Maker his virtue his gesture his countenance his zeal the motion of his body and the inflexion of his voice who first uttereth them as his own is that which giveth them the form the nature the very essence of instruments available to Eternal life If they like neither that nor this what remaineth but that their final conclusion be Sermons we know are the only ordinary means to Salvation but why or how we cannot tell Wherefore to end this tedious Controversy wherein the too great importunity of our over-eager Adversaries hath constrained us much longer to dwell than the barrenness of so poor a Cause could have seemed at the first likely either to require or to admit if they which without partialities and passions are accustomed to weigh all things and accordingly to give their sentence shall here sit down to receive our Audit and to cast up the whole reckoning on both sides the sum which Truth amounteth unto will appear to be but this that as Medicines provided of Nature and applied by Art for the benefit of bodily health take effect sometime under and sometime above the natural proportion of their virtue according as the mind and fancy of the Patient doth more or less concur with them So whether we barely read unto men the Scriptures of God or by Homilies concerning matter of Belief and Conversation seek to lay before them the duties which they owe unto God and Man whether we deliver them Books to read and consider of in private at their own best leisure or call them to the hearing of Sermons publicly in the House of God albeit every of these and the like unto these means do truly and daily effect that in the hearts of men for which they are each and all meant yet the operation which they have in common being most sensible and most generally noted in one kind above the rest that one hath in some men's opinions drowned altogether the rest and injuriously brought to pass that they have been thought not less effectual than the other but without the other uneffectual to save souls Whereas the cause why Sermons only are observed to prevail so much while all means else seem to sleep and do nothing is in truth but that singular affection and attention which the people showeth every where towards the one and their cold disposition to the other the reason hereof being partly the Art which our Adversaries use for the credit of their Sermons to bring men out of conceit with all other Teaching besides partly a custom which men have to let those things carelessly pass by their ears which they have oftentimes heard before or know they may hear again whenever it pleaseth themselves partly the especial advantages which Sermons naturally have to procure attention both in that they come always new and because by the Hearer it is still presumed that if they be let slip for the present what good soever they contain is lost and that without all hope of recovery This is the true cause of odds between Sermons and other kinds of wholesome Instruction As for the difference which hath been hitherto so much defended on the contrary side making Sermons the only ordinary means unto Faith and eternal Life sith this hath neither evidence of Truth nor proof sufficient to give it warrant a cause of such quality may with fart better grace and conveniency ask that pardon which common humanity doth easily grant than claim in challenging manner that assent which is as unwilling when reason guideth it to be yielded where it is not as withheld where it is apparently due All which notwithstanding as we could greatly wish that the rigour of this their opinion were allayed and mitigated so because we hold it the part of religious ingenuity to honour virtue in whomsoever therefore it is our most hearty desire and shall be always our Prayer unto Almighty God that in the selfsame fervent zeal wherewith they seem to effect the good of the Souls of men and to thirst after nothing more than that all men might by all means be directed in the way of life both they and we may constantly persist to the World's end For in this we are not their Adversaries though they in the other hitherto have been ours 23. Between the Throne of God in Heaven Of Prayer and his Church upon Earth here militant if it be so that Angels have their continual intercourse where should we find the same more verified than in those two ghostly Exercises the one Doctrine the other Prayer For what is the Assembling of the Church to learn but the receiving of Angels descended from above What to pray but the sending of Angels upwards His Heavenly Inspirations and our holy Desires are as so many Angels of intercourse and commerce between God and us As Teaching bringeth us to know that God is our supreme Truth so Prayer testifieth that we acknowledge him our sovereign Good Besides sith on God as the most High all inferior Causes in the World are dependant and the higher any Cause is the more it coveteth to impart virtue unto things beneath it how should any kind of service we do or can do find greater acceptance than Prayer which showeth our concurrence with him in desiring that wherewith his very Nature doth most delight Is not the name of Prayer usual to signify even all the service that ever we do unto God And that for no other cause as I suppose but to show that there is in Religion no acceptable Duty which devout Invocation of the name of God doth not either presuppose or infer Prayers are those a Ose. 14. 3. Calves of men's lips those most gracious and sweet b Revel 5. 8. odours those rich Presents and Gifts which being c Acts. 10. 4. carried up into Heaven do best testify our dutiful affection and are for the purchasing of all favour at the hands of God the most undoubted means we can use On others what more easily and yet what more fruitfully bestowed than our Prayers If we give Counsel they are the simpler only that need it if Alms the poorer only are relieved but by Prayer we do good to all And whereas every other Duty besides is but to show itself as time and opportunity require for this all times are convenient Rom. 1. 9 1 Thes. 5. 17. Luke 18. 1. when we are not able to do any other things for men's behoof when through maliciousness or unkindness they vouchsafe not to accept any other good at our hands Prayer is that which we always have in our power to bestow and they never in theirs to refuse Wherefore God fotbid saith Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 23. speaking unto a most unthankful People a People weary of the benefit of his most virtuous Government over them God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and cease to pray for you It is the first thing wherewith a righteous life beginneth and the last wherewith it doth end The knowledge is small which we have on Earth concerning things that are done in Heaven Notwithstanding thus much we know even of Saints in Heaven that they pray And therefore Prayer being a work common to the Church as well Triumphant as Militant a work common unto Men with Angels what should we think but that so much of our Lives is celestial and divine as we spend in the exercise of Prayer For which cause we see that the most comfortable Visitations Dan. 9 20. Acts 10. 13. which God hath sent men from above have taken especially the times of Prayer as their most natural opportunities Of Public Prayer 24. This holy and religious duty of Service towards God concerneth us one way in that we are men and another way in that we are joined as parts to that visible Mystical Body Psal. 55. 18. Dan. 9 3. Acts 10. 9 which is his Church As men we are at our own choice both for time and place and form according to the exigence of our own occasions in private But the service which we do as Members of a Public Body is public and for that cause must needs be accounted by so much worthier than the other as a whole society of such condition exceedeth the worth of any one In which consideration unto Christian Assemblies Matth. 18. 20. 2 Cor. 1. 11. there are most special Promises made St. Paul though likely to prevail with God as much as any one did notwithstanding think it much more both for God's glory and his own good if Prayers might be made and thanks yielded in his behalf by a number of men The Prince and People of Niniveh Jonah 4. 11. assembling themselves as a main Army of Supplicants it was not in the power of God to withstand them I speak no otherwise concerning the force of Public Prayer in the Church of God Apolog. 1. 39 Ambros. l. de Poen Multi minimi dum congregantur unanimes sunt magni & multorum preces impossibilest contemni than before me Tertullian hath done We come by Troops to the Place of Assembly that being banded as it were together we may be Sapplicants enough to besiege God with our Prayers These Forces are unto him acceptable When we publicly make our Prayers it cannot be but that we do it with much more comfort than in private for that the things we ask publicly are approved as needful and good in the Judgement of all we hear them sought for and desired with common consent Again thus much help and furtherance is more yielded in that if so be our zeal and devotion to God-ward be slack the alacrity and fervour of others serveth as a present spurt Psal. 12. ● For even Prayer itself saith Saint Basil when it hath not the consort of many voices to strengthen it Basil. Epist. ●● is not itself Finally the good which we do by Public Prayer is more than in private can be done for that besides the benefit which is here is no less procured to ourselves the whole Church is much bettered by our good example and consequently whereas secret neglect of our duty in this kind is but only our own hurt one man's contempt of the Common Prayer of the Church of God may be and oftentimes is most hurtful unto many Psal. 26. 12. 34. 18. Ps. 30 4. & 96. 5. In which considerations the Prophet David so often voweth unto God the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving in the Congregation so earnestly exhorteth others to sing Praises unto the Lord in his Courts in his Sanctuary before the memorial of his Holiness and so much complaineth of his own uncomfortable exile wherein although he sustained many most grievous indignities and endured the want of sundry both pleasures and honours before enjoyed yet as if this one were his only grief Psal. 27. 4. & 42. 4. & 84. 1. and the rest not felt his speeches are all of the heavenly benefit of Public Assemblies and the happiness of such as had free access thereunto Of the form of Common-Prayer 25. A great part of the Cause wherefore religious minds are so inflamed with the love of Public devotion is that virtue force and efficacy which by experience they find that the very form and reverend solemnity of Common Prayer duly ordered hath to help that imbecility and weakness in us by means whereof we are otherwise of ourselves the less apt to perform unto God so heavenly a service with such affection of heart and disposition in the powers of our Souls as is requisite To this end therefore all things hereunto appertaining have been ever thought convenient to be done with the most solemnity and majesty that the wisest could devise Matth. 6. 5 6. It is not with Public as with Private Prayer In this rather secrecy is commanded than outward show whereas that being the public act of a whole Society requireth accordingly more care to be had of external appearance The very assembling of men therefore unto this service hath been ever solemn And concerning the place of assembly although it serve for other uses as well as this yet seeing that our Lord himself hath to this as to the chiefest of all other plainly sanctified his own Temple Mat. 21. 13. by entituling it the House of Prayer what preeminence of dignity soever hath been either by the Ordinance or through the special favour and providence of God annexed unto his Sanctuary the principal cause thereof must needs be in regard of Common Prayer Chrys. Hom. 14. ad Hebra & 24. in Act. For the honour and furtherance whereof if it be as the gravest of the ancient Fathers seriously were persuaded and do oftentimes plainly teach affirming that the House of Prayer is a Court beautified with the presence of Celestial powers that there we stand we pray we sound forth Hymns unto God having his Angels intermingled as our Associates and that with reference hereunto the Apostle doth require so great care to be had of decency for the Angel's sake 1 Cor. 11. 10. how can we come to the House of Prayer and not be moved with the very glory of the place itself so to frame our affections Praying as doth best beseem them Psal. 96. 6. Power and Beauty are in his Sanctuary whose Suits the Almighty doth there sit to hear and his Angels attend to further When this was engrafted in the minds of men there needed no penal Statutes to draw them unto public Prayer The warning sound was no sooner heard Ad domos sletim Dominicas currimus corpora humisternimus mixtis cum sletu gaudija supplicamus Salvia de Prov. l. 7. but the Churches were presently filled the pavements covered with bodies prostrate and washed with their tears of devout joy And as the place of public Prayer is a Circumstance in the outward form thereof which hath moment to help devotion so the Person much more with whom the People of God do join themselves in this Action as with him that standeth and speaketh in the presence of God for them The authority of his Place the fervour of his Zeal the piety and gravity of his whole Behaviour must needs exceedingly both grace and set forward the service he doth The authority of his Calling is a furtherance because if God have so far received him into favour as to impose upon him by the hands of men that Office of blessing the People in his Name and making intercession to him in theirs which Office he hath sanctified with his own most gracious Promise Num. 6. 23. 2 Chron. 30 27. and ratified that promise by manifest actual performance thereof when others before in like place have done the same is not his very Ordination a seal as it were to us that the selfsame Divine love which hath chosen the instrument to work with will by that instrument effect the thing whereto he ordained it in blessing his People and accepting the Prayers which his Servant offereth up unto God for them It was in this respect a comfortable Title which the Ancients used to give unto God's Ministers Col. l. ●●●● 3. de Epi. & Cler. 43 & 44. saepe terming them usually God's most beloved which were ordained to procure by their Prayers his love and favour towards all Again if there be not zeal and fervency in him which proposeth for the rest those suits and supplications which they by their joyful Acclamations must ratify if he praise not God with all his might if he pour not out his Soul in Prayer if he take not their Causes to heart and speak not as Moses Daniel and Ezra did for their People how should there be but in them frozen coldness when his affections seem benumbed from whom theirs should take fire Virtue and godliness of life are required at the hands of the Minister of God not only in that he is to teach and instruct the People who for the most part are rather led away by the ill example than directed aright by the wholesome instruction of them whose Life swarveth from the rule of their own Doctrine but also much more in regard of this other part of his Function whether we respect the weakness of the People apt to loathe and abhor the Sanctuary when they which perform the service thereof are such as the Sons of Heli were 1. Tim. 2. 8. John 9 31. Jer. 11. 11. Ezech. 8. 18. or else consider the inclination of God himself who requireth the lifting up of pure hands in Prayers and hath given the World plainly to understand that the Wicked although they cry shall not be heard They are not fit Supplicants to seek his mercy on the behalf of others whose own un-repented sins provoke his just indignation Psal. 132. 9 Let thy Priests therefore O Lord be evermore clothed with Righteousness that thy Saints may thereby with more devotion rejoice and sing But of all helps for due performance of this Service the greatest is that very set and standing order itself which framed with common advice hath both for matter and form prescribed whatsoever is herein publicly done No doubt from God it hath proceeded and by us it must be acknowledged a Work of singular care and providence that the Church hath evermore held a Prescript form of Common Prayer although not in all things every where the same yet for the most part retaining still the same analogy So that if the Liturgies of all ancient Churches throughout the World be compared amongst themselves it may be easily perceived they had all one original mould and that the public Prayer of the People of God in Churches throughly settled did never use to be voluntary Dictates proceeding from any man's extemporal wit To him which considereth the grievous and scandalous Inconveniencies whereunto they make themselves daily subject with whom any blind and secret Corner is judged a fit House of Common Prayer the manifold confusions which they fall into where every man 's private Spirit and Gift as they term it is the only Bishop that ordaineth him to this Ministry the irksome deformities whereby through endless and senseless effusions of indigested Prayers they oftentimes disgrace in most unsufferable manner the worthiest part of Christian duty towards God who herein are subject to no certain Order but pray both what and how they list to him I say which weigheth duly all these things the reasons cannot be obscure 2 Chron. 6. 20. Joel 2. 17. 2 Chron. 29. 30. why God doth in Public Prayer so much respect the Solemnity of Places where the Authority and calling of Persons by whom and the precise Appointment even with what Words or Sentences his Name should be called on amongst his People Of them which like not to have any set form of Common Prayer 26. No man hath hitherto been so impious as plainly and directly to condemn Prayer The best stratagem that Satan hath who knoweth his Kingdom to be no one way more shaken than by the Public devout Prayers of God's Church is by traducing the form and manner of them to bring them into contempt and so to shake the force of all men's devotion towards them From this and from no other forge hath proceeded a strange conceit that to serve God with any set form of Common Prayer is superstitious As though God himself did not frame to his Priests the very speech Num. 6. 23. wherewith they were charged to bless the People or as if our Lord even of purpose to prevent this fancy of extemporal and voluntary Prayers had not left us of his own framing one which might both remain as a part of the Church-Liturgy and serve as a Pattern whereby to frame all other Prayers with efficacy yet without superfluity of words If Prayers were no otherwise accepted of God then being conceived always new according to the exigence of present occasions if it be right to judge him by our own Bellies and to imagine that he doth loath to have the selfsame supplications often iterated even as we do to be every day fed without alteration or change of diet if Prayers he Actions which ought to waste away themselves in the making if being made to remain that they may be resumed and used again as Prayers they be but instruments of Superstition surely we cannot excuse Moses who gave such occasion of scandal to the World by not being contented to praise the Name of Almighty God according to the usual naked simplicity of God's Spirit for that admirable victory given them against Pharaoh unless so dangerous a Precedent were lest for the casting of Prayers into certain Poetical moulds and for the framing of Prayers which might be repeated often although they never had again the same occasions which brought them forth at the first For that very Hymn of Moses grew afterwards to be a part of the ordinary Jewish Liturgy not only that but sundry other sithence invented Their Books of Common-Prayer contained partly Hymns taken out of them Holy Scripture partly Benedictions Thanksgivings Supplications penned by such as have been from time to time the Governors of that Synagogue These they sorted into their several times and places some to begin the service of God with and some to end some to go before and some to follow and some to be interlaced between the Divine Readins of the Law and Prophets Unto their custom of finishing the Passeover with certain Psalms there is not any thing more probable then that the holy Evangelist doth evidently allude saying That after the Cup delivered by our Saviour unto his Apostles a Mat. 25. 30. having sung the Psalms which were unto at that Feast those Psalms which the Jews call the great Hallelujah beginning at the 113 and conti●●●●ing to the ●a l. of the ll8 S●e Paul Bar●●●s in Ps. 112 ●●●●●●● and 〈…〉 de 〈…〉 they sung and went forth to the Mount of Olives As the Jews had their Songs of Moses and David and the rest so the Church of Christ from the very beginning hath both used the same and besides them other also of like nature the Song of the Virgin Mary the Song of Zachary the Song of Simeon such Hymns as the Apostle doth often speak of saying 1 Cor. 14. 15. Eph●ss 5. 19 I will pray and sing with the Spirit Again in Psalms Hymns and Songs making melody unto the Lord and that heartily Hymns and Psalms are such kinds of Prayer as are not wont to be conceived upon a sudden but are framed by Meditation before hand or else by Prophetical illumination are inspired as at that time it appeareth they were when God by extraordinary gifts of the Spirit enabled men to all parts of service necessary for the edifying of his Church 27. Now albeit the Admonitioners did seem at the first to allow no Prescript form of Prayer at all Of them who allowing a set form Prayer y●t allow ●er●●● but thought it the best that their Minister should always be left at liberty to pray as his own discretion did serve yet because this opinion upon better advice they afterwards retracted their Defender and his Associates have sithence proposed to the World a form such as themselves like and to show their dislike of ours have taken against it those exceptions which whosoever doth measure by number must needs be greatly out of love with a thing that hath so many faults whosoever by weight cannot choose but esteem very highly of that wherein the wit of so scrupulous Adversaries hath not hitherto observed any defect which themselves can seriously think to be of moment Gross Errors and manifest Impiety they grant we have taken away Yet a T. C. l. 1. p. ●31 afterwards p. 135. Whereas ●● Do●●er ●●●●meth that the●e can ●e nothing showed in the whole Book which is not agreeable unto the Word of God I am very ●●●●h etc. Notwithstanding my duty of defening the Truth and Love which I have first towards God and then towards my Country con 〈…〉 an● be in●t●u●● pro●e●●● speak a few words more particularly of the form of Prayer that when the blemishes thereof do appear it may please the Queen's Majesty and her Honourable Council with whose of the Parliament etc. many things in it they say are amiss many instances they give of things in our Common Prayer not agreeable as they pretend with the word of God It hath in their eye too great affinity with the form of the Church of Rome it differeth too much from that which Churches elsewhere reform allow and observe our Attire disgraceth it it is not orderly read nor gestured as beseemeth it requireth nothing to be done which a Child may not lawfully do it hath a number of short cuts or shred which may be better called Wishes than Prayers it intermingleth Prayings and Readins in such manner as if Supplicants should use in proposing their Suits unto mortal Princes all the World would judge them mad it is too long and by that mean abridgeth Preaching it appointeth the People to say after the Minister it spendeth time in singing and in reading the Psalms by course from side to side it useth the Lord's Prayer too oft the Songs of Magnificat Benedictus and Nune Dimittis it might very well spare it hath the Litany the Creed of Athanasius and Gloria Patri which are superfluous it craveth Earthly things too much for deliverance from those Evils against which we pray it giveth no Thanks some things it asketh unseasonably when they need not to be prayed for as deliverance from Thunder and Tempest when no Danger is nigh some in too abject and diffident manner as that God would give us that which we for our unworthiness dare not ask some which ought not to be desired as the deliverance from sudden Death riddance from all Adversity and the extent of saving Mercy towards all men These and such like are the Imperfections whereby our form of Common Prayer is thought to swerve from the Word of God A great favourer of that part but yet his Error that way excepted a learned painful a right virtuous and good man did not fear sometime to undertake against Popish Detractors the general maintenance and defence of our whole Church-Service as having in it nothing repugnant to the Word of God And even they which would file away most the largeness of that Offer do notwithstanding in more sparing terms acknowledge little less For when those opposite judgements which never are wont to construe things doubtful to the better those very tongues which are always prone to aggravate whatsoever hath but the least show whereby it may be suspected to savour of or to sound towards any evil do by their own voluntary sentence clearly free us from gross Errors and from manifest Impiety herein who would not judge us to be discharged of all blame which are confessed to have no great fault even by their very word and testimony in whose eyes no fault of ours hath ever hitherto been accustomed to seem small Nevertheless what they seem to offer us with the one hand the same with the other they pull back again They grant we err not in palpable manner wear not openly and notoriously impious yet Errors we have which the sharp insight of their wisest men do espy there is hidden impiety which the profounder sort are able enough to disclose Their skilful ears perceive certain harsh and unpleasant discords in the sound of our Common Prayer such as the Rules of Divine Harmony such as the Laws of God cannot bear The form of our Liturgy too near the Papists too far different from that of or her reformed Churches as they pretend 28. Touching our Conformity with the Church of Rome as also of the difference between some Reformed Churches and ours that which generally hath been already answered may serve for answer to that Exception which in these two respects they take particularly against the form of our Common Prayer To say that in nothing they may be followed which are of the Church of Rome were violent and extreme Some things they do in that they are men in that they are Wise men and Christian men some things some things in that they are men misled and blinded with Error As far as they follow Reason and Truth we fear not to tread the selfsame steps wherein they have gone and to be their Followers Where Rome keepeth that which is ancienter and better others whom we much more affect leaving it for newer and changing it for worse we had rather follow the perfections of them whom we like not than in defects resemble them whom we love T. C. l. 1. p. 135. For although they profess they agree with us touching a prescript form of Prayer to be used in the Church yet in that very form which they say is agreeable to God's Word A Bo●k of the form of Common Prayer tendered to the Parliament p. 46. and the use of Reformed Churches they have by special Protestation declared That their meaning is not it shall be prescribed as a thing whereunto they will tie their Minister It shall not they say be necessary for the Minister daily to repeat all these things before mentioned but beginning with some like Confession to proceed to the Sermon which ended he either useth the Prayer for all States before mentioned or else prayeth as the Spirit of God shall move his Heart Herein therefore we hold it much better with the Church of Rome to appoint a prescript form which every man shall be bound to observe then with them to set down a kind of direction a form for men to use if they list or otherwise to change as pleaseth themselves Furthermore the Church of Rome hath rightly also considered that Public Prayer is a Duty entire in itself a Duty requisite to be performed much oftener than Sermons can possibly be made For which cause as they so we have likewise a Public form how to serve God both Morning and Evening whether Sermons may be had or no. On the contrary side their form of Reformed Prayer showeth only what shall be done upon the days appointed for the Preaching of the Word Pag. 22. with what words the Minister shall begin Pag. 24. when the hour appointed for Sermon is come what shall be said or sung before Sermon and what after So that according to this form of theirs it must stand for a Rule No Sermon No Service Which oversight occasioned the French spitefully to term Religion that sort exercised a mere Preach Sundry other more particular defects there are which I willingly forbear to rehearse in consideration whereof we cannot be induced to prefert their Reformed form of Prayer before our own what Church soever we resemble therein A●te be●enging to the Service of God T. C. l. 1 p. ●1 We think the Surplice especially unmeet for a Minister of the Gosp. ● to ●ear p. 75. ●● is easily seen by Solomo n Eccles. 8. 9 th●● to wear a white Garment was highly esteemed in the E●st parts and was ordinary to those that were in any elimination as black with us and therefore was no several Apparel for the Ministers to execute their Ministry in ● Hierom in 44. Ezech. P●iero Adver Pelag. l. 1. c. 9 T. C. l. 1. p. 77. Be a White Garment is meant a comely Apparel and not slovenly 29. The Attire which the Minister of God is by Order to use at times of Divine Service being but a matter of mere formality yet such as for Comeliness sake hath hitherto been judged by the wiser sort of men not unnecessary to concur with other sensible Notes betokening the different kind or quality of Persons and Actions whereto it is tied as we think not ourselves the holier because we use it so neither should they with whom no such thing is in use think us therefore unholy because we submit ourselves unto that which in a matter so indifferent the wisdom of Authority and Law have thought comely To solemn Actions of Royalty and Justice their suitable Ornaments are a Beauty Are they only in Religion a stain Divine Religion saith Saint jerom he speaketh of the Priestly Attire of the Law hath one kind of Habit wherein to minister before the Lord another for ordinary uses belonging unto common life Pelagius having carped at the curious neatness of men's Apparel in those days and through the sourness of his disposition spoken somewhat too hardly thereof affirming That the glory of  and Ornaments was a thing contrary to God and godliness S. jerom whose custom is not to pardon over-easily his Adversaries if any where they chance to trip presseth him as thereby making all sorts of men in the World God's enemies Is it enmity with God saith he if I wear my Coat somewhat handsome If a Bishop a Priest Deacon and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Order come to administer the usual Sacrifice in a white Garment are they hereby God's Adversaries Clarks Monks Widows Virgins take beed it is dangerous for you to be otherwise seen than in soul and ragged  Not to speak any thing of Secular men which have proclaimed to have war with God as oft as ever they put on precious and shining clothes By which words of Jerome we may take it at the least for a probable collection that his meaning was to draw Pelagius into hatred as condemning by so general a speech even the neatness of that very Garment itself wherein the Clergy did then use to administer publicly the holy Sacrament of Christ's most blessed Body and Blood For that they did then use some such Ornament the words of chrysostom give plain testimony Chrysost. ●● popul Antioch ●om 5. Serm. 60. who speaking to the Clergy of Antioch telleth them that if they did suffer notorious Malefactor's to come to the Table of our Lord and not put them by it would be as heavily revenged upon them as if themselves had shed his Blood that for this purpose God had called them to the rooms which they held in the Church of Christ that this they should reckon was their Dignity this their Safety this their whole Crown and Glory and therefore this they should carefully intend and not when the Sacrament is administered imagine themselves called only to walk up and down in a White and shining Garment Now whereas these speeches of Jerome and Chrysostom do seem plainly to allude unto such Ministerial Garments as were then in use To this they answer that by jerom nothing can be gathered but only that the Ministers came to Church in handsome Holiday apparel and that himself did not think them bound by the Law of God no go like Slovens but the Weed which we mean he defendeth not That chrysostom meaneth the same which we defend T. C. l. 1. p. 75. It is true Chrysostom maketh mention of a White Garment but not in commendation of it but rather to the contrary for he showeth that the dignity of their Ministry was in taking h●d that none unmeet were admitted to the Lords Supper not in going about the Church with a White Garment but seemeth rather to reprehend than allow it as we do Which Answer wringeth out of Jerome and chrysostom that which their words will not gladly yield They both speak of the same Persons namely the Clergy and of their Weed at the same time when they administer the blessed Sacrament and of the selfsame kind of Weed a white Garment so far as we have wit to conceive and for any thing we are able to see their manner of speech is not such as doth argue either the thing itself to be different whereof they speak or their Judgement concerning it different although the one do only maintain it against Pelagius as a thing not therefore unlawful because it was fair or handsome and the other make it a matter of small commendation in itself if they which wear it do nothing else but wear the Robes which their Place requireth The honesty dignity and estimation of White Apparel in the Eastern part of the World is a token of greater fitness for this sacred use wherein it were not convenient that any thing basely thought of should be suffered Notwithstanding I am not bend to stand stiffly upon these Probabilities that in Ierom's and Chrysostom's time any such Attire was made several to this purpose Yet surely the words of Solomon are very impertinent to prove it an Ornament therefore not several for the Ministers to execute their Ministry in because men of credit and estimation wore their ordinary Apparel white For we know that when Solomon wrote those words the several Apparel for the Ministers of the Law to execute their Ministry in was such The Wise man which seared God from his heart Eccles. 45. 7. and honoured the Service that was done unto him could not mention so much as the Garment of Holiness but with effectual signification of most singular reverence and love Were it not better that the love which men bear to God should make the least things which are employed in his Service amiable than that their over-scrupulous dislike of so mean a thing as a Vestment should from the very Service of God withdraw their hearts and affections I term it rather a mean thing a thing not much to be respected because even they so account now of it whose first Disputations against it were such as if Religion had scarcely any thing of greater weight Their Allegations were then T. C. l. 1. p. ●9 That if a man were assured to gain a thousand by doing that which may offend any one Brother or be unto him a cause of falling he ought not to do it That this Popish Apparel the Surplice especially 71. hath been by Papists abominably abused That it hath been a mark and a very Sacrament of Abomination 75. That remaining it serveth as a Monument of Idolatry and not only edifieth not but as a dangerous and scandalous Ceremony doth exceeding much harm to them of whose good we are commanded to have regard 7● that it causeth men to perish T. C. l. 2 p 403. L● p. ●3 ●6 l. ● p. 403. and make shipwreck of Conscience for so themselves profess they mean when they say the weak are offended herewith that it hardeneth Papists hindereth the weak from profiting in the knowledge of the Gospel grieveth godly minds and giveth them occasion to think hardly of their Ministers that if the Magistrates may command or the Church appoint Rites and Ceremonies yet seeing our abstinence from things in their own nature indifferent if the weak Brother should be offended is a flat Commandment of the Holy Ghost which no Authority either of Church or Commonwealth can make void Lib. 1. p. 76. Page 81. therefore neither may the one nor the other lawfully ordain this Ceremony which hath great incommodity and no profit great offence and no edifying That by the Law it should have been burnt and consumed with fire as a thing infected with Leprosy That the Example of Ezekiah beating to powder the Brazen Serpent and of Paul abrogating those abused Feasts of Charity enforceth upon us the duty of abolishing altogether a thing which hath been and is so offensive Finally Page 78. That God by his Prophet hath given an express Commandment which in this case toucheth us no less than of old it did the Jews Esay 30. 12. ' Ye shall pollute the covering of the Images of Silver and the rich ornament of your Images of Gold and cast them away as a stained rag thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence These and such like were their first Discourses touching that Church-Attire which with us for the most part is usual in Public Prayer our Ecclesiastical Laws so appointing as well because it hath been of reasonable continuance and by special choice was taken out of the number of those holy Garments which over and besides their mystical reference served for a Exod. 18. 2. comeliness b Exod. 39.27 under the Law and is in the number of those Ceremonies which may with choice and discretion be used to that purpose in the Church of Christ as also for that it suiteth so fitly with that lightsome affection of c Psal. 149 2. Apoc. 13.9 Mar. 16. 5. joy wherein God delighteth when his Saints praise him and so lively resembleth the glory of the Saints in Heaven together with the beauty wherein Angels have appeared unto men that they which are to appear for men in the presence of God as Angels if they were left to their own choice and would choose any could not easily devise a Garment of more decency for such a Service As for those fore-rehearsed vehement allegations against it shall we give them credit when the very Authors from whom they came confess they believe not their own sayings For when once they began to perceive how many both of them in the two Universities and of others who abroad having Ecclesiastical charge do favour mightily their Cause and by all means set it forward might by persisting in the extremity of that Opinion hazard greatly their own Estates and so weaken that part which their Places do now give them much opportunity to strengthen they asked counsel as it seemed from some abroad who wisely considered that the Body is of far more worth than the Raiment Whereupon T C. l. 1. p. 7● & 1. 2. p 250. Index l 3 c 8. l. 3 p. 262 263. for fear of dangerous inconveniences it hath been thought good to add That sometimes Authority must and may with good conscience be obeyed even where Commandment is not given upon good ground That the duty of Preaching is one of the absolute Commandments of God and therefore ought not to be forsaken for the bare inconveniency of a thing which in the own nature is indifferent That one of the foulest spots is the Surplice is the offence which is giveth in occasioning the weak to fall and the wicked to be confirmed in their wickedness yet hereby there is no unlawfulness proved but only an inconveniency that such things should be established howbeit no such Inconveniency neither as may not be born with That when God doth flatly command us to abstain from things is their own Nature indifferent if they offend our weak Brethren Lib. 3. p. 263. his meaning is not we should obey his Commandment herein unless we may do it and not leave undone that which the Lord hath absolutely commanded Always provided That whosoever will enjoy the benefit of this Dispensation to wear a scandalous Badge of Idolatry Page 263. rather than forsake his Pastoral charge do as occasion serveth teach nevertheless still the incommodity of the thing itself admonish the weak Brethren that they be not and pray unto God so to strengthen them that they may not be offended thereat So that whereas before they which had Authority to institute Rites and Ceremonies were denied to have power to institute this it is now confessed that this they may also lawfully but not so conveniently appoint they did well before and as they ought who had it in utter detestation and hatred as a thing abominable they now do well which think it may be both born and used with a very good Conscience before he which by wearing it were sure to win thousands unto Christ ought not to do it if there were but one which might be offended now though it be with the offence of thousands yet it may be done rather than that should be given over whereby notwithstanding we are not certain we shall gain one the Examples of Ezechias and of Paul the Charge which was given to the Jews by Esay the strict Apostolical prohibition of things indifferent whensoever they may be scandalous were before so forcible Laws against our Ecclesiastical Attire as neither Church nor Commonwealth could possibly make void which now one of far less authority than either hath found how to frustrate by dispensing with the breach of inferior Commandments to the end that the greater may be kept But it booteth them not thus to solder up a broken Cause whereof their first and last discourses will fall asunder do what they can Let them ingenuously confess that their Invectives were too bitter their Arguments too weak the matter not so dangerous as they did imagine If those alleged testimonies of Scripture did indeed concern the matter to such effect as was pretended that which they should infer were unlawfulness because they were cited as Prohibitions of that thing which indeed they concern If they prove not our attire unlawful because in truth they concern it not it followeth that they prove not any thing against it and consequently not so much as uncomeliness or incoveniency Unless therefore they be able throughly to resolve themselves that there is no one Sentence in all the Scriptures of God which doth control the wearing of it in such manner and to such purpose as the Church of England alloweth unless they can fully rest and settle their minds in this most sound persuasion that they are not to make themselves the only competent Judges of decency in these cases and to despise the solemn judgement of the whole Church preferring before it their own conceit grounded only upon uncertain suspicions and fears whereof if there were at the first some probable cause when things were but raw and tender yet now very tract of time hath itself worn that out also unless I say thus resolved in mind they hold their Pastoral Charge with the comfort of a good Conscience no way grudging at that which they do or doing that which they think themselves bound of duty to reprove how should it possibly help or further them in their course to take such occasions as they say are requisite to be taken and in pensive manner to tell their Audience Brethren our heart's desire is that we might enjoy the full liberty of the Gospel as in other reformed Churches they do elsewhere upon whom the heavy hand of Authority hath imposed no grievous burden But such is the misery of these our days that so great happiness we cannot look to attain unto Were it so that the equity of the Law of Moses could prevail or the zeal of Ezechias be found in the hearts of those Guides and Governors under whom we live or the voice of God's own Prophets be duly heard or the Examples of the Apostles of Christ be followed yea or their Precepts be answered with full and perfect obedience these abominable Rags polluted Garments marks and Sacraments of Idolatry which Power as you see constraineth us to wear and Conscience to abhor had long ere this day been removed both out of sight and out of memory But as now things stand behold to what narrow straits we are driven On the one side we fear the words of our Saviour Christ Woe be to them by whom scandal and offence cometh on the other side at the Apostles speech we cannot but quake and tremble If I preach not the Gospel woe be unto me Being thus hardly beset we see not any other remedy but to hazard your Souls the one way that we may the other way endeavour to save them Touching the the offence of the Weak therefore we must adventure it If they perish they perish Our Pastoral charge is God's most absolute Commandment Rather than that shall be taken from us we are resolved to take this filth and to put it on although we judge it to be so unfit and inconvenient that as oft as ever we pray or preach so arrayed before you we do as much as in us lieth to cast away your Souls that are weak-minded and to bring you unto endless perdition But we beseech you Brethren have a care of your own safety take heed to your steps that ye be not taken in those snares which we lay before you And our Prayer in your behalf to Almighty God is that the poison which we offer you may never have the power to do you harm Advice and counsel is best sought for at their hands which either have no part at all in the Cause whereof they instruct or else are so far engaged that themselves are to bear the greatest adventure in the success of their own Counsels The one of which two Considerations maketh men the less respective and the other the more circumspect Those good and learned men which gave the first direction to this course had reason to wish that their own proceedings at home might be favoured abroad also and that the good affection of such as inclined towards them might be kept alive But if themselves had gone under those sails which they require to be hoist up if they had been themselves to execute their own Theory in this Church I doubt not but castly they would have seen being nearer at hand that the way was not good which they took of advising men first to wear the apparel that thereby they might be free to continue their preaching and then of requiring them so to preach as they might be sure they could not continue except they imagine that Laws which permit them not to do as they would will endure them to speak as they list even against that which themselves do by constraint of Laws they would have easily seen that our People being accustomed to think evermore that thing evil which is publicly under any pretence reproved and the men themselves worse which reprove it and use it too it should be to little purpose for them to salve the wound by making protestations in disgrace of their own actions with plain acknowledgement that they are scandalous or by using fair entreaty with the weak Brethren they would easily have seen how with us it cannot be endured to hear a man openly profess that he putteth fire to his Neighbour's house but yet so halloweth the same with Prayer that he hopeth it shall not burn It had been therefore perhaps safer and better for ours to have observed S. Basils' advice both in this and in all things of like nature Basil. Asect ●●●pent 2. l in●er 47. Let him which approveth not his Governors' Ordinances either plainly but privately always show his dislike of he have strong and invincible reason against them according to the true will and meaning of Scripture or else let him quietly with silence do what is enjoined Obedience with professed unwillingness to obey is no better than manifest disobedience Of gesture in praying and of different places chosen to that purpose T C. l. 1 p. 134. 30. Having thus disputed whether the Surplice be a fit Garment to be used in the service of God the next Question whereinto we are drawn is Whether it be a thing allowable or no that the Minister should say Service in the Chancel or ruin his face at any time from the People or before Service ended remove from the place where it was begun By them which trouble us with these doubts we would more willingly be resolved of a greater doubt Whether it be not a kind of taking God's Name in vain to debase Religion with such frivolous disputes a sin to bestow time and labour about them Things of so mean regard and quality although necessary to be ordered are notwithstanding very unsavoury when they come to be disputed of because Disputation presupposeth some difficulty in the matter which is argued whereas in things of this nature they must be either very simple or very froward who need to be taught by disputation what is meet When we make profession of our Faith we stand when we acknowledge our sins or seek unto God for favour we fall down because the gesture of constancy becometh us best in the one in the other the behaviour of humility Some part of our Liturgy consist in the reading of the word of God and the proclaiming of his Law that the people may thereby learn what their duties are towards him some consist in words of praise and thanksgiving whereby we acknowledge unto God what his blessings are towards us some are such as albeit they serve to singular good purpose even when there is no Communion administered nevertheless being devised at the first for that purpose are at the Table of the Lord for that cause also commonly read some are uttered as from the people some as with them unto God some as from God unto them all as before his sight whom we fear and whose presence to offend with any the least unseemliness we would be surely as loath as they who most reprehend or deride that we do Now T. C. l. 1. p. 203. because the Gospels which are weekly read do all historically declare something which our Lord Jesus Christ himself either spoke did or suffered in his own Person it hath been the custom of Christian men then especially in token of the greater reverence to stand to utter certain words of acclamation and at the name of Jesus to bow Which harmless Ceremonies as there is no man constrained to use so we know no reason wherefore any man should yet imagine it an unsufferable evil Mark 12. 6. It showeth a reverend regard to the Son of God above other Messengers although speaking as from God also And against Infidels Jews Arians who derogate from the honour of Jesus Christ such Ceremonies are most profitable As for any erroneous estimation advancing the Son above the Father and the holy Ghost T C l. 3 p. 215. seeing that the truth of his equality with them is a mystery so hard for the wits of mortal men to rise unto of all Heresies that which may give him superiority above them is least to befeared But to let go this as a matter scarce worth the speaking of whereas if fault be in these things any where justly found Law hath referred the whole disposition and redress thereof to the Ordinary of the place T. C. l. 1. p ●4 they which elsewhere complain that disgrace and injury is offered even to the meanest Parish Minister when the Magistrate appointeth him what to wear and leaveth not so small a matter as that to his own discretion being presumed a man discreet T. C. l 1. p 134. ● 3. p. 137. and trusted with the care of the People's Souls do think the gravest Prelates in the Land no competent Judges to discern and appoint where it is fit for the Minister to stand or which way convenient to look Praying From their Ordinary therefore they appeal to themselves finding great fault that we neither reform the thing against the which they have so long since given sentence nor yet make answer unto what they bring which is that Saint Luke declaring how Peter stood up in the midst of the Disciples Acts 1. 13. T. C. l. 1. p. 134. l. 3 p. 137. did thereby deliver an unchangeable rule that whatsoever is done in the Church aught to be done in the midst of the Church and therefore not Baptism to be administered in one place Marriage solemnised in another the Supper of the Lord received in a third in a fourth Sermons in a fifth Prayers to be made that the custom which we use is Levitical absurd and such as hindereth the understanding of the People that if it be meet for the Minister at some time to look towards the People if the body of the Church be a fit place for some part of Divine Service it must needs follow that whensoever his face is turned any other way or any thing done any other where it hath absurdity All these reasons they say have been brought and were hitherto never answered besides a number of metriments and jests unanswered likewise wherewith they have pleasantly moved much laughter at our manner of serving God Such is their evil hap to play upon dull spirited men We are still persuaded that a bare denial is answer sufficient to things which mere fancy objecteth and that the best Apology to words of scorn and petulancy is Isaac's Apology to his Brother Ishmael the Apology which patience and silence maketh Our Answer therefore to their Reasons is no to their Scoffs nothing 31. When they object that our Book requireth nothing to be done Easiness of Praying alter our form T.C.l. 1. p. 133. & l. 3 p. 184. Another fault in the whole Service or Liturgy of England is for that it maintaineth an unpreaching Ministry in requiring nothing to be done by the Minister which a Child of ten years old cannot do as well and as lawfully as that man wherewith the Book contenteth itself which a Child may not do as lawfully and as well as that man wherewith the Book conteneth itself Is it their meaning that the service of God ought to be a matter of great difficulty a Labour which requireth great learning and deep skill or elsen that the Book containing it should teach what men are fit to attend upon it and forbid either men unlearned or Children to be admitted thereunto In setting down the form of Common-Prayer there was no need that the Book should mention either the learning of a fit or the unfitness of an ignorant Minister more than that he which describeth the manner how to pitch a field should speak of moderation and sobriety in diet And concerning the duty itself although the hardness thereof be not such as needeth much Art yet surely they seem to be very far carried besides themselves to whom the dignity of Public Prayer doth not discover somewhat more fitness in men of gravity and ripe discretion than in children of ten years of age for the decent discharge and performance of that Office It cannot be that they who speak thus should thus judge At the board and in private it very well becometh Child's innocency to pray and their Elders to say Amen Which being a part of their virtuous education serveth greatly both to nourish in them the fear of God and to put us in continual remembrance of that powerful grace which openeth the mouths of Infants to sound his praise But Public Prayer the service of God in the solemn Assembly of Saints is a work though easy yet withal so weighty and of such respect that the great facility thereof is but a slender argument to prove it may be as well and as lawfully committed to Children as to men of years howsoever their ability of learning be but only to do that in decent order wherewith the Book contenteth itself The Book requireth but orderly reading As in truth what should any Prescript form of Prayer framed to the Minister's hand require but only so to be read as behoveth We know that there are in the world certain voluntary Overseers of all Books whose censure in this respect would fall as sharp on us as it hath done on many others if delivering but a form of Prayer we should either express or include an thing more than doth properly concern Prayer The Minister's greatness or meanness of knowledge to do other things his aptness or insufficiency otherwise than by reading to instruct the flock standeth in this place as a Stranger with whom our form of Common-Prayer hath nothing to do Wherein their exception against easiness as if that did nourish Ignorance proceedeth altogether out of a needless jealousy I have often heard it inquired of by many how it might be brought to pass that the Church should every where have able Preachers to instruct the People what impediments there are to hinder it and which were the speediest way to remove them In which consultation the multitude of Parishes the paucity of Schools the manifold discouragements which are offered unto men's inclinations that way the penury of the Ecclesiastical estate the irrecoverable loss of so many Livings of principal value clean taken away from the Church long sithence by being appropriated the daily bruises that Spiritual promotions use to take by often falling the want of somewhat in certain Statutes which concern the state of the Church the too great facility of many Bishops the stony hardness of too many Patron's hearts not touched with any feeling in this case such things oftentimes are debated and much thought upon by them that enter into any discourse concerning any defect of knowledge in the Clergy But whosoever be found guilty the Communion Book hath surely deserved lest to be called in question for this fault If all the Clergy were as learned as themselves are that most complain of ignorance in others yet our Book of Prayer might remain the same and remaining the same it is I see not how it can be a  unto any man's skill in Preaching Which thing we acknowledge to be God's good gift howbeit no such necessary element that every act of Religion should he thought imperfect and lame wherein there is not somewhat exacted that none can discharge but an able Preacher The length of our Service T C l. 1 p. 133. & l. 3. p. 184. 32. Two faults there are which our Lord and Saviour himself especially reproved in Prayer the one when ostentation did cause it to be open the other when superstition made it long As therefore Prayers the one way are faulty not whensoever they be openly made but when Hypocrisy is the cause of open Praying so the length of Prayer is likewise a fault howbeit not simply but where error and superstition causeth more than convenient repetition or continuation of speech to be used It is not as some do imagine Aug. Ep. 121. saith Saint Augustine that long Praying is that fault of much speaking in Prayer which our Saviour did reprove for than would not he himself in Prayer have continued whole nights Luke 6. 12. Use in Prayer no vain superfluity of words as the Heathens do for they imagine that their much speaking will cause them to be heard whereas in truth the thing which God doth regard is how virtuous their minds are and not how copious their tongues in Prayer how well they think and not how long they talk who come to present their Supplications before him Notwithstanding for as much as in Public Prayer we are not only to consider what is needful in respect of God but there is also in men that which we must regard we somewhat the rather incline to length lest overquick dispatch of a Duty so important should give the World occasion to deem that the thing itself is but little accounted of wherein but little time is bestowed Length thereof is a thing which the gravity and weight of such actions doth require Beside this benefit also it hath that they whom earnest lets and impediments do often hinder from being Partakers of the whole have yet through the length of Divine Service opportunity sleft them at the least for access unto some reasonable part thereof Again it should be considered how it doth come to pass that we are so long For if that very Service of God in the Jewish Synagogues which our Lord did approve and sanctify with the presence of his own Person had so large portions of the Law and the Prophets together with so many Prayers and Psalms read day by day as do equal in a manner the length of ours and yet in that respect was never thought to deserve blame is it now an offence that the like measure of time is bestowed in the like manner Peradventure the Church had not now the leisure which it had then or else those things whereupon so much time was then well spent have sithence that lost their dignity and worth If the reading of the Law the Prophets and Psalms be a part of the Service of God as needful under Christ as before and the adding of the New Testament as profitable as the ordaining of the Old to be read if therewith instead of Jewish Prayers it be also for the good of the Church to annex that variety which the Apostle doth commend 1 Tim. 2. 1. seeing that the time which we spend is no more than the orderly performance of these things necessarily required why are we thought to exceed in length Words be they never so few are too many when they benefit not the Hearer But he which speaketh no more than edifieth is undeservedly reprehended for much speaking T. C. l. 1. p. 184. That as the Devil under the colour of long Prayer drove Preaching out of the Church heretofore so we in appointing so long Prayers and Readins whereby the less can be spent in Preaching maintain an unpreaching Ministry is neither advisedly nor truly spoken They reprove long Prayer and yet acknowledge it to be in itself a thing commendable For so it must needs be if the Devil have used it as a colour to hide his malicious practices When Malice would work that which is evil and in working avoid the suspicion of any evil intent the colour wherewith it overcasteth itself is always a fair and plausible pretence of seeking to further that which is good So that if we both retain that good which Saran hath pretended to seek and avoid the evil which his purpose was to effect have we not better prevented his malice than if as he hath under colour of long Prayer driven Preaching out of the Church so we should take the quarrel of Sermons in hand and revenge their Cause by requital thrusting Prayer in a manner out of doors under colour of long Preaching In case our Prayers being made at their full length did necessarily enforce Sermons to be the shorter yet neither were this to uphold and maintain an unpreaching Ministry unless we will say that those ancient Fathers Chrysostom Augustine Leo and the rest whose Homilies in that consideration were shorter for the most part than our Sermons are did then not preach when their Speeches were not long The necessity of shortness causeth men to cut off impertinent Discourses and to comprise much matter in few words But neither did it maintain inability not at all prevent opportunity of Preaching as long as a competent time is granted for that purpose An hour and an half is they say in reformed Churches ordinarily thought reasonable for their whole Liturgy or Service Neh. 8. 3. Acts 20. 9 Do we then continue as Ezra did in reading the Law from morning till midday or as the Apostle Saint Paul did in Prayer and Preaching till men through weariness be taken up dead at our feet The huge length whereof they make such complaint is but this that if our whole form of Prayer be read and besides an hour allowed for a Sermon we spend ordinarily in both more time than they do by half an hour Which half hour being such a matter as the age of some and infirmity of other some are not able to bear if we have any sense of the common imbecility if any care to preserve men's wits from being broken with the very bend of so long attention if any love or desire to provide that things most holy be not with hazard of men's Souls abhorred and loathed this half-hours tediousness must be remedied and that only by cutting off the greatest part of our Common Prayer For no other remedy will serve to help so dangerous an Inconvenience 33. The Brethren in Egypt saith St. Augustin Epist. 121. are reported to have many Prayers Instead of such Prayers at the Primitive Churches have used and those that be reform now use we have they say divers short cuts or shred rather wishes than Prayers T. C. l. 1. p. 138. & l. 3. p. 210 211. but every of them very short as if they were Darts thrown out with a kind of sudden quickness lest that vigilant and erect attention of mind which in Prayer is very necessary should be wasted or dulled through continuance if their Prayers were few and long But that which St. Augustine doth allow they condemn Those Prayers whereunto devout minds have added a piercing kind of brevity as well in that respect which we have already mentioned as also thereby the better to express that quick and speedy expedition wherewith ardent affections the very wings of Prayer are delighted to present our suits in Heaven even sooner than our tongues can devise to utter them they in their mood of contradiction spare not openly to deride and that with so base terms as do very ill beseem men of their gravity Such speeches are scandalous they savour not of God in him that useth them and unto virtuously disposed minds they are grievous corrosives Our case were miserable if that wherewith we most endeavour to please God were in his sight so vile and despicable as men's disdainful speech would make it 34. Again Lessons intermingled with our Prayers for as much as effectual Prayer is joined with a vehement intention of the inferior powers of the Soul which cannot therein long continue without pain it hath been therefore thought good so by turns to interpose still somewhat for the higher part of the mind the understanding to work upon that both being kept in continual exercise with variety neither might feel any great weariness and yet each be a spur to other For Prayer kindleth our desire to behold God by speculation and the mind delighted with that contemplative sight of God taketh every where new inflammations to pray the riches of the Mysteries of Heavenly wisdom continually stirring up in us correspondent desires towards them So that he which prayeth in due sort is thereby made the more attentive to hear and he which heareth the more earnest to pray for the time which we bestow as well in the one as the other But for what cause soever we do it this intermingling of Lessons with Prayers is * We have no such forms in Scripture as that we should pray in two or three lines and then after having read a while some other thing come and pray as much more and so the 20. or the 30. time with pauses between If a man should come to a Prince and having very many things to demand after he had demanded one thing would stay a long time and then demand another and so the third the Prince might well think that either he came to ask before he knew what he had need of or that he had forgotten some piece of his Suit or that he were distracted in his understanding or some other like cause of the disorder of his Supplication T. C. l. 1. p. 138. This kind of reason the Prophet in the matter of Sacrifices doth use T. C. 1. 3. p. 210. in their taste a thing as unsavoury and as unseemly in their sight as if the like should be done in Suits and Supplications before some mighty Prince of the World Our speech to worldly Superiors we frame in such sort as serveth best to inform and persuade the minds of them who otherwise neither could nor would greatly regard our necessities Whereas because we know that God is indeed a King but a great King who understandeth all things beforehand which no other King besides doth a King which needeth not to be informed what we lack a King readier to grant than we to make our requests therefore in Prayer we do not so much respect what Precepts Art delivereth touching the method of persuasive utterance in the presence of great men as what doth most avail to our own edification in piety and godly zeal If they on the contrary side do think that the same rules of decency which serve for things done unto terrene Powers should universally decide what is fit in the service of God if it be their meaning to hold it for a Maxim That the Church must deliver her public Supplications unto God in no other form of speech than such as were decent if suit should be made to the Great Turk or some other Monarch let them apply their own rule unto their own form of Common-Prayer Suppose that the people of a whole Town with some chosen man before them did continually twice or thrice in a week resort to their King and every time they come first acknowledge themselves guilty of Rebellions and Treasons then sing a Song and after that explain some Statute of the Land to the Standards by and therein spend at the least an hour this done turn themselves again to the King and for every sort of his Subjects crave somewhat of him at the length sing him another Song and so take their leave Might not the King well think that either they knew not what they would have or else that they were distracted in mind or some other such like cause of the disorder of their Supplication This form of suing unto Kings were absurd This form of Praying unto God they allow When God was served with legal Sacrifices such was the miserable and wretched disposition of some men's minds that the best of every thing they had being culled out for themselves if there were in their flocks any poor starved or diseased thing not worth the keeping they thought it good enough for the Altar of God pretending as wise Hyprocrites do when they rob God to enrich themselves that the fatness of Calves doth benefit him nothing to us the best things are most profitable to him all as one if the mind of the Offerer be good which is the only thing he respecteth In reproof of which their devout fraud the Prophet Malachy allegeth that gifts are offered unto God not as a Arist. Rhet. lib. 1. cap. 9 supplies of his want indeed but yet as testimonies of that affection wherewith we acknowledge and honour his greatness For which cause sith the greater they are whom we honour the more regard we have to the quality and choice of those Presents which we bring them for honour's sake it must needs follow that if we dare not disgrace our worldly Superiors with offering unto them such refuse as we bring unto God himself we show plainly that our acknowledgement of his Greatness is but feigned in heart we fear him not so much as we dread them Mal. 1. 2. 14. If ye offer the blind for Sacrifice is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Prince Will he be content or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts Cursed be the Deceiver which hath in his Flock a Male and having made a Vow sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing For I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts Should we hereupon frame a Rule that what form of speech or behaviour soever is fit for Suitors in a Prince's Court the same and no other beseemeth us in our Prayers to Almighty God 35. But in vain we labour to persuade them that any thing can take away the tediousness of Prayer The number of our Prayers for earthly things and our oft rehearsing of the Lords Prayer except it be brought to the very same both measure and form which themselves assign Whatsoever therefore our Liturgy hath more than theirs under one devised pretence or other they cut it off We have of Prayers for Earthly things in their opinion too great a number so oft to rehearse the Lords Prayer in so small a time is as they think a loss of time the People's praying after the Minister they say both wasteth time and also maketh an unpleasant sound I can make no Geometrical and exact measure but verily I believe there shall be found more than a third part of the Prayers which are not Psalms and texts of Scripture spent in praying for and praying against the commodities and incommodities of this life which is contrary to all the Arguments or Contents of the Prayers of the Church sit down in the Scripture but especially of our Saviour Christ's Prayer by the which ours ought to be directed T. C. l. 1. p. 135. What a reason is this we must rep at the Lords Prayer oftentimes therefore oftentimes in half an hour and one in the neck of another Our Saviour Christ doth not there give a prescript Form of Prayer whereunto he bindeth us but giveth us a Rule and Squire to frame all our Prayers by I know it is necessary to Pray and Pray often I know also that in a few words it is impossible for any man to frame so pithy a Prayer and I confess that the Church doth well in concluding their Prayers with the Lords Prayer But I stand upon this Thee there is no necessity laid upon us to use these very words and no more T. C. lib. 1. pag. 219. the Psalms they would not have to be made as they are a part of our Common-Prayer nor to be sung or said by turns nor such Music to be used with them those Evangelical Hymns they allow not to stand in our Liturgy the Litany the Creed of Athanasius the Sentence of Glory wherewith we use to conclude Psalms these things they cancel as having been instituted in regard of occasions peculiar to the times of old and as being therefore now superfluous Touching Prayers for things earthly we ought not to think that the Church hath set down so many of them without cause They peradventure which find this fault are of the same affection with Solomon so that if God should offer to grant the whatsoever they ask they would neither crave Riches not length of days not yet victory over their Enemies but only an understanding heart for which cause themselves having eagle wings are offended to see others fly so near the ground But the tender kindness of the Church of God it very well beseemeth to help the weaker sort which are by so great odds moe in number although some few of the perfecter and stronger may be therewith for a time displeased Ignorant we are not that of such as resorted to our Saviour Christ being present on Earth there came not any unto him with better success for the benefit of their Souls everlasting happiness than they whose bodily necessities gave them the first occasion to seek relief when they saw willingness and ability of doing every way good unto all The graces of the Spirit are much more precious than worldly benefits our ghostly evils of greater importance than any harm which the body feeleth Therefore our desires to heaven-ward should both in measure and number no less exceed than their glorious Object doth every way excel in value These things are true and plain in the eye of a perfect Judgement But yet it must be withal considered that the greatest part of the World are they which be farthest from perfection Such being better able by sense to discern the wants of this present life than by spiritual capacity to apprehend things above sense which tend to their happiness in the world to come are in that respect the more apt to apply their minds even with hearty affection and zeal at the least unto those Branches of Public prayer wherein their own particular is moved And by this mean there stealeth upon them a double benefit first because that good affection which things of smaller account have once set on work is by so much the more easily raised higher and secondly in that the very custom of seeking so particular aid and relief at the hands of God doth by a secret contradiction withdraw them from endeavouring to help themselves by those wicked shifts which they know can never have his allowance whose assistance their Prayer seeketh These multiplied Petitions of worldly things in Prayer have therefore besides their direct use a Service whereby the Church underhand through a kind of heavenly fraud taketh therewith the Souls of men as with certain baits If then their calculation be true for so they reckon that a full third of our Prayers be allotted unto earthly benefits for which our Saviour in his platform hath appointed but one Petition amongst seven the difference is without any great disagreement we respecting what men are and doing that which is mere in regard of the common imperfection our Lord chose proposing the most absolute proportion that can be in men's desires the very highest mark whereat we are able to aim Praemisse legitima & ordinaria oratione quasi fundamento accidentium jus est desideriorum jus est superstruendi extrinsecus petitioner Ter●ol de Orat For which cause also our custom is both to place it in the front of our Prayers as a Guide and to add it in the end of some principal limbs or parts as a compliment which fully perfecteth whatsoever may be defective in the rest Twice we rehearse it ordinarily and oftener as occasion requireth more solemnity or length in the form of Divine Service not mistrusting till these new curiosities sprang up that ever any man would think our labour herein misspent the time wastefully consumed and the Office itself made worse by so repeating that which otherwise would more hardly be made familiar to the simpler sort for the good of whose Souls there is not in Christian Religion any thing of like continual use and force throughout every hour and moment of their whole lives I mean not only because Prayer but because this very Prayer is of such efficacy and necessity for that our Saviour did but set men a bare example how to contrive or devise Prayers of their own and no way bind them to use this is no doubt as Error john the Baptist's Disciples Luke 11. 1. which had been always brought up in the bosom of God's Church from the time of their first Infancy till they came to the School of john were not so brutish that they could be ignorant how to call upon the Name of God but of their Master they had received a form of Prayer amongst themselves which form none did use saving his Disciples so that by it as by a mark of special difference they were known from others And of this the Apostles having taken notice they request that as john had taught his so Christ would likewise teach them to pray Tertullian and Saint Augustin do for that cause term it Orationem legitimam the Prayer which Christ's own Law hath tied his Church to use in the same Prescript form of words wherewith he himself did deliver it and therefore what part of the World soever we fall into if Christian Religion have been there received the ordinary use of this very Prayer hath with equal continuance accompanied the same as one of the principal and most material duties of honour done to Jesus Christ. Cypr. in Orat Dom. Seeing that we have saith Saint Cyprian an Advocate with the Father for our Sins when we that have sinned come to seek for pardon let us allege unto God the words which our Advocate hath taught For sith his promise is our plain warrant that in his Name what we ask we shall receive must we not needs much the rather obtain that for which we sue if not only his Name do countenance but also his Speech present our requests Though men should speak with the tongues of Angels yet words so pleasing to the ears of God as those which the Son of God himself hath composed were not possible for men to frame He therefore which made us to live hath also taught us to pray to the end that speaking unto the Father in the son 's own prescript without scholy or gloss of ours we may be sure that we utter nothing which God will either disallow or deny Other Prayers we use may besides this and this oftener than any other although not tied so to do by any Commandment of Scripture yet moved with such considerations as have been before set down the causeless dislike where of which others have conceived is no sufficient reason for us as much as once to forbear in any place a thing which uttered with true devotion and zeal of heart affordeth to God himself that glory that aid to the weakest sort of men to the most perfect that solid comfort which is unspeakable The People's trying after the Minister Another fault is That all the people are appointed in divers places to say after the Minister whereby not only the time is unprofitably wasted and a confused noise of the people one speaking after another caused but an Opinion bred in their hearts that those only be their Prayers which they pronounce with their own mouths after the Minister otherwise than the order which is left to the Church doth bear 1 Cor. 14. 16. and otherwise than justin Martyr showeth the custom of the Churches to have been in his time T. C. l. 1 p. 139. & l. 3. p. 211 212 213. 36. With our Lord's Prayer they would find no fault so that they might persuade us to use it before or other Sermons only because so their manner is and not as all Christian people have been of old accustomed insert it so often into the Liturgy But the People's custom to repeat any thing after the Minister they utterly mislike Twice we appoint that the words which the Minister first pronounceth the whole Congregation shall repeat after him As first in the public Confession of Sins and again in rehearsal of our Lord's Prayer presently after the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood received A thing no way offensive no way unfit or unseemly to be done although it had been so appointed ofner than with us it is But surely with so good reason it standeth in those two places that otherwise to order it were not in all respects so well Could there be any thing devised better then that we all at our first access unto God by Prayer should acknowledge meekly our sins and that not only in heart but with tongue all which are present being made ear-witnesses even of every man's distinct and deliberate assent unto each particular branch of a common Indictment drawn against ourselves How were it possible that the Church should any way else with such ease and certainty provide that none of her Children may as Adam dissemble that wretchedness the penitent confession whereof is so necessary a Preamble especially to Common Prayer In like manner if the Church did ever devise a thing fit and convenient what more than this that when together we have all received those Heavenly Mysteries wherein Christ imparteth himself unto us and giveth visible testification of our blessed communion with him we should in hatred of all Heresies Factions and Schisms the Pastor as a Leader the people as willing followers of him step by step declare openly ourselves united as Brethren in one Basil. P●●s in Pral by offering up with all our hearts and tongues that most effectual Supplication wherein he unto whom we offer it hath himself not only comprehended all our necessities but in such sort also framed every Petition as might most naturally serve for many and doth though not always require yet always import a multitude of speakers together For which cause Communicants have ever used it and we at that time by the form of our very utterance do show we use it yea every word and syllable of it as Communicants In the rest we observe that custom whereunto St. Paul alludeth 1 Cor. 14. 15. and whereof the Fathers of the Church in their Writings make often mention to show indefinitely what was done but not universally to bind for ever all Prayers unto one only fashion of utterance The Reasons which we have alleged induce us to think it still a good work which they in their pensive care for the well bestowing of time account waste As for unpleasantness of sound if it happen the good of men's souls doth either deceive our ears that we note it not or arm them with patience to endure it We are not so nice as to cast away a sharp Knife because the edge of it may sometimes grate And such subtle opinions as few but Utopians are likely to fall into we in this climate do not greatly fear 37. The complaint which they make about Psalms and Hymns might as well be overpast without any answer Our manner of reading the Psalms otherwise then the rest of the Scripture as it is without any cause brought forth But our desire is to content them if it may be and to yield them a just reason even of the least things wherein undeservedly they have but as much as dreamt or suspected that we do amiss They seem sometimes so to speak as if greatly offended them that such Hymns and Psalms as are Scripture should in Common Prayer be otherwise used than the rest of the Scripture is wont They have always the same profit to be studied in to be read and preached upon which either Scriptures have and this above the rest that they are to be sung sometime displeased they are at the artificial Music which we add unto Psalms of this kind or of any other nature else sometime the plainest and the most intelligible rehearsal of them yet they savour not because it is done by Interlocution and with a mutual return of Sentences from side to side They are not ignorant what difference there is between other parts of Scripture and Psalms The choice and flower of * Di●nys Hierar Eccles. cap. 3. all things profitable in other Books the Psalms do both more briefly contain and more movingly also express by reason of that Poetical Form wherewith they are written The Ancients when they speak of the Book of Psalms use to fall into large Discourses showing how this part above the rest doth of purpose set forth and celebrate all the considerations and operations which belong to God it magnifieth the holy Meditations and Actions of Divine Men it is of things heavenly an Universal Declaration But to make daily Prayers of them hand-over-head or otherwise then the present estate wherein we he doth agree with the manner contained in them is an abusing of them T. C. l● 3. pag. 206. working in them whose hearts God inspireth with the due consideration thereof an habit or disposition of mind whereby they are made fit Vessels both for receipt and for delivery of whatsoever spiritual perfection What is there necessary for man to know which the Psalms are not able to teach They are to beginners an easy and familiar Introduction a mighty Augmentation of all Virtue and Knowledge in such as are entered before a strong confirmation to the most perfect amongst others Heroical Magnanimity exquisite Justice gave Moderation exact Wisdom Repentance unfeigned unwearied Patience the Mysteries of God the Sufferings of Christ the Terrors of Wrath the Comforts of Grace the Works of Providence over this World and the promised Joys of that World which is to come all good necessarily to be either known or done or had this one Celestial Fountain yieldeth Let there be any grief or disease incident nuto the Soul of Man any wound or sickness named for which there is not in this Treasure-house a present comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found Hereof it is that we covet to make the Psalms especially familiar unto all This is the very cause why we iterate the Psalms oftener than any other part of Scripture besides the cause wherefore we enure the people together with their Minister and not the Minister alone to read them as other parts of Scripture he doth Of Music with Psalms 38. Touching Musical Harmony whether by Instrument or by Voice it being but of high and low in sounds a due proportionable disposition such notwithstanding is the force thereof and so pleasing effects it hath in that very part of man which is most Divine that some have been thereby induced to think that the Soul itself by Nature is or hath in it Harmony A thing which delighteth all Ages and beseemeth all States a thing as seasonable in grief as in joy as decent being added unto actions of greatest weight and solemnity as being used when men most sequester themselves from action The reason hereof is an admirable faculty which Music hath to express and represents to the mind more inwardly than any other sensible mean the very standing rising and falling the very steps and inflections every way the turns and varieties of all Passions whereunto the mind is subject yea so to imitate them that whether it resemble unto us the same state wherein our minds already are or a clean contrary we are not more contentedly by the one confirmed then changed and led away by the other In Harmony the very Image and Character even of Virtue and Vice is perceived the mind delighted with their Resemblances and brought by having them often iterated into a love of the things themselves For which cause there is nothing more contagious and pestilent than some kinds of Harmony then some nothing more strong and potent unto good And that there is such a difference of one kind from another we need no proof but our own experience in as much as we are at the hearing of some more inclined unto sorrow and heaviness of some more mollified and softened in mind one kind apt to stay and settle us another to move and stir our affections There is that draweth to a marvellous grave and sober mediocrity there is also that carrieth as it were into ecstasies filling the mind with an heavenly joy and for the time in a manner severing it from the body So that although we lay altogether aside the consideration of Ditty or Matter the very Harmony of sounds being framed in due sort and carried from the Ear to the Spiritual faculties of our Souls is by a Native Puissance and Efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect temper whatsoever is there troubled apt as well to quicken the spirits as to allay that which is too eager sovereign against melancholy and despair forcible to draw forth tears of devotion if the mind be such as can yield them able both to move and to moderate all affections The Prophet David having therefore singular knowledge not in Poetry alone but in Music also judged them both to be things most necessary for the House of God left behind him to that purpose a number of divinely indicted Poems and was farther the Author of adding unto Poetry melody a public Prayer melody both Vocal and Instrumental for the raising up of men's hearts and the sweetening of their affections towards God In which consideration the Church of Christ doth likewise at this present day retain it as an ornament to God's service and an help to our own devotion They which under pretence of the Law Ceremonial abrogated require the abrogation of Instrumental Music approving nevertheless the use of Vocal melody to remain must show some reason wherefore the one should be thought a Legal Ceremony and not the other In Church Music curiosity and ostentation of Art wanton or light or unsuitable harmony such as only pleaseth the ear and doth not naturally serve to the very kind and degree of those impressions which the matter that goeth with it leaveth or is apt to leave in men's minds doth rather blemish and disgrace that we do then add either beauty or furtherance unto it On the other side these faults prevented the force and efficacy of the thing itself when it drowneth not utterly but fitly suiteth with matter altogether sounding to the praise of God is in truth most admirable and doth much edify if not the Understanding because it teacheth not yet surely the Affection because therein it worketh much They must have hearts very dry and tough from whom the melody of Psalms doth not sometime draw that wherein a mind religiously affected delighteth Be it as Rabanus Maurus observeth that at the first the Church in this exercise was more simple and plain than we are that their singing was little more than only a melodious kind of pronounciation that the custom which we now use was not instituted so much for their cause which are Spiritual as to the end that into grosser and heavier minds whom bare words do not easily move the sweetness of melody might make some entrance for good things St. Basil himself acknowledging as much did not think that from such inventions the least jot of estimation and credit thereby should be derogated * Basil. in Psal. For saith he whereas the Holy Spirit saw that Mankind is unto Virtue hardly drawn and that Righteousness is the less accounted of by reason of the proveness of our affections to that which delighteth it pleased the Wisdom of the same Spirit to borrow from melody that pleasure which mingled with Heavenly Mysteries causeth the smoothness and softness of that which toucheth the ear to convey as it were by stealth the treasure of good things into man's mind To this purpose were those harmonious tunes of Psalms divised for us that they which are either in years but young or touching perfection of Virtue as yet not grown to ripeness might when they think they sing learn O the wise conceit of that Heavenly Teacher which both by his skill found out a way that doing those things wherein we delight we may also learn that whereby we profit 39 And if the Prophet David did think that the very meeting of men together Of singing or saying Psalms and other parts of Common Prayer wherein the People and Minister answer one another by course For the singing of Psalms by course and side after side although it be very ancient yet it is not commendable and so much the mere to be suspected for that the Devil hath gone about to get it so great Authority partly by deriving it from Ignatius time and partly in making the World believe that this came from Heaven and that the Angels were heard to sing after this sort Which as it is a mere Fable so is it confuted by Historiographers whereof some ascribe the beginning of this to Damasus some other unto Flavianus and Diodorus T. C. lib. 1. p. 203. and their accompanying one another to the House of God should make the Bond of their Love insoluble and tie them in a League of inviolable Amity Psal. 54. 14. How much more may we judge it reasonable to hope that the like effects may grow in each of the people towards other in them all towards their Pastor and in their Pastor towards every of them between whom there daily and interchangeably pass in the hearing of God himself and in the presence of his holy Angels so many heavenly Acclamations Exultations Provocations Petitions Songs of Comfort Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving in all which particulars as when the Pastor maketh their suits and they with one voice testify a general assent thereunto or when he joyfully beginneth and they with like alacrity follow dividing between them the sentences wherewith they strive which shall most show his own and stir up others zeal to the glory of that God whose name they magnify or when he proposeth unto God their necessities and they their own requests for relief in every of them or when he lifteth up his voice like a Trumpet to proclaim unto them the Laws of God they adjoining though not as Israel did by way of generality a cheerful promise a Exod. 19 ● Is 24.3 Deut. 3. 27. & 26. 17. Josh. 24.16 All that the Lord hath commanded we will do yet that which God doth no less approve that which favoreth more of meekness that which testifieth rather a feeling knowledge of our common imbecility unto the several Branches thereof several lowly and humble requests for Grace at the merciful Hands of God to perform the thing which is commanded or when they wish reciprocally each others ghostly happiness or when he by exhortation raiseth them up and they by protestation of their readiness declare be speaketh not in vain unto them These interlocutory forms of speech what are they else but most effectual partly testifications and partly inflammations of all Piety When and how this custom of singing by course came up in the Church it is not certainly known b Socrat. Hist. Eccles. lib. 6. cap. 8. Socrates maketh Ignatius the Bishop of Antioch in Syria the first beginner thereof even under the Apostles themselves But against Socrates they set the authority of a Theod. lib. 2 cap. 24. Theodoret who draweth the original of it from Antioch as Socrates doth howbeit ascribing the invention to others Flavian and Diodore men which constantly stood in defence of the Apostolic Faith against the Bishop of that Church Leontius a favourer of the Arians Against both Socrates and Theodoret b Plat. in vit● Damasi Platina is brought as a witness to testify that Damasus Bishop of Rome began it in his time Of the Latin Church it may be true which Platina saith And therefore the eldest of that Church which maketh any mention thereof is St. Ambrose c Bene mari plerunque comparatur Ecclesia quae primo ingredientis populi agmine totis vestibulis undas commit deinde in oratione totius plebis tanquam undis ●efl ●ensib●s' strides cum responsuriis Psalmorum canruvinocura mulierum virginum parvulorum consonus undatum stragor resulta Hexam lib. 2. cap. 5. Bishop of Milan at the same time when Damasus was of Rome Amongst the Grecians St. Basil d Basil. Epist. 63. having brought it into his Church before they of Neocaesarea used it Sabellius the Heretic and Marcellus took occasion thereat to incense the Churches against him as being an Author of new devices in the Service of God Whereupon to avoid the opinion of Novelty and Singularity he allegeth for that which he himself did the example of the Churches of Egypt Lybia Thebes Palestina Tharabians Phoenicians Syrians Mesopotamians and in a manner all that reverenced the custom of singing Psalms together If the Syrians had it then before Basil Antioch the Mother Church of those parts must needs have used it before Basil and consequently before Damasus The question is then how long before and whether so long that Ignatius or as ancient as Ignatius may be probably thought the first Inventors Ignatius in Trajan's days suffered Martyrdom And of the Churches in Pontus and Bythinia to Trajan the Emperor his own Vicegerent there affirmeth e Plin. second Epist lib. 10. cp 97. Exod 15. 1. 21. That the only crime he knew of them was They used to meet together at a certain day and to praise Christ with Hymns as a God Secum invicem one to another amongst themselves Which for any thing we know to the contrary might be the selfsame form which Philo judaeus expresseth declaring how the Essens were accustomed with Hymns and Psalms to honour God sometime all exalting their voices together in one and sometime one part answering another wherein as he thought they swerved not much from the pattern of Moses and Miriam Whether Ignatius did at any time hear the Angels praising God after that sort or no what matter is it If Ignatius did not Isai. 6. 3. yet one which must be with us of greater Authority did I saw the Lord saith the Prophet Isaiah on an high Throne the Seraphims stood upon it one cried to another saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts the whole world is full of his glory But whosoever were the Author whatsoever the Time whencesoever the Example of beginning this Custom in the Church of Christ sith we are wont to suspect things only before trial and afterwards either to approve them as good or if we find them evil accordingly to judge of them their counsel must needs seem very unseasonable who advise men now to suspect that wherewith the World hath had by their own account Twelve hundred years' acquaintance and upwards enough to take away suspicion and jealousy Men know by this time if ever they will know whether it be good or evil which hath been so long retained As for the Devil which way it should greatly benefit him to have this manner of singing Psalms accounted an invention of Ignatius or an imitation of the Angels of Heaven we do not well understand But we very well see in them who thus plead a wonderful celerity of discourse For perceiving at the first but only some cause of suspicion and fear left it should be evil they are presently in one and the selfsame breath resolved * From whence soever it came it cannot he good considering that when it is granted that all the people may praise God as it is in singing of Psalms than this ought no to be restrained unto a few and where it is lawful both with heart and voice tosing the whole Psalm there it is not meet that they should sing but the one half with their heart and voice and the other with their heart only For where they may both with heart and voice sing ●i●e● the heart is not enough Therefore besides the incommodity which cometh this way in that being tossed after this sort men cannot understand what is sung those other two inconveniences come of this form of singing and therefore it is vanished in all Reformed Churches T. C. lib. 1. p. 103. That what beginning soever it had there is no possibility it should be good The Potent Arguments which did thus suddenly break in upon them and overcome them are First That it is not unlawful for the People all jointly to praise God in singing of Psalms Secondly That they are not any where forbidden by the Law of God to sing every Verse of the whole Psalm both with heart and voice quite and clean throughout Thirdly That it cannot be understood what is sung after our manner Of which three for as much as lawfulness to sing one way proveth not another way inconvenient the former two are true Allegations but they lack strength to accomplish their desire the third so strong that it might persuade if the truth thereof were not doubtful And shall this enforce us to banish a thing which all Christian Churches in the World have received a thing which so many ages have held a thing which the most approved Councils and Laws have so oftentimes ratified a thing which was never sound to have any inconvenience in it a thing which always heretofore the best Men and wisest Governors of God's people did think they could never commend enough a thing which as Basil was persuaded did both strengthen the Meditation of those holy Words which were uttered in that sort and serve also to make attentive and to raise up the hearts of men a thing whereunto God's people of old did resort with hope and thirst that thereby especially their Souls might be edified a thing which filleth the mind with comfort and heavenly delight stirreth up flagrant desires and affections correspondent unto that which the words contain allayeth all kind of base and earthly Cogitations banisheth and driveth away those evil secret suggestions which our invisible Enemy is always apt to minister watereth the heart to the end it may fructify maketh the virtuous in trouble full of magnanimity and courage serveth as a most approved remedy against all doleful and heavy accidents which befall men in this present life To conclude So fitly acordeth with the Apostles own Exhortation Ephes. 5. 19 Speak to yourselves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs making melody and singing to the Lord in your hearts that surely there is more cause to fear lest the want thereof be a main than the use a blemish to the Service of God It is not our meaning that what we attribute unto the Psalms should be thought to depend altogether on that only form of singing or reading them by course as with us the manner is but the end of our speech is to show That because the Fathers of the Church with whom the selfsame custom was so many ages ago in use have uttered all these things concerning the fruit which the Church of God did then reap observing that and no other form it may be justly avouched that we ourselves retaining it an besides it also the other more newly and not unfruitfully devised do neither want that good which the latter invention can afford not lose any thing of that for which the Ancients so oft and so highly commend the former Let Novelty therefore in this give over endless contradictions and let ancient custom prevail 40. We have already given cause sufficient for the great conveniency Of Magnificat Benedictus and Nunc dimittis and use of reading the Psalms oftener than other Scriptures Of reading or singing likewise Magnificat Benedictus and Nunc dimittis oftener than the rest of the Psalms the causes are no whit less reasonable These Thanksgivings were made by occasion of certain particular be●●●●e and are no more to be used for ordinary Prayers than the Ave-Maria So that both for this cause and the other before alleged of the Psalms it is not convenient in make ordinary prayers of them T. C. lib. 3. p. 208. so that if the one may very well monthly the other may as well even daily be iterated They are Songs which concern us so much more than the Songs of David as the Gospel toucheth us more than the Law the New Testament than the Old And if the Psalms for the excellency of their use deserve to be oftener repeated than they are but that the multitude of them permitteth not any ofther repetition What disorder is it if these few Evangelical Hymns which are in no respect less worthy and may be by reason of their paucity imprinted with much more ease in all men's memories be for that cause every day rehearsed In our own behalf it is convenient and orderly enough that both they and we make day by day Prayers and Supplications the very same why not as fit and convenient to magnify the Name of God day by day with certain the very selfsame Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving Either let them not allow the one or else cease to reprove the other For the Ancient received use of intermingling Hymns and Psalms with Divine Readins enough hath been written And if any may fitly serve unto that purpose how should it better have been devised then that a competent number of the Old being first read these of the New should succeed in the place where now they are set In which place notwithstanding there is joined with Benedictus the Hundred Psalms with Magnifica● the Ninety eighth the Sixty seventh with Nunc dimittis and in every of them the choice left free for the Minister to use indifferently the one or the other Seeing therefore they pretend no quarrel at other Psalms which are in like manner appointed also to be daily read why do these so much offend and displease their taste They are the first Gratulations wherewith our Lord and Saviour was joyfully received at his entrance into the World by such as in their Hearts Arms and very Bowels embraced Him being Prophetical discoveries of Christ already present whose future coming the other Psalms did but foresignify they are against the obstinate incredulity of the Jews the most luculent testimonies that Christian Religion hath yea the only sacred Hymns they are that Christianity hath peculiar unto itself the other being Songs too of praise and thanksgiving but Songs wherewith as we serve God so the Jew likewise And whereas they tell us These Songs were fit for that purpose when Simeon and Zachary and the Blessed Virgin uttered them but cannot so be to us which have not received like benefit Should they not remember how expressly Hezekiah amongst many other good things 2 Chro. 29.30 is commended for this also That the praises of God were through his appointment daily set forth by using in public Divine Service the Songs of David and Asaph unto that very end Either there wanted wise men to give Hezekiah advice and to inform him of that which in his case was as true as it is in ours namely that without some inconvenience and disorder he could not appoint those Psalms to be used as ordinary Prayers seeing what although they were Songs of Thanksgiving such as David and Asaph had special occasion to use yet not so the whole Church and People afterwards whom like occasions did not befall or else Hezekiah was persuaded as we are that the praises of God in the mouths of his Saints are not so restrained to their own particular but that others may both conveniently and fruitfully use them first because the Mystical Communion of all faithful men is such as maketh every one to be interested in those precious Blessings which any one of them receiveth at God's hands Secondly because when any thing is spoken to extol the goodness of God whose mercy endureth for ever albeit the very particular occasion whereupon it riseth do come no more yet the Fountain continuing the same and yielding other new effects which are but only in some sort proportionable a small resemblance between the benefits which we and others have received may serve to make the same words of praise and thanksgiving fit though not equally in all circumstances fit for both a clear demonstration whereof we have in all the Ancient Father's Commentaries and Meditations upon the Psalms Last of all because even when there is not as much as the show of any resemblance nevertheless by often using their words in such manner our minds are daily more and more insured with their affections Of the Litany 41. The Public Estate of the Church of God amongst the Jews hath had many rare and extraordinary Occurrents which also were occasions of sundry a We pray for the avoiding of those dang●●● which are nothing near us as from Lightning and Thundering in the midst of Winter from Storms and Tempest when the Wether is most fair and the Seas most calm It is true That upon some urgent Calamity a Prayer may and aught to be framed which may beg either the community for want whereof the Church is in distress ●● the turning away of that mischief which either approacheth or is already upon it But to make those Prayers which are for the present time and danger ordinary and daily Prayers I cannot hitherto see any either Scripture or example of the Primitive Church And here for the simples sake I will set down after what ●ur● this abuse crept into the Church There was one Mamericus Bishop of Vienna which in the time of great Earthquakes which were in France instituted certain Supplications which the Grecians and we of them call the Litany which concerned ●hat matter There is no doubt but as other discommodities rose in other Countries they likewise had Prayers accordingly Now Pope Gregory either made himself or gathered the Supplications that were made against the Calamities of every Country and made of them a great Litany or Supplication as Platina calleth in and gave it to be used in all Churches which thing albeit all Churches might do for the time in respect of the case of the Calamity which the Churches suffered yet there is no cause why it should be perpetual that was ordained but for a time ● and why all Lands should pray to be delivered from the Incommodities that some Land hath been troubled with T. C. lib 1. pag. 137. ● Exod. 15.30 Wild. 10. 20. 2 Sam. 6. 1. 1 Chron. 13.4 2 Chron. 20. 3. Joel 1. 1● open Solemnities and Offices whereby the people did with general consent make show of correspondent affection towards God The like duties appear usual in the ancient Church of Christ by that which b Tertul. lib. ● ad Exor Tertullian speaketh of Christian Women themselves matching with Infidels She cannot content the Lord with performance of his discipline that hath at her side a Vassal whom Satan hath made his vice-agent to cross whatsoever the faithful should do If her presence be required at the time of station or standing Prayer he chargeth her at no time but that to be with him in his baths if a fasting day come he hath on that day a banquet to make if there be cause for the Church to go forth in solemn Procession his whole family have such business come upon them that no one can be spared These Processions as it seemeth were first begun for the interring of holy Martyrs and the visiting of those places where they were entombed Which thing the name itself applied by c Terent. Andr. Heathens unto the office of Exequys and partly the speeches of some of the Ancients delivered concerning d Hier. Epist. 22. ad Eust. Martyrs tibi quaerantur in cubiculo tuo Nunquam causa decrit procedendi & ●emper quando recess est progressura sis Christian Processions partly also the very dross which Superstition thereunto added I mean the Custom of Invocating Saints in Processions heretofore usual do strongly insinuate And as things invented to one purpose are by use easily converted to more a Socrat. lib. 6. cap ● S●●om lib. ● cap. 8. Thess. lib. 15. li● 30. ●●b 3. cap. 10 Novel 68 5● it grew That Supplications with this solemnity for the appeasing of God's wrath and the averting of public evils were of the Greek Church termed Litanies Rogations of the Latin b Basil. Epist. 63. Wheph lib. 1● cap 3. Codem in Theodis To the people of Vienna Mamercus being their Bishop above 450 years after Christ therebefel many things the suddenness and strangeness whereof so amazed the hearts of all men that the City they began to forsake as a place which Heaven did threaten with imminent ruin It beseemed not the person of so grave a Prelate to be either utterly without counsel as the rest were or in a common perplexity to show himself alone secure Wherefore as many as remained he earnestly exhorteth to prevent portended calamities using those virtuous and holy means wherewith others in like case have prevailed with God To which purpose he perfecteth the Rogations or Litanies before in use and addeth unto them that which the present necessity required Their good success moved Sidonius Sidon lib. 7. Epist. ● Bishop of Averna to use the same so-corrected Rogations at such time as he and his people were after afflicted with Famine and besieged with potent Adversaries For till the empty name of the Empire came to be settled in Charles the Great the fall of the Romans huge Dominion concurring with other universal evils caused those times to be days of much affliction and trouble throughout the World So that Rogations or Litanies were then the very strength stay and comfort of God's Church Whereupon in the year Five hundred and six it was by the Council of Aurelia decreed That the whole Church should bestow yearly at the Feast of Pentecost Concii tom 2. pag. 513. three days in that kind of Processionary service About half an hundred years alter to the end that the Latin Churches which all observed this Custom might not vary in the order and form of those great Litanies which were so solemnly every where exercised it was thought convenient by Gregory the First and the best of that name to draw the flower of them all into one But this iron began at length to gather rust which thing the Synod of Colen saw and in part redressed within that Province neither denying the necessary use for which such Litanies serve Council rome 5. Anno 1536. wherein God's clemency and mercy is desired by public suit to the end that Plagues Destructions Calamities Famines Wars and all other the like adversities which for our manifold sins we have always cause to fear may be turned away from us and prevented through his Grace not yet dissembling the great abuse whereunto as sundry other things so this had grown by men's improbity and malice to whom that which was devised for the appeasing of God's displeasure gave opportunity of committing things which justly kindled his wrath For remedy whereof it was then thought better that these and all other Supplications or Processions should be no where used but only within the Walls of the House of God the place sanctified unto Prayer And by us not only such inconveniences being remedied but also whatsoever was otherwise amiss in form or matter it now remaineth a work the absolute perfection whereof upbraideth with Error or somewhat worse them whom in all parts it doth not satisfy As therefore Litanies have been of longer continuance then that we should make either Gregory or Mamercus the Author of them so they are of more permanent use then that now the Church should think it needeth them not What dangers at any time are imminent what evils hang over our heads God doth know and not we We find by daily experience that those calamities may be nearest at hand readiest to break in suddenly upon us which we in regard of times or circumstances may imagine to be farthest off Or if they do not indeed approach yet such miseries as being present all men are apt to bewail with tears the wise by their Prayers should rather prevent Finally if we for ourselves had a privilege of immunity doth not true Christian Charity require that whatsoever any part of the World yea any one of all our Brethren elsewhere doth either suffer or fear the same we account as our own burden What one Petition is there found in the whole Litany whereof we shall ever be able at any time to say That no man living needeth the grace or benefit therein craved at God's hands I am not able to express how much it doth grieve me that things of Principal Excellency should be thus bitten at by men whom God hath endued with graces both of Wit and Learning for better purposes Of Athanasius Cre●● and Gloria Pa●ri We have from the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ received that brief Confession of Faith which hath been always a badge of the Church a mark whereby to discern Christian men from Infidels and Jews a Ir●n lib. 1. cap. 3 This Faith received from the Apostles and their Disciples saith Ireneus the Church though dispersed throughout the World doth notwithstanding keep as safe as if it dwells within the Walls of some one house and as uniformly hold as if it had but one only heart and soul this as consonantly it Preacheth teacheth and delivereth as if but one tongue did speak for all At one Sun shineth to the whole World so there is no Faith but this one published the brightness whereof must enlighten all that come to the knowledge of the Truth b Pertu● de Prae●● Advers Haeres & Advers Prax. This rule saith Tertullian Christ did institute the stream and current of this rule hath gone as far it hath continued as long as the very promulgation of the Gospel c The like may be said of the Gloria Patri and the Athanasius Creed It was first brought into the Church to the end that men thereby should make an open Profession in the Church of the Divinity of the son of God against the de●●stible opinion of Arius and his Disciples wherewith at that time marvellously swarmed almost the whole Christendom Now that it hath pleased the Lord to quench that fire there in no such en●e way these things should be used in the Church at the least why that Gloria Patri should be so often repeated T. C. lib. 1. p. 137. Under Constantine the Emperor about Three hundred years and upward after Christ Arius a Priest in the Church of Alexandria a suttle-witted and a marvellous fair-spoken man but discontented that one should be placed before him in honour whose superior he thought himself in desert became through envy and stomach prone unto contradiction and hold to broach at the length that Heresy wherein the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ contained but not opened in the former Creed the coequality and coeternity of the Son with the Father was denied Being for this impiety deprived of his place by the Bishop of the same Church the punishment which should have reform him did but increase his obstinacy and give him occasion of labouring with greater earnestness elsewhere to entangle unwary minds with the snares of his damnable opinion Arius in short time had won to himself a number both of Followers and of great Defenders whereupon much disquietness on all sides ensued The Emperor to reduce the Church of Christ unto the Unity of sound Belief when other means whereof trial was first made took no effect gathered that famous Assembly of Three hundred and eighteen Bishops in the Council of Nice where besides order taken for many things which seemed to need redress there was with common consent for the settling of all men's minds that other Confession of Faith set down which we call the Nicene Creed whereunto the Arians themselves which were present subscribed also not that they meant sincerely and indeed to forsake their error but only to escape deprivation and exile which they saw they could not avoid openly persisting in their former opinions when the greater part had concluded against them and that with the Emperor's Royal Assent Reserving therefore themselves unto future opportunities and knowing that it would not boot them to stir again in a matter so composed unless they could draw the Emperor first and by his means the chiefest Bishops unto their part till Constantine's death and somewhat after they always professed love and zeal to the Nicene Faith yet ceased not in the mean while to strengthen that part which in heart they favoured and to infest by all means under colour of other quarrels their greatest Adversaries in this cause Amongst them Athanasius especially whom by the space of Forty six years from the time of his Consecration to succeed Alexander Archbishop in the Church of Alexandria till the last hour of his life in this World they never suffered to enjoy the comfort of a peaceable day The heart of Constantine stolen from him Constantius Constantine's Successor his scourge and torment by all the ways that malice armed with Sovereign Authority could devise and use Under julian no rest given him and in the days of Valentinian as little Crimes there were laid to his charge many the least whereof being just had bereft him of estimation and credit with men while the World standeth His Judges evermore the selfsame men by whom his accusers were suborned Yet the issue always on their part shame on his triumph Those Bishops and Prelates who should have accounted his cause theirs and could not many of them but with bleeding hearts and with watered checks behold a person of so great place and worth constrained to endure so soul indignities were sure by bewraying their affection towards him to bring upon themselves those molestations whereby if they would not be drawn to seem his Adversaries yet others should be taught how unsafe it was to continue his friends Whereupon it came to pass in the end that very few excepted all became subject to the sway of time other odds there was none amongst them saving only that some fell sooner away some latter from the soundness of Belief some were Leaders in the Host of Impiety and the rest as common Soldiers either yielding through fear or brought under with penury or by flattery ensnared or else beguiled through simplicity which is the fairest excuse that well may be made for them Yes that which all men did wonder at Osius the ancientest Bishop that Christendom then had the most forward in defence of the Catholic cause and of the contrary part most feared that very Osius with whose hand the Nicene Creed itself was set down and framed for the whole Christian World to subscribe unto so far yielded in the end as even with the same hand to ratify the Arians Confession a thing which they neither hoped to see nor the other part ever feared till with amazement they saw it done Both were persuaded that although there had been for Osius no way but either presently subscribe or die 2 Mac. 6. 24. Major Centenario Sulpit. Sever. hist. l. ● ● his answer and choice would have been the same that Eleazar's was It doth not become our age to dissemble whereby many young persons might think that Osius in hundred years old and upward were now gone to another Religion and so through mine hypocrisy for a little time of transitory life they might be deceived by me and I procure malediction and reproach to my old age For though I were now delivered from the torments of men yet could I not escape the hand of the Almighty neither alive nor dead But such was the stream of those times that all men gave place unto it which we cannot but impute partly to their own oversight For at the first the Emperor was theirs the determination of the Council of Nice was for them they had the Arians hands to that Council So great advantages are never changed so far to the contrary but by great error It plainly appeareth that the first thing which weakened them was their security Such as they knew were in heart still affected towards Arianism they suffered by continual nearness to possess the minds of the greatest about the Emperor which themselves might have done with very good acceptation and neglected it In Constantine's life time to have settled Constantius the same way had been a duty of good service towards God a mean of peace and great quietness to the Church of Christ a labour easy and how likely we may conjecture when after that so much pains was taken to instruct and strengthen him in the contrary course after that so much was done by himself to the furtherance of Heresy yet being touched in the end voluntarily with remorse nothing more grieved him then the memory of former proceedings in the cause of Religion and that which he now foresaw in julian the next Physician into whose hands the body that was thus distempered must fall Howbeit this we may somewhat excuse in as much as every man's particular care to his own charge was such as gave them no leisure to heed what others practised in Prince's Courts But of the two Synods of Arimine and Selencia what should we think Constantius by the Arians suggestion had devised to assemble all the Bishops of the whole World about this controversy but in two several places the Bishops of the West at Arimine in Italy the Eastern at Selencia the same time Amongst them of the East there was no stop they agreed without any great ado gave their sentence against Heresy excommunicated some chief maintainers thereof and sent the Emperor word what was done They had at Arimine about Four hundred which held the truth scarce of the adverse part Fourscore but these obstinate and the other weary of contending with them Whereupon by both it was resolved to send to the Emperor such as might inform him of the cause and declare what hindered their peaceable agreement There are chosen for the Catholic side a Ex parte nostra leguntur homines ad lescentes pardon docti pardon caution Ar●anis autem missi ●nes callidi & ingenio valentes vetes ano perfidia imbuti qui apud Regem facile superiorese ●●nirunt Sulpit. lib. 1. such men as had in them nothing to be noted but boldness neither gravity nor learning nor wisdom The Arians for the credit of their faction take the eldest the best experienced the most wary and the longest practised Veterans they had amongst them The Emperor conjecturing of the rest on either part by the quality of them whom he saw sent them speedily away and with them a certain Confession of Faith b Est temque conscribed ab improbit sidem tradie verbis fallentibus involutam quae Catholicano disciplinam persidia latente Inqueretur Ibid. ambiguously and subtly drawn by the Arians whereunto unless they all subscribed they should in no case be suffered to depart from the place where they were At the length it was perceived that there had not been in the Catholics either at Arimine or at Selencia so much foresight as to provide that true intelligence might pass between them what was done Upon the advantage of which Error their adversaries abusing each with persuasion that other had yielded suprized both The Emperor the more desirous and glad of such events for that besides all other things wherein they hindered themselves the gall and bitterness of certain men's writings who spared him little for honour's sake made him for their sakes the less inclinable to that truth which he himself should have honoured and loved Only in Athanasius there was nothing observed throughout the course of that long Tragedy other than such as very well became a wise man to do and a righteous to suffer So that this was the plain condition of those times The whole World against Athanasius and Athanasius against it Half an hundred of years spent in doubtful trial which of the two in the end would prevail the side which had all or else the part which had no friend but God and Death the one a Defender of his Innocency the other a Finisher of all his Troubles Now although these Contentions were cause of much evil yet some good the Church hath reaped by them in that they occasioned the learned and sound in Faith to explain such things as Heresy went about to deprave And in this respect the Creed of Athanasius first exhibited unto julius Bishop of Rome and afterwards as we may probably gather sent to the Emperor jovinian for his more full information concerning that truth which Arianism so mightily did impugn was both in the East and the West Churches accepted as a treasure of inestimable price Greg. Nazia● de Atha by as many as had not given up even the very ghost of belief Then was the Creed of Athanasius written howbeit not then so expedient to be publicly used as now in the Church of God because while the heat of division lasteth truth itself enduring opposition doth not so quietly and currently pass throughout all men's hands neither can be of that account which afterwards it hath when the World once perceiveth the virtue thereof not only in itself but also by the conquest which God hath given it over Heresy That which Heresy did by sinister interpretations go about to pervert in the first and most ancient Apostolic Creed the same being by singular dexterity and plainness cleared from those Heretical corruptions partly by this Creed of Athanasius written about the year Three hundred and forty and partly by that other set down in the Synod of Constantinople That Creed which in the Book of Common Prayer followeth immediately after the reading of the Gospel Forty years after comprehending together with the Nicene Creed an addition of other Articles which the Nicene Creed omitted because the controversy then in hand needed no mention to be made of them These Catholic Declarations of our Belief delivered by them which were so much nearer than we are unto the first publication thereof and continuing needful for all men at all times to know these Confessions as testimonies of our continuance in the same Faith to this present day we rather use them any other gloss or paraphrased devised by ourselves which though it were to the same effect notwithstanding could not be of the like authority and credit For that of Hilary unto St. Augustine hath been ever and is likely to be always true Hilar. Arela Epist. id A●g Your most religious wisdom knoweth how great their number is in the Church of God whom the very authority of men's names doth keep in that opinion which they hold already or draw unto that which they have not before held Touching the Hymn of Glory out usual conclusion to Psalms the glory of all things is that 1 Cor. 15. 40. Exod. 33. 1● Heb. 1. 3. Matth. 18. 13. wherein their highest perfection doth consist and the glory of God that divine excellency whereby he is eminent above all things his omnipotent infinite and eternal Being which Angels and glorified Saints do intuitively behold we on Earth apprehend principally by Faith in part also by that kind of knowledge which groweth from experience of those effects the greatness whereof exceedeth the powers and abilities of all Creatures both in Heaven and Earth Josh 7. 13. Psal. 2● 23. God is glorified when such his excellency above all things is with due admiration acknowledged Which dutiful acknowledgement of God's excellency by occasion of special effects being the very proper subject and almost the only matter purposely treated of in all Psalms if that joyful Hymn of Glory have any use in the Church of God whose Name we therewith extol and magnify Can we place it more fitly then where now it serveth as a close or conclusion to Psalms Neither is the Form thereof newly or unnecessarily invented Basil. Ep. ●8 We must saith St. Basil as we have received even so Baptise and as we Baptise even so Believe and as we Believe even so give Glory Baptising we use the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Confessing the Christian Faith we declare our Belief in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Ghost Ascribing Glory unto God we give it to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost It is the token of a true and sound understanding for matter of Doctrine about the Trinity when in ministering Baptism and making Confession and giving Glory there is a conjunction of all three and no one of the three severed from the other two Against the Arians affirming the Father to be greater than the Son in honour excellency dignity majesty this form and manner of glorifying God was not at that time first begun but received long before and alleged at that time as an argument for the truth Fabad lib. cont● Arian If saith Fabadius there be that inequality which they affirm then do we every day blaspheme God when in Thanksgivings and offerings of Sacrifice we acknowledge those thing common to the Father and the Son The Arians therefore for that they perceived how this did prejudice their cause altered the Hymn of Glory whereupon ensued in the Church of Antioch about the year Three hundred forty nine that jar which Theodoret and Sozomen mention Theod. lib. 1. cap. 21. Sozom lib. 4. cap. 19 In their Quires while they praised God together as the manner was at the end of the Psalms which they sung it appeared what opinion every man held for as much as they glorified some the Father And the Son And the Holy Ghost some the Father By the Son In the Spirit the one sort thereby declaring themselves to embrace the Son's equality with the Father as the Council of Nice had defined the other sort against the Council of Nice his inequality Leontivos their Bishop although an enemy to the better part yet wary and subtle as in a manner all the heads of the Arians Faction were could at no time be plainly heard to use either form perhaps lest his open contradiction of them whom he favoured not might make them the more eager and by that mean the less apt to be privately won or peradventure for that though he joined in opinion with that sort of Arians who denied the Son to be equal with the Father yet from them he dissented which thought the Father and the Son not only unequal but unlike as AEtuis did upon a frivolous and false surmise that because the Apostle hath said 1 Cor. 8. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 3. 4. 13. One God of whom one Lord by whom one Spirit in whom his different manner of speech doth argue a different Nature and Being in them of whom he speaketh Ou● of which blind collection it seemeth that this their new devised Form did first spring But in truth even that very Form which the Arians did then use saving that they chose it to serve as their special mark of Recognisance and gave it secretly within themselves a sinister construction hath not otherwise as much as the show of any thing which soundeth towards impiety For albeit if we respect God's glory within itself it be the equal right and possession of all three and that without any odds any difference yet touching his manifestation thereof unto us by continual effects and our perpetual acknowledgement thereof unto him likewise by virtuous Offices Doth not every tongue both ways confess That the brightness of his Glory hath spread itself throughout the World By the Ministry of his only begotten Son and is In the manifold Graces of the Spirit every way marvellous Again That whatsoever we do to his Glory it is done In the power of the Holy Ghost and made acceptable By the Merit and Mediation of Jesus Christ So that glory to the Father And the Son or glory to the Father By the Son saving only where evil minds do abuse and pervert most holy things are not else the voices of Error and Schism but of sound and sincere Religion It hath been the Custom of the Church of Christ to end sometimes Prayers and Sermons always with words of glory wherein as long as the Blessed Trinity had due honour and till Arianism had made it a matter of great sharpness and subtlety of Wit to be a sound believing Christian men were not curious what Syllables or Particles of speech they used Upon which confidence and trust notwithstanding when St. Basil began to practise the like indifferency and to conclude Public Prayers glorifying sometime the Father with the Son and the Holy Ghost sometime the Father by the Son in the Spirit whereas long custom had enured them unto the former kindealone by means whereof the latter was new and strange in their ears This needless experiment brought afterwards upon him a necessary labour of excusing himself to his Friends and maintaining his own act against them who because the Light of his Candle too much drowned theirs were glad to lay hold on so colorourable matter and exceeding forward to traduce him as an Author of suspicious Innovation How hath the World forsaken that course which it sometime held How are the judgements hearts and affections of men altered May we not wonder that a man of St. Basils' authority and quality an Arch-Prelate in the House of God should have his Name far and wide called in question and be driven to his painful Apologies to write in his own defence whole Volumes and yet hardly to obtain with all his endeavour a pardon the crime laid against him being but only a change of some one or two syllables in their usual Church Liturgy It was thought in him an unpardonable offence to alter any thing in us as intolerable that we suffer any thing to remain unaltered The very Creed of Athanasius and that sacred Hymn of Glory than which nothing doth sound more heavenly in the ears of faithful men are now reckoned as superfluities which we must in any case pair away left we cloy God with too much service Is there in that Confession of Faith any thing which doth not at all times edify and instruct the attentive hearer Or is our Faith in the Blessed Trinity a matter needless to be so oftentimes mentioned and opened in the principal part of that duty which we owe to God our Public Prayer Hath the Church of Christ from the first beginning by a secret Universal Instinct of God's good Spirit always tied itself to end neither Sermon nor almost any speech of moment which hath concerned Matters of God without some special words of honour and glory to that Trinity which we all adore and is the like conclusion of Psalms become now at length an eyesore or a galling to their ears that hear it Those flames of Arianism they say are quenched which were the cause why the Church devised in such sort to confess and praise the glorious Deity of the Son of God Seeing therefore the sore is whole why retain we as yet the Pla●ster When the cause why any thing was ordained doth once cease the thing itself should cease with it that the Church being eased of unprofitable labours needful offices may the better be attended For the doing of things unnecessary is many times the cause why the most necessary are not done But in this case so to reason will not serve their turns For first the ground whereupon they build is not certainly their own but with special limitations Few things are so restrained to any one end or purpose that the same being extinct they should forthwith utterly become frustrate Wisdom may have framed one and the same thing to serve commodiously for divers ends and of those ends any one be sufficient cause for continuance though the rest have ceased even as the Tongue which Nature hath given us for an Instrument of speech is not idle in dumb persons because it also serveth for taste Again if time have worn out or any other mean altogether taken away what was first intended uses not thought upon before may afterwards spring up and be reasonable causes of retaining that which other considerations did formerly procure to be instituted And it cometh sometime to pass that a thing unnecessary in itself as touching the whole direct purpose whereto it was meant or can be applied doth notwithstanding appear convenient to be still held even without use lest by reason of that coherence which it hath with somewhat most necessary the removal of the one should indamage the other And therefore men which have clean lost the possibility of sight keep still their eyes nevertheless in the place where Nature set them As for these two Branches whereof our Question groweth Arianism was indeed some occasion of the one but a cause of neither much less the only entire cause of both For albeit conflict with Arians brought forth the occasion of writing that Creed which long after was made a part of the Church Liturgy as Hymns and Sentences of Glory were a part thereof before yet cause sufficient there is why both should remain in use the one as a most Divine Explication of the chiefest Articles of our Christian Belief the other as an Heavenly acclamation of joyful applause to his praises in whom we believe neither the one nor the other unworthy to he heard souncing as they are in the Church of Christ whether Arianism live or die Against which poison likewise if we think that the Church at this day needeth not those ancient preservatives which ages before us were so glad to use we deceive ourselves greatly The Weeds of Heresy being grown unto such ripeness as that was do even in the very cutting down scatter oftentimes those seeds which for a while lie unseen and buried in the Earth but afterward freshly spring up again no less pernicious them at the first Which thing they very well know and I doubt not will easily confess who live to their great both toil and grief where the blasphemies of Arians Samosatenians Tritheits Eutychians and Maccdonians are renewed by them who to hatch their Heresy have chosen those Churches as fittest Nests where Athanasius Creed is not heard by them I say renewed who following the course of extreme Reformation were wont in the pride of their own proceedings to glory that whereas Luther did but blow away the Roof and Zwinglius batter but the Walls of Popish Superstition the last and hardest work of all remained which was to raze up the very ground and foundation of Popery that doctrine concerning the Deity of Christ which Satanasius for so it pleased those impious forsaken Miscreants to speak hath in this memorable Creed explained So manifestly true is that which one of the Ancients hath concerning Arianism contra Ar. Mortuis authoribus hujus veneni scelerata tamen eorum doctrina non moritur The Authors of this venom being dead and gone their wicked doctrine notwithstanding continueth 43. Amongst the heaps of these Excesses and Superfluities Our want o● particular thank giving ●● such Prayers are needful whereby we beg release from o distresses so there aught to be as necessary Prayers of Thanksgiving when we have received those things at the Lords hand which we asked T. C. lib 1. pag. 13● I do not simply require a solemn and express Thanksgiving for such benefits but only upon a supposition which is that is it be expedient that there should be experts Prayers against so many of their earthly miseries that then al●o it is meet that upon the deliverance there should be an express Thanksgiving T. C. lib. 3. pag. 209. there is espied the want of a principal part of duty There are no thanksgivings for the benefits for which there are Petitions in our Book of Prayer This they have thought a point material to be objected Neither may we take it in evil part to be admonished what special duties of thankfulness we owe to that merciful God for whose unspeakable Graces the only requital which we are able to make is a true hearty and sincere acknowledgement how precious we esteem such benefits received and how infinite in goodness the Author from whom they come But that to every Petition we make for things needful there should be some answerable sentence of thanks provided particularly to follow such requests obtained either it is not a matter so requisite as they pretend or if it be wherefore have they not then in such order framed their own Book of Common Prayer Why hath our Lord and Saviour taught us a form of Prayer containing so many Petitions of those things which we want and not delivered in like sort as many several forms of Thanksgiving to serve when any thing we pray for is granted What answer soever they can reasonably make unto these demands the same shall discover unto them how causeless a censure it is that there are not in our Book Thanksgivings for all the benefits forwhile there are Petitions * The default of the Book for that there are no Forms of Thanksgiving for the release from those common calamities from which we have Petitions to be delivered T. C. lib. 3. p. 2●3 ● ph●●● p C●●la 16. For concerning the Blessings of God whether they tend unto this life or the life to come there is great cause why we should delight more if giving thanks then in making requests for them in as much as the one hath pensiveness and fear the other always joy annexed the one belongeth unto them that seek the other unto them that have found happiness they that pray do but yet sow they that give thanks declare they have reaped Howbeit because there are so many Graces whereof we stand in continual need Graces for which we may not cease daily and hourly to sue Graces which are in bestowing always but never come to be sully had in this present life and therefore when all things here have an end endless thanks must have their beginning in a state which bringeth the full and final satisfaction of all such perpetual desires Again because our common necessities and the lack which we all have as well of ghostly as of earthly favours is in each kind so easily known but the gifts of God according to those degrees and times which he in his secrets wisdom seeth meet are so diversely bestowed that it seldom appeareth what all receive what all stand in need of it seldom lieth hid we are not to marvel though the Church do oftener concur in suits then in thanks unto God for particular benefits Nevertheless lest God should be any way unglorified the greatest part of our daily Service they know consisteth according to the ● Blessed Apostles own precise rule in much variety of Psalms and Hymns for no other purpose but only that out of so plentiful a treasure there might be for every man's heart no choose out his own Sacrifice and to offer unto God by particular secret instinct what fitteth best the often occasions which any several either Party or Congregation may seem to have They that would clean take from us therefore the daily use of the very best means we have to magnify and praise the Name of Almighty God for his rich Blessings they that complain of out reading and singing so many Psalms for so good an end they I say that find fault with our store should of all men be least willing to reprove our scarcity of Thanksgivings But because peradventure they see it is not either generally fit or possible that Churches should frame Thanksgivings answerable to each Petition they shorten somewhat the reins of their censure there are no forms of Thanksgiving they say for release of those common calamities from which we have Petitions to be delivered T. C. lib. 1. pag. 138. There are Prayers set forth to be said in the common calamities and Universal scourges of the Realm as Plague Famine etc. And indeed so it ought to be by the Word of God But as such Prayers are needful whereby we beg release from our Distresses so there aught to be as necessary Prayers of Thanksgiving when we have received those things at the Lords hand which we asked in our Prayers As oft therefore as any Public or Universal scourge is removed as oft as we are delivered from those either imminent or present Calamities against the storm and tempest whereof we all instantly craved favour from above let it be a Question what we should render unto God for his Blessings universally sensibly and extraordinarily bestowed A Prayer of three or four lines inserted into some part of our Church Liturgy No we are not persuaded that when God doth in trouble enjoin us the duty of Invocation and promise us the benefit of Deliverance and profess That the thing he expecteth after at our hands is to glorify him as our mighty and only Saviour the Church can discharge in manner convenient a work of so great importance by fore-ordaining some short Collect wherein briefly to mention thanks Our custom therefore whensoever so great occasions are incident is by Public Authority to appoint throughout all Churches set and solemn Forms as well of Supplication as of Thanksgiving the preparations and intended Compliments whereof may stir up the minds of men in much more effectual sort then if only there should be added to the Book of Prayer that which they require But we err in thinking that they require any such matter For albeit their words to our understanding be very plain that in our Book there are Prayers set forth to be said when common calamities are felt as Plague Famine and such like Again that indeed so it ought to be by the Word of God That likewise there ought to be as necessary Prayers of Thanksgiving when we have received those things Finally that the want of such Forms of Thanksgiving for the release from those common calamities from which we have Petitions to be delivered is the default of the Book of Common Prayer Yet all this they mean but only by way of supposition if express Prayers against so many Earthly miseries were convenient that then indeed as many express and particular Thanksgivings should be likewise necessary Seeing therefore we know that they hold the one superfluous they would not have it so understood as though their minds were that any such addition to the Book is needful whatsoever they say for Arguments sake concerning this pretended defect The truth is they wave in and out no way sufficiently grounded no way resolved what to think speak or write more than only that because they have taken it upon them they must no remedy now be opposite In some things the Matter of our Prayer as they affirm Unsound 44. The last supposed fault concerneth some few things the very matter whereof is thought to be much amiss In a Song of Praise to our Lord Jesus Christ we have these words When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death tho● didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Which maketh some show of giving countenance to their Error who think that the faithful which departed this life before the coming of Christ were never till then made partakers of joy but remained all in that place which they term the Lake of the Fathers In our Liturgy request is made that we may be preserved from sudden death This seemeth frivolous because the godly should always be prepared to die Request is made that God would give those things which we for our unworthiness dare not ask This they say carrieth with it the note of Popish servile fear and savoreth not of that confidence and reverend familiarity that the children of God have through Christ with their Heavenly Father Request is made that we may evermore be defended from all adversity For this there is no promise in Scripture and therefore it is no Prayer of Faith or of the which we can assure ourselves that we shall obtain it Finally Request is made That God would have mercy upon all men This is impossible because some are the Vessels of Wrath to whom God will never extend his Mercy 45. As Christ hath purchased that Heavenly Kingdom When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven unto all Believers the last perfection whereof is Glory in the life to come Grace in this life a preparation thereunto so the same he hath opened to the World in such sort that whereas none can possibly without him attain salvation by him all that believe are saved Now whatsoever he did or suffered the end thereof was to open the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven which our iniquities had shut up But because by ascending after that the sharpness of death was overcome he took the very local possession of glory and that to the use of all that are his even as himself before had witnessed I go to prepare a place for you And again John 14.2 & 17.24 Whom thou hast given me O Father I will that where I am they be also with me that my glory which thou hast given me they may behold It appeareth that when Christ did ascend he then most liberally opened the Kingdom of Heaven to the end that with him and by him all Believers might reign In what estate the Fathers rested which were dead before it is not hereby either one way or other determined All that we can rightly gather is that as touching their souls what degree of joy or happiness soever it pleased God to bestow upon them his Ascension which succeeded procured theirs and theirs concerning the Body must needs be not only of but after his As therefore Helvidius jerem contra Helvid August Haer. ●4 against whom St. Jerome writeth abused greatly those words of Matthew concerning joseph and the Mother of our Saviour Christ He knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn thereby gathering against the honour of the Blessed Virgin that a thing denied with special circumstance doth import an opposite affirmation when once that circumstance is expired After the selfsame manner it should be a weak collection if whereas we say That when Christ had overcome the sharpness of death he then opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers a thing in such sort affirmed with circumstance were taken as insinuating an opposite denial before that circumstance be accomplished and consequently that because when the sharpness of death was overcome he then opened Heaven as well to believing Gentiles as jews Heaven till then was no receptacle to the Souls of either Wherefore be the Spirits of the just and righteous before Christ truly or falsely thought excluded out of Heavenly joy by that which we in the words alleged before do attribute to Christ's Ascension sqv super Gen. 29. Th. p. 3. ● 52. there is to no such opinion nor to the favourers thereof any countenance at all given We cannot better interpret the meaning of these words than Pope Leo himself expoundeth them whose Speech concerning our Lord's Ascension may serve instead of a Marginal gloss Leo. Re● 1. de Ascens Christ's Exaltation is our Promotion and whither the glory of the Head is already gone before thither the Hope of the ●ody also is to follow For at this day we have not only the possession of Paradise assured unto us but in Christ we have entered the highest of the Heavens His opening the Kingdom of Heaven and his entrance thereinto was not only to his own use but for the benefit of all Believers 46. Our good or evil estate after death Touching Prayer for deliverance from sudden death dependeth most upon the quality of our lives Yet somewhat there is why a virtuous mind should rather wish to depart this world with a kind of treatable dissolution then to be suddenly cut off in a moment rather to be taken then snatched away from the face of the Earth Death is that which all men suffer but not all men with one mind neither all men in one manner For being of necessity a thing common it is through the manifold persuasions dispositions and occasions of men with equal desert both of praise and dispraise shunned by some by others desired So that absolutely we cannot discommend we cannot absolutely approve either willingness to live or forwardness to die And concerning the ways of death albeit the choice thereof be only in his hands who alone hath power over all flesh and unto whose appointment we ought with patience meekly to submit ourselves for to be agents voluntarily in our own destruction is against both God and Nature yet there is no doubt but in so great variety our desires will and may lawfully prefer one kind before another Is there any man of worth and virtue although not instructed in the School of Christ or ever taught what the soundness of Religion meaneth that had not rather end the days of this transitory life as Cyrus in Xenophon or in Plato Socrates are described then to sink down with them Job 34. 20. of whom Elihu hath said Momento Moriuntur there is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being But let us which know what it is to die as Absalon or Ananias and Saphira died let us beg of God that when the hour of our rest is come the patterns of our dissolution may be jacob Moses josova David Heb. 11. 21. Deut. 33 Josh. 24. 1 King 2. who leisureably ending their lives in peace prayed for the Mercies of God to come upon their posterity replenished the hearts of the nearest unto them with words of memorable Consolation strengthened in the fear of God gave them wholesome instructions of life and confirmed them in true Religion in sum Taught the World no less virtuously how to die than they had done before how to live To such as judge things according to the sense of natural men and ascend no higher suddenness because it shorteneth their grief should in reason be most acceptable That which causeth bitterness in death is the languishing attendance and expectation thereof ere it come And therefore Tyrants use what art they can to increase the slowness of death Quick riddance out of life is often both requested and bestowed as a benefit Commonly therefore it is for virtuous considerations that Wisdom so far prevaileth with men as to make them desirous of slow and deliberate death against the stream of their sensual inclination con●ent to endure the longer grief and bodily pain that the Soul may have time to call itself to a just account of all things past by means whereof Repentance is perfected there is wherein to exercise patience the joys of the Kingdom of Heaven have leisure to present themselves the pleasures of sin and this World's vanities are censured with uncorrupt judgement Charity is free to make advised choice of the soil wherein her last Seed may most fruitfully be bestowed the mind is at liberty to have due regard of that disposition of worldly things which it can never afterwards alter and because the nearer we draw unto God Cypr. the Mortal the more we are oftentimes enlightened with the shining beams of his glorious presence as being then even almost in sight a leisureable departure may in that case bring forth for the good of such as are present that which shall cause them for ever after from the bottom of their hearts to pray O let us die the death of the righteous and let our last end be like theirs All which benefits and opportunities are by sudden death prevented And besides for as much as death howsoever is a general effect of the wrath of God against sin and the suddenness thereof a thing which happeneth but to few The World in this respect feareth it the more as being subject to doubtful constructions which as no man willingly would incur so they whose happy estate after life is of all men's the most certain should especially wish that no such accident in their death may give uncharitable minds occasion of rash sinister and suspicious verdicts whereunto they are over-prone So that whether evil men or good be respected whether we regard ourselves or others to be preserved from sudden death is a Blessing of God And our Prayer against it importeth a twofold desire first That death when it cometh may give us some convenient respite or secondly If that be denied us of God yet we may have wisdom to provide always beforehand that those evils overtake us not which death unexpected doth use to bring upon careless men and that although it be sudden in itself nevertheless in regard of our prepared minds it may not be sudden Prayer that those things which we for our unworthiness dare not ask God for the worthiness of his Son would vouchsafe to grant This request carrieth with it still the note of the Popish servile fear and ●avoreth not of that confidence and reverend familiarity that the Children of God have through Christ with their Heavenly Father T. C. lib. 1. pag. 136. 47. But is it credible that the very acknowledgement of our own unworthiness to obtain and in that respect our professed fearfulness to ask anything otherwise then only for his sake to whom God can deny nothing that this should be noted for a Popish Error that this should be termed baseness abjection of mind or servility is it credible That which we for our unworthiness are afraid to crave our Prayer is That God for the worthiness of his Son would notwithstanding vouchsafe to grant May it please them to show us which of these words it is that carrieth the note of Popish and servile fear In reference to other Creatures of this inferior World Man's worth and excellency is admired Compared with God the truest Inscription wherewith we can circled so base a coin is that of David * Psal. 39 5. Universa vanitas est omnis homo Whosoever hath the name of a mortal man there is in him whatsoever the name of vanity doth comprehend And therefore what we say of our own unworthiness there is no doubt but Truth will ratify alleged in Prayer it both becometh and behoveth Saints For as Humility is in Suitors a decent virtue so the testification thereof by such effectual acknowledgements not only argueth a sound apprehension of his supereminent Glory and Majesty before whom we stand M Philo. de Sacrif Abel & Cain but putteth also into his hands a kind of pledge of bond for security against our unthankfulness the very Natural Root whereof is always either Ignorance Dissimulation or Pride Ignorance when we know not the Author from whom our good cometh Dissimulation when our hands are more open than our eyes upon that we receive Pride when we think ourselves worthy of that which mere Grace and undeserved Mercy bestoweth In Prayer therefore to abate so vain imaginations with the true conceit of unworthiness is rather to prevent then commit a fault It being no error thus to think no fault thus to speak of ourselves when we pray is it a fault that the consideration of our unworthiness maketh us fearful to open our mouths by way of suit While job had prosperity and lived in honour men feared him for his authorities sake and in token of their fear when they saw him they hid themselves Between Elihis and the rest of jobs Familiars Job 29 8. Amongst the parts of hom. 8. Aristotle reckoneth and Rhet. lib. 1. cap. ● the greatest disparity was but in years And he though riper than they in judgement doing them reverence in regard of age stood long * Job 32. 6. doubtful and very loath to adventure upon speech in his Elders hearing If so small inequality between man and man make their modesty a commendable virtue who respecting Superiors as Superiors can neither speak nor stand before them without fear that the Publican approacheth not more boldly to God that when Christ in mercy draweth near to Peter he in humility and fear craveth distance That being to stand to speak to sue in the presence of so great Majesty we are afraid let no man blame us In which consideration notwithstanding The Publican did indeed not lift up his eyes So that if by his example we should say we dare ask nothing we ought also to ask nothing otherwise instead of reaching true humility we open a School to hypocrisy which the Lord detesteth T. C. lib. 3. p. 203. because to fly altogether from God to despair that Creatures unworthy shall be able to obtain any thing at his hands and under that pretence to surcease from Prayers as bootless or fruitless offices were to him no less injurious then pernicious to our own souls even that which we tremble to do we do we ask those things which we dare not ask The knowledge of our own unworthiness is not without belief in the merits of Christ. With that true fear which the one causeth there is coupled true boldness and encouragement drawn from the other The very silence which our unworthiness putteth us unto doth itself make request for us and that in the confidence of his Grace Looking inward we are stricken dumb looking upward we speak and prevail O happy mixture wherein things contrary do so qualify and correct the one the danger of the others excess that neither boldness can make us presume as long as we are kept under with the sense of our own wretchedness nor while we trust in the Mercy of God through Jesus Christ fear be able to tyrannize over us As therefore our fear excludeth not that boldness * Rom. §. 2. ● 15. Heb. hundred 19 which becometh Saints so if our familiarity with God do not savour of this fear it draweth too near that irreverend confidence wherewith true Humility can never stand 48. Touching continual deliverance in the World from all adversity Prayer to be evermore delivered from all adversity For as much as there is no promise in the Scripture that we should be free from all adversity and that evermore it seemeth that this Prayer might have been better conceived being no Prayer of Faith or of the which we can assure ourselves that we shall obtain it T. C. lib. 1. p. 135. their conceit is that we ought not to ask it of God by Prayer for as much as in Scripture there is no promise that we shall be evermore free from vexations calamities and troubles Minds religiously affected are wont in every thing of weight and moment which they do or see to examine according unto rules of Piety what dependency it hath on God what reference to themselves what coherence with any of those duties whereunto all things in the World should lead and accordingly they frame the inward disposition of their minds sometime to admire God sometimes to bless him and give him thanks sometime to exult in his love sometime to implore his mercy All which different elevations of spirit unto God are contained in the name of Prayer Every good and holy desire though it lack the form hath notwithstanding in it seft the substance and with him the force of a Prayer who regardeth the very moaning groans and sighs of the heart of man Petitionary Prayer belongeth only to such as are in themselves impotent and stand in need of relief from others We thereby declare unto God what our own desire is that he by his power should effect It presupposeth therefore in us First the want of that which we pray for Secondly a feeling of that want Thirdly an earnest willingness of mind to be eased therein Fourthly a declaration of this our desire in the sight of God not as if he should be otherwise ignorant of our necessities but because we this way show that we honour him as our God and are verily persuaded that no good thing can come to pass which he by his omnipotent Power effecteth not Now because there is no man's Prayer acceptable whose person is odious neither any man's person gracious without Faith Oratio quae non sit per Christum non solum non potest delere peccatum sed etiam ipsa fit pe●catum Aug. Eager 1. in Psal. 108. it is of necessity required that they which pray do believe The Prayers which our Lord and Saviour made were for his own worthiness accepted ours God accepteth not but with this condition If they be joined with belief in Christ. The Prayers of the Just are accepted always but not always those things granted for which they pray For in Prayer if Faith and Assurance to obtain were both one and the same thing seeing that the effect of not obtaining is a plain testimony that they which prayed were not sure they should obtain it would follow that their Prayer being without certainty of the event was also made unto God without Faith and consequently that God abhorred it Which to think of so many Prayers of Saints as we find have failed in particular requests how absurd were it His faithful people have this comfort that whatsoever they rightly ask the same no doubt but they shall receive so far as may stand with the glory of God and their own everlasting good unto either of which two it is no virtuous man's purpose to seek or desire to obtain any thing prejudicial and therefore that clause which our Lord and Saviour in the Prayer of his Agony did express we in Petitions of like nature do always imply Pater si possibile est If it may stand with thy will and pleasure Or if not but that there be secret impediments and causes in regard whereof the thing we pray for is denied us yet the Prayer itself which we make is a pleasing Sacrifice to God who both accepteth and rewardeth it some other way Numb 1● 3● 1 Sam. 8. 9 Job 1. 12. & 2 ● Luk. 8. 52. So that sinners in very truth are denied when they seem to prevail in their Supplications because it is not for their sakes or to their good that their suits take place the faithful chose because it is for their good oftentimes that their Petitions do not take place prevail even then when they most seem denied 2 Cor. 1● 5 8 9 Our Lord God in anger hath granted some impenitent men's requests as on the other side the Apostles suit he hath of ●avor and mercy not granted saith St. Augustine Aug. Ep. 12 1. Ad Pro●am vid. aen To think we may pray unto God for nothing but what he hath promised in holy Scripture we shall obtain is perhaps an error For of Prayer there are two uses It serveth as a mean to procure those things which God hath promised to grant when we ask and it serveth as a mean to express our lawful desires also towards that which whether we shall have or no we know not till we see the event Things in themselves unholy or unseemly we may not ask we may whatsoever being not forbidden either Nature or Grace shall reasonably move us to wish as importing the good of men albeit God himself have no where by promise assured us of that particular which our Prayer craveth To pray for that which is in itself and of its own nature apparently a thing impossible were not convenient Wherefore though men do without offence wish daily that the affairs which with evil success are past might have fallen out much better yet to pray that they may have been any other than they are this being a manifest impossibilty in itself the Rules of Religion do not permit Whereas chose when things of their own nature contingent and mutable are by the secret determination of God appointed one way though we the other way make our Prayers and consequently ask those things of God which are by this supposition impossible we notwithstanding do not hereby in Prayer transgress our lawful bounds That Christ as the only begotten Son of God having no Superior and therefore owing honour unto none neither standing in any need should either give thanks or make petition unto God were most absurd As Man what could beseem him better whether we respect his affection to God-ward or his own necessity or his charity and love towards men Some things he knew should come to pass and notwithstanding prayed for them because he also knew that the necessary means to effect them were his Prayers As in the Psalm it is said Psal. 2. ● Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the ends of the Earth for thy possession Wherefore that which here God promiseth his Son the same in the Seventeenth of john he prayeth for John 17. 1 2. Father the hour is now come glorify thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee according as thou hast given him power over all flesh But had Christ the like promise concerning the effect of every particular for which he prayed That which was not effected could not be promised And we know in what sort he prayed for removal of that bitter Cup which Cup he tasted notwithstanding his Prayer To shift off this example Matth. 26 39 Mark 14. 30. Luke 22. 42. Neither did our Saviour Christ pray without promise for as other the Children of God in whose condition he had humbled himself have so had be a promise of deliverance in far as the glory of God that acomplishment of his vocation would suffer T. C. lib. 3. pag 2●0 they answer first That as other children of God so Christ had a promise of deliverance as far as the glory of God in the accomplishment of his vocation would suffer And if we ourselves have not also in that sort the promise of God to be evermore delivered from all adversity what meaneth the Sacred Scripture to speak in so large terms Be obedient and the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous a Deut. 30. 4. in every work of thy hand in the fruit of thy body and in the fruit of thy  and in the fruit of the Land for thy wealth Again Keep his Laws and thou shalt be blessed above all people the Lord shall take from the b Deut. 7. 15. all infirmities The man whose delight is in the Law of God c Psal. 1.4 whatsoever he doth it shall prosper For the ungodly there are great plagues remaining but whosoever putteth his trust in the Lord Mercy embraceth him d Psal. 32 11 17. on every side Not only that mercy which keepeth from being over-laid or oppressed but Mercy which saveth from being touched with grievous miseries Mercy which turneth away the course of e T. C. lib. 3. pag 201. the great water floods and permitteth them not to come near Nevertheless because the Prayer of Christ did concern but one calamity they are still bold to deny the lawfulness of our Prayer for deliverance out of all yea though we pray with the same exception that he did If such deliverance may stand with the pleasure of Almighty God and not otherwise For they have secondly found out a Rule that Prayer ought only to be made for deliverance f We ought not to desire to be free from all adversity if it be his will considering that he hath already declared his Will therein T. C. lib. 3. pag. 201. from this or that particular adversity whereof we know not but upon the event what the pleasure of God is Which quite overthroweth that other principle wherein they require unto every Prayer which is of Faith an assurance to obtain the thing we pray for At the first to pray against all adversity was unlawful because we cannot assure ourselves that this will be granted Now we have licence to pray against any particular adversity and the reason given because we know not but upon the event what God will do If we know not what God will do it followeth that for any assurance we have he may do otherwise then we pray and we faithfully pray for that which we cannot assuredly presume that God will grant Seeing therefore neither of these two Answers will serve the turn they have a third which is That to pray in such sort is but idly misspent labour because God hath already revealed his Will touching this request and we know that the suit we make is denied before we make it Which neither is true and if it were was Christ ignorant what God had determined touching those things which himself should suffer To say T. C. lib. 3 p. 201. He knew not what weight of sufferances his Heavenly Father had measured unto him is somewhat hard harder that although he knew them notwithstanding for the present time they were forgotten through the force of these unspeakable pangs which he then was in The one against the plain express words of the holy Evangelist John 18. 4. He knew all things that should come upon him the other less credible if any thing may be of less credit than what the Scripture itself gain-sayeth Doth any of them which wrote his sufferings make report that memory failed him Is there in his words and speeches any sign of defect that way Did not himself declare before whatsoever was to happen in the course of that whole tragedy Can we gather by any thing after taken from his own mouth either in the place of public judgement or upon the Altar of the Cross that through the bruising of his Body some part of the treasures of his Soul were scattered and slipped from him If that which was perfect both before and after did fail at this only middle instant there must appear some manifest cause how it came to pass True it is that the pangs of his heaviness and grief were unspeakable and as true That because the minds of the afflicted do never think they have fully conceived the weight or measure of their own woe they use their affection as a whetstone both to wit and memory these as Nurses do feed grief so that the weaker his conceit had been touching that which he was to suffer the more it must needs in that hour have helped to the mitigation of his anguish But his anguish we see was then at the very highest whereunto it could possibly rise which argueth his deep apprehension even to the last drop of the Gall which that Cup contained and of every circumstance wherein there was any force to augment heaviness but above all things the resolute determination of God and his own unchangeable purpose which he at that time could not forget To what intent then was his Prayer which plainly testifieth so great willingness to avoid death Will whether it be in God or Man belongeth to the Essence or Nature of both The Nature therefore of God being one there are not in God divers Wills although the Godhead be in divers persons because the power of willing is a natural not a personal propriety chose the Person of our Saviour Christ being but one there are in him two Wills because two Natures the Nature of God and the Nature of Man which both do imply this Faculty and Power So that in Christ there is a Divine and there is an Humane will otherwise he were not both God and Man Hereupon the Church hath of old condemned Monothelites as Heretics for holding That Christ had but one Will. The Works and Operations of our Saviour's Humane will were all subject to the Will of God and framed according to his Law Psal. 40. 1. I desire to do thy Will O God and thy Law is within mine heart Now as Man's will so the Will of Christ hath two several kinds of operation the one Natural or necessary whereby it desireth simply whatsoever is good in itself and shuneth as generally all things which hurt the other Deliberate when we therefore embrace things as good because the eye of understanding judgeth them good to that ●●d which we simply desire Thus in itself we desire health Physic only for healths sake And in this sort special Reason oftentimes causeth the Will by choice to prefer one good thing before another to leave one for another's sake to forgo meaner for the attainment of higher desires which our Saviour likewise did These different inclinations of the Will considered the reason is easy how in Christ there might grow desires seeming but being not indeed opposite either the one of them unto the other or either of them to the Will of God For let the manner of his speech be weighed Joh. 12. 21. My Soul is now troubled and what should I say Father save me out of this hour But yet for this very cause I am come into this hour His purpose herein was most effectually to propose to the view of the whole World two contrary Objects the like whereunto in force and efficacy were never presented in that manner to any but only to the Soul of Christ. There was presented before his eyes in that fearful hour on the one side Gods heavy indignation and wrath towards mankind as yet unappeased death as yet in full strength Hell as yet never mastered by any that came within the confines and bounds thereof somewhat also peradventure more than is either possible or needful for the wit of man to find out finally Himself flesh and blood a Matth 27.46 Non potuit divinitas humanitatem & secundum aliquid deseruisse & secundum all quid non deseruisse Subtraxit prefectionem sed non separa it unionem Sce●go da●diquit ut non adjuvaret sed non direliqunt ut ●eredeter Sic ●●gu humanitas à d visitate in passione derelicta est Quam tamen ●●ngtem quia non pro sua iniquitare sed pro nostra redemptione sustinuit quare sae derelicta requirit non quasi adversus Deum de ●oena murmura●e sed nobis innocentiam suam in ●una demensir●ra Hug. de Sacra lib. 2. put 1. cap. 10. Deus meus unquis dereliquisti me Vox est nec ignorantiae nec diffidentia nec querele sed admirationis ●anrum quae aliis investigandae causae ardorem & diligentiam actual left alone to enter into conflict with all these On the other side a World to be saved by One a pacification of wrath through the dignity of that Sacrifice which should be offered a conquest over death through the power of that Deity which would not suffer the Tabernacle thereof to see corruption and an utter disappointment of all the forces of infernal powers through the purity of that Soul which they should have in their hands and not be able to touch Let no man marvel that in this case the Soul of Christ was much troubled For what could such apprehensions breed but as their nature is inexplicable Passions of mind desires abhorring what they embrace and embracing what they abhor In which Agony how should the tongue go about to express what the soul endured When the griefs of job were exceeding great his words accordingly to open them were many howbeit still unto his seeming they were undiscovered Though my talk saith job b Job 23 ● be this day in bitterness yet my plague is greater than my groaning But here to what purpose should words serve when nature hath more to declare then groans and strong cries more than streams of bloody sweats more than his doubled and tripled Prayers can express who thrice putting forth his hand to receive that Cup besides which there was no other cause of his coming into the World he thrice pulleth it back again and as often even with tears of blood craveth If it be possible O Father or if not even what thine own good pleasure is for whose sake the Passion that hath in it a bitter and a bloody conflict even with Wrath and Death and Hell is most welcome Whereas therefore we find in God a will resolved that Christ shall suffer and in the Humane will of Christ two actual desires the one avoiding and the other accepting death Is that desire which first declareth itself by Prayer against that wherewith he concludeth Prayer or either of them against his mind to whom Prayer in this case seeketh We may judge of these diversities in the Will by the like in the Understanding For as the intellectual part doth not cross itself by conceiving man to be just and unjust when it meaneth not the same man nor by imagining the same man learned and unlearned if learned in one skill and in another kind of learning unskilful because the parts of every true opposition do always both concern the same subject and have reference to the same thing sith otherwise they are but in show opposite and not in truth So the Will about one and the same thing may in contrary respects have contrary inclinations and that without contrariety The Minister of Justice may for public example to others virtuously will the execution of that party whose pardon another for cousanguinities sake as virtuously may desire Consider death in itself and nature teacheth Christ to shun it Consider death as a mean to procure the salvation of the World and mercy worketh in Christ all willingness of mind towards it Isa. 53 1● Job 10. 15. Therefore in these two desires there can be no repugnant opposition Again compare them with the Will of God and if any opposition be it must be only between his appointment of Christ's death and the former desire which wisheth deliverance from death But neither is this desire opposite to the Will of God The Will of God was that Christ should suffer the pains of death Not so his will as if the torment of innocency did in itself please and delight God but such was his Will in regard of the end whereunto it was necessary that Christ should suffer The death of Christ in itself therefore God willeth not which to the end we might thereby obtain life he both alloweth and appointeth In like manner the Son of Man endureth willingly to that purpose those grievous pains● which simply not to have shunned had been against Nature and by consequent against God I take it therefore to be an error that Christ either knew not what himself was to suffer or else had forgotten the things he knew The root of which error was an over-restrained consideration of Prayer as though it had no other lawful use but only to serve for a chosen mean whereby the Will resolveth to seek that which the Understanding certainly knoweth it shall obtain Whereas Prayers in truth both unto are and his were as well sometime a presentation of mere desires as a mean of procuring desired effects at the hands of God We are therefore taught by his example that the presence of dolorous and dreadful objects even in minds most perfect may as clouds overcast all sensible joy that no assurance touching future victories can make present conflicts so sweet and easy but nature will shun and shrink from them nature will desire case and deliverance from oppressive burdens that the contrary determination of God is oftentimes against the effect of this desire yet not against the affection itself because it is naturally in us that in such case our Prayers cannot serve us as means to obtain the thing we desire that notwithstanding they are unto God most acceptable sacrifices because they testify we desire nothing but at his hands and our desires we submit with contentment to be overruled by his Will and in general they are not repugnant unto the Natural Will of God which wisheth to the works of his own hands in that they are his own handiwork all happiness although perhaps for some special cause in our own particular a contrary determination have seemed more convenient finally that thus to propose our desires which cannot take such effects as we specify shall notwithstanding otherwise procure us his Heavenly grace even as this very Prayer of Christ obtained Angels to be sent him Luke 22. 14. as comforters in his Agony And according to this example we are not afraid to present unto God our Prayers for those things which that he will perform unto us we have no sure nor certain knowledge St. Paul's Prayer for the Church of Corinth was 2 Cor. 13 7. that they might not do any evil although he knew that no man liveth which sinneth not although he knew that in this life we always must pray Forgive us our sins It is our frailty We may not pray in this life to be free from all sin because we must always prays Forgive in our sins T. C. lib. 3. pag. 2●0 that in many things we all do amiss but a virtue that we would do amiss in nothing and a testimony of that virtue when we pray That what occasion of sin soever do offer itself we may be strengthened from above to withstand it They pray in vain to have sin pardoned which seek not also to prevent sin by Prayer even every particular sin by Prayer against all sin except men can name some transgression wherewith we ought to have truce For in very deed although we cannot be free from all sin collectively in such sort that no part thereof shall be found inherent in us yet distributively at the least all great and grievous actual offences as they offer themselves one by one both may and aught to be by all means avoided So that in this sense to be preserved from all sin is not impossible Finally concerning deliverance itself from all adversity we use not to say men are in adversity whensoever they feel any small hindrance of their welfare in this World but when some notable affliction or cross some great calamity or trouble befalleth them Tribulation hath in it divers circumstances the Mind sundry faculties to apprehend them It offereth sometime itself to the lower powers of the Soul as a most unpleasant spectacle to the higher sometimes as drawing after it a train of dangerous inconveniences sometime as bringing with it remedies for the curing of sundry evils as God's instrument of revenge and fury sometime sometime as a rod of his just yet moderate ire and displeasure sometime as matter for them that spitefully hate us to exercise their poisoned malice sometime as a furnace of trial for virtue to show itself and through conflict to obtain glory Which different contemplations of adversity do work for the most part their answerable effects Adversity either apprehended by Sense as a thing offensive and grievous to Nature or by Reason conceived as a snare an occasion of many men's falling from God a sequel of God's indignation and wrath a thing which Satan desireth and would be glad to behold Tribulation thus considered being present causeth sorrow and being imminent breedeth fear For moderation of which two affections growing from the very natural bitterness and gall of adversity Psal. 119. 71. the Scripture much allegeth contrary fruits which Affliction likewise hath whensoever it falleth on them that are tractable the grace of God's holy Spirit concurring therewith 2 Tim. 3. 12. To pray against persecution is contrary to that word which saith That every one which will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution T. C. lib. 3. p. 200. But when the Apostle St. Paul teacheth That every one which will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution and by many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because in a Forest of many Wolves Sheep cannot choose bat feed in continual danger of life or when a Jam. 1.3 St. james exhorteth to account it a matter of exceeding joy when we fall into divers temptations because by the trial of Faith Patience is brought forth was it suppose we their meaning to frustrate our Lord's admonition Pray that ye enter not into temptation When himself pronounceth them blessed that should for his Names sake be subject to all kinds of ignominy and opprobrious malediction was it his purpose that no man should ever pray with David b Psal. 119. 22. Lord remove from me shame and contempt In those tribulations saith St. Augustine c Aug Epist. 1●1 cap. 14. which may hurt as well as profit we must say with the Apostle What we should ask as we ought we know not yet because they are tough because they are grievous because the sense of our weakness flieth them we pray according to the general desire of the will of man that God would turn them away from us owing in the mean while this devotion to the Lord our God that if he remove them not yet we do not therefore imagine ourselves in his sight despised but rather with godly sufferance of evils expect greater good at his merciful hands For thus is virtue in weakness perfected To the flesh as the Apostle himself granteth all affliction is naturally grievous Therefore Nature which causeth to fear teacheth to pray against all adversity Prosperity in regard of our corrupt inclination to abuse the blessings of Almighty God doth prove for the most part a thing dangerous to the Souls of Men. Very Ease itself is death to the wicked Prov. 1. 3● and the prosperity of fools slayeth them Their Table is a Snare and their Felicity their utter overthrow Few men there are which long prosper and sin not Howbeit even as these ill effects although they be very usual and common are no bar to the hearty prayers whereby most virtuous minds with peace and prosperity always where they love because they consider that this in itself is a thing naturally desired So because all adversity is in itself against nature what should hinder to pray against it although the providence of God turn it often unto the great good of many men Such Prayers of the Church to be delivered from all adversity are no more repugnant to any reasonable disposition of men's minds towards death much less to that blessed Patience and meek Contentment which Saints by Heavenly inspiration have to endure what cross or calamity soever it pleaseth God to lay upon them than our Lord and Saviour's own Prayer before his Passion was repugnant unto his most gracious resolution to die for the sins of the whole World 49. In praying for deliverance from all adversity Prayer that all men may find Mercy and of the Will of God that all men might be saved we seek that which Nature doth wish to itself but by entreating for Mercy towards all we declare that Affection wherewith Christian Charity thirsteth after the good of the whole World we discharge that duty which the * 1 Tim. 2. 3. Apostle himself doth impose on the Church of Christ as a commendable office a sacrifice acceptable in God's sight a service according to his heart whose desire is to have all men saved A work most suitable with his purpose who gave himself to be the price of redemption for all and a forcible mean to procure the conversion of all such as are not yet acquainted with the Mysteries of that Truth which must save their Souls Against it there is but the bare show of this one Impediment that all men's salvation and many men's eternal condemnation or death are things the one repugnant to the other that both cannot be brought to pass that we know there are Vessels of Wrath to whom God will never extend mercy and therefore that wittingly we ask an impossible thing to be had The truth is that as life and death mercy and wrath are matters of mere understanding or knowledge all men's salvation and some men's endless perdition are things so opposite that whosoever doth affirm the one must necessarily deny the order God himself cannot effect both or determine that both shall be There is in the knowledge both of God and Man this certainty That life and death have divided between them the whole Body of mankind What portion either of the two hath God himself knoweth for us he hath left no sufficient means to comprehend and for that cause neither given any leave to search in particular who are infallibly the heirs of the Kingdom of God who castaways Howbeit concerning the state of all men with whom we live for only of them our Prayers are meant we may till the World's end for the present always presume That as far as in us there is power to discern what others are and as far as any duty of ours dependeth upon the notice of their condition in respect of God the safest Axioms for Charity to rest itself upon are these He which believeth already is and he which believeth not as yet may be the child of God It becometh not us Siden ● p ●● lib. ● Epist. during life altogether to condemn any man seeing that for any thing we know there is hope of every man's forgiveness the possibility of whose repentance is not yet cut off by death And therefore Charity which hopeth all things 1 Cor. 14. 7. prayeth also for all Men. Wherefore to let go Personal Knowledge touching Vessels of Wrath and Mercy what they are inwardly in the sight of God it skilleth not for us there is cause sufficient in all men whereupon to ground our Prayers unto God in their behalf For whatsoever the Mind of Man apprehencieth as good the Will of Charity and Love is to have it enlarged in the very uttermost extent that all may enjoy it to whom it can any way add perfection Because therefore the father a good thing doth reach the nobler and worthier we reckon it our Prayers for all men's good no less then for our own the Apostle with very fit terms commendeth as being a work commendable for the largeness of the affection from whence it springeth even as theirs which have requested at God's hands the salvation of many Rome ● 3. & 10. 1. with the loss of their own Souls drowning as it were and over-whelming themselves in the abundance of their love towards others is proposed as being in regard of the rareness of such affections more than excellent But this extraordinary height of desire after other men's salvation is no common mark The other is a duty which belongeth unto all and prevaileth with God daily For as it is in itself good so God accepteth and taketh it in very good part at the hands of faithful men Our Prayers for all men do include both them that shall find mercy and them also that shall find none For them that shall no man will doubt but our Prayers are both accepted and granted Touching them for whom we crave that mercy which is not to be obtained let us not think that our Saviour did mis-instruct his Disciples Matth. 10. 11 12. willing them to pray for the peace even of such as should be uncapable of so great a blessing or that the Prayers of the Prophet jeremy offended God Jere. 15. 1. because the answer of God was a resolute denial of favour to them for whom Supplication was made And if any man doubt how God should accept such Prayers in case they be opposite to his Will or not grant them if they be according unto that which himself willeth our answer is That such suits God accepteth in that they are conformable unto his general inclination which is that all men might be saved yet always he granteth them not for as much as there is in God sometimes a more private occasioned will which determineth the contrary So that the other being the rule of our actions and not this our requests for things opposite to this Will of God are not therefore the less gracious in his sight There is no doubt but we ought in all things to frame our wills to the Will of God and that otherwise in whatsoever we do we sin For of ourselves being so apt to err the only way which we have to straighten our paths is by following the rule of his Will whose footsteps naturally are right If the eye the hand or the foot do that which the will commandeth though they serve as instruments to sin yet is sin the commander's fault and not theirs because Nature hath absolutely and without exception made them subjects to the will of man which is Lord over them As the body is subject to the will of man so man's will to the Will of God for so it behoveth that the better should guide and command the worse But because the subjection of the body to the will is by natural necessity the subjection of the Will unto God voluntary we therefore stand in need of direction after what sort our wills and desires may be rightly conformed to his Which is not done by willing always the selfsame thing that God intendeth For it may chance that his purpose is sometime the speedy death of them whose long continuance in life if we should not wish we were unnatural When the object or matter therefore of our desires is as in this case a thing both good of itself and not forbidden of God when the end for which we desire it is virtuous and apparently most holy when the root from which our affection towards it proceedeth is Charity Piety that which we do in declaring our desire by Prayer yea over and besides all this sith we know that to pray for all men living is but to show the same affection which towards every of them our Lord Jesus Christ hath born who knowing only as God who are his did as Man taste death for the good of all men surely Propterea nihil contrarietatis erat si Christus homo secundum affectum pietatis quam in humanitate sui assumpserat aliquid volebat quod tamen secundum voluntatem divinam in qua cum Fatre oaten a d●siponebat securum non esse praesciehat quia & hoc ad veram humaniratem pertinebar ut pietate moveretur & hoc ad veram diunitatem ut & sua dispeditione non moveretur Hug. de Quae Christi Volunt to that Will of God which ought to be and is the known rule of all our actions we do not herein oppose ourselves although his secret determination haply be against us which if we did understand as we do not yet to rest contented with that which God will have done is as much as he requireth at the hands of men And concerning ourselves what we earnestly crave in this case the same as all things else that are of like condition we meekly submit unto his most gracious will and pleasure Finally as we have cause sufficient why to think the practice of our Church allowable in this behalf so neither is ours the first which hath been of that mind For to end with the words of Prosper * Prosp. de Vocat G●n lib 1. cap. 4. inter opera Ambros. This Law of Supplication for all Men saith he the devout zeal of all Priests and of all faithful Men doth hold with such full Agreement that there is not any part of all the World where Christian people do not use to pray in the same manner The Church every where maketh Prayers unto God not only for Saints and such as already in Christ are regenerate but for all Infidels and Enemies of the Cross of jesus Christ for all Idolaters for all that persecute Christ in his followers for jews to whose blindness the Light of the Gospel doth not yet shine for Heretics and Schismatics who from the Unity of Faith and Charity are estranged And for such what doth the Church ask of God but this That leaving their Errors they may be converted unto him that Faith and Charity may be given them and that out of the darkness of ignorance they may come to the knowledge of his truth Which because they cannot themselves do in their own behalf as long as the sway of evil custom ever-beareth them and the chains of Satan detain them bound neither are they able to break through those Errors wherein they are so determinately settled that they pay unto falsity the whole sum of whatsoever love is owing unto God's Truth Our Lord merciful and just requireth to have all men prayed for that when we behold innumerable multitudes drawn up from the depth of so bottomless evils we may not doubt but in part God hath done the thing we requested nor despair but that being thankful for them towards whom already he hath showed mercy the rest which are not as yet enlightened shall before they pass out of life be made partakers of the like grace Or if the Grace of him which saveth for so we set is falleth out over-pass some so that the Prayer of the Church for them be not received this we may leave to the hidden judgements of God's Righteousness and acknowledge that in this Secret there is a Gulf which whole we live we shall never sound 50. Instruction and Prayer Of the Name the Author and the force of Sacraments which Force consisteth in thi● The● God hath ordained them as means to make us partakers of him in Christ and of life through Christ. whereof we have hitherto spoken are duties which serve as Elements Parts or Principles to the rest that follow in which number the Sacraments of the Church are chief The Church is to us that very * Gal. 4. 26. Isai. 54 3. Mother of our New Birth in whose Bowels we are all bred at whose Breasts we receive nourishment As many therefore as are apparently to our judgement born of God they have the Seed of their Regeneration by the Ministry of the Church which useth to that end and purpose not only the Word but the Sacrament both having Generative force and virtue As oft as we mention a Sacrament properly understood for in the Writings of the Ancient Fathers all Articles which are peculiar to Christian Faith all Duties of Religion containing that which Sense or Natural Reason cannot of itself discern are most commonly named Sacraments our restraint of the Word to some few principal Divine Ceremonies importeth in every such Ceremony two things the Substance of the Ceremony itself which is visible and besides that somewhat else more secret in reference whereunto we conceive that Ceremony to be a Sacrament For we all admire and honour the holy Sacraments not respecting so much the Service which we do unto God in receiving them as the dignity of that Sacred and Secret Gift which we thereby receive from God Seeing that Sacraments therefore consist altogether in relation to some such Gift or Grace Supernatural as only God can bestow how should any but the Church administer those Ceremonies as Sacraments which are not thought to be Sacraments by any but by the Church There is in Sacraments to be observed their Force and their Form of Administration Upon their Force their necessity dependeth So that how they are necessary we cannot discern till we see how effectual they are When Sacraments are said to be Visible Signs of Invisible Grace we thereby conceive how Grace is indeed the very end for which these Heavenly Mysteries were instituted and besides sundry other Properties observed in them the matter whereof they consist is such as signifieth Figureth and representeth their End But still their efficacy resteth obscure to our understanding except we search somewhat more distinctly what Grace in particular that is whereunto they are referred and what manner of operation they have towards it The use of Sacraments is but only in this life yet so that here they concern a far better life than this and are for that cause accompanied with Grace which worketh Salvation Sacraments are the Powerful Instruments of God to Eternal Life For as our Natural Life consisteth in the Union of the Body with the Soul so our Life Supernatural in the Union of the Soul with God And for as much as there is no Union of God with Man without that * Oportebat D●um carnem fieri vein semitipso concubinal consi●ulare Ter●●urum pariter asque Coelestiur dum utriusque partisinse connectens pignora & Deum pariter homini & hominem Deo copularet T●●tul de Tri●●● mean between both which is both it seemeth requisite that we first consider how God is in Christ then how Christ is in us and how the Sacraments do serve to make us partakers of Christ. In other things we may be more brief but the weight of these requireth largeness 51. The Lord our God is but one God That God is in Christ by the Personal Inc. r●aeion of the Son who is very God Isai. 9 6. Jere. 21. 6. Rom. 9.5 John 16. 15. & 5. 21. Col. 2. 9 1 Joh. ● 29. In which Indivisible Unity notwithstanding we adore the Father as being altogether of himself we glorify that Consubstantial Word which is the Son we bless and magnify that Coessential Spirit eternally proceeding from both which is the Holy Ghost Seeing therefore the Father is of none the Son is of the Father and the Spirit is of both they are by these their several Properties really distinguishable each from other For the Substance of God with this property to be of none doth make the Person of the Father the very selfsame Substance in number with this property to be of the Father maketh the Person of the Son the same Substance having added unto it the property of proceeding from the other two maketh the Person of the Holy Ghost So that in every Person there is implied both the Substance of God which is one and also that property which causeth the same Person really and truly to differ from the other two Every * Damase de Orthod. Fide lib. 9 cap. 6. Person hath his own subsistence which no other besides hath although there be others besides that are of the same Substance As no man but Peter can be the person which Peter is yet Paul hath the selfsame Nature which Peter hath Again Angels have every of them the Nature of pure and Invisible Spirits but every Angel is not that Angel which appeared in a Dream to joseph Now when God became Man lest we should err in applying this to the Person of the Father or of the Spirit St. Peter's confession unto Christ was Matth. 16. 16. Thou art the Son of the Living God and St. john's Exposition thereof was made plain Joh. 1. 14. Ignat. ● Epist. ad Magnes That it is the Word which was made Flesh. a The Father and the Holy Ghost saith Damascen have no Communion with the Incarnation of the Word otherwise then only by approbation and assent Notwithstanding for as much as the Word and Deity are one Subject we must beware we exclude not the Nature of God from Incarnation and so make the Son of God incarnate not to be very God For undoubtedly b Damase even the Nature of God itself in the only Person of the Son is incarnate and hath taken to itself Flesh. Wherefore Incarnation may neither be granted to any Person but only One nor yet denied to that Nature which is common unto all Three Concerning the cause of which incomprehenble Mystery for as much as it seemeth a thing unconsonant That the World should honour any other as the Saviour but him whom it honoureth as the Creator of the World and in the Wisdom of God it hath not been thought convenient to admit any way of saving man but by man himself though nothing should be spoken of the Love and Mercy of God towards Man which this way are become such a Spectacle as neither Men nor Angels can behold without a kind of Heavenly astonishment we may hereby perceive there is cause sufficient why Divine Nature should assume Humane that so c ● Cor. 5. 19 God might be in Christ In il●● Divinitus est Unigenici facta particeps mortalintiss nostrae ●● & ora participes eius immorialitatis essemus Aug. epist. 37. reconciling to himself the World And if some cause be likewise required why rather to this end and purpose the Son then either the Father or the Holy Ghost should be made man Could we which are born the children of wrath be adopted the Sons of God through Grace any other then by the Natural Son of God being Mediator between God and us It d Heb. 2. 10. became therefore him by whom all things are to be the Way of Salvation to all that the Institution and Restitution of the World might be both wrought by one hand The World's Salvation was without the Incarnation of the Son of God a thing impossible not simply impossible but impossible it being presupposed That the Will of God was no otherwise to have it saved then by the Death of his own Son Wherefore taking to himself our Flesh and by his Incarnation making it his own Flesh he had now of his own although from us what to offer unto God for us And as Christ took Manhood that by it he might be capable of death whereunto he humbled himself so because Manhood is the proper subject of compassion and feeling pity which maketh the Sceptre of Christ's Regency even in the Kingdom of Heaven be amiable he which without our Nature could not on Earth suffer for the sins of the World Heb. 4. 15. doth now also by means thereof both make intercession to God for sinners and exercise domnion over all men with a true a natural and a sensible touch of Mercy The Misinterpretations which Heresy hath made of the manner l●w God an● Man are United in one Christ. 52. It is not in man's ability either to express perfectly or conceive the manner how this was brought to pass But the strength of our Faith is tried by those things wherein our wits and capacities are not strong Howbeit because this Divine Mystery is more true than plain divers having framed the same to their own conceits and fancies are found in their Expositions thereof more plain than true In so much that by the space of Five hundred years after Christ the Church was almost troubled with nothing else saving only with care and travel to preserve this Article from the sinister construction of Heretics Whos 's first mists when the light of the Nicene Council had dispelled An. Dom. 32● it was not long ere Macedonius transfered unto Gods most holy Spirit the same blasphemy wherewith Arius had already dishonoured his co-eternally begotten Son ●ui● not long ere Apollinarius began to pair away from Christ's Humanity In refutation of which impieties when the Fathers of the Church Athanasius Basil and the two Gregory's had by their painful travels sufficiently cleared the truth no less for the Deity of the Holy Ghost then for the complete Humanity of Christ there followed hereupon a final conclusion whereby those Controversies as also the rest which Paul●n Samosatenus Sabellius Phatinus A●tius Ennomius together with the whole swarm of pestilent Demi-Arians had from time to time stirred up since the Council of Nice were both privately first at Rome in a smaller Synod and then at Constantinople in a general famous Assembly brought to a peaceable and quiet end An. D●m 381. Sevenscore Bishops and ten agreeing in that Confession which by them set down remaineth at this present hour a part of our Church Liturgy a Memorial of their Fidelity and Zeal a sovereign preservative of God's people from the venomous infection of Heresy Thus in Christ the verity of God and the complete substance of man were with full agreement established throughout the World till such time as the Heresy of Nesterius broached itself Cyril Epist ad ●u●g 〈…〉 at Le●●● de Sect. Dividing Christ into two Persons the Son of God and the Son of Man the one a Person begotten of God before all Worlds the other also a Person born of the Virgin Mary and in special favour chosen to be made entire to the Son of God above all men so that whosoever will honour God must together honour Christ with whose Person God hath vouchsafed to join himself in so high a degree of gracious respect and favour But that the selfsame Person which verily is Man should properly be God also and that by reason not of two Persons linked in Amity but of two Natures Humane and Divine conjoined in one and the same Person the God of Glory may be said as well to have suffered death as to have raised the dead from their Graves the Son of Man as well to have made as to have redeemed the World Nestorius in no case would admit That which deceived him was want of heed to the first beginning of that admirable combination of God with Man The Word saith St. john was made flesh and dwelled a John 1. 16. in us The Evangelist useth the plural number Men for Manhood us for the nature whereof we consist even as the Apostle denying the Assumption of Angelical Nature saith likewise in the plural number he took not b Heb 2 16. Angels but the Seed of Abraham It pleased not the Word or Wisdom of God to take to itself some one Person amongst men for than should that one have been advanced which was assumed and no more but Wisdom to the end she might save many built her House of that Nature which is common unto all she made not this or that Man her Habitation but dwelled in us The Seeds of Herbs and Plants at the first are not in act but in possibility that which they afterwards grow to be If the Son of God had taken to himself a Man now made and already perfected it would of necessity follow that there are in Christ two Persons the one assuming and the other assumed whereas the Son of God did not assume a man's person into his own but a man's nature to his own Person and therefore took Semen the Seed of Abraham the very first original Element of our Nature 1 The●d Dial. before it was come to have any Personal Humane subsistence The Flesh and the Conjunction of the Flesh with God began both at one instant his making and taking to himself our flesh was but one act 2 so that in Christ● there is no Personal subsistence but one and that from everlasting By taking only the nature of man he still continueth one Person and changeth but the manner of his subsisting which was before in the mere glory of the Son of God and is now in the habit of our flesh For as much therefore as Christ hath no personal subsistence but one whereby we acknowledge him to have been eternally the Son of God we must of necessity apply to the Person of the Son of God even that which is spoken of Christ according to his Humane nature For example according to the flesh he was born of the Virgin Mary baptised of john in the River jordan by Pilate adjudged to die and executed by the Jews We cannot say properly that the Virgin bore or john did baptise or Pilate condemn or the Jews crucify the Nature of Man because these all are Personal Attributes his Person is the subject which receiveth them his Nature that which maketh his Person capable or apt to receive If we should say that the Person of a Man in our Saviour Christ was the subject of these things this were plainly to entrap ourselves in the very snare of the Nestorians Heresy between whom and the Church of God there was no difference saving only that Nestorius imagined in Christ as well a Personal Humane subsistence as a Divine the Church acknowledging a substance both Divine and Humane but no other Personal subsistence then Divine because the Son of God took not to himself a man's person but the nature only of a man Christ is a Person both Divine and Humane howbeit not therefore two persons in one neither both these in one sense but a Person Divine because he is personally the Son of God Humane because he hath really the nature of the Children of Men. In Christ therefore God and Man Pasch lib. de Spir. Sanct. There is saith Paschasius a twofold substance not a twofold Person because one Person distinguisheth another whereas one nature cannot in another become extinct For the Personal Being which the Son of God already had suffered not the Substance to be Personal which he took although together with the Nature which he had the Nature also which he took continueth Whereupon it followeth against Nestorius That no Person was born of the Virgin but the Son of God no Person but the Son of God baptised the Son of God condemned the Son of God and no other Person crucified which one only point of Christian Belief The infinite north of the Son of God is the very ground of all things believed concerning Life and Salvation by that which Christ either did or suffered as Man in our behalf But for as much as St. Cyril the chiefest of those Two hundred Bishops assembled in the Council of Ephesus An. Dom. 430. where the Heresy of Nestorius was condemned had in his Writings against the Arians avouched That the Word or Wisdom of God hath but one Nature which is Eternal and whereunto he assumed Flesh for the Arians were of opinion That besides Gods own Eternal Wisdom there is a Wisdom which God created before all things to the end he might thereby create all things else and that this Created Wisdom was the Word which took Flesh. Again for as much as the same Cyril had given instance in the Body and the Soul of Man no farther than only to enforce by example against Nestorius That a visible and an invisible a mortal and an immortal Substance may united make one Person the words of Cyril were in process of time so taken as though it had been his drift to teach That even as in us the Body and the Soul so in Christ God and Man make but one Nature Of which Error An. Dom. 451. Six hundred and thirty Fathers in the Council of Chalcedon condemned Eutiches For as Nestorius teaching rightly That God and Man are distinct Natures did thereupon mis-infer That in Christ those Nature's can by no conjunction make one Person so Eutiches of ●ound belief as touching their true Personal Copulation became unsound by denying the difference which still continueth between the one and the other Nature We must therefore keep warily a middle course shunning both that distraction of Persons wherein Nestorius went awry and also this latter confusion of Natures which deceived Eutiches Theodor. Di●l These Natures from the moment of their first combination have been and are for ever inseparable For even when his Soul forsook the Tabernacle of his Body his Deity forsook neither Body nor Soul ● it had then could we not truly hold either that the Person of Christ was buried or that the Person of Christ did raise up itself from the dead For the Body separated from the Word can in no true sense be termed the Person of Christ nor is it true to say That the Son of God in raising up that Body did raise up himself if the Body were not both with him and of him even during the time it lay in the Sepulchre The like is also to be said of the Soul otherwise we are plainly and inevitably Nestorians The very Person of Christ therefore for ever one and the selfsame was only touching Bodily Substance concluded within the Grave his Soul only from thence severed but by Personal Union his Deity still inseparably joined with both That by the Union of the one with the ●●her Nature in Christ there groweth neither gain nor loss of Essential Properties to either 53. The sequel of which Conjunction of Natures in the Person of Christ is no abolishment of Natural Properties appertaining to either Substance no transition or transmigration thereof out of one substance into another Finally no such mutual infusion as really causeth the same Natural Operations or Properties to be made common unto both Substances but whatsoever is natural to Deity the same remaineth in Christ uncommunicated unto his Manhood and whatsoever natural to Manhood his Deity thereof is uncapable The true Properties and Operations of his Deity are To know that which is not possible for Created Natures to comprehend to be simply the highest cause of all things the Wellspring of Immortality and Life to have neither end nor beginning of days to be every where present and enclosed no where to be subject to no alteration nor passion to produce of itself those effects which cannot proceed but from infinite Majesty and Power The true Properties and Operation of his Manhood are such as Irenaus reckoneth up ●●er lib. 3. Advers Haeres If Christ saith he had not taken flesh from the very Earth he would not have coveted those earthly nourishments wherewith bodies which be taken from thence are fed This was the Nature which felt hunger after long fasting was desirous of rest after travel testified compassion and love by tears groaned in heaviness and with extremity of grief even melted away itself into bloody sweats To Christ we ascribe Christ did all these Greg. Nazlant Orat. a de●tilo both working of Wonders and suffering of Pains we use concerning him speeches as well of Humility as of Divine Glory but the one we apply unto that Nature which he took of the Virgin Mary the other to that which was in the beginning We may not therefore imagine that the properties of the weaker Nature have vanished with the presence of the more glorious and have been therein swallowed up as in a Gulf. We dare not in this point give ear to them who over-boldly affirm * Greg. Esse Epist. 21. Thess. Ibid. Alexandr That the Nature which Christ took weak and feeble from us by being mingled with Deity became the same which Deity is that the Assumption of our Substance unto his was like the blending of a drop of Vinegar with the huge Ocean wherein although it continue still yet not with those properties which severed it hath because sithence the instant of their conjunction all distinction and difference of the one from the other is extinct and whatsoever we can now conceive of the Son of God is nothing else but mere Deity Which words are so plain and direct for Eutiches that I stand in doubt they are not his whose name they carry Sure I am they are far from truth and must of necessity give place to the better advised sentences of other men Milar de Trin. lib. 9 He which in himself was appointed saith Hilary a Mediator to save his Church and for performance of that Mystery of Mediation between God and Man is become God and Man doth now being but one consist of both those Natures united neither hath he through the Union of both incurred the damage or loss of either lest by being born a Man we should think he hath given over to be God or that because he continued God therefore he cannot be Man also whereas the true belief which maketh a man happy proclaimeth jointly God and Man confesseth the Word and Flesh together Cyril more plainly Cypr. Epist. ad ●est His two Natures have knit themselves the one to the other and are in that nearness as uncapable of confusion as of distraction Their coherence hath not taken away the difference between them Flesh is not become God but doth still continue Flesh although it be now the Flesh of God Tea Salva propriera●e transmue naturae susceptra est a Majestate humilitas a briure infirmitas ab eccernitare mortalitas Leo Epist. ●●t Flau. of each Substance saith Leo the Properties are all preserved and kept safe These two Natures are as causes and original Grounds of all things which Christ hath done Wherefore some things he doth as God because his Deity alone is the Wellspring from which they flow some things as Man because they issue from his mere Humane nature some things jointly as both God and Man because both Natures concur as Principles thereunto For albeit the Properties of each Nature do cleave only to that Nature whereof they are Properties and therefore Christ cannot naturally be as God the same which he naturally is as Man yet both Natures may very well concur unto one effect and Christ in that respect be truly said to work both as God and as Man one and the selfsame thing Let us therefore set it down for a rule or principle so necessary as nothing more to the plain deciding of all doubts and questions about the Union of Natures in Christ that of both Natures there is a Co-operation often an Association always but never any Mutual Participation whereby the Properties of the one are infused into the other Which rule must serve for the better understanding of that which * Damasc. de Orrbed ●●● lib. 3. cap 4. Verem est riaarum in Christu naturarum alteram suay alteri proprietates impartire enuncian so videlicer Idque non in abstract said in concreto soluta divinas liembat non humanitati humanas non de●●a●● sed Deo tribul Cujus haec est ratio q●●● cum supp●ss●um praeticationis sit cjasmodi ut utramque naturam in se continear sive ab una sive ab altero denomineretur nihil refere Damascene hath touching cross and circulatory speeches wherein there are attributed to God such things as belong to Manhood and to Man such as properly concern the Deity of Christ Jesus the cause whereof is the Association of Natures in one Subject A kind of Mutual Commutation there is whereby those concrete Names God and Man when we speak of Christ do take interchangeably one another's room so that for truth of speech it skilleth not whether we say That the Son of God hath created the World and the Son of Man by his Death hath saved it or else That the Son of Man did create and the Son of God die to save the World Howbeit as oft as we attribute to God what the Manhood of Christ claimeth or to Man what his Deity hath right unto we understand by the Name of God and the Name of Man neither the one nor the other Nature but the whole Person of Christ in whom both Natures are When the Apostle saith of the Jews that they crucified the Lord of Glory and when the Son of Man being on Earth affirmeth That the Son of Man was in Heaven at the same instant there is in these two speeches that Mutual Circulation  In the one 1 Cor. 2. 8. there is attributed to God or the Lord of Glory Death whereof Divine Nature is not capable John 3. 13. in the other Ubiquity unto Man which Humane Nature admitteth not Therefore by the Lord of Glory we must needs understand the whole Person of Christ who being Lord of Glory was indeed crucified but not in that nature for which he is termed the Lord of Glory In like manner by the Son of Man the whole Person of Christ must necessarily be meant who being Man upon Earth filled Heaven with his glorious presence but not according to that nature for which the title of man is given him Without this Caution the Fathers whose belief was sincere and their meaning most sound shall seem in their Writings one to deny what another constantly doth affirm Theodoret disputeth with great earnestness that God cannot be said to suffer Greg. Wyss de Sectator Apollinar Epist. ● ● Flau. But he thereby meaneth Christ's Divine Nature against Apollinarius which held even Deity itself possible Cyril on the other side against Nestorius as much contendeth That whosoever will deny very God to have suffered death doth forsake the Faith Which notwithstanding to hold were Heresy if the Name of God in this Assertion did not import as it doth the Person of Christ who being verily God suffered death but in the Flesh and not in that substance for which the Name of God is given him What Christ hath obtained according to the Fleshy by the ●●ion of his Flesh with D●ry 54. If then both Natures do remain with their properties in Christ thus distinct as hath been showed we are for our better understanding what either Nature receiveth from other to note That Christ is by three degrees a Receiver First In that he is the Son of God Secondly In that his Humane nature hath had the honour of Union with Deity bestowed upon it Thirdly In that by means thereof sundry eminent Graces have flowed as effects from Deity into that Nature which is coupled with it On Christ therefore is bestowed the Gift of Eternal Generation the Gift of Union and the Gift of Unction By the Gift of Eternal Generation Christ hath received of the Father one and in number the a Nativi●●s Dei non potest non cam ex qua prosecta est tenere naturam Neque enim aliud quà● Deus so ●●●●● qui non assunde quam ex Deo Deos subsistir Milar de Trin. lib. 5. Cum sit gloria sem●inernitate virtute regno potesta●e hoc quod Pa●er est omnia tamen haec non sine auct●ire rout pave●●● stupex po●●e an quare silius sine ivitio & aequalis habet haber ●●●●●● in Symb Apost cap. ●ilium aliunde non de substantis Patris omnem à pa●re consecatum porestatem T●rtul contra Prax. selfsame substance which the Father hath of himself unreceived from any other For every b Ephes. 1. 15. quicquid alteri quovis m●do dat esse 6. Jam. 1. 17. Pater luminum Pachym in Dionys. de Coel. Hierar cap. 1. Pater est principium totias divinitatis quis ipse à nullo est Nos enim habet de quo procedat fest ab eo & Filius est genitus & Spicius sanctus procedit Aug. de Trinit lib. 4. cap. 80. Hinc Christus ●clea●lss loco nomen ubique patris usurpit quis pates nimirum est beginning is a Father unto that which cometh of it and every offspring is a Son unto that out of which it groweth Seeing therefore the Father alone is originally that Deity which Christ d Pares ●o●a substantia est filius vero derivatio totius & propagatio Tertul. contra Prix originally is not for Christ is God e Quod entra U●●s est ex Deo es● Hilar. de Trin. lib. 5. Nihil nisi narum habet filius Hilar. lib. 4. by being of God Light f Heb. 1. 3. sap 9 28. 27. by issuing out of Light it followeth hereupon That whatsoever Christ hath g Nihil in se diversum ac dissimile habene natus & generans Hilar. de Synod Advers Aria In Triuliae alium atque alias non aliud arque ali●● Vincem Lyr. cap. 19 common unto him with his Heavenly Father the same of necessity must be given him but naturally and h Ubi author aeternus est ibi & nativitatis aeternitas est Quia sicut ●●●ivitas ab authore est ita ●● ab aeterno authore aeterna nativitas est Hilar. de Trin. lib. 32. Sicut naturam praestat fillo fine initio Graetatio I● Spiritus sancti praestat essentiam sine initio Processio Aug. de Trini lib. 5. cap. 15. eternally given not bestowed by way of benevolence and favour as the other gifts both are And therefore i Theod. solemnising 49. & ex Greg Nazian Orat. 2. de Fil. ibid. 44. where the Fathers give it out for a rule That whatsoever Christ is said in Scripture to have received the same we ought to apply only to the Manhood of Christ Their Assertion is true of all things which Christ hath received by Grace but to that which he hath received of the Father by Eternal Nativity or Birth it reacheth not Touching Union of Deity with Manhood it is by Grace because there can be no greater Grace showed towards Man then that God should vouchsafe to unite to Man's nature the Person of his only begotten Son Because the Father k John 3. 35. loveth the Son as Man he hath by Uniting Deity with Manhood given all things into his hands It hath l Ephes. 1 5. pleased the Father that in him all Fullness should dwell The name which he hath above all names is m Phil. 2. 9 given him As the Father hath life in himself the Son in himself hath life also by the n John 5. 25. gift of the Father The gift whereby God hath made Christ a Fountain of Life is That o 1 Joh 5 20. Hic est verus Deus & with 〈…〉 conjunction of the Nature of God with the Nature of Man in the Person of Christ p John 4. 10. which gift saith Christ to the Woman of Samaria if thou didst know and in that respect understand who it is which asketh water of thee thou wouldst ask of him that he might give thee Living Water The Union therefore of the Flesh with Deity is to that Flesh a gift of Principal Grace and Favor For by virtue of this Grace Man is really made God a Creature is exalted above the dignity of all Creatures and hath all Creatures else under it This admirable Union of God with Man can enforce in that higher Natures no alteration Theod. Di●l Periculum status sui Deo nulium est Tertul. de Car. Chr. Majestati V●● Dei corporate No●irus ●●l●l con●●l● nihil abstuit Leo de Nativit Ser. 8. Thesphil In sormam servi transisse non est natural perdib●isse Dei H●la● de Trin. lib. 12. because unto God there is nothing more natural than not to be subject to any change Neither is it a thing impossible That the Word being made Flesh should be that which it was not before as touching the manner of subsistence and yet continue in all Qualities or Properties of Nature the same it was because the Incarnation of the Son of God consisteth merely in the Union of Natures which Union doth add Perfection to the Weaker to the Nobler no alteration at all If therefore it be demanded what the Person of the Son of God hath attained by assuming Manhood surely the whole sum of all is this to be as we are truly really and naturally Man by means whereof he is made capable of meaner offices than otherwise his Person could have admitted the only gain he thereby purchased for himself was to be capable of loss and detriment for the good of others But may it rightly be said concerning the Incarnation of Jesus Christ That as our Nature hath in no respect changed his so from his to ours as little alteration hath ensued The very cause of his taking upon him our Nature was to change it to better the Quality and to advance the condition thereof although in no sort to abolish the Substance which he took nor to infuse into it the Natural forces and Properties of his Deity As therefore we have showed how the Son of God by his Incarnation hath changed the manner of that Personal subsistence which before was solitary and is now in the Association of Flesh no alteration thereby accrueing to the Nature of God so neither are the Properties of Man's nature in the Person of Christ by force and virtue of the same Conjunction so much altered as not to stay within those limits which our Substance is bordered withal nor the state and quality of our Substance so unaltered but that there are in it many glorious effects proceeding from so near Copulation with Deity God from us can receive nothing we by him have obtained much For albeit the Natural Properties of Deity be not communicable to Man's nature the Supernatural Gifts Graces and Effects thereof are The honour which our Flesh hath by being the Flesh of the Son of God is in many respects great If we respect but that which is common unto us with him the Glory provided for him and his in the Kingdom of Heaven his Right and Title thereunto even in that he is Man differeth from other men's because he is that Man of whom God is himself a part We have right to the same Inheritance with Christ but not the same right which he hath his being such as we cannot reach and ours such as he cannot stoop unto Furthermore to be the Way the Truth and the Life to be the Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Resurrection to be the Peace of the whole World the Hope of the Righteous the Heir of all things to be that Supreme Head whereunto all Power both in Heaven and in Earth is given These are not Honours common unto Christ with other Men they are Titles above the dignity and worth of any which were but a mere Man yet true of Christ even in that he is Man but Man with whom Deity is personally joined and unto whom it hath added those excellencies which makes him more than worthy thereof Finally Sith God hath deified our Nature though not by turning it into himself yet by making it his own inseparable Habitation we cannot now conceive how God should without Man either a Theod. exercise Divine Power or receive the glory of Divine Praise For Man is in b Greg●● Nyss. apud Th●od Chrys. in Pi●l 41. both an Associate of Deity But to come to the Grace of Unction Did the parts of our Nature the Soul and Body of Christ receive by the influence of Deity wherewith they were matched no ability of Operations no Virtue or quality above Nature Surely as the Sword which is made fiery doth not only cut by reason of the sharpness which simply it hath but also burn by means of that heat which it hath from fire so there is no doubt but the Deity of Christ hath enabled that Nature which it took of Man to do more than Man in this World hath power to comprehend for as much as the bare Essential Properties of Deity excepted he hath imparted unto it all things he hath replenished it with all such Perfections as the same is any way apt to receive at the least according to the exigence of that oeconomy or service for which it pleased him in Love and Mercy to be made Man Luk. 2.47 For as the Parts Degrees and Offices of that Mystical Administration did require which he voluntarily undertook the Beams of Deity did in operation always accordingly either restrain or enlarge themselves Theod. & trens lib. 3. Advers Haeres Matth. 27. 46. From hence we may somewhat conjecture how the Powers of that Soul are illuminated which being so inward unto God cannot choose but be privy unto all things which God worketh and must therefore of necessity be endued with knowledge so far forth a Col 2. 3. Universal though not with infinite knowledge peculiar to Deity itself The Soul of Christ that saw in this life the Face of God was here through so visible presence of Deity filled with all manner b Isai. 11. 2. of Graces and Virtues in that unmatchable degree of Perfection for which of him we read it written That God with the Oil of Gladness anointed c Isai. 61. 1. Luke 4 18. Acts 4. 27. him d Heb. 1. ● above his e 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Joh. 2. 20 27. fellows And as God hath in Christ unspeakably glorified the Nobler so likewise the meaner part of our Nature the very Bodily Substance of Man Where also that must again be remembered which we noted before concerning the degrees of the influence of Deity proportionable unto his own purposes intents and counsels For in this respect his Body which by Natural condition was corruptible wanted the gift of Everlasting immunity from Death Passion and Dissolution till God which gave it to be slain for sin had for Righteousness sake restored it to life with certainty of endless continuance Yea in this respect the very glorified Body of Christ retained in it the f John 20. 27. scars and marks of former mortality But shall we say that in Heaven his glorious Body by virtue of the same cause hath now power to present itself in all places and to be every where at once present We nothing doubt but God hath many ways above the reach of our capacities exalted that Body which it hath pleased him to make his own that Body wherewith he hath saved the World that Body which hath been and is the Root of Eternal Life the Instrument wherewith Deity worketh the Sacrifice which taketh away sin the Price which hath ransomed Souls from Death the Leader of the whole Army of Bodies that shall rise again For though it had a beginning from us yet God hath given it vital efficacy Heaven hath endowed it with celestial power that virtue it hath from above in regard whereof all the Angels of Heaven adore it Notwithstanding Theod. fol. 81. a Body still it continueth a Body consubstantial with our Bodies a Body of the same both Nature and Measure which it had on Earth To gather therefore into one sum all that hitherto hath been spoken touching this point there are but four things which concur to make complete the whole state of our Lord Jesus Christ his Deity his Manhood the Conjunction of both and the distinction of the one from the other being joined in one Four principal Heresies there are which have in those things withstood the truth Arians by bending themselves against the Deity of Christ Apollinarians by maiming and misinterpreting that which belongeth to his Humane Nature Nestorians by renting Christ asunder and dividing him into two persons the followers of Eutiches by confounding in his Person those Natures which they should distinguish Against these there have been four most famous Ancient General Councils the Council of Nice to define against Arians against Apollinarians the Council of Constantinople the Council of Ephesus against Nestorians against Eutichians the Chalcedon Council In four words truly perfectly indivisibly distinctly The first applied to his being God and the second to his being Man the third to his being of both One and the fourth to his still continuing in that One both We may fully by way of Abridgement comprise whatsoever Antiquity hath at large handled either in Declaration of Christian Belief or in Refutation of the soresaid Heresies Within the compass of which four heads I may truly affirm That all Heresies which touch but the Person of Jesus Christ whether they have risen in these latter days or in any age heretofore may be with great facility brought to confine themselves We conclude therefore That to save the World it was of necessity the Son of God should be thus incarnate and that God should so be in Christ as hath been declared 55. Having thus far proceeded in speech concerning the Person of Jesus Christ Of the Perso●●● Presence of Christ every where and in what sense it may be granted be is crazy where present sce●nling to the 〈…〉 his two Natures their Conjunction that which he either is or doth in respect of both and that which the one receiveth from the other sith God in Christ is generally the Medicine which doth cure the World and Christ in as is that Receipt of the same Medicine whereby we are every one particularly cured In as much as Christ's Incarnation and Passion can be available to no man's good which is not made partaker of Christ neither can we participate him without his Presence we are briefly to consider how Christ is present to the end it may thereby better appear how we are made partakers of Christ both otherwise and in the Sacraments themselves All things are in such sort divided into Finite and Infinite that no one Substance Nature or Quality can be possibly capable of both The World and all things in the World are stinted all effects that proceed from them all the powers and abilities whereby they work whatsoever they do whatsoever they may and whatsoever they are is limited Which limitation of each Creature is both the perfection and also the preservation thereof Measure is that which perfecteth all things because every thing is for some end neither can that thing be available to any end which is not proportionable thereunto and to proportion as well excesses as defects are opposite Again for as much as nothing doth perish but only through excess or defect of that the due proportioned measure whereof doth give perfection it followeth That measure is likewise the preservation of all things Out of which premises we may conclude not only that nothing created can possibly be unlimited or can receive any such accident quality or property as may really make it infinite for then should it cease to be a Creature but also that every Creatures limitation is according to his own kind and therefore as oft as we note in them any thing above their kind it argueth That the same is not properly theirs but groweth in them from a cause more powerful than they are Such as the Substance of each thing is such is also the Presence thereof Impossible it is that a Psal. 133. 9 ● Jere. 23. 24. God should withdraw his Presence from any thing because the very Substance of God is infinite He filleth Heaven and Earth although he take up no room in either because his Substance is immaterial pure and of us in this World so incomprehensible that albeit b Ideo Deus ubique esse asi●●r quia nulli parti irr●m absers est ideo●nss quia non parti rerum partem sui piaesenum praebet & alteri parti alceram partem sed non inlum Universtati Creaturae verum etiam e●libet parti ejus colut pariter adest Aug. Epist. 57 an part of us be ever absent from him who is present whole unto every particular thing yet his Presence with us we no way discern further then only that God is present which partly by Reason and more perfectly by Faith we know to be firm and certain Seeing therefore that Presence every where is the sequel of an infinite and incomprehensible Substance for what can be every where but that which can no where be comprehended To inquire whether Christ be every where is to inquire of a Natural Property a Property that cleaveth to the Deity of Christ. Which Deity being common unto him with none but only the Father and the Holy Ghost it followeth That nothing of Christ which is limited that nothing created that neither the Soul nor the Body of Christ and consequently not Christ as Man or Christ according to his Humane Nature can possibly be every where present because those phrases of Limitation and Restraint do either point out the principal subject whereunto every such attribute adhereth or else they intimate the radical cause out of which it groweth For example when we say that Christ as Man or according to his Humane Nature suffered death we show what Nature was the proper subject of Mortality When we say that as God or according to his Deity he conquered Death we declare his Deity to have been the cause by force and virtue whereof lie raised himself from the Grave But neither is the Manhood of Christ that subject whereunto Universal Presence agreeth neither is it the cause original by force whereof his Person is enabled to be everywhere present Wherefore Christ is essentially present with all things in that he is very God but not present with all things as Man because Manhood and the parts thereof can neither be the cause nor the true subject of such Presence Notwithstanding somewhat more plainly to show a true immediate reason wherefore the Manhood of Christ can neither be every where present nor cause the Person of Christ so to be we acknowledge that of St. Augustine concerning Christ most true c Quod id cero bu● animer Crea●orest quoda ●hon inen creatura est Aug. Epist. 57 Deus qui semper est & semper erat sit creatura Le● de Nativ Multi timore screpisant ire Christum esse Creatam dicere compellanter nos proclamimus non esse periculum dicere Christum esse Creaturam Hier. in Epist. ad Epist. 2. In that he is personally the Word he created all things in that he it naturally Man he himself is created of God and it doth not appear that any one Creature hath Power to be present withal Creatures Whereupon nevertheless it will not follow that Christ cannot therefore be thus present because he is himself a Creature for as much as only Infinite Presence is that which cannot possibly stand with the Essence or Being of any Creature as for Presence with all things that are sith the whole Race Mass and Body of them is Finite Christ by being a Creature is not in that respect excluded from possibility of Presence with them That which excludeth him therefore as Man from so great largeness of Presence is only his being Man a Creature of this particular kind whereunto the God of Nature hath set those bounds of restraint and limitation beyond which to attribute unto it any thing more than a Creature of that sort can admit were to give it another Nature to make it a Creature of some other kind then in truth it is Furthermore if Christ in that he is Man be every where present seeing this cometh not by the Nature of Manhood itself there is no other way how it should grow but either by the Grace of Union with Deity or by the Grace of Unction received from Deity It hath been already sufficiently proved that by Force of Union the Properties of both Natures are imparted to the Person only in whom they are and not what belongeth to the one Nature really conveyed or translated into the other it hath been likewise proved That Natures united in Christ continue the very same which they are where they are not united And concerning the Grace of Unction wherein are contained the Gifts and Virtues which Christ as Man hath above men they make him Really and Habitually a Man more excellent than we are they take not from him the Nature and Substance that we have they cause not his Soul nor Body to be of another kind then ours is Supernatural endowments are an advancement they are no extinguishment of that Nature whereto they are given The Substance of the Body of Christ hath no Presence neither can have but only Local It was not therefore every where seen nor did it every where suffer death every where it could not be entombed it is not every where now being exalted into Heaven There is no proof in the World strong to enforce that Christ had a true Body but by the true and natural Properties of his Body Amongst which Properties Definite or Local Presence is chief Tertul. de Cir. Chr. How it is true of Christ saith Tertullian that he died was buried and rose again if Christ had not that very flesh the nature whereof is capable of these things flesh mingled with blood supported with bones woven with sinews embroidered with veins If his Majestical Body have now any such new property by force whereof it may every where really even in Substance present itself or may at once be in many places then hath the Majesty of his estate extinguished the veri●y of his Nature Aug. Epist. ●7 Make thou no doubt or question of it saith St. Augustine but that the Man Christ jesus is now in that very place from whence he shall come in the same Form and Substance of Flesh which he carried thither and from which he hath not taken Nature but given thereunto Immortality According to this Form he spreadeth not out himself into all places For it behoveth us to take great heed lest while we go about to maintain the glorious Deity of him which is Man we leave him not the true Bodily Substance of a Man According to St. Augustine's opinion therefore that Majestical Body which we make to be every where present doth thereby cease to have the Substance of a true Body To conclude We hold it in regard of the fore-alleaged proofs a most infallible truth That Christ as Man is not every where present There are which think it as infallibly true That Christ is every where present as Man which peradventure in some sense may be well enough granted His Humane Substance in itself is naturally absent from the Earth his Soul and Body not on Earth but in Heaven only Yet because this Substance is inseparably joined to that Personal Word which by his very Divine Essence is present with all things the Nature which cannot have in itself Universal Presence hath it after a sort by being no where severed from that which every where is present For in as much as that Infinite Word is not divisible into parts it could not in part but must needs be wholly incarnate and consequently wheresoever the Word is it hath with it Manhood else should the Word be in part or somewhere God only and not Man which is impossible For the Person of Christ is whole perfect God and perfect Man wheresoever although the parts of his Manhood being Finite and his Deity Infinite we cannot say that the whole of Christ is simply every where as we may say that his Deity is and that his Person is by Force of Deity For somewhat of the Person of Christ is not every where in that sort namely His Manhood the only Conjunction whereof with Deity is extended as far as Deity the actual position restrained and tied to a certain place yet presence by way of Conjunction is in some sort presence Again As the Manhood of Christ may after a sort be  said to be present because that Person is every where present from whose Divine Substance Manhood is no where severed So the same Universality of Presence may likewise seem in another respect appliable thereunto namely by Cooperation with Deity and that in all things The Light created of God in the Beginning did first by itself illuminate the World but after that the Sun and Moon were created the World sithence hath by them always enjoyed the same And that Deity of Christ which before our Lord's Incarnation wrought all things without man doth now work nothing wherein the Nature which it hath assumed is either absent from it or idle Christ as Man hath all Power both in Heaven and Earth given him Matth. 28. Rom. 14. 8. He hath as Man not as God only Supreme Dominion over quick and dead for so much his Ascension into Heaven and his Session at the right Hand of God do import The Son of God which did first humble himself by taking our flesh upon him descended afterwards much lower and became according to the Flesh obedient so far as to suffer Death even the Death of the Cross for all men because such was his Fathers Will. The former was an Humiliation of Deity the later an Humiliation of Manhood Psal. 2 9 Heb. 2. 9 Revel 5 12. for which cause there followed upon the latter an Exaltation of that which was humbled For with Power he created the World but restored it by obedience In which obedience as according to his Manhood he had glorified God on Earth so God hath glorified in Heaven that Nature which yielded him obedience and hath given unto Christ even in that he is Man such Fullness of Power over the whole World that he which before fulfilled in the state of Humility and Patience whatsoever God did require doth now reign in Glory till the time that all things be restored Luk. 21.27 Acts 3. 21. Ephes. 4. 9 He which came down from Heaven and descended into the lowest parts of the Earth is ascended far above all Heavens that fitting at the right Hand of God he might from thence fill all things with the gracious and happy fruits of his saving Presence Ascension into Heaven is a plain local translation of Christ according to his Manhood from the lower to the higher parts of the World Session at the right Hand of God is the actual exercise of that Regency and Dominion wherein the Manhood of Christ is joined and matched with the Deity of the Son of God Not that his Manhood was before without the Possession of the same Power but because the full use thereof was suspended till that Humility which had been before as a vail to hide and conceal Majesty were laid aside After his rising again from the dead Ephes' 1.20 than did God set him at his right Hand in Heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and domination and every name that is named not in this World only but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet Psal. 3. 4. Heb. 2. 6. and hath appointed him over all the Head to the Church which is his Body the fullness of him that filleth all in all 1 Cor. 25. The Sceptre of which Spiritual Regiment over us in this present World is at the length to be yielded up into the hands of the Father which gave it that is to say The use and exercise thereof shall cease there being no longer on Earth any Militant Church to govern This Government therefore he exerciseth both as God and as Man as God by Essential Presence with all things as Man by Co-operation with that which essentially is present Touching the manner how he worketh as Man in all things the Principal Powers of the Soul of Man are the Will and Understanding the one of which two in Christ assenteth unto all things and from the other nothing which Deity doth work is hid so that by knowledge and assent the Soul of Christ is present with all things which the Deity of Christ worketh And even the Body of Christ itself although the definite limitation thereof be most sensible doth notwithstanding admit in some sort a kind of infinite and unlimited Presence likewise For his Body being a part of that Nature which whole Nature is presently joined unto Deity wheresoever Deity is it followeth That his Bodily Substance hath every where a Presence of true Conjunction with Deity And for as much as it is by virtue of that Conjunction made the Body of the Son of God by whom also it was made a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole World this giveth it a presence of force and efficacy throughout all Generations of Men. Albeit therefore nothing be actually infinite in substance but God only in that he is God nevertheless as every number is infinite by possibility of addition and every line by possibility of extension infinite so there is no stint which can be set to the value or merit of the Sacrificed Body of Christ it hath no measured certainty of limits bounds of efficacy unto life it knoweth none but is also itself infinite in possibility of Application Which things indifferently every way considered that gracious promise of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ concerning presence with his to the very end of the World I see no cause but that we may well and safely interpret he doth perform both as God by essential presence of Deity and as Man in that order sense and meaning which hath been showed The Union or Mutual Participation which is between Christ and the Church of Christ in this person● World 56. We have hitherto spoken of the Person and of the presence of Christ. Participation is that mutual inward hold which Christ hath of us and we of him in such sort that each possesseth other by way of special interest property and inherent copulation For plainer explication whereof we may from that which hath been before sufficiently proved assume to our purpose these two Principles That every original cause imparteth itself unto those things which come of it and whatsoever taketh Being from any other the same is after a sort in that which giveth it Being It followeth hereupon that the Son of God being Light of Light must needs be also Light in Light In the bosom of the Father Joh. 1. 18. Ecce dica all 'em esse Patrem & alium Filium non chretone alium sed ● stincti or Tertul. 〈…〉 Prax. ●●e in tumetum pluraiem desitur incor●nea generatio nec in divisionem cadit ubi qui nascitur nequaquam á generante separa ●● ●●ssin in Symbol The Persons of the Godhead by reason of the Unity of their substance do as necessarily remain one within another as they are of necessity to be distinguished one from another because two are the issue of one and one the Offspring of the other two only of three one not growing out of any other And sith they all are but one God in number one indivisible Essence or Substance their distinction cannot possibly admit Separation For how should that subsist solitarily by itself which hath no substance but individually the very same whereby others subsist with it seeing that the Multiplication of Substances in particular is necessarily required to make those things subsist apart which have the selfsame General Nature and the Persons of that Trinity are not three particular Substances to whom one General Nature is common but three that subsist by one substance which itself is Particular yet they all three have it and their several ways of having it are that which maketh their Personal distinction The Father therefore is in the Son and the Son in him they both in the Spirit and the Spirit in both them So that the Father's first Offspring which is the Son remaineth eternally in the Father the Father eternally also in the Son no way severed or divided by reason of the sole and single Unity of their Substance The Son in the Father as Light in that Light out of which it floweth without separation the Father in the Son as Light in that Light which it causeth and leaveth not And because in this respect his eternal Being is of the Father which eternal Being is his Life therefore he by the Father liveth Again sith all things do accordingly love their Offspring as themselves are more or less contained in it he which is thus the only begotten must needs be in this degree the only Beloved of the Father He therefore which is in the Father by eternal Derivation of Being and Life from him must needs be in him through an eternal Affection of love His Incarnation causeth him also as man to be now in the Father and the Father to be in him For in that he is Man he receiveth Life from the Father as from the Fountain of that Everliving Deity which in the Person of the Word hath combined itself with Manhood and doth thereunto impart such life as to no other Creature besides him is communicated In which consideration likewise Luke 3 22. Joh 3. 14.35 & 5 20. & 10. 17 & 14. 31. & 15. 10. the love of the Father towards him is more than it can be towards any other neither can any attain unto that perfection of love which he beareth towards his Heavenly Father Wherefore God is not so in any nor any so in God as Christ whether we consider him as the Personal Word of God or as the Natural Son of Man All other things that are of God have God in them and he them in himself likewise Yet because their Substance and his wholly differeth their coherence and communion either with him or amongst themselves is in no sort like unto that before mentioned God hath his influence into the very Essence of all things without which influence of Deity supporting them their utter annihilation could not choose but follow Of him all things have both received their first Being and their continuance to be that which they are All things are therefore partakers of God they are his Offspring his influence is in them and the Personal Wisdom of God is for that very cause said to excel in nimbleness or agility to pierce into all intellectual pure and subtle spirits Wisd. 7. 29. to go through all and to reach unto every thing which is Otherwise how should the same Wisdom be that which supporteth beareth up and sustaineth all Heb. 1.3 Whatsoever God doth work the hands of all three Persons are jointly and equally in it according to the order of that connexion whereby they each depend upon other And therefore albeit in that respect the Father be first the Son next the Spirit last and consequently nearest unto every effect which groweth from all three nevertheless they all being of one Essence are likewise all of one Efficacy Dare any man unless he be ignorant altogether how inseparable the Persons of the Trinity are persuade himself that every of them may have their sole and several Possessions or that we being not partakers of all can have fellowship with any one John 14. 13. The Father as Goodness the Son as Wisdom the Holy Ghost as Power do all concur in every particular outwardly issuing from that one only glorious Deity which they all are For that which moveth God to work is Goodness and that which ordereth his Work is Wisdom and that which perfecteth his Work is Power All things which God in their times and seasons hath brought forth were eternally and before all times in God as a work unbegun is in the Artificer which afterward bringeth it unto effect Therefore whatsoever we do behold now in this present World it was enwrapped within the Bowels of Divine Mercy written in the Book of Eternal Wisdom and held in the hands of Omnipotent Power the first Foundations of the World being as yet unlaid So that all things which God hath made are in that respect the Offspring of God Acts 19.28 29. Joh. 1.4 & 1.10 Isai. 40.26 they are in him as effects in their highest cause he likewise actually is in them the assistance and influence of his Deity is their life Let hereunto saving efficacy be added and it bringeth forth a special Offspring amongst men containing them to whom God hath himself given the gracious and amiable name of Sons We are by Nature the Sons of Adam When God created Adam he created us and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the Root out of which they spring The Sons of God we neither are all nor any one of us otherwise then only by grace and favour The Sons of God have Gods own Natural Son as a second Adam from Heaven 1 Cor. 15.47 whose Race and Progeny they are by Spiritual and Heavenly Birth God therefore loving eternally his Son he must needs eternally in him have loved and preferred before all others them which are spiritually sithence descended and sprung out of him Ephes. 1. 3,4 These were in God as in their Saviour and not as in their Creator only It was the purpose of his saving Goodness his saving Wisdom and his saving Power which inclined itself towards them They which thus were in God eternally by their intended admission to life have by vocation or adoption God actually now in them as the Artificer is in the Work which his hand doth presently frame Life as all other gifts and benefits groweth originally from the Father and cometh not to us but by the Son nor by the Son to any of us in particular but through the Spirit 1 Joh. 5. 11. Rom. 8. 10. 3 Cor. 13. 13. For this cause the Apostle wisheth to the Church of Corinth The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost Which three St. Peter comprehendeth in one The participation of Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. We are therefore in God through Christ eternally according to that intent and purpose whereby we are chosen to be made his in this present World before the World itself was made We are in God through the knowledge which is had of us and the love which is born towards us from everlasting But in God we actually are no longer then only from the time of our actual Adoption into the Body of his true Church into the Fellowship of his Children For his Church he knoweth and loveth so that they which are in the Church are thereby known to be in him Our being in Christ by Eternal foreknowledge saveth us not without our Actual and Real Adoption into the Fellowship of his Saints in this present World For in him we actually are by our actual incorporation into that Society which hath him for their Head Gal. 2.10 and doth make together with him one Body he and they in that respect having one name for which cause by virtue of this Mystical Conjunction we are of him and in him 1 Cor. 12. 11. Ephes. 5. 30. even as though our very flesh and bones should be made continuate with his We are in Christ because he knoweth and loveth us John 15.9 1 John 5. 12. even as parts of himself No man actually is in him but they in whom he actually is For he which hath not the Son of God hath not Life John 19 9 4. I am the Vine and ye are the Branches He which abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit but the Branch severed from the Vine withereth We are therefore adopted Sons of God to Eternal Life by Participation of the only begotten Son of God whose Life is the Wellspring and cause of ours John 14. 19 Ephes. 5. 23. It is too cold an interpretation whereby some men expound our Being in Christ to import nothing else but only That the selfsame Nature which maketh us to be Men is in him and maketh him Man as we are For what man in the World is there which hath not so far forth communion with Jesus Christ It is not this that can sustain the weight of such sentences as speak of the Mystery of our Coherence with Jesus Christ. The Church is in Christ John 14. 30. & 15. 4. as Eve was in Adam Yea by Grace we are every of us in Christ and in his Church and in his Church as by Nature we were in those our first Parents God made Eve of the Rib of Adam And his Church he frameth out of the very Flesh the very wounded and bleeding side of the Son of Man His Body crucified and his Blood shed for the Life of the World 1 Cor. 15. 48. are the true Elements of that Heavenly Being which maketh us such as himself is of whom we come For which cause the words of Adam may be fitly the words of Christ concerning his Church Flesh of my Flesh and Bone of my Bones a true Nature extract out of my own Body So that in him even according to his Manhood we according to our Heavenly Being are as Branches in that Root out of which they grow To all things he is Life and to men Light John 1. & 6. 57 as the Son of God to the Church both Life and Light Eternal by being made the Son of Man for us and by being in us a Saviour whether we respect him as God or as Man Adam is in us as an original cause of our Nature and of that corruption of Nature which causeth death Christ as the cause original of Restauration to Life Heb. 5. 9 The person of Adam is not in us but his nature and the corruption of his nature derived into all men by Propagation Christ having Adam's nature as we have but incorrupt deriveth not nature but incorruption and that immediately from his own Person into all that belong unto him As therefore we are really partakers of the body of Sin and Death received from Adam so except we be truly partakers of Christ and as really possessed of his Spirit 1 Cor 15 4● 52. all we speak of Eternal Life is but a dream That which quickeneth us is the Spirit of the Second Adam and his Flesh that wherewith he quickeneth That which in him made our Nature uncorrupt was the Union of his Deity with our Nature And in that respect the sentence of Death and Condemnation which only taketh hold upon sinful flesh could no way possibly extend unto him This caused his voluntary death for others to prevail with God and to have the force of an Expiatory Sacrifice The Blood of Christ as the Apostle witnesseth doth therefore take away sin Heb. 9 14. because through the Eternal Spirit he offered himself unto God without spot That which sanctified our Nature in Christ that which made it a Sacrifice available to take away sin is the same which quickeneth it raised it out of the Grave after Death and exalted it unto Glory Seeing therefore that Christ is in us as a quickening Spirit the first degree of Communion with Christ must needs consist in the Participation of his Spirit Cypr. de Coena Dom. cap. 6. which Cyprian in that respect well termeth Germanissimam Societatem the highest and truest Society that can be between man and him which is both God and Man in one Cy●in jiar lib. 12. cap 13. These things St. Cyril duly considering reproveth their speeches which ●aught that only the Deity of Christ is the Vine whereupon we by Faith do depend as Branches and that neither his Flesh not our Bodies are comprised in this resemblance For doth any man doubt but that even from the Flesh of Christ our very Bodies do receive that Life which shall make them glorious at the latter day and for which they are already accounted parts of his Blessed Body Our corruptible bodies could never live the life they shall live were it not that here they are joined with his Body which is incorruptible and that his is in ours as a cause immortality a cause by removing through the Death and Merit of his own Flesh that which hindered the life of ours Christ is therefore both as God and as Man that true Vine whereof we both spiritually and corporally are Branches The mixture of his Bodily Substance with ours is a thing which the Ancient Fathers a Nostra quip & Ipsius conjunctio n●c mi●cet person ●s nec nai● substance as said off ●us consocist & consoe lerat voluntates Cypr de Co●● Dam. disclaim Yet the mixture of his Flesh with ours they b Quomodo dicunt carnem in corruptionem devenice & non percipe● c vi●am qua à corpore Domini & sanguine ali●● Iran lib. 4. Advers Haeres cap. 34. speak of to signify what our very bodies through Mystical Conjunction receive from that vital efficacy which we know to be in his and from bodily mixtures they borrow divers Similitudes rather to declare the Truth Unde cons●erandum est non solum sea conformitate affectionum Christum in nobis esse verum enam participatione Naturali id est p●ali & vera quamadm●dum & quis igne liquefactan cetam a●●i cere si●lliter lique●actae i● a miscu●●i●u●●num quid ex ●tris suctum videatus sie communicatione Corporis & Sanguinis Christi ipse in nobis est & no● in ipso Cyril in jo●n lib. 10. cap. 13. than the manner of coherence between his sacred and the sanctified Bodies of Saints Thus much no Christian Man will deny That when Christ sanctified his own Flesh giving as God and taking as Man the Holy Ghost he did not this for himself only but for our sakes that the Grace of Sanctification and Life which was first received in him might pass from him to his whole Race as Malediction came from Adam unto all mankind Howbeit because the Work of his Spirit to those effects is in us prevented by Sin and Death possessing us before it is necessity that as well our present Sanctification unto newness of life as the future of Restauration of our Bodies should presuppose a participation of the Grace Efficacy Merit or Virtue of his Body and Blood without which Foundation first laid there is no place for those other operations of the Spirit of Christ to ensue So that Christ imparteth plainly himself by degrees I● pleaseth him in Mercy to account himself incomplete and maimed a Eph. 1. 23. Ecclesi● complementam ejus qui implet omnia in omnibus without us But most assured we are that we all receive of his Fullness because he is in us as a moving and working Cause from which many blessed effects are really found to ensue and that in sundry both kinds and degrees all tending to eternal happiness It must be confessed that of Christ working as a Creator and a Governor of the World by providence all are partakers not all partakers of that Grace whereby he inhabiteth whom he saveth Again as he dwelleth not by Grace in all so neither doth he equally work in all them in whom he dwelleth b Aug. Ep 55. Whence is it saith St. Augustine that some be holier than others are but because God doth dwell in some more plentifully then in others And because the Divine Substance of Christ is equally in all his Humane Substance equally distant from all it appeareth that the participation of Christ wherein there are many degrees and differences must needs consist in such effects as being derived from both Natures of Christ really into us are made our own and we by saving them in us are truly said to have him from whom they come Christ also more or less to inhabit and impart himself as the Graces are fewer or more greater or smaller which really flow into us form Christ. Christ is whole with the whole Church and whole with every part of the Church as touching his Person which can no way divide itself or be possessed by degrees and portions But the Participation of Christ importeth besides the Presence of Christ's Person and besides the Mystical Copulation thereof with the Parts and Members of his whole Church a true actual influence of Grace whereby the life which we live according to godliness is his Gal. 2. 3●● and from him we receive those perfections wherein our eternal happiness consisteth Thus we participate Christ partly by imputation as when those things which he did and suffered for us are imputed unto us for Righteousness Partly by habitual and real infusion Isa. 53 5. Eph. 1.7 as when Grace is inwardly bestowed while we are on Earth and afterwards more fully both our Souls and Bodies make like unto his in Glory The first thing of his so infused into our hearts in this life is the Spirit of Christ whereupon because the rest Rom. ● 9 Gal. 4.6 of what kind soever do all both necessarily depend and infallibly also easue therefore the Apostles term it sometime the Seed of God 1 John 3.9 Eph. 1. 14. Rom. 9.23 sometime the Pledge of our Heavenly Inheritance sometime the Hansel or Earnest of that which is to come From hence it is that they which belong to the Mystical Body of our Saviour Christ and be in number as the Stars of Heaven divided successively by reason of their mortal condition into many Generations 1 Cor. 12.29 Eph. 4. 15. Rom. 12. 5. Eph. 4. 29. are notwithstanding coupled every one to Christ their Head and all unto every particular person amongst themselves in as much as the same Spirit which anointed the Blessed Soul of our Saviour Christ doth so formalize unite and actuate his whole Race as if both he and they were so many Limbs compacted into one Body by being quickened all with one and the same Soul That wherein we are Partakers of Jesus Christ by Imputation agreeth equally unto all that have it For it consisteth in such Acts and Deeds of his as could not have longer continuance then while they were in doing nor at that very time belong unto any other but to him from whom they come and therefore how men either then or before or fithence should be made Partakers of them there can be no way imagined but only by Imputation Again a Deed must either not be imputed to any but rest altogether in him whose it is or if at all it be imputed they which have it by Imputation must have it such as it is whole So that degrees being neither in the Personal Presence of Christ nor in the Participation of those effects which are ours by Imputation only it resteth that we wholly apply them to the Participation of Christ's infused Grace although even in this kind also the first beginning of Life the Seed of God the First-fruits of Christ's Spirit be without latitude For we have hereby only the being of the Sons of God in which number how far soever one may seem to excel another yet touching this that all are Sons they are all equals some happily better Sons than the rest are but none any more a Son then another Thus therefore we see how the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father how they both are in all things and all things in them what Communion Christ hath with his Church how his Church and every Member thereof is in him by original derivation and he personally in them by way of Mystical Association wrought through the Gift of the Holy Ghost which they that are his receive from him and together with the same what benefit soever the vital force of his Body and Blood may yield yea by steps and degrees they receive the complete measure of all such Divine Grace as doth sanctify and save throughout till the day of their Final Exaltation to a state of Fellowship in glory with him whose partakers they are now in those things that tend to glory As for any mixture of the Substance of his Flesh with ours the Participation which we have of Christ includeth no such kind of gross surmise The necessity of Sacraments unto the Participatien of Christ. 57 It greatly offendeth that some when they labour to show the use of the holy Sacraments assign unto them no end but only to teach the mind by other seizes that which the Word doth teach by Hearing Whereupon how easily neglect and careless regard of so Heavenly Mysteries may follow we see in part by some experience had of those Men with whom that opinion is most strong For where the Word of God may be heard which teacheth with much more Expedition and more full Explications any thing we have to learn if all the benefit we reap by Sacraments be instruction they which at all times have opportunity of using the better mean to that purpose will surely hold the worse in less estimation And unto Infants which are not capable of instruction who would not think it a mere superfluity that any Sacrament is administered if to administer the Sacraments be but to teach receivers what God doth for them There is of Sacraments therefore undoubtedly some other more excellent and Heavenly use Sacraments by reason of their mixed Nature are more diversely interpreted and disputed of than any other part of Religion besides for that in so great store of Properties belonging to the selfsame thing as every Man's wit hath taken hold of some especial consideration above the rest so they have accordingly seemed one to cross another as touching their several opinions about the necessity of Sacraments whereas in truth their disagreement is not great For let respect be had to the duty which every Communicant doth undertake and we may well determine concerning the use of Sacraments that they serve as Bonds of Obedience to God strict Obligations to the mutual exercise of Christian Charity Provocations to Godliness Preservations from Sin Memorials of the Principal benefits of Christ respect the time of their institution and it thereby appeareth that God hath annexed them for ever unto the New Testament as other Rites were before with the Old regard the weakness which is in us and they are warrants for the more security of our belief Compare the receivers of then with such as receive them not and Sacraments are marks of distinction to separate Gods own from strangers so that in all these respects they are sound to be most necessary But their chiefest force and virtue consisteth not herein so much as in that they are Heavenly Ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administered in his Church First As marks whereby to know when God doth impart the vital or saving Grace of Christ unto all that are capable thereof and secondly as Means conditional which God requireth in them unto whom he imparteth Grace For sith God in himself is invisible and cannot by us be discerned working therefore when it seemeth good in the eyes of his Heavenly Wisdom that men for some special intent and purpose should take notice of his glorious Presence he giveth them some plain and sensible token whereby to know what they cannot see For Moses to see God and live Exod 3. ● was impossible yet Moses by fire knew where the glory of God extraordinarily was present The Angel J●hn 5. 4. by whom God endued the Waters of the Pool called Bethesda with Supernatural Virtue to Heal was not seen of any yet the time of the Angel's presence known by the troubled motions of the Waters themselves Acts 2. 3. The Apostles by Fiery Tongues which they saw were admonished when the Spirit which they could not behold was upon them In like manner it is with us Christ and his Spirit with all their blessed Effects though entering into the Soul of Man we are not able to apprehend or express how do notwithstanding give notice of the times when they use to make their access because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible means those Blessings which are incomprehensible Seeing therefore that Grace is a consequent of Sacraments a thing which accompanieth them as their end a benefit which they have received from God himself the Author of Sacraments and not from any other Natural or Supernatural Quality in them it may be hereby both understood That Sacraments are necessary and that the manner of their necessity to Life Supernatural is not in all respects as food unto Natural Life because they contain in themselves no vital force of efficacy they are not Physical but Moral Instruments of Salvation duties of Service and Worship which unless we perform as the Author of Grace requireth they are unprofitable For all receive not the Grace of God which receive the Sacraments of his Grace Neither is it ordinarily his Will to bestow the Grace of Sacraments on any but by the Sacraments which Grace also they that receive by Sacraments or with Sacraments receive it from him and not from them For of Sacraments the very same is true which Solomon's Wisdom observeth in the Brazen Serpent a Wisd. 15.10 Sp●●itus Sancti munus est gratiam imp●ete mysterii Ambr. in Luc. cap. 3. Sanctificatus Elementis effectum non propria ipsarum natura praebet sed virtus divina potentius operatur Cypr. de Chri●● He that turned towards it was not healed by the thing he saw but by thee O Saviour of all This is therefore the necessity of Sacraments That saving Grace which Christ originally is or hath for the general good of his whole Church by Sacraments he severally deriveth into every member thereof Sacraments serve as the Instruments of God to that end and purpose Moral Instruments the use whereof is in our own hands the effect in his for the use we have his express Commandment for the effect his Conditional Promise So that without our obedience to the one there is of the other no apparent assurance as chose where the Signs and Sacraments of his Grace are not either through contempt unreceived or received with contempt we are not to doubt but that they really give what they promise and are what they signify For we take not Baptism nor the Eucharist for bare resemblances or memorial of things absent neither for naked signs and testimonies assuring us of Grace received before but as they are indeed and in verity for means effectual whereby God when we take the Sacraments delivereth into our hands that Grace available unto Eternal Life which Grace the Sacraments b Dum homini bonum inu●sibile redd●tur foris ei ejusdem significatio per species visibiles adhibetur Ut foris excitetur & intus reparetur In ipsa vasis specie virtus exprimitur medicinae Hugo de Sacram. lib. 1. cap. 3. Si ergo vasa sunt spiritualis gratiae sacramenta non ex suo sanant quia vasa aegrotum non curant sed medicina Idem lib. 1. cap. 3. represent or signify There have grown in the Doctrine concerning Sacraments many difficulties for want of distinct Explication what kind or degree of Grace doth belong unto each Sacrament For by this it hath come to pass that the true immediate cause why Baptism and why the Supper of our Lord is necessary few do rightly and distinctly consider It cannot be denied but sundry the same effects and benefits which grow unto men by the one Sacrament may rightly be attributed unto the other Yet then doth Baptism challenge to itself but the inchoation of those Graces the consummation whereof dependeth on Mysteries ensuing We receive Christ Jesus in Baptism once as the first beginner in the Eucharist often as being by continual degrees the finisher of our Life By Baptism therefore we receive Christ Jesus and from him that saving Grace which is proper unto Baptism By the other Sacrament we receive him also imparting therein himself and that Grace which the Eucharist properly bestoweth So that each Sacrament having both that which is general or common and that also which is peculiar unto itself we may hereby gather that the Participation of Christ which properly belongeth to any one Sacrament is not otherwise to be obtained but by the Sacrament whereunto it is proper The Substance of Raptism the ●zess et Solemnites thereunto belonging and that the substance thereof being kept other things in ●ap ti●m may give place to necessity 58. Now even as the Soul doth Organize the Body and give unto every Member thereof that substance quantity and shape which Nature seeth most expedient so the inward Grace of Sacraments may teach what serveth best for their outward form a thing in no part of Christian Religion much less here to be neglected Grace intended by Sacraments was a cause of the choice and is a reason of the fitness of the Elements themselves Furthermore seeing that the Grace which here we receive doth no way depend upon the Natural force of that which we presently behold it was of necessity That words of express Declaration taken from the very mouth of our Lord himself should be added unto visible Elements that the one might infallibly teach what the other do most assuredly bring to pass In writing and speaking of the Blessed Sacrament we a Eucharistia dub●● ex r●laws constat tenere & coelbrens ●●uss 〈…〉 cap. 34 〈…〉 use for the most part under the name of their Substance not only to comprise that whereof they outwardly and sensibly consist but also the secret Grace which they signify and exhibit This is the reason wherefore commonly in b Sacramentum est cum res g●sta visibilis longé alid invisibile intas reperatur Isid Erem lib. 1. Sacramentum per quod su●●●gumento rerum visi●●le ●ens divina virtus s●lutem serecitus opela●● Greg. Mi● Sacramentum of signum significans ●…circe eff●ctum Dei g●a●i●um Ce●ca sent lib. 4 d. 1. Sacramentum propri● non ●●●●●●●●●●lther rei sac●● ●●● tan●um rei sacrae sancti 〈…〉 tho 12. q. 101. 4. & q. 102. 5. Sacramentum est signam Pass ni Christi gratiae & gloriae Ideo est commemoratio praete●iti demonstratis praesentis & prognodi●en ●uturi Tho. 3. q. 60.3 Sacramenta sunt signa & symbols visibilia rerum insernatura & invisibilium per quae set per me li● Deus virtuce Spiritus sancti in nobis agit Cons. Belg. Art 33. Item Beb●●n Cons. cap. 11. definitions whether they be framed larger to aug●ment or stricter to abridge the number of Sacraments we find Grace expressly mentioned as their ●●●● Essential Form Elements as the matter whereunto that Form doth adjoyn it s●● But if that be separated which is secret and that considered alone which is seen as of necessity it must in all those speeches that make distinction of Sacraments from Sacramental Grace the name of a Sacrament in such speeches can imply no more than what the outward substance thereof doth comprehend And to make complete the outward substance of a Sacrament there is required an outward Form which Form Sacramental Elements receive from Sacramental words Hereupon it groweth that c Sacramen●●a constant verbo signis & rebus significatio Confess Helen Post. c. 1● many times there are three things said to make up the Substance of a Sacrament namely the Grace which is thereby offered the Element which shadoweth or signifieth Grace and the Word which expresseth what is done by the Element So that whether we consider the outward by itself alone or both the outward and inward substance of any Sacraments there are in the one respect but two essential parts and in the other but three that concur to give Sacraments their full being Furthermore because definitions are to express but the most immediate and nearest parts of Nature whereas other principles farther off although not specified in defining are notwithstanding in Nature implied and presupposed we must note that in as much as Sacraments are actions religious and mystical which Nature they have not unless they proceed from a serious meaning and what every man's private mind is as we cannot know so neither are we bound to examine Therefore always in these cases the known intent of the Church generally doth suffice and where the contrary is not d Si ●●iquid Ministri agere incendant purà sacris illudere mysteriis vel ali●● quod Ecclesiae non consentiat nihil agitur ● sine fi●e enim spi●●●●alss potestae exerceti quidem potest sine Ecclesiae intention non potest Laurel Insi Jar. Can. lib. 2. Ti● 2. 5. Hoc tamen manifest we may presume that he which outwardly doth the work hath inwardly the purpose of the Church of God Concerning all other Orders Rites Prayers Lessons Sermons Actions and their Circumstances whatsoever they are to the outward Substance of Baptism but things accessary which the wisdom of the Church of Christ is to order according to the exigence of that which is principal Again Considering that such Ordinances have been made to adorn the Sacrament e Accessonium non regular Principle sed ab eo regulatur 42. De stegul Jar. in Sex● lib. 3. If quod iustu not the Sacrament to depend upon them seeing also that they are not of the Substance of Baptism and that Baptism is far more necessary than any such incident rite or solemnity ordained for the better Administration thereof f E●ns● nihil facile mutandu●● est ex solennibus canen ubi aequie as evidens poseit subveniendum est Lib. 183. de Reg. Jur. if the case be such as permitteth not Baptism to have decent Compliments of Baptism better it were to enjoy the Body without his Furniture then to wait for this till the opportunity of that for which we desire it be lost Which Premises standing it seemeth to have been no absurd Collection that in cases of necessity which will not suffer delay till Baptism be administered with usual solemnities to speak the least it may be tolerably given without them rather than any man without it should be suffered to depart this life 59 They which deny that any such case of necessity can fall The Grounds in Scripture whereupon a necessity of outward ● Baptism hath been hunt T. C. lib. 1. p. 123. invate Baptism first ●ose upon ● fal● in ●● relation of the place of St. john Clap. ● 5. Unless a man be Son again of Water and of the S●ri● etc. Where certain do interpret the wo● i● Water se● the Material and Elemental Water when as our Saviour Christ coheth Water there by a borrowed speech for the Spirit of God he effect whereof it shadoweth our Nor even as in another place ●●●a●ith 3. 11. ● ●y●●●●e and the Spirit he meaneth nothing but the Spirit of God which purgeth and purifieth as ●ire doth So●a this place by Water and the Spirit he meaneth nothing else but the Spirit of God which cleanseth the silth of sin and cooleth the boiling heir of an unquiet Conscience as Water washeth the thing which ●● is foul and quencheth the heat of the Fire in regard whereof the Church should tolerate Baptism without the decent Rites and Solemnities thereunto belonging pretend that such Tolerations have risen from a false interpretaon which certain men have made of the Scripture grounding a necessity of External Baptism upon the words of our Saviour Christ Unless a man be born again of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For by Water and the Spirit we are in that place to understand as they imagine no more than if the Spirit alone had been mentioned and Water not spoken of Which they think is plain because elsewhere it is not improbable that the Holy Ghost and Fire do but signify the Holy Ghost in operation resembling Fire Whereupon they conclude That seeing Fire in one place may be therefore Water in another place is but a Metaphor Spirit the interpretation thereof and so the words do only mean That unless a man be born again of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I hold it for a most infallible rule in Expositions of Sacred Scripture that were a literal construction will stand the farthest from the Letter is commonly the worst There is nothing more dangerous than this licentious and deluding Art which changeth the meaning of words as Alchemy doth or would the substance of Metals maketh of any thing what it listeth and bringeth in the end all Truth to nothing Or howsoever such voluntary exercise of wit might be born with otherwise yet in places which usually serve as this doth concerning Regeneration by Water and the Holy Ghost to be alleged for Grounds and Principles less is permitted To hide the general consent of Antiquity agreeing in the literal interpretation they cunningly affirm That certain have taken those words as meant of Material Water when they know that of all the Ancients there is no one to be named that ever did otherwise either expound or allege the place then as implying External Baptism Shall that which hath always a Mini●e sunt muianda quae Interpretationem certain semper habuenrant D. lib. ti● 2. lib. 23. received this and no other construction be now disguised with a toy of Novelty Must we needs at the only show of a critical conceit without any more deliberation utterly condemn them of Error which will not admit that Fire in the words john is quenched with the Name of the Holy Ghost or with the name of the Spirit Water dried up in the words of Christ When the Letter of the Law hath two things plainly and expressly specified Water and the Spirit Water as a duty required on our parts the Spirit as a Gift which God bestoweth There is danger in presuming so to interpret it at if the clause which concerneth ourselves were more than needeth We may by such rate Expositions attain perhaps in the end to be thought witty but with ill advice Finally if at b Acts 1. 3 john Baptised with Water but you shall within few days be Baptised with the Holy Ghost the time when that Baptism which was meant by john came to be really and truly performed by Christ himself we find the Apostles that had been as we are before Baptised new Baptised with the Holy Ghost and in this their latter Baptism as well a c Acts 2 3. visible descent of Fire as a secret miraculous infusion of the Spirit if on us he accomplish likewise the Heavenly work of our New birth not with the Spirit alone but with Water thereunto adjoined sith the faithfullest Expounders of his words are his own Deeds let that which his hand hath manifestly wrought declare what his speech did doubtfully utter 60. To this they add What kind of necessity in outward Baptism hath been gathered by the words of our Saviour Christ and what the true necessity thereof indeed is T. C. lib. 1. pag. 143. Secondly This Error of Privo●● Baptism came by a false and unnecessary conclusion drawn from that place For although the Scripture should say That none can be saved but those which have the Spirit of God and are Baptised with Material and Elemental Water yet ought it to be understood of those which can conveniently and orderly be brought to Baptism as the Scripture saying That who so doth not believe the Gospel is condemned already job. 3. 18. meaneth this sentence of those which can hear the Gospel and have discretion to understand it when the hear it and cannot here shut under this condemnation either those that he born deaf and so remain or little infants or natural Fools that have no wit to couceive what is Preached That as we err by following a wrong construction of the place before alleged so our second oversight is that we thereupon infer a necessity overrigorous and extreme The true necessity of Baptism a sew Propositions considered will soon decide All things which either are known a Necessarium i● dicitur sine quo ut concaus● fieri non potest ut viratur Et es since quibus neri nequis ut bonum aut sit aut fiat vel malum aliquod amovea●●r aut non ●●lsi● Arist. Metaph. 5. cap. 5. Causes or set Means whereby any great Good is usually procured or Men delivered from grievous evil the same we must needs confess necessary And if Regeneration were not in this very sense a thing necessary to eternal life would Christ himself have taught Nicodemus that to see the Kingdom of God is b Joh 3. 3. impossible saving only for those Men which are born from above His words following in the next Sentence are a proof sufficient that to our Regeneration his Spirit is no less c Vers. 4. necessary than Regeneration itself necessary unto Life Thirdly Unless as the Spirit is a necessary inward cause so Water were a necessary outward mean to our Regeneration what construction should we give unto those words wherein we are said to be new born and that even of Water Why are we taught that d Ephes. 5. 2● with Water God doth purify and cleanse his Church Wherefore do the Apostles of Christ term Baptism e Tit. 3. 5. a Bath of Regeneration What purpose had they in giving men advice to receive outward Baptism and in persuading them it did avail f AM● 2. 38. to remission of sins If outward Baptism were a cause in itself possessed of that power either Natural or Supernatural without the present operation whereof no such effect could possibly grow it must then follow That seeing effects do never prevent the necessary causes out of which they spring no man could ever receive Grace before Baptism Which being apparently both known and also confessed to be otherwise in many particulars although in the rest we make not Baptism a cause of Grace yet the Grace which is given them with their g Fidelet salutem ex istis Elementis non quaerunt e●iam●i in isus a●erunt N●● enim ista tribuunt quod per ista tribuitur Huge de Sacram lib. 1. cap. 3. Baptism doth so far forth depend on the very outward Sacrament that God will have it embraced not only as a sign or token what we receive but also as an Instrument or Mean whereby we receive Grace because Baptism is a Sacrament which God hath instituted in his Church to the end that they which receive the same might thereby be h Susceptus à Christo Christumque suscipiens non idem fir post lavacrum qui ante Baptismum sui●sed corpus vegenerati sic caro crucifixi Leu. Scam 4. de Pas. Dom. incorporated into Christ and so through his most precious Merit obtain as well that saving Grace of Imputation which taketh away j Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur Tert. de Caro. Re●●r Romo per aquam Baptist millet à suis L●em esse vidratur intus tamen alter efficitur cum peccato natus fine peccato renasciru priuribus petir succedentibus proficis detericribus exuiour in mellora innova●u● persons tingitur & natura matatur Euseb. Emis de Epiphan Homil. 3. Gregor Hemil. de Sanct. Bapt. all former guiltiness as also that k Unde genitali● auxilio superioris ●ei l●b● de●●ria in expiatory pectus ac p●●●um desuper se lomen insundit Cypr. Epist. ad Domet Theodore● Epito Divin Dogunat Baptisari est purgari & s●ntibus peccatorum & domari ●atia Dei grati ad ritam novam & innocentem Confess Helvet cap. 80. infused Divine Virtue of the Holy Ghost which giveth to the Powers of the Soul their first disposition towards future newness of life There are that elevate too much the ordinary and immediate means of life relying wholly upon the bare conceit of that Eternal Election which notwithstanding includeth a subordination of means without which we are not actually brought to enjoy what God secretly did intend and therefore to build upon God's Election if we keep not ourselves to the ways which he hath appointed for men to walk in is but a self-deceiving vanity When the Apostle saw men called to the participation of Jesus Christ after the Gospel of God embraced and the Sacrament of Life received he feareth not l Eph. 1. 1. then to put them in the number of Elect Saints he m Eph. 5. 8. than accounteth them delivered from death and clean purged from all sin Till then notwithstanding their preordination unto life which none could know of saving God what were they in the Apostles own n Eph. 2. 3. 11. account but Children of Wrath as well as others plain Aliens altogether without hope strangers utterly without God in this present World So that by Sacraments and other sensible tokens of Grace we may boldy gather that he whose Mercy vouchsafeth now to bestow the means hath also long sithence intended us that whereunto they lead But let us never think i● safe to presume of our own last end by bare conjectural Collections of his first intent and purpose the means failing that should come between Predestination bringeth not to life without the Grace of External o Rom. 8. 30. Vocation wherein our Baptism is implied For as we are not Naturally men without birth so neither are we Christian men in the eye of the Church of God but by New birth nor according to the manifest ordinary course of Divine Dispensation new born but by that Baptism which both declareth and maketh us Christians In which respect we justly hold it to be the Door of our Actual Entrance into God's House the first apparent p Basil. de Scit Sanct. cap. 15. beginning of Life a Seal perhaps to the T. C. lib. 5. pag. 1. 4. ●● which is not a Christian before he come to rese●●●●●●●● cannot b●e made Caraside by Baptism which is only the Seat of the Grace of God ●tio ● receiu●● Grace of Election before received but to our Sanctification here a step that hath not any before it There were of the old Valentinian Heretics some which had Knowledge in such admiration that to it they ascribed all and so despised the Sacraments of Christ pretending That as Ignorance had made us subject to all misery so the full Redemption of the Inward Man and the Work of our Restauration must needs belong unto r Iven contra Haeres lib. 1. cap. 18. Knowledge only They draw very near unto this Error who fixing wholly their minds on the known necessity of Faith s Hic sceld●i●imi illi provocant quastiones Adeo ●●●● Esptimus non est necessarius quibus sides satis est Tert. de Baptis Huic ●alla proctor it soiet qui cum possit non percipie Sacramentum Sern Epist. imagine that nothing but Faith is necessary for the attainment of all Grace Yet is it a Branch of Belief that Sacraments are in their place no less required than Belief itself For when our Lord and Saviour promiseth Eternal Life is it any otherwise then as he promised Restitution of health unto Naaman the Syrian namely with this condition t ad Hugon 12 Kings 5. 14. Wash and be clean or as to them which were stung of Serpents health by u Numb 21. 8. beholding the Brazen Serpent If Christ himself which giveth Salvation do x Mark 15. 16. require Baptism it is not for us that look for Salvation to sound and examine him whether unbaptised men may be saved but seriously to y Inssuci● Sacramentorum quantum ad Deum Authorem dispensatio●is est quantum were a● hontinem obedientem necesstatis Quoniam in potestate Dei est prae●●r ista hominea● salvare led in potesta●e haminis new est sine idis a● satutem pervenire Hugo de Sacra lib. 1. cap 5. do that which is required and religiously to fear the danger which may grow by the want thereof Had Christ only declared his Will to have all men Baptised and not acquainted us with any cause why Baptism is necessary our ignorance in the reason of that he enjoineth might perhaps have hindered somewhat the forwardness of our obedience thereunto Whereas now being taught that Baptism is necessary to take away sin how have we the fear of God in our hearts if care of delivering men's Souls from sin do not move us to use all means for their Baptism z Pelagian al●etere arrepta impietare praesion● non propter vicani sed propter regnum Coelorum Baptismum parvulis conferendum Euseb. Emiss Hom. 5. de Pas. ● Pelagius which denied utterly the guilt of Original sin and in that respect the necessity of Baptism did notwithstanding both Baptise Infants and acknowledge their Baptism necessary for entrance into the Kingdom of God Now the Law of Christ which in these considerations maketh Baptism necessary must be construed and understood according to Rules of a Benignius leges interpretandur sunt quò voluntas carum corservetur L. Benign D. the legib. & Sen●use Natural Equity Which Rules if they themselves did not follow in expounding the Law of God would they ever be able to prove that b T. C. lib. 1. pag. 143. the Scripture in saying Whoso believeth not the Gospel of Christ is condemned already meaneth this sentence of those which can hear the Gospel and have discretion when they hear to understand it neither ought it to be applied unto Infants Deafmen and Fools That which teacheth them thus to interpret the Law of Christ is Natural Equity And because Equity so teacheth it is on all parts gladly confessed That there may be in divers cases Life by virtue of inward Baptism even where outward is not found So that if any question be made it is but about the bounds and limits of this possibility For example to think that a man whose Baptism the Crown of Martyrdom preventeth doth lose in that case the happiness which so many thousands enjoy that only have had the Grace to Believe and not the Honour to seal the testimony thereof with Death were almost barbarous Again When c B●n Epist. hundred ad Hugonem some certain opinative men in St. Bernard's time began privately to hold that because our Lord hath said Unless a Man be born again of Water therefore life without either Actual Baptism or Martyrdom in stead of Baptism cannot possibly be obtained at the hands of God Bernard considering that the same equity which had moved them to think the necessity of Baptism no Bar against the happy estate of Unbaptised Martyrs is as forcible for the warrant of their Salvation in whom although there be not the Sufferings of holy Martyrs there are the Virtues which sanctified those Sufferings and made them precious in God's sight professed himself an enemy to that severity and strictness which admitteth no exception but of Martyrs only For saith he if a Man desirous of Baptism be suddenly cut off by Death in whom there wanted neither sound Faith devout Hope not sincere Charity God be merciful unto me and pardon me if I err but verily of such a ones Salvation in whom there is no other defect besides his faultless lack of Baptism despair I cannot nor induce my mind to think his Faith void his Hope confounded and his Charity fallen to nothing only because he hath not that which not contempt but impossibility withholdeth Tell me I beseech you saith Ambrose what there is in any of us more than to will and to seek for our own good They Servant Valentinian O Lord did both For Valentinian the Emperor died before his purpose to receive Baptism could take effect And is it possible that he which had purposely thy Spirit given him to desire Grace should not receive thy Grace which that Spirit did desire Doth it move you that the outward accustomed Solemnities were not done At though Converts that suffer Martyrdom before Baptism did thereby forfeit their right to the Crown of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven If the Blood of Martyrs in that case be their Baptism surely his religious desire of Baptism standeth him in the same stead It hath been therefore constantly held as well touching other Believers as Martyrs That Baptism taken away by necessity is supplied by desire of Baptism because with Equity this opinion doth best stand Quid ad rolerandam omnem pro Dei gloria injuriam semel dicavie animum in Martyrium mihi videter implesse Suarmi ergo meriti est temel fixisse seure●tiam ocque ideo ut dixi ratio principarum obtinet passionis & si sora perpetiendi deneget facultatem pertulit tamen cuncta quae voluit pati joseph lib. de Imper. Ration Touching Infants which die unbaptised sith they neither have the Sacrament itself nor any sense or conceit thereof the judgement of many hath gone hard against them But yet seeing Grace is not absolutely tied unto Sacraments and besides such is the lenity of God that unto things altogether impossible he bindeth no man but where we cannot do what is enjoined us accepteth our will to do in stead of the deed itself Again For as much as there is in their Christian Parents and in the Church of God a presumed desire That the Sacrament of Baptism might be given them yea a purpose also that it shall be given remorse of Equity hath moved divers of the a Gers. Serm. in Nativit Beatae Mar. Cajetan in 3. Tho. 9 68 Art 1. & 2. ●iel in 4. Sentes ● 4. q 2. Tilman Segeberg de Sacr. cap. 1. Elisius Neapol in Clip Advers Haeres cap. de Baptis School-Divines in these considerations ingevously to grant That God all-merciful to such as are not in themselves able to desire Baptism imputeth the secret desire that others have in their behalf and accepteth the same as theirs rather than casteth away their Souls for that which no man is able to help And of the Will of God to impart his Grace unto Infants without Baptism in that case the very circumstance of their Natural Birth may serve as a just Argument whereupon it is not to be misliked that men in charitable presumption do gather a great likelihood of their Salvation to whom the benefit of Christian Parentage being given the rest that should follow is prevented by some such casualty as man hath himself no power to avoid For we are plainly taught of God b 1 Cor. 7. 1● That the Seed of Faithful Parentage is holy from the very Birth Which albeit we may not so understand as if the Children of Believing Parents were without Sin or Grace from Baptised Parents derived by Propagation or God by Covenant and Promise tied to save any in mere regard of their Parent's Belief Yet seeing that to all Professors of the Name of Christ this pre-eminence above Infidels is freely given the fruit of their Bodies bringeth into the World with it a present interest and right to those means wherewith the Ordinance of Christ is that his Church shall be sanctified it is not to be thought that he which as it were from Heaven hath nominated and designed them unto Holiness by special privilege of their very Birth will himself deprive them of Regeneration and Inward Grace only because necessity depriveth them of outward Sacraments In which case it were the part of Charity to hope and to make men rather partial then cruel Judges if we had nor those fair apparancies which here we have Wherefore a necessity there is of Receiving and a necessity of Administering the Sacrament of Baptism the one peradventure not so absolute as some have thought but out of all peradventure the other more strait and narrow then that the Church which is by Office a Mother unto such as crave at her hands the Sacred Mystery of their new Birth should repel them and see them die unsatisfied of these their Ghostly desires rather than give them their Souls Rights with omission of those things which serve c T. C. lib. 3. pag. 218. It is in question whether there be any such necessity of Baptism as that for the Ministering thereof the common deccur Order● should be broken but only for the more convenient and orderly Administration thereof For as on the one side we grant that those sentences of holy Scripture which make Sacraments most necessary to eternal life are no prejudice to their Salvation that want them by some inevitable necessity and without any fault of their own So it ought in reason to be likewise acknowledged that for as much as our Lord himself maketh Baptism necessary necessary whether we respect the good received by Baptism or the Testimony thereby yielded unto God of that Humility and meek Obedience which reposing wholly itself on the absolute Authority of his Commandment and on the Truth of his Heavenly Promise doubteth not but from Creatures despicable in their own condition and substance to obtain Grace of inestimable value or rather not from them but from him yet by them as by his appointed means Howsoever he by the secret ways of his own incomprehensible Mercy may be thought to save without Baptism this cleareth not the Church from guiltiness of Blood if through her superstuous scrupulosity lets and impediments of less regard should cause a Grace of so great moment to be withheld wherein our merciless strictness may be our own harm although not theirs towards whom we show it and we for the hardness of our hearts may perish albeit they through God's unspeakable Mercy do live God which did not afflict that Innocent whose Circumcision Moses had overlong deferred took revenge upon Moses himself Psal. ●●4 for the injury which was done through so great neglect giving us thereby to understand that they whom Gods own Mercy saveth without us are on our parts notwithstanding and as much as in us lieth even destroyed when under unsufficient pretences we defraud them of such ordinary outward helps as we should exhibit We have for Baptism no day set as the Jews had for Circumcision neither have we by the Law of God but only by the Church's discretion a place thereunto appointed Baptism therefore even in the meaning of the Law of Christ belongeth unto Infants capable thereof from the * In omnibus obligationibus in quibus dies non ponitu● praesenti dic dehe●● Lib. 14. D. de Reg. sur very instant of their Birth Which if they have not howsoever rather than lose it by being put off because the time the place or some such like circumstance doth not solemnly enough concur the Church as much as in her lieth wilfully casteth away their Souls 61. The Ancients it may be were too severe What things in Baptism have been dispeaced with by the Fathers ●●specting necessity and made the necessity of Baptism more absolute than Reason would as touching Infants But will a T. C. lib. 1. pag 13● The murders themselves of that Error that they cannot be saved which are ●●● baptised did never seek a remedy of the mischief In Women's or Private Dip. 1. 11. T. C. lib 3. p. 219. What plains Testimony can there be then that of Augustine which noteth the use of the Church to have been to come to the Church with their Children in danger of death and that when some had opinion that their Children could not be saved if they were not baptised Cum. Lit. Parm. lib. 9 cap. 13. I would also know of him what he will answer to that which is noted of a Christian Jew desperately sick of the Palsy that was with his Bed caused on the place of Baptism Sect. lib. 7. c. 4. What will he answer to this That those which were baptised in their Beds were thereby made unapt to have any place amongst the Clergy as they call them doth it not leave a note of infamy in those which had procured that Baptism should be ministered in private houses Euseb. lib. 6. cap. 43. What unto the Emperor's Decree which upon authority of the ancient Laws and of the Apostles forbiddeth That the holy lungs should be administered in any man's house joh. ●●●l 32. any man say that they notwithstanding their too much rigour herein did not in that respect sustain and tolerate defects of Local or of Personal Solemnities belonging to the Sacrament of Baptism The Apostles themselves did neither use nor appoint for Baptism any certain time The Church for general Baptism heretofore made choice of two chief days in the year the Feast of Easter and the Feast of Pentecost Which Custom when certain Churches in Sicily began to violate without cause they were by b ●●● Epist. ● an Epiic Cicit Leo Bishop of Rome advised rather to conform themselves to the rest of the World in things so reasonable then to offend men's minds through needless singularity Howbeit always providing That nevertheless in apparent peril of death danger of siege straits of persecution fear of shipwreck and the like exigents no respect of times should cause this singular defence of true safety to be denied unto any This of Leo did but confirm that sentence which c Vict. Epist. ad Theop● Alexand. in Pentis Damasc. Victor had many years before given extending the same exception as well unto places as times That which St. Augustine speaketh of Women hasting to bring their children to the Church when they saw danger is a weak proof That when necessity did not leave them so much time it was not then permitted them neither to make a Church of their own home Which answer dischargeth likewise their example of a sick Jew carried in a Bed to the place of Baptism and not baptised at home in private The cause why such kind of Baptism barred men afterwards from entering into holy Orders the reason wherefore it was objected against Novatian in what respect and how far forth it did disable may be gathered by the Twelfth Canon set down in the Council of Neocaesarea after this manner A man which hath been baptised in sickness is not after to be ordained Priest For it may be thought That such do rather at that time because they see no other remedy then of a voluntary mind lay hold on the Christian Faith unless their true and sincere meaning be made afterwards the more manifest or else the scarcity of others enforce the Church to admit them They bring in justinians Imperial Constitution but to what purpose seeing it only forbiddeth men to have the Mysteries of God administered in their Private Chapels lest under that pretence Heretics should do secretly those things which were unlawful In which consideration he therefore commandeth that if they would use those private Oratories otherwise then only for their private Prayers the Bishop should appoint them a Clerk whom they might entertain for that purpose This is plain by latter Constitutions made in the time of Leo Leo. Count 4. It was thought good saith the Emperor in their judgement which have gone before that in Private Chapels none should celebrate the holy Communion but Priests belonging unto greater Churches Which Order they took as it seemeth for the custody of Religion lest men should secretly receive from Heretics in stead of the food the ban of their Souls pollution in place of expiation Idem Co●st 15. Again Whereas a Sacred Canon of the Sixth Reverend Synod requireth Baptism as others have likewise the holy Sacrifices and Mysteries to be celebrated only in temples hallowed for public use and not in private Oratories which strict Decrees appear to have been made heretofore in regard of Heretics which entered closely into such men's houses as favoured their opinions whom under colour of performing with them such Religious Offices they drew from the soundness of true Religion Now that perverse Opinions through the Grace of Almighty God are extinct and gone the cause of former restraints being taken away we see no reason but that private Oratories may hence forward enjoy that liberty which to have granted them heretofore had not been safe In sum all these things alleged are nothing nor will it ever be proved while the World doth continue but that the practice of the Church in cases of extreme necessity hath made for private Baptism always more than against it Yea Baptism by any man in the case of necessity was the a T. C. lib. 1. pag. 145. To allow of women's Baptising is not only contrary to the learned Writers ●ow but also contrary to all learned Antiquity and contrary to the practice of the Church whilst there was any tolerable estate Tertul. de Virgin Veland & lib. de Baptis Epipha lib. 1. & lib. 8. cont. Haeres S. Augustine although he seem to a●low of a Layman's Baptism in time of necessity Cour. Epist. Parmen lib. 2. cap. 13. Yet there he mentioneth no● women's Baptism and in the Fourth Council of Carthage cap. 100 It is simply without exception decreed That a Woman ought not to Baptise Tertul. de Baptis voice of the whole World heretofore Neither is Tertullian Epiphanius Augustine or any other of the Ancient against it The boldness of such as pretending Teclaes' example took openly upon them both Baptism and all other Public Functions of Priesthood Tertullian severely controlleth saying b Subjectum est general speciale In ipso significante quia in ipso continerus Ter●●●l de Veland Virg. Post. genere supponirur species Aug. in lib. 2. cap. de Transact To give Baptism is in truth the Bishops Right After him it belongeth unto Priests and Deacons but not to them without authority from him received For so the honour of the Church requireth which being kept preserveth peace Were it not in this respect the Laity might do the same all sorts might give even as all sorts receive But because Emulation is the Mother of Schisms Let it content thee which art of the order of Laymen to do it in necessity when the state of time or place or person thereunto compelleth For than is their boldness privileged that help when the circumstance of other men's dangers craveth it What he granteth generally to Lay-people of the House of God the same we cannot suppose he denieth to any sort or sex contained under that name unless himself did restrain the limits of his own speech especially seeing that Tertullia's rule of interpretation is b Subjectum e●t generali speciale ●a ipso significa●te quia in ipso contine●ut Tertul. de Veland Virg. Posit gene●● supponi●ur species Aug. in ●●● 2. cap. de Transact elsewhere Specialties are signified under that which is general because they are therein comprehended All which Tertullian doth c Non per●i●i●●● mulieri in ecclesia loqui sed nee docere now ringere nec offer non dibus virilis muneris ●edum sacerdotalis officii sortem sibi vendicare Tertul. de Velund Virg. deny is That Women may be called to bear or publicly take upon them to execute Offices of Ecclesiastical Order whereof none but men are capable As for Epiphanius he striketh on the very selfsame Anvil with Tertullian And in necessity if St. Augustine alloweth as much unto Laymen as Tertullian doth his not mentioning of Women is but a slender proof that his meaning was to exclude Women Finally the Council of Carthage likewise although it make no express submission may be very well presumed willing to stoop as other Positive Ordinances do to the countermands of necessity Judge therefore what the Ancients would have thought if in their days it had been heard which is published in ours d T. C. lib. 1. pag 144. The Substance of the Sacrament dependeth chiefly of the Institution and Word of God which is the Form and as it were the Life of the Sacrament T. C. lib. 1. pag. 144. Although part of the Institution be observed yet if the whole Institution be ●●t it is no Sacrament T. C. lib. 1. pag. 146. The Orders which God hath set are That it should be done in the Congregation and by the Minister T. C. lib. 1. pag. 145. And I will further say That although the Infants which die without Baptism should be assuredly damned which is most false yet ought not the Orders which God hath set in his Church be broken ●ke● this sort that because The Substance of the Sacrament doth chiefly depend on the Institution of God which is the form and as it were the life of the Sacrament therefore first If the whole Institution be not kept it is no Sacrament and secondly If Baptism be private his Institution is broken in as much as according to the orders which he hath set for Baptism it should be done in the Congregation from whose Ordinance in this point we ought not to swerve although we know that infants should be assuredly damned without Baptism O Sir you that would spurn thus at such as in case of so dreadful extremity should lie prostrate before your feet you that would turn away your face from them at the hour of their most need you that would dam up your ears and harden your hearts as Iron against the unresistable cries of Supplicants calling upon you for mercy with terms of such invocation as that most dreadful perplexity might minister if God by miracle did open the mouths of Infants to express their supposed necessity should first imagine yourself in their case and them in yours This done let their Supplications proceed out of your mouth and your answer out of theirs Would you then contentedly hear Nostro p●o●● alterius salu●i consulere non debemus Aug. lib. cont. ●end cap. 17. My Son the Rites and Solemnities of Baptism must be kept we may not do ill that good may come of it neither are Souls to be delivered from eternal death and condemnation by breaking Orders which Christ hath set Would you in their case yourself be shaken off with these answers and not rather embrace enclosed with both your arms a sentence which now is no Gospel unto you I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice Matth. 9 13. To acknowledge Christ's Institution the ground of both Sacraments I suppose no Christian man will refuse For it giveth them their very Nature it appointeth the Matter whereof they consist the Form of their Administration it teacheth and it blesseth them with that Grace whereby to us they are both Pledges and Instruments of life Nevertheless seeing Christ's Institution containeth besides that which maketh complete the Essence or Nature other things that only are parts as it were of the Furniture of Sacraments the difference between these two must unfold that which the general terms of indefinite speech would confound If the place appointed for Baptism be a part of Christ Institution it is but his Institution as Sacrifice Baptism his Institution as Mercy In this case He which requireth both Mercy and Sacrifice rejecteth his own Institution of Sacrifice where the Offering of Sacrifice would hind Mercy from being showed External Circumstances even in the holiest and highest actions are but the lesser things of the Law Matth. 23. 2● whereunto those actions themselves being compared are the greater and therefore as the greater are of such importance that they must be done so in that extremity before supposed if our account of the lesser which are not to be omitted should cause omission of that which is more to be accounted of were not this our strict obedience to Christ's Institution touching Mint and Cummin a disobedience to his Institution concerning Love But sith no Institution of Christ hath so strictly tied Baptism to public Assemblies as it hath done all men unto Baptism away with these merciless and bloody sentences let them never be found standing in the Books and Writings of a Christian man they favour not of Christ nor of his most gracious and meek Spirit but under colour of exact obedience they nourish cruelty and hardness of heart 62. To leave Private Baptism therefore Whether Baptism by Women be ●●● Baptism go●● and effectual to them that receive it and to come unto Baptism by Women which they say a T. C. lib. 1. pag. 144. O●dus polar whether he ●e a Minister or so dependeth not only the dignity but also the being of the Sacrament So that I take the Baptism of Women to be ●o more the holy sacrament of Baptism than any other daily or ordinary washing of the Child is no more a Sacrament than any other ordinary Washing or Bathing of a Man's Body The reason whereupon they ground their opinion herein is such as making Baptism by Women void because Women are no Ministers in the Church of God must needs generally annihilate the Baptism of all unto whom their conceit shall apply this exception Whether it be in regard of Sex of Quality of Insufficiency or whatsoever For if want of Calling do frustrate Baptism they that Baptise without Calling do nothing be they Women or Men. To make Women Teachers in the House of God were a gross absurdity seeing the Apostle hath said b 1 Tim. 2. 22. I permit not a Woman to teach And again c 1 Tim. 14. 34. Let your Women in Churches be silent Those extraordinary gifts of speaking with Tongues and Prophesying which God at that time did not only bestow upon Men but on Women also made it the harder to hold them confined with private bounds Whereupon the Apostles Ordinance was necessary against women's public Admission to teach And because when Law hath begun some one thing or other well it giveth good occasion either to draw by Judicious Exposition out of the very Law itself or to annex to the Law by Authority and Jurisdiction things of like conveniency therefore Clement extendeth this Apostolic Constitution to Baptism Clem. Const. Apostol. lib. 2● cap. ● For saith he if we have denied them leave to teach how should any man dispense with Nature and make them Ministers of holy things seeing this unskilfulness is a part of the Grecians impiety which for the service of Women-Goddesses have Women-Priests I somewhat marvel that Men which would not willingly be thought to speak or write but with good conscience dare hereupon openly avouch Clement for a witness T. C. lib. 1. pag. 144. That as when the Church began not only to decline but to fall away from the sincerity of Religion it borrowed a number of other profanations of the Heathens so it borrowed this and would needs have Women-Priests as the Heathens had and that this was one occasion of bringing ●p●ism by Women into the Church of God Is it not plain in their own eyes that first by an evidence which forbiddeth Women to be Ministers of Baptism they endeavour to show how Women were admitted unto that Function in the wain and declination of Christian Piety Secondly That by an evidence rejecting the Heathens and condemning them of Impiety they would prove such affection towards Heathens as ordereth the Affairs of the Church by the pattern of their example And Thirdly That out of an evidence which nameth the Heathens as being in some part a reason why the Church had no Women-Priests they gather the Heathens to have been one of the first occasions why it had So that throughout every branch of this testimony their issue is Yea and their evidence directly No. But to women's Baptism in private by occasion of urgent necessity the reasons that only concern Ordinary Baptism in public are no just prejudice neither can we by force thereof disprove the practice of those Churches which necessity requiring allow Baptism in private to be Administered by Women We may not from Laws that prohibit any thing with restraint conclude absolute and unlimited prohibitions Although we deny not but they which utterly forbid such Baptism may have perhaps wherewith to justify their orders against it For even things lawful are a L●●i● prelibentur ne si permitterentar eorum occasione perveniatur ad Illicita Lib. neque tamen Iust. de Asuth T●e lib. Offici●● D. de rei Vind. well prohibited when there is fear left they make the way to unlawful more easy And it may be the Liberty of Baptism by Women at such times doth sometimes embolden the rasher sort to do it where no such necessity is But whether of Permission besides Law or in Presumption against Law they do it is it thereby altogether frustrate void and as though it were never given They which have not at the first their right Baptism must of necessity be Rebaptised because the Law of Christ tieth all men to receive Baptism Iteration of Baptism once given hath been always thought a manifest contempt of that Ancient Apostolic Aphorism b Ephes. 4. ● One Lord One Faith One Baptism Baptism not only one in as much as it hath every where the same Substance and offereth unto all men the same Grace but one also for that it ought not to be received by any one man above once We serve that Lord which is but one because no other can be joined with him We embrace that Faith which is but one because it admitteth no innovation That Baptism we receive which is but one because it cannot be received often For how should we practise Iteration of Baptism and yet teach that we are by Baptism born anew That by Baptism we are admitted unto the Heavenly Society of Saints that those things be really and effectually done by Baptism which are no more possible to be often done c Una est Nativi●as de ti●ri● alia de ●oelo una de cainc alia de Spiritu Una de ●ie●mitate alia de mortalitate una de masculo & foemina alia de Deo & Ecclesia Sed ip ae du● singulares sunt Quo modo enim uterus non potest repeti sie nec Baptismus ●●e●ari Prosp. Senten 3●1 Eia fra●res lacteum genitalis sont●s ad laticem consolate ut se●●per robia aqua sufficiar hoc ante omnia scient●s quia hanc nec●ssandere lioet nec turfs haurire Zene●h Invit ad Fent than a man can naturally be often born or civilly be often adopted into any one's Stock and Family This also is the cause why they that present us unto Baptism are entitled for ever after our Parents in God and the reason why there we receive new names in token that by Baptism we are made new Creatures As Christ hath therefore died and risen from the dead but once so that Sacrament which both extinguisheth in him our former sin and beginneth in us a new condition of life is by one only Actual Administration for ever available according to that in the Nicene Creed I believe one Baptism for ●emission of sins August de Eap● ● Don. lib. 2. cap. 14. T●●t de Bap● Cypr. Epist. 7 1. And because second Baptism was ever abhorred in the Church of God as a kind of incestuous Birth they that iterate Baptism are driven under some pretence or other to make the former Baptism void Tertullian the first that proposed to the Church Agrippinus the first in the Church that accepted and against the use of the Church Novatianus the first that publicly began to practice Rebaptization did it therefore upon these two grounds a true persuasion that Baptism is necessary and a false that the Baptism which others administered was no Baptism Novatianus his conceit was that none can administer true Baptism but the true Church of Jesus Christ that he and his followers alone were the Church and for the rest he accounted then wicked and profane persons such as by Baptism could cleanse no man unless they first did purify themselves and reform the faults wherewith he charged them Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 1 2 3. Cypr Epist 70 71,72 73 74 75 76. At which time St. Cyprian with the greatest part of African Bishops because they likewise thought that none but only the true Church of God can Baptise and were of nothing more certainly persuaded than that Heretics are as rotten Branches cut off from the Life and Body of the true Church gathered hereby That the Church of God both may with good consideration and aught to reverse that Baptism which is given by Heretics These held and practised their own opinion yet with great protestations often made that they neither loved awhit the less nor thought in any respect the worse of them that were of a contrary mind In requital of which ingenuous moderation the rest that withstood them did it in peaceable sort with very good regard had of them as of men in Error but not in Heresy The Bishop of Rome against their Novelties upheld as beseemed him the ancient and true Apostolic Customs till they which unadvisedly before had erred became in a manner all a Illi ips Episcopi qui Rebap●zandes Haeret● ●● cum Cyprians statuerant ad an●iquem consuerudinem revo●●ti ne●um ●●misere decretum Hierim cont. Lucifer Vide & August cunt Crescon lib. 3. cap ● ● & Epist. 48. reconciled friends unto Truth and saw that Heresy in the Ministers of Baptism could no way evacuate the force thereof b Di●●lti ●eri nun p●sse ut in ●als● Baptisi●are inquinatus ab●uar immundus ●munlet supplantator frigate perilkus liberer reus veniam tribnar damu●tus abtolvar ●●ne haec ●innia poterackis ad sulos H●re●le●● pertinete qui sahave●unt Sy●bolum dum alter dixe●it duos Deos cum Deus anus s● alter ●atrem rule in persona Filil cog●osei alter catnem sub lucins Fili● Dei per quam Deo reconci●●●tus est ●aundus Ere ●●ereil I●●usm●● qui 3 Sacramenns Catholicis alteri mosevatus Op●●i lib. 1. Such Heresy alone excepted as by reason of unsoundness in the highest Articles of Christian Faith presumed to change and by changing to main the Substance the Form of Baptism in which respect the Church did neither simply disannul nor absolutely ratify Baptism by Heretics For the Baptism which Novarianists gave stood firm whereas they whom c Synod Nico. cap. 19 Samosotenians had baptised were rebaptised It was likewise ordered in the Council of Arles d Syno● 1. Ar●●at cap. 8. That if any Arian did reconcile himself to the Church they should admit him without new Baptism unless by examination they found him not baptised in the Name of the Trinity Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria e Euseb. Eccles. Hist lib. 7. cap ● maketh report how there live under him a man of good reputation and of very ancient continuance in that Church who being present at the Rites of Baptism and observing with better consideration than ever before what was there done came and with weeping submission craved of his Bishop not to deny him Baptism the due of all which profess Christ seeing it had been so long sithence his evil hap to be deceived by the fraud of Heretics and at their hands which till now he never throughly and duly weighed to take a Baptism full fraught with blasphemous impieties a Baptism in nothing like unto that which the true Church of Christ useth The Bishop was greatly moved thereat yet durst not adventure to Rebaptize but did the best he could to put him in good comfort using much persuasion with him not to trouble himself with things that were past and gone nor after so long continuance in the Fellowship of God's people to call now in question his first entrance The poor man that law himself in this sort answered but not satisfied spent afterwards his life in continual perplexity whereof the Bishop remained fearful to give release perhaps too fearful if the Baptism were such as his own Declaration importeth For that the substance whereof was rotten at the very first is never by tract of time able to recover soundness And where true Baptism was not before given the case of Rebaptization is clear But by this it appeareth that Baptism is not void in regard of Heresy and therefore much less through any other Moral defect in the Minister thereof Under which second pretence Donatists notwithstanding took upon them to make frustrate the Church's Baptism and themselves to Rebaptize their own sry For whereas some forty years after the Martyrdom of Blessed Cyprian the Emperor Dioclesian began to persecute the Church of Christ Circa An. 3●0 and for the speedier abolishment of their Religion to burn up their Sacred Books there were in the Church itself Traditors content to deliver up the Books of God by composition to the end their own lives might be spared Which men growing thereby odious to the rest whose constancy was greater it fortuned that after when one Caecilian was ordained Bishop in the Church of Carthage whom others endeavoured in vain to defeat by excepting against him as a Traditor they whose accusations could not prevail desperately joined themselves in one and made a Bishop of their own crew accounting from that day forward their Faction the only true and sincere Church The first Bishop on that part was Majorinus whose Successor Donatus being the first that wrote in defence of their Schism the Birds that were hatched before by others have their names from him Arians and Donatists began both about one time Which Heresies according to the different strength of their own sinews wrought as hope of success led them the one with the choicest wits the other with the multitude so far that after long and troublesome experience the perfectest view men could take or both was hardly able to induce any certain determinate resolution whether Error may do more by the curious subtlety of sharp Discourse or else by the mere appearance of zeal and devout affection the latter of which two aids gave Donatists beyond all men's expectation as great a sway as ever any Schism or Heresy had within that reach of the Christian World where it bred and grew the rather perhaps because the Church which neither greatly feared them and besides had necessary cause to bend itself against others that aimed directly at a far higher mark the Deity of Christ was contented to let Donatists have their course by the space of Threescore years and above even from Ten years before Constantine till the time that Optatus Circa An 370. Bishop of Nilevis published his Books against Parmenian During which term and the space of that Schisms continuance afterwards they had besides many other Secular and Worldly means to help them forward these special advantages First the very occasion of their breach with the Church of God a just hatred and dislike of Traditors seemed plausible they easily persuaded their hearers that such men could not be holy as held communion and fellowship with them that betrayed Religion Again when to dazzle the eyes of the simple and to prove that it can be no Church which is not holy they had in show and sound of words the glorious pretence of the Creed Apostolic I believe the holy Catholic Church We need not think it any strange thing that with the multitude they gain credit And avouching that such as are not of the true Church can administer no true Baptism they had for this point whole Volumes of St. Cyprians own writing together with the judgement of divers African Synods whose sentence was the same with his Whereupon the Fathers were likewise in defence of their just cause very greatly prejudiced both for that they could not enforce the duty of men's communion with a Church confessed to be in many things blame-worthy unless they should oftentimes seem to speak as half-defenders of the faults themselves or at the least not so vehement accusers thereof as their adversaries And to withstand iteration of Baptism the other Branch of the Donatists' Heresy was impossible without manifest and professed rejection of Cyprian whom the World universally did in his life time admire as the greatest among Prelates and now honour as not the lowest in the Kingdom of Heaven So true we find it by experience of all Ages in the Church of God that the teacher's error is the people's trial harder and heavier by so much to bear as he is in worth and regard greater that mis-perswadeth them Although there was odds between Cyprians cause and theirs he differing from others of sounder understanding in that point but not dividing himself from the Body of the Church by Schism as did the Donatists For which cause Vi●●ent Lyren Adve●ss ●●ress cap 11. saith Vincentius Of one and the same opinion we judge which may seem strange the Author's Catholic and the followers heretical we acquit the Masters and condemn the Scholars they are Heirs of Heaven which have written those Books the defenders whereof are trodden down to the pit of Hell The Invectives of Catholic Writers therefore against them are sharp the words of * Vide C. The●● lib. 15. ●● ●●b Adve●●● ●●s see lib. ●ullus dica An●●● Imperial Edicts by Honorius and Theodosius made to bridle them very bitter the punishments severe in revenge of their folly Howbeit for fear as we may conjecture lest much should be derogated from the Baptism of the Church and Baptism by Donatists be more esteemed of then was meet if on the one side that which Heretics had done ill should stand as good on the other side that be reversed which the Catholic Church had well and religiously done divers better minded then advised men thought it fittest to meet with this inconvenience by Rebaptising Donatists as well as they Rebaptised Catholics Si quis C. Ne. Sin ●● Baptis Circa An. 41● For stay whereof the same Emperors saw it meet to give their Law a double edge whereby it might equally on both sides cut off not only Heretics which Rebaptised whom they could pervert but also Catholic and Christian Priests which did the like unto such as before had taken Baptism at the hands of Heretics and were afterwards reconciled to the Church of God Donatists were therefore in process of time though with much ado wearied and at the length worn out by the constancy of that Truth which reacheth that evil Ministers of good things are as Torches a Light to others a Waste to none but themselves only and that the soulness of their hands can neither any whit impair the Virtue nor slain the Glory of the Mysteries of Christ. Now that which was done amiss by virtuous and good men as Cyprian carried aside with hatred against Heresy and was secondly followed by Donatists whom Envy and Rancour covered with show of Godliness made obstinate to cancel whatsoever the Church did in the Sacrament of Baptism hath of latter days in another respect far different from both the former been brought freshly again into practice For the Anabaptist Rebaptizeth because in his estimation the Baptism of the Church is frustrate for that we give it unto Infants which have not Faith whereas according unto Christ's Institution as they conceive it true Baptism should always presuppose Actual Belief in Receivers and is otherwise no Baptism Of these three Errors there is not any but hath been able at the least to allege in defence of itself many fair probabilities Notwithstanding sith the Church of God hath hitherto always constantly maintained that to Rebaptize them which are known to have received true Baptism is unlawful that if Baptism seriously be administered in the same Element and with the same form of words which Christ's Institution teacheth there is no other defect in the World that can make it frustrate or deprive it of the Nature of a true Sacrament And lastly That Baptism is only then to be re-adminstred when the first delivery thereof is void in regard of the fore-alledged imperfections and no other Shall we now in the case of Baptism which having both for matter and form the substance of Christ's Institution is by a fourth sort of men voided for the only defect of Ecclesiastical Authority in the Minister think it enough that they blow away the force thereof with the bare strength of their very breath by saying We take such Baptism to be no more the Sacrament of Baptism than any other ordinary Bathing to be a Sacrament Numb 16. 10. Levit. 10. 1. 1 Sam. 13.11 2 Sam. ● 6 2 Chro. 26.16 Heb. ● 4 It behoveth generally all sorts of men to keep themselves within the limits of their own vocation And seeing God from whom mers several degrees and pre-eminences do proceed hath appointed them in his Church at whose hands his pleasure is that we should receive both Baptism and all other public medicinable helps of Soul perhaps thereby the more to settle our hearts in the love of our ghostly superiors they have small cause to hope that with him their voluntary services will be accepted who thrust themselves into Functions either above their capacity or besides their place and over-boldly intermeddle with Duties whereof no charge was ever give them They that in any thing exceed the compass of their own order do as much as in them lieth to dissolve that Order which is the Harmony of God's Church Suppose therefore that in these and the like considerations the Law did utterly prohibit Baptism to be administered by any other than persons thereunto solemnly consecrated what necessity soever happen Are not * Sect. 306. Lugdunentis ex lireria Decret de Manim unbraced Dunase Ea●ciur Reg. 10● Prohibita neri si sians non tenent In prohibitionibus antemcirca re● favorables contratiom obtin●r many things firm being done although in part done otherwise then Positive Rigour and Strictness did require Nature as much as is possible inclineth unto validities and preservations Dissolutions and Nullities of things done are not only not favoured but hated when other urged without cause or extended beyond their reach If therefore at any time it come to pass that in reaching publicly or privately in delivering this Blessed Sacrament of Regeneration some unsanctified hand contrary to Christ's supposed Ordinance do intrude itself to execute that whereunto the Laws of God and his Church have deputed others Which of these two opinions seemeth more agreeable with Equity outs that disallow what is done amiss yet make not the force of the Word and Sacraments much less their nature and very substance to depend on the Minister's authority and calling or else a T. C. lib. ● pag. 144. As St. Paul saith That a man cannot Preach which is not sent Rom. 10. 15. No not although he speak the words of the Scripture and interpret them So I cannot see how a man can Baptise unless he be sent to that end although he pour witer and rehearse the words which are to be rehearsed in the Ministry of Baptism theirs which defeat disannul and annihilate both in respect of that one only personal defect there being not any Law of God which saith That if the Minister be incompetent his Word shall be no Word his Baptism no Baptism He which teacheth and is not sent loseth the reward but yet retaineth the name of a Teacher His usurped actions have in him the same nature which they have in others although they yield him not the same comfort And if these two cases be Peers the case of Doctrine and the case of Baptism both alike sith no defect in their vocation that teach the Truth is able to take away the benefit thereof from him which heareth Wherefore should the want of a lawful calling in them that Baptise make Baptism to be vain b T. C. lib. 1. pag. 16● If either the Matter of the Sacrament or the Form of it which is the Institution which things are only substantial part were wanting there should then have been no Sacrament at all ministered But they being retained and yet other things used which are not convenient the Sacrament is ministered but not sincerely They grant that the Matter and the Form in Sacraments are the only parts of Substance and that if these two be retained albeit other things besides be used which are inconvenient the Sacrament notwithstanding is administered but not sincerely Why persist they not in this opinion when by these fair speeches they have put us in hope of agreement Wherefore sup they ●up their words again interlacing such frivolous Interpretations and Glosses as disgrace their Sentence What should move them having named the Matter and the Form of the Sacrament to give us presently warning c T. C. lib. 3. pag. 1ST that they mean by the Form of the Sacrament the Institution which Exposition darkneth whatsoever was before plain For whereas in common understanding that Form which added to the Element doth make a Sacrament and is of the outward substance thereof containeth only the words of usual Application they set it down lest common Dictionaries should deceive us that the Form doth signify in their Language the Institution which Institution in truth comprehendeth both Form and Matter Such are their fumbling shifts to enclose the Minister's vocation within the compass of some essential part of the Sacrament A thing that can never stand with sound and sincere construction For what if the d T. C. lib. 3. pag. 121. Minister be no circumstance but a subordinate efficient cause in the work of Baptism What if the Minister's Vocation be a Matter e T. C. lib. 3. pag. 135. The Minister is of the Substance of the Sacrament considering that it is a principal part of Christ● Institution Faza Epist. 2. Desir aqua & tamen Baptismu● alicujus diff tri cum aedificasione non pessit nec debear ego●●●t● quo● is ali● liquere non minus tire● quam aqua Bapti●●arim of perpetual necessity and not a Ceremony variable as times and occasions require What if his calling be a principal part of the Institution of Christ Doth it therefore follow that the Ministers authority is f T. C. lib. 3. pag. 138. Show me why the breach of the Institution in the Form should make the Sacrament unavailable and not the breach of this part which concerneth the Minister T. C. ibid. Howsoever some learned and godly give some liberty in the change of the Elements of the holy Sacrament yet I do notice how that can stand Idem pag. 137. I would rather judge him baptised who is baptised into the Name of Christ without adding the Father and the Holy Ghost when the Element of Water is added then when the other words being duty kept some other liquor is used of the Substance of the Sacrament and as incident into the nature thereof as the Matter and the Form itself yea more incident For whereas in case of necessity the greatest amongst them professeth the change of the Element of Water lawful and others which like not so well this opinion could be better content that voluntarily the words of Christ's Institution were altered and Men baptised in the Name of Christ without either mention made of the Father or of the Holy Ghost nevertheless in denying that Baptism administered by private persons ought to be reckoned of as a Sacrament they both agree It may therefore please them both to consider That Baptism is an Action in part Moral in part Ecclesiastical and in part Mystical Moral as being a duty which men perform towards God Ecclesiastical in that it belongeth unto God's Church as a public duty Finally Mystical if we respect what God doth thereby intend to work The greatest Moral perfection of Baptism consisteth in men's devout obedience to the Law of God which Law requireth both the outward act or thing done and also that Religious affection which God doth so much regard that without it whatsoever we do is stateful in his sight who therefore is said to respect Adverbs more than Verbs because the end of his Law in appointing what we shall do is our own Perfection which Perfection consisteth chiefly in the virtuous disposition of the Mind and approveth itself to him not by doing but by doing well Wherein appeareth also the difference between Humane and Divine Laws the one of which two are content with Opus operatum the other require Opus operantis the one do but claim the Deed the other especially the Mind So that according to Laws which principally respect the heart of Men Works of Religion being not religiously performed cannot Morally be perfect Baptism as an Ecclesiastical work is for the manner of performance ordered by divers Ecclesiastical Laws providing That as the Sacrament itself is a gift of no mean worth so the Ministry thereof might in all circumstances appear to be a Function of no small regard All that belongeth to the Mystical Perfection of Baptism outwardly is the Element the Word and the serious Application of both unto him which receiveth both whereunto if we add that secret reference which this action hath to li●e and remission of sins by virtue of Christ's own compact solemnly made with his Church to accomplish fully the Sacrament of Baptism there is not any thing more required Now put the Question Whether Baptism Administered to Infants without my Spiritual Calling be unto them both a true Sacrament and an effectual instrument of Grace or else an act of no more account than the ordinary Washings are The sum of all that can be said to defeat such Baptism is That those things which have no Being can work nothing and that Baptism without the power of Ordination is as a Judgement without sufficient Jurisdiction void frustrate and of no effect But to this we answer That the Fruit of Baptism dependeth only upon the Covenant which God hath made That God by Covenant requireth in the elder sort Faith and Baptism in Children the Sacrament of Baptism alone whereunto he hath also given them right by special privilege of Birth within the bosom of the holy Church That infants therefore which have received Baptism complete as touching the Mystical Perfection thereof are by virtue of his own Covenant and Promise cleansed from all sin for as much as all other Laws concerning that which in Baptism is either Moral or Ecclesiastical do bind the Church which giveth Baptism and not the Infant which receiveth it of the Church So that if any thing be therein amiss the harm which groweth by violation of holy Ordinances must altogether rest where the Bonds of such Ordinances hold For that in actions of this nature it fareth not as in Jurisdictions may somewhat appear by the very opinion which men have of them The nullity of that which a Judge doth by way of Authority without Authority is known to all men and agreed upon with full consent of the whole World every man receiveth it as a general Edict of Nature whereas the nullity of Baptism in regard of the like defect is only a few men's new ungrounded and as yet unapproved imagination Which difference of generality in men's persuasions on the one side and their paucity whose conceit leadeth them the other way hath risen from a difference easy to observe in the things themselves The exercise of unauthorised Jurisdiction is a grievance unto them that are under it whereas they that without Authority presume to Baptise offer nothing but that which to all men is good and acceptable Sacraments are food and the Ministers thereof as Parents or as Nurses at whose hands when there is necessity but no possibility of receiving it if that which they are not present to do in right of their Office be of pity and compassion done by others shall this be thought turn Celestial Bread into Gravel or the Medicine of Souls into Poison Jurisdiction is a yoke which Law hath imposed on the necks of men in such sort that they must endure it for the good of others how contrary soever it be to their own particular appetites and inclinations Jurisdiction bridleth men against their wills that which a Judge doth prevails by virtue of his very Power and therefore not without great reason except the Law hath given him Authority whatsoever he doth vanisheth Baptism on the other side being a favour which it pleaseth God to bestow a benefit of Soul to us that receive it and a Grace which they that deliver are but as mere Vessels either appointed by others or offered of their own accord to this Service of which two if they be the one it is but their own honour their own offence to be the other Can it possibly stand with * Factu● alterins alil nacer● non deber Vl● lib. de Tupille ●●ct S. Plurimum Item Aspire lib Pater familias De Here Irs●● ● a●●ficia renent Authores in●s non ali●● Lib. Sancmus 22 C. de l●oen Equity and Right That the faultiness of their presumption in giving Baptism should be able to prejudice us who by taking Baptism have no way offended I know there are many Sentences found in the Books and writings of the Ancient Fathers to prove both Ecclesiastical and also Moral defects in the Minister of Baptism a bar to the Heavenly benefit thereof Which Sentences we always so understand August Epist. 23. as Augustine understood in a case of like nature the words of St. Cyprian When Infants baptised were after their Parents revolt carried by them in arms to the Stews of Idols those wretched Creatures as St. Cyprian thought were not only their own ruin but their children's also Their Children whom this their Apostasy profaned did lose what Christian Baptism had given them being newly born They lost saith St. Augustine the Grace of Baptism if we consider to what their Parent's impiety did tend although the Mercy of God preserved them and will also in that dreadful day of account give them  audience pleading in their own behalf The harm of other men's perfidiousness it lay not in us to avoid After the same manner whatsoever we read written if it sound to the prejudice of Baptism through any either Moral or Ecclesiastical defect therein we construe it as Equity and Reason teacheth with restraint to the offender only which doth as far as concerneth himself and them which wittingly concur with him make the Sacrament of Godfruitless St. Augustine's doubtfulness Whether Baptism by a Lay man may stand or aught to be readministred T. C. lib. 3. pag 136. Augustine standeth in doubt whether Baptism by a Layman he available or no. Conr. Lit. Pat● lib. 2. ● 13. Where by all likelihood he was out of doubt that that which was ministered by a Woman whose unaptness herein is double to that of a Layman was of no esse 1 should not be mentioned by them which presume to define peremptorily of that wherein he was content to profess himself unresolved Albeit in very truth his opinion is plain enough but the manner of delivering his judgement being modest they make of a virtue an imbecility and impute his calmness of speech to an irresolution of mind His Disputation in that place is against Parmenian which held That a Bishop or a Priest if they fall into any Heresy do thereby lose the Power which they had before to Baptise and that therefore Baptism by Heretics is merely void For answer whereof he first denieth That Heresy can more deprive men of power to Baptise others than it is of force to take from them their own Baptism And in the second place he farther addeth That if Heretics did lose the power which before was given them by Ordination and did therefore unlawfully usurp as oft as they took upon them to give the Sacrament of Baptism it followeth not That Baptism by them administered without Authority is no Baptism For then what should we think of Baptism by Laymen to whom Authority was never given I doubt saith St. Augustine whether any man which carrieth a virtuous and godly mind will affirm That the Baptism which Laymen do in case of necessity administer should be iterated For to do it unnecessarily is to execute another man's office necessity urging to do it is then either no fault at all much less so grievous a crime T. C. lib. 1. pag. 116. The Sacrilege of Private Persons Women especially in Administering the holy Sament of Baptism that it should deserve to be termed by the name of Sacrilege or if any a very pardonable fault But suppose it even of very purpose usurped and given unto any man by every man that listeth yet that which is given cannot possibly be denied to have been given how truly soever we may say it hath not been given lawfully Unlawful Usurpation a penitent Affection must red●ess If not the thing that was given shall remain to the hurt and detriment of him which unlawfully either administered or received the same yet so that in this respect it ought not to be reputed as if it had not at all been given Whereby we may plainly perceive that St. Augustine was not himself uncertain what to think but doubtful Whether any well-minded man in the whole World could think otherwise then he did Their * T. C. lib. 3. pag. 139. As by the Seal which the Prince hath set apart to Seal his Grants with when it is sloin and set to by him that hath no authority there groweth as assurance to the party that hath it So if it were possible to be the Seal of God which a Woman should set to yet for that she hath f●ola i● and put it to not only without but contrary to the Commandment of God I see not how any can take any assurance by reason thereof ● Argument taken from a stoin Seal may return to the place out of which they had it for it helpeth their cause nothing That which men give or grant to others must appear to have proceeded of their own accord This being manifest their Gifts and Grants are thereby made effectual both to bar themselves from revocation and to assecure the right they have given Wherein for further prevention of mischiefs that otherwise might grow by the malice treachery and fraud of men it is both equal and meet that the strength of men's Deeds and the Instruments which declare the same should strictly depend upon divers Solemnities whereof there cannot be the like reason in things that pass between God and us because sith we need not doubt lest the Treasures of his Heavenly Grace should without his consent be past by forged conveyances nor lest he should deny at any time his own acts and seek to revoke what hath been consented unto before As there is no such fear of danger through deceit and falsehood in this case so neither hath the circumstance of men's persons that weight in Baptism which for good and just considerations in the custody of Seals of office it ought to have The Grace of Baptism cometh by Donation from God alone That God hath committed the Ministry of Baptism unto special men it is for order's sake in his Church and not to the end that their Authority might give being or add force to the Sacrament itself That Infants have right to the Sacrament in Baptism we all acknowledge Charge them we cannot as guilful and wrongful possessors of that whereunto they have right by the manifest will of the Donor and are not parties unto any defect or disorder in the manner of receiving the same And if any such disorder be we have sufficiently before declared That delictum cum capite semper ambulat mens own faults are their own harms Wherefore to countervail this and the like mischosen resemblances with that which more truly and plainly agreeth the Ordinance of God concerning their Vocation that minister Baptism wherein the Mystery of our Regeneration is wrought hath thereunto the same Analogy which Laws of Wedlock have to our first Nativity and Birth So that if Nature do effect procreation notwithstanding the wicked violation and breach even of Nature's Law made that the entrance of all mankind into this present World might be without blemish may we not justly presume that Grace doth accomplish the other although there be faultiness in them that transgress the Order which our Lord Jesus Christ hath established in his Church Some Light may be borrowed from Circumcision for Explication of what is true in this question of Baptism Seeing then that even they which condemn Zipporah the Wife of Moses Exod. 4.24 T. C. lib. 1. pag. 144. I say that the unlawfulness of that sect doth appear sufficiently in that she did it before her Husband Moses which was a Prophet of the Lord to whom that Office of Circumcision aid appertain Besides that she did cut off the Foreskin of the Insane not of mind to they the Commandment of God or for the Salvation of the Child but in a choser only to the end that her Husband might be eased and have release Which mind appeareth in her both by her words and by casting away in anger the Foreskin which she had cut off And if it be said That the event declared that the act pleased God because that Moses forthwith wanted batter and was recovered of his sickness I have showed before That if we measure things by the event we shall oftentimes justify the wicked and take the Righteousness of the Righteous from them for taking upon her to Circumcise her son a thing necessary at that time for her to do and as I think very hard to reprove in her considering how Moses because himself had not done it sooner was therefore stricken by the hand of God neither could in that extremity perform the Office whereupon for the stay of God's indignation there was no choice but the action must needs fall into her hands whose fact therein whether we interpret as some have done that being a Midianite and as yet not so throughly acquainted with the Jewish Rites it much discontented her to see herself through her Husband's oversight in a Matter of his own Religion brought unto these perplexities and straits that either she must now endure him perishing before her eyes or else wound the flesh of her own Child which she could not do but with seem indignation showed in that she fumingly both threw down the foreskin at his feet and upbraided him with the cruelty of his Religion Or if we better like to follow their more judicious Exposition which are not inclinable to think that Moses was matched like Socrates nor that Circumcision could now in Eleazar be strange unto her having had Gersons her elder son before circumcised nor that any occasion of choler could rise from a spectacle of such misery as doth a Mala passis non ●ascimer sed compatmur B●et de Consol. naturally move Compassion and not Wrath nor that Zipporah was so impious as in the visible presence of Gods deserved Anger to storm at the Ordinance and Law of God not that the words of the History itself can enforce any such affection but do only declare how after the act performed she touched the feet of Moses saying b Where the usual Translation h●th Exod. 4.25 She cut away the Foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet and said Thou art indeed a bloody Husband unto me So he departed from him Then she said O bloody Husband because of the Circumcision The words as theylle in the original are rather thus to be interpreted And she cut off the Foreskin of her son Which being done she touched his Fact the Feet of Moses and said Thou art to we an Husband of Blood in the plural number thereby signifying I●●usion of Blood And the Lord withdrew from him or the very time when she said A Husband of Blood in regard of Circumcisor Sponsus tu mihi as sanguinum Thou art unto me an Husband of Blood which might be very well the one done and the other spoken even out of the slowing abundance of commiseration and love to signify with hands laid under his feet That her tender affection towards him had caused her thus to forget Womanhood to lay all Motherly affection aside and to redeem her Husband out of the hands of Death with effusion of Blood The sequel thereof take it which way you will is a plain Argument That God was satisfied with that she did as may appeal by his own Testimony declaring How there followed in the person of Moses present release of his grievous punishment upon her speedy discharge of that duty which by him neglected had offended God even as after execution of Justice by the hands of Phineas Psal. ●c6 30. the Plague was immediately taken away which former impunity of sin had caused In which so manifest and plain cases not to make that a reason of the event which God himself hath set down as a reason were falsely to accuse whom he doth justify and without any cause to traduce what we should allow yet seeing they which will have it a breach of the Law of God for her to circumcise in that necessity are not able to deny but Circumcision being in that very manner performed was to the innocent Child which received it true Circumcision why should that defect whereby Circumcision was so little wealmed be to Baptism a deadly wound These Premises therefore remaining as hitherto they have been laid because the Commandment of our Saviour Christ which committeth jointly to Public Ministers both Doctrine and Baptism T. C. lib. 2. pag. 142. Seeing they only are t. ●●l ten in the Scripture to administer the Sacraments which are bidden to Preach the Word and that the public Ministers have only this charge of the Word and seeing that the Administration of both these are so linked together that the denial of licence to do out is aden●al to do the other as of the contrary part licence to one is licence to the other considering also that to minister the Sacraments is an honour in the Church which none can take unto him but he which is called unto it i● was Aaron And further for as much as the Baptising by private persons and by Women especially confirmeth the dangerous terror of the Cumile●●ra●… of young Children which ●●ie without Baptism L●●t of all seeing we have the consent of the godly learned of all times against the Baptism by Women and of the Reformed Churches now against the Baptism by private men we conclude That the administration of this Sacrament by private persons and especially by Women is merely both unlawful and void doth no more by linking them together import That the Nature of the Sacrament dependeth on the Minister's Authority and Power to Preach the Word than the force and virtue of the Word doth on Licence to give the Sacrament and considering that the Work of External Ministry in Baptism is only a pre-eminence of honour which they that take to themselves and are not thereunto called as Aaron was do but themselves in their own persons by means of such usurpation Incur the just blame of disobedience to the Law of God father also in as much as it standeth with no reason That Errors grounded on a wrong interpretation of other men's Deeds should make frustrate whatsoever is misconceived and that Baptism by Women should cease to be Baptism as oft as any Man will thereby gather That Children which die unbaptised are damned which opinion if the Act of Baptism administered in such manner did enforce it might be sufficient cause of disliking the same but none of defeating or making it altogether void Last of all whereas general and full consent of the godly-learned in all ages doth make for Validity of Baptism yea albeit administered in private and even by Women which kind of Baptism in case of necessity divers Reformed Churches do both allow and defend some others which do not defend tolerate few in comparison and they without any just cause do utterly disannul and annihilate Surely howsoever through defect on either side the Sacrament may be without Fruit as well in some cases to him which receiveth as to him which giveth it yet no disability of either part can so far make it frustrate and without effect as to deprive it of the very Nature of true Baptism having all things else which the Ordinance of Christ requireth Whereupon we may consequently infer That the Administration of this Sacrament by private persons be it lawful or unlawful appeareth not as yet to be merely void Interrogatories is Baptism touching Faith and the purpose of a Christian life 63. All that are of the Race of Christ the Scripture nameth them Children of the Promise which God hath made The Promise of Eternal Life is the Seed of the Church of God And because there is no attainment of life but through the only begotten Son of God nor by him otherwise then being such as the Creed Apostolic describeth it followeth That the Articles thereof are Principles necessary for all men to subscribe unto whom by Baptism the Church receiveth into Christ's School All Points of Christian Doctrine are either demonstrable Conclusions or demonstrative Principles Conclusions having strong and invincible Proofs as well in the School of Jesus Christ as elsewhere And Principles be Grounds which require no Proof in any kind of Science because it sufficeth if either their certainty be evident in itself or evident by the light of some higher knowledge and in itself such as no man's knowledge is ever able to overthrow Now the principles whereupon we do build our souls have their evidence where they had their original and as received from thence we adore them we hold them in reverend admiration we neither argue nor dispute about them we give unto them that assent which the Oracles of God require We are not therefore ashamed of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ because miscreants in scorn have upbraided us That the highest point of our Wisdom is Belief Aposto●ae ma●ulictum Na● Otar Contr. juli● That which is true and neither can be disceined by Sense not concluded by mere Natural Principles must have Principles of revealed Truth whereupon to build itself and an habit of Faith in us wherewith Principles of that kind are apprehended * Just Marc. Expos. ●●● The Mysteries of our Religion are above the reach of our Understanding above discourse of Man's Reason above all that any Creature can comprehend Therefore the first thing required of him which standeth for admission into Christ's Family is Belief Which Belief consisteth not so much in knowledge as in acknowledgement of all things that Heavenly Wisdom revealeth the Affection of Faith is above her reach her Love to God-ward above the comprehension which the hath of God And because only for Believers all things may be done He which is Goodness itself loveth them above all Deserve we then the love of God because we believe in the Son of God What more opposite than Faith and Pride When God had created all things he looked upon them and loved them because they were all as himself had made them So the true Reason wherefore Christ doth love Believers is Because their belief is the gift of God Matth. 15. 17. John 1.12 a gift then which flesh and blood in this World cannot possibly receive a greater And as to love them of whom we receive good things is Duty because they satisfy our desires in that which else we should want so to love them on whom we bestow is Nature because in them we behold the effects of our own virtue Seeing therefore no Religion enjoyeth Sacraments the signs of God's love unless it have also that Faith whereupon the Sacraments are built could there be any thing more convenient than that our first admittance to the Actual Receipt of his Grace in the Sacrament of Baptism Spiritus Sanct●● habitatoc ejus Templi non effecti●● quod Antistitem non haber veram Fidem jerom. Adu. Lucifer cap. 4. should be consecrated with profession of Belief which is to the Kingdom of God as a Key the want whereof excludeth Infidels both from that and from all other saving Grace We find by experience that although Faith be an Intellectual Habit of the Mind and have her Seat in the Understanding yet an evil Moral Disposition obstinately wedded to the love of darkness dampeth the very Light of Heavenly Illumination and permitteth not the Mind to see what doth shine before it Men are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God Their assent to his saving Truth is many times withheld from it not that the Truth is too weak to persuade but because the stream of corrupt affection carrieth them a clean contrary way That the Mind therefore may abide in the Light of Faith there must abide in the Will as constant a resolution to have no fellowship at all with the vanities and works of darkness Two Covenants there are which Christian men saith Isidor do make in Baptism Isid. de Offic. Eccles. lib. 2 cap. 24. Ambros. Mennen lib. 1. cap. 4. Tertul. de Spectac the one concerning relinquishment of Satan the other touching Obedience to the Faith of Christ. In like sort St. Ambrose He which is baptised forsaketh the Intellectual Pharaoh the Prince of this World saying Abrenuncio Thee O Satan and thy Angels thy works and thy mandates I forsake utterly Tertullian having speech of wicked spirits These saith he are the Angels which we in Baptism renounce a Pustin Apol. The Declaration of justin the Martyr concerning Baptism showeth how such as the Church in those days did baptise made profession of Christian Belief and undertook to live accordingly Neither do I think it a matter easy for any man to prove that ever Baptism did use to be administered without Interrogatories of these two kinds Whereunto b 1 Pet. 3. 21. St. Peter as it may be thought alluding hath said That the Baptism which saveth us is not as Legal Purifications were a cleansing of the flesh from outward impurity but as Interrogative trial of a good conscience towards God 64. Now the fault which they find with us concerning Interrogatories Interrogatories proposed on● Infants in Baptism and answered as it their names by God fathers They pensa●●e july Baptism in toyne foolish for that they ask Questions of an Infant which ca●ace answer and speak unto them as was went to be spoken unto ●●● ●● unto such as being converted answered it to mo●● ●●●l were baptised Which is but a mockery of God and therefore against the holy Scriptures Gal. 6.7 Admonition to the Parliament ●●e tante descend c● in T. C. lib. 1. pag. ●●● is our moving of these Questions unto Infants which cannot answer them and the answering of them by others as in their names The Anabaptist hath many pretences to scorn at the baptism of Children First Because the Scriptures he saith do no where give Commandment to Baptise Infants Secondly For that as there is no Commandment so neither any manifest example showing it to have been done either by Christ or his Apostles Thirdly In as much as the Word Preached and the Sacraments must go together they which are not capable of the one are no fit receivers of the other Last of all sith the Order of Baptism continued from the first beginning hath in it those things which are unfit to be applied unto Sucking Children it followeth in their conceit That the Baptism of such is no Baptism but plain mockery They with whom we contend are no enemies to the Baptism of Infants it is not their desire that the Church should hazard so many Souls by letting them run on till they come to ripeness of understanding that so they may be converted and then baptised as Infidels heretofore have been they bear not towards God so unthankful minds as not to acknowledge it even amongst the greatest of his endless mercies That by making us his own possession so soon many advantages which Satan otherwise might take are prevented and which should be esteemed a part of no small happiness the first thing whereof we have occasion to take notice is How much hath been done already to our great good though altogether without our knowledge The Baptism of Infants they esteem as an Ordinance which Christ hath instituted even in special love and favour to his own people They deny not the practice thereof accordingly to have been kept as derived from the hands and continued from the days of the Apostles themselves unto this present only it pleaseth them not That to Infants there should be Interrogatories proposed in Baptism This they condemn as foolish toyish and profane mockery But are they able to show that ever the Church of Christ had any Public Form of Baptism without Interrogatories or that the Church did ever use at the Solemn Baptism of Infants to omit those Questions as needless in this case * Aug. 1 pti ●3 joniface a Bishop in St. Augustine's time knowing That the Church did Universally use this Custom of Baptising Infants with Interrogatories was desirous to learn from St. Augustine the true cause and reason thereof If saith he I should see before thee a young infant and should ask of thee whether that Infant when he cometh unto riper age will be honest and just or no Thou wouldst answer I know that to tell in these things what shall come to pass is not in the power of Mortal Man If I should ask What good or evil such an infant thinketh Thine answer hereunto must needs be again with the like uncertainty If them neither canst promise for the time to come nor for the present pronounce any thing in this case How is it that when such are brought unto Baptism their Parents there undertake what the Child shall afterwards do Yea they are not doubtful to say It doth that which is impossible to be done by Infants At the least there is no man precisely able to affirm it done Vonchsafe me hereunto some short answer such as not only may press me with the bare authority of Custom but also instruct me in the cause thereof Touching which difficulty whether it may truly be said for Infants at the time of their Baptism That they do believe the effect of St. Angustines' answer is Yea but with this distinction 〈…〉 lipsius res ●●●●●mentum percirtialo Aug. a present Actual habit of Faith there is not in them there is delivered unto them that Sacrament a part of the due celebration whereof consisting in answering to the Articles of Faith because the habit of Faith which afterwards doth come with years is but a farther building up of the same edifice the first foundation whereof was laid by the Sacrament of Baptism For that which there we professed without any understanding when we afterwards come to acknowledge do we any thing else but only bring unto ripeness the very Seed that was sown before We are then Believers because than we begun to be that which process of time doth make perfect And till we come to Actual Belief the very Sacrament of Faith is a shield as strong as after this the Faith of the Sacrament against all contrary Internal Powers Which whosoever doth think impossible is undoubtedly farther off from Christian Belief though he be Baptised then are these Innocents' which at their Baptism albeit they have no conceit cogitation of Faith are notwithstanding pure and free from all opposite cogitations whereas the other is not free If therefore without any fear or scruple we may account them and term them Believers only for their outward professions sake which inwardly are farther from Faith then Infants Why not Infants much more at the time of their solemn Initiation by Baptism the Sacrament of Faith whereunto they not only conceive nothing opposite but have also that a Voltum mirabi is les est quemad uncum quorundam nondum cognoscenu●●n ●cum sir intrabitator Deus & quo●●●m cognescen●inan non sit N●c illi nim a. l ●cmplum Dei pertinene qai cogn●icenc● D●un non Ec●t Deum ●thieavetunt & odd remphius ●●l ●●erinen parvali sanctisicati Sacraments Cini●● regenetri Spoiu Sancto qat per aew●●mu●dum ●●stunt cognoscere Deum Ilade quem po●uerunt i li nosse ●●● haberc illi potuerunt habere antequ un nosse Aug. Epist. 59 Grace given them which is the first and most effectual cause out of which our belief groweth In sum the whole Church is a multitude of Believers all honoured with that title even Hypocrites for their Professions sake as well as Saints because of their inward sincere persuasion and Infants as being in the first degree of their ghostly motions towards the actual habit of Faith the first sort are faithful in the eye of the World the second faithful in the sight of God the last in the ready direct way to become both if all things after be suitable to these their present beginnings This saith St. Augustine would not happily content such persons as are uncapable or unquiet but to them which having knowledge are not troublesome it may suffice Wherein I have not for case of myself objected against you that custom only than which nothing is more from but of a custom most profitable I have done that little which I could ●● yield you a reasonable cause Were St. Augustine now living there are which would tell him for his better instruction that to say b T.C. lib. ● pag. 15 If Children could have Faith yet they ●●at present the child cannot precisely ●ell whether this particular child hath Faith or no we are to think charitably and to hope i● is one of the Church but it can be no more predicly said that is hath Faith than it may be said precisely elected of a child It is elect and to say it doth believe are all one for which cause sith no man is able precisely to affirm the one of any Infant in particular it followeth that precisely and absolutely we ought not to say the other Which precise and absolute terms are needless in this case We speak of Infants as the rule of piety alloweth both to speak and think They that can take to themselves in ordinary talk a charitable kind of liberty to name men of their own sort God's dear children notwithstanding the large reign of of Hyprocrisie should not methinks be so strict and rigorous against the Church for presuming as it doth of a Christian Innocent For when we know how Christ is general hath said That of such is the Kingdom of Heaven which Kingdom is the Inheritance of God's Elect and do withal behold how his providence hath called them unto the first beginnings of Eternal Life and presented them at the Wellspring of New-birth wherein original sin is purged besides which sin there is no Hindrance of their Salvation known to us as themselves will grant hard it were that loving so many fair inducements whereupon to ground we should not be thought to utter at the least a truth as probable and allowable in terming any such particular Infant an elect Babe as in presuming c 2 John 1. the like of others whose safety nevertheless we are not absolutely able to warrant If any troubled with these seruples be only for Instructions sake desirous to know yet some farther reason why Interrogatories should be ministered to Infants in Baptism and be answered unto by others as in their names they may consider that Baptism implieth a Covenant or League between God and Man wherein as God doth bestow presently remission of sins and the Holy Ghost hinding also himself to add in process of time what Grace soever shall be farther necessary for the attainment of Everlasting Life so every Baptised Soul receiving the same Grace at the hands of God tieth likewise itself for ever to the observation of his Law no less than the Jews d Gal. 5. 3. by Circumcision bound themselves to the Law of Moses The Law of Christ requiring therefore Faith and newness of life in all men by virtue of the Covenant which they make in Baptism Is it toyish that the Church in Baptism exacteth at every man's hands an express Profession of Faith and an inevocable promise of obedience by way of e Stipu●a●o est verborum conceptio quibble is qui lateringatur denurum sactummre se quod inrterogatus est respondet Lib. 5. Sect. 1. ff de Obilg & Act. In haec re alim talis ver●oa tradita fuerunt Spanies Spondeto Promitto Fide prominis Fide Prumitris Promitto Fide jubeo Dabia Dabo Vacies Faciam ●as●it de verb. oblige lib. 2. tit 15. solemn stipulation That Infants may contract and covenant with God f Gen. 17.14 ● accommodat i lis nuter Ecclesia a i rum pedes ut venient alloram eo ut credant ●●os ●● ●ngum ut fateantur ut quoniam quod agri sunt alio peccante ut praegravantur sic cum familiar alio p●nio conscience falvantur Aug. Serm. 10. de Verb. Apest. the Law is plain Neither is the reason of the Law obscure For sith it rendeth we cannot sufficiently express how much to their own good and doth no way hurt or endanger them to begin the race of their lives herewith they are as equity requireth admitted hereunto and in favour of their tender years such formal compliments of stipulation as being requisite are impossible by themselves in their own persons to be performed leave is given that they may & sufficiently discharge by others Albeit therefore neither deaf nor dumb men neither surious persons nor children can receive any civil stipulation yet this kind of ghostly stipulation they may through his indulgence who respecting the singular benefit thereof accepteth Children brought unto him for that end entrech into Articles of Covenant with them and in tender commiseration granteth that other men's Professions and Promises in Baptism made for them shall avail no less then if they had been themselves able to have made their own None more fit to undertake this office in their behalf than such as present them unto Baptism A wrong conceit that none may receive the Sacrament of Baptism but they whose Parents at the least the one of them are by the soundness of their Religion and by their virtuous demeanour known to be Men of God T.C. lib. 1. pag 172. hath caused some to repel Children whosoever bring them if their Parents be mispersuaded in Religion or sot other misdeserts ex-communicated some likewise for that cause to withhold Baptism unless the Father albeit no such exception can justly be taken against him do notwithstanding make Profession of his Faith and avouch the child to be his own Thus whereas God hath appointed them Ministers of holy things they make themselves Inquisitors of men's persons a great deal farther than need is They should consider that God hath ordained Baptism in favour of mankind To restrain favours is an odious thing to enlarge them acceptable both to God and Man Whereas therefore the Civil Law gave divers Immunities to them which were Fathers of three children and had them living those Immunities they held although their children were all dead if war had consumed them because it seemed in that case not against reason to repute them by a courteous construction of Law as live men ●li enim qni pro Rep. cecil p●nt in perpertinum per glotian viucet intelligun●ur inflit lib. ● tit as sects in that the honour of their Service done to the Commonwealth would remain always Can it hurt us in exhibiting the Graces which God doth bestow on men or can it prejudice his glory if the selfsame equity guide and direct our hands When God made his Covenant with such as had Abraham to their Father was only Abraham's immediate issue or only his lineal posterity according to the flesh included in that Covenant Were not Proselytes as well as Jews always taken for the Sons of Abraham Yea because the very Heads of Families are Fathers in some sort as touching providence and care for the meanest that belong unto them the servants which Abraham had bought with money were as capable of Circumcision being newly born as any natural child that Abraham himself begat Be it then that Baptism belongeth to none but such as either believe presently or else being Infants are the children of Believing Parents in case the Church do bring children to the Holy Font whose Natural Parents are either unknown or known to be such as the Church accurseth but yet forgetteth not in that severity to take compassion upon their Offspring Osteruatur ●pliyp● percipiendam spiritualem gratiam von ram a●●cis qucium ges●●urut ●●nibus quamvia & a● ipsis si & ipsi hor. 1. & ●●deles sint qua ●● unit r●● socierate santorum argusid lin v. Aug. in Epst. 23. justin Reip. all Orth●● for it is the Church which doth offer them to Baptism by the Ministry of Presenters were it not against both equity and duty to refuse the Mother of Believers herself and not to take her in this case for a Faithful Parent It is not the virtue of our Fathers nor the Faith of any other that can give us the true holiness which we have by virtue of our New Birth Yet even through the common Faith and Spirit of God's Church a thing which no quality of Parents can prejudice I say through the Faith of the Church of God undertaking the motherly care of oursouls so far forth we may be and are in our Infancy sanctified as to be thereby made sufficiently capable of Baptism and to be interessed in the Rites of our New Birth for their Piety's sake that offer us thereunto It cometh sometime to pass saith St. Augustine that the children of Bondslaves are brought to Baptism by their Lord sometime the Parents being dead the Friends alive undertake that Office sometime Strangers or Virgins consecrated unto God which neither have nor can have children of their own take up Infants in the open streets and so offer them unto Baptism whom the cruelty of unnatural Parents casteth out and leaveth to the adventure of uncertain Pity As therefore he which did the part of a Neighbour was a Neighbour to that wounded Man whom the Parable of the Gospel describeth so they are Fathers although Strangers that bring Infants to him which maketh them the Sons of God In the phrase of some kind of men they use to be termed Witnesses as if they came but to see and testify what is done It savoreth more of Piety to give them their old accustomed name of Fathers and Mothers in God whereby they are well put in mind what affection they ought to bear towards those Innocents' for whose religious education the Church accepteth them as pledges This therefore is their own duty But because the answer which they make to the usual demands of stipulation proposed in Baptism is not their own the Church doth best to receive it of them in that form which best showeth whose the act is That which a Guardian doth in the name of his Guard or Pupil standeth by natural equity forcible for his benefit though it be done without his knowledge And shall we judge it a thing unreasonable or in any respect unfit That Infants by words which others utter should though unwittingly yet truly and forcibly bind themselves to that whereby their estate is so assuredly bettered Herewith Nestorius a Si Arrianae aut Sabelliane herese●● & esses & non tuo ipsius symbolo tecum uterer convincerem re tamen testimoniorum sacrorum auctoritate Quid tantem si sic apud ee agerem quid diceres quid responderes nun obsecro illud in eo re Baptisatum in eo te renatum esse Ec verè in negotio quamvis improbo non importuna defensio & quae non absurdè causam erroris diceres so pertinaciam non sociares errori Nunc autem cum in Catholica urbe natus Catholica Fide institutus Catholico Baptismare regeneratus sis nunquid agere tecum quasi cum Arriano aut Sabelliano possim Quod utinam fuisses Minus dolerem in malis editum quam de bonis laps●m minus Fidem non ha●itam quam amissam Non ●iquum aurem Heretice non iniquum aut grave aliquid postulo Hoc fac in Catholica Fide editus quod fueras pro perversitate facturus Cassieod de incarn lib. 6. cap. 5. the Heretic was charged as having fallen from his first Profession and broken the promise which he made to God in the Arms of others Of such as profaned themselves being Christians with irreligious delight in the Ensigns of Idolatry Heathenish Spectacles Shows and Stage-plays b Tertul. lib. de Spectac Tertullian to strike them the more deep claimeth the Promise which they made in Baptism Why were they dumb being thus challenged Wherefore stood they not up to answer in their own defence that such Professions and Promises made in their names were frivolous that all which others undertook for them was but mockery and profanation That which no Heretic no wicked liver no impious despiset of God no miscreant or malefactor which had himself been Baptised was ever so desperate as to disgorge in contempt of so fruitfully received Customs is now their voice that restore as they say The ancient Purity of Religion 65. In Baptism many things of very ancient continuance are now quite and clean abolished Of the Cross in Baptism for that the Virtue and Grace of this Sacrament had been therewith over-shadowed as fruit with too great abundance of leaves Notwithstanding to them which think that always imperfect Reformation that doth but shear and not flay our retaining certain of those former Rites especially the dangerous Sign of the Cross hath seemed almost an impardonable oversight The Cross they say sith it is but a mere invention of Man should not therefore at all have been added to the Sacrament of Baptism To Sign children's Foreheads with a Cross in token that hereafter they shall not be ashamed to make Profession of the Faith of Christ is to bring into the Church a new Word whereas there ought to be no Doctor heard in the Church but our Saviour Christ. That reason which moved the Fathers to use should move us not to use the Sign of the Cross. They lived with Heathens which had the Cross of Christ in contempt we with such as adore the Cross and therefore we ought to abandon it even as in like consideration Ezekias did of old the Brazen Serpent These are the causes of displeasure conceived against the Cross a Ceremony the use whereof hath been profitable although we observe it not as the Ordinance of God but of Men. For saith Tertullian Tertul. de C●ro Militia if of this and the like Customs thou shouldst require some Commandment to be showed thee out of Scriptures there is none found What reason there is to justify Tradition Life or Custom in this behalf either thou mayst of thyself perceive or else learn of some other that doth Lest therefore the name of Tradition should be offensive to any considering how far by some it hath been and is abused we mean by c Traditiones non scriptas si doctrinam respiciant cum doctrina scrip●a convenire debere dicimus Quod ad rituales & ecclesiasticas attinet ordinis & aedificationis Ecclesiarum in his semper habend● ratio est inutiles autem & noxias nempe ineptas & supersticiosas Patronis suis relinquamus Goulart Genevens Annot. in Epist. Cypr. 74. Traditions or Ordinances made in the prime of Christian Religion established with that Authority which Christ hath left to his Church for matters indifferent and in that consideration requisite to be observed till like authority see just and reasonable cause to alter them So that Traditions Ecclesiastical are not rudely and in gross to be shaken off because the Inventors of them were men Such as say They allow no d T.C.l. ● pa 71. They should nor have been to hold as to have brought it into the holy Sacrament of Baptism and so ●ingle the Ceremonies and inventions of Men● with the Sacraments and institutions of God invention of Men to be mingled with the Outward Administration of Sacraments and under that pretence condemn our using the Sign of the Cross have belike some special Dispensation themselves to violate their own Rules For neither can they indeed decently nor do they ever Baptise any without manifest breach of this their profound Axiom That men's Inventions should not be mingled with Sacraments and Institutions of God They seem to like very well in Baptism the Custom of Godfathers because so generally the Churches have received it Which Custom being of God no more instituted than the other howsoever they pretend the other hurtful and this profitable it followeth That even in their own opinion if their words do show their minds there is no necessity of stripping Sacraments out of all such attire of Ceremonies as Man's wisdom hath at any time clothed them withal and consequently That either they must reform their speech as over-general or else condemn their own practice as unlawful Ceremonies have more in weight then in sight they work by commonness of use much although in the several acts of their usage we scarcely discern any good they do And because the use which they have for the most part is not perfectly understood Superstition is apt to impute unto them greater virtue than indeed they have For prevention whereof when we use this Ceremony we always plainly express the end whereunto it serveth namely For a Sign of Remembrance to put us in mind of our duty But by this mean they say we make it a great deal worse T.C. lib 1. pag. 170. The profitable signification of the Cross maketh the thing a great deal worse and bringeth In a new word ●neu the Church whereas there ought to ●e no Doctor li●ard in the Church but only our Saviour Christ For all hough t● be the Word of God that we should ●● be ashamed of the Cross of Christ yet is it not the Word of God that we should be kept in remembrance of that by ●●●n lines drawn across one over another in the Child's Forehead For why Seeing God hath no where commanded to draw two lines in token of the duty which we owe to Christ our practice with this Exposition publisheth a new Gospel and causeth another Word to have place in the Church of Christ where no voice ought to be heard but his By which good reason the Authors of those grave admonitions to the Parliament are well-holpen up which held That sitting at Communions betokeneth rest and full accomplishment of Legal Ceremonies in our Saviour Christ. For although it be the Word of God That such Ceremonies are expired yet seeing it is not the Word of God that men to signify so much should sit at the Table of our Lord these have their doom as well as others Guilty of a new devised Gospel in the Church of Christ. Which strange imagination is begotten of a special dislike they have to hear that Ceremonies now in use should be thought significant whereas in truth such as are not significant must needs be vain Ceremonies destitute of signification are no better than the idle gestures of men whose broken wits are not Masters of what they do For if we look but into Secular and Civil Compliments what other cause can there possibly be given why to omit them where of course they are looked for for where they are not so due to use them bringeth men's secret intents oftentimes into great jealousy I would know I say What reason we are able to yield why things so light in their own nature should weigh in the opinions of men so much saving only in regard of that which they use to signify or betoken Doth not our Lord Jesus Christ * Luk. 7. 44 himself impute the omission of some courteous Ceremonies even in domestical entertainment to a colder degree of loving affection and take the contrary in better part not so much respecting what was less done as what was signified less by the one then by the other For to that very end he referreth in part those gracious Expostulations Simon seest thou this Woman since I entered unto thine house thou gavest me no water for my feet but she hath washed my seet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gavest me no kiss but this Woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet Mine head with oil thou didst not anoint but this Woman hath anointed my feet with oynment Wherefore as the usual dumb Ceremonies of common life are in request or dislike according to that they import even so Religion having likewise her silent Rites the chiefest rule whereby to judge of their quality is that which they mean or betoken For if they signify good things as somewhat they must of necessity signify because it is of their very nature to be signs of intimation presenting both themselves unto outward sense and besides themselves some other thing to the understanding of beholders unless they be either greatly mischosen to signify the same or else applied where that which they signify agreeth not there is no cause of exception against them as against evil and unlawful Ceremonies much less of excepting against them only in that they are not without sense And if every Religious Ceremony which hath been invented of men to signify any thing that God himself alloweth were the publication of another Gospel in the Church of Christ seeing that no Christian Church in the World is or can be without continual use of some Ceremonies which men have instituted and that to signify good things unless they be vain and frivolous Ceremonies it would follow That the World hath no Christian Church which doth not daily proclaim new Gospels a sequel the manifest absurdity whereof argueth the rawness of that Supposal cut of which it groweth Now the a T. C. lib. ● pag. 170. It is known to all that have real the Ecclesi●ssical sieries That the Heathen did ●●●●● in Christians in ●●●●ss all in reproach Thu● the God which ●ry believed on was hanged upon a Cross. And they thought go●d to r●th that they were not ashamed therefore of the Sun of God by the often using of the Sign of the Crist. Which carefulness and goul mind to keep amongst them an open Prose●●●n of Christ crucified althrough it be to be commended yet is not this means so And they might otherwise have kept it and with less danger then by this use of crossing And as it was brought in upon no good ground so the Lord left a mark of his curse of it and whereby It might be perceived to c●mour of the Forat of Men Brain is that it began forthwith while it was yet in the Swalling Ciours to be supersti●ivosly abused The Christians had such a Superstition in it that they would do nothing without Crossing But if it were gramed that upon this consideration which I have before mentioned the ancient Christians did well yet it followeth not that we should to do For we live not amongst those Nation which do cast us in the ●●th or reproach us with die Cross of Christ. Now that we live amongst Papist that do not concern the Cros of Christ but which esteem more of the Word in Cross thru of the tene ●as w●●● is his sufferings we ough now to do clean con●●riwile to thrill christians and abolish a●l use of that Cross to For contrary theas●● must have contrary remedy If therefore th●oed t Christians to deliver the Cross of Christ sunt now 〈…〉 all senue the Cross the Christians now to take away the superstitions estimation of it aught to take away ●e use of it cause why Antiquity did the more in actions of common life honour the Ceremony of the Cross might be for that they lived with Infidels But that which they did in the Sacrament of Baptism was for the selfsame good of Believers which is thereby intended still The Cross is for us an admonition no less necessary than for them to glory in the Service of Jesus Christ and not to hang down our heads as men ashamed thereof although it procure us reproach and obloquy at the hands of this wretched World Shame is a kind of fear to incur disgrace and ignominy Now whereas some things are worthy of reproach some things ignominious only through a false opinion which men have conceived of them Nature that generally feareth opprobtious reprehension must by Reason and Religion be b Ephe● 5. 12. Rom. 6. 21 taught what it should be ashamed of and what not But be we never so well instructed what our duty is in this behalf without some present admonition at the very instant of practice what we know is many times not called to mind till that be done whereupon our just confusion ensueth To supply the absence of such as that way might do us good when they see us in danger of sliding there are c Sen. Epist. 1● lib. 1. judicious and wise men which think we may greatly relieve ourselves by a bare imagined presence of some whose Authority we fear and would be loath to offend if indeed they were present with us Witnesses at hand are a bridle unto many offences Let the mind have always some whom it feareth some whose Authority may keep even secret thoughts under awe Take Cato or if he be too harsh and rugged choose some other of a softer metal whose gravity of life and speech thou lovest his mind and countenance carry with thee set him always before thine eyes either as a watch or as a pattern That which is crooked we cannot straighten but by some such level If men of so good experience and insight in the maims of our weak flesh have thought these fancied remembrances available to awaken shamefacedness that so the boldness of sin may be stayed ere it look abroad surely the Wisdom of the Church of Christ which hath so that use converted the Ceremony of the Cross in Baptism it is no Christian man's part to despise especially seeing that by this mean where Nature doth earnestly import aid Religion yieldeth her that ready assistance than which there can be no help more forcible serving only to relieve memory and to bring to our cogitation that which should most make ashamed of sin The mind while we are in this present life d T●●oin 〈…〉 whether it contemplate meditate deliberate or howsoever exercise itself worketh nothing without continual recourse unto imagination the only Storehouse of wit and peculiar Chair of memory On this Anvil it ceaseth not day and night to strike by means whereof as the Pulse declareth how the heart doth work so the very e Frons honinies cristitiae Islortatis Clementia severitatis index est Plin. lib. 21. thoughts and cogitations of man's mind be they good or bad do no where sooner bewray themselves then through the crevesses of that Wall wherewith Nature hath compasied the Cells and Closets of Fancy In the Forehead nothing more plain to be seen than the fear of contumely and disgrace For which cause the Scripture as with great probability it may be thought describeth them marked of God in the Forehead Ez. k9 4. Apoc. 7. 3. ● p 4. whom his mercy hath undertaken to keep from final confusion and shame Not that God doth set any corporal mark on his chosen but to note that he giveth his Elect security of preservation from reproach the fear whereof doth use show itself in that part Shall I say that the Sign of the Cross as we use it is in some sort a mean to work our a Arist Eth. 4 c.9 a Caro signatur u● &c anima muniatur Tertul de Resur Car. preservation from reproach Surely the mind which as yet hath not hardened itself in sin is seldom provoked thereunto in any gross and grievous manner but Nature's secret suggestion objected against it ignominy as a bar Which conceit being entered into that Palace of Man's fancy the Gates whereof have imprinted in them that holy Sign which bringeth fortwith to mind whatsoever Christ hath wrought and we vowed against sin it cometh hereby to pass that Christian men never want a most effectual though a silent Teacher to avoid whatsoever may deservedly procure shame So that in things which we should be ashamed of we are by the Cross admonished faithfully of our duty at the very moment when admonition doth most need Other things there are which deserve honour and yet do purchase many times our disgrace in this present World as of old the very truth of Religion itself till God by his own outstretched arm made the glory thereof to shine over all the Earth Cypr. Epist 56. ●d Thim●●●●● Whereupon St. Cyprian exhorting to Martyrdom in times of Heathenish persecution and cruelty thought it not vain to allege unto them with other Arguments the very Ceremony of that Cross whereof we speak Never let that hand offer Sacrifice to Idols which hath already received the Body of our Saviour Christ and shall hereafter the Crown of his Glory Arm your Foreheads unto all boldness ● that the Sign of God may be kept safe Again when it pleased God that the fury of their enemies being bridled the Church had some little rest and quietness if so small a liberty but only to breathe between troubles may be termed quietness and rest to such as fell not away from Christ through former persecutions he giveth due and deserved praise in the selfsame manner Cypr. the Laps You that were ready to endure imprisonment and were resolute to suffer death you that have courageously withstood the World ye have made yourselves both a glorious spectacle for God to behold and a worthy example for the rest of your Brethren to follow Those mouths which had sanctified themselves with food coming down from Heaven leashed after Christ own Body and Blood to taste the poisoned and contagious scraps of Idols those Foreheads which the Sign of God had purified kept themselves to be crowned by him the touch of the Garlands of Satan they abhorred Erant enim supplices corona li. Tetilib de Core●il Thus was the memory of that Sign which they had in Baptism a kind of bar or prevention to keep them even from apostasy whereunto the frailty of flesh and blood overmuch fearing to endure shame might peradventure the more easily otherwise have drawn them In the service of ●lo● the Donors of their Temples the Sacrifices the Al●●● the Priests and the Suppliants that wore present were Garlands We have not now through the gracious goodness of Almighty God those extreme conflicts which our Fathers had with blasphemous contumelies every where offered to the Name of Christ by such as professed themselves Infidels and Unbelievers Howbeit unless we be strangers to the age wherein we live or else in some partial respect dissemblers of that we hourly both hear and see there is not the simplest of us but knoweth with what disdain and scorn Christ is dishonoured far and wide Is there any burden in the World more heavy to bear then contempt Is there any contempt that grieveth as theirs doth whose quality no way making them less worthy than others are of reputation only the service which they do to Christ in the daily exercise of Religion treadeth them down Doth any contumely which we sustain for Religion sake pierce so deeply as that which would seem of mere Conscience religiously spiteful When they that honour God are despised when the chiefest service of Honour that man can do unto him is the cause why they are despised when they which pretend to honour him and that with greatest sincerity do with more than Heathenish petulancy trample under foot almost whatsoever either we or the whole Church of God by the space of so many ages have been accustomed unto for the comelier and better exercise of our Religion according to the soundest Rules that Wisdom directed by the Word of God and by long experience confirmed hath been able with common advice with much deliberation and exceeding great diligence to comprehend when no man fight under Christ's Banner can be always exempted from seeing or sustaining those indignities the sting whereof not to feel or feeling not to be moved thereat is a thing impossible to flesh and blood If this be any object for Patience to work on the strictest bond that thereunto tieth us is our vowed obedience to Christ the solemnest vow that we ever made to obey Christ and to suffer willingly all reproaches for his sake was made in Baptism And amongst other memorial to keep us mindful of that vow we cannot think that the Sign which our new Baptised Foreheads cïd there receive is either unfit or unforcible the reasons hitherto alleged being weighed with indifferent balance It is not you will say the Cross in our Foreheads but in our Hearts the Faith of Christ that am us with Patience Constancy and Courage Which as we grant to be most true so neither dare we despise no not the meanest helps that serve though it be but in the very lowest degree of furtherance towards the highest services that God doth require at our hands And if any man deny that such Ceremonies are available at the least as memorials of duty or do think that himself hath no need to be so put in mind what our duties are it is but reasonable that in the one the public experience of the World over-weigh some few men's persuasion and in the other the rare perfection of a few condescend unto common imbecility Seeing therefore that in fear shame which doth worthily follow sin and to bear undeserved reproach constantly is the general duty of all men professing Christianity seeing also that our weakness while we are in this present World doth need towards Spiritual duties the help even of corporal furtherance and that by reason of natural intercourse between the highest and the lowest powers of man's mind in all actions his fancy or imagination carrying in it that special note of Remembrance than which there is nothing more forcible where either too weak or too strong a conceit of infamy and disgrace might do great harm standeth always ready to put forth a kind of necessary helping hand we are in that respect to acknowledge the a Arist ● her I. 1 cap. 6. good and profitable use of this Ceremony and not to think it supersluous that Christ hath his mark applied b Oziar Rex leprae varielate in front macularu● est co porie corporis norarus est nso Domino ubi sig●●●cur qui Domin● prometentur Cypr. de unit Eccles. Cap. 16. unto that part where bashfulness appeareth in token that they which are Christians should be at no time ashamed of his ignominy But to prevent some inconveniencies which might ensue if the over-ordinary use thereof as it fareth with such Rites when they are too common should cause it to be of less observation or regard where it most availeth we neither omit it in that place nor altogether make it so vulgar as the Custom heretofore hath been Although to condemn the whole Church of God when it most flourished in zeal and piety to mark that age with the brand of Error and Superstition only because they had this Ceremony more in use than we now think needful boldly to affirm That this their practice grew so soon through a fearful malediction of God upon the Ceremony of the Cross as if we knew that his purpose was thereby to make it manifest in all men's eyes how execrable those things are in his sight which have proceeded from humane invention is as we take it a censure of greater zeal than knowledge Men whose judgements in these cases are grown more moderate although they retain not as we do the use of this Ceremony perceive notwithstanding very well such censures to be out of square and do therefore not only c Ginlart Am not in Cypr. lib. ad Demerr cap. 19 Quamvis veteres Christiani externo signo cruds un sumi lil ●amen suit since superstitione &c ductrias de Christi merito ab cr●●e qui postea l●●●epsie pios servant immunes acquit the Fathers from superstition therein but also think it sufficient to answer in excuse of themselves d Idem An. not in Cypr. Epist. 57 67. The Ceremony which was but a thing indifferent even of old we judge not at this day a matter necessary for all Christian men to observe As for their last upshot of all towards this Mark they are of opinion that if the ancient Christians to deliver the Cross of Christ from contempt did well and with good consideration use often the Sign of the Cross in testimony of their Faith and Profession before Infidels which upbraided them with Christ's sufferings now that we live with such as chose adore the Sign of the Cross because contrary diseases should always have contrary remedies we ought to take away all use thereof In which conceit they both ways greatly seduce themselves first for that they imagine the Fathers to have had no use of the Cross but with reference unto Infidels which misperswasion we have before discovered at large and secondly by reason that they think there is not any other way besides Universal Extirpation to reform superstitious abuses of the Cross. Wherein because there are that stand very much upon the example of Ezechias as if his breaking to pieces that Serpent of Brass whereunto the Children of Israel had burnt Incense did enforce the utter abolition of this Ceremony the fact of that virtuous Prince is by so much the more attentively to be considered Our lives in this World are partly guided by Rules and partly directed by Examples To conclude out of general Rules and Axioms by discourse of Wit our duties in every particular action is both troublesome and many times so full of difficulty that it maketh diliberations hard and tedious to the wisest men Whereupon we naturally all incline to observe examples to mark what others have done before us and in favour of our own ease rather to follow them then to enter into new consultation if in regard of their Virtue and Wisdom we may but probably think they have waded without Error So that the willingness of men to be led by example of others both discovereth and helpeth the imbecility of our judgement Because it doth the one therefore insolent and proud Wits would always seem to be their own Guides and because it doth the other we see how hardly the vulgar sort is drawn unto any thing for which there are not as well Examples as Reasons alleged Reason's proving that which is more particular by things more general and farther from Sense are with the simpler sort of men less trusted for that they doubt of their own judgement in those things but of Examples which prove unto them one doubtful particular by another more familiarly and sensibly known they easily perceive in themselves some better ability to judge The force of Examples therefore is great when in matter of action being doubtful what to do we are informed what others have commendably done whose deliberations were like But whosoever doth persuade by example must as well respect the fitness as the goodness of that he allegeth To Ezechias God himself in this fact giveth testimony of well-doing So that nothing is here questionable but only whether the example alleged be pertinent pregnant and strong The Serpent spoken of was first erected for the extraordinary and miraculous cure of the Israelites in the Desert This use having presently an end when the cause for which God ordained it was once removed the thing itself they notwithstanding kept for a Monument of God's Mercy as in like consideration they did the Pot of Manna the Rod of Aaron and the Sword which David took from Goliath In process of time they made of a Monument of Divine Power a plain Idol they burned Incense before it contrary to the Law of God and did it the services of honour due unto God only Which gross and grievous abuse continued till Ezekias restoring the purity of sound Religion destroyed utterly that which had been so long and so generally a snare unto them It is not amiss which the Canon Law hereupon concludeth namely Dist. 6.3 cap. Quid. That if our Predecessors have done some things which at that time might be without fault and afterward be turned to Error and Superstition we are taught by Ezechias breaking the Brazen Serpent that Posterity may destroy them without any delay and with great Authority But may it be simply and without exception hereby gathered that Posterity is bound to destroy whatsoever hath been either at the first invented or but afterwards turned to like Superstition and Error No it cannot be The Serpent therefore and the Sign of the Cross although seeming equal in this point That Superstition hath abused both yet being herein also unequal that neither they have been both subject to the like degree of abuse nor were in hardness of redress alike it may be That even as the one for abuse was religiously taken away so now when Religion hath taken away abuse from the other we should by utter abolition thereof deserve hardly his commendation whose example there is offered us no such necessary cause to follow For by the words of Ezechias in terming the Serpent but A lump of Brass to show That the best thing in it now was the Metal or Matter whereof is consisted we may probably conjecture That the people whose Error is therein controlled had the selfsame opinion of it which the Heathens had of Idols They thought that the Power of Deity was with it and when they saw it dissolved haply they might to comfort themselves imagine as Olympius the Sophister did beholding the dissipation of Idols ●izon lib 17. cap. 15. Shapes and counterseits they were fashioned of matter subject unto corruption therefore to grind them to dust was easy but those Celestial Powers which dwelled and resided in them are ascended into Heaven Some difference there is between these opinions of palpable Idolatry and that which the Schools in Speculation have bolted out concerning the Cross. Notwithstanding for as much as the Church of Rome hath hitherto practised and doth profess the same Adoration to the Sign of the Cross and neither less nor other then is due unto Christ himself howsoever they varnish and qualify their sentence pretending That the Cross which to outward sense presenteth visibly itself alone is not by them apprehended alone but hath in their secret surmise or conceit a reference to the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ so that the honour which they jointly do to both respecteth principally his Person and the Cross but only for his Persons sake the people not accustomed to trouble their wits with so nice and subtle differences in the exercise of Religion are apparently no less ensnared by adoring the Cross than the Jews by burning Intense to the Brazen Serpent The. pag. 3. q. 25. art 3. Resp. ad Tert. It is by Thomas ingenuously granted That because unto reasonable Creatures a kind of reverence is due for the excellency which is in them and whereby they resemble God therefore if reasonable Creatures Angels or Men should receive at our hands holy and divine honour as the Sign of the Cross doth at theirs to pretend that we honour not them alone but we honour God with them would not serve the turn neither would this be able to prevent the error of men or cause them always to respect God in their adorations and not to finish their intents in the object next before them But unto this he addeth That no such error can grow by adoring in that sort a dead Image which every man knoweth to be void of excellency in itself and therefore will easily conceive that the honour done unto it hath an higher reference Howbeit seeing that we have by over-true experience been taught how often especially in these cases the light even of common understanding faileth surely their usual adoration of the Cross is not hereby freed For in actions of this kind we are more to respect what the greatest part of men is commonly prone to conceive than what some few men's wits may devise in construction of their own particular meanings Plain it is that a false opinion of some personal divine excellency to be in those things which either Nature or Art hath framed causeth always religious adoration And as plain that the like adoration applied unto things sensible argueth to vulgar capacities yea leaveth imprinted in them the very same opinion of Deity from whence all idolatrous worship groweth Yea the meaner and base a thing worshipped is in itself the more they incline to think that every man which doth adore it knoweth there is in it or with it a presence of divine power Be it therefore true That Crosses purposely framed or used for receipt of divine honour be even as scandalous as the Brazen Serpent itself where they are in such sort adored Should we hereupon think ourselves in the sight of God and in Conscience charged to abolish utterly the very Ceremony of the Cross neither meant at the first nor now converted unto any such offensive purpose Did the Jews which could never be persuaded to admit in the City of jerusalem that a joseph Antiq lib. 17. cap. 8. & lib. 18. cap. 3. & de Bell. lib. 2. cap. 8. Image of Caesar which the Romans were accustomed to b Their Eagles their Ensigns and the Images of their Princes they carried with them in all their Armies and had always a kind of Chapel wherein they places and adored them is their gods ●● l. 40. Heredian lib. 4. adore make any scruple of Caesar's Image in the Coin which they knew very well that men were not wont to worship Between the Cross which Superstition honoureth as Christ and that Ceremony of the Cross which serveth only for a Sign of Remembrance c Matth. 22.20 there is as plain and as great a difference as between those d 2 Chro. 4. 3. Brazen Images which Solomon made to beat up the cistern of the Temple and sith both were of like shape but of unlike use e Exod. ●2 ● that which the Israelites in the Wilderness did adore or between the f 2 Chro. 34 7. Altars which josias destroyed because they were instruments of meet Idolatry and g Josh. 22. 10. that which the Tribe of Reuben with others erected near to the River jordan for which also they grew at the first into some dislike and were by the rest of their Brethren suspected yea hardly charged with open breach of the Law of God accused of backwardness in Religion up braiced bitterly with the fact of Peor and the odious example of Athan as if the building of their Altar in that place had given manifest show of no better than intended Apostasy till by a true Declaration made in their own defence it appeared that such as misliked misunderstood their enterprise in as much as they had no intent to build any Altar for Sacrifice which God would have no where offered saving in jerusalem only but to a far other end and purpose which being opened satisfied all parties and so delivered them from causeless blame In this particular suppose the worst Imagine that the immaterial Ceremony of the Cross had been the subject of as gross pollution as any Heathenish or profane Idol If we think the example of Ezechias a proof that things which Error and Superstition hath abused may in no consideration be tolerated although we presently find them not subject to so vile abuse the plain example of Ezechias proveth the contrary 1 King 11. 1● The Temples and Idols which under Solomon had been of very purpose framed for the honour of foreign gods Ezechias destroyed not because they stood as forlorn things and did now no harm although formerly they had done harm 2 King 13. 13. josias for some inconvenience afterwards razed them up Yet to both there is one commendation given even from God himself that touching Matter of Religion they walked in the steps of David 2 King 18 3,6 & 12. 2. and did no way displease God Perhaps it seemeth that by force and virtue of this example although it bore detestation and hatred of Idolatry all things which have been at any time worshipped are not necessarily to be taken out of the World nevertheless for remedy and prevention of so great offences Wisdom should judge it the safest course to remove altogether from the eyes of men that which may put them in mind of evil Some kinds of evil no doubt there are very quick in working on those affections that most easily take fire which evils should in that respect no oftener than need requireth be brought in presence of weak minds But neither is the Cross any such evil nor yet the Brazen Serpent itself so strongly poisoned that our eyes ears and thoughts aught to shun them both for fear of some deadly harm to ensue the only representation thereof by gesture shape sound or such like significant means And for mine own part I most assuredly persuade myself that had Ezechias till the days of whose most virtuous Reign they ceased not continually to burn Incense to the Brazen Serpent had he found the Serpent though sometime adored yet at that time recovered from the evil of so gross abuse and reduced to the same that was before in the time of David at which time they esteemed it only as a Memorial Sign or Monument of God's miraculous goodness towards them even as we in no other sort esteem the Ceremony of the Cross the due consideration of an use so harmless common to both might no less have wrought their equal preservation then different occasions have procured notwithstanding the one's extinguishment the others lawful continuance In all persuasions which ground themselves upon example we are not so much to respect what is done as the causes and secret inducements leading thereunto The question being therefore whether this Ceremony supposed to have been sometimes scandalous and offensive ought for that cause to be now removed there is no reason we should forthwith yield ourselves to be carried away with example no not of them whose acts the highest judgement approveth for having reform in that manner any public evil But before we either attempt any thing or resolve the state and condition as well of our own affairs as theirs whose example presseth us is advisedly to be examined because some things are of their own nature scandalous and cannot choose but breed offence 2 King 23. 7. as those Sinks of execrable filth which josias did overwhelm some things albeit not by Nature and of themselves are notwithstanding so generally turned to evil by reason of an evil corrupt habit grown and through long continuance incurably settled in the minds of the greatest part that no red●ess can be well hoped for without removal of that wherein they have ruined themselves which plainly was the state of the Jewish people and the cause why Ezechias did with such sudden indignation destroy what he saw worshipped finally some things are as the Sign of the Cross though subject either almost or altogether to as great abuse yet curable with more facility and ease And to speak as the truth is our very nature doth hardly yield to destroy that which may be fruitfully kept and without any great difficulty clean scouted from the rust of evil which by some accident hath grown into it Wherefore to that which they build in this question upon the example of Ezechias let this suffice When Heathens despised Christian Religion because of the sufferings of Jesus Christ the Fathers to testify how little such contumelies and contempts prevailed with them chose rather the Sign of the Cross than any other outward mark whereby the World might most easily discern always what they were On the contrary side now whereas they which do all profess the Christian Religion are divided amongst themselves and the fault of the one part is That the zeal to the sufferings of Christ they admire too much and over-superstitiously adore the Visible Sign of his Cross if you ask what w that mislike them should do we are here advised to cure one contrary by another Which Art or Method is not yet so current as they imagine For if as their practice for the most part showeth it be their meaning that the scope and drift of Reformation when things are faulty should be to settle the Church in the contrary it standeth them upon to beware of this rule because seeing Vices have not only Virtues but other Vices also in Nature opposite unto them it may be dangerous in these cases to seek but that which we find contrary to present evils For in sores and sicknesses of the mind we are not simply to measure good by distance from evil because one Vice may in some respect be more opposite to another then either of them to that Virtue which holdeth the mean between them both Liberality and Covetousness the one a Virtue and the other a Vice are not so contrary as the Vices of Covetousness and Prodigality Religion and Superstition have more affiance though the one be Light and the other Darkness then Superstition and Profaneness which both are vicious extremities By means whereof it cometh also to pass that the Mean which is Virtue seemeth in the eyes of each extreme an extremity the liberal hearted man is by the opinion of the Prodigal miserable and by the judgement of the miserable lavish Impiety for the most part upbraideth Religion as Superstitious which Superstition often accuseth as impious both so conceiving thereof because it doth seem more to participate each extreme then one extreme doth another and is by consequent less contrary to either of them than they mutually between themselves Now if he that seeketh to reform Covetousness or Superstition should but labour to induce the contrary it were but to draw men out of Lime into Coaldust So that their course which will remedy the Superstitious abuse of things profitable in the Church is not still to abolish utterly the use thereof because not using at all is most opposite to ill using but rather if it may be to bring them back to a right perfect and religious usage which albeit less contrary to the present sore is notwithstanding the better and by many degrees the sounder way of recovery And unto this effect that very Precedent itself which they propose may be best followed For as the Fathers when the Cross of Christ was in utter contempt did not superstitiously adore the same but rather declare that they so esteemed it as was meet In like manner where we find the Cross to have that honour which is due to Christ is it not as lawful for us to retain it in that estimation which it ought to have and in that use which it had of old without offence as by taking it clean away so seem Followers of their example which cure wilfully by abscission that which they might both preserve and heal Touching therefore the Sign and Ceremony of the Cross we no way find ourselves bound to relinquish it neither because the first Inventors thereof were but mortal men nor lest the sense and signification we give unto it should burden us as Authors of a new Gospel in the House of God not in respect of some cause which the Fathers had more than we have to use the same nor finally for any such offence or scandal as heretofore it hath been subject unto by Error now reform in the minds of Men. 66. The ancient Custom of the Church was after they had Baptised Of Confirmation after Baptism to add thereunto Imposition of Hands with effectual Prayer for the * Caro manus Impositione adumbeatur ●t & anima Spiritu illumine●ur Tertul de Reser Ca● illumination of Gods most holy Spirit to confirm and perfect that which the Grace of the some Spirit had already begun in Baptism For our means to obtain the Graces which God doth bestow are our Prayers Our Prayers to that intent are available as well for others as for ourselves To pray for others is to bless them for whom we pray because Prayer procureth the blessing of God upon them especially the Prayer of such as God either most respecteth for their Piety and Zeal that way or else regardeth for that their place and calling bindeth them above others unto this duty as it doth both Natural and Spiritual Fathers With Prayers of Spiritual and Personal Benediction the manner hath been in all ages to use Imposition of Hands as a Ceremony betokening our restrained desires to the party whom we present unto God by Prayer Thus when Israel blessed Ephraim and Manasses Joseph's sons Gen. 48. 14. he imposed upon them his hands and prayed God in whose sight my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk God which hath fed me all my life long unto this day and the Angel which hath delivered me from all evil bless these Children The Prophets which healed diseases by Prayer used therein the selfsame Ceremony And therefore when Elizeus willed Naaman to wash himself seven times in jordan 2 King 5. 11. for cure of his foul disease it much offended him I thought saith he with myself Surely the man will come forth and stand and call upon the Name of the Lord his God and put his hand on the place to the end he may so heal the ●●eprosie Num. 27. 18. In Consecrations and Ordinations of Men unto Rooms of Divine Calling the like was usually done from the time of Moses to Christ. Their suits that came unto Christ for help were also tendered oftentimes Matth. 9 18. Mark 5. 23. 8. 12. and are expressed in such forms or phrases of speech as show that he was himself an observer of the same custom He which with Imposition of Hands and Prayer did so great Works of Mercy for restauration of Bodily health was worthily judged as able to effect the infusion of Heavenly Grace into them whose age was not yet depraved with that malice which might be supposed a bar to the goodness of God towards them Matth. 19.13 Mark 10. 14. Luk. 18. 15. They brought him therefore young children to put his hands upon them and pray After the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that which he had begun continued in the daily practice of his Apostles whose Prayer and Imposition of Hands were a mean whereby thousands became partakers of the wonderful Gifts of God The Church had received from Christ a promise that such as believed in him these signs and tokens should follow them Mark 16.17 To cast one Devils to speak with Tongues to drive away Serpents to be free from the harm which any deadly poison could work and to cure diseases by Imposition of Hands Which power common at the first in a manner unto all Believers all Believers had not power to derive or communicate unto all other men but whosoever was the instrument of God to instruct convert and baptise them A●● 1● ● the gift of miraculous operations by the power of the Holy Ghost they had not but only at the Apostles own hands For which cause Simon Magus perceiving that power to be in none but them and presuming Act 8 17 18. that they which had it might sell it sought to purchase it of them with money And as miraculous Graces of the Spirit continued after the Apostles times 〈…〉 For saith Irenaus' they which are truly his Disciples do in his Name and through Grace received from him such works for the benefit of other men as every of them is by him enabled to work Some cast one Devils in so much as they which are delivered from wicked spirits have been thereby won unto Christ and do constantly persevere in the Church and Society of Faithful Men Some excel in the knowledge of things to come in the grace of Visions from God and the gift of Prophetical Prediction Some by laying on their hands restore them to health which are grievously afflicted with sickness yea there are that of dead have been made alive and have afterwards many years conversed with us What should I say The gifts are innumerable wherewith God hath enriched his Church throughout the World and by virtue whereof in the Name of Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate the Church every day doth many wonders for the good of Nations neither fraudulently nor in any respect of lucre and gain to herself but as freely bestowing as God on her hath bestowed his Divine Graces So it no where appeareth that ever any did by Prayer and Imposition of Hands sithence the Apostles times make others partakers of the like miraculous gifts and graces as long as it pleased God to continue the same in his Church but only Bishops the Apostles Successors for a time even in that power August de ● o ●K ●● cap. 15. St. Augustine acknowledgeth That such gifts were not permitted to last always lest men should wax cold with the commonness of that the strangeness whereof at the first inflamed them Which words of St. Augustine declaring how the vulgar use of these Miracles was then expired are no prejudice to the like extraordinary Graces more rarely observed in some either then or of latter days Now whereas the Successors of the Apostles had but only for a time such power as by Prayer and Imposition of Hands to bestow the Holy Ghost the reason wherefore Confirmation nevertheless by Prayer and Laying on of Hands hath hitherto always continued is for other very special benefits which the Church thereby enjoyeth The Fathers every where impute unto it that gift or Grace of the Holy Ghost not which maketh us first Christian men but when we are made such assisteth us in all virtue aimeth us against temptation and sin For after Baptism administered there followeth saith Tertullian Imposition of Hands Tertul. de Baptis with Invocation and Invitation of the Holy Ghost which willingly cometh down from the Father to rest upon the purified and blessed Bodies as it were acknowledging the Waters of Baptism a fit Seat St. Cyprian in more particular manner Cypr. Epist. 2. ad Donat. c. ● alluding to that effect of the Spirit which here especially was respected How great saith he is that power and force wherewith the mind is here he meaneth in Baptism enabled being not only withdrawn from that pernicious hold which the World before had of it nor only so purified and made clean that no stain or blemish of the Enemy's invasion doth remain but over and besides namely through Prayer and Imposition of Hands becometh yet greater yet mightier in strength so far as to reign with a kind of Imperial Dominion over the whole Band of that roaming and spoiling Adversary As much is signified by Eusebius Emissenus Euseb Emis Ser. the Vents saying The Holy Ghost which descendeth with saving influence upon the Waters of Baptism doth there give that fullness which sufficeth for innocenty and afterwards exhibiteth in Confirmation an Augmentation of further Grace The Fathers therefore being thus persuaded held Confirmation as an Ordinance Apostolic Aug. de Trin. li● 15 cap. 26. l●●● 6. 3. always profitable in God's Church although not always accompanied with equal largeness of those External Effects which gave it countenance at the first The cause of severing Confirmation from Baptism for most commonly they went together was sometimes in the Minister which being of inferior degree might Baptise but not Confirm as in their case it came to pass whom Peter and john did confirm Acts 8. 12 15. jer. Advers ●ucif cap. 4. whereas Philip had before baptised them and in theirs of whom St. Jerome hath said I deny not but the Custom of the Churches is that the Bishop should go abroad and imposing his hands pray for the Gift of the Holy Ghost on them whom Presbyters and Deacons far off in lesser Cities have already baptised Which ancient Custom of the Church St. Cyprian groundeth upon the example or Peter and john in the Eighth of the Acts before alleged The faithful in Samaria saith he had already obtained Baptism Cypr. Epist. 73. ad jubajenum only that which was wanting Peter and John supplied by Prayer and Imposition of Hands to the end the Holy Ghost might be poured upon them Which also is done amongst ourselves when they which be already Baptised are brought to the Prelates of the Church to obtain by their Prayer and Imposition of Hands the Holy Ghost By this it appeareth that when the Ministers of Baptism were persons of inferior degree the Bishops did after Confirm whom such had before Baptised Sometimes they which by force of their Ecclesiastical Calling might do as well the one as the other were notwithstanding Men whom Heresy had disjoined from the Fellowship of true Believers Whereupon when any Man by them Baptised and Confirmed came afterwards to see and renounce their Error there grew in some Churches very hot contention about the manner of admitting such into the Bosom of the true Church as hath been declared already in the question of Rebaptization But the generally received Custom was only to admit them with Imposition of Hands and Prayer Of which Custom while some imagined the reason to be for that Heretics might give Remission of Sins by Baptism but not the Spirit by Imposition of Hands because themselves had not God's Spirit and that therefore their Baptism might stand but Confirmation must be given again The imbecility of this ground gave Cyprian occasion to oppose himself against the practice of the Church herein labouring many ways to prove That Heretics could do neither and consequently that their Baptism in all respects was as frustrate as their Chrism for the manner of those times was in Confirming to use Anointing On the other side against Luciferians which ratified only the Baptism of Heretics but disannulled their Confirmations and Consecrations under pretence of the reason which hath been before specified Heretics cannot give the Holy Ghost St. Jerome proveth at large That if Baptism by Heretics be granted available to Remission of Sins which no man receiveth without the Spirit it must needs follow that the reason taken from disability of bestowing the Holy Ghost was no reason wherefore the Church should admit Converts with any new Imposition of Hands Notwithstanding because it might be objected That if the gift of the Holy Ghost do always join itself with true Baptism the Church which thinketh the Bishop's Confirmation after others men's Baptism needful for the obtaining of the Holy Ghost should hold an error Saint Jerome hereunto maketh answer That the cause of this observation is not any absolute impossibility of receiving the Holy Ghost by the Sacrament of Baptism unless a Bishop add after it the Imposition of Hands but rather a certain congruity and fitness to honour Prelacy with such pre-eminences because the safety of the Church dependeth upon the dignity of her chief Superiors to whom if some eminent Offices of Power above others should not be given there would be in the Church as many Schisms as Priests By which answer it appeareth his opinion was That the Holy Ghost is received in Baptism that Confirmation is only a Sacramental Compliment that the reason why Bishops alone did ordinarily confirm was not because the benefit grace and dignity thereof is greater than of Baptism but rather for that by the Sacrament of Baptism Men being admitted into God's Church it was both reasonable and convenient that if he Baptise them not unto whom the chiefest authority and charge of their Souls belongeth yet for honour's sake and in token of his Spiritual Superiority over them Heb. 6. 3. because to bless is an act of Authority the performance of this annexed Ceremony should be sought for at his hands Now what effect their Imposition of Hands hath either after Baptism administered by Heretics or otherwise St. Jerome in that place hath made no mention because all men understood that in Converts it tendeth to the fruits of Repentance and craveth in behalf of the Penitent Psal. 31. 10 11 12. such grace as David after his fall desired at the hands of God in others the fruit and benefit thereof is that which hath been before showed Finally Sometime the cause of severing Confirmation from Baptism was in the parties that received Baptism being Infants at which age they might be very well admitted to live in the Family but because to fight in the Army of God to discharge the duties of a Christian man to bring forth the fruits and to do the Works of the Holy Ghost their time of ability was not yet come so that Baptism were not deferred there could by stay of their Confirmation no harm ensue but rather good For by this means it came to pass that Children in expectation thereof were seasoned with the principles of true Religion before malice and corrupt examples depraved their minds a good foundation was laid betimes for direction of the course of their whole lives the Seed of the Church of God was preserved sincere and sound the Prelates and Fathers of God's Family to whom the cure of their Souls belonged saw by trial and examination of them a part of their own heavy burden discharged reaped comfort by beholding the first beginnings of true godliness in tender years glorified him whose praise they found in the mouths of Infants and neglected not so fit opportunity of giving every one Fatherly encouragement and exhortation Whereunto Imposition of Hands and Prayer being added our Warrant for the great good effect thereof is the same which Patriarches Prophets Priests Apostles Fathers and Men of God have had for such their particular Invocations and Benedictions as no Man I suppose professing truth of Religion will easily think to have been without Fruit. No there is no cause we should doubt of the benefit but surely great cause to make complaint of the deep neglect of this Christian duty almost with all them to whom by tied of their place and calling the same belongeth Let them not take it in evil part the thing is true their small regard hereunto hath done harm in the Church of God That which * T C. lib. 1. pag. 1●1 Tell me why there should be any such Confirmation in the Church being brought in by the seigned Decretal Epistles of the Popes this is ●e●●acted by the same T.C. lib. 3. pag. 232 That it is ancienter than the seigned Decretal Epistles I yield unto and no one tittle thereof being once found in the Scripture and seeing that it hath been so horribly abused and not necessary why ought it ●●● to be utterly abolished And thirdly this Confirmation hath many dangerous points in it The first step of Popery in this Confirmation is the Laying on of Hands upon the Head of the Child whereby the opinion of it that it is a Sacrament is confirmed especially when as the Prayer doth say That it is done according to the example of the Apostles which is a manifest unw●t● and taken indeed from the Popish Confirmation The second is for that the Bishop as he is called must be the only minister of it whereby the Popish opinion which esteemeth it above Baptism is confirmed For whilst Baptism may be ministered of the Minister and not Confirmation but only of the Bishop there is great cause of suspicion given to think that Baptism is not so precious a thing as Confirmation seeing this was one of the principal reasons whereby that wicked opinion was established in Popery I do not here speak of the inconvenience that men are constrained with charges to bring their children oftentimes half a score miles for that which if it were needful might be as well done at home in their own Parishes The third is for that the Book saith a cause of using Confirmation is Thereby imposition of Hands and Prayer the Children may receive strength and defence against all temptations whereas there is no promise that by the Laying on of Hands upon Children any such gift shall be given and it maintaineth the Popish distinction That the Spirit of God is given at Baptism unto Remission of Sins and in Confirmation unto Strength Error rashly uttereth in disgrace of good things may peradventure be sponged out when the print of those evils which are grown through neglect will remain behind Thus much therefore generally spoken may serve for answer unto their demands that require us to tell them Why there should be any such confirmation in the Church seeing we are not ignorant how earnestly they have protested against it and how directly although untruly for so they are content to acknowledge it hath by some of them been said To be first brought in by the seigned Decretal Epistles of the Popes or why it should not be utterly abolished seeing that no one title thereof can be once found in the whole Scripture except the Epistle to the Hebrews be Scripture Heb. 6. 3. And again seeing that how free soever it be now from abuse if we look back to the times past which wise men do always more respect than the present it hath been abused and is found at the length no such profitable Ceremony as the whole silly Church of Christ for the space of these Sixteen hundred years hath through want of experience imagined Last of all Seeing also besides the cruelty which is showed towards poor Country people who are fain sometimes to let their Ploughs stand still and with increble wearisome toil of their feeble bodies to wander over Mountains and through Woods it may be now and then little less than a whole half score of miles for a Bishop's blessing which if it were needful might as well be done at home in their own Parishes rather than they is purchase it with so great loss and so intolerable pain There are they say in Confirmation besides this Three terrible points The first is Laying on of hands with pretence that the same is done to the example of the Apostles which is not only as they suppose a manifest untruth for all the World doth know that the Apostles did never after Baptism lay hands on any and therefore Saint Luke which saith they did was much deceived But farther also we thereby teach men to think Imposition of Hands a Sacrament Act. 8.13 17. belike because it is a principle engrafted by common Light of Nature in the Minds of Men that all things done by Apostolic example must needs be Sacrament The second high point of danger is That by tying Confirmation to the Bishop alone there is great cause of suspicion given to think that Baptism is not so precious a thing as Confirmation For will any man think that a Velvet Coat is of more price than a Linen Coyf knowing the one to be an ordinary Garment the other an Ornament which only Sergeants at Law do wear Finally To draw to an end of perils the last and the weightiest hazard is where the Book itself doth say That Children by Imposition of Hands and Prayer may receive strength against all temptation Which speech as a two-edged sword doth both ways dangerously wound partly because it ascribeth Grace to Imposition of Hands whereby we are able no more to assure ourselves in the warrant of any promise from God that his Heavenly Grace shall be given than the Apostle was that himself should obtain Grace by the bowing of his knees to God and partly because by using the very word strength in this matter Ephes. 3. 24. a word so apt to spread infection we maintain with Popish Evangelists an old forlorn distinction of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon Christ's Apostles before his Ascension into Heaven John 20. 22. and augmented upon them afterwards a distinction of Grace infused into Christian men by degrees Acts 1. 8. planted in them at the first by Baptism after cherished watered and be it spoken without offence strengthened as by other virtuous Offices which Piety and true Religion teacheth even so by this very special Benediction whereof we speak the Rite or Ceremony of Confirmation 67. The Grace which we have by the holy Eucharist Of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. doth not begin but continue life No man therefore receiveth this Sacrament before Baptism because no dead thing is capable of nourishment That which groweth must of necessity first live If our Bodies did not daily waste Food to restore them were a thing superfluous And it may be that the Grace of Baptism would serve to Eternal Life were it not that the state of our Spiritual Being is daily so much hindered and impaired after Baptism In that life therefore where neither Body nor Soul can decay our Souls shall as little require this Sacrament as our Bodies corporal nourishment But as long as the days of our warfare last during the time that we are both subject to diminution and capable of augmentation in Grace the Words of our Lord and Saviour Christ will remain forceable John 6. 1● Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you Life being therefore proposed unto all men as their end they which by Baptism have laid the Foundation and attained the first beginning of a new life have here their nourishment and food prescribed for continuance of life in them Such as will live the Life of God must eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man because this is a part of that diet which if we want we cannot live Whereas therefore in our Infancy we are incorporated into Christ and by Baptism receive the Grace of his Spirit without any sense or feeling of the gift which God bestoweth in the Eucharist we so receive the gift of God that we know by Grace what the Grace is which God giveth us the degrees of our own Increase in holiness and virtue we see and can judge of them we understand that the strength of our life begun in Christ is Christ that his Flesh is Meat and his Blood drink not by surmised imagination but truly even so truly that through Faith we perceive in the Body and Blood sacramentally presented the very taste of Eternal Life the Grace of the Sacrament is here as the food which we eat and drink This was it that some did exceedingly fear lest Zwinglius and Occolampadius would bring to pass that men should account of this Sacrament but only as of a shadow destitute empty and void of Christ. But seeing that by opening the several opinions which have been held they are grown for aught I can see on all sides at the length to a general agreement concerning that which alone is material namely The Real Participation of Christ and of Life in his Body and Blood by means of this Sacrament Wherefore should the World continue still distracted and rend with so manifold Contentions when there remaineth now no Controversy saving only about the subject where Christ is Yea even in this point no side denieth but that the Soul of Man is the receptacle of Christ's presence Whereby the question is yet driven to a narrower issue nor doth any thing rest doubtful but this Whether when the Sacrament is administered Christ be whole within Man only or else his Body and Blood be also externally seated in the very Consecrated Elements themselves Which opinion they that defend are driven either to Consubstantiate and Incorporate Christ with Elements Sacramental or to Transubstantiate and change their substance into his and so the one to hold him really but invisibly moulded up with substance of those Elements the other to hide him under the only visible show of Bread and Wine the substance whereof as they imagine is abolished and his succeeded in the same room All things considered and compared with that success which Truth hath hitherto had by so bitter Conflicts with Errors in this point Shall I wish that men would more give themselves to meditate with silence what we have by the Sacrament and less to dispute of the manner how If any man suppose that this were too great stupidity and dulness let us see whether the Apostles of our Lord themselves have not done the like It appeareth by many examples that they of their own disposition were very scrupulous and inquisitive yea in other cases of less importance and less difficulty always apt to move questions How cometh it to pass that so few words of so high a Mystery being uttered they receive with gladness the gift of Christ and make no show of doubt or scruple The reason hereof is not dark to them which have any thing at all observed how the powers of the mind are wont to stir when that which we infinitely long for presenteth itself above and besides expectation Curious and intricate speculations do hinder they abate they quench such inflamed motions of delight and joy as Divine Graces use to raise when extraordinarily they are present The mind therefore feeling present joy is always marvellous unwilling to admit any other cogitation and in that case casteth off those disputes whereunto the intellectual part at other times easily draweth A manifest effect whereof may be noted if we compare with our Lords Disciples in the Twentieth of john the people that are said in the Sixth of john to have gone after him to Capernaum These leaving him on the one side the Sea of Tiberias and finding him again as soon as themselves by ship were arrived on the contrary side whither they knew that by ship he came not and by Land the journey was longer than according to the time he could have to travel as they wondered so they asked also John 6.25 Rabbi when camest thou hither The Disciples when Christ appeared to them in far more strange and miraculous manner moved no question but rejoiced greatly in that they saw For why The one sort beheld only that in Christ which they knew was more than natural but yet their affection was not rapt therewith through any great extraordinary gladness the other when they looked on Christ were not ignorant that they saw the Wellspring of their own Everlasting felicity the one because they enjoyed not disputed the other disputed not because they enjoyed If then the presence of Christ with them did so much move Judge what their thoughts and affections were at the time of this new presentation of Christ not before their Eyes but within their Souls They had learned before That his Flesh and Blood are the true cause of Eternal Life that this they are not by the bate force of their own substance but through the dignity and worth of His Person which offered them up by way of Sacrifice for the Life of the whole World and doth make them still effectual thereunto Finally that to us they are Life in particular by being particularly received Thus much they knew although as yet they understood not perfectly to what effect or issue the same would come till at the length being assembled for no other cause which they could imagine but to have eaten the Passover only that Moses appointed when they saw their Lord and Master with hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven first bless and consecrate for the endless good of all Generations till the World's end the chosen Elements of Bread and Wine which Elements made for ever the Instruments of Life by virtue of his Divine Benediction they being the first that were commanded to receive from him the first which were warranted by his promise that not only unto them at the present time but to whomsoever they and their Successors after them did duly administer the same those Mysteries should serve as Conducts of Life and Conveyances of his Body and Blood unto them Was it possible they should hear that voice Take eat This is my Body Drink ye all of this This is my Blood Possible that doing what was required and believing what was promised the same should have present effect in them and not fill them with a kind of fearful admiration at the Heaven which they saw in themselves They had at that time a Sea of Comfort and Joy to wade in and we by that which they did are taught that this Heavenly Food is given for the satisfying of our empty Souls and not for the exercising of our curious and subtle wits If we doubt what those admirable words may import let him be our Teacher for the meaning of Christ to whom Christ was himself a Schoolmaster let our Lord's Apostle be his Interpreter content we ourselves with his Explication My Body The Communion of my Body My Blood The Communion of my Blood Is there any thing more expedite clear and easy then that as Christ is termed our Life because through him we obtain life so the parts of this Sacrament are his Body and Blood for that they are so to us who receiving them receive that by them which they are termed The Bread and Cup are his Body and Blood because they are causes instrumental upon the receipt whereof the Participation of his Body and Blood ensueth For that which produceth any certain effect is not vainly nor improperly said to be that very effect whereunto it tendeth Every cause is in the effect which groweth from it Our Souls and Bodies quickened to Eternal Life are effects the cause whereof is the Person of Christ His Body and Blood are the true Wellspring out of which this Life floweth So that his Body and Blood are in that very subject whereunto they minister life Not only by effect or operation even as the influence of the Heavens is in Plants Beasts Men and in every thing which they quicken but also by a far more Divine and Mystical kind of Union which maketh us one with him even as He and the Father are one The Real Presence of Christ's most Blessed Body and Blood is not therefore to be sought for in the Sacrament but in the worthy Receiver of the Sacrament And with this the very order of our Saviour's words agreeth first Mark 14. 12. Take and eat then This is my Body which was broken for you First Drink ye all of this then followeth This is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins I see not which way it should be gathered by the Words of Christ when and where the Bread is his Body or the Cup his Blood but only in the very Heart and Soul of him which receiveth them As for the Sacraments they really exhibit but for aught we can gather out of that which is written of them they are not really nor do really contain in themselves that Grace which with them or by them it pleaseth God to bestow If on all sides it be confessed That the Grace of Baptism is poured into the Soul of Man that by Water we receive it although it be neither seated in the Water nor the Water changed into it what should induce men to think that the Grace of the Eucharist must needs be in the Eucharist before it can be in us that receive it The fruit of the Eucharist is the Participation of the Body and Blood of Christ. There is no sentence of holy Scripture which saith That we cannot by this Sacrament be made partakers of his Body and Blood except they be first contained in the Sacrament or the Sacrament converted into them This is my Body and This is my Blood being words of promise sith we all agree That by the Sacrament Christ doth really and truly in us perform his promise why do we vainly trouble ourselves with so fierce Contentions whether by Consubstantiation or else by Transubstantiation the Sacrament itself be first possessed with Christ or no A thing which no way can either further or hinder us howsoever it stand because our Participation of Christ in this Sacrament dependeth on the co-operation of his Omnipotent Power which maketh it his Body and Blood to us whether with change or without alteration of the Element such as they imagine we need not greatly to care or inquire Take therefore that wherein all agree and then consider by itself what cause why the rest in question should not rather be left as superfluous then urged as necessary It is on all sides plainly confessed first That this Sacrament is a true and a real Participation of Christ who thereby imparteth himself even his whole entire Person as a Mystical Head unto every Soul that receiveth him and that every such Receiver doth thereby incorporate or unite himself unto Christ as a Mystical Member of him yea of them also whom he acknowledgeth to be his own Secondly That to whom the Person of Christ is thus communicated to them he giveth by the same Sacrament his holy Spirit to sanctify them as it sanctifieth him which is their Head Thirdly That what merit force or virtue soever there is in his Sacrificed Body and Blood we freely fully and wholly have it by this Sacrament Fourthly That the effect thereof in us is a real transmutation of our Souls and Bodies from sin to righteousness from death and corruption to immortality and life Fifthly That because the Sacrament being of itself but a corruptible and earthly Creature must needs be thought an unlikely Instrument to work so admirable effects in Man we are therefore to rest ourselves altogether upon the strength of his glorious power who is able and will bring to pass That the Bread and Cup which he giveth us shall be truly the thing he promiseth It seemeth therefore much amiss that against them whom they term Sacramentaries so many invective Discourses are made all ranning upon two points That the Eucharist is not bare a Sign or Figure only and that the efficacy of his Body and Blood is not all we receive in this Sacrament For no man having read their Books and Writings which are thus traduced can be ignorant that both these Assertions they plainly confess to be most true They do not so interpret the words of Christ as if the name of his Body did import but the figure of his Body and to be were only to signify his Blood They grant that these holy Mysteries received in due manner do instrumentally both make us partakers of the Grace of that Body and Blood which were given for the Life of the World and besides also impart unto us even in true and real though mystical manner the very Person of our Lord himself whole perfect and entire as hath been showed Now whereas all three opinions do thus far accord in one that strong conceit which two of the three have embraced as touching a Literal Corporal and Oral Manducation of the very Substance of his Flesh and Blood is surely an opinion no where delivered in holy Scripture whereby they should think themselves bound to believe it and to speak with the softest terms we can use greatly prejudiced in that when some others did so conceive of eating his Flesh our Saviour to abate that error in them gave them directly to understand how his Flesh so eaten could profit them nothing because the words which he spoke were Spirit that is to say they had a reference to a Mystical Participation which Mystical Participation giveth life Wherein there is small appearance of likelihood that his meaning should be only to make them Marcionites by inversion and to teach them that as Martion did think Christ seemed to be Man but was not so they chose should believe That Christ in Truth would so give them as they thought his Flesh to eat but yet left the horror thereof should offend them he would not seem to do that he did When they which have this opinion of Christ in that Blessed Sacrament go about to explain themselves and to open after what manner things are brought to pass the one sort lay the Union of Christ's Deity with his Manhood as their first foundation and ground From thence they infer a power which the Body of Christ hath thereby to present itself in all places out of which Ubiquity of his Body they gather the presence thereof with that sanctified Bread and Wine of our Lord's Table The Conjunction of his Body and Blood with those Elements they use as an Argument to show how the Bread may as well in that respect be termed his Body because his Body is therewith joined as the Son of God may be named Man by reason that God and Man in the Person of Christ are united To this they add how the Words of Christ commanding us to eat must needs import That as he hath coupled the Substance of his Flesh and the Substance of Bread together so we together should receive both Which Labyrinth as the other sort doth justly shun so the way which they take to the same In● is somewhat more short but no whit more certain For through God's Omnipotent Power they imagine that Transubstantiation followeth upon the words of Consecration and upon Transubstantiation the Participation of Christ's both Body and Blood in the only shape of Sacramental Elements So that they all three do plead God's Omnipotency Sacramentaries to that Alteration which the rest confess he accomplisheth the Patrons of Transubstantiation over and besides that to the change of one substance into another the Followers of Consubstantiation to the kneading of both Substances as it were into one lump Touching the sentence of Antiquity in this cause first For as much as they knew that the force of this Sacrament doth necessarily presuppose the Verity of Christ's both Body and Blood they used oftentimes the same as an Argument to prove That Christ hath as truly the substance of Man as of God because here we receive Christ and those Graces which flow from him in that he is Man So that if he have no such Being neither can the Sacrament have any such meaning as we all confess it hath Thus a Acceprum panem & distributum discipulis Corpus suum illum secit ho est Corpus meum dicendo id est figura corpori●mei Figura autem non suisset nisi veritatis esset Corpus cum vacua res quod est phateasma Figuram capere non posset Tertul. contra Marc. lib. 4. cap. 40. Tertullian thus b Secundum haec that is to say If it should be true which Heretics have taught denying that Christ took upon him the very nature of Man nec Dominus sanguine suo redemit nos neque Colix Eucharistiae communicatio senguinis ejuserit ne● panis quem frangimus communicatio corporis ejus est Sanguis enim non est nisi à venis & carnibus & à reliqua quae est secondum hominem substantia Iren. lib. 5. cap. 1. Irenaeus thus c Es Theod. Dialog Theodoret disputeth Again as evident it is how they teach that Christ is personally there present yea present whole albeit a part of Christ be corporally absent from thence that d Sacramenta quidem Quantom in se est sine propri● virture esse non possunt nec ullo modo ●● absentat majestas mysteriis Cypr. de Coen cap. 7. Christ assisting this Heavenly Banquet with his Personal and true Presence e Sacramento visibili inesfabiliter divina se insundit essentia ut esset ● Religioni circa Sacramenta devotio Idem cap. 6. Invisibilis ●● cerdoes visibiles creaturas in substantiam corporis & sanguinis sui verbo suo secreta poiestare convercit In spiritualibus Sacramentis verbi praecipit virtus & servit effectus Euseb. Emissen Hom. 5 de Pasch. doth by his own Divine Power add to the Natural Substance thereof Supernatural Efficacy which f Theodor. Ex quo à Domino dictum est Hoc facite in meam commemorationem Haec est caro mea & hic est sanguis meus quotiescunque his verbis & hac fide actum est panis isle supersubstantialis & calix benedictione solenni sacrarus ad totius hominis vitam salumtemique proficit Cypr. de Coen cap. 3. Immortalitatis alimonia datur à communibus cibis differens corporalis substantiae retinens speciem sed virtutis divinae invisibili efficientia probans adesse praetentiam Ibid. cap. ● addition to the Nature of those consecrated Elements changeth them and maketh them that unto us which otherwise they could not be that to us they are thereby made such Instruments as g Sensibilibus Sacramentis inest vitae aeternae effectus & non tam corporali quam spirituali trans●ione Christo unimor Ipse enim & ponis & caro & sanguis Idem cibus & substantia & vita factus est Ecclesiae suae quam corpus suum appellat dans ei participationem spiritius Ibid. cap. 5 Nostra & Ipsius conjunctio nec miscet personas nec unit substan●i●s sed effectus consaciar & confoederat voluntares Ibid. cap. 6 Mansio nostra in ipso est manducatio & potus quasi quaedam incorporatio Ibid. cap. 9 Ille est in Patte per Naturam diu●nitaris nos in eo per corporalem ejus Nativitatem ille rursus in nobis per Sacramentorum mysterium Hilar de Trin lib. 8. mystically yet truly invisibly yet really work our Communion or Fellowship with the Person of Jesus Christ as well in that he is Man as God our Participation also in the Fruit Grace and Efficacy of his Body and Blood whereupon there ensueth a kind of Transubstantiation in us a true h Panis hic azymus cibus verus & fincerus per speciem & Sacramentum nos ractu sanctificat side illuminat veritate Christo conformat Cypr. de Coen Cap. 6 Non aliud agit participatio corporis & sanguinis Christi quam ut in id quod sumimus transeamus & in quo mor●ui & sepulti & corresuscirati sumus ipsum per omnia & spiritu & carne gestemus Leo de Pasch. Serm. 14. Quemadmodum qui est à terra panis percipiens Dei vocationem id est facta invocatione divini numinis jam non communis pajo est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans terrena & coelesti Sic & corpora nostra percipientia Eucharistiam jam non sunt corruptibilia spem ressurectionis habentia Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. Quoniam salutaris caro verbo Dei quod naturaliter vita est conjuncta vivifica effecta est Quindo eam comedimus tune vitam habemus in nobis illi carni conjuncti quae vita effecta est Cyril in jo●an lib. 4. cap. 14. change both of Soul and Body an alteration from death to life In a word it appeareth not that of all the ancient Fathers of the Church any one did ever conceive or imagine other then only a Mystical Participation of Christ's both Body and Blood in the Sacrament neither are their speeches concerning the change of the Elements themselves into the Body and Blood of Christ such that a man can thereby in Conscience assure himself it was their meaning to persuade the World either of a Corporal Consubstantiation of Christ with those Sanctified and Blessed Elements before we receive them or of the like Transubstantiation of them into the Body and Blood of Christ. Which both to our Mystical Communion with Christ are so unnecessary that the Fathers who plainly hold but this Mystical Communion cannot easily be thought to have meant any other change of Sacramental Elements then that which the same Spiritual Communion did require them to hold These things considered how should that Mind which loving Truth and seeking Comfort out of Holy Mysteries hath not perhaps the leisure perhaps nor the wit nor capacity to tread out so endless Mazes as the intricate Disputes of this cause have led men into how should a virtuously disposed mind better resolve with itself then thus Variety of judgements and Opinions argueth obscurity in those things whereabout they differ But that which all parts receive for Truth that which every one having sifted is by no one denied or doubted of must needs be matter of infallible certainly Whereas therefore there are but three Expositions made of This is my Body The first This is in itself before participation really and truly the Natural Substance of my Body by reason of the coexistence which my Omnipotent Body hath with the sanctified Element of Bread which is the Lutherans Interpretation The second This is in itself and before participation the very true and Natural Substance of my Body by force of that Deity which with the words of Consecration abolisheth the Substance of Bread and substituteth in the place thereof my Body which is the Popish construction The last This Hallowed Food through concurrence of Divine Power is in verity and truth unto faithful Receivers instrumentally a cause of that Mystical Participation whereby as I make myself wholly theirs so I give them in hand an actual possession of all such saving Grace as my Sacrificed Body can yield and as their Souls do presently need This is to them and in them my Body Of these three rehearsed Interpretations the last hath in it nothing but what the rest do all approve and acknowledge to be most true nothing but that which the words of Christ are on all sides confessed to enforce nothing but that which the Church of God hath always thought necessary nothing but that which alone is sufficient for every Christian man to believe concerning the use and force of this Sacrament Finally Nothing but that wherewith the Writings of all Antiquity are consonant and all Christian Confessions agreeable And as Truth in what kind soever is by no kind of Truth gainsaid so the mind which resteth itself on this it never troubled with those perplexities which the other do both find by means of so great contradiction between their opinions and true principles of Reason grounded upon Experience Nature and Sense Which albeit with boisterous courage and breath they seem oftentimes to blow away yet whoso observeth how again they labour and sweat by subtlety of wit to make some show of agreement between their peculiar conceits and the general Edicts of Nature must needs perceive they struggle with that which they cannot fully master Besides sith of that which is proper to themselves their Discourses are hungry and unpleasant full of tedious and irksome labour heartless and hitherto without Fruit on the other side read we them or hear we others be they of our own or of ancienter times to what part soever they be thought to incline touching that whereof there is controversy yet in this where they all speak but one thing their Discourses are Heavenly their Words sweet as the Honeycomb their Tongues melodiously tuned Instruments their Sentences mere Consolation and joy Are we not hereby almost even with voice from Heaven admonished which we may safeliest cleave unto He which hath said of the one Sacrament Wash and be clean hath said concerning the other likewise Eat and live If therefore without any such particular and solemn warrant as this is that poor distressed Woman coming unto Christ for health could so constantly resolve herself May I but touch the skirt of his Garment I shall be whole what moveth us to argue of the manner how Life should come by Bread our duty being here but to take what is offered and most assuredly to rest persuaded of this that can we but eat we are safe When I behold with mine eyes some small and scarce discernible Grain or Seed whereof Nature maketh a promise that a Tree shall come and when afterwards of that Tree any skilful Artificer undertaketh to frame some exquisite and curious work I look for the event I move no question about performance either of the one or of the other Shall I simply credit Nature in things natural Shall I in things artificial rely myself on Art never offering to make doubt And in that which is above both Art and Nature refuse to believe the Author of both except he acquaint me with his ways and lay the secret of his skill before me Where God himself doth speak those things which either for height and sublimity of Matter or else for secrecy of Performance we are not able to reach unto as we may be ignorant without danger so it can be no disgrace to confess we are ignorant Such as love Piety will as much as in them lieth know all things that God commandeth but especially the duties of Service which they owe to God As for his dark and hidden works they prefer as becometh them in such cases simplicity of Faith before that Knowledge which curiously sisting what it should adore and disputing too boldly of that which the wit of man cannot search chilleth for the most part all warmth of zeal and bringeth soundness of belief many times into great hazard Let it therefore be sufficient for me presenting myself at the Lord's Table to know what there I receive from him without searching or enquiring of the manner how Christ performeth his promise Let Disputes and Questions Enemies to Piety abatements of true Devotion and hitherto in this cause but over-patiently heard let them take their rest Let curious and sharp-witted Men beat their Heads about what Questions themselves will the very Letter of the Word of Christ giveth plain security that these Mysteries do as Nails fasten us to his very Cross that by them we draw out as touching Efficacy Force and Virtue even the Blood of his gored side In the Wounds of our Redeemer we there dip our Tongues we are died red both within and without our hunger is satisfied and our thirst for ever quenched they are things wonderful which he feeleth great which he seeth and unheard of which he uttereth whose Soul it possessed of this Paschal Lamb and made joyful in the strength of this new Wine This Bread hath in it more than the substance which our eyes behold this Cup hallowed with solemn Benediction availeth to the endless life and welfare both of Soul and Body in that it serveth as well for a Medicine to heal our infirmities and purge our sins as for a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving With touching it sanctifieth it enlighteneth with belief it truly conformeth us unto the image of jesus Christ. What these Elements are in themselves it skilleth not it is enough that to me which take them they are the Body and Blood of Christ his Promise in witness hereof sufficeth his Word he knoweth which way to accomplish why should any cogitation possess the mind of a Faithful Communicant but this O my God thou art true O my Soul thou art happy Thus therefore we see that howsoever men's opinions do otherwise vary nevertheless touching Baptism and the Supper of the Lord we may with consent of the whole Christian World conclude they are necessary the one to initiate or begin the other to consummate or make perfect our life in Christ. 68 In Administering the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ Of Faults noted in the Form of Administering the holy Communion the supposed faults of the Church of England are not greatly material and therefore it shall suffice to touch them in few words The first is That we do not use in a generality once for all to say to Communicants Take eat and drink but unto every particular person Eat thou drink thou which is according to the Popish manner and not the Form that our Saviour did use Our second oversight is by Gesture For in Kneeling there hath been Superstition Sitting agreeth better to the action of a Supper and our Saviour using that which was most fit did himself not kneel A third accusation is for not examining all Communicants whose knowledge in the Mystery of the Gospel should that way be made manifest a thing every where they say used in the Apostles times because all things necessary were used and this in their opinion is necessary yea it is commanded 2 Chro. 3● ● in as much as the Levites are commanded to prepare the people for the Passover and Examination is a part of their Preparation our Lord's Supper in place of the Passover The fourth thing misliked is 1 Cor. 5. 11. That against the Apostles prohibition to have any familiarity at all with notorious Offenders Papists being not of the Church are admitted to our very Communion before they have by their Religious and Gospel-like behaviour purged themselves of that suspicion of Popery which their former life hath caused They are Dogs Swine unclean Beasts Foreigners and Strangers from the Church of God and therefore ought not to be admitted though they offer themselves We are five condemned in as much as when there have been store of people to hear Sermons and Service in the Church we suffer the Communion to be ministered to a few It is not enough that our Book of Common Prayer hath godly Exhortations to move all thereunto which are present For it should not suffer a few to Communicate it should by Ecclesiastical Discipline and Civil punishment provide that such as would withdraw themselves might be brought to Communicate according both to the a Numb 9.13 C●n. 9 Apost. Council 2. Brac. cap. 83. Law of God and the ancient Church Canons In the sixth and last place cometh the enormity of imparting this Sacrament privately unto the sick Thus far accused we answer briefly to the first b T.C. lib. 3. pag. 166. Be●ules that it is good to leave the P●pish 〈…〉 in those things which we may so conveniently do it is b●st to co●●t as near ●he manner of celebration of the Supper which our Saviour Christ used as may be And if it be a good Argument to pro●e that therefore we must rather sa● Take th●● th●n Take ●● because the Sacrament is as Application of the benefits of Christ's it be hoveth that the Preacher should direct his Admonitions particularly one after another unto all those which hear his Sermon which is a thing absurd That seeing God by Sacraments doth apply in particular unto every man's person the Grace which himself hath provided for the benefit of all mankind there is no cause why Administering the Sacraments we should forbear to express that in our forms of Speech which he by his Word and Gospel teacheth all to believe In the one Sacrament I Baptise thee displeaseth them not If ●at thou in the other offend them their fancies are no rules for Churches to follow Whether Christ at his last Supper did speak generally once to all or to every one in particular is a thing uncertain His words are recorded in that Form which serveth best for the setting down with Historical brevity what was spoken they are no manifest proof that he spoke but once unto all which did then Communicate muchless that we in speaking unto every Communicant severally do amiss although it were clear that we herein do otherwise then Christ did Our imitation of him consisteth not in tying scrupulously ourselves unto his syllables but rather in speaking by the Heavenly Direction of that inspired Divine Wisdom which teacheth divers ways to one end and doth therein control their boldness by whom any profitable way is censured as reprovable only under colour of some small difference from great examples going before to do throughout every the like circumstance the same which Christ did in this action were by following his footsteps in that sort to err more from the purpose he aimed at than we now do by not following them with so nice and severe strictness They little weigh with themselves how dull how heavy and almost how without sense the greatest part of the common multitude every where is who think it either unmeet or unnecessary to put them even man by man especially at that time in mind whereabout they are It is true That in Sermons we do not use to repeat our sentences severally to every particular he●er a strange madness it were if we should The softness of Wax may induce a wise man to set his stamp or image therein it persuadeth no man that because Wool hath the like quality it may therefore receive the like impression So the reason taken from the use of Sacraments in that they are Instruments of Grace unto every particular man may with good congruity lead the Church to frame accordingly her words in Administration of Sacraments because they easily admit this Form which being in Sermons a thing Impossible without apparent ridiculous absurdity agreement of Sacraments with Sermons in that which is alleged as a reasonable proof of conveniency for the one proveth not the same Allegation impertinent because it doth not enforce the other to be administered in like sort For equal principles do then avail unto equal conclusions when the matter whereunto we apply them is equal and not else T. C. lib. 1. p. 165. Kneeling carrieth a show of worship Sitting agreeth better with the Action of the Supper Christ and his Apostles kneeled not Our Kneeling at Communions is the gesture of Piety If we did there present ourselves but to make some show or dumb resemblance of a Spiritual Feast it may be that Sitting were the fitter Ceremony but coming as Receivers of inestimable Grace at the Hands of God what doth better beseem our bodies at that hour then to be sensible Witnesses of minds unfeignedly humbled Our Lord himself did that which custom and long usage had made fit We that which fitness and great decency hath made usual The trial of ourselves before we Eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup is by express Commandment every man's precise Duty As for necessity of calling others unto account besides ourselves albeit we be not thereunto drawn by any great strength which is in their Arguments who first press us with it as a thing necessary by affirming That the Apostles did use it and then prove a T. C. lib. 1. pag. 164. All things necessary were used in the Churches of God in the Apostles times but Examination was a necessary thing therefore used In the Book of Chronicles ● Chro 35 6. the Levites were commanded to prepare the people to the receiving of the Passover in place whereof we have the Lords Supper Now Examination being a part of Preparation it followeth that here is Commandment of the Examination the Apostles to have used it by affirming it to be necessary Again albeit we greatly muse how they can avouch That God did command the Levites to prepare their Brethren against the Feast of the Passover and that the Examination of them was a part of their Preparation when the place alleged to this purpose doth but charge the Levite saying Make ready L●ahhechem for your Brethren to the end they may do according to the Word of the Lord by Moses Wherefore in the selfsame place it followeth how Lambs and Kids and Sheep and Bullocks were delivered unto the Levites and that thus the Service was made ready It followeth likewise how the Levites having in such sort provided for the people they made provision for themselves and for the Priests the Sons of Aaron So that confidently from hence to conclude the necessity of Examination argueth their wonderful great forwardness in framing all things to serve their turn nevertheless the Examination of Communicants when need requireth for the profitable use it may have in such cases we reject not Our fault in admitting Popish Communicants Is it in that we are b 1 Cor ● 11. T. C. lib. 1. pag 1●7 forbidden to eat and therefore much more to communicate with notorious Malefactors The name of a Papist is not given unto any man for being a notorious Malefactor And the crime wherewith we are charged is suffering of Papists to communicate so that be their life and conversation whatsoever in the fight of man their Popish opinions are in this case laid as Bars and Exceptions against them yea those opinions which they have held in former times c Although they would receive the Communion yet they ought to be kept back until such time as by their Religious and Gospel-like behaviour they have purged themselves of that suspicion of Popery which their former life and conversation hath caused to be conceived T. C. lib 1. pag. 167. although they now both profess by word and offer to show by fact the contrary All this doth not justify us which ought not they say to admit them in any wise till their Gospel-like behaviour have removed all suspicion of Popery from them because Papists are Dogs Swine Beasts Foreigners and Strangers from the House of God in a word they are not of the Church What the terms of Gospel-like behaviour may include is obscure and doubtful But of the Visible Church of Christ in this present World from which they separate all Papists we are thus persuaded Church is a word which Art hath devised thereby to sever and distinguish that Society of Men which professeth the true Religion from the rest which profess it not There have been in the World from the very first foundation thereof but three Religions Paganism which lived in the blindness of corrupt and depraved Nature judaism embracing the Law which Reformed Heathenish Impiety and taught Salvation to be looked for through One whom God in the last days would send and exalt to be Lord of all Finally Christian Belief which yieldeth obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and acknowledgeth him the Saviour whom God did promise Seeing then that the Church is a name which Art hath given to Professors of true Religion As they which will define a Man are to pass by those qualities wherein one man doth excel another and to take only those Essential Properties whereby a Man doth differ from Creatures of other kinds So he that will teach what the Church is shall never rightly perform the work whereabout he goeth till in Matter of Religion he touch that difference which severeth the Church's Religion from theirs who are not the Church Religion being therefore a matter partly of contemplation partly of action we must define the Church which is a Religious Society by such differences as do properly explain the Essence of such things that is to say by the Object or Matter whereabout the Contemplations and Actions of the Church are properly conversant For so all Knowledges and all Virtues are defined Whereupon because the only Object which separateth ours from other Religions is Jesus Christ in whom none but the Church doth believe and whom none but the Church doth worship we find that accordingly the Apostles do every where distinguish hereby the Church from Infidels and from Jews accounting them which call upon the Name of our Lord jesus Christ to be his Church If we go lower we shall but add unto this certain casual and variable accidents which are not properly of the Being but make only for the happier and better Being of the Church of God either indeed or in men's opinions and conceits This is the Error of all Popish definitions that hitherto have been brought They define not the Church by that which the Church essentially is but by that wherein they imagine their own more perfect than the rest are Touching parts of eminency and perfection parts likewise of imperfection and defect in the Church of God they are infinite their degrees and differences no way possible to be drawn unto any certain account There is not the least contention and variance Rom. 15. 5. 1 Cor. 1. 10. but it blemisheth somewhat the Unity that ought to be in the Church of Christ which notwithstanding may have not only without offence or breach of concord her manifold varieties in Rites and Ceremonies of Religion but also her Strifes and Contentions many times and that about matters of no small importance yea her Schisms Factions and such other evils whereunto the Body of the Church is subject sound and sick remaining both of the same Body as long as both parts retain by outward profession that vital substance of truth which maketh Christian Religion to differ from theirs which acknowledge not our Lord Jesus Christ the Blessed Saviour of Mankind give no crecit to his glorious Gospel and have his Sacraments the Seals of Eternal Life in derision Now the privilege of the visible Church of God for of that we speak is to be herein like the Ark of Noah that for any thing we know to the contrary all without it are lost sheep yet in this was the Ark of Noah privileged above the Church that whereas none of them which were in the one could perish numbers in the other are cast away because to Eternal Life our Profession is not enough Many things exclude from the Kingdom of God although from the Church they separate not In the Church there arise sundry grievous storms by means whereof whole Kingdoms and Nations professing Christ both have been heretofore and are at this present day divided about Christ. During which Divisions and Contentions amongst men albeit each part do justify itself yet the one of necessity must needs err if there be any contradiction between them be it great or little and what side soever it be that hath the truth the same we must also acknowledge alone 1 John ● 19 to hold with the true Church in that point and consequently reject the other as an enemy in that case fallen away from the true Church Wherefore of Hypocrites and Dissemblers whose profession at the first was but only from the teeth outward when they afterwards took occasion to oppugn certain principal Articles of Faith the Apostles which defended the truth against them pronounce them gone out from the Fellowship of sound and sincere Believers when as yet the Christian Religion they had not utterly cast off In like sense and meaning throughout all ages Heretics have justly been hated as Branches cut off from the Body of the true Vine yet only so far forth cut off as they Heresies have extended Both Heresy and many other crimes which wholly sever from God do sever from God the Church of God in part only The Mystery of Piety saith the Apostle is without peradventure great 1 Tim. 3 14. God hath been manifested in the Flesh hath been justified in the Spirit hath been seen of Angels hath been preached to Nations hath been believed on in the World hath been taken up into Glory The Church a Pillar and Foundation of this Truth which no where is known or professed but only within the Church and they all of the Church that profess it In the mean while it cannot be denied that many profess this who are not therefore cleared simply from all either faults or errors which make separation between us and the Wellspring of our happiness Idolatry severed of old the Israelites Iniquity those Scribes and Pharisees from God who notwithstanding were a part of the Seed of Abraham a part of that very Seed which God did himself acknowledge to be his Church The Church of God may therefore contain both them which indeed are not his yet must be reputed his by us that know not their inward thoughts and them whose apparent wickedness testifieth even in the sight of the whole World that God abhorreth them For to this and no other purpose are meant those Parables Matth. 13. ●4 47. which our Saviour in the Gospel hath concerning mixture of Vice with Virtue Light with Darkness Truth with Error as well and openly known and seen as a cunningly cloaked mixture That which separateth therefore utterly that which cutteth off clean from the visible Church of Christ is plain Apostasy direct denial utter rejection of the whole Christian Faith as far as the same is professedly different from Infidelity Heretics as touching those points of doctrine wherein they fail Schismatics as touching the quarrels for which or the duties wherein they divide themselves from their Brethren Lose licentious and wicked persons as touching their several offences or crimes have all forsaken the true Church of God the Church which is sound and sincere in the Doctrine that they corrupt the Church that keepeth the Bond of Unity which they violate the Church that walketh in the Laws of Righteousness which they transgress This very true Church of Christ they have left howbeit not altogether left nor forsaken simply the Church upon the main Foundations whereof they continue built notwithstanding these breaches whereby they are rend at the top asunder Now because for redress of professed Errors and open Schisms it is and must be the Church's care that all may in outward Conformity be one as the laudable Polity of former Ages even so our own to that end and purpose hath established divers Laws the moderate severity whereof is a mean both to stay the rest and to reclaim such as heretofore have been led awry But seeing that the Offices which Laws require are always definite and when that they require is done they go no farther whereupon sundry illaffected persons to save themselves from danger of Laws pretend obedience albeit inwardly they carry still the same hearts which they did before by means whereof it falleth out that receiving unworthily the Blessed Sacrament at our hands they eat and drink their own damnation It is for remedy of this mischief * T. C. lib. 1. pag. 167. If the place of the Fifth to the Corinthians do forbid that we should have any familiarity with notorious offenders it doth more forbid that they should he received to the Communion And therefore Papists being such as which are notoriously known to hold Heretical Opinions ought not to be admired much less compelled to the Supper For seeing that our Saviour Christ did institute his Supper amongst his Disciples and those only which were on St. Paul speaketh within it is evident that the Papists being without and Foreigners and Strangers from the Church of God ought not to be received if they would offer themselves And that Minister that shall give the Supper of the Lord to him which is known to be a Papist and which hath a 〈…〉 made any clear renouncing of Popery with which he hath been defiled do●h profane the Table of the Lord and doth give the Meat that is prepared for the Children unto Dog and he bringeth into the Pasture which is provided for the Sheep Swine and unclean Beasts contrary to the Faith and Trust that ought to be in a Steward of the Lords House as he is For albeit that I doubt not but many of those which are now Papists pertain to the Election of God which God also in his good time will call to the knowledge of his Truth Yet notwithstanding they ought to be unto the Minister and unto the Church touching the Ministering of Sacraments as Strangers and as unclean Beasts The Ministering of the holy Sacraments unto them is a Declaration and Seal of God's favour and reconciliation with them and a plain Preaching partly that they be washed already from their sin partly that they are of the Household of God and such as the Lord will feed to Eternal Life which is not lawful to be done unto those which are not of the Household of Faith And therefore I conclude That the compelling of Papists unto the Communion and the dismissing and letting of them go when as they be to be punished for their stubbornness in Popery with this condition if they will receive the Communion is very unlawful when as although they would receive it yet they ought to be kept back till such time as by their Religious and Gospel-like behaviour etc. here determined that whom the Law of the Realm doth punish unless they communicate such if they offer to obey Law the Church notwithstanding should not admit without probation before had of their Gospel-like behaviour Wherein they first set no time how long this supposed probation must continue again they nominate no certain judgement the verdict whereof shall approve men's behaviour to be Gospel-like and that which is most material whereas they seek to make it more hard for dissemblers to be received into the Church than Law and Polity as yet hath done they make it in truth more easy for such kind of persons to wind themselves out of the Law and to continue the same they were The Law requireth at their hands that duty which in conscience doth touch them nearest because the greatest difference between us and them is the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ whose Name in the Service of our Communion we celebrate with due honour which they in the Error of their Mass profane As therefore on our part to hear Mass were an open departure from that sincere Profession wherein we stand so if they on the other side receive our Communion they give us the strongest pledge of fidelity that man can demand What their hearts are God doth know But if they which mind treachery to God and Man shall once apprehend this advantage given them whereby they may satisfy Law in pretending themselves conformable for what can Law with Reason or Justice require more and yet be sure the Church will accept no such offer till their Gospel-like behaviour be allowed after that our own simplicity hath once thus fairly eased them from the sting of Law it is to be thought they will learn the Mystery of Gospel-like behaviour when leisure serveth them And so while without any cause we fear to profane Sacraments we shall not only defeat the purpose of most wholesome Laws but lose or wilfully hazard those Souls from whom the likeliest means of full and perfect recovery are by our indiscretion withheld For neither doth God thus bind us to dive into men's consciences nor can their fraud and deceit hurt any man but themselves To him they seem such as they are but of us they must be taken for such as they seem In the Eye of God they are against Christ that are not truly and sincerely with him in our eyes they must be received as with Christ that are not to outward show against him The case of impenitent and notorious sinners is not like unto theirs whose only imperfection is Error severed from Pertinacy Error in appearance content to submit itself to better instruction Error so far already cured as to crave at our hands that Sacrament the hat●ed and utter refusal whereof was the weightiest point wherein heretofore they swerved and went astray In this case therefore they cannot reasonably charge us with remiss dealing or with carelessness to whom we impart the Mysteries of Christ but they have given us manifest occasion to think it requisite that we earnestly advise rather and exhort them to consider as they ought their sundry oversights First In equalling undistinctly Crimes with Errors as touching force to make uncapable of this Sacrament Secondly In suffering indignation at the faults of the Church of Rome to blind and withhold their judgements from seeing that which withal they should acknowledge concerning so much nevertheless still due to the same Church as to be held and reputed a part of the House of God a Limb of the Visible Church of Christ Thirdly In imposing upon the Church a burden to enter farther into men's hearts and to make a deeper search of their Consciences than any Law of God or Reason of Man enforceth Fourthly and lastly In repelling under colour of longer trial such from the Mysteries of Heavenly Grace as are both capable thereof by the Laws of God for any thing we hear to the contrary and should in divers considerations be cherished according to the merciful Examples and Precepts whereby the Gospel of Christ hath taught us towards such to show compassion to receive them with lenity and all meekness if any thing be shaken in them to strengthen it not to quench with delays and jealousies that feeble smoke of Conformity which seemeth to breathe from them but to build wheresoever there is any Foundation to add Perfection unto slender beginnings and that as by other offices of Piety even so by this very Food of Life which Christ hath left in his Church not only for preservation of strength but also for relief of weakness But to return to our own selves in whom the next thing severely reproved T. C. lib. 1. pag. 147. 2 Chro. 30.13 is the Paucity of Communicants If they require at Communions frequency we wish the same knowing how acceptable unto God such service is when multitudes cheerfully concur unto it if they encourage men thereunto we also themselves acknowledge it are not utterly forgetful to do the like if they require some public coaction for remedy of that Psal 12● 1. wherein by milder and softer means little good is done they know our Laws and Statutes provided in that behalf whereunto whatsoever convenient help may be added more by the wisdom of man what cause have we given the World to think that we are not ready to hearken to it and to use any good means of sweet compulsion to have this high and heavenly Banquet largely furnished Luk. 14. 23. Only we cannot so far yield as to judge it convenient that the holy desire of a competent number should be unsatisfied because the greater part is careless and undisposed to join with them Men should not they say be permitted a few by themselves to communicate when so many are gone away because this Sacrament is a token of our conjunction with our Brethren and therefore by communicating apart from them we make an apparent show of distraction I ask then on which side Unity is broken whether on theirs that depart or on theirs who being left behind do communicate First In the one it is not denied but that they may have reasonable causes of departure and that then even they are delivered from just blame Of such kind of causes two are allowed namely danger of impairing health and necessary business requiring our presence otherwhere And may not a third cause which is unfitness at the present time detain us as lawfully back as either of these two True it is that we cannot hereby altogether excuse ourselves for that we ought to prevent this and do not But if we have committed a fault in not preparing our minds before shall we therefore aggravate the same with a worse the crime of unworthy participation He that abstaineth doth want for the time that Grace and Comfort which Religious Communicants have but he that eateth and drinketh unworthily receiveth death that which is life to others turneth in him to poison Notwithstanding whatsoever be the cause for which men abstain were it reason that the fault of one part should any way abridge their benefit that are not faulty There is in all the Scripture of God no one syllable which doth condemn communicating a t●ngst a few when the rest are departed from them T. C. lib 1. pag. 145. As for the last thing which is our imparting this Sacrament privately unto the sick whereas there have been of old they grant two kinds of necessity wherein this Sacrament might be privately administered of which two the one being erroneously imagined and the other they say continuing no longer in use there remaineth unto us no necessity at all for which that custom should be retained The falsely surmised necessity is that whereby some have thought all such excluded from possibility of salvation as did depart this life and never were made partakers of the holy Eucharist The other case of necessity was When men which had fallen in time of persecution and had afterwards repent them but were not as yet received again unto the Fellowship of this Communion did at the hour of their death request it that so they might rest with greater quietness and comfort of mind being thereby assuted of departure in unity of Christ's Church which virtuous desire the Fathers did think it great impiety not to satisfy This was Serapions case of necessity Serapion a faithful aged person and always of very upright life till fear of persecution in the end caused him to shrink back after long sorrow for his scandalous offence and suit oftentimes made to be pardoned of the Church fell at length into grievous sickness and being ready to yield up the ghost was then more instant than ever before to receive the Sacrament Which Sacrament was necessary in this case not that Serapion had been deprived of Everlasting Life without it but that his end was thereby to him made the more comfortable And do we think that all cases of such necessity are clean vanished Suppose that some have by misperswasion lived in Schism withdrawn themselves from holy and public Assemblies hated the Prayers and loathed the Sacraments of the Church falsely presuming them to be fraught with impious and Antichristian corruptions Which Error the God of Mercy and Truth opening at the length their eyes to see they do not only repent them of the evil which they have done but also in token thereof desire to receive comfort by that whereunto they have offered disgrace which may be the case of many poor seduced souls even at this day God forbid we should think that the Church doth sin in permitting the wounds of such to be suppled with that Oil which this gracious Sacrament doth yield and their bruised minds not only need but beg There is nothing which the Soul of Man doth desire in that last hour so much as comfort against the natural terrors of Death and other scruples of Conscience which commonly do then most trouble and perplex the weak towards whom the very Law of God doth exact at our hands all the helps that Christian lenity and indulgence can afford Our general consolation departing this life is the hope of that a 1 Cor. 15. 21. glorious and blessed Resurrection which the Apostle Saint Paul b Phil. 3. 11. nameth c to note That as all Men shall have their d Theophyl Ammon Vide 1 Thes. 4. 17. and be raised again from the dead so the just shall be taken up and exalted above the rest whom the power of God doth but raise and not exalt This Life and this Resurrection our Lord Jesus Christ is for all men as touching the sufficiency of that he hath done but that which maketh us partakers thereof is our particular Communion with Christ and this Sacrament a principal Mean as well to strengthen the Bond as to multiply in us the Fruits of the same Communion For which cause Saint Cyprian d Maturatae Resurrection 's laethunila solemnia Cypr. de Coea Deut. cap. 1● termeth it a joyful solemnity of expedite and speedy Resurrection Ignatius e Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes. Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. a Medicine which procureth Immortality and preventeth Death Irenaeus f E●st ●ih I serile murandum est ex solemnibus tamen ubi aequiras evidens praser s●●ir●iendum est Lib. 183. ff de Reg. Jur. the nourishment of our Bodies to Eternal Life and their preservative from corruption Now because that Sacrament which at all times we may receive unto this effect is then most acceptable and most fruitful when any special extraordinary occasion nearly and presently urging kindleth our desires towards it their severity who cleave unto that alone which is generally fit to be done and so make all men's conditions alike may add much affliction to divers troubled and grieved minds of whose particular estate particular respect being had according to the charitable order of the Church wherein we live there ensueth unto God that glory which his righteous Saints comforted in their greatest distresses do yield and unto them which have their reasonable Petitions satisfied ●●●e same contentment tranquillity and joy that others before them by means of like satisfaction have reaped and wherein we all are or should be desirous finally to take our leave of the World whensoever our own uncertain time of most assured departure shall come Concerning therefore both Prayers and Sacraments together with our usual and received Form of administering the same in the Church of England let thus much suffice Of Festival Days and the Natural cause of their convenient Institution 69. As the Substance of God alone is infinite and hath no kind of limitation so likewise his Continuance is from everlasting to everlasting and knoweth neither Beginning nor End Which demonstrable conclusion being presupposed it followeth necessarily that besides him all things are finite both in substance and in continuance If in Substance all things be finite it cannot be but that there are bounds without the compass whereof their substance doth not extend if in continuance also limited they all have it cannot be denied their set and their certain terms before which they had no Being at all This is the reason why first we do most admire those things which are Greatest and secondly those things which are Ancientest because the one are least distant from the infinite Substance the other from the infinite Continuance of God Out of this we gather that only God hath true Immortality or Eternity that is to say Continuance wherein there groweth no difference by addition of Hereafter unto Now whereas the noblest and perfectest of all things besides have continually through continuance the time of former continuance lengthened so that they could not heretofore be said to have continued so long as now neither now so long as hereafter Gods own Eternity is the Hand which leadeth Angels in the course of their Perpetuity their Perpetuity the Hand that draweth out Celestial Motion the Line of which Motion and the Thread of Time are spun together Now as Nature bringeth forth Time with Motion so we by Motion have learned how to divide Time and by the smaller parts of Time both to measure the greater and to know how long all things else endure For Time considered in itself is but the Flux of that very instant wherein the Motion of the Heaven began being coupled with other things it is the quantity of their continuance measured by the distance of two instants As the time of a man is a man's continuance from the instant of his first breath till the instant of his last gasp Hereupon some have defined Time to be the Measure of the Motion of Heaven because the first thing which Time doth measure is that Motion wherewith it began and by the help whereof it measureth other things as when the Prophet David saith That a man's continuance doth not commonly exceed Threescore and ten years he useth the help both of Motion and Number to measure Time They which make Time an effect of Motion and Motion to be in Nature before Time aught to have considered with themselves that albeit we should deny as Melissus did all Motion we might notwithstanding acknowledge Time because Time doth but signify the quantity of Continuance which Continuance may be in things that rest and are never moved Besides we may also consider in Rest both that which is past and that which is present and that which is future yea farther even length and shortness in every of these although we never had conceit of Motion But to define without Motion how long or how short such Continuance is were impossible So that herein we must of necessity use the benefit of Years Days Hours Minutes which all grow from Celestial Motion Again for as much as that Motion is Circular whereby we make our Divisions of Time and the Compass of that Circuit such that the Heavens which are therein continually moved and keep in their Motions uniform Celerity must needs touch often the same points they cannot choose but bring unto us by equal distances frequent returns of the same times Furthermore whereas Time is nothing but the mere quantity of that Continuance which all things have that are not as God is without beginning that which is proper unto all quantities agreeth also to this kind so that Time doth but measure other things and neither worketh in them any real effect nor is itself ever capable of any And therefore when commonly we use to say That Time doth eat or fret out all things that Time is the wisest thing in the World because it bringeth forth all Knowledge and that nothing is more foolish than Time which never holdeth any thing long but whatsoever one day learneth the same another day forgetteth again that some men see prosperous and happy days and that some men's days are miserable In all these and the like speeches that which is uttered of the Time is not verified of Time itself but agreeth unto those things which are in Time and do by means of so near conjunction either lay their burden upon the back or set their Crown upon the Head of Time Yea the very opportunities which we ascribe to Time Hipp●● l. qua Praterpro●● in ●●abitur do in truth cleave to the things themselves wherewith Time is joined As for Time it neither causeth things nor opportunities of things although it comprise and contain both All things whatsoever having their time the Works of God have always that time which is seasonablest and fittest for them His Works are some ordinary some more rare all worthy of observation but not all of like necessity to be often remembered they all have their times but they all do not add the same estimation and glory to the times wherein they are For as God by being every where yet doth not give unto all places one and the same degree of holiness so neither one and the same dignity to all times by working in all For it all either places or times were in respect of God alike wherefore was it said unto Moses by particular designation Exod. 3. 5. That very place wherein thou standest is holy ground Why doth the Prophet David choose out of all the days of the year but one whereof he speaketh by way of principal admiration Psal. 118 24. This is the day the Lord hath made No doubt as Gods extraordinary presence hath hallowed and sanctified certain places so they are his extraordinary works that have truly and worthily advanced certain times for which cause they ought to be with all men that honour God more holy than other days The Wise man therefore compareth herein not unfitly the times of God with the persons of men If any should ask how it cometh to pass that one day doth excel another seeing the light of all the days in the year proceedeth from one Sun to this he answereth Ecclus. 33. 5. That the knowledge of the Lord hath parted them asunder he hath by them disposed the times and solemn Feasts some he hath chosen out and sanctified some he hath put among the days to number Even as Adam and all other men are of one substance all created of the Earth But the Lord hath divided them by great knowledge and made their ways divers some he hath blessed and exalted some he hath sanctified and appropriated unto himself some he hath cursed humbled and put them out of their dignity So that the cause being natural and necessary for which there should be a difference in days the solemn observation whereof declareth Religious thankfulness towards him whose works of principal reckoning we thereby admire and honour it cometh next to be considered what kinds of duties and services they are wherewith such times should be kept holy 70. The Sanctification of Days and Times is a token of that Thankfulness The manner of celebrating Festival Days and a part of that public honour which we owe to God for admirable benefits whereof it doth not suffice that we keep a secret Calendar taking thereby our private occasions as we lift ourselves to think how much God hath done for all men but the days which are chosen out to serve as public Memorials of such his Mercies aught to clothed with those outward Robes of Holiness whereby their difference from other days may be made sensible But because Time in itself as hath been already proved can receive no alteration the hallowing of Festival days must consist in the shape or countenance which we put upon the affairs that are incident into those days This is the day which the Lord hath made saith the Prophet David Let us rejoice and be glad in it So that generally Offices and Duties of a Grande vialr●●cer octiciurn seces se choros in pub licurn endurete vicatim epuia● ebitatem ta●●rna ●alun ●ole ●●● vino luc●● cugr●e catervarim cursirare ad injurias ad iniurin ad impu●●citias ad I●bi●inis illecebras Siccine exprimi●● publicum qan●inst per publicum dedecus Tert. Apol. ●p 35. Dies selloes Majestiri alti●same dedicar●s ●ulli ●●●●●us voluptati●●tes accup●ri ●l 12. tit 12. lib. 1 Thess. ●●●ira● li●i● Ser. 9 Religious Joy are that wherein the hallowing of Festival times consisteth The most Natural Testimonies of our rejoicing in God are first his Praises set forth with cheerful alacrity of mind Secondly Our comfort and delight expressed by a charitable largeness of somewhat more than common bounty Philo. lib. de Ab●aba Thirdly Sequestration from ordinary labours the toils and cares whereof are not meet to be companions of such gladness Festival solemnity therefore is nothing but the due mixture as it were of these three Elements Praise Bounty and Rest. Touching Praise for as much as the Jews who alone knew the way how to magnify God aright did commonly as appeared by their wicked lives more of custom and for fashion sake execute the services of their Religion then with hearty and true devotion which God especially requireth he therefore protesteth against their Sabbaths and Solemn Days as being therewith much offended Plentiful and liberal expense is required in them that abound party as a sign of their own joy in the goodness of God towards them and partly as a mean whereby to refresh those poor and needy who being especially at these times made partakers of relaxation and joy with others Deut. 15. 14. Nehe 8. 9 do the more religiously bless God whose great Mercies were a cause thereof and the more contentedly endure the burden of that hard estate wherein they continue Rest is the end of all Motion and the last perfection of all things that labour Labours in us are journeys and even in them which feel no weariness by any work yet they are but ways whereby to come unto that which bringeth not happiness till it do bring Rest. For as long as any thing which we desire is unattained we rest not Let us not here take Rest for Idleness They are Idle whom the painfulness of action causeth to avoid those Labours whereunto both God and Nature bindeth them they Rest which either cease from their work when they have brought it unto perfection of else give over a meaner labour because a worthier and better is to be undertaken God hath created nothing to be idle or ill employed As therefore Man doth consist of different and distinct parts every part endued with manifold abilities which all have their several ends and actions thereunto referred so there is in this great variety of duties which belong to men that dependency and other by means whereof the lower sustaining always the more excellent and the higher perfecting the more base they are in their times and seasons continued with most exquisite correspondence Labours of bodily and daily toil purchase freedom for actions of Religious Joy which benefit these actions requite with the gift of desired Rest A thing most natural and fit to accompany the solemn Festival duties of honour which are done to God For if those principal works of God the memory whereof we use to celebrate at such times be but certain tastes and ●●sayss as it were of that final benefit wherein our perfect felicity and bliss lieth folded up seeing that the presence of the one doth direct our cogitations thoughts and desires towards the other it giveth surely a kind of life and addeth inwardly no small delight to those so comfortable expectations when the very outward countenance of that we presently do representeth after a sort that also whereunto we tend Arist. as Festival Rest doth that Celestial estate whereof the very Heathens themselves which had not the means whereby to apprehend much did notwithstanding imagine that it needs must consist in Rest and have therefore taught that above the highest movable sphere there is nothing which feeleth alteration motion or change but all things immutable unsubject to passion blessed with eternal continuance in a life of the highest perfection and of that complete abundant sufficiency within itself which no possibility of want maim or defect can touch Besides whereas ordinary labours are both in themselves painful and base in comparison of Festival Services done to God doth not the natural difference between them show that the one as it were by way of submission and homage should surrender themselves to the other wherewith they can neither easily concur because painfulness and joy are opposite nor decently because while the mind hath just occasion to make her abode in the House of Gladness the Weed of ordinary toil and travel becometh her not Wherefore even Nature hath taught the Heathens and God the Jews and Christ us first that Festival Solemnities are a part of the public exercise of Religion secondly that Praise Liberality and Rest are as Natural Elements whereof Solemnities consist But these things the Heathens converted to the honour of their false gods And as they failed in the end itself so neither could they discern rightly what form and measure Religion therein should observe Whereupon when the Israelites impiously followed so corrupt example they are in every degree noted to have done amiss their Hymns of Songs of Praise were Idolatry their Bounty Excess and their Rest wantonness Therefore the Law of God which appointed them days of Solemnity taught them likewise in what manner the same should be celebrated According to the pattern of which Institution David establishing the state of Religion ordained Praise to be given unto God in the Sabbaths 1 Chro. 23.30 Months and appointed Times as their custom had been always before the lord Now besides the times which God himself in the Law of Moses particularly specified there were through the Wisdom of the Church certain other devised by occasion of like occurrents to those whereupon the former had risen as namely that which Mordecai and Esther did first celebrate Es●h 9 27. in memory of the Lords most wonderful protection when Haman had laid his inevitable Plot to man's thinking for the utter extirpation of the Jews even in one day This they call the Feast of Lots because Haman had cast their life and their death as it were upon the hazard of a Lot To this may be added that other also of Dedication mentioned in the Tenth of St. john's Gospel Joh. 10. 21. 1 Mac. 4. 3● the institution whereof is declared in the History of the Maccabees But for as much as their Law by the coming of Christ is changed and we thereunto no way bound St. Paul although it were not his purpose to favour invectives against the special Sanctification of days and times to the Service of God and to the honour of Jesus Christ doth notwithstanding bend his forces against that opinion which imposed on the Gentiles the Yoke of Jewish Legal observations as if the whole World ought for ever and that upon pain of condemnation to keep and observe the same Such as in this persuasion hallowed those Jewish Sabbaths the Apostle sharply reproveth saying Gal 4. 10. Ye observe days and months and times and years I am in fear of you lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain Howbeit Si omnem la torum devotionem temporum & dierum & menlium & annorum eralis Apostolus ear P●neta celebramus nanca cire●● in mense primo Cur quinquagi●ta ●xinde ●●●bus in omai exulrainne decu●rimi● Lib adver Psyth Aug. de Civir Dci lib 10. cap. 4. so far off was Tertullian from imagining how any man could possibly hereupon call in question such days as the Church of Christ doth observe that the observation of these days he useth for an Argument whereby to prove it could not be the Apostles intent and meaning to condemn simply all observing of such times Generally therefore touching Feasts in the Church of Christ they have that profitable use whereof Saint Augustine speaketh By Festival Solemnities and Set-days we dedicate and sanctify to God the memory of his benefits lest unthankful forgetfulness thereof should creep upon us in course of time And concerning particulars their Sabbath the Church hath changed into our Lord's day that is as the one did continually bring to mind the former World finished by Creation so the other might keep us in perpetual remembrance of a far better World begun by him which came to restore all things to make both Heaven and Earth new For which cause they honoured the last day we the first in every seven throughout the year The rest of the days and times which we celebrate have relation all unto one head We begin therefore our Ecclesiastical year Luke 1. 25. with the glorious Annunciation of his Birth by Angelical Embassage There being hereunto added his Blessed Nativity itself the Mystery of his Legal Circumcision Luk. 2. 21. the Testification of his true Incarnation by the Purification of her which brought him in the World his Resurrection his Ascension into Heaven the admirable sending down of his Spirit upon his chosen and which consequently ensued the notice of that incomprehensible Trinity thereby given to the Church of God Again for as much as we know that Christ hath not only been manifested great in himself but great in other his Saints also the days of whose departure out of the World are to the Church of Christ as the Birth and Coronation days of Kings or Emperors therefore especial choice being made of the very flower of all occasions in this kind there are annual selected times to meditate of Christ glorified in them which had the honour to suffer for his sake before they had age and ability to know him glorified in them which knowing him as Stephen had the sight of that before death whereinto so acceptable death did lead glorified in those Sages of the East that came from far to adore him and were conducted by strange light glorified in the second Elias of the World sent before him to prepare his way glorified in every of those Apostles whom it pleased him to use as Founders of his Kingdom here glorified in the Angels as in Michael glorified in all those happy Souls that are already possessed of Heaven Over and besides which number not great the rest be but four other days heretofore annexed to the Feast of Easter and Pentecost by reason of general Baptism usual at those two Feasts which also is the cause why they had not as other days any proper name given them Their first Institution was therefore through necessity and their present continuance is now for the greater honour of the Principals whereupon they still attend If it be then demanded Whether we observe these times as being thereunto bound by force of Divine Law or else by the only Positive Ordinances of the Church I answer to this That the very Law of Nature itself which all men confess to be God's Law requireth in general no less the Sanctification of Times then of Places Persons and Things unto God's honour For which cause it hath pleased him heretofore as of the rest so of times likewise to exact some parts by way of perpetual homage never to be dispensed withal nor remitted Again To require some other parts of time with as strict exaction but for less continuance and of the rest which were left arbibitrary to accept what the Church shall in due consideration consecrate voluntarily unto like Religious uses Of the first kind amongst the Jews was the Sabbath-day of the second Those Feasts which are appointed by the Law of Moses the Feast of Dedication invented by the Church standeth in the number of the last kind The Moral Law requiring therefore a seventh part throughout the age of the whole World to be that way employed although with us the day be changed in regard of a new Revolution begun by our Saviour Christ yet the same proportion of time continueth which was before because in reference to the benefit of Creation and now much more of Renovation thereunto added by him which was Prince of the World to come we are bound to account the Sanctification of one day in seven a duty which Gods Immutable Law doth exact for ever The rest they say we ought to abolish because the continuance of them doth nourish wicked Superstition in the minds of men besides they are all abused by Papists the enemies of God yea certain of them as Easter and Pentecost even by the Jews Exceptions against our keeping of other Festival days besides the Sabbath 71. Touching Jews their Easter and Pentecost have with ours as much affinity as Philip the Apostle with Philip the Macedonian King As for imitation of Papists and the breeding of Superstition they are now become such common guests that no man can think it discourteous to let them go as they came The next is a rare Observation and Strange you shall find if you mark it as it doth deserve to be noted well that many thousands there are who if they have virtuously during those times behaved themselves T. C. lib. 6. pag. 151. If they had been never abused neither by the Papists nor by the Jews as they have been and are daily yet such making of Holidays is never without some great danger of bringing in some evil and corrupt opinions into the minds of men I will use an example in one and that the chief of Holidays and most generally and of longest time observed in the Church which is the Feast of Easter which was kept of some more days of some sewer How many thousands are there I will not say of the ignorant Papists but of those also which profess the Gospel which when they have celebrated those days with diligent heed taken unto their life and with some earnest devotion in praying and hearing the Word of God do not by and by think that they have well celebrated the Feast of Easter and yet have they thus notably deceived themselves For Saint Paul reacheth 1 Cor. 5. 8. That the celebrating of the Feast of the Christians Easter is not as the Jews was for certain days but showeth That we must keep this Feast all the days of our life in the Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and of Truth By which we see that the observing of the Feast of Easter for certain days in the year doth pull out of our minds ere ever we he aware the Doctrine of the Gospel and causeth us to rest in that near consideration of our duties for the space of a few days which should be extended in all our life if their devotion and zeal in Prayer have been fervent their attention to the Word of God such as all Christian men should yield imagine that herein they have performed a good duty which notwithstanding to think is a very dangerous Error in as much as the Apostle Saint Paul hath taught That we ought not to keep our Easter as the Jews did for certain days but in the Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and of Truth to feast continually Whereas the restraint of Easter to a certain number of days causeth us to rest for a short space in that near consideration of our duties which should be extended throughout the course of our whole lives and so pulleth out of our minds the Doctrine of Christ's Gospel ●re we be aware The Doctrine of the Gospel which here they mean or should mean is That Christ having finished the Law there is no Jewish Paschal Solemnity nor abstinence from sour Bread now required at our hands there is no Leaven which we are bound to cast out but malice sin and wickedness no Bread but the food of sincere Truth wherewith we are tied to celebrate our Passover And seeing no time of sin is granted us neither any intermission of sound belief it followeth That this kind of feasting aught to endure always But how are standing Festival Solemnities against this That which the Gospel of Christ requireth is the perpetuity of virtuous duties not perpetuity of exercise or action but disposition perpetual and practice as oft as times and opportunities require Just valiant liberal temperate and holy men are they which can whensoever they will and will whensoever they ought execute what their several perfections import If Virtues did always cease to be when they cease to work there should be nothing more pernicious to Virtue then Sleep Neither were it possible that men as Zachary and Elizabeth should in all the Commandments of God walk unreprovable or that the Chain of our Conversation should contain so many Links of Divine Virtues as the Apostles in divers places have reckoned up if in the exercise of each virtue perpetual continuance were exacted at our hands Seeing therefore all things are done in time and many offices are not possible at one and the same time to be discharged duties of all forms must have necessarily their several successions and seasons In which respect the Schoolmen have well and sound determined That God's Affirmative Laws and Precepts the Laws that enjoin any actual duty as Prayer Alms and the like do bind us ad semper velle but not ad semper agere we are tied to iterate and resume them when need is howbeit not to continue them without any intermission Feasts whether God himself hath ordained them or the Church by that Authority which God hath given they are of Religion such public services as neither can nor aught to be continued otherwise then only by iteration Which iteration is a most effectual mean to bring unto full maturity and growth those Seeds of Godliness that these very men themselves do grant to be sown in the hearts of many Thousands during the while that such Feasts are present The constant habit of well-doing is not gotten without the custom of doing well neither can Virtue be made perfect but by the manifold works of Virtue often practised Before the powers of our minds be brought unto some perfection our first assays and offers towards Virtue must needs be raw yet commendable because they tend unto ripeness For which cause and Wisdom of God hath commanded especially this circumstance amongst others in solemn Feasts That to Children and Novices in Religion they minister the first occasion to ask and inquire of God Whereupon if there follow but so much Piety as hath been mentioned let the Church learn to further imbecility with Prayer Preserve Lord these good and gracious beginnings that they suddenly dry not up like the morning dew but may prosper and grow as the Trees which Rivers of Waters keep always flourishing Let all men's acclamations be Grace Grace unto it as to that first laid Corner Stone in Zerubbabels' Buildings For who hath despised the day of those things which are small Or how dare we take upon us to condemn that very thing which voluntarily we grant maketh as of nothing somewhat seeing all we pretend against it is only that as yet this somewhat is not much The days of solemnity which are but few cannot choose but soon finish that outward exercise of Godliness which properly appertaineth to such times howbeit men's inward disposition to Virtue they both augment for the present and by their often returns bring also the same at the length unto that perfection which we most desire So that although by their necessary short continuance they abridge the present exercise of Piety in some kind yet because by repetition they enlarge strengthen and confirm the habits of all Virtue it remaineth that we honour observe and keep them as Ordinances many ways singularly profitable in God's Church This Exception being taken against Holidays for that they restrain the Praises of God unto certain times another followeth condemning restraint of men from their ordinary Trades and Labours at those times * T. C. lib. 1. Pag. 152. I confess that it is in the power of the Church to appoint so many days in the Week or in the Year in the which the Congregation shall assemble to hear the Word of God and receive the Sacraments and offer up Prayers unto God as it shall ●hink s●●l according to the Rules which are before alleged But that it hath power to make so many Holidays as we have wherein men are commanded to ●●●se from their daily Vocation of● laughing and exercising their Malie●●●ss ●●● 1 deny to be in the power of the Church For proof whereof I will take the Fourth Commandment and no other interpretation of it than Mr. Doctor alloweth of which is That God lir●●o●●th and leaveth it at the liberty of every man to work six days in the Week so that he rest the Seventh day Seeing therefore that the Lord hath lest it to all Men at Liberty that they might Labour if they think good Six days I say the Church nor no Man can take this Liberty away from them and drive them to a necessary Rest of the ●●●ly And if it be lawful to abridge the Liberty of the Church in this point and instead that the Lord saith Six days thou ●●ist labour if thou wilt to say Thou shalt not labour Six days I do not see why the Church may not as well whereas the Lord saith Thou shalt rest the Seventh day command That thou shalt not rest the Seventh day For if the Church may ●● strain the Liberty which God hath given them it may take away the yoke also which God hath put upon them And whereas you say That notwithstanding this Fourth Commandment the Jews has certain other Feast which they observed indeed the Lord which gave this General Law might make as many Exceptions as he thought good and so long as he thought good But it followeth not because the Lord did it that therefore the Church may do it unless it hath Commandment and Authority from God so to do As when there is any General Plague or Judgement of God either upon the Church or coming towards it the Lord commandeth in such a case joel 2. 15. That they should sanctify a General ●a●● and proclaim G●matisa●a● which sign fi a Prohibition or forbidding of ordinary works and is the same Hebrew word wherewith those Feasts days are noted in the Law wherein they should rest The reason of which Commandment of the Lord was that they abstained that day as much as might be conveniently from Meats so they might abstain from their daily works to the end they might bestow the whole day in hearing the Word of God and humbling themselves in the Congregation confessing their faults and desiring the Lord to turn away from his fierce wrath In this case the Church having Commandment to make a Holiday m●y and aught to do it as the Church which was in Babylon did during the time of their Captivity but where it is destitute of a Commandment it may not presume by any Decree to restrain that liberty which the Lord hath given It is not they say in the Power of the Church to command Rest because God hath left it to all men at liberty that if they think good to bestow Six whole days in labour they may neither is it more lawful for the Church to abridge any man of that liberty which God hath granted then to take away the yoke which God hath laid upon them and to countermand what he doth expressly enjoin They deny not but in times of public calamity that men may the better assemble themselves to fast and pray the Church because it hath received Commandment from God to proclaim a Prohibition from ordinary works standeth bound to do it as the Jews afflicted did in Babylon But without some express Commandment from God there is no power they say under Heaven which may presume by any Decree to restrain the liberty that God hath given Which opinion albeit applied here no farther then to this present cause shaketh universally the Fabric of Government tendeth to Anarchy and mere confusion dissolveth Families dissipateth Colleges Corporations Armies overthroweth Kingdoms Churches and whatsoever is now through the providence of God by Authority and Power upheld For whereas God hath foreptized things of the greatest weight and hath therein precisely defined as well that which every man must perform as that which no man may attempt leaving all sorts of men in the Rest either to be guided by their own good discretion if they be free from subjection to others or else to be ordered by such Commandments and Laws as proceed from those Superiors under whom they live the Patrons of Liberty have here made Solemn Proclamation that all such Laws and Commandments are void in as much as every man is left to the freedom of his own mind in such things as are not either exacted or prohibited by the Law of God And because only in these things the Positive Precepts of men have place which Precepts cannot possibly be given without some Abridgement of their Liberty to whom they are given Therefore if the Father command the Son or the Husband the Wife or the Lord the Servant or the Leader the Soldier or the Prince the Subject to go or stand sleep or wake at such times as God himself in particular commandeth neither they are to stand in defence of the Freedom which God hath granted and to do as themselves list knowing that men may as lawfully command them things utterly forbidden by the Law of God as tie them to any thing which the Law of God leaveth free The plain contradictory whereunto is unfallibly certain Those things which the Law of God leaveth Arbitrary and at Liberty are all subject to the Positive Laws of Men which Laws for the common benefit abridge particular men's Liberty in such things as far as the Rules of Equity will suffer This we must either maintain or else over-turn the World and make every man his own Commander Seeing then that Labour and Rest upon any one day of the Six throughout the year are granted free by the Law of God how exempt we them from the force and power of Ecclesiastical Law except we deprive the World of Power to make any Ordinance or Law at all Besides Is it probable that God should not only allow but command concurrency of Rest with extraordinary occasions of doleful events befalling peradventure some one certain Church or not extending unto many and not as much as permit or licence the like when Piety triumphant with Joy and Gladness maketh solemn commemoration of Gods most rare and unwonted Mercies such especially as the whole race of mankind doth or might participate Of vacation from labour in times of sorrow the only cause is for that the general public Prayers of the whole Church and our own private business cannot both he followed at once whereas of Rest in the famous solemnities of public Joy there is both this consideration the same and also farther a kind of natural repugnancy which maketh labours as hath been proved much more unfit to accompany Festival Praises of God than Offices of Humiliation and Grief Again If we sift what they bring for proof and approbation of Rest with Fasting doth it not in all respects as fully warrant and as strictly command Rest whensoever the Church hath equal reason by Feasts and gladsome solemnities to testify public thankfulness towards God I would know some cause why those words of the Prophet joel Jo●l 12. 15. Sanctify a Fast call a solemn Assembly which words were uttered to the Jews in misery and great distress should more bind the Church to do at all times after the like Exod. 13 3. in their like perplexities than the words of Moses to the same people in a time of joyful deliverance from misery Remember this day may warrant any annual celebration of benefits no less importing the good of men and also justify as touching the manner and form thereof what circumstance soever we imitate only in respect of natural fitness or decency without any Jewish regard to Ceremonies such as were properly theirs and are not by us expedient to be continued Esib. 9 According to the Rule of which general directions taken from the Law of God no less in the one than the other the practice of the Church commended unto us in holy Scripture doth not only make for the justification of black and dismal days as one of the Fathers termeth them but plainly offereth itself to be followed by such Ordinances if occasion require as that which Mordecai did sometimes devise Esther what lay in her power help forward and the rest of the Jews establish for perpetuity namely That the Fourteenth and fifteenth days of the Month Adar should be every year kept throughout all Generations as days of Feasting and Joy wherein they would rest from bodily labour and what by gifts of Charity bestowed upon the poor what by other liberal signs of Amity and Love all testify their thankful minds towards God which almost beyond possibility had delivered them all when they all were as men dead T. C. lib. 3. pag 193. The example out of Esther is no sufficient warrant for these Feasts n question For first as in other cases so in this case of days the estate of Christians under the Gospel ought not to be so ceremonious as was theirs under the Law Secondly That which was done there was done by a special direction of the Spirit of God either through the ministry of the Prophets wh●ch they had or by some other extraordinary means which is not to be followed by us This may appear by another place Za●h 8. where the Jews changed their Fasts into Feasts only by the mouth of the Lord through the ministry of the Prophet For further pr●ol whereof first I take the ●● Verse where it appeareth that this was an order to en●ure always even as long as the other Feast days which were instituted by the Lord himself So that what abuses soever were of that Feast yet as a perpetual Decree of God it ought to have remained whereas our Churches can make no such Decree which may not upon change of times and at her circumstances be altered For the other proof hereof I take the last Verse For the Prophet contenteth not himself with that that he had rehearsed the Decree as he doth sometimes the Decree of propane Kings but oditeth precisely that as soon as ever the Decree was made it was Registered in this Book of Esther which is one of the B●okss of Canonical Scripture declaring thereby in what esteem they had it If it had been of no further Authority then on Decree or then a Canon of one of the Councils it had been presumption to have brought it into the Library of the Holy Ghost The sum of my Answer is That this Decree was Divine and not Ecclesiastical only But this Decree they say was Divine not Ecclesiastical as may appear in that there is another Decree in another Book of Scripture which Decree is plain no● to have proceeded from the Church's Authority but from the mouth of the Prophet only and as a poor simple man sometime was fully persuaded That it Pontius Pilate had not been a Saint the Apostles would never have suffered his name to stand in the Creed so these men have a strong opinion that because the Book of Esther is Canonical the Decree of Esther cannot be possibly Ecclesiastical If it were they ask how the Jews could bind themselves always to keep it seeing Ecclesiastical Laws are mutable As though the purposes of men might never intend constancy in that the nature whereof is subject to alteration Doth the Scripture itself make mention of any Divine Commandment Is the Scripture witness of more then only that Mordecai was the Author of this Custom that by Letters written to his brethren the Jews throughout all Provinces under Darius the King of Persia he gave them charge to celebrate yearly those two days for perpetual remembrance of God's miraculous deliverance and mercy that the Jews hereupon undertook to do it and made it with general consent an order for perpetnity that Esther secondly by her Letters confirmed the same which Mordecai had before decreed and that finally the Ordinance was written to remain for ever upon Record Did not the Jews in Provinces abroad observe at the first the Fourteenth day the Jews in Susis the Fifteenth Were they not all reduced to an uniform order by means of those two Decrees and so every where three days kept the first with fasting in memory of danger the rest in token of deliverance as festival and joyful days Was not the first of these three afterwards the day of sorrow and heaviness abrogated when the same Church saw it meet that a better day a day in memory of like deliverance 2 Mac. 15 34. out of the bloody hancs of Nicanor should succeed in the room thereof But for as much as there is no end of answering fruitless oppositions let it suffice men of sober minds to know that the Law both of God and Nature alloweth generally days of rest and festival solemnity to be observed by way of thankful and joyful remembrance if such miraculous favours be showed towards mankind as require the same that such Graces God hath bestowed upon his Church ● Mac. 4. 55. as well in latter as in former times that in some particulars when they have fallen out himself hath demanded his own honour and in the rest hath lest it to the Wisdom of the Church directed by those precedents and enlightened by other means always to judge when the like is requisite About questions therefore concerning Days and Times our manner is not to stand at bay with the Church of God demanding Wherefore the memory of a Commemoratio Apostolica passionis to●las Christianitatis magistra à cunctis jure celebratur Cod. l. 3 ti● 12 l.7 Paul should be rather kept than the memory of b T. C. lib. 1. pag. 153. For so much as the old people did never keep any Feast or Holiday for remembrance either of Moses etc. Daniel We are content to imagine it may be perhaps true that the least in the Kingdom of Christ is greater than the greatest of all the Prophets of God that have gone before We never yet saw cause to despair but that the c T. C. lib. 1. pag. 153. The people wh●n it is called St. Paul's day or the Blessed Virgin Mary's day can understand nothing thereby but that they are instituted to the honour of St. Paul or the Virgin Mary unless they be otherwise taught And if you say Let them to be taught I have answered That the teaching in this Land cannot by any other which is yet taken come to the most part of those which have drunk this poison etc. simplest of the people might be taught the right construction of as great Mysteries as the d Scilicet ignorant nos nec Christum unquam relinquere qui pro totius servandorum mundi salu●e passus est nec alium quempiam colere posse Nam hunc quidem tanquam Filium Dei a loramus Martyrs verò tanquam Discipulos & Imitatores Domini digne proptet insuperabilem in Regem ipsorum ac Praeceprorem benevolenuam diligismus quorum & nos consories & dicipulos fieri optamus Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. 4. cap. 15. Name of a Saints day doth comprehend although the times of the year go on in their wont course We had rather glorify and bless God for the Fruit we daily behold reaped by such Ordinances as his gracious Spirit maketh the ripe Wisdom of this National Church to bring forth then vainly boast of our own peculiar and private inventions as if the skill of e T. C. lib. 1. pag. 153. As for all the Commodities etc. profitable Regiment had left her public habitation to dwell in retired manner with some few men of one Livery We make not our childish f T. C. lib. 1. pag. 154. appeals sometimes from our own to Foreign Churches sometime from both unto Churches ancienter than both are in effect always from all others to our own selves but as becometh them that follow with all humility the ways of Peace we honour reverence and obey in the very next degree unto God the voice of the Church of God wherein we live They whose wits are too glorious to fall to so low an ebb they which have risen and swollen so high that the Walls of ordinary Rivers are unable to keep them in they whose wanton contentions in the cause whereof we have spoken do make all where they go a Sea even they at their highest float are constrained both to see and g T. C. lib. 1. pag. 154. We condemn not the Church of England neither in this nor in other things Which are meet to be Reform For it is one thing to mislike another thing to condemn and it is one thing to condemn something in the Church and another thing to condemn the Church for it grant that what their fancy will not yield to like their judgement cannot with reason condemn Such is evermore the final victory of all Truth that they which have not the hearts to love her acknowledge that to hate her they have no cause Touching those Festival days therefore which we now observe their number being no way felt h De Clau●io dictum apud Dionys. lib. 50. discommodious to the Commonwealth and their grounds such as hitherto hath been showed what remaineth but to keep them throughout all generations holy severed by manifest notes of difference from other times adorned with that which most may betoken true virtuous and celestial joy To which intent because surcease from labour is necessary yet not so necessary no not on the Sabbath or Seventh day itself but that rarer occasions in men's particular affairs subject to manifest detriment unless they be presently followed may with very good conscience draw them sometimes aside from the ordinary rule considering the  dispensation which our Lord and Saviour groundeth on this Axiom Mark 2. 27. Numb 15.32 Man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath ordained for Man so far forth as concerneth Ceremonies annexed to the principal Sanctification thereof howsoever the rigour of the Law of Moses may be thought to import the contrary if we regard with what severity the violation of Sabbaths hath been sometime punished a thing perhaps the more requisite at that instant both because the Jews by reason of their long abode in a place of continual servile toil could not suddenly be wained and drawn unto contrary offices without some strong impression of terror and also for that there is nothing more needful then to punish with extremity the first transgressions of those Laws that require a more exact observation for many ages to come therefore as the Jews superstitiously addicted to their Sabbaths rest for a long time not without danger to themselves and a High vacare consueti sunt seprima die & neque a●ma porta●e in praedictis dieb●s neque terrae culturam contingere neque alterius cujuspiam curam habere parluntur sed ●● templis extenden●es mano● adorare usque ad vesperam solitisunt Ingrediente verb in civi●a●em Lago●um ●um exerci● & mul●is hominibus cum custodi●e dobueri●t civi●a●em ipsis ●●●titiam observantibus provinci● quidem dominum suscepit amarissimum Lex verò manifes●●ta est mala●● habere solennitatem Agath●r●bid apu● joseph lib. 1. co●●r Appi●● Vide & Dionys. lib. 37. obloquy to their very Law did afterwards perceive and amend wisely their former Error not doubting that bodily labours are made by b 1 Mac. 2.40 accessity venial though otherwise especially on that day rest be more convenient So at all times the voluntary scandalous contempt of that rest from labour wherewith publiclkly God is served we cannot too c Nehe. 13. 15. severely correct and bridle The Emperor Constantine d Co● l. 3 ●● 12 l.3 having with overgreat facility licenced Sundays labour in Country Villages under that pretence whereof there may justly no doubt sometime consideration be had namely left any thing which God by his providence hath bestowed should miscarry not being taken in due time Leo which afterwards saw that this ground would not bear so general and large indulgence as had been granted doth by a contrary Edict both reverse and severely censure his Predecessors remissness saying e Leo Consti● 54. We ordain according to the true meaning of the Holy Ghost and of the Apostles thereby directed That on the Sacred day wherein our own integrity was restored all do rest and surcease labour That neither Husbandman nor other on that day put their hands to forbidden works For if the jews did so much reverence their Sabbath which was but a shadow of ours are not we which inhabit the Light and Truth of Grace bound to honour that day which the Lord himself hath honoured and hath therein delivered us both from dishonour and from death Are we not bound to keep it singular and inviolble well contenting ourselves with so liberal a grant of the rest and not encroaching upon that one day which God hath chosen to his own honour Were it not wretchless neglect of Religion to make that very day common and to think we may do with it as with the rest Imperial Laws which had such care of hallowing especially our Lord's day did not omit to provide that f T. C. lib. 3. ●● ●2 Dies ses●o● other Festival times might be kept with vacation from labour whether they were days appointed on the sudden as extraordinary occasions fell out or days which were celebrated yearly for Politic and Civil considerations or finally such days as Christian Religion hath ordained in God's Church The joy that setteth aside labour disperseth those things which labour gathereth For gladness doth always rise from a kind of fruition and happiness which happiness banisheth the cogitation of all want it needeth nothing but only the bestowing of that it hath in as much as the greatest felicity that felicity hath is to spread and enlarge itself it cometh hereby to pass that the first effect of joyfulness is to rest because it seeketh no more the next because it aboundeth to give The Root of both is the glorious presence of that joy of mind which riseth from the manifold considerations of Gods unspeakable Mercy into which considerations we are led by occasion of Sacred times For how could the Jewish Congregations of old be put in mind by their weekly Sabbaths what the World reaped through his goodness which did of nothing create the World by their yearly Passover what farewell they took of the Land of Egypt by their Pentecost what Ordinances Laws and Statutes their Fathers received at the hands of God by their Feast of Tabernacles with what protection they journeyed from place to place through so many fears and hazards during the tedious time of forty years' travel in the Wildeness by their Annual solemnity of Lots how near the whole Seed of Israel was unto utter extirpation when it pleased that Great God which guideth all things in Heaven and Earth so to change the counsels and purposes of men that the same Hand which had signed a Decree in the opinion both of them that granted and of them that procured it irrevocable for the general massacre of Man Woman and Child became the Buckler of their preservation that no one hair of their heads might be touched The same days which had been set for the pouring out of so much innocent blood were made the days of their execution whose malice had contrived the plot thereof and the selfsame persons that should have endured whatsoever violence and rage could offer were employed in the just revenge of cruelty to give unto bloodthirsty men the taste of their own Cup or how can the Church of Christ now endure to be so much called on and preached unto by that which every a Matth. 28.1 Mark 16.1 Luke 24.1 John 20.1 1 Cor. 16.2 Apoc. 1.10 Dominical day throughout the year that which year by year so many Festival times b Apostolis pr●●csi●om sui● ●on u● beges de sestis diebus celebr●nd sancirent ied u●recte vivendi ca●io●●●●● & pie 〈…〉 bis authores essent Socra Hill lib. cap. 23. if not commanded by the Apostles themselves whose care at that time was of greater things yet instituted either by such c Quae toto tertarum or he servantur vel db ips●s Apostolis vel Consilus g●neralibus quorum 〈…〉 rimain in Ecclesia authoritas ●●● stratuts est ntelligere lice●● Sicu●● qu●d Domini Passio & Resurrectio & in Coelum Ascensus & Adventus Spiritus Sancti anniversaria solemnita●e celebrarenu● August Epist. 118. Universal Authority as no Men or at the least such as we with no reason may despise do as sometime the holy Angels did from Heaven sing d Luke 2.14 Glory be unto God on High Peace on Earth towards Men good Will for this in effect is the very Song that all Christian Feasts do apply as their several occasions require how should the days and times continually thus inculcate what God hath done and we refuse to agnize the benefit of such remembrances that very benefit which caused Moses to acknowledge those Guides of Day and Night the Sun and Moon which enlighten the World not more profitable to nature by giving all things life than they are to the Church of God by occasion of the use they have in regard of the appointed Festival times That which the head of all Philosophers hath said of Women If they be good the half of the Commonwealth is happy wherein they are the same we may fitly apply to times Well to celebrate these Religious and Sacred days is to spend the flower of our time happily They are the splendour and outward dignity of our Religion forcible Witnesses of Ancient Truth provocations to the Exercises of all Piety shadows of our endless Felicity in Heaven on Earth Everlasting Records and Memorials wherein they which cannot be drawn to hearken unto that we teach may only by looking upon that we do in a manner read whatsoever we believe Of Days appointed as well for ordinary as for extraordinary Fasts in the Church of God 72. The matching of contrary things together is a kind of illustration to both Having therefore spoken thus much of Festival Days the next that offer themselves to hand are days of Pensive Humiliation and Sorrow Fast are either of men's own free and voluntary accord as their particular devotion doth move them thereunto or else they are publicly enjoined in the Church and required at the hands of all men There are which altogether disallow not the former kind and the latter they greatly commend so that it be upon extraordinary occasions only T. C. lib. 1. pag. 30. I will not enter now to discuss whether it were well done to Fast i● a●l places according to the custom of the place You oppose Ambrose and Augustine I could oppose Ignatius and Tertullian whereof the one saith it is aefos a de●●●ble thing to Fast upon the Lord's Day the other That it is to kill the Lord Tertul● the Coron il Ignatius Epist the Phillips And although Ambese and Augustine being private men at Rome would have so done yet it followeth not That if they had been Citizens and Ministers there that they would have done And if they had done so yet it followeth 〈…〉 but they would hase spoken against that appointment of days and of Fasting whereof Eusebius saith that Mo●ta●●● was the first Author I speak of that which they ought to have done For otherwise I know they both thought corruptly of Fast when as the one saith It was a remedy or reward to Fast other days ● in 〈…〉 not in Fast was in and the others asketh What Salvation we can obtain if we blot not our ●●● sins by Fasting seeing ●hat the Scripture saith That Fasting and Amis d●th deliver from sin and therefore calleth them new Teachers they that out the merit of Fast August de Temp. 62. ●●m Aub. lib. 10. Epist. and after one certain manner exercised But Yearly or Weekly Fasts such as ours in the Church of England they allow no farther then as the Temporal State of the Land doth require the same for the maintenance of Sea-faring-men and preservation of Cattle because the decay of the one and the waste of the other could not well be prevented but by a Politic Order appointing some such usual change of Diet as ours is We are therefore the rather to make it manifest in all men's eyes That Set-times of Fasting appointed in Spiritual Considerations to be kept by all sorts of men took not their beginning either from Montanus or any other whose Heresies may prejudice the credit and due estimation thereof but have their ground in the Law of Nature are allowable in God's sight were in all ages heretofore and may till the World's end be observed not without singular use and benefit Much hurt hath grown to the Church of God through a false imagination that Fasting standeth men in no stead for any spiritual respect but only to take down the frankness of Nature and to tame the wildeness of flesh Whereupon the World being bold to surfeit doth now blush to fast supposing that men when they fast do rather bewray a Disease then exercise a Virtue I much wonder what they who are thus persuaded do think what conceit they have concerning the Fasts of the Patriarches the Prophets the Apostles our Lord Jesus Christ himself The affections of Joy and Grief are so knit unto all the actions of man's life that whatsoever we can do or may be done unto us the sequel thereof is continually the one or the other affection Wherefore considering that they which grieve and joy as they ought cannot possibly otherwise live then as they should the Church of Christ the most absolute and perfect School of all Virtue hath by the special direction of God's good Spirit hitherto always enured men from their infancy and partly with days of Festival Exercise for the framing of the one affection partly with times of a contrary sort for the perfecting of the other Howbeit over and besides this we must note that as Resting so Fasting likewise attendeth sometimes no less upon the Actions of the higher then upon the Affections of the lower part of the mind Fasting saith Tertullian is a work of reverence towards God The end thereof sometimes elevation of mind sometime the purpose thereof clean contrary The cause why Moses in the Mount did so long fast was mere divine Speculation the cause why David a Tertul. de ●ejun Neque enim c●bi tempus in periculo Semper inedia mo●●ori● sequela est Humiliation Our life is b Philo. 1. de Abrah a mixture of good with evil When we are partakers of good things we joy neither can we but grieve at the contrary If that befall us which maketh glad our Festival Solemnities declare our rejoicing to be in him whose mere undeserved Mercy is the Author of all happiness if any thing be either imminent or present which we eat our Watchings Fast Cries and Tears are unfeigned Testimonies that ourselves we condemn as the only causes of our own misery and do all acknowledge him no less inclinable then able to save And because as the memory of the one though past reneweth gladness so the other called again to mind doth make the wound of our just remorse to bleed anew which wound needeth often touching the more for that we are generally more apt to Calendar Saints than sinners days therefore there is in the Church a care not to iterate the one alone but to have frequent repetition of the other Never to seek after God saving only when either the Crib or the Whip doth constrain were brutish servility and a great derogation to the worth of that which is most predominant in men if sometime it had not a kind of voluntary access to God and of conference as it were with God all these inferior considerations laid aside In which sequestration for as much as c John 4.31 higher cogitations do naturally drown and bury all inferior cares the mind may as well forget natural both food and sleep by being carried above itself with serious and heavenly Meditation as by being cast down with heaviness drowned and swallowed up of sorrow Albeit therefore concerning Jewish Abstinence from certain kinds of meats as being unclean the Apostle doth reach That the d Rom. 14. 19 Kingdom of Heaven is not meat nor drink that food commendeth us not unto God whether we take it or abstain from it that if we eat we are not thereby the more acceptable in his sight nor the less if we eat not His purpose notwithstanding was far from any intent to derogate from that Fasting which is no such scrupulous Abstinence as only refuseth some kinds of meats and drinks lest they make them unclean that taste them but an Abstinence whereby we either interrupt or otherwise abridge the careof our bodily sustenance to show by this kind of outward exercise the serious intention of our minds fixed on Heavenlier and better desires the earnest hunger and thirst whereof depriveth the body of those usual contentments which otherwise are not denied unto it These being in Nature the first causes that induce fasting the next thing which followeth to be considered is the ancient practice thereof amongst the Jews Touching whose private voluntary Fasts the Precept which our Saviour gave them was When ye fast look not sour as Hypocrites For they dis-figure their faces that they might seem to men to fast Matth. 6. 16. Verily I say unto you they have their reward When thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face that thou seem not unto men to fast but unto thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret will reward thee openly Our Lord and Saviour would not teach the manner of doing much less propose a reward for doing that which were not both holy and acceptable in God's sight The Pharisees weekly bound themselves unto double Fasts neither are they for this reproval Often Fasting which was a virtue in john's Disciples could not in them of itself be a vice and therefore not the oftenness of their Fasting but their hypocrisy therein was blamed Of public enjoined Fasts a 2 Chro. 20. Jere. 36. Ezra 8. ● Sam. 7. upon causes extraordinary the examples in Scripture are so far frequent that they need no particular rehearsal Public extraordinary Fast were sometimes for b Julg. 20. 26. one only day sometimes for c 2 Mac 13 11. three sometimes for d 1 Sam. 31. 13. 1 Chro 10. 12. seven Touching Fasts not appointed for any such extraordinary causes but either yearly or monthly or weekly observed and kept First Upon the e Le●it 1● Levit. 16. Philo d hujus festit jejuniosra loquitur Pag. 44● nineth day of that month the tenth whereof was the Feast of Expiation they were commanded of God that every Soul year by year should afflict itself Their yearly Fasts every fourth month in regard of the City of jerusalem entered by the Enemy every fifth for the memory of the overthrow of their Temple every seventh for the treacherous destruction and death of Gedaliah the very last stay which they had to lean unto in their greatest misery every tenth in remembrance of the time when siege began first to be laid against them All these not commanded by God himself but ordained by a public Constitution of their own the Prophet f Zach. 8. 1● Exod. 32. Numh. 14. Zachary expressly toucheth That St. Jerome following the Tradition of the Hebrews doth make the first a memorial of the breaking of those Two Tables when Moses descended from Mount Senai the second a memorial as well of God's indignation condemning them to forty years' travel in the Desert as of his wrath in permitting Chaldeans to waste burn and destroy their City the last a memorial of heavy tidings brought out of jury to Ezekiel and the rest which lived as Captives in foreign parts the difference is not of any moment considering that each time of sorrow is naturally evermore a Register of all such grievous events as have happened either in or near about the same time To these I might add g Vide Riber lib. 5. cap. 11. Dan. 10. 23. sundry other Fasts above twenty in number ordained amongst them by like occasions and observed in like manner besides their weekly Abstinence Mundays and Thursdays throughout the whole year When men fasted it was not always after one and same sort but either by depriving themselves wholly of all food during the time that their Fasts continued or by abating both the quantity and kind of Diet. We have of the one a plain example in the Ninivites Fasting and as plain a precedent for the other in the Prophet Daniel I was saith he in heaviness for three weeks of days I eat no pleasant Bread neither tasted Flash nor Wine Their Tables when they gave themselves to fasting had not that usual furniture of such Dishes as do cherish blood with blood but h Puram & sine animalibus coenam Apu● in Aselep in sine Pastum & potum pura nosse non ventris scilicet sed animae cause Tertul. de Poenit. Vide Phil. lib. de veta contempl Rom. 14. 2. Hieron lib. ● cont● jevinian Judith 8 6. A. ●os in ●isne Tora lib. 3. Quiest the tempor cap. the S●b & cap. de Je●us for food they had Bread for suppage Salt and for sauce Herbs Whereunto the Apostle may be thought to allude saying One believeth he may eat all things another which is weak and maketh a conscience of keeping those Customs which the Jews observe eateth Herbs This austere repast they took in the Evening after Abstinence the whole day For to forfeit a Noons meal and then to recompense themselves at night was not their use Nor did they ever accustom themselves on Sabbaths or Festivals days to fast And yet it may be a question whether in some sort they did not always fast the Sabbath Their Fast were partly in token of Penitency Humiliation Grief and Sorrow partly in sign of devotion and reverence towards God Which second consideration I dare not peremptorily and boldy affirm any thing might induce to abstain till noon as their manner was on Fasting days to do till night May it not very well he thought that hereunto the Sacred a Neh. 8. 3. 12. Hora si●●●a qu● 〈…〉 't is nos●● is ad prandium voca●e soler supervenit joseph lib. de vira 〈…〉 Scripture doth give some secret kind of Testimony josephus is plain That the sixth hour the day they divided into twelve was wont on the Sabbath always to call them home unto meat Neither is it improbable but that the b Sabbat● Juda●oram à Mose in umne x●um jejunio dicara justi● lib. 35. Ne ju●aus quidem mi T●●eri ●om libenter Sabbat●● junium i●●●a quam eg● hostie ●e●ravi Sueton. in Octau. c. 76. Heathens did therefore so often upbraid them with Fasting on that day Besides they which found so great fault with our Lords Disciples for rubbing a few Ears of Corn in their hands on the Sabbath day are not unlikely to have aimed also at the same mark For neither was the bodily pain so great that it should offend them in that respect and the very manner of defence which our Saviour there useth is more direct and literal to justify the breach of the Jewish custom in Fasting then in working at that time Finally the Apostles afterwards themselves when God first gave them the gift of Tongues whereas some in disdain and spite termed Grace Drunkenness it being then the day of Pentecost and but only a fourth part of the day spent they use this as an argument against the other cavil c Act● 2. 5. These men saith Peter are not drunk as you suppose since as yet the third hour of the day is not overpast Howbeit leaving this in suspense as a thing not altogether certainly known and to come from Jews to Christians we find that of private voluntarily Fast the Apostle Saint Paul speaketh d 1 Cor. 7 ● 2 Cor. 6 ● & 11. 27. Col. 4 4. more than once And saith Tertullian they are sometime commanded throughout the Church Ex aliqua sellicitudinis Ecclesiastica causa the care and fear of the Church so requiring It doth not appear that the Apostles ordained any set and certain days to be generally kept of all Notwithstanding for as much as Christ hath fore-signified that where himself should be taken from them his absence would soon make them apt to fast it seemeth that even as the first Festival day appointed to be kept of the Church was the day of our Lords return from the dead so the first sorrowful and mourning day was That which we now observe in memory of his departure o●t of this World And because there could be no abatement of grief till they saw him raised whose death was the occasion of their heaviness therefore the day he lay in the Sepulchre hath been also kept and observed as a weeping day The Custom of Fasting these two days before Easter is undoubtedly most ancient in so much Ignat. Epist. ad Philip. that Ignatius not thinking him a Catholic Christian man which did not abhor and as the state of the Church was then avoid fasting on the Jews Sabbath doth notwithstanding except for ever that one Sabbath or Saturday which falleth out to be the Easter-Eve as with us it always doth and did sometimes also with them which kept at that time their Easter the Fourteenth day of March as the custom of the Jews was It came afterward to be an order that even as the day of Christ's Resurrection so the other two in memory of his death and burial were weekly But this when Saint Ambrose lived had not as yet taken place throughout all Churches no not in Milan where himself was Bishop And for that can●● he saith that although at Rome he observed the Saturdays fast because such was then the custom in Rome nevertheless in his own Church at home he did otherwise The Churches which did not observe that day had another instead thereof which was the Wednesday for that when they judged it meet to have weekly a day of Humiliation besides that whereon our Saviour suffered death it seemed best to make their choice of that day especially whereon the Jews are thought to have first contrived their treason together with judas against Christ. So that the instituting and ordaining both of these and of all other times of like exercise is as the Church shall judge expedient for men's good And concerning every Christian's man's duty herein surely that which Augustine and Ambrose are before alleged to have done is such as all men favouring Equity must needs allow and follow if they affect peace As for their specified Errors I will not in this place dispute whether voluntarily Fasting with a virtuous purpose of mind be any medicinable remedy of evil or a duty acceptable unto God and in the World to come even rewardable as other offices are which proceed from Christian Piety whether wilfully to break and despise the wholesome laws of the Church herein be a thing which offendeth God whether truly it may not be said that penitent both weaping and fasting are means to blot out sin means whereby through God's unspeakable and undeserved mercy we obtain or procure to ourselves pardon which attainment unto any gracious benefit by him bestowed the phrase of Antiquity useth to express by the name of Merit but if either Saint Augustine or Saint Ambrose have taught any wrong opinion seeing they which reprove them are not altogether free from Error I hope they will think it no error in us so to censure men's smaller faults that their virtues be not thereby generally prejudiced And if in Churches abroad where we are not subject to Power or Jurisdiction discretion should teach us for Peace and Quietness sake to frame ourselves to other men's example Is it meet that at home where our freedom is less our boldness should be more Is it our duty to oppugn in the Churches whereof we are Ministers the Rites and Customs which in Foreign Churches Piety and Modesty did teach us as strangers not to oppugn but to keep without show of contradiction or dislike Why oppose they the name of a Minister in this case unto the state of a private man Doth their order exempt them from obedience to Laws That which their Office and place requireth is to show themselves patterns of reverend subjection not Authors and Masters of contempt towards Ordinances the strength whereof when they seek to weaken they do but in truth discover to the World their own imbecillities which a great deal wiselier they might conceal But the practice of the Church of Christ we shall by so much the better both understand and love if to that which hitherto hath been spoken there be somewhat added for more particular declaration how Heretics have partly abused Fasts and partly bend themselves against the lawful use thereof in the Church of God Whereas therefore Ignatius hath said If any keep Sundays or Saturdays Fasts one only Saturday in the year excepted that man is no better than a murderer of Christ Epist. ad Philip. the cause of such his earnestness at that time was the impiety of certain Heretics which thought * Vide Ire●● lib. 1. cap. 20 21. ●9 23. 24. 25. Epiph. ●aeres 21. 2. 23 24 27● 28. etc. 41. 42. that this World being corruptible could not be made but a very evil Author And therefore as the Jews did by the Festival Solemnity of their Sabbath rejoice in the God that created the World as in the Author of all Goodness so those Heretics in hatred of the Maker of the World sorrowed wept and fasted on that day as being the birthday of all evil And as Christian men of sound belief did solemnize the Sunday in joyful memory of Christ's Resurrection so likewise at the selfsame time such Heretics as denied his Resurrection did the contrary to them which held it When the one sort rejoiced Vide Canon Apost 55. the other fasted Against those Heretics which have urged perpetual abstinence from certain Meats as being in their very nature unclean the Church hath still bend herself as an enemy Saint Paul giving charge to take heed of them which under any such opinion should utterly forbid the use of Meats or Drinks The Apostles themselves forbade some as the order taken at jerusalem declareth But the cause of their so doing we all know Again when Tertullian together with such as were his followers began to Montanize and pretending to perfect the severity of Christian Discipline brought in sundry unaccustomed days of Fasting continued their Fasts a great deal longer and made them more rigorous than the use of the Church had been the minds of men being somewhat moved at so great and so sudden novelty the cause was presently inquired into After notice taken how the Montanists held these Additions to be Supplements of the Gospel whereunto the Spirit of Prophecy did now mean to put as it were the last hand and was therefore newly descended upon Montanus whose orders all Christian men were no less to obey than the Laws of the Apostles themselves this Abstinence the Church abhorred likewise and that justly Whereupon Tertullian proclaiming even open War of the Church maintained Montanism wrote a Book in defence of the new Fast and entitled the same A Treatise of Fasting against the opinion of the Carnal sort In which Treatise nevertheless because so much is sound and good as doth either generally concern the use or in particular declare the Custom of the Churches Fasting in those times men are not to reject whatsoever is alleged out of that Book for confirmation of the Truth His error discloseth itself in those places where he defendeth Fasts to be duties necessary for the whole Church of Christ to observe as commanded by the Holy Ghost and that with the same authority from whence all other Apostolical Ordinances came both being the Laws of God himself without any other distinction or difference saving only that he which before had declared his will by Paul and Peter did now farther reveal the same by Montanus also Against us ye pretend saith Tertullian that the Public Orders which Christianity is bound to keep were delivered at the first and that no new thing is to be added thereunto Stand if you can upon this point for behold I challenge you for Fasting more than at Easter yourselves But in fine ye answer That these things are to be done as established by the voluntary appointment of men and not by virtue or force of any Divine Commandment Well then he addeth Ye have removed your first footing and gone beyond that which was delivered by doing more than was at the first imposed upon you You say you must do that which your own judgements have allowed We require your obedience to that which God himself doth institute Is it not strange that men to their own will should yield that which to God's Commandment they will not grant Shall the pleasure of men prevail more with you than the power of God himself These places of Tertullian for Fasting have worthily been put to silence And as worthily Aerius condemned for opposition against Fasting The one endeavoured to bring in such Fasts as the Church ought not to receive the other to overthrow such as already it had received and did observe The one was plausible unto many by seeming to hate carnal looseness and riotous excess much more than the rest of the World did the other drew hearers by pretending the maintenance of Christian Liberty The one thought his cause very strongly upheld by making invective declamations with a pale and a withered countenance against the Church by filling the ears of his starved hearers with speech suitable to such men's humours and by telling them no doubt to their marvellous contentment and liking Our new Prophecies are refused they are despised It is because Montanus doth Preach some other God or dissolve the Gospel of jesus Christ or overthrow any Canon of Faith and Hope No our crime is We teach that men ought to Fast more often then Marry the best Feast-maker is with them the perfectest Saint they are assuredly mere Spirit and therefore these our corporal devotions please them not Thus the one for Montanus and his Superstition The other in a clean contrary tune against the Religion of the Church These Set-fasts away with them for they are jewish and bring men under the yoke of servitude Epiph. ●●res 75. If I will fast let me choose my time that Christian Liberty be not abridged Hereupon their glory was to fast especially upon the Sunday because the order of the Church was on that day not to Fast. On Church Fasting days and especially the Week before Easter when with us saith Epiphanius Custom admitteth nothing but lying down upon the Earth abstinence from fleshly delights and pleasures sorrowfulness dry and unsavoury Diet Prayer Watching Fasting all the Medicines which holy Affections can minister they are up be times to take in of the strongest for the belly and when their veins are well swollen they make themselves mirth with laughter at this our service wherein we are persuaded we please God By this of Epiphanius it doth appear not only what Fast the Church of Christ in those times used but also what other parts of Discipline were together therewith in force according to the ancient use and custom of bringing all men at certain times to a due consideration and an open Humiliation of themselves Two kinds there were of Public Penitency the one belonging to notorious offenders whose open wickedness had been scandalous the other appertaining to the whole Church and unto every several person whom the same containeth It will be answered That touching this latter kind it may be exercised well enough by men in private No doubt but Penitency is as Prayer a thing acceptable unto God be it in public or in secret Howbeit as in the one if men were wholly left to their own voluntary Meditations in their Closets and not drawn by Laws and Orders unto the open Assemblies of the Church that there they may join with others in Prayer it may be soon conjectured what Christian devotion that way would come unto in a short time Even so in the other We are by sufficient experience taught how little it booreth to tell men of washing away their sins with tears of Repentance and so to leave them altogether unto themselves O Lord what heaps of grievous transgressions have we committed the best the perfectest the most righteous amongst us all and yet clean pass them over unsorrowed fo● and unrepented of only because the Church hath forgotten utterly how to bestow her wont times of Discipline wherein the public example of all was unto every particular person a most effectual mean to put them often in mind and even in a manner to draw them to that which now we all quite and clean forget as if Penitency were no part of a Christian man's duty Again besides our private offences which ought not thus loosely to be overslipt suppose we the Body and Corporation of the Church so just that at no time it needeth to show itself openly cast down in regard of those Faults and Transgressions which though they do not properly belong unto any one had notwithstanding a special Sacrifice appointed for them in the Law of Moses and being common to the whole Society which containeth all must needs so far concern every man in particular as at some time in solemn manner to require acknowledgement with more than daily and ordinary testifications of grief There could not hereunto a fitter preamble be devised than that memorable Commination set down in the Book of Common Prayer if our practice in the rest were suitable The Head already so well drawn doth but wish a proportionable Body And by the Preface to that very part of the English Liturgy it may appear how at the first setting down thereof no less was intended For so we are to interpret the meaning of those words wherein restitution of the Primitive Church Discipline is greatly wished for touching the manner of public penance in time of Lent Wherewith some being not much acquainted but having framed in their minds the conceit of a new Discipline far unlike to that of old they make themselves believe it is undoubtedly this their Discipline which at the first was so much desired They have long pretended that the whole Scripture is plain for them If now the Communion Book make for them too I well think the one doth as much as the other it may be hoped that being found such a well-willer unto their cause they will more favour it then they have done Having therefore hitherto spoken both of Festival days and so much of solemn Fasts as may reasonably serve to show the ground thereof in the Law of Nature the practice partly appointed and partly allowed of God in the Jewish Church the like continued in the Church of Christ together with the sinister oppositions either of Heretics erroneously abusing the same or of others thereat quarrelling without cause we will only collect the chiefest points as well of resemblance as of difference between them and so end First In this they agree that because Nature is the general Root of both therefore both have been always common to the Church with Infidels and Heathen men Secondly They also herein accord that as oft as joy is the cause of the one Con. Land c. ● 52. Vetot N●tali●ia Mar●●su a in Qua●agesima cei bro● and grief the Wellspring of the other they are incompatible A third degree of affinity between them is That neither being acceptable to God of itself but both tokens of that which is acceptable their approbation with him must necessarily depend on that which they ought to import and signify So that if herein the mind dispose no itself aright whether we a ● o● 1. 13. rest or b Isai. 58 3. fast we offend A fourth thing common unto them is that the greatest part of the World hath always grossly and palpably offended in both Infidels because they did all in relation to false gods godless sensual and careless minds for that there is in them no constant true and sincere affection towards those things which are pretended by such exercise yea certain flattering oversights there are wherewith sundry and they not of the worst sort may be easily in these cases led awry even through abundance of love and liking to that which must be embraced by all means but with caution in as much as the very admiration of Saints Whether we celebrate their glory or follow them in humility whether we laugh or weep mourn or rejoice with them is as in all things the affection of Love apt to deceive and doth therefore need the more to be directed by a watchful guide seeing there is manifestly both ways even in them whom we honour that which we are to observe and shun The best have not still been sufficiently mindful that God's very Angels in Heaven are but Angels and that bodily exercise considered c 1 Tim. 4. 8. in itself is no great matter Finally Seeing that both are Ordinances were devised for the good of Man and yet not Man created purposely for them as for d Eccles. 12. 13. I●ai ●● 6,7 Rom. 14. ●7 Sam. 1. 27. Heb. 12 14. ●●● 24 other Offices of Virtue whereunto Gods immutable Law for ever tieth it is but equity to wish or admonish that where by uniform order they are not as yet received the example of e ●useb Eccle. ●● ● lib. 5. ● 23 Victor's extremity in the one and of f Matth. ● 14. john's Disciples curiosity in the other be not followed yea where they are appointed by Law Col. 8. 15. that notwithstanding we avoid Judaisme and as in Festival days men's necessities for matter of labour so in times of Fasting regard be had to their imbecillities lest they should suffer harm doing good Thus therefore we see how these two Customs are in divers respects equal But of Fasting the use and exercise though less pleasant Mat. 6. 4. Eccles. 7. 4. is by so much more requisite than the other as grief of necessity is a more familiar guest then the contrary passion of mind albeit gladness to all men be naturally more welcome For first We ourselves do many ●o things amiss than well and the fruit of our own ill doing is remorse because nature is conscious to itself that it should do the contrary Again forasmuch as the world over-aboundeth with malice and few are delighted in doing good unto other men there is no man so seldom crossed as pleasured at the hands of others whereupon it cannot be chosen but every man's Woes must double in that respect the number and measure of his delights Besides concerning the very choice which oftentimes we are to make our corrupt inclination well considered there is cause why our Saviour should account them the happiest that do most mourn and why Solomon might judge it better to frequent mourning then Feasting-houses not better simply and in itself for then would Nature that way incline but in regard of us and our common weakness better Job 1. 5. job was not ignorant that his children's Banquets though te●ding to amity needed Sacrifice Neither doth any of us all need to be taught that in things which delight Arist. Eth. 2. cap. 13. we easily swerve from mediocrity and are not easily led by a right direct line On the other side the Sores and Diseases of mind which inordinante pleasure breedeth are by Dolour and Grief cured For which cause as all offences use to seduce by pleasing so all punishments endeavour by vexing to reform transgressions We are of our own accord apt enough to give entertainment to things delectable but patiently to lack what flesh and blood doth desire and by Virtue to forbear what by Nature we covet this no man attaineth unto but with labour and long practice From hence it riseth that in former Ages abstinence and Fasting more than ordinary was always a special branch of their praise in whom it could be observed and known were they such as continually gave themselves to austere life of men that took often occasions in private virtuous respects to lay Solomon's counsel aside Eccles. 9.7 Psal. 35. 15● Eat thy bread with joy and to be followers of David's Example which saith I humbled my soul with fasting or but they who otherwise worthy of no great commendation have made of hunger some their Gain some their Physic some their Art that by mastering sensual Appetites without constraint they might grow able to endure hardness whensoever need should require For the body accustomed to emptiness pineth not away so soon as having still used to fill itself Many singular Effects there are which should make Fasting even in public Considerations the rather to be accepted For I presume we are not altogether without experience how great their advantage is in martial Erterprises that lead Armies of men trained in a School of Abstinence It is therefore noted at this day in some that patience of hunger and thirst hath given them many Victories in others that because if they want there is no man able to rule them not they in plenty to moderate themselves he which can either bring them to hunger or overcharge them is sure to make them their own overthrow What Nation soever doth feel these dangerous inconveniences may know that sloth and fullness in peaceable times at home is the cause thereof and the remedy a strict Observation of that part of Christian Discipline which teacheth men in practice of Ghostly warfare against themselves those things that afterwards may help them justly assaulting or standing in lawful defence of themselves against others The very purpose of the Church of God both in the number and in the order of her Fasts hath been not only to preserve thereby throughout all Ages the remembrance of miseries heretofore sustained and of the causes in ourselves out of which they have risen that men considering the one might fear the other the more but farther also to temper the mind lest contrary affections coming in place should make it too profuse and dissolute in which respect it seemeth that Fasts have been set as Ushers of Festival days for prevention of those disorders as much as might be wherein notwithstanding the World always will deserve d Valde absurdum est nimia sito●itate ●el●e honora re mar●ytem quem scias Deo placuisse jejunus Hier. Epist. ad Eust. as it hath done blame because such evils being not possible to be rooted out the most we can do is in keeping them low and which is chiefly the fruit we look for to create in the minds of men a love towards a frugal and severe life to undermine the Palaces of wantonness to plant Parsimony as Nature where Riotousness hath been studied to harden whom pleasure would melt and to help the tumors which always Fullness breedeth that Children as it were in the Wool of their Infancy died with hardness may never afterwards change colour that the poor whose perpetual Fasts are of Necessity may with better contentment endure the hunger which Virtue causeth others so often to choose and by advice of Religion itself so far to esteem above the contrary that they which for the most part do lead sensual and easy lives they which as the Prophet David describeth them Psal. ●3 5● are not plagued like other men may by the public spectacle of all be still put in mind what themselves are Finally that every man may be every man's daily guide and example as well by fasting to declare humility as by praise to express joy in the sight of God although it have herein befallen the Church as sometimes David so that the speech of the one may be truly the voice of the other My soul fasted and even that was also turned to my reproof Psal. 69. 10. The celebration of Matrimony T.C.l. 1. p. 199. 73. In this world there can be no Society durable otherwise then only by propagation Albeit therefore single Life be a thing more Angelical and Divine yet sith the replenishing first of Earth with blessed Inhabitants and then of Heaven with Saints everlastingly praising God did depend upon conjunction of Man and Woman he which made all things complete and perfect saw it could not be good to leave men without any Helper unto the sore-alledged end In things which some farther and doth cause to be desired choice seeketh rather proportion then absolute perfection of goodness So that Woman being created for man's sake to be his Helper in regard of the end before mentioned namely the having and bringing up of Children whereunto it was not possible they could concur unless there were subalternation between them which subalternation is naturally grounded upon inequality because things equal in every respect are never willingly directed one by another Woman therefore was even in her first estate framed by Nature not only after in time but inferior in excellency also unto Man howbeit in so due and sweet proportion as being presented before our eyes might be sooner perceived then defined And even herein doth lie the Reason why that kind of love which is the perfectest ground of Wedlock is seldom able to yield any reason of itself Now that which is born of Man must be nourished with far more travel as being of greater price in Nature and of slower pace to perfection than the Offspring of any other Creature besides Man and Woman being therefore to join themselves for such a purpose they were of necessity to be linked with some strait and insoluble knot The bond of Wedlock hath been always more or less esteemed of as a thing Religious and Sacred The Title which the very Heathens themselves do thereunto oftentimes give a Tus Dionys. a●● l. 2. is Holy Those Rites and Orders which were instituted in the Solemnisation of Marriage the Hebrews term by the Name of Conjugal b Ki●l●oshin in Ri●uili Heb. de benedictio ●e nuptiarum Eccles. 3. 1. Joel 2. 16. 1 Cor. 7. ● Sanctification Amongst ourselves because sundry things appertaining unto the Public Order of Matrimony are called in Question by such as know not from whence those Customs did first grow to show briefly some true and sufficient Reason of them shall not be superfluous although we do not hereby intent to yield so far unto Enemies of all Church-Orders saving their own as though every thing were unlawful the true Cause and Reason whereof at the first might hardly perhaps be now rendered Wherefore to begin with the times wherein the liberty of Marriage is restrained There is saith Solomon a time for all things a time to laugh and a time to mourn That duties belonging unto Marriage and Offices appertaining to Penance are things unsuitable and unfit to be matched together the Prophets and Apostles themselves do witness Upon which ground as we might right well think it marvellous absurd to see in a Church a Wedding on the day of a public Fast so likewise in the selfsame consideration our Predecessors thought it not amiss to take away the common liberty of Marriages during the time which was appointed for preparation unto and for exercise of General Humiliation by Fasting and praying weeping for sins As for the delivering up of the woman either by her Father or by some other we must note that in ancient times a Mulieres antiquo jure tutela perpetua continebat Recedebant vero & tutoris potestate quae in manum convenissent Boet. in Topic. Ci● all women which had not Husbands nor Fathers to govern them had their Tutors b Nullam eo privatam quidem rem foeminas sine auctore agere majores nost●i voluerunt Liv. l. 4. The reason yielded by Tully this Propter infirmitatem consilii Cic. pro Mur. Vide leg Saxon tit 6. & 17. without whose Authority there was no act which they did warrantable And for this cause they were in Marriage delivered unto their Husbands by others Which custom retained hath still this use that it putteth Women in mind of a duty whereunto the very imbecility of their nature and Sex doth bind them namely to be always directed guided and ordered by others although our Positive Laws do not tie them now as Pupils The custom of laying down Money seemeth to have been derived from the Saxons whose manner was to buy their Wives But seeing there is not any great cause wherefore the memory of that custom should remain it skilleth not much although we suffer it to lie dead even as we see it in a manner already worn out The Ring hath been always used as an especial pledge of Faith and Fidelity Nothing more fit to serve as a token of our purposed endless continuance in that which we never ought to revoke This is the cause wherefore the Heathens themselves did in such cases use the Ring whereunto Tertullian alluding saith That in ancient times c Aurum nulla norat praeter unico digiro quem sponsus oppignorasset pro nubo annulo Tertul. Apol. c. 6. No Woman was permitted to wear gold saving only upon one finger which her Husband had fastened unto himself with that Ring which was usually given for assurance of future Marriage The cause why the Christians use it as some of the Fathers think is d Isidor de Eccles. office l. 2. c. 19 either to testify mutual love or rather to serve for a pledge of conjunction in heart and mind agreed upon between them But what right and custom is there so harmless wherein the wit of man bending itself to derision may not easily find out somewhat to scorn and jest at He that should have beheld the Jews when they stood with e Elias Thesb in dict Hupha a four-cornered Garment spread over the heads of Espoused Couples while their Espousals were in making He that should have beheld their f In Ritual de benedict nuptiarum praying over a Cup and their delivering the same at the Marriage-feast with set Forms of Benediction as the Order amongst them was might being lewdly affected take thereat as just occasion of scornful cavil as at the use of the Ring in Wedlock amongst Christians But of all things the most hardly taken is the uttering of these words With my body I thee worship In which words when once they are understood there will appear as little cause as in the rest for any wise man to be offended First therefore inasmuch as unlawful copulation doth pollute and g Rom. 1. 24. 1 Cor. 7. 4. dishonour both parties this Protestation that we do worship and honour another with our bodies may import a denial of all such Lets and Impediments to our knowledge as might cause any stain blemish or disgrace that way which kind of construction being probable would easily approve that speech to a peaceable and quiet mind Secondly in that the Apostle doth so expressly affirm that parties unmarried have not any longer entire power over themselves but each hath interest in others person it cannot be thought an absurd construction to say that worshipping with the body is the imparting of that interest in the body unto another h L. penul●● the concub which none before had save only ourselves But if this were the natural meaning the words should perhaps be as requisite to be used on the one side as on the other and therefore a third sense there is which I rather rely upon Apparent it is that the ancient difference between a lawful Wife and a Concubine was only in the different purpose of man betaking himself to the one or the other If his purpose were only fellowship there grew to the Woman by this means no worship at all but the contrary In professing that his intent was to add by his person honour and worship unto hers he took her plainly and clearly to Wife This is it which the Civil Law doth mean when it maketh a Wife to differ from a Concubine in i L. item legato sect penult. D the leg 3. dignity a Wife to be taken where j L. Donationes D. donationibus Conjugal honour and affection do go before The worship that grew unto her being taken with declaration of this intent was that her children became by this mean legitimate and free herself was made a Mother over his Family Last of all she received such advancement of state as things annexed unto his person might augment her with yea a right of participation was thereby given her both in him and even in all things which were his This doth somewhat the more-plainly appear by adding also that other Clause With all my worldy goods I thee endow * Dionys. Hal. Anriq lib. 2. Tertul. lib. 2. ad lixorem The former branch having granted the principal the latter granteth that which is annexed thereunto To end the Public Solemnity of Marriage with receiving the Blessed Sacrament is a Custom so Religious and so holy that if the Church of England be  in this respect it is not for suffering it to be so much but rather for not providing that it may be more put in Me. The Laws of Romulus concerning Marriage are therefore extolled above the rest amongst the Heathens which were before in that they established the use of certain special Solemnities whereby the minds of men were drawn to make the greater conscience of Wedlock and to esteem the Bond thereof a thing which could not be without impiety dissolved If there be any thing in Christian Religion strong and effectual to like purpose it is the Sacrament of the holy Eucharist in regard of the force whereof Tertullian breaketh out into these words concerning Matrimony therewith sealed Unde sufficiam ad enarrandam faelicitatem ejus Matrimonii quod Ecclesia conciliat & confirmat Oblatio I know not which way I should be able to show the happiness of that Wedlock the knot whereof the Church doth fasten and the Sacrament of the Church confirm Touching Marriage therefore let thus much be sufficient Churching of Women T C. lib. 1 pag. 150. 74. The Fruit of Marriage is Birth and the Companion of Birth Travail the grief whereof being so extreme and the danger always so great Dare we open our mouths against the things that are holy and presume to censure it as a fault in the Church of Christ That Women after their Deliverance do publicly show their thankful minds unto God But behold What reason there is against it Fors●●th if there should be solemn and express giving of Thanks in the Church for every benefit either equal or greater than this which any singular person in the Church doth receive We should not only have no Preaching of the Word nor Ministering of the Sacraments but we should not have so much leisure as to do any corporal or bodily work but should be like those Massilian Heretics which do nothing else but pray Surely better a great deal to be like unto those Heretics which do nothing else but pray than those which do nothing else but quarrel Their heads it might happily trouble somewhat more than as yet they are aware of to find out so many benefits greater than this or equivalent thereunto for which if so be our Laws did require solemn and express Thanksgivings in the Church the same were like to prove a thing so greatly cumbersome as is pretended But if there be such store of Mercies even inestimable poured every day upon thousands as indeed the Earth is full of the Blessings of the Lord which are day by day renewed without number and above measure shall it not be lawful to cause solemn Thanks to be given unto God for any benefit than which greater or whereunto equal are received no Law binding men in regard thereof to perform the like duty Suppose that some Bond there be that tieth us at certain times to mention publicly the names of sundry our Benefactors Some of them it may be are such That a day would scarcely serve to reckon up together with them the Catalogue of so many men besides as we are either more or equally beholden unto Because no Law requireth this impossible labour at our hands shall we therefore condemn that Law whereby the other being possible and also dutiful is enjoined us So much we owe to the Lord of Heaven that we can never sufficiently praise him nor give him thanks for half those benefits for which this Sacrifice were most due Howbeit God forbid we should cease performing this duty when public Order doth draw us unto it when it may be so easily done when it hath been so long executed by devout and virtuous people God forbid that being so many ways provoked in this case unto so good a duty we should omit it only because there are other cases of like nature wherein we cannot so conveniently or at leastwise do not perform the same most virtuous Office of Piety Wherein we trust that as the action itself pleaseth God so the order and manner thereof is not such as may justly offend any It is but an overflowing of Gall which causeth the Woman's absence from the Church during the time of her lying in to be traduced and interpreted as though she were so long judged unholy and were thereby shut out or sequestered from the House of God according to the ancient Levitical Law Whereas the very Canon Law itself doth not so hold but directly professeth the contrary a Dict. 5. cap. Haec quae In legs praecipicbatur ut mulier si mas●ulum pare●er 40 so soeminam 80. diebus à ●e●● pli cessarer ingre●●i● Nunc autem st●rim post partum Ecclesiam Ingredi non prohibetur She is not barred from thence in such sort as they interpret it nor in respect of any unholiness forbidden entrance into the Church although her abstaining from public Assembles and her abode in separation for the time be most convenient b Leo. Const. 17. Quod prof●cto non ram propter muliebrem immunditiem quam ob alias causas in incima legis ratione recondiras & vere●i prohibitum esse lege & gratiae tempus traditionis loco suscepisse pu●● Existimo siquidem sacram legem id praescripsisse quo prote●vam eorum qui intemperanter viverent concupiscentiam castigarer quem●admodum & alia multa per alia praecepta ordinantur & praescribuntur quo indomitus quorundam in mulleres stimolus ●e●uandatur Quin & haec providentiae quae legem constituit velu●as esto ut parius à depravatione liberi sint Quia enim quicquid natura supervacan●um est idem corruptivum est & in●tile quod hic sangius superfluus fit quae illi obnoxi● essene in immunditie ad id temporis vivere illa Lex jubet quo ipso etiam nominis sono lascivi concupiscentia ad temperantim redigatur es est inutili & corrupta materie ipsum animans coagmentetur To scoff at the manner of attire than which there could be nothing devised for such a time more grave and decent to make it a token of some folly committed for which they are loath to show their faces argueth that great Divines are sometime more merry than wise As for the Women themselves God accepting the service which they faithfully offer unto him it is no great disgrace though they suffer pleasant witted men a little to intermingle with zeal scorn The name of Oblations applied not only here to those small and petit payments which yet are a part of the Ministers right but also generally given unto all such allowances as serve for their needful maintenance is both ancient and convenient For as the life of the Clergy is spent in the Service of God so it is sustained with his Revenue Nothing therefore more proper then to give the name of Oblations to such payments in token that we offer unto him whatsoever his Ministers receive 75. But to leave this there is a duty which the Church doth owe to the faithful departed Of the ●ite● of Burial T. C. lib. 3. pag. 236. wherein for as much as the Church of England is said to do those things which are though not unlawful yet inconvenient because it appointeth a prescript Form of Service at Burials suffereth mourning Apparel to be worn and permitteth Funeral Sermons a word or two concerning this point will be necessary although it be needless to dwell long upon it The end of Funeral duties is first to show that love towards the party deceased which Nature requireth then to do him that honour which is fit both generally for man and particularly for the quality of his person Last of all to testify the care which the Church hath to comfort the living and the hope which we all have concerning the Resurrection of the dead For signification of love towards them that are departed Mourning is not denied to be a thing convenient as in truth the Scripture every where doth approve lamentation made unto this end The Jews by our Saviour's tears therefore gathered in this case that his love towards Lazatus was great And that as Mourning at such times is fit John 11.36 so likewise that there may be a kind of Attire suitable to a sorrowful affection and convenient for Mourners to wear 2 Sam. 1● 30. how plainly doth David's example show who being in heaviness went up to the Mount with his head covered and all the people that were with him in like sort White Garments being fit to use at Marriage Feasts and such other times of joy whereunto Solomon alluding when he requireth continual cheerfulness of mind speaketh in this sort Let thy Garments be always white Eccles. 9 ● What doth hinder the contrary from being now as convenient in grief as this heretofore in gladness hath been If there be no sorrow they say it is hypocritical to pretend it and if there be to provoke it by wearing such attire is dangerous Nay if there be to show it is natural and if there be not yet the signs are meet to show what should be especially sith it doth not come oftentimes to pass that men are fain to have their Mourning Gowns pulled off their backs for fear of killing themselves with sorrow that way nourished The honour generally due unto all men maketh a decent interring of them to be convenient even for very humanity's sake And therefore Luke 7. 1● so much as is mentioned in the Burial of the Widow's Son the carrying of him forth upon a Bier and the accompanying of him to the Earth hath been used even amongst Infidels all men accounting it a very extreme destitution not to have at the least this honour done them Some man's estate may require a great deal more according as the fashion of the Country where he dieth doth afford And unto this appertained the ancient use of the Jews Psal. ●9 3. John 19.40 Matth. 23 2● to embalm the Corpse with sweet Odours and to adorn the Sepulchers of certain In regard of the quality of men it hath been judged fit to commend them unto the World at their death 2 Sam. 1. 19 amongst the Heathen in Funeral Orations amongst the Jews in Sacred Poems and why not in Funeral Sermons also amongst Christians ●s it sufficeth that the known benefit hereof doth countervail Millions of such inconveniences as are therein surmised although they were not surmised only but found therein The life and the death of Saints is precious in God's sight Let it not seem odious in our eyes if both the one and the other he spoken of then especially when the present occasion doth make men's minds the more capable of such speech The care no doubt of the living both to live and to die well must needs be somewhat increased when they know that their departure shall not be folded up in silence but the ears of many be made acquainted with it Moreover when they hear how mercifully God hath dealt with their Brethren in their last need besides the praise which they give to God and the joy which they have of should have by reason of their Fellowship and Communion with Saints Is not their hope also much confirmed against the day of their own dissolution Again the sound of these things doth not so pass the ears of them that are most loose and dissolute in life but it causeth them one time or other to wish O that I might die the death of the righteous and that my end might be like this Thus much peculiar good there doth grow at those times by speech concerning the dead besides the benefit of public instruction common unto Funeral with other Sermons For the comfort of them whose minds are through natural affection pensive in such cases no man can justly mislike the custom which the Jews had to end their Burials with Funeral Banquets in reference whereunto the Prophet jeremy spoke concerning the people whom God had appointed unto a grievous manner of destruction saying Jere. 16. 7. That men should not give them the Cup of Consolation to drink for their Father or for their Mother because it should not be now with them as in peaceable times with others who bringing their Ancestors unto the Grave with weeping eyes have notwithstanding means wherewith to be recomforted Prov. 31. 6. 1 Chron. 19 2. Job 2. 11. Give Wine saith Solomon unto them that have grief of heart Surely he that ministereth unto them comfortable speech doth much more than give them Wine But the greatest thing of all other about this duty of Christian Burial is an outward testification of the hope which we have touching the Resurrection of the Dead For which purpose let any man of reasonable judgement examine whether it be more convenient for a company of men as it were in a dumb show to bring a Corpse to the place of Burial there to leave it covered with Earth and so end or else to have the Exequys devoutly performed with solemn recital of such Lectures Psalms and Prayers as are purposely framed for the stirring up of men's minds unto a careful consideration of their estate both here and hereafter Whereas therefore it is objected that neither the people of God under the Law nor the Church in the Apostles times did use any form of Service in Burial of their dead and therefore that this order is taken up without any good example or precedent followed therein First while the World doth stand they shall never be able to prove that all things which either the one or the other did use at Burials are set down in holy Scripture which doth not any where of purpose deliver the whole manner and form thereof but toucheth only sometime one thing and sometime another which was in use as special occasions require any of them to be either mentioned or insinuated Again if it might be proved that no such thing was usual amongst them hath Christ so deprived his Church of Judgement that what Rites and Orders soever the latter Ages thereof have devised the same must needs be inconvenient Furthermore that the Jews before our Saviour's coming had any such form of service although in Scripture it be not affirmed yet neither is it there denied for the forbidding of Priests to be present at Burials letteth not but that others might discharge that duty seeing all were not Priests which had rooms of Public Function in their Synagogues and if any man be of opinion that they had no such form of Service thus much there is to make the contrary more probable The Jews at this day have as appeareth is their form of Funeral Prayers and in certain of their Funeral Sermons published neither are they so affected towards Christians as to borrow that order from us besides that the form thereof is such as both in it sundry things which the very words of the Scripture itself doth seem to allude unto us namely after departure from the Sepulchre unto the House whence the dead was brought it showeth the manner of their Burial-feast and a consolatory form of Prayer appointed for the Master of the Synagogue thereat to utter albeit I may not deny but it hath also some things which are not perhaps so antsient as the Law and the Prophets But whatsoever the Jews custom was before the days of our Saviour Christ hath it once at any time been heard of the either Church or Christian man of sound belief did ever judge this a thing unmeet undecent unfit for Christianity till these miserable days wherein under the colour of removing superstitious abuses the most effectual means both to testify and to strengthen true Religion are plucked at and in some places even pulled up by the very roots● Take away this which was ordained to show at Burials the peculiar hope of the Church of God concerning the dead and in the manner of those dumb Funerals what one one thing is there whereby the World may perceive we are Christian men 76. I come now unto that Function which undertaketh the public Ministry of holy things Of the na●●●● of that Ministry what s●●veth the performance of divine duties in the Church of Go●●●● 〈…〉 happiness not eternal only but also re●●poral do●h depend upon it according to the Laws of Christian Religion And because the nature of things consisting as this doth in action is known by the object whereabout they are conversant and by the end or scope whereunto they are referred we must know that the object of this Function in both God and Men God in that he is publicly worshipped of his Church and Men in that they are capable of happiness by means which Christian Discipline appointeth So that the sum of our whole labour in this kind is to honour God and to save men For whether we severally take and consider men one by one or else gather them into one Society and Body as it hath been before declared that every man's Religion is in him the Wellspring of all other sound and sincere virtues from whence both here in some sort and hereafter more abundantly their full joy and felicity ariseth because while they live they are blessed of God and when they die their works follow them So at this present we must again call to mind how the very worldly peace and prosperity the secular happiness the temporal and natural good estate both of all Men and of all Dominions hangeth chiefly upon Religion and doth evermore give plain testimony that as well in this as in other considerations the Priest is a pillar of that Commonwealth wherein he faithfully serveth God For if these Assertions be true first that nothing can be enjoyed in this present world against his will which hath made all things secondly that albeit God doth sometime permit the impious to have yet impiety permitteth them not to enjoy no not temporal blessings on earth thirdly that God hath appointed those blessings to attend as Handmaids upon Religion and fourthly that without the work of the Ministry Religion by no means can possibly continue the use and benefit of that sacred Function even towards all men's worldly happiness must needs be granted Now the a Si creature Dei merito & dispensatio Dei sum●● Qui● enim magis diligit quom ille qui fecit Quis autem ordinatius regit quam is qui & fec● 1 & di● 〈…〉 Quis vero sapi●●tius & fo●tiur ordinare & regere facta potest quam qui & fa●ienda providit & provisa perfecit Quapi op●er omnem potestarem à Deo esse omnemque ordinationem & qui non ●e●eruat sentin●e & quilegerunt cognoscunt Paul O●●s ●●s advers Pagan lib. ● Eurip. Phoenis first being a Theorem both understood and confessed by all to labour in proof thereof were superfluous The second perhaps may be called in question except it be perfectly understood By good things temporal therefore we mean length of days health of body store of friends and well-willers quietness prosperous success of those things we take in hand riches with fit opportunities to use them during life reputation following us both alive and dead children or such as instead of children we wish to leave Successors and Partakers of our happiness These things are naturally every man's desire because they are good And on whom God bestoweth the same them we confess he graciously blesseth Of earthly blessings the meanest is wealth reputation the chiefest For which cause we esteem the gain of honour an ample recompense for the loss of all other worldly benefits But for as much as in all this there is no certain perpetuity of goodness nature hath taught to affect these things not for their own sake but with reference and relation to somewhat independently good as is the exercise of virtue and speculation of truth None whose desires are rightly ordered would wish to live to breathe and move without performance of those actions which are beseeming man's excellency Wherefore having not how to employ it we wax weary even of life itself Health is precious because sickness doth breed that pain which disableth action Again why do men delight so much in the multitude of friends but for that the actions of life being many do need many helping hands to further them Between troublesome and quiet days we should make no difference if the one did not hinder and interrupt the other uphold our liberty of action Furthermore if those things we do succeed it rejoiceth us not so much for the benefit we thereby reap as in that it probably argueth our actions to have been orderly and well-guided Eurip. Heracl As for riches to him which hath and doth nothing with them they are a contumely Honour is commonly presumed a sign of more than ordinary virtue and merit by means whereof when ambitious minds thirst after it their endeavours are testimonies how much it is in the eye of nature to possess that Body the very shadow whereof is set at so high a rate Finally such is the pleasure and comfort which we take in doing that when life forsaketh us still our desires to continue action and to work though not by ourselves yet by them whom we leave behind us causeth us providently to resign into other men's hands the helps we have gathered for that purpose devising also the best we can to make them perpetual It appeareth therefore how all the parts of temporal felicity are only good in relation to that which riseth them as instruments and that they are no such good as wherein a right desire doth ever stay or rest itself Now temporal blessings are enjoyed of those which have them know them esteem them according to that they are in their own nature Wherefore of the wicked whom God doth hate his usual and ordinary speeches are That bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Psal. 55. 23. that God shall cause a pestilence to cleave unto the wicked and shall strike them with consuming grief Deut 28. 22. with Fevers burning diseases and sores which are past cure that when the impious are fallen all men should tread them down and none show countenance of love towards them as much as by pitying them in their misery that the sins of the ungodly shall be●eave them of peace that all counsels complots and practices against God shall come to nothing that the lot and inheritance of the unjust is beggary that the name of unrighteous Persons shall purify Prov. 1● and the posterity of Robbers starve If any think that Iniquity and Peace Sin and Prosperity can dwell together they err because they distinguish not aright between the matter and that which giveth it the form of happiness between possession and fruition between the having and the enjoying of good things The impious cannot enjoy that they have partly because they receive it not as at God's hands which only consideration maketh temporal blessings comfortable and partly because through error placing it above things of far more price and worth they turn that to Poison which might be Food they make their prosperity their own snare in the nest of their highest growth they lay foolishly those Eggs out of which their woeful overthrow is afterwards hatched Hereby it cometh to pass that wise and judicious men observing the vain behaviour of such as are risen to unwonted greatness have thereby been able to prognosticate their ruin So that in very truth no impious or wicked man doth prosper on earth but either sooner or later the world may perceive easily how at such time as others thought them must fortunate they had but only the good estate which fat Oxen have above lean Prov. 16 1● Ante tuinam clatio Harodor lib. 7. when they appeared to grow their climbing was towards ruin The gross and bestial conceit of them which want understanding is only that the fullest bellies are happiest Therefore the greatest felicity they wish to the Commonwealth wherein they live is that it may but abound and stand that they which are riotous may have to pour out without stine that the poor may sleep and the rich feed them that nothing unpleasant may be commanded nothing forbidden men which themselves have a lust to follow that Kings may provide for the ease of their Subjects and not be too curious about their manners that wantonness excess and lewdness of life may be left free and that no fault may be capital besides dislike of things settled in so good terms But be it far from the Just to dwell either in or near to the Tents of these so miserable felicities Now whereas we thirdly affirm that Religion and the Fear of God as well induceth secular prosperity as everlasting bliss in the world to come this also is true For otherwise godliness could not be said to have the promises of both lives to be that ample Revenue wherein there is always sufficiency and to carry with it a general discharge of want even so general that David himself should protest he never saw the Just forsaken Howbeit to this we must add certain special limitations as first that we do not forget how crazed and diseased minds whereof our heavenly Physician must judge receive oftentimes most benefit by being deprived of those things which are to others beneficially given as appeareth in that which the Wiseman hath noted concerning them whose lives God mercifully doth abridge lest wickedness should alter their understanding again that the measure of our outward prosperity be taken by proportion with that which every man's estate in this present life requireth External abilities are instruments of action It contenteth wise Artificers to have their Instruments proportionable to their Work rather fit for use than huge and goodly to please the eye Seeing then the actions of a Servant do not need that which may be necessary for men of Calling and Place in the World neither men of inferior condition many things which greater Personages can hardly want surely they are blessed in worldly respects that have wherewith to perform a Eurip. Phoenis sufficiently what their station and place asketh though they have no more For by reason of man's imbecility and proneness to elation of mind b Greg. Nazian Apol. ●● They may haply the most deject but they are the wisest for their own safety which fear claming no less than f●lling Arist. Polit. lib. ● c. 1● too high a flow of prosperity is dangerous too low an ebb again as dangerous for that the virtue of patience is rare and the hand of necessity stronger than ordinary virtue is able to withstand Solomon's discreet and moderate desire we all know Give me O Lord neither riches nor penury Men over-high exalted either in honour or in power or in nobility or in wealth they likewise that are as much on the contrary hand sunk either with beggary or through dejection or by baseness do not easily give ea● to reason but the one exceeding apt unto outrages and the other unto petty mischiefs For greatness delighteth to show itself by effects of power and baseness to help itself with shifts of malice For which cause a moderate indifferent temper between fullness of bread and emptiness hath been evermore thought and found all circumstances duly considered the safest and happiest for all Estates even for Kings and Princes themselves Again we are not to look that these things should always concur no not in them which are accounted happy neither that the course of men's lives or of public affairs should continually be drawn out as an even thread for that the nature of things will not suffer but a just survey being made as those particular men are worthily reputed good whose virtues be great and their faults tolerable so him we may register for a man fortunate and that for a prosperous and happy State which having flourished doth not afterwards feel any tragical alteration such as might cause them to be a spectacle of misery to others Besides whereas true felicity consisteth in the highest operations of that nobler part or man which showeth sometime greatest perfection not in using the benefits which delight nature but in suffering what nature can hardless endure there is no cause why either the loss of good if it tend to the purchase of better or why any misery the issue whereof is their greater praise and honour that have sustained it should be thought to impeach that temporal happiness wherewith Religion we say is accompanied but yet in such measure as the several degrees of men may require by a competent estimation and unless the contrary do more advance as it hath done those most Heroical Saints whom afflictions have made glorious In a word not to whom no calamity falleth but whom neither misery nor prosperity is able to move from a right mind them we may truly pronounce fortunate and whatsoever doth outwardly happen without that precedent improbity for which it appeareth in the eyes of sound and unpartial Judges to have proceeded from Divine revenge it passeth in the number of humane casualties whereunto we are all alike subject No misery is reckoned more than common or humane if God so dispose that we pass thorough it and come safe so shore even as chose men do not use to think those flourishing days happy which do end with tears It standeth therefore with these cautions firm and true yea ratified by all men's unfeigned confessions drawn from the very heart of experience that whether we compare men of note in the world with others of like degree and state or else the same men with themselves whether we confer one Dominion with another or else the different times of one and the same Dominion the manifest odds between their very outward condition as long as they steadfastly were observed to honour God and their success being fallen from him are remonstrances more than sufficient how all our welfare even on earth dependeth wholly upon our Religion Heathens were ignorant of true Religion Yet such as that little was which they knew it much impaired or bettered always their worldy affairs as their love and zeal towards it did wain or grow Of the Jews did not even their most malicious and mortal Adversaries all acknowledge that to strive against them it was in vain as long as their amity with God continued that nothing could weaken them but Apostasy In the whole course of their own proceedings did they ever find it otherwise but that during their faith and fidelity towards God every man of them was in war as a thousand strong and as much as a grand Senate for counsel in peaceable deliberations chose that if they swarved as they often did their wont courage and magnanimity forsook them utterly their Soldiers and military men trembled at the sight of the naked sword when they entered into mutual conference and sat in counsel for their own good that which Children might have seen their gravest Senators could not discern their Prophets saw darkness instead of Visions the wise and prudent were as men bewitched even that which they knew being such as might stand them in stead they had not the grace to utter or if any thing were well proposed it took no place it entered not into the minds of the rest to approve and follow it but as men confounded with strange and unusual ama●●mentss of spirit they attempted tumultuously they saw not what and by the issues of all attempts they found no certain conclusion but this God and Heaven are strong against as in all we do The cause whereof was secret fear which took heart and courage from them and the cause of their fear an inward guiltiness that they all had offered God such apparent wrongs as were not pardonable But it may be the case is now altogether changed and that in Christian Religion there is not the like force towards Temporal felicity Search the ancient Records of time look what hath happened by the space of these sixteen hundred years see if all things to this effect be not Inculent and clear yea all things so manifest that for evidence and proof herein we need not by uncertain dark conjectures surmise any to have been plagued of God for contempt or blessed in the course of faithful obedience towards true Religion more than only them whom we find in that respect on the one side guilty by their own confessions and happy on the other side by all men's acknowledgement who beholding that prosperous estate of such as are good and virtuous impute boldly the same to God's most especial favour but cannot in like manner pronounce that whom he afflicts above others with them he hath cause to be more offended For Virtue is always plain to be seen rareness causeth it to be observed and goodness to be honoured with admiration As for iniquity and sin it lieth many times hid and because we be all offenders it becometh us not to incline towards hard and severe sentences touching others unless their notorious wickedness did sensibly before proclaim that which afterwards came to pass Wherefore the sum of every Christian man's duty is to labour by all means towards that which other men seeing in us may justify and what we ourselves must accuse if we fall into it that by all means we can to avoid considering especially that as hitherto upon the Church there never yet fell tempestuous storm the vapours whereof were not first noted to rise from coldness in affection and from backwardness is duties of service towards God so if that which the tears of antiquity have untered concerning this point should be here set down it were assuredly enough to soften and to mollify an Heart of steel On the contrary part although we confess with Saint Augustine most willingly that the chiefest happiness for which we have some Christian Kings in so great admiration above the rest is not because of their long Reign their calm and quiet departure out of this present life the settled establishment of their own flesh and blood succeeding them in Royalty and Power the glorious overthrow of foreign enemies or the wise prevention of inward danger and so secret attempts at home all which solaces and comforts of this our unquiet life it pleaseth God oftentimes to bestow on them which have no society or part in the joys of Heaven giving thereby to understand that these in comparison are toys and trifles far under the value and price of that which is to be looked for at his hands but in truth the reason wherefore we most extol their felicity is if so be they have virtuously reigned if honour have not filled their hearts with pride if the exercise of their power have been service and attendance upon the Majesty of the Most High if they have feared him as their own inferiors and subjects have feared them if they have loved neither pomp nor pleasure more than Heaven if revenge have slowly proceeded from then and mercy willingly offered itself if so they have tempered rigour with lenity that neither extreme severity might utterly cut them off in whom there was manifest hope of amendment nor yet the easiness of pardoning offences embolden offenders if knowing that whatsoever they do their potency may bear it out they have been so much the more careful are to do any thing but that which is commendable in the best rather than usual with greatest Personages if the true knowledge of themselves have humbled them in God's sight no less than God in the eyes of men hath raised them up I say albeit we reckon such to be the happiest of them that are mightiest in the World and albeit those things alone are happiness nevertheless considering what force there is even in outward blessings to comfort the minds of the best disposed and to give them the greater joy when Religion and Peace Heavenly and Earthly happiness are wreathed in one Crown as to the worthiest of Christian Princes it hath by the providence of the Almighty hitherto befallen let it not seem unto any man a needless and superfluous waste of labour that there hath been thus much spoken to declare how in them especially it hath been so observed and withal universally noted even from the highest to the very meanest how this peculiar benefit this singular grace and pre-eminence Religion hath that either it guardeth as an heavenly shield from all calamities or else conducteth us safe through them and permitteth them not to be mise●… it either giveth honours promotions and wealth or else more benefit by wanting them than if we had them at will it either filleth our Houses with plenty of all good things or maketh a Salad of green herbs more sweet than all the Sacrifices of the ungodly Our fourth Proposition before set down was that Religion without the help of spiritual Ministry is unable to plant itself the fruits thereof not possible to grow of their own accord Which last Assertion is herein as the first that it needeth no farther confirmation If it did I could easily declare how all things which are of God he hath by wonderful art and wisdom sodered as it were together with the glue of mutual assistance appointing the lowest to receive from the nearest to themselves what the influence of the highest yieldeth And therefore the Church being the most absolute of all his works was in reason to be also ordered with like harmony that what he worketh might no less in grace than in nature be effected by hands and instruments duly subordinated unto the power of his own Spirit A thing both needful for the humiliation of man which would not willingly be debtor to any but to himself and of no small effect to nourish that divine love which now maketh each embrace other not as Men but as Angels of God Ministerial actions tending immediately unto God's honour Luke 12. 4●● 1 Cor. 4. 1. Tir. 1. 7. 1 Pet. 4 10 Ephes 3. 2. and man's happiness are either as contemplation which helpeth forward the principal work of the Ministry or else they are parts of that principal work of Administration itself which work consisteth in doing the service of God's House and in applying unto men the sovereign medicines of Grace already spoken of the more largely to the end it might thereby appear that we a Epist. ad Philem. owe to the Guides of our Souls even as much as our Souls are worth although the debt of our Temporal blessings should be stricken off 77. The Ministry of things divine is a Function which as God did himself institute Of power given unto men to execute that heavenly Office of the gift of the Holy Ghost in Ordinarion and whether conveniently the power of Order may be sought o● sued for so neither may men undertake the same but by Authority and Power given them in lawful manner That God which is no way deficient or wanting unto Man in necessaries and hath therefore given us the light of his heavenly Truth because without that inestimable benefit we must needs have wandered is darkness to out endless perdition and woe hath in the like abundance of mercies ordained certain to attend upon the due execution of requisite Parts and Offices therein prescribed for the good of the whole World which men thereunto assigned do hold their authority from him whether they be such as himself immediately or as the Church in his name investeth it being neither possible for all not for every men without distinction convenient to take upon him a Charge of so great importance They are therefore Ministers of God not only by way of subordination as Princes and Civil Magistrates whose execution of Judgement and Justice the supreme hand of divine providence doth uphold but Ministiers of God as from whom their authority is derived and not from men For in that they are Christ's Ambassadors and his Labourers Who should give them their Commission but he whose most inward affairs they manage Is not God alone the Father of Spirits Are not Souls the purchase of Jesus Christ What Angel in Heaven could have said to Man as our Lord did unto Peter Feed my Sheep Preach Baptise Do this in remembrance of me Whose Sins ye retain they are retained and their offences in Heaven pardoned whose faults you shall in earth forgive What think we Are these terrestrial sounds or else are they voices uttered out of the clouds above The power of the Ministry of God translateth out of darkness into glory it raiseth men from the Earth and bringeth God himself from Heaven by blessing visible Elements it maketh them invisible grace it giveth daily the Holy Ghost it hath to dispose of that flesh which was given for the life of the World and that blood which was poured out to redeem Souls when it poureth malediction upon the heads of the wicked they perish when it revoketh the same they revive O wretched blindness if we admire not so great power more wretched if we consider it aright and notwithstanding imagine that any but God can bestow it To whom Christ hath imparted power both over that mystical Body which is the society of Souls and over that natural which is himself for the knitting of both in one a work which antiquity doth call the making of Christ's Body the same power is in such not amiss both termed a kind of mark or Character and acknowledged to be indelible Ministerial power is a mark of separation because it severeth them that have it from other men and maketh them a special order consecrated unto the service of the most High in things wherewith others may not meddle Their difference therefore from other men is in that they are a distinct order Tertul. de Adhort Castit So Tertullian calleth them And Saint Paul himself dividing the body of the Church of Christ into two Moieties nameth the one part which is as much as to say the order of the Laity the opposite part whereunto we in like sort term the order of God's Clergy Heb. 2. 7. and the Spiritual power which he hath given them the power of their order so far forth as the same consisteth in the bare execution of holy things called properly the affairs of God For of the Power of their jurisdiction over men's persons we are to speak in the Books following They which have once received this power may not think to put it off and on like a Cloak as the weather serveth to take it reject and resume it as oft as themselves list of which profane and impious contempt these latter times have yielded as of all other kinds of Iniquity and Apostasy strange examples but let them know which put their hands unto this Plough that once consecrated unto God they are made his peculiar Inheritance for ever Suspensions may stop and degradations utterly cut off the use or exercise of Power before given but voluntarily it is not in the power of man to separate and pull asunder what God by his authority coupleth So that although there may be through mis-desert degradation Matth. 19 as there may be cause of just separation after Matrimony yet if as sometime it doth restitution to former dignity or reconciliation after breach doth happen neither doth the one nor the other ever iterate the first knot Much less is it necessary which some have urged concerning the re-ordination of such as others in times more corrupt did consecrate heretofore Which Error already quelled by Saint Jerome doth not now require any other refutation Examples I grant there are which make for restraint of those men from admittance again into rooms of Spiritual function whose fall by Heresy or want of constancy in professing the Christian Faith hath been once a disgrace to their calling Nevertheless as there is no Law which bindeth so there is no cause that should always lead to show one and the same severity towards Persons culpable Goodness of nature itself more inclineth to clemency than rigour And we in other men's offences do behold the plain image of our own imbecility Besides also them that wander out of the way a In ●2 tabul●● caucum est or idom juris offet sana●tibus quod so●●bus id est bonis ●e qui ●u●quam desecrun● Il populo Romano Fest. in der Satanites it cannot be unexpedient to win with all hopes of favour left strictness used towards such as reclaim themselves should make others more obstinate in error Wherefore b ● usses 〈…〉 E●ccls lib. e. ●1 after that the Church of Alexandria had somewhat recovered itself from the tempests and storms of Artianism being in consultation about the re-establishment of that which by long disturbance had been greatly decayed and hindered the ferventer sort gave quick sentence that touching them which were of the Clergy and had stained themselves with Heresy there should be none so received into the Church again as to continue in the order of the Clergy The rest which considered how many men's cases it did concern thought it much more safe and consonant to bend somewhat down towards them which were fallen to show severity upon a few of the chiefest Leaders and to offer to the rest a friendly reconciliation without any other demand saving only the abjuration of their error as in the Gospel that wasteful young man which returned home to his Father's house was with joy both admitted and honoured his elder Brother hardly thought of for repining thereat neither commended so much for his own Fidelity and virtue as blamed for not embracing him freely whose unexpected recovery ought to have blotted out all remembrance of misdemeanours and faults past But of this sufficient A thing much stumbled at in the manner of giving Orders is our using those memorable words of our Lord and Saviour Christ Receive the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost they say we cannot give and therefore we a Papisticus quidam virtue stoled quidemoh illis be fine ●llo Scripture fundamento inflicutas & ● diciplina nostrate autoribus pce illorum dixerim non magno primùm judicio accoptus mimora adhuc in Ecclesia nostra ret●enur Eecclesiast discrip p. 53. foolishly bid men receive it Wisemen for their Authorities sake must have leave to befool them whom they are able to make wise by better instruction Notwithstanding if it may please their wisdom as well to hear what Fools can say as to control that which they do thus we have heard some Wisemen teach namely That the b Ecceles discrip sol ●● p. 2. l. 1. Holy Ghost may be used to signify not the Person alone but the Gift of the Holy Ghost and we know that Spiritual gifts are not only abilities to do things miraculous as to speak with Tongues which were never taught us to cure Diseases without art and such like but also that the very authority and power which is given men in the Church to be Ministers of holy things this is contained within the number of those Gifts whereof the Holy Ghost is Author and therefore he which giveth this Power may say without absurdity or folly Receive the Holy Ghost such power as the Spirit of Christ hath endued his Church withal such Power as neither Prince not Potentate King nor Caesar on Earth can give So that if men alone had devised this form of speech thereby to express the heavenly wellspring of that Power which Ecclesiastical Ordinations do bestow it is not so foolish but that Wisemen might bear with it If then our Lord and Saviour himself have used the self-samen form of words and that in the selfsame kind of action although there be but the least show of probability yea or any possibility that his meaning might be the same which ours is It should teach sober and grave men not to be too venturous in condemning that of folly which is not impossible to have in it more profoundness of wisdom than flesh and blood should presume to control Our Saviour after his resurrection from the dead gave his Apostles their Commission saying Matth. 28. 18. All power is given me in Heaven and in Earth Go therefore and teach all Nations baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghosts teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you In sum As my Father sent me John 20. 21. so send I you Whereunto Saint john doth add farther that having thus spoken he breathed on them and said Receive the Holy Ghost By which words he must of likelihood understand some gift of the Spirit which was presently at that time bestowed upon them as both the speech of actual delivery in saying Receive and the visible sign thereof his Breathing did show Absurd it were to imagine our Saviour did both to the ear and also to the very eye express a real donation and they at that time receive nothing It resteth then that we search what special grace they did at that time receive Touching miraculous power of the Spirit most apparent it is that as then they received it not but the promise thereof was to be shortly after performed The words of Saint Luke concerning that Power are therefore set down with signification of the time to come Behold I will send the promise of my Father upon you but carry you in the City of jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high Wherefore undoubtedly it was some other effect of the Spirit the Holy Ghost in some other kind which our Saviour did then bestow What other likelier than that which himself doth mention as it should seem of purpose to take away all ambiguous constructions and to declare that the Holy Ghost which he then gave was an holy and a ghostly authority authority over the souls of men authority a part whereof consisteth in power to remit and retain sins Receive the Holy Ghost Whose sins server ye remit they are remitted John 10. 23. whose sins ye retain they are retained Whereas therefore the other Evangelists had set down that Christ did before his suffering promise to give his Apostles the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and being risen from the dead promised moreover at that time a miracolous power of the Holy Ghost Saint john addeth that he also invested them even then with the power of the Holy Ghost for castigation and relaxation of sin wherein was fully accomplished that which the promise of the Keys did import Seeing therefore that the same power is now given why should the same form of words expressing it be thought foolish The cause why we breathe not as Christ did on them unto whom he imparted power is for that neither Spirit nor Spiritual authority may be thought to proceed from us who are but Delegates of Assigns to give men possession of his Graces Now besides that the power and authority delivered with those words is itself a gracious donation which the Spirit of God doth bestow we may most assuredly persuade ourselves that the hand which imposeth upon us the function of our Ministry doth under the same form of words so tie itself thereunto that he which receiveth the burden It si necessarium est ●repidare de mo●ito religionism est tamen gaudere de dono quonium qui mihi oneru est ●● tor ipse stir administrationis adjuron & the magnitudi ne gratiz A●ccumbat infirrano dabir virtorem qui conulic dignitatem L●●●ev 1. In Anniver diamond A. Nazian Num. 11. 17. Author libei discripl Ecclesiast is thereby for ever warranted to have the Spirit with him and in him for his assistance aid countenance and support in whatsoever he faithfully doth to discharge duty Knowing therefore that when we take Ordination we also receive the presence of the Holy Ghost partly to guide direct and strengthen us in all our ways and partly to assume unto itself for the more authority those actions that appertain to our Place and Calling can our ears admit such a speech uttered in the reverend performance of that Solemnity or can we at any time renew the memory and enter into serious cogitation thereof but with much admiration and joy Remove what these foolish words do imply and what hath the Ministry of God besides wherein to glory Whereas now forasmuch as the Holy Ghost which our Saviour in his first Ordinations gave doth no less concur with Spiritual vocations throughout all ages than the Spirit which God derived from Moses to them that assisted him in his Government did descend from them to their Successors in like Authority and Place we have for the least and meanest Duties performed by virtue of Ministerial power that to dignify grace and authorise them which no other Offices on Earth can challenge Whether we Preach Pray Baptise Communicate Condemn give Absolution or whatsoever as Disposers of God's Mysteries ourwords judgemnts acts and deeds are not ours but the Holy Ghosts Enough If unfeigaedly and in heart we did believe it enough to banish whatsoever may justly be thought corrupt either in bestowing or in using or in esteeming the same otherwise than is meet For profanely to bestow or loosely to use or vilely to esteem of the Holy Ghost we all in show and profession abhor Now because the Ministry is an Office of dignity and honour some are doubtful whether any man may seek for it without offence or to speak more properly doubtful they are not but rather bold to accuse our Discipline in this respect as not only permitting but requiring also ambitious suits or other oblique ways or means whereby to obtain it Against this they plead that our Saviour did stay till his Father sent him and the Apostles till he them that the ancient Bishops in the Church of Christ were examples and patterns of the same modesty Whereupon in the end they insert Let see therefore at the length amend that custom of repairing from all parts unto the Bishop at the day of Ordination and of seeking to obtain Orders Let the custom of bringing commendatory Letters be removed let men keep themselves at home expecting there the voice of God and the authority of such as may call them to undertake charge Thus severely they censure and control ambition if it be ambition which they take upon them to reprehend For of that there is cause to doubt Ambition as we understand it hath been accounted a Vice which seeketh after Honours inordinately Ambitious minds esteeming it their greatest happiness to be admired reverenced and adored above others use all means lawful and unlawful which may bring them to high rooms But as for the power of Order considered by itself and as in this case it must be considered such reputation it hath in the eye of this present World that they which affect it rather need encouragement to bear contempt than deserve blame as men that carry aspiring minds The work whereunto this power serveth is commended 1 Tim. 3. 1. and the desire thereof allowed by the Apostle for good Nevertheless because the burden thereof is heavy and the charge great it cometh many times to pass that the minds even of virtuous men are drawn into clean contrary affections some in humility declining that by reason of hardness which others in regard of goodness only do with servant alacrity cover So that there is not the least degree in this service but it may be both in a Greg. Nazian Apolog●● reverence shunned and of very devotion longed for If then the desire thereof may be holy religious and good may not the profession of that desire be so likewise We are not to think it so long good as it is dissembled and evil if once we begin to open it And allowing that it may be opened without ambition what offence I beseeth you is there in opening it there where it may be furthered and satisfied in case they to whom it appertaineth think meet In vain are those desires allowed the accomplishment whereof it is not lawful for men to seek Power therefore of Ecclesiastical order may be desired the desire thereof may be professed they which profess themselves that way inclined may endeavour to bring their desires to effect and in all this no necessity of evil Is it the bringing of testimonial Letters wherein so great obliquity consisteth What more simple more plain more harmless more agreeable with the law of common humanity than that men where they are not known use for their easier access the credit of such as can best give testimony of them Letters of any other construction our Church-discipline alloweth not and these to allow is neither to require ambitious saings not to approve any indirect or unlawful act The Prophet Esay receiving his message at the hands of God and his charge by heavenly vision heard the voice of the Lord Esay 6. 8. saying Whom shall I send Who shall go for us Whereunto he recordeth his own answer Then I said Here Lord I am send me Which in effect is the Rule and Canon whereby touching this point the very order of the Church is framed The appointment of times for solemn Ordination is but the public demand of the Church in the name of the Lord himself Heb. 10. 8. Whom shall I send who shall go for us The confluence of men whose inclinations are bend that way is but the answer thereunto whereby the labours of sundry being offered the Church hath freedom to take whom her Agents in such case think meet and requisite As for the example of our Saviour Christ who took not to himself this honour to be made our High Priest but received the same from him which said Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec Heb. 5. 5. his waiting and not attempting to execute the Office till God saw convenient time may serve in reproof of usurped honours for as much as we ought not of our own accord to assume dignities whereunto we are not called as Christ was But yet it should be withal considered that a proud usurpation without any orderly calling is one thing and another the bare declaration of willingness to obtain admittance which Willingness of mind I suppose did not want in him whose answer was to the voice of his heavenly calling Behold I am come to do thy will And had it been for him as it is for us expedient to receive his Commission signed with the hands of men to seek it might better have beseemed his humility than it doth our boldness to reprehend them of Pride and Ambition that make no worse kind of suits than by Letters of information Himself in calling his Apostles prevented all cogitations of theirs that way to the end it might truly be said of them Ye chose not me but I of mine own voluntary motion made choice of you Which kind of undesired nomination to Ecclesiastical Places hefell divers of the most famous amongst the ancient Fathers of the Church in a clean contrary consideration For our Saviour's election respected not any merit or worth but took them which were farthest off from likelihood of fitness that afterwards their supernatural ability and performance beyond hope might cause the greater admiration whereas in the other mere admiration of their singular and rare virtues was the reason why honours were enforced upon them which they of meekness and modesty did what they could to avoid But did they ever judge it a thing unlawful to wish or desire the Office the only charge and bare Function of the Ministry Towards which labour what doth the blessed Apostle else but encourage saying He which desireth it is desirius of a good work What doth he else by such sentences but stir kindle and inflame ambition if I may term that desire ambition which coveteth more to testify love by painfulness in God's service than to reap any other benefit Although of the very honour itself and of other emoluments annexed to such labours for more encouragement of man's industry we are not so to conceive neither as if no affection could be cast towards them without offence Only as the Wiseman giveth counsel Eccles. 7. 6. Seek not to be made a judge lest thou be not able to take away iniquity and lest thou fearing the person of the mighty shouldest commit an offence against thine uprightness so it always behoveth men to take good heed lest affection to that which hath in it as well difficulty as goodness sophisticate the true and sincere judgement which beforehand they ought to have of their own ability for want whereof many forward minds have found in stead of contentment repentance But for as much as hardness of things in themselves most excellent cooleth the fervency of men's desires unless there be somewhat naturally acceptable to incite labour for both the method of speculative knowledge doth by things which we sensibly perceive conduct to that which is in nature more certain though less sensible and the method of virtuous actions is also to train Beginners at the first by things acceptable unto the taste of natural appetite till our minds at the length be settled to embrace things precious in the eye of reason merely and wholly for their own sakes howsoever inordinate desires do hereby take occasion to abuse the Polity of God and Nature either affecting without worth or procuring by unseemly means that which was instituted and should be reserved for better minds to obtain by more approved courses in which consideration the Emperor's Anthemius and Leo did worthily oppose against such ambitious practices that ancient and famous Constitution wherein they have these sentences Let not a Prelate be ordained for reward or upon request who should be so far sequestered from all ambition that they which advance him might be fain to search where he hideth himself to entreat him drawing back and to follow him till importunity have made him yield let nothing promote him but his excuses to avoid the burden they are unworthy of that Vocation which are not thereunto brought unwillingly notwithstanding we ought not therefore with the odious name of Ambition to traduce and draw into hatred every poor request or suit wherein men may seem to affect honour seeing that Ambition and Modesty do not always so much differ in the mark they shoot at as in the manner of their Prosecution Yea even in this may be error also if we still imagine them least ambitious which most forbear to stir either hand or foot towards their own Preferments For there are that make an Idol of their great sufficiency and because they surmise the place should be happy that might enjoy them they walk every where like grave Pageants observing whether men do not wonder why so small account is made of so rare worthiness and in case any other man's advancement be mentioned they either smile or blush at the marvellous folly of the world which seeth not where dignities should offer themselves Seeing therefore that suits after spiritual Functions may be as ambitiously forborn as prosecuted it remaineth that the a Mi●es●●ivi Greg. Nazian Apologer everest line of moderation between both is neither to follow them without conscience not of pride to withdraw ourselves utterly from them * Of Degrees whereby the power of Order is distinguished and concerning the attire of Ministers 78. It pleased Almighty God to choose to himself for discharge of the b Philo. p. 29● legal Ministry one only Tribe out of twelve others the Tribe of Levi not all unto every divine service but Aaron and his Sons to one charge the rest of that sanctified Tribe to another With what Solemnities they were admitted into their Functions in what manner Aaron and his successors the High-Priests ascended every Sabbath and Festival day offered and ministered in the Temple with what Sin-offering once every year they reconciled first themselves and their own house afterwards the People unto God how they confessed all the iniquities of the Children of Israel laid all their trespasses upon the head of a sacred Goat and so carried them one of the City how they purged the Holy place from all uncleanness with what reverence they entered within the Veil presented themselves before the Mercy-seat and consulted with the Oracle of God What service the other Priests did continually in the Holy Place how they ministered about the Lamps Morning and Evening how every Sabbath they placed on the Table of the Lord those twelve Loaves with pure incense in perpetual remembrance of that mercy which the Fathers the twelve Tribes had found by the providence of God for their food when hunger caused them to leave their natural soil and to seek for sustenance in Egypt how they employed themselves in sacrifice day by day finally what Offices the Levites discharged and what Duties the rest did execute it were a labour too long to enter into it if I should collect that which Scriptures and other ancient Records do mention Besides these there were indifferently out of all Tribes from time to time some called of God as Prophets foreshowing them things to come and giving them counsel in such particulars as they could not be directed in by the Law some chosen men to read study and interpret the Law of God as the 'Zounds or Scholars of the old Prophets in whose room afterwards Scribes and Expounders of the Law succeeded And because where so great variety is if there should be equality confusion would follow the Levites were in all their Service at the appointment and direction of the Sons of Aaron or Priests they subject to the principal Guides and Leaders of their own Order and they all in obedience under the High Priest Which difference doth also manifest itself in the very Titles that men for Honour's sake gave unto them terming Aaron and his Successors High or Great the Ancients over the Companies of Priests Archpriests Prophets Fathers Scribes and Interpreters of the Law Masters Touching the Ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the whole Body of the Church being divided into Laity and Clergy the Clergy are either Presbyters or Deacons I rather term the one sort Presbyters than a T. C. l. 1. p. 198. For so much as the common and usual speech of England is to note by the word Priest not a Minister of the Gospel but a Sacrificer which the Minister of the Gospel is not therefore we ought not to call the Ministers of the Gospel Priest's And that this is the English speech it appeareth by all the English Translations which translate always isque which were Sacrificers Priests and do not on the other foot for any that ever I read translate we●● Ci●nen a Priest Seeing therefore a Priest with us and in our Tongue doth signify both by the Papists Judgement in respect of their abominable Ma●● and also by the Judgement of the Protestants in respect of the Beasts which were offered in the Law a sacrificing Office which the Minister of the Gospel neither doth nor can excuses It is manifest that it cannot be without great essence so used Priests because in a matter of so small moment I would not willingly offend their ears to whom the name of Priesthood is odious though without cause For as things are distinguished one from another by those true essential forms which being really and actually in them do not only give them the very last and highest degree of their natural perfection but are also the knot foundation and root whereupon all other inferior perfections depend so if they that first do impose names did always understand exactly the nature of that which they nominate it may be that then by hearing the terms of vulgar speech we should still be taught what the things themselves most properly are But because words have so many Artificers by whom they are made and the things whereunto we apply them are fraught with so many varieties it is not always apparent what the first Inventors respected much less what every man 's inward conceit is which useth their words For any thing myself can discern herein I suppose that they which have bend their study to search more diligently such matters do for the most part find that Name 's advisedly given had either regard unto that which is naturally most proper or if perhaps to some other speciality to that which is sensibly most eminent in the thing signified and concerning popular use of words that which the wisdom of their Inventors did intend thereby is not commonly thought of but by the name the thing altogether conceived in gross as may appear in that if you ask of the common sort what any certain word for example what a Priest doth signify their manner is not to answer a Priest is a Clergyman which offereth sacrifice to God but they show some particular Person whom they use to call by that name And if we lift to descend to Grammar we are told by masters in those Schools E●●m magn that the word Priest hath his right place in him whose mere Function or Charge is the service of God Howbeit because the eminentest part both of Heathenish and Jewish service did consist in Sacrifice when Learned-men declare what the word Priest doth properly signify according to the mind of the first imposer of that name their ordinary a Schools do well expound it to imply Sacrifice Seeing then that Sacrifice is now no part of the Church-Ministry how should the name of Priesthood be thereunto rightly applied Surely even as Saint Paul applieth the name of b Hesy Chriflus homo dicitur quia notus est Propheta quia sutura ●evelarit Sacerdos quia pro nobis hossiam se ob●● lit Isid. Orig. l. 7. c. ● Flesh unto that very substance of Fishes which hath a proportionable correspondence to Flesh although it be in nature another thing Whereupon when Philosophers will speak warily they c 1 Cor. 15.39 make a difference between Flesh in one sort of living Creatures and that other substance in the rest which hath but a kind of analogy to Flesh the Apostle chose having matter of greater importance whereof to speak nameth indifferently both Flesh. The Fathers of the Church of Christ with like security of speech call usually the Ministry of the Gospel Priesthood d Eyes Arist. de Anim ● 2. c. ●● in regard of that which the Gospel hath proportionable to ancient Sacrifices namely the Communion of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ although it hath properly now no Sacrifice As for the People when they hear the name it draweth no more their Minds to any cogitation of Sacrifice than the name of a Senator or of an Alderman causeth them to think upon old age or to imagine that every one so termed must needs be ancient because years were respected in the first nomination of both Wherefore to pass by the name let them use what dialect they will whether we call it a Priesthood a Presbytership or a Ministry it skilleth not Although in truth the word Presbyter doth seem more fit and in propriety of speech more agreeable than Priest with the drift of the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. For what are they that embrace the Gospel but Sons of God What are Churches but his Families Seeing therefore we receive the Adoption and state of Sons by their Ministry whom God hath chosen out for that purpose seeing also that when we are the Sons of God our continuance is still under their care which were our Progenitors what better Title could there be given them than the reverend name of Presbyters or fatherly Guides The Holy Ghost throughout the body of the New Testament making so much mention of them doth not any where call them Priests The Prophet Esay Esay 66. 21. I grant doth but in such sort as the ancient Fathers by way of analogy A Presbyter according to the proper meaning of the New Testament is he unto whom our Saviour Christ hath communicated the power of Spiritual procreation Out of twelve Patriarches issued the whole multitude of Israel according to the flesh And according to the mystery of heavenly birth our Lord's Apostles we all acknowledge to be the Patriarches of his whole Church St. john therefore beheld sitting about the Throne of God in Heaven four and twenty Presbyters Revel 4. 4. Rev. 20. 14. Mat. 19 28. 1 Per. 3. 1. the one half Fathers of the old the other of the new jerusalem In which respect the Apostles likewise gave themselves the same Title albeit that name were not proper but common unto then with others For of Presbyters some were greater some less in power and that by our Saviour's own appointment the greater they which received fullness of Spiritual power the less they to whom less was granted The Apostle's peculiar charge was to publish the Gospel of Christ unto all Nations and to deliver them his Ordinances received by immediate revelation from himself Dio● is Areep p. 113. Acts 2. 4 47. Which pre-eminence excepted to all other Offices and Duties incident unto their Order it was in them to Ordain and Consecrate whomsoever they thought meet even as our Saviour did himself assign seventy other of his own Disciples inferior Presbyters whose Commission to Preach and Baptise was the same which the Apostles had Whereas therefore we find that the very first Sermon which the Apostles did publicly make was the conversion of above three thousand Souls unto whom there were every day more and more added they having no open place permitted them for the exercise of Christian Religion think we that Twelve were sufficient to teach and administer Sacraments in so many private places as so great a multitude of People did require This harvest our Saviour no doubt foreseeing provided accordingly Labourers for it before hand By which means it came to pass that the growth of that Church being so great and so sudden they had notwithstanding in a readiness Presbyters enough to furnish it And therefore the History doth make no mention by what occasion Presbyters were instituted in jerusalem only we read of things which they did and how the like were made afterwards elsewhere To these two Degrees appointed of our Lord and Saviour Christ his Apostles soon after annexed Deacons Deacons therefore must know saith Cyprian Cypr. Ep. 9 1. 3 ad Rogatianum that our Lord himself did elect Apostles but Deacons after his ascension into Heaven the Apostles ordained Deacons were Stewards of the Church unto whom at the first was committed the distribution of Church-goods the care of providing therewith for the Poor and the charge to see that all things of expeace might be religiously and faithfully dealt in A part also of their Office was attendance upon their Presbyters at the time of Divine Service ●●● ail'st ad Tral For which cause Ignatius to set forth the dignity of their Calling saith that they are in such case to the Bishop as if Angelical Powers did serve him These only being the uses for which Deacons were first made if the Church have sithence extended their Ministry further than the circuit of their labour at the first was drawn we are not herein to think the Ordinance of Scripture violated except there appear some prohibition which hath abridged the Church of that liberty Which I note chiefly in regard of them to whom it seemeth a thing so monstrous that Deacons should sometime be licenced to preach whose institution was at the first to another end To charge them for this as men not contented with their own Vocations and as breakers into that which appertaineth unto others is very hard For when they are thereunto once admitted it is part of their own Vocation it appertaineth now unto them as well as others neither is it intrusion for them to do it being in such sort called but rather in us it were temerity to blame them for doing it Suppose we the Office of Teaching to be so repugnant unto the Office of Deaconship that they cannot concur in one and the same Person What was there done in the Church by Deacons which the Apostles did not first discharge being Teachers Yea but the Apostles found the burden of Teaching so heavy that they judged it meet to cut off that other charge and to have Deacons which might undertake it Be it so The multitude of Christians increasing in jerusalem and waxing great it was too much for the Apostles to teach and to minister unto Tables also The former was not to be slacked that this latter might be followed Therefore unto this they appointed others Whereupon we may rightly ground this Axiom that when the subject wherein one man's labours of sundry kinds are employed doth wax so great that the same men are no longer able to manage it sufficiently as before the most natural way to help this is by dividing their Charge into slipes and ordaining of Under-Officers as our Saviour under twelve Apostle seventy Presbyters and the Apostles by his example seven Deacons to be under both Neither ought it to seem less reasonable that when the same men are sufficient both to continue in that which they do and also to undertake somewhat more a combination be admitted in this case as well as division in the former We may not therefore disallow it in the Church of Geneva that Calvin and Beza were made both Pastors and Readers in Divinity being men so able to discharge both To say they did not content themselves with their Pastoral vocations but broke into that which belongeth to others Rom. 1● 8. to allege against them He that exhorteth on exhortation as against us He that distributeth in simplicity is alleged in great dislike of granting licence for Deacons to preach were very hard The ancient custom of the Church was to yield the poor much relief especially Widows But as poor people are always querulous and apt to think themselves less respected than they should be we see that when the Apostles did what they could without hindrance to their weightier business yet there were which grudged that others had too much and they too little the Grecian Widows shorter Commons than the Hebrews By means whereof the Apostles saw it meet to ordain Deacons Now tract of time having clean worn out those first occasions for which the Deaconship was then most necessary it might the better be afterwards extended to other Services and so remain as at this present day a Degree in the Clergy of God which the Apostles of Christ did institute That the first seven Deacons were chosen out of the seventy Disciples is an error in Epiphanius Epiph. l. 1. c. 21. For to draw men from places of weightier unto rooms of meaner labour had not been fit The Apostles to the end they might follow teaching with more freedom committed the ministry of Tables unto Deacons And shall we think they judged it expedient to choose so many out of those seventy to be ministers unto Tables when Christ himself had before made them Teachers It appeareth therefore how long these three degrees of Ecclesiastical Order have continued in the Church of Christ the highest and largest that which the Apostles the next that which Presbyters and the lowest that which Deacons had Touching Prophets they were such men as having otherwise learned the Gospel had from above bestowed upon them a special gift of expounding Scriptures and of foreshowing things to come Acts 21. 10. Acts 11. 27. Of this sort Agabus was and besides him in jerusalem sundry others who notwithstanding are not therefore to be reckoned with the Clergy because no man's gifts or qualities can make him a Minister of holy things unless Ordination do give him power And we nowhere since Prophets to have been made by Ordination but all whom the Church did ordain where either to serve as Presbyters or as Deacons Evangelists were Presbyters of principal sufficiency whom the Apostles sent abroad and used as Agents in Ecclesiastical affairs wheresoever they saw need They whom we find to have been named in Scripture Evangelists a Acts 9 18. Ananias b Acts 18. 24. Apollo's c Tim. 4.5.9 1 Tim. 3. 15. 5. 14. 1. 8. Euseb. Eccles. Hit● l. 3. c. 36. Timothy and others were thus employed And concerning Evangelists afterwards in Trajan's days the History Ecclesiastical noteth that many of the Apostle's Disciples and Scholars which were then alive and did with singular love of Wisdom affect the Heavenly Word of God to show their willing minds in executing that which Christ first of all requireth at the hands of men they sold their Possessions gave them to the Poor and betaking themselves to travel undertook the labour of Evangelists that is they painfully preached Christ and delivered the Gospel to them who as yet had never heard the Doctrine of Faith Finally whom the Apostle nameth Pastors and Teachers what other were they than Presbyters also howbeit settled in some certain charge and thereby differing from Evangelists I beseech them therefore which have hitherto troubled the Church with questions about Degrees and Offices of Ecclesiastical Calling because they principally ground themselves upon two places that all partiality laid aside they would sincerely weigh and examine whether they have not misinterpreted both places and all by surmising incompatible Offices where nothing is meant but sundry graces gifts and abilities which Christ bestowed To them of Corinth his words are these God placed in the Church 1 Cor. 2. 28. first of all some Apostles Secondly Prophets Thirdly Teachers after them Powers than gifts of Cures Aides Governments kinds of Languages Are all Apostles Are all Prophets Are all Teachers Is there power in all Have all grace to cure Do all speak with Tongues Can all interpret But be you desirous of the better graces They which plainly discern first that some one general thing there is which the Apostle doth here divide into all these branches and do secondly conceive that general to be Church-Offices besides a number of other difficulties can by no means possibly deny but that many of these might concur in one man and peradventure in some one all which mixture notwithstanding their form of discipline doth most shun On the other side admit that Communicants of special infused grace for the benefit of Members knit into one body the Church of Christ are here spoken of which was in truth the plain drift of that whole Discourse and see if every thing do not answer in due place with the fitness which showeth easily what is likeliest to have been mean For why are Apostles the first but because unto them was granted the Revelation of all Truth from Christ immediately Why Prophets the second but because they had of some things knowledge in the same manner Teachers the next because whatsoever was known to them it came by hearing yet God withal made them able to instruct which every one could not do that was taught After Gifts of Edification there follow general abilities to work things above Nature Grace to cure men of bodily Diseases Supplies against occurrent defects and impediments Dexterities to govern and direct by counsel Finally aptness to speak or interpret foreign tongues Which Graces not poured out equally but diversely sorted and given were a cause why not only they all did furnish up the whole Body but each benefit and help other Again the same Apostle otherwhere in like sort Ephes. 4. 7. Psal. 68 18. To every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith When he ascended up on high he led Captivity captive and gave gifts unto men He therefore gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the gathering together of Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edification of the Body of Christ. In this place none but gifts of Instruction are expressed And because of Teachers some were Evangelists which neither had any part of their knowledge by Revelation as the Prophets and yet in ability to teach were far beyond other Pastors they are as having received one way less than Prophets and another way more than Teachers set accordingly between both For the Apostle doth in neither place respect what any of them were by Office or Power given them through Ordination but what by grace they all had obtained through miraculous infusion of the Holy Ghost For in Christian Religion this being the ground of our whole Belief that the promises which God of old had made by his Prophets concerning the wonderful Gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost wherewith the Reign of the true Messias should be made glorious were immediately after our Lord's Ascension performed there is no one thing whereof the Apostles did take more often occasion to speak Out of men thus endued with gifts of the Spirit upon their Conversion to Christian Faith the Church had her Ministers chosen unto whom was given Ecclesiastical power by Ordination Now because the Apostle in reckoning degrees and varieties of Grace doth mention Pastors and Teachers although he mention them not in respect of their Ordination to exercise the Ministry but as examples of men especially enriched with the gifts of the Holy Ghost diverse learned and skilful men have so taken it as if those places did intend to teach what Orders of Ecclesiastical Persons there ought to be in the Church of Christ which thing we are not to learn from thence but out of other parts of holy Scripture whereby it clearly appeareth that Churches Apostolic did know but three degrees in the power of Ecclesiastical Order at the first Apostles Presbyters and Deacons afterwards in stead of Apostles Bishops concerning whose Order we are to speak in the seventh Book There is an error which beguileth many who do much entangle both themselves and others by not distinguishing Services Offices and Orders Ecclesiastical the first of which three and in part the second may be executed by the Laity whereas none have or can have the third but the Clergy Catechists Exorcists Readers Singers and the rest of like sort if the nature only of their labours and pains be considered may in that respect seem Clergymen even as the Fathers for that cause term them usually Clerks as also in regard of the end whereunto they were trained up which was to be ordered when years and experience should make them able Notwithstanding in as much as they no way differed from others of the Laity longer than during that work of Service which at any time they might give over being thereunto but admitted not tied by irrevocable Ordination we find them always exactly severed from that body whereof those three before rehearsed Orders alone are natural parts Touching Widows of whom some men are persuaded that if such as Saint Paul describeth may be gotten we ought to retain them in the Church for ever T.C.l. 1. p. 191 1 Tim. 5. 9 Certain mean Services there were of Attendance as about Women at the time of their Baptism about the Bodies of the sick and dead about the necessities of Travellers Way-faring men and such like wherein the Church did commonly life them when need required because they lived of the Alms of the Church and were fittest for such purposes Saint Paul doth therefore to avoid scandal require that none but Women well-experienced and virtuously given neither any under threescore years of age should be admitted of that number Widows were never in the Church so highly esteemed as Virgins But seeing neither of them did or could receive Ordination to make them Ecclesiastical Persons were absurd The ancientest therefore of the Father's mention those three degrees of Ecclesiastical Order specified and no moe When your Captain saith Tertullian that is to say Tertul. de Persecur the Deacons Presbyters and Bishops fly who shall teach the Laity that they must be constant Again What should I mention Laymen saith Optatus yea or divers of the Ministry itself To what purpose Deacons which are in the third or Presbyters in the second degree of Priesthood when the very Heads and Princes of all even certain of the Bishops themselves were content to redeem life with the loss of Heaven Heaps of Allegations in a case so evident and plain are needless I may securely therefore conclude that there are at this day in the Church of England no other than the same Degrees of Ecclesiastical Order namely Bishops Presbyters and Deacons which had their beginning from Christ and his blessed Apostles themselves As for Deans Prebendaries Parsons Vicars Curates Arch-deacons Chancellors Officials Commissaries and such other the like names which being not found in holy Scripture we have been thereby through some men's error thought to allow of Ecclesiastical Degress not known nor ever heard of in the better ages of former times all these are in truth but Titles of Office whereunto partly Ecclesiastical Persons and partly others are in sundry forms and conditions admitted as the state of the Church doth need degrees of Order still continuing the same they were from the first beginning Now what habit or attire doth beseem each Order to use in the course of common life both for the gravity of his Place and for Example-sake to other men is a matter frivolous to be disputed of A small measure of wisdom may serve to teach them how they should cut their coats But seeing all well-ordered Polities have ever judged it meet and fit by certain special distinct Ornaments to sever each sort of men from other when they are in public to the end that all may receive such Compliments of Civil Honour as are due to their Rooms and Callings even where their Persons are not known it argueth a disproportioned mind in them whom so decent Orders displease Of Oblations Foundations Endow ments tithes all intended for perpetury of Religion which purpose being chief fulfilled by the Clergies cerr●in and sufficient maintenance must needs by alieration of Church It was be made for state 79. We might somewhat marvel what the Apostle Saint Paul should mean to say that Covetousness is Idolatry if the daily practice of men did not show that whereas Nature requireth God to be honoured with wealth we honour for the most part Wealth as God Fain we would teach ourselves to believe that for worldly goods it sufficeth frugally and honestly to use them to our own benefit without detriment and hurt of others or if we go a degree farther and perhaps convert some small contemptible portion thereof to Charitable uses the whole duty which we owe unto God herein is fully satisfied But for as much as we cannot rightly honour God unless both our Souls and Bodies be sometime employed merely in his Service Again sith we know that Religion requireth at our hands the taking away of so great a part of the time of our lives quite and clean from our own business and the bestowing of the same in his Suppose we that nothing of our wealth and substance is immediately due to God but all our own to bestow and spend as ourselves think meet Are not our riches as well his as the days of our life are his Wherefore unless with part we acknowledge his Supreme Dominion by whose benevolence we have the whole how give we Honour to whom Honour belongeth or how hath God the things that are God's I would know what Nation in the World did ever honour God and not think it a point of their duty to do him honour with their very goods So that this we may boldly set down as a Principle clear in Nature an Axiom which ought not to be called in question a Truth manifest and infallible that men are eternally bound to honour God with their substance in token of thankful acknowledgement that all they have is from him To honour him with our worldly goods not only by spending them in lawful manner and by using them without offence but also by alienating from ourselves some reasonable part or portion thereof and by offering up the same to him as a sign that we gladly confess his sole and Sovereign Dominion over all is a duty which all men are bound unto and a part of that very Worship of God which as the Law of God and Nature itself requireth so we are the rather to think all men no less strictly bound thereunto than to any other natural duty in as much as the hearts of men do so cleave to these earthly things so much admire them for the sway they have in the World impute them so generally either to Nature or to Chance and Fortune so little think upon the Grace and Providence from which they come that unless by a kind of continual tribute we did acknowledge God's Dominion it may be doubted that short in time men would learn to forget whose Tenants they are and imagine that the World is their own absolute free and independent inheritance Now concerning the kind or quality of gifts which God receiveth in that sort we are to consider them partly as first they proceed from us and partly as afterwards they are to serve for divine uses In that they are testimonies of our affection towards God there is no doubt but such they should be as beseemeth most his Glory to whom we offer them In this respect the fatness of Abel's Sacrifice is commended the flower of all men's increase assigned to God by Solomon the Gifts and Donations of the People rejected as oft as their cold affection to God-ward made their Presents to be little worth Somewhat the Heathens saw touching that which was herein fit and therefore they unto their gods did not think they might consecrate any thing which was impure or unsound Param probam profan●m saun ●est lib. 14. or already given or else not truly their own to give Again in regard of use forasmuch as we know that God hath himself no need of worldly commodities but taketh them because it is our good to be so exercised and with no other intent accepteth them but to have them used for the endless continuance of Religion there is no place left of doubt or controversy but that we in the choice of our gifts are to levelly at the same mark and to frame ourselves to his known intents and purposes Whether we give unto God therefore that which himself by commandment requireth or that which the public consent of the Church thinketh good to allot or that which every man 's private devotion doth best like in as much as the gift which we offer proceedeth not only as a testimony of our affection towards God but also as a mean to uphold Religion the exercise whereof cannot stand without the help of temporal commodities if all men be taught of Nature to wish and as much as in them lieth to procure the perpetuity of good things if for that very cause we honour and admire their wisdom who having been Founders of Common-weals could devise how to make the benefit they lest behind them durable if especially in this respect we prefer Lycurgus before Solon and the Spartan before the Athenian Polity it must needs follow that as we do unto God very acceptable service in honouring him with our substance so our service that way is then most acceptable when it tendeth to perpetuity The first permanent donations of honour in this kind are Temples Which works do so much set forward the exercise of Religion that while the World was in love with Religion it gave to no sort greater reverence than to whom it could point and say These are the men that have built us Synagogues But of Churches we have spoken sufficiently heretofore The next things to Churches are the Ornaments of Churches memorials which men's devotion hath added to remain in the treasure of God's House not only for uses wherein the exercise of Religion presently needeth them but also partly for supply of future casual necessities whereunto the Church is on earth subject and partly to the end that while they are kept they may continually serve as testimonies giving all men to understand that God hath in every Age and Nation such as think it no burden to honour him with their substance The riches first of the Tabernacle of God and then of the Temple of jerusalem arising out of voluntary Gifts and Donations were as we commonly speak a Nemo scit the value of them above that which any man would imagine After that the Tabernacle was made furnished with all necessaries and set up although in the wilderness their ability could not possibly be great the very metal of those Vessels which the Princes of the twelve Tribes gave to God for their first Presents Num. 7. ●5 85. amounted even then to two thousand and four hundred shekels of Silver an hundred and twenty shekels of Gold every shekel weighing half an ounce What was given to the Temple which Solomon erected 1 Chron. 28. Exod. 25. 28 & 37. 24. Ezra 1. ●8 69. Hag. 2. 40. Ezra 9 24. we may partly conjecture when over and besides Wood Marble Iron Brass Vestments Precious Stones and Money the sum which David delivered into Solomon's hands for that purpose was of Gold in mass eight thousand and of Silver seventeen thousand Cichars every Cichar containing a thousand and eight hundred shekels which riseth to nine hundred Ounces in every one Cichar whereas the whole charge of the Tabernacle did not amount unto thirty Cichars After their return out of Babylon they were not presently in case to make their second Temple of equal magnificence and glory with that which the enemy had destroyed Notwithstanding what they could they did Insomuch that the building finished there remained in the Coffers of the Church to uphold the fabric thereof six hundred and fifty Cichars of Silver one hundred of Gold Whereunto was added by Nehemias' of his own gift a thousand drams of Gold fifty vessels of Silver Nehem. 7. 50. five hundred and thirty Priests vestments by other the Princes of the Father's twenty thousand drams of Gold two thousand and two hundred pieces of Silver by the rest of the People twenty thousand of Gold two thousand of Silver threescore and seven attires of Priests And they furthermore bound themselves towards other Charges to give by the Pole in what part of the World soever they should dwell Nehem. 10. 32 the third of a shekel that is to say the sixth part of an ounce yearly a Cic. oral pro L. Flac. Cum aurum Julaorum n●mine quotannis ex Italia●● ●● an omnibus vestrio Provincils H●erosely mam expartal soleret Flaccus sanxie edicto ne est Asia exporta ●●licertes This out of foreign Provinces they always sent in Gold Whereof b Joseph Anti. l. 4. c. 12. Every ruicat in value 600. Crown Num. 35. Levit. 25. 34. & 29. 38. Nithridates is said to have taken up by the way before it could pass to jerusalem from Asia in one adventure eight hundred talents Crassus after that to have borrowed of the Temple itself eight thousand at which time Eleazar having both many other rich Ornaments and all the Tapestry of the Temple under his custody thought it the safest way to grow unto some composition and so to redeem the residue by parting with a certain beam of Gold about seven hundred and an half in weight a prey sufficient for one man as he thought who had never bargained with Crassus till then and therefore upon the confidence of a solemn Oath that no more should be looked for he simply delivered up a large morsel whereby the value of that which remained was betrayed and the whole lost Such being the casualties whereunto movable Treasures are subject the Law of Moses did both require eight and twenty Cities together with their Fields and whole Territories in the Land of jury to be reserved for God himself and not only provide for the liberty of farther additions if men of their own accord should think good but also for the safe preservation thereof unto all Posterities that no man's avarice or fraud by defeating so virtuous intents might discourage from like purposes God's third endowment did therefore of old consist in Lands Furthermore some cause no doubt there is why besides sundry other more rare Donations of uncertain rate the Tenth should be thought a Revenue so natural to be allotted out unto God For of the spoils which Abraham had taken in War he delivered unto Melchisedeck the Titles The vow of jacob at such time as he took his journey towards Haran was Gen. 14. 20. Gen. 28. 20. If God will be with me and will keep me in this voyage which I am to go and will give me Bread to eat and  to put on so that I may return to my Father's house in safety then shall the Lord be my God and this Stone which I have set up as a Pillar the same shall be God's House and of all thou shalt give me I will give unto thee the Tithe And as Abraham gave voluntarily as jacob vowed to give God Tithes so the Law of Moses did require at the hands of all men the selfsame kind of Tribute Deut. 14. 27. the Tenth of their Com Wine Oil Fruit  and whatsoever increase his heavenly Providence should send Plin. hist. nur l. 12. c. 14. In so much that paynims being herein followers of their steps paid Tithes likewise Imagine we that this was for no cause done or that there was not some special inducements to judge the Tenth of our Worldly profits the most convenient for God's Portion Are not all things by him created in such sort that the forms which give them their distinction are number their operations measure and their matter weight Three being the mystical number of God's unsearchable perfection within himself Seven the number whereby our own perfections Philo A●u● through grace are most ordered and Ten the number of Nature's perfections for the beauty of Nature is Order and the foundation of Order Number and of Number Ten the highest we can rise unto without iteration of numbers under it could Nature better acknowledge the power of the God of nature than by assigning unto him that quantity which is the continent of all she possesseth There are in Philo the Jew many Arguments to show the great congruity and fitness of this number in things consecrated unto God But because overnice and curious speculations become not the earnestness of holy things I omit what might be farther observed as well out of others as out of him touching the quantity of this general sacred Tribute whereby it cometh to pass that the meanest and the very poorest amongst men yielding unto God as much in proportion as the greatest and many times in affection more have this as a sensible token always assuring their minds that in his sight from whom all good is expected they are concerning acceptation protection divine privileges and preeminencies whatsoever equal and Peers with them unto whom they are otherwise in earthly respects inferiors being furthermore well assured that the top as it were thus presented to God is neither lost nor unfruitfully bestowed but doth sanctify to them again the whole Mass and that he by receiving a little undertaketh to bless all In which consideration the Jews were accustomed to name their Tithes the b Massoreth sepes est legis divitiarum sepes decimae R. Aquiba in Pirk. Aboth hedge of their Riches Albeit a hedge do only fence and preserve that which is contained whereas their Tithes and Offerings did more because they procured increase of the heap out of which they were taken God demandeth no such debt for his own need but for their only benefit that owe it Wherefore detaining the same they hurt not him whom they wrong and themselves whom they think they relieve they wound except men will haply affirm that God did by fair speeches and large promises delude the world in saying Bring ye all the Tithes into the Storehouse that there may be meat in mine House deal truly defraud not God of his due but bring all Mal. 3. and prove if I will not open unto you the Windows of Heaven and pour down upon you an immeasurable blessing That which Saint james hath concerning the effect of our Prayers unto God is for the most part of like moment in our gifts We pray and obtain not because he which knoweth our hearts doth know our desires are evil In like manner we give and we are not the more accepted because he beholdeth how unwisely we spill our Gifts in the bringing It is to him which needeth nothing Nemo libenter dedit quod non accepit sed expressit Sen. the Benef l. 1. c. 1. all one whether any thing or nothing be given him But for our own good it always behoveth that whatsoever we offer up into his hands we bring it seasoned with this cogitation Thou Lord art worthy of all honour With the Church of Christ touching these matters it standeth as it did with the whole World before Moses Whereupon for many years' men being desirous to honour God in the same manner as other virtuous and holy Personages before had done both during the time of their life and if farther ability did serve by such devise as might cause their works of piety to remain always it came by these means to pass that the Church from time to time had Treasure proportionable unto the poorer or wealthier estate of Christian men And assoon as the state of the Church could admit thereof they easily condescended to think it most natural and most fit that God should receive as before of all men his ancient accustomed Revenues of Tithes Thus therefore both God and Nature have taught to convert things temporal to eternal uses and to provide for the perpetuity of Religion even by that which is most transitory For to the end that in worth and value there might be no abatement of any thing once assigned to such purposes the Law requireth precisely the best of what we possess and to prevent all damages by way of commutation where in stead of natural Commodities or other rights the price of them might be taken the Law of Moses determined their rates and the payments to be always made by the Sickle of the Sanctuary Levit. 27. 29. wherein there was great advantage of weight above the ordinary currant Sickle The truest and surest way for God to have always his own is by making him payment in kind out of the very selfsame riches which through his gracious benediction the earth doth continually yield This where it may be without inconvenience is for every man's Conscience sake That which cometh from God to us by the natural course of his providence which we know to be innocent and pure is perhaps best accepted because least spotted with the stain of unlawful or indirect procurement Besides whereas prices daily change Nature which commonly is one must needs be the most indifferent and permanent Standard between God and Man But the main foundation of all whereupon the security of these things dependeth as far as any thing may be ascertained amongst men is that the Title and Right which man had in every of them before Donation doth by the Act and from the time of any such Donation Dedication or Grant remain the proper possession of God till the World's end unless himself renounce or relinquish it For if equity have taught us that every one ought to enjoy his own that what is ours no other can alienate from us but with our a Lib. 11. de Reg. Jur. own b Cujus per errorem deci repetitio est ejus coas●lio dari donatio est l. 1. D. de con 1. indeb This is the ground of Consideration in alienations from man to man deliberate consent finally that no man having past his consent or deed may c Nemo petest mutare consi lium s●um in alteius praejudiciam l. 75. de Reg. Jur. Acts. 3 4. Exod. 22. 29. 30. Matth. 21. 13. Mal 3.8 change it to the prejudice of any other should we perfume to deal with God worse than God hath allowed any man to deal with us Albeit therefore we be now free from the Law of Moses and consequently not thereby bound to the payment of Tithes yet because Nature hath taught men to honour God with their Substance and Scripture hath left us an example of that particular proportion which for moral considerations hath been thought sittest by him whose wisdom could best judge furthermore seeing that the Church of Christ hath long sithence entered into like obligation it seemeth in these days a question altogether vain and superfluous whether Tithes be a matter of Divine Right because howsoever at the first it might have been thought doubtful our case is clearly the same now with theirs unto whom Saint Peter sometime spoke saying While it was whole it was whole thine When our Tithes might have probably seemed our own we had colour of liberty to use them as we ourselves saw good But having made them His whose they are let us be warned by other men's example what it is to wash or clip that come which hath on it the mark of God For that all these are his possessions and that he doth himself so reckon them appeareth by the form of his own speeches Touching Gifts and Oblations Thou shalt give them me touching Oratories and Churches My House shall be called the House of Prayer touching Tithes Will a man spoil God Yet behold even me your God ye have d Non vusentur rem atmi●t●ere quibus propria non suit l. dg de Reg. Jur. Ezech. 45. 1. 4. spoiled notwithstanding ye ask wherein as though ye were ignorant what injury there hath been offered in Tithes ye are heavily accursed because with a kind of public consent ye have joined yourselves in one to rob me imagining the commonness of your offence to be every man's particular justification touching Lands Ye shall offer to the Lord a sacred portion of ground and that sacred portion shall belong to the Priests Neither did God only thus ordain amongst the Jews but the very purpose intent and meaning of all that have honoured him with their substance was to invest him with the property of those benefits the use whereof must needs be committed to the hands of men In which respect the stile of ancient Grants and Charters is ●●g Char. ● 1 We have given unto God both for Us and our Hews for ever Yea We know saith Charles the Great that the goods of the Church are the sacred endowments of God to the Lord our God we offer and dedicate whatsoever we deliver unto his Church Capit. Ca●d l. 2. c. 284. Whereupon the Laws Imperial do likewise divide all things in such sort that they make some to belong by right of Nature indifferently unto every man some to be the certain goods and possessions of Common-weals some to appertain unto several Corporations or Companies of men some to be privately men's own in particular and some to be separated quite e Nullins a●tem far ●ae & relig●o & ●a● etc. Quod enam evini juris est ad nu ●● in b●●erf Inst. l. 2. tit 1. from all men which last branch compriseth things sacred and holy because thereof God alone is Owner The sequel of which received opinion as well without as within the Walls of the House of God touching such possessions as hath been ever that there is not an act more honourable than by all means to amplify and to defend the patrimony of Religion not any more f ● li cum D●s sedilegi pugnant Curt. l. 7. Sacrum sacreve c●minen●●cum qui dempset it ●a●●ave pur ie daci● Leg ●g ●ab Ca●●● Catul. l 6. c 2●5 impious and hateful than to impair those possessions which men in former times when they gave unto holy uses were wont at the Altar of God and in presence of their ghostly Superiors to make as they thought inviolable by words of fearful execration saying These things we offer to God from whom if any take them away which we hope no man will attempt to do but if any shall Let his account be without favour in the last day when he cometh to receive the doom which is due for Sacrilege against that Lord and God unto whom we dedicate the same The best and most renowned Prelates of the Church of Christ have in this consideration rather sustained the wrath than yielded to satisfy the hard desire of their greatest Commanders on earth coveting with ill advice and counsel that which they willingly should have suffered God to enjoy There are of Martyrs whom posterity doth much honour for that having under their hands the custody of such g Dep. led puer in T●rul Apologet. Prudent Perd●eph treasures they could by virtuous delusion invent how to save them from prey even when the safety of their own lives they gladly neglected as one sometime an Archdeacon under Xistne the Bishop of Rome did whom when his Judge understood to be one of the Church-Stewards thirst of blood began to slake and another humour to work which first by a favourable countenance and then by quiet speech did thus calmly disclose itself You that profess the Christian Religion make great complaint of the wonderful cruelty we show towards you Neither peradventure altogether without cause But for myself I am far from any such bloody purpose Ye are not so willing to love as I unwilling that out of these lips should proceed any capital sentence against you Your Bishops are said to have rich Vessels of Gold and Silver which they use in the exercise of their Religion besides the fame is that numbers sell away their Lands and Livings the huge prices whereof are brought to your Church-coffers by which means the devotion that maketh them and their whole Posterity poor must needs mightily enrich you whose God we know was no Coyner of Money but left behind him many wholesome and good Precepts at namely that Caesar should have of you the things that are fit for and due to Caesar. His Wars are costly and chargeable unto him That which you suffer to rust in corners the affairs of the Commonwealth do need Your Profession is not to make account of things transitory And yet if ye can be contented but to forego that which ye care not for I dare undertake to warrant you both safety of life and freedom dom of using your conscience a thing more acceptable to you than wealth Which say 't ' Parley the happy Martyr quietly hearing and perceiving it necessary to make some shift for the safe concealment of that which being now desired was not unlikely to be more narrowly afterwards sought he craved respite for three days to gather the riches of the Church together in which space against the time the Governor should come to the doors of the Temple big with hope to receive his prey a miserable rank of poor lame and impotent Persous was provided their names delivered him up in writing as a true Inventory of the Church's goods and some few words used to signify how proud the Church was of these Treasures If men did not naturally abhor Sacrilege to resist or to defeat so impious attempts would deserve small praise But such is the general detestation of rapine in this kind that whereas nothing doth either in Peace or War more uphold men's reputation than prosperous success because in common construction unless notorious improbity be joined with prosperity it seemeth to argue favour with God they which once have stained their hands with these odious spoils do thereby fasten unto all their actions an eternal prejudice in respect whereof for that it passeth through the World as an undoubted Rule and Principle that Sacrilege is open defiance to God whatsoever afterwards they undertake if they prosper in it men reckon it but Dionysius his Navigation and if any thing befall them otherwise it is not as commonly so in them ascribed to the great uncertainty of casual events wherein the providence of God doth control the purposes of men oftentimes much more for their good than if all things did answer fully their hearts desire but the censure of the World is ever directly against them both a Novimen's mulio tegra & viges corum propecrea ceckis ●● quia Ecclesias spolia●●tuat resque earum vestaverunt abendtetunc vel di ipucrunt Episcopis●ue & Socerdoribus oiq ie quod magi● est Eccless eorum 1 ●●uletuer & pugnanthus dedetuat Quapropter nee forces in bello ●re in fide fiabiles suount nec victores exticerunt sed reegs multi vulnerati & plures interlecti u●rterunt reg●aq & regiones & quod pejus est regno co●lectia perd●lerunt arquc proptiis ●●tediratibus corurrunt & ha●er●● corent Verba Carol Ma. in Cajira Ca al. l. 7. c. 1●4 bitter and peremptoty To make such actions therefore less odious and to mitigate the envy of them many colourable shifts and inventions have been used as if the World did hate only Wolves and think the Fox a goodly Creature The b Turno rempus erie magoo cuma opeaverk emptum lotactum Pallen●o & cum spolia ista d●●eluque O●erk Virg. AE● lib. 10. time it may be will come when they that either violently have spoilt or thus smoothly defrauded God shall find they did but deceive themselves In the mean while there will be always some skilful Persons which can teach a way how to grind treatably the Church with jaws that shall scarce move and yet devour in the end more than they that come ravening with open mouth as if they would worry the whole in an instant others also who having wastefully eaten out their own Patrimony would be glad to repair if they might their decayed Estates with the ruin they care not of what nor of whom so the spoil were theirs whereof in some part if they happen to speed yet commonly they are men born under that constellation which maketh them I know not how as unapt to enrich themselves as they are ready to impoverish others it is their lot to sustain during life both the misery of Beggars and the infamy of Robbers But though no other Plague and Revenge should follow sacrilegious violations of holy things the natural secret disgrace and ignominy Demost. the very turpitude of such actions in the eye of a wise understanding heart is itself a heavy punishment Men of virtuous quality are by this sufficiently moved to beware how they answer and requite the mercies of God with injuries whether openly or indirectly offered I will not absolutely say concerning the goods of the Church that they may in no case be seized on by men or that no Obligation Commerce and Bargain made between man and man Poenam non dico legum quas saepe perrumpunt sed ipsius turpitud●ni● quae acerbissima est est mon vident Cir. Ofical 3. can never be of force to alienate the property which God hath in them Certain cases I grant there are wherein it is not so dark what God himself doth warrant but that we may safely presume him as willing to forego for our benefit as always to use and convert to our benefit whatsoever our Religion hath honoured him withal But surely under the name of that which may be many things that should not be are often done By means whereof the Church most commonly for Gold hath Flanel and whereas the usual Saw of old was Glaucus his change the Proverb is now A Church-bargain And for fear left Covetousness alone should linger out the time too much Imponita tu credes else quae invisasent six ullem supplicium gravius existimas publico odio Sen. de Benes l. 3. c. 17. and not be able to make havoc of the House of God with that expedition which the mortal enemy thereof did vehemently wish he hath by certain strong enchantments so deeply bewitched Religion itself as to make it in the end an earnest Solicitor and an eloquent Persuader of Sacrilege urging confidently that the very best service which men of Power can do to Christ is without any more Ceremony to sweep all and to leave the Church as hare as in the day it was first born that fullness of bread having made the Children of the Household wanton Iren. l. 4 c. 34. Orig. in 18. Num. hom. 11 it is without any scruple to be taken away from them and thrown to Dogs that they which laid the prices of their Lands as offerings at the Apostles feet did but sow the seeds of Superstition that they which endowed Churches with Lands poisoned Religion that Tithes and Oblations are now in the sight of God as the sacrificed blood of Goats that if we give him our hearts and affections our goods are better bestowed otherwise that Polycarp's Disciple should not have said We offer unto God our goods as tokens of thankfulness for that we receive neither Origen He which worshippeth God must by Gifts and oblations acknowledge him the Lord of all In a word that to give unto God is error reformation of error to take from the Church that which the blindness of former Ages did unwisely give By these or the like suggestions received with all joy and with like sedulity practised in certain parts of the Christian world they have brought to pass that as David doth say of Man so it is in hazard to be verified concerning the whole Religion and Service of God Psal. hundred 10. The time thereof may peradventure fall out to be threescore and ten years or if strength do serve unto fourscore what followeth is likely to be small joy for them whatsoever they be that behold it Thus have the best things been overthrown not so much by puissance and might of Adversaries as through defect of counsel in them that should have upheld and defended the same Of Ordination lawful without title and without any popular election precedent but in no case without regard of due information what their quality is that cross into holy Orders 80. There are in a Minister of God these four things to be considered his Ordination which giveth him power to meddle with things sacred the charge or portion of the Church allotted unto him for exercise of his Office the performance of his Duty according to the exigence of his Charge and lastly the maintenance which in that respect he receiveth All Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons which either concern the bestowing or the using of the power of Ministerial Order have relation to these four Of the first we have spoken before at large Concerning the next for more convenient discharge of Eclcesiastical Duties as the body of the People must needs be severed by divers Precincts so the Clergy likewise accordingly distributed Whereas therefore Religion did first take place in Cities and in that respect was a cause why the name of Pagans which properly signifieth a Country people came to be used in common speech for the same that Infidels and Unbelievers were it followed thereupon that all such Cities had their Ecclesiastical Colleges consisting of Deacons and of Presbyters whom first the Apostles or their Delegates the Evangelists did both ordain and govern Such were the Colleges of jerusalem Antioch Ephesus Rome Corinth and the rest where the Apostles are known to have planted our Faith and Religion Now because Religion and the cure of Souls was their general charge in common over all that were near about them neither had any one Presbyter his several Cure apart till Evaristus Bishop in the See of Rome about the year 112. began to assign Precincts unto every Church or Title which the Christians held and to appoint unto each Presbyter a certain compass whereof himself should take charge alone the commodiousness of this invention caused all parts of Christendom to follow it and at the length amongst the rest our own Churches about the year 636. became divided in like manner But other distinction of Churches there doth not appear any in the Apostles Writings save only according to those a Acts 15 2● Apt 1. ●2 Cities wherein they planted the Gospel of Christ and erected Ecclesiastical Colleges Wherefore to ordain b T●e 8. 6. throughout every City and throughout every Church do in them signify the same thing c Acts 14. 21 Church's then neither were nor could be in so convenient sort limited as now they are first by the bounds of each state and then within each state by more particular Precincts till at the length we descend unto several Congregations termed Parishes with far narrower restraint than this Name at the first was used And from hence hath grown their error who as oft as they read of the duty which Ecclesiastical Persons are now to perform towards the Church their manner is always to understand by that Church some particular Congregation of Parish Church They suppose that there should now be no man of Ecclesiastical Order which is not tied to some certain Parish Because the names of all Church-Officers are words of relation because a Shepherd must have his Flock a Teacher his Scholars a Minister his Company which he ministereth unto therefore it seemeth a thing in their eyes absurd and unreasonable that any man should be ordained a Minister otherwise than only for some particular Congregation Perceive they not how by this mean they make it unlawful for the Church to employ men at all in converting Nations For if so be the Church may not lawfully admit to an Ecclesiastical Function unless it tie the party admitted unto some particular Parish then surely a thankless labour it is whereby men seek the Conversion of Infidels which know not Christ and therefore cannot be as yet divided into their special Congregations and Flocks But to the end it may appear how much this one thing amongst many more hath been mistaken there is first no Precept requiring that Presbyters and Deacons be made in such sort and not otherwise Albeit therefore the Apostles did make them in that order yet is not their Example such a Law as without all exception bindeth to make them in no other order but that Again if we will consider that which the Apostles themselves did surely no man can justly say that herein we practise any thing repugnant to their example For by them there was ordained only in each Christian City a College of Presbyters and Deacons to administer holy things Evaristus did a hundred years after the birth of our Saviour Christ begin the distinction of the Church into Parishes Presbyters and Deacons having been ordained before to exercise Ecclesiastical Functions in the Church of Rome promiscuously he was the first that tied them each one to his own station So that of the two indefinite Ordination of Presbyters and Deacons doth come more near the Apostles Example and the tying of them to be made only for particular Congregations may more justly ground itself upon the Example of Evaristus than of any Apostle of Christ. It hath been the opinion of wise and good men heretofore that nothing was ever devised more singularly beneficial unto God's Church than this which our honourable Predecessors have to their endless praise found out by the erecting of such Houses of Study as those two most famous Universities do contain and by providing that choice Wits after reasonable time spent in contemplation may at the length either enter into that holy Vocation for which they have been so long nourished and brought up or else give place and suffer others to succeed in their rooms that so the Church may be always furnished with a number of men whose ability being first known by public trial in Church-labours there where men can best judge of them their calling afterwards unto particular charge abroad may be accordingly All this is frustrate those worthy Foundations we must dissolve their whole device and religious purpose which did erect them is made void their Orders and Statutes are to be canceled and disannulled in case the Church be forbidden to grant any power of Order unless it be with restraint to the Party ordained unto some particular Parish or Congregation Nay might we not rather affirm of Presbyters and of Deacons that the very nature of their Ordination is unto necessary local restraint a thing opposite and repugnant The Emperor justinian doth say of Tutors Iust. lib. 1 tir 14. sect 4. Certa rei vel causae tutor dari non potest quia personae non causae vel rei tutor datur He that should grant a Tutorship restraining his grant to some one certain thing or cause should do but idly because Tutors are given for personal defence generally and not for managing of a few particular things or causes So he that ordaining a Presbyter or a Deacon should in the form of Ordination restrain the one or the other to a certain place might with much more reason be thought to use a vain and a frivolous addition than they reasonably to require such local restraint as a thing which must of necessity concur evermore with all lawful Ordinations Presbyters and Deacons are not by Ordination consecrated unto Places but unto Functions In which respect and in no other it is that sith they are by virtue thereof bequeathed unto God severed and sanctified to be employed in his Service which is the highest advancement that mortal Creatures on Earth can be raised unto the Church of Christ hath not been acquainted in former Ages with any such propane and unnatural Custom as doth hollow men with Ecclesiastical Functions of Order only for a time and then dismiss them again to the common Affairs of the World Whereas chose from the Place or Charge where that Power hath been exercised we may be by sundry good and lawful occasions translated retaining nevertheless the selfsame Power which was first given It is some grief to spend thus much labour in refuting a thing that hath so little ground to uphold it especially sith they themselves that teach it do not seem to give thereunto any great credit if we may judge their minds by their actions There are amongst them that have done the work of Ecclesiastical Persons sometime in the Families of Noblemen sometime in much more public and frequent Congregations there are that have successively gone through perhaps seven or eight particular Churches after this sort yea some that at one and the same time have been some which at this present hour are in real obligation of Ecclesiastical duty and possession of Commodity thereto belonging even in sundry particular Churches within the Land some there are amongst them which will not so much abridge their liberty as to be fastened or tied unto any place some which have bound themselves to one place only for a time and that time being once expired have afterwards voluntarily given unto other places the like experience and trial of them All this I presume they would not do if their persuasion were as strict as their words pretend But for the avoiding of these and such other the like confusisions as are incident unto the cause and question whereof we presently treat there is not any thing more material than first to separate exactly the nature of the Ministry from the use and exercise thereof Secondly to know that the only true and proper Act of Ordination is to invest men with that power which doth make them Ministers by consecrating their Persons to God and his Service in holy things during term of life whether they exercise that power or no Thirdly that to give them a Title or Charge where to use their Ministry concerneth not the making but the placing of God's Ministers and therefore the Laws which concern only their Election or Admission unto place of Charge are not appliable to infringe any way their Ordination Fourthly that as oft as any ancient Constitution Law or Cannon is alleged concerning either Ordinations or Elections we forget not to examine whether the present case be the same which the ancient was or else do contain some just reason for which it cannot admit altogether the same Rules which former Affairs of the Church now altered did then require In the question of making Ministers without a Title which to do they say is a thing unlawful they should at the very first have considered what the name of Title doth imply and what affinity or coherence Ordinations have with Titles which thing observed would plainly have showed them their own error They are not ignorant that when they speak of a Title they handle that which belongeth to the placing of a Minister in some charge that the Place of Charge wherein a Minister doth execute his Office requireth some House of God for the People to resote unto some definite number of Souls unto whom he there administereth holy things and some certain allowance whereby to sustain life that the Fathers at the first named oratory's and Houses of Prayer Titles thereby signifying how God was interessed in them and held them as his own Possessions But because they know that the Church had Ministers before Christian Temples and Oratories were therefore some of them understand by a Title a definite Congregation of People only and so deny that any Ordination is lawful which maketh Ministers that have no certain Flock to attend forgetting how the Seventy whom Christ himself did ordain Ministers had their Calling in that manner whereas yet no certain Charge could be given them Others referring the name of a Title especially to the maintenance of the Minister Unlawful to ordain a Minister without a Title Abs●●a pag. 242. & pag. 246. The Law requireth that every one admitted unto Orders having for his present Relief some Ecclesiastical ●●eached should also have some other Title unto some Annual Renter Persian whereby he might be relieved in case he were not able through infirmity sickness or other lawful impediment to execute his Ecclesiastical Office and Function infringe all Ordinations made except they which receive Orders be first entitled to a competent Ecclesiastical Benefice and which is most ridiculously strange except besides their present Title to some such Benefice they have likewise some other Title of Annual Rent or Pension whereby they may he relieved in case through infirmity sickness or other lawful impediment they grow unable to execute their Ecclesiastical Function So that every man lawfully ordained must bring a Bow which hath two strings a Title of present Right and another to provide for future possibility or chance Into these absurdities and follies they slide by mis-conceiving the true purpose of certain Canons which indeed have forbidden to ordain a Minister without a Title not that simply it is unlawful so to ordain but because it might grow to an inconvenience if the Church did not somewhat restrain that liberty For seeing they which have once received Ordination cannot again return into the World it behoveth them which Ordain to foresee how such shall be afterwards able to live lest their poverty and destitution should redound to the disgrace and discredit of their Calling Which evil prevented those very Laws which in that respect forbid do expressly admit Ordinations to be made at large and without Title namely if the Party so ordained have of his own for the sustenance of this life or if the Bishop which giveth him Orders will find him competent allowance till some place of Ministration from whence his maintenance may arise be provided for him or if any other fit and sufficient means be had against the danger before mentioned Absolutely therefore it is not true that any ancient Canon of the Church which is or aught to be with us in force doth make Ordinations at large unlawful and as the state of the Church doth stand they are most necessary If there be any conscience in men ●ouching that which they write or speak let them consider as well what the present condition of all things doth now suffer as what the Ordinances of former Ages did appoint as well the weight of those Causes for which our Affairs have altered as the reasons in regard whereof our Fathers and Predecessors did sometime strictly and severely keep that which for us to observe now is neither meet nor always possible In this our present Cause and Controversy whether any not having Title of Right to a Benefice may be lawfully ordained a Minister is it not manifest in the eyes of all men that whereas the name of a Benefice doth signify some standing Ecclesiastical Revenue taken out of the Treasure of God and allotted to a Spiritual Person to the end he may use the same and enjoy it as his own for term of life unless his default cause Deprivation The Clergy for many years after Christ had no other Benefices but only their Canonical Portions or monthly Dividends allowed them according to their several degrees and qualities out of the Common Stock of such Gifts Oblations and Tithes as the servour of Christian Piety did then yield Yea that even when Ministers had their Churches and Flocks assigned unto them in several yet for maintenance of life their former kind of allowance continued till such time as Bishops and Church's Cathedral being sufficiently endowed with Lands other Presbyters enjoyed in stead of their first Benefices the Tithes and Profits of their own Congregations whole to themselves Is it not manifest that in this Realm and so in other the like Dominions where the tenure of Lands is altogether grounded on Military Laws and held as in Fee under Princes which are not made Heads of the People by force of voluntary Election but born the Sovereign Lords of those whole and entire Territories which Territories their famous progenitors obtaining by way of Conquest retained what they would in their own hands and divided the rest to others with reservation of Sovereignty and Capital Interest the building of Churches and consequently the assigning of either Parishes or Benefices was a thing impossible without consent of such as were principal Owners of Land in which consideration for their more encouragement hereunto they which did so far benefit the Church had by common consent granted as great equity and reason was a right for them and their Heirs till the World's end to nominate in those Benefices men whose quality the Bishop allowing might admit them thereunto Is it not manifest that from hence inevitably such inequality of Parishes hath grown as causeth some through the multitude of people which have refort unto one Church to be more than any one man can welld and some to be of that nature by reason of Chapels annexed that they which are Incumbents should wrong the Church if so be they had not certain Stipendaries under them because where the Crops of the Profit or Benefice is but one the Title can be but one man 's and yet the charge may require more Not to mention therefore any other reason whereby it may clearly appear how expedient it is and profitable for this Church to admit Ordinations without Title this little may suffice to declare how impertinent their allegations against it are out of ancient Canons how untrue their confident asseverations that only through negligence of Popish Prelates the custom of making such kind of Ministers hath prevailed in the Church of Rome against their Canons and that with us it is expressly against the Laws of our own Government when a Minister doth serve as a Stipendiary Curate which kind of Service nevertheless the greatest Rabbins of that part do altogether follow For howsoever they are loath peradventure to be named Curates Stipendaries they are and the labour they bestow is in other men's Cures a thing not unlawful for them to do yet unseemly for them to condemn which practice it I might here discover the like oversight throughout all their Discourses made in behalf of the People's pretended right to elect their Ministers before the Bishop may lawfully ordain But because we have otherwhere at large disputed of popular Elections and of the right of Patronage wherein is drowned whatsoever the people under any pretence of colour may seem to challenge about Admission and Choice of the Pastors that shall feed their Souls I cannot see what one Duty there is which always ought to go before Ordination but only care of the Party's worthiness as well for integrity and virtue as knowledge yea for virtue more in as much as defect of knowledge may sundry ways be supplied but the scandal of vicious and wicked life is a deadly evil Of the Leo ●●ing in Ministers their residence and the number of their Livings 81. The truth is that of all things hitherto mentioned the greatest is that threefold blot or blemish of notable ignorance unconscionable absence from the Cures whereof men have taken charge and unsatiable hunting after Spiritual preferments without either care or conscience of the public good Whereof to the end that we may consider as in Gods own sight and presence with all uprightness sincerity and truth let us particularly weigh and examine in every of them First how far forth they are reprovable by Reasons and Maxims of Common right Secondly whether that which our Laws do permit be repugnant to those Maxims and with what equity we ought to judge of things practised in this case neither on the one hand defending that which must be acknowledged out of square nor on the other side condemning rashly whom we list for whatsoever we disallow Touching Arguments therefore taken from the principles of Common right to prove that Ministers should a T. C l. 1. p. hundred be learned that they ought to be b 68 Resident upon their Livings and that c 69. 1 Tim. 3. 2. Titus 1. 9 2 Tim. 2. 15. Hosea 4. 5. Mar. 15. 14. Luke 2. 8. Acts 20. 9 1 Sam. 1. 19 1 Tim. 4. 18. John 10. 4. 1 Peter 5. 1. Acts 80. 28 1 Thess. 2. 17. Council Nic. cap. 15. Matth. 6. 24. 1 Cor. 7. 14. more than one only Benefice or Spiritual Living may not be granted unto one man the first because Saint Paul requireth in a Minister ability to teach to convince to distribute the Word rightly because also the Lord himself hath protested they shall be no Priests to him which have rejected knowledge and because if the blince lead the Blind they must both needs fall into the Pit the second because Teachers are Shepherds whose Flocks can be at no time secure from danger they are Watchmen whom the Enemy doth always besiege their labours in the Word and Sacraments admit no intermission their duty requireth instruction and conference with men in private they are the living Oracles of God to whom the People must resort for counsel they are commanded to be Patterns of Holiness Leaders Feeders Supervisors amongst their own it should be their grief as it was the Apostles to be absent though necessarily from them over whom they have taken charge finally the last because Plurality and Residence are opposite because the placing of one Clerk in two Churches is a point of Merchandise and filthy gain because no man can serve two Masters because every one should remain in that Vocation whereto he is called What conclude they of all this Against Ignorance against Nonresidence and against Plurality of Livings is there any man so raw and dull but that the Volumes which have been written both of old and of late may make him in so plentiful a cause eloquent For if by that which is generally just and requisite we measure what knowledge there should be in a Minister of the Gospel of Christ the Arguments which Light of Nature offereth the Laws and Statutes which Scripture hath the Canons that are taken out of ancient Synods the Decrees and Constitutions of sincerest Times the Sentences of all Antiquity and in a word even every man's full consent and conscience is against Ignorance in them that have Charge and Cure of Souls Again what availeth it if we be Learned and not Faithful or what benefit hath the Church of Christ if there be in us sufficiency without endeavour or care to do that good which our place exacteth Touching the pains and industry therefore wherewith men are in conscience bound to attend the work of their Heavenly Calling even as much as in them lieth bending thereunto their whole endeavour without either fraud sophistication or guile I see not what more effectual Obligation or Bond of Duty there should be urged than their own only Vow and Promise made unto God himself at the time of their Ordination The work which they have undertaken requireth both care and fear Their sloth that negligently perform it maketh them subject to malediction Besides we also know that the fruit of our pains in this Function is life both to ourselves and others And do we yet need incitements to labour Shall we stop our ears both against those conjuring exhortations which Apostles and against the fearful comminations which Prophets have uttered out of the mouth of God the one for prevention the other for reformation of our sluggishness in this behalf Saint Paul Acts 10. 17. Attend to yourselves and to all the Flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Again I charge thee before God and the Lord jesus Christ which shall judge the quick and the dead at his coming preach the Word be instant Jeremiah Jer. 23. 2. We unto the Pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my Pasture I will visit you for the wickedness of your Works saith the Lord the remnant of my Sheep I will gather together out of all Countries and will bring them again so their solds they shall grew and increase and I will set up Shepherds over them which shall feed them Ezekiel Ezek. 34. 2. Should not the Shepherds should they not feed the Flocks Ye eat the fat andye cloth yourselves with the wool but the weak ye have not strengthened the sick ye have not cured neither have ye bound up the broken nor brought home again that which was driven away ye have not inquired after that which was lost but with cruelty and rigour ye have ruled And verse 8. Wheresore as I live I will require etc. Nor let us think to excuse ourselves if haply we labour though it be at random and sit not altogether idle abroad For we are bound to attend that part of the flock of Christ whereof the Holy Ghost hath made us Overseers The residence of Ministers upon their own peculiar Charge is by so much the rather necessary for that absenting themselves from the place where they ought to labour they neither can do the good which is looked for at their hands nor reap the comfort which sweeteneth life to them that spend it in these cravels upon their own For it is in this as in all things else which are through private interest dearer than what concerneth either others wholly or us but in part and according to the rate of a general regard As for plurality it hath not only the same inconveniencies which are observed to grow by absence but over and besides at the least in common construction a show of that worldly humour which men do think should not reign so high Now from hence their Collections are as followeth first a repugnancy or contradiction between the Principles of common right and that which our Laws in special considerations have allowed secondly a nullity or frustration of all such acts as are by them supposed opposite to those Principles and invalidity in all Ordinations of men unable to preach and in all dispensations which mitigate the Law of Common right for the other two Abstract p 117 And why so Forsooth because whatsoever we do in these three cases and not by virtue of Common-right we must yield it of necessity done by warrant of peculiar right or privilege Now a Privilege is said to be that that for favour of certain persons cometh forth against Common-right things prohibited are dispensed with because things permitted are dispatched by Common-right but things forbidden require Dispensations By which descriptions of a Privilege and Dispensation it is they say apparent that a Privilege must licence and authorise the same which the Law against ignorance nonresidence and plurality doth infringe and so be a Law contrariant or repugnant to the Law of Nature and the Law of God because all the reasons whereupon the Positive Law of man against these three was first established are taken and drawn from the Law of Nature and the Law of God For answer whereunto we will but lead them to answer themselves First therefore if they will grant as they must that all direct oppositions of speech require one and the selfsame subject to be meant on both parts where opposition is pretended it will follow that either the Maxims of Common right do enforce the very same things not to be good which we say are good grounding ourselves on the reasons by virtue whereof our privileges are established or if the one do not reach unto that particular subject for which the other have provided then is there no contradiction between them In all contradictions if the one part be true the other eternally must be false And therefore if the Principles of Common right do at any time truly enforce that particular not to be good which Privileges make good it argueth invincibly that such privileges have been grounded upon error But to say that every Privilege is opposite unto the Principles of Common right because it dispenseth with that which Common right doth prohibit hath gross absurdity For the voice of Equity and Justice is that a general Law doth never derogate from a special Privilege whereas if the one were contrariant to the other a general Law being in force should always dissolve a Privilege The reason why many are deceived by imagining that so it should do and why men of better insight conclude directly it should not doth rest in the subject or matter itself which matter indefinitely considered in Laws of Common right is in Privileges considered as beset and limited with special circumstances by means whereof to them which respect it but by way of generality it seemeth one and the same in both although it be not the same if once we descend to particular consideration thereof Precepts do always propose perfection not such as none can attain unto for then in vain should we ask or require it at the hands of men but such perfection as all men must aim at to the end that as largely as human providence and care can extend it it may take place Moral laws are the rules of Politic those Politic which are made to order the whole Church of God rules unto all particular Churches and the Laws of every particular Church Rules unto every particular man within the body of the same Church Now because the higher we ascend in these Rules the further still we remove from those specialties which being proper to the subject whereupon our actions must work are therefore chiefly considered by us by them lest thought upon that wade altogether in the two first kinds of general directions their judgement cannot be exact and sound concerning either laws of Churches or actions of men in particular because they determine of effects by a part of the causes only out of which they grow they judge conclusions by demipremises and half-principles they lay them in the balance stripped from those necessary material circumstances which should give them weight and by show of falling uneven with the scale of most universal and abstracted rules they pronounce that too light which is not if they had the skill to weigh it This is the reason why men altogether conversant in study do know how to teach but not how to govern men experienced chose govern well yet know not which way to set down orderly the precepts and reasons of that they do He that will therefore judge rightly of things done must join with his forms and conceits of general speculation the matter wherein our actions are conversant For by this shall appear what equity there is in those Privileges and peculiar grants or favours which otherwise will seem repugnant to justice and because in themselves considered they have a show of repugnancy this deceiveth those great Clerks which hearing a Privilege defined to be an especial right brought in by their power and authority that make it for some public benefit against the general course of reason Jussingulare est quod contra tenorem gationis propter aliquam scilitatem authoritate constiruentinus introductum est Paulus●● ●● de Leg●b are not able to comprehend how the word against doth import exception without any opposition at all For inasmuch as the hand of Justice must distribute to every particular what is due and judge what is due with respect had no less of particular circumstances than of general rules and axioms it cannot fit all sorts with one measure the wills counsels qualities and states of men being divers For example the Law of Common right bindeth all men to keep their Promises perform their Compacts and answer the Faith they have given either for themselves or others Notwithstanding he which bargaineth with one under years can have no benefit by this allegation because he bringeth it against a Person which is exempt from the Common rule Shall we then conclude that thus to exempt certain men from the Law of Common right is against God against Nature against whatsoever may avail to strengthen and justify that Law before alleged or else acknowledge as the truth is that special causes are to be ordered by special rules that is men grown unto ripe age disadvantage themselves by bargaining yet what they have wittingly done is strong and in force against them because they are able to dispose and manage their own affairs whereas youth for lack of experience and judgement being easily subject to circumvention is therefore justly exempt from the Law of Common-right whereunto the rest are justly subject This plain inequality between men of years and under years is a cause why Equity and Justice cannot apply equally the same general rule to both but ordereth the one by Common right and granteth to the other a special privilege Privileges are either transitory or permanent Privilegium personale cum persona extinguitur & previlengium ditum a●ioal granlit cum actione Op. de Regulis part 1. 227. Transitory such as serve only some one turn or at the most extend no farther than to this or that man with the end of whose natural life they exp●e Permanent such as the use whereof doth continue still for that they belong unto certain kinds of men and causes which never die Of this nature are all immunities and preeminencies which for just considerations one sort of men enjoyeth above another both in the Church and Commonwealth no man suspecting them of contrariety to any branch of those Laws or Reasons whereupon the general right is grounded Now there being general Laws and Rules whereby it cannot be denied but the Church of God standeth bound to provide that the Ministry may be learned that they which have charge may reside upon it and that it may not be free for them in scandalous manner to multiply Ecclesiastical Livings it remaineth in the next place to be examined what the Laws of the Church of England do admit which may be thought repugnant to any thing hitherto alleged and in what special consideration they seem to admit the same Considering therefore that to furnish all places of Cure in this Realm it is not an Army of twelve thousand Learned men that would suffice nor two Universities that can always furnish as many as decay in so great a number nor a fourth part of the Livings with Cure that when they fall are able to yield sufficient maintenance for Learned men is it not plain that unless the greatest part of the People should be left utterly without the public use and exercise of Religion there is no remedy but to take into the Ecclesiastical Order a number of men meanly qualified in respect of Learning For whatsoever we may imagine in our private Closers or talk for Communication-sake at our Boards yea or write in our Books through a notional conceit of things needful for performance of each man's duty if once we come from the Theory of Learning to take out so many Learned men let them be diligently viewed out of whom the choice shall be made and thereby an estimate made what degree of skill we must either admit or else leave numbers utterly destitute of Guides and I doubt not but that men endued with sense of common equity will soon discern that besides eminent and competent knowledge we are to descend to a lower step receiving knowledge in that degree which is but tolerable When we commend any man for learning our speech importeth him to be more than meanly qualified that way but when Laws do require learning as a quality which maketh capable of any Function our measure to judge a learned man by must be some certain degree of learning beneath which we can hold no man so qualified And if every man that listeth may set that degree himself how shall we ever know when Laws are broken when kept seeing one man may think a lower degree sufficient another may judge them unsufficient that are not qualified in some higher degree Wherefore of necessity either we must have some Judge in whose conscience they that are thought and pronounced sufficient are to be so accepted and taken or else the Law itself is to set down the very lowest degree of fitness that shall be allowable in this kind So that the question doth grow to this issue Saint Paul requireth Learning in Presbyters yea such Learning as doth enable them to exhort in Doctrine which is sound and to disprove them that gainsay it What measure of ability in such things shall serve to make men capable of that kind of Office he doth not himself precisely determine but referreth it to the Conscience of Titus Tit. 1. 9 and others which had to deal in ordaining Presbyters We must therefore of necessity make this demand whether the Church lacking such as the Apostle would have chosen may with good conscience take out of such as it hath in a meaner degree of fitness them that may serve to perform the service of public Prayer to minister the Sacraments unto the People to solemnize Marriage to visit the Sick and bury the Dead to instruct by reading although by Preaching they be not as yet so able to benefit and feed Christ's flock We constantly hold that in this case the Apostles Law is not broken Herequireth more in Presbyters than there is found in many whom the Church of England alloweth But no man being tied unto impossibilities to do that we cannot we are not bound It is but a stratagem of theirs therefore and a very indirect practice when they publish large declamations to prove that Learning is required in the Ministry and to make the silly people believe that the contrary is maintained by the Bishops and upheld by the Laws of the Land whereas the question in truth is not whether Learning be required but whether a Church wherein there is not sufficient store of Learned men to furnish all Congregations should do better to let thousands of Souls grow savage to let them live without any public service of God to let their Children die unbaptised to withhold the benefit of the other Sacrament from them to let them depart this World like Pagans without any thing so much as readd unto them concerning the way of life than as it doth in this necessity to make such Presbyters as are so far forth sufficient although they want that ability of Preaching which someothers have In this point therefore we obey necessity and of two evils we take the less in the rest a public utility is sought and in regard thereof some certain inconveniencies tolerated because they are recompensed with greater good The Law giveth liberty of Nonresidence for a time to such as will live in Universities if they faithfully there labour to grow in knowledge that so they may afterwards the more edify and the better instruct their Congregations The Church in their absence is not destitute the People's salvation not neglected for the present time the time of their absence is in the intendment of Law bestowed to the Churches great advantage and benefit those necessary helps are procured by it which turn by many degrees more to the People's comfort in time to come than if their Pastors had continually abidden with them So that the Law doth hereby provide in some part to remedy and help that evil which the former necessity hath imposed upon the Church For compare two men of equal meanness the one perpetually resident the other absent for a space in such sort as the Law permitteth Allot unto both some nine years' continuance with Cure of Souls And must not three years' absence in all probability and likelihood make the one more profitable than the other unto God's Church by so much as the increase of his knowledge gotten in those three years may add unto six years' travel following For the greater ability there is added to the instrument wherewith it pleaseth God to save Souls the more facility and expedition it hath to work that which is otherwise hardlier effected As much may be said touching absence granted to them that attend in the families of Bishops which Schools of gravity discretion and wisdom preparing men against the time that they come to reside abroad are in my poor opinion even the fittest places that any ingenious mind can with to enter into between departure from private study and access to a more public charge of Souls yea no less expedient for men of the best sufficiency and most maturity in knowledge than the very Universities themselves are for the ripening of such as be raw Employment in the Families of Noblemen or in Princes Courts hath another end for which the selfsame leave is given not without great respect to the good of the whole Church For assuredly whosoever doth well observe how much all inferior things depend upon the orderly courses and motions of those greater Orbs will hardly judge it either meet or good that the Angels assisting them should be driven to betake themselves unto other stations although by nature they were not tied where now they are but had charge also elsewhere as long as their absence from beneath might but tolerably be supplied and by descending their rooms above should become vacant For we are not to dream in this case of any platform which bringeth equally high and low unto Parish Churches nor of any constraint to maintain at their own charge men sufficient for that purpose the one so repugnant to the Majesty and Greatness of English Nobility the other so improbable and unlikely to take effect that they which mention either of both seem not indeed to have conceived what either is But the eye of Law is the eye of God it looketh into the hearts and secret dispositions of men it beholdeth how far one star differeth from another in glory and as men's several degrees require accordingly it guideth them granting unto principal Personages privileges correspondent to their high Estates and that not only in Civil but even in Spiritual Affairs to the end they may love that Religion the more which no way seeketh to make them vulgar no way diminisheth their dignity and greatness but to do them good doth them honour also and by such extraordinary favours teacheth them to be in the Church of God the same which the Church of God esteemeth them more worth than thousands It appeareth therefore in what respect the Laws of this Realm have given liberty of nonresidence to some that their knowledge may be increased and their labours by that mean be made afterwards the more profitable to others left the Houses of Great-men should want that daily exercise of Religion wherein their example availeth as much yea many times peradventure more than the Laws themselves with the common sort A third thing respected both in permitting absence and also in granting to some that liberty of addition or plurality which necessarily enforceth their absence is a mere both just and conscionable regard that as men are in quality and as their services are in weight for the public good so likewise their rewards and encouragements by special privilege of Law might somewhat declare how the State itself doth accept their pains much abhorring from their bestial and savage rudeness which think that Oxen should only labour and Asses feed Thus to Readers in Universities whose very Paper and Book-expences their ancient allowances and stipends at this day do either not or hardly sustain to Governors of Colleges lest the great overplus of charges necessarily enforced upon them by reason of their place and very slenderly supplied by means of that change in the present condition of things which their Founders could not foresee to men called away from their Cures and employed in weightier business either of the Church or Commonwealth because to impose upon them a burden which requireth their absence and not to release them from the duty of Residence were a kind of cruel and barbarous injustice to Residents in Cathedral Churches or upon Dignities Ecclesiastical forasmuch as these being rooms of greater Hospitality places of more respect and consequence than the rest they are the rather to be furnished with men of best quality and the men for their qualities-sake to be favoured above others I say unto all these in regard of their worth and merit the Law hath therefore given leave while themselves bear weightier burdens to supply inferior by deputation and in like consideration partly partly also by way of honour to Learning Nobility and Authority permitteth that men which have taken Theological degrees in Schools the Suffragans of Bishops the Houshold-Chaplains of men of Honour or in great Offices the Brethren and Sons of Lords Temporal or of Knights if God shall move the hearts of such to enter at any time into Holy Orders may obtain to themselves a faculty or licence to hold two Ecclesiastical Livings though having Cure any Spiritual Person of the Queen's Council three such Livings her Chaplains what number of promotions herself in her own Princely wisdom thinketh good to bestow upon them But as it fareth in such cases the gap which for just considerations we open unto some letteth in others through corrupt practices to whom such favours were neither meant nor should be communicated The greatness of the Harvest and the scarcity of able Workmen hath made it necessary that Law should yield to admit numbers of men but slenderly and meanly qualified Hereupon because whom all other worldly hopes have forsaken they commonly reserve Ministerial Vocation as their last and surest refuge ever open to forlorn men the Church that should nourish them whose service she needeth hath obtruded upon her their service that know not otherwise how to live and sustain themselves These finding nothing more easy than means to procure the writing of a few lines to some one or other which hath authority and nothing more usual than too much facility in condescending unto such requests are often received into that Vocation whereunto their unworthiness is no small disgrace Did any thing more aggravate the crime of jeroboams profane Apostasy than that he chose to have his Clergy the scum and refuse of his whole Land Let no man spare to tell it them they are not faithful towards God that burden wilfully his Church with such swarms of unworthy Creatures I will not say of all degrees in the Ministry that which Saint Chrysostom doth of the highest Chrysost. de Sacerd. l. 3. c. 13. He that will undertake so weighty a charge had need to be a man of great understanding rarely assisted with Divine grace for integrity of manners purity of life and for all other virtues to have in him more than a man But surely this I will say with Chrysostom We need not doubt whether God be highly displeased with us or what the cause of his anger is if things of so great fear and holiness at are the least and lowest duties of his service be thrown wilfully on them whose not only mean but bad and scandalous quality doth defile whatsoever they handle These eyesores and blemishes in continual attendants about the Service of God's Sanctuary do make them every day fewer that willingly resort unto it till at length all affection and zeal towards God be extinct in them through a wearisome contempt of their Persons which for a time only live by Religion and are for recompense in fine the death of the Nurse that feedeth them It is not obscure how incommodious the Church hath found both this abuse of the liberty which Law is enforced to grant and not only this but the like abuse of that favour also which Law in other considerations already mentioned affordeth toucheth Residence and plurality of Spiritual Livings Now that which is practised corruptly to the detriment and hurt of the Church against the purpose of those very Laws which notwithstanding are pretended in defence and justification thereof we must needs acknowledge no less repugnant to the grounds and principles of Common right than the fraudulent proceedings of Tyrants to the principles of just Sovereignty Howbeit not so those special privileges which are but instruments wrested and forced to serve malice There is in the Patriarch of Heathen Philosophers this Precept a Arist. P● 7. c. 6 Let us Husbandman nor no Handy-craftsman be a Priest The reason whereupon he groundeth is a maxim in the Law of Nature● It importeth greatly the good of all men that God be reverenced with whose honour it standeth not that they which are publicly employed in his service should live of base and manuary Trades Now compare herewith the Apostle's words b Act. 10. 3● 1 Cor. 4. 11. 1 Thess. 2 ● 2 Thess 3. 8. Ye know that these hands have ministered to my necessities and them that are with me What think we Did the Apostle any thing opposite herein or repugnant to the Rules and Maxims of the Law of Nature The selfsame reasons that accord his actions with the Law of Nature shall declare our Privileges and his Laws no less consonant Thus therefore we see that although they urge very colourably the Apostles own Sentences requiring that a Minister should be able to divide rightly the Word of God that they who are placed in Charge should attend unto it themselves which in absence they cannot do and that they which have divers Cures must of necessity be absent from some whereby the Law Apostolic seemeth apparently broken which Law requiring attendance cannot otherwise be understood than so as to charge them with perpetual Residence Again though in every of these causes they infinitely heap up the Sentences of Fathers the Decrees of Popes the ancient Edicts of Imperial authority our own National Laws and Ordinances prohibiting the same and grounding evermore their Prohibitions partly on the Laws of God and partly on reasons drawn from the light of Nature yet hereby to gather and infer contradiction between those Laws which forbid indefinitely and ours which in certain cases have allowed the ordaining of sundry Ministers whose sufficiency for Learning is but mean Again the licencing of some to be absent from their Flocks and of others to hold more than one only Living which hath Cure of Souls I say to conclude repugnancy between these especial permissions and the former general prohibitions which set not down their own limits is erroneous and the manifest cause thereof ignorance in differences of matter which both sorts of Law concern If then the considerations be reasonable just and good whereupon we ground whatsoever our Laws have by special right permitted if only the effects of abused Privileges be repugnant to the Maxims of Common right this main foundation of repugnancy being broken whatsoever they have built thereupon falleth necessarily to the ground Whereas therefore upon surmise or vain supposal of opposition between our special and the principles of Common right they gather that such as are with us ordained Ministers before they can Preach be neither lawful because the Laws already mentioned forbid generally to create such neither are they indeed Ministers although we commonly so name them but whatsoever they execute by virtue of such their pretended Vocation is voids that all our grants and tolerations as well of this as the rest are frustrate and of no effect the Persons that enjoy them possess them wrongfully and are deprivable at all hours finally that other just and sufficient remedy of evils there can be none besides the utter abrogations of these our mitigations and the strict establishment of former Ordinances to be absolutely executed whatsoever follow albeit the Answer already made in discovery of the weak and unsound foundation whereupon they have built these erroneous collections may be thought sufficient yet because our desire is rather to satisfy if it be possible than to shake them off we are with very good will contented to declare the causes of all particulars more formally and largely than the equity of our own defence doth require There is crept into the minds of men at this day a secret pernicious and pestilent conceit that the greatest perfection of a Christian man doth consist in discovery of other men's faults and in wit to discourse of our own profession When the World most abounded with just righteous and perfect men their chiefest study was the exercise of piety wherein for their safest direction they reverently harkened to the Readins of the Law of God they kept in mind the Oracles and Aphorisms of wisdom which tended unto virtuous life if any scruple of conscience did trouble them for matter of Actions which they took in hand nothing was attempted before counsel and advice were had for fear left rashly they might offend We are now more confident not that our knowledge and judgement is riper but because our desires are another way Their scope was obedience ours is skill their endeavour was reformation of life * Arist. Et● l. 2. c. ● our virtue nothing but to hear gladly the reproof of vice they in the practice of their Religion wearied chiefly their knees and hands we especially our ears and tongues We are grown as in many things else so in this to a kind of intemperancy which only Sermons excepted hath almost brought all other duties of Religion out of taste At the least they are not in that account and reputation which they should be Now because men bring all Religion in a manner to the only Office of hearing Sermons if it chance that they who are thus conceited do embrace any special opinion different from other men the Sermons that relish not that opinion can in no wise please their appetite Such therefore as preach unto them but hit not the string they look for are rejected as unprofitable the rest as unlawful and indeed no Ministers if the faculty of Sermons want For why● A Minister of the Word should they say be able rightly to divide the Word Which Apostolic Canon many think they do well observe when in opening the Sentences of holy Scripture they draw all things favourably spoken unto one side but whatsoever is reprehensive severe and sharp they have others on the contrary part whom that must always concern by which their over-partial and un-indifferent proceeding while they thus labour amongst the people to divide the Word they make the Word a mean to divide and distract the People to divide aright doth note in the Apostle's Writings soundness of Doctrine only and in meaning standeth opposite to the broaching of new opinions against that which is received For questionless the first things delivered to the Church of Christ were pure and sincere Truth Which whosoever did afterwards oppugn could not choose but divide the Church into two moieties in which division such as taught what was first believed held the truet part the contrary side in that they were teachers of novelty etred For prevention of which evil there are in this Church many singular and well devised remedies as namely the use of subscribing to the Articles of Religion before admission of degrees to Learning or to any Ecclesiastical Living the custom of reading the same Articles and of approving them in public Assemblies wheresoever men have Benefices with Cure of Souls the order of testifying under their hands allowance of the Book of Common-Prayer and the Book of ordaining Ministers finally the Discipline and moderate severity which is used either in other wise correcting or silencing them that trouble and disturb the Church with Doctrines which tend unto Innovation it being better that the Church should want altogether the benefit of such men's labours than endure the mischief of their inconformity to good Laws in which case if any repine at the course and proceedings of Justice Valer. l. 6. c. 3. they must learn to content themselves with the answer of M. Curius which had sometime occasion to cut off one from the Body of the Commonwealth in whose behalf because it might have been pleaded that the party was a man serviceable he therefore began his judicial sentence with this preamble Non esse open Reip. to cive qui parers nescires The Commonwealth needeth men of quality yet never those men which have not learned how to obey But the ways which the Church of England hath taken to provide that they who are Teachers of others may do it sound that the Purity and Unity as well of ancient Discipline as Doctrine may be upheld that avoiding singularities we may all glorify God with one heart and one tongue they of all men do least approve that do most urge the Apostle's Rule and Canon For which cause they allege it not so much to that purpose as to prove that unpreaching Ministers for so they term them can have no true nor lawful calling in the Church of God Sainst Augustine hath said of the will of man that simply to will proceedeth from Nature but our well-willing is from Grace We say as much of the Minister of God publicly to teach and instruct the Church is necessary in every Ecclesiastical Minister but ability to teach by Sermons is a Grace which God doth bestow on them whom he maketh sufficient for the commendable discharge of their duty Ox. men p. 21. That therefore wherein a Minister differeth from other Christian men is not as some have childishly imagined the sound-preaching of the Word of God but as they are lawfully and truly Governors to whom authority of Regiment is given in the Commonwealth according to the order which Polity hath set so Canonical Ordination in the Church of Christ is that which maketh a lawful Minister as touching the validity of any Act which appertaineth to that Vocation The cause why Saint Paul willed Timothy not to be overhasty in ordaining Ministers was as we very well may conjecture because imposition of hands doth consecrate and make them Ministers whether they have gifts and qualities fit for the laudable discharge of their Duties or no. If want of Learning and skill to preach did frustrate their Vocation Ministers ordained before they be grown unto that maturity should receive new Ordination whensoever it chanceth that study and industry doth make them afterwards more able to perform the Office than which what conceit can be more absurd Was not Saint Augustine himself contented to admit an Assistant in his own Church a man of small Erudition considering that what he wanted in knowledge was supplied by those virtues which made his life a better Orator than more Learning could make others whose conversation was less Holy Were the Priests fithence Moses all able and sufficient men learnedly to interpret the Law of God Or was it ever imagined that this defect should frustrate what they executed and deprive them of right unto any thing they claimed by virtue of their Priesthood Surely as in Magistrates the want of those Gifts which their Office needs is cause of just imputation of blame in them that wittingly choose unsufficient and unfit men when they might do otherwise and yet therefore is not their choice void nor every action of Magistracy frustrate in that respect So whether it were of necessity or even of very carelessness that men unable to Preach should be taken in Pastors' rooms nevertheless it seemeth to be an error in them which think that the lack of any such perfection defeateth utterly their Calling To wish that all men were so qualified as their Places and Dignities require to hate all sinister and corrupt dealings which hereunto are any  to covet speedy redress of those things whatsoever whereby the Church sustaineth detriment these good and virtuous desires cannot offend any but ungodly minds Notwithstanding some in the true vehemency and others under the fair pretence of these desires have adventured that which is strange that which is violent and unjust There are which in confidence of their general allegations concerning the knowledge The Author of the Abstract the Residence and the single Livings of Ministers presume not only to annihilate the solemn Ordinations of such as the Church must of force admit but also to urge a kind of universal proscription against them to set down Articles to draw Commissions and almost to name themselves of the Quorum for inquiry into men's estates and dealings whom at their pleasure they would deprive and make obnoxious to what punishment themselves list and that not for any violation of Laws either Spiritual or Civil but because men have trusted the Laws too far because they have held and enjoyed the liberty which Law granteth because they had not the wit to conceive as these men do that Laws were made to entrap the simple by permitting those things in show and appearance which indeed should never take effect for as much as they were but granted with a secret condition to be put in practice If they should be profitable and agreeable with the Word of God which condition failing in all Ministers that cannot Preach in all that are absent from their Livings and in all that have divers Livings for so it must be presumed though never as yet proved therefore as men which have broken the Law of God and Nature they are depriveable at all hours Is this the Justice of that Discipline whereunto all Christian Churches must stoop and sabmit themselves Is this the equity wherewith they labour to reform the World I will no way diminish the force of those Arguments whereupon they ground But if it please them to behold the visage of these Collections in another Glass there are Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Unsufficiencies Non residences and Pluralities● yea the reasons which Light of Nature hath ministered against both are of such affinity that much less they cannot enforce in the one than in the other When they that bear great Offices be Persons of mean worth the contempt whereinto their authority groweth a Ari●ot Polit. 2. c. 11. weakeneth the sinews of the whole State Notwithstanding where many Governors are needful and they not many whom their quality cannot commend b Nec ign●eo maximo● honores ad parum diguo● penu●la ●●liorum solire deferri Mamerrio puneg ad julian. the penury of worthier must needs make the meaner sort of men capable Cities in the absence of their Governors are as Ships wanting Pilots at Sea But were it therefore c Neque enim aquam visum est absentem Reipub racsa lo●er r●os rek●●t dua● Reip●b operatur Ulpian l. 83. Si maricus a● legem julian de adulter Justice to punish whom Superior Authority pleaseth to call from home or alloweth to be employed elsewhere In committing d Arist. Polk l. 1. c. 11. See the like Prean his framed by the Author of the Abstract where he saneleth ● Bishop deposing one unapt to preach whom himself had before ordained many Offices to one man there are apparently these inconveniencies the Common wealth doth lose the benefit of serviceable men which might be trained up in those rooms it is not easy for one man to discharge many men's duties well in service of Warfare and Navigation were it not the overthrow of whatsoever is undertaken if one or two should engross such Offices as being now divided into many hands are discharged with admirable both perfection and expedition Nevertheless be it far from the mind of any reasonable man to imagine that in these considerations Princes either aught of duty to revoke all such kind of Grants though made with very special respect to the extraordinary merit of certain men or might in honour demand of them the resignation of their Offices with speech to this or the like effect For as much as you A. B. by the space of many years have done us that faithful service in most important affairs for which we always judging you worthy of much honour have therefore committed unto you from time to time very great and weighty Offices which hitherto you quietly enjoy we are now given to understand that certain grave and learned men have found in the Books of ancient Philosophers divers Arguments drawn from the common light of Nature and declaring the wonderful discommodities which use to grow by Dignities thou heaped together in one For which cause at this present moved in conscience and tender care for the Public good we have summoned you hither to dis-possess you of those Places and to depose you from those rooms whereof indeed by virtue of our own Grant yet against Reason you are possessed Neither ought you or any other to think us rash light or inconstant in so doing For we tell you plain that herein we will both say and do that thing which the noble and wife Emperor sometime both said and did in a matter of fair less weight than this Quod inconsultò semicus consultò revocamus That which we unadvisedly have done we advisedly will revoke and undo Now for mine own part the greatest harm I would wish them who think that this were consonant with equity and right is that they might but live where all things are with such kind of Justice ordered till experience have taught them to see their error As for the last thing which is incident into the cause whereof we speak namely what course were the best and safest whereby to remedy such evils as the Church of God may sustain where the present liberty of Law is turned to great abuse some light we may receive from abroad not unprofitable for direction of God's own sacred House and Family The Romans being a People full of generosity and by nature courteous did no way more show their gentle disposition than by easy condescending to see their Bondmen at liberty Which benefit in the happier and better times of the Commonwealth was bestowed for the most part as an ordinary reward of Virtue some few now and then also purchasing freedom with that which their just labours could gain and their honest frugality save But as the Empire daily grew up so the manners and conditions of men decayed Wealth was honoured and Virtue not cared for neither did any thing seem opprobrious out of which there might arise commodity and profit so that it could be no marvel in a State thus far degenerated if when the more ingenious sort were become base the base laying aside all shame and face of honesty did some by Robberies Burglaries and prostitution of their Bodies gather wherewith to redeem liberty others obtain the same at the hands of their Lords by serving them as vile Instruments in those attempts which had been worthy to be revenged with ten thousand deaths A learned judicious and polite Historian having mentioned so soul disorders giveth his judgement and censure of them in this sort Dionies Hali●ar Rom. ●nt ● 1. 4. Such eyesores in the Commonwealth have occasioned many virtuous minds to condemn altogether the custom of granting liberty to any Bondslave for as much as it seemed a thing absurd that a People which commands all the World should consist of so vile Refuse But neither is this the only customs wherein the profitable inventions of former are depraved by later Ages and for myself I am not of their opinion that wish the abrogation of so grossly used Customs which abrogation might peradventure be cause of greater inconveniencies ensuing but as much as may be I would rather advise that redress were sought through the careful providence of Chief Rulers and Overseers of the Commonwealth by whom a yearly survey being made of all that are manumissed they which seem worthy might be taken and divided into Tribes with other Citizens the rest dispersed into Colonies abroad or otherwise disposed of that the Commonwealth might sustain neither harm nor disgrace by them The ways to meet with disorders growing by abuse of Laws are not so intricate and secret especially in our case that men should need either much advertisement or long time for the search thereof And if counsel to that purpose may seem needful this Church God be thanked is not destitute of men endued with ripe judgement whensoever any such thing shall be thought necessary For which end at this present to propose any special inventions of my own might argue in a man of my Place and Calling more presumption perhaps than wit I will therefore leave it entire unto graver consideration ending now with request only and most earnest suit first that they which give Ordination would as they tender the very honour of Jesus Christ the safety of men and the endless good of their own Souls take heed lest unnecessarily and through their default the Church be found worse or less furnished than it might be Secondly that they which by right of Patronage have power to present unto Spiritual Livings and may in that respect much damnify the Church of God would for the ease of their own account in that dreadful day somewhat consider what it is to betray for gain the Souls which Christ hath redeemed with blood what to violate the sacred Bond of Fidelity and Solemn promise given at the first to God and his Church by them from whose original interest together with the selfsame Title of Right the same Obligation of Duty likewise is descended Thirdly that they unto whom the granting of Dispensations is committed or which otherwise have any stroke in the disposition of such Preferments as appertsin unto Learned men would bethink themselves what it is to respect any thing either above or besides Merit considering how hardly the World taketh it when to men of commendable note and quality there is so little respect had or so great unto them whose deserts are very mean that nothing doth seem more strange than the one sort because they are not accounted of and the other because they are it being every man's hope and expectation in the Church of God especially that the only purchase of greater rewards should be always greater deserts and that nothing should ever be able to plant a Thorn where a Vine ought to grow Fourthly that honourable Personages and they who by virtue of any principal Office in the Commonwealth are enabled to qualify a certain number and make them capable of favours or Faculties above others suffer not their names to be abused contrary to the true intent and meaning of wholesome Laws by men in whom there is nothing notable besides Covetousness and Ambition Fifthly that the graver and wiser sort in both Universities or whosoever they be with whose approbation the marks and recognizances of all Learning are bestowed would think the Apostle's caution against unadvised Ordinations not impertinent or unnecessary to be born in mind even when they grant those degrees of Schools which degrees are not gratia gratis data kindnesses bestowed by way of humanity but they are gratiae gratum sacientes favours which always imply a testimony given to the Church and Commonwealth concerning men's sufficiency for manners and knowledge a testimony upon the credit whereof sundry Statutes of the Realm are built a testimony so far available that nothing is more respected for the warrant of divers men's ability to serve in the affairs of the Realm a testimony wherein if they violate that Religion wherewith it ought to be always given and thereby do induce into error such as deem it a thing uncivil to call the credit thereof in question let them look that God shall return back upon their heads and cause them in the state of their own Corporations to feel either one way or other the punishment of those harms which the Church through their negligence doth sustain in that behalf Finally and to conclude that they who enjoy the benefit of any special Indulgence or Favour which the Laws permit would as well remember what in duty towards the Church and in conscience towards God they ought to do as what they may do by using of their own advantage whatsoever they see tolerated no man being ignorant that the cause why absence in some cases hath been yielded unto and in equity thought sufferable is the hope of greater fruit through industry elsewhere the reason likewise wherefore pluralities are allowed unto men of note a very sovereign and special care that as Fathers in the ancient World did declare the pre-eminence of priority in birth by doubling the worldly portions of their firstborn so the Church by a course not unlike in assigning men's rewards might testify an estimation had proportionably of their Virtues For the main Hypothesis or foundation of these conclusions let that before ser down in the 9 be read together with this last the 8● Paragraph according to the ancient Rule Apostolic They which excel in labour aught to excel in honour and therefore unless they answer faithfully the expectation of the Church herein unless sincerely they bend their wit's day and night both to sow because they reap and to sow so much more abundantly as they reap more abundantly than other men whereunto by their very acceptance of such benignities they formally bind themselves let them be well assured that the honey which they eat with fraud shall turn in the end into true gall for as much as Laws are the sacred Image of his wisdom who most severely punisheth those colourable and subtle crimes that seldom are taken within the walk of human Justice I therefore conclude that the grounds and maxims of Common right whereupon Ordinations of Ministers unable to Preach tolerations of absence from their Cures and the multiplications of their Spiritual Livings are disproved do but indefinitely enforce them unlawful not unlawful universally and without exception that the Laws which indefinitely are against all these things and the Privileges which make for them in certain cases are not the one repugnant to the other that the Laws of God and Nature are violated through the effects of abused Privileges that neither our Ordinations of men unable to make Sermons nor our dispensations for the rest can be justly proved frustrate by virtue of any such surmised opposition between the special Laws of this Church which have permitted and those general which are alleged to disprove the same that when Privileges by abuse are grown in commodious there must be redress that for remedy of such evils there is no necessity the Church should abrogate either in whole or in part the specialties before mentioned and that the most to be desired were a voluntary reformation thereof on all hands which may give passage unto any abuse OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK VI. Containing their Fifth Assertion That our Laws are Corrupt and Repugnant to the Laws of God in matter belonging to the Power of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in that we have not throughout all Churches certain Lay-Elders established for the Exercise of that Power THE same Men which in heat of Contention The question between u●● whether all Congregation or Varishes ought to have Lay-Elders invested with power of Jurisdiction in spiritual causes do hardly either speak or give ear to reason being after sharp and bitter conflicts retired to a calm remembrance of all their former proceedings the causes that brought them into quarrel the course which their striving affections have followed and the issue whereunto they are come may peradventure as troubled wa●e●ss in small time of their own accord by certain easy degrees settle themselves again and so recover that clearness of well advised judgement whereby they shall stand at the length indifferent both to yield and admit any reasonable satisfaction where before they could not endure with patience to be gainsaid Neither will I despair of the like success in these unpleasant Controversies touching Ecclesiastical Polity the time of silence which both parts have willingly taken to breathe seeming now as it were a pledge of all men's quiet Contentment to hear with more indifferency the weightiest and last remains of that Cause Lib. 6. Lib. 7. Lib. ● Jurisdiction Dignity Dominion Ecclesiastical For let any Man imagine that the bare and naked difference of a few Ceremonies could either have kindled so much fire or have caused it to flame so long but that the parties which herein laboured mightily for change and as they say for Reformation had somewhat more than this mark whereat to aim Having therefore drawn out a complete Form as they suppose of public service to be done to God and set down their Plot for the Office of the Ministry in that behalf they very well knew how little their labours so far forth bestowed would avail them in the end without a claim of Jurisdiction to uphold the Fabric which they had erected and this neither likely to be obtained but by the strong hand of the people not the people unlikely to favour it the more if overture were made of their own Interest right and title thereunto Whereupon there are many which have conjectured this to be the cause why in all the projects of their Discipline it being manifest that their drift is to wrest the Key of Spiritual Authority out of the hands of former Governors and equally to possess therewith the Pastors of all several Congregations the people first for surer accomplishment and then for better defence thereof are pretended necessary Actors in those things whereunto their ability for the most part is as slender as their title and challenge unjust Notwithstanding whether they saw it necessary for them to persuade the people without whose help they could do nothing or else which I rather think the affection which they bear towards this new Form of Government made them to imagine it Gods own Ordinance Their Doctrine is that by the Law of God there must be for ever in all Congregations certain Lay-Elders Ministers of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in as much as our Lord and Saviour by Testament for so they presume hath left all Ministers or Pastors in the Church Executors equally to the whole power of Spiritual Jurisdiction and with them hath joined the people as Colleagues By maintenance of which Assertion there is unto that part apparently gained a twofold advantage both because the people in this respect are much more easily drawn to favour it as a matter of their own interest and for that if they chance to be crossed by such as oppose against them the colour of Divine Authority assumed for the Grace and Countenance of that Power in the vulgar sort furnisheth their Leaders with great abundance of matter behoveful of their encouragement to proceed always with hope of fortunate success in the end considering their cause to be as David's was a just defence of power given them from above and consequently their Adversaries quarrel the same with Saul's by whom the Ordinance of God was withstood Now on the contrary side if this their surmise prove false if such as in Justification whereof no evidence sufficient either hath been or can be alleged as I hope it shall clearly appear after due examination and trial let them then consider whether those words of Corah Dathan and Abiram against Moses and against Aaron Numb 1● It is too much that ye take upon you seeing all the Congregation is holy be not the very true Abstract and abridgement of all their published Admonitions Demonstrations Supplications and Treatises whatsoever whereby they have laboured to void the rooms of their Spiritual Superiors before Authorized and to advance the new fancied Sceptre of Lay Presbyterial Power The Nature of Spiritual jurisdiction BUt before there can be any settled Determination whether Truth do rest on their part or on ours touching Lay-Elders we are to prepare the way thereunto by explication of some things requisite and very needful to be considered as first how besides that Spiritual Power which is of Order and was instituted for performance of those duties whereof there hath been Speech already had there is in the Church no less necessary a second kind which we call the Power of Jurisdiction When the Apostle doth speak of ruling the Church of God and of receiving accusations his words have evident reference to the Power of Jurisdiction Our Saviour's words to the Power of Order acts 20.21 1 Tim. 5. 13. Marc. 6. 15. Mat. 28. 19 1 Cor. 11.24 when he giveth his Disciples charge saying Preach Baptise Do this in Remembrance of me Epist ad Smyrn A Bishop saith Ignatius doth bear the Image of God and of Christ of God in ruling of Christ in administering holy things By this therefore we see a manifest difference acknowledged between the Power of Ecclesiastical Order and the power of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical The Spiritual Power of the Church being such as neither can be challenged by right of Nature nor could by humane Authority be instituted because the forces and effects thereof are Supernatural and Divine we are to make no doubt or question but that from him which is the Head it hath descended unto us that are the Body now invested therewith He gave it for the benefit and good of Souls as a mean to keep them in the path which leadeth unto endless felicity a bridle to hold them within their due and convenient bounds and if they do go astray a forcible help to reclaim them Now although there be no kind of Spiritual Power for which our Lord jesus Christ did not give both commission to exercise and direction how to use the same although his Laws in that behalf recorded by the holy Evangelists be the only ground and foundation whereupon the practice of the Church must sustain itself yet as all multitudes once grown to the form of Societies are even thereby naturally warranted to enforce upon their own subjects particularly those things which public wisdom shall judge expedient for the common good so it were absurd to imagine the Church itself the most glorious amongst them abridged of this liberty or to think that no Law Constitution or Canon can be further made either for Limitation or Amplification in the practice of our Saviour's Ordinances whatsoever occasion be offered through variety of times and things during the state of this inconstant world which bringeth forth daily such new evils as must of necessity by new remedies be redressed did both of old enforce our venerable Predecessor and will always constrain others sometime to make sometime to abrogate sometime to augment and again to abridge sometime in sum often to vary alter and change Customs incident unto the manner of exercising that Power which doth itself continue always one and the same I therefore conclude that Spiritual Authority is a Power which Christ hath given to be used over them which are subject unto it for the eternal good of their Souls according to his own most Sacred Laws and the wholesome positive Constitutions of his Church In Doctrine referred unto Action and Practice as this is which concerns Spiritual Jurisdiction the first sound and perfect understanding is the knowledge of the End because thereby both Use doth frame and Contemplation judge all things Of Penitency the chiefest End propounded by Spiritual jurisdiction Two kinds of Penitency the one a Private Duty toward God the other a Duty of external Discipline Of the virtue of Repentance from which the former Duty proceedeth and of Contrition the first part of that Duty SEeing that the chiefest cause of Spiritual Jurisdiction is to provide for the health and safety of men's Souls by bringing them to see and Repent their grievous offences committed against God as also to reform all injuries offered with the breach of Christian Love and Charity toward their brethren in matters of Ecclesiastical Cognizance the use of this Power shall by so much the plainlier appear if first the nature of Repentance itself be known We are by Repentance to appease whom we offend by Sin For which cause whereas all Sin deprives us of the favour of Almighty God our way of Reconciliation with him is the inward secret Repentance of the heart which inward Repentance alone sufficeth unless some special thing in the quality of Sin committed or in the Party that hath done amiss require more For besides our submission in God's sight Paenitentiae secundae & ●nius quinio in actu negotium est tanto potior probatio eshut non soia conscientia proferatur sed aliquo etiam actu administretur Repentance must not only proceed to the private contentation of Men if the Sin be a crime injurious but also farther where the wholesome Discipline of God's Church exacteth a more exemplary and open satisfaction Now the Church being satisfied with outward Repentance as God is with inward it shall not be amiss for more perspicuity to term this latter always the Virtue that former the Discipline of Repentance which Discipline hath two sorts of Penitents to work upon in as much as it hath been accustomed to lay the Offices of Repentance on some seeking others shunning them on some at their own voluntary request on others altogether against their Wills as shall hereafter appear by store of ancient examples Second Penitency following that before Baptism and being not more than once admitted in one man requireth by so much the greater labour to make it manifest for that it is not a work which can come again in royal but must be therefore with some open solemnity executed and not left to be discharged with the privity of Conscience alone Tertul. dep● Repentance being therefore either in the sight of God alone or else with the notice also of Men Without the one sometime throughly performed by always practised more or less in our daily devotions and Prayers we have no remedy for any fault Whereas the other is only required in Sins of a certain degree and quality the one necessary for ever the other so far forth as the Laws and Orders of God's Church shall make it requisite The nature parts and effects of the one always the same The other limited extended and varied by infinite occasions The virtue of Repentance in the heart of Man is God's handiwork a fruit or effect of Divine Grace which Grace continually offereth itself even unto them that have forsaken it as may appear by the words of Christ in Saint john's Revelation I stand at the door and knock Nor doth he only knock without but also within assist to open whereby access and entrance is given to the heavenly presence of that saving power which maketh man a repaired Temple for God's good Spirit again to inhabit And albeit the whole train of virtues which are implied in the name of Grace be infused at one instant yet because when they meet and concur unto any effect in man they have their distinct operations rising orderly one from another It is no unnecessary thing that we note the way or method of the Holy Ghost in framing man's sinful heart to Repentance A work the first foundation whereof is laid by opening and illuminating the eye of Faith because by Faith are discovered the Principles of this action whereunto unless the understanding do first assent there can follow in the Will towards Penitency no inclination at all chose the Resurrection of the dead the Judgement of the World to come and the endless misery of sinners being apprehended this worketh fear such as theirs was who feeling their own distress and perplexity in that passion besought our Lords Apostles earnestly to give them counsel what they should do For fear is impotent and unable to advise itself yet this good it hath that men are thereby made desirous to prevent if possibly they may whatsoever evil they dread The first thing that wrought the Ninivites Repentance was fear of destruction within forty days signs and miraculous works of God being extraordinary representations of Divine Power are commonly wont to stir any the most wicked with terror lest the same Power should bend itself against them And because tractable minds though guilty of much Sin are hereby moved to forsake those evil ways which make his power in such sort their astonishment and fear therefore our Saviour denounced his curse against Corazin and Bethsaida saying that if Tyre and Sidon had seen that which they did those signs which prevailed little with the one would have brought the others to Repentance As the like thereunto did in the men given to curious Arts of whom the Apostolic History saith that Fear came upon them and many which had followed vain sciences burnt openly the very books out of which they had learned the same As fear of contumely and disgrace amongst men together with other civil punishments are a bridle to restrain from any heinous Acts whereinto men's outrage would otherwise break So the fear of Divine Revenge and punishment where it takes place doth make men desirous to be rid likewise from that inward guiltiness of Sin wherein they would else securely continue Howbeit when Faith hath wrought a fear of the event of Sin yet Repentance hereupon ensueth not unless our belief conceive both the possibility and means to avert evil The possibility in as much as God is merciful and most willing to have Sin cured The means because he hath plainly taught what is requisite and shall suffice unto that purpose The nature of all wicked men is for fear of revenge to hate whom they most wrong The nature of hatred to wish that destroyed which it cannot brook And from hence ariseth the furious endeavours of godless and obdurate sinners to extinguish in themselves the opinion of God because they would not have him to Be whom execution of endless woe doth not suffer them to Love Every Sin against God abateth and continuance in Sin extinguisheth our love towards him It was therefore said to the Angel of Ephesus having sinned Thou art fallen away from thy first love so that as we never decay in love till we Sin in like sort neither can we possibly forsake Sin unless we first begin again to love What is love towards God but a desire of union with God And shall we imagine a Sinner converting himself to God in whom there is no desire of union with God presupposed I therefore conclude that fear worketh no man's inclination to Repentance till somewhat else have wrought in us love also Our love and desire of union with God ariseth from the strong conceit which we have of his admirable goodness The goodness of God which particularly moveth unto Repentance is his mercy towards mankind notwithstanding Sin For let it once sink deeply into the mind of man that howsoever we have injuried God his very nature is averse from revenge except unto Sin we add obstinacy otherwise always ready to accept our submission as a full discharge or recompense for all wrongs and Can we choose but begin to Love him whom we have offended or can we but begin to grieve that we have offended him whom we love Repentance considereth Sin as a breach of the Law of God an act obnoxious to that revenge which notwithstanding may be prevented if we pacify God in time The root and beginning of Penitency therefore is the consideration of our own Sin as a cause which hath procured the wrath and a subject which doth need the mercy of God For unto man's understanding there being presented on the one side tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil On the other eternal life unto them which by continuance in well doing seek Glory and Honour and Immortality On the one hand a curse to the Children of disobedience On the other to lovers of righteousness all grace and benediction Yet between these extremes that eternal God from whose unspotted justice and undeserved mercy the lot of each inheritance proceedeth is so inclinable rather to show compassion then to take revenge that all his speeches in holy Scripture are almost nothing else but entreaties of men to prevent destruction by amendment of their wicked lives All the works of his providence little other then mere allurements of the just to continue steadfast and of the unrighteous to change their course All his dealings and proceedings towards true Converts as have even filled the grave writings of holy men with these and the like most sweet sentences Repentance if I may so speak stoppeth God in his way when being provoked by crimes past he cometh to revenge them with most just punishments Yea it tieth as it were the hands of the Avenger and doth not suffer him to have his will Again b Basil. Epist. Selene p. 106. Chrys. in 2 Cor. Hom. 8. Marc. Erem The merciful eye of God towards Men hath no power to withstand Penitency at what time soever it comes in presence And again God doth not take it so in evil part though we wound that which he hath required us to keep whole as that after we have taken hurt there should be in us no desire to receive his help Finally lest I be carried too far in so large a Sea There was never any Man condemned of God but for neglect nor justified except he had care of Repentance From these considerations setting before our eyes our inexcusable both unthankfulness in disobeying so merciful foolishness in provoking so powerful a God there ariseth necessarily a pensive and corrosive desire that we had done otherwise a desire which suffereth us to foreslow no time to feel no quietness within ourselves to take neither sleep nor food with contentment never to give over Supplications Confessions and other penitent Duties till the light of God's reconciled favour shine in our darkened soul. Ful. de remi peccat lib 2. cap. 15. Fulgentius ask the question Why David's confession should be held for effectual Penitence and not Saul's answereth that the one hated Sin the other feared only punishment in this world Saul's acknowledgement of Sin was Fear David's both fear and also love This was the Fountain of Peter's Tears this the Life and Spirit of David's eloquence in those most admirable Hymns entitled Penitential where the words of sorrow for Sin do melt the very Bowels of God remitting it and the Comforts of Grace in remitting Sin carry him which sorrowed rapt as it were into Heaven with ecstasies of joy and gladness The first motive of the Ninevites unto Repentance was their belief in a Sermon of Fear but the next and most immediate an Axiom of Love Jon. c. 3.9 Who can tell whether God will turn away his fierce wrath that we perish not● No conclusion such as theirs Let every man turn from his evil way but out of premises such as theirs were Fear and Love Wherefore the Wellspring of Repentance is Faith first breeding Fear and then Love which Love causes hope hope resolution of Attempt I will go to my Father and say I have sinned against Heaven and against thee that is to say I will do what the Duty of a Convert requireth Now in a Penitent's or Convert's duty there are included first the aversion of the will from Sin secondly the submission of ourselves to God by supplication and Prayer thirdly the purpose of a new life testified with present works of amendment Which three things do very well seem to be comprised in one definition by them which handle Repentance as a virtue that hateth bewaileth and showeth a purpose to amend Sin We offend God in thought word and deed To the first of which three they make Contrition to the second Confession and to the last our works of Satisfaction answerable Contrition doth not here import those sudden Pangs and Convulsions of the mind which cause sometimes the most forsaken of God to retract their own doings it is no Natural passion or anguish which riseth in us against our wills but a deliberate aversion of the Will of Man from Sin which being always accompanied with grief and grief oftentimes partly with tears partly with other external signs it hath been thought that in these things Contrition doth chiefly consist whereas the chiefest thing in Contrition is that alteration whereby the Will which was before delighted with Sin doth now abhor and shun nothing more But forasmuch as we cannot hate Sin in ourselves without heaviness and grief that there should be in us a thing of such hateful quality the Will averted from Sin must needs make the affection suitable yea great reason why it should so do For since the Will by conceiving Sin hath deprived the Soul of Life and of life there is not recovery without Repentance the death of Sin Repentance not able to kill Sin but by withdrawing the Will from it the Will impossible to be withdrawn unless it concur with a contrary affection to that which accompanied it before in evil Is it not clear that as an inordinate delight did first begin sin so Repentance must begin with a just sorrow a sorrow of heart and such a sorrow as renteth the heart neither a feigned nor slight sorrow not feigned blessed it increase Sin nor sleight lest the pleasures of Sin over-match it●●●ef Where o'er of Grace the highest cause from which Man's Penitency doth proceed of Faith Fear Love Hope what force and efficiency they have in Repentance of Parts and Duties thereunto belonging comprehended in the Schoolmen's definitions finally of the first among those Duties Contrition which disliketh and bewaileth iniquity let this suffice And because God will have Offences by Repentance not only abhorred within ourselves but also with humble Supplication displayed before Him and a testimony of amendment to be given even by present works worthy Repentance in that they are contrary to those we renounce and disclaim Although the virtue of Repentance do require that her other two parts Confession and Satisfaction should here follow yet seeing they belong as well to the Discipline as to the virtue of Repentance and only differ for that in the one they are performed to Man in the other to God alone I had rather distinguish them in joynt-handling then handle them apart because in quality and manner of practice they are distinct Of the Discipline of Repentance instituted by Christ practised by the Fathers converted by the Schoolmen into a Sacrament and of Confession that which belongeth to the virtue of Repentance that which was used among the jews that which the Papacy imagineth a Sacrament and that which Ancient Discipline practised 1. OUr Lord and Saviour in the sixteenth of St. Matthews Gospel Mat. 16. 19 giveth his Apostles Regiment in General over God's Church For they that have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are thereby signified to be Stewards of the House of God under whom they Guide Command Judge and Correct his Family The Souls of Men are God's Treasure committed to the Trust and Fidelity of such as must render a strict account for the very lest which is under their Custody God hath not invested them with Power to make a Revenue thereof but to use it for the good of them whom Jesus Christ hath most dearly bought And because their Office therein consisteth of sundry functions some belonging to Doctrine some to Discipline all contained in the Name of the Keys they have for matters of Discipline as well Litigious as Criminal Mat. 18. 17● their Courts and Consistories erected by the heavenly Authority of his most Sacred Voice who hath said Dic Ecclesia Tell the Church against rebellious and contumacious Persons which refuse to obey their Sentence armed they are with Power to eject such out of the Church to deprive them of the Honours Rights and Privileges of Christian Men to make them as Heathens and Publicans with whom society was hateful Furthermore lest their Acts should be slenderly accounted of or had in contempt Mat. 1● 1● Job 20. ●● 1 Cor 5. 3. 2 Cor. 2. 6 1 Tim. 1.20 whether they admit to the Fellowship of Saints or seclude from it whether they bind Offenders or set them again at liberty whether they remit or retain Sins whatsoever is done by way of orderly and lawful proceeding the Lord himself hath promised to ratify This is that grand Original Warrant by force whereof the Guides and Prelates in God's Church first his Apostles and afterwards others following them successively did both use and uphold that Discipline the end whereof is to heal men's Consciences to cure their Sins to reclaim Offenders from iniquity and to make them by Repentance just Neither hath it of Ancient time for any other respect been accustomed to bind by Ecclesiastical Censures to retain so bound till tokens of manifest Repentance appeared and upon apparent Repentance to Release saving only because this was received as a most expedient method for the cure of sin The course of Discipline in former Ages reform open Transgressor's by putting them into Offices of open Penitence especially Confession whereby they declared their own crimes in the hearing of the whole Church and were not from the time of their first Convention capable of the holy Mysteries of Christ till they had solemnly discharged this duty Offenders in secret knowing themselves altogether as unworthy to be admitted to the Lords Table as the other which were withheld being also persuaded that if the Church did direct them in the Offices of their Penitency and assist them with public Prayer they should more easily obtain that they sought than by trusting wholly to their own endeavours finally having no impediment to stay them from it but bashfulness which countervailed not the former inducements and besides was greatly cased by the good construction which the charity of those times gave to such actions wherein men's piety and voluntary care to be reconciled to God did purchase them much more love than their faults the testimonies of common frailty were able to procure disgrace they made it not nice to use some one of the Ministers of God by whom the rest might take notice of their faults prescribe them convenient remedies and in the end after public Confession all join in Prayer unto God for them The first beginner of this Custom had the more followers by means of that special favour which always was with good consideration showed towards voluntary Penitents above the rest But as Professors of Christian belief grew more in number so they waxed worse when Kings and Princes had submitted their Dominions unto the Sceptre of Jesus Christ by means whereof Persecution ceasing the Church immediately became subject to those evils which peace and security bringeth forth there was not now that love which before kept all things in tune but every where Schisms Discords Dissensions amongst Men. Conventicles of Heretics bent more vehemently against the sounder and better sort than very Infidels and Heathens themselves faults not corrected in Charity but noted with delight and kept for malice to use when the deadliest opportunities should be offered Whereupon forasmuch as public Confessions became dangerous and prejudicial to the safety of well-minded Men and in divers respects advantageous to the Enemies of God's Church it seemed first unto some and afterwards generally requisite that voluntary Penitents should surcease from open Confession Instead whereof when once private and secret Confession had taken place with the Latins It continued as a profitable Ordinance till the Lateran Council had Decreed that all Men once in a year at the least should confess themselves to the Priest So that being a thing thus made both general and also necessary the next degree of estimation whereunto it grew was to be honoured and and lifted up to the Nature of a Sacrament● that as Christ did institute Baptism to give life and the Eucharist to nourish life so Penitence might be thought a Sacrament ordained to recover life and Confession a part of the Sacrament Scotoin ● seen d. 14. ● 1. art 1. In easl didst ● 7. art 1. They define therefore their private Penetency to be a Sacrament of remitting sins after Baptism The virtue of Repentance a detestation of wickedness with full purpose to amend the same and with hope to obtain pardon at God's hands Wheresoever the Prophets cry Repent and in the Gospel Saint Peter maketh the same Exhortation to the Jews as yet unbaptised they would have the virtue of Repentance only to be understood The Sacrament where he adviseth Simon Magus to repent because the Sin of Simon Magus was after Baptism Now although they have only external Repentance for a Sacrament internal for a Virtue yet make they Sacramental Repentance nevertheless to be composed of three parts Contrition Confession and Satisfaction which is absurd because Contrition being an inward thing belongeth to the Virtue and not to the Sacrament of Repentance which must consist of external parts if the nature thereof be external Besides which is more absurd they leave out Absolution Sont lent l. 4. d. ●●7 4. whereas some of their School Divines handling Penance in the nature of a Sacrament and being not able to espy the least resemblance of a Sacrament save only in Absolution for a Sacrament by their doctrine must both signify and also confer or bestow some special Divine Grace resolved themselves that the duties of the Penitent could be but mere preparations to the Sacrament and that the Sacrament itself was wholly in Absolution Sect. 14 e. 3. Docer Sancta Synolus Sacramemi poenite sty formam in quo praeripue ipsius vis stra est in illis Ministri verbis postram esse Ego te absolva Sunc sutem quasi materia huivi Sacramenti ipsus paenitentis actus nempe Contritio Confessio etc. Satisfactio And albeit Thomas with his Followers have thought it safer to maintain as well the services of the Penitent as the words of the Minister necessary unto the essence of their Sacrament the services of the Penitent as a cause material the words of Absolution as a formal for that by them all things else are perfected to the taking away of Sin which opinion now reigneth in all their Schools since the time that the Council of Trent gave it solemn approbation seeing they all make Absolution if not the whole essence yet the very form whereunto they ascribe chiefly the whole force and operation of their Sacrament surely to admit the matter as a part and not to admit the form hath small congruity with reason Again for as much as a Sacrament is complete having the matter and form which it ought what should lead them to set down any other parts of Sacramental Repentance than Confession and Absolution as Durandus hath done For touching Satisfaction the end thereof as they understand it is a further matter which resteth after the Sacrament administered and therefore can be no part of the Sacrament Will they draw in Contrition with Satisfaction which are no parts and exclude Absolution a principal part yea the very compliment form and perfection of the rest as themselves account it But for their breach of precepts in art it skilleth not if their Doctrine otherwise concerning Penitency and in Penitency touching Confession might be found true We say let no man look for pardon which doth sin other and conceal Sin where in duty it should be revealed The cause why God requireth Confession to be made to him is that thereby testifying a deep hatred of our own iniquity the only cause of his hatred and wrath towards us we might because we are humble be so much the more capable of that compassion and tender mercy which knoweth not how to condemn sinners that condemn themselves If it be our Saviour's own principle that the conceit we have of our debt forgiven proportioneth our thankfulness and love to him Luk. ● 47. at whose hands we receive pardon doth not God foresee that they which with ill-advised modesty seek to hide their Sin like Adam that they which rake it up under ashes and confess it not are very unlikely to requite with offices of love afterwards Tantum relevat Confessio delictorum quantum dessimulatio exaggerate Confessio autem satisfactioni● consi●un est di●●mulirdo con●●maciae Ter. the ●e●m ●h●y hom. 30. in Epist. 1. l. 〈…〉 the grace which they show themselves unwilling to prize at the very time when they sue for it in as much as their not confessing what crimes they have committed is a plain signification how loath they are that the benefit of Gods most gracious pardon should seem great Nothing more true then that of Tertullian Confession doth as much abate the weight of men's offences as Concealment doth make them heavier For he which confesseth hath a purpose to appease God he a determination to persist and continue obstinate which keeps them secret to himself St. chrysostom almost in the same words Wickedness is by being acknowledged lessened and doth but grow by being hid If men having done amiss let it slip as though they knew no such matter what is there to stay them from falling into one and the same evil To call ourselves Sinners availeth nothing except we lay our faults in the balance and take the weight of them one by one Confess thy crimes to God disclose thy transgressions before thy Judge by way of humble Supplication and suit if not with tongue at the least with heart and in this sort seek mercy A general persuasion that thou art a Sinner will neither so humble nor bridle thy Soul as if the Catalogue of thy Sins examined severally be continually kept in mind This shall make thee lowly in thine own eyes this shall preserve thy feet from falling and sharpen thy desires towards all good things The mind I know doth hardly admit such unpleasant remembrances but we must force it we must constrain it thereunto It is safer now to be bitten with the memory than hereafter with the torment of Sin The Jews with whom no Repentance for Sin is available without Confession Le●● ●● 21● either conceived in mind or uttered which latter kind they call usually Confession delivered by word of mouth had first that general Confession which once every year was made All Israel is bound on the day of expiation to repent and confess ●● Mos. in lib. Mi●●wordss haggadni par 2 pet 1● both severally by each of the people for himself upon the day of expiation and by the Priest for them all On the day of expiation the high Priest maketh three express Confessions acknowledging unto God the manifold transgressions of the whole Nation his own personal offences likewise together with the Sins as well of his Family as of the rest of his rank and order They had again their voluntary Confessions at the times and seasons when men bethinking themselves of their wicked conversation past were resolved to change their course the beginning of which alteration was still Confession of Sins Thirdly over and besides these the Law imposed upon them also that special Confession which they in their book call Confession of that particular fault for which we namely seek pardon at God's hands Num. 5. 6. The words of the Law concerning Confession in this kind are as followeth When a Man or Woman shall commit any Sin that Men commit and transgress against the Lord their Sin which they have done that is to say the very deed itself in particular they shall acknowledge Leu. ● 5. In Leviticus after certain transgressions there mentioned we read the like When a Man hath sinned in any one of these things he shall then confess how in that thing he hath offended For such kind of special Sins they had also special Sacrifices wherein the manner was that the Offender should lay his hands on the head of the Sacrifice which he brought and should there make Confession to God saying Mis●e Tora Tractan● Te straba cap. 1. & K. M in lib. Misnoch par 2. chap. 6. Now O Lord that I have offended committed Sin and done wickedly in thy sight this or this being my fault behold I repent me and am utterly ashamed of my doings my purpose is never to return more to the same crime None of them whom either the house of judgement had condemned to die or of them which are to be punished with stripes Mos. in Mis. ●oth par 2. par 16. can be clear by being executed or scourged till they repent and confess their faults To him which is sick and draweth towards death they say C●●●si Idem Finally there was no man amongst them at any time either condemned to suffer death or corrected or chastised with stripes none ever sick and near his end but they called upon him to repent and confess his Sins Of Malefactors convict by witnesses and thereupon either adjudged to die or otherwise chastised their custom was to exact as joshua did of Achan open confession My son now give Glory to the Lord God of Israel confess unto him and declare unto me what thou hast committed conceal it not from me Jos. 7. 19 Concerning injuries and trespasses which happen between men they highly commend such as will acknowledge before many It is in him which repenteth accepted as an high Sacrifice if he will confess before many make them acquainted with his oversights and reveal the transgressions which have passed between him and any of his brethren saying I have verily offended this Man thus and thus I have done unto him but behold I do now repent and am sorry Contariwise whosoever is proud and will not be known of his faults but cloaketh them is not yet come to perfect Repentance for so it is written He that hides his Sins shall not prosper which words of Solomon they do not further extend then only to Sins committed against Men which are in that respect meet before men to be acknowledged particularly But in Sins between Man and God there is no necessity that Man should himself make any such open and particular recital of them to God they are known and of us it is required that we cast not the memory of them carelessly and loosely behind our backs but keep in mind as near as we can both our own debt and his grace which remitteth the same Wherefore to let pass Jewish confession and to come unto them which hold confession in the ear of the Priest commanded yea commanded in the nature of a Sacrament and thereby so necessary that Sin without it cannot be pardoned let them find such a Commandment in holy Scripture and we ask no more john the Baptist was an extraordinary person his Birth his Actions of Life his Office extraordinary It is therefore Recorded for the strangeness of the Act but not set down as an everlasting Law for the World Mat. 3. 5. That to him jerusalem and all judea made confession of their Sins Besides at the time of this confession their pretended Sacrament of Repentance as they grant was not yet instituted neither was it Sin after Baptism which Penitents did there confess When that which befell the seven sons of Seeva for using the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in their conjurations was notisied to Jews and Grecians in Ephesus Act. 19.18 it brought an universal fear upon them insomuch that divers of them which had believed before but not obeyed the Laws of Christ as they should have done being terrified by this example came to the Apostle and confessed their wicked deeds Which good and virtuous act no wise man as I suppose will disallow but commend highly in them whom Gods good Spirit shall move to do the like when need requireth Yet neither hath this example the force of any general Commandment or Law to make it necessary for every man to pour into the ears of the Priest whatsoever hath been done amiss or else to remain everlastingly culpable and guilty of Sin in a word it proveth Confession practised as a virtuous act but not commanded as a Sacrament Now concerning St. james his Exhortation Jam. 5. 15. whether the former branch be considered which saith Is any sick among you let him call for the Ancients of the Church and let them make their prayers for him or the latter which stirreth up all Christian Men unto mutual acknowledment of faults amongst themselves Lay open your minds make your confessions one to another is it not plain Mat. 16. 1● that the one hath relation to that gift of healing which our Saviour promised his Church saying They shall lay their hands on the sick and the sick shall recover health relation to that gift of healing whereby the Apostle imposed his hands on the Father of Publius and made him miraculously a sound man relation finally to that gift of healing Act. 18. 3. which so long continued in practice after the Apostles times that whereas the Novatianists denied the power of the Church of God in curing Sin after Baptism St. Ambrose asked them again Amb. de p●em l. 1. c. ●7 Why it might not as well prevail with God for spiritual as far corporal and bodily health yea wherefore saith he do ye yourselves lay hands on the diseased and believe it to be a work of benediction or prayer if haply the sick person be restored to his former safety And of the other member which toucheth mutual confession do not some of themselves as namely Cajetan deny that any other Confession is meant then only that which seeketh either association of Prayers or reconciliation or pardon of wrongs is it not confessed by the greatest part of their own retinue An●o Rhem. in Jac. 5. that we cannot certainly affirm Sacramental Confession to have been meant or spoken of in this place Howbeit Bellarmine delighted to run a course by himself where colourable s●●iftss of wit will but make the way passable standeth as formally for this place and not less for that in St. john than for this St. john saith If we confess our Sins God is faithful and just to forgive our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness doth St. john say John 1. 19 If we confess to the Priest God is righteous to forgive and if not that our Sins are unpardonable No but the titles of God just and righteous do import that he pardoneth Sin only for his promise sake And there is not they say any promise of forgiveness upon confession made to God without the Priest Not any promise but with this condition and yet this condition no where expressed Is it not strange that the Scripture speaking so much of Repentance and of the several duties which appertain thereunto should ever mean and no where mention that one condition without which all the rest is utterly of none effect or will they say because our Saviour hath said to his Ministers Whose sins ye retain etc. and because they can remit no more than what the offenders have confessed that therefore by virtue of his promise it standeth with the Righteousness of God to take away no man's Sins until by auricular confession they be opened unto the Priest They are men that would seem to honour Antiquity and none more to depend upon the reverend judgement thereof I dare boldly affirm that for many hundred years after Christ the Fathers held no such opinion they did not gather by our Saviour's words any such necessity of seeking the Priest's Absolution from Sin by secret and as they now term it sacramental confession Public confession they thought necessary by way of Discipline not private confession as in the nature of a Sacrament necessary For to begin with the purest times it is unto them which read and judge without partiality a thing most clear that the ancient or Confession defined by Tertullian to be a Discipline of humiliation and submission framing men's behaviour in such sort as may be fittest to move pity the confession which they use to speak of in the exercise of Repentance was made openly in the hearing of the whole both Ecclesiastical Consistory and Assembly This is the reason wherefore he perceiving that divers were better content their sores should secretly fester and eat inward Pl●●o ●que hae 〈…〉 then be laid so open to the eyes of many blameth greatly their unwise bashfulness and to reform the same persuadeth with them saying Amongst thy brethren and fellow servants which are partakers with thee of one and the same nature fear joy grief sufferings for us was common Lord and Father we have all received one spirit why shouldest thou not think with thyself that they are but thine own self wherefore dost thou avoid them as likely to insult over thee whom thou knowest subject to the same haps At that which grieveth any one part the whole body cannot rejoice it must needs be that the whole will labour and strive to help that wherewith a part of itself is molested St. Cyprian being grieved with the dealings of them who in time of persecution had through fear betrayed their faith and notwithstanding thought by shift to avoid in that case the necessary Discipline of the Church wrote for their better instruction the book entitled De lapsis a Treatise concerning such as had openly forsaken their Religion and yet were loath openly to confess their fault in such manner as they should have done In which book he compareth with this sort of men O● nec●sitate in sacrineandi pecuris ● pull Magistra cem redimehanc ac●epta sermitath sta●aphss unellarus dice ●●thur certain others which had but a purpose only to have departed from the Faith and yet could not quiet their minds till this very secret and hidden fault was confessed How much both greater in faith saith St. Cyprian and also as touching their fear better are those men who although neither sacrifice nor libel could be objected against them yet because they thought to have done that which they should not even this their intent they dolefully open unto God's Priests They confess that whereof their conscience accuseth them the burden that presseth their minds they discover they foreslow not of smaller and slighter evils to seek remedy He saith they declared their fault not to one only man in private but revealed it to God's Priests they confessed it before the whole Consistory of God's Ministers Salvianus for I willingly embrace their conjecture who ascribe those Homilies to him which have hitherto by common error passed under the counterfeit name of Eusebius Emesenus I say Salvianus though coming long after Cyprian in time giveth nevertheless the same evidence for his truth in a case very little different from that before alleged his words are these Hom. ●de initio quadriges●●m●r Whereas most dearly beloved we see that penance oftentimes is sought and sued for by holy souls which even from their youth have bequeathed themselves a precious treasure unto God let us know that the inspiration of God's good Spirit moveth them so to do for the benefit of his Church and let such as are wounded learn to inquire for that remedy whereunto the very soundest do thus offer and obtrude as it were themselves that if the virtuous do bewails small offences the others cease not to lament great And surely when a man that hath less need performeth sub oculis Ecclesiae in the view sight and beholding of the whole Church an office worthy of his faith and compunction for Sin the good which others thereby reap is his own harvest the heap of his rewards groweth by that which another gaineth and through a kind of spiritual usury from that amendment of life which others learn by him there returneth lucre into his cossers The same Salvianus in another of his Homilies Hom. 14. ● 1 N●nach●ss If faults haply be not great and grievous for example if a man have offended in word or in desire worthy of reproof if in the wantonness of his eye or the vanity of his heart the stains of words and thoughts are by daily prayer to be cleansed and by private compunction to be scoured out But if any man examining inwardly his own Conscience have committed some high and capital offence as if by hearing false witness he have quelled and betrayed his faith and by rashness of perjury have violated the sacred name of Truth if with the mire of lustful uncleanness he have sullied the veil of Baptism and the gorgeous robe of Virginity if by being the cause of any man's death he have been the death of the new man within himself if by conference with Soothsayers Wizards Graviores & acriores & publicaes cuta● requirunt Hom. 1. at Monach. and Charmers he hath enthralled himself to Satan These and such like committed crimes cannot throughly be taken away with ordinary moderate and secret satisfaction but greater causes do require greater and sharper remedies they need such remedies as are not only sharp but solemn open and public Again Let that soul saith he answer me which through pernicious shame fastness it now so abashed to acknowledge his Sin in conspectu fratrum before his brethren as he should have been abashed to commit the same What will be do in the presence of that Divine Tribunal where he is to stand arraigned in the Assembly of a glorious and celestial host I will hereunto add but St. Ambrose's testimony For the places which I might allege are more than the cause itself needeth There are many saith he who fearing the judgement that is to come and feeling inward remorse of conscience when they have offered themselves unto penitency and are enjoined what they shall do give back for the only scar which they think that public supplication will put them unto He speaketh of them which sought voluntarily to be penanced Lib. 2. the poe● cap. 9 and yet withdrew themselves from open confession which they that were penitents for public crimes could not possibly have done and therefore it cannot be said he meaneth any other then secret Sinners in that place Gennadius a Presbyter of Marsiles in his book touching Ecclesiastical assertions maketh but two kinds of confession necessary the one in private to God alone for smaller offences the other open when crimes committed are heinous and great Although saith he a man be bitten with conscience of Sin let his will be from thenceforward to Sin no more let him before he communicate satisfy with tears and prayers and then putting his trust in the mercy of Almighty God whose want is to yield godly confession let him boldly receive the Sacrament But I speak this of such as have not burdened themselves with capital Sins Them I exhort to satisfy first by public penance that so being reconciled by the sentence of the Priest they may communicate safely with others Thus still we hear of public confessions although the crimes themselves discovered were not public we hear that the cause of such confessions was not the openness but the greatness of men's offences finally we hear that the same being now held by the Church of Rome to be Sacramental were the only penitential Confessions used in the Church for a long time and esteemed as necessary remedies against Sin Cypr. Epist. 12. They which will find Auricular Confessions in St. Cyprian therefore must seek out some other passage Inspecta ●●●a ●●●s qui agit poe●i ●●●tiam then that which Bellarmine allegeth Whereas in smaller faults which are not committed against the Lord himself there is a competent time assigned unto Penitency and that confession is made after that observation and trial had been bad of the Penitents behaviour neither may any communicate till the Bishop and Clergy have laid their hands upon him how much more ought all things to be warily and stayedly observed according to the Discipline of the Lord in these most grievous and extreme crimes S. Cyprians speech is against rashness in admitting Idolaters to the holy Communion before they had showed sufficient Repentance considering that other offenders were forced to stay out their time and that they made not their public confession which was the last act of Penitency till their Life and Conversation had been seen into not with the eye of Auricular Scrutiny but of Pastoral Observation according to that in the Council of Nice where thirteen years being set for the Penitency of certain offenders the severity of this Degree is mitigated with special caution Con. Nic par a. c. 1. Profi●●●● & conversatione Poenitentium n. That in all such cases the mind of the Penitent and the manner of his Repentance is to be noted that as many as with fear and tears and meekness and the exercise of good works declared themselves to be Converts indeed and not in outward appearance only towards them the Bishop at his discretion might use more lenity If the Council of Nice suffice not let Gratian the Founder of the Canon Law expound Cyprian who showeth that the stine of time in Penitency is either to be abridged or enlarged as the Penitents Faith and behaviour shall give occasion De poen list 1 cap. mensuram Ambor de poen lib. 2 c 10. I have easilier found out men Saith S. Ambrose able to keep themselves free from crimes then conformable to the rules which in Penitency they should observe S. Gregory Bishop of Nisse complaineth and enveigheth bitterly against them who in the time of their Penitency lived even as they had done always before Greg Niss erat In era qui slios ac●rbe fu licant Their countenance as cheerful their attire is neat their diet as costly and their sleep as secure as ever their worldly business purposely followed to exile pensive thoughts for their minds repentance pretended but indeed nothing less express These were the inspections of life whereunto St. Cyprian alludeth as for Auricular Examinations he knew them not Were the Fathers then without use of private Confession as long as public was in use I affirm no such thing The first and ancientest that mentioneth this Confession is Origen by whom it may seem that men being loath to present rashly themselves and their faults unto the view of the whole Church thought it best to unfold first their minds to some one special man of the Clergy which might either help them himself or refer them to an higher Court if need were Orig. in Psal. 37. Be therefore circumspect saith Origen in making choice of the party to whom thou meanest to confess thy Sin know thy Physician before thou use him If he find thy malady such as needeth to be made public that other may be the better by it and thyself sooner helped his counsel must be obeyed That which moved sinners thus voluntarily to detect themselves both in private and in public was fear to receive with other Christian men the mysteries of heavenly grace till Gods appointed Stewards and Ministers did judge them worthy It is in this respect that St. Ambrose findeth fault with certain men which sought imposition of Penance Amb. 1. 2. de poen c. 9 and were not willing to wait their time but would be presently admitted Communicants S. n●n ram se solvere cupiunt quam Sac●rlot are ligare Aug in hom. de poen Such people saith he do seek by so rash and preposterous desires rather to bring the Priest into bonds then to lose themselves In this respect it is that S. Augustine hath likewise said When the wound of Sin is so wide and the disease so far gone that the medicinable body and blood of our Lord may not be touched men are by the Bishop's authority to sequester themselves from the Altar till such time as they have repent and be after reconciled by the same authority Furthermore because the knowledge how to handle our own sores is no vulgar and common art but we either carry towards ourselves for the most part an over-soft and gentle hand fearful of touching too near the quick or else endeavouring not to be partial we fall into timorous scrupulosities and sometime into those extreme discomforts of mind from which we hardly do ever lift up our heads again men thought it the safest way to disclose their secret faults and to crave imposition of Penance from them whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath left in his Church to be Spiritual and Ghostly Physicians the Guides and Pastors of redeemed Souls whose Office doth not only consist in general persuasions unto amendment of life but also in the private particular cure of diseased minds Howsoever the Novatianists presume to plead against the Church saith Salvianus that every man ought to be his own Penitentiary and that it is a part of our duty to exercise but not of the Church's Authority to impose or prescribe Repentance the truth is otherwise H●m de paen Niniv the best and strongest of us may need in such cases direction What doth the Church in giving Penance but show the remedies which Sin requireth or what do we in receiving the same but fulfil her precept what else but sue unto God with tears and salts that his merciful ears may be opened St. Augustine's exhortation is directly to the same purpose Aug hom the poen citatu a Gra●dis● 2 c indlces V praepolitis Sacrament orum accipiet satisfactionis sue mosum Let every man whilst he hath time judge himself and change his life of his own accord and when this is resolved Let him from the disposers of the holy Sacraments learn in what manner be is to pacify God's displeasure But the greatest thing which made men forward and willing upon their knees to confess whatsoever they had committed against God and in no wise to be withheld from the same with any fear of disgrace contempt or obloquy which might ensue was their servant desire to be helped and assisted with the Prayers of God's Saints Wherein as St. james doth exhort unto mutual confession alleging this only for a reason Jam. 5. 25. that just men's devout prayers are of great avail with God so it hath been heretofore the use of Penitents for that intent to unburthen their minds even to private persons and to crave their Prayers Whereunto Cassianus alluding counselleth Cassiq c●l 2 c. & Greg. Niss oratione in ●os pui a●ios acerbe iudicant That if men possessed with dulness of spirit be themselves unapt to do that which is required they should in meek affection seek health as the least by good and virtuous men's prayers unto God for them And to the same effect Gregory Bishop of Nisse Humble thyself and take unto thee such of thy brethren as are of one mind and do bear kind affection towards thee that they may together mourn and labour for thy deliverance Show me thy bitter and abundant tears that I may blend mine own with them But because of all men there is or should be none in that respect more fit for troubled and distressed minds to repair unto than God's Ministers he proceedeth further Make the Priest as a Father partaker of thine affliction and grief be bold to impart unto him the things that are most secret he will have care both of thy safety and of thy credit Confession saith Leo is first to be offered to God and then to the Priest as to one which maketh supplication for the sins of Penitent offenders Suppose we that men would ever have been easily drawn Leo. 1. Ep. 73. ad Epis. Cam. pan eirat a Grarale poen d. 1. e. suffien much less of their own accord have come unto public Confession whereby they know they should sound the trumpet of their own disgrace would they willingly have done this which naturally all men are loath to do but for the singular trust and confidence which they had in the public prayers of God's Church Ambr. l. a. de poen c. 10 Let thy Mother the Church weep for thee saith Ambrose let her wash and bathe thy faults with her tears Our Lord doth love that many should become suppliant for one In like sort long before him Terral de poea Tertullian Some few assembled make a Church and the Church is as Christ himself When thou dost therefore put forth thy hands to the knees of thy brethren thou touchest Christ it is Christ unto whom thou art a supplicant so when they pour one tears over them it is even Christ that taketh compassion Christ which prayeth when they pray Neither can that easily be denied for which the Son is himself contented to become a suitor Whereas in these considerations therefore voluntary Penitents had been long accustomed for great and grievous crimes though secret yet openly both to repent and confess as the Canons of Ancient Discipline required the Greek Church first and in process of time the Latin altered this order judging it sufficient and more convenient that such offenders should do Penance and make confession in private only The cause why the Latins did Leo declareth Leo. Ep. 28. saying Although the ripeness of faith be commendable which for the fear of God doth not fear to incur shame before all men yet because every one's crimes are not such that it can be free and safe for them to make publication of all things wherein repentance is necessary let a custom so unfit to be kept be abrogated lest many forbear to use remedies of penitency whilst they either blush or are afraid to acquaint their enemies with those acts for which the Laws may take hold upon them Besides it shall win the more Repentance if the Consciences of Sinners be not emptied into the people's ears And to this only cause doth Sozomen impure the change which the Grecians made by ordaining throughout all Churches certain Penitentiaries to take the Confessions and appoint the Penances of secret offenders Socrates for this also may be true that more inducements than one did set forward an alteration so generally made affirmeth the Grecians and not unlikely to have specially respected therein the occasion which the Novatianists took at the multititude of public Penitents to insult over the Discipline of the Church against which they still cried out wheresoever they had time and place He that showeth Sinners favour doth but teach the innocent to Sin And therefore they themselves admitted no man to their Communion upon any Repentance which once was known to have offended after Baptism making Sinners thereby not the fewer but the closer and the more obdurate how fair soever their pretence might seem The Grecians Canon for some one Presbyter in every Church to undertake the charge of Penitency and to receive their voluntary Confessions which had sinned after Baptism continued in force for the space of above some hundred years till Nectarius and the Bishops of Churches under him begun a second alteration abolishing even that Confession which their Penitentiaries took in private There came to the Penitentiary of the Church of Constantinople a certain Gentlewoman and to him she made particular Confession of her faults committed after Baptism whom thereupon he advised to continue in Fasting and Prayer that as with tongue she had acknowledged her Sins so there might appear likewise in her some work worthy of Repentance But the Gentlewoman goeth forward and detecteth herself of a crime whereby they were forced to dis-robe an Ecclesiastical person that is to degrade a Deacon of the same Church When the matter by this mean came to public notice the people were in a kind of tumult offended not only at that which was done but much more because the Church should thereby endure open infamy and scorn The Clergy was perplexed and altogether doubtful what way to take till one Eudemon born in Alexandria but at that time a Priest in the Church of Constantinople considering that the causes of voluntary Confession whether public or private was especially to seek the Churches aid as hath been before declared lest men should either not communicate with others or wittingly hazard their Souls if so be they did communicate and that the inconvenience which grew to the whole Church was otherwise exceeding great but especially grievous by means of so manifold offensive detections which must needs be continually more as the world did itself wax continually worse for Antiquity together with the gravity and severity thereof saith Sozomen had already begun by little and little to degenerate into loose and careless living whereas before offences were less partly through bashfulness in them which open their own faults and partly by means of their great austerity which sat as judges in this business these things Eudaemon having weighed with himself resolved easily the mind of Nectarius that the Penitentiaries office must be taken away and for participation in Gods holy mysteries every man be left to his own Conscience which was as he thought the only means to free the Church from danger of Obloquy and Disgrace Thus much saith Socrates I am the bolder to relate because I received it from Eudaemons own mouth to whom mine answer was at that time Whether your counsel Sir have been for the Churches good or otherwise God knoweth But I see you have given occasion whereby we shall not now any more reprehend one another's faults nor observe that Apostolic precept which saith Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of Darkness but rather be ye also Reprovers of them With Socrates Sozomen both agreeth in the occasion of abolishing Penitentiaries and moreover testifieth also that in his time living with the younger Theodosius the same Abolition did still continue and that the Bishops had in a manner every where followed the example given them by Nectarius Wherefore to implead the truth of this History Cardinal Baronius alledgeeths that Socrates Sozomen and Eudaemon were all Novatianists and that they falsify in saying for so they report that as many as held the Consubstantial Being of Christ gave their assent to the abrogation of the forehearsed Canon The sum is he would have it taken for a Fable and the World to be persuaded Tanta haec Socrati restanti praestande est sides quanta caeteria herecide de suis dogmatibus tractandbus quip Novarianus sectista cum surrir quam vere ac sincere haec scripscrit adversus poenitentiam in Ecclesia administrari solleam quemlihet credo posse facile judicare Barwn 1. ann. Chr. 56. that Nectarius did never any such thing Why then should Socrates first and afterwards Sozomen publish it To please their Pew-fellows the Disciples of Novatien A poor gratification and they very silly Friends that would take Lies for Good-turns Sozomenum eandem prorsus causem sovisse certum est Ne Eudaemonen illum allium quom Novarianae sectae hominem sasse enlendum est ibidem For the more acceptable the Matter was being deemed true the less they must needs when they found the contrary either credit or affect him which had deceived them Notwithstanding Sacerdos ille merito à Nectario est gradu amous officioque depositus quo sacto Novationi ut mo●est haer eti corum quamcunque licet levem ur syncer is dogmatibus detrahant accipete ausi occasionem non tantum Presbyterum Poenitenstarium in ordinem redaectum sed & Poenitentiam ipsam unù cum co suiffe proscripram calumniose admodum coaclamarunt cum tamem illa potius Theacralis sieri interdum solits peccatorum solist abrogera ibidem we know that joy and gladness rising from false information do not only make men so forward to believe that which they first hear but also apt to scholie upon it and to report as true whatsoever they wish were true But so far is Socrates from any such purpose that the Fact of Nectarius which others did both like and follow he doth disallow and reprove His speech to Eudemon before set down is proof sufficient that he writeth nothing but what was famously known to all and what himself did wish had been otherwise As for Sozomen his correspondency with Heretics having showed to what end the Church did first ordain Penitentiaries he addeth immediately that Novatianists which had no care of Repentance could have no need of this Office Are these the words of a Friend or Enemy Besides in the entrace of that whole Narration Not to sin saith he at all would require a Nature more divine than ours is But God hath commanded to pardon Sinners yea although they transgress and offend often Could there be any thing spoken more directly opposite to the Doctrine of Novatian Eudaemon was Presbyter under Nectarius To Novatianists the Emperor gave liberty of using their Religion quietly by themselves under a Bishop of their own even within the City for that they stood with the Church in defence of the Catholic Faith against all other Heretics besides Had therefore Eudaemon favoured their heresy their Camps were not pitched so far off but he might at all times have found easy access unto them Is there any man that hath lived with him and hath touched him that way if not why suspect we him more than Nectarius Their report touching Grecian Catholic Bishops who gave approbation to that which was done and did also the like themselves in their own Churches we have no reason to discredit without some manifest and clear evidence brought against it For of Catholic Bishops no likelihood but that their greatest respect to Nectarius a man honoured in those parts no less than the Bishop of Rome himself in the Western Churches brought them both easily and speedily unto conformity with him Arrians Eunomians Apollinarians and the rest that stood divided from the Church held their Penitentiaries as before Novatianists from the beginning had never any because their opinion touching Penitency was against the practice of the Church therein and a cause why they severed themselves from the Church so that the very state of things as they then stood giveth great show of probability to his speech who hath affirmed That they only which held the Son consubstantial with the Father and Novatianists which joined with them in the same Opinion had no Penitentiaries in their Churches the rest retained them By this it appeareth therefore how Baronius finding the Relation plain that Nectarius did abolish even those private secret Confessions which the People had been before accustomed to make to him that was Penitentiary laboureth what he may to discredit the Authors of the Report and to leave it imprinted in men's minds that whereas Nectarius did but abrogate public Confession Novatianists have maliciously forged the abolition of Private as if the odds between these two were so great in the balance of their Judgement which equally hated or contemned both or as if it were not more clear than light that the first alteration which established Penitentiaries took away the burden of Public Confession in that kind of Penitents and therefore the second must either abrogate Private or nothing Cardinal Bellarmine therefore finding that against the Writers of the History it is but in vain to stand upon so doubtful terms and exceptions endeavoureth mightily to prove even by their report no other Confession taken away then Public which Penitentiaries used in Private to impose upon Public Offenders For why It is saith he very certain that the Name of Penitents in the Father's Writings signifieth only Public Penitents certain that to hear the Confessions of the rest now more than one could possibly have done certain that Sozomen to show how the Latin Church retained in his time what the Greek had clean cast off declareth the whole Order of Public Penitency used in the Church of Rome but of Private he maketh no mention And in these Considerations Bellarmine will have it the meaning both of Socrates and Sozomen that the former Episcopal Constitution which first did erect Penitentiaries could not concern any other Offenders than such as Publicly had sinned after Baptism That only they were prohibited to come to the Holy Communion except they did first in secret confess all their Sins to the Penitentiary by his appointment openly acknowledge their open Crimes and do public Penance for them That whereas before Novatian's uprising no man was constrainable to confess publicly any Sin this Canon enforced Public Offenders thereunto till such time as Nectarius thought good to extinguish the Practice thereof Let us examine therefore these subtle and fine Conjectures whether they be able to hold the touch It seemeth good saith Socrates to put down the office of these Priests which had charge of Penitency what charge that was the kinds of Penitency then usual must make manifest There is often speech in the Father's Writings In their Books frequent mention of Penitency exercised within the Chambers of our Heart and seen of God and not communicated to any other the whole charge of which Penitency is imposed of God and doth rest upon the Sinner himself But if Penitents in secret being guilty of Crimes whereby they knew they had made themselves unfit Guests for the Table of our Lord did seek direction for their better performance of that which should set them clear it was in this case the Penitentiaries Office to take their Confessions to advise them the best way he could for their Souls good to admonish them to counsel them but not to lay upon them more than private Penance As for notorious wicked Persons whose Crimes were known to convict judge and punish them was the Office of the Ecclesiastical Consistory Penitentiaries had their Institution to another end But unless we imagine that the ancient time knew no other Repentance then public or that they had little occasion to speak of any other Repentance or else that in speaking thereof they used continually some other Name and not the name of Repentance whereby to express private Penitency how standeth it with reason that whensoever they write of Penitents it should be thought they meant only Public Penitents The truth is they handle all three kinds but private and voluntary Repentance much oftener as being of far more general use whereas Public was but incident unto few and not oftener than once incident unto any Howbeit because they do not distinguish one kind of Penitency from another by difference of Names our safest way for Construction is to follow circumstance of Matter which in this Narration will not yield itself appliable only unto Public penance do what they can that would so expound it They boldly and confidently affirm That no man being compellable to confess publicly any Sin before Novatius time the end of instituting Penitentiaries afterwards in the Church was that by them men might be constrained unto public Confession Is there any Record in the World which doth testify this to be true There is that testify the plain contrary For Sozomen declaring purposely the cause of their Institution saith That whereas men openly craving Pardon at God's hands for Public Confession the last act of Penitency was always made in the form of a contrite Prayer unto God it could not be avoided but they must withal confess what their offences were This is the opinion of their Prelate seemed from the first beginning as we may probably think to be somewhat burdensome that men whose Crimes were unknown should blaze their own Faults as it were on the Stage acquainting all the People with whatsoever they had done amiss And therefore to remedy this Inconvenience they laid the charge upon one only Priest chosen out of such as were of best Conversation a silent and a discreet man to whom they which had offended might resort and lay open their Lives He according to the quality of every one's Transgressions appointed what they should do or suffer and left them to execute it upon themselves Can we wish a more direct and evident testimony that the Office here spoken of was to ease voluntary Penitents from the burden of public Confessions and not to constrain notorious Offenders thereunto That such Offenders were not compellable to open Confessions till Novatian's time that is to say till after the days of Persecution under Decius the Emperor they of all men should not so peremptorily avouch which whom if Fabian Bishop of Rome who suffered Martyrdom in the first year of Decius be of any authority and credit it must enforce them to reverse their Sentence his words are so plain and clear against them Fab. Decret Ep. 2. Tom. 1. Conc. p. 358. For such as commit those Crimes whereof the Apostle hath said They that do them shall never inherit the Kingdom of Heaven must saith he be forced unto amendment because they slip down to Hell if Ecclesiastical Authority stay them not Their conceit of Impossibility that one man should suffice to take the general charge of Penitency in such a Church as Constantinople hath risen from a mere erroneous supposal that the Ancient manner of private Confession was like the Shrift at this day usual in the Church of Rome which tieth all men at one certain time to make Confession whereas Confession was then neither looked for till men did offer it nor offered for the most part by any other than such as were guilty of heinous Transgressions nor to them any time appointed for that purpose Finally The drift which Sozomen had in relating the Discipline of Rome and the Form of public Penitency there retained even till his time is not to signify that only public Confession was abrogated by Nectarius but that the West or Latin Church held still one and the same Order from the very beginning and had not as the Greek first cut off public voluntary Confession by ordaining and then private by removing Penitentiaries Wherefore to conclude It standeth I hope very plain and clear first against the one Cardinal that Nectarius did truly abrogate Confession in such sort as the Ecclesiastical History hath reported and secondly as clear against them both that it was not public Confession only which Nectarius did abolish The Paradox in maintenance whereof Hessels wrote purposely a Book touching this Argument Nec est quod sibi blandiantur illi de facto Nectarii cum id potius secretorum peccatorum confessionem comprobet & non aliud quam Presbyterum panitentialem illo officio suo moverit uti amplissirme deducit D. Johannes Hasselus' Paniel in Cypr. lib. the anno● 98. & in lib. Tertul. de poen annor 1. to show that Nectarius did but put the Penitentiary from his Office and not take away the Office itself is repugnant to the whole advice which Eudaemon gave of leaving the People from that time forward to their own Consciences repugnant to the Conference between Socrates and Eudamon wherein complaint is made of some inconvenience which the want of the Office would breed Finally repugnant to that which the History declareth concerning other Churches which did as Nectarius had done before them not in deposing the same man for that was impossible but in removing the same Office out of their Churches which Nectarius had banished from his For which cause Bellarmin doth well reject the opinion of Hessels howsoever it please Pamelius to admire it as a wonderful happy Invention But in sum they are all gravelled no one of them able to go smoothly away and to satisfy either others or himself with his own conceit concerning Nectarius Only in this they are stiff that Auricular Confession Nectarius did not abrogate left if so much should be acknowledged it might enforce them to grant that the Greek Church at that time held not Confession as the Latin now doth to be the part of a Sacrament instituted by our Saviour Jesus Christ which therefore the Church till the World's end hath no power to alter Yet seeing that as long as public voluntary Confession of private Crimes did continue in either Church as in the one it remained not much above 200. years in the other about 400. the only acts of such Repentance were first the Offender's intimation of those Crimes to some one Presbyter for which imposition of Penance was sought Secondly the undertaking of Penance imposed by the Bishop Thirdly after the same performed and ended open Confession to God in the hearing of the whole Church Whereupon Fourthly ensued the Prayer of the Church Fifthly than the Bishop's imposition of hands and so Sixthly the Parties reconciliation or restitution to his former right in the holy Sacrament I would gladly know of them which make only private Confession a part of their Sacrament of Penance how it could be so in those times For where the Sacrament of Penance is ministered they hold that Confession to be Sacramental which he receiveth who must absolve whereas during the fore-rehearsed manner of Penance it can no where be showed that the Priest to whom secret information was given did reconcile or absolve any For how could he when Public Confession was to go before Reconciliation and Reconciliation likewise in public thereupon to ensue ● So that if they did account any Confession Sacramental it was surely public which is now abolished in the Church of Rome and as for that which the Church of Rome doth so esteem the Ancient neither had it in such estimation nor thought it to be of so absolute necessity for the taking away of Sin But for any thing that I could ever observe out of them although not only in Crimes open and notorious which made men unworthy and uncapable of holy Mysteries their Discipline required first public Penance and then granted that which Saint Hierona mentioneth Sa●erdos impo●● ma●●● subjecto redi un spiritus Sancti lau●cit arque ira cum qui maitus suerat Satane ●inrecima● carnis ut spiri us salvus fierce indicta in p●npu 'em oratione ahavi reconcillas Higher advest Luci● Amlr. de poens l. 2. c. 10. saying The Priest layeth his hand upon the Penitent and by invocation intreateth that the holy Ghost may return to him again and so after having enjoined solemnly all the People to pray for him reconcileth to the Altar him who was delivered to Satan for the destruction of his Flesh that his Spirit might be safe in the day of the lord Although I say not only in such Offences being famously known to the World but also if the same were committed secretly it was the custom of those times both that private Intimation should be given and public Confession made thereof in which respect whereas all men did willingly the one but would as willingly have withdrawn themselves from the other had they known how Is it tolerable saith Saint Ambrose that to sue to God thou shouldst be ashamed which blushest not to seek and sue unto Man should it grieve thee to be a Suppliant to him from whom thou canst not possibly hide thyself when to open thy sins to him from whom if thou wouldst thou mightest conceal them it doth not any thing at all trouble thee This thou art loath to do in the Church where all being Sinners nothing is more opprobrious indeed than concealment of sin the most humble the best thought of and the lowliest accounted the justest All this notwithstanding we should do them very great wrong to father any such Opinion upon them as if they did teach it a thing impossible for any Sinner to reconcile himself unto God without confession unto the Priest Would Chrysostom thus persuaded have said Chryst. hom. Let the enquiry and punishment of thy offences be made in thine own thoughts Let the Tribunal whereat thou arraignest thyself be without witness Let God and only God see thee and thy Confession Would Cassianus so believing have given counsel Cassian Col. lat 20. c. 1. That if any were withheld with bashfulness from discovering their Faulis to men they should be so much the more instant and constant in opening them by supplication to God himself whose wont is to help without publication of men's shame and not to upbraid them when he pardoneth Finally would Prosper settled in this Opinion have made it Pro●per de de vira cont. mpl l 2. c. 7. as touching Reconciliation to God a matter indifferent Whether men of Ecclesiastical Order did detect their crimes by confession or leaving the World ignorant thereof would separate voluntarily themselves for a time from the Altar though not in affection yet in execution of their Ministry and so bewail their corrupt life Would he have willed them as he doth to make hold of it that the favour of God being either way recovered by fruits of forcible repentance they should not only receive whatsoever they had lost by sin but also after this their new enfranchisement aspire to the endless joys of that supernal City To conclude We every where find the use of Confession especially public allowed of and commended by the Fathers but that extreme and rigorous necessity of Auricular and private Confession which is at this day so mightily upheld by the Church of Rome we find nor First it was not then the Faith and Doctrine of God's Church as of the Papacy at this present Secondly That the only remedy for Sin after Baptism is Sacramental Penitency Thirdly That Confession in secret is an essential part thereof Fourthly That God himself cannot now forgive Sin without the Priest That because Forgiveness at the hands of the Priest must arise from Confession in the Offenders Therefore to confess unto him is a matter of such necessity as being not either in deed or at the least in desire performed excludeth utterly from all pardon and must consequently in Scripture be commanded wheresoever any Promise or Forgiveness is made No no these Opinions have Youth in their countenance Antiquity knew them not it never thought nor dreamt of them But to let pass the Papacy For as much as Repentance doth import alteration within the mind of a sinful man whereby through the power of God's most gracious and blessed Spirit he seeth and with unfeigned sorrow acknowledgeth former Offences committed against God hath them in utter detestation seeketh pardon for them in such sort as a Christian should do and with a resolute purpose settleth himself to avoid them leading as near as God shall assist him for ever after an unspotted life And in the Order which Christian Religion hath taught for procurement of God's mercy towards Sinners Confession is acknowledged a principal duty Yea in some cases Confession to man not to God only Cal● Inst l. 3. c. 4. sect 7. It is not in Reformed Churches denied by the Learneder sort of Divines but that even this Confession cleared from all Errors is both lawful and behoveful for God's people Confession by man being either Private or Public Private Confession to the Minister alone touching secret Crimes or Absolution thereupon ensuing as the one so the other is neither practised by the French Discipline nor used in any of those Churches which have been cast by the French mould Open Confession to be made in the face of the whole Congregation by notorious Malefactors they hold necessary Howbeit not necessary towards the remission of Sins Sed●ant●n ut Ecclesiae in aliqua ratione satisfactum &c omnes unius poea●ntia confirmentur qui suerant unius peccath & scandalis vulnerati Sadeel in Psal. 32. v. 5. But only in some sort to content the Church and that one man's repentance may seem to strengthen many which before have been weakened by one man's fall Saxonians and Bohemians in their Discipline constrain no man to open Confession Their Doctrine is That whose Faults have been Public and thereby scandalous unto the World such when God giveth them the Spirit of Repentance aught as solemnly to return as they have openly gone astray First for the better testimony of their own unfeigned Conversion unto God Secondly the more to notify their Reconcilement unto the Church And Lastly that others may make benefit of their Example Harm Con●ess Sect. 8. ex 5. cap. confess Bohem. But concerning Confession in private the Churches of Germany as well the rest as Lutherans agree that all men should at certain times confess their Offences to God in the hearing of God's Ministers thereby to show how their Sins displease them to receive instruction for the warier carriage of themselves hereafter to be sound resolved if any scruple or snare of Conscience do entangle their minds and which is most material to the end that men may at God's hands seek every one his own particular pardon through the power of those Keys which the Minister of God using according to our blessed Saviour's Institution in that case it is their part to accept the benefit thereof as Gods most merciful Ordinance for their good and without any distrust or doubt to embrace joyfully his Grace so given them according to the Word of our Lord which hath said Whose Sins ye remit they are remitted So that grounding upon this assured Belief they are to rest with minds encouraged and persuaded concerning the forgiveness of all their Sins Cap. 5. Confess Bohem. as out of Christ's own Word and Power by the Ministry of the Keys It standeth with us in the Church of England as touching Public Confession thus First seeing day by day we in our Church begin our Public Prayers to Almighty God with Public acknowledgement of our Sins in which Confession every man prostrate as it were before his glorious Majesty cryeth against himself and the Minister with one Sentence pronounceth universally all clear whose acknowledgement so made hath proceeded from a true penitent mind What reason is there every man should not under the general terms of Confession represent to himself his own Particulars whatsoever and adjoining thereunto that affection which a contrite spirit worketh embrace to as full effect the words of Divine Grace as if the same were severally and particularly uttered with addition of Prayers imposition of hands or all the Ceremonies and Solemnities that might be used for the strengthening of men's affiance in God's peculiar mercy towards them Such Compliments are helps to support our Weakness and not Causes that serve to procare or produce his Gifts as David speaketh The difference of general and particular Forms in Confession and Absolution is not so material that any man's safety or ghostly good should depend upon it And for private Confession and Absolution it standeth thus with us As for private Confession Abuses and Errors set apart we condemn it not but leave it at liberty jewel desen part 135. The Minister's power to absolve is publicly taught and professed the Church not denied to have Authority either of abridging or enlarging the use and exercise of that Power upon the People no such necessity imposed of opening their Trangression unto men as if Remission of Sins otherwise were impossible neither any such opinion had of the thing itself as though it were either unlawful or unprofitable saving only for these inconveniences which the World hath by experience observed in it heretofore And in regard thereof the Church of England hitherto hath thought it the safe way to refer men's hidden Crimes unto God and themselves only Howbeit not without special caution for the Admonition of such as come to the Holy Sacrament and for the comfort of such as are ready to depart the World First because there are but few that consider how much that part of Divine Service which consists in partaking the Holy Eucharist doth import their Souls what they lose by neglect thereof and what by devout Practice they might attain unto therefore lest carelessness of general Confession should as commonly it doth extinguish all remorse of men's particular enormous Crimes our Custom whensoever men present themselves at the Lord's Table is solemnly to give themselves fearful Admonition what woes are perpendicularly hanging over the heads of such as dare adventure to put forth their unworthy hands to those admirable Mysteries of Life which have by rare Examples been proved Conduits of irremediable Death to impenitent Receivers whom therefore as we repel being known so being not known we cannot but terrify Yet with us the Ministers of God's most Holy Word and Sacraments being all put in trust with the custody and dispensation of those Mysteries wherein our Communion is and hath been ever accounted the highest Grace that men on earth are admitted unto have therefore all equally the same power to withhold that sacred Mystical Food from notorious Evil-Livers from such as have any way wronged their Neighbours and from Parties between whom there doth open hatred and malice appear till the first sort have reform their wicked Lives the second recompensed them unto whom they were injurious and the last condescended unto some course of Christian Reconciliation whereupon their mutual accord may ensue In which cases for the first branch of wicked Life and the last which is open Enmity there can arise no great difficulty about the exercise of his Power In the second concerning Wrongs there may if men shall presume to define or measure Injuries according to their own Conceits depraved oftentimes as well by Error as Partiality and that no less to the Minister himself then in another of the People under him The knowledge therefore which he taketh of Wrongs must rise as it doth in the other two not from his own Opinion or Conscience Nos à communione quenqu●m prohibere non pessumus quamvis hue prohibido ●o●d●m sic mortalis sed medicinalis nisi aut sponte confessum aut aliquo sive seculari sive Ecclesiastico j●dicio ●ccusatum ●●que convictum Quis enim sibi utrumque audet allumere at cuiqu●m ipse sit ●e ●ccuintor le jude● but from the evidence of the Fact which is committed Yea from such evidence as neither doth admit Denial nor Defence For if the Offender having either colour of Law to uphold or any other pretence to excuse his own uncharitable and wrongful Dealings shall wilfully stand in defence thereof it serveth as bar to the power of the Minister in this kind Because as it is observed by men of very good Judgement in these Affairs although in this sort our separating of them be not to strike them with the mortal wound of Excommunication but to stay them rather from running desperately headlong into their own harm yet it is not in us to sever from the Holy Communion but such as are either found culpable by their own Confession or have been convicted in some Public Secular or Ecclesiastical Court. For who is he that dares take upon him to be any man 's both Accuser and Judge Non enim ●emere & quodanimo●o siber sed propter judicium ab Ecclesiae communione separandi sune mali ut A propter judicium anserri non possine tolerantur potido velut palcae cum ruitice Multi corrigantur ut Petrus mul●i tolerantur ut Judas multi neseluntur donce veni●t Dominus se illuminable obscondito renebrarun Rhenan admonit de dogmat Tertul. Evil Persons are not rashly and as we lift to be thrust from Communion with the Church insomuch that if we cannot proceed against them by any orderly course of Judgement they rather are to be suffered for the time then molested Many there are reclaimed as Peter Many as judas known well enough and yet tolerated Many which must remain un-deseryed till the day of appearance by whom the secret corners of Darkness shall be brought into open Light Leaving therefore unto his Judgement them whom we cannot stay from casting their own Souls into so great hazard we have in the other part of Penitential Jurisdiction in our Power and Authority to release Sin joy on all sides without trouble or molestation unto any And if to give be a thing more blessed than to receive are we not infinitely happier in being authorized to bestow the Treasure of God than when Necessity doth constrain to withdraw the same They which during Life and Health are never destitute of ways to delude Repentance do notwithstanding oftentimes when their last hour draweth on both feel that sting which before lay dead in them and also thirst after such helps as have been always till then unsavoury Saint Ambrose his wordstouching late Repentance are somewhat hard Lib. 3. de Poen If a man be penitent and receive Absolution which cannot in that case be denied him even at the very point of death and so depart I dare not affirm he goeth out of the world well I will counsel no man to trust to this because I am loath to deceive any man seeing I know not what to think of it Shall I judge such a one a Castaway Neither will I avouch him safe All I am able to say is Let his Estate be left to the will and pleasure of Almighty God Wilt thou be therefore delivered of all doubt Repent while yet thou art healthy and strong If thou defert it till time give no longer possibility of sinning thou canst not be thought to have left Sin but rather Sin to have forsaken thee Such admonitions may in their time and place be necessary but in no wise prejudicial to the generality of God's own high and heavenly promise Whensoever a Sinner doth repent from the bottom of his heart I will put out all his iniquity And of this although it have pleased God not to leave to the world any multitude of Examples lest the careless should too far presume yet one he hath given and that most memorable to withhold from despair in the mercies of God at what instant so ever man's unfeigned conversion be wrought Yea because to countervail the fault of delay there are in the latest Repentance oftentimes the surest tokens of sincere dealing Therefore upon special Confession made to the Minister of God he presently absolveth in this case the sick Party from all Sins by that Authority which Jesus Christ hath committed unto him knowing that God respecteth not so much what time is spent as what truth is showed in Repentance In sum when the Offence doth stand only between God and Man's Conscience the Counsel is good Non dico tibi ut te prodas in publicum neque ut te apud abosaccuses sed obedire se volo Prophetae dicenti Revela Domino viam tuam Anie Deum constere peccata rua Pecca●a rua dicito ut en delean Si confonderis alley ●i dicere quae peceasti dirito ea quetidie in anima Non d●co ut confiscaris conservo qui exp●●bici Deo dicien qui ea curar Non necesse est praesenibus ●●tibus confiteri solus te Deus consirentem videat ●ogo & oro ut crebrius Deo immorrali confiteam●ni & enumeratis vestrical● lictis veniem petatis Non te in Theatrum conservoram duco non hominibus pecu●a tue conor deregers Repete coram Deo consceuriam tuam te explica ostense medico praestantisimo vulcera tus & peer ah co medicamentum Chrysast hom. 31. ad Hebr. & in Psal. 59 Hom. de poen ●e confess & horn 5. de incara Dei natura ho●mi ●remque de Lazaro which Saint Chrysostom giveth I wish thee not to bewray thyself publicly nor to accuse thyself before others I wish thee to obey the Prophet who saith Disclose thy way unto the Lord confess thy sins before him Tell thy sins to him that he may blot them out If thou be abashed to tell unto any other wherein thou hast offended rehearse them every day between thee and thy Soul I wish thee not to confess them to thy fellow-servant who may upbraid thee with them Tell them to God who will cure them There is no need for thee in the presence of Witnesses to acknowledge them Let God alone see thee at thy Confession I pray and beseech you that you would more often than you do confess to God eternal and reckoning up your Trespasses desire his Pardon I carry you not into a Theatre or open Court of many your Fellow-Servants I seek not to detect your crimes before men Disclose your Conscience before God unfold yourselves to him lay forth your wounds before him the best Physician that is and desire of him salve for them If hereupon it follow as it did with David I thought I will confess against myself my wickedness unto thee O Lord and thou forgavest me the plague of my Sin we have our desire and there remaineth only thankfulness accompanied with perpetuity of care to avoid that which being not avoided we know we cannot remedy without new perplexity and grief chose if peace with God do not follow the pains we have taken in seeking afterit if we continue disquieted and not delivered from anguish mistrusting whether that we do be sufficient it argueth that our Soar doth exceed the power of our own skill and that the wisdom of the Pastor must bind up those parts which being bruised are not able to be recured of themselves Of Satisfaction THere resteth now Satisfaction only to be considered A point which the Fathers do often touch albeit they never aspire to such Mysteries as the Papacy hath found enwrapped within the folds and plaits thereof And it is happy for the Church of God that we have the Writings of the Fathers to show what their meaning was The name of Satisfaction as the Ancient Fathers meant it containeth whatsoever a Penitent should do in the humbling himself unto God and testifying by deeds of Contrition the same which Confession in words pretendeth He which by Repentance for Sins saith Tertullian Tertul. de Poenit speaking of fickle-minded-men had a purpose to satisfy the Lord will now by repenting his Repentance make Satan satisfaction and be so much more hateful to God as he is unto God's enemy more acceptable Is it not plain that Satisfaction doth here include the whole work of Penitency and that God is Satisfied when men are restored through Sin into favour by Repentance Chrysost. in Cor. hom. 8 How canst thou saith Chrysostom move God to pity thee when thou wilt not seem as much as to know that thou hast offended By appeasing pacifying and moving God to pity Saint Chrysostom meaneth the very same with the Latin Fathers when they speak of satisfying God Cypr. Est 1. & Ep. 26 dis 16. We feel saith Cyprian the bitter smart of his rod and scourge because there is in us neither care to please him with our good deeds nor to satisfy him for our evil Again Let the eyes which have looked on Idols sponge out their unlawful acts with those sorrowful tears which have power to satisfy God The Master of Sentences allegeth out of Saint Augustine that which is plain enough to this purpose Three things there are in perfect Penitency Compunction Confession and Satisfaction that as we three ways offend God namely in Heart Word and Deed so by three Duties we may satisfy God Satisfaction as a part comprehendeth only that which the Papists meant by worthy of Repentance and if we speak of the whole work of Repentance itself we may in the phrase of Antiquity term it very well Satisfaction Satisfaction is a work which Justice requireth to be done for contentment of Persons injured Neither is it in the eye of Justice a sufficient satisfaction unless it fully equal the Injury for which we satisfy Seeing then that sin against God Eternal and Infinite must needs be an infinite wrong Justice in regard thereof doth necessarily exact an infinite recompense or else inflict upon the Offender infinite punishment Now because God was thus to be satisfied and man not able to make satisfaction in such sort his unspeakable love and inclination to save mankind from eternal death ordained in our behalf a Mediator to do that which had been for any other impossible Wherefore all sin is remitted in the only faith of Christ's passion and no man without belief thereof justified Bonavent in Sentent 4. didst 15. 9 9 Faith alone maketh Christ's satisfaction ours howbeit that Faith alone which after sin maketh us by Conversion his For in as much as God will have the benefit of Christ's satisfaction both thankfully acknowledged and duly esteemed of all such as enjoy the same he therefore imparteth so high a treasure unto no man whose Faith hath not made him willing by Repentance to do even that which of itself how unavailable soever yet being required and accepted with God we are in Christ thereby made capable and sit Vessels to receive the fruits of his Satisfaction Yea we so far please and content God that because when we have offended he looketh but for Repentance at our hands our Repentance and the works thereof are therefore termed satisfactory not for that so much is thereby done as the Justice of God can exact but because such actions of grief and humility in man after sin are illices divine misericordiae as Tertullian speaketh of them they draw that pity of God's towards us wherein he is for Christ's sake contented upon our submission to pardon our rebellion against him and when that little which his Law appointeth is faithfully executed it pleaseth him in tender compassion and mercy to require no more Repentance is a name which noteth the habit and operation of a certain grace or virtue in us Satisfaction the effect which it hath either with God or man And it is not in this respect said amiss that Satisfaction importeth Acceptation Reconciliation and Amity because that through Satisfaction on the one part made and allowed on the other they which before did reject are now content to receive they to be won again which were lost and they to love unto whom just cause of hatred was given We satisfy therefore in doing that which is sufficient to this effect and they towards whom we do it are satisfied if they accept it as sufficient and require no more Otherwise we satisfy not although we do satisfy For so between man and man it oftentimes falleth out but between man and God never It is therefore true that our Lord Jesus Christ by one most precious and propitiatory Sacrifice which was his Body a Gift of infinite worth offered for the Sins of the whole World hath thereby once reconciled us to God purchased his general free pardon and turned Divine indignation from mankind But we are not for that cause to think any office of Penitence either needless or fruitless on our own behalf For than would not God require any such Duties at our hands Christ doth remain everlastingly a gracious Intercessor even for every particular Penitent Let this assure us that God how highly soever displeased and incensed with our Sins is notwithstanding for his sake by our Tears pacified taking that for Satisfaction which is due by us because Christ hath by his Satisfaction made it acceptable For as he is the High Priest of our Salvation Apoc. 1. 6. so he hath made us Priests likewise under him to the end we might offer unto God praise and thankfulness while we continue in the way of life and when we sin the satisfactory or propitiatory sacrifice of a broken and a contrite Heart There is not any thing that we do that could pacify God and clear us in his sight from sin if the goodness and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ were not whereas now beholding the poor offer of our religions endeavours Casia Col. 20. c. ● meekly to submit ourselves as often as we have offended he regardeth with infinite mercy those services which are as nothing and with words of comfort reviveth our afflicted minds saying It ● I even I that taketh away thine Iniquities for mine own sake Thus doth Repentance satisfy God changing his wrath and indignation unto mercy Anger and mercy are in us Passions but in him not so Basil hom. in Psalm 37. Cum Deus irascirur non ejus significatur perturbatio qualis est in animo irascenris hominis sed ex humanis moribus translato vocabulo vindictae ejus quae non nisi justa est irae nomem ecepit Augustin tom 3. Ench. cap. 33. Poenitensiae compensacione redimeadam proponit impunitarem Deus Tertullian de Poenitentia God saith Saint Basil is no ways passionate but because the punishments which his judgement doth inflict are like effect of indignation severe and grievous to such as suffer them therefore we term the revenge which he taketh upon Sinners anger and the withdrawing of his plagues mercy His wrath saith St. Augustin is not as ours the trouble of a mind disturbed and disquieted with things amiss but a ralm unpassionate and just assignation of dreadful punishment to be their portion which have disobeyed his mercy a free determination of all felicity and happiness unto men except their sins remain as a bar between it and them So that when God doth cease to be angry with sinful men when he receiveth them into favour when he pardoneth their offences and remembreth their iniquities no more for all these signify but one thing it must needs follow that all punishments before due is revenge of sin whether they be Temporal or Eternal are remitted For how should God's indignation import only man's punishment and yet some punishment remain unto them towards whom there is now in God no indignation remaining God saith Tertullian takes Penitency at men's hands and men at his in lieu thereof receive impunity which notwithstanding doth not prejudice the chastisements which God after pardon hath laid upon some Offenders as on a Numb 14. 21. the people of Israel on b Numb 10. 12. Moses on c Num. 12 14. Miriam on d 2 Sam. 1● 14. David either for their own e Cui Deus vese propitius est non solum consonat peccara ne noceant ad suturum feculum sed etiam caffigat nesemper peccare delicter Aug. in Psal. 58. more sound amendment or for f Plectumur quidam que cereri corrigantur exemple sunt omalius tormenta paucorum Cypr. de lapsis Ezech. 33 14. Rom. 2. 5. Esay 1. 1● example unto others in this present world for in the World to come punishments have unto these intents no use the dead being not in case to be better by correction nor to take warning by executions of God's Justice there seen but assuredly to whomsoever he remitteth sin their very pardon is in itself a full absolute and perfect discharge for revengeful punishment which God doth now here threaten but with purpose of revocation if men repent no where inflict but on them whom impenitency maketh obdurate Of the one therefore it is said Though I tell the wicked Thou shalt die the death yet if he turneth from his sin and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live and not die Of the other Thou according to thine hardness and heart that will not repent treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath and evident appearance of the judgement of God If God be satisfied and do pardon sin our justification restored is as perfect as it was at the first bestowed For so the Prophet Isaiah witnesseth Though your sins were as crimson they shall be made as white as snow though they were as scarlet they shall be as white as wool And can we doubt concerning the punishment of Revenge which was due to sin but that if God be satisfied and have forgotten his wrath it must be even as Saint Augustine reasoneth g Sitexit Deus peccato noliutadverter●● sinoluie alviriere no●uit animad-verrere Aug. the pecomer & ren● lib. ● cap. 34. Mirandum non est & mortem corporis non suisse eventurum homini nuin praecessiser precatum cujus tiam talis poe●e enasequeretur & pest temissionem peccamrum eam fidelibus evenire ur ejua ●●inore umcendo excerceretur fortitudo justitiae Sic de mortem corp. ●● propter hoc peccarum Deus homini inflixer & post pessarorum remissionem propter exerc●ndam justiriam non ademit An●c r missicnem ess illa supplicia pecc●●orum pes● remilsiorem autem certamina exercitationesque justo● 'em Cypr. Epist. ●● What God hath covered he will not observe and what he observeth not he will not punish The truth of which Doctrine is not to be shifted off by restraining it unto eternal punishment alone For than would not David have said They are blessed to whom God imputeth not sin Blessedness having no part or fellowship at all with malediction Whereas to be subject to Revenge for Sin although the punishment be but temporal is to be under the curse of the Law wherefore as one and the same Fire consumeth Stubble and refineth Gold so if it please God to lay punishment on them whose sins he hath forgiven yet is not this done for any destructive end of wasting and eating them out as in plagues inflicted upon the Impenitent neither is the punishment of the one as of the other proportioned by the greatness of sin past but according to that future purpose whereunto the goodness of God referreth it and wherein there is nothing meant to the Sufferer but furtherance of all happiness now in grace and hereafter in glory Saint Augustin to stop the mouths of Pelagians arguing That if God had imposed death upon Adam and Adam's posterity as a punishment of sin death should have ceased when God procured Sinners their pardon Answereth first It is no marvel either that bodily death should not have happened to the first man unless he had first sinned death as punishment following his sin or that after sin is forgiven death notwithstanding befalleth the Faithful to the end that the strength of righteousness might be exercised by overcoming the fear thereof So that justly God did inflict bodily death on man for committing Sin and yet after Sin forgiven took it not away that his Righteousness might still have whereby to be exercised He fortifieth this with David's example whose sin he forgave and yet afflicted him for exercise and trial of his humility Briefly a general axiom he hath for all such chastisements Before forgiveness they are the punishment of Sinners and after forgiveness they are exercises and trials of Righteous men Which kind of proceeding is so agreeable with God's nature and man's comfort that it seemeth even injurious to both if we should admit those surmised reservations of temporal wrath in God appeased towards reconciled Sinners As a Father he delights in his children's conversion neither doth he threaten the Penitent with wrath or them with punishment which already mourn but by promise assureth such of indulgence and mercy yea even of plenary Pardon which taketh away all both Faults and Penalties There being no reason why we should think him the less just because he showeth him thus merciful when they which before were obstinate labour to appease his wrath with the pensive meditation of Contrition the meek humility which Confession expresseth and the deeds wherewith Repentance declareth itself to be an amendment as well of the rotten fruit as the dried leaves and withered root of the tree For with these duties by us performed and presented unto God in Heaven by Jesus Christ whose blood is a continual sacrifice of propitiation for us we content please and satisfy God Repentance therefore even the sole virtue of Repentance without either purpose of shrift or desire of absolution from the Priest Repentance the secret Conversion of the heart in that it consisteth of these three and doth by these three pacify God may be without hyperbolical terms most truly magnified as a recovery of the Soul of man from deadly sickness a restitution of glorious light to his darkened mind a comfortable reconciliation with God aspiritual nativity a rising from the dead a dayspring from out the depth of obscurity a redemption from more than the Egyptian thraldom a grinding of the old Adam even into dust and powder a deliverance out of the prison's hell a full restauration of the Seat of Grace and Throne of Glory a triumph over Sin and a saving Victory Amongst the works of Satisfaction the most respected have been always these three Prayers Fasts and Alms-deeds by Prayers we lift up our Souls to him from whom sin and iniquity hath withdrawn them by Fasting we reduce the body from thraldom under vain delights and make it serviceable for parts of virtuous conversation by Alms we dedicate to Charity those worldly Goods and Possessions which unrighteousness doth neither get nor bestow well The first a token of piety intended towards God the second a pledge of moderation and sobriety in the carriage of our own Persons the last a testimony of our meaning to do good to all men In which three the Apostle by way of abridgement comprehendeth whatsoever may appertain to sanctimony holiness and good life as chose the very mass of general corruption throughout the world what is it but only forgetfulness of God carnal pleasure immoderate desire after worldly things profaneness licentiousness covetousness All offices to Repentance have these two Properties there is in performance of them painfulness and in their nature a contrariety unto sin 2. Cor. 7. 11. Chrys. hom. 30. in Ep. ad Heb. Cypr. de lapsi The one Consideration causeth them both in holy Scripture and elsewhere to be termed Judgement or Revenges taken voluntarily on ourselves and to be furthermore also Preservatives from future Evils in as much as we commonly use to keep with the greater care that which with pain we have recovered And they are in the other respect contrary to sin committed Contrition contrary to the pleasure Confession to the error which is the mother of Sin and to the deeds of Sin the works of Satisfaction contrary therefore they are the more effectual to cure the evil habit thereof Hereunto it was that Saint Cyprian referred his earnest and vehement Exhortation That they which had fallen should be instant in Prayer reject bodily Ornaments when once they had stripped themselves out of Christ's Attire abhor all Food after Satan's morsels tasted follow works of Righteousness which wash away Sin and be plentiful in Alms-deeds wherewith Souls are delivered from death Not as if God did according to the manner of corrupt judges take some money to abate so much in the punishment of Malefactors Salu. ad Eccl. Coth lib. 1. These duties must be offered saith Salvianus not in confidence to redeem or buy out Sin but as tokens of meek submission neither are they with God accepted because of their value but for the affections sake which doth thereby show itself Wherefore concerning Satisfaction made to God by Christ only and of the manner how Repentance generally particularly also how certain special works of Penitency both are by the Fathers in their ordinary phrase of speech called Satisfactory and may be by us very well so acknowledged enough hath been spoken Our offences sometimes are of such nature as requireth that particular men be satisfied or else Repentance to be utterly void and of none effect For if either through open repine or crooked fraud if through injurious or unconscionable dealing a man have wittingly wronged others to enrich himself the first thing evermore in his Case required ability serving is Restitution For let no man deceive himself from such Offences we are not discharged neither can be till recompense and restitution to man accompany the penitent Confession we have made to Almighty God Levit. 6. 2. In which case the Law of Moses was direct and plain If any sin and commit a Trespass against the Lord and deny unto his Neighbour that which was given him to keep or that which was put unto him of trust or doth by robbery or by violence oppress his Neighbour or hath found that which was lost and denyeth it and swears falsely for any of these things that a man doth wherein he sinneth he that doth thus offend and trespass shall restore the robbery that he hath taken or the thing he hath got by violence or that which was delivered him to keep or the lost thing which he found and for whatsoever he hath sworn falsely adding perjury to injury he shall both restore the whole sum and shall add thereunto a fifth part more and deliver it unto him unto whom it belongeth the same day wherein he offereth for his Trespass Now because men are commonly over-slack to perform this Duty and do therefore defer it sometime till God have taken the Party wronged out of the World the Law providing that Trespassers might not under such pretence gain the Restitution which they ought to make appointeth the Kindred surviving to receive what the Dead should if they had continued Numb 5 8. But saith Moses if the Party wronged have no Kinsman to whom this damage may be restored it shall then be rendered to the Lord himself for the Priest's use The whole order of proceeding herein is in sundry traditional Writings set down by their great Interpreters and Scribes which taught them that a Trespass between a man and his Neighbour can never be forgiven till the Offender have by Restitution made recompense for wrongs done yea they hold it necessary that he appease the Party grieved by submitting himself unto him or is that will not serve by using the help and mediation of others In this case say they for any man to show himself unappeasable and cruel were a sin most grievous considering that the people of God should be easy to relent as Joseph was towards his Brethren Finally if so it fall out that the death of him which was injured prevent his submission which did offend let him then for so they determine that he ought go accompanied with ten others unto the Sepulchre of the Dead and there make confession of the Fault saying Quamdiu enim res propter quam peccatum est non redditur si reddi potest non agitur poenitentia sed singitur Sent. 4. d. 15. I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and against this man to whom I have done such or such injury and if Money be due let it be restored to his Heirs or in case he have none known leave it with the house of judgement That is to say with the Senators Ancients and Guides of Israel We hold not Christian people tied unto Jewish Orders for the manner of Restitution but surely Restitution we must hold necessary as well in our own Repentance as theirs for Sins of wilful oppression and wrong Now although it suffices that the Offices wherewith we pacify God or private men be secretly done yet in Cases where the Church must be also satisfied it was not to this end and purpose unnecessary that the ancient Discipline did farther require outward signs of Contrition to be showed Confession of Sins to be made openly and those Works to be apparent which served as Testimonies for Conversion before men Wherein if either Hypocrisy did at any time delude their Judgement they knew Cypr. Ep.l. 50. that God is he whom Masks and Mockeryes cannot blind that he which seeth men's hearts would judge them according unto his own evidence and as Lord correct the Sentence of his Servants concerning matters beyond their reach Or if such as ought to have kept the Rules of Canonical Satisfaction would by sinister means and practices undermine the same obtruding presumptuously themselves to the participation of Christ's most sacred Mysteries before they were orderly readmitted thereunto the Church for contempt of holy things held them incapable of that Grace which God in the Sacrament doth impart to devout Communicants and no doubt but he himself did retain bound whom the Church in those cases refused to lose The Fathers as may appear by sundry Decrees and Canons of the Primitive Church were in matter specially of public Scandal provident that too much facility of pardoning might not be showed Basil. Ep. ad Amphi. c. 26. He that casteth off his lawful wife saith Saint Basil and doth take another it adjudged an Adulterer by the verdict of our Lord himself and by our Fathers it is Canonically ordained that such for the space of a year shall mourn for two years' space hear three years be prostrate the seventh year assemble with the faithful in Prayer and after that be admitted to communicate if with tears they bewail their fault Council Ny●en can 11. Of them which had fallen from their faith in the time of Emperor Licinius and were not thereunto forced by any extreme usage the Nicene Synod under Constantine ordained that earnestly repenting they should continue three years' Hearers seven years be prostrate and two years communicate with the people in prayer before they came to receive the oblation Which rigour sometimes they tempered nevertheless with lenity the selfsame Synod having likewise defined That whatsoever the cause were any man desirous at the time of departure out of this life to receive the Eucharist might with examination and trial have it granted him by the Bishop Yea besides this case of special commiseration there is a Canon more large which giveth always liberty to abridge or extend out the time as the Parties meek or sturdy disposition should require Can. 13. id est manifestis indiciis deprehensa peccatoris seria conversione ad Deum Can. 12. By means of which Discipline the Church having power to hold them many years in suspense there was bred in the minds of the Penitents through long and daily practise of submission a contrary habit unto that which before had been their ruin and for ever afterwards wariness not to fall into those snares out of which they knew they could not easily wind themselves Notwithstanding because there was likewise hope and possibility of shortening the time this made them in all the Parts and Offices of their Repentance the more fervent In the first station while they only beheld others passing towards the Temple of God whereunto for themselves to approach it was not lawful they stood as miserable forlorn men the very patterns of perplexity and woe In the second when they had the favour to wait at the doors of God where the sound of his comfortable word might be heard none received it with attention like to theirs Thirdly being taken and admitted to the next degree of Prostrates at the feet yet behind the back of that Angel representing God whom the rest saw face to face their tears and entreaties both of Pastor and People were such as no man could resist After the fourth step which gave them liberty to hear and pray with the rest of the People being so near the haven no diligence was then flacked which might hasten admission to the Heavenly Table of Christ their last desire It is not therefore a thing to be marvelled at though Saint Cyprian took it in very ill part when open Backsliders from the faith and sacred Religion of Christ laboured by sinister practice to procure from imprisoned Saints those requests for present absolution which the Church could neither yield unto with safety of Discipline nor in honour of Martyrdom easily deny For what would thereby ensue they needed not to conjecture when they saw how every man which came so commended to the Church by Letters thought that now he needed not to crave but might challenge of duty his peace taking the matter very highly if but any little forbearance or small delay was used Jacens stantibus & integris vulneratus minatur Ex. 12. 3. Jer. 7. 15. Ezech. 14. 14. He which is overthrown saith Cyprian menaceth them that stand the wounded them that were never touched and because presently he hath not the body of our Lord in his foul imbrued hands nor the blood within his polluted lips the miscreant fumeth at God's Priests Such is thy madness O thou furious man thou art angry with him which laboureth to turn away God's anger from thee him thou threatnest which sueth unto God for grace and mercy on thy behalf Touching Martyrs he answereth That it ought not in this case to seem offensive though they were denied seeing God himself did refuse to yield to the piety of his own righteous Saints making suit for obdurate jews As for the Parties in whose behalf such shifts were used to have their desire was in very truth the way to make them the more guilty Such peace granted contrary to the rigour of the Gospel contrary to the Law of our Lord and God doth but under colour of merciful relaxation deceive Sinners and by soft handling destroy them a grace dangerous for the Giver and to him which receiveth it nothing at all available The patient expectation that bringeth health is by this means not regarded recovery of soundness not sought for by the only medicine available which is Satisfaction Penitency thrown out of men's hearts the remembrance of that heaviest and last Judgement clean banished the wounds of dying men which should be healed are covered the stroke of death which hath gone as deep as any bowels are to receive it is overcast with the sleight show of a cloudy look From the Altar of Satan to the holy Table of the Lord men are not afraid to come even belching in a manner the sacrificed morsels they have eaten yea their jaws yet breathing out the irksome savour of their former contagious wickedness they seize upon the blessed body of our Lord nothing terrified with that dreadful commination which saith 1 Cor. 11. 27. Whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of Christ. They vainly think it to be peace which is gotten before they be purged of their faults before their crime be solemnly confessed before their Conscience be cleared by the sacrifice and imposition of the Priest's hands and before they have pacified the indignation of God Why term they that a Favour which is an Injury Wherefore cloak they Impiety with the name of charitable Indulgence Such facility giveth not but rather taketh away peace and is itself another fresh Persecution or trial whereby that fraudulent Enemy maketh a secret havoc of such as before he had overthrown and now to the end that he may clean swallow them he casteth Sorrow into a dead sleep putteth Grief to silence wipeth away the memory of Faults newly done smothereth the sighs that should rise from a contrite Spirit drieth up Eyes which ought to send forth rivers of Tears and permitteth not God to be pacified withfull repentance whom heinous and enormous crimes have displeased By this than we see that in Saint Cyprian's judgement all Absolutions are void The end of Satisfaction frustrate and of no effect without sufficient Repentance first showed Whereas chose if true and full Satisfaction have gone before the sentence of man here given is ratified of God in Heaven according to our Saviour's own sacred Testimony Whose sins ye remit they are remitted By what works in the Virtue and by what in the Discipline of Repentance we are said to satisfy either God or men cannot now be thought obscure As for the Inventors of Sacramental Satisfaction they have both altered the natural order heretofore kept in the Church by bringing in a strange preposterous course to absolve before Satisfaction be made and moreover by this their misordered practice are grown into sundry errors concerning the end whereunto it is referred They imagine beyond all conceit of Antiquity that when God doth remit Sin and the punishment eternal thereunto belonging he reserveth the torments of hellfire to be nevertheless endured for a time either shorter or longer according to the quality of men's Crimes Yet so that there is between God and man a certain Composition as it were or Contract by virtue whereof works assigned by the Priest to be done after Absolution shall satisfy God as touching the punishment which he otherwise would inflict for sin pardoned and forgiven Now because they cannot assure any man that The way of satisfying by others if he performeth what the Priest appointeth it shall suffice This I say because they cannot do in as much as the Priest hath no power to determine or define of equivalency between Sins and Satisfactions And yet if a Penitent depart this life the debt of Satisfaction being either in whole or in part un-discharged they steadfastly hold that the Soul must remain in unspeakable torment till all be paid Therefore for help and mitigation in this Case they advise men to set certain Copesmates on work whose Prayers and Sacrifices may satisfy God for such Souls as depart in debt Hence have arisen the infinite Pensions of their Priests the building of so many Altars and Tombs the enriching of so many Churches with so many glorious costly Gifts the bequeathing of Lands and ample Possessions to Religious Companies even with utter forgetfulness of Friends Parents Wife and Children all natural affection giving place unto that desire which men doubtful of their own estate have to deliver their Sols from torment after death Yet behold even this being done how far forth it shall avail they are not sure And therefore the last upshot unto all their former Inventions is that as every action of Christ did both meant for himself and satisfy partly for the eternal and partly for the temporal punishment due unto men for sin So his Saints have obtained the like privilege of Grace making every good work they do not only meritorious in their own behalf but satisfactory too for the benefit of others Or if having at any time grievously sinned they do more to satisfy God than he in justice can exact of look for at their hands the surplusage runneth to a common stock out of which treasury containing whatsoever Christ did by way of Satisfaction for temporal punishment together with the satisfactory force which resideth in all the virtuous works of Saints and in their Satisfactions whatsoever doth abound I say From hence they hold God satisfied for such arrearages as men behind in account discharge not by other means and for disposition hereof as it is their Doctrine that Christ remitteth not eternal death without the Priest's Absolution so without the grant of the Pope they cannot but teach it a like impossible that Souls in Hell should receive any temporal release of pain The Sacrament of Pardon from him being to this effect no less necessary than the Priest's Absolution to the other So that by this Postem-gate cometh in the whole mark of Papal Indulgences a Gain unestimable to him to others a Spoil a scorn both to God and Man So many works of satisfaction pretended to be done by Christ by Saints and Martyrs so many virtuous acts possessed with satisfactory force and virtue so many supererogations in satisfying beyond the exigence of their own necessity And this that the Pope might make a Monopoly of all turning all to his own gain or at least to the gain of those which are his own Such facilitle they have to convert a pretended Sacrament into a Revenue Of Absolution of Penitents SIn is not helped but by being assecured of Pardon It resteth therefore to be considered what warrant we have concerning Forgiveness when the Sentence of man absolveth us from Sin committed against God At the words of our Saviour saying to the sick of the Palsy Mat. 9 2. Mark 5.22 Luc. 5. 25. Son thy Sins are forgiven-thee Exception was taken by the Scribes who secretly reasoned against him Is any able to forgive Sins but only God Whereupon they condemned his speech as blasphemy the rest which believed him to be a Prophet sent from God saw no cause wherefore he might not as lawfully say and as truly to whomsoever amongst them God hath taken away thy Sins as Nathan they all knew had used the very like speech to whom David did not therefore impute blasphemy but embraced as became him the words of truth with joy and reverence Now there is no Controversy but as God in that special Case did authorise Nathan so Christ more generally his Apostles and the Ministers of his Word in his Name to absolve Sinners Their power being equal all the difference between them can be but only in this that whereas the one had prophetical evidence the other have the certainty partly of Faith and partly of Human experience whereupon to ground their Sentence Faith to assure them of God's most graous Pardon in Heaven unto all Penitents and touching the sincerity of each particular Parties repentance as much as outward sensible tokens or signs can warrant It is not to be marvelled that so great a difference appeareth between the Doctrine of Rome and Ours when we teach Repentance They imply in the Name of Repentance much more than we do We stand chiefly upon the due inward Conversion of the Heart They more upon Works of external show We teach above all things that Repentance which is one and the same from the beginning to the World's end They a Sacramental Penance of their own devising and shaping We labour to instruct men in such sort that every Soul which is wounded with sin may learn the way how to cure itself They clean contrary would make all Soars seem incurable unless the Priests have a hand in them Touching the force of whose Absolution they strangely hold Ipsus poenitentis actio non est pars Sa. ●amenti nisi quatenus potestati Sacentorali subjucitur & à Sacerdore dirig●ur vel jubetur Bell de Poen ● 1 c. 16 Christus instiruit Sacerdotes Judices super cerram cum es potestate ut sine ipsorum sententis nemopest B●prismum lapsus reconciliari pessit Bell. l. 3 ● 1 De Poenit. Quod si posset two sine Sacerdutum ●ententia absolvi non esset vera Christi promissio Quaecutque etc. Bellarm. Ibid. that whatsoever the Penitent doth his Contrition Confession and Satisfaction have no place of right to stand as material parts in this Sacrament nor consequently any such force as to make them available for the taking away of Sin in that they proceed from the Penitent himself without the privity of the Minister but only as they are enjoined by the Minister's Authority and Power So that no contrition or grief of heart till the Priest exact it no acknowledgement of Sins but that which he doth demand no Praying no Fasting no Alms no Recompense or Restitution for whatsoever we have done can help except by him it be first imposed It is the Chain of their own Doctrine No remedy for mortal sin committed after Baptism but the Sacrament of Penance only No Sacrament of Penance if either matter or form be wanting No ways to make those Duties a material part of the Sacrament unless we consider them as required and exacted by the Priest Our Lord and Saviour they say hath ordained his Priests Judges in such sort that no man which sinneth after Baptism can be reconciled unto God but by their Sentence For why If there were any other way of Reconciliation the very promise of Christ should be false in saying Whatsoever ye bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whose sins soever ye retain are retained Except therefore the Priest be willing God hath by promise hampered himself so that it is not now in his own power to pardon any man Let him which is offended crave as the Publican did Lord he thou merciful unto me a sinner Let him as David make a thousand times his supplication Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy compassions put away mine iniquities All this doth not help till such time as the pleasure of the Priest be known till he have signed us a pardon and given us our quietus est God himself hath no Answer to make but such as that of his Angel unto Lot I can do nothing It is true that our Saviour by these words Whose Sins ye remit they are remitted did ordain Judges over our sinful Souls gave them Authority to absolve from sin and promise to ratify in Heaven whatsoever they should do on Earth in execution of this their Offices to the end that hereby as well his Ministers might take encouragement to do their Duty with all Faithfulness as also his People admonition gladly with all reverence to be ordered by them both parts knowing that the Functions of the one towards the other have his perpetual assistance and approbation Howbeit all this with two Restraints which every Jurisdiction in the World hath the one that the practice thereof proceed in due order the other that it do not extend itself beyond due bounds which bounds or limits have so confined penitential Jurisdiction that although there be given unto it power of remitting sin yet not such Sovereignty of Power that no sin should be pardonable in man without it Thus to enforce our Saviour's words is as though we should gather that because Christus ordinarium suam parellarum in Apostolos translusit ex●ran●linariam sibi rese ravir Whatsoever joseph did command in the Land of Pharaoh's grant is it should be done therefore he granteth that nothing should be done in the Land of Egypt but what joseph did command and so consequently by enabling his Servant joseph to command under him disableth himself to command any thing without joseph But by this we see how the Papacy maketh all Sin unpardonable which hath not the Priest's Absolution except peradventure in some extraordinary case Ordinaria enim remedia in Ecclesia ad remittenda peccara sune ab eo institura Sacramenta sine quibus peceara remittere Christus potest sed extraordinary & musto rarius hoc facit quam per Sacramenta Noluit igitur eos extraordinariis remissionis peccaterum considere quae & rara sunt & incerta sed ordinaria ut ira di cam visibilia Sacramentorum quant ere remedia Maldon in Mat. 16.19 where albeit Absolution be not had yet it must be desired What is then the force of Absolution What is it which the act of Absolution worketh in a sinful man doth it by any operation derived from itself alter the state of the Soul Doth it really take away sin or but ascertain us of God's most gracious and merciful pardon The latter of which two is our assertion the former theirs Mat. 9 2. Mat. 2. 7. Luc. 5. 21. At the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ saying unto the sick of the Palsy Son thy sins are forgiven thee the Pharisees which knew him not to be Son of the living God took secret exception and fell to reasoning with themselves against him Cypr. the saps c. 4. Clem. Alex. Paedag li. 1 Is any able to forgive Sin but God only The Sins saith St. Cyprian that are committed against him he alone hath power to forgive which took upon him our sins he which sorrowed and suffered for us he whom the Father delivered unto death for our offences Whereunto may be added that which Clemens Alexandrinus hath Our Lord is profitable every way every way beneficial whether we respect him as Man or as God as God forgiving as Man instructing and learning how to avoid Sin Esa. 43. 25 For it is I even I that putteth away thine Iniquities for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins saith the lord Veniam peccatis quae in ipsum commissa sunt solus potest Ille largiri qui peccara nostra potravir qui pro nobis doluit qoem Deus tralidir pro peccatis nostris Now albeit we willingly confess with Saint Cyprian The Sins which are committed against him he only hath power to forgive who hath taken upon him our Sins he which hath sorrowed and suffered for us he whom God hath given for our Offences Yet neither did Saint Cyprian intent to deny the power of the Minister otherwise then if he presume beyond his Commission to remit Sin where God's own will is it should be retained For against such Ablutions he speaketh which being granted to whom they ought to have been denied are of no validity and if rightly it be considered how higher causes in operation use to concur with inferior means his Grace with our Ministry God really performing the same which Man is authorized to act as in his Name there shall need for decision of this point no great labour To Remission of Sins there are two things necessary Grace as the only cause which taketh away Iniquity and Repentance as a Duty or Condition required in us To make Repentance such as it should be what doth God demand but inward sincerity joined with fit and convenient Offices for that purpose the one referred wholly to our own Consciences the other best discerned by them whom God hath appointed Judges in this Court. Victor de persecut Van. dal So that having first the promises of God for pardon generally unto all Offenders penitent and particularly for our own unfeigned meaning the unfallible testimony of a good Conscience the sentence of God's appointed Officer and Vicegerent to approve with unpartial Judgement the quality of that we have done and as from his Tribunal in that respect to assoil us of any Crime I see no cause but that by the Rules of our Faith and Religion we may rest ourselves very well assured touching God's most merciful Pardon and Grace who especially for the strengthening of weak timorous and fearful minds hath so far endued his Church with Power to absolve Sinners It pleaseth God that men sometimes should by missing this help perceive how much they stand bound to him for so precious a Benefit enjoyed And surely so long as the World lived in any awe or fear of falling away from God so dear were his Ministers to the People chiefly in this respect that being through tyranny and persecution deprived of Pastors the doleful rehearsal of their lost felicities hath not any one thing more eminent than that Sinners distressed should not now know how or where to unlade their Burdens Strange it were unto me that the Fathers who so much every where extol the Grace of Jesus Christ in leaving unto his Church this Heavenly and Divine power should as men whose simplicity had universally been abused agree all to admire the magnify and needless Office The Sentence therefore of Ministerial Absolution hath two effects touching sin it only declareth us freed from the guiltiness thereof and restored into God's favour but concerning right in Sacred and Divine Mysteries whereof through Sin we were made unworthy as the power of the Church did before effectually bind and retain us from access unto them so upon our apparent repentance it truly restoreth our Liberty looseth and Chains wherewith we were tied remitteth all whatsoever is past and accepteth us no less returned than if we never had gone astray For in as much as the Power which our Saviour gave to his Church is of two kinds the one to be exercised over voluntary Penitents only the other over such as are to be brought to Amendment by Ecclesiastical Censures the words wherein he hath given this Authority must be so understood as the Subject or Matter whereupon it worketh will permit It doth not permit that in the former kind that is to say in the use of Power over voluntary Converts to bind or lose remit or retain should signify any other than only to pronounce of Sinners according to that which may be gathered by outward signs because really to effect the removal or continuance of Sin in the Soul of any Offender is no Priestly act but a Work which far exceedeth their Ability chose in the latter kind of Spiritual Jurisdiction which by Censures constraineth men to amend their Lives It is is true that the Minister of God doth then more declare and signify what God hath wrought And this Power true it is that the Church hath invested in it Howbeit as other truths so this hath by error been oppugned and depraved through abuse The first of Name that openly in Writing withstood the Church's Authority and Power to remit Sin was Tertullian after he had combined himself with Montanists drawn to the liking of their Heresy through the very sourness of his own nature which neither his incredible skill and knowledge otherwise nor the Doctrine of the Gospel itself could but so much alter as to make him savour any thing which carried with it the taste of lenity A Sponge steeped in Wormwood and Gall a Man through too much severity merciless and neither able to endure nor to be endured of any His Book entitled concerning Chastity and written professedly against the Discipline of the Church hath many fretful and angry Sentences declaring a mind very much offended with such as would not persuade themselves that of Sins some be pardonable by the Keys of the Church some uncapable of Forgiveness That middle and moderate Offences having received chastisement may by Spiritual Authority afterwards be remitted but greater Transgressions must as touching Indulgence be left to the only pleasure of Almighty God in the World to come That as Idolatry and Bloodshed so likewise Fornication and sinful Lust are of this nature that they which so far have fallen from God aught to continue for ever after barred from access unto his Sanctuary condemned to perpetual profusion of Tears deprived of all expectation and hope to receive any thing at the Church's hands but publication of their shame Securitas delicti etiam libido di cju● For saith he who will fear to waste out that which he hopeth he may recover Who will be careful for ever to hold that which be knoweth cannot for ever be withheld from him He which slackneth the Bridle to sin doth thereby give it even the spurr also Take away fear and that which presently succeedeth in stead thereof is Licentious desire Greater Offences therefore are punishable but not pardonable by the Church If any Prophet or Apostle be found to have remitted such Transgressions they did it not by the ordinary course of Discipline but by extraordinary power For they also raised the Dead which none but God is able to do they restored the Impotent and Lame men a work peculiar to Jesus Christ Yea that which Christ would not do because executions of such severity beseemed not him who came to save and redeem the World by his sufferings they by their power struck Elymas and Ananias the one blind and the other dead Approve first yourselves to be as they were Apostles or Prophets and then take upon you to pardon all men But if the Authority you have be only Ministerial and no way Sovereign overreach not the limits which God hath set you know that to pardon capital Sin is beyond your Commission Howbeit as oftentimes the vices of wicked men do cause other their commendable qualities to be abhorred so the honour of great men's virtues is easily a Cloak of their Errors In which respect Tertullian hath passed with much less obloquy and reprehension than Novatian who broaching afterwards the same opinion had not otherwise wherewith to countervail the Offence he gave and to procure it the like toleration Novatian at the first a Stoical Philosopher which kind of men hath always accounted Stupidity the highest top of Wisdom and Commiseration the deadlyest sin became by Institution and Study the very same which the other had been before through a secret natural Distemper upon his Conversion to the Christian Faith and recovery from Sickness which moved him to receive the Sacrament of Baptism in his Bed The Bishops contrary to the Canons of the Church would needs Council Nor caesar c. 12. in special love towards him ordain him Presbyter which favour satisfied not him who thought himself worthy of greater Place and Dignity He closed therefore with a number of well-minded men and not suspicious what his secret purposes were and having made them sure unto him by fraud procureth his own Consecration to be their Bishop His Prelacy now was able as he thought to countenance what he intended to publish and therefore his Letters went presently abroad to sundry Churches advising them never to admit to the Fellowship of Holy mysteries such as had after Baptism offered Sacrifice to Idols Secrat l. 4 c. 23. There was present at the Council of Nice together with other Bishops one Acesius a Novatianist touching whose diversity in opinion from the Church the Emperor desirous to hear some reason Council Nuen c. 30. Secrat l. 1. c. 7. asked of him certain Questions for Answer whereunto Acesius weaveth out a long History of things that happened in the Persecution under Decius And of men which to savelife forsaken Faith But in the end was a certain bitter Canon framed in their own School That men which fall into deadly sin after holy Baptism ought never to be again admitted to the Communion of Divine Mysteries That they are to be exhorted unto Repentance howbeit not to be put in hope that Pardon can be bad at the Priest's hands but with God which hath Sovereign Power and Authority in himself to remit sins it may be in the end they shall find Mercy These Followers of Novatian which gave themselves the Title of Clean pure and unspotted men had one point of Montanism more than their Master did profess for amongst Sin's unpardonable they reckoned second Marriages of which opinion Tertullian making as his usual manner was a salt Apology Such is saith he our stony hardness that defaming our Comforter with a kind of enormity in Discipline we damn up the doors of the Church no less against twice-married men then against Adulterers and Fornicators Of this sort therefore it was ordained by the Nycene Synod that if any such did return to the Catholic and Apostolic unity they should in Writing bind themselves to observe the Orders of the Church and Communicate as well with them which had been often married or had fallen in time of Persecution as with other sort of Christian people But further to relate or at all to refel the error of misbelieving men concerning this point is not now to our present purpose greatly necessary The Church may receive no small detriment by corrupt practice even there where Doctrine concerning the substance of things practised is free from any great or dangerous corruption If therefore that which the Papacy doth in matter of Confessions and Absolution be offensive if it palpably serve in the use of the Keys howsoever that which it teacheth in general concerning the Church's power to retain and forgive sins be admitted true have they not on the one side as much whereat to be abashed as on the other wherein to rejoice They bind all men upon pain of everlasting condemnation and death to make Confessions to their Ghostly Fathers of every great offence they know and can remember that they have committed against God Hath Christ in his Gospel so delivered the Doctrine of Repentance unto the World Did his Apostles so preach it to Nations Have the Fathers so believed or so taught Surely Novatian was not so merciless in depriving the Church of power to Absolve some certain Offenders as they in imposing upon all a necessity thus to confess Novatian would not deny but God might remit that which the Church could not whereas in the Papacy it is maintained that what we conceal from men God himself shall never pardon By which oversight as they have here surcharged the World with multitude but much abated the weight of Confessions so the careless manner of their Absolution hath made Discipline for the most part amongst them a bare Formality Yea rather a mean of emboldening unto vicious and wicked life then either any help to prevent future or medicine to remedy present evils in the Soul of man The Fathers were slow and always fearful to absolve any before very manifest tokens given of a true Penitent and Contrite spirit It was not their custom to remit sin first and then to impose works of satisfaction as the fashion of Rome is now in so much that this their preposterous course and mis-ordered practices hath bred also in them an error concerning the end and purpose of these works For against the guiltiness of sin and the danger of everlasting condemnation thereby incur●ed Confession and Absolution succeeding the same are as they take it a remedy sufficient and therefore what their Penitentiaries do think to enjoin farther whether it be a number of Ave-maries' daily to be scored up a Journey of Pilgrimage to be undertaken some few Dishes of ordinary Diet to be exchanged Offerings to be made at the shrines of Saints or a little to be scraped off from men's superfluities for relief of poor People all is in lieu or exchange with God whose Justice notwithstanding our Pardon yet oweth us still some Temporal punishment either in this or in the life to come except we quit it ourselves here with works of the former kind and continued till the balance of God's most strict severity shall find the pains we have taken equivalent with the plagues which we should endure or else the mercy of the Pope relieve us And at this Postern-gate cometh in the whole Mart of Papal Indulgences so infinitely strewed that the pardon of Sin which heretofore was obtained hardly and by much suit is with them become now almost impossible to be escaped To set down then the force of this Sentence in Absolving Penitents There are in Sin these three things The Act which passeth away and vanisheth The Pollution wherewith it leaveth the Soul defiled In peccaro cria sunt actio mala interior moculo & sequela Bon. seut l. ● al. 17. q. 3. 1 Joh. 3.4 Mat. 15. 19 And the Punishment whereunto they are made subject that have committed it The act of Sin is every deed word and thought against the Law of God For Sin is the transgression of the Law and although the deed itself do not continue yet is that bad quality permanent whereby it maketh the Soul unrighteous and deformed in God's sight From the Heart come evil Cogitations Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Testimonies Slanders These are things which defile a man They do not only as effects of impurity argue the Nest no be unclean out of which they came but as causes they strengthen that disposition unto Wickedness which brought them forth They are both fruits and seeds of uncleanness they nourish the root out of which they grow they breed that iniquity which bred them The blot therefore of Sin abideth though the act be transitory And out of both ariseth a present debt to endure what punishment soever the evil which we have done deserveth an Obligation in the Chains whereof Sinners by the Justice of Almighty God continue bound till Repentance lose them Acts. 8. 23. Repent this thy Wickedness saith Peter unto Simon Magus beseech God that if it be possible the thought of thine heart may be pardoned for I see thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of Iniquity Prov. 5. 22. In like manner Solomon The Wicked shall be held fast in the cords of his own sin Sacerdote opus Justifiae exerte●s in peccator●s cum eos just● poena ligaor opus miserie●ediaecum de ea aliquod relaxant vel Sacramentorum communioni concilia●r alia opera in peccatores exercere nequ●unt ●●●r l. 4. does 18. Nor doth God only bind Sinners hand and foot by the dreadful determination of his own unsearchable Judgement against them but sometime also the Church bindeth by the Censures of her Discipline So that when Offenders upon their Repentance are by the same Discipline absolved the Church looseth but her own Bonds the Chains wherein she had tied them before Acts. 7. 60. Mich. 7. 19 1 Cor. 6. 11. Tit. 3. ● Luc. 12. 5. Mat. 10. 28. The act of Sin God alone remitteth in that his purpose is never to call it to account or to lay it unto men's charge The stain he washeth out by the sanctifying Grace of his Spirit And concerning the punishment of Sin as none else hath power to cast Body and Soul into Hell fire so none power to deliver either besides him As for the Ministerial Sentence of private Absolution it can be no more than a Declaration what God hath done It hath but the force of the Prophet Nathan's Absolution God hath taken away thy Sin Than which construction especially of words judicial there is not any thing more vulgar For example 2 Sam. 12. 13. Luc. 7. 17 Malach. 3.15 the Publicans are said in the Gospel to have justified God The Jews in Malachi to have blessed Proud men which sin and prosper not that the one did make God righteous or the other the wicked happy But to bless to Justify and to Absolve are as commonly used for words of Judgement or Declaration as of true and real efficacy Yea even by the opinion of the Master of Sentences Sent. l. 4. li● 12. It may be sound affirmed and thought that God alone doth remit and retain Sins although he have given Power to the Church to do both But he one way and the Church another He only by himself forgiveth Sin who cleanseth the Soul from inward blemish and looseth the Debt of Eternal death So great a Privilege he hath not given unto his Priests who notwithstanding are authorized to lose and bind that is to say declare who are bound and who are loosed For albeit a man be already cleared before God yet he is not in the Church of God so taken but by the virtue of the Priest's Sentence who likewise may be said to bind by imposing Satisfaction and to lose by admitting to the Holy Communion Hier. rome 6. comment in 16. Ma● Saint Hierom also whom the Master of the Sentences allegeth for more countenance of his own opinion doth no less plainly and directly affirm That as the Priests of the Law could only discern and neither cause nor remove Leprosies So the Ministers of the Gospel when they retain or remit Sin do but in the one judge how long we continue guilty and in the other declare when we are clear or free For there is nothing more apparent than that the Discipline of Repentance both Public and Private was ordained as an outward mean to bring men to the virtue of inward Conversion So that when this by manifest tokens did seem effected Absolution ensuing which could not make served only to declare men innocent But the cause wherefore they are so stiff and have forsaken their own Master in this point is for that they hold the private Discipline of Penitency to be a Sacrament Absolution an external sign in this Sacrament the signs external of all Sacraments in the New Testament to be both causes of that which they signify and signs of that which they truly cause To this opinion concerning Sacraments they are now tied by expounding a Canon in the Florentine Council according to the former Ecclesiastical invention received from Thomas For his device it was that the mercy of God which useth Sacraments as Instruments whereby to work endueth them at the time of their Administration with supernatural force and ability to induce Grace into the Souls of men Even as the Axe and Saw doth seem to bring Timber into that fashion which the mind of the Artificer intendeth His Conceit Scot sent l. 4. s●lui ad 4. quaest. & quintam Occam in 1. qe q●ant Alias quaest. 1. in 4. scent Scotus Occam Petrus Alliacensis with sundry others do most earnestly and strongly impugn showing very good reason wherefore no Sacrament of the new Law can either by virtue which itself hath or by force supernatural given it be properly a cause to work Grace but Sacraments are therefore said to work or confer Grace because the will of Almighty God is although not to give them such efficacy yet himself to be present in the Ministry of the working that effect which proceedeth wholly from him without any real operation of theirs such as can enter into men's Souls In which construction seeing that our Books and Writings have made it known to the World how we join with them it seemeth very hard and injurious Dealing that Bellarmine throughout the whole course of his second Book a Lutherani de hae re interdum irascribunt ut vilcantur à Catholic non dissentire interdum aurem aperissime sci ibunt contraris at semper in eadem sententia maneut Sacraments non habere immediate il●am efficientiam respecta gratiae sed esse muda signa ●amen mediore aliquid efficere quatemus excitant & alunt fidem quod ipsum non faciunt nisi repraesentando ut Sacramenta per visum excitent fidem quemadmodum praedicatio Verbi per audirum Bellar● de Sacr. in genere l. 2. c. 2. Quaedam signa sunt Theories non ad alium sinem instituta quam ad significandum alia ad significandum & efficiendum quae ali●● Practica dici possunt Controrersia est inter nos & hare●eo● quod illi faciant Sacramenta signae prioris generis Quare si ostendere poterimus esse signa posterioris generis obtinuianns ●causam cap. 8. De Sacramentis in genere should so boldly face down his Adversaries as if their opinion were that Sacraments are naked empty and ineffectual signs whererein there is no other force than only such as in Pictures to stir up the mind that so by theory and speculation of things represented Faith may grow Finally That all the operations which Sacraments have is a sensible and divine Instruction But had it pleased him not to hudwink his own knowledge I nothing doubt but he fully saw how to answer himself it being a matter very strange and incredible that one which with so great diligence hath winnowed b S●mper memoria reperendum est Sacramenta nihil aliud quam instrumentales esse conserendae nobis grain causas Calv. in Ant. coa ●ribls sc. 7. c. 5. ●iqui sine qui regent Sacramentis con●i●eri gratiam quam figurane illos inprobu●tur ibid. can ● his Adversaries Writings should be ignorant of their minds For even as in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ both God and Man when his human nature is by itself considered we may not attribute that unto him which we do and must ascribe as oft as respect is had unto both natures combined so because in Sacraments there are two things distinctly to be considered the outward sign and the secret concurrence of Gods most blessed Spirit in which respect our Saviour hath taught that Water and the Holy Ghost are combined to work the mystery of new birth Sacraments therefore as signs have only those effects before mentioned but of Sacraments in that by God's own Will and Ordinance they are signs assisted always with the power of the Holy Ghost we acknowledge whatsoever either the places of the Scripture or the Authority of Counsels and Fathers or the proofs and arguments of reason which he allegeth can show to be wrought by them The Elements and words have power of infallible signification for which they are called Seals of God's Truth The Spirit affixed unto those Elements and Words power of operation within the Soul most admirable divine and impossible to be expressed For so God hath instituted and ordained that together with due administration and receipt of Sacramental signs there shall proceed from himself Grace effectual to Sanctify to Cure to Comfort and whatsoever else is for the good of the Souls of Men. Howbeit this opinion c Isle modus non transcendit ●ationem signi cum Sacramentum norae legis non solum sigficent sed ca●isent gratiam part 3. q. 61. act 1. Alexan. par●● q. 8. memb 3. act 15. 3. 1. & 1. Th●de vetir q. 27. act 3. Alliac in quant sent 9 1. Capt. in 4. d. 1. q. 1. Palud ●●n Perrar lib. 4. cont. Gent. c. 57 Necesse est pon●te aliquam virturem supernaturalem in Sacramentis Sers 4. d. 1. q. 1. act 4. Sacramentum consequirer spiritualem virtutem cum benedictione Christi & applicatione Ministri ad usu● Sacrament par 3. q. 62. art 4. Council Vistus Sacramentalis habet es●e t●arsiens ex uno in aliud & incomple●um Ibidem Ex Sacramentis duo consequntur in anima unium est character five aliquid ornarus aliud est gratis Respectu primo Sacramenta sunt c●●tr aliquo modo efficientes respecta sc●undo sunt dispan●ntes Sacramenta e●uiam dispositionem all form●m ultimam sed ultimam periectionem non inducunt Sent. ●●l 1. art ● Thomas rejecteth under pretence that it maketh Sacramental Words and Elements to be in themselves no more than signs whereas they ought to be held as causes of that they signify He therefore reformeth it with this addition that the very sensible parts of the Sacraments do Instrumentally effect and produce not Grace for the Schoolmen both of these times and long after did for the most part maintain it untrue and some of them impossible that sanctifying Grace should efficiently proceed but from God alone and that by immediate creation as the substance of the Soul doth but the fantasy which Thomas had was that sensible things through Christ's and the Priest's Benediction receive a certain supernatural transitory force which leaveth behind it a kind of preparative quality or beauty within the Soul whereupon immediately from God doth ensue the Grace that justifieth Now they which pretend to follow Thomas differ from him in two points For first they make Grace an immediate effect of the outward sign which he for the dignity and excellency thereof was afraid to do Secondly Whereas he to produce but a preparative quality in the Soul did imagine God to create in the Instrument a supernatural Gift or hability They confess that nothing is created infused or any way inherent either in the Word or in the Elements nothing that giveth them Instrumental efficacy but God's mere motion or application Are they able to explain unto us or themselves to conceive what they mean when they thus speak ●●lus Deus effie●t gratiam adeò quod nec Angelis qui sum n●●●liores sensibilim● creaturis hec emmunies ●ur Sent. 4. d. 1. q. 1. art 4. Eph. 3. For example let them teach us in the Sacrament of Baptism what it is for Water to be moved till it bring forth Grace The application thereof by the Minister is plain to sense The force which it hath in the mind as a moral instrument of Information or Instruction we know by reason and by Faith we understand how God doth assist it with his Spirit Whereupon ensueth the Grace which Saint Cyprian did in himself observe saying After the  of Regeneration having scoured out the stained foulness of former life supernatural light had entrance into the Breast which was purified and cleansed for it After that a second nativity had made another man by inward receipt of the Spirit from Heaven things doubtful began in marvellous manner to appear certain that to be open which lay hid Darkness to shine like the clear light former hardness to be made facility impossibility casinesse Insomuch as it might be discerned how that was earthly which before had been carnally bred and lived given over unto Sins That now God's own which the Holy Ghost did quicken Our Opinion is therefore plain unto every man's understanding We take it for a very good speech which Bonaventure hath uttered in saying Cir●n●um enim ne dunt n●●is datu● corporalibus si●●is ad laudeu● sub●●a h●mus h●norem Causae curanti & animae suscipienti Heed must be taken that while we assign too much to the bodily signs in way of their Commendation we withdraw not the honour which is due to the Cause which worketh in them and the Soul which receiveth them Whereunto we conformably teach that the outward sign applied hath of itself no natural efficacy towards Grace neither doth God put into it any supernatural inherent Virtue And as I think we thus far avouch no more than they themselves confess to be very true If any thing displease them it is because we add to these Premises another assertion That with the outward sign God joineth his Holy Spirit and so the whole Instrument of God bringeth that to pass whereunto the base and meaner part could not extend As for operations through the motions of signs they are dark intricate and obscure perhaps possible howbeit not proved either true or likely by alleging that the touch of our Saviour's Garment restored Health Clay Sight when he applied it Although ten thousand such Examples should be brought they overthrew not this one Principle That where the Instrument is without inherent the Effect must necessarily proceed from the only Agents adherent power ●●l 18. Io. 9 It passeth a man's conceit how water should be carried into the Soul with any force of Divine motion or Grace proceed but merely from the influence of God's Spirit Notwithstanding if God himself teach his Church in this case to believe that which he hath not given us capacity to comprehend Bel. de Sacr. in gen. l. 2. c. 1. how incredible soever it may seem yet our Wits should submit themselves and Reason give place unto Faith therein But they yield it to be no question of Faith how Grace doth proceed from Sacraments if in general they be acknowledged true instrumental Causes Dicimus grati●m nan ●reari à ●eo sed produci c● api●u ●ine & poten●ia natural animae sicut ca●er e●atia quae pen●●ca ●ur in subject ● talibus quae ●uet apra n●ra ad sa cip endium acridem ●● Allen de Sacr. in gen. c. 37. by the Ministry whereof men receive Divine Grace And that they which impute Grace to the only operation of God himself concurring with the external sign do no less acknowledge the true efficacy of the Sacrament than they that ascribe the same to the quality of the sign applied or to the motion of God applying and so far carrying it till Grace be not created but extracted out of the natural possibility of the Soul Nevertheless this last Philosophical imagination if I may call it Philosophical which useth the terms but overthroweth the rules of Philosophy and hath no Article of Faith to support it but whatsoever it be they follow it in a manner all they cast off the first opinion wherein is most perspicuity and strongest evidence of certain truth The Council of Florence and Trent defining that Sacraments contain and confer Grace the sense whereof if it liked them might so easily conform itself with the same opinion which they drew without any just cause quite and clean the other way making Grace the issue of bare words in such Sacraments as they have framed destitute of any visible Element and holding it the offspring as well of Elements as of Words in those Sacraments where both are but in no Sacrament acknowledging Grace to be the fruit of the Holy Ghost working with the outward sign and not by it in such sort as Thomas himself teacheth Tho. de Verit. q. 27. art 3. resp. ad 16. Acts 8. 18. That the Apostles Imposition of Hands caused not the coming of the Holy Ghost which notwithstanding was bestowed together with the exercise of that Ceremony Yea by it saith the Evangelist to wit as by a mean which came between the true Agent and the Effect but not otherwise Many of the Ancient Fathers presupposing that the Faithful before Christ had not till the time of his coming that perfect Life and Salvation which they looked for and we possess thought likewise their Sacraments to be but prefigurations of that which ours in present do exhibit For which cause the Florentine Council comparing the one with the other saith That the old did only shadow Grace which was afterward to be given through the passion of jesus Christ. Quod ad circumcisionem sequebatur remissio siebat ratione rei adjunctae & ratione pacti divini eodem plane modo quo non solum haeretici sed etiam aliquot verustieres' Scholastici voluerunt nova Sacramenta confer gratiam Allr de Sacr. in gen. c. 39 Bonaventura Scotus Durandes Richardus Occamus Marcillus Gabriel volunt solum ●cum producere gratiam ad praesentiam Sacramentorum Bellarm. de Sacr. in gen. lib. 2. cap. 11. Purol nge probatiotem & tntiorem sententiam quae dat Sacramentis veram efficientiam Primò quia dectores passim docent Sacramenta nor agere nisi prius à Deo virtutem seubenedictionem seu sanctificationem accipiant & reserunt effectum Sacramentorum ad omnipotentiam Dei & conserunt cum veris causis efficientibus Secundò quia non esset diffe entia inter modum agendi Sacramentorum & signorum Magicorum quia tunc nonesset homo Dei Minister in ipia actione Sacramenti sed ho nu praeberet signum actionesua & Deus sua actione viso eo signo infunderet grat●●n ●t e●●● unus oftendisua syngrapham Mercatoci & ille dat pecunias At Scriturae docent quod Dews baptizae per hominem Bellarm lib. 2. cap. 1● But the afterwit of latter days hath found out another more exquisite distinction That Evangelical Sacraments are causes to effect Grace through motions of signs legal according to the same signification and sense wherein Evangelical Sacraments are held by us to be God's Instruments for that purpose For howsoever Bellarmine hath shrunk up the Lutherans sinews and cut off our Doctrine by the skirts Allen although he terms us Heretics according to the usual bitter venom of his first style doth yet ingenuously confess That the old Schoolmen's Doctrine and ours is one concerning Sacramental efficacy derived from God himself assisting by promise those outward signs of Elements and Words out of which their Schoolmen of the newer mint are so desirous to hatch Grace Where God doth work and use these outward means wherein he neither findeth nor planteth force and aptness towards his intended purpose such means are but signs to bring men to the consideration of his Omnipotent Power which without the use of things sensible would not be marked At the time therefore when he giveth his Heavenly Grace he applieth by the hands of his Ministers that which betokeneth the same nor only betokeneth but being also accompanied for ever with such Power as doth truly work is in that respect termed God's Instrument a true efficient cause of Grace a cause not in itself but only by connexion of that which is in itself a cause namely God's own Strength and Power Sacraments that is to say the outward signs in Sacraments work nothing till they be blessed and sanctified by God But what is God's Heavenly Benediction and Sanctification saving only the association of his Spirit Shall we say that Sacraments are like Magical signs if thus they have their effect Is it Magic for God to manifest by things sensible what he doth and to do by his most glorious Spirit really what he manifesteth in his Sacraments The delivery and administration whereof remaineth in the hands of mortal men by whom as by personal Instruments God doth apply signs and with signs inseparably join his Spirit and through the power of his Spirit work Grace The first is by way of concomitance and consequence to deliver the rest also that either accompany or ensue It is not here as in Cases of mutual Commerce where divers Persons have divers acts to be performed in their own behalf a Creditor to show his Bill and a Debtor to pay his Money But God and Man do here meet in one Action upon a Third in whom as it is the work of God to create Grace so it is his work by the hand of the Ministry to apply a sign which should betoken and his work to annex that Spirit which shall effect it The Action therefore is but one God the Author thereof and Man a Copartner by him assigned to work for with and under him God the Giver of Grace by the outward Ministry of man so far forth as he authorizeth man to apply the Sacraments of Grace in the Soul which he alone worketh without either Instrument or Co-agent Whereas therefore with us the remission of Sin is ascribed unto God as a thing which proceedeth from him only and presently followeth upon the virtue of true Repentance appearing in man that which we attribute to the virtue they do not only impute to the Sacrament of Repentance but having made Repentance a Sacrament and thinking of Sacraments as they do they are enforced to make the Ministry of the Priests and their Absolution a cause of that which the sole Omnipotency of God worketh And yet for my own part I am not able well to conceive how their Doctrine That human Absolution is really a cause out of which our Deliverance from Sin doth ensue Corc. Tried Sess. 14. c. 4. can cleave with the Council of Trent defining That Contrition perfected with Charity doth at all times itself reconcile offenders to God before they come to receive actually the Sacrament of Penance How it can stand with those Discourses of the learned Rabbis which grant Bellarm de Poenit l. 2. c. 13. That whosoever turneth unto God with his whole heart hath immediately his Sins taken away That if a man he truly converted his Pardon can neither be denied nor delayed It doth not stay for the Priest's Absolution but presently followeth Surely if every contrite Sinner in whom there is Charity and a sincere conversion of Heart have Remission of Sins given him before he seek it at the Priest's hands if reconciliation to God be a present and immediate sequel upon every such Conversion or Change It must of necessity follow seeing no man can be a true Penitent or Contrite which doth not both love God and sincerely abhor Sin that therefore they all before Absolution attain Forgiveness whereunto notwithstanding Absolution is pretended a Cause so necessary that Sin without it except in some rare extraordinary Case cannot possibly be remitted Shall Absolution be a Cause producing and working that Effect which is always brought forth without it and had before Absolution be thought of But when they which are thus beforehand pardoned of God shall come to be also assoiled by the Priest I would know what force his Absolution hath in this case Are they able to say here that the Priest doth remit any thing Yet when any of ours ascribeth the Work of Remission to God and interpreteth the Priest's Sentence to be but a solemn Declaration of that which God himself hath already performed they scorn at it they urge against it that if this were true our Saviour Christ should rather have said What is loosed in Heaven ye shall lose on Earth then as he doth Whatsoever ye lose on Earth shall in Heaven be loosed As if he were to learn of us how to place his words and not we to crave rather of him a sound and right understanding lest to his dishonour and our own hurt we mis-expound them It sufficeth I think both against their constructions to have proved that they ground an untruth on his speech and in behalf of our own that his words without any such transposition do very well admit the sense we give them which is that he taketh to himself the lawful proceedings of Authority in his Name and that the Act of Spiritual Authority in this case Have expositio ego re ●lai●●vo id est Absolutum ostendo partim quidem vera est non tamen perfecta Sacramenta quip nova legis non iclum significant sed efficiunt quod significant Soto sent l. 4. didst 14. q. 1. art 3. is by Sentence to acquit or pronounce them free from sin whom they judge to be sincerely and truly penitent which Interpretation they themselves do acknowledge though not sufficient yet very true Absolution they say declareth indeed but this is not all for it likewise maketh innocent which addition being an untruth proved our truth granted hath I hope sufficiency without it and consequently our opinion therein neither to be challenged as untrue nor as unsufficient To rid themselves out of these Briars and to make Remission of Sins an effect of Absolution notwithstanding that which hitherto hath been said they have two shifts At first that in many Penitents there is but Attrition of heart which Attrition they define to be Grief proceeding from Fear without Love and to these they say Atritio solum dicit dolorem propter poenas inferni dum quis accedit attritus per gratiam Sacramentalem sit contritus Soto sent 4. didst 14. q. 1. art 1. Absolution doth give that Contrition whereby men are really purged from Sinne. Secondly that even where Contrition or Inward Repentance doth cleanse without Absolution the reason why it cometh so to pass is Dum accedit vere contri●us propter Deum illa etiam contritio non est contritio nisi quarenits prius natura informetur gratia per Sacramentum in voto Soto sent 4. didst 14. q. 1. art 1. Because such Contrites intent and desire Absolution though they have it not Which two things granted The one that Absolution given maketh them contrite that are not the other even in them which are contrite the cause why God remitteth Sin is the purpose or desire they have to receive Absolution Legitima contritio votum Sacramenti pro suo tempore debet inducere atque ad● ò in virtute futuri Sacramenti peccata remittir Id. art 3. we are not to stand against a sequel so clear and manifest as this that always remission of Sin proceedeth from Absolution either had or desired But should a reasonable man give credit to their bare Conceit and because their Positions have driven them to imagine Absolving of unsufficiently-disposed Penitents to be a real creating of further virtue in them must all other men think it due Let them cancel hence forward and blot out of all their Books Tunc sententia Sacerdotis judicio Dei & torius coeiertis Curiae appro●atur & confimatur cum ita ex ●iscretione procedit ut reorum m●rita non contradicant Sent. l. 4. d. 18. those old Cautions touching Necessity of Wisdom lest Priests should inconsiderately absolve any man in whom there were not apparent tokens of true Repentance which to do was in Saint Cyprians Judgement Non est periculosem sacerdoti dicere Ego reabsolvo illis so quibus sign● contritionis videt quae sunt dolour de praeteritis & proposirum de caetero non peceandi alike absol●●re non debet Tho. opuse 22. Cypr. de lapsis Pestilent Deceit and Flattery not only not available but hurtful to them that had transgressed a frivolous frustrate and false peace such as caused the unrighteous to trust to a lie and destroyed them unto whom it promised safety What needeth Observation whether Penitents have Worthiness and bring Contrition if the words of Absolution do infuse Contrition Have they born us all this while in hand that Contrition is a part of the matter of their Sacrament a Condition or Preparation of the Mind towards Grace to be received by Absolution in the form of their Sacrament And must we now believe That the Form doth give the Matter That Absolution bestoweth Contrition and that the words do make presently of Saul David of judas Peter For what was the Penitency of Saul and judas but plain Attrition horror of Sin through fear of punishment without any long sense or taste of God's Mercy Their other Fiction imputing remission of Sin to desire of Absolution from the Priest even in them which are truly contrite is an evasion somewhat more witty but no whit more possible for them to prove Belief of the World and Judgement to come Faith in the Promises and Sufferings of Christ for Mankind Fear of his Majesty Love of his Mercy Grief for Sin Hope for Pardon Suit for Grace These we know to be the Elements of true Contrition suppose that besides all this God did also command that every Penitent should seek his Absolution at the Priest's hands where so many Causes are concurring unto one effect have they any reason to impute the whole effect unto one any reason in the choice of that one to pass by Faith Fear Love Humility Hope Prayer whatsoever else and to enthronize above them all A desire of Absolution from the Priest as if in the whole work of Man's Repentance God did regard and accept nothing but for and in consideration of this Why do the Tridentine Council impute it to Charity That Contrites are reconciled in God's sight before they receive the Sacrament of Penance if desired Absolution be the true Cause But let this pass how it will seeing the Question is not What virtue God may accept in penitent Sinners but what Grace Absolution actually given doth really bestow upon them If it were as they would have it That God regarding the Humiliation of a Contrite Spirit because there is joined therewith a lowly desire of the Sacrament of Priestly Absolution pardoneth immediately and forgiveth all Offences Doth this any thing help to prove that Absolution received afterward from the Priest can more than declare him already pardoned which did desire it To desire Absolution presupposing it commanded is Obedience and Obedience in that Case is a Branch of the virtue of Repentance which Virtue being thereby made effectual to the taking away of Sins without the Sacrament of Repentance Is it not an Argument that the Sacrament of Absolution hath here no efficacy but the virtue of Contrition worketh all For how should any Effect ensue from Causes which actually are not The Sacrament must be applied wheresoever any Grace doth proceed from it So that where it is but desired only whatsoever may follow upon God's acceptation of this desire the Sacrament afterwards received can be no cause thereof A reatu mortis aeterae absolvitur homo à Deo per contritionem manet autem reatus ad quandam poenam temporalem & Minister Eccles●● quicunque virtute clavium tollit reatum cui●●dam partis poenae illius Abul in desens per. 1. ● 7. Therefore the further we wade the better we see it still appears That the Priest doth never in Absolution no not so much as by way of Service and Ministry really either forgive them take away the uncleanness or remove the punishment of Sin but if the Party penitent come contrite he hath by their own grant Absolution before Absolution if not contrite although the Priest should seem a thousand times to Absolve him all were in vain For which cause the Ancients and better sort of their School Divines Abulensis Alexander Hales and Bonaventurt Signum hujas Sacramenti est causa effectiva gratiae five remisstonis peccatorum non simpliciter sicut ipta prima poenitentia sed s●cundum quid quia est causa efficaciae gratiae quà sit remissio peceati quantum ad aliquem effectum in poenitente ad minus quantum ad remissionem sequelae ipsius peccati scillcet poenae Alex. p. 4. ● 14. memb 2. ascribe the real abolition of Sin and eternal punishment to the mere pardon of Almighty God without dependency upon the Priests Absolution as a cause to effect the same His Absolution hath in their Doctrine certain other effects specified but this denied Wherefore having hitherto spoken of the virtue of Repentance required of the Discipline of Repentance which Christ did establish and of the Sacrament of Repentance invented sithence against the pretended force of Humane Absolution in Sacramental Penitency Porestas clavium propriè loquendo non se extendit supra culpam ad illud quod obj●ct●●s To. 22. Quorum remiseritis pecatta dicendum quod vel illud de remissione dicitur quantum ad offensionem vel solum quantum ad ●●enam Bon se●t l. ●●●t ●●● 1. Ab aetema poena nullo mul● solvit Sac●●dos sed à purgatoria●ueque hoc per se sed per accident quad cum in poenitente virtute clarium minu tur ●leb●cum poenae temporalis non i●a acriter punie●ur in purgatorio sicur si non esset absolutu● Sent. l. 4. d. 1● ● 2. Let it suffice thus far to have showed how God alone doth truly give the virtue of Repentance alone procure and private Ministerial Absolution but declare remission of Sins Now the last and sometimes hardest to be satisfied by Repentance are our Minds and our Minds we have then satisfied when the Conscience is of guilty become clear For as long as we are in ourselves privy to our own most heinous Crimes but without sense of God's Mercy and Grace towards us unless the Heart be either brutish for want of Knowledge or altogether hardened by wilful Atheism the remorse of Sin is in it as the deadly sting of a Serpent Which point since very Infidels and Heathens have observed in the nature of Sin for the disease they felt though they knew no remedy to help it we are not rashly to despise those Sentences which are the testimonies of their experience touching this point They knew that the eye of a Man 's own Conscience is more to be feared by evil doers than the presence of a thousand Witnesses in as much as the mouths of other Accusers are many ways stopped the ears of the accused not always subject to glowing with contumely and exprobration whereas a guilty Mind being forced to be still both a Martyr and a Tyrant itself must of necessity endure perpetual Anguish and Grief For as the Body is rend with stripes so the Mind with guiltiness of Cruelty Lust and wicked Resolutions Which Furies brought the Emperor Tiberius sometimes into such perplexity that writing to the Senate his wont art of dissimulation failed him utterly in this Case And whereas it had been ever his peculiar delight so to speak that no man might be able to sound his meaning he had not the power to conceal what he felt through the secret scourge of an evil Conscience though no necessity did now enforce him to disclose the same What to write or how to write at this present if I know saith Tiberius' let the Gods and Goddesses who thus continually eat me only be worse to me than they are It was not his Imperial Dignity and Power that could provide a way to protect him against himself the fears and suspicions which improbity had bred being strengthened by every occasion and those Virtues clean banished which are the only foundation of sound tranquillity of mind For which cause it hath been truly said and agreeably with all men's experience that if the virtuous did excel in no other privilege yet far happier they are than the contrary sort of men for that their hopes be always better Neither are we to marvel that these things known unto all do stay so few from being Authors of their own woe For we see by the ancient example of Ioseph's unkind Brethren how it cometh to remembrance easily when Crimes are once past what the difference is of good from evil and of right from wrong But such consideration when they should have prevented Sin were overmatched by inordinate desires Are we not bound then with all thankfulness to acknowledge his infinite goodness and mercy which hath revealed unto us the way how to rid ourselves of these mazes the way how to shake off that yoke which no Flesh is able to bear the way how to change most grisly horror into a comfortable apprehension of heavenly joy Whereunto there are many which labour with so much the greater difficulty because imbecility of mind doth not suffer them to censure rightly their own doings Some fearful lest the enormity of their Crimes be so unpardonable that no Repentance can do them good some lest the imperfection of their Repentance make it uneffectual to the taking away of Sin The one drive all things to this issue whether they be not men that have sinned against the Holy Ghost the other to this what Repentance is sufficient to clear Sinners and to assure them that they are delivered Such as by Error charge themselves of unpardonable Sin must think it may be they deem that unpardonable which is not Our Saviour speaketh indeed of Blasphemy which shall never be forgiven But have they any sure and infallible knowledge what that Blasphemy is If not why are they unjust and cruel to their own Souls imagining certainty of Guiltiness in a Crime concerning the very nature whereof they are uncertain For mine own part although where this Blasphemy is mentioned the cause why our Saviour spoke thereof was the Pharisees Blasphemy which was not afraid to say Mat. 21. 31. Mar. 3. 30. He had an unclean Spirit and did cast out Spirits by the Power of Beelzebub Nevertheless I dare not precisely deny but that even the Pharisees themselves might have repent and been forgiven and that our Lord Jesus Christ peradventure might but take occasion at their Blasphemy which as yet was pardonable to tell them further of an unpardonable Blasphemy whereinto he foresaw that the Jews would fall For it is plain that many thousands at the first professing Christian Religion became afterwards wilful Apostates moved with no other cause of revolt but mere indignation that the Gentiles should enjoy the benefit of the Gospel as much as they and yet not be burdened with the yoke of Moses his Law The Apostles by Preaching had won them to Christ in whose Name they embraced with great alacrity the full remission of their former sins and iniquities they received by the imposition of the Apostles hands Acts 2. 38. that Grace and Power of the Holy Ghost whereby they cured Diseases Prophesied spoke with Tongues and yet in the end after all this they fell utterly away renounced the Mysteries of Christian Faith Blasphemed in their formal Abjurations that most glorious and blessed Spirit the Gifts whereof themselves had possessed and by this means sunk their Souls in the Gulf of that unpardonable Sin whereof as our Lord JESUS CHRIST had told them before hand so the Apostle at the first appearance of such their revolt putteth them in mind again that falling now to their former Blasphemies their Salvation was irrecoverably gone Heb. ● 6. It was for them in this Case impossible to be renewed by any Repentance because they were now in the state of Satan and his Angels the Judge of quick and dead had passed his irrevocable Sentence against them So great difference there is between Infidels unconverted and Backsliders in this manner fallen away that always we have hope to reclaim the one which only hate whom they never knew but to the other which know and Blaspheme to them that with more than infernal malice accurse both the seen brightness of Glory which is in him and in themselves the tasted goodness of Divine Grace as those execrable Miscreants did who first received in extraordinary miraculous manner and then in outrageous sort blasphemed the Holy Ghost abusing both it and the whole Religion which God by it did confirm and magnify Heb. 10. 2● To such as wilfully thus sin after so great light of the Truth and Gifts of the Spirit there remaineth justly no fruit or benefit to be expected by Christ's Sacrifice For all other Offenders without exception or stint whether they be Strangers that seek access or Followers that will make return unto God upon the tender of their Repentance the grant of his Grace standeth everlastingly signed with his blood in the Book of Eternal life That which in this Case over-terrifieth fearful Souls is a misconceit whereby they imagine every act which they do knowing that they do amiss and every wilful Breach or Transgression of God's Law to be mere Sin against the Holy Ghost forgetting that the Law of Moses itself ordained Sacrifices of Expiation as well for Faults presumptuously committed as Things wherein men offend by Error Now there are on the contrary side others who doubting not of God's mercy towards all that perfectly repent remain notwithstanding scrupulous and troubled with continual fear lest defects in their own Repentance be a bar against them These cast themselves into very great Jer. 6. 2● Mich. 1 c 8 ● Lameat 2.18 and peradventure needless Agonies through misconstruction of things spoken about proportioning our griefs to our Sins for which they never think they have wept and mourned enough yea if they have not always a stream of Tears at command Quam magna deliquimus tam granditer 〈…〉 mus A●to vu●neri diligens & longa medicina non desit poenitentia crimine minor non sit Cypr. de lapsis Non levi agendum est contritione ut debita illa redimantur quibus mors aeterna debetur nec transitoria opus est satisfactione pro malis illis propt●r quae paratus est ignis aeternus Euseb. Emissenus vel potius Salu. f. 106. they take it for a heart congealed and hardened in sin when to keep the wound of Contrition bleeding they unfold the circumstances of their Transgressions and endeavour to leave nothing which may be heavy against themselves Yet do what they can they are still fearful lest herein also they do not that which they ought and might Come to Prayer their coldness taketh all heart and courage from them with fasting albeit their Flesh should be withered and their Blood clean dried up would they ever the less object Psal. 6.6 Mat. 12. 42. Acts. ●● 31. What is this to David's humiliation Wherein notwithstanding there was not any thing more than necessary In works of Charity and Almsdeed It is not all the World can persuade them they did ever reach the poor bounty of the Widow's two Mites or by many millions of Leagues come near to the mark which Cornelius touched so far they are off from the proud surmise of any Penitential Supererrogation in miserable wretched Worms of the Earth Notwithstanding for as much as they wrong themselves with overrigorous and extreme Exactions by means whereof they fall sometimes into such Perplexities as can hardly be allayed It hath therefore pleased Almighty God in tender commiseration over these imbecillities of men to ordain for their Spiritual and Ghostly comfort consecrated Persons which by Sentence of Power and Authority given from above may as it were out of his very mouth ascertain timorous and doubtful minds in their own particular ease them of all their scrupulosities leave them settled in Peace and satisfied touching the Mercy of God towards them To use the benefit of this help for the better satisfaction in such cases is so natural that it can be forbidden no man but yet not so necessary that all men should be in case to need it They me of the two the happier therefore that can content and satisfy themselves by judging discreetly what they perform and sound what God doth require of them For having that which is most material the substance of Penitency rightly bred touching signs and tokens thereof we may affirm that they do boldly which imagine for every offence a certain proportionable degree in the Passions and Griefs of Mind whereunto whosoever aspireth not repenteth in vain That to frustrate men's Confession and Considerations of Sin except every Circumstance which may aggravate the same be unripped and laid in the Balance is a merciless extremity although it be true that as near as we can such Wounds must be searched to the very bottom Last of all to set down the like stint and to shut up the doors of Mercy against Penitents which come short thereof in the devotion of their Prayers in the continuance of their Falls in the largeness and bounty of their Alms or in the course of any other such like Duties is more than God himself hath thought meet and consequently more than mortal men should presume to do That which God doth chiefly respect in men's penitency is their Hearts Jer. ●9 13. Joel 2. 12. The Heart is it which maketh Repentance sincere Sincerity that which findeth favour in God's sight and the favour of God that which supplieth by Gracious acceptation whatsoever may seem defective in the faithful hearty and true Offices of his Servants Chrys. de repar laps lib. ad Theodor. Deposit didst 3. c. Talis Take it saith chrysostom upon my credit Such is God's merciful inclination towards men that repentance offered with a single and sincere mind he never refuseth no not although we be come to the very top of Iniquity If there be a will and desire to return he receiveth embraceth and omitteth nothing which may restore us to former happiness yea that which is yet above all the rest albeit we cannot in the duty of satisfying him attain what we ought and would but come far behind our mark he taketh nevertheless in good worth that little which we do be it never so mean we lose not our labour therein The least and lowest step of Repentance in Saint Chrysostome's Judgement severeth and setteth us above them that perish in their Sin I therefore will end with Saint Augustine's Conclusion Aug. in Ps. l. ● Lord in thy Book and Volume of Life all shall be written as well the Least of thy Saints as the Chiefest Let not therefore the Unperfect fear Let them only proceed and go forward OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK VII Their Sixth Assertion That there ought not to be in the Church Bishops endued with such Authority and Honour as ours are The Matter contained in this Seventh Book 1. THe state of Bishops although sometime oppugned and that by such as therein would most seems to please God yet by his providence upheld hitherto whose glory it is to maintain that whereof himself is the Author 2. What a Bishop is what his name doth import and what doth belong unto his office as he is a Bishop 3. In Bishops two things traduced of which two the one their Authority and in is the first thing condemned their superiority over other Ministers what kind of superiority in Ministers it ●● which the one part holdeth and the other denieth lawful 4. From whence it hath grown that the Church is governed by Bishops 5. The time and cause of instituting every where Bishops with restraint 6. What manner of power Bishops from the first beginning have had 7. After what sort Bishops together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches which were under them 8. How far the power of Bishops hath reached from the beginning in respect of territory or local compass 9 In what respects Episcopal Regiment hath been gainsaid of old by Aerius 10. In what respect Episcopal Regiment is gainsaid by the Authors of pretended Reformation at this day 11. Their arguments in disgrace of Regiment by Bishops as being a mere invention of man and not found in Scripture answered 12. Their arguments to prove there was no necessity of instituting Bishops in the Church 13. The fore-alleadged Arguments answered 14. An answer unto those things which are objected concerning the difference between that Power which Bishops now have and that which ancient Bishops had more than other Presbyters 15. Concerning the civil Power and Authority which our Bishops have 16. The Arguments answered whereby they would prove that the Law of God and the judgement of the best in all ages condemneth the ruling superiority of our Minister over another 17. The second malicious thing wherein the state of Bishops suffereth oblaquy is their Honour 18. What good doth publicly grow from the Prelacy 19 What kinds of Honour be due unto Bishops 20. Honour in Title Place Ornament Attendance and Privilege 21. Honour by endowment with Lands and Livings 22. That of Ecclessiastical Goods and consequently of the Lands and Livings which Bishops enjoy the propriety belongs unto God alone 23. That Ecclesiastical persons are receivers of God's Rents and that the honour of Prelates is to be thereof his chief Receivers not without liberty from him granted of converting the same unto their own use even in large manner 24. That for their unworthiness to deprive both them and their Successors of such Goods and to convey the same unto men of secular callings now extreme Sacrilegious Injustice The state of Bishops although sometime oppugned and that by such as therein would most seen to please God ye● by his providence upheld hitherto whose glory it is to maintain that whereof himself is the Author I. I Have heard that a famous Kingdom in the world being solicited to reform such disorders as all men saw the Church exceedingly burdened with when of each degree great multitudes thereunto inclined and the number of them did every day so increase that this intended work was likely to take no other effect then all good men did wish and labour for A Principal actor herein for zeal and boldness of Spirit thought it good to show them betimes what it was which must be effected or else that there could be no work of perfect Reformation accomplished To this purpose in a solemn Sermon and in a great Assembly he described unto them the present quality of their public Estate by the parable of a tree huge and goodly to look upon but without that fruit which it should and might bring forth affirming that the only way of redress was a full and perfect establishment of Christ's Discipline for so their manner is to entitle a thing hammered out upon the forge of their own invention and that to make way of entrance for it there must be three great limbs cut off from the body of that stately tree of the Kingdom Those three limbs were three sorts of men Nobles whose high Estate would make them otherwise disdain to put their necks under that yoke Lawyers whose Courts being not pulled down the new Church Consistories were not like to flourish Finally Prelates whose ancient Dignity and the simplicity of their intended Church-Discipline could not possibly stand together The proposition of which device being plausible to active spirits restless through desire of innovation whom commonly nothing doth more offend then a change which goeth fearfully on by slow and suspicious paces the heavier and more experienced sort began presently thereat to pull back their feet again and exceedingly to fear the stratagem of Reformation for ever after Whereupon ensued those extreme conflicts of the one part with the other which continuing and increasing to this very day have now made the state of that flourishing Kingdom even such as whereunto we may most fitly apply those words of the Prophet jeremiah Thy breach is great like the Sea who can heal thee Whether this were done in truth according to the constant affirmation of some avouching the same I take not upon me to examine That which I note therein is How with us that policy hath been corrected For to the Authors of pretended Reformation with us it hath not seemed expedient to offer the edge of the axe unto all three boughs at once but rather to single them and strike at the weakest first making show that the lop of that one shall draw the more abundance of sap to the other two that they may thereby the better prosper All prosperity felicity and peace we wish multiplied on each Estate as far as their own hearts desire is But let men know that there is a God whose eye beholdeth them in all their ways a God the usual and ordinary course of whose justice is to return upon the head of malice the same devices which it contriveth against others The foul practices which have been used for the overthrow of Bishops may perhaps wax bold in process of time to give the like assault even there from whence at this present they are most seconded Nor let it over-dismay them who suffer such things at the hands of this most unkind world to see that heavenly estate and dignity thus conculcated in regard whereof so many their Predecessors were no less esteemed than if they had not been men but Angels amongst men With former Bishops it was as with job in the days of that prosperity which at large he describeth saying Unto me men gave ea● they waited and held their tongue at my counsel after my words they replied not I appointed out their way and did sit as chief I dwelled as it had been a King in an Army At this day the case is otherwise with them and yet no otherwise then with the self same job at what time the alteration of his estate wrested these contrary speeches from him But now they that are younger than I mock at me the children of fools and offspring of slaves creatures more base than the earth they tread on such as if they did show their heads young and old would shout at them and chase them through the streets with a cry their song I am I am a theme for them to talk on An injury less grievous if it were not offered by them whom Satan hath through his fraud and subtlety so far beguiled as to make them imagine herein they do unto God a part of most faithful service Whereas the lord in truth whom they serve herein is as St. Cyprian telleth them like Cyp. l. 1. ep. 3. not Christ for he it is that doth appoint and protect bishops but rather Christ's adversary and enemy of his Church A thousand five hundred years and upward the Church of Christ hath now continued under the sacred Regiment of Bishops Neither for so long hath Christianity been ever planted in any Kingdom throughout the world but with this kind of government alone which to have been ordained of God I am for mine own part even as resolutely persuaded as that any other kind of Government in the world whatsoever is of God In this Realm of England before Normans yea before Saxons there being Christians the chief Pastors of their souls were Bishops This order from about the first establishment of Christian Religion which was publicly begun through the virtuous disposition of King Lucius not fully two hundred years after Christ continued till the coming in of the Saxons By whom Paganism being every where else replanted only one part of the Island whereinto the ancient natural inhabitants the Britain's were driven retained constantly the faith of Christ together with the same form of spiritual Regiment which their Fathers had before received Sulpit. Severe lb. 2. Wherefore in the Histories of the Church we find very ancient mention made of our own Bishops Beda Eccl. hist. l. 2. c. 2. At the Council of Ariminum about the year 359 Britain had three of her Bishops present At the arrival of Augustine the Monk whom Gregory sent hither to reclaim the Saxons from Gentility about six hundred years after Christ the Britain's he found observers still of the self same Government by Bishops over the rest of the Clergy under this form Christianity took root again where it had been exiled Under the self same form it remained till the days of the a An. 1066. Norman Conqueror By him and his successors thereunto b Alfredus Eborac asis Archie● iseopus Galieimum cognome●to Northum spirantem adhue minesua & caelis in pe●ulum mitem red●liA●● & religi●sis in pro conservands repub tuerd que ecclesiast. also sacramento asiiuxit Nub. i● l. ● c. ● sworn it hath from that time till now by the space of above five hundred years more been upheld O Nation utterly without knowledge without sense We are not through error of mind deceived but some wicked thing hath undoubtedly bewitched us if we forsake that Government the use whereof universal experience hath for so many years approved and betake ourselves unto a Regiment neither appointed of God himself as they who favour it pretend nor till yesterday ever heard of among men By the Jews Festus was much complained of as being a Governor marvellous corrupt and almost intolerable Such notwithstanding were they who came after him that men which thought the public condition most afflicted under Festur began to wish they had him again and to esteem him a Ruler commendable Great things are hoped for at the hands of these new Precedents whom Reformation would bring in Notwithstanding the time may come when Bishops whose Regiment doth now seem a yoke so heavy to bear will be longed for again even by them that are the readiest to have it taken from off their necks But in the hands of Divine Providence we leave the ordering of all such events and come now to the Question itself which is raised concerning Bishops For the better understanding whereof we must before hand set down what is meant when in this Question we name a Bishop What a Bishop is what his name doth import and what doth belong to his Office as he is a Bishop II. For whatsoever we bring from Antiquity by way of defence in this cause of Bishops it is cast off as impertinent matter all is wiped away with an odd kind of shifting Answer That the Bishops which now are be not like unto them which were We therefore beseech all indifferent Judges to weigh sincerely with themselves how the case doth stand If it should be at this day a controversy whether Kingly Regiment were lawful or no peradventure in defence thereof the long continuance which it hath had since the first beginning might be alleged mention perhaps might be made what Kings there were of old even in Abraham's time what Sovereign Princes both before and after Suppose that herein some man purposely bending his wit against Sovereignty should think to elude all such allegations by making ample discovery through a number of particularities wherein the Kings that are do differ from those that have been and should therefore in the end conclude That such ancient examples are no convenient proofs of that Royalty which is now in use Surely for decision of truth in this case there were no remedy but only to show the nature of Sovereignty to sever it from accidental properties to make it clear that ancient and present Regality are one and the same in substance how great odds soever otherwise may seem to be between them In like manner whereas a Question of late hath grown whether Ecclesiastical Regiment by Bishops be lawful in the Church of Christ or no In which Question they that hold the Negative being pressed with that generally received order according whereunto the most renowned Lights of the Christian World have governed the same in every age as Bishops seeing their manner is to reply that such Bishops as those ancient were ours are not There is no remedy but to show that to be a Bishop is now the self same thing which it hath been that one definition agreeth fully and truly as well to those elder as to these latter Bishops Sundry dissimilitudes we grant there are which notwithstanding are not such that they cause any equivocation in the name whereby we should think a Bishop in those times to have had a clean other definition than doth rightly agree unto Bishops as they are now Many things there are in the state of Bishops which the times have changed Many a Parsonage at this day is larger than some ancient Bishoprics were many an ancient Bishop poorer than at this day sundry under them in degree The simple hereupon lacking judgement and knowledge to discern between the nature of things which changeth not and these outward variable accidents are made believe that a Bishop heretofore and now are things in their very nature so distinct that they cannot be judged the same Yet to men that have any part of skill what more evident and plain in Bishops than that augmentation or diminution in their precincts allowances privileges and such like do make a difference indeed but no essential difference between one Bishop and another As for those things in regard whereof we use properly to term them Bishops those things whereby they essentially differ from other Pastors those things which the natural definition of a Bishop must contain what one of them is there more or less appliable unto Bishops now than of old The name Bishop hath been borrowed from the a Dionys. Haltar de Numa Pompili Antiq. lib. 2. Vult ●● Pompeius' esse quem tora ●re Campania & maricima ora habear ad quem delectus & negotii summa referatur Cic. ad Attie lib. 7. Epist. 11. Grecians with whom it signifieth One which hath principal charge to guide and Oversee others The same word in Ecclesiastical writings being applied unto Church-governors at the first unto b Acts 20. Phil. 1. 1. all and not unto the chiefest only grew in short time peculiar and proper to signify such Episcopal Authority alone as the chiefest Governors exercised over the rest for with all Names this is usual that in as much as they are not given till the things whereunto they are given have been sometime first observed therefore generally And God brought them unto Adam that Adam might see or consider what name it was meet he should give unto them Gen. 2. 19 Things are ancienter than the Names whereby they are called Again sith the first things that grow into general observation and do thereby give men occasion to find Names for them are those which being in many Subjects are thereby the easier the oftener and the more universally noted it followeth that names imposed to signify common qualities or operations are ancienter than is the restraint of those names to note an excellency of such qualities or operations in some one or few amongst others For example the name Disciple being invented to signify generally a learner it cannot choose but in that signification be more ancient than when it signifieth as it were by a kind of appropriation those Learners who being taught of Christ were in that respect termed Disciples by an excellency So also the name Deacon a Minister appropriated to a certain order of Ministers The like is to be seen in the name Apostle the use whereof to signify a messenger must needs be more ancient than that use which restraineth it unto Messengers sent concerning Evangelical affairs yea this use more ancient than that whereby the same word is yet restrained farther to signify only those whom our Saviour himself immediately did send After the same manner the Title or Name of a Bishop having been used of old to signify both an Ecclesiastical Overseer in general and more particularly also a Principal Ecclesiastical Overseer it followeth that this latter restrained signification is not so ancient as the former being more common The name likewise of a Minister was common to divers degrees which now is peculiarly among ourselves given only to Pastors and not as anciently to Deacons also Yet because the things themselves are always ancienter than their names therefore that thing which the restrained use of the word doth import is likewise ancienter than the restraint of the word is and consequently that power of chief Ecclesiastical Overseers which the term of a Bishop importeth was before the restrained use of the name which doth import it Wherefore a lame and an impotent kind of reasoning it is when men go about to prove that in the Apostles times there was no such thing as the restrained name of a Bishop doth now signify because in their writings there is found no restraint of that name but only a general use whereby it reacheth unto all spiritual Governors and Overseers But to let go the name and to come to the very nature of that thing which is thereby signified in all kinds of Regiment whether Ecclesiastical or Civil as there are sundry operations public so likewise great inequality there is in the same operations some being of principal respect and therefore not fit to be dealt in by every one to whom public actions and those of good importance are notwithstanding well and ●itly enough committed From hence have grown those different degrees of Magistrates or public persons even Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Amongst Ecclesiastical Persons therefore Bishops being chief ones a Bishop's function must be defined by that wherein his Chiefty consisteth A Bishop is a Minister of God unto whom with permanent continuance there is given not only power of administering the Word and Sacraments which power other Presbyrers have but also a further power to ordain Ecclesiastical persons and a power of Chiefty in Government over Presbyters as well as Lay men a power to be by way of jurisdiction a Pastor even to Pastors themselves So that this Office as he is a Presbyter or Pastor consisteth in those things which are common unto him with other Pastors as in ministering the Word and Sacraments But those things incident unto his Office which do properly make him a Bishop cannot be common unto him with other Pastors Now even as Pastors so likewise Bishops being principal Pastors are either at large or else with restraint At large when the subject of their Regiment is indefinite and not tied to any certain place Bishops with restraint are they whose Regiment over the Church is contained within some definite local compass beyond which compass their jurisdiction reacheth not Such therefore we always mean when we speak of that Regiment by Bishops which we hold a thing most lawful divine and holy in the Church of Christ. In Bishops two things traduced of which two the one their Authority & in it the first thing condemned the superiority over other Ministers what kind of superiority in ministers is it which the one part holdeth and the other denieth lawful III. In our present regiment by Bishops two things there are complained of the one their great Authority and the other their great Honor. Touching the Authority of our Bishops the first thing which therein displeaseth their Adversaries is the Superiority which Bishops have over other Ministers They which cannot brook the Superiority which Bishops have do notwithstanding themselves admit that some kind of difference and inequality there may be lawfully amongst Ministers Inequality as touching gifts and graces they grant because this is so plain that no mist in the world can be cast before men's eyes so thick but that they needs must discern thorough it that one Minister of the Gospel may be more learneder holier and wiser better able to instruct more apt to rule and guide them then another Unless thus much were confessed those men should lose their fame and glory whom they themselves do entitle the Lights and grand Worthies of this present age Again a priority of Order they deny not but that there may be yea such a priority as maketh one man amongst many a principal Actor in those things whereunto sundry of them must necessarily concur so that the same be admitted only during the time of such actions and no longer that is to say just so much superiority and neither more nor less may be liked of than it hath pleased them in their own kind of regiment to set down The inequality which they complain of is That one Minister of the Word and Sacraments should have a permanent superiority above another or in any sort a superiority of power mandatory judicial and coercive over other Ministers By us on the contrary side inequality even such inequality as unto Bishops being Ministers of the Word and Sacraments granteth a superiority permanent above Ministers yea a permanent superiority of power mandatory judicial and coercive over them is maintained a thing allowable lawful and good For superiority of power may be either above them or upon them in regard of whom it is termed superiority One Pastor hath superiority of power above another when either some are authorised to do things worthier than are permitted unto all some are preferred to be principal Agents the rest Agents with dependency and subordination The former of these two kinds of superiority is such as the Highpriest had above other Priests of the Law in being appointed to enter once a year the holy place which the rest of the Priests might not do The latter superiority such as Precedents have in those actions which are done by others with them they nevertheless being principal and chief therein One Pastor hath superiority of power not only above but upon another when some are subject unto others commandment and judicial controlment by virtue of public jurisdiction Superiority in this last kind is utterly denied to be allowable in the rest it is only denied that the lasting continuance and settled permanency thereof is lawful So that if we prove at all the lawfulness of superiority in this last kind where the same is simply denied and of permanent superiority in the rest where some kind of superiority is granted but with restraint to the term and continuance of certain actions with which the same must as they say expire and cease If we can show these two things maintainable we bear up sufficiently that which the adverse party endeavoureth to overthrow Our desire therefore is that this issue may be strictly observed and those things accordingly judged of which we are to allege This we boldly therefore set down as a most infallible truth That the Church of Christ is at this day lawfully and so hath been sit hence the first beginning governed by Bishops having permanent superiority and ruling power over other Ministers of the Word and Sacraments For the plainer explication whereof let us briefly declare first The birth and original of the same power whence and by what occasion it grew Secondly What manner of power antiquity doth witness Bishops to have had more than Presbyters which were no Bishops Thirdly After what sort Bishops together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches under them according to the like testimonial evidence of antiquity Fourthly How far the same Episcopal power hath usually extended unto what number of persons it hath reached what bounds and limits of place it hath had This done we may afterwards descend unto those by whom the same either hath been heretofore or is at this present hour gainsaid IV. The first Bishops in the Church of Christ were his blessed Apostles From whence it hath grown that the Church is governed by Bishops Meminise Diaconi debent quoniam Apostolos id est Episcopos & praepo●●os Dominus elegic Cyp. l. 3 cp 9 for the Office whereunto Mathias was chosen the sacred History doth term ' E an Episcopal Office Which being spoken expressly of one agreeth no less unto them all then unto him For which cause St. Cyprian speaking generally of them all doth call them Bishops They which were termed Apostles as being sent of Christ to publish his Gospel throughout the world and were named likewise Bishops in that the care of Government was also committed unto them did no less perform the offices of their Episcopal Authority by governing then of their Apostolical by teaching The word ' E expressing that part of their office which did consist in Regiment proveth not I grant their chiefty in regiment over others because as then that name was common unto the function of their inferiors and not peculiar unto theirs But the History of their actions showeth plainly enough how the thing itself which that name appropriated importeth that is to say even such spiritual chiefty as we have already defined to be properly Episcopal was in the holy Apostles of Christ. Bishop's therefore they were at large But was it lawful for any of them to be a Bishop with restraint True it is their charge was indefinite yet so that in case they did all whether severally or jointly discharge the Office of proclaiming every where the Gospel and of guiding the Church of Christ none of them casting off his part in their burden which was laid upon them Rom. 2. 14 15. 1 Cor. 9.16 Joh. 22 15,1● there doth appear no impediment but that they having received their common charge indefinitely might in the execution thereof notwithstanding restrain themselves or at leastwise be restrained by the after commandment of the Spirit without contradiction or repugnancy unto that charge more indefinite and general before given them especially if it seemed at any time requisite and for the greater good of the Church that they should in such sort tie themselves unto some special part of the flock of Jesus Christ guiding the same in several as Bishops For first notwithstanding our Saviour's commandment unto them all to go and preach unto all Nations Yet some restraint we see there was made when by agreement between Paul and Peter moved with those effects of their labours which the providence of God brought forth Gal. 2. 8. the one betook himself unto the Gentiles the other unto the Jews for the exercise of that Office of every where preaching A further restraint of their Apostolical labours as yet there was also made when they divided themselves into several parts of the world a Him Eusebius doth name the Governor of the Churches in Asia Lib 3. Hist. Eccles. cap. 16. Tertujian calleth the same Churches St. lohns Foster daughters Lib. 3. advers Martion john for his charge taking Asia and so the residue other quarters to labour in If nevertheless it seem very hard that we should admit a restraint so particular as after that general charge received to make any Apostle notwithstanding the Bishop of some one Church what think we of the Bishop of jerusalem b jacobus qui appe latur frarer Domini cognomento Justus pest pathonem Domini flatim ab Apostiolis Hierosolymerum Episeopus ordinatus est Hierom de script Eccles. Eodem tempore Jacobum primumu fedem Episcopaslem Ecclesiae quae est Hierosolymis obtinuisse memoriae traditur Euseb. Hist. Eclces lib. 2. cap. 1. The same seemeth to be intimated Acts 15 13. and Acts 21. 18. james whose consecration unto that Mother See of the world because it was not meet that it should at any time be left void of some Apostle doth seem to have been the very cause of St. Paul's miraculous vocation to make up the c Acts 12. 2. number of the Twelve again for the gathering of nations abroad even as the d Acts 13.2 martyrdom of the other james the reason why Barnabas in his stead was called Finally Apostles whether they did settle in any one certain place● as james or else did otherwise as the Apostle Paul Episcopal Authority either at large or either restraint they had and exercised Their Episcopal power they sometimes gave unto others to exercise as agents only in their stead and as it were by commission from them Thus e Tit. 1. 5. Titus and thus Timothy at the first though f This appeareth by those subscriptions which are set after the Epistle to Titus and the second to Timothy and by Euseb. Eccles. hist. lib. 3. c. 4. afterwards endued with Apostolical power of their own For in process of time the Apostles gave Episcopal Authority and that to continue always with them which had it We are able to number up them g Irem lib. 3. c. 3. saith Irenaus who by the Apostles were made Bishops In Rome he affirmeth that the Apostles themselves made Linus the first Bishop Again of Polycarp he saith likewise that the Apostles made him Bishop of the Church of Smyrna h In Ep. ad Antioch Of Antioch they made Evodius' Bishop as Ignatius witnesseth exhorting that Church to tread in his holy steps and to follow his virtuous example The Apostles therefore were the first which had such authority and all others who have it after them in orderly sort are their lawful Successors whether they succeed in any particular Church where before them some Apostle hath been seated as Simon succeeded james in jerusalem or else be otherwise endued with the same kind of Bishoply power although it be not where any Apostle before hath been For to succeed them is after them to have that Episcopal kind of power which was first given to them All Bishops are saith Jerome the Apostles successors Hi●ron ep. 81. Cypr. ep. ad plorent In like sort Cyprian doth term Bishops Prepositos qui Apostolis vicaria ordinatione succedunt From hence it may happily seem to have grown that they whom now we call Bishops * Theed in 1 Tim 5. were usually termed at the first Apostles and so did carry their very names in whose rooms of spiritual authority they succeeded Such as deny Apostles to have a Ipsius Apostolates nulla successio Pinitur enim legatio cum legoto nec a●l successores ipslus transit Srgpl. doct. prin con any successors at all in the office of their Apostleship may hold that opinion without contradiction to this of ours if they well explain themselves in declaring what truly and properly Apostleship is In some things every Presbyter in some things lonely Bishops in some things neither the one nor the other are the Apostles Successors The Apostles were sent as special chosen b Act. 1. 21 22. 1 John 1. 3. eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ from whom c Gal. 1. 1. immediately they received their whole Embassage and their Commission to be the principal d Apoc. 21. 14. first founders of an House of God consisting as well of e Mar. 28. 19 Gentiles as of Jews In this there are not after them any other like unto them And yet the Apostles have now their Successors upon earth their true Successors if not in the largeness surely in the kind of that Episcopal function whereby they had power to sit as spiritual ordinary Judges both over Laity and over Clergy where Churches Christian were established The time and cause of instituting every where Bishops with restraint V. The Apostles of our Lord did according unto those directions which were given them from above erect Churches in all such Cities as received the Word of Truth the Gospel of God All Churches by them erected received from them the same Faith the same Sacraments the same form of public regiment The form of Regiment by them established at first was That the Laity of people should be subject unto a College of Ecclesiastical persons which were in every such City appointed for that purpose These in their writings they term sometime Presbyters sometime Bishops To take one Church out of a number for a pattern what the rest were Acts 20. 36,37 the Presbyters of Ephesus as it is in the History of their departure from the Apostle Paul at Miletum are said to have wept abundantly all which speech doth show them to have been many And by the Apostles exhortation it may appear that they had not each his several flock to feed but were in common appointed to feed that one flock the Church of Ephesus for which cause the phrase of his speech is this Attendite gregi Look all to that one flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops Acts 20.29 30. These persons Ecclesiastical being termed as then Presbyters and Bishops both were all subject unto Paul as to an higher Governor appointed of God to be over them But for as much as the Apostles could not themselves be present in all Churches As appeareth both by his sending to call the Presbyters of Ephesus before him as far as to Milituch Acts 20. 17 which was almost fifty miles and by his leaving Timothy in his place with his Authority and insh uffions for ordaining of Ministers there 1 Tim. 5. 22. and for proportioning their maintenance verse 17.18 and for judicial hearing of accusations brought against estem verse 19 and for holding them in an uniformity of Doctrine chap. 1 vers. 3. and as the Apostles St. Paul foretold the Presbyters of the Ephesians that there would rise up from amongst their own selves men speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them there did grow in short time amongst the Governors of each Church those emulations strifes and contentions whereof there could be no sufficient remedy provided except according unto the order of jerusalem already begun some one were endued with Episcopal Authority over the rest which one being resident might keep them in order and have pre-eminence or principality in those things wherein the equality of many agents was the cause of disorder and trouble This one Precedent or Governor amongst the rest had his known Authority established along time before that settled difference of name and title took place whereby such alone were named Bishops And therefore in the book of S. john's Revelation we find that they are entitled Revel 2 Angels It will perhaps be answered That the Angels of those Churches were only in every Church a Minister Sacraments But then we ask Is it probable that in every of these Churches even in Ephesus itself where wany such Ministers were long before as hath been proved there was but one such when john directed his speech to the Angel of that Church If there were many surely St. john in naming but only one of them an Angel did behold in that one somewhat above the rest Nor was this order peculiar unto some few Churches but the whole world universally became subject thereunto insomuch as they did not account it to be a Church which was not subject unto a Bishop It was the general received persuasion of the ancient Christian world that Ecclesia est in Episcopo Cypr. l. 4. Epist. 9 the outward being of a Church consisteth in the having of a Bishop That where Colleges of Presbyters were there was at the first equality amongst them S. Jerome thinketh it a matter clear but when the rest were thus equal so that no one of them could command any other as inferior unto him they all were controlable by the Apostles who had that Episcopal authority abiding at the first in themselves which they afterwards derived unto others Hi●rens Ep. ad E●ag The cause wherefore they under themselves appointed such Bishops as were not every whereat the first is said to have been those strifes and contentions for remedy whereof whether the Apostles alone did conclude of such a regiment or else they together with the whole Church judging it a fit and a needful policy did agree to receive it for a custom no doubt but being established by them on whom the Holy Ghost was poured in so abundant measure for the ordering of Christ's Church it had either Divine appointment beforehand or Divine approbation afterwards and is in that respect to be acknowledged the Ordinance of God no less than that ancient Jewish regiment whereof though jethro were the Deviser Exod. 18 19 yet after that God had allowed it all men were subject unto it as to the Polity of God and not of jethro That so the ancient Fathers did think of Episcopal regiment that they held this order as a thing received from the blessed Apostles themselves and authorized even from heaven we may perhaps more easily prove then obtain that they all shall grant it who see it proved St. Augustine setteth it down for a principle Epist. ad Jan. that whatsoever positive order the whole Church every where doth observe the same it must needs have received from the very Apostles themselves unless perhaps some general Council were the Authors of it And he saw that the ruling superiority of Bishops was a thing universally established not by the force of any Council for Counsels do all presuppose Bishops nor can there any Council be named so ancient either General or as much as Provincial sithence the Apostles own times but we can show that Bishops had their Authority before it and not from it Wherefore St. Augustine knowing this could not choose but reverence the Authority of Bishops as a thing to him apparently and most clearly apostolical But it will be perhaps objected that Regiment by Bishops was not so universal nor ancient as we pretend and that an Argument hereof may be jeroms' own Testimony who living at the very same time with St. Augustine noteth this kind of Regiment as being no where ancient saving only in Alexandria his words are these Ep. ad Evag. It was for a remedy of Schism that one was afterwards chosen to be placed above the rest lest every man's pulling unto himself should rend asunder the Church of Christ. For that which also may serve for an Argument or taken hereof at Alexandria from Mark the Evangelist unto Heraclas and Dionysius the Presbyters always chose one OF THEMSELVES whom they placed in higher degree and gave unto him the Title of Bishop Now St. jerom they say would never have picked out that one Church from amongst so many T. C. a. p li. It is to be observed that jerom saith It was so in Alexandria sign sung that in other Churches it was not so and have noted that in it there had been Bishops from the time that St. Mark lived if so be the self same order were of like antiquity every where his words therefore must be thus scholied In the Church of Alexandria Presbyters indeed had even from the time of St. Mark the Evangelist always a Bishop to rule over them for a remedy against Divisions Factions and Schisms Not so in other Churches neither in that very Church any longer than usque ad Heraclam & Dionysium till Heraclas and his Successor Dionysius were Bishops But this construction doth bereave the words construed partly of wit and partly of truth it maketh them both absurd and false For if the meaning be that Episcopal Government in that Church was then expired it must have expired with the end of some one and not of two several Bishops days unless perhaps it fell sick under Heraclas and with Dionysius gave up the Ghost Besides it is clearly untrue that the Presbyters of that Church did then cease to be under a Bishop Who doth not know that after Dionysius Maximus was Bishop of Alexandria Socrat. l. 1. c. 3. after him Theonas after him Peter after him Achillas after him Alexander of whom Socrates in this sort writeth It fortuned on a certain time that this Alexander in the presence of the Presbyters which were under him and of the rest of the Clergy there discoursed somewhat curiously and subtly of the holy Trinity bringing high Philosophical proofs that there is in the Trinity an Unity Whereupon Arius one of the Presbyters which were placed in that degree under Alexander opposed eagerly himself against those things which were uttered by the Bishop So that thus long Bishops continued even in the Church of Alexandria Nor did their Regiment here cease but these also had others their Successors till St. jeroms' own time who living long after Heraclas and Dionysius had ended their days did not yet live himself to see the Presbyters of Alexandria otherwise then subject unto a Bishop So that we cannot with any truth so interpret his words as to mean that in the Church of Alexandria there had been Bishops endued with Superiority over Presbyters from St. Marks time only till the time of Heraclas and of Dionysius Wherefore that St. jerom may receive a more probable interpretation than this We answer that generally o● Regiment by Bishops and what term of continuance it had in the Church of Alexandria it was no part of his mind to speak but to note one only circumstance belonging to the manner of their election which circumstance is that in Alexandria they used to choose their Bishops altogether out of the college of their own Presbyters and neither from abroad nor out of any other inferior order of the Clergy whereas oftentimes a Unto Ignatius Bishop of An●●uh Her● a Deacon there was made Successor elsewhere the use was to choose as well from abroad as at home as well inferior unto Presbyters as Presbyters when they saw occasion This custom saith he the Church of Alexandria did always keep till in Heraclas and Dionysius they began to do otherwise These two were the very first not chose out of their College of Presbyters Chrysostom being a Presbyter of Anfi●ch we chosen to succeed Nictarius in the Bishop rick of Constantinople The drift and purpose of S. jeroms' speech doth plainly show what his meaning was for whereas some did over-extol the Office of the Deacon in the Church of Rome where Deacons being grown great through wealth challenged place above Presbyters S. Jerome to abate this insolency writing to Evagrius diminisheth by all means the Deacons estimation and lifteth up Presbyters as far as possible the truth might bear An attendant saith he upon Tables and Widows proudly to exalt himself above them at whose prayers is made the body and blood of Christ above them between whom and Bishops there was at the first for a time no difference neither in authority nor in title And whereas after schisms and contentions made it necessary that some one should be placed over them by which occasion the title of Bishop became proper unto that one yet was that one chosen out of the Presbyters as being the chiefest the highest the worthiest degree of the Clergy and not out of Deacons in which consideration also it seemeth that in Alexandria even from St. Mark to Heraclas and Dionysius Bishops there the Presbyters evermore have chosen one of themselves and not a Deacon at any time to be their Bishop Nor let any man think that Christ hath one Church in Rome and another in the rest of the world that in Rome he alloweth Deacons to be honoured above Presbyters and otherwhere will have them to be in the next degree to the Bishop If it be deemed that abroad where Bishops are poorer the Presbyters under them may be the next unto them in honour but at Rome where the Bishop hath amplereven●eses the Deacons whose estate is nearest for wealth may be also for estimation the next unto him We must know that a Bishop in the meanest City is no less a Bishop than he who is seated in the greatest the countenance of a rich and the meanness of a poor estate doth make no odds between Bishops and therefore if a Presbyter at Engubium be the next in degree to a Bishop surely even at Rome it ought in reason to be so likewise and not a Deacon for wealth's sake only to be above who by order should be and elsewhere is underneath a Presbyter But ye will say that according to the custom of Rome a Deacon presenteth unto the Bishop him which standeth to be ordained Presbyter and upon the Deacons testimony given concerning his fitness he receiveth at the Bishop's hands Oraïnation So that in Rome the Deacon having this special pre-eminence the Presbyter ought there to give place unto him Wherefore is the custom of one City brought against the practice of the whole World The pancity of Deacons in the Church of Rome hath gotten the credit as unto Presbyters their multitude hath been cause of contempt Howbeit even in the Church of Rome Presbyters sit and Deacons stand an Argument as strong against the superiority of Deacons as the fore-alleadged reason doth seem for it Besides whosoever is promoted must needs be raised from a lower degree to an higher wherefore either let him which is Presbyter be made a Deacon that so the Deacon may appear to be the greater or if of Deacons Presbyters be made let them know themselves to be in regard of Deacons though below in gain yet above in Office And to the end we may understand that those Apostolical Orders are taken out of the Old Testament what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple the same in the Church may ● Bishop's and Presbyters and Deacons challenge unto themselves This is the very drift and substance this the true construction and sense of St. jeroms' whole discourse in that Epistle Which I have therefore endeavoured the more at large to explain because no one thing is less effectual or more usual to be alleged against the ancient Authority of Bishops concerning whose Government St. jeroms' own words otherwhere are sufficient to show his opinion that this Order was not only in Alexandria so ancient but even an ancient in other Churches We have before alleged his testimony touching james the Bishop of jerusalem As for Bishops in other Churches on the first of the Epistle to Titus thus he speaketh Till through instinct of the devil there grew in the Church factions and among the people it began to be professed I am of Paul I of Apollo's and I of Cephas Churches were governed by the common advice of Presbyters but when every one began to reckon those whom himself had baptised his own and not Christ's it was decreed IN THE WHOLE WORLD that one chosen out of the Presbyters should be placed above the rest to whom all care of the Church should belong and so the seeds of schism be removed If it be so that by St. jeroms' own Confession this order was not then begun when people in the Apostles absence began to be divided into factions by their Teachers and to rehearse I am of Paul but that even at the very first appointment thereof was agreed upon and received throughout the world how shall a man be persuaded that the same jerom thought it so ancient nowhere saving in Alexandria one only Church of the whole world A sentence there is indeed of St. jeroms' which bring not throughly considered and weighed may cause his meaning so to be taken as if he judged Episcopal regiment to have been the Church's invention long after and not the Apostles own institution as namely when he admonisheth Bishops in this manner As therefore Presbyters do know that the custom of the Church makes them subject to the Bishop which is set over them so let a Bishops he meaneth by restraint for Episcopal power was always in the Church instituted by Christ himself the Apostles being in government Bishops at large as no man will deny having received from Christ himself that Episcopal Authority For which cause Cyprian hath said of them Meminisse Diaconi debent quoniam Apostolos id est Episcopos & praepos●ros Dominus elegit Diaconol aurem posla ●censum Domini in co●los Apostoli sibi constiruerunt Episcopatus sui & Ecclesia ministros Lib 3. Ep. 9 Bishops know that custom rather than the truth of any Ordinance of the Lord maketh them greater than the rest and that with common advice they ought to govern the Church To clear the sense of these words therefore as we have done already the former Laws which the Church from the beginning universally hath observed were some delivered by Christ himself with a charge to keep them till the world's end as the Law of Baptising and administering the holy Eucharist some brought in afterwards by the Apostles yet not without the special direction of the Holy Ghost as occasions did arise Of this sort are those Apostolical orders and laws whereby Deacons Widows Virgins were first appointed in the Church This answer to Saint jerom seemeth dangerous I have qualified it as I may by addition of some words of restraint yet I satisfy not may self in my judgement it would be altered Now whereas Jerom doth term the Government of Bishops by restraint an Apostolical tradition acknowledging thereby the same to have been of the Apostles own institution it may be demanded how these two will stand together namely that the Apostles by divine instinct should be as Jerom confesseth the Authors of that regiment and yet the custom of the Church he accounted for so by Jerom it may seem to be in this place accounted the chiefest prop that upholdeth the same To this we answer That for as much as the whole body of the Church hath power to alter with general consent and upon necessary occasions even the positive law of the Apostles if there be no commandment to the contrary and it manifestly appears to her that change of times have clearly taken away the very reason of God's first institution as by sundry examples may be most clearly proved what laws the universal Church might change and doth not if they have long continued without any alteration it seemeth that St. Jerom ascribeth the continuance of such positive laws though instituted by God himself to the judgemement of the Church For they which might abrogate a Law and do not are properly said to uphold to establish it and to give it being The Regiment therefore whereof Jerom speaketh being positive and consequently not absolutely necessary but of a changeable nature because there is no Divine voice which in express words forbiddeth it to be changed he might imagine both that it came by the Apostles by very divine appointment at the first and notwithstanding be after a sort said to stand in force rather by the custom of the Church choosing to continue in it than by the necessary constraint of any Commandment from the Word requiring perpetual continuance thereof So that St. jeroms' admonition is reasonable sensible and plain being contrived to this effect The ruling superiority of one Bishop over many Presbyters in each Church is an Order descended from Christ to the Apostles who were themselves Bishops at large and from the Apostles to those whom they in their steads appointed Bishops over particular Countries and Cities and even from those ancient times universally established thus many years it hath continued throughout the World for which cause Presbyters must not grudge to continue subject unto their Bishops unless they will proudly oppose themselves against that which God himself ordained by his Apostles and the whole Church of Christ approveth and judgeth most convenient On the other side Bishops albeit they may avouch with conformity of truth that their Authority had thus descended even from the very Apostles themselves yet the absolute and everlasting continuance of it they cannot say that any Commandment of the Lord doth enjoin And therefore must acknowledge that the Church hath power by universal consent upon urgent cause to take it away if thereunto she be constrained through the proud tyrannical and unreformable dealings of her Bishops whose Regiment she hath thus long delighted in because she hath found it good and requisite to be so governed Wherefore lest Bishops forget themselves as if none on earth had Authority to touch their states let them continually bear in mind that it is rather the force of custom whereby the Church having so long found it good to continue under the Regiment of her virtuous Bishops doth still uphold maintain and honour them in that respect than that any such true and heavenly Law can be showed by the evidence whereof it may of a truth appear that the Lord himself hath appointed Presbyters for ever to be under the Regiment of Bishops in what sort soever they behave themselves let this consideration be a bridle unto them let it teach them not to disdain the advice of their Presbyters but to use their authority with so much the greater humility and moderation as a Sword which the Church hath power to take from them In all this there is no le●● why S. jerom might not think the Authors of Episcopal Regiment to have been the very blessed Apostles themselves directed therein by the special mution of the Holy Ghost which the Ancients all before and besides him and himself also elsewhere being known to hold we are not without better evidence than this to think him in judgement divided both from himself and from them Another Argument that the Regiment of Churches by one Bishop over many Presbyters hath been always held Apostolical may be this We find that throughout all those Cities where the Apostles did plant Christianity the History of times hath noted succession of pastors in the seat of one not of many there being in every such Church evermore many Pastors and the first one in every rank of succession we find to have been Lib. a. ●o ● H●●reses 4 ● if not some Apostle yet some Apostles Disciple By Epiphanius the Bishops of jerusalem are reckoned down from james to Hilarion then Bishop Of them which boasted that they held the same things which they received of such as lived with the Apostles themselves De prescr● p. o●●● r● here● Tertullian speaketh after this sort Let them therefore show the beginnings of their Churches let them recite their Bishops one by one each in such sort succeeding other that the first Bishop of them have had for his Author and Predecessor some Apostle or at least some Apostolical Person who persevered with the Apostles For so Apostolical Churches are wont to bring forth the evidence of their estates So doth the Church of Smyrna having Polycarp whom john did consecrate Catalogues of Bishops in a number of other Churches Bishops and succeeding one another from the very Apostles times are by Eusebius and Socrates collected whereby it appeareth so clear as nothing in the World more that under them and by their appointment this Order began which maketh many Presbyters subject unto the Regiment of some one Bishop For as in Rome while the civil ordering of the Commonwealth was jointly and equally in the hands of two Consuls Historical Records concerning them did evermore mention them both and note which two as Colleagues succeeded from time to time So there is no doubt but Ecclesiastical antiquity had done the very like had not one Pastors place and calling been always so eminent above the rest in the same Church And what need we to seek far for proofs that the Apostles who began this order of Regiment by Bishops did it not but by divine instinct when without such direction things of far less weight and moment they attemdted not Paul and Barnabas did not open their mouths to the Gentiles Acts. 13. till the Spirit had said Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have sent them Acts. ● The Eunuch by Philip was neither baptised nor instructed before the Angel of God was sent to give him notice that so it pleased the most High In Asia Paul and the rest were silent because the Spirit forbade them to speak Acts. 19 When they intended to have seen Bythinia they stayed their journey the spirit not giving them leave to go Before Timothy was employed in those Episcopal affairs of the Church about which the Apostle St. Paul used him the Holy Ghost gave special charge for his Ordination 1 Tim. 1. 1● and prophetical intelligence more than once what success the same would have And shall we think that james was made Bishop of jerusalem Evodius' Bishop of the Church of Antioch the Angels in the Churches of Asia Bishops that Bishops every where were appointed to take away factions contentions and Schisms without some like divine instigation and direction of the Holy Ghost Wherefore let us not fear to be herein bold and peremptory That if any thing in the Church's Government surely the first institution of Bishops was from Heaven was even of God the Holy Ghost was the Author of it VI A Bishops saith St. Augustine is a Presbyter's Superior but the question is now What manner of power Bishops from the first beginning have had wherein that superiority did consist The Bishop's pre-eminence we say therefore was twofold First he excelled in latitude of the power of Order secondly in that kind of power which belongeth unto jurisdiction Priests in the law had authority and power to do greater things than Levites Aug. Ep. 19 ●d Hierom. & de haeres 53. the high Priest greater than inferior Priests might do therefore Levites were beneath Priests and Priests inferior to the High Priest by reason of the very degree of dignity and of worthiness in the nature of those functions which they did execute and not only for that the one had power to command and control the other In like sort Presbyters having a weightier and a worthier charge than Deacons had the Deacon was in this sort the Presbyters inferior and where we say that a Bishop was likewise ever accounted a Presbyters superior even according unto his very power of Order we must of necessity declare what principal duties belonging unto that kind of power a Bishop might perform and not a Presbyter The custom of the primitive Church in consecrating holy Virgins 1 Cor. 7 29. 1 Tim. 5. 9 and Widows unto the service of God and his Church is a thing not obscure but easy to be known Tettul de r●● vi●g both by that which St. Paul himself concerning them hath and by the latter consonant evidence of other men's writings Now a part of the pre-eminence which Bishops had in their power of Order was that by them only such were consecrated Again the power of ordaining both Deacons and Presbyters the power to give the power of order unto others this also hath been always peculiar unto Bishops It hath not been heard of that inferior presbyters were ever authorized to ordain And concerning Ordination so great force and dignity it hath that whereas Presbyters by such power as they have received for Administration of the Sacraments are able only to beget Children unto God Bishops having power to Ordain do by virtue thereof create Fathers to the people of God as Epiphanius fitly disputeth Epiph. 3. l. 10 ● haer 7. There are which hold that between a Bishop and a Presbyter touching power of Order there is no difference The reason of which conceit is for that they see Presbyters no less than Bishops authorized to offer up the prayers of the Church to Preach the Gospel to Baptise to Administer the holy Eucharist but they considered not with all as they should that the Presbyters authority to do these things is derived from the Bishops which doth ordain him thereunto so that even in those things which are common unto both yet the power of the one Acts. 1. ● 23. is as it were a certain light borrowed from the others lamp The Apostles being Bishops at large ●deined every where Presbyters Tim. 1. 5. 1 Tim. 5. 8. Titus and Timothy having received Episcopal power as Apostolic Ambassadors or Legates the one in Greece the other in Ephesus they both did by virtue thereof likewise ordain throughout all Church's Deacons and Presbyters within the circuits allotted unto them A pud AEgyptum Presbyteri consir man's si ● raesens none fit Eps. copus Comq vulgo Amb. dic in 4. Ep. ad Ephes. As for Bishops by restraint their power this way incommunicable unto Presbyters which of the ancients do not acknowledge I make not Confirmation any part of that power which hath always belonged only unto Bishops because in some places the custom was that Presbyters might also confirm in the absence of a Bishop albeit for the most part none but only Bishops were thereof the allowed Ministers Here it will be perhaps Objected that the power of Ordination itself was not every where peculiar and proper unto Bishops as may be seen by 2 Council of Carthage which showeth their Church's Order to have been That Presbyters should together with the Bishop lay hands upon the ordained But the answer hereunto is easy For doth it hereupon follow that the power of Ordination was not principally and originally in the Bishop Our Saviour hath said unto his Apostles With me ye shall sit and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel yet we know that to him alone it belongeth to judge the World and that to him all judgement is given With us even at this day Presbyters are licenced to do as much as that Council speaketh of if any be present Yet will not any man thereby conclude that in this Church others than Bishops are allowed to ordain The association of Presbyters is no sufficient proof that the power of Ordination is in them but rather that it never was in them we may hereby understand for that no man is able to show either Deacon or Presbyter ordained by Presbyters only and his Ordination accounted lawful in any ancient part of the Church every where examples being found both of Deacons and of Presbyters ordained by Bishops alone oftentimes neither ever in that respect thought unsufficient Touching that other chiefty which is of Jurisdiction amongst the Jews he which was highest through the worthiness of peculiar duties incident into his function in the legal service of God did bear always in Ecclesiastical jurisdiction the chiefest sway As long as the glory of the Temple of God did last there were in it sundry orders of men consecrated unto the service thereof one sort of them inferior unto another in dignity and degree the Nathiners subordinate unto the Levites the Levites unto the Priests the rest of the Priests to those twenty four which were chief Priests and they all to the High Priest If any man surmise that the difference between them was only by distinction in the former kind of power and not in this latter of jurisdiction Numb 3. 32. are not the words of the Law manifest which make Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest chief Captain of the Levites and overseer of them unto whom the charge of the Sanctuary was committed Again at the commandment of Aaron and his Sons Numb 4.17 2 Chron. 19 11. are not the Gersonites themselves required to do all their service in the whole charge belonging unto the Gersonites being inferior Priests as Aaron and his Sons were High Priests Did not jehoshaphat appoint Amarias' the Priest to be chief over them who were Judges for the cause of the Lord in jerusalem Priests saith Josephus Joseph Atnig p. 61 ● worship God continually and the eldest of the stock are governor's over the rest He doth sacrifice unto God before others he hath care of the Laws judgeth controversies correcteth offenders and whosoever obeyeth him not is convict of impiety against God But unto this they answer That the reason thereof was because the Highpriest did prefigure Christ and represent to the people that chiefty of our Saviour which was to come so that Christ being now come there is no cause why such pre-eminence should be given unto any one Which fancy pleaseth so well the humour of all sorts of rebellion's spirits that they all seek to shroud themselves under it Tell the Anabaptist which holdeth the use of the sword unlawful for a Christian man that God himself did allow his people to make wars they have their answer round and ready Those ancient Wars were figures of the spiritual Wars of Christ. Tell the Barrowist what sway David and others the Kings of Israel did bear in the ordering of spiritual affairs the same answer again serveth namely That David and the rest of the Kings of Israel prefigured Christ. Tell the Martinist of the High-Priests great authority and jurisdiction amongst the Jews what other thing doth serve this Turn but the selfsame shift By the power of the Highpriest the universal supreme Authority of our Lord jesus Christ was shadowed The thing is true that indeed High-Priests were figures of Christ yet this was in things belonging unto their power of Order they figured Christ by entering into the holy place by offering for the sins of all the people once a year and by other the like duties But that to govern and to maintain order amongst those that were subject to them is an office figurative and abrogated by Christ's coming in the Ministry that their exercise of jurisdiction was figurative yea figurative in such sort that it had no other cause of being instituted but only to serve as a representation of somewhat to come and that herein the Church of Christ ought not to follow them this Article is such as must be confirmed if any way by miracle otherwise it will hardly enter into the heads of reasonable men why the Highpriest should more figure Christ in being a Judge then in being whatsoever he might be besides St. Cyprian deemed it no wresting of Scripture to challenge as much for Christian Bishops Cypr. l. 3. ep. 9 ad Rogatianum as was given to the Highpriest among the Jews and to urge the law of Moses as being most effectual to prove it St. jerom likewise thought it an argument sufficient to ground the Authority of Bishops upon H●erom Ep. ●5 To the end saith he we may understand Apostolical traditions to have been taken from the Old Testament that which Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons in the Church may lawfully challenge to themselves In the Office of a Bishop Ignatius observeth these two functions concerning the one such is the prehemince of a Bishop Ep. ad Smyr that he only hath the heavenly mysteries of God committed originally unto him so that otherwise than by his Ordination and by authority received from him others besides him are not licenced therein to deal as ordinary Ministers of God's Church And touching the other part of their sacred Function wherein the power of their jurisdiction doth appear first how the Apostles themselves 1 Tim. 3. 19 Against a Presbyter receive no accusation under two or three witnesses and secondly how Titus and Timothy had rule and jurisdiction over Presbyters no man is ignorant And had not Christian Bishops afterward the like power Ignatius Bishop of Antioch being ready by blessed martyrdom to end his life writeth unto his Presbyters the Pastors under him in this sort O● After the death of Fabian Bishop of Rome there growing some trouble about the receiving of such persons into the Church as had fallen away in persecution and did now repent their fall Ignat Epist. ad Antioch Apud Cypr Ep. 1. Ep. 7. the Presbyters and Deacons of the same Church advertised St. Cyprian thereof signifying That they must of necessity defer to deal in that cause till God did send them a new Bishop which might moderate all things Much we read of extraordinary fasting usually in the Church And in this appeareth also somewhat concerning the chiefty of Bishops The custom is saith Tertullian that Bishops do appoint when the people shall all fast Tertul advers Psychic Episcopi universae ple by 'r mandare jejunia assoleni Cypr. Ep. 27. Yea it is not a matter left to our own free choice whether Bishops shall rule or no but the will of our Lord and Saviour is saith Cyprian that every act of the Church be governed by her Bishops An Argument it is of the Bishop's high pre-eminence rule and government over all the rest of the Clergy even that the Sword of persecution did strike especially always at the Bishop as at the Head the rest by reason of their lower estate being more secure as the selfsame Cyprian noteth the very manner of whose speech unto his own both Deacons and Presbyters who remained safe when himself then Bishop was driven into exile argueth likewise his eminent authority and rule over them By these letters saith he Cypr. Ep. 39 Vide Ignat. ad Magnes I both exhort and COMMAND that ye whose presence there is not envied at nor so much beset with dangers supply my room in doing those things which the exercise of Religion doth require Unto the same purpose serve most directly those comparisons than which nothing is more familiar in the books of the ancient Fathers who as oft as they speak of the several degrees in God's Clergy if they chance to compare Presbyters with Levitical Priests of the Law the Bishop a Quod Aaron & tilios ejus hoc Episcojum & Presbyteros esse noverimns Hier. Ep. 2. of Neporia●um they compare unto Aaron the High Priest if they compare the one with the Apostles the other they compare although in a lower proportion sometime b Ita est ut in Episcopis Hominem in Presbyteris Apostolos recognoscas Auctor opuse de ordinib Eccl. inter opera Hieron to Christ and sometime to God himself evermore showing that they placed the Bishop in an eminent degree of ruling authority and power above other Presbyters c Ignat. Ep. ad Tra. Ignatius comparing Bishops with Deacons and with such Ministers of the word and Sacraments as were but Presbyters and had no Authority over Presbyters What is saith he the Bishop but one which hath all principality and power over all so far forth as man may have it being to his power a follower even of Gods own Christ Mr. d Inslit l. 4. cap. 4. Sect. ●● Calvin himself though an enemy unto Regiment by Bishops doth notwithstanding confess that in old time the Ministers which had charge to teach chose of their Company one in every City to whom they appropriated the Title of Bishop lest equality should bread dissension He addeth farther that look what duty the Roman Consuls did execute in proposing matters unto the Senate in ask their opinions in directing them by advice admonition exhortation in guiding actions by their Authority and in seeing that performed which was with common consent agreed on the like charge had the Bishop in the assembly of other Ministers Thus much Calvin being forced by the evidence of truth to grant doth yet deny the Bishops to have been so in Authority at the first as to bear rule over other Ministers Wherein what rule he doth mean I know not But if the Bishops were so far in dignity above other Ministers as the Consuls of Rome for their year above other Senators it is as much as we require And undoubtedly if as the Consuls of Rome so the Bishops in the Church of Christ had such authority as both to direct other Ministers and to see that every of them should observe t●at which their common consent had agreed on how this could be done by the Bishop not bearing rule over them for mine own part I must acknowledge that my poor concept is not able to comprehend One objection there is of some force to make against that which we have hither to endeavoured to prove if they mistake it not who allege it St. jerom comparing other Presbyters with him Heir n. Epist. odd Eu●gr 85. unto whom the name of Bishop was t●en appropriate asketh What a Bishop by virtue of his place and calling may do more than a Presbyter except it be only to Ordain In like sort chrysostom having moved a question wherefore St. Paul should give Timothy precept concerning the quality of Bishops and descend from them to Deacons omitting the Order of Presbyters between he maketh thereunto this answer Chrysostom lo in 1 Tim. 3. What things he spoke concerning Bishops the same are also meet for Presbyters whom Bishops seem not to excel in any thing but only in the power of Ordination Wherefore seeing this doth import no ruling superiority it follows that Bishops were as then no rulers over that part of the Clergy of God Whereunto we answer that both S. jerom and S. Chrysostom had in those their speeches an eye no farther than only to that function for which Presbyters and Bishops were consecrated unto God Now we know that their Consecration had reference to nothing but only that which they did by force and virtue of the power of Order wherein fithe Bishops received their charge only by that one degree to speak of more ample than Presbyters did theirs it might be well enough said that Presbyters were that way authorised to do in a manner even as much as Bishops could do if we consider what each of them did by virtue of solemn consecration for as concerning power of regiment and jurisdiction it was a thing withal added unto Bishops for the necessary use of such certain persons and people as should be thereunto subject in those particular Churches whereof they were Bishops and belonged to them only as Bishops of such or such a Church whereas the other kind of power had relation indefinitely unto any of the whole society of Christian men on whom they should chance to exercise the same and belonged to them absolutely as they were Bishops wheresoever they live St. jeroms' conclusion thereof is that seeing in the one kind of power there is no greater difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop Bishops should not because of their preeminence in the other too much lift up themselves above the Presbyters under them St. Chrysostom's collection that whereas the Apostle doth set down the qualities whereof regard should be had in the Consecration of Bishops there was no need to make a several discourse how Presbyters ought to be qualified when they are Ordained because there being so little difference in the functions whereunto the one and the other receive Ordination the same precepts might well serve for both at leastwise by the virtues required in the greater what should need in the less might be easily understood As for the difference of jurisdiction the truth is the Apostles yet living and themselves where they were resident exercising the jurisdiction in their own persons it was not every where established in Bishops When the Apostles prescribed those laws and when Chysostom thus spoke concerning them it was not by him at all respected but his eye was the same way with jeroms' his cogitation was w●olly fixed on that power which by Consecration is given to Bishops more than to Presbyters and not on that which they have over Presbyters by force of their particular accessary jurisdiction Wherein if any man suppose that jerom and Chrysostom knew no difference at all between a Presbyter and a Bishop let him weigh but one or two of their sentences The pride of insolent Bishops hath not a sharper enemy than jerom for which cause he taketh often occasions most severely to inveigh against them sometimes for a Velut in a 1 qua sublimi specula 〈…〉 dignantur videre mo●tales & alloqui con●er●os suos in a. ● Epist. ad Gal. showing disdain and contempt of the Clergy under them sometimes for not a Nemo peccantibus Episcopis audet contradicere Nemo audet accusare majorem propteres quasi sancti & beati & in praerptis Domini ambulantes augent peccata peecatis Dissicilis est accusa●io in Epise●pum Si ●●ha p●ecaverit non creditur & si convictus suerit ron punirur in cap. 8. Ecclesiast suffering themselves to be told of their faults and admonished of their duty by inferiors sometime for not b pessimae consuetudi●● est in qui●usdam Eccles●● tacere Presbyteron & praesentibus Episcopis non loqui quasi a●● invideant aut non dignentur audice Ep. 2. add Nepotian admitting their Presbyters to teach if so be themselves were in presence sometimes for not vouc●●sasing to use any conference with them or to take any counsel of them Howbeit never doth he in such wise bend himself against their disorders as to deny their Rule and Authority over Presbyters Of Vigilantius being a Presbyter he thus writeth c Ep. 54. ad Rip●r Miror sanctum Episcopum in cujus Parochia Presbyter esse dicitur acquiescere surori ejus & non virga Apostolica virgaque ferrea confringere vas inutile I marvel that the holy Bishop under whom Vigilantius is said to be a Presbyter doth yield to his fury and not break that unprofitable Vessel with his Apostolic and iron rod. With this agreeth most fitly the grave advice he giveth to d Hieron ad Nepo● e No Bishop may be a Lord in reference unto the Presbyters which are under him if we take that name in the worse part or jerom here doth For a Bishop is no rule his Prebyters not as Lords do their Slave● but as Fathers do their children Nepotian Be thou subject unto thy Bishop and receive him as the Father of thy Soul This also I say that Bishops should know themselves to be Priests and not Lords that they ought to honour the Clergy as becometh the Clergy to be honoured to the end their Clergy may yield them the honour which as Bishops they ought to have That of the Orator Domitius is famous Wherefore should I esteem of thee as of a Prince when thou makest not of me that reckoning which should in reason be made of a Senator Let us know the Bishop and his Presbyters to be the same which Aaron sometimes and his Sons were Finally writing against the Heretics which were name Luciferians The very safety of the Church saith he dependeth on the dignity of the Chief Priest to whom unless men grant an exceeding and an eminent power there will grow in Churches even as many Schisms as there are Persons which have authority Touching Chrysostom to show that by him there was also acknowledged a ruling superiority of Bishops over Presbyters both then usual and in no respect unlawful what need we allege his Words and Sentences when the History of his own Episcopal actions in that very kind is till this day extant for all men to read that will In vira Chrys. per Ca●●od Sen. For St. Chrysostom of a Presbyter in Antioch grew to be afterwards Bishop of Constantinople and in process of time when the Emperors heavy displeasure had through the practice of a powerful faction against him effected his banishment Innocent the Bishop of Rome understanding thereof wrote his Letters unto the Clergy of that Church That no Successor ought to be chosen in Chrysostom's room Nec ejus clerum alii parere Pontisici Nor his Clergy OBEY any other Bishop than him A fond kind of speech if so be there had been as then in Bishops no ruling superiority over Presbyters When two of Chrysostom's Presbyters had joined themselves to the faction of his mortal enemy Theophilus Pallad in vita Chrysostom Patriarch in the Church of Alexandria the same Theophilus and other Bishops which were of his Conventicle having sent those two amongst others to cite Chrysostom their lawful Bishop and to bring him into Public judgement he taketh against this one thing special exception as being contrary to all order That those Presbyters should come as Messengers and call him to Judgement who were a part of that Clergy whereof himself was Ruler and Judge So that Bishops to have had in those times a ruling superiority over Presbyters neither could jerom nor Chrysostom be ignorant and therefore hereupon it were superfluous that we should any longer stand VII Touching the next point How Bishops together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches which were under them After what sort Bishop● together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches which were under them It is by Zonaras somewhat plainly and at large declared that the Bishop had his Seat on high in the Church above the residue which were present that a number of Presbyters did always there assist him and that in the oversight of the people those Presbyters were * Zon in Can. Apost after a sort the Bishop's Coadjutors The Bishops and Presbyters who together with him governed the Church are for the most part by Ignatius jointly mentioned In the Epistle to them of Trallis he saith of Presbyters that they are Counsellors and Assistants of the Bishop and concludeth in the end He that should disobey these were a plain Atheist and an irreligious Person and one that did set Christ himself and his own Ordinances at nought Which Orders making Presbyters or Priests the Bishop's Assistants doth not import that they were of equal authority with him but rather so adjoined that they also were subject as hath been proved Cum Episcopa Presbyteri Sace●lat li ho●●re conjeusti Ep. 28 ● g ● Compresbyteri p●striq●i nolas a●tide bant ●p 27. In the Writings of Saint Cyprian nothing is more usual than to make mention of the College of Presbyters subject unto the Bishop although in handling the common affairs of the Church they assisted him But of all other places which open the ancient order of Episcopal Presbyters the most clear is that Epistle of Cyprian unto Cernelius concerning certain Novatian Heretics received again upon their conversion into the unity of the Church After that Urbanus and Sidonius Confessors had come and signified unto our Presbyters that Maximus a Consessor and Presbyter did together with them desire to return into the Church it seemed meet to hear from their own mouths and confessions that which by message they had delivered When they were come and had been called to account by the Presbyters touching those things they had committed Their answer was That they had been deceived and did request that such things as there they were charged with might be forgotten It being brought unto me what was done I took order that the Presbytery might be assembled There were also present five Bishops that upon settled advice it might be with consent of all determined what should be done about their Persons Thus far St. Cyprian Wherein it may be peradventure demanded Whether he and other Bishops did thus proceed with advice of their Presbyters in all such Public affairs or the Church as being thereunto bound by Ecclesiastical Canons or else that they voluntarily so did becuase they judged it in discretion as then most convenient Surely the words of Cyprian are plain Cyp. Ep. 93 that of his own accord he chose this way of proceeding Unto that saith he which Donatus and Fortunatus and Novatus and Gordius our Compresbyters have written I could by myself alone make no answer forasmuch as at the very first entrance into my Bishopric I resolutely determined not to do any thing of mine own private judgement without your counsel and the people's consent The reason whereof he rendereth in the same Epistle saying When by the grace of God myself shall come unto you for St. Cyprian was now in exile of things which either have been or must to done we will consider sicut honour mutous poseit as the Law of courtesy which one doth owe to another of us requireth And at this very mark doth St. jerom evermore aim in telling Bishops that Presbyters were at the first their Equals that in some Churches for a long time no Bishop was made but only such as the Presbyters did choose out amongst themselves and therefore no cause why the Bishop should disdain to consult with them and in weighty affairs of the Church to use their advice sometime to countenance their own Actions or to repress the boldness of proud and insolent Spirits that which Bishops had in themselves sufficient authority and power to have done notwithstanding they would not do alone but craved therein the aid and assistance of other Bishops as in the case of those Novatian Heretics before alleged Cyprian himself did And in Cyprian we find of others the like practice Ragatian a Bishop Cyp. E● ●● having been used contumelously by a Deacon of his own Church wrote thereof his complaint unto Cyprian and other Bishops In which case their answer was That although in his own cause he did of humility rather show his grievance than himself take revenge which by the rigour of his Apostolical Office and the authority of his Chair he might have presently done without any further delay Yet if the Party should do again as before their Judgements were Fungaris circa ●um potestate honoris tui & cum vel deponas vel abstineas Use on him that power which the honour of thy Place giveth thee either to depose him or exclude him from access unto holy things The Bishop for his assistance and ease had under him to guide and direct Deacons in their charge his Archdeacon so termed in respect of care over Deacons albeit himself were not Deacon but Presbyter For the guidance of Presbyters in their Function the Bishop had likewise under him one of the selfsame Order with them but above them an authority one whom the Ancients termed usually an * ●●● Such as or was that ●eter wha●● all Cussiator writeth the life of Chrysostom doth call the Accepresbyter of the Church of Alexandria under Troj ●●●● that time ●●● Arch-Presbyter wet this day name him Dean For most certain truth it is that Churches-Cathedral and the Bishops of them are as glasses wherein the face and very countenance of Apostolical antiquity remaineth even as yet to be seen notwithstanding the alterations which tract of time and the course of the world hath brought For defence and maintenance of them we are most earnestly bound to strive even as the Jews were for their Temple and the Highpriest of God therein The overthrow and ruin of the one if ever the sacrilegious avarice of Atheists should prevail so far which God of his infinite mercy forbid ought no otherwise to move us than the people of God were moved when having beheld the sack and combustion of his Sanctuary in most lamentable manner flaming before their eyes they uttered from the bottom of their grieved Spirits those voices of doleful supplication Psal. 14 Exsurge Domine & miserearis Zion serve tui diligunt lapides ejus pulver is ejus miseret cos VIII How far the power which Bishops had did reach How sir the lower of Bishops hath reached from the beginning in respect of Territory or lu●● compass what number of Persons was subject unto them at the first and how large their Territories were it is not for the question we have in hand a thing very greatly material to know For if we prove that Bishops have lawfully of old ruled over other Ministers it is enough how few soever those Ministers have been how small soever the circuit of Place which hath contained them Yet hereof somewhat to the end we may so far forth illustrate Church-Antiquities A Law Imperial there is which showeth that there was great care had to provide for every Christian City Bishop as near as might be I. 3● p. de Epise ad Cler. Resides Cypr. Ep. 51. Cum jampridem per omnes provin●as & per urbes singulas ordinari sunt Episcopi and that each City had some Territory belonging unto it which Territory was also under the Bishop of the same City that because it was not universally thus but in some Countries one Bishop had subject unto him many Cities and their Territories the Law which provided for establishment of the other Orders should not prejudice those Churches wherein this contrary Custom had before prevailed Unto the Bishop of every such City not only the Presbyters of the same City but also of the Territory thereunto belonging were from the first beginning subject For we must note that when as yet there were in Cities no Parish Churches but only Colleges of Presbyters under their Bishops' Regiment yet smaller Congregations and Churches there were even then abroad U●● Ecclesiastici ordinis non est c●n●●●s & osser● & ●ngit ●Sierailos● qui est in solus Tert. exhort ad castir in which Churches there was but some one only Presbyter to perform amongst them Divine duties Towns and Villages abroad receiving the Faith of Christ from Cities whereunto they were adjacent did as Spiritual and Heavenly Colonies by their subjection honour those ancient Mother Churches out of which they grew And in the Christian Cities themselves when the mighty increase of Believers made it necessary to have them divided into certain several companies and over every of those companies one only Pastor to be appointed for the Ministry of holy things between the first and the rest after it there could not be but a natural inequality even as between the Temple and Synagogues in jerusalem The Clergy of Cities were termed Urbici to show a difference between them and the Clergies of Towns Cypr. Ep. 2● of Villages of Castles abroad And how many soever these Parishes or Congregations were in number which did depend on any one principal City-Church unto the Bishop of that one Church they and their several sole Presbyters were all subject For if so be as some imagine every petty Congregation or Hamlet had had his own particular Bishop what sense could there be in those words of jerom Heron advers Lucifer concerning Castles Villages and other places abroad which having only Presbyters to teach them and to minister unto them the Sacraments were resorted unto by Bishops for the Administration of that wherewith their Presbyters were not licenced to meddle To note a difference of that one Church where the Bishop hath his seat and the rest which depend upon it that one hath usually been termed Cathedral according to the same sense wherein Ignatius speaking of the Church of Antioch termeth it his Throne and Cyprian making mention of Euarist●ss who had been Bishop and was now depo●ed Cypr. Ep. 4● termeth him Cathedrae ext●rrem one that was thrust besides his Chair The Church where the Bishop is set with his College of Presbyters about him we call a See the Local compass of his Authority we term a Diocese Unto a Bishop within the compass of his own both See and Diocese it hath by right of his place evermore appertained * Cou. Antioch cap. 5. ' Cone Constant. c. 2. lib. 5. cap. 8. to ordain Presbyters to make Deacons and with judgement to dispose of all things of weight The Apostle St. Paul had Episcopal Authority but so at large that we cannot assign unto him any one certain Diocese His a 1 Cor. 15. As I have ordained in the Churches of Galatia the same do ye also positive Orders and Constitutions Churches every where did obey Yea a charge and care saith he I b 2 Cor. 11. 8 Chrys. in ● ad Ti● have even of all the Churches The walks of Titus and Timothy was limited within the bounds of a narrow Precinct As for other Bishops that which Chrysostom hath concerning them If they be evil could not possibly agreed unto them unless their Authority had reached farther than to some one only Congregation The danger being so great at it is to him that scandalizeth one Soul What shall he saith Chrisostom speaking of a Bishop what shall he deserve by whom so many Souls yea even whole Cities and People's Men Women and Children Citizens Peasants Inhabitants both of his own City and of other Towns subject unto it are offended A thing so unusual it was for a Bishop not to have ample Jurisdiction that Theophilus Patriark of Alexandria for making one a Bishop of a small Town is noted a proud Despiser of the commendable Orders of the Church with this censure ●Palial● in●●ia Chr●●●●● Such Novelties Theophilus presumed every where to begin taking upon him as it had been another Moses Whereby is discovered also their Error who think that such as in Ecclesiastical Writings they find termed Chorepiscopos were the same in the Country which the Bishop was in the City Whereas the old Chorepiscopi are they that were appointed of the Bishops to have as his Vicegerents some oversight of those Churches abroad which were subject unto his See in which Churches they had also power to make Subdeacons Readers and such like petty Church-Officers With which power so st●nted they not contenting themselves but adventuring at the length to Or●●in even Deacons and Presbyters also as the Bishop himself did their presumption herein was controlled and stayed by the ancient Edict of Councils For example that of Antioch ●Cane L Antioch ca● 10. ● It hath seemed good to the holy Synod that such in Towns and Countries as are called Chorepiscopi do know their limits and govern the Churches under them contenting themselves with the charge thereof and with Authority to make Readers Subdeacons Exorcists and to be Leaders or Guiders of them but not to meddle with the Ordination either of a Presbyter or of a Deacon without the Bishop of that City whereunto the Chorepiscopus and his Territory also is subject The same Synod appointeth likewise that those Chorepiscopi shall be made by none but the Bishop of that City under which they are Much might hereunto be added if it were further needful to prove that the local compass of a Bishop's authority and power was never so straightly lifted as some men would have the World to imagine But to go forward degrees of these are and have been of old even amongst Bishops also themselves One sort of Bishops being Superiors unto Presbyters only another sort having pre-eminence also above Bishops It cometh here to be considered in what respect inequality of Bishops was thought at the first a thing expedient for the Church and what odds there hath been between them by how much the power of one hath been larger higher and greater than of another Touching the causes for which it hath been esteemed meet that Bishops themselves should not every way be Equals they are the same for which the wisdom both of God and Man hath evermore approved it as most requisite that where many Governors must of necessity concur for the ordering of the same affairs of what nature soever they be one should have some kind of sway or stroke more than all the residue For where number is there must be order or else of force there will be confusion Let there be divers Agents of whom each hath his private inducements with resolute purpose to follow them as each may have unless in this case some had pre-eminence above the rest a Chance it were if ever any thing should be either began proceeded in or brought unto any Conclusion by them Deliberations and Counsels would seldom go forward their Meetings would always be in danger to break up with jars and contradictions In an Army a number of Captains all of equal power without some higher to oversway them what good would they do In all Nations where a number are to draw any one way there must be some one principal Mover Let the practice of our very Adversaries themselves herein be considere● Are the Presbyters able to determine of Church-affairs unless their Pastors do strike the chiefest stroke and have power above the rest Can their Pastoral Synod do any thing unless they have some Precedent amongst them In Synods they are forced to give one Pastor pre-eminence and superiority above the rest But they answer That he who being a Pastor according to the Order of their Discipline is for the time some little deal mightier than his Brethren doth not continue so longer than only during the Synod Which Answer serveth not to help them out of the briars for by their practice they confirm our Principle touching the necessity of one man's pre-eminence wheresoever a concurrency of many is required unto any one solemn action this Nature teacheth and this they cannot choose but acknowledge As for the change of his Person to whom they give this pre-eminence if they think it expedient to make for every Synod a new Superior there is no Law of God which bindeth them so to do neither any that telleth them that they might suffer one and the same man being made Precedent even to continue so during life and to leave his pre-eminence unto his Successors after him as by the ancient Order of the Church Archbishops Precedents amongst Bishops have used to do The ground therefore of their pre-eminence above Bishops is the necessity of often concurrency of many Bishops about the Public affairs of the Church as consecrations of Bishops consultations of remedy of general disorders audience judicial when the actions of any Bishop should be called in question or Appeals are made from his Sentence by such as think themselves wronged These and the like affairs usually requiring that many Bishops should orderly assemble begin and conclude somewhat it hath seemed in the eyes of Reverend Antiquity a thing most requisite that the Church should not only have Bishops but even amongst Bishops some to be in Authority chiefest Unto which purpose the very state of the whole World immediately before Christianity took place doth seem by the special providence of God to have been prepared For we must know that the Countries where the Gospel was first planted were for the most part subject to the Roman Empire The Romans use was commonly when by war they had subdued Foreign Nations to make them Provinces that is to place over them Roman Governors such as might order them according to the Laws and Customs of Rome And to the end that all things might be the more easily and orderly done a whole Country being divided into sundry parts there was in each part some one City whereinto they about did resort for Justice Every such part was termed a a Cic. Fam. Ep. 5. Si quid na 〈…〉 'em aliquo Helle●●●●●io controversiae ut in ill●m rejicias The suit which Tully maketh w●s this that the Party in whose behalf he wrote to the Propraetor might have his Causes put over to that Court which was held in the Diocese of Hellespont where the man did abide and not to his trouble be forced to fo●low them at Ephesus which was the chiefest Court in th●t Province Diocese Howbeit the name Diocese is sometime so generally taken that it containeth not only more such parts of a Province but even more Provinces also than one as the Diocese of Asia contained eight the Diocese of Africa seven Touching Dioceses according unto a stricter sense whereby they are taken for a part of a Province the words of Livy do plainly show what Orders the Romans did observe in them For at what time they had brought the Macedonians into subjection the Roman Governor by order from the Senate of Rome gave charge that Macedonia should be divided into four Regions or Dioceses Capita Regionum ubi concilia fierent primae Sedis Amphipolim secundae Thessalonicen tertiae Pellam quartae Pelagoniam fecit Eo Concilia sua cujusque Regionis indici pecuniam conferri ibi Magistratus creari jussit This being before the days of the Emperors by their appointment Thessalonica was afterwards the chiefest and in it the highest Governor of Macedonia had his Seat Whereupon the other three Dioceses were in that respect inferior unto it as Daughters unto a Mother City for not unto every Town of Justice was that Title given but was peculiar unto those Cities wherein principal Courts were kept Thus in Macedonia the Mother City was Thessalonica In Asia b Cic. add Attic lib. 5. Ep. 12. Item 1. observe D. de officio Proconsulis & Legati Ephesus in Africa Carthage For so c Lib. 1. Tit. 27. l. 1. sect 1. & 2. Sancimus ut sicut Oriens atqu● Illyricum ita & Africa praetoriana maxima potestate specialiter à nostra elementia decoretur Cujus sedem jubemus esse Carthaginem & ab ea auxiliante Deo septem pro●inciae cum suis judicious disponantur justinian in his time made it The Governors Officers and Inhabitants of those Mother-Cities were termed for difference-sake Metropolites that is to say Mother-city-men than which nothing could possibly have been devised more fit to suit with the nature of that form of Spiritual Regiment under which afterwards the Church should live Wherefore if the Prophet saw cause to acknowledge unto the Lord that the light of his gracious providence did shine no where more apparently to the eye than in preparing the Land of Canaan to be a Receptacle for that Church which was of old d Psal. 30. 8 9 Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt thou hast cast out the Heathen and planted it thou madest room for it and when it had taken root it filled the Land How much more ought we to wonder at the handiwork of Almighty God who to settle the Kingdom of his dear Son did not cast out any one People but directed in such sort the Politic Councils of them who ruled far and wide overall that they throughout all Nations People and Countries upon Earth should unwittingly prepare the Field wherein the Vine which God did intend that is to say the Church of his dearly beloved Son was to take root For unto nothing else can we attribute it saving only unto the very incomprehensible force of Divine providence that the World was in so marvellous sit sort divided leveled and laid out before hand whose work could it be but his alone to make such provision for the direct implantation of his Church Wherefore inequality of Bishops being found a thing convenient for the Church of God in such consideration as hath been showed when it came secondly in question which Bishops should be higher and which lower it seemed herein not to the civil Monarch only but to the most expedient that the dignity and celebrity of Mother-Cities should be respected They which dream that Council Antiochen c. ● if Civil Authority had not given such pre-eminence unto one City more than another there had never grown an inequality among Bishops are deceived Superiority of one Bishop over another would be requisite in the Church although that Civil distinction were abolished other causes having made it necessary even amongst Bishops to have some in degree higher than the rest the civil dignity of place was considered only as a reason wherefore this Bishop should be preferred before that Which deliberation had been likely enough to have raised no small trouble but that such was the circumstance of place as being followed in that choice besides the manifest conveniency thereof took away all show of Partiality prevented secret emulations and gave no man occasion to think his Person disgraced in that another was preferred before him Thus we see upon what occasion Metropolitan Bishops became Archbishops Now while the whole Christian World in a manner still continued under one Civil Government there being oftentimes within some one more large Territory divers and sundry Mother-Churches the Metropolitans whereof were Archbishops as for Order sake it grew hereupon expedient there should be a difference also amongst them so no way seemed in those times more fit than to give pre-eminence unto them whose Metropolitan Sees were of special desert or dignity for which cause these as being Bishops in the chiefest Mother-Churches were termed Primates and at the length by way of excellency Patriarches For ignorant we are not how sometimes the Title of Patriarch is generally given to all Metropolitan Bishops They are mightily therefore to blame which are so bold and confident as to affirm that Vilierius de fla●u primitivae Eccl●… for the space of above four hundred and thirty years after Christ all Metropolitan Bishops were in every respect equal till the second Council of Constantinople exalted certain Metropolitans above the rest True it is they were equals as touching the exercise of Spiritual power within their Dioceses when they dealt with their own flock For what is it that one of them might do within the compass of his own precinct but another within his might do the same But that there was no subordination at all of one of them unto another that when they all or sundry of them were to deal in the same Causes there was no difference of first and second in degree no distinction of higher and lower in authority acknowledged amongst them is most untrue The Great Council of Nice was after our Saviour Christ but three hundred twenty four years and in that Council certain Metropolitans are said even then to have had ancient pre-eminence and dignity above the rest namely the Primate of Alexandria of Rome and of Antioch Threescore years after this there were Synods under the Emperor Theodosius which Synod was the first at Constantinople Socr. l. 3. c. ● whereat one hundred and fifty Bishops were assembled at which Council it was decreed that the Bishop of Constantinople should not only be added unto the form Primates but also that his Place should be second amongst them the next to the Bishop of Rome in dignity The same Decree again renewed concerning Constantinople C●n. 28. and the reason thereof laid open in the Council of Chalcedon At the length came that second of Constantinople whereat were six hundred and thirty Bishops for a third confirmation thereof Can. 3● Laws Imperial there are likewise extant to the same effect Herewith the Bishop of Constantinople being overmuch puffed up not only could not endure that See to be in estimation higher whereunto his own had preferment to be the next but he challenged more than ever any Christian Bishop in the World before either had or with reason could have What he challenged and was therein as then refused by the Bishop of Rome the same the Bishop of Rome in process of time obtained for himself and having gotten it by bad means hath both up-held and augmented it and upholdeth it by acts and practices much worse But Primates according to their first Institution Novel 123. 22. were all in relation unto Archbishops the same by Prerogative which Archbishops were being compared unto Bishops Before the Council of Nice albeit there were both Metropolitans and Primates yet could not this be a means forcible enough to procure the peace of the Church but all things were wonderful tumultuous and troublesome by reason of one special practice common unto the Heretics of those times which was That when they had been condemned and cast out of the Church by the Sentence of their own Bishops they contrary to the ancient received Orders of the Church had a custom to wander up and down and to insinuate themselves into favour where they were not known imagining themselves to be safe enough and not to be clean cut off from the body of the Church if they could any where find a Bishop which was content to communicate with them whereupon ensued as in that case there needs must every day quarrels and jars unappeasable amongst Bishops The Nicene Council for redress hereof considered the bounds of every Archbishops' Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions what they had been in former times and accordingly appointed unto each grand part of the Christian World some one Primate from whose Judgement no man living within his Territory might appeal unless it were to a Council General of all Bishops The drift and purport of which order was That neither any man oppressed by his own particular Bishop might be destitute of a remedy through appeal unto the more indifferent Sentence of some other ordinary Judge not yet every man be lest at such liberty as before to shift himself out of their hands for whom it was most meet to have the hearing and determining of his cause The evil for remedy whereof this order was taken annoyed at that present especially the Church of Alexandria in Egypt where Arianism begun For which cause the state of that Church is in the Nicene Canons concerning this matter mentioned before the rest The words of their sacred Edict are these Council Nic. c. 6. Let those customs remain in force which have been of old the customs of Egypt and Libya and Pentapolis by which customs the Bishop of Alexandria hath authority over all these the rather for that this hath also been the use of the Bishop of Rome yea the same hath been kept in Antioch and in other Provinces Now Ejusd Con. cap. ● because the custom likewise had been that great honour should be done to the Bishop of Alia or jerusalem therefore lest their Decree concerning the Primate of Antioch should any whit prejudice the dignity and honour of that See special provision is made that although it were inferior in degree not only unto Antioch the chief of the East but even unto Cesaria too yet such pre-eminence it should retain as belonged to a Mother-City and enjoy whatsoever special Prerogative or Privilege it had besides Let men therefore hereby judge of what continuance this Order which upholdeth degrees of Bishops must needs have been when a General Council of three hundred and eighteen Bishops living themselves within three hundred years after Christ doth reverence the same for Antiquity's sake T. C. l. t. ●● What no mention of him in Theophibus Bishop of Antioch none in Clemens Alexandrinus none in Ignatius no●●●● in justin Martyr in Irenaeus In Tert●l in Origin in Cyprian in tho●e old Historiographers ou● of which Eusebius gathered his Story was it for his baseness and smallness that he could not be seen amongst the Bishops Elders and Deacons being the chief and principal of them all Can the Cedar of Lebanon be hidden amongst the Boxtrees T. C. l. ● ubi supra A Metropolitan Bishop was nothing el●e but a Bishop of that place which is pleased the Emperor or Magistrate to make the chief of the Diocese or Shire and as for this name it makes no more difference between a Bishop and a Bishop than when I say a Minister of London and a Minister of Newington as a thing which had been even then of old observed in the most renowned parts of the Christian World Wherefore needless altogether are those vain and wanton demands No mention of an Archbishop in Theophilus Bishop of Antioch none in Ignatius none in Clemens of Alexandria none in justin Martyr Ireneus Tertullian Cyprian none in all those old Historiographers out of which Eusebius gathereth his Story none till the time of the Council of Nice three hundred and twenty years after Christ As if the mention which is thereof made in that very Council where so many Bishops acknowledge Archiepiscopal dignity even then ancient were not of far more weight and value than if every of those Fathers had written large Discourses thereof But what is it which they will blush at who dare so confidently set it down that in the Council of Nice some Bishop's being termed Metropolitans no more difference is thereby meant to have been between one Bishop and another than is showed between one Minister and another when we say such a one is a Minister in the City of London and such a one a Minister in the Town of Newington So that to be termed a Metropolitan Bishop did in their conceit import no more pre-eminence above other Bishops than we mean that a Girdler hath over others of the same trade if we term him which doth inhabit some Mother-City for difference-sake a Metropolitan Girdler But the Truth is too manifest to be eluded a Bishop at that time had power in his own Diocese over all other Ministers there and a Metropolitan Bishop sundry preeminences above other Bishops one of which preeminences was in the ordination of Bishops to have the chief power of ordering all things done Con. Nicen. c. 6. Illui autem amnino manifestum quod siqus absque M●tro politanis sententia sactus fl●● p s● hune magna ●uno de lefin vit Epis● ess no●n portere Can. 4. Which pre-eminence that Council itself doth mention as also a greater belonging unto the Patriarch or Primate of Alexandria concerning whom it is there likewise said that to him did belong authority and power over all Egypt Pentapolis and Libya within which compass sundry Metropolitan Sees to have been there is no man ignorant which in those Antiquities have any knowledge Certain Prerogatives there are wherein Metropolitans excelled other Bishops certain also wherein Primates excelled other Metropolitans Archiepiscopal or Metropolitan Prerogatives are those mentioned in the old Imperial constitutions to a N●vel 123. can 10. convocate the holy Bishops under them within the compass of their own Provinces when need required their meeting together for inquisition and redress of public disorders b Now. 128. c. 9 to grant unto Bishops under them leave and faculty of absence from their own Dioceses when it seemed necessary that they should otherwhere converse for some reasonable while c Now l. 79. 2. to give notice unto Bishops under them of things commanded by Supreme Authority d Novel 123. can 22. to have the hearing and first determining of such Causes as any man had against a Bishop e Novel 1. 3. a. 23. to receive the appeals of the inferior Clergy in case they found themselves overborn by the Bishop their immediate Judge And lest haply it should be imagined that Canons Ecclesiastical we want to make the selfsame thing manifest In the Council of Antioch it was thus decreed f Can. 9 The Bishop in every Province must know that he which is Bishop in the Mother-City hath not only charge of his own Parish or Diocese but even of the whole Province also Again it hath seemed good that other Bishops without him should do nothing more than only that which concerneth each one's Parish and the places underneath it Further by the selfsame Council all Councils provincial are reckoned void and frustrate Can. 16. unless the Bishop of the Mother-City within that Province where such Councils should be were present at them So that the want of his presence and in Canons for Church-Government want of his approbation also did disannul them Not so the want of any others Finally concerning election of Bishops the Council of Nice hath this general rule that the chief ordering of all things here Can. 4. is in every Province committed to the Metropolitan Touching them who amongst Metropolitan were also Primates and had of sundry united Provinces the chiefest Metropolitan See of such that Canon in the Council of Carthage was eminent whereby a Bishop is forbidden to go beyond Seas without the licence of the highest Chair within the same Bishop's own Country and of such which beareth the name of Apostolical Can. 23. is that ancient Canon likewise which chargeth the Bishops of each NATION to know him which is FIRST amongst them and to esteem of him as an HEAD Can. 34. and to do no extraordinary thing but with his leave The chief Primates of the Christian World were the Bishop of Rome Alexandria and Antioch To whom the Bishop of Constantinople being afterwards added Saint Chrysostom the Bishop of that See Callind in vita Chrysost. is in that respect said to have had the care and charge● not only of the City of Constantinople sed etiam totius Thracia que sex praefecturis est divisa & Asiaetolius quae ab undecim praesidebus regitur The rest of the East was under Antioch the South under Alexandria and the West under Rome Whereas therefore john the Bishop of jerusalem being noted of Heresy had written an Apology for himself unto the Bishop of Alexandria named Theophilus Hieron Ep. 91. Saint jerom reproveth his breach of the Order of the Church herein saying Tu qui regular quaris Ecclesiasticas & Nicend Concilii canonibus uteris respond mihi Ad Alexandrinum Episcopum Palastina quid pertinet Nifallor hoc ibi deçernitur at Palaeslinae Metropolie Caesarea sit & totius Orientis Antiochia Aut igitur ad Caesariensem Episcopuna refer debueras aut siprocul expetendum judiciam erat Antiochiam potius litera dirigenda Thus much concerning that Local Compass which was anciently set out to Bishops within the bounds and limits whereof we find that they did accordingly exercise that Episcopal Authority and power which they had over the Church of Christ. IX The first whom we read to have bend themselves against the Superiority of Bishops were Aerius and his Followers Aerius seeking to be made a Bishop In what respects Episcopal Regiment hath been gainsaid of old by Aerius could not brook that Eustathius was thereunto preferred before him Whereas therefore he saw himself unable to rise to that greatness which his ambitious pride did affect his way of revenge was to try what Wit being sharpened with envy and malice could do in raising a new seditious opinion that the Superiority which Bishops had Aug. de haen ad quod vult deu was a thing which they should not have that a Bishop might not ordain and that a Bishop ought not any way to be distinguished from a Presbyter Aeriani ab Aerio quodam sunt nominari qui qinum e●●er Presbyter docuisse sen●ur quad Episcopus non potest ordioare Dicibo Episcopum a Presbytero nulla ratione debere diseerni Aug. de haer For so doth St. Augustin deliver the opinion of Aerius Epiphanius not so plainly nor so directly but after a more Rhetorical sort His Speech was rather furious than convenient for man to use What is saith he a Bishop more than a Presbyter The one doth differ from the other nothing For their Order as one their Honour one one their Dignity A Bishop imposeth his hands so doth a Presbyter A Bishop baptizeth the like doth a Presbyter The Bishop is a Minister of Divine Service a Presbyter is the same The Bishop sitteth as a judge in a Throne even the Presbyter fitteth also A Presbyter therefore doing thus far the selfsame thing which a Bishop did it was by Aerius enforced that they ought not in any thing to differ Are we to think Aerius had wrong in being judged an Heretic for holding this opinion Surely if Heresy be an error falsely fathered upon Scriptures but indeed repugnant to the truth of the Word of God and by the consent of the universal Church in the Councils or in her contrary uniform practice throughout the whole world declared to be such and the opinion of Aerius in this point be a plain error of that nature there is no remedy but Aerius so schismatically and stiffly maintaining it must even stand where Epiphanius and Augustin have placed him An error repugnant unto the truth of the Word of God is held by them whosoever they be that stand in defence of any Conclusion drawn erroneously out of Scripture and untruely thereon fathered The opinion of Aerius therefore being falsely collected out of Scripture must needs be acknowledged an error repugnant unto the truth of the Word of God His opinion was that there ought not to be any difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter His grounds and reasons for this Opinion were Sentences of Scripture Under pretence of which Sentences whereby it seemed that Bishops and Presbyters at the first did not differ it was concluded by Aerius that the Church did ill in permitting any difference to be made The Answer which Epiphanius maketh unto some part of the proofs by Aerius alleged was not greatly studied or laboured for through a contempt of so base an error for this himself did perceive and profess yieldeth he thereof expressly this reason Men that have wit do evidently see that all this is mere foolishness But how vain and ridiculous soever his opinion seemed unto wise men with it Aerius deceived many for which cause somewhat was convenient to be said against it And in that very extemporal slightness which Epiphanius there useth albeit the answer made to Aerius be a As in that he saith the Apostle doth name sometimes Presbyters and not Bishops ● Tim. 4. 14. sometime Bishops and not Presbyters Phillip ● ● because all Churches had not both for want of able and sufficient men In such Churches therefore as had but the one the Apostle could not mention the other Which Answer is nothing to the l●t●er place above mentioned For that the Church of Philippi should have more Bishops than one and want a few able men to be Presbyters under the Regiment of one Bishop how shall we think it probable or likely in part but raw yet ought not hereby the Truth to find any less favour than in other Causes it doth where we do not therefore judge Heresy to have the better because now and then it allegeth that for itself which Defenders of Truth do not always so fully answer Let it therefore suffice that Aerius did bring nothing unanswerable The weak Solutions which the one doth give are to us no prejudice against the Cause as long as the others oppositions are of no greater strength and validity Did not Aerius trow you deserve to be esteemed as a new Apollo's mighty and powerful in the Word which could for maintenance of his Cause bring forth so plain Divine Authorities to prove by the Apostles own Writings that Bishops ought not in any thing to differ from other Presbyters For example where it is said that Presbyters made Timothy Bishop is it not clear that a Bishop should not differ from a Presbyter by having power of Ordination Again if a Bishop might by Order be distinguished from a Presbyter would the Apostle have given b 1 Tim. 4. 14. with the Impesition of the Presbyteries hand Of which Presbytery S Paul was chief 1 Tim. 1.6 And I think no man will deny that S. Paul need more than a simple Presbyters Authority Phil. 1. 1. To all the Saints at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons For as yet in the Church of Philippi there was no one which had Authority besides Apostles but their Presbyters or Bishops were all both in Title and in Power equal as he doth unto Presbyters the Title of Bishops These were the invincible demonstrations wherewith Aerius did so fiercely assault Bishops But the Sentence of Aerius perhaps was only that the difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter hath grown by the order and custom of the Church the Word of God not appointing that any such difference should be Well let Aerius then find the favour to have his Sentence so construed yet his fault in condemning the order of the Church his not submitting himself unto that Order the Schism which he caused in the Church about it who can excuse No the truth is that these things did even necessarily ensue by force of the very opinion which he and his followers did hold His conclusion was That there ought to be no difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop His proofs those Scripture-sentences which make mention of Bishops and Presbyters without any such distinction or difference So that if between his Conclusion and the Proofs whereby he laboured to strengthen the same there be any show of coherence at all we must of necessity confess that when Aerius did plead There is by the Word of God no difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop his meaning was not only that the Word of God itself appointeth nor but that it enforceth on us the duty of not appointing nor allowing that any such difference should be made In what respect Episcopal is gain-fall by the Authors of pretended Reformation at this day X. And of the selfsame mind are the Enemies of Government by Bishops even at this present day They hold as Aerius did that if Christ and his Apostles were obeyed a Bishop should not be permitted to ordain that between a Presbyter and a Bishop the Word of God alloweth not any inequality or difference to be made that their Order their Authority their Power ought to be one that it is but by usurpation and corruption that the one sort are suffered to have rule of the other or to be any way superior unto them Which opinion having now so many Defenders shall never be able while the World doth stand to find in some believing Antiquity as much as one which hath given it countenance or born any friendly affection towards it Touching these men therefore whose desire is to have all equal three ways there are whereby they usually oppugn the received Order of the Church of Christ. First by disgracing the inequality of Pastors as a new and mere Human invention a thing which was never drawn our of Scripture where all Pastors are found they say to have one and the same power both of Order and Jurisdiction Secondly by gathering together the differences between that power which we give to Bishops and that which was given them of old in the Church So that albeit even the ancient took more than was warrantable yet so far they swerved not as ours have done Thirdly by endeavouring to prove that the Scripture directly forbiddeth and that the judgement of the wisest the holiest the best in all Ages condemneth utterly the inequality which we allow XI That inequality of Pastors is a mere Humane invention a thing not found in the Word of God they prove thus 1. All the places of Scripture where the word Bishop is used or any other derived of that name signify an Oversight in respect of some particular Congregation only Their Auguments in disgrace of Regiment by●●heps as being a mere invention of Man and nor sound in Scripture Answered Titus 1. 5. Timothy 3. 5. Philippians ● 1. 1 Peter 5. 1. 2. and never in regard of Pastors committed unto his Oversight For which cause the names of Bishops and Presbyters or Pastoral Elders are used indifferently to signify one and the selfsame thing Which so indifferent and common use of these words for one and the selfsame office so constantly and perpetually in all places declareth that the word Bishop in the Apostles Writing importeth not a Pastor of higher Power and Authority over other Pastors 2. All Pastors are called to their Office by the same means of proceeding the Scripture maketh no difference in the manner of their Trial Election Ordination which proveth their Office and Power to be by Scripture all one 3. The Apostles were all of equal power and all Pastors do alike succeed the Apostles in their Ministry and Power the Commission and Authority whereby they succeed bring in Scripture but one and the same that was committed to the Apostles without any difference of committing to one Pastor more or to another less 4. The power of the Censures and Keys of the Church and of Ordaining and ordering Ministers in which two points especially this Superiority is challenged is not committed to any one Pastor of the Church more than to another but the same is committed as a thing to be carried equally in the guidance of the Church Whereby it appeareth that Scripture maketh all Pastors not only in the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments but also in all Ecclesiastical jurisdiction and Authority equal 5. The Council of Nice doth attribute this difference not unto any Ordination of God but to an ancient Custom used in former times which judgement is also followed afterward by other Councils Council Antioch cap. 9 6. Upon these Premises their summary collection and conclusion is That the Ministry T. C. l. ● p. 13. So that it appeareth that the Ministry of the Gospel and the Functurions thereof aught to be from Heaven From Heaven I say and Heavenly because although it the exce●red by Earthly men and Ministers are chosen also by men like unto themselves yet because it is done by the Word and Institution of God It may well be accounted to come from Heaven and from God of the Gospel and the Functions thereof aught to be from Heaven and of God Joh. I. 23. that if they be of God and from Heaven then are they set down in the Word of God that if they be not in the Word of God as by the premises it doth appear they say that our kinds of Bishops are not it followeth they are invented by the brain of men and are of the Earth and that consequently they can do no good in the Church of Christ but harm Our Answer hereunto is first that their proofs are unavailable to show Answer that Scripture affordeth no evidence for the inequality of Pastors Secondly That albeit the Scripture did no way insinuate the same to be God's Ordinance and the Apostles to have brought it in albeit the Church were acknowledged by all men to have been the first beginner thereof a long time after the Apostles were gone yet is not the Authority of Bishops hereby disannulled it is not hereby proved unfit or unprofitable for the Church 1. That the Word of God doth acknowledge no inequality of power amongst Pastors of the Church neither doth it appear by the signification of this word Bishop nor by the indifferent use thereof For concerning signification first it is clearly untrue that no other thing is thereby signified but only an oversight in respect of a particular Church and Congregation For I beseech you of what Parish or particular Congregation was Mathias Bishop His Office Scripture doth term Episcopal Acts 1. 22. which being no other than was common unto all the Apostles of Christ forasmuch as in that number there is not any to whom the oversight of many Pastors did not belong by force and virtue of that Office it followeth that the very Word doth sometimes even in Scripture signify oversight such as includeth charge over Pastors themselves And if we look to the use of the Word being applied with reference unto some one Church as Ephesus Philippi and such like albeit the Guides of those Churches be interchangeably in Scripture termed sometime Bishops sometime Presbyters to signify men having oversight and charge without relation at all unto other than the Christian Laity alone yet this doth not hinder but that Scripture may in some place have other names whereby certain of those Presbyters or Bishops are noted to have the oversight and charge of Pastors as out of all peradventure they had whom St. john doth entitle Angels Revel 1. 2. As for those things which the Apostle hath set down concerning Trial Election and Ordination of Pastors that he maketh no difference in the manner of their Calling this also is but a silly Argument to prove their Office and their Power equal by the Scripture The form of admitting each sort unto their Offices needed no particular Instruction There was no fear but that such matters of course would easily enough be observed The Apostle therefore toucheth those things wherein Judgement Wisdom and Conscience is required he carefully admonisheth of what quality Ecclesiastical Persons should be that their dealing might not be scandalous in the Church And forasmuch as those things are general we see that of Deacons there are delivered in a manner the selfsame Precepts which are given concerning Pastors so far as concerneth their Trial Election and Ordination Yet who doth hereby collect that Scripture maketh Deacons and Pastors equal If notwithstanding it be yet demanded Wherefore he which teatcheth what kind of Persons Deacons and Presbyters should be hath nothing in particular about the quality of chief Presbyters whom we call Bishops I answer briefly that there it was no fit place for any such discourse to be made inasmuch as the Apostle wrote unto Timothy and Titus who having by Commission Episcopal Authority were to exercise the same in ordaining not Bishops the Apostles themselves yet living and retaining that power in their own hands but Presbyters such as the Apostles at the first did create throughout all Churches Bishops by restraint only james at jerusalem excepted were not yet in being 3. About equality amongst the Apostles there is by us no Controversy moved If in the rooms of the Apostles which were of equal Authority all Pastors do by Scripture succeed alike where shall we find a Commission in Scripture which they speak of which appointed all to succeed in the selfsame equality of power except that Commission which doth authorise to Preach and Baptism should be alleged which maketh nothing to the purpose for in such things all Pastors are still equal We must I fear me wait very long before any other will be showed For howsoever the Apostles were Equals amongst themselves all other Pastors were not Equals with the Apostles while they lived neither are they any where appointed to be afterward each others Equals Apostles had as we know authority over all such as were no Apostles by force of which their Authority they might both command and judge It was for the singular good and benefit of those Disciples whom Christ left behind him and of the Pastors which were afterwards chosen for the great good I say of all sorts that the Apostles were in power above them Every day brought forth somewhat wherein they saw by experience how much it stood them in stead to be under controlment of those Superiors and Higher Governors of God's House Was it a thing so behoveful that Pastors should be subject unto Pastors in the Apostles own times and is there any commandment that this Subjection should cease with them and that the Pastors of the succeeding Ages should be all Equals No no this strange and absurd conceit of Equality amongst Pastors the Mother of Schism and of Confusion is but a dream newly brought forth and seen never in the Church before 4. Power of Censure and Ordination appeareth even by Scripture marvellous probable to have been derived from Christ to his Church without this surmised Equality in them to whom he hath committed the same For I would know Whether Timothy and Titus were commanded by Saint Paul to do any thing more than Christ hath authorized Pastors to do And to the one it is Scripture which saith 1 Tim. 5. 19 Against a Presbyter receive THOU no accusation saving under two or three Witnesses Scripture which likewise hath said to the other Tit. 1. 5. For this very cause left I THEE in Crete that THOU shouldst redress the things that remain and shouldst ORDAIN Presbyters in every City as I appointed THEE In the former place the power of Censure is spoken of and the power of Ordination in the latter Will they say that every Pastor there was equal to Timothy and Titus in these things If they do the Apostle himself is against it who saith that of their two very Persons he had made choice and appointed in those places them for performances of those Duties whereas if the same had belonged unto others no less than to them and not principally unto them above others it had been fit for the Apostle accordingly to have directed his Letters concerning these things in general unto them all which had equal interest in them even as it had been likewise fit to have written those Epistles in Saint John's Revelation unto whole Ecclesiastical Senates rather than only unto the Angels of each Church had not some one been above the rest in Authority to order the affairs of the Church Scripture therefore doth most probably make for the inequality of Pastors even in all Ecclesiastical affairs and by very express mention as well in Censures as Ordinations 5. In the Nicene Council there are consumed certain Prerogatives and Dignities belonging unto Primates or Archbishops and of them it is said that the ancient custom of the Church had been to give them such pre-eminence but no syllable whereby any man should conjecture that those Fathers did not honour the Superiority which Bishops had over other Pastors only upon ancient custom and not as a true Apostolical heavenly and divine Ordinance 6. Now although we should leave the general received persuasion held from the first beginning that the Apostles themselves left Bishops invested with power above other Pastors although I say we should give over this opinion and embrace that other conjecture which so many have thought good to follow They of Walden Acn. Syl. hist. Boem Norsilius Defence pac Nici Thum. Wakl c. 1. l. 2. cap. 0 Calvin Comment in 1 ad id Lit. Bulhtiger Decad ● Ser. 3.  Defence apol par 2. c. ● ●●t Folk Answ. to the Test. Tic. ● 5. John 1. 25. Mat. 21. 23. and which myself did sometimes judge a great deal more probable than now I do merely that after the Apostles were deceased Churches did agree amongst themselves for preservation of Peace and Order to make one Presbyter in each City Chief over the rest and to translate into him that power by force and virtue whereof the Apostles while they were alive did preserve and uphold order in the Church exercising Spiritual Jurisdiction partly by themselves and partly by Evangelists because they could not always every where themselves be present This order taken by the Church itself for so let us suppose that the Apostles did neither by word nor deed appoint it were notwithstanding more warrantable than that it should give place and be abrogated because the Ministry of the Gospel and the Functions thereof aught to be from Heaven There came Chief Priests and Elders unto our Saviour Christ as he was teaching in the Temple and the Question which they moved unto him was this By what Authority dost thou these things and who gave thee this Authority their Question he repelled with a Counter-demand The Baptism of John whence was it from Heaven or of Men Hereat they paused secretly disputing within themselves If we shall say from Heaven he will ask Wherefore did ye not then believe him And if we say of men We fear the People for all hold john a Prophet What is it now which hereupon these men would infer That all-Functions Ecclesiastical ought in such sort to be from Heaven as the Function of john was I No such matter here contained Nay doth not the contrary rather appear most plainly by that which is here set down For when our Saviour doth ask concerning the Baptism that is to say the whole Spiritual Function of john whether it were from Heaven or of men he giveth clearly to understand that men give Authority unto some and some God himself from Heaven doth Authorise Nor is it said or in any sort signified that none have lawful Authority which have it not in such manner as john from Heaven Again when the Priests and Elders were loath to say that john had his calling from men the reason was not because they thought that so john should not have had any good or lawful Calling but because they saw that by this means they should somewhat embase the Calling of john whom all men knew to have been sent from God according to the manner of Prophets by a mere Celestial vocation So that out of the evidence here alleged these things we may directly conclude first that who so doth exercise any kind of Function in the Church he cannot lawfully so do except Authority be given him Secondly that if Authority be not given him from men as the Authority of Teaching was given unto Scribes and Pharisees it must be given him from Heaven as Authority was given unto Christ Elias john Baptist and the Prophets For these two only ways there are to have Authority But a strange Conclusion it is God himself did from Heaven authorise john to bear Witness of the light to prepare a way for the promised Messiah to publish the nearness of the Kingdom of God to Preach Repentance and to Baptism for by this part which was in the Function of john most noted all the rest are together signified Therefore the Church of God hath no power upon new occurences to appoint to ordain an Ecclesiastical Function as Moses did upon Iethroes advice devise a civil All things we grant which are in the Church ought to be of God But for as much as they may be two ways accounted such one if they be of his own institution and not of ours another if they be of ours and yet with his approbation this latter way there is no impediment but that the same thing which is of men may be also justly and truly said to be of God the same thing from Heaven which is from Earth Of all good things God himself is Author and consequently an Approver of them The rule to discern when the actions of men are good when they are such as they ought to be is more ample and large than the Law which God hath set particular down in his holy Word the Scripture is but a part of that rule as hath been heretofore at large declared If therefore all things be of God which are well done Lib. 1. and if all things be well done which are according unto the rule of well doing and if the rule of well-doing be more ample than the Scripture what necessity is there that every thing which is of God should be set down in holy Scripture true it is in things of some one kind true it is that what we are now of necessity for ever bound to believe or observe in the special mysteries of Salvation Scripture must needs give notice of it unto the World yet true it cannot be touching all things that are of God Sufficient it is for the proof of lawfulness in any thing done if we canshew that God approved it And of his approbation the evidence is sufficient if either himself have by revelation in his word warranted it or we by some discourse of reason find it good of itself and unrepugnant unto any of his revealed Laws and Ordinances Wherefore injurious we are unto God the Author and Giver of Human capacity Judgement and Wit when because of some things wherein he precisely forbiddeth men to use their own inventions we take occasion to dis-authorize and disgrace the works which he doth produce by the hand either of nature or of grace in them We offer contumely even unto him when we scornfully reject what we lift without any other exception than this The brain of man hath devised it Whether we look into the Church or Common-weal as well in the one as in the other both the Ordination of Officers and the very institution of their Offices may be truly derived from God and approved of him although they be not always of him in such sort as those things are which are in Scripture Doth not the Apostle term the Law of Nature even as the Evangelist doth the Law of Scripture Rom. 1. 32. Luke 1. 6. God's own righteous Ordinance the Law of Nature then being his Law that must needs be of him which it hath directed men unto Great odds I grant there is between things devised by men although agreeable with the Law of Nature and things is Scripture set down by the finger of the Holy Ghost Howbeit the dignity of these is no hindrance but that those be also reverently accounted of in their Place Thus much they very well saw who although not living themselves under this kind of Church Polity yet being through some experience more moderate grave and circumspect in their Judgement have given hereof their sounder and better advised Sentence That which the holy Fathers saith Zanchius have by common consent Confes. 169. without contradiction of Scripture received for my part I neither will nor dare with good Conscience disallow And what more certain than that the ordering of Ecclesiastical Persons one in authority above another was received into the Church by the common consent of the Christian World What am I that I should take upon me to control the whole Church of Christ in that which is so well known to have been lawfully religiously and to notable purpose instituted Calvin maketh mention even of Primates that have authority above Bishops Epist. 150. It was saith he the institution of the ancient Church to the end that the Bishops might by this bond of Concord continue the faster linked amongst themselves And lest any man should think that as well he might allow the Papacy itself to prevent this he addeth Aliud est moderatum gerere & honorem quàmtotum terraram orbem immenso imperio complecti These things standing as they do we may conclude that albeit the Offices which Bishops execute had been committed unto them only by the Church and that the superiority which they have over other Pastors were not first by Christ himself given to the Apostles and from them descended to others but afterwards in such consideration brought in and agreed upon as is pretended yet could not this be a just or lawful exception against it The Arguments to prove there was no necessity of instituting Bishops in the Church XII But they will say There was no necessity of instituting Bishops the Church might have stood well enough without them they are as those supersluous things which neither while they continue do good nor do harm when they are removed because there is not any profitable use whereunto they should serve For first in the Primitive Church their Pastors were all equal the Bishops of those days were the very same which Pastors of Parish Churches at this day are with us no one at commandment or controlment by any others Authority amongst them The Church therefore may stand and flourish without Bishops If they be necessary wherefore were they not sooner instituted 2. Again if any such thing were needful for the Church Christ would have set it down in Scripture as he did all kind of Officers needful for jewish Regiment He which prescribed unto the jews so particularly the least thing pertinent unto their Temple would not have left so weighty Offices undetermined of in Scripture Ep. 3. lb. 1. but that he knew the Church could never have any profitable use of them 3. Furthermore it is the judgement of Cyprian that equity requireth every man's cause to be heard where the fault he is charged with was committed And the reason he allegeth is for as much as there they may have both Accusers and Witnesses in their cause Sith therefore every man's cause is neceiest to be handled at home by the judges of his own Parish to what purpose serveth their device which have appointed Bishops unto whom such causes may be brought and Archbishops to whom they may be also from thence removed XIII What things have necessary use in the Church The sort-alledged Argument answered they of all others are the most unfit to judge who bend themselves purposely against whatsoever the Church useth except it pleasie themselves to give it the grace and countenance of their favourable approbation which they willingly do not yield unto any part of Church-Policy in the forehead whereof there is not the mark of that new devised stamp But howsoever men like or dislike whether they judge things necessary or needless in the House of God a Conscience they should have touching that which they boldly affirm or deny 1. In the Primitive Church no Bishops no Pastor having power over other Pastors but all Equals every man Supreme Commander and Ruler within the Kingdom of his own Congregation or Parish The Bishops that are spoken of in the time of the Primitive Church all such as Persons or Rectors of Parishes are with in It thus it have been in the prime of the Church the question is how far they will have that prime to extend and where the latter spring of that ne●-supposed disorder to begin That Primitive Church wherein they hold that amongst the Fathers all which had Pastoral charge were Equal they must of necessity so far enlarge as to contain some hundred of years because for proof hereof they allege boldly and confidently Saint Cyprian who suffered Martyrdom about two hundred and threescore years after our blessed Lord's Incarnation A Bishop they say such as Cyprian doth T. C. l. 1. p. ●9 & ●on The Bishop which Cyprian speaketh of is nothing else but such as we call Pastor or as the common n●m● with us is Pastor and his Church whereof he is Bishop is neither Di●ces● nor Province but a Congregation which met together in one place and to he taught of one man speak of had only a Church or Congregation such as they Ministers and Pastors with us which are appointed unto several Towns Every Bishop in Cyprian's time was Pastor of one only Congregation assembled in one place to be taught of one man A thing impertiment although it were true For the Question is about Personal inequality amongst Governors of the Church Now to show there was no such thing in the Church at such time as Cyprian lived what bring they forth Forsooth that Bishops had then but a small circuit of place for the exercise of their Authority Be it supposed that no one Bishop had more than one only Town to govern one only Congregation to rule Doth it by Cyprian appear that in any such Town of Congregation being under the cure and charge of someone Bishops there were not besides that one Bishop others also Ministers of the Word and Sacraments yet subject to the power of the same Bishop If this appear not how can Cyprian be alleged for a Witness that in those times there were no Bishops which did differ from other Ministers as being above them in degree of Ecclesiastical power But a gross and a palpable untruth it is That Bishops with Cyprian were as Ministers are with us in Parish-Churches and that each of them did guide some Parish without any other Pastors under him St. Cyprian's own Person may serve for a manifest disproof hereof Pomius being Deacon under Cyprian noteth that his admirable virtues caused him to be Bishop with the soon which advancement therefore himself endeavoured for a while to avoid It seemed in his own eyes too soon for him to take the title of so great Honour in regard whereof a Bishop is tenned Pourisex Sacerdos Antistes Dei Yet such was his quality that whereas others did hardly perform that duty whereunto the Discipline of their Order togetherwith the Religion of the Oath they took at their entrance into the Office even constrained them him the Chair did not make but receive such a one as behoved that a Bishop should be But soon after followed that Prescription whereby being driven into exile and continuing in that estate for the space of some two years he ceased not by Letters to deal with his Clergy and to direct them about the Public affairs of the Church They unto whom those * Etsi Frarres pro dilectione iva cupoli sunt ad conven endum & visiandum Censissires boars quos illustravit ja●● gloriosis initiis divina degnati ramen caur-hoc & non glomeratim nee pre multitudinem simull iunctain pure ●●●saciendum ne ex hor ipsu invidi● conciten ur & in evened ●alive denegenar & ilum inferiabiles multum volumus ●●m perdamus is Consulite ergo & providere ut cum temperamento be egi ruids poth Ira ur Presbyteri queque qui ille apud Consessores offer antony's sinu●h cum singulls Diaconis pervices acc●rum qua & metatio personarum & vecitiirudo converient 'em minuis invidiam Ep. 5. Epistles were written he commonly entitleth the Presbyters and Deacons of that Church If any man doubt whether those Presbyters of Carthage were Ministers of the Word and Sacraments or no let him consider but that one only place of Cyprian where he giveth them this careful advice how to deal with circumspection in the perilous times of the Church that neither they which were for the truth's sake imprisoned might want those Ghostly comforts which they ought to have nor the Church by ministering the same unto them incur unnecessary danger and peril In which Epistle it doth expressly appear that the Presbyters of whom he speaketh did offer that is to say administer the Eucharist and that many there were of them in the Church of Carthage so as they might have every day change for performance of that duty Nor will any man of sound Judgement I think deny that Cyprian was in Authority and Power above the Clergy of that Church above those Presbyters unto whom he gave direction It is apparently therefore untrue that in Cyprian's time Ministers of the Word and Sacraments were all equal and that no one of them had either Title more excellent than the rest or Authority and Government over the rest Cyprian Bishop of Carthage was clearly Superior unto all other Ministers there Yea Cyprian was by reason of the Dignity of his See an Archbishop and so consequently Superior unto Bishops Bishops we say there have been always even as long as the Church of Christ itself hath been The Apostles who planted it did themselves rule as Bishops over it neither could they so well have kept things in order during their own times but that Episcopal Authority was given them from above to exercise far and wise over all other Guides and Pastors of God's Church The Church indeed for a time continued without Bishops by restraint every where established in Christian Cities But shall we thereby conclude that the Church hath no use of them that without them it may stand and flourish No the cause wherefore they were so soon universally appointed was for that it plainly appeared that without them the Church could not have continued long It was by the special Providence of God no doubt so disposed that the evil whereof this did serve for remedy might first be felt and so the reverend Authority of Bishops be made by so much the more effectual when our general experience had taught men what it was for Churches to want them Good Laws are never esteemed so good not acknowledged so necessary as when precedent crimes are as seeds out of which they grow Episcopal Authority was even in a manner sanctified unto the Church of Christ by that little bitter experience which it first had of the pestilent evil of Schisms Again when this very thing was proposed as a remedy yet a more suspicions and fearful acceptance it must needs have found if the selfsame provident Wisdom of Almighty God had not also given beforehand sufficient trial thereof in the Regiment of jerusalem a Mother-Church which having received the same order even at the first was by it most peaceably governed when other Churches without it had trouble So that by all means the necessary use of Episcopal Government is confirmed yea strengthened it is and ratified even by the not establishment thereof in all Churches every where at the first 2. When they further dispute That if any such thing were usedful Christ would in Scripture have set down particular Statutes and Laws appointing that Bishops should be made and prescribing in what order even as the Law doth for all kind of Officers which were needful in the jewish Regiment might not a man that would bend his wit to maintain the fury of the Petrobrusian Heretics in pulling down Oratories use the selfsame argument with as much countenance of reason If it were needful that we should assemble ourselves in Churches would that God which taught the jews so exactly the frame of their sumptuous Temple leave us no particular instructions in writing no not so much at which way to lay any one stone Surely such kind of Argumentation doth not so strengthen the sinews of their cause as weaken the credit of their Judgement which are led therewith 3. And whereas Thirdly in disproof of that use which Episcopal Authority hath in Judgement of Spiritual Causes they bring forth the verdict of Cyprian who saith Cypr. lib. 1. Ep. 3. That equity requireth every man's Cause to be heard where the fault he was charged with was committed forasmuch as there they may have both Accusers and Witnesses in the Cause This Argument grounding itself on Principles no less true in Civil than in Ecclesiastical Causes unless it be qualified with some exceptions or limitations over-turneth the highest Tribunal Seats both in Church and Commonwealth it taketh utterly away all appeals it secretly condemneth even the blessed Apostle himself as having transgressed the law of Equity by his appeal from the Court of judea unto those higher which were in Rome Acts. 25. The generality of such kind of axioms deceiveth unless it be construed with such cautions as the matter whereunto they are appliable doth require An usual and ordinary transportation of causes out of Africa into Italy out of one Kingdom into another as discontented Persons list which was the thing which Cyprian disalloweth may be unequal and unmeet and yet not therefore a thing unnecessary to have the Courts erectted in higher places and judgement committed unto greater Persons to whom the meaner may bring their causes either by way of appeal ot otherwise to be determined according to the order of Justice which hath been always observed every where in Civil States and is no less requisite also for the State of the Church of God The Reasons which teach it to be expedient for the one will show it to be for the other at leastwise not unnecessary Inequality of Pastors is an Ordinance both Divine and profitable Their exceptions against it in these two respects we have showed to be altogether causeless unreasonable and unjust XIV The next thing which they upbraid us with An Answer unto those things which are objected concerning the difference between that power which Bishops now have and that which ancient Bishops had more than other Presbyters is the difference between that inequality of Pastors which hath been of old and which now is For at length they grant That the superiority of Bishops and of Archbishops is somewhat ancient but no such kind of Superiority as ours have By the Laws of our Discipline a Bishop may ordain without ask the People's consent a Bishop may excommunicate and release alone a Bishop may imprison a Bishop may bear Civil Office in the Realm a Bishop may be a Counsellor of State these thing ancient Bishops neither did nor might do Be it granted that ordinarily neither in elections nor deprivations neither in excommunicating nor in releasing the excommunicate in none of the weighty affairs of Government Bishops of old were wont to do any thing without consultation with their Clergy and consent of the People under them Be it granted that the same Bishops did neither touch any man with corporal punishment nor meddle with secular affairs and Offices the whole Clergy of God being then tied by the strict and severe Canons of the Church to use no other than ghostly power to attend no other business than heavenly Liv. lib. 1. Tarqvinius was in the Roman Commonwealth deservedly hated of whose unorderly proceedings the History speaketh thus Hic Regum primus traditum à Prioribus morem de omnibus Senatum consulendi solvit domesticis Consillis Rempub. administravit bellum pacem foedera societates pierce ipsum cum quibus voluit injussu Populi ac Senatus fecit diremitque Against Bishops the like is objected That they are Invaders of other men's right and by intolerable usurpation take upon them to do that alone wherein ancient Laws have appointed that others not they only should bear sway Let the Case of Bishops he put not in such sort as it is but even as their very heavyest Adversaries would devise it Suppose that Bishops at the first had encroached upon the Church that by sleights and cunning practices they had appropriated Ecclesiastical as Augustus did Imperial power that they had taken the advantage of men's inclinable affections which did not suffer them for Revenue-sake to be suspected of Ambition that in the mean while their usurpation had gone forward by certain easy and unsensible degrees that being not discerned in the growth when it was thus far grown as we now see it hath proceeded the world at length perceiving there was just cause of complaint but no place of remedy left had assented unto it by a general secret agreement to bear it now as an helpless evil all this supposed for certain and true yet surely a thing of this nature as for the Superior to do that alone unto which of right the consent of some other Inferiors should have been required by them though it had an indirect entrance at the first must needs through continuance of so many ages as this hath stood be made now a thing more natural to the Church than that it should be oppressed with the mention of contrary Orders worn so many ages since quite and clean out of ure But with Bishops the case is otherwise For in doing that by themselves which others together with them have been accustomed to do they do not any thing but that whereunto they have been upon just occasion authorized by orderly means All things natural have in them naturally more or less the power of providing for their own safety And as each particular man hath this power so every Politic Society of men must needs have the same that thereby the whole may provide for the good of all parts therein For other benefit we have not any by sorting ourselves into Politic Societies saving only that by this mean each part hath that relief which the virtue of the whole is able to yield it The Church therefore being a Politic Society or Body cannot possibly want the power of providing for itself And the chiefest part of that power consisteth in the Authority of making Laws Now forasmuch as Corporations are perpetual the Laws of the ancienter Church cannot choose but bind the latter while they are in force But we must note withal that because the body of the Church continueth the same it hath the same Authority still and may abrogate old Laws or make new as need shall require Wherefore vainly are the ancient Canons and Constitutions objected as Laws when once they are either let secretly to die by dis-usage or are openly abrogated by contrary Laws The Ancient had cause to do no otherwise than they did and yet so strictly they judged not themselves in Conscience bound to observe those Orders but that in sundry cases they easily dispensed therewith which I suppose they would never have done had they esteemed them as things whereunto everlasting immutable and undispensible observation did belong The Bishop usually promoted none which were not first allowed as fit by conference had with the rest of his Clergy and with the People Notwithstanding in the case of Aurelius Saint Cyprian did otherwise In matters of Deliberation and Counsel for disposing of that which belongeth generally to the whole body of the Church or which being more particular is nevertheless of so great consequence that it needeth the force of many Judgements conferred in such things the common saying must necessarily take place An Eye cannot see that which Eyes can As for Clerical Ordinations there are no such reasons alleged against the Order which is but that it may be esteemed as good in every respect as that which hath been and in some considerations better at leastwise which is sufficient to our purpose it may be held in the Church of Christ without transgressing any Law either Ancient or Late Divine or Human. which we ought to observe and keep The form of making Ecclesiastical Officers hath sundry parts neither are they all of equal moment When Deacons having not been before in the Church of Christ the Apostles saw it needful to have such ordained They first assemble the multitude and show them how needful it is that Deacons be made Secondly they name unto them what number they judge convenient what quality the men must be of and to the People they commit the care of finding such out Thirdly the People hereunto assenting make their choice of Stephen and the rest those chosen men they bring and present before the Apostles Howbeit all this doth not endue them with any Ecclesiastical Power But when so much was done the Apostles finding no cause to take exception did with Prayer and imposition of hands make them Deacons This was it which gave them their very being all other things besides were only preparations unto this Touching the form of making Presbyters although it be not wholly of purpose anywhere set down in the Apostles Writings yet sundry speeches there are which insinuate the chiefest things that belong unto that Action As when Paul and Barnabas are said to have fasted prayed and made Presbyters When Timothy is willed to lay hands suddenly on no man for fear of participating with other men's sins For this cause the Order of the Primitive Church was between Choice and Ordination to have some space for such Probation and Trial as the Apostle doth mention in Deacons saying Let them first be proved and then minister if so be they be found blameless Alexander Severus beholding in his time how careful the Church of Christ was especially for this point how after the choice of their Pastors they used to publish the names of the Parties chosen and not to give them the final act of Approbation till they saw whether any  or impediment would be alleged he gave Commandment That the like should also be done in his own Imperial Elections adding this as a Reason wherefore he so required namely For that both Christians and jews being so wary about the Ordination of their Priests it seemed very unequal for him not to be in like sort circumspect to whom he committed the Government of Provinces containing power over men's both Estates and Lives This the Canon Law itself doth provide for requiring before Ordination scrutiny Let them diligently be examined three days together before the Sabbath D●c● quando Epis. sect Igitur and on the Sabbath let them be presented unto the Bishop And even this in effect also is the very use of the Church of England at all Solemn Ordaining of Ministers and if all Ordaining were Solemn I must confess it were much the better The pretended disorder of the Church of England is that Bishops Ordain them to whose Election the People give no voices and so the Bishops make them alone that is to say they give Ordination without Popular Election going before which ancient Bishops neither did nor might do Now in very truth if the multitude have hereunto a right which right can never be translated from them for any cause then is there no remedy but we must yield that unto the lawful making of Ministers the voice of the People is required and that according to the Adverse Parties Assertion such as make Ministers without ask the People's consent Eccl does p 14 do but exercise a certain Tyranny At the first Erection of the Common-weals of Rome the People for so it was then fittest determined of all affairs Afterwards this growing troublesome their Senators did that for them which themselves before had done In the end all came to one man's hands and the Emperor alone was instead of many Senators In these things the experience of time may breed both Civil and Ecclesiastical change from that which hath been before received neither do latter things always violently exclude former but the one grawing less convenient than it hath been giveth place to that which is now become more That which was fit for the People themselves to do at the first might afterwards be more convenient for them to do by some other Which other is not thereby proved a Tyrant because he alone doth that which a multitude were wont to do unless by violence he take that Authority upon him against the Order of Law and without any public appointment as with us if any did it should I suppose not long be safe for him so to do This Answer I hope will seem to be so much the more reasonable in that themselves who stand against us have furnished us therewith For whereas against the making of Ministers by Bishops alone their use hath been to object What sway the People did bear when Stephen and rest were ordained Deacons They begin to espy how their own Platform swerveth not a little from that example wherewith they control the practices of others For touching the form of the People's concurrence in that Action they observe it not no they plainly profess that they are not in this point bound to be followers of the Apostles The Apostles Ordained whom the People had first chosen They hold that their Ecclesiastical Senate ought both to choose and also to Ordain Do not themselves then take away that which the Apostles gave the People namely the privilege of choosing Ecclesiastical Officers They do But behold in what sort they answer it By the sixth and the fourteenth of the Acts say they it doth appear Eccl. Discipl fol. 41. that the people had the chiefest power of choosing Howbeit that as unto me it seemeth was dine upon special cause which doth not so much concern us neither ought it to be drawn unto the ordinary and perpetual form of governing the Church For as in establishing Common-weals not only if they be popular but even being such as are ordered by the power of a few the chiefest or as by the sole Authority of one till the same he established the whole sway is in the People's hands who voluntarily appoint those Magistrates by whose Authority they may be governed so that afterward not the multitude itself but those Magistrates which were chosen by the multitude have the ordering of Public Affairs After the selfsame manner is fared in establishing also the Church When there was not as yet any placed over the People all Authority was in them all but when they all had chosen certain to whom the Regiment of the Church was committed this power is not now any longer in the hands of the whole multitude but wholly in theirs who are appointed Guides of the Church Besides in the choice of Deacons there was also another special cause wherefore the whole Church as that time should choose them For inasmuch as the Grecians murmured against the Hebrews and complained that in the duly distribution which was made for relief of the poor they were not indifferently respected nor such regard had of their Widows as was meet this made it necessary that they all should have to deal in the choice of those unto whom that care was afterwards to be committed to the end that all occasion of jealousies and complaints might be removed Wherefore that which was done by the People for certain Causes before the Church was sully settled may not be drawn out and applied unto a constant and perpetual form of ordering the Church Let them cast the Discipline of the Church of England into the same scales where they weigh their own let them give us the same measure which here they take and our strifes shall soon be brought to a quiet end When they urge the Apostles as Precedents when they condemn us of Tyranny because we do not in making Ministers the same which the Apostles did when they plead That with us one alone doth ordain and that our Ordinations are without the People's knowledge contrary to that example which the blessed Apostles gave We do not request at their hands allowance as much as of one word we speak in our own defence if that which we speak be of our own but that which themselves speak they must be content to listen unto To exempt themselves from being over-farr pressed with the Apostles example they can answer That which was done by the People once upon special Causes when the Church was not yet established is not to be made a rule for the constant and continual ordering of the Church In defence of their own Election although they do not therein depend on the People so much as the Apostles in the choice of Deacons they think it a very sufficient Apology that there were special considerations why Deacons at that time should be chosen by the whole Church but not so now In excuse of dissimilitudes between their own and the Apostles Discipline they are contented to use this Answer That many things were done in the Apostles times before the settling of the Church which afterward the Church was not tied to observe For countenance of their own proceedings wherein their Governors do more than the Apostles and their People less than under the Apostles the first Churches are found to have done at the making of Ecclesiastical Officers they deem it a marvellous reasonable kind of Pleading to say That even as in Common-wealt when the multitude have once chosen many or one to rule over them the right which was at the first in the whole body of the People is now derived into those many or that one which it so chosen and that this being done it is not the whole multitude to whom the administration of such Public affairs any longer appertaineth but that which they did their Rulers may now do lawfully without them After the selfsame manner it slandeth with the Church also How easy and plain might we make our defence how clear and allowable even unto them it we could but obtain of them to admit the same things consonant unto equity in our mouths which they require to be so taken from their own If that which is truth being uttered in maintenance of Scotland and Geneva do not cease to be truth when the Church of England once allegeth it this great crime of Tyranny wherewith we are charged hath a plain and an easy defence Yea But we do not at all ask the People's approbation which they do whereby they show themselves more indifferent and more free from taking away the People's right Indeed when their Lay-Elders have chosen whom they think good the People's consent thereunto is asked and if they give their approbation the thing standeth warranted for sound and good But if not is the former choice overthrown No but the People is to yield to reason and if they which have made the choice do so like the Poeples reason as to reverse their own deed at the hearing of it than a new election to be made otherwise the former to stand notwithstanding the People's negative and dislike What is this else but to deal with the People as those Nurses do with Infants Eccles. Discip. p. 41. whose mouths they besmear with the backside of the spoon as though they had fed them when they themselves devour the food They cry in the ears of the People that all men's consent should be had unto that which concerns all they make the People believe we wrong them and deprive them of their right in making Ministers whereas with us the People have commonly far more sway and force then with them For inasmuch as there are but two main things observed in every Ecclesiastical function Power to exercise the duty itself and some charge of People whereon to exercise the same the former of these is received at the hands of the whole visible Catholic Church For it is not any one particular multitude that can give power the force whereof may reach far and wide indefinitely as the power of Order doth which whoso hath once received there is no action which belongeth thereunto but he may exercise effectually the same in any part of the World without iterated Ordination They whom the whole Church hath from the beginning used as her Agents in conferring this power are not either one or mo● of the Laity and therefore it hath not been heard of that ever any such were allowed to ordain Ministers Only Persons Ecclesiastical and they in place of Calling Superiors both unto Deacons and unto Presbyters only such Persons Ecclesiastical have been authorized to ordain both and to give them the power of Order in the name of the whole Church Such were the Apostles such was Timothy such was Titus such are Bishops Neque enim sas crae aut licebat ut interior ordinater major in Comment q. Ambros. till hutio●ur in 1 Tim. 3. Not that there is between these no difference but that they all agree in pre-eminence of Place above both Presbyters and Deacons whom they otherwise might not ordain Now whereas hereupon some do infer that no Ordination can stand but only such as is made by Bishops which have had their Ordination likewise by other Bishops before them till we come to the very Apostles of Christ themselves In which respect it was demanded of Beza at Poissie By what Authority he could administer the holy Sacraments being not thereunto ordained by any other than Calvin or by such as to whom the power of Ordination did not belong according to the ancient Orders and Customs of the Church sith Calvin and they who joined with him in that action were no Bishops And Athanasius maintaineth the fact of Macarius a Presbyter which overthrew the holy Table whereat one Ischyras would have ministered the blessed Sacrament having not been consecrated thereunto by laying on of some Bishop's hands according to the Ecclesiastical Canons as also Epiphanius inveigheth sharply against divers for doing the like when they had not Episcopal Ordination To this we answer That there may be sometimes very just and sufficient reason to allow Ordination made without a Bishop The whole Church visible being the true original subject of all power it hath not ordinarily allowed any other than Bishops alone to ordain Howbeit as the ordinary course is ordinarily in all things to be observed so it may be in some cases not unnecessary that we decline from the ordinary ways Men may be extraordinarily yet allowably two ways admitted unto Spiritual Functions in the Church One is when God himself doth of himself raise up any whose labour be useth without requiring that men should Authorise them But then he doth ratify their Calling by manifest signs and tokens himself from Heaven And thus even such as believed not our Saviour's teaching did yet acknowledge him a lawful Teacher sent from God Thou art a Teacher sent from God otherwise none could do those things which thou dost Luther did but reasonably therefore in declaring that the Senate of Mulheuse should do well to ask of Muncer From whence he received power to teach who it was that had called him And if his answer were that God had given him his Charge then to require at his hands some evident sign thereof for men's satisfaction because so God is wont when he himself is the Author of any extraordinary Calling Another extraordinary kind of Vocation is when the exigence of necessity doth constrain to leave the usual ways of the Church which otherwise we would willingly keep Where the Church must needs have some ordained and neither hath nor can have possibly a Bishop to ordain in case of such necessity the ordinary Institution of God hath given oftentimes and may give place And therefore we are not simply without exception to urge a lineal descent of power from the Apostles by continued succession of Bishops in every effectual Ordination These cases of inevitable necessity excepted none may ordain but only Bishops By the imposition of their hands it is that the Church giveth power of Order both unto Presbyters and Deacons Now when that power so received is once to have any certain Subject whereon it may work and whereunto it is to be tied here cometh in the People's consent and not before The power of Order I may lawfully receive without ask leave of any multitude but that power I cannot exercise upon any one certain People utterly against their wills Neither is there in the Church of England any man by order of Law possessed with Pastoral charge over any Parish but the People in effect do choose him thereunto For albeit they choose not by giving every man personally his particular voice yet can they not say that they have their Pastors violently obtruded upon them in as much as their ancient and original interest therein hath been by orderly means derived into the Patron who chooseth for them And if any man be desirous to know how Petrons came to have such interest we are to consider that at the first erection of Churches it seemed but reasonable in the eyes of the whole Christian World to pass that right to them and their Successors on whose soil and at whose charge the same were founded This all men gladly and willingly did both in honour of so great Piety and for encouragement of many others unto the like who peradventure else would have been as slow to erect Churches or to endow them as we are forward both to spoil them and to pull them down It 's no true assertion therefore in such sort as the pretended Reformers mean it That all Ministers of God's Word ought to be made by consent of many that is to say by the People's saffrages that ancient Bishops neither did nor might or deign otherwise and that ours do herein usurp a far greater power than was or then lawfully could have been granted unto Bishops which were of old Furthermore as touching Spiritual Jurisdiction our Bishops they say do that which of all things is most intolerable and which the Ancient never did Our Bishop's excommunicate and release alone whereas the Censures of the Church neither aught nor were want to be administered otherwise then by consent of many Their meaning here when they speak of Many is not as before it was When they hold that Ministers should be made with consent of many they understand by Many the Multitude or Common People but in requiring that many should evermore join with the Bishop in the administration of Church-censures they mean by Many a few Lay-Elders chosen out of the rest of the People to that purpose This they say Cencil Carth●e 4. c. 23. Cypr ● Ep 10. & 14. l. ● Ep. 8. is ratified by ancient Councils by ancient Bishops this was practised And the reason hereof as Beza supposeth was Because if the power of Ecclesiastical Censures did belong unto any one there would this great inconvenience follow Ecclesiastical Regiment should be changed into mere Tyranny or else into a Civil Royalty Therefore no one either Bishop or Presbyter should or can alone exercise that Power but with his Ecclesiastical Consistory he ought to do it as may appear by the old Discipline And is it possible that one so grave and judicious should think it in earnest Tyranny for a Bishop to excommunicate whom Law and Order hath authorized so to do or be persuaded that Ecclesiastical Regiment degenerateth into Civil Regality when one is allowed to do that which hath been at any time the deed of more Surely far meaner-witted men than the World accounteth Mr. Reza do easily perceive that Tyranny is Power violently exercised against Order against Law and that the difference of these two Regiments Ecclesiastical and Civil consisteth in the matter about which the actions of each are conversant and not in this that Civil Royalty admitteth but one Ecclesiastical Government requireth many Supreme Correctors Which Allegation were it true would prove no more than only that some certain number is necessary for the assistance of the Bishop But that a number of such as they do require is necessary how doth it prove Wherefore albeit Bishops should now do the very same which the Ancients did using the College of Presbyters under them as their Assistants when they administer Church-Censures yet should they still swerve utterly from that which these men so busily labour for because the Agents whom they require to assist in those Cases are a sort of Lay-Elders such as no ancient Bishop ever was assisted with Shall these fruitless jars and janglings never cease shall we never see end of them How much happier were the World if those eager Taskmasters whose eyes are so curious and sharp in discerning what should be done by many and what by few were all changed into painful doers of that which every good Christian man ought either only or chiefly to do and to be found therein doing when that great and glorious Judge of all men's both deeds and words shall appear In the mean while be it One that hath this charge or be they Many that be his Assistants let there be careful provision that Justice may be administered and in this shall our God be glorified more than by such contentious Disputes Concerning the Civil power and authority which our Bishops have XV. Of which nature that also is wherein Bishops are over and besides all this accused to have much more excessive power than the ancient in as much as unto their Ecclesiastical authority the Civil Magistrate for the better repressing of such as contemn Ecclesiastical censures hath for divers ages annexed Civil The crime of Bishops herein is divided into these two several branches the one that in Causes Ecclesiastical they strike with the sword of Secular punishments the other that Offices are granted them by virtue whereof they meddle with Civil Affairs Touching the one it reacheth no farther than only unto restraint of liberty by imprisonment which yet is not done but by the Laws of the Land and by virtue of authority derived from the Prince A thing which being allowable in Priests amongst the Jews must needs have received some strange alteration in nature since if it be now so pernicious and venomous to be coupled with a Spiritual Vocation in any man which beareth Office in the Church of Christ. Shemaia writing to the College of Priests which were in jerusalem Jer. 29. 2● and to Z●phania the principal of them told them they were appointed of God that they might be Officers in the House of the Lord for every man which raved and did make himself a Prophet to the end that they might by the force of this their authority put such in Prison and in the Stocks His malice is reproved for that he provoketh them to show their power against the innocent But surely when any man justly punishable had been brought before them it could be no unjust thing for them even in such sort then to have punished As for Offices by virtue whereof Bishops have to deal in Civil Affairs we must consider that Civil Affairs are of divers kindest and as they be not all fit for Ecclesiastical Persons to meddle with so neither is it necessary nor at this day haply convenient that from meddling with any such thing at all they all should without exception be secluded I will therefore set down some few causes wherein it cannot but clearly appear unto reasonable men that Civil and Ecclesiastical Functions may be lawfully united in one and the same Person First therefore in case a Christian Society be planted amongst their professed enemies or by toleration do live under some certain State whereinto they are not incorporated whom shall we judge the meetest men to have the hearing and determining of such mere civil Controversies as are every day wont to grow between man and man Such being the state of the Church of Corinth the Apostle giveth them this direction 1 Cor. 6. Dare any of you having business against another be judged by the unjust and not under Saints Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the World If the World then shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters Know ye not that we shall judge the Angels How much more things that appertain to this life If then ye have judgement of things pertaining to this life set up them which are least esteemed in the Church I speak it to your shame Is it so that there is not a wise man amongst you us not one that can judge between his Brethren but a Brother goeth to law with a Brother and that under the Infidels Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you because ye go to Law one with another Why rather suffer ye not wrong why rather sustain ye not harm In which Speech there are these degrees Better to suffer and to put up Injuries than to contend better to end contention by Arbitrement then by Judgement better by Judgement before the wisest of their own than before the simpler better before the simplest of their own than the wisest of them without V●l. Birnah E●sson ane●● Jer lib. 40. c. 16. So that if judgement of Secular affairs should be committed unto wise men unto men of chiefest Credit and Account amongst them when the Pastors of their Souls are such Who more fit to be also their Judges for the ending of strikes The wisest in things divine may be also in things humane the most skilful At leastwise they are by likelihood commonly more able to know right from wrong than the common un-lettered sort And what St. Augustin did hereby gather Aug. the oper. Monarch c. 29 his own words do sufficiently show I call God to witness upon my Soul saith he that according to the Order which is kept in well-ordered Monasteries I could wish to have every day my hours of labouring with my hands my hours of reading and of praying rather than to endure these most tumultuous perplexities of other men's causes which I am forced to bear while I travel in Secular businesses either by judging to discuss them or to cut them off by entreaty Unto which toils that Apostle who himself sustained them not for any thing we read hath notwithstanding ●yed us not of his own accord but being thereunto directed by that Spirit which speaks in him His own Apostleship which drew him to travel up and down suffered him not to be any where settled for this purpose wherefore the wise faithful and holy men which were seated here and there and not them which traveled up and down to preach he made Examiner's of such Businesses Whereupon of him it is no where written that he had leisure to attend these things from which we cannot excuse ourselves although we be simple because even such he requireth if wise men cannot be had rather than that the affairs of Christians should be brought into public judgement Howbeit not without comfort in our Lord are these travels undertaken by us for the hopes sake of eternal life to the end that with patience we may reap fruit So far is Saint Augustin from thinking it unlawful for Pastors in such sort to judge Civil Causes that he plainly collecteth out of the Apostles words a necessity to undertake that duty yea himself he comforteth with the hope of a blessed reward in lieu of travel that way sustained Again even where whole Christian Kingdoms are how troublesome were it for Universities and other greater Collegiate Societies erected to serve as Nurseries unto the Church of Christ if every thing which civilly doth concern them were to be carried from their own peculiar Governors because for the most part they are as fittest it is they should be Persons Ecclesiastical Calling It was by the wisdom of our famous Predecessors foreseen how unfit this would be and hereupon provided by grant of special Charters that it might be as now it is in the Universities where their Vicechancellors being for the most part Professors of Divinity are nevertheless Civil Judges over them in the most of their ordinary Causes And to go yet some degrees further A thing impossible it is not neither altogether unusual for some who are of royal blood to be consecrated unto the Ministry of Jesus Christ and so to be Nurses of God's Church not only as the Prophet did foretell but also as the Apostle Saint Paul was Now in case the Crown should by this mean descend unto such Persons perhaps when they are the very last or perhaps the very best of their Race so that a greater benefit they are not able to bestow upon a Kingdom than by accepting their right therein shall the sanctity of their Order deprive them of that honour whereunto they have right by blood or shall it be a bar to shut out the public good that may grow by their virtuous Regiment If not then must they cast off the Office which they received by Divine Imposition of hands or if they carry a more religious opinion concerning that heavenly Function it followeth that being invested as well with the one as the other they remain God's lawfully anointed both ways With men of skill and mature judgement there is of this so little doubt that concerning such as at this day are under the Archbishops of Mentzes Colen and Travers being both Archbishops and Princes of the Empire yea such as live within the Popes own Civil Territories there is no cause why any should deny to yield them civil obedience in any thing which they command not repugnant to Christian Piety yea even that civilly for such as are under them not to obey them were the part of seditious Persons Howbeit for Persons Ecclesiastical thus to exercise Civil Dominion of their own is more than when they only sustain some Public Office or deal in some business Civil being thereunto even by Supreme Authority required As Nature doth not any thing in vain so neither Grace Wherefore if it please God to bless some Principal Attendants on his own Sanctuary and to endue them with extraordinary parts of excellency some in one kind some in another surely a great derogation it were to the very honour of him who bestowed so precious Graces except they on whom he hath bestowed them should accordingly be employed that the fruit of those Heavenly Gifts might extend itself unto the Body of the Commonwealth wherein they live which being of purpose instituted for so all Commonwealths are to the end that all might enjoy whatsoever good it pleaseth the Almighty to endue each one with must needs suffer loss when it hath not the gain which eminent civil hability in Ecclesiastical Persons is now and then found apt to afford Shall we then discommend the People of Milan for using Ambrose their Bishop as an Ambassador about their Public and Politic Affairs the Jews for electing their Priests sometimes to be Leaders in War David for making the High Priest his Chiefest Counsellor of State Finally all Christian Kings and Princes which have appointed unto like services Bishops or other of the Clergy under them No! they have done in this respect that which most sincere and religious wisdom alloweth Neither is it allowable only when either a kind of necessity doth cast Civil Offices upon them or when they are thereunto preferred in regard of some extraordinary fitness but further also when there are even of right annexed unto some of their places or of course imposed upon certain of their Persons Functions of Dignity and Account in the Commonwealth albeit no other consideration be had therein save this that their credit and countenance may by such means be augmented A thing if ever to be respected surely most of all now when God himself is for his own sake generally no where honoured Religion almost no where no where religiously adored the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments of Christ a very cause of disgrace in the eyes both of high and low where it hath not somewhat besides itself to be countenanced with For unto this very pass things are come that the glory of God is constrained even to stand upon borrowed credit which yet were somewhat the more tolerable if there were not that dissuade to lead i● him No practice so vile but pretended Holiness is made sometimes a Cloak to hide it The French King Philip Valois in his time made an Ordinance that all Prelates and Bishops shu●●ld be clean excluded from Parliaments where the Affairs of the Kingdom were handled pretending that a King with good Conscience cannot draw Pastors having Cure of Souls from so weighty a business to trouble their Heads with Consultations of State But irreligious intents are not able to hide themselves no not when Holiness is made their Cloak This is plain and simple truth That the counsels of wicked men hate always the presence of them whose virtue though it should not be able to prevail against their purposes would notwithstanding be unto their minds a secret corrosive and therefore till either by one shift or another they can bring all things to their own hands alone they are not secure Ordinances holler and better there stand as yet in force by the grace of Almighty God and the works of his Providence amongst us Let not Envy so far prevail as to make us account that a Blemish which if there be in us any spark of sound Judgement or of religious Conscience we must of necessity acknowledge to be one of the chiefest Ornaments unto this Land By the ancient Laws whereof the Clergy being held for the chief of those Three Estates which together make up the entire Body of this Commonwealth under one Supreme Head and Governor it hath all this time ever born a sway proportionable in the Weighty Affairs of the Land wise and virtuous Kings condescending most willingly thereunto even of reverence to the Most High with the Flower of whose sanctified Inheritance as it were with a kind of Divine presence unless their Chiefest Civil Assemblies were so far forth beautified as might be without any notable impediment unto their Heavenly Functions they could not satisfy themselves as having showed towards God an Affection most dutiful Thus first in defect of other Civil Magistrates Secondly for the ease and quietness of Scholastical Societies Thirdly by way of Political necessity Fourthly in regard of quality care and extraordinancy Fifthly For countenance into the Ministry And lastly even of Devotion and Reverence towards God himself there may be admitted at leastwise in some Particulars well and lawfully enough a conjunction of Civil and Ecclesiastical Power except there be some such Law or Reason to the contrary as may prove it to be a thing simply in itself naught Against it many things are objected as first That the matters which are noted in the holy Scripture to have belonged unto the ordinary Office of any Minister of God's holy Word and Sacraments are these which follow with such like and no other namely The watch of the Sanctuary the business of God the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments Oversight of the House of God Watching over his Flock Prophecy Prayer Dispensations of the Mysteries of God Charge and care of men's Souls If a man would show what the Offices and Duties of a Chirurgeon or Physician are I suppose it were not his part so much as to mention any thing belonging to the one or the other in case either should be also a Soldier or a Merchant or an Housekeeper or a Magistrate Because the Functions of these are different from those of the former albeit one and the same man may happily be both The Case is like when the Scripture teacheth what Duties are required in an Ecclesiastical Minister in describing of whose Office to touch any other thing than such as properly and directly toucheth his Office that way were impertinent Yea But in the Old Testament the two Powers Civil and Ecclesiastical were distinguished not only in Nature but also in Person the one committed unto Moses and the Magistrates joined with him the other to Aaron and his Sons Jehosophat in his Reformation doth not only distinguish Causes Ecclesiastical from Civil and erecteth divers Courts for them but appointeth also divers judges With the Jews these two Powers were not so distinguished but that sometimes they might and did conc●● in one and the same Person Was not Ely both Priest and Judge After their return from captivity Es●●as a Priest and the same their Chief Governor even in Civil Affairs also These men which urge the necessity of making always a Personal distinction of these two Powers as if by Iehosaphats example the same Person ought not to deal in both Causes yet are not scrupulous to make men of Civil Place and Calling Presbyters and Ministers of Spiritual Jurisdiction in their own Spiritual Consistories If it be against the Jewish Precedents for us to give Civil Power unto such as have Ecclesiastical is it not as much against the same for them to give Ecclesiastical Power unto such as have Civil They will answer perhaps That their Position is only against conjunction of Ecclesiastical Power of Order and the Power of Civil Jurisdiction in one Person But this Answer will not stand with their Proofs which make no less against the Power of Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in one Person for of these two Powers Iehosaphats example is Besides the contrary example of Heli and of Ezra by us alleged do plainly show that amongst the Jews even the power of Order Ecclesiastical and Civil Jurisdiction were sometimes lawfully united in one and the same Person Pressed further we are with our Lord and Saviour's example who denyeth his Kingdom to be of this Wold and therefore as not standing with his Calling refused to be made a King to give sentence in a criminal Cause of Adultery and in a Civil of dividing an Inheritance The Jews imagining that their Messiah should be a Potent Monarch upon Earth no marvel though when they did otherwise wonder at Christ's greatness they sought forthwith to have him invested with that kind of Dignity to the end he might presently begin to reign Others of the Jews which likewise had the same imagination of the Messiah and did somehat incline to think that peradventure this might be He thought good to try whether he would take upon him that which he might do being a King such as they supposed their true Messiah should be But Christ refused to be a King over them because it was no part of the Office of their Messiah as they did falsely conceive and to intermeddle in those Acts of Civil Judgement be refused also because he had no such Jurisdiction in that Commonwealth being in regard of his Civil Person a man of mean and low Calling As for repugnancy between Ecclesiastical and Civil Power or any inconvenience that these two Powers should be united it doth not appear that this was the cause of his resistance either to reign or else to judge ● Tim. 8. 4. What say we then to the blessed Apostles who teach That Soldiers entangle not themselves with the businesses of this life but leave them to the end they may please him who hath chosen them to serve and that so the good Soldiers of Christ ●ught to do The Apostles which taught this did never take upon them any Place or Office of Civil Power No they gave over the Ecclesiastical care of the Poor that they might wholly attend upon the Word and Prayer St. Paul indeed doth exhort Timothy after this manner Suffer thou evil as a noble Soldier of jesus Christ No man warring is entangled with the affairs of Life because he must serve such as have pressed him unto Warfare The sense and meaning whereof is plain that Soldiers may not be nice and tender that they must be able to endure hardness that no man betaking himself unto Wars continueth entangled with such kind of Businesses as tend only unto the ease and quiet felicity of this Life but if the service of him who hath taken them under his Banner require the hazard yea the loss of their Lives to please him● they must be content and willing with any difficulty any peril be it never so much against the natural desire which they have to live in safety And at this point the Clergy of God must always stand thus it behoveth them to be affected as oft as their Lord and Captain leadeth them into the field whatsoever conflicts perils or evils they are to endure Which duty being not such but that therewith the Civil Dignities which Ecclesiastical Persons amongst us do enjoy may enough stand the Exhortation of Paul to Timothy is but a slender Allegation against them As well might we gather out of this place that Men having Children or Wives Convenit huju●modi eligi & ordinari sacerdotes quibus nec liberi sunt nec nepotes Etenim fieri vix potest ut vacans hujus vitae quoti●●ae curis quae liberi creant parentibus maximè omne studium omnemque cogitationem circa divinam litugiam & res Ecclesiasticas consumat l. 42 sect 1 C de Episc. & Cles are not fit to be Ministers which also hath been collected and that by sundry of the Ancient and that it is requisite the Clergy be utterly forbidden Marriage For as the burden of Civil Regiment doth make them who bear it the less able to attend their Ecclesiastical Charge even so Saint Paul doth say that the Married are careful for the World the unmarried freer to give themselves wholly to the service of God Howbeit both experience hath found it safer that the Clergy should bear the cares of honest Marriage than be subject to the inconveniencies which single life imposed upon them would draw after it And as many as are of sound judgement know it to be far better for this present age that the detriment be born which haply may grow through the lessening of some few men's Spiritual labours than that the Clergy and Commonwealth should lack the benefit which both the one and the other may reap through their dealing in Civil Affairs In which consideration that men consecrated unto the Spiritual service of God be licenced so far forth to meddle with the Secular affairs of the World as doth seem for some special good cause requisite and may be without any grievous prejudice unto the Church surely there is not in the Apostles words being rightly understood any  That no Apostle did ever bear Office may it not be a wonder considering the great devotion of the age wherein they lived and the zeal of Herod of Nero the great Commander of the known World and of other Kings of the Earth at that time to advance by all means Christian Religion Their deriving unto others that smaller charge of distributing of the Goods which were laid at their feet and of making provision for the poor which charge being in part Civil themselves had before as I suppose lawfully undertaken and their following of that which was weightier may serve as a marvellous good example for the dividing of one man's Office into divers slips and the subordinating of Inferiors to discharge some part of the same when by reason of multitude increasing that labour waxeth great and troublesome which before was easy and light but very small force it hath to infer a perpetual divorce between Ecclesiastical and Civil power in the same Persons The most that can be said in this Case is That sundry eminent Canons bearing the name of Apostolical and divers Conncils likewise there are which have forbidden the Clergy to bear any Secular Office and have enjoined them to attend altogether upon Reading Preaching and Prayer Whereupon the most of the ancient Fathers have showed great dislikes that these two Powers should be united in one Person For a full and final Answer whereunto I would first demand Whether commension and separation of these two Powers be a matter of mere positive Law or else a thing simply with or against the Law immutable of God and Nature That which is simply against this latter Law can at no time be allowable in any Person more than Adultery Blasphemy Sacrilege and the like But conjunction of Power Ecclesiastical and Civil what Law is there which hath not at some time or other allowed as a thing convenient and meet In the Law of God we have examples sundry whereby it doth most manifestly appear how of him the same hath oftentime been approved No Kingdom or Nation in the World but hath been thereunto accustomed without inconvenience and hurt In the prime of the World Kings and Civil Rulers were Priests for the most part all The a Cum multa divinitus Pontifices à majoribus nostris invenia atque instituta sunt tum nihil praeclarius quam quod vos eo●dem & Religionibus Deorum immortalum & summae Reipub. praesse voluerunt Cic. pro domo sua ad Pontif. Romans note it as a thing beneficial in their own Commonwealth and even to b Honour Sacerdotii firmamentum porentiae assumebatur Tacit. hist. lib. 5. He showeth the reason wherefore their Rulers were also Priests The joining of these two Powers as now so then likewise profitable for the Public State but in respect clean opposite and contrary For whereas then Divine things being more esteemed were used as helps for the countenance of Secular Power the Case to these latter ages is turned upside down Earth hath now brought Heaven under foot and in the course of the World hath of the two the greater credit Priesthood was then a strengthening to Kings which now is forced to take strength and credit from far meaner degrees of Civil Authority Hic mos apud Judaeos fuit ut eosdem Reges & Sacerdotes haberent quorum justitia religioni permixta incredibile quantum evaluere Just. hist l. 39 Lib. 41. sect 22. C. de Episc. them apparently forcible for the strengthening of the Jews Regiment under Moses and Samuel I deny not but sometime there may be and hath been perhaps just cause to ordain otherwise Wherefore we are not to urge those things which heretofore have been either ordered or done as thereby to prejudice those Orders which upon contrary occasion and the exigence of the present time by like authority have been established For what is there which doth let but that from contrary occasions contrary Laws may grow and each he reasoned and disputed for by such as are subject thereunto during the time they are in force and yet neither so opposite to other but that both may laudably continue as long as the ages which keep them do see no necessary cause which may draw them unto alteration Wherefore in these things Canons Constitutions and Laws which have been at one time meet do not prove that the Church should always be bound to follow them Ecclesiastical Persons were by ancient Order forbidden to be Executors of any man's Testament or to undertake the Wardship of Children Bishops by the Imperial Law are forbidden to bequeath by Testament or otherwise to alienate any thing grown unto them after they were made Bishops Is there no remedy but that these or the like Orders must therefore every where still be observed The reason is not always evident why former Orders have been repealed and other established in their room Herein therefore we must remember the axiom used in the Civil Laws That the Prince is always presumed to do that with reason which is not against reason being done although no reason of his deed be expressed Which being in every respect as true of the Church and her Divine Authority in making Laws it should be some bridle unto those malapert and proud spirits whose wits not conceiving the reason of Laws that are established they adore their own private fancy as the supreme Law of all and accordingly take upon them to judge that whereby they should be judged But why labour we thus in vain For even to change that which now is and to establish instead thereof that which themselves would acknowledge the very selfsame which hath been to what purpose were it fith they protest T. C. l. 1. p. 126. That they utterly condemn as well that which hath been as that which is as well the ancient as the present Superiority Authority and Power of Ecclesiastical Persons The Arguments answered whereby they would prove that the law of God and the Judgement of the best in all ages condemneth the ruling Superiority of one Minister over another T. C. l. 1. p. 12. XVI Now where they lastly allege That the Law of our Lord jesus Christ and the judgement of the best in all ages condemn all ruling Superiority of Ministers over Ministers they are in this as in the rest more bold to affirm than able to prove the things which they bring for support of their weak and feeble Cause The bearing of Dominion or the exercising of Authority they say is this wherein the Civil Magistrate is severed from the Ecclesiastical officer according to the words of our Lord and Saviour Kings of Nations bear rule over them but it shall not be so with you Therefore bearing of Dominion doth not agree to one Minister over another This place hath been and still is although most falsely yet with far greater show and likelihood of truth brought forth by the Anabaptists to prove that the Church of Christ ought to have no Civil Magistrates but be ordered only by Christ. Wherefore they urge the opposition between Heathens and them unto whom our Saviour speaketh For fith the Apostles were opposite to Heathens not in that they were Apostles but in that they were Christians the Anabaptists inference is That Christ doth-here give a Law to be for ever observed by all true Christian men between whom and Heathens there must be always this difference that whereas Heathens have their Kings and Princes to rule Christians ought not in this thing to be like unto them Wherein their construction hath the more show because that which Christ doth speak to his Apostles is not found always agreeable unto them as Apostles or as Pastors of men's Souls but oftentimes it toucheth them in generality as they are Christians so that Christianity being common unto them with all Believers such specches must be so taken that they may be applied unto all and not only unto them They which consent with us in rejecting such Collections as the Anabaptist maketh with more probability must give us leave to reject such as themselves have made with less For a great deal less likely it is that our Lord should here establish an everlasting difference not between his Church and Pagans but between the Pastors of his Church and Civil Governors For if herein they must always differ that the one may not bear rule the other may How did the Apostles themselves observe this difference the exercise of whose Authority both in commanding and in controlling others the Scripture hath made so manifest that no gloss can  it Again it being as they would have it our Saviour's purpose to withhold his Apostles and in them all other Pastors from bearing rule why should Kingly Dominion be mentioned which occasions men to gather that not all Dominion and Rule but this one only form was prohibited and that Authority was permitted them so it were not Regal Furthermore in case it had been his purpose to withhold Pastors altogether from bearing Rule why should Kings of Nations be mentioned as if they were not forbidden to exercise no not Regal Dominion itself but only such Regal Dominion as Heathen Kings do exercise The very truth is our Lord and Saviour did aim at a far other mark than these men seem to observe The end of his speech was to reform their particular misperswasion to whom he spoke And their misperswasion was that which was also the common fancy of the Jews at that time that their Lord being the Messias of the World should restore unto Israel that Kingdom whereof the Romans had as then bereft them they imagined that he should not only deliver the State of Israel but himself reign as King in the Throne of David with all Secular Pomp and Dignity that he should subdue the rest of the World and make jerusalem the Seat of an Universal Monarchy Seeing therefore they had forsaken all to follow him being now in so mean condition they did not think but that together with him they also should rise in state that they should be the first and the most advanced by him Of this conceit it came that the Mother of the Sons of Zebedee sued for her children's preferment and of this conceit it grew that the Apostles began to question amongst themselves which of them should be greatest And in controlment of this conceit it was that our Lord so plainly told them that the thoughts of their hearts were vain The Kings of Nations have indeed their large and ample Dominions they reign far and wide and their Servants they advance unto honour in the World they bestow upon them large and ample Secular preferments in which respect they are also termed many of them Benefactors because of the liberal hand which they use in rewarding such as have done them service But was it the meaning of the ancient Prophets of God that the Messias the King of Israel should be like unto these Kings and his retinue grow in such sort as theirs Wherefore ye are not to look for at my hands such preferment as Kings of Nations are wont to bestow upon their Attendants With you not so Your Reward in Heaven shall be most ample on Earth your Chiefest Honour must be to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake Submission Humility and Meekness are things fitter for you to enure your Minds withal than these aspiring Cogitations if any amongst you be greater than other let him show himself greatest in being lowliest let him be above them in being under them even as a Servant for their good These are Affections which you must put on as for degrees of Preferment and Honour in this World if ye expect any such thing at my hands ye deceive yourselves for in the World your Portion is rather the clear contrary Wherefore they who allege this Place against Episcopal Authority abuse it they many ways deprave and wrest it clear from the true understanding wherein our Saviour himself did utter it For First whereas he by way of mere Negation had said With you it shall not be so foretelling them only that it should not so come to pass as they vainly surmised these men take his words in a plain nature of a Prohibition as if Christ had thereby forbidden all inequality of Ecclesiastical Power Secondly Whereas he did but cut off their idle hope of Secular Advancements all Standing-Superiority amongst Persons Ecclesiastical these men would raze off with the edge of his speech Thirdly whereas he in abating their hope even of Secular Advancements spoke but only with relation unto himself informing them that he would be no such munificent Lord unto them in their Temporal Dignity and Honour as they did erroneously suppose so that any Apostle might afterwards have grown by means of others to be even Emperors of Rome for any thing in those words to the contrary these men removing quite and clean the hedge of all such restraints enlarge so far the bounds of his meaning as if his very precise intent and purpose had been not to reform the error of his Apostles conceived as touching him and to teach what himself would not be towards them but to prescribe a special Law both to them and their Successor for ever a Law determining what they should not be in relation of one to another a Law forbidding that any such Title should be given to any Minister as might import or argue in him a Superiority over other Ministers Being thus defeated of that succour which they thought their cause might have had out of the words of our Saviour Christ T.C. l. 1. p. 10. Pag. 95. they try their adventure in seeking what aid man's testimony will yield them Cyptian objecteth it to Florentinus as a proud thing that by believing evil reports and misjudging of Cyprian he made himself Bishop of a Bishop and judge over him whom God had for the time appointed to be judge lib. 4. Ep. 9 The endeavour of godly men to strike at these insolent names may appear in the Council of Carthage where it was decreed That the Bishop of the Chief See should not be entitled the Exarch of Priests or the highest Priest or any other thing of like sense but only the Bishop of the chiefest See whereby are shut out the name of Archbishop and all other such haughty titles Can. 39 In these Allegations it fareth as in broken reports snatched out of the Author's mouth and broached before they be half either told on the one part or on the other understood The matter which Cyprian complaineth of in Florentinus was thus Novatus misliking the easiness of Cyprian to admit men into the fellowship of Believers after they had fallen away from the bold and constant Confession of Christian Faith took thereby occasion to separate himself from the Church and being united with certain excommunicate Persons they joined their wits together and drew out against Cyprian their lawful Bishop sundry grievous accusations the crimes such as being true had made him uncapable of that Office whereof he was six years as then possessed they went to Rome and to other places accusing him every where as guilty of those faults of which themselves had lewdly condemned him pretending that twenty five African Bishops a thing most false had heard and examined his Cause in a Solemn Assembly and that they all had given their Sentence against him holding his Election by the Canons of the Church void The same factious and seditious Persons coming also unto Florentinus who was at that time a man imprisoned for the testimony of Jesus Christ but yet a favourer of the error of Novatus their malicious accusations he over-willingly harkened unto gave them credit concurred with them and unto Cyprian in fine wrote his Letters against Cyprian Which Letters he justly taketh in marvellous evil part and therefore severely controlleth his so great presumption in making himself a Judge of a Judge and as it were a Bishop's Bishop to receive accusations against him as one that had been his Ordinary What height of pride is this saith Cyprian what arrogancy of spirit what a puffing up of mind to call Guides and Priests to be examined and sifted before him So that unless we shall be cleared in your Courts and absolved by your sentence behold for these six years' space neither shall the Brotherhood have had a Bishop nor the People a Guide nor the Flock a Shepherd nor the Church a Governor nor Christ a Prelate nor God a Priest This is the pride which Cyprian condemneth in Florentinus and not the title or name of Archbishop about which matter there was not at that time so much as the dream of any controversy at all between them A silly collection it is that because Cyprian reproveth Florentinus for lightness of belief and presumptuous rashness of judgement therefore he held the title of Archbishop to be a vain and a proud name Archbishops were chief amongst Bishops yet Archbishops had not over Bishops that full Authority which every Bishop had over his own particular Clergy Bishops were not subject unto their Archbishop as an Ordinary by whom at all times they were to be judged according to the manner of inferior Pastors within the compass of each Diocese A Bishop might suspend excommunicate depose such as were of his own Clergy without any other Bishop's Assistants not so an Archbishop the Bishops that were in his own Province above whom divers Prerogatives were given him howbeit no such Authority and Power as alone to be Judge over them For as a Bishop could not be ordained so neither might he be judged by any one only Bishop albeit that Bishop were his Metropolitan Wherefore Cyprian concerning the liberty and freedom which every Bishop had spoke in the Council of Carthage Council Carthag de haer baptizandis whereat fourscore and seven Bishops were present saying It resteth that every of us declare what we think of this matter neither judging nor severing from the right of Communion any that shall think otherwise For of us there is not any which maketh himself a Bishop of Bishops or with Tyrannical fear constraineth his Colleagues unto the necessity of obedience inasmuch as every Bishop according to the reach of his liberty and power hath his own free judgement and can have no more another his judge than himself be judge to another Whereby it appeareth that amongst the African Bishops none did use such Authority over any as the Bishop of Rome did afterwards claim over all forcing upon them opinions by main and absolute power Lib. 2. Ep. 1. Wherefore unto the Bishop of Rome the same Cyprian also writeth concerning his Opinion about Baptism These things we present unto your Conscience most dear Brother as well for common honours sake as of single and sincere love trusting that as you are truly yourself Religious and Faithful so those things which agree with Religions and Faith will be acceptable unto you Howbeit we know that what some have over-drunk in they will not let go neither easily change their mind but with care of preserving whole amongst their Brethren the bond of Peace and concord retaining still to themselves certain their own Opinions wherewith they have been invired Wherein we neither use force nor prescribe a Law unto any knowing that in the Government of the Church every Ruler hath his own voluntary free judgement and of that which he doth shall render unto the Lord himself an account As for the Council of Carthage Doth not the very first Canon thereof establish with most effectual terms all things which were before agreed on in the Council of Nice And that the Council of Nice did ratify the pre-eminence of Metropolitan Bishops who is ignorant The name of an Archbishop importeth only a Bishop having chiefty of certain Prerogatives above his Brethren of the same Order Which thing since the Council of Nice doth allow it cannot be that the other of Carthage should condemn it inasmuch as this doth yield unto that a Christian unrestrained approbation The thing provided for by the Synod of Carthage can be no other therefore than only that the chiefest Metropolitan where many Archbishops were within any greater Province should not be termed by those names as to import the power of an ordinary Jurisdiction belonging in such degree and manner unto him over the rest of the Bishops and Archbishops as did belong unto every Bishop over other Pastors under him But much more absurd it is to affirm that both Cyprian and the Council of Carthage condemn even such Superiority also of Bishops themselves T. C. l. 1. p. 113. over Pastors their Inferiors as the words of Ignatius imply in terming the Bishop A Prince of Priests Bishops to be termed Archpriests in regard of their Superiority over Priests is in the Writings of the Ancient Fathers a thing so usual and familiar as almost no one thing more Theod. Hist. Eccles. l. 1. c. ● At the Council of Nice saith Theodores three hundred and eighteen Archpriests were present Were it the meaning of the Council of Carthage that the Title of Chief-Priest and such like ought not in any sort at all to be given unto any Christian Bishop what excuse should we make for so many Ancient both Fathers and Synods of Fathers Heronymus contra Lucifer Saluccin Ecclesiae pemdere d●cira summi Sacer●uris digmiate id est Episcop● Idem est is Hieronymo summos Sacerdo● quod in Carthaginensi Concilio Vide C. o●nes 38. didst I●em C. De conseq didst 5. as have generally applied the Title of Archpriest unto every Bishop's Office High time I think it is to give over the obstinate defence of this most miserable forsaken Cause in the favour whereof neither God nor amongst so many wise and virtuous men as Antiquity hath brought forth any one can be found to have hitherto directly spoken Irksome confusion must of necessity be the end whereunto all such vain an ungrounded confidence doth bring as hath nothing to bear it out but only an excessive measure of bold and peremptory words holpen by the start of a little time before they came to be examined In the Writings of the ancient Fathers there is not any thing with more serious asseveration inculcated than that it is God which maketh Bishops that their Authority hath Divine allowance that the Bishop is the Priest of God that he is Judge in Christ's stead that according to God's own Law the whole Christian Fraternity standeth bound to obey him Of this there was not in the Christian World of old any doubt or controversy made it was a thing universally every where agreed upon What should move men to judge that now so unlawful and naught which then was so reverently esteemed Surely no other cause but this men were in those times times meek lowly tractable willing to live in dutiful awe and subjection unto the Pastors of their Souls Now we imagine ourselves so able every man to teach and direct all others that none of us can brook it to have Superiors and for a mask to hide our Pride we pretend falsely the Law of Christ The second main thing wherein the state of Bishops suffereth 〈…〉 their Honor. as if we did seek the execution of his will when in truth we labour for the mere satisfaction of our own against his XVII The chiefest cause of disdain and murmur against Bishops in the Church of England is that evil-affected eye wherewith the World looked upon them since the time that irreligious Profaneness beholding the due and just advancements of God's Clergy hath under pretence of enmity unto Ambition and Pride proceeded so far that the contumely of old offered unto Aaron in the like quarrel may seem very moderate and quiet dealing if we compare it with the fury of our own times The ground and original of both their proceedings one and the same in Declaration of their Grievances they differ not the Complaints as well of the one as the other are Numb 16. 3. Wherefore lift ye up yourselves thus far above the Congregation of the Lord It is too much which you take upon you too much Power and too much Honour Wherefore as we have showed that there is not in their Power any thing unjust or unlawful so it resteth that in their Honour also the like be done The labour we take unto this purpose is by so much the harder in that we are forced to wraftle with the stream of obstinate Affection mightily carried by a wilful prejudice the Dominion whereof is so powerful over them in whom it reigneth that it giveth them no leave no not so much as patiently to hearken unto any speech which doth not profess to feed them in this their bitter humour Notwithstanding for as much as I am persuaded that against God they will not strive if they perceive once that in truth it is he against whom they open their mouths my hope is their own Confession will be at the length Behold we have done exceeding foolishly It was the Lord and we know it not Him in his Ministers we have despised we have in their honour impugned his But the alteration of men's hearts must be His good and gracious work whose most omnipotent power framed them Wherefore to come to our present purpose Honour is no where due saving only unto such as have in them that whereby they are sound or at the least presumed voluntarily beneficial unto them of whom they are honoured Wheresoever nature seeth the countenance of a Man it still presumeth that there is in him a mind willing to do good if need require inasmuch as by nature so it should be for which cause Men unto Men do honour even for very Humanity sake And unto whom we deny all honour we seem plainly to take from them all opinion of Human Dignity to make no account or reckoning of them to think them so utterly without virtue as if no good thing in the World could be looked for at their hands Seeing therefore it seemeth hard that we should so hardly think of any man the Precept of St. Peter is 1 Pet. 2. 17. Honour all men Which duty of every men towards all doth vary according to the several degrees whereby they are more and less beneficial whom we do honour Ecclus. 38. 1. Honour the Physician saith the Wiseman The reason why because for necessity's sake God created him Again Levit. 19 32. Thou shalt rise up before the beary head and honour the person of the Aged The reason why because the younger sort have great benefit by their gravity Ecclus. 25.6 experience and wisdom for which cause these things the Wiseman termeth the Crown or Diadem of the Aged Honour is due to Parents The reason why Prov. 23. 22. because we have our beginning from them Obey the Father that hath begotten thee the Mother that bore thee despise thou nor Honour due unto Kings and Governors The reason why 1 Pet. 2. 14. because God hath set them for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well Thus we see by every of these particulars that there is always some kind of virtue beneficial wherein they excel who receive honour and that degrees of Honour are distinguished according to the value of those effects which the same beneficial Virtue doth produce Nor is Honour only an inward estimation whereby they are reverenced and well thought of in the minds of men Psal. 72. 15. but Honour whereof we now speak is defined to be an External sign by which we give a sensible testification that we acknowledge the beneficial Virtue of others Sarah honoured her Husband Abraham this appeareth by the Title she gave him The Brethren of joseph did him honour in the Land of Egypt their lowly and humble gesture showeth it Parents will hardly persuade themselves that this intentional Honour which reacheth no farther than to the Inward conception only is the Honour which their Children owe them Touching that Honour which mystically agreeing unto Christ was yielded literally and really unto Solomon the words of the Psalmist concerning it are Unto him they shall give of the Gold of Sheba they shall pray for him continually and daily bless him Weigh these things in themselves Titles Gestures Presents other the like external signs wherein Honour doth consist and they are matters of no great moment Howbeit take them away let them cease to be required and they are not things of small importance which that surcease were likely to draw after it Let the Lord Mayor of London or any other unto whose Office Honour belongeth be deprived but of that Title which in itself is a matter of nothing and suppose we that it would be a small maim unto the credit force and countenance of his Office It hath not without the singular wisdom of God been provided that the ordinary outward tokens of Honour should for the most part be in themselves things of mean account for to the end they might easily follow as faithful testimonies of that beneficial virtue whereunto they are due it behoved them to be of such nature that to himself no man might over-eagerly challenge them without blushing not any man where they are due withhold them but with manifest appearance of too great malice or pride Now forasmuch as according to the Ancient Orders and Customs of this Land as of the Kingdom of Israel and of all Christian Kingdoms through the World the next in degree of Honour unto the Chief Sovereign are the Chief Prelates of God's Church what the reason hereof may be it resteth next to be enquired XVIII Other reason there is not any wherefore such Honour hath been judged due saving only that public good which the Prelates of God's Clergy are Authors of What good doth publicly grow from the Prelacy For I would know which of these things it is whereof we make any question either that the favour of God is the chiefest Pillar to bear up Kingdoms and States or that true Religion publicly exercised is the principal mean to retain the favour of God or that the Prelates of the Church are they without whom the exercise of true Religion cannot well and long continue If these three be grented then cannot the public benefit of Prelacy be dissembled And of the first or second of these I look not for any professed denial The World at this will blush not to grant at the leastwise in word as much as a Quis est ea●● vecors qui ●u●●um suspect cri● in coelum Deos e●e non sen●a● & en qu●●●anca mea●● siunt ut vix quis quam arte ulla ondinem rerum ac vicissicudinem pierce qui possi● ca●● sieri poter● our cum Deos esse intell exerit non intelli●a● eorem nural●ne hoc tantum Imperium esse narum & a●ctum & rerentum ● Cie Orat. the haru● respond Heathens themselves have of old with most earnest asseveration acknowledged concerning the force of Divine Grace in upholding Kingdoms Again though his mercy doth so far strive with men's ingratitude that all kind of Public iniquities deserving his indignation their safety is through his gracious Providence many times nevertheless continued to the end that amendment might if it were possible avert their Envy so that as well Common-weals as particular Persons both may and do endure much longer when they are careful as they should be to use the most effectual means of procuring His favour on whom their continuance principally dependeth Yet this point no man will stand to argue no man will openly arm himself to enter into set Disputation against the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian for making unto their Laws concerning Religion this Preface b Tit. 1. l. 3. C. de summatri ● nit Decere arbitramur nostrum Imperium subditos nostros de Religione commonefacere Ita enim & plenicrem adquiri Dei ac Salvatoris nostri jesu Christi benignitatem possibile esse existimamus si quando & nos pro viribus ipsi placere studuerimus & nostros subditos ad eam rem instituerimus Or against the Emperor justinian for that he also maketh the like Profession c L. 3. C. de Episc. ●● Cler. Per sanctissimas Ecclessias & nostrum Imperium sustineri & communes res elementissimi Dei gratia muniri credimus And in another place d L. 34. C. de Episc. audiend Certissimè credemus quia Sacerdotum puritas & de●●●● & ad Dominum Deum Salvatorem nostrum jesuis Christum fervour & ab ipsis missa perpetua preces maltum favorem nostra Reipublica & incrementum praebent Wherefore only the last point is that which men will boldly require us to prove for no man feareth now to make it a question Whether the Prelacy of the Church be any thing available or no to effect the good and long continuance of true Religion Amongst the principal Blessings wherewith God enriched Israel the Prophet in the Psalm acknowledgeth especially this for one Thou didst lead thy People like Sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron Psal. 7● ●0● That which Sheep are if Pastors be wanting the same are the people of God if so be they want Governors And that which the principal Civil Governors are in comparison of Regent's under them the same are the Prelates of the Church being compared with the rest of God's Clergy Wherefore inasmuch as amongst the Jews the benefit of Civil Government grew principally from Moses he being their Principal Civil Governor even so the benefit of Spiritual Regiment grew from Aaron principally he being in the other kind of their principal Rector although even herein subject to the Sovereign Dominion of Moses For which cause these two alone are named as the Heads and Well-springs of all As for the good which others did in service either of the Commonwealth or of the Sanctuary the chiefest glory thereof did belong to the chiefest Governors of the one sort and of the other whose vigilant care and oversight kept them in their cue Order Qui Sacerdotes in veteri restamento vocabantur high sont qui nunc l'resbyteri appell antur & qui tune Princep● Sacerdocum nunc Episco●m vocatur Roba Maur. de ●ss t Cler. 1 3.c ● Bishops are now is High-Priests were then inregard of power over other Priests and in respect of subjection unto High-Priests What Priests were then the same now Presbyters are by way of their place under Bishops The one's Authority therefore being so profitable how should the others be thought unnecessary Is there any man professing Christian Religion which holdeth it not as a Maxim That the Church of Jesus Christ did reap a singular benefit by Apostolical Regiment not only for other respects but even in regard of that Prelacy whereby they had and exercised Power of Jurisdiction over lower Guides of the Church Preciates are herein the Apostles Successors as hath been proved Thus we see that Prelacy must needs be acknowledged exceedingly beneficial in the Church and yet for more perspicuities sake it shall not be pains superstuously taken if the manner how be also declared at large For this one thing not understood by the vulgar sort causeth all contempt to be offered unto higher Powers not only Ecclesiastical but Civil whom when proud men have disgraced and are therefore reproved by such as carry some dutiful affection of mind the usual Apologies which they make for themselves are these What more virtue in these Great ones than in others we see no such eminent good which they do above other mon. We grant indeed that the good which Higher Governors do is not so immediate and near unto every of us as many times the mean labours of others under them and this doth make it to be less esteemed But we must note that it is in this Case as in a Ship he that fitteth at the Stern is quiet he moveth not he seemeth in a manner to do little or Nothing in comparison of them that sweat about other toil yet that which he doth is in value and force more than all the labours of the residue laid together The influence of the Heavens above worketh infinitely more to our good and yet appeareth not half so sensible as the force doth of things below We consider not what it is which we reap by the Authority of our Chiefest Spiritual Governors not are likely to enter into any consideration thereof till we want them and that is the cause why they are at our hands so unthankfully rewarded Authority is a constraining Power which Power were needless if we were all such as we should be willing to do the things we ought to do without constraint But because generally we are otherwise therefore we all reap singular benefit by that Authority which permitteth no men though they would to slack their duty It doth not suffice that the Lord of an Household appoint Labourers what they should do unless he set over them some chief Workman to see they do it Constitutions and Canons made for the ordering of Church-affairs are dead Taskmasters The due execution of Laws Spiritual dependeth most upon the vigilant care of the Chiefest Spiritual Governors whose charge is to see that such Laws be kept by the Clergy and People under them With those Duties which the Law of God and the Ecclesiastical Canons require in the Clergy Lay-Governors are neither for the most part so well acquainted nor so deeply and nearly touched Requisite therefore it is that Ecclesiastical Persons have authority in such things Which kind of Authority maketh them that have it Prelates If then it be a thing confessed as by all good men it needs must be to have Prayers read in all Churches to have the Sacraments of God administered to have the Mysteries of Salvation painfully taught to have God every where devoutly worshipped and all this perpetually and with quietness bringeth unto the whole Church and unto every Member thereof inestimoble good how can that Authority which hath been proved the Ordinance of God for preservation of these duties in the Church how can it choose but deserve to be held a thing publicly most beneficial It were to be wished and is to be laboured for as much as can be that they who are set in such Rooms may be furnished with honourable Qualities and Graces every way fit for their Galling But be they otherwise howsoever so long as they are in Authority all men reap some good by them albeit not so much good as if they were abler men There is not any amongst us all but is a great deal more apt to exact another man's duty than the best of us is to discharge exactly his own and therefore Prelates although neglecting many ways their duty unto God and men do notwithstanding by their Authority great good in that they keep others at the leastwise in some awe under them It is our duty therefore in this consideration to honour them that rule as Prelates which Office if they discharge well 1 Tim. 5. 17. the Apostles own verdict is that the honour they have they be worthy of yea though it were double And if their Government be otherwise the judgement of sage men hath ever been this that albeit the dealings of Governors be culpable yet honourable they must be in respect of that Authority by which they govern Great caution must be used that we neither be emboldened to follow them in evil whom for Authorities sake we honour nor induced in Authority to dishonour them whom as examples we may not follow In a word not to dislike sin though it should be in the highest were unrighteous meekness and proud righteousness it is to contemn or dishonour Highness though it should be in the sinfullest men that live But so hard it is to obtain at our hands especially as now things stand the yielding of Honour to whom Honour in this case belongeth Rom. 13.7 that by a brief Declaration only what the Duties of men are towards the principal Guides and Pastors of their Souls we cannot greatly hope to prevail partly for the malice of their open Adversaries and partly for the cunning of such as in a sacrilegious intent work their dishonour under covert by more mystical and secret means Wherefore requisite and in a manner necessary it is that by particular instances we make it even palpably manifest what singular benefit and use public the nature of Prelates is apt to yield First no man doubteth but that unto the happy condition of Common-weals it is a principal help and furtherance when in the eye of Foreign States their estimation and credit is great In which respect the Lord himself commending his own Laws unto his people mentioneth this as a thing not meanly to be accounted of that their careful obedience yielded thereunto should purchase them a great good opinion abroad Deut. 4. 6. and make them every where famous for wisdom Fame and reputation groweth especially by the virtue not of common ordinary persons but of them which are in each estate most eminent by occasion of their higher Place and Calling The mean man's actions be they good or evil they reach not far they are not greatly enquired into except perhaps by such as dwell at the next door whereas men of more ample dignity Mat. 5. 13. are as Cities on the tops of Hills their lives are viewed a far off so that the more there are which observe aloof what they do the greater glory by their well-doing they purchase both unto God whom they serve and to the State wherein they live Wherefore if the Clergy be a beautifying unto the body of this Common-weal in the eyes of Foreign beholders and if in the Clergy the Prelacy be most exposed unto the World's eye what public benefit doth grow from that Order in regard of reputation thereby gotten to the Land from abroad we may soon conjecture Amongst the Jews their Kings excepted who so renowned throughout the World as their Highpriest who so much or so often spoken of as their Prelates 2. Which Order is not for the present only the most in sight but for that very cause also the most commended unto Posterity For if we search those Records wherein there hath descended from age to age whatsoever notice and intelligence we have of those things which were before us is there any thing almost else surely not any thing so much kept in memory as the successions doings sufferings and affairs of Prelates So that either there is not any public use of that light which the Church doth receive from Antiquity or if this be absurd to think then must we necessarily acknowledge ourselves beholden more unto Prelates than unto others their Inferiors for that good of direction which Ecclesiastical actions recorded do always bring 3. But to call home our cogitations and more inwardly to weigh with ourselves what principal commodity that Order yieldeth or at leastwise is of its own disposition and nature apt to yield Kings and Princes partly for information of their own consciences partly for instruction what they have to do in a number of most weighty affairs entangled with the cause of Religion having as all men know so usual occasion of often consultations and conferences with their Clergy suppose we that no public detriment would follow upon the want of honourable Personages Ecclesiastical to be used in those Cases It will be haply said That the highest might learn to stoop and not to disdain the advice of some circumspect wise and virtuous Minister of God albeit the Ministry were nor by such degrees distinguished What Princes in that case might or should do it is not material Such difference being presupposed therefore as we have proved already to have been the Ordinance of God there is no judicious man will ever make any question or doubt but that fit and direct it is for the highest and chiefest Order in God's Clergy to be employed before others about so near and necessary Offices as the sacred estate of the greatest on earth doth require For this cause joshua had Eliazer David Abiathar Constantine Hosius Bishop of Cor●nba other Emperors and Kings their Prelates by whom in private for with Princes this is the most effectual way of doing good to be adminished counselled comforted and if need were reproved Whensoever Sovereign Rulers are willing to admit these so necessary private conferences for their Spiritual and ghostly good inasmuch as they do for the time while they take advice grant a kind of Superiority unto them of whom they receive it albeit haply they can be contented even so far to bend to the gravest and chiefest Persons in the Order of God's Clergy yet this of the very best being rarely and hardly obtained now that there are whos 's greater and higher Callings do somewhat more proportion them unto that ample conceit and spirit wherewith the mind of so powerable Persons we possessed what should we look for in case God himself not authorising any by miraculous means as of old he did his Prophets the equal meaness of all did leave in respect of Calling no more place of decency for one then for another to be admitted Let unexperienced wits imagine what pleaseth them in having to deal with so great Personages these Personal differences are so necessary that there must be regard had of them 4. Kingdoms being principally next unto God's Almightiness and the Sovereignty of the highest under God upheld by wisdom and by valour as by the chiefest human means to cause continuance in safety with honour for the labours of them who attend the service of God we reckon as means Divine to procure our protection from Heavens from hence it riseth that men excelling in either of these or descending from such as for excellency either way have been ennobled or possesing howsoever the rooms of such as should be in Politic wisdom or in Martial prowess eminent are had in singular recommendation Notwithstanding because they are by the state of Nobility great but not thereby made inclinable to good things such they oftentimes prove even under the best Princes as under David certain of the Jewish Nobility were In Polity and Council the World had not Achitophel's equal nor Hell his equal in deadly malice joab the General of the Host of Israel valiant industrious fortunate in War but withal headstrong cruel treacherous void of Piety towards God in a word so conditioned that easy it is not to define whether it were for David harder to miss the benefit of his Warlike hability or to bear the enormity of his other Crimes As well for the cherishing of those virtues therefore wherein if Nobility do chance to flourish they are both an ornament and a stay to the Commonwealth wherein they live as also for the bridling of those disorders which if they loosely run into they are by reason of their greatness dangerous what help could thereever have been invented more Divine than the sorting of the Clergy into such Degrees that the chiefest of the Prelacy being matched in a kind of equal yoke as it were with the higher the next with the lower degree of Nobility the reverend Authority of the one might be to the other as a courteous bridle a mean to keep them lovingly in awe that are exorbitant and to correct such excesses in them as whereunto their Courage State and Dignity maketh them over-prone O that there were for encouragement of Prelates herein that lactimation of all Christian Kings and Princes towards them which sometime a famous King of this Land either had or pretended to have for the countenancing of a principal Prelate under him in the actions of Spiritual Authority Petr. D'efens Ep. 5. Let my Lord Archbishop know saith he that if a Bishop or Earl or any other great Person yea if my own chosen Son shall presume to withstand or to hinder his will and disposition whereby he may be withheld from performing the work of the Embass age committed unto him such a one shall find that of his contempt I will show myself no less a Persecutor and Revenger than if Treason were committed against mine own very Crown and Dignity Sith therefore by the Fathers and first Founders of this Common-weal it hath upon great experience and forecast been judged most for the good of all sorts that as the whole Body Politic wherein we live should be for strengths sake a threefold Cable consisting of the King as a Supreme Head over all of Peers and Nobles under him and of the People under them so likewise that in this conjunction of States the second wreath of that Cable should for important respects consist as well of Lords Spiritual as Temporal Nobility and Prelacy being by this mean twined together how can it possibly be avoided but that the tearing away of the one must needs exceedingly weaken the other and by consequent impair greatly the good of all 5. The force of which detriment there is no doubt but that the common sort of men would feel to their helpless woe how goodly a thing soever they now surmise it to be that themselves and their godly Teachers did all alone without controlment of their Prelate For if the manifold jeopardies whereto a people destitute of Pastors is subject be unavoidable without Government and if the benefit of Government whether it be Ecclesiastical or Civil do grow principally from them who are principal therein as hath been proved out of the Prophet who albeit the people of Israel had sundry inferior Governors ascribeth not unto them the public benefit of Government but maketh mention of Moses and Aaron only the Chief Prince and Chief Prelate because they were the wellspring of all the good which others under then did may we not boldly conclude that to take from the people their Prelate is to leave them in effect without Guides at leastwise without those Guides which are the strongest hands that God doth direct them by Psal. 77. 20. Then didst lead thy People like Sheep saith the Prophet by the hands of Moses and Aaron If now there arise any matter of Grievances between the Pastor and the People that are under him they have their Ordinary a Judge indifferent to determine their Causes and to end their strife But in case there were no such appointed to sit and to hear both what would then he end of their quarrels They will answer perhaps That for purposes their Synids shall serve Which is as if in the Commonwealth the higher Magistrates being removed every Township should be a State altogether free and independent and the Controversies which they cannot end speedily within themselves to the contentment of both parties should be all determined by Solemn Parliaments Mercipul God where is the light of Wit and Judgement which this age doth so much vaunt of and glory in when unto these such odd imaginations so great not only assent but also applause is yielded 6. As for those in the Clergy whose Place and Calling is lower were i● not that their eyes are blinded lest they should see the thing that of all others is for their good most effectal somewhat they might consider the benefit which they enjoy by having such in Authority over them as are of the selfsame Profession Society and Body with them such as have trodden the same steps before such as know by their own experience the manifold intolerable contempts and indignities which faithful Pastors intermingled with the multitude are constrained every day to suffer in the exercise of their Spiritual Charge and Function unless their Superiors taking their Causes even to heart be by a kind of sympathy drawn to relieve and aid them in their virtuous proceedings no less effectually than loving Parents their dear Children Thus therefore Prelacy being unto all sorts so beneficial ought accordingly to receive honour at the hands of all But we have just cause exceedingly to fear that those miserable times of confusion are drawing on wherein the people shall be oppressed one of another Isa. 3.5 inasmuch as already that which prepareth the way thereunto is come to pass Children presume against the Ancient and the Vile against the Honourable Prelacy the temperature of excesses in all Estates the glue and solder of the Public weal the ligament which tieth and connecteth the limbs of this Body Politic each to other hath instead of deserved Honour all extremity of Disgrace the Foolish every where plead that unto the wise in heart they owe neither service subjection not honour XIX Now that we have laid open the causes for which Honour is due unto Prelates What kinds of Honour be due unto Bishops the next thing we are to consider is What kinds of Honour be due The good Government either of the Church or the Commonwealth dependeth scarcely on any one external thing so much as on the Public Marks and Tokens whereby the estimation on that Governors are in is made manifest to the eyes of men True it is that Governors are to be esteemed according to the excellency of their virtues the more virtuous they are the more they ought to be honoured if respect be had unto that which every man should voluntarily perform unto his Superiors But the question is now of that Honour which Public Order doth appoint unto Church-Governors in that they are Governors the end whereof is to give open sensible testimony that the Place which they hold is judged publicly in such degree beneficial as the marks of their excellency the Honours appointed to be done unto them do import Wherefore this honour we are to do them without presuming ourselves to examine how worthy they are and withdrawing it if by us they be thought unworthy It is a note of that public judgement which is given of them and therefore not tolerable that men in private should by refusal to do them such honour reverse as much as in them lieth the Public judgement If it deserve so grievous punishment when any particular Person adventureth to deface those marks whereby is signified what value some small piece of Coin is publicly esteemed at is it sufferable that Honours the Character of that estimation which publicly is had of Public Estates and Callings in the Church or Commonwealth should at every man's pleasure be canceled Let us not think that without most necessary cause the same have been thought expedient The first Authors thereof were wise and judicious men they knew it a thing altogether impossible for each particular in the multitude to judge what benefit doth grow unto them from their Prelates and thereunto uniformly to yield them convenient honour Wherefore that all sorts might be kept in obedience and awe doing that unto their Superiors of every degree not which every man 's special fancy should think meet but which being beforehand agreed upon as meet by public Sentence and Decision might afterwards stand as a rule for each in particular to follow they found that nothing was more necessary than to allet unto all degrees their certain honour as marks of public judgement concerning the dignity of their Places which mark when the multitude should behold they might be thereby given to know that of such or such restimation their Governors are and in token thereof do carry those notes of excellency Hence it groweth that the different notes and signs of Honour do leave a correspondent impression in the minds of common Beholders Let the people be asked Who are the chiefest in any kind of Calling who whost to be listened unto who of greatest account and reputation and see if the very discourse of their minds lead them not unto those sensible marks according to the difference whereof they give their suitable judgement esteeming them the worthiest persons who carry the principal note and public mark of Worthiness If therefore they see in other estates a number of tokens sensible whereby testimony is given what account there is publicly made of them but no such thing in the Clergy what will they hereby or what can they else conclude but that where they behold this surely in that Commonwealth Religion and they that are conversant about it are not esteemed greatly beneficial Whereupon in time the open contempt of God and Godliness must needs ensue Psal. l 5. ● 2 Qui bona fide Dcos colit amat & Sacerdotes saith Papenius In vain doth that Kingdom or Commonwealth pretend zeal to the honour of God which doth not provide that his Clergy also may have honour Now if all that are employed in the service of God should have one kind of honour what more confused absurd and unseemly Wherefore in the honour which hath been allotted unto God's Clergy we are to observe how not only the kinds thereof but also in every particular kind the degrees do differ The honour which the Clergy of God hath hitherto enjoyed consisteth especially in prcheminence of Title Place Ornament Attendance Privilege Endowment In every of which it hath been evermore judge meet that there should be no small odds between Prelates and the inferior Clergy ●●●●e in title Place Ornaments Acren●ancy and Privilledge XX. Concerning Title albeit even as under the Law all they whom God had sesevered to offer him Sacrifice were generally termed Priests so likewise the name of Pastor or Presbyter be now common unto all that serve him in the Ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Yet both then and now the higher Orders as well of the one sort as of the other have by one and the same congruity of reason their different titles of honour wherewith we since them in the phrase of ordinary speech exalted above others Thus the Heads of the twenty four Companies of Priests are in Scripture termed Archpriests 〈…〉 Aaron and the Successors of Aaron being above those Archpriests themselves are in that respect further entitled High ang Great After what sort Antiquity hath used to style Christian Bishops and to yield them in that kind Honour more than were meet for inferior Pastors I may the better omit to declare both because others have sufficiently done it already and in so slight a thing it were but a loss of time to bestow further travel The allegation of Christ's Prerogative to be named an Arch-Pastor simply in regard of his absolute Excellency over all ● is no impediment but that the like Title in an unlike signification may be granted unto others besides him to note a more limited Superiority whereof men are capable enough without derogation from his Glory than which nothing is more Sovereign To quarrel at syllables and to take so poor exceptions at the first four letters in the name of an Archbishop as if they were manifestly stolen goods whereof restitutions ought to be made to the Civil Magistrate toucheth no more the Prelates that now are than it doth the very blessed Apostle who giveth unto himself the Title of an Arch-builder As for our Saviour's words alleged against the stile of Lordship and Grace we have before sufficiently opened how far they are drawn from their natural meaning to houlster up a Cause which they nothing at all concern Bishop Theodoret entitleth most honourable Emperor's writing unto Bishops have not disdained to give them their appellations of Honour Lib. 5. c. ● H●stor Eccles. L. 7. C. ●ls summa Trinit L. 33. C de Epist. & Cler. L. 16. C. the Sacrol Eccles. Mor. 23. 6.9 They love to have the chief Scars in the Assemblies and to be called of men Rabbi Ecclus. 45.7 Your Holiness your Blessedness your Amplitude your Highness and the like Such as purposely have done otherwise are noted of insolent singularity and pride Honour done by giving pre-eminence of Place unto one sort before another is for decency order and quietness-sake so needful that both Imperial Laws and Canons Ecclesiastical have made their special provisions for it Our Saviour's invective against the vain affectation of Superiority whether in Title or in Place may not hinder these seemly differences usual in giving and taking honour either according to the one or the other Some thing there is even in the Ornaments of Honour also Otherwise idle it had been for the Wiseman speaking of Aaron to stand so much upon the circumstance of his Priestly attire and to urge it as an argument of such dignity and greatness in him An everlasting Covenant God made with Aaron and gave him the Priesthood among the people and made him blessed through his comely Ornament and clothed him with the garment of Honor. The Robes of a Judge do not add to his virtue the chiefest Ornaments of Kings is Justice holiness and purity of Conversation doth much more adorn a Bishop than his peculiar form of Clothing Notwithstanding both Judges through the garments of Judicial Authority and through the Ornaments of Sovereignty Princes yea Bishops through the very attire of Bishops are made blessed that is to say marked and manifested they are to be such as God hath poured his blessing upon by advancing them above others and placing them where they may do him principal good service Thus to be called is to be blessed and therefore to be honoured with the signs of such a Calling must needs be in part a blessing also for of good things even the signs are good Of Honour another part is Attendancy and therefore in the visions of the glory of God Angels are spoken of as his Attendants In setting out the honour of that mystical Queen the Prophet mentioneth the Virgin-Ladies which waited on her Amongst the tokens of Solomon's honourable condition his Servants and Waiters the sacred History omitteth not This doth prove Attendants a part of Honour But this as yet doth not show with what Attendancy Prelates are to be honoured Of the High-Priests retinue amongst the Jews somewhat the Gospel itself doth intimate And albeit our Saviour came to minister and not as the Jews did imagine their Messias should to be ministered unto in this World yet attended on he was by his blessed Apostles who followed him not only as Scholars but even as Servants about him After that he had sent them as himself was sent of God in the midst of that hatred and extreme contempt which they sustained at the World's hands by Saints and Believers this part of honour was most plentifully done unto them Attendants they had provided in all places where they went which Custom of the Church was still continued in Bishops their Successors as by Ignatius it is plain to be seen And from hence no doubt those Acolytes took their beginning of whom so frequent mention is made the Bishop's Attendants his Followers they were in regard of which service the name of Acolythes seemeth plainly to have been given The custom for Bishops to be attended upon by many is as justinian doth show Novel 6. ancient The affairs of Regiment wherein Prelates are employed make it necessary that they always have many about them whom they may command although no such thing did by way of honour belong unto them Some men's judgement is that if Clerks Students and Religious Persons were moe common Servingmen and Lay-Retainers fewer than they are in Bishop's Palaces the use and the honour thereof would be much more suitable than now But these things concerning the number and quality of Persons fit to attend on Prelates either for necessity or for honour's sake are rather in particular discretion to be ordered than to be argued of by disputes As for the vain imagination of some T. C. l. 3. p. 126. out of Jos. l. 8 c. 15. who teach the original hereof to have been a preposterous imagination of Maximinus the Emperor who being addicted unto Idolatry chose of the choicest Magistrates to be Priests and to the end they might be in great estimation gave unto each of them a train of Followers And that Christian Emperors thinking the same would promote Christianity which promoted Superstition endeavoured to make their Bishop's encounter and match with those Idolatrous Priests such frivolous conceits having no other ground than conceit we weigh not so much as to frame any answer unto them our declaration of the true original of ancient attendancy on Bishops being sufficient Now if that which the light of sound reason doth teach to be sit have upon like inducements reasonable allowable and good approved itself in such wise as to be accepted not only of us but of Pagans and Infidels also doth conformity with them that are evil in that which is good make that thing which is good evil We have not herein followed the Heathens nor the Heathens us but both we end they one and the selfsame Divine rule the light of a true and sound understanding which showeth what honour is fit for Prelates and what attendancy convenient to be a part of their honour l. 1● C. the sacr. Eccles. l. 9 C. the sacr. Eccles. l. a. C. de Epise & Cler. l. 10 C. the Epise & Cler. Touching Privileges granted for Honor's-sake partly in general unto the Clergy and partly unto Prelates the Chiefest Persons Ecclesiastical in particular of such quality and number they are that to make but rehearsal of them we scarce think it safe left the very entrails of some of our godly Brethren as they term themselves should thereat haply burst in sunder Honour by endowncer with Lords and Livings XXI And yet of all these things rehearsed it may be there never would have grown any question had Bishops been honoured only thus far forth But the honouring of the Clergy with wealth this is in the eyes of them which pretend to seek nothing but mere Reformation of Abuses a sin that can never be remitted How soon O how soon might the Church be perfect even without any spot or wrinkle if Public Authority would at the length say Amen unto the holy and devout requests of those godly Brethren who as yet with outstretched necks groan in the pangs of their zeal to see the Houses of Bishops risted and their so long desired Livings gloriously divided amongst the Righteous But there is an impediment a  which somewhat hindereth those good men's Prayers from taking effect They in whose hands the Sovereignty of Power and Dominion over the Church doth rest are persuaded there is a God for undoubtedly either the name of Godhead is but a feigned thing or if in Heaven there be a God the Saerilegious intention of Church-Robbers which lurketh under this plausible name of Reformation is in his sight a thousand times more hateful than the plain professed malice of those very Miscreants who threw their Vomit in the open face of our blessed Saviour They are not words of persuasion by which true men can hold their own when they are over-beset with Thiefs And therefore to speak in this Cause at all were but labour lost saving only in respect of them who being as yet unjoined unto this Conspiracy may be haply somewhat stayed when they shall know betimes what it is to see Thiefs and to run on with them Psal. 50. 1● as the Prophet in the Psalm speaketh When thou sawest a Thief than thou consentedst with him and hast been Partaker with Adulterers For the better information therefore of men which carry true honest and indifferent minds these things we will endeavour to make most clearly manifest First That in Goods and Livings of the Church none hath propriety but God himself Secondly That the honour which the Clergy therein hath is to be as it were God's Receivers the honour of Prelates to be his chief and principal Receivers Thirdly That from him they have right not only to receive but also to use such Goods the lower sort in smaller and the higher in larger measure Fourthly That in case they be thought yea or found to abuse the same yet may not such honour be therefore lawfully taken from them and be given away unto Persons of other Calling XXII Possessions Lands and Livings Spiritual the wealth of the Clergy That of Ecclesiastical Goods and consiquently of the Lands and Livings which Bishops enjoy ●●● propped 〈…〉 longeth a ● God done the Goods of the Church are in such sort the Lords own that man can challenge no propriety in them His they are and not ours all things are his in that from him they have their being a Hos 2. 5. My Corn and my Wine and mine Oil saith the lord All things his in that he hath absolute power to dispose of them at his pleasure b Psal. 50.1 ● Mine saith he are the Sheep and Oxen of a thousand hills All things his in that when we have them we may say with job God hath given and when we are deprived of them The Lord whose they are hath likewise taken them away again But these sacred Possessions are his by another tenure His because those men who first received them from him have unto him returned them again by way of Religious gift or Oblation c Job ● 1. And in this respect it is that the Lord doth term those Houses wherein such Gifts and Oblations were laid His Treasuries Mat. 3. 10. The ground whereupon men have resigned their own interest in things Temporal and given over the same unto God is that Precept which Solomon borroweth from the Law of Nature Prov. 3. 9 Honour the Lord out of thy Substance and of the chiefest of all thy Revenue so shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty and with new Wine the fat of thy Press shall overflow For although it be by one most fitly spoken against those superstitious Persons who only are scrupulous in external Rites Seneca Wilt thou win the favour of God He virtuous They best worship him that are his Followers It is not the bowing of your Knees but of your Hearts it is not the number of your Oblations but the integrity of your Lives not your Incense but your Obedience which God is delighted to be honoured by Nevertheless we must beware lest simply understanding this which comparatively is meant that is to say whereas the meaning is that God doth chiefly respect the inward disposition of the Heart we must take heed we do not hereupon so worship him in Spirit that outwardly we take all Worship Reverence and Honour from him Our God will be glorified both of us himself and for us by others To others because our Hearts are known and yet our example is required for their good therefore it is not sufficient to carry Religion in our Hearts as Fire is carried in Flint-stones but we are outwardly visibly apparently to serve and honour the living God yea to employ that way as not only for our Souls but our Bodies so not only our Bodies but our Goods yea the choice the flower the chiefest of all thy Revenue saith Solomon If thou hast any thing in all thy Possessions of more value and price than other to what use shouldest thou convert it rather than to this Samuel was dear unto Hannah his Mother The Child that Hannah did so much esteem she could not but greatly wish to advance and her Religious conceit was that the honouring of God with it was the advancing of it unto honour The chiefest of the Offspring of men are the Males which be firstborn and for this cause in the ancient World they all were by right of their birth Priests of the Most High By these and the like Precedents it plainly enough appeareth that in what Heart soever doth dwell unseigned Religion in the same there resteth also a willingness to bestow upon God that soon which is most dear Amongst us the Law is that sith Gold is the chiefest of Metals if it be any where found in the bowels of the Earth it belongeth in right of honour as all men know to the King Whence hath this Custom grown but only from a natural persuasion whereby men judge it decent for the highest Persons always to be honoured with the choicest things Mat. 1. 8. ● If ye offer unto God the blind saith the Prophet Malachi it is not evil if the lame and sick it is good enough Present it unto thy Prince and see if he will content himself or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts When Abel presented God with an Offering it was the fattest of all the Lambs in his whole Flock he honoured God not only out of his substance but out of the very Chiefest therein whereby we may somewhat judge how religiously they stand affected towards God who grudge that any thing worth the having should be his Long it were to reckon up particularly what God was Owner of under the Law For of this sort was all which they spent in Legal Sacrifices of this sort their usual Oblations and Offerings of this sort Tithes and Fust-fruits of this sort that which by extraordinary occasions they vowed unto God of this sort all that they gave to the building of the Tabernacle of this sort all that which was gathered amongst them for the erecting of the Temple and the a Because saith David I have a delight in the House of my God therefore I have given the eunio of my own both Gold and Silver to adorn it with adorning of it erected of this sort whatsoever their Corban contained wherein that blessed Widows Deodate was laid up Now either this kind of Honour was prefiguratively altogether Ceremonial and then our Saviour accepteth it not or if we find that to him also it hath been done and that with divine approbation given for encouragement of the World to show by such kind of service their dutiful hearts towards Christ there will be no place left for men to make any question at all whether herein they do well or no. Wherefore to descend from the Synagogue unto the Church of Christ albeit Sacrifices wherewith sometimes God was highly honoured be not accepted as heretofore at the hands of men a Chron. 2. 5. Yet forasmuch as b Ps. 50. 13 14. Honour God with thy Riches is an Edict of the inseparable Law of Nature so far forth as men are therein required by such kind of homage to testify their thankful minds this Sacrifice God doth accept still Wherefore as it was said of Christ Phil. 4. 18. Psal. ●2 ●1 That all Kings should worship him and all Nations do him service so this veryn kind of worship or service was likewise mentioned lest we should think that our Lord and Saviour would allow of no such thing The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring Presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring Gifts And Math. 2. 11. as it maketh not a little to the praise of those Sages mentioned in the Gospel that the first amongst men which did solemnly honour our Saviour on Earth were they so it soundeth no less to the dignity of this particular kind that the rest by it were prevented They fell down and worshipped and opened their Treasures and presented onto him Gifts Gold Incense and Mirr● Of all those things which were done to the honour of Christ in his life-time there is not one whereof he spoke in such sort as when Mary to testify the largeness of her affection Matth. 26. 13. seemed to waste away a Gift upon him the price of which Gift might as they thought who saw it much better have been spent in works of Mercy towards the Poor Verily I say unto you wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout all the World there shall also this that she hath doubt be spoken of for memorial of her Of service to God Joh. 15. 16. the best works are they which continue longest And for permanency what like Donation whereby things are unto him for ever dedicated That the ancient Lands and Livings of the Church were all in such sort given into the hands of God by the just Lords and Owners of them that unto him they passed over their whole interest and right therein the form of sundry the said Donations as yet extant most plainly showeth And where time hath left no such evidence as now remaining to be seen yet the same intention is presumed in all Donors unless the contrary be apparent But to the end it may yet more plainly appear unto all men under what Title the several kinds of Ecclesiastical Possessions are held Ans. cap. 15. de ●●nca Our Lord himself saith Saint Augustine had Coffers to keep those things which the Faithful OFFERED unto him Then was the form of the Church-treasury first instituted to the end that withal we might understand that in forbidding to be careful for to morrow his purpose was not to bar his Saints from keeping money but to withdraw them from doing God service for Wealth 's sake and from for saking Righteousness through fear of losing their Wealth The first Gifts consecrated unto Christ after his departure out of the World were sums of money in process of time other Movables were added and at length Goods unmoveable Churches and Oratories hallowed to the honour of his glorious Name Houses and Lands for perpetuity conveyed unto him Inheritance given to remain his as long as the World should endure C. 12. c. 8 cap. 15 & 16. The Apostles saith Melchiades they foresaw that God would have his Church amongst the Gentiles and for that cause in judea they took no Lands but price of Lands sold. This he conjectureth to have been the cause why the Apostles did that which the History reporteth of them The truth is that so the state of those times did require as well other where as in judea Wherefore when afterwards it did appear much more commodious for the Church to dedicate such Inheritances then the value and price of them being sold the former Custom was changed for this as for the better The Devotion of Constantine herein all the World even till this very day admireth They that lived in the prime of the Christian World thought no Testament Christianly made nor any thing therein well bequeathed unless something were thereby added unto Christ's Patrimony Touching which men what judgement the World doth now give I know not perhaps we deem them to have been herein but blind and superstitious Persons Nay we in these cogitations are blind they chose did with Solomon plainly know and persuade themselves that thus to diminish their wealth Prov. 10. 3. was not to diminish but to augment it according to that which God doth promise to his own People by the Prophet Malachi M●l 3. 10. 2 Chro. 31. and which they by their own particular experience sound true If Wickliff therefore were of that opinion which his Adversaries ascribe unto him whether truly or of purpose to make him odious I cannot tell for in his Writings I do not find it namely T● Wald. tum 1. lib● 4. c. 39 That Constantine and others following his steps did evil as having no sufficient ground whereby they might gather that such Donations are acceptable to jesus Christ it was in Wickless a palpable error I will use but one only Argument to stand in the stead of many jacob taking his Journey unto Haran made in this sort his solemn vow Gen. 28.20 If God will be with me and will keep me in this journey which I go and will give me Bread to eat and clothes to put on so that I come again to my Father's house in safety then shall the Lord be my God and this Stone which I have set up a Pillar shall be the House of God and of all that thou shall give me will I give the Tenth unto thee May a Christian man desire as great things as jacob did at the hands of God may he desire them in as earliest manner may he promise as great thankfulness in acknowledging the goodness of God may he vow any certain kind of public acknowledgement before hand or though he vow it not perform it after in such sort that men may see he is persuaded how the Lord hath been his God Are these particular kinds of testifying thankfulness to God the erecting of Oratories the dedicating of Lands and Goods to maintain them forbidden any where Let any mortal man living show but one reason wherefore in this point to follow Iacob's example should not be a thing both acceptable unto God and in the eyes of the World for ever most highly commendable Concerning Goods of this nature Goods whereof when we speak we term them The Goods that are consecrated unto God and as Tertullian speaketh Deposit a pietatis things which Piety and Devotion hath laid up as it were in the bosom of God Touching such Goods the Law Civil following mere light of Nature defineth them to be no man's because no mortal man or community of men hath right of propriety in them XXIII Persons Ecclesiastical are God's Stewards That Ecclesiastical Persons are Receivers of God's mcenroe and that the honour of Prelates is to be thereof his chief Receivers not without liberty from him gra●ted of converting the same unto their own use even in large manner not only for that he hath set them over his Family as the Ministers of ghostly food but even for this very cause also that they are to receive and dispose his Temporal Revenues the gifts and oblations which men bring him Of the Jews it is plain that their Tyths they offered unto the Lord and those a Num. 18.23 offerings the Lord bestowed upon the Levites When the Levites gave the Tenth of their Tithes this their Gift the Law doth term the Lord's Heave-offering and b Num. 19.23 appoint that the Highpriest should receive the same c Num● 21. Of spoils taken in War that part which they were accustomed to separate unto God they brought it before the Priest of the Lord by whom it was laid up in the Tabernacle of the Congregation for a memorial of their thankfulness towards God and his goodness towards them in fight for them against their enemies As therefore the Apostle magnifieth the honour of Melchisedec in that he being an Highpriest did receive at the hands of Abraham the Tyths which Abraham did honour God with so it argueth in the Apostles themselves great honour that at their feet the price of those Possessions was laid which men thought good to bestow on Christ. d Heb. 7. 3. St. Paul commending the Churches which were in Macedonia for their exceeding liberality this way saith of them e Acts ● 34. That he himself would bear record they had declared their forward minds according to their power yea beyond their power and had so much exceeded his expectation of them 2 Cor. 8. 5. that they seemed as it were even to give away themselves first to the Lord saith the Apostle and then by the will of God unto us To him as the owner of such gifts to us as his appointed receivers and dispensers The gift of the Church of Antioch Acts 11.30 Acts 21. 18. & 12. 17. bestowed unto the use of distressed Brethren which were in judea Paul and Baruabar did deliver unto the Presbyters of jerusalem and the head of those Presbyters was james he therefore the Chiefest disposer thereof Amongst those Canons which are entitled Apostolical one is this Cap. 41. Et Council Antioch c. 25. We appoint that the Bishop have care of these things which belong to the Church the meaning is of Church-Goods as the Reason following showeth For if the precious Souls of men must be committed unto him of trust much more it beloveth the charge of money to be given him that by his Authority the Presbyters and Deacons may administer all things to them that stand in need So that he which hath done them the honour to be as it were his Treasurers hath left them also authority and power to use these his Treasures both otherwise and for the maintenance even of their own Estate the lower sort of the Clergy according unto a meaner the higher after a larger proportion The use of Spiritual goods and possessions hath been a matte● much disputed of grievous complaints there are usually made against the evil and unlawful usage of them but with no certain determination hitherto on what things and Persons with what proportion and measure they being bestowed do retain their lawful use Some men condemn it as idle superfluous and altogether vain that any part of the Treasure of God should be spent upon costly Ornaments appertaining unto his Service who being best worshipped when he is served in Spirit and truth John 4. 14. hath not for want of pomp and magnificence rejected at any time those who with faithful hearts have adored him Whereupon the Heretics termed Henriciani and Petrobusiani threw down Temples and Houses of Prayer erected with marvellous great charge as being in that respect not fit for Christ by us to be honoured in We deny not but that they who sometime wandered as Pilgrims on earth Heb. 11. 3● and had no Temples but made Caves and Dens to pray in did God such honour as was most acceptable in his sight God did not reject them for their poverty and nakedness sake Their Sacraments were not abhorred for want of Vessels of Gold Howbeit let them who thus delight to plead answer me When Moses first and afterwards David exhorted the people of Israel unto matter of charge about the service of God suppose we it had been allowable in them to have thus pleaded Our Fathers in Egypt served God devoutly God war with them in all their afflictions he heard their Prayers pitied their Case and delivered them from the tyranny of their oppressors what House Tabernacle or Temple had they Such Argumentations are childish and fond God doth not refuse to be honoured at all where there lacketh wealth but where abundance and store is he there requireth the Flower thereof being bestowed on him to be employed even unto the Ornament of his Service In Egypt the state of his People was servitude and therefore his Service was accordingly In the Defart they had no sooner ought of their own but a Tabernacle is required and in the Land of Canaan a Temple In the eyes of David it seemed a thing not fit a thing not decent that himself should be more richly seated than God But concerning the use of Ecclesiastical Goods bestowed this way there is not so much contention amongst us as what measure of allowance is fit for Ecclesiastical Persons to be maintained with A better rule in this case to judge things by we cannot possibly have than the● Wisdom of God himself by considering what he thought meet for each degree of the Clergy to enjoy in time of the Law what for Levites what for Priests and what for High-Priests somewhat we shall be the more able to discern rightly what may be fit convenient and right for the Christian Clergy likewise Priests for their maintenance had those first-fruits of a Num. 18.15  b Num. 12. Coin Wine Oil and c Num. 13. other Commodities of the Earth which the Jews were accustomed yearly to present God with They had d Verse 1● the price which was appointed for men to pay in lieu of the firstborn of their Children and the price of the first born also amongst  which were unclean They had the vowed e Verse 8. Gifts of the People or f Le● 9.11 Verse 14 Num● 1● 5. the prices if they were redeemable by the Donors after vow as some things were They had the free and un-vowed Oblations of men Vers. 8. 5 ●1 18. They had the remainder of things sacrificed With Tithes the Levites were maintained and with the tithe of their Tithes the Highpriest In a word if the quality of that which God did assign to his Clergy be considered and their manner of receiving it without labour expense or charge it will appear that the Tribe of Levi being but the twelfth part of Israel had in effect as good as four twelfth parts of all such Goods as the holy Land did yield So that their Worldly Estate was four times as good as any other Tribes in Israel besides But the High-Priest's condition how ample to whom belonged the Tenth of all the Tithe of this Land especially the Law provicing also that as the people did bring the best of all things unto the Priests and Levites so the Levite should deliver the choice and flower of all their Commodities to the Highpriest and so his Tenth-part by that mean be made the very best part amongst ten by which proportion if the Levites were ordinarily in all not above thirty thousand men whereas when David numbered them 1 Chron. 2 3● he found almost thirty eight thousand above the age of thirty years the Highpriest after this very reckoning Gen. 47. ●2 had as much as three or four thousand others of the Clergy to live upon Over and besides all this lest the Priests of Egypt holding Lands should seem in that respect better provided for than the Priests of the true God it pleased him further to appoint unto them forty and eight whole Cities with Territories of Land adjoining Numb 35.9 Josh. 14.4 to hold as their own free Inheritance for ever For to the end they might have all kind of encouragement not only to do what they ought but to take pleasure in that they did albeit they were expressly forbidden to have any part of the Land of Canaan laid out whole to themselves by themselves in such sort as the rest of the Tribes had forasmuch as the will of God was rather that they should throughout all Tribes be dispersed for the easier access of the People unto knowledge Deut. 12. 8. Leu. 25.33.34 Yet were they not barred altogether to hold Land nor yet otherwise the worse provided for in respect of that former restraint for God by way of special pre-eminence undertook to feed them at his own Table and out of his own proper Treasury to maintain them that want and penury they might never feel except God himself did first receive injury A thing most worthy our consideration is the wisdom of God herein for the Common sort being prone unto envy and murmur little considereth of what necessity use and importance the sacred duties of the Clergy are and for that Cause hardly yieldeth them any such honour without repining and grudging thereat they cannot brook it that when they have laboured and come to reap there should so great a portion go out of the fruit of their Labours and he yielded up unto such as sweat nor for it But when the Lord doth challenge this as his own due and require it to be done by way of homage unto him whose mere liberality and goodness had raised them from a poor and servile estate to place them where they had all those ample and rich possessions they must be worse than Brute beasts if they would storm at any thing which He did receive at their hands And for him to bestow his own on his own Servants which liberty is not denied unto the meanest of men what man liveth that can think it other than most reasonable Wherefore no cause there was why that which the Clergy had should in any man's eye seem too much unless God himself were thought to be of an over-having disposition This is the mark whereat all those speeches drive ●●● 10. 9 I●…th 13. 14. Numb 18.24 Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his Brethren the Lord is his inheritance again To the Tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance the Sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel an inheritance of Levi again The tyths of the which they shall offer as an offering unto the Lord I have given the Levites for an inheritance and again Verse 19 All the heave-offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel shall offer unto the Lord I have given thee and thy sons and thy daughters with thee to be a duty for ever it is a perpetual Covenant of salt before the lord Now that if such provision be possible to be made the Christian Clergy ought not herein to be inferior unto the Jewish What sounder proof than the Apostles own kind of Argument 1 Cor. 9 13. Do ye not know that they which minister about the holy things eat of the things of the Temple and they which partake of the Altar are partakers with the Altar So even So hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel Upon which words I thus conclude that if the People of God do abound and abounding can so far forth find in their hearts to show themselves towards Christ their Saviour thankful as to honour him with their riches which no Law of God or Nature forbiddeth no less than the ancient Jewish people did honour God the plain Ordinance of Christ appointeth as large and as ample proportion out of his own treasure unto them that serve him in the Gospel as ever the Priests of the Law did enjoy What further proof can we desire It is the blessed Apostles testimony That even so the Lord hath ordained Yea I know not whether it be sound to interpret the Apostle otherwise than that 1 Tim. 5. 17. 2 Cor. 3. 8. Vide ●2● 79. art 1. whereas he judgeth the Presbyters which rule well in the Church of Christ to be worthy of double honour he means double unto that which the Priests of the Law received For if that Ministry which was of the Letter were so glorious how shall not the Ministry of the Spirit be more glorious If the Teachers of the Law of Moses which God delivered written with Letters in Tables of Stone were thought worthy of so great honour how shall not the Teachers of the Gospel of Christ be in his sight most worthy the Holy Ghost being sent from Heaven to engrave the Gospel on their Hearts who first taught it and whose Successors they that teach it at this day are So that according to the Ordinance of God himself their Estate for worldly maintenance ought to be no worse than is granted unto other sorts of men each according to that degree they were placed in Neither are we so to judge of their worldly condition as if they were Servants of men and at men's hands did receive those earthly benefits by way of stipend in lieu of pains whereunto they are hired nay that which is paid unto them is homage and tribute due unto the Lord Christ. His Servants they are and from him they receive such goods by way of stipend Not so from men For at the hands of men he himself being honoured with such things hath appointed his Servants therewith according to their several degrees and places to be maintained And for their greater encouragement who are his Labourers he hath to their comfort assured them for ever 1 Tim 5. 18. that they are in his estimation worthy the hire which he alloweth them and therefore if men should withdraw from him the store which those his Servants that labour in his Work are maintained with yet be in his Word shall be found everlastingly true their labour in the Lord shall not be forgotten the hire he accounteth them worthy of they shall surely have either one way or other answered Acts 4. 31. In the prime of the Christian world that which was brought and laid down at the Apostles feet they disposed of by distribution according to the exigence of each man's need Neither can we think that they who out of Christ's treasury made provision for all others were careless to furnish the Clergy with all things fit and convenient for their Estate And as themselves were chiefest in place of Authority and Calling so no man doubteth but that proportionably they had power to use the same for their own decent maintenance The Apostles with the rest of the Clergy in jerusalem lived at that time according to the manner of a Fellowship or Collegiate Society maintaining themselves and the poor of the Church with a common purse the rest of the Faithful keeping that Purse continually stored And in that sense it is that the Sacred History saith All which believed were in one place and had all things common Acts 2. 44. In the Histories of the Church and in the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for some hundreds of years after we find no other way for the maintenance of the Clergy but only this the Treasury of Jesus Christ furnished through men's Devotion bestowing sometimes Goods sometimes Lands that way and out of his Treasury the charge of the service of God was defrayed the Bishop and the Clergy under him maintained the poor in their necessity ministered unto For which purpose every Bishop had some one of the Presbyters under him to be a Ditp●●nss Prosp. de vita contempt l. 2. c. 12. Oc●●n l. 14. C the Sa●r ●erl●ss & Novel 7. In Princip Treasurer of the Church to receive keep and deliver all which Office in Church's Cathedral remaineth even till this day albeit the use thereof be not altogether so large now as heretofore The disposition of these goods was by the appointment of the Bishop Wherefore b Prosp. the vi●● Cortempl lib. cap. 1● Prosper speaking of the Bishops care herein saith It was necessary for one to be troubled therewith to the end that the rest under him might be freer to attend quietly their Spiritual businesses And left any man should imagine that Bishops by this means were hindered themselves from attending the service of God Even herein saith he they d● God service for if these things which are bestowed on the Church be God's he doth the work of God who not of a covetous mind but with purpose of most faithful administration taketh care of things consecrated unto God And forasmuch as the Presbyters of every Church could not all live with the Bishop partly for that their number was great and partly because the People being once divided into Parishes such Presbyters as had severally charge of them were by that mean more conveniently to live in the midst each of his own particular flock therefore a competent number being fed at the same a Cypr. lib. 4. Ep. 5. Presbyterii honorem defiguasse nos ill●s jam seiatis de ●● sportulis eisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur &c divisioner menfurnai aequaris quantitatibus parti●ntur sensuri nobiscum provectis & corr●horatis anuis suis. Which words of Cyprian do show that every Presbyter had his standing allowance out of the Church treasury that besides the same allowance called Sportula some also had their portion in that dividend which was the remainder of every month's expense thirdly that out of the Presbyters under● him the Bishop as them had a certain number of the gravest who lived and commoned always with him Table with the Bishop the rest had their whole allowance apart which several allowances were called Sportulae and they who received them Sportulantes fratres Touching the Bishop as his Place and Estate was higher so likewise the proportion of his Charges about himself being for that cause in all equity and reason greater yet forasmuch as his stiat herein was no other than it pleased himself to set the rest as the manner of Inferiors is to think that they which are over them always have too much grudged many times at the measure of the Bishop's private expense perhaps not without cause Howsoever by this occasion there grew amongst them great heartburning quarrel and strife where the Bishops were found culpable as eating too much beyond their tether and drawing more to their own private maintenance than the proportion of Christ's Patrimony being not greatly abundant could bear sundry Constitutions hereupon were made to moderate the same according to the Church's condition in those times Some before they were made Bishops having been Owners of ample Possessions sold them and gave them away to the Poor b Prosp. de vita contempl l. 2. c ● Pont. Diacon in vita Cypr. Thus did Paulinus Hilary Cyprian and sundry others Hereupon they who entering into the same Spiritual and high Function held their Secular Possessions still were hardly thought of And even when the Case was fully resolved that so to do was not unlawful yet it grew a question Whether they lawfully might then take any thing out of the Public Treasury of Christ a question Whether Bishops holding by Civil Title sufficient to live of their own were bound in Conscience to leave the Goods of the Church altogether to the use of others Of contentions about these matters there was no end neither appeared there any possible way for quietness otherwise than by making partition of Church-Revenues according to the several ends and users for which they did serve that so the Bishop's part might be certain Such partition being made the Bishop enjoyed his portion several to himself the rest of the Clergy likewise theirs a third part was severed to the furnishing and upholding of the Church a fourth to the erection and maintenance of Houses wherein the Poor might have relief After which separation made Lands and Livings began every day to be dedicated unto each use severally by means whereof every of them became in short time much greater than they had been for worldly maintenance the fervent devotion of men being glad that this new opportunity was given of showing zeal to the House of God in more certain order By these things it plainly appeareth what proportion of maintenance hath been ever thought reasonable for a Bishop sith in that very partition agreed on to bring him unto his certain stint as much as allowed unto him alone as unto all the Clergy under him namely a fourtli part of the whole yearly Rents and Revenues of the Church Nor is it likely that before those Temporalities which now are such eyesores were added unto the honour of Bishops their state was so mean as some imagine For if we had no other evidence than the covetous and ambitious humour of Heretics whose impotent desires of aspiring thereunto and extreme discontentment as oft as they were defeated even this doth show that the state of Bishops was not a few degrees advanced above the rest Wherefore of grand Apostates which were in the very prime of the Primitive Church thus Lactantius above thirteen hundred years sithence testified Lact. de vera sap l. 5. c. 30. Men of a slippery saith they were who feigning that they knew and worshipped God but seeking only that they might grow in WEALTH and Honour affected the Place of the HIGHEST PRIESTHOOD whereunto when their Betters were chosen before them they thought it better to leave the Church and to draw their Favourers with them than to endure those men their Governors whom themselves desired to govern Now whereas against the present estate of Bishops and the greatness of their port and the largeness of their expenses at this day there is not any thing more commonly objected than those ancient Canons whereby they are restrained unto a far more sparing life their Houses their Retinue their Diet limited within a far more narrow compass than is now kept we must know that those Laws and Orders were made when Bishops lived of the same Purse which served a well for a number of others as them and yet all at their disposing So that convenient it was to provide that there might be a moderate stint appointed to measure their expenses by lest others should be injured by their wastefulness chose there is now no cause wherefore any such Law should be urged when Bishops live only of that which hath been peculiarly allotted unto them They having therefore Temporalities and other Revenues to bestow for their own private use according to that which their state requireth and no other having with them any such common interest therein their own discretion is to be their Law for this matter neither are they to be pressed with the rigour of such ancient Canons as were framed for other times much less so odiously to be upbraided with uncomformity unto the Pattern of our Lord and Saviour's estate in such circumstances as himself did never mind to require that the rest of the World should of necessity be like him Thus against the wealth of the Clergy they allege how meanly Christ himself was provided for against Bishop's Palaces his want of a hole to hide his Head in against the service done unto them that he came to minister not to be ministered unto in the World Which things as they are not unfit to control covetous proud or ambitious desires of the Ministers of Christ and even of all Christians whatsoever they be and to teach men contentment of mind how mean soever their estate is considering that they are but Servants to him whose condition was farrmore abused than theirs is or can be so to prove such difference in State between us and him unlawful they are of no force or strength at all If one convented before their Consistories when he standeth to make this Answer should break out into Invectives against their Authority and tell them that Christ when he was on Earth did not sit to judge but stand to be judged would they hereupon think it requisite to dissolve their Eldership and to permit no Tribunals no Judges at all for fear of swerving from our Saviour's example If those men who have nothing in their mouths more usual than the poverty of Jesus Christ and his Apostles allege not this as julian sometime did Beati panperes unto Christians when his meaning was to spoil them of that they had our hope is then that as they seriously and sincerely wish that our Saviour Christ in this point may be followed and to that end only propose his blessed example so at our hands again they will be content to hear with like willingness the holy Apostle's Exhortation made unto them of the Laity also 1 Cor. 11. 1. Phil. 3. 1● Be ye Followers of us even as we are of Christ let us be your example even as the Lord jesus Christ is ours that we may all proceed by one and the same rule XXIV But beware we of following Christ as Thiefs follow True-men to take their Goods by violence from them That for their unworthiness to deprive both them and their Encres●orss of such Go●dss and to ●●nves the same unto men of Secular Calling were extreme Sacral●gious injust Be it that Bishops were all unworthy not only of Livings but even of Life yet what hath our Lord Jesus Christ deserved for which men should judge him worthy to have the things that are his given away from him unto others that have no right unto them For at this mark it is that the head Lay-Reformers do all aim Must these unworthy Prelates give place What then Shall Better succeed in their rooms Is this desired to the end that others may enjoy their Honours which shall do Christ more faithful service than they have done Bishops are the worst men living upon Earth therefore let their sanctified Possessions be divided Amongst whom O blessed Reformation O happy men that put to their helping-hands for the furtherance of so good and glorious a Work Wherefore albeit the whole World at this day do already perceive and Posterity be like hereafter a great deal more plainly to discern not that the Clergy of God is thus heaved at because they are wicked but that means are used to put it into the heads of the simple multitude that they are such indeed to the end that those who thirst for the spoil or Spiritual Possessions may till such time as they have their purpose be thought to covet nothing but only the just extinguishment of un-reformable Persons so that in regard of such men's intentions practices and machinations against them the part that suffereth these things Psal. 7. 8. may most fitly pray with David judge thou me O Lord according to my Righteousness and according unto mine innocency O let the malice of the wicked come to an end and be thou the guide of the just Notwithstanding forasmuch as it doth not stand with Christian humility otherwise to think then that this violent outrage of men is a rod in the ireful hands of the Lord our God the smart whereof we deserve to feel Let it not seem grievous in the eyes of my reverend L. L. the Bishops if to their good consideration I offer a view of those sores which are in the kind of their heavenly function most apt to breed and which being not in time cured may procure at the length that which God of his infinite mercy avert Of Bishops in his time St. Jerome complaineth that they took it in great disdain to have any fault great or small found with them Epiph. contra hares l. 3.10 1. baer 70. Epiphanius likewise before Jerome noteth their impatiency this way to have been the very choose of a Schism in the Church of Christ at what time one Audius a Man of great Integrity of life full of faith and zeal towards God beholding those things which were corruptly done in the Church told the B B. and Presbyters their faults in such sort as those men are wont who love the truth from their hearts and walk in the paths of a most exact life Whether it were covetousness or sensuality in their lives absurdity or error in their teaching any breach of the laws and Canons of the Church wherein he espied them faulty certain and sure they were to be thereof most plainly told Which thing they whose dealings were justly culpable could not bear but instead of amending their faults bend their hatred against him who sought their amendment till at length they drove him by extremity of infestation through weariness of striving against their injuries to leave both them and with them the Church Amongst the manifold accusations either generally intended against the Bishops of this our Church or laid particularly to the charge of any of them I cannot find that hitherto their spitefullest adversaries have been able to say justly that any man for telling them their personal faults in good and Christian sort hath sustained in that respect much persecution Wherefore notwithstanding mine own inferior estate and calling in God's Church the consideration whereof assureth me that in this kind the sweetest Sacrifice which I can offer unto Christ is meek Obedience reverence and awe unto the Prelates which he hath placed in seats of higher Authority over me emboldened I am so far as may conveniently stand with that duty of humble subjection meekly to crave my good L L. your favourable pardon if it shall seem a fault thus far to presume or if otherwise your wont courteous acceptation AEneid l. 12. Sinite hat haud mollia fatu Sublatis aperite dolis In government be it of what kind soever but especially if it be such kind of Government as Prelates have over the Church there is not one thing publicly more hurtful than that an hard opinion should be conceived of Governors at the first and a good opinion how should the World ever conceive of them for their after-proceeding in Regiment whose first access and entrance thereunto giveth just occasion to think them corrupt men which fear not that God in whose name they are to rule Wherefore a scandalous thing it is to the Church of God and to the Actors themselves dangerous to have aspired unto rooms of Prelacy by wicked means We are not at this day troubled much with that tumultuous kind of ambition wherewith the elections of a Ammian Marcel lib. 37 Damasus in S. jeromes' age and of b Vide in vita Greg. Naz. Maximus in Gregory's time and of others were long sithence stained Our greatest fear is rather the evil which c Nemo gradum sacerdoti precii venalitate mercetur quantum quisque mercatur non quantum dare sufficiat aestimetur Profecto enim quis locus tutus & quae causa esse poterit excusata si veneranda Dei templa pecuniis expugnentur Quem murum integritaris aut vallum providebimus si auri sacra fames in penetralia veneranda proserpat ●quid denique cantum esse poterit aut securum si sanctitas incorrupta corrumpatur Cesser altaribus imminere profanus ardour avaritiae & à sacris a●ytis repellatur pi●culare flagitium Iraque castus & humilis nostris temporibus eligatur Episcopus ut quocunque loc●rum pervenitit omnia vita propriae integritate purificet Nec pretio sed precibus ordinetur Antistes l. 31. C. de Epis. & Cler. Leo and Anthemius did by Imperial constitution endeavour as much as in them by to prevent He which granteth or he which receiveth the office and dignity of a Bishop otherwise then beseemeth a thing Divine and most holy he which bestoweth and he which obtaineth it after any other sort than were honest and lawful to use if our Lord Jesus Christ were present himself on earth to bestow it even with his own hands sinneth a sin by so much more grievous than the sin of Balshazar by how much Offices and Functions heavenly are more precious than the meanest ornaments or implements which thereunto appertain If it be as the Apostle saith that the Holy Ghost doth make Bishops and that the whole action of making them is Gods own deed men being therein but his Agents what spark of the fear of God can there possibly remain in their hearts who representing the person of God in naming worthy men to Ecclesiastical charge do sell that which in his name they are to bestow or who standing as it were at the Throne of the Living God do bargain for that which at his hands they are to receive woe worth such impious and irreligious profanations The Church of Christ hath been hereby made not a den of thiefs but in a manner the very dwelling place of soul spirits for undoubtedly such a number of them have been in all ages who thus have climbed into the seat of Episcopal Regiment 2. Men may by orderly means be invested with spiritual Authority and yet do harm by reason of ignorance how to use it to the good of the Church It is saith Chrysostom a thing highly to be accounted of but a hard thing to be that which a Bishop should be Yea a hard and a toilsome thing it is for a Bishop to know the things that belong unto a Bishop A right good man may be a very unfit Magistrate And for discharge of a Bishop's Office to be well minded is not enough no not to be well learned also Skill to instruct is a thing necessary skill to govern much more necessary in a Bishop It is not safe for the Church of Christ when Bishop's learn what belongeth unto Government as Empirics learn physic by killing of the sick Bishops were wont to be men of great learning in the Laws both Civil and of the Church and while they were so the wisest men in the land for Counsel and Government were Bishops 3. Know we never so well what belongeth unto a charge of so great moment yet can we not therein proceed but with hazard of public detriment if we rely on ourselves alone and use not the benefit of conference with others A singular mean to unity and concord amongst themselves a marvellous help unto uniformity in their dealings no small addition of weight and credit unto that which they do a strong bridle unto such as watch for occasions to stir against them finally a very great stay unto all that are under their Government it could not choose but be soon found if Bishops did often and seriously use the help of mutual consultation These three rehearsed are things only preparatory unto the course of Episcopal proceedings But the hurt is more manifestly seen which doth grow to the Church of God by faults inherent in their several actions as when they carelessly Ordain when they Institute negligently when corruptly they bestow Church-living Benefices prebend's and rooms especially of Jurisdiction when they visit for gain-sake rather than with serious intent to do good when their Courts erected for the maintenance of good Order are disordered when they regard not the Clergy under them when neither Clergy nor Laity are kept in that awe for which this authority should serve when any thing appeareth in them rather than a fatherly affection towards the flock of Christ when they have no respect to posterity and finally when they neglect the true and requisite means whereby their authority should be upheld Surely the hurt which groweth out of these defects must needs be exceeding great In a Minister ignorance and disability to teach is a maim nor is it held a thing allowable to ordain such were it not for the avoiding of a greater evil which the Church must needs sustain if in so great scarcity of able men and unsufficiency of most Parishes throughout the Land to maintain them both public Prayer and the Administration of Sacraments should rather want than any man thereunto be admitted lacking dexterity and skill to perform that which otherwise was most requisite Wherefore the necessity of ordaining such is no excuse for the rash and careless ordaining of every one that hath but a friend to bestow some two or three words of ordinary commendation in his behalf By reason whereof the Church groweth burdened with silly creatures more than need whose noted baseness and insufficiency bringeth their very Order itself into contempt It may be that the fear of a Quare impedit doth cause Institutions to pass more easily than otherwise they would And to speak plainly the very truth it may be that Writs of Quare non impedit were for these times most necessary in the others place Yet where Law will not suffer men to follow their own judgement to show their judgement they are not hindered And I doubt not but that even conscienceless and wicked Patrons of which sort the swarms are too great in the Church of England are the more emboldened to present unto Bishops any refuse by finding so easy acceptation thereof Somewhat they might redress this sore notwithstanding so strong impediments if it did plainly appear that they took it indeed to heart & were not in a manner contented with it Shall we look for care in admitting whom others present if that which some of yourselves confer be at any time corruptly bestowed A foul and an ugly kind of deformity it hath if a man do but think what it is for a Bishop to draw commodity and gain from those things whereof he is left a free bestower and that in trust without any other obligation than his sacred Order only and that religious Integrity which hath been presumed on in him Simoniacal corruption I may not for honour's sake suspect to be amongst men of so great place So often they do not I trust offend by sale as by unadvised gift of such preferments wherein that ancient Canon should specially be remembered which forbiddeth a Bishop to be led by humane affection Can. Apost. ●5 in bestowing the things of God A fault no where so hurtful as in bestowing places of jurisdiction and in furnishing Cathedral Churches the Prebendaries and other Dignities whereof are the very true successors of those ancient Presbyters which were at the first as Counsellors unto Bishops A foul abuse it is that any one man should be loaded as some are with Livings in this kind yea some even of them who condemn utterly the granting of any two Benefices unto the same man whereas the other is in truth a matter of far greater sequel as experience would soon show if Church's Cathedral being furnished with the residence of a competent number of virtuous grave wise and learned Divines the rest of the prebend's of every such Church were given within the Diocese unto men of worthiest desert for their better encouragement unto industry and travel unless it seem also convenient to extend the benefit of them unto the learned in Universities and men of special employment otherwise in the affairs of the Church of God But howsoever surely with the public good of the Church it will hardly stand that in any one person such favours be more multiplied than law permitteth in those Livings which are with Cure Touching Bishops Visitations the first institution of them was profitable to the end that the state and condition of Churches being known there might be for evils growing convenient remedies provided in due time The observation of Church Laws the correction of faults in the service of God and manners of men these are things that visitors should seek When these things are inquired of formally and but for custom sake fees and pensions being the only thing which is sought and little else done by Visitations we are not to marvel if the baseness of the end doth make the action itself loathsome The good which Bishops may do not only by these Visitations belonging ordinarily to their Office but also in respect of that power which the Founders of Colleges have given them of special trust charging even fearfully their consciences therewith the good I say which they might do by this their authority both within their own Diocese and in the well-springs themselves the Universities is plainly such as cannot choose but add weight to their heavy accounts in that dreadful Day if they do it not In their Courts where nothing but singular integrity and Justice should prevail if palpable and gross corruptions be found by reason of Offices so often granted unto men who seek nothing but their own gain and make no account what disgrace doth grow by their unjust dealings unto them under whom they deal the evil hereof shall work more than they which procure it do perhaps imagine At the hands of a Bishop the first thing looked for is a care of the Clergy under him a care that in doing good they may have whatsoever comforts and encouragements his countenance authority and place may yield Otherwise what heard shall they have to proceed in their painful course all sorts of men besides being so ready to malign despise and every way oppress them Let them find nothing but disdain in Bishops in the enemies of present Government if that way lift to betake themselves all kind of favourable and friendly help unto which part think we it likely that men having wit courage and stomach will incline As great a fault is the want of severity when need requireth as of kindness and courtesy in Bishops But touching this what with ill usage of their powe amongst the meaner and what with disuage amongst the higher sort they are in the eyes of both sorts as Bees have lost their sting It is a long time since any great one hath felt or almost any one much feared the edge of that Ecclesiastical severity which sometime held Lords and Dukes in a more religious awe then now the meanest are able to be kept A Bishop in whom there did plainly appear the marks and tokens of a fatherly affection towards them are under his charge what good might he do ten thousand ways more than any man knows how to set down But the souls of men are not loved that which Christ shed his blood for is not esteemed precious This is the very root the fountain of all negligence in Church-Government Most wretched are the terms of men's estate when once they are at a point of wrechlesness so extreme that thy bend not their wits any further than only to shift out the present time never regarding what shall become of their Successors after them Had our Predecessors so loosely cast off from them all care and respect to posterity a Church Christian there had no● been about the regiment whereof we should need at this day to strive It was the barbarous affection of Nero that the ruin of his own Imperial Seat he could have been well enough contented to see in case he might also have seen it accompanied with the fall of the whole World An affection not more intolerable than theirs who care not to overthrow all posterity so they may purchase a few days of Ignominious safety unto themselves and their present estates if it may be termed a safety which tendeth so fast unto their very overthrow that are the Purchasers of it in so vile and base manner Men whom it standeth upon to uphold a reverend estimation of themselves in the minds of others without which the very best things they do are hardly able to escape disgrace must before it be over-late remember how much easier it is to retain credit once gotten then to recover it being lost The Executors of Bishops are sued if their Mansion-house be suffered to go to decay But whom shall their Successors sue for the dilapidations which they make of that Credit the unrepaired diminutions whereof will in time bring to pass that they which would most do good in that calling shall not be able by reason of prejudice generally settled in the minds of all sorts against them By what means their estimation hath hitherto decayed Egisip l. ● c. 1. it is no hard thing to discern Herod and Archelaus are noted to have sought out purposely the dullest and most ignoble that could be found amongst the people preferring such to the High-Priests Office thereby to abate the great opinion which the multitude had of that Order and to procure a more expedite course for their own wicked Counsels whereunto they saw the High-Priests were no small impediment as long as the common sort did much depend upon them It may be there hath been partly some show and just suspicion of like practice in some in procuring the undeserved preferments of some unworthy persons the very cause of whose advancement hath been principally their unworthiness to be advanced But neither could this be done altogether without the inexcusable fault of some preferred before and so oft we cannot imagine it to have been done that either only or chiefly from thence this decay of their estimation may be thought to grow Somewhat it is that the malice of their cunning Adversaries but much more which themselves have effected against themselves A Bishop's estimation doth grow from the excellency of virtues suitable unto his place Unto the place of a Bishop those high Divine Virtues are judged suitable which virtues being not easily found in other sorts of great-men do make him appear so much the greater in whom they are found Devotion and the feeling sense of Religion are not usual in the noblest wisest and chiefest Personages of State by reason their wits are so much employed another way and their minds so seldom conversant in heavenly things If therefore wherein themselves are defective they see that Bishops do blessedly excel it frameth secretly their-hearts to a stooping kind of disposition clean opposite to contempt The very countenance of Moses was glorious after that God had conferred with him And where Bishops are the powers and faculties of whose souls God hath possessed those very actions the kind whereof is common unto them with other men have notwithstanding in them a more high and heavenly form which draweth correspondentestimation unto it by virtue of that celestial impression which deep meditation of holy things and as it were conversation with God doth leave in their minds So that Bishops which will be esteemed of as they ought must frame themselves to that very pattern from whence those Asian Bishops unto whom St. john writeth were denominated even so far forth as this our frailty will permit shine they must as Angels of God in the midst of perverse men They are not to look that the world should always carry the affection of Constantine to bury that which might derogate from them and to cover their imbecillities More than high time it is that they bethink themselves of the Apostles admonition Attend tibi Have a vigilant eye to thyself They err if they do not persuade themselves that wheresoever they walk or sit be it in their Churches or in their Consistories abmad or at home at their Tables or in their Closets they are in the midst of snares laid for them Wherefore as they are with the Prophet every one of them to make it their hourly prayer unto God Led me O Lord in thy righteousness because of enemies so it is not safe for them no not for a moment to slacken their industry in seeking every way that estimation which may further their labours unto the Churches good Absurdity though but in words must needs he this way a maim where nothing but wisdom gravity and judgement is looked for That which the son of sirach hath concerning the Writings of the old Sages Wise sentences are found in them should be the proper mark and character of Bishop's speeches whose lips as doors are not to be opened but for egress of instruction and sound knowledge If base servility and dejection of mind be ever espied in them how should men esteem them as worthy the rooms of the great Ambassadors of God A wretched desire to gain by bad and unseemly means standeth not with a mean man's credit much less with that reputation which Fathers of the Church should be in But if besides all this there be also coldness in works of Piety and Charity utter contempt even of Learning itself no care to further it by any such helps as they easily might and ought to afford no not as much as that due respect unto their very Families about them which all men that are of account do order as near as they can in such sort that no grievous offensive deformity be therein noted if there still continue in that most Reverend Order such as by so many Engines work day and night to pull down the whole frame of their own estimation amongst men some of the rest secretly also permitting others their industrious opposites every day more and more to seduce the multitude how should the Church of God hope for great good at their hands What we have spoken concerning these things let not malicious accusers think themselves therewith justified no more than Shimei was by his Sovereign's most humble and meek acknowledgement even of that very crime which so impudent a Caitiffs tongue upbraided him withal the one in the virulent rancour of a cankered affection took that delight for the present which in the end did turn to his own more tormenting woe the other in the contrite patience even of deserved malediction had yet this comfort It may be the Lord will look on mine affliction and do we good for his cursing this day As for us over whom Christ hath placed them to be chiefest Guides and Pastors of our souls our common fault is 2. Sam. 15 11. that we look for much more in our Governors then a tolerable sufficiency can yield and bear much less than Humanity and Reason do require we should Too much perfection over rigorously exacted in them cannot but breed in us perpetual discontentment and on both parts cause all things to be unpleasant It is exceedingly worth the noting which Plato hath about the means whereby men fall into an utter dislike of all men with whom they converse Plat in Phaed●● This sourness of mind which maketh every man's dealings unsavoury in our taste entereth by an unskilful overweening which at the first we have of one and so of another in whom we afterwards find ourselves to have been deceived they declaring themselves in the end to be frail men whom we judged demigods When we have oftentimes been thus begailed and that far besides expectation we grow at the length to this plain conclusion That there is nothing at all sound in any man Which bitter conceit is unseemly and plain to have risen from lack of mature judgement in humane affairs which i● so be we did handle with art we would not enter into dealings with men otherwise then being beforehand grounded in this persuasion that the number of persons notably good or bad is but very small that the most part of good have some evil and of evil men some good in them So true our experience doth find those Aphorisms of Mercurius Trismegistas To purge gooddness quite and clean from all mixture of evil here is a thing impossible Again To When in this World we term a thing good M. 〈…〉 in pimandro ●●al ● we cannot by exact construction have any other true meaning then that the said thing so termed is not noted to be a thing exceeding evil And again Moros Amongst men OEsclapius The name of that which is good we find but no where the very true thing itself When we censure the deeds and dealings of our Superiors to bring with us a fore-conceit thus qualified shall be as well on our part as theirs a thing available unto quietness But howsoever the case doth stand with men's either good or bad quality the verdict which our Lord and Saviour hath given should continue for ever sure Qua Dei sunt Deo let men bear the burden of their own iniquity as for those things which are Gods let not God be deprived of them Mal. 3. 8. Acts. 5. 2. For if only to withhold that which should be given be no better then to rob God if to withdraw any mite of that which is but in purpose only bequeathed though as yet undelivered into the sacred treasure of God be a Sin for which Ananias and Sapphyra felt so heavily the dreadful hand of Divine revenge quite and clean to take that away which we never gave and that after God hath for so many ages therewith been possessed and that without any other show of cause saving only that it seemeth in their eyes who seek it to be too much for them which have it in their hands can we term it or think it less than most impious injustice most heinous sacrilege Such was the Religious affection of joseph Gen 47. 12. that it suffered him not to take that advantage no not against the very Idolatrous Priests of Egypt which he took for the purchasing of other men's lands to the King but he considered that albeit their Idolatry deserved hatred yet for the honour's sake due unto Priesthood better it was the King himself should yield them relief in public extremity then permit that the same necessity should constrain also them to do as the rest of the people did But it may be men have now found out that God hath proposed the Christian Clergy as a prey for all men freely to seize upon that God hath left them as the fishes of the Sea which every man that lifteth to gather into his net may or that there is no God in Heaven to pity them and to regard the injuries which man doth lay upon them Yet the public good of this Church and Commonwealth doth I hope weigh somewhat in the hearts of all honestly disposed men Unto the public good no one thing is more directly available then that such as are in place whether it be of Civil or of Ecclesiastical Authority be so much the more largely furnished even with external helps and ornaments of this life how much the more highly they are in power and calling advanced above others For nature is not contented with bare sufficiency unto the sustenance of man but doth evermore cover a decency proportionable unto the place which man hath in the body or society of others For according unto the greatness of men's calling the measure of all their actions doth grow in every man's secret expectation so that great men do always know that great things are at their hands expected In a Bishop great liberality great hospitality actions in every kind great are looked for And for actions which must be great mean instruments will no●serve Men are but men what room soever amongst men they hold If therefore the measure of their Worldly habilities be beneath that proportion which their calling doth make to be looked for at their hands a stronger inducement it is then perhaps men are aware of unto evil and corrupt dealings for supply of that defect For which cause we must needs think it a thing necessary unto the common good of the Church that great Jurisdiction being granted unto Bishops over others a state of wealth proportionable should likewise be provided for them where wealth is had in so great admiration as generally in this golden age it is that without it Angelical perfections are not able to deliver from extreme contempt surely to make Bishops poorer than they are were to make them of less account and estimation than they should be Wherefore if detriment and dishonour do grow to Religion to God to his Church when the public account which is made of the chief of the Clergy decayeth how should it be but in this respect for the good of Religion of God of his Church that the wealth of Bishops be carefully preserved from further dimination The travels and crosses wherewith Prelacy is never unaccompanied they which feel them know how heavy and how great they are Unless such difficulties therefore annexed unto that estate be tempered by co-annexing thereunto things esteemed of in this World how should we hope that the minds of men shunning naturally the burdens of each function will be drawn to undertake the burden of Episcopal care and labour in the Church of Christ Wherefore if long we desire to enjoy the peace quietness order and stability of Religion which Predacy as hath been declared causeth then must we necessarily even in favour of the public good uphold those things the hope whereof being taken away it is not the mere goodness of the charge and the Divine acceptation thereof that will be able to invite many thereunto What shall become of that Commonwealth or Church in the end which hath not the eye of Learning to beautify guide and direct it At the length what shall become of that Learning which hath not wherewith any more to encourage her industrious followers And finally what shall become of that courage to follow learning which hath already so much failed through the only diminution of her chiefest rewards Bishoprics Surely wheresoever this wicked intendment of overthrowing Cathedral Churches or of taking away those Livings Lands and Possessions which Bishops hitherto have enjoyed shall once prevail the hand maids attending thereupon will be Paganism and extreme Barbarity In the Law of Moses how careful provision is made that goods of this kind might remain to the Church for ever Ye shall not make common the holy things of the children of Israel lest ye die saith the lord Numb 1● 32. Touching the fields annexed unto Levitical Cities the Law was plain they might not be sold and the reason of the Law Levit. 25. this for it was their possession for ever He which was Lord and owner of it his will and pleasure was that from the Levites it should never pass to be enjoined by any other The Lords own portion without his own Commission and Grant how should any man justly hold They which hold it by his appointment had it plainly with this condition They shall not sell of it neither change it nor alienate the first-fruits of the Land for it is holy unto the lord Ezek. 4● 8. Habak 2. 17. It falleth sometimes out as the Prophet Habbakkuk noteth that the very prey of Savage Beasts becometh dreadful unto themselves It did so in judas Achan Nabuchadnezzar their evil-purchased goods were their snare and their prey their own terror A thing no where so likely to follow as in those goods and possessions which being laid where they should not rest have by the Lords own testimony his most bitter curse Mal. 3. 9 their undividable companion These persuasions we use for other men's cause not for theirs with whom God and Religion are parts of the abrogated Law of Ceremonies Wherefore not to continue longer in the cure of a Sore desperate there was a time when the Clergy had almost as little as these good people wish But the Kings of this Realm and others whom God had blessed considered devoutly with themselves as David in like case sometimes had done Is it meet that we at the hands of God should enjoy all kinds of abundance and God's Clergy suffer want They considered that of Solomon Honour God with thy substance and the chiefest of all thy revenue so shall thy barns be filled with corn and thy vessels shall run over with new wine Prov. 3. 9 They considered how the care which jehoshaphat had 2. Chron. 9 chap. 19 in providing that the Levites might have encouragement to do the work of the Lord cheerfully was left of God as a fit pattern to be followed in the Church for ever They considered what promise our Lord and Saviour hath made unto them at whose hands his Prophets should receive but the least part of the meanest kind of friendliness though it were but a draught of water Which promise seemeth not to be taken as if Christ had made them of any higher courtesy uncapable and had promised reward not unto such as give them but that but unto such as leave them but that They considered how earnest the Apostle is that if the Ministers of the Law were so amply provided for less care than ought not to be had of them who under the Gospel of Jesus Christ possess correspondent rooms in the Church they considered how needful it is that they who provoke all others unto works of Mercy and Charity should especially have wherewith to be examples of such things and by such meons to win them with whom other means without those do commonly take very small effect In these and the like considerations the Church-Revenues were in ancient times augmented our Lord thereby performing manifestly the promise made to his servants that they which did leave either Father or Mother or Lands or goods for his sake should receive even in this World an hundred fold For some hundreds of years together they which joined themselves to the Church were fain to relinquish all worldly emoluments and to endure the hardness of an afflicted estate Afterward the Lord gave rest to his Church Kings and Princes became as Fathers thereunto the hearts of all men inclined towards it and by his providence there grew unto it every day earthly possessions in more and more abundance till the greatness thereof bred envy which no diminutions are able to satisfy For as those ancient Nursing Fathers thought they did never bestow enough even so in the eye of this present age as long as any thing remaineth it seemeth to be too much Our Fathers we imitate inperversum as Tertullian speaketh like them we are by being in equal degree the contrary unto that which they were Unto those earthly blessings which God as then did with so great abundance pour down upon the Ecclesiastical state we may in regard of most near resemblance apply the self same words which the Prophet hath Psa. 109● 4 25 God blessed them exceedingly and by this very mean turned the hearts of their own Brethren to hate them and to deal politicly with his servants Computations are made and there are huge sums set down for Princes to see how much they may amplify and enlarge their own treasure how many public burdens they may ease what present means they have to reward their servants about them if they please but to grant their assent and to accept of the spoil of Bishops by whom Church-goods are but abused unto pomp and vanity Thus albeit they deal with one whose princely virtue giveth them small hope to prevail in impious and sacrilegious motions yet shame they not to move her Royal Majesty even with a suit not much unlike unto that wherewith the Jewish Highpriest tried judas whom they solicited unto Treason against his Master and proposed unto him a number of silver-pences in lien of so virtuous and honest a service But her sacred Majesty disposed to be always like herself her heart so far estranged from willingness to gain by pillage of that estate the only awe whereof under God she hath been unto this present hour as of all other parts of this noble Commonwealth whereof she hath vowed herself a Protector till the end of her days on earth which if nature could permit we wish as good cause we have endless this her gracious inclination is more than a seven times sealed warrant upon the same assurance whereof touching time and action so dishonourable as this we are on her part most secure not doubting but that unto all posterity it shall for ever appear that from the first to the very last of her Sovereign proceedings there hath not been one authorized deed other then consonant with that Symmachus saith Fiscus bonitum Principum non sacer dotum damnis sed hastium spoliis angeatur consonant with that imperial law Lib. 10. Ep. 54. DDD Valent Theodof ●e Archad Ea qua ad be atissima ecclesia jur a pertinent tanquam ipsam● sacro sanctam & religiosam Ecclesiam intactu convenit vener abiliter a●stodiri ut ●ic●● ips●religionis & ●idei mater perpetua est it a ejoo patrimonium jugiter servetur illas●● As for the case of public burdens let any politirian living make it appear that by confiscation of Bishop's livings L. 14 C. de sicros eccles and their utter dissolution at once the Commonwealth shall ever have half that relief and ease which it receiveth by their continuance as now they are and it shall give us some cause to think that albeit we sew they are implously and irreligiously minded yet we may● esteem them at least to be tolerable Commonwealths-men But the case is too clear and manifest the World doth but too plainly see it that no one Order of subjects whatsoever within this Land doth bear the seventh part of that proportion which the Clergy beareth in the burdens of the Commonwealth No revenue of the Crownlike unto it either for certainty or for greatness Let the good which this way hath grown to the Commonwealth by the dissolution of religious houses teach men what ease unto public burdens there is like to grow by the overthrow of the Clergy My meaning is not hereby to make the state of Bishoprics and of those dissolved Companies alike the one no less unlawful to be removed then the other For those religious persons were men which followed only a special kind of Contemplative life in the Commonwealth they were properly no portion of God's Clergy only such amongst them excepted as were also Priests their goods that excepted which they unjustly held through the Pope's usurped power of appropriating Ecclesiastical livings unto them may in part seem to be of the nature of Civil possessions held by other kinds of Corporations such as the City of London hath divers Wherefore as their institution was human and their end for the most part superstitious they had not therein merely that holy and divine interest which belongeth unto Bishops who being employed by Christ in the principal service of his Church are receivers and disposers of his patrimony as hath been showed which whosoever shall withhold or withdraw at any time from them he undoubtedly robbeth God himself If they abuse the goods of the Church unto pomp and vanity such faults we do not excuse in them Only we wish it to be considered whether such faults be verily in them or else but objected against them by such as gape after spoil and therefore are no competent judges what is moderate and what excessive in them whom under this pretence they would spoil But the accusation may be just In plenty and fullness it may be we are of God more forgetful than were requisite Notwithstanding men should remember how not to the Clergy alone it was said by Moses in Deuteronomy Necum manducaveris & biberis & domos optimas adisicaveris If the remedy prescribed for this disease be good let it unpartially be applied Interest Reip utre suâ QUIS QUE bene utatur Let all states be put to their moderate pensions let their livings and lands be taken away from them whosoever they be in whom such ample possessions are found to have been matters of grievous abuse Were this just ● would Noble Families think this reasonable The Title which Bishops have to their livings is as good as the title of any sort of men unto whatsoever we account to be most justly held by them yea in this one thing the claim of ● B. hath pre-eminence above all secular Titles of right in that Gods own interest in the tenure whereby they hold even as also it was to the Priests of the Law an assurance of their spiritual goods and possessions whereupon though they many times abused greatly the goods of the Church yet was not God's patrimony therefore taken away from them and made saleable unto other Tribes To rob God to ransack the Church to overthrow the whole Order of Christian Bishops and to turn them out of Land and Living out of House and Home what man of common honesty can think it for any manner of abuse to be a remedy lawful or just We must confess that God is righteous in taking away that which men abuse But doth that excuse the violence of Thiefs and Robbers Complain we will not with S. jerom that the hands of men are so straightly tied and their liberal minds so much bridled and held back from doing good by augmentation of the Church-Patrimony For we confess that herein mediocrity may be and hath been sometime exceeded There did want heretofore a Podet dicere sacerdotes idolorum a● rigae mimi Ecscorte haereditates capient Toris clericis & ●●●achis ●● lege prohibetur & prohibetur non ● persecu●ori●us sed Principibus Cheisti●●is Nec de lege conqueror sed doleo quod meruerimus have legem Ad Nepot 7. Moses to temper men's liberality to say unto them who enriched the Church Sufficit Stay your hands lest favour of zeal do cause you to empty yourselves too far It may be the largeness of men's hearts being then more moderate had been after more durable and one state by too much over-growing the rest had not given occasion unto the rest to undermine it That evil is now sufficiently cured the Church treasury if then it were over-ful hath since been reasonable well emptied That which Moses spoke unto givers we must now inculcate unto takers away from the Church Let there be some stay some stint in spoiling b Obad. vers 3 If Grape-gatherers came unto them saith the Prophet would they not leave some remnant behind But it hath fared with the wealth of the Church as with a Tower which being built at the first with the highest overthroweth if self after by its own greatness neither doth the ruin thereof cease with the only fall of that which hath exceeded mediocrity but one part beareth down another till the whole be laid prostrate For although the state Ecclesiastical both others and even Bishops themselves be now fallen to so low an ebb as all the World at this day doth see yet because there remaineth still somewhat which unsatiable minds can thirst for therefore we seem not to have been hitherto sufficiently wronged Touching that which hath been taken from the Church in Appropriations known to amount to the value of one hundred twenty six thousand pounds yearly we rest contentedly and quietly without it till it shall please God to touch the hearts of men of their own voluntary accord to restore it to Him again judging thereof no otherwise then some others did of those goods which were by Sylla taken away from the Citizens of Rome that albeit they were in truth malè capta unconscionably taken away from the right owners at the first nevertheless seeing that such as were after possessed of them held them not without some title ●lor lib. 3. c. 13. which Law did after a sort make good repetitio corum proculdubio labefaltabat compositam civitatem what hath been taken away as dedicated unto uses superstitious and consequently not given unto God or at the leastwise not so rightly given we repine not thereat That which hath gone by means secret and indirect through corrupt compositions or compacts we cannot help What the hardness of men's hearts doth make them loath to have exacted though being due by Law eventhereof the want we do also bear Out of that which after all these Deductions cometh clearly unto our hands I hope it will not be said that towards the public charge we disburse nothing And doth the residue seem yet excessive The ways whereby temporal men provide for themselves and their Families are foreclosed unto us All that we have to sustain our miserable life with is but a remnant of God's own treasure so far already diminished and clipped that if there were any sense of common humanity left in this hardhearted World the improverished estate of the Clergy of God would at the length even of very commiseration be spared The mean Gentleman that hath but an hundred pound Land to live on would not be hasty to change his Worldly estate and condition with many of these so over-abounding Prelates a common Artisan or Tradesman of the City with ordinary Pastors of the Church It is our hard and heavy lot that no other sort of men being grudged at how little benefit soever the Public Weal reap by them no state complained of for holding that which hath grown unto them by lawful means only the Governors of our Souls they that study day and night so to guide us that both in this World we may have comfort and in the World to come endless felicity and joy for even such is the very scope of all their endeavours this they wish for this they labour how hardly soever we use to construe of their incents hard that only they should be thus continually lifted at for possessing but that whereunto they have by Law both of God and man most just Title If there should be no other remedy but that the violence of men in the end must needs bereave them of all succour further than the inclinations of others shall vouchsafe to cast upon them as it were by way of Alms for their relief but from to hour better they are not than their Fathers who have been contented with as hard a portion at the World's hands let the light of the Sun and Moon the common benefit of Heaven and Earth be taken away from ●● if the Question were Whether God should lose his glory and the safety of his Church be hazarded or they relinquish the right and interest which they have in the things of this World But fith the Question in truth is Whether Levi shall be deprived of the portion of God or no to the end that Simeon or Reuben may devour it as their spoil the comfort of the one in sustaining the injuries which the other would offer must be that Prayer poured out by Moses the Prince of Prophets in most tender affection to Levi Bless O Lord his substance accept than the work of his hands Deut. 33. 10,11 s●ite through the loins of them that rise up against him and of them which hate him that they rise no more OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity Book VIII Containing their Seventh Assertion That to no Civil Prince or Governor there may be given such power of Ecclesiastical Dominion as by the Laws of this Land belongeth unto the Supreme Regent thereof WE come now to the last thing whereof there is Controversy moved namely The Power of Supreme jurisdiction which for distinction sake we call The Power of Ecclesiastical dominion It was not thought fit in the jews Commonwealth that the exercise of Supremacy Ecclesiastical should be denied unto him to whom the exercise of Chiefy Civil did appertain Maccab. 1● and therefore their Kings were invested with both This power they gave into Simon when they consented that he should be their Prince not only to set men over their Works and Country and Weapons but also to provide for the Holy things and that he should be obeyed of every man and that the Writings of the Country should be made in his name and that it should not be lawful for any of the people or Priests to withstand his words or to call any Congregation in the Country without him And if haply it be surmised that thus much was given to Simon as being both Prince and Highpriest which otherwise being their Civil Governor he could not lawfully have enjoyed We must note that all this is no more than the ancient Kings of that People had being Kings and not Priests By this power David Asa jehoshaphat josiaes' and the rest made those Laws and Orders which sacred History speaketh of concerning matters of mere Religion the affairs of the Temple and service of God Finally had it not been by the virtue of this power how should it possibly have come to pass that the piety or impiety of the Kings did always accordingly change the public face of Religion which things the Prophets by themselves never did nor at any time could hind from being done Had the Priests alone been possessed of all power in spiritual affairs how should any thing concerning matter of Religion have been made but only by them in had it head been & not in the King to change the face of religion at any time the altering of religion the making of Ecclesiastical Laws with other the like actions belonging unto the power of Dominion are still termed the deeds of the King to show that in him was placed the supremacy of power in this kind over all and that unto their Priests the same was never committed saving only at such times as the Priests were also Kings and Princess over them According to the pattern of which example the like power in causes Ecclesiastical is by the Laws of this Realm annexed unto the Crown and there are which do imagine that Kings being mere Lay-people do by this means exceed the lawful bounds of their callings which thing to the end that they may persuade they first make a necessary separation perpetual and personal between the Church and the Commonwealth Secondly they so tie all kind of power Ecclesiastical unto the Church as if it were in every degree their only right who are by proper spiritual functions termed Church-governors and might not unto Christian Princes in any wise appertain To lurk under shifting ambignities and equivocations of words in matter of principal weight is childish A Church and a Commonwealth we grant are things in nature one distinguished from the other a Commonwealth is one way and a Church an other way defined In their opinions the Church and Commonwealth are corporations not distinguished only in nature and definition but in substance perpetually severed so that they which are of the one can neither appoint nor execute in whole nor in part the duties which belong to them which are of the other without open breach of the Law of God which hath divided them and doth require that so being divided they should distinctly or severally work as depending both upon God and not hanging one upon the others approbation For that which either hath to do we say that the care of Religion being common to all societies Politic such societies as do embrace the true Religion have the name of the Church given unto every one of them for distinction from the rest so that every body Politic hath some Religion but the Church that Religion which is only true Truth of Religion is the proper difference whereby a Church is distinguished from other Politic societies of men we here mean true Religion in gross and not according to every particular for they which in some particular points of Religion do sever from the truth may nevertheless truly if we compare them to men of an heathenish Religion be said to hold and profess that Religion which is true For which cause there being of old so many Politic societies established through the world only the Commonwealth of Israel which had the truth of Religion was is that respect the Church of God and the Church of Jesus Christ is every such Politic society of men as doth in Religion hold that truth which is proper to Christianity As a Politic society it doth maintain Religion as a Church that Religion which God hath revealed by Jesus Christ with us therefore the name of a Church importeth only a society of men first united into some public form of Regiment and secondly distinguished from other societies by the exercise of Religion With them on the other side the name of the Church in this present question importeth not only a maltitude of men so united and so distinguihed but also further the same divided necessarily and perpetually from the body of the Commonwealth so that even in such a Politic society as consisteth of none but Christians yet the Church and Commonwealth are too Corporations independently subsisting by itself We hold that seeing there is not any man of the Church of England but the same man is also a member of the Commonwealth nor any member of the Commonwealth which is not also of the Church of England Therefore as in a figure Triangle the base doth differ from the sides thereof and yet one and the self same line is both a base and also a side aside simply a base if it chance to be the bottom and under-lye the rest So albeit properties and actions of one do cause the name of a Commonwealth qualities and functions of another sort the name of the Church to be given to a multitude yet one and the selfsame multitude may in such sort be both Nay it is so with us that no person appertaining to the one can be denied also to be of the other chose unless they against us should hold that the Church and the Commonwealth are two both distinct and separate societies of which two one comprehendeth always persons not belonging to the other that which they do they could not conclude out of the difference between the Church and the Commonwealth namely that the Bishops may not meddle with the affairs of the Common wealth because they are Governors of an other Corporation which is the Church nor Kings with making Laws for the Church because they have government not of this Corporation but of another divided from it the Commonwealth and the walls of separation between these two must for ever be upheld they hold the necessity of personal separation which clean excludeth the power of one man's dealing with both we of natural but that one and the same person may in both bear principal sway The causes of common received Errors in this Point seem to have been especially two One That they who embrace true Religion living in such Commonwealths as are opposite thereunto and in other public affairs retaining civil Communion with such as are constrained for the exercise of their Religion to have a several Communion with those who are of the same Religion with them This was the state of the Jewish Church both in Egypt and Babylon the state of Christian Churches a long time after Christ. And in this case because the proper affairs and actions of the Church as it is the Church hath no dependence on the Laws or upon the Government of the civil State and opinion hath thereby grown that even so it should be always This was it which deceived Allen in the writing of his Apology The Apostles saith he did govern the Church in Rome when Nero bore rule even as at this day in all the Church's dominions The Church hath a spiritual Regiments without dependence and so ought she to have amongst Heathens or with Christians Another occasion of which misconceit is That things appertaining to Religion are both distinguished from other affairs and have always had in the Church spiritual persons chosen to be exercised about them By which distinction of Spiritual affairs Arist. pol. l. 3. cap. 16. and persons therein employed from Temporal the Error of personal separation always necessary between the Church and Commonwealth hath strengthened itself For of every Politic Society that being true which Aristotle saith namely That the scope thereof is not simply to live nor the duty so much to provide for the life as for means of living well Maccab. 7 And that even as the soul is the worthier part of man so humane Societies are much more to care for that which tendeth properly to the souls estate then for such temporal things which the life hath need of Other proof there needeth none to show that as by all men the Kingdom of God is to be sought first for so in all Commonwealth's things spiritual ought above temporal be sought for and of things spiritual the chiefest is Religion For this cause persons and things employed peculiarly about the affairs of Religion are by an excellency termed Spiritual The Heathens themselves had their spiritual Laws and Causes and Affairs always severed from their Arist. pol. lib. ● cap. 30. Liv. lib. 1. temporal neither did this make two Independent estates among them God by revealing true Religion sioth make them that receive it his Church Unto the jews he so revealed the truth of Religion that he gave them in special Considerations Laws not only for the administration of things spiritual but also temporal The Lord himself appointing both the one and the other in that Commonwealth did not thereby distract it into several independent Communities but institute several Functions of one and the selfsame Community Some Reasons therefore must there be alleged why it should be otherwise in the Church of Christ. I shall not need to spend any great store of words in answering that which is brought out of the Holy Scripture to show that Secular and Ecclesiastical affairs and offices are distinguished Three kinds of their proofs are stakes from the difference of affairs and offices neither that which hath been borrowed from antiquity using by phrase of speech to oppose the Common-weal to the Church of Christ neither yet their Reasons which are wont to be brought forth as witnesses that the Church and Common-weal were always distinct for whether a Church or Common-weal do differ in not the question we strive for but our controversy is concerning the kind of distinction whereby they are severed the one from the other whether as under heathen Kings of the Church did deal with her own affairs within herself without depending at all upon any in Civil authority and the Common-weal in hers altogether without the privity of the Church so it ought to continue still even in such Common-weals as have now publicly embraced the truth of Christian Religion whether they ought evermore to be two societies in such sort several and distinct I ask therefore what society was that in Rome whereunto the Apostle did give the name of the Church of Rome in his time If they answer as needs they must that the Church of Rome in those days was that whole society of men which in Rome professed the Name of Christ and not that Religion which the Laws of the Common-weal did then authorise we say as much and therefore grant that the Common-weal of Rome was one society and the Church of Rome another in such sort that there was between them no mutual dependence But when whole Rome became Christian when they all embraced the Gospel and made Laws in defence thereof if it be heid that the Church and Common-weal of Rome did then remain as before there is no way how this could be possible save only one and that is They must restrain the name of a Church in a Christian Common-weal to the Clergy excluding all the rest of believers both Prince and People For if all that believe be contained in the name of the Church how should the Church remain by personal subsistence divided from the Common-weal when the whole Common-weal doth believe The Church and the Common-weal are in this case therefore personally one Society which Society being termed a Common-weal as it liveth under whatsoever Form of Secular Law and Regiment a Church as it liveth under the spiritual Law of Christ forsomuch as these two Laws contain so many and different Offices there must of necessity be appointed in it some to one charge and some to another yet without dividing the whole and making it two several impaled Societies The difference therefore either of Affairs or Offices Ecclesiastical from Secular 1 Chron. 14.3,11 Hebr. 9.1 Alum lib. 31 p. 158 is no Argument that the Church and Common-weal are always separate and independent the one on the other which thing even Allain himself considering somewhat better doth in this Point a little correct his former judgement before mentioned and confesseth in his defence of English Catholics that the power Political hath her Princes ● Taken from the speeches of the Father's opposing the one to the other Laws Tribunals the Spiritual her Prelates Canons Counsels Judgements and those when the Temporal Princes were Pagans wholly separate but in Christian Common-weals joined though not confounded Howbeit afterwards his former sting appeareth again for in a Commonwealth he holdeth that the Church ought not to depend at all upon the authority of any civil person whatsoever as in England he saith it doth Euseb. de vita Constan. lib. 3. Aug. Epist. 167. It will be objected that the Fathers do oftentimes mention the Common-weal and the Church of God by way of opposition Can the same thing be opposed to itself If one and the same society be both Church and Commonwealth what sense can there be in that Speech That they suffer and flourish together What sense is that which maketh one thing to be adjudged to the Church and another to the Common-weal Finally in that which putteth a difference between the causes of the Province and the Church doth it not hereby appear that the Church and the Common-weal are things evermore personally separate No it doth not hereby appear that there is not perpetually any such separation we speak of them as two we may sever the rights and the causes of the one well enough from the other in regard of that difference which we grant is between them albeit we make no personal difference For the truth is that the Church and the Commonwealth are names which import things really different but those things are accidents and such accidents as may and always should lovingly dwell together in one subject Wherefore the real difference between the accidents signified by these names doth not prove different subjects for them always to reside in For albeit the subjects wherein they be resident be sometimes different as when the people of God have their residence among Infidels yet the nature of them is not such but that their subject may be one and therefore it is but a changeable accident in those accidents they are to divers There can be no Error in our conceit concerning this Point if we remember still what accident that is for which a society hath the name of a Commonwealth and what accident that which doth cause it to be termed a Church A Commonwealth we name it simply in regard of some regiment or policy under which men live a Church for the truth of that Religion which they pofess Now Names betokening accidents inabstracted betoken no● only the Accidents themselves but also together with them Subjects whereunto they cleave As when we name a Schoolmaster and a Physician those names do not only betoken two accidents Teaching and Curing but also some person or persons in whom those accidents are For there is no impediment but both may be in one man as well as they are for the most part in divers The Common-weal and the Church therefore being such names they do not only betoken these Accidents of civil Government and Christian Religion which we have mentioned but also together with them such multitudes as are the subjects of those accidents Again their nature being such as they may well enough dwell together in one subject it followeth that their names though always implying that difference of accidents that hath been set down yet do not always imply different subjects also When we oppose therefore the Church and the Commonwealth in Christian Society we mean by the Commonwealth that Society with relation to all the public affairs thereof only the matter of true Religion excepted by the Church the same Society with only reference unto the matter of true Religion without any affairs● Besides when that Society which is both a Church and a Commonwealth doth flourish in those things which belong unto it as a Commonwealth we then say The Commonwealth doth flourish when in both them we then say The Church and Commonwealth do flourish together The Prophet Esay to note corruptions in the Commonwealth complaineth Isai. 1. 21. That where justice and judgement had lodged now were murderers Princes were become companions of Thiefs every one loved gifts and rewards but the fatherless was not judged neither did the widows cause come before them To show abuses in the Church Malachy doth make his complaint Ye offer unclean bread upon mine Altar Mal 1. ● If ye offer the blind for sacrifice it is not evil as ye think if the lame and the sick nothing is amiss The treasure which David bestowed upon the Temple did argue the love which he bore unto the Church The pains which Nehemiah took for building the walls of the City are tokens of his care for the Commonwealth 1 Chron 29 3● Nehem. 2. ●7 Causes of the Commonwealth or Province are such as Gallio was content to be judge of If it were a matter of wrong or an evil deed O ye jews I would according to reason maintain you Causes of the Church are such as Gallio there receiteth Acts 18.14 if it be a question of your Law look ye to it I will be no judge thereof In respect of this difference therefore the Church and the Commonwealth may in speech be compared or opposed aptly enough the one to the other yet this is no Argument that they are two Independent Societies Some other Reasons there are which seem a little more nearly to make for the 3. Taken from the effect of punishment inflicted by the one or the other purpose as long as they are but heard and not sifted For what though a man being severed by Excommunication from the Church be not thereby deprived of freedom in the City or being there discommoned is not therefore forthwith excommunicated and excluded the Church What though the Church be bound to receive them upon Repentance whom the Common-weal may refuse again to admit If it chance the same man to be shut out of both division of the Church and Common-weal which they contend for will very hardly hereupon follow For we must note that members of a Christian Common-weal have a triple state a natural a civil and a spiritual No man's natural estate is cut off otherwise then by that capital execution After which he that is none of the body of the Commonwealth doth not I think remain fit in the body of that visible Church And concerning man's civil estate the same is subject partly to inferior abatement of liberty and partly to diminution in the highest degree such as banishment is sith it casteth out quite and clean from the body of the Common-weal it must needs also consequently cast the banished party even out of the very Church he was of before because that Church and the Common-weal he was of were both one and the same Society So that whatsoever doth utterly separate a man's person from the one it separateth from the other also As for such abatements of civil estate as take away only some privilege dignity or other benefit which a man enjoyeth in the Common-weal they reach only to our dealing with public affairs from which what may let but that men may be excluded and thereunto restored again without diminishing or augmenting the number of persons in whom either Church or Commonwealth consisteth He that by way of punishment loseth his voice in a public election of Magistrates ceaseth not thereby to be a Citizen A man dis-franchised may notwithstanding enjoy as a Subject the common benefit of Protection under Laws and Magistrates so that these inferior diminutions which touch men civilly but neither do clean extinguish their estates as they belong to the Commonwealth nor impair a whit their condition as they are of the Church of God These I say do clearly prove a difference of the one from the other but such a difference as maketh nothing for their surmise of distracted Societies And concerning Excommunication it curreth off indeed from the Church and yet not from the Commonwealth howbeit so that the party Excommunicate is not thereby severed from one body which subsisteth in itself and retained by another in like sort subsisting but he which before had fellowship with that society whereof he was a member as well touching things spiritual as civil is now by force of Excommunication although not severed from the body in Civil affairs nevertheless for the time cut off from it as touching Communion in those things which belong to the same body as it is the Church A man which having been both Excommunicated by the Church and deprived of Civil dignity in the Commonwealth is upon his repentance necessarily reunited into the one but not of necessity into the other What then That which he is admitted unto is a Communion in things Divine whereof both parts are partakers that from which he is withheld is the benefit of some humane previledge or right which other Citizens happily enjoy But are not these Saints and Citizens one and the same people are they not one and the same Society Doth it hereby appear that the Church which received an Excommunicate can have no dependency on any pers o which hath chief Authority and Power of these things in the Commonwealth whereunto the same party is not admitted Wherefore to end this point I conclude First that under the dominions of Infidels the Church of Christ and their Commonwealth were two Societies independent Secondly that in those Commonwealths where the Bishop of Rome beareth sway one Society is both the Church and the Commonwealth But the Bishop of Rome doth divide the body into two divers bodies and doth not suffer the Church to depend upon the power of any civil Prince and Potenrate Thirdly that within this Realm of England the case is neither as in the one nor as in the other of the former two but from the state of Pagans we differ in that with us one Society is both the Church and Commonwealth which with them it was not as also from the state of those Nations which subjected themselves to the Bishop of Rome in that our Church hath dependence from the Chief in our Commonwealth which it hath not when he is suffered to rule In a word our state is according to the pattern of Gods own ancient elect people which people was not part of them the Commonwealth and part of them the Church of God but the selfsame people whole and entire were both under one Chief Governor on whose Supreme Authority they did all depend Now the drift of all that hath been alleged to prove perpetual separation and independency between the Church and the Commonwealth is that this being held necessary it might consequently be thought fit that in a Christian Kingdom he whose power is greatest over the Commonwealth may not lawfully have supremacy of power also over the Church that is to say so far as to order thereby and to dispose of spiritual affairs so far as the highest uncommanded Commander in them Whereupon it is grown a Question whether Government Ecclesiastical and power of Dominion in such degrees as the Laws of this Land do grant unto the Sovereign Governor thereof may by the said supreme Governor lawfully be enjoyed and held For resolution wherein we are First to define what the power of dominion is Secondly then to show by what right Thirdly after what sort Fourthly in what measure Fiftly in what inconveniency According to whose example Christian Kings may have it And when these generals are opened to examine afterwards how lawful that is which we in regard of Dominion do attribute unto our own namely the title of headship over the Church so far as the bounds of this Kingdom do reach Secondly the Prerogative of calling and dissolving great assemblies about spiritual affairs public Thirdly the right of assenting unto all those orders concerning Religion which must after be in force as Law Fourthly the advancement of Principal Church-governors to their rooms of Prelacy Fifthly judicial authority higher than others are capable of And sixthly exemption from being punishable with such kind of Censures as the platform of Reformation doth teach that they ought to be subject unto What the Power of Dominion is Without order there is no living in public Society Luke ●● 1 Cor 1● because the want thereof is the mother of confusion whereupon division of necessity followeth and out of division destruction The Apostle therefore giving instruction to public Societies requireth that all things be orderly done Order can have no place in things except it be settled amongst the persons that shall by office be conversant about them And if things and persons be ordered this doth imply that they are distinguished by degrees For order is a gradual disposition The whole world consisting of parts so many so different is by this only thing upheld he which framed them hath set them in order The very Deity itself both keepeth and requireth for ever this to be kept as a Law that wheresoever there is a coagmentation of many the lowest be knit unto the highest by that which being interjacent may cause each to cleave to the other and so all to continue one This order of things and persons in public Societies is the work of Policy and the proper instrument thereof in every degree is power power being that hability which we have of ourselves or receive from others for performance of any action If the action which we have to perform be conversant about matters of mere Religion the power of performing it is then spiritual And if that power be such as hath not any other to overrule it we term it Dominion or Power Supreme so far as the bounds thereof extend When therefore Christian Kings are said to have Spiritual Dominion or Supreme Power in Ecclesiastical affairs and causes the meaning is that within their own Precincts and Territories they have an authority and power to command even in matters of Christian Religion and that there is no higher nor greater that can in those cases overcommand them where they are placed to reign as Kings But withal we must likewise note that their power is termed supremacy as being the highest not simply without exception of any thing For what man is so brainsick as not to except in such speeches God himself the King of all Dominion Who doubteth but that the King who receiveth it must hold it of and order the Law according to that old axiom Altribuat Rex legi quod lex attribuit es potestatem And again Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo & lege Thirdly whereas it is altogether without reason That Kings are judged to have by virtue of their Dominion although greater power than any yet not than all the state of those Societies conjoined wherein such Sovereign rule is given them there is not any thing hereunto to the contrary by us affirmed no not when we grant supreme Authority unto Kings because Supremacy is not otherwise intended or meant to exclude partly sorraign powers and partly the power which belongeth in several unto others contained as parts in that politic body over which those Kings have Supremacy Where the King hath power of Dominion or Supreme power there no foreign State or Potentate no State or Potentate Domestical whether it consisteth of one or many can possibly have in the same affairs and causes Authority higher than the King Power of Spiritual Dominion therefore is in causes Ecclesiastical that ruling Authority which neither any foreign State not yet any part of that politic body at home wherein the same is established can lawfully overrule It hath been declared already in general how the best established dominion is where the Law doth most rule the King the true effect whereof particularly is found as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil affairs In these the King through his Supreme Power may do sundry great things himself both appertaining to Peace and War both at home and by command and by commerce with States abroad because the Law doth so much permit Sometimes on the other side The King alone hath no right to do without consent of his Lords and Commons in Parliament The King himself cannot change the nature of Pleas nor Courts no not so much as restore blood because the Law is a hath unto him the positive Laws of the Realm have a privilege therein and restrain the King's power which positive Laws whether by custom or otherwise established without repugnancy to the Laws of God and nature ought not less to be in force even in supernatural affairs of the Church whether in regard of Ecclesiastical Laws we willingly embrace that of Ambrose Imperator bonus intrae Ecclesiam non supra Ecclesiam est King's have Dominion to exercise in Ecclesiastical causes but according to the Laws of the Church whether it be therefore the nature of Courts or the form of Pleas or the kind of Governors or the order of proceeding in whatsoever business for the received Laws an Lib 〈…〉 o the Church the King hath Supreme Authority and power but against them never What such positive Laws hath appointed to be done by others than the King or by others with the King and in what form they have appointed the doing of it the same of necessity must be kept neither is the King's sole Authority to alter it yet as it were a thing unreasonable if in civil affairs the King albeit the whole universal body did join with him should do any thing by their absolute power for the ordering of their state at home in prejudice of those ancient Laws of Nations which are of force throughout all the World because the necessary commerce of Kingdoms dependeth on them So in principal matters belonging to Christian Religion a thing very scandalous and offensive it must needs be thought if either Kings or Laws should dispose of the Law of God without any respect had unto that which of old hath been reverently thought of throughout the World and wherein there is no Law of God which forceth us to swerve from the ways wherein so many and holy Ages have gone Wherefore not without good consideration the very Law itself hath provided That judges Ecclesiastical appointed under the King's Commission shall not adjudge for heresy anything but that which heretofore hathbeen adjudged by the Authority of the Cononical Scriptures or by the first four general Counbels or lysome other general Council wherein the same hath been declared heresy by the express words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such at hereafter shall be determined to be heresy by the high Court of Parliament of this Realm with the assent of the Clergy in the Convocation An. 1. Reg. Eliz. By which words of the Law Who doth not plainly see how that in one branch of proceeding by virtue of the King's supreme authority the credit which those four first general Counsels have throughout all Churches and evermore had was judged by the making of the aforesaid Act a just cause wherefore they should be mentioned in that case as a requisite part of that rule wherewith Dominion was to be limited But of this we shall further consider when we come unto that which Sovereign Power may do in making Ecclesiastical Laws Unto which Supreme Power in Kings two kinds of adversaries there are which have opposed themselves one sort defending That Supreme power in causes Ecclesiastical throughout the world appertaineth of Divine Right to the Bishop of Rome Another sort That the said power belongeth in every national Church unto the Clergy thereof assembled We which defend as well against the one as against the other That Kings within their own Precincts may have it The Right which men give God ratifies must show by what right it must come unto them First unto me it seemeth almost out of doubt & controversy that every independent multitude before any certain form of Regiment established hath under God Supreme Authority full Dominion over itself even as a man not tied with the band of subjection as yet unto any other hath over himself the like power God creating mankind did endue it naturally with power to guide itself in what kind of Society soever he should choose to live A man which is born Lord of himself may be made an others servant And that power which naturally whole societies have may be derived unto many few or one under whom the rest shall then live in subjection Some multitudes are brought into subjection by force as they who being subdued are fain to submit their necks unto what yoke it pleaseth their Conquerors to lay upon them which Conquerors by just and lawful Wars do hold their power over such multitudes as a thing descending unto them Divine Providence itself so disposing For it is God who giveth victory in the day of War and unto whom Dominion in this sort is derived the same they enjoy according to the Law of Nations which Law authorizeth conquerors to reign as absolute Lords over them whom they vanquish Sometimes it pleaseth God himself by special appointment to choose out and nominate such as to whom Dominion shall be given Conrora est poresiat dele●a●a Distraction which thing he did often in the Commonwealth of Israel They which in this sort receive power immediately from God have it by mere Divine Right they by humane on whom the same is bestowed according to men's discretion when they are left freely by God to make choice of their own Governors By which of these means soever it happen that Kings or Governors be advanced unto their Estates we must acknowledge both their lawful choice to be approved of God and themselves to be God's Lieutenants and cofess their Power which they have to be his As for Supreme Power in Ecclesiastical affairs the Word of God doth no where appoint that all Kings should have it neither that any should not have it for which cause it seemeth to stand altogether by humane Right that unto Christian Kings there is such Dominion given Again on whom the same is bestowed at men's discretions they likewise do hold it by Divine Right If God in his revealed Word hath appointed such Power to be although himself extraordinarily bestow it not but leave the appointment of persons to men yea albeit God do neither appoint nor assign the person nevertheless when men have assigned and established both Who doth doubt but that sundry duties and affairs depending thereupon are prescribed by the Word of God and consequently by that very right to be exacted For example sake the power which Roman Emperors had over foreign Provinces was not a thing which the Law of God did ever Institute Neither was Tiberius Caesar by especial Commission from Heaven therewith invested and yet payment of Tribute unto Caesar being now made Emperor is the plain Law of Jesus Christ unto Kings by humane Right Honour by very Divine Right is due man's Ordinances are many times proposed as grounds in the Statutes of God And therefore of what kind soever the means be whereby Governors are lawfully advanced to their States as we by the Laws of God stand bound meekly to acknowledge them for God's Lieutenants and to confess their Power his So by the same Law they are both authorized and required to use that Power as far as it may be in any State available to his Honor. The Law appointeth no man to be a husband but if a man hath betaken himself unto that condition it giveth him power & Authority over his own Wife That the Christian world should be ordered by the Kingly Regiment the Law of God doth not any where command and yet the Law of God doth give them which once are exalted unto that place of Estate right to exact at the hands of their Subjects general obedience in whatsoever affairs their power may serve to command and God doth ratify works of that Sovereign Authority which Kings have received by men This is therefore the right whereby Kings do hold their power but yet in what sort the same doth rest and abide in them it somewhat behoveth further to search where that we be not enforced to make overlarge discourses about the different conditions of Sovereign or Supreme Power that which we speak of Kings shall be in respect of the State and according to the nature of this Kingdom where the people are in no subjection but such as willingly themselves have condescended unto for their own most behoof and security In Kingdoms therefore of this quality the highest Governor hath indeed universal Dominion but with dependency upon that whole entire body over the several parts whereof he hath Dominion so that it standeth for an Axiom in this case The King is Major singulis universis minor The King's dependency we do not construe as some have done who are of opinion that no man's birth can make him a King but every particular person advanced to such Authority hath at his entrance into his Reign the same bestowed on him as an estate in condition by the voluntary deed of the people in whom it doth lie to put by any one and to prefer some other before him better liked of or judged fitter for the place and that the party so rejected hath no injury done unto him no although the same be done in a place where the Crown doth go by succession and to a person which is capital and hath apparently if blood be respected the nearest right They plainly affirm in all well appointed Kingdoms the custom evermore hath been and is that children succeed not their Parents till the people after a sort have created them anew neither that that they grow to their Fathers as natural and proper Heirs but are then to be reckoned for Kings when at the hands of such as represent the King's Majesty junies Bru●iel vindie pag. 8● they have by a Sceptre and a Diadem received as it were the investure of Kingly power Their very words are That where such power is sealed into a family or kindred the Stock itself is thereby chosen but not the twig that springeth of it The next of the Stock unto him that reigneth pag. 8● are not through nearness of blood made Kings but rather set forth to stand for the Kingdom where Regal Dominion is hereditary it is notwithstanding if we look to the persons which have it altogether elective To this purpose are selected heaps of Scriptures concerning the Solemn Coronation or Inauguration of Saul of David of Solomon and others by the Nobles Ancients and people of the Common-weal of Israel as if these solemnities were a kind of deed whereby the right of Dominion is given Which strange untrue and unnatural conceits set abroad by seeds-men of Rebellion only to animate unquiet spirits and to feed them with possibility of aspiring to Thrones if they can win the hearts of the people what hereditary title soever any other before them may have I say unjust and insolent positions I would not mention were it not thereby to make the countenance of truth more orient for unless we will openly proclaim defiance unto all law equity and reason we must there is no remedy acknowledge that in kingdoms hereditary birth giveth right unto Sovereign Dominion and the death of the predecessor putteth the successor by blood in seisin Those public solemnities before specified do but serve for an open testification of the Inheritors right or belong unto the form of inducting him into possession of that thing he hath right unto therefore in case it doth happen that without right of blood a man in such wise be possessed all these new elections and investing are utterly void they make him no indefeasable estate the inheritor by blood may dispossess him as an usurper The case thus standing albeit we judge it a thing most true that Kings even inheritors do hold their right in the Power of Dominion with dependency upon the whole Body politic over which they have Rule as Kings yet so it may not be understood as if such dependency did grow for that every supreme Governor doth personally take from thence his power by way of gift bestowed of their own free accord upon him at the time of his entrance into the said place of his sovereign Government But the cause of dependency is that first Original conveyance when power was derived from the whole into One to pass from him unto them whom out of him nature by lawful births should produce and no natural or legal inability make uncapable Tully de Office Neither cab any man with reason think but that the first institution of Kings a sufficient consideration wherefore their power should always depend on that from which it did always flow by Original influence of power from the body into the King is the cause of King's dependency in Power upon the body By dependency we mean subordination and subjection A manifest token of which dependency may be this as there is no more certain Argument that Lands are held under any as Lords then if we see that such lands is defect of heirs fall unto them by escheat In like manner it doth follow rightly that seeing Dominion when there is none to inherit it returneth unto the body therefore they which before were inheritors thereof did hold it with dependency upon the body so that by comparing the body with the head as touching power it seemeth always to reside in both fundamentally and radicially in the one in the other derivatively in the one the Habit in the other the Act of Power May a body politic then at all times withdraw in whole or in part the influence of Dominion which passeth from it if inconveniencies do grow thereby It must be presumed that supreme Governors will not in such case oppose themselves and be stiff in detaining that the use whereof is with public detriment but surely without their consent I see not how the body by any just means should be able to help itself saving when Dominion doth escheat such things therefore must be thought upon before hand that Power may be limited ere it be granted which is the next thing we are to consider In what Measure IN power of Dominion all Kings have not an equal latitude Kings by conquest make their own Charter so that how large their power either Civil or Spiritual is we cannot with any certainty define further then only to set them in the line of the Law of God and Nature for bounds Kings by Gods own special appointment have also that largeness of power which he doth assign or permit with approbation touching Kings which were first instituted by agreement and composition made with them over whom they reign how far their power may extend the Articles of Compact between them is to show not only the Articles of Compact at the first beginning which for the most part are either clean worm out of knowledge or else known to very few but whatsoever hath been after in free and voluhtary manner condescended unto whether by express consent whereof positive laws are witnesses or else by silent allowance Arist. Fol. lib. ● Cap. ● famously notified through custom reaching beyond the memory of man By which means of after Agreement it cometh many times to pass in Kingdoms that they whose ancient predecessors were by violence and force made subject do by little and little grow into that sweet form of Kingly Government which Philosophers define Regency willingly sustained and endued with Chiefly of power in the greatest things Many of the ancients in their writings do speak of Kings with such high and ample terms as if universality of Power even in regard of things and not of persons did appertain to the very being of a King The reason is because their speech concerning Kings they frame according to the state of those Monarches to whom unlimited authority was given which some not observing imagine that all Kings even in that they are Kings aught to have whatsoever power they judge any Sovereign Ruler lawfully to have enjoyed But the most judicious Philosopher Pythag●rae● pad Eccless de Reg●o whose eye scarce any things did escape which was to be found in the bosom of nature he considering how far the power of one Sovereign Rule● may be different from another Regal Authority noteth in Spartan Kings That of all others they were most tied to Law and so the most restrained power A King which hath not supreme power in the greatest things is rather entitled a King then invested with real Sovereignty We cannot properly term him a King of whom it may not be said at the least wise as touching certain the chiefest affairs of the State his right in them is to have rule not subject to any other predominancy I am not of opinion that simply in Kings the most but the best limited power is best both for them and the people the most limited is that which may deal in fewest things the ●e●t that which in dealing is tied unto the soundest perfectest and most indifferent Rule which Rule is the Law I mean not only the Law of Nature and of God but the National Law consonant thereunto Happier that people whose Law is their King in the greatest things then that whose King is himself their Law where the King doth guide the State and the Law the King that Commonwealth is like an Harp or Melodious Instrument the strings whereof are turned and handled all by one hand following as Laws the Rules and Canons of Musical Science Most divinely therefore Archytas maketh unto public felicity these four steps and degrees every of which doth spring from the former as from another cause The King ruling by Law the Magistrate following the Subject free and the whole Society happy Adding on the contrary side that where this order is not it cometh by transgression thereof to pass that a King groweth a Tyrant he that ruleth under him abhorreth to be guided by him or commanded the people subject unto both have freedom under neither and the whole Community is wretched In which respect I cannot choose but commend highly their wisdom by whom the Foundations of the Commonwealth hath been laid wherein though no manner of Person or cause be unsubject unto the King's Power yet so is the Power of the King over all and in all limited that unto all his proceedings the Law itself is a rule The Axioms of our Regal Government are these Lex facit regem The Kings Grant of any favour made contrary to the Law is void Rex nibil potest nisi quod jure potest Our Kings therefore when they are to take possession of the Crown they are called unto have it pointed our before their eyes even by the very Solemnities and Rites of their Inauguration to what affairs by the same Law their Supreme Power and Authority reacheth crowned we see they are enthronised and anointed the Crown a Sign of a Military Dominion the Throne of Sedentary or Judicial the Oil of Religious and Sacred Power It is not on any side denied that Kings may have Authority in Secular affairs The Question than is Stipl de ●●● Princip I●ss ● 6 17. What power they may lawfully have and exercise in causes of God A Prince or Magistrate or a Community saith Doctor Stapleton may have power to lay corporal punishment on them which are teachers of perverse things power to make Laws for the Peace of the Church Power to proclaim to defend and even by revenge to preserve dogmata the very Articles of Religion themselves from violation Others in affection no less devoted unto the Papacy do likewise yield that the Civil Magistrate may by his Edicts and Laws keep all Ecclesiastical Persons within the bounds of their duties and constrain them to observe the Canons of the Church to follow the rule of ancient Discipline That if joash was commended for his care and provision concerning so small a part of Religion as the Church-treasure it must needs be both unto Christian Kings themselves greater honour and to Christianity a larger benefit when the custody of Religion and the worship of God in general is their charge It therefore all these things mentioned be most properly the affairs of Gods Ecclesiastical causes if the actions specified be works of power and if that power be such as Kings may use of themselves without the fear of any other power superior in the same thing it followeth necessarily that Kings may have supreme power not only in Civil but also in Ecclesiastical affairs and consequently that they may withstand what Bishop or Pope soever shall under the pretended claim of higher Spiritual Authority oppose themselves against their proceedings But they which have made us the former grant will never hereunto condescend what they yield that Princes may do it is with secret exception always understood If the Bishop of Rome give leave if he interpose no prohibition wherefore somewhat it is in show in truth nothing which they grant Our own Reforms do the very like when they make their discourse in general concerning the Authority which Magistrates may have a man would think them to be far from withdrawing any jot of that which with reason may be thought due The Prince and Civil Magistrate saith one of them T. C. l. 1. p. 192. hath to see the Laws of God touching his Worship and touching all Matters and all Orders of the Church to be executed and duly observed and to see every Ecclesiastical Person do that office whereunto he is appointed and to punish those which fail in their office accordingly Another acknowledgeth Farmen●●ef●of the Godly Magistrate That the Magistrate may lawfully uphold all truth by his Sword punish all persons enforce all to their duties towards God and men maintain by his Laws every point of God's Word punish all vice in all men see into all causes visit the Ecclesiastical Estate and correct the abuses thereof Finally to look to his Subjects that under him they may lead their lives in all godliness and honesty A third more frankly prosesseth That in case their Church Discipline were established so little it shorteneth the Arms of Sovereign Dominion in causes Ecclesiastical that Her Gracious Majesty for any thing they teach or hold to the contrary may no less than now remain still over all persons in all things Supreme Governess even with that full and Royal Authority Superiority and Pre-eminence Supremacy and Prerogative which the Laws already established do give her and her Majesty's Injunctions and the Articles of the Convocation house and other writings Apologetical of her Royal Authority and Supreme Dignity do declare and explain Possidonius was wont to say of the Epicure Cicero lib. 1. de ma● Decr. That he thought there were no Gods but that those things which he spoke concerning the Gods were only given out for fear of growing adious amongst men and therefore that in words he left gods remaining but in very deed overthrew them in so much as he gave them no kind of Action After the very self same manner when we come unto those particular effects Prerogatives of Dominion which the Laws of this Land do grant unto the Kings thereof it will appear how these men notwithstanding their large and liberal Speeches abate such parcels out of the afore alleged grant and flourishing show that a man comparing the one with the other may half stand in doubt lest their Opinion in very truth be against that Authority which by their Speeches they seem mightily to uphold partly for the avoiding of public obloquy envy and hatred partly to the intent they may both in the cad by the establishment of their Discipline extinguish the force of Supreme Power which Princes have and yet in the mean while by giving forth these smooth Discourses obtain that their savourers may have somewhat to allege for them by way of Apology and that such words only sound towards all kind of fullness of Power But for myself I had rather construe such their contradictions in the better part and impute their general acknowledgement of the lawfullness of Kingly Power unto the force of truth presenting itself before them sometimes above their particular contrarieties oppositions denials unto that error which having so fully possessed their minds casteth things inconvenient upon them of which things in their due place Touching that which is now in hand wear on all sides fully agreed First that there is not any restraint or limitation of matter for regal Authority and Power to be conversant in but of Religion only and of whatsoever cause thereunto appertaineth Kings may lawfully have change they lawfully may therein exercise Dominion and use the temporal Sword Secondly Kind's that some kind of actions conversant about such affairs are denied unto Kings As namely Actions of Power and Order and of Spiritual Jurisdiction which hath with it inseparably joined Power to Administer the Word and Sacraments power to Ordain to Judge as an Ordinary to bind and lose to Excommunicate and such like Thirdly By whatsever that even in those very actions which are proper unto Dominion there must be some certain rule whereunto Kings in all their proceedings ought to be strictly tied which rule for proceeding in Ecclesiastical affairs and causes by Regal Power hath not hitherto been agreed upon with such uniform consent and certainty as might be wished The different sentences of men herein I will now go about to examine but it shall be enough to propose what Rule doth seem in this case most reasonable The case of deriving Supreme Power from a whole entire multitude into some special part thereof as partly the necessity of expedition in public affairs partly the inconvenience of confusion and trouble where a multitude of Equals dealeth and partly the dissipation which must needs ensue in companies where every man wholly seeketh his own particular as we all would do even with other men's hurts and haply the very overthrow of themselves in the end also if for the procurement of the common good of all men by keeping every several man is order some were not invested with Authority over all and encouraged with Prerogative-Honour to sustain the weighty burden of that charge The good which is proper unto each man belongeth to the common good of all as part to the whole perfection but these two are things different for men by that which is proper are severed united they are by that which is common Wherefore besides that which moveth each man in particular to seek his own private good there must be of necessity in all public Societies also a general mover directing unto common good and framing every man's particular unto it The end whereunto all Government was instituted was Bonum publicum the Universal or Common good Ob publica per consu 〈…〉 L.C. 11. ● de origine i●ris Civilis Our question is of Dominion for that end and purpose derived into one such as all in one public State have agreed that the Supreme charge of all things should be committed unto one They I say considering what inconveniency may grow where States are subject unto sundry Supreme Authorities have for fear of these inconveniencies withdrawn from liking to establish many the multitude of Supreme Commanders is troublesome No Nan saith our Saviour can serve two Masters surely two supreme Masters would make any one's service somewhat uneasy in such cases as might fall out Suppose that to morrow the Power which hath Dominion in Justice require thee at the Court that which in War at the Field that which in Religion at the Temple all have equal Authority over thee and impossible it is that then in such case thou shouldst be obedient unto all By choosing any one whom thou wilt obey certain thou art for thy disobedience to incur the displeasure of the other two But there is nothing for which some comparable reason or other may not be found According to what example are we able to show any commendable State of Government which by experience and practice hath felt the benefit of being in all causes subject unto the Supreme Authority of one Against the policy of the Israelites I hope there will no man except where Moses deriving so great a part of his burden in Government unto others did notwithstanding retain to himself Universal Supremacy jehosaphat appointing one to be chosen in the affairs of God and another in the King's affair's did this as having Dominion over them in both If therefore from approbation of Heaven the Kings of Gods own chosen people had in the affairs of Jewish Religion Supreme Power why not Christian Kings the like also in Christian Religion First unless men will answer as some have done Stapl. de prin Doct. pag. 19 Stapl. 10. That the Jews Religion was of far less perfection and dignity than ours our being that truth whereof theirs was but a shadowish prefigurative resemblance Secondly That all parts of their Religion their Laws their Sacrifices and their Rights and Ceremonies being fully set down to their hands and needing no more but only to be put in execution the Kings might well have highest Authority to see that done whereas with us there are a number of Mysteries even in Belief which were not so generally for them as for us necessary to be with sound express acknowledgement understood A number of things belonging to external Government and our manner of serving God not set down by particular Ordinances and delivered to us in writing for which cause the State of the Church doth now require that the Spiritual Authority of Ecclesiastical persons be large absolute and not subordinate to Regal power Thirdly Idem ib. That whereas God armeth Religion jewish as Christian with the Temporal sword But of Spiritual punishment the one with power to imprison to scourge to put to death The other with bare authority to Censure and excommunicate There is no reason that the Church which hath no visible sword should in Regiment be subject unto any other power then only unto theirs which have authority to bind and lose Fourthly That albeit whilst the Church was restrained unto one people it seemed not incommodious to grant their King the general Chiefty of Power yet now the Church having spread itself over all Nations great inconveniences must thereby grow if every Christian King in his several Territory shall have the like power Of all these differences there is not one which doth prove it a thing repugnant to the Law either of God or of Nature that all Supremacy of external Power be in Christian Kingdoms granted unto Kings thereof for preservation of quietness unity order and peace in such manner as hath been showed Of the Title of Headship FOr the Title or State itself although the Laws of this Land have annexed it to the Crown yet so far● we should not strive if so be men were nice and scrupulous in this behalf only because they do wish that for reverence to Christ Jesus the Civil Magistrate did rather use some other form of speech wherewith to express that Sovereign Authority which he lawfully hath overall both Persons and Causes of the Church But I see that hitherto they which condemn utterly the name so applied do it because they mislike that such Power should be given to Civil Governors The great exception that Sir Thomas Moor took against that Title Rasiensis Epist. p. 5. 17. Pres. cont. 7. Calvin in come 7. Amos 7. 13. who suffered death for denial of it was for that it maketh a Lay a Secular Person the head of the State Spiritual or Ecclesiastical as though God himself did not name Said the Head of all the Tribes of Israel and consequently of that Tribe also among the rest whereunto the State Spiritual or Ecclesiastical belonged when the Authors of the Centuries reprove it in Kings and Civil Governors the reason is Is (null) is non competit iste Primatus such kind of Power is too high for them they fit it not In excuse of Mr. Calvin by whom this Realm is condemned of Blasphemy for intituling H. 8. Supreme Head of this Church under Christ a charitable conjecture is made that he spoke by misinformation howbeit as he professeth utter dislike of that name so whether the name be used or no the very Power itself which we give unto Civil Magistrates he much complaineth of and protesteth That their Power over all things was it which had ever wounded him deeply That un-advised Persons had made them too Spiritual that throughout Germany this fault did reign that in these very parts where Calvin himself was it prevailed more than was to be wished that Rulers by imagining themselves so Spiritual have taken away Ecclesiastical Government that they think they cannot reign unless they abolish all the Authority of the Cuurch and be themselves the chief judges as well in Doctrine as in the whole Spiritual Regency So that in truth the Question is Whether the Magistrate by being Head in such sense as we term him do use or exercise any part of that Authority not which belongeth unto Christ but which other men ought to have These things being first considered thus it will be easier to judge concerning our own estate whether by force of Ecclesiastical Government Kings have any other kind of Prerogative that they may lawfully hold and enjoy It is as some do imagine too much that Kings of England should be termed Heads in relation of the Church That which we do understand by Headship is their only Supreme Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs and Causes That which lawful Princes are what should make it unlawful for men in Spiritual Styles or Titles to signify If the having of Supreme Power be allowed why is the expressing thereof by the Title of Head condemned They seem in words at leastwise some of them now at the length to acknowledge that Kings may have Dominion or Supreme Government even over all both Persons and Causes We in terming our Princes Heads of the Church do but testify that we acknowledge them such Governors Again to this it will peradventure be replied T. C. l. 2. p. 4 11. That howsoever we interpret ourselves it is not fit for a mortal man and therefore not fit for a Civil Magistrate to be entitled the Head of the Church which was given to our Saviour Christ to lift him above all Powers Rules Dominions Titles in Heaven or in Earth Where if this Title belong also to Civil Magistrates than it is manifest that there is a Power in Earth whereunto our Saviour Christ is not in this point superior Again if the Civil Magistrate may have this Title he may be termed also the first-begotten of all Creatures The first begotten of all the Dead yea the Redeemer of his People Ephes. 1. 2● Col. 1. 1● For these are alike given him as Dignities whereby he is lifted up above all Creatures Besides this the whole Argument of the Apostle in both places doth lead to show that this Title Head of the Church cannot be said of any Creature And further the very domonstrative Articles amongst the Hebrews especially whom St. Paul doth follow serveth to tie that which is verified of one unto himself alone so that when the Apostle doth say that Christ it the Head it is as if he should say Christ and none other is the Head of the Church Thus have we against the entituling of the Highest Magistrate head with relation unto the Church four several Arguments gathered by strong surmise out of words marvellous unlikely to have been written to any such purpose as that whereunto they are now used and urged To the Ephesians the Apostle writeth Ephes. 1. 20. 21. 22. 23. That Christ God had set on his right hand in the Heavenly places above all Regency and Authority and Power and Dominion and whatsoever name is named not in this World only but in that which shall be also and hath under his feet set all things and hath given him head above all things unto the Church which is his Body even the fullness of him which accomplisheth all in all To the Colossians in like manner Col. 1. 1● Col. 15. That he is the head of the body of the Church who is a first born Regency out of the dead to the end he might be made amongst them all such an one as both the Chiefty He meaneth amongst all them whom he mentioned before saying By him all things that are were made the things in the Heavens and the things in the Earth the things that are visible and the things that are invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Regencies etc. Unto the fore-alledged Arguments therefore we answer First that it is not simply the title of Head in such sort understood as the Apostle himself meant it so that the same being imparted in another sense unto others doth not any ways make those others his Equals in as much as diversity of things is usually to be understood even when of words there is no diversity and it is only the adding of one and the same thing unto divers Persons which doth argue equality in them If I term Christ and Cesar Lords yet this is no equalizing Cesar with Christ because it is not thereby intended To term the Emperor Lord saith Tertullian I for my part will not refuse so that I be not required to call him Lord in the same sense that God is so termed Neither doth it follow which is objected in the second place that if the Civil Magistrate may be entitled a Head he may as well be termed the first begotten of all Creatures the first begotten of the Dead and the Redeemer of his People For albeit the former dignity doth lift him up to less than these yet these terms are not appliable and apt to signify any other inferior dignity as the former term of Head was The Argument of matter which the Apostle followeth hath small evidence or proof that his meaning was to appropriate unto Christ that the aforesaid title otherwise than only in such sense as doth make it being so understood too high to be given to any Creature As for the force of the Article where our Lord and Saviour is called the Head it serveth to tie that unto him by way of excellency which in meaner degrees is common to others it doth not exclude any other utterly from being termed Head but from being entitled as Christ is the Head by way of the very highest degree of excellency Not in the communication of Names but in the confusion of things there is error Howbeit if Head were a Name that could not well be nor never had been used to signify that which a Magistrate may be in relation to some Church but were by continual use of speech appropriated unto the only thing it signifieth being applied unto Jesus Christ then although we must carry in ourselves a right understanding yet ought we otherwise rather to speak unless we interpret our own meaning by some clause of plain speech because we are else in manifest danger to be understood according to that construction and sense wherein such words are personally spoken But here the rarest construction and most removed from common sense is that which the Word doth import being applied unto Christ that which we signify by it in giving it to the Magistrate it is a great deal more familiar in the common conceit of men The word is so fit to signify all kinds of Superiority Pre-eminence and Chiefty that nothing is more ordinary than to use it in vulgar speech Esay 7. 9 Teka● is termed the head of Samaria and in common understanding so to take it If therefore Christian Kings may have any pre-eminence or chiefty above all others although it be less than that which Theodore Beza giveth who placeth Kings amongst the principal Members whereunto public Function to the Church belongeth and denyeth not but that of them which have public Fonction the Civil Magistrates power hath all the rest at command in regard of that part of his Office which is to procure that Peace and good 〈…〉 especially kept in things concerning the first Table if even hereupon they term him the Head of the Church which is his Kingdom it should not seem so unfit a thing Which Title surely we could not communicate to any other no not although it should at our hands be exacted with torments but that our meaning herein is made known to the World so that no man which will understand can easily be ignorant that we do not impart unto Kings when we term them Heads the honour which is properly given to our Lord and Saviour Christ when the blessed Apostle in Scripture doth term him the Head of the Church The power which we signify in that name differeth in three things plainly from that which Christ doth challenge First it differeth in order because God hath given to his Church for the Head Ephes. 1.21 Farr above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not in this World only but also in that which is to come Whereas the Power which others have is subordinate unto his Secondly again as he differeth in order so in measure of Power also because God hath given unto him the ends of the Earth for his Possession unto him Psal. 2. ● Dominion from Sea to Sea unto him all power both in Heaven and Earth unto him such Sovereignty as doth not only reach over all places persons and things but doth rest in his own only Person and is not by any succession continued he reigneth as Head and King nor is there any kind of law which tieth him but his own proper will and wisdom his power is absolute the same jointly over all which it is severally over each not so the Power of any other Headship How Kings are restrained and how their Power is limited we have showed before so that unto him is given by the title of Headship ever the Church that largeness of Power wherein neither Man nor Angel can be matched not compared with him Thirdly the last and greatest difference between him and them is in the very kind of their Power The Head being of all other parts of the Body most divine hath dominion over all the rest it is the fountain of sense of motion the throne where the guide of the Soul doth reign the Court from whence direction of all things human proceedeth Why Christ is called the Head of the Church these Causes themselves do yield As the Head is the chiefest part of a man above which there is none always joined with the Body so Christ the highest in his Church is always knit to it Again as the Head giveth sense and motion unto all the Body so he quickeneth us and together with understanding of heavenly things giveth strength to walk therein Seeing therefore that they cannot affirm Christ sensibly present or always visibly joined unto his Body the Church which is on Earth in as much as his Corporal residence is in Heaven again seeing they do not affirm it were intolerable if they should that Christ doth personally administer the external Regiment of outward Actions in the Church but by the secret inward influence of his Grace giveth Spiritual life and the strength of ghostly motions thereunto Impossible it is that they should so close up their eyes as not to discern what odds there is between that kind of operation which we imply in the Headship of Princes and that which agreeth to our Saviour's dominion over the Church The Headship which we give unto Kings is altogether visibly exercised and ordereth only the external frame of the Church-affairs here amongst us so that it plainly differeth from Christ's even in very nature and kind To be in such sort united unto the Church as he is to work as he worketh either on the whole Church or upon any particular Assembly or in any one man doth neither agree nor hath any possibility of agreeing unto any one besides him T. C. l. 2. p. ●1● Against the first distinction or difference it is to be objected That to entitle a Magistrate head of the Church although it be under Christ is not absurd For Christ hath a twofold Superiority ever his and even Kingdoms according to the one he hath a Superior which is his Father according to the other none had immediate Authority with his Father that is to say of the Church he is Head and Governor only as the Son of Man Head and Governor of Kingdoms only as the Son of God In the Church as Man he hath Officers under Him which Officers are Ecclesiastical Persons As for the Civil Magistrate his Office belongeth unto Kingdoms T. C. l. 2. p. ●13 and to Commonwealths neither is he there an under or subordinate Head considering that his Authority cometh from God simply and immediately even as our Saviour Christ's doth Whereunto the sum of our Answer is First that as Christ being Lord or Head over all doth by virtue of that Sovereignty rule all so he hath no more a Superior in governing his Church than in exercising Sovereign Dominion upon the rest of the World besides Secondly That all Authority as well Civil as Ecclesiastical is subordinate unto him And Thirdly the Civil Magistrate being termed Head by reason of that Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs which hath been already declared that themselves do acknowledge to be lawful It followeth that he is a Head even subordinated of Christ and to Christ. For more plain explication whereof unto God we acknowledge daily that Kingdom Power and Glory are his that he is the immortal and invisible King of Ages as well the future which shall be as the present which now is That which the Father doth work as Lord and King over all he worketh not without but by the Son who through coeternal generation receiveth of the Father that Power which the Father hath of himself And for that cause our Saviour's words concerning his own Dominion are To me all Power both in Heaven and in Earth is given The Father by the Son did create and doth guide all wherefore Christ hath Supreme dominion over the whole universal World Christ is God Christ is the consubstantial Word of God Christ is also that consubstantial Word which made man As God he saith of himself I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end he which was and which is and which is to come even the very Omnipotent As the consubstantial Word of God he hath with God before the beginning of the World ●poc ● ● that glory which as he was Man he requireth to have Father glorify thy Son with that glory which with thee be enjoyed before the World wa● Further it is not necessary that all things spoken of Christ should agree to him either as God or else as Man John 17. 5. but some things as he is the consubstantial Word of God some things as he is that Word incarnate The Works of Supreme Dominion which have been since the first beginning wrought by the power of the Son of God are now most properly and truly the Works of the Son of Man the Word made Flesh doth sit for ever and reign as Sovereign Lord over all Dominion belongeth unto the Kingly Office of Christ as Propitration and Mediation unto his Priestly Instruction unto his Pastoral and Prophetical Office His Works of Dominion are in sundry degrees and kinds according to the different conditions of them that are subject unto it he presently doth govern and hereafter shall judge the World entire and wholly and therefore his Regal power cannot be with truth restrained unto a proportion of the World only Notwithstanding forasmuch as all do not show and acknowledge with dutiful submission that Obedience which they owe unto him therefore such as do their Lord he is termed by way of excellency no otherwise than the Apostle doth term God the Saviour generally of all but especially of the Faithful these being brought to the obedience of Faith are every where spoken of as men translated into that Kingdom wherein whosoever is comprehended Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation unto them they have a high and ghostly fellowship with God and Christ and Saints as the Apostle in more ample manner speaketh Heb. 12. 23. Aggregated they are unto Mount Zion and to the City of the living God the Celestial jerusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels and to the Congregation of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the Spirits of just and perfect men and to jesus the Mediator of the new Testament In a word they are of that Mystical body which we term the Church of Christ. As for the rest we account them Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and that live in the Kingdom of Darkness and that are in this present World without God Our Saviour's Dominion is therefore over these as over Rebels over them as over dutiful and loving Subjects which things being in holy Scriptures so plain I somewhat muse at that strange position That Christ in the Government of his Church and Superiority over the Officers of it hath himself a Superior which is the Father but in governing of Kingdoms and Common wealths and in the Superiority which he hath over Kingdoms no Superior Again T.C. l. 4. p. 41● That the Civil Magistrates Authority cometh from God immediately as Christ's doth and it subordinate unto Christ. In what Evangelist Apostle or Prophet is it found that Christ Supreme Governor of the Church should be so unequal to himself as he is Supreme Governor of Kingdoms The works of his Providence for the preservation of Mankind by upholding Kingdoms not only obedient unto but also obstinate and rebellious against him are such as proceed from Divine Power and are not the works of his Providence for safety of God's Elect by gathering inspiring comforting and every way preserving his Church such as proceed from the same Power likewise Surely if Christ as God and Man hath ordained certain means for the gathering and keeping of his Church seeing this doth belong to the Government of that Church it must in reason follow I think that as God and Man he worketh in Church Regiment and consequently hath no more there any Superiors than in the Government of the Commonwealth Again to be in the midst of his wheresoever they are assembled in his Name and to be with them to the World's end are comforts which Christ doth perform to his Church as Lord and Governor yea such as he cannot perform but by that very Power wherein he hath no Superior Wherefore unless it can be proved that all the works of our Saviour's Government in the Church are done by the mere and only force of his Human nature there is no remedy but to acknowledge it a manifest error that Christ in the Government of the World is equal to the Father but not in the Government of the Church Indeed to the honour of this Dominion it cannot be said that God did exalt him otherwise than only according to that Human nature wherein he was made low For as the Son of God there could no advancement or exaltation grow unto him And yet the Dominion whereunto he was in his Human nature lifted up is not without Divine Power exercised It is by Divine Power that the Son of man who sitteth in Heaven doth work as King and Lord upon us which are on Earth The exercise of his Dominion over the Church Militant cannot choose but cease when there is no longer any Militant Church in the World And therefore as Generals of Armies when they have finished their Work are wont to yield up such Commissions as were given for that purpose and to remain in the state of Subjects and not as Lords as concerning their former authority even so when the end of all things is come the Son of man who till then reigneth shall do the like as touching Regiment over the Militant Church on the Earth So that between the Son of man and his Brethren over whom he reigneth now in this their War fare there shall be then as touching the exercise of that Regiment no such difference they not warfaring any longer under him but he together with them under God receiving the joys of everlasting triumph that so God may be in all all misery in all the Wicked through his Justice in all the Righteous through his love all felicity and bliss In the mean while he reigneth over the World as King and doth those things wherein none is Superior unto him whether we respect the works of his Providence and Kingdom or of his Regiment over the Church The cause of Error in this point doth seem to have been a misconceit that Christ as Mediator being inferior to his Father doth as Mediator all Works of Regiment over the Church when in truth Regiment doth belong to his Kingly Office Mediatorship to his Priestly For T.C. l. 4. p. 15. as the Highpriest both offered Sacrifices for expiation of the People's sins and entered into the holy Place there to make intercession for them So Christ having finished upon the Cross that part of his Priestly Office Heb. 5. 25. which wrought the propitiation for our Sins did afterwards enter into very Heaven and doth there as Mediator of the New Testament appear in the sight of God for us A like sleight of Judgement it is when they hold that Civil Authority is from God but not immediately through Christ nor with any subordination to God nor doth any thing from God but by the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny it not Esay 7. 25. Rom. 13 1. Prov. 2. 15. Humble motion p. 63. Rev. 1. 5. to be said of Christ in the Old Testament By me Princes rule and the Nobles and all the judges of the Earth In the New as much is taught That Christ is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Wherefore to the end it may more plainly appear how all Authority of Man is derived from God through Christ and must by Christian men be acknowledged to be no otherwise held then of and under him we are to note that because whatsoever hath necessary being the Son of God doth cause it to be and those things without which the World cannot well continue have necessary being in the World a thing of so great use as Government cannot choose but be originally from Him Touching that Authority which Civil Magistrates have in Ecclesiastical Affairs it being from God by Christ as all other good things are cannot choose but be held as a thing received at his hands and because such power is of necessity for the ordering of Religion wherein the essence and very being of the Church consisteth can no otherwise slow from him than according to that special care which he hath to govern and guide his own People it followeth that the said Authority is of and under him after a more special manner in that he is Head of the Church and not in respect of his general Regency over the World All things saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 12. speaking unto the Church are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's King's are Christ's as Saints because they are of the Church if not collectively yet divisively understood It is over each particular Person within that Church where they are Kings Surely Authority reacheth both unto all men's persons and to all kinds of causes also It is not denied but that they may have and lawfully exercise it such Authority it is for which and for no other in the World we term them Heads such Authority they have under Christ because he in all things is Lord overall and even of Christ it is that they have received such Authority in as much as of him all lawful Powers are therefore the Civil Magistrate is in regard of this Power an under and subordinate Head of Christ's People It is but idle where they speak T. C. l. p. 413. That although for several Companies of Men there may be several Heads or Governors differing in the measure of their Authority from the Chiefest who is Head over all yet it cannot be in the Church for that the reason why Head-Magistrates appoint others for such several places it Because they cannot be present every where to perform the Office of an Head But Christ is never from his Body nor from any Part of it and therefore needeth not to substitute any which may be Heads some over one Church and some over another Indeed the consideration of Man's imbecility which maketh many Heads necessary where the burden is too great for one moved jethro to be a Persuader of Moses that a number of Heads of Rulers might be instituted for discharge of that duty by parts which in whole he saw was troublesome Now although there be not in Christ any such defect or weakness yet other causes there be divers more than we are able to search into wherefore it might seem unto him expedient to divide his Kingdom into many Provinces and place many Heads over it that the Power which each of them hath in particular with restraint might illustrate the greatness of his unlimited Authority Besides howsoever Christ be Spiritually always united unto every part of his Body which is the Church Nevertheless we do all know and they themselves who allege this will I doubt not confess also that from every Church here visible Christ touching visible and corporal presence is removed as far as Heaven from the Earth is distant Visible Government is a thing necessary for the Church and it doth not appear how the exercise of visible Government over such Multitudes every where dispersed throughout the World should consist without sundry visible Governors whose Power being the greatest in that kind so far as it reacheth they are in consideration thereof termed so far Heads Wherefore notwithstanding the perpetual conjunction by virtue whereof our Saviour always remaineth spiritually united unto the parts of his Mystical Body Heads indeed with Supreme Power extending to a certain compass are for the exercise of a visible Regiment not unnecessary Some other reasons there are belonging unto this branch which seem to have been objected rather for the exercise of men's wits in dissolving Sophisms than that the Authors of them could think in likelihood thereby to strengthen their cause For example T. C. l. p. 419. Lk Hen. 8.6.9 If the Magistrate be Head of the Church within his own Dominion then is he none of the Church For all that are of the Church make the Body of Christ and every one of the Church fulfilleth the place of one member of the Body By making the Magistrate therefore Head we do exclude him from being a Member subject to the Head and so leave him no place in the Church By which reason the name of a Body Politic is supposed to be always taken of the inferior sort alone excluding the Principal Guides and Governors contrary to all men's customs of speech The Error ariseth by misconceiving of some Scripture-sentences where Christ as the Head and the Church as the Body are compared or opposed the one to the other And because in such comparisons ooppositions the Body is taken for those only parts which are subject unto the Head they imagine that who so is the Head of any Church he is therefore even excluded from being a part of that Church That the Magistrate can be none of the Church if so we make him the Head of the Church in his own Dominions A chief and principal part of the Church therefore Next this is surely a strange conclusion A Church doth indeed make the Body of Christ being wholly taken together and every one in the same Church fulfilleth the place of a Member in the Body but not the place of an inferior Member the which hath Supreme Authority and Power over all the rest Wherefore by making the Magistrate Head in his own Dominions we exclude him from being a Member subject unto any other Person which may visibly there rule in place of a Superior or Head over him but so far are we off from leaving him by this means no place in the Church that we do grant him the hief place Indeed the Heads of those visible Bodies which are many can be but parts inferior in that Spiritual Body which is but one yea they may from t●●ss be excluded clean who notwithstanding aught to be honoured as possessing in order the highest rooms But for the Magistrate to be termed in his Dominions an Head doth not bar him from being any way a Part or Member of the Church of God As little to the purpose are those other Cavils A Church which hath the Magistrate for Head is perfect man without Christ So that the knitting of our Saviour thereunto should be an addition of that which is too much Again If the Church be the Body of Christ and of the Civil Magistrate it shall have two heads which being monstrous is to the great dishonour of Christ and his Church Thirdly If the Church be planted in a popular estate then forasmuch as all govern in common and all have Authority all shall be Heads there and no Body at all which is another Monster It might be seared what this birth of so many Monsters together might portend but that we know how things natural enough in themselves may seem monstrous through misconceit which error of mind is indeed a Monster and the skilful in Nature's mysteries have used to term it the Womb of Monsters if any be it is that troubled Understanding wherein because things lie confusedly mixed together what they are it appeareth not A Church perfect without Christ I know not how a man shall imagine unless there may be either Christianity without Christ or else a Church without Christianity If Magistrates be Heads of the Church they are of necessity Christians then is their Head Christ. The adding of Christ universal Head over all unto Magistrates particular Headship is no more superfluous in any Church than in other Societyes each is to be both severally subject unto some Head and to have a Head also general for them all to be subject unto For so in Arms in Civil Corporations we see it fareth A Body Politic in such respects is not like a Natural Body in this more Heads than one is superfluous in that not It is neither monstrous nor yet uncomely for a Church to have different Heads for if Christian Churches be in number many and every of them a perfect Body by itself Christ being Lord and Head over all Why should we judge it a thing more monstrous for one Body to have two Heads than one Head so many Bodies Him that God hath made the Supreme Head of the whole Church the Head not only of that Mystical Body which the eye of man is not able to discern but even of every Christian Politic Society of every visible Church in the World And whereas Last it is thought so strange that in Popular States a Multitude to itself should be both Body and Head all this Wonderment doth grow from a little oversight in deeming that the Subject wherein Headship ought to reside should be evermore some one Person which thing is not necessary For in the collective Body that hath not derived as yet the Principality of power into some one or few the whole of necessity must be Head over each part otherwise it could not have power possibly to make any one certain Person head inasmuch as the very power of making a Head belongeth unto Headship These supposed Monsters we see therefore are no such Giants as that there should need any Hercules to tame them The last difference which we have between the Title of Head when we give it unto Christ and when we give it to other Governors is that the kind of Dominion which it importeth is not the same in both Christ is Head as being the Fountain of Life and Ghostly nutriment the Wellspring of Spiritual Blessings poured into the Body of the Church they Heads as being the principal instruments for the Churches outward Government he Head as Founder of the House they as his chiefest Overseers Against this is exception especially taken and our Purveyors are herein said to have their provision from the Popish Shambles for by Fighius and Harding to prove that Christ alone is not Head of the Church this distinction they say is brought that according to the inward influence of Grace Christ only is Head but according to the outward Government the being of Head is a thing common to him with others To raise up Falsehoods of old condemned and bring it for confirmation of any thing doubtful which already hath sufficiently been proved an error and is worthily so taken this would justly deserve censuring But shall manifest truth therefore be reproached because men convicted in some things of manifest untruth have at any time thought or alleged it If too much eagerness against their Adversaries had not made them forget themselves they might remember where being charged as Maintainers of those very things for which others before them have been condemned of Heresy yet lest the name of any such Heretic holding the same which they do should make them odious they stick not frankly to confess T. C. l. 5. p. 6● That they are not afraid to consent in some points with jews and Turks which defence for all that were a very weak Buckler for such as should consent with Jews and Turks in that which they have been aborted and hated for in the Church But as for this distinction of Headship Spiritual and Mystical of Jesus Christ ministerial and outward in others besides Christ what cause is there to mislike either Harding or Pighins or any other besides for it That which they have been reproved for is not because they did therein utter an untruth but such a Truth as was not sufficient to bear up the Cause which they did thereby seek to maintain By this distinction they have both truly and sufficiently proved that the name of Head importing Power and Dominion over the Church might be given to others besides Christ without prejudice to any part of his honour That which they should have made manifest was The name of Head importing the power of universal Dominion over the whole Church of Christ militant doth and that by divine right appertain to the Pope of Rome They did prove it lawful to grant unto others besides Christ the power of Headship in a different kind from his but they should have proved it lawful to challenge as they did to the Bishop of Rome a Power universal in that different kind Their fault was therefore in exacting wrongfully so great Power as they challenged in that kind and not in making two kinds of Power unless some reasons can be showed for which this distinction of Power should be thought erroneous and false A little they stir although in vain to prove that we cannot with truth make such distinction of Power whereof the one kind should agree unto Christ only and the other be further communicated Thus therefore they argue T. C. l. 2. p. 4. 5. If there be no Head but Christ in respect of Spiritual Government there is no Head but be in respect of the Word Sacraments and Discipline administered by those whom he hath appointed for as much also as it is his Spiritual Government Their meaning is that whereas we make two kinds of Power of which two the one being Spiritual is proper unto Christ the other men are capable of because it is visible and external We do amiss altogether in distinguishing they think forasmuch as the visible and external power of Regiment over the Church is only in relation unto the Word Sacraments and Discipline administered by such as Christ hath appointed thereunto and the exercise of this Power is also his Spiritual Government Therefore we do but vainly imagine a visible and external Power in the Church differing from his Spiritual Power Such Disputes as this do somewhat resemble the practising of Well-willers upon their Friends in the pangs of Death whose manner is even their to put smoke in their Nostrils and so to fetch them again alhough they know it a matter impossible to keep them living The kind of affection which the Favourers of this labouring cause bear towards it will not suffer them to see it die although by what means they should make it live they do not see but thy may see that these wrestle will not help Can they be ignorant how little it booteth to overcast so clear a light with some mist of ambiguity in the name of Spiritual Raiment To make things therefore so plain that henceforward a Child's capacity ma serve rightly to conceive our meaning we make the Spiritual Regiment of Christ to ●e generally that whereby his Church is ruled and governed in things Spiritual Of this general we make two distinct kinds the one invisible exercised by Christ himself in his own Person the other outwardly administered by them whom Christ doth allow to be Rulers and Guiders of his Church Touching the former of these two kinds we teach that Christ in regard thereof is particularly termed the Head of the Church of God neither can any other Creature in that sense and meaning be termed Head besides him because it importeth the conduct and government of our Souls by the hand of that blessed Spirit wherewith we are sealed and marked as being peculiarly his Him only therefore do we acknowledge to be the Lord which dwelleth liveth and reigneth in our hearts him only to be that Head which giveth salvation and life unto his Body him only to be that Fountain from whence the influence of heavenly Graces distilleth and is derived into all parts whether the Word or the Sacraments or Discipline or whatsoever be the means whereby it floweth As for the Power of administering these things in the Church of Christ which Power we call the Power of Order it is indeed both Spiritual and His Spiritual because such properly concerns as the Spirit His because by him it was instituted Howbeit neither Spiritual as that which is inwardly and invisibly exercised nor His as that which he himself in Person doth exercise Again that power of Dominion which is indeed the point of this Controversy and doth also belong to the second kind of Spiritual Government namely unto that Regiment which is external and visible this likewise being Spiritual in regard of the manner about which it dealeth and being his in as much as he approveth whatsoever is done by it must notwithstanding be distinguished also from that Power whereby he himself in Person administereth the former kind of his own Spiritual Regiment because he himself in Person doth not administer this we do not therefore vainly imagine but truly and rightly discern a Power external and visible in the Church exercised by men and severed in nature from that Spiritual Power of Christ's own Regiment which Power is termed Spiritual because it worketh secretly inwardly and invisibly His because none doth nor can it personally exercise either besides or together with him seeing that him only we may name our Head in regard of His and yet in regard of that other Power from this term others also besides him Heads without any contradiction at all which thing may very well serve for answer unto that also which they further allege against the aforesaid distinction namely T. C. 1. p. 413. That even the outward Societies and Assemblies of the Church where one or two are gathered together in his Name either for hearing of the Word or for Prayer or any other Church-exercise our Saviour Christ being in the midst of them as Mediator must be their Head and if he be not there idle but doing the Office of a Head fully it followeth that even in the outward Societies and Meetings of the Church no more man can be called the Head of it seeing that our Saviour Christ doing the whole Office of the Head himself alone leaveth nothing to men by doing whereof they may obtain that Title Which Objection I take as being made for nothing but only to maintain Argument for they are not so far gone as to argue this in sooth and right good earnest God standeth saith the Psalmist in the midst of gods if God be there present he must undoubtedly be present as God if he be not there idle but doing the Office of a God fully it followeth that God himself alone doing the whole Office of a God leaveth nothing in such Assemblies to any other by doing whereof they may obtain so high a Name The Psalmist therefore hath spoken amiss T. C. l. ● p. 413. and doth ill to call Judges Gods Not so for as God hath his Office differing from theirs and doth fully discharge it even in the midst of them so they are not hereby excluded from all kind of Duty for which that Name should be given into them also but in that Duty for which it was given them they are encouraged Religiously and carefully to order themselves after the selfsame manner Our Lord and Saviour being in the midst of his Church as Head is our comfort without the abridgement of any one duty for performance whereof others are termed Headsm another kind than he is If there be of the ancient Fathers which say That thee is but one Head of the Church Christ and that the Minister that baptizeth canno●●e the Head of him that is baptised because Christ is the Head of the whole Church and that Paul could not be Head of the Church which he planted because Christ is the Head of the whole Body They understand the name of Head in such sort as we grant that it is o● applicable to any other no not in relation to the least part of the whole Church he which baptizeth baptizeth into Christ he which converteth converteth into Christ he which ruleth ruleth for Christ. The whole Church can have but one to be Head as Lord and Owner of all wherefore if Christ be Head in that kind it followeth that no other besides can be so either to the whole or to any part To call and dissolve all solemn Assemblies about the Public Affairs of the Church AMongst sundry Prerogatives of Simons Dominion over the Jews there is reckoned as not the least That no man might gather any great Assembly in the Land without him For so the manner of Jewish Regiment had always been that whether the cause for which men assembled themselves in peaceable good and orderly sort were Ecclesiastical or Civil Supreme Authority should assemble them David gathered all Israel together unto jerusalem when the Ark was to be removed he assembled the Sons of Aaron and the Levites Solomon did the like at such time as the Temple was to be dedicated when the Church was to be reform Asa in his time did the same The same upon like occasions was done afterwards by joash Hezekiat josiah and others The Consuls of Rome Polyb. l. 5. demilit ac domis●t Rom. Discipl Polybius affirmeth to have had a kind of Regal Authority in that they might call together the Senate and People whensoever it pleased them Seeing therefore the Affairs of the Church and Christian Religion are Public Affairs for the ordering whereof more Solemn Assemblies sometimes are of as great importance and use as they are for Secular Affairs It seemeth no less an act of Supreme Authority to call the one than the other Wherefore the Clergy in such wise gathered together is an Ecclesiastical Senate which with us as in former times the chiefest Prelate at his discretion did use to assemble so that afterwards in such considerations as have been before specified it seemed more meet to annex the said Prerogative to the Crown The plot of reformed Discipline not liking thereof so well taketh order that every former Assembly before it breaketh up should itself appoint both the time and place of their After-meeting again But because I find not any thing on that side particularly alleged against us herein a longer disputation about so plain a cause shall not need The ancient Imperial Law forbiddeth such Assemblies as the Emperor's Authority did not cause to be made Lib. 1. de Cul. illisid & do conventiculis cap de Ephe. & Presbyt Before Emperors became Christians the Church had never any General Synod their greatest Meeting consisting of Bishops and others the gravest in each Province As for the Civil Governor's Authority it suffered them only as things not regarded or not accounted of at such times as it did suffer them So that what right a Christian King hath as touching Assemblies of that kind we are not able to judge Hierarch lib. 6. cap. 1. till we come to later times Constant. council à rheedasio Sardicen cousin à Con. when Religion had won the hearts of the highest Powers Constantine as Pighius doth grant was not only the first that ever did call any General Council together but even the first that devised the calling of them for consultation about the businesses of God After he had once given the example his Successors a long time followed the same in so much that St. Hierom to disprove the Authority of a Synod which was pretended to be general Hieron cont. ●ussinum l. 2. useth this as a forcible Argument Dic quis Imperator have Synodum jusserit convocari Their Answer hereunto is no Answer which say That the Emperors did not this without conference had with the Bishops for to our purpose it is enough if the Clergy alone did it not otherwise than by the leave and appointment of their Sovereign Lords and Kings Sea omen l. 6. cap. 7. Ambros. Epist. 5● Whereas therefore it is on the contrary side alleged that Valentinian the elder being requested by Catholic Bishops to grant that there might be a Synod for the ordering of matters called in question by the Arians answered that he being one of the Laity might not meddle with such matters and thereupon willed that the Priests and Bishops to whom the care of those things belongeth should meet and consult together by themselves where they thought good We must with the Emperor's speech weigh the occasion and drift thereof Valentinian and Valens the one a Catholic the other an Arian were Emperors together Valens the Governor of the East and Valentinian of the West Empire Valentinian therefore taking his Journey from the East unto the West parts and passing for that intent through Thracia there the Bishops which held the soundness of Christian Belief because they knew that Valent was their professed Enemy and therefore if the other was once departed out of those quarters the Catholic 'Cause was like to find very small favour moved presently Valentinian about a Council to be assembled under the countenance of his Authority who by likelihood considering what inconvenience might grow thereby inasmuch as it could not be but a means to incense Valens the more against them refused himself to be Author of or present at any such Assembly and of this his denial gave them a colourable reason to wit that he was although an Emperor yet a secular Person and therefore not able in matters of so great obscurity to fit as a competent Judge But if they which were Bishops and learned men did think good to consul thereof together they might Whereupon when they could not obtain that which they most desired yet that which he granted unto them they took and forthwith had a Council Valentinian went on towards Rome they remaining in consultation till Valens which accompanied him returned back so that now there was no remedy but either to incur a manifest contempt or else at the hands of Valens himself to seek approbation of that they had done To him therefore they became Suitors his Answer was short Either Arianism or Exile which they would whereupon their Banishment ensued Let reasonable men now therefore be Judges how much this example of Valentinian doth make against the Authority which we say that Sovereign Rulers may lawfully have as concerning Synods and Meetings Ecclesiastical Of the Authority of making Laws THere are which wonder that we should account any Statute a Law which the High Court of Parliament in England hath established about the matters of Church-Regiment the Prince and Court of Parliament having as they suppose no more lawful means to give order to the Church and Clergy in those things than they have to make Laws for the Hierarchies of Angels in Heaven That the Parliament being a mere Temporal Court can neither by the law of Nature nor of God have competent power to define of such matters That Supremacy in this kind cannot belong unto Kings as Kings because Pagan Emperors whose Princely power was true Sovereignty never challenged so much over the Church That Power in this kind cannot be the right of any Earthly Crown Prince or State in that they be Christians forasmuch as if they be Christians they all owe subjection to the Pastors of their Souls That the Prince therefore not having it himself cannot communicate it to the Parliament and consequently cannot make Laws here or determine of the Church's Regiment by himself Parliament or any other Court subjected unto him The Parliament of England together with the Convocation annexed thereunto is that whereupon the very essence of all Government within this Kingdom doth depend it is even the body of the whole Realm it consisteth of the King and of all that within the Land are subject unto him The Parliament is a Court not so merely Temporal as if it might meddle with nothing but only Leather and Wool Those days of Queen Mary are not yet forgotten wherein the Realm did submit itself unto the Legate of Pope julius at which time had they been persuaded as this man seemeth now to be had they thought that there is no more force in Laws made by Parliament concerning Church-Affairs then if men should take upon them to make Orders for the Hierarchies of Angels in Heaven they might have taken all former Statutes of that kind as canceled and by reason of nullity abrogated What need was there that they should bargain with the Cardinal and purchase their Pardon by promise made beforehand that what Laws they had made assented unto or executed against the Bishop of Rome's Supremacy the same they would in that present Parliament effectually abrogate and repeal Had they power to repeal Laws made and none to make Laws concerning the Regiment of the Church Again when they had by suit obtained his confirmation for such Foundations of Bishoprics Cathedral Churches Hospitals Colleges and Schools for such Marriages before made for such Institutions into Livings Ecclesiastical and for all such Judicial Processes as having been ordered according to the Laws before in force but contrary unto the Canons and Orders of the Church of Rome were in that respect thought defective although the Cardinal in his Letters of Dispensation did give validity unto those Acts even Apostolicae firmitatis robur the very strength of Apostolical solidity A● 1. & 2 Phillip & Mar. cap. 8. what had all these been without those grave authentical words Be it enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament that all and singular Articles and Clauses contained in the said Dispensation shall remain and be reputed and taken to all intents and constructions in the Laws of this Realm lawful good and effectual to be alleged and pleaded in all Courts Ecclesiastical and Temporal for good and sufficient matter either for the Plaintiff or Defendant without any Allegation or Objection to be made against the validity of them by pretence of any General Council Canon or Decree to the contrary Somewhat belike they thought there was in this mere Temporal Court without which the Popes own mere Ecclesiastical Legate's Dispensation had taken small effect in the Church of England neither did they or the Cardinal imagine any thing committed against the Law of Nature or of God because they took order for the Church's Affairs and that even in the Court of Parliament The most natural and Religious course in making Laws is that the matter of them be taken from the judgement of the wisest in those things which they are to concern In matters of God to set down a form of Prayer a solemn confession of the Articles of the Christian Faith and Ceremonies meet for the exercise of Religion It were unnatural not to think the Pastors and Bishops of our Souls a great deal more fit than men of Secular Trades and Callings Howbeit when all which the wisdom of all sorts can do is done for the devising of Laws in the Church it is the general consent of all that giveth them the form and vigour of Laws without which they could be no more unto us than the Council of Physicians to the sick Well might they seem as wholesome admonitions and instructions but Laws could they never be without consent of the whole Church to be guided by them whereunto both Nature and the practice of the Church of God set down in Scripture is found every way so fully consonant that God himself would not impose no not his own Laws upon his People by the hand of Moses without their free and open consent Wherefore to define and determine even of the Church's Affairs by way of assent and approbation as Laws are defined in that Right of Power which doth give them the force of Laws thus to define of our own Church's Regiment the Parliament of England hath competent Authority Touching that Supremacy of Power which our Kings have in this case of making Laws it resteth principally in the strength of a negative voice which not to give them were to deny them that without which they were Kings but by mere title and not in exercise of Dominion Be it in Regiment Popular Aristocratical or Regal Principality resteth in that Person or those Persons unto whom is given right of excluding any kind of Law whatsoever it be before establishment This doth belong unto Kings as Kings Pagan Emperors even Nero himself had no less but much more than this in the Laws of his own Empire That he challenged not any interest of giving voice in the laws of the Church I hope no man will so construe as if the cause were conscience and fear to encroach upon the Apostles right If then it be demanded By what right from Constantine downward the Christian Emperors did so far intermeddle with the Church's affairs I●dem quod Principi placult Legis habet vigorem Inst. ●● J. N. G. & C. either we must herein condemn them as being over presumptuously bold or else judge that by a Law which is termed Regia that is to say Regal the People having derived unto their Emperors their whole power for making of Laws and by that means his Edicts being made Laws what matter soever they did concern as Imperial dignity endowed them with competent Authority and power to make Laws for Religion so they were thought by Christianity to use their Power being Christians unto the benefit of the Church of Christ was there any Christian Bishop in the world which did then judge this repugnant unto the dutiful subjection which Christians do owe to the Pastors of their Souls to whom in respect of their Sacred Order it is not by us neither may be denied that Kings and Princes are as much as the very meanest that liveth under them bound in conscience to show themselves gladly and willingly obedient receiving the Seals of Salvation the blessed Sacraments at their hands as at the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ with all reverence not disdaining to be taught and admonished by them nor withholding from them as much as the least part of their due and decent honour All which for any thing that hath been alleged may stand very well without resignation of Supremacy of Power in making Laws even Laws concerning the most Spiritual Affairs of the Church which Laws being made amongst us are not by any of us so taken or interpreted as if they did receive their force from power which the Prince doth communicate unto the Parliament or unto any other Court under him but from Power which the whole Body of the Realm being naturally possessed with hath by free and deliberate assent derived unto him that ruleth over them so far forth as hath been declared so that our Laws made concerning Religion do take originally their essence from the power of the whole Realm and Church of England than which nothing can be more consonant unto the law of Nature and the will of our Lord Jesus Christ. T.C. l. 1 p. 192. To let these go and return to our own Men Ecclesiastical Governors they say may not meddle with making of Civil Laws and of Laws for the Commonwealth nor the Civil Magistrate high or low with making of Orders for the Church It seemeth unto me very strange that these men which are in no cause more vehement and fierce than where they plead that Ecclesiastical Persons may not be Lords should hold that the power of making Ecclesiastical Laws which thing of all other is most proper unto Dominion belongeth to none but Ecclesiastical Persons only Their oversight groweth herein for want of exact observation what it is to make a Law Tully speaking of the Law of Nature saith That thereof God himself was Inventor Disceptator Lator the Deviser the Discusser and Deliverer wherein he plainly alludeth unto the chiefest parts which then did appertain to his Public action For when Laws were made the first thing was to have them devised thesecond to sift them with as much exactness of Judgement as any way might be used the next by solemn voice of Sovereign Authority to pass them and give them the force of Laws It cannot in any reason seem otherwise than most fit that unto Ecclesiastical Persons the care of devising Ecclesiastical Laws be committed even as the care of Civil unto them which are in those Affairs most skilful This taketh not away from Ecclesiastical Persons all right of giving voice with others when Civil Laws are proposed for Regiment of the Commonwealth whereof themselves though now the World would have them annihilated are notwithstanding as yet a part much less doth it cut off that part of the power of Princes whereby as they claim so we know no reasonable cause wherefore we may not grant them without offence to Almighty God so much Authority in making all manner of Laws within their own Dominions that neither Civil nor Ecclesiastical do pass without their Royal assent In devising and discussing of Laws Wisdom especially is required but that which establisheth them and maketh them is Power even Power of Dominion the Chiefty whereof amongst us resteth in the Person of the King Is there any Law of Christ's which forbiddeth Kings and Rulers of the Earth to have such Sovereign and Supreme Power in the making of Laws either Civil or Ecclesiastical If there be our controversy hathan end Christ in his Church hath not appointed any such Law concerning Temporal Power as God did of old unto the Commonwealth of Israel but leaving that to be at the World 's free choice his chiefest care is that the Spiritual Law of the Gospel might be published far and wide They that received the Law of Christ were for a long time People scattered in sundry Kingdoms Christianity not exempting them from the Laws which they had been subject unto saving only in such cases as those Laws did enjoin that which the Religion of Christ did forbid Hereupon grew their manifold Persecutions throughout all places where they lived as oft as it thus came to pass there was no possibility that the Emperors and Kings under whom they lived should meddle any whit at all with making Laws for the Church From Christ therefore having received Power who doubteth but as they did so they might bind them to such Orders as seemed fittest for the maintenance of their Religion without the leave of high or low in the Commonwealth for as much as in Religion it was divided utterly from them and they from it But when the mightiest began to like of the Christian Faith by their means whole Free-States and Kingdoms became obedient unto Christ. Now the question is Whether Kings by embracing Christianity do thereby receive any such Law as taketh from them the weightiest part of that Sovereignty which they had even when they were Heathens Whether being Infidels they might do more in causes of Religion than now they can by the Laws of God being true Believers For whereas in Regal States the King or Supreme Head of the Commonwealth had before Christianity a supreme stroke in making of Laws for Religion he must by embracing Christian Religion utterly deprive himself thereof and in such causes become subject unto his Subjects having even within his own Dominions them whose commandment he must obey unless his Power be placed in the Head of some foreign Spiritual Potentate so that either a foreign or domestical Commander upon Earth he must admit more now than before he had and that in the chiefest things whereupon Commonwealths do stand But apparent it is unto all men which are not Strangers unto the Doctrine of Jesus Christ that no State of the World receiving Christianity is by any Law therein contained bound to resign the Power which they lawfully held before but over what Persons and in what causes soever the same hath been in force it may so remain and continue still That which as Kings they might do in matters of Religion and did in matter of false Religion being Idolatrous and Superstitious Kings the same they are now even in every respect fully authorized to do in all affairs pertinent to the state of true Christian Religion And T.C. l. 3. p. 51. concerning the Supreme Power of making Laws for all Persons in all causes to be guided by it is not to be let pass that the head Enemies of this Headship are constrained to acknowledge the King endued even with this very Power so that he may and aught to exercise the same taking order for the Church and her affairs of what nature of kind soever in case of necessity as when there is no lawful Ministry which they interpret then to be and this surely is a point very remarkable wheresoever the Ministry is wicked A wicked Ministry is no lawful Ministry and in such sort no lawful Ministry that what doth belong unto them as Ministers by right of their calling the same to be annihilated in respect of their bad qualities their wickedness in itself a deprivation of right to deal in the affairs of the Church and a warrant for others to deal in them which are held to be of a clean other Society the Members whereof have been before so peremptorily for ever excluded from power of dealing for ever with affairs of the Church They which once have learned throughly this Lesson will quickly be capable perhaps of another equivalent unto it For the wickedness of the Ministry transfers their right unto the King In case the King be as wicked as they to whom then shall the right descend There is no remedy all must come by devolution at length even as the Family of Brown will have it unto the godly among the people for confusion unto the wise and the great by the poor and the simple Some Kniper doling with his retinue must take this work of the Lord in hand and the making of Church-Laws and Orders must prove to be their right in the end If not for love of the truth yet for shame of gross absurdities let these contentions and stifling fancies be abandoned The cause which moved them for a time to hold a wicked Ministry no lawful Ministry and in this defect of a lawful Ministry authorized Kings to make Laws and Orders for the Affairs of the Church till it were well established is surely this First They see that whereas the continual dealing of the Kings of Israel in the Affairs of the Church doth make now very strong against them the burden whereof they shall in time well enough shake off if it may be obtained that it is indeed lawful for Kings to follow these holy examples howbeit no longer than during the case of necessity while the wickedness and in respect thereof the unlawfulness of the Ministry doth continue Secondly They perceive right well that unless they should yield Authority unto Kings in case of such supposed necessity the Discipline they urge were clean excluded as long as the Clergy of England doth thereunto remain opposite To open therefore a door for her entrance there is no remedy but the Tenet must be this That now when the Ministry of England is universally wicked and in that respect hath lost all Authority and is become no lawful Ministry no such Ministry as hath the right which otherwise should belong unto them if they were virtuous and godly as their Adversaries are in this necessity the King may do somewhat for the Church that which we do imply in the name of Headship he may both have and exercise till they be entered which will disburden and ease him of it till they come the King is licenced to hold that Power which we call Headship But what afterwards In a Church ordered T.C. l. 1. p. 19 that which the Supreme Magistrate hath to do is to see that the Laws of God touching his Worship and touching all matters and orders of the Church be executed and duly observed to see that every Ecclesiastical Person do that Office whereunto he is appointed to punish those that fail in their Office Apol. ● 40. p. 4 In a word that which Allain himself acknowledgeth unto the Earthly power which God hath given him it doth belong to defend the Laws of the Church to cause them to be executed and to punish Rebels and Transgressor's of the same on all sides therefore it is confessed that to the King belongeth power of maintaining the Laws made for Church-Regiment and of causing them to be observed but Principality of Power in making them which is the thing we attribute unto Kings this both the one sort and the other do withstand Power to command all Persons and to be over all Judges in Causes Ecclesiastical Touching the King's supereminent authority in commanding and in judging of Causes Ecclesiastical First to explain therein our meaning It hath been taken as if we did hold that Kings may prescribe what themselves think good to be done in the service of God how the Word shall be taught how the Sacraments administered that Kings may personally sit in the Consistory where the Bishops do hearing and determining what Causes soever do appertain unto the Church That Kings and Queens in their own proper Persons are by Judicial Sentence to decide the Questions which do rise about matters of Faith and Christian Religion That Kings may excommunicate Finally That Kings may do whatsoever is incident unto the Office and Duty of an Ecclesiastical Judge Which opinion because we account as absurd as they who have fathered the same upon us we do them to wit that this is our meaning and no otherwise There is not within this Realm an Ecclesiastical Officer that may by the Authority of his own place command universally throughout the King's Dominions but they of this People whom one may command are to another's commandment unsubject Only the King's Royal Power is of so large compass that no man commanded by him according to the order of Law can plead himself to be without the bounds and limits of that Authority Isay according to order of Law because that with us the highest have thereunto so tied themselves that otherwise than so they take not upon them to command any And that Kings should be in such sort Supreme Commanders over all men we hold it requisite as well for the ordering of Spiritual as Civil Affairs in as much as without universal Authority in this kind they should not be able when need is to do as virtuous Kings have done Josiah 2 Chron 24. 5 6 7 8 9 parposing to renew the House of the Lord assembled the Priests and Levites and when they were together gave them their charge saying Go out unto the Cities of Judah and gather of Israel money to repair the House of the Lord from year to year and haste the things But the Levites hastened not Therefore the King commanded Jehoida the Chief-priest and said unto him Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and Jerusalem the Tax of Moses the Servant of the Lord and of the Congregation of Israel for the Tabernacle of the Testimony For wicked Athalia and her Children broke up the House of the Lord God and all the things that were dedicated for the House of the Lord did they bestow upon Balaam Therefore the King commanded and they made a Chest and set it at the Gate of the House of the Lord without and they made a Proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem ● Chron. 6.30 ● to bring unto the Lord the Tax of Moses the Servant of the Lord laid upon Israel in the Wilderness Could either he have done this or after him Ezekias the like concerning the celebration of the Passeover but that all sorts of men in all things did owe unto these their Sovereign Rulers the same obedience which sometimes josuah had them by vow and promise bound unto Jos. 1. 18. Whosoever shall rebel against thy Commandments and will not obey thy words in all thou commandest him let him be put to death only be strong and of a good courage Furthermore Judgement Ecclesiastical we say is necessary for decision of Controversies rising between man and man and for correction of faults committed in the Affairs of God unto the due execution whereof there are three things necessary Laws Judges and Supreme Governors of Judgements What Courts there shall be and what causes shall belong unto each Court and what Judges shall determine of every cause and what Order in all Judgements shall be kept of these things the Laws have sufficiently disposed so that his duty who sitteth in any such Court is to judge not of but after the same Law Just. the O●f c. ●ud Imprimis illud observare debet judex ne aliter judicet quam legibus constitutionibus aut moribus proditum est ut Imperator justinianaus which Laws for we mean the positive Laws of our Realm concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs if they otherwise dispose of any such thing than according to the Law of Reason and of God we must both acknowledge them to be amiss and endeavour to have them reformed But touching that point what may be objected shall after appear Our Judges in Causes Ecclesiastical are either Ordinary or Commissionary Ordinary those whom we term Ordinaries and such by the Laws of this Land are none but Prelates only whose Power to do that which they do is in themselves and belonging to the nature of their Ecclesiastical calling In Spiritual Causes a Lay-Person may be no Ordinary a Commissionary Judge there is no  but that he may be and that our Laws do evermore refer the ordinary Judgement of Spiritual Causes unto Spiritual Persons such as are termed Ordinaries no man which knoweth any thing of the Practice of this Realm can easily be ignorant Now besides them which are Authorized to judge in several Territories there is required an universal Power which reacheth over all imparting Supreme Authority of Government over all Courts all Judges all Causes the operation of which Power is as well to strengthen maintain and uphold particular Jurisdictions which haply might else be of small effect as also to remedy that which they are not able to help and to redress that wherein they at any time do otherwise than they ought to do This Power being sometime in the Bishop of Rome who by sinister Practices had drawn it into his hands was for just considerations by Public consent annexed unto the King's Royal Seat and Crown from thence the Authors of Reformation would translate it into their National Assemblies or Synods which Synods are the only helps which they think lawful to use against such Evils in the Church as particular Jurisdictions are not sufficient to redress Eliz cap. 1. In which Cause our Laws have provided that the King's supereminent Authority and Power shall serve As namely when the whole Ecclesiastical State or the Principal Persons therein do need Visitation and Reformation when in any part of the Church Errors Schisms Herusies Abuses Offences Contempts Enormities are grown which men in their several Jurisdictions either do not or cannot help Whatsoever any Spiritual Authority and Power such as Legates from the See of Rome did sometimes exercise hath done or might heretofore have done for the remedies of those Evils in lawful sort that is to say without the violation of the Laws of God or Nature in the deed done as much in every degree our Laws have fully granted that the King for ever may do not only be setting Ecclesiastical Synods on work that the thing may be their Act and the King their Motioner unto it for so much perhaps the Masters of the Reformation will grant but by Commissions few or many who having the King's Letters Patents may in the virtue thereof execute the premises as Agents in the right not of their own peculiar and ordinary but of his supereminent Power When men are wronged by inferior Judges or have any just cause to take exception against them their way for Redress is to make their Appeal and Appeal is a present delivery of him which maketh it out of the hands of their Power and Jurisdictions from whence it is made Pope Alexander having sometimes the King of England at advantage caused him amongst other things to agree that as many of his Subjects as would Mach●avil Hist. Florent 1. ● might have appeal to the Court of Rome And thus saith one that whereunto a mean Person at this day would scorn to submit himself so great a King was content to he subject to Notwithstanding even when the Pope saith he had so great Authority amongst Princes which were far off the Romans he could not frame to obedience nor was able to obtain that himself might abide at Rome though promising not to meddle with other than Ecclesiastical Affairs So much are things that terrify more feared by such as behold them aloof off than at hand Reformers I doubt not in some Causes will admit Appeals but Appeals made to their Synods even as the Church of Rome doth allow of them so they be made to the Bishop of Rome 15 Hen. ● c. 15 As for that kind of Appeal which the English Laws do approve from the Judge of any certain particular Court unto the King as the only Supreme Governor on Earth who by his Delegates may give a final definitive Sentence from which no farther Appeal can be made Will their Platform allow of this Surely forasmuch as in that estate which they all dream of the whole Church must be divided into Parishes in which none can have greater or less Authority and Power than another again the King himself must be but a common Member in the Body of his own Parish and the causes of that only Parish must be by the Officers thereof determinable In case the King had so much favour or preferment as to be made one of those Officers for otherwise by their positions he were not to meddle any more than the meanest amongst his Subjects with the Judgement of any Ecclesiastical Cause how is it possible they should allow of Appeals to be made from any other abroad to the King To receive Appeals from all other Judges belongeth to the highest in power of all and to be in power over All as touching Judgement in Ecclesiastical Causes this as they think belongeth only to Synods Whereas therefore with us Kings do exercise over all Things Persons and Causes Supreme Power both of voluntary and litigious Jurisdictions● so that according to the one they incite reform and command according to the other they judge universally doing both in far other sort than such as have ordinary Spiritual power oppugned we are herein by some colourable show of Argument as if to grant thus much to any Secular Person it were unreasonable For sith it is say they apparent out of the Chronicles T.C. l 3. p. 1●4 2 Chron. 19.5 Heb. 5. 1. that judgement in Church-matters pertaineth to God Seeing likewise it is evident out of the Apostles that the Highpriest is set over those matters in God's behalf It must needs follow that the Principality or direction of the judgement of them is by God's ordinance appertaining to the Highpriest and consequently to the Ministry of the Church and if it be by God's Ordinance appertaining unto them how can it be translated from them to the Civil Magistrate Which Argument briefly drawn into form lieth thus That which belongeth unto God may not be translated unto any other but whom he hath appointed to have it in his behalf But principality of Judgement in Church-matters appertaineth unto God which hath appointed the Highpriest and consequently the Ministry of the Church alone to have it in his behalf Ergo it may not from them be translated to the Civil Magistrate The first of which Propositions we grant as also in the second that branch which ascribeth unto God Principality in Church-matters But that either he did appoint none but only the Highpriest to exercise the said Principality for him or that the Ministry of the Church may in reason from thence be concluded to have alone the same Principality by his appointment these two Points we deny utterly For concerning the Highpriest there is first no such Ordinance of God to be found Every Highpriest saith the Apostle is taken from amongst men and is ordained for men in things pertaining to God Whereupon it may well be gathered that the Priest was indeed Ordained of God to have Power in things appertaining unto God For the Apostle doth there mention the Power of offering Gifts and Sacrifices for Sin which kind of Power was not only given of God unto Priests but restrained unto Priests only The power of Jurisdiction and ruling Authority this also God gave them but not them alone For it is held as all men know that others of the Laity were herein joined by the Law with them But concerning Principality in Church-affairs for of this our Question is and of no other the Priest neither had it alone nor at all but in Spiritual or Church-affairs as hath been already showed it was the Royal Prerogative of Kings only Again though it were so that God had appointed the Highpriest to have the said Principality of Government in those matters yet how can they who allege this enforce thereby that consequently the Ministry of the Church and no other ought to have the same when they are so far off from allowing so much to the Ministry of the Gospel as the Priesthood of the Law had by God's appointment That we but collecting thereout a difference in Authority and Jurisdiction amongst the Clergy to be for the Polity of the Church not inconvenient they forthwith think to close up our mouths by answering That the jewish Highpriest had authority above the rest only in that they prefigured the Sovereignty of jesus Christ As for the Ministers of the Gospel it is altogether unlawful to give them as much as the least Title any syllable whereof may sound to Principality And of the Regency which may be granted they hold others even of the Laity no less capable than the Pastors themselves How shall these things cleave together The truth is that they have some reason to think it not at all of the fittest for Kings to sit as ordinary Judges in matters of Faith and Religion An ordinary Judge must be of the quality which in a Supreme Judge is not necessary Because the Person of the one is charged with that which the other Authority dischargeth without employing personally himself therein It is an Error to think that the King's Authority can have no force nor power in the doing of that which himself may not personally do For first impossible it is that at one and the same time the King in Person should order so many and so different affairs as by his own power every where present are wont to be ordered both in peace and war at home and abroad Again the King in regard of his nonage or minority may be unable to perform that thing wherein years of discretion are requisite for personal action and yet his authority even then be of force For which cause we say that the King's authority dyeth not but is and worketh always alike Sundry considerations there may be effectual to withhold the King's Person from being a doer of that which notwithstanding his Power must give force unto even in Civil affairs where nothing doth more either concern the duty or better beseem the Majesty of Kings than personally to administer Justice to their People as most famous Princes have done yet if it be in case of Felony of Treason the Learned in the Laws of this Realm do affirm that well may the King commit his Authority to another Stanf. Pleas of the Crown l. 1. c. 3. to judge between him and the Offender but the King being himself there a Party he cannot personally sit to give Judgement As therefore the Person of the King may for just considerations even where the cause is Civil be notwithstanding withdrawn from occupying the Seat of Judgement and others under his Authority be fit he unfit himself to judge so the considerations for which it were haply no convenient for Kings to sit and give Sentence in Spiritual Courts where Causes Ecclesiastical are usually debated can be no bar to that force and efficacy which their Sovereign Power hath over those very Consistories and for which we hold without any exception that all Courts are the Kings All men are not for all things sufficient and therefore Public affairs being divided such Persons must be authorized Judges in each kind as Common reason may presume to be most fit Which cannot of Kings and Princes ordinarily be presumed in Causes merely Ecclesiastical so that even Common sense doth rather adjudge this burden unto other men We see it hereby a thing necessary to put a difference as well between that Ordinary Jurisdiction which belongeth unto the Clergy alone and that Commissionary wherein others are for just considerations appointed to join with them as also between both these Jurisdictions And a third whereby the King hath transcendent Authority and that in all Causes over both Why this may not lawfully be granted unto him there is no reason A time there was when Kings were not capable of any such Power as namely when they professed themselves open Enemies unto Christ and Christianity A time there followed when they being capable took sometimes more sometimes less to themselves as seemed best in their own eyes because no certainty touching their right was as yet determined The Bishops who alone were before accustomed to have the ordering of such Affairs saw very just cause of grief when the highest favouring Heresy withstood by the strength of Sovereign Authority Religious proceedings Whereupon they oftentimes against this unresistable power pleaded the use and custom which had been to the contrary namely that the affairs of the Church should be dealt in by the Clergy and by no other unto which purpose the sentences that then were uttered in defence of unabolished Orders and Laws against such as did of their own heads contrary thereunto are now altogether impertinently brought in opposition against them who use but that Power which Laws have given them unless men can show that there is in those Laws some manifest iniquity or injustice T. C. l. 3. p. 155. Whereas therefore against the force Judicial and Imperial which Supreme Authority hath it is alleged how Constantine termeth Church-Officers Overseers of things within the Church himself of those without the Church how Augustine witnesseth Euseb. de vita Constant. l. 4. Ep. 162 165. that the Emperor not daring to judge of the Bishop's Cause committed it to the Bishops and was to crave pa●●●on of the Bishops for that by the Donatists' importunity which made no end to appealing unto him he was being weary of them drawn to give sentence in a matter of theirs how Hilary beseecheth the Emperor Constance to provide that the Governors of his Provinces should not presume to take upon them the Judgement of Ecclesiastical Causes to whom only Commonwealth matters belonged Lib. 5. ep. 33. how Ambrose affirmeth that Palaces belong unto the Emperor Churches to the Minister That the Emperor hath the authority over the Common-walls of the City and not in holy things for which cause he never would yield to have the Causes of the Church debated in the Prince's Consistories but excused himself to the Emperor Valentinian for that being convented to answer concerning Church-matters in a Civil Court he came not We may by these testimonies drawn from Antiquity if wellst to consider them discern how requisite it is that Authority should always follow received Laws in the manner of proceeding For inasmuch as there was at the first no certain Law determining what force the principal Civil Magistrates authority should be of how far it should reach and what order it should observe but Christian Emperors from time to time did what themselves thought most reasonable in those affairs by this means it cometh to pass that they in their practice vary and are not uniform Virtuous Emperors such as Constantine the Great was made conscience to swerve unnecessarily from the custom which had been used in the Church even when it lived under Infidels Constantine of reverence to Bishops and their Spiritual Authority rather abstained from that which himself might lawfully do than was willing to claim a Power not fit or decent for him to exercise The Order which hath been before he ratifieth exhorting the Bishops to look to the Church and promising that he would do the Office of a Bishop over the Commonwealth which very Constantine notwithstanding did not thereby so renounce all Authority in judging of Special Causes but that sometime he took as St. Augustine witnesseth even personal cognition of them howbeit whether as purposing to give therein judicially any Sentence I stand in doubt for if the other of whom St. Augustine elsewhere speaketh did in such sort judge surely there was cause why he should excuse it as a thing not usually done Otherwise there is no  but that any such great Person may hear those Causes to and fro debated and deliver in the end his own opinion of them declaring on which side himself doth judge that the truth is But this kind of Sentence bindeth no side to stand thereunto it is a Sentence of private persuasion and not of solemn jurisdiction albeit a King or an Emperor pronounce it Again on the contrary part when Governors infected with Heresy were possessed of the Highest Power they thought they might use it as pleased themselves to further by all means that opinion which they desired should prevail they not respecting at all what was meet presumed to command and judge all men in all Causes without either care of orderly proceeding or regard to such Laws and Customs as the Church had been wont to observe So that the one sort feared to do even that which they might and that which the other ought not they boldly presumed upon the one sort of modesty excused themselves where they scarce needed the other though doing that which was inexcusable bore it out with main power not enduring to be told by any man how far they roved beyond their bounds So great odds was between them whom before we mentioned and such as the younger Valentinian by whom St. Ambrose being commanded to yield up one of the Churches under him unto the Arrians whereas they which were sent on his Message alleged That the Emperor did but use his own right forasmuch as all things were in his power The Answer which the holy Bishop gave them was That the Church is the House of God and that those things that are Gods are not to be yielded up and disposed of it at the Emperors will and pleasure His Palaces he might grant to whomsoever he pleaseth but Gods own Habitation not so A cause why many times Emperors do more by their absolute Authority than could very well stand with reason was the overgreat importunity of wicked Heretics who being Enemies to Peace and Quietness cannot otherwise than by violent means be supported In this respect therefore we must needs think the state of our own Church much better settled than theirs was because our Laws have with far more certainty prescribed bounds unto each kind of Power All decision of things doubtful and correction of things amiss are proceeded in by order of Law what Person soever he be unto whom the administration of Judgement belongeth It is neither permitted unto Prelates nor Prince to judge and determine at their own discretion but Law hath prescribed what both shall do What Power the King hath he hath it by Law the bounds and limits of it are known the entire Community giveth general order by Law how all things publicly are to be done and the King as the Head thereof the Highest in Authority over all causeth according to the same law every particular to be framed and ordered thereby The whole Body Politic maketh Laws which Laws gave Power unto the King and the King having bound himself to use according unto Law that power it so falleth out that the execution of the one is accomplished by the other in most religious and peaceable sort There is no cause given unto any to make supplication as Hilary did that Civil Governors to whom Common-wealth-matters only belong may not presume to take upon them the Judgement of Ecclesiastical causes If the cause be Spiritual Secular Courts do not meddle with it we need not excuse ourselves with Ambrose but boldly and lawfully we may refuse to answer before any Civil Judge in a matter which is not Civil so that we do not mistake either the nature of the Cause or of the Court as we easily may do both without some better direction than can be by the rules of this newfound Discipline But of this most certain we are that our Laws do neither suffer a * See the Secture of Edw. 1. and Edw. 2. and Nat. Brev. touching Prohibition See also in Bracton these Sentences l. ● c. 2. Est Jurisdictio onlinaria quae lamb delegata quae pertinet ad Sacer dotium & Forum Ecclesiasticum sicut in causi● Spiritualibus & Spiritualitari annexis Est etiam alia Jurisdictio o●linaria vel delegata quae pertinet a Coronam & dignitatem Regis & ad Regnum in causis & placitk rerum temporalinm ●●o seculari Again Cum diversae sint hinc inde jurisdictiones & diversi Judices & diversae causae debet quibber ipsorum inprim ● aestimare an sua sit jurisdictio ne falcem videatur ponere in Mestem altenam Again Non pertinet ad Regem injungere poenicentias nic adjudicem secularem necetiam ad cos pertinet cognoscire de lis quae lunt Spiritualibus annexa sicut de decimis & aliis Ecclesiae proven●ionibus Again Non est Lacins conveniendus coram Judiae Ecclesiastico de aliquo quo lin soro seculari terminari possit & de beat Spiritual Court to entertain those Causes which by the Law are Civil nor yet if the matter be indeed Spiritual a mere Civil Court to give Judgement of it Touching Supreme Power therefore to command all men and in all manner of causes of Judgement to be highest let thus much suffice as well for declaration of our own meaning as for defence of the truth therein The cause is not like when such Assemblies are gathered together by Suream Authority concerning other affairs of the Church and when they meet about the making of Ecclesiastical Laws or Statutes For in the one they are only to advise in the other to decree The Persons which are of the one the King doth voluntarily assemble as being in respect of quality fit to consult withal them which are of the other he calleth by prescript of Law as having right to be thereunto called Finally the one are but themselves and their Sentence hath but the weight of their own Judgement the other represent the whole Clergy and their voices are as much as if all did give personal verdict Now the question is Whether the Clergy alone so assembled aught to have the whole power of making Ecclesiastical Laws or else consent of the Laity may thereunto be made necessary and the King's assent so necessary that his sole denial may be of force to stay them from being Laws If they with whom we dispute were uniform What Laws may be made for the affairs of the Church and to whom the power of making them appertaineth strong and constant in that which they say we should not need to trouble ourselves about their Persons to whom the power of making Laws for the Church belongs for they are sometime very vehement in contention that from the greatest thing unto the least about the Church all must needs be immediately from God And to this they apply the pattern of the ancient Tabernacle which God delivered unto Moses and was therein so exact that there was not left as much as the least pin for the wit of man to devise in the framing of it To this they also apply that straight and severe charge which God soosten gave concerning his own Law Deut. 12. 32. and 4. 2. Josh. 1. 7. Whatsoever I command you take heed ye do it Thou shalt put nothing thereto thou shalt take nothing from it Nothing whether it be great or small Yet sometimes bethinking themselves better they speak as acknowledging that it doth suffice to have received in such sort the principal things from God and that for other matters the Church had sufficient authority to make Laws whereupon they now have made it a question What Persons they are whose right it is to take order for the Church's affairs when the institution of any new thing therein is requisite Law may be requisite to be made either concerning things that are only to be known and believed in or else touching that which is to be done by the Church of God The Law of Nature Thom. l. 8. quael 108. ●●● 2. and the Law of God are sufficient for declaration in both what belongeth unto each man separately as his Soul is the Spouse of Christ yea so sufficient that they plainly and fully show whatsoever God doth require by way of necessary introduction unto the state of everlasting bliss But as a man liveth joined with others in common society and belongeth to the outward Politic Body of the Church albeit the same Law of Nature and Scripture have in this respect also made manifest the things that are of greatest necessity nevertheless by reason of new occasions still arising which the Church having care of Souls must take order for as need requireth hereby it cometh to pass that there is and ever will be so great use even of Human Laws and Ordinances deducted by way of discourse as a conclusion from the former Divine and Natural serving as Principals thereunto No man doubteth but that for matters of Action and Practice in the Affairs of God for manner in Divine Service for order in Ecclesiastical proceedings about the Regiment of the Church there may be oftentimes cause very urgent to have Laws made but the reason is not so plain wherefore Human laws should appoint men what to believe Wherefore in this we must note two things 1. That in matters of opinion the Law doth not make that to be truth which before was not as in matter of Action is causeth that to be a duty which was not before but manifesteth only and giveth men notice of that to be truth the contrary whereunto they ought not before to have believed 2. That opinions do cleave to the understanding and are in heat assented unto it is not in the power of any Human law to command them because to prescribe what men shall think belongeth only unto God Corde creditur o'er fit confessio saith the Apostle As opinions are either fit or inconvenient to be professed so man's laws hath to determine of them It may for Public unities sake require men's professed assent or prohibit their contradiction to special Articles wherein as there haply hath been Controversy what is true so the same were like to continue still not without grievous detriment unto a number of Souls except Law to remedy that evil should set down a certainty which no man afterwards is to gainsay Wherefore as in regard of Divine laws which the Church receiveth from God we may unto every man apply those words of wisdom in Solomon Prov. 6. My Son keep thou thy Father's Precepts Conserva Fili mi praecepta Patris tui even so concerning the Statutes and Ordinances which the Church itself makes we may add thereunto the words that follow Etut dimitt as legem Matris tuae And forsake thou not thy Mother's law It is a thing even undoubtedly natural that all free and Independent Societies should themselves make their own Laws and that this power should belong to the whole not to any certain part of a Politic body though haply some one part may have greater sway in that action than the rest which thing being generally fit and expedient in the making of all Laws we see no cause why to think otherwise in Laws concerning the service of God which in all well-ordered States and Commonwealths is the * Archit de leg & Instit. That is it behoveth the Law first to so establish or settle those things which belong to the Gods and Divine Powers and to our Parents and universally those things which be virtuous and honourable In the second place those things that be convenient and profitable for it is fit that matters of the less weight should come after the greater first thing that Law hath care to provide for When we speak of the right which naturally belongeth to a Commonwealth we speak of that which must needs belong to the Church of God For if the Commonwealth be Christian if the People which are of it do publicly embrace the true Religion this very thing doth make it the Church as hath been showed So that unless the verity and purity of Religion do take from them which embrace it that power wherewith otherwise they are possessed look what authority as touching laws for Religion a Commonwealth hath simply it must of necessity being of the Christian Religion It will be therefore perhaps alleged that a part of the verity of Christian Religion is to hold the power of making Ecclesiastical Laws a thing appropriated unto the Clergy in their Synods and whatsoever is by their only voices agreed upon it needeth no further approbation to give unto it the strength of a Law as may plainly appear by the Canons of that first most venerable Assembly where those things the Apostle and james had concluded Acts 15. 7,13 23. were afterwards published and imposed upon the Churches of the Gentiles abroad as Laws the Records thereof remaining still the Book of God for a testimony that the power of making Ecclesiastical Laws belongeth to the Successors of the Apostles the Bishops and Prelates of the Church of God To this we answer That the Council of jerusalem is no Argument for the power of the Clergy to make Laws For first there hath not been sithence any Council of like authority to that in jerusalem Secondly The cause why that was of such authority came by a special accident Thirdly The reason why other Counsels being not like unto that in nature the Clergy in them should have no power to make Laws by themselves alone is in truth so forcible that except some Commandment of God to the contrary can be showed it ought notwithstanding the foresaid example to prevail The Decrees of the Council of jerusalem were not as the Canons of other Ecclesiastical Assemblies Human but very Divine Ordinances for which cause the Churches were far and wide commanded every where to see them kept no otherwise than if Christ himself had personally on Earth been the Author of them Acts 15. 4. The cause why that Council was of so great Authority and credit above all others which have been sithence is expressed in those words of principal observation Unto the Holy Ghost and to us it hath seemed good which form of speech though other Counsels have likewise used yet neither could they themselves mean nor may we so understand them as if both were in equal sort assisted with the power of the Holy Ghost but the latter had the favour of that general assistance and presence which Christ doth promise unto all his Mat. 16 Mat. ult according to the quality of their several Estates and Callings the former the grace of special miraculous rare and extraordinary illumination in relation whereunto the Apostle comparing the Old Testament and the New together termeth the one a Testament of the Letter for that God delivered it written in stone 2 Cor. 3. the other a Testament of the Spirit because God imprinted it in the hearts and declared it by the tongues of his chosen Apostles through the power of the Holy Ghost feigning both their conceits and speeches in most Divine and incomprehensible manner Wherefore in as much as the Council of jerusalem did chance to consist of men so enlightened it had authority greater than were meet for any other Council besides to challenge wherein such kind of Persons are as now the state of the Church doth stand Kings being not then that which now they are and the Clergy not now that which then they were Till it be proved that some special Law of Christ hath for ever annexed unto the Clergy alone the power to make Ecclesiastical laws we are to hold it a thing most consonant with equity and reason that no Ecclesiastical laws be made in a Christian Commonwealth without consent as well of the Laity as of the Clergy but least of all without consent of the highest Power For of this thing no man doubteth namely that in all Societies Companies Cap. delicta de excess Praelator L. per fundum Rusticor praed & sect Religiosum de rerum divis and Corporations what severally each shall be bound unto it must be with all their assents ratified Against all equity it were that a man should suffer detriment at the hands of men for not observing that which he never did either by himself or by others mediately or immediately agree unto Much more than a King should constrain all others no the strict observation of any such Human Ordinance as passeth without his own approbation In this Case therefore especially that vulgar Axiom is of force Gless dict 96. c. ●●inam Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari & approbari debet Whereupon Pope Nicolas although otherwise not admitting Lay-people no not Emperors themselves to be present as Synods doth notwithstanding seem to allow of their presence when matters of Faith are determined whereunto all men must stand bound Ubinam legistis Imperatores Antecessores vestros Synodalibus Conventibus interfuisse nisi forsitan in quibus de Fide tractatum est quae non solum ad Clericos verum etiam ad Laicos & omnes pertinet Christianos' A Law be it Civil or Ecclesiastical is a Public Obligation wherein seeing that the whole standeth charged no reason it should pass without his privity and will whom principally the whole doth depend upon Sicut Laici jurisdictionem Clericorum perturbare ita Clerici jurisdictionem Laicorum non debent minuere saith Innocentius Extra de judic novit As the Laity should not hinder the Clergy's jurisdiction so neither is it reason that the Laity's right should be abridged by the Clergy saith Pope Innocent But were it so that the Clergy alone might give Laws unto all the rest forasmuch as every Estate doth desire to enlarge the bounds of their own Liberties is it not easy to see how injurious this might prove to men of other conditions Peace and Justice are maintained by preserving unto every Order their Rights and by keeping all Estates as it were in an even balance which thing is no way better done than if the King their common Parent whose care is presumed to extend most indifferently over all do bear the chiefest sway in the making Laws which All must be ordered by Wherefore of them which in this point attribute most to the Clergy I would demand What evidence there is whereby it may clearly be showed that in ancient Kingdoms Christian any Canon devised by the Clergy alone in their Synods whether Provincial National or General hath by mere force of their Agreement taken place as a Law making all men constrainable to be obedient thereunto without any other approbation from the King before or afterwards required in that behalf But what speak we of ancient Kingdoms when at this day even the Papacy it self the very Tridentine Council hath not every where as yet obtained to have in all points the strength of Ecclesiastical Laws Boer Fyod hercoic quast l. 1. sect 24. did not Philip King of Spain publishing that Council in the Low Countries add thereunto an express clause of special provision that the same should in no wise prejudice hurt or diminish any kind of Privilege which the King or his Vassals a fore-time had enjoyed touching either possessory Judgements of Ecclesiastical Livings or concerning nominations thereunto or belonging to whatsoever right they had else in such Affairs If therefore the King's exception taken against some part of the Canons contained in that Council were a sufficient bar to make them of none effect within his Territories it followeth that the like exception against any other part had been also of like efficacy and so consequently that no part thereof had obtained the strength of a Law if he which excepted against a part had so done against the whole as what reason was there but that the same Authority which limited might quite and clean have refused that Council who so alloweth the said Act of the Catholic Kings for good and lawful must grant that the Canons even of General Councils have but the face of Wisemen's opinions concerning that whereof they-treat till they be publicly assented unto where they are to take place as Laws and that in giving such public assent as maketh a Christian Kingdom subject unto those Laws the King's authority is the chiefest That which an University of Men a Company or Corporation doth without consent of their Rector is as nothing Except therefore we make the King's Authority over the Clergy less in the greatest things than the power of the meanest Governor is in all things over the College or Society which is under him how should we think it a matter decent that the Clergy should impose Laws the Supreme Governors assent not asked Yea that which is more the Laws thus made God himself doth in such sort authorise that to despise them is to despise in them him It is a loose and licentious opinion which the Anabaptists have embraced holding that a Christian man's liberty is lost and the Soul which Christ hath redeemed unto himself injuriously drawn into servitude under the Yoke of Human power if any Law be now imposed besides the Gospel of Christ in obedience whereunto the Spirit of God and not the constraint of men is to lead us according to that of the blessed Apostle Such as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God and not such as live in thraldom unto men Their Judgement is therefore That the Church of Christ should admit of no Lawmakers but the Evangelists no Courts but Presbyteries no Punishments but Ecclesiastical censures As against this sort we are to maintain the use of Human laws and the continual necessity of making them from time to time as long as this present World doth last so likewise the Authority of Laws so made doth need much more by us to be strengthened against another sort who although they do utterly condemn the making of Laws in the Church yet make they a great deal less account of them than they should do There are which think simply of Human laws that they can in no sort touch the Conscience That to break and transgress them cannot make men in the sight of God culpable as Sin doth only when we violate such Laws we do thereby make ourselves obnoxious unto external punishment in this World so that the Magistrate may in regard of such offence committed justly correct the Offender and cause him without injury to endure such pains as Law doth appoint but further it reacheth not For first the Conscience is the proper Court of God the guiltiness thereof is Sin and the punishment Eternal death men are not able to make any Law that shall command the Heart it is not in them to make Inward-conceit a Crime or to appoint for any crime other punishment than corporal their Laws therefore can have no power over the Soul neither can the heart of man be polluted by transgressing them St. Austin rightly desineth Sin to be that which is spoken done or desired not against any Laws but against the Law of the Living God The Law of God is proposed unto Man as a Glass wherein to behold the stains and the spots of their sinful Souls By it they are to judge themselves and when they feel themselves to have transgressed against it then to bewail their offences with David Against thee only O Lord have I sinned and done wickedly in thy sight that so our present tears may extinguish the flames which otherwise we are to feel and which of God in that day shall condemn the Wicked unto when they shall render account of the Evil which they have done not by violating Statute-Laws and Canons but by disobedience unto his Law and his Word For our better instruction therefore concerning this point Verum ac proprium civis à peregrino discrimen est quò d alter imperio ac potestate vili obliganur alter justs Principis alien resputre potest illum Princips ab hostium aeque ac Civium injuria tueri re●ttur hune non leem nisi rogatus & humaniraus officiis impulsus saith Bodinde Repub. l 1. c. 6. non mulrum à fine p. 61. E●ir Lug. l. E. in fol. 1586. first we must note That the Law of God itself doth require at our hands Subjection Be ye subject saith S. Peter and S. Paul Let every Soul be subject subject all unto such Powers as are set over us For if such as are not set over us require our subjection we by denying it are not disobedient to the Law of God or undutiful unto Higher Powers Because though they be such in regard of them over whom they have lawful Dominion yet having not so over us unto us they are not such Subjection therefore we owe and that by the Law of God we are in Conscience bound to yield it even unto every of them that hold the seats of Authority and Power in relation unto us Howbeit not all kinds of subjection unto every such kind of Power concerning Scribes and Pharisees our Saviour's Precept was Whatsoever they shall tell ye do it Was it his meaning that if they should at any time enjoin the People to levy an Army or to sell their Lands and Goods for the furtherance of so great an enterprise and in a word that simply whatsoever it were which they did command they ought without any exception forthwith to be obeyed No but whatsoever they shall tell you must be understoud in pertinentibus ad Cathedram it must be construed with limitation and restrained unto things of that kind which did belong to their place and power For they had not Power general absolutely given them to command all things The reason why we are bound in Conscience to be subject unto all such Power is because all Powers are of God They are of God either instituting or permitting them Power is then of Divine institution when either God himself doth deliver or men by light of nature find out the kind thereof So that the power of Parents over Children and of Husbands over their Wives the power of all sorts of Superiors made by consent of Commonwealths within themselves or grown from agreement amongst Nations such power is of God's own Institution in respect of the kind thereof Again if respect be had unto those particular Persons to whom the same is derived if they either receive it immediately from God as Moses and Aaron did or from nature as Parents do or from men by a natural and orderly course as every Governor appointed in any Common wealth by the order thereof doth then is not the kind of their Power only of God's instituting but the derivation thereof also into their Persons is from him He hath placed them in their rooms and doth term them his Ministers Subjection therefore is due unto all such Powers inasmuch as they are of God's own institution even then when they are of man's creation Omni Humanae Creaturae Which things the Heathens themselves do acknowledge Hom. 11. 1. 2. A Sceptre swaying King to whom even jupiter himself hath given honour and commandment As for them that exercise Power altogether against Order although the kind of Power which they have may be of God yet is their exercise thereof against God and therefore not of God otherwise than by Permission as all Injustice is Touching such Acts as are done by that power which is according to his institution that God in like sort doth authorise them and account them to be his though it were not confessed it might be proved undeniably For if that be accounted our deed which others do whom we have appointed to be our Agents how should God but approve those deeds even as his own which are done by virtue of that Commission and Power which he hath given Take heed saith jehosophat unto his Judges be careful and circumspect what ye do ye do not execute the judgements of Man but of the Lord 2 Chron. 19 6. The Authority of Caesar over the Jews from whence was it Had it any other ground than the Law of Nations which maketh Kingdoms subdued by just War to be subject unto their Conquerors By this Power Caesar exacting Tribute our Saviour confesseth it to be his Right a Right which could not be withheld without Injury yea disobedience herein unto him and even Rebellion against God Usurpers of Power whereby we do not mean them that by violence have aspired unto places of Highest Authority but them that use more Authority than they did ever receive in form and manner  for so they may do whose Title to the rooms of Authority which they possess no man can deny to be just and lawful even as chose some men's proceedings in Government have been very orderly who notwithstanding did not attain to be made Governors without great violence and disorder such Usurpers thereof as in the exercise of their Power do more than they have been authorized to do cannot in Conscience bind any man unto Obedience That subjection which we owe unto lawful Powers doth not only import that we should be under them by order of our State but that we show all submission towards them both by honour and obedience He that resisteth them resisteth God And resisted they be if either the Authority itself which they exercise be denied as by Anabaptists all Secular Jurisdiction is or if resistance be made but only so far forth as doth touch their Persons which are invested with Power for they which said Nolumus hunc regnare did not utterly exclude Regiment nor did they wish all kind of Government clearly removed which would not at the first have David to govern or if that which they do by virtue of their Power namely their Laws Edicts Services or other Acts of Jurisdiction be not suffered to take effect contrary to the blessed Apostles most holy rule Obey them which have the oversight of you Heb. 13. 17. or if they do take effect yet is not the will of God thereby satisfied neither as long as that which we do is contemptuously or repiningly done because we can do no otherwise In such sort the Israelites in the Desert obeyed Moses and were notwithstanding deservedly plagued for disobedience The Apostle's Precept therefore is Be subject even for God's cause Be subject not for fear but of mere Conscience knowing that be which resisteth them purchaseth to himself condemnation Disobedience therefore unto Laws which are made by them is not a thing of so small account as some would make it Howbeit too rigorous it were that the breach of every Human Law should be held a deadly sin A mean there is between those extremities if so be we can find it out TO THE READER THe pleasures of thy spacious Walks in Mr. Hooker's Temple-Garden not unfitly so called both for the Temple whereof he was Master and the Subject Ecclesiastical Polity do promise acceptance to these Flowers planted and watered by the same hand and for thy sake composed into this Posy Sufficiently are they commended by their fragrant smell in the dogmatical Truth by their beautiful colours in the accurate stile by their medicinable virtue against some diseases in our neighbour Churches now proving epidemical and threatening farther infection by their straight feature and spreading nature growing from the root of Faith which as here is proved can never be rooted up and extending the branches of Charity to the covering of Noah's nakedness opening the windows of Hope to men's misty conceits of their bemisted Forefathers Thus and more than thus do the Works commend themselves The Workman needs a better Workman to commend him Alexander's Picture requires Apelles his Pencil nay he needs it not His own Works commend him in the Gates and being dead he yet speaketh the Syllables of that memorable name Mr. Richard Hooker proclaiming more than if I should here style him a painful Student a profound Scholar a judicious Writer with other due Titles of his Honor. Receive then this posthume Orphan for his own yea for thine own sake and if the Printer bath with overmuch haste like Mephibosheth's Nurse lamed the Child with slips and falls yet be thou of David's mind show kindness to him for his Father Ionathan's sake God grant that the rest of his Brethren be not more than lamed and that at Saul's three Sons died the same day with him so those three promised to perfect his Polity with other Issues of that learned Brain be not duried in the Grave with their renowned Father Farewell W. S. The CONTENTS of the TREATISES following I. A Supplication made to the Council by Master WALTER TRAVERS II. Master hooker's Answer to the Supplication that Master TRAVERS made to the Council III. A learned Discourse of justification Works and how the foundation of Faith is overthrown IV. A learned Sermon of the nature of Pride V. A Remedy against Sorrow and Fear delivered in a Funeral Sermon VI Of the certainty and perpetuity of Faith in the Elect especially of the Prophet Habbakkuk's Faith VII Two Sermons upon part of Saint Jude's Epistle A SUPPLICATION Made to the COUNCIL BY Master Walter Travers Right Honourable THE manifold benefits which all the Subjects within this Dominion do at this present and have many years enjoyed under Her Majesty's most happy and prosperous reign by your godly wisdom and careful watching over this Estate night and day I truly and unfeignedly acknowledge from the bottom of my heart ought worthily to bind us all to pray continually to Almighty God for the continuance and increase of the life and good estate of your Honours and to be ready with all good duties to satisfy and serve the same to our Power Besides public benefits common unto all I must needs and do willingly confess myself to stand bound by most special Obligation to serve and honour you more than any other for the honourable favour it hath pleased you to vouchsafe both oftentimes heretofore and also now of late in a matter more dear unto me than any earthly commodity that is the upholding and furthering of my service in the ministering of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For which cause as I have been always careful so to carry myself as I might by no means give occasion to be thought unworthy of so great a Benefit so do I still next unto her Majesty's gracious countenance hold nothing more dear and precious to me than that I may always remain in your Honour's favour which hath oftentimes be an helpful and comfortable unto me in my Ministry and to all such as reaped any fruit of my simple and faithful labour In which dutiful regard I humbly beseech you Honour's to vouchsafe to do me this grace to conceive nothing of me otherwise than according to the duty wherein I ought to live by any information against me before your Honours have heard my answer and been throughly informed of the matter Which although it be a thing that your wisdoms not in favour but in justice yield to all men yet the state of the the calling into the Ministry whereunto it hath pleased God of his goodness to call me though unworthiest of all is so subject to misinformation as except we may find this favour with your Honours we cannot look for any other but that our unindifferent parties may easily procure us to be hardly esteemed of and that we shall be made like the poor Fisher-boats in the Sea which every swelling wave and billow raketh and runneth over Wherein my Estate is yet harder than any others of my Rank and Calling who are indeed to fight against Flesh and Blood in what part soever of the Lords Host and Field they shall stand mashalled to serve yet many of them deal with it naked and unfurnished of Weapons But my service was in a place where I was to encounter with it well appointed and armed with skill and with authority whereof as I have always thus deserved and therefore have been careful by all good means to entertain still your Honour's favourable respect of me so have I special cause at this present wherein misinformation to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and other of the High Commission hath been able so far to prevail against me that by their Letter they have inhibited me to preach or execute any Act of Ministry in the Temple or elsewhere having never once called me before them to understand by mine answer the truth of such things as had been informed against me We have a story in our Books wherein the Pharisees proceeding against our Saviour Christ without having heard him is reproved by an honourable Counsellor as the Evangelist doth term him saying Doth our Law judge a man before it hear him and know what he hath done Which I do not mention to the end that by an indirect and covert speech I might so compare those who have without ever hearing me pronounced a heavy sentence against me for notwithstanding such proceedings I purpose by God's grace to carry myself towards them in all seeming duty agreeable to their places much less do I presume to liken my Cause to our Saviour Christ's who hold it my chiefest honour and happiness to serve him though it be but among the hinds and hired Servants that serve him in the basest corners of his House But my purpose in mentioning it is to show by the judgement of a Prince and great man in Israel that such proceeding standeth not with the Law of God and in a Princely Pattern to show it to be a noble part of an honourable Counsellor not to allow of indirect dealings but to allow and affect such a course in Justice as is agreeable to the Law of God We have also a plain rule in the Word of God not to proceed any otherwise against any Elder of the Church much less against one that laboureth in the Word and in teaching Which rule is delivered with this most earnest charge and obtestation I beseech and charge thee in the sight of God and the Lord jesus Christ and the Elect Angels that thou keep those rules without preferring one before another doing nothing of partiality or including to either part which Apostolical and most earnest charge I refer to your Honour's wisdom how it hath been regarded in so heavy a Judgement against me without ever hearing my Cause and whethe● as having God before their eyes and the Lord Jesus by whom all former Judgements shall be tried again and as in the presence of the Elect Angels Witnesses and Observers of the Regiment of the Church they have proceeded thus to such a sentence They allege indeed two reasons in their Letters whereupon they restrain my Ministry which if they were as strong against me as they are supposed yet I refer to your Honour's wisdoms whether the quality of such an Offence as they charge me with which is in effect but an indiscretion deserve so grievous a punishment both to the Church and me in taking away my Ministry and that poor little commodity which it yieldeth for the necessary maintenance of my life if so unequal a balancing of faults and punishments should have place in the Commonwealth surely we should shortly have no Actions upon the Case nor of Trespass but all should be Pleas of the Crown nor any man amerced or fined but for every light offence put to his ransom I have credibly heard that some of the Ministry have been committed for grievous transgressions of the Laws of God and men being of no ability to do other service in the Church than to read yet hath it been thought charitable and standing with Christian moderation and temperancy not to deprive such of Ministry and Beneficency but to inflict some more tolerable punishment Which I write not because such as I think were to be favoured but to show how unlike their dealing is with me being through the goodness of God not to be touched with any such blame and one who according to the measure of the gift of God have laboured now some years painfully in regard of the weak estate of my Body in preaching the Gospel and as I hope not altogether unprofitably in respect of the Church But I beseech your Honours to give me leave briefly to declare the particular reasons of their Letter and what Answer I have to make unto it The first is That as they say I am not lawfully called to the Function of the Ministry nor allowed to preach according to the Laws of the Church of England For Answer to this I had need to divide the Points and first to make answer to the former wherein leaving to show what by the Holy Scriptures is required in a lawful Calling and that all this is to be found in mine that I be not too long for your weighty affairs I rest I thus answer My calling to the Ministry was such as in the calling of any thereunto is appointed to be used by the Orders agreed upon in the National Synods of the Low-countrieses for the direction and guidance of their Churches which Orders are the same with those whereby the French and Scotish Churches are governed whereof I have showed such sufficient testimonial to my Lord the Archbishop of Canterbury as is requisite in such a Matter whereby it must needs fall out if any man be lawfully called to the Ministry in those Churches then is my Calling being the same with theirs also lawful But I suppose notwithstanding they use this general speech they mean only my Calling is not sufficient to de● in the Ministry within this Land because I was not made Minister according to that Order which in this Case is ordained by our Laws Whereunto I beseech your Honours to consider throughly of mine Answer because exception now again is taken to my Ministry whereas having been heretofore called in question for it I so answered the matter as I continued in my Ministry and for any thing I discerned looked to hear that no more objected unto me The communion of Saints which every Christian man professeth to believe is such as that the Acts which are done in any true Church of Christ's according to his Word are held as lawful being done in one Church as in another Which as it holdeth in other Acts of Ministry as Baptism Marriage and such like so doth it in the calling to the Ministry by reason whereof all Churches do acknowledge and receive him for a Minister of the Word who hath been lawfully called thereunto in any Church of the same Profession A Doctor created in any University of Christendom is acknowledged sufficiently qualified to teach in any Country The Church of Rome itself and the Canon law holdeth it that being ordered in Spain they may execute that belongeth to their Order in Italy or in any other place And the Churches of the Gospel never made any question of it which if they shall now begin to make doubt of and deny such to be lawfully called to the Ministry as are called by another Order than our own then may it well be looked for that other Churches will do the like And if a Minister called in the Low-countries be not lawfully called in England then may they say to our Preachers which are there that being made of another Order than theirs they cannot suffer them to execute any Act of Ministry amongst them which in the end must needs breed a Schism and dangerous divisions in the Churches Further I have heard of those that are learned in the Laws of this Land that by express Statute to that purpose Anno 13. upon subscription to the Articles agreed upon Anno 62. that they who pretend to have been ordered by another Order than that which is now established are of like capacity to enjoy any place of Ministry within the Land as they which have been ordered according to that which is now by law in this case established Which comprehending manifestly all even such as were made Priests according to the Order of the Church of Rome it must needs be that the Law of a Christian Land professing the Gospel should be as favourable for a Minister of the Word as for a Popish Priest which also was so found in Mr. Whittingham's Case who notwithstanding such Replies against him enjoyed still the benefit he had by his Ministry and might have done until this day if God had spared him life so long which if it be understood so and practised in others why should the change of the Person alter the right which the Law giveth to all other The place of Ministry whereunto I was called was not Presentative and if it had been so surely they would never have presented any man whom they never knew and the order of this Church is agreeable herein to the Word of God and the ancient and best Canons that no man should be made a Minister sine titulo therefore having none I could not by the Orders of this Church have entered into the Ministry before I had a Charge to tend upon When I was at Antwerp and to take a Place of Ministry among the People of that Nation I see no cause why I should have returned again over the Seas for Orders here nor how I could have done it without disallowing the Orders of the Churches provided in the Country where I was to live Whereby I hope it appeareth that my Calling to the Ministry is lawful and maketh me by our Law of capacity to enjoy any benefit or commodity that any other by reason of his Ministry may enjoy But my Cause is yet more easy who reaped no benefit of my Ministry by Law receiving only a benevolence and voluntary Contribution and the Ministry I dealt with being Preaching only which every Deacon here may do being licenced and certain that are neither Ministers not Deacons Thus I answer the former of these two Points whereof if there be yet any doubt I humbly desire for a final end thereof that some competent Judges in Law may determine of it whereunto I refer and submit myself with all reverence and duty The second is That I preached without Licence Whereunto this is my Answer I have not presumed upon the Calling I had to the Ministry abroad to Preach or deal with any part of the Ministry within this Church without the consent and allowance of such as were to allow me unto it my Allowance was from the Bishop of London testified by his two several Letters to the Inner Temple who without such testimony would by no means rest satified in it which Letters being by me produced I refer it to your Honour's wisdom whether I have taken upon me to Preach without being allowed as they charge according to the Orders of the Realm Thus having answered the second point also I have done with the Objection of dealing without Calling or Licence The other Reason they allege is concerning a late Action wherein I had to deal with Mr. Hooker Master of the Temple In the handling of which Cause they charge me with an Indiscretion and want of Duty In that I inveighed as they say against certain Points of Doctrine taught by him as erroneous not conferring with him nor complaining of it to them My Answer hereunto standeth in declaring to your Honours the whole course and carriage of that Cause and the degrees of proceeding in it which I will do as briefly as I can and according to the truth God be my witness as near as my best memory and notes of remembrance may serve me thereunto After that I have taken away that which seemed to have moved them to think me not charitably minded to Mr. Hooker which is Because he was brought in to Mr. Alveyes Place wherein this Church desired that I might have succeeded which Place if I would have made suit to have obtained or if I had ambitiously affected and sought I would not have refused to have satisfied by subscription such as the matter them seemed to depend upon whereas chose notwithstanding I would not hinder the Church to do that they thought to be most for their edification and comfort yet did I neither by Speech nor Letter make suit to any for the obtaining of it following herein that resolution which I judge to be most agreeable to the Word and Will of God that is that labouring and suing for Places and Charges in the Church is not lawful Further whereas at the suit of the Church some of your Honours entertained the Cause and brought it to a near issue that there seemed nothing to remain but the commendation of my Lord the Archbishop of Canterbury when as he could not be satisfied but by my subscribing to his late Articles and that my Answer agreeing to subscribe according to any Law and to the Statute provided in that Case but praying to be respited for subscribing to any other which I could not in Conscience do either for the Temple which otherwise he said he would not commend me to nor for any other Place in the Church did so little please my Lord Archbishop as he resolved that otherwise I should not be commended to it I had utterly here no cause of offence against Mr. Hooker whom I did in no sort esteem to have prevented or undermined me but that God disposed of me as it pleased him by such means and occasions as I have declared Moreover as I have taken no cause of offence at Mr. Hooker for being preferred so there were many Witnesses that I was glad that the place was given him hoping to live in all godly peace and comfort with him both for acquaintance and goodwill which hath been between us and for some kind of affinity in the marriage of his nearest kindred and mine Since his coming I have so carefully endeavoured to entertain all good correspondence and agreement with him as I think he himself will bear me witness of many earnest Disputations and Conferences with him about the matter the rather because that contrary to my expectation he inclined from the beginning but smally thereunto but joined rather with such as had always opposed themselves to any good order in this Charge and made themselves to be brought indisposed to his present state and proceedings For both knowing that God's Commandment charged me with such Duty and discerning how much on peace might further the good service of God and his Church and the mutual comfort of us both I had resolved constantly to seek for Peace and though it should fly from me as I saw it did by means of some who little desired to see the good of our Church yet according to the rule of God's Word to follow after it Which being so as hereof I take God to witness who searcheth the heart and reins and who by his Son will judge the World both quick and dead I hope no charitable Judgement can suppose me to have stood evil-affected towards him for his Place or desirous to fall into any Controversy with him Which my resolution I pursued that whereas I discovered sundry unsound matters in his Doctrine as many of his Sermons tasted of some sour leaven or other yet thus I carried myself towards him Matters of smaller weight and so covertly discovered that no great offence to the Church was to be feared in them I wholly passed by as one that discerned nothing of them or had been unfurnished of replies for others of great moment and so openly delivered as there was just cause of fear left the Truth and Church of God should be prejudiced and perilled by it and such as the Conscience of my Duty and Calling would not suffer me altogether to pass over this was my course to deliver when I should have just cause by my Text the truth of such Doctrine as he lead otherwise taught in general speeches without touch of his Person in any sort and further at convenient opportunity to confer with him in such points According to which determination whereas he had taught certain things concerning Predestination otherwise than the Word of God doth as it is understood by all Churches professing the Gospel and not unlike that wherewith Coranus sometimes troubled his Church I both delivered the truth of such points in a general Doctrine without any touch of him in particular and conferred with him also privately upon such Articles In which Conference I remember when I urged the consent of all Churches and good Writers against him that I knew and desired if it were otherwise What Authors he had seen of such Doctrine He answered me That his best Author was his own Reason which I wished him to take heed of as a matter standing with Christian modesty and wisdom in a Doctrine not received by the Church not to trust to his own Judgement so far as to publish it before he had conferred with others of his Profession labouring by daily Prayer and Study to know the will of God as he did to see how they understood such Doctrine Notwithstanding he with wavering replied That he would some other time deal more largely in the matter I wished him and prayed him not so to do for the peace of the Church which by such means might be hazarded seeing he could not but think that men who make any Couscience of their Ministry will judge it a necessary duty in them to teach the truth and to convince the contrary Another time upon like occasion of this Doctrine of his That the assurance of that we believe by the Word is not so certain as of that we perceive by sense I both taught the Doctrine otherwise namely the assurance of Faith to be greater which assured both of things above and contrary to all sense and human understanding and dealt with him also privately upon that point According to which course of late when as he had taught That the Church of Rome is a true Church of Christ and a sanctified Church by profession of that Truth which God both revealed unto us by his Son though not a part and perfect Church and further That be doubted not but that thousands of the Fathers which lived and died in the Superstitions of that Church were saved because of their ignorance which excuseth them 1 Tim. 1. 13. mis-alledging to that end a Text of Scripture to prove it The matter being ofset purpose openly and at large handled by him and of that moment that might prejudice the Faith of Christ encourage the illaffected to continue still in their damnable ways and others weak in Faith to suffer themselves easily to be seduced to the destruction of their Souls I thought it my most bounden duty of God and to his Church whilst I might have opportunity to speak with him to teach the Truth in a general speech in such points of Doctrine At which time I taught That such as die or have died at any time in the Church of Rome holding in their ignorance that Faith which is taught in it and namely justification in part by Works could not be said by the Scriptures to be saved In which matter foreseeing that if I waded not warily in it I should be in danger to be reported as hath fallen out since notwithstanding to condemn all the Fathers I said directly and plainly to all men's understanding That it was not indeed to be doubted but many of the Fathers were saved but the means I said was not their ignorance which excuseth no man with God but their knowledge and Faith of the Truth which it appeareth God vouchsafed them by many notable Monuments and Records extant in all Ages Which being the last point in all my Sermon rising so naturally from the Text I then propounded as would have occasioned me to have delivered such matter notwithstanding the former Doctrine had been sound and being dealt in by a general speech without touch of his particular I looked not that a matter of Controversy would have been made of it no more than had been of my like dealing in former time But far otherwise than I looked for Mr. Hooker showing no grief of Offence taken at my speech all the week long the next Sabbath leaving to proceed upon his ordinary Text professed to preach again that he had done the day before for some question that his Doctrine was drawn into which he desired might be examined with all severity So proceeding he bestowed his whole time in that discourse concerning his former Doctrine and answering the places of Scripture which I had alleged to prove that a man dying in the Church of Rome is not to be judged by the Scriptures to be saved In which long speech and utterly impertinent to his Text under colour of answering for himself he impugned directly and openly to all men's understanding the true Doctrine which I had delivered and adding to his former Points some other like as willingly one Error followeth another that is That the Galatians joining with Faith in Christ Circumcision as necessary to Salvation might not be saved And that they of the Church of Rome may be saved by such a Faith of Christ as they had with a general Repentance of all their Errors notwithstanding their opinion of justification in part by their works and merits I was necessarily though not willingly drawn to say something to the Points he objected against sound Doctrine which I did in a short speech in the end of my Sermon with protestation of so doing no of any sinister affection to any man but to bear witness to the Truth according to my Calling and wished if the matter should needs further be dealt in some other more convenient way might be taken for it wherein I hope my dealing was manifest to the Consciences of all indifferent Hearers of me that day to have been according to Peace and without any uncharitableness being duly considered For that I conferred with him the first day I have showed that the Cause requiring of me the Duty at the least not to be altogether silent in it being a matter of such consequence that the time also being short wherein I was to preach after him the hope of the fruit of our communication being small upon experience of form Conferences my expectation being that the Church should be no further troubled with it upon the motion I made of taking some other course of dealing I suppose my deferring to speak with him till some fit opportunity cannot in Charity be judged uncharitable The second day his unlooked for opposition with the former Reasons made it to be a matter that required of necessity some Public answer which being so temperate as I have showed if notwithstanding it be sensured as uncharitable and punished so grievously as it is What should have been my punishment if without all such cautions and respects as qualified my speech I had before all and in the understanding of all so reproved him offending openly that others might have feared to do the like which yet if I had done might have been warranted by the rule and charge of the Apostle Them that offend openly rebuke openly that the rest may also fear and by his example who when Peter in this very Case which is now between us had not in Preaching but in a matter of Conversation not gone with a right foot as was fit for the truth of the Gospel conferred not privately with him but as his own rule required reproved him openly before all that others might hear and fear and not dare to do the like All which reasons together weighed I hope will show the manner of my dealing to have been charitable and warrantable in every sort The next Sabbath day after this Mr. Hooker kept the way he had entered into before and bestowed his whole hour and more only upon the Questions he had moved and maintained wherein he so set forth the agreement of the Church of Rome with us and their disagreement from us as if we had consented in the greatest and weightiest Points and differed only in certain smaller matters Which Agreement noted by him in two chief points is not such as he would have made men believe The one in that he said They acknowledge all men sinners even the blessed Virgin though some of them freed her from sin for the Council of Trent holdeth that she was free from sin Another in that he said They teach Christ's Righteousness to be the only meritorious cause of taking away sin and differ from us only in the applying of it For Thomas Aquinas their chief Schoolman and Archbishop Catherinus teach That Christ took away only Original sin and that the rest are to be taken away by ourselves yea the Council of Trent teacheth That Righteousness whereby we are righteous in God's sight is an inherent Righteousness which must needs be of our own Works and cannot be understood of the Righteousness inherent only in Christ's Person and accounted unto us Moreover he taught the same time That neither the Galatians nor the Church of Rome did directly overthrow the foundation of justification by Christ alone but only by consequent and therefore might well be saved or else neither the Churches of the Lutherans nor any which bold any manner of Error could be saved because saith he every Error by consequent overthroweth the Foundation In which Discourses and such like he bestowed his whole time and more which if he had affected either the truth of God or the peace or the Church he would truly not have done Whose example could not draw me to leave the Scripture I took in hand but standing about an hour to deliver the Doctrine of it in the end upon just occasion of the Text leaving sundry other his unsound speeches and keeping me still to the Principal I confirmed the believing the Doctrine of Justification by Christ only to be necessary to the Justification of all that should be saved and that the Church of Rome directly denieth that a man is saved by Christ or by Faith alone without the works of the Law Which my Answer as it was most necessary for the service of God and the Church so was it without any immodest or reproachful speech to Mr. Hooker whose unsound and wilful dealings in a Cause of so great importance to the Faith of Christ and salvation of the Church notwithstanding I knew well what speech it deserved and what some zealous earnest man of the spirit of john and james surnamed Boanerges Sons of Thunder would have said in such a case Mark 3. 17. yet I chose rather to content myself in exhorting him to revisit his Doctrine 2 Sam. 7.2 3 4 5. as Nathan the Prophet did the device which without consulting with God he had of himself given to David concerning the building of the Temple and with Peter the Apostle Gal. 2.11.14 to endure to be withstood in such a Case not unlike unto this This is effect was that which passed between us concerning this matter and the invectives I made against him wherewith I am charged Which rehearsal I hope may clear me with all that shall indifferently consider it of the blames laid upon me for want of Duty to Mr. Hooker in not conferring with him whereof I have spoken sufficiently already and to the High-Commission in not revealing the matter to them which yet now I am further to answer My Answer is That I protest no contempt not wilful neglect of any lawful Authority stayed me from complaining unto them but these Reasons following First I was in some hope that Mr. Hooker notwithstanding he had been ovencarried with a show of Charity to prejudice the Truth yet when it should be sufficiently proved would have acknowledged it or at the lest induced with Peace that it might be offered without either offence to him or to such as would receive it either of which would have taken away any cause of just Complaint When neither of these fell out according to my expectation and desire but that he replied to the Truth and objected against it I thought he might have some doubts and scruples in himself which yet if they were cleared he would either embrace sound Doctrine or at lest suffer it to have its course Which hope of him I nourished so long as the matter was not bitterly and immodestly handled between us Another Reason was the Cause itself which according to the Parable of the Tares which are said to be sown among the Wheat sprung up first in his Grass Therefore as the Servants in that Place are not said to have come to complain to the lord till the Tares came to show their fruits in their kind so I thinking it yet but a time of discovering of it what it was desired not their fickle to cut it down For further answer It is to be considered that the conscience of my Duty to God and to his Church did bind me at the first to deliver sound Doctrine in such Points as had been otherwise uttered in the Place where I had now some years taught the Truth Ezek. 22.33 Ez. 33.6 Otherwise the rebuke of the Prophet had fallen upon me for not going up to the breach and standing in it and the peril for answering the blood of the City in whose Watch-Tower I sat if it had been surprised by my default Moreover my public Protestation in being unwilling that if any were not yet satisfied some other more convenient way might be taken for it And lastly that I had resolved which I uttered before to some dealing with me about the matter to have protested the next Sabbath day that I would no more answer in that Place any Objections to the Doctrine taught by any means but some other way satisfy such as should require it These I trust may make it appear that I failed not in Duty to Authority notwithstanding I did not complain nor give over so soon dealing in the Case If I did how is he clear which can allege none of all these for himself who leaving the expounding of the Scriptures and his ordinary Calling voluntarily discoursed upon School-Points and Questions neither of edification nor of Truth who after all this as promising to himself and to untruth a Victory by my silence added yet in the next Sabbath day to the maintenance of his former Opinions these which follow That no additament taketh away the Foundation except it be a Privative of which sort neither the Works added to Christ by the Church of Rome nor Circumcision by the Galatians were as one denieth him not to be a man that saith he is a Righteous man but he that saith he is a dead man Whereby it might seem that a man might without hurt add Works to Christ and pray also that God and Saint Peter would save them That the Galatians Case is harder than the Case of the Church of Rome because the Galatians joined Circumcision with Christ which God had forbidden and abolished but that which the Church of Rome joined with Christ were good Works which God hath commanded Wherein he committed a double fault one in expounding all the questions of the Galatians and consequently of the Romans and other Epistles of Circumcision only and the Ceremonies of the Law as they do who answer for the Church of Rome in their Writings contrary to the clear meaning of the Apostle as may appear by many strong and sufficient reasons The other in that he said the addition of the Church of Rome was of Works commanded of God Whereas the least part of the Works whereby they looked to merit was of such works and most were works of Supererogation and works which God never commanded but was highly displeased with as of Masses Pilgrimages Pardons pains of Purgatory and such like That no one sequel urged by the Apostle against the Galatians for joining Circumcision with Christ but might be us well enforced against the Lutherans that is that for their ubiquity it may be as well said to them If ye hold the Body of Christ to be in all places you are fallen from grace you are under the curse of the Law saying Cursed be he that fulfilleth not all things written in this Book with such like He added yet further That to a Bishop of the Church of Rome to a Cardinal yea to the Pope himself acknowledging Christ to be the Saviour of the World denying other errors and being discomforted for want of Works whereby he might be justified he would not doubt but use this speech Thou holdest the foundation of Christian Faith though it be but by a slender thread thou holdest Christ though but by the hem of his Garment why shouldst thou not hope that virtue may pass from Christ to save thee That which thou holdest of justification by thy Works overthroweth indeed by consequent the foundation of Christian Faith but be of good cheer thou hast not to do with a captionus Sophister but with a merciful God who will justify thee for that thou holdest and not take the advantage of doubtful construction to condemn thee And if this said he be an Error I hold it willingly for it is the greatest comfort I have in this World without which I would not wish either to speak or to live Thus far being not to be answered in it any more he was bold to proceed the absurdity of which Speech I need not to stand upon I think the like to this and other such in this Sermon and the rest of this matter hath not been heard in Public places within this Land since Queen Mary's days What consequence this Doctrine may be of if he be not by Authority ordered to revoke it I beseech your H H. as the truth of God and his Gospel is dear and precious unto you according to your godly wisdom to consider I have been bold to offer to your H H. a long and tedious Discourse of these matters but Speech being like to Tapestry which if it be folded up showeth but part of that which is wrought and being unlapt and laid open showeth plainly to the eye all the work that is in it I thought it necessary to unfold this Tapestry and to hang up the whole Chamber of it in your most Honourable Senate that so you may the more easily discern of all the Pieces and the sundry Works and Matters contained in it Wherein my hope is your H H. may see I have not deserved so great a Punishment as is laid upon the Church for my sake and also upon myself in taking from me the excercise of my Ministry Which Punishment how heavy it may seem to the Church or fall out indeed to be I refer it to them to judge and spare to write what I fear but to myself it is exceeding grievous for that it taketh from me the excercise of my Calling Which I do not say is dear unto me as the means of that little benefit whereby I live although this be a lawful consideration and to be regarded of me in due place and of the Authority under whose Protection I most willingly live even by God's Commandment both unto them and unto me but which ought to be more precious unto me than my life for the love which I should bear to the glory and honour of Almighty God and to the edification and salvation of his Church for that my life cannot any other way be of like service to God nor of such use and profit to men by any means For which Cause as I discern how dear my Ministry ought to be unto me so it is my hearty desire and most humble request unto God to your H H. and to all the Authority I live under to whom any dealing herein belongeth that I may spend my life according to his Example who in a word of like sound of fuller sense comparing by it the bestowing of his life to the Offering poured out upon the Sacrifice of the Faith of God's people and especially of this Church whereupon I have already poured out a great part thereof in the same Calling from which I stand now restrained And if your H H. shall find it so that I have not deserved so great a Punishment but rather performed the Duty which a good and faithful Servant ought in such case to do to his Lord and the People he putteth them in trust withal carefully to keep I am a most humble Suitor by these presents to your H H. that by your godly wisdom some good course may be taken for the restoring of me to my Ministry and Place again Which so great a favour shall bind me yet in a greater obligation of Duty which is already so great as it seemed nothing could be added unto it to make it greater to honour God daily for the continuance and increase of your good estate and to be ready with all the poor means God hath given me to do your H H. that faithful Service I may possibly perform But if notwithstanding my Cause he never so good your H H. can by no means pacify such as are offended nor restore me again then am I to rest in the good pleasure of God and to commend to your H H. protection under Her Majesties my private life while it shall be led in duty and the Church to him who hath redeemed to himself a People with his precious Blood and is making ready to come to judge both the Quick and the Dead to give to every one according as he hath done in this life be it good or evil to the Wicked and Unbelievers Justice unto death but to the Faithful and such as love his truth Mercy and Grace to life everlasting Your Honour's most bounden and most humble Suppliant WALTER TRAVERS Minister of the Gospel Mr. HOOKER'S ANSWER TO THE SUPPLICATION THAT Mr. TRAVERS Made to the COUNCIL To my Lord of Canterbury his Grace MY Duty in my most humble wise remembered May it please your Grace to understand That whereas there hath been a late Controversy raised in the Temple and pursued by Mr. Travers upon conceit taken at some words by me uttered with a most simple and harmless meaning In the heat of which pursuit after three public Invectives silence being enjoined him by Authority he hath hereupon for defence of his proceedings both presented the Right Honourable Lords and others of Her Majesty's Privy Council with a Writing and also caused or suffered the same to be Copied out and spread through the hands of so many that well nigh all sorts of men have it in their bosoms The matters wherewith I am therein charged being of such quality as they are and myself being better known to your Grace than to any other of their Honours besides I have chosen to offer to your Grace's hands a plain Declaration of my Innocence in all those things wherewith I am so hardly and so heavily charged lest if I still remain silent that which I do for quietness sake be taken as an Argument that I lack what to speak truly and justly in mine own defence 2. First because M. Travers thinketh it an expedient to breed an Opinion in men's minds that the root of all inconvenient events which are now sprung out is the surly and unpeaceable disposition of the man with whom he hath to do therefore the first in the rank of Accusations laid against me is my intorformity which have so little inclined to so many and so earnest Exhortations and Conferences as myself he saith can witness to have been spent upon me for my better fashioning unto good correspondence and agreement 3. Indeed when at the first by means of special Well-willers without any suit of mine as they very well know although I do not think it had been a mortal sin in a reasonable sort to have showed a moderate desire that way yet when by their endeavour without instigation of mine some Reverend and Honourable favourably affecting me had procured her Majesties' grant of the Place At the very point of my eptring thereinto the Evening before I was first to Preach he came and two other Gentlemen joined with him The effect of his Conference then was That he thought it his Duty to advise me not to enter with a strong hand but to change my purpose of Preaching there the next day and to stay till he had given notice of me to the Congregation that so their allowance might seal my Calling The effect of my Answer was That as in a place where such Order is I would not break so here where in never was I might not of my own head take upon me to begin it But liking very well the motion of the Opinion which I had of his good meaning who made it requested him not to mislike my Answer though it were not correspondent to his mind 4. When this had so displeased some that whatsoever was afterwards done or spoken by me it offended their taste angry informations were daily sent out intelligence given far and wide what à dangerous Enemy was crept in the worst that Jealousy could imagine was spoken and written to so many that at the length some knowing me well and perceiving how injurious the Reports were which grew daily more and more unto my discredit wrought means to bring Mr. Travers and me to a second Conference Wherein when a common Friend unto us both had quietly requested him to utter those things wherewith he found himself any way grieved He first renewed the memory of my entering into this Charge by virtue only of an Humane Creature for so the want of that formality of Popular Allowance was then censured and unto this was annexed a Catalogue partly of causeless Surmises as That I had conspired against him A mere formality it had been to me in that place where as no man had ever used it before me so it could neither further me if I did use it nor hinder me if I did not and that I sought Superiority over him and partly of Faults which to note I should have thought it a greater offence than to commit if I did account them Faults and had heard them so curiously observed in any other than myself they are such silly things as Praying in the entrance of my Sermon only and not in the end naming Bishops in my Prayer Kneeling when I pray and Kneeling when I receive the Communion with such like which I would be as loath to recite as I was sorry to hear them objected if the rehearsal thereof were not by him thus wrested from me These are the Conferences wherewith I have been wooed to entertain Peace and good Agreement 5. As for the vehement Exhortations he speaketh of I would gladly know some reason wherefore he thought them needful to be used Was there any thing found in my Speeches or Dealings that gave them occasion who are studious of Peace to think that I disposed myself to some unquiet kind of Proceedings Surely the special Providence of God I do now see it was that the first words I spoke in this Place should make the first thing whereof I am accused to appear not only untrue but improbable to as many as then heard me with indifferent ears and do I doubt not in their Consciences clear me of this suspicion Howbeit I grant this were nothing if it might he showed that my Deeds following were not suitable to my words If I had spoken of Peace at the first and afterwards sought to molest and grieve him by crossing him in his Function by storming if my pleasure were not asked and my Will obeyed in the least occurrences by carping needlessly sometimes at the manner of his Teaching sometimes at this sometimes at that Point of his Doctrine I might then with some likelihood have been blamed as one disdaining a peaceable hand when it had been offered But if I be able as I am to prove that myself have now a full year together born the continuance of such dealings not only without any manner of resistance but also without any such complaint as might let or hinder him in his course I see no cause in the world why of this I should he accused unless it be lest I should accuse which I meant not If therefore I have given him occasion to use conferences and exhortations to peace if when they were bestowed upon me I have despised them it will not be hard to show some one Word or Deed wherewith I have gone about to work disturbance one is not much I require but one Only I require if any thing be showed it may be proved and not objected only as this is That I have joined to such as have always opposed to any good order in his Church and made themselves to be thought indisposed to the present estate and proceedings The words have reference as it seemeth unto some such things as being attempted before my coming to the Temple went not so effectually perhaps forward as he that devised them would have wished An Order as I learn there was tendered that Communicants should neither kneel as in most places of the Realm nor sit as in this Place the Custom is but walk to the one side of the Table and there standing till they had received pass afterwards away round about by the other Which being on a sudden begun to be practised in the Church some sat wondering what it should mean others deliberating what to do Till such time as at length by name one of them being called openly thereunto requested that they might do as they had been accustomed which was granted and as Mr. Travers had ministered this way to the rest so a Curate was sent to minister to them after their way Which unprosperous beginning of a thing saving only for the inconvenience of needless alterations otherwise harmless did to disgrace that Order in their conceit who had to allow or disallow it that it took no place For neither could they ever induce themselves to think it good and it so much offended Mr. Travers who supposed it to be the best that he since that time although contented to receive it as they do at the hands of others yet hath not thought it meet they should ever receive out of his which would not admit that Order of receiving it and therefore in my time hath been always present not to minister but only to be ministered unto 6. Another Order there was likewise devised but an Order of much more weight and importance This soil in respect of certain Immunities and other Specialties belonging unto it seemed likely to bear that which in other places of the Realm of England doth not take For which cause request was made to her Majesty's Privy Council that whereas it is provided by a Statute there should be Collectors and Sidemen in Churches which thing or somewhat correspondent unto it this place did greatly want it would please their Honours to motion such a matter to the Ancients of the Temple And according to their honourable manner of helping forward all motions so grounded they wrote their Letters as I am informed to that effect Whereupon although these Houses never had use of such Collectors and Sidemen as are appointed in other places yet they both erected a Box to receive men's Devotions for the Poor appointing the Treasurer of both Houses to take care for bestowing it where need was and granting further that if any could he entreated as in the end some were to undertake the labour of observing men's slackness in Divine duties they should be allowed their Complaints heard at all times and the faults they complained of if Mr. Alveyes private admonition did not serve then by some other means to be redressed but according to the old received Orders of both Houses Whereby the substance of their Honour's Letters were indeed fully satisfied Yet because Mr. Travers intended not this but as it seemed another thing therefore notwithstanding the Orders which have been taken and for any thing I know do stand still in as much force in this Church now as at any time heretofore He complaineth much of the good Orders which he doth mean have been withstood Now it were hard if as many as did any ways oppose unto these and the like Orders in his persuasion good do thereby make themselves Dislikers of the present state and proceeding It they whom he aimeth at have any other ways made themselves to be thought such it is likely he doth known wherein and will I hope disclose wherein it appertaineth both the Persons whom he thinketh and the causes why he thinketh them so illaffected But whatsoever the men be do their Faults make me faulty They do if I join myself with them I beseech him therefore to declare wherein I have joined with them Other joining than this with any man here I cannot imagine It may be I have talked or walked or eaten or interchangeably used the Duties of common humanity with some such as he is hardly persuaded of For I know no Law of God or Man by force whereof they should be as Heathens and Publicans unto me that are not gracious in the eyes of another man perhaps without cause or if with cause yet such cause as he is privy unto and not I. Could he or any reasonable man think it is a charitable course in me to observe them that show by external courtesies a favourable inclination toward him and if I spy out any one amongst them of whom I think not well hereupon to draw such an accusation as this against him and to offer it where he hath given up his against me which notwithstanding I will acknowledge to be just and reasonable if he or any man living shall show that I use as much as the bare familiar company but of one who by word or deed hath ever given me cause to suspect or conjecture him such as here they are termed with whom complaint is made that I join myself This being spoken therefore and written without all possibility of proof doth not Mr. Travers give me overgreat cause to stand in some fear lest he make too little conscience how he useth his Tongue or Pen These things are not laid against me for nothing they are to some purpose if they take place For in a mind persuaded that I am as he deciphereth me one which refuses to be at peace with such as embrace the truth and side myself with men sinisterly affected thereunto any thing that shall be spoken conferring the unsoundness of my Doctrine cannot choose but he favourably entertained This presupposed it will have likelihood enough which afterwards followeth that many of my Sermons have tasted of some sour leaven or other that in them he hath discovered many unsound matters A thing much to be lamented that such a place as this which might have been so well provided for hath fallen into the hands of one no better instructed in the truth But what if in the end it be found that he judgeth my words as they do colours which look upon them with green spectacles and think that which they see is green when indeed that is green whereby they see 7. Touching the first point of this discovery which is about the matter of Predestination to set down that I spoke for I have it written to declare and confirm the several branches thereof would be tedious now in this Writing where I have so many things to touch that I can but touch them only Neither is it herein so needful for me to justify my speech when the very place and presence where I spoke doth itself speak sufficiently for my clearing This matter was not broached in a blind Alley or uttered where none was to hear it that had skill with Authority to control or covertly insinuated by some gliding Sentence 8. That which I taught was at Paul's Cress it was not huddled in amongst other matterr in such sort that it could pass without noting it was opened it was proved it was some reasonable time stood upon I see not which way my Lord of London who was present and heard it can excuse so great a fault as patiently without rebuke or controlment afterwards to hear any man there teach otherwise than the Word of God doth nor as it is understood by the private interpretation of some one or two men or by a special construction received in some few Books but as it is understood by al● Churches professing the Gospel by them all and therefore even by our own also amongst others A man that did mean to prove that he speaketh would surely take the measure of his words shorter 9 The next thing discovered is an opinion about the assurance of men's perswas●sionss in matters of Faith I have taught he saith That the assurance of things which we believe by the Word is not so certain as of that we perceive by sense And is it as certain Yea I taught as he himself I trust will not deny that the things which God doth promise in his Word are surerunto us than any thing which we touch handle or see But are we so sure and certain of them If we be why doth God so often prove his Premises unto us as he doth by argument taken from our sensible experience We must be surer of the proof than of the thing proved otherwise it is no proof How is it that if ten men do all look upon the Moon every one of them knoweth it as certainly to be the Moon as another but many believing one and the same Promise all have not one and the same fullness of Persuasion How falleth it out that men being assured of any thing by sense can be no surer of it than they are whereas the strongest in faith that liveth upon the earth hath always need to labour and strive and pray that his assurance concerning Heavenly and Spiritual things may grow increase and be augmented 10. The Sermon wherein I have spoken somewhat largely of this point was long before this late Controversy rose between him and me upon request of some of my friends seen and read by many and amongst many some who are thought able to discern And I never heard that any one of them hitherto hath condemned it as containing unsound matter My Case were very hard if as oft as any thing I speak displeasing one man's taste my Doctrine upon his only word should be taken for sour leaven 11. The rest of this discovery is all about the matter now in question wherein he hath two faults predominant would tyre out any that should answer unto every point severally un apt speaking of School-Controversies and of my words so untoward a reciting that he which should promise to draw a Man's Countenance and did indeed express the parts at leastwise most of them truly but perversely place them could not represent a more offensive Visage than unto me my own speech seemeth in some places as he hath ordered it For answer whereunto that Writing is sufficient wherein I have set down both my words and meaning in such sort that where this Accusation doth deprave the one and either misinterpret or without just cause mis-like the other it will appear so plainly that I may spare very well to take upon me a new needless labour here 12. Only at one thing which is there to be found because Mr. Travers doth here seem to take such a special advantage as if the matter were unanswerable he constraineth me either to detect his oversight or to confess mine own in it In settling the Question between the Church of Rome and us about Grace and Justification lest I should give them an occasion to say as commonly they do that when we cannot refute their Opinions we propose to ourselves such instead of theirs as we can refute I took it for the best and most perspicuous way of teaching to declare first how far● we do agree and then to show our disagreement not generally as Mr. Travers his a His word● be these The next Sabbath day after this Mr. Hisker kept the way he entered into before ●●● bestowed his whole hour and more only upon the questions he had moved and maintained Wherein he so set the agreement of the Church of Rome with us and their disagreement from us as if we had consented in the greatest and weightiest Points and differed only in certain smaller matters Which Agreement noted by him in two Chief Points is not such as he would have made men believe The one in that he said they acknowledge all men Siners even the Blessed Virgin though some of them freed her from Sin For the Council of Trent holdeth that she was free from Sin Another In that he said They reach Christ's Righteousness to be the only meritorions Cause of taking away Sin and differ from as only in the applying of it For Thomas Aquinas their Chief Schoolman and Archbishop Catherinus teach The Christ took away only Original sinae and that the rest are to be taken away by ourselves yea the Council of Trent teacheth That the Righteousness whereby we are righteous in God's sight Is inherent righteousness which must needs be our own works and cannot be understood of the righteousness inherent only in Christ's Person and accounted unto us words would carry it for the easier fastening that upon me wherewith saving only by him I was never in my life touched but about the matter only of Justification for further I had no cause to meddle at this time What was then my Offence in this Case I did as he saith so set it out as if we had consented in the greatest and weightiest Points and differed only in smaller matters It will not be found when it cometh to the balance a light difference where we disagree as I did acknowledge that we do about the very essence of the Medicine whereby Christ cureth our Disease Did I go about to make a show of Agreement in the weightiest Points and was I so fond as not to conceal our disagreement about this I do with that some indifferency were used by them that have taken the weighing of my words 13. Yea but our Agreement is not such in two of the chiefest Points as I would have men believe it is And what are they The one is I said They acknowledge all men sinners even the Blessed Virgin though some of them free her from sin Put the case I had affirmed That only some of them free her from sin and had delivered it as the most current opinion amongst them that she was conceived in sin doth not Bona● Tature say plainly Omnesfere in a manner all men do bold this ● doth he not bring many reasons wherefore all men should hold it Were their voices since that time ever counted and their number found smaller which hold it than theirs that hold the contrary Let the question then be Whether I might say The most of them acknowledged all men sinner even the Blessed Virgin herself To show that their general received opinion is the contrary the Tridentine Council is alleged peradventure not altogether so considerately For if that Council have by resolute determination freed her if it held as Mr. Travers saith it doth that she was free from sin then must the Church of Rome needs condemn them that hold the contrary For what thee Council holdeth the same they all do and must hold But in the Church of Rome who knoweth not that it is a thing indifferent to think and defend the one or the other So that by this Argument the Council of Trent holdeth the Virgin free from sin ergo it is plain that none of them may and therefore untrue that most of them do acknowledge her a Sinner were for able to overthrow my supposed Affection if it were true that the Council did hold this But to the end it may clearly appear how it neither holdeth this not the contrary I will open what many do conceive of the Canon that concerneth this matter The Fathers of Trent perceived that if they should define of this matter it would be dangerous howsoever it were determined If they had freed her from her Original sin the reasons against them are unanswerable which Bonave●ture and others do allege but especially Thomas whose line as much as may be they follow Again if they did resolve the other way they should control themselves in another thing which i● no case might be altered For they profess to keep no day holy in the honour of an ●●●●holy thing and the Virgin Conception they honour with a * This doth much trouble Thomas holding her Conception stained with the natural blemish inherent in mortal seed And ●●e●e ●●●● he putieth it est with two Answers the one I h●t● her Church of Rome doth not allow but tolerate the Feast which answer now will not serve The other that being sort she was sanct fi●e● before birth but on sure how long a while ●her her Conception therefore under the names of her Conception-day they honour the ●it●● of her Sanctification So that besides this they have ne●●r no solder .3 make the certain allowance of their Feast and their uncertain sentence concerning her sin to clear together H●● ●●orl● quast 87 on 8. ab 2. & 3. Feast which they could not abrogate without cancelling a Constitution of ●ystem Quo●●●● And that which is worse the World might perhaps suspect that if the Church of Rome did● amiss before in this it is not impossible for her to fail in other things In the end they did wisely quo●● out their Canon by a middle thread establishing the Feast of the Virgin 's Conception and leaving the other question doubtful as they found it giving only a Cavent that no man should take the Decree which pronounceth all Mankind originally sinful for a definitive Sentence concerning the Blessed Virgin This in my sight is plain by their own words Annot in Rom. 5. sect 9 Declarat hac ipsa sancta Synod●● etc. Wherefore our Countrymen at Rhe●●ss mentioning this Point are marvellous wary how they speak they touch it as though it were a hot coal Many godly devout men judge that our blessed Lady was neither bourn not cou●●●d in sin Is it their wont to speak ainely of things definitively set down in that Council In like sort we find that the rest which have since that time of the Tridentine Synod written of Original sin are in this Point for the mostpart either silent or very sparing in speech and when they speak either doubtful what to think or whatsoever they think themselves fearful to set down any certain Determination If I be thought to take the Canon of this Council otherwise than they themselves do let him expound in whose Sentence was neither last asked not his Pen least occupied in setting it down I mean Androdius whom Gregory the thirteenth hath allowed plainly to confessed that it is a matter which neither express evidence of Scripture not the Tradition of the Fathers nor the Sentence of Church hath determined Lib. 5. deleas fidei that they are too surly and selfwilled which defending their opinion are displeased with them by whom the other is maintained Finally that the Father of Trent have not set down any certainty about this Question but lest it doubtful and indifferent Now whereas my words which I had set down in Writing before I uttered them were indeed these Although they imagine that the Mother of our Lord jesus Christ were for his honour and by his special protection preserved clean from all sin yet concerning the rest they teach as we do that all have sinned Against my words they might with more pretence take exception Because so many of them think she had sin which exception notwithstanding the Proposition being indefinite and the matter contingent they cannot take because they grant That many whom they account grave and devout amongst them think that she was clear from all sin But whether Mr. Travers did note my words himself or take them upon the credit of some other man's noting the Tables were faulty wherein it was noted All men sinners even the Blessed Virgin When my second Speech was rather All men except the Blessed Virgin To leave this another fault he findeth that I said They teach Christ's Righteousness to be the only meritorious cause of taking away sin and differ from us only in the applying of it I did say and do They teach as we do that although Christ be the only meritorious cause of our justice yet as a medicine which is made for Health doth not heal by being made but by being applied So by the merits of Christ there can be no Life nor justification without the application of his merits But about the manner of applying Christ about the number and power of means whereby he is applied we descent from them This of our dissenting from them is acknowledged 14. Our agreement in the former is denied to be such as I pretend Let their own words therefore and mine concerning them be compared Doth not Andradius plainly confess Orthod. lib. 3● In Sent. didst 1. quaest. 4. art 6. Our sins do shut and only the merits of Christ open the entering unto blessedness And So to It is put for a good ground that all since the fall of Adam obtained Salvation only by the Passion of Christ Howbeit as no cause can be effectual without applying so neither can any man be saved to whom the suffering of Christ is not applied In a word who not When the Council of Trent reckoning up the causes of our first Justification doth name no end but God's Glory and our Felicity no efficient but his Mercy no Instrumental but Baptism no meritorious but Christ whom to have merited the taking away of no sin but Original is not their opinion which himself will find when he hath well examined his Witnesses Catharinus and Thomas Their Jesuits are marvellous angry with the men out of whose glean Mr. Travers seemeth to have taken this Bellarm. Judic de lib. Concor Mend● 11. Nemo Catholicorum unquam sic docuit sed credimus & profitemur Christum in Cruse pro omnibus omnino peccatis satisfecisse tam originalibus quam actualibus they openly disclaim it they say plainly Of all this Catholics there is no one this did ever so teach they make solemn protestation We believe and profess That Christ upon the Cross hath altogether satisfied for all sins as well Original as Actual Indeed they teach that the merit of Christ doth not take away Actual sin in such sort as it doth Original wherein if their Doctrine had been understood I for my speech had never been accused As for the Council of Trent concerning inherent Righteousness what doth it here No man doubteth but they make another formal cause of Justification than we do In respect whereof I have showed you already that we disagree about the very essence of that which cureth our Spiritual disease Most time it is which the grand Philosopher hath Every man judgeth well of that which he knoweth and therefore till we know the things throughly whereof we judge it is a point of judgement to stay our judgement 15. Thus much labour being spent in discovering the unsoundness of my Doctrine some pains he taketh further to open faults in the manner of my teaching as that I bestowed my whole hour and more my time and more than my time in discourses utterly impertinent to my Text. Which if I had done it might have passed without complaining of to the Privy Council 16. But I did worse as he saith I left the expounding of the Scriptures and my ordinary Calling and discoursed upon School-points and questions neither of edification nor of truth I read no Lecture in the Law or in Physic And except the bounds of ordinary Calling may be drawn like a Purse how are they so much wider unto him than to me that he which in the limits of his ordinary Calling should reprove that in me which he understood not and I labouring that both he and others might understand could not do this without forsaking my Calling The matter whereof I spoke was such as being at the first by me but lightly touched he had in that place openly contradicted and solemnly taken upon him to disprove If therefore it were a School-question and unfit to be discoursed of there that which was in me but a Proposition only at the first wherefore made he a Problem of it Why took he first upon him to maintain the negative of that which I had affirmatively spoken only to show mine own opinion little thinking that ever it would have been a Question Of what nature soever the Question were I could do no less than there explain myself to them unto whom I was accused of unsound Doctrine wherein if to show what had been through ambiguity mistaken in my words or misapplied by him in this Cause against me I used the distinctions and helps of Schools I trust that herein I have committed no unlawful thing These School-implements are acknowledged by grave and wise men not unprofitable to have been invented Cal● l●st l. ● c. 6. sect 9 The most approved for Learning and Judgement do use them without blame the use of them hath been well liked in some that have taught even in this very place before me the quality of my Hearers is such that I could not but think them of capacity very sufficient for the most part to conceive harder than I used any the cause I had in hand did in my judgement necessarily require them which were then used when my words spoken generally without distinctions had been perverted what other way was there for me but by distinctions to lay them open in their right meaning that it might appear to all men whether they were consonant to truth or no And although Mr. Travers be so enured with the City that he thinketh it unmeet to use any speech which savoureth of the School yet his opinion is no Canon though unto him his mind being troubled my speech did seem like Fetters and Manacles yet there might be some more calmly affected which thought otherwise his private judgement will hardly warrant his bold words that the things which I spoke were neither of edification nor truth They might edify some other for any thing he knoweth and be true for any thing he proveth to the contrary For it is no proof to cry Absurdities the like whereunto have not been heard in public places within this Land since Queen Mary's days If this came in earnest from him I am sorry to see him so much offended without cause more sorry that his fit● should be so extreme to make him speak he knoweth not what That I neither affected the truth of God nor the peace of the Church Mihi pro minimo ●est it doth not much move me when Mr. Travers doth say that which I trust a greater than Mr. Travers will gainsay 17. Now let all this which hitherto he hath said be granted him let it be as he would have it let my Doctrine and manner of teaching be as much disallowed by all men's Judgements as by his what is all this to his purpose He allegeth this to be the cause why he bringeth it in The High-Commissioners charge him with an indiscretion and want of duty in that he inveighed against certain Points of Doctrine taught by me as erroneous not conferring first with me nor complaining of it to them Which faults a sea of such matter as he hath hitherto waded in will never be able to scour from him For the avoiding Schism and disturbance in the Church which must needs grow if all men might think what they list and speak openly what they think therefore by a * In the Advertisments published in the seventh year of her Majesty's Reign If any Preacher or Parson Vicar or Cura●e so licenced shall fortune to preach any matter tending to dissension or to decoration of the Religion and Doctrine received that the Hearers denounce the same to the Ordinary or to the next Bishop of the same place but not openly to contrary or to impugn the same speech so disorderly uttered whereby may grew Offence and Disquiet of the People but shall be convinced and reproved by the Ordinary after such agreeable order as shall be seen to him according to the gravity of the Offence And that it be presented within one month after the words spoken Decree agreed upon by the Bishops and confirmed by her Majesty's Authority it was ordered That erroneous Doctrine if it were taught publicly should not be publicly refuted but that notice thereof should be given into such as are by her Highness appointed to hear and to determine such Causes For breach of which Order when he is charged with lack of Duty all the faults that can be heaped upon me will make but a weak defence for him As surely his defence is not much stronger when he alleges for himself That he was in some hope his speech in proving the truth and clearing those scraples which I had in myself might cause me either to embrace sound Doctrine or suffer it to be embraced of others which if I did he should not need to complain that It was meet he should discover first what I had sown and make it manifest to be tares and then desire their  to cut it down that Conscience did binds him to do otherwise than the foresaid Order requireth that He was unwilling to deal in that public manner and wished a more convenient way were taken for it that He had resolved to have protested the next Sabbath day that he would some other way satisfy such as should require it and not deal more in that place Be it imagined let me not be taken as if I did compare the offenders when I do not but their Answers only that a Libeler did make this Apology for himself I am not ignorant that if I have just matter against any man the Law is open there are Judges to hear it and Courts where it ought to be complained of I have taken another course against such or such a man yet without breach of Duty forasmuch as I am able to yield a reason of my doing I conceive some hope that a little discredit amongst men would make him ashamed of himself and that his shame would work his amendment which if it did other accusation there should not need could his answer he thought sufficient could it in the judgement of discreet men free him from all blame No more can the hope Mr. Travers conceived to reclaim me by public speech justify his fault against the established Order of the Church 18. His thinking it meet he should first openly discover to the People the Tares that had been sown amongst them and then require the hand of Authority to mow them down doth only make it a Question Whether his opinion that this was meet may be a privilege or protection against the lawful Constitution which had before determined of it as of a thing unmeet Which Question I leave for them to discuss whom it most concerneth If the Order be such that it cannot be kept without hazarding a thing so precious as a good Conscience the peril whereof could be no greater to him than it needs must be to all others whom it toucheth in like Causes then this is evident it will be an effectual motive not only for England but also for other Reformed Churches even Geniva itself for they have the like to change or take that away which cannot but with great inconvenience be observed In the mean while the breach of it may in such consideration be pardoned which truly I wish howsoever it be yet hardly defended as long as it standeth in force uncancelled 19 Now whereas he confesseth another way had been more convenient and that he found in himself secret unwillingness to do that which he did doth he not say plainly in effect that the light of his own Understanding proved the way that he took perverse and crooked Reason was so plain and pregnant against it that his Mind was alienated his Will averted to another course yet somewhat there was that so far overruled that it must needs be done even against the very stream what doth it bewray Finally his purposed Protestation whereby he meant openly to make it known that he did not allow this kind of proceeding and therefore would satisfy men otherwise and deal no more in this Place showeth his good mind in this that he meant to stay himself from further offending but it serveth not his turn He is blamed because the thing he hath done was amiss and his Answer is That which I would have done afterwards had been well if so be I had done it 20. But as in this he standeth persuaded that he hath done nothing besides duty so he taketh it hardly that the High Commissioners should charge him with indiscretion Wherefore as if he could so wash his hands he maketh a long and a large declaration concerning the carriage of himself how he waded in matters of smaller weight and how in things of greater moment how wary he dealt how naturally he took his things rising from the Text how closely he kept himself to the Scriptures he took in hand how much pains he took to confirm the necessity of believing justification by Christ only and to show how the Church of Rome denieth that a man is saved by Faith alone without works of the Law what the Sons of Thunder would have done if they had been in his case that his Answer was very temperate without immodest or reproachful speech that when he might before all have reproved me he did not but contented himself with exhorting me before all to follow Nathan's example and revisit my Doctrine when he might have followed Saint Paul's example in reproving Peter he did not but exhorted me with Peter to endure to be withstood This Testimony of his discreet carrying himself in the handling of his matter being more agreeably framed and given him by another than by himself might make somewhat for the praise of his Person but for defence of his action unto them by whom he is thought undiscreet for not concerning privately before he spoke will it serve to answer that when he spoke he did it considerately He perceiveth it will not and therefore addeth reasons such as they are as namely how he purposed at the first to take another course and that was this Publicly to deliver the truth of such Doctrine as I had otherwise taught and at convenient opportunity to confer with me upon such points Is this the rule of Christ If thy Brother offend openly in his speech control it first with contrary speech openly and confer with him afterwards upon it when convenient opportunity serveth Is there any Law of God or Man whereupon to ground such a Resolution any Church extant in the World where Teachers are allowed thus to do or to be done unto He cannot but see how weak an allegation it is when he bringeth in his following this course first in one matter and so afterwards in another to approve himself now following it again For if the purpose of doing of a thing so uncharitable be a fault the deed is a greater fault and doth the doing of it twice make it the third time fit and allowable to be done The weight of the Cause which is his third defence relieveth him as little The weightier it was the more it required considerate advice and consultation the more it stood him upon to take good heed that nothing were rashly done or spoken in it But he meaneth weighty in regard of the wonderful danger except he had presently withstood me without expecting a time of Conference This Cause being of such moment that might prejudice the Faith of Christ encourage the illaffected to continue still in their damnable ways and other weak in Faith to suffer themselves to be seduced to the destruction of their Souls he thought it his bounden duty to speak before he talked with me A man that should read this and not know what I had spoken might imagine that I had at the least denied the Divinity of Christ. But they which were present at my speech and can testify that nothing passed my lips more than is contained in their Writings whom for soundness of Doctrine Learning and Judgement Mr. Travers himself doth I dare say not only allow but honour they which heard and do know that the Doctrine here signified in so fearful manner the Doctrine that was so dangerous to the Faith of Christ that was so likely to encourage illaffected men to continue still in their damnable ways that gave so great cause to tremble for fear of the present destruction of Souls was only this I doubt not but God was merciful to save thousands of our Fathers living heretofore in the Popish Superstition in as much as they sinned ignorantly and this spoken in a Sermon the greatest part whereof was against Popery they will hardly be able to discern how CHRISTIANITY should herewith be so grievously shaken 21. Whereby his fourth excuse is also taken from him For what doth it boot him to say The time was short wherein he was to preach after me when his Preaching of this matter perhaps aught surely might have been either very well omitted or at least more conveniently for a while deferred even by their Judgements that cast the most favourable aspect towards these his hasty proceedings The poison which men had taken at my hands was not so quick and strong in operation as in eight days to make them past cure by eight day's delay there was no likelihood that the force and power of his Speech could die longer meditation might bring better and stronger proofs to mind than extemporal dexterity could furnish him with And who doth know whether Time the only Mother of sound Judgement and discreet dealing might have given that action of his some better ripeness which by so great festination hath as a thing born out of time brought small joy unto him that begat it Doth he think it had not been better that neither my speech had seemed in his eyes as an Arrow sticking in a thigh of Flesh nor his own as a Child whereof he must needs be delivered by an hour His last way of disburthening himself is by casting his Load upon my Back as if I had brought him by former Conferences out of hope that any fruit should ever come of conferring with me Loath I am to rip up those Conferences whereof he maketh but a slippery and loose relation In one of them the question between us was Whether the persuasion of Faith concerning remission of sins eternal life and whatsoever God doth promise unto man be as free from doubting as the persuasion which we have by sense concerning things tasted felt and seen For the Negative I mentioned their example whose Faith in Scripture is most commended and the experience which all faithful men have continually had of themselves For proof of the Affirmative which he held I desiring to have some reason heard nothing but all good Writers oftentimes incul●a●ed At the length upon request to see some one of them Peter Martyr's Common places were brought where the leaves were turned down at a place sounding to this effect That the Gospel doth make Christians more virtuous than moral Philosophy doth make Heat hens which came not near the questions by many miles 22. In the other Conference he questioned about the matter of Reprobation misliking first that I had termed God a permissive and no positive cause of the evil which the Schoolmen do call malum cuspae Secondly that to their Objection who say If I be elected do what I will I shall be saved I had answered that the will of God in this thing is not absolute but conditional to save his Elect believing fearing and obediently serving him Thirdly that to stop the mouths of such as grudge and repine against God for rejecting Cast aways I had taught that they are not rejected no not in the purpose and counsel of God without a foreseen worthiness of rejection going though not in time yet in order● before● For if God's electing do in order● as needs it must presuppose the foresight of their being that are elected though they be elected before they be nor only the positive foresight of their being but also the permissive of their being miserable because Election is through mercy and mercy doth always presuppose misery it followeth that the very Chosen of God acknowledge to the praise of the riches of his exceeding free compassion that when he in his secret determination set it down Those shall live and not die they lay as ugly spectacles before him as Lepers covered with dung and mine as ulcers putrified in their Father's ●oynss miserable worthy to be had in detestation and shall any forsaken Creature be able to say unto God Thou didst plunge me into the depth and assign me unto endless torments only to satisfy thine own will finding nothing in me for which I could seem in thy sight so well worthy to feel everlasting flames 23. When I saw that Mr. Travers carped at these things only because they lay not open I promised at some convenient time to make them clear as light both to him and all others Which if they that reprove me will not grant me leave to do they must think that they are for some cause or other more desirous to have me reputed an unsound man then willing that my sincere meaning should appear and be approved When I was further asked what my grounds were I answered that Saint Paul's words concerning this Cause were my grounds His next Demand What Author I did follow in expounding Saint Paul and gathering the Doctrine out of his words against the judgement he saith of all Churches and all good Writers I was well assured that to control this overreaching speech the sentences which I might have cited out of Church-Confessions together with the hast learned Monuments of former times and not the meanest of our own were though i● number than perhaps he would willingly have heard of but what had this booted me For although he himself in generality do much use those formal speeches All churches and all good Writers yet as he holdeth it in Pulpit lawful to say in general the Pa●uimss think this or the Heathens that but utterly unlawful to cite any sentence of theirs that say it so he gave me at that time great cause to think than my particular alleging of other men's words to show their agreement with mine would as much have displeased his mind as the thing itself for which it had been alleged for he knoweth how often he hath in public place bitten me for this although I did never in any Sermon use many of the Sentences of other Writers and do make most without any having always thought it meetest neither to affect nor contemn the use of them 24. He is not ignorant that in the very entrance to the talk which we had privately at that time to prove it unlawful altogether in Preaching either for confirmation declaration or otherwise to cite any thing but mere Canonical Scripture he brought in The Scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable to teach improve etc. urging much the vigour of these two Clauses The man of God and every good work If therefore the work were good which he required at my hands if privately to show why I thought the Doctrine I had delivered to be according to Saint Paul's meaning were a good work can they which take the place before alleged for a Law condemning every man of God who● in doing the work of Preaching any other way useth human Authority like it in me if in the work of strengthening that which I had preached I should bring forth the testimonies and the sayings of mortal men I alleged therefore that which might under no pretence in the world be disallowed namely reasons not meaning thereby mine own reason as now it is reported but true sound divine reason reason whereby chose Conclusions might be out of Saint Paul demonstrated and not probably discoursed of only reason proper to that science whereby the things of God are known Theological Reason without Principles in Scripture that are plain sound deduced more doubtful inferences in such sort that being heard they cannot be denied not any thing repugnant unto them received but whatsoever was before otherwise by miscollecting gathered out of dark places is thereby forced to yield itself and the true consonant meaning of Sentences not understood is brought to light This is the reason which I intended If it were possible for me to escape the Ferula in any thing I do or speak I had undoubtedly escaped in this In this I did that which by some is enjoined as the only allowable but granted by all as the most sure and safe way whereby to resolve things doubted of in matters appertaining to Faith and Christian Religion So that Mr. Travers had here small cause given him to be weary of conferring unless it was in other respects than that poor one which is here pretended that is to say the little hope he had of doing me any good by conference 25. Yet behold his first reason of not complaining to the High Commission is That sith I offended only through an over-charitable inclination he conceived good hope when I should see the truth cleared and some scruples which where in my mind removed by his diligence I would yield But what experience soever he had of former Conferences how small soever his hope was that fruit would come of it if he should have conferred will any man judge this a Cause sufficient why to open his mouth in public without any one word privately spoken He might have considered the men do sometimes reap where they sow but wish small hope he might have considered that although unto me whereof he was not certain neither but if to me his labour should be as Water spilt or poured into a torn dish yet to him it could not be fruitless to do that which Order in Christian Churches that which Charity amongst Christian men that which at many men's hands even common humanity itself at his many other things besides did require What fruit could there come of his open contradicting in so great haste with so small advice but such as must needs be unpleasant and mingled with much acerbity Surely he which will take upon him to defend that in this there was no oversight must beware left by such defences he leave an opinion dwelling in the minds of men that he is more stiff to maintain what he hath done then careful to do nothing but that which may justly be maintained 26. Thus have I as near as I could seriously answered things of weight with smaller I have dealt as I thought their quality did require I take no joy in striving I have not been nuzzled or trained up in it I would to Christ they which have at this present enforced me hereunto had so ruled their hands in any reasonable time that I might never have been constrained to strike so much as in mine own defence Wherefore to prosecute this long and redious contention no further I shall wish that your Grace and their Honours unto whose intelligence the dutiful regard which I have of their Judgements maketh me desirous that as accusations have been brought against me so that this my answer thereunto may likewise come did both with the one the other as Constantine with Books containing querulous matter Whether this be convenient to be wished or no I cannot tell But sith there can come nothing of contention but the mutual waste of the Parties contending till a common enemy dance in the ashes of them both I do wish heartily that the grave advice which Constantine gave for reuniting of his Clergy so many times upon some small occasions in so lamentable sort divided or rather the strict Commandment of Christ unto his that they should not be divided at all may at the length if it be his blessed will prevail so far at least in this corner of the Christian world to the burying and quite forgetting of strife together with the Causes that have either bred it or brought it up that things of small moment never disjoin them whom one God one Lord one Faith one Spirit one Baptism bands of so great force have linked that a respectively eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted make us not as through infirmity the very Patriarches themselves sometimes were full gorged unable to speak peaceably to their own Brother Finally that no strife may ever be heard of again but this Who shall hate strife most who shall pursue peace and unity with swiftest paces To The Christian Reader WHereas many desirous of resolution in some Points handled in this learned Discourse were earnest to have it Copied out to case so many labours it hath been thought most worthy and very necessary to be printed that not only they might be satisfied but the whole Church also hereby edified The rather because it will free the Author from the suspicion of some Errors which he hath been thought to have favoured Who might well have answered with Cremutius in Tacitus Lib. 4. Ann. Verba mea arguuntur adeò factorum innocens sum Lib. 1. Hist. Certainly the event of that time wherein he lived showed that to be true which the same Author spoke of a worse Cui deerat inimicus per amicos oppressus and that there is not minus periculum ex magna fama quam ex mala In vita Agricolae But he hath so quit himself that all may see how as it was said of Agricola Simul suis virtutibus simul vitiis aliorum in ipsam gloriam praeceps agebatur Touching whom I will say no more but that which my Author said of the same man Lib. ● Integritatem etc. in tanto viro refer injuria virtutum fuerit But as of all other his Writings so of this I will add that which Velleius spoke in commendation of Piso Nemo fuit qui megis quae agenda erant curaret sine ulla ostentatione agendi So not doubting good Christian Reader of thy assent herein but wishing thy favourable acceptance of this Work which will be an inducement to set forth others of his Learned labours I take my leave from Corpus Christi College in Oxford the sixth of July 1612. Thine in Christ Jesus HENRY JACKSON A LEARNED DISCOURSE OF Justification Works and how the Foundation of FAITH is overthrown HABAK. 1. 4. The wicked doth compass about the righteous therefore perverse judgement doth proceed FOR the better manifestation of the Prophet's meaning in this place we are first to consider the wicked of whom he saith that They compass about the righteous Secondly the righteous that are compassed about by them and Thirdly That which is inferred Therefore perverse judgement proceedeth Touching the first There are two kinds of wicked men of whom in the fist of the former to the Corinthians the blessed Apostle speaketh thus 1 Cor. 5. 13. Do ye not judge them that are within But God judgeth them that art without There are wicked therefore whom the Church may judge and there are wicked whom God only judgeth wicked within and wicked without the walls of the Church If within the Church particular persons be apparently such as cannot otherwise be reform the rule of the Apostolical judgement is this Separate them from among you if whole Assemblies this 2 Cor. 6. 7. Separate yourselves from among them For what society hath light with darkness But the wicked whom the Prophet meaneth were Babylonians and therefore without For which cause we heard at large heretofore in what sort he urgeth God to judge them 2. Now concerning the righteous their neither it nor ever was any mere natural man absolutely righteous in himself that is to say void of all unrighteousness of all sin We dare not except no not the blessed Virgin herself of whom although we say with St. Augustine for the honour sake which we owe to our Lord and Saviour Christ we are not willing in this cause to move any question of his Mother yet for as much as the Schools of Rome have made it a question we may answer with a Or whosoever it be that was the author of those Homilies that go under his name Eusebius Emissenus who speaketh of her and to her in this effect Thou didst by special Prerogative nine months together entertain within the Closet of the Flesh the hope of all the ends of the Earth the honour of the World the common joy of Men. He from whom all things had their beginning had his beginning from thee of the Body he took the blood which was to be shed for the life of the World of thee he took that which even for thee be paid Knowing how the Schoolmen hold this question some Critical wits may perhaps half suspect that these two words Per se are Inmates But ●l the place which they have be their own their sense can be none other than that which I have given them by a paraphrastical interpretation A peccati enim veteris nexu per se non est immunis ipsa genitrix Redemptoris The Mother of the Redeemer himself is not otherwise loosed from the bond of ancient sin than by redemption if Christ have paid a ransom for all even for her it followeth that all without exception were Captives If one have died for all than all were dead in sin all sinful therefore none absolutely righteous in themselves but we are absolutely righteous in Christ. The World then must show a righteous man otherwise not able to show a man that is perfectly righteous Christ is made to us Wisdom justice Sanctification and Redemption Wisdom because he hath revealed his Father's will justice because he hath offered up himself a Sacrifice for sin Sanctification because he hath given us his Spirit Redemption because he hath appointed a day to vindicate his Children out of the bonds of Corruption into liberty which is glorious How Christ is made Wisdom and how Redemption it may be declared when occasion serveth But how Christ is made the Righteousness of men we are now to declare 3. There is a glorifying Righteousness of men in the World to come as there is a justifying and sanctifying Righteousness here The Righteousness wherewith we shall be clothed in the World to come is both perfect and inherent That whereby here we are justified is perfect but not inherent That whereby we are sanctified is inherent but not perfect This openeth a way to the understanding of that grand question which hangeth yet in controversy between us and the Church of Rome about the matter of justifying Righteousness They teach as we do that God doth justify the Soul of man alone without any co-effective cause of Justice 4. First although they imagine that the Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ were for his honour and by his special protection preserved clean from all sin yet touching the rest they teach as we do That Infants that never did actually offend have their Natures defiled destitute of Justice averted from God That in making man righteous none do efficiently work with God but God They teach as we do that unto Justice no man ever attained but by the Merits of Jesus Christ. Deus si●e ●eido co-effectvo animam justificat Ca sal de qundripart just l. 6. c. Idem lib. 3. c. 9 They teach as we do That although Christ as God be the efficient as Man the meritorious cause of our Justice yet in us also there is some thing required God is the cause of our natural life in him we live but he quickeneth not the Body without the Soul in the Body Christ hath merited to make us just but as a medicine which is made for health doth not head by being made but by being applied so by the merits of Christ there can be no Justification without the application of his Merits Thus far we join hands with the Church of Rome The difference between the Parish and on about Justification 5. Wherein then do we disagree We disagree about the future and offence of the Medicine whereby Christ cureth our Disease about the 〈…〉 of applying it about the number and the power of means which God requireth in as for the effectual applying thereof to our Soul's comfort When they are re 〈…〉 that the righteousness is whereby a Christian man is justified they a Tho. Aq●a 1. 2. quaest. 100 Gratia gratum facieus ●● est justificam est in animo quiddam girl & pusitiu● qualites quaedam art 2 concls supernaturali non eadem cum virtute insula ut Magister sed eliquid art 3. praeter virtates insuse● sidem spem charitatem hablurdo cuaedem art 3. ad 3. que presuppomitur in virturibos asba sicur earuin principium & rador essentiam anima tanquam subjectum occupat non potentias sed ob ipsa art 4 ad 1. effluence vi● tutis in potentias animae per quas potentiae morentur ad actus phar vid. quasi 113. de Justificarione answer that it is a Divine Spiritual quality which quality received into the Soul doth first make it to be one of them who are born of God and secondly endue it with power to bring forth such works as they do that are born of him even as the Soul of Man being joined to his Body doth first make him to be of the number of reasonable Creatures and secondly enable him to perform the natural Functions which are proper to his kind That it maketh the Soul amiable and gracious in the sight of God in regard whereof it is termed Grace That is purgeth purifieth and washeth out all the stains and pollutions of sins that by it through the merit of Christ we are delivered as from sin so from eternal death and condemnation the reward of sin This Grace they will have to be applied by infusion to the end that as the Body is warm by the heat which is in the Body so the Soul might be righteous by inherent Grace which Grace they make capable of increase as the Body may be more and more warm so the Soul more and more justified according as Grace should be augmented the augmentation whereof is merited by good Works as good Works are made meritorious by it Wherefore the first receipt of Grace in their Divinity is the first Justification the increase thereof the second Justification As Grace may be increased by the merit of good Works so it may be diminished by the demerit of sins venial it may be lost by mortal sin In as much therefore as it is needful in the one case to repair in the other to recover the loss which is made the infusion of Grace hath her sundry after-meals for the which cause they make many ways to apply the infusion of Grace It is applied to Infants through Baptism without either Faith or Works and in them really it taketh away Original sin and the punishment due unto it It is applied to Infidels and wicked men in the first Justification through Baptism without Works yet not without Faith and it taketh away both Sins Actual and Original together with all whatsoever punishment eternal or temporal thereby deserved Unto such as have attained the first Justification that is to say the first receipt of Grace it is applied farther by good Works to the increase of former Grace which is the second Justification If they work more and more Grace doth more increase and they are more and more justified To such as diminished it by venial sins it is applied by Holywater Ave Mary's Cross Papal Salutations and such like which serve for reparations of Grace decayed To such as have lost it through mortal sin it is applied by the Sacrament as they term it of Penance which Sacrament hath force to confer Grace anew yet in such sort that being so conferred it hath not altogether so much power as at the first For it only cleanseth out the stain or guilt of sin committed and changeth the punishment eternal into a temporal satisfactory punishment here if time do serve if not hereafter to be endured except it be lightened by Masses Works of Charity Pilgrimages Fasts and such like or else shortened by pardon for term or by plenary pardon quite removed and taken away This is the mystery of the man of sin This maze the Church of Rome doth cause her Followers to tread when they ask her the way to Justification I cannot stand now to untip this Building and to si● it piece by piece only I will pass by it in few words that that may befall B●… in the presence of that which God hath builded as happened unto Dagon before the Ark. 6. Doubtless saith the Apostle I have counted all things loss and judge them to be doing that I may win Christ and to be found in him not having my own righteousness but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God through Faith Whether they speak of the first or second Justification they make it the essence of a Divine quality inherent they make it Righteousness which is in us If it be in us then is it ours as our Souls are ours though we have them from God and can hold them no longer than pleaseth him for if he withdraw the breath of our nostrils we fall to dust but the Righteousness wherein we must be found if we will be justified is not our own therefore we cannot be justified by any inherent quality Christ hath merited righteousness for as many as are found in him In him God findeth us if we be faithful for by Faith we are incorporated into Christ. Then although in ourselves we be altogether sinful and unrighteous yet even the man which is impious in himself full of iniquity full of sin him being found in Christ through Faith and having his sin remitted through Repentance him God upholdeth with a gracious eye putteth away his sin by not imputing it taketh quite away the Punishment due thereunto by pardoning it and accepteth him in Jesus Christ as perfectly righteous as if he had fulfilled all that was commanded him in the Law shall I say more perfectly righteous than if himself had fulfilled the whole Law I must take heed what I say but the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.21 God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Such we are in the sight of God the Father as is the very Son of God himself Let it be counted folly or frenzy or fury whatsoever it is our comfort and our wisdom we care for no knowledge in the World but this That man hath sinned and God hath suffered That God hath made himself the Son of Man and that men are made the righteousness of God You see therefore that the Church of Rome in teaching Justification by inherent Grace doth pervert the truth of Christ and that by the hands of the Apostles we have received otherwise than she reacheth Now concerning the righteousness of Sanctification we deny it not to be inherent we grant that unless we work we have it not only we distinguish it as a thing different in nature from the righteousness of Justification we are righteous the one way by the faith of Abraham the other way except we do the works of Abraham we are not righteous Of the one St. Paul To him that worketh not but believeth Rom. 4 6. Faith is counted for Righteousness Of the other St. john Qui facit justitiam justus est He is righteous which worketh Righteousness Of the one St. Paul doth prove by Abraham's Example that we have it of Faith without Works Of the other St. james by Abraham's Example that by Works we have it and not only by Faith St. Paul doth plainly sever these two parts of Christian righteousness one from the other For in the sixth to the Romans thus he writeth Being freed from sin Rom. 6. and made Servants to God ye have your fruit in Holiness and the end everlasting life Ye are made free from sin and made Servants unto God this is the righteousness of justification ye have your Fruit in Holiness this is the righteousness of Sanctification By the one we are interessed in the right of inheriting by the other we are brought to the actual possession of eternal bliss and so the end of both is everlasting life 7. The Prophet Habakh doth here term the Jews Righteous men not only because being justified by Faith they were free from sin but also because they had their measure of fruits in Holiness According to whose example of charitable Judgement which leaveth it to God to discern what we are and speaketh of them according to that which they do profess themselves to be although they be not holy men whom men do think but whom God doth know indeed to be such yet let every Christian man know that in Christian equity he standeth bound for to think and speak of his Brethren as of men that have a measure in the fruit of Holiness and a right unto the Titles wherewith God in token of special favour and mercy vouchsafeth to honour his chosen Servants So we see the Apostle of our Saviour Christ do use every where the name of Saints so the Prophet the name of Righteous But let us all be such as we desire to be termed Reatus impii est pium nomen saith Salvianus Godly names do not justify godless men We are but upbraided when we are honoured with names and Titles whereunto our lives and manners are not suitable If indeed we have our fruit in Holiness notwithstanding we must note that the more we abound therein the more need we have to crave that we may be strengthened and supported Our very virtues may be snares unto us The enemy that waiteth for all occasions to work our ruin hath found it harder to overthrow an humble Sinner than a proud Saint There is no man's case so dangerous as his whom Satan hath persuaded that his own righteousness shall present him pure and blameless in the sight of God If we could say we were not guilty of any thing at all in our Consciences we know ourselves far from this innocency we cannot say we know nothing by ourselves but if we could should we therefore plead not guilty before the presence of our Judge that sees further into our hearts than we ourselves can do If our hands did never offer violence to our Brethren a bloody thought doth prove us Murderers before him If we had never opened our mouth to utter any scandalous offensive or hurtful word the cry of our secret cogitations is heard in the ears of God If we did not commit the sins which daily and hourly either in deed word or thoughts we do commit yet in the good things which we do how many defects are these intermingled God in that which is done respecteth the mind and intention of the doer Cutt off then all those things wherein we have regarded our own glory those things which men do to please men and to satisfy our own liking those things which we do for any by-respect not sincerely and purely for the love of God and a small score will serve for the number of our righteous deeds Let the holiest and best things which we do be considered we are never better affected unto God than when we pray yet when we pray how are our affections many times distracted how little reverence do we show unto the grand Majesty of God unto whom we speak How little remorse of our own miseries How little taste of the sweet influence of his tender mercies do we feel Are we not as unwilling many times to begin and as glad to make an ends as if in saying Call upon me he had set us a very burdensome task it may seen somewhat extreme which I will speak therefore let every one judge of it even as his own heart shall tell him and no otherwise I will but only make a demand If God should yield unto us not as unto Abraham If fifty forty thirty twenty yea or if ten good Persons could be found in a City for their sakes that City should not be destroyed but and if he should make us an offer thus large Search all the Generations of men sithence the Fall of our Father Adam find one man that hath done one Action which hath passed from him pure without any strain or blemish at all and for that one man's only action neither Man nor Angel shall feel the torments which are prepared for both Do you think that this ransom to deliver Men and Angels could be found to be among the Sons of men The best things which we do have somewhat in them to be pardoned How then can we do any thing meritorious or worthy to be rewarded Indeed God doth liberally promise whatsoever appertaineth to a blessed life to as many as sincerely keep his Law though they be not exactly able to keep it Wherefore we acknowledge a dutiful necessity of doing well but the meritorious dignity of doing well we utterly renounce We see how far we are from the perfect righteousness of the Law the little fruit which we have in holiness it is God knoweth corrupt and unfound we put no confidence at all in it we challenge nothing in the world for it we dare not call God to reckoning as if we had him in our Debt-books our continual suit to him is and must be to bear with our infirmities and pardon our offences 8. But the People of whom the Prophet speaketh were they all or were the most part of them such as had care to walk uprightly Did they thirst after righteousness did they with did they long with the righteous Prophet Oh that our ways were so direct that we might keep thy Statutes Did they lament with the righteous Apostle Oh miserable men the good which we wish and purpose and strive to do we cannot Rom. 7. 19 No the words of the other Prophet concerning this People do show the contrary How grievously hath Esay mourned over them O sinful Nation laden with Iniquity wicked Se●d corrupt Children All which notwithstanding so wide are the bowels of his Compassion enlarged that he denieth us not no not when we were laden with Iniquity leave to commune familiarly with him liberty to crave and entreat that what Plagues soever we have deserved we may not be in worse case than Unbelievers that we may not be hemmed in by Pagans and Infidels jerusalem is a sinful polluted City but jerusalem compared with Babylon is righteous And shall the Righteous be overborn shall they be compassed about by the Wicked But the Prophet doth not only complain Lord how cometh it to pass that thou handlest us so hardly of whom thy Name is called and bearest with the Heathen-Nations that despise thee No he breaketh out through extremity of grief and inferreth violently This proceeding is perverse the Righteous are thus handled therefore perverse judgement doth proceed 9 Which illation containeth many things whereof it were better much both for you to hear and me to speak if necessity did not draw me to another task Paul and Barnabas being requested to preach the same things again which once they had preached Acts 13. 41 44. thought it their Duty to satisfy the godly desires of men sincerely affected to the truth Nor may it seem burdenous for me nor for you unprofitable that I follow their example the like occasion unto theirs being offered me When we had last the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrew in hand and of that Epistle these words Heb. 1. 2. In these last days he hath spoken unto us by his Son After we had thence collected the nature of the visible Church of Christ and had defined it to be a community of men sanctified through the profession of the Truth which God hath taught the World by his Son By Sanctification I mean a separation from others not profession as they do For true Holiness consisteth not in professing but in obeying the truth of Christ. and had declared That the scope of Christian Doctrine is the comfort of them whose hearts are overcharged with the burden of sin and had proved that the Doctrine professed in the Church of Rome doth bereave men of comfort both in their lives and in their deaths The conclusion in the end whereunto we came was this The Church of Rome being in Faith so corrupted as she is and refusing to be reform as she doth we are to sever ourselves from her the example of our Fathers may not retain us in communion with that Church under hope that we so continuing may be saved as well as they God I doubt no● was merciful to save thousands of them though they lived in Popish Superstitions inasmuch as they sinned ignorantly but the Truth is now laid before our Eyes The former part of this last Sentence namely these words I doubt not but God was merciful to save thousands of our Fathers living in Popish Superstitions inasmuch as they seemed ignorantly This Sentence I beseech you to mark and to fist it with the severity of austere judgement that if it be found to be gold it may be suitable to the precious foundation whereon it was then laid for I protest that if it be hay or stubble my own hand shall see fire on it Two questions have risen by this speech before alleged The one Whether our Fathers infected with Popish Errors and Superstitions may be saved The other Whether their ignorance be a reasonable inducement to make us think they might We are then to examine first what possibility then what probability there is that God might be merciful unto so many of our Fathers 10. So many of our Fathers living in Popish Superstitions yet by the mercy of God be saved No this could not be God hath spoken by his Angel from Heaven unto his People concerning Babylon by Babylon we understand the Church of Rome Apoc. 18. 4. Go out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Plagues For answer whereunto first I do not take the words to be meant only of Temporal plagues of the Corporal death sorrow famine and fire whereunto God in his wrath had condemned Babylon and that to save his chosen People from these Plagues he saith Go out with like intent as in the Gospel speaking of Ierusalem's desolations he saith Matth. 24. 16. Let them that are in Judea fly unto the Mountains and them that are in the midst thereof depart one or as in the former times to Lot Gen. 19 15. Arise take thy Wife and thy Daughters which are there lest thou be destroyed in the punishment of the City but forasmuch as here it is said Go out of Babylon we doubt their everlasting destruction which are Partakers therein is either principally meant or necessarily employed in this Sentence How then was it possible for so many of our Fathers to be saved since they were so far from departing out of Babylon that they took her for their Mother and in her bosom yielded up the Ghost 11. First for the Plagues being threatened unto them that are Partakers in the sins of Babylon we can define nothing concerning our Fathers our of this Sentence unless we show what the sins of Babylon be and what they be which are such Partakers of them that their everlasting plagues are inevitable The sins which may be common both to them of the Church of Rome and to others departed thence must be severed from this question He which saith Department of Babylon lest ye be partakers of her sons showeth plainly that he meaneth such sins as except we separate ourselves we have no power in the World to avoid such impieties as by their Law they have established and whereunto all that are among them either do indeed assent or else are by powerful means forced in show and appearance to subject themselves As for example in the Church of Rome it is maintained That the same credit and reverence that we give to the Scriptures of God ought also to be given to unwritten verities That the Pope is Supreme head ministerial over the Universal Church-militant That the Bread in the Eucharist is transubstantiated into Christ That it is to be adored and to be offered up unto God as a Sacrifice propitiatory for quick and dead That Images are to be worshipped Saints to be called upon as Intercessors and such like Now because some Heresies do concern things only believed as the transubstantiation of the Sacramental Elements in the Eucharist some concern things which practised and put in ure as the adoration of the Elements transubstantiated we must note that erroneously the practice of that is sometime received whereof the doctrine that teacheth it is not heretically maintained They are all partakers of the maintenance of Heresies who by word or deed allow them knowing them although not knowing them to be Heresies as also they and that most dangerously of all others who knowing Heresy to be Heresy do notwithstanding in worldly respects make semblance of allowing that which in heart and judgement they condemn But Heresy is heretically maintained by such as obstinately hold it after wholesome admonition Of the last sort as of the next before I make no doubt but that their condemnation without an actual repentance is inevitable Lest any man therefore should think that in speaking of our Fathers I should speak indifferently of them all let my words I beseech you be well marked I doubt not but God was merciful to save them sands of our Fathers which thing I will now by God's assistance set more plainly before your eyes 12. Many are partakers of the error which are not of the heresy of the Church of Rome The people following the conduct of their guides and observing as they did exactly that which was prescribed thought they did God good service when indeed they did dishonour him This was their error but the Heresy of the Church of Rome their dogmatical Positions opposite unto Christian truth what one man amongst ten thousand did ever understand Of them which understand Roman Heresies and allow them all are not a like partakers in the action of allowing Some allow them as the first founders and establishers of them which crime toucheth none but their Popes and Counsels the people are dear and free from this Of them which maintain Popish Heresies not as Authors but receivers of them from others all maintain them not as Masters In this are not the people partakers neither but only the Predicants and Schoolmen Of them which have been partakers in this sin of teaching Popish Heresy there is also a difference for they have not all been Teachers of all Popish Heresy Put a difference Verse saith S. jude have compassion upon some Shall we lap up all in one condition Shall we cast them all headlong Shall we plunge them all into that infernal and everlasting flaming lake Them that have been partakers of the errors of Babylon together with them which are in the Heresy them which have been the Authors of Heresy with them that by terror and violence have been forced to receive it Them who have taught it with them whose simplicity hath by slights and conveyances of false Teachers been seduced to believe it Them which have been partakers in one with them which have been partakers in many Them which in many with them which in all 13. Notwithstanding I grant that although the condemnation of them be more tolerable then of these yet from the man that laboureth at the plough to him that sitteth in the Vatican to all partakers in the sins of Babylon to our Fathers though they did but erroneously practise that which the guide heretically taught to all without exception plagues were due The pit is ordinarily the end as well of the guide as of the guided in blindness But woe worth the hour wherein we were born except we might promise ourselves better things things which accompany man's salvation even where we know that worse and such as accompany condemnation are due Then must we show some way how possibly they might escape What way is there that sinners can find to escape the judgement of God but only by appealing to the seat of his saving mercy Which mercy with origin we do not extend to Devils and damned spirits God hath mercy upon thousands but there be thousands also which he hardeneth Christ hath therefore set the bounds he hath fixed the limits of his saving mercy within the compass of these terms God sent not his own Son to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved John 3. 17. In the third of S. john's Gospel mercy is restrained to believers I 'll that believeth shall not be condemned I 'll that believeth not is condemned already because he believeth not in the Son of God In the second of the Revelation mercy is restrained to the penitent For of jezabel and her Sectarics thus he speakth I gave her space to repent and she repented not Behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit fornication with her into great affliction except they repent them of their works and I will kill her children with death Our hope therefore of the Fathers is if they were not altogether faithless and impenitent that they are saved 14. They are not all faithless that are weak in assenting to the truth or stiff in maintaining things opposite to the truth of Christian Doctrine But as many as hold the foundation which is precious though they hold it but weakly and as it were with a slender thread although they frame many base and unsuitable things upon it things that cannot abide the trial of the fire yet shall they pass the fiery trial and be saved which indeed have builded themselves upon the Rock which is the foundation of the Church If then our Fathers did not hold the foundation of Faith there is no doubt but they were faithless If many of them held it then is therein no impediment but many of them might be saved Then let us see what the foundation of Faith is and whether we may think that thousands of our Fathers being in Popish Superstitions did notwithstanding hold the foundation 15. If the Foundation of Faith do import the general ground whereupon we rest when we do believe the Writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles are the foundation of the Christian Faith Credimus quia legimus saith S. Jerome Oh that the Church of Rome did as a They misinterpret not only by making false and corrupt glosses upon the Scripture but also by forcing the old vulgar Translation as the only Authentical Howbeit they refuse ●o Book which is Canonical though they admit sundry which are not sound interpret these fundamental Writings whereupon we build our Faith as she doth willingly hold and embrace them 16. But if the name of Foundation do note the principal thing which is believed then is that the Foundation of our Faith which St Paul hath to Timothy b 1 Tim. 3. 16. God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit etc. that of Nathaniel c John 1. 49. Thou art the Son of the living God thou art the King of Israel that of the Inhabitants of Samaria d John 44. This is Christ the Saviour of the world he that directly denieth this doth utterly raze the very foundation of our Faith I have proved heretofore that although the Church of Rome hath played the Harlot worse than ever did Israel yet are they not as now the Synagogue of the jews which plainly deny Christ Jesus quite and clean excluded from the new Covenant But as Samaria compared with jerusalem is termed Aholath a Church or Tabernacle of her own chose jerusalem Aholibath the resting place of the Lord so whatsoever we term the Church of Rome when we compare her with Reformed Churches still we put a difference as then between Babylon and Samaria so now between Rome and the Heathenish Assemblies Which Opinion I must and will recall I must grant and will that the Church of Rome together with all her children is clean excluded There is no difference in the World between our Fathers and Saracens Turks and paynims if they did directly deny Christ crucified for the salvation of the World 17. But how many millions of them were known so to have ended their lives that the drawing of their breath hath ceased with the uttering of this Faith Christ my Saviour my Redeemer jesus Answer is made That this they might unfeignedly confess and yet be far enough from Salvation For behold saith the Apostle I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Gal. 5. 2. Christ in the work of man's salvation is alone the Galathians were cast away by joining Circumcision and the other Rites of the Law with Christ the Church of Rome doth teach her children to join other things likewise with him therefore their saith their belief doth not profit them any thing at all It is true that they do indeed join other things with Christ but how Not in the work of Redemption itself which they grant that Christ alone hath performed sufficiently for the salvation of the whole world but in the application of this inestimable treasure that it may be effectual to their salvation how demurely soever they confess that they seek remission of sins no otherwise then by the blood of Christ using humbly the means appointed by him to apply the benefit of his holy Blood they teach indeed so many things pernicious in Christian Faith in setting down the means whereof they speak that the very foundation of Faith which they hold is thereby e Plainly in all men's sight whose eyes God hath enlightened on behold this truth For they which are in error are in darkness and see not that which in light is plain in that which they reach concerning the natures of Christ● they held the same with Nestorius fully the same with ●●●●he● about the proprieties of his nature plainly overthrown and the force of the blood of Jesus Christ extinguished We may therefore disputing with them urge them even with as dangerous sequels as the Apostle doth the Galatians But I demand If some of those Galatians heartily embracing the Gospel of Christ sincere and sound in Faith this one only error excepted had ended their lives before they were ever taught how perilous an opinion they held shall we think that the danger of this error did so over-weigh the benefit of their faith that the mercy of God might not save them I grant they overthrew the foundation of Faith by consequent doth not that so likewise which the f The opinion of the Lutherans though it be no direct denial of the foundation may notwithstanding be damnable unto some and I do not think but that in many respects it is less damnable as at this day some maintain it than it was in them which held it at first as Luther and others whom I had an eye unto in this speech The Question is not Whether ●o error with such and such circumstances but simply Whether an error overthrowing the foundation do exclude all possibility of salvation if it be not r●enated and expressly repent of Lutheran Churches do at this day so stiffly and so firmly maintain For mine own part I dare not here deny the possibility of their salvation which have been the chiefest instruments of ours albeit they carried to their grave a persuasion so greatly repugnant to the truth Forasmuch therefore as it may be said of the Church of Rome she hath yet a little strength she doth not directly deny the foundation of Christianity I may I trust without offence persuade myself that thousands of our Fathers in former times living and dying within her walls have found mercy at the hands of God 18. What although they repented not of their errors God forbid that I should open my mouth to gainsay that which Christ himself hath spoken Except ye repent ye shall all perish And if they did not repent they perished But withal note that we have the benefit of a double Repentance the least sin which we commit in Deed Thought or Word is death without Repentance Yet how many things do escape us in every of these which we do not know How many which we do not observe to be sins And without the knowledge without the observation of sin there is no actual Repentance It cannot then be chosen but that for as many as hold the foundation and have holden all Sins and Errors in hatred the blessing of Repentance for unknown Sins and Errors is obtained at the hands of God through the gracious mediation of Jesus Christ for such suitors as cry with the Prophet David Purge me O Lord from my secret sins 19 But we wash a wall of loom we labour in vain all this is nothing it doth not prove it cannot justify that which we go about to maintain Infidels and Heathen men are not so godless but that they may no doubt cry God mercy and desire in general to have their sins forgiven them To such as deny the foundation of Faith there can be no Salvation according to the ordinary course which God doth use in saving men without a particular repentance of that Error The Galathians thinking that unless they were circumcised they could not be saved overthrew the foundation of Faith directly therefore if any of them did die so persuaded whether before or after they were told of their Errors their end is dreadful there is no way with them but one death and condemnation For the Apostle speaketh nothing of men departed but saith generally of all If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Ye are abolished from Christ whosoever are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace Gal. 5. Of them in the Church of Rome the reason is the same For whom Antichrist hath seduced concerning them did not S. Paul speak long before they received not the word of truth that they might not be saved 2 Thes. 2. 11. therefore God would send them strong delusions to believe lies that all they might be damned which believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness And S. john All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life Apoc. 13. Apoc. 13. v. ● Indeed many in former times as their Books and Writings do yet show held the foundation to wit salvation by Christ alone and therefore might be saved God hath always had a Church amongst them which firmly kept his saving truth As for such as hold with the Church of Rome that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without works they do not only by a circle of consequence but directly deny the foundation of Faith they hold it not no not so much as by a thread 20. This to my remembrance being all that hath been opposed with any countenance or show of reason I hope if this be answered the cause in question is at an end Concerning general Repentance therefore what a Murderer a Blasphemer an unclean person a Turk a jew any sinner to escape the wrath of God by a general Repentance God forgive me Truly it never came within my heart that a general Repentance doth serve for all sins it serveth only for the common oversights of our sinful life and for the faults which either we do not mark or do not know that they are faults Our Fathers were actually penitent for sins wherein they knew they displeased God or else they fall not within the compass of my first speech Again that otherwise they could not be saved than holding the foundation of Christian Faith we have not only affirmed but proved Why is it not then confessed that thousands of our Fathers which lived in Popish Superstitions might yet by the mercy of God be saved First if they had directly denied the very foundations of Christianity without repenting them particularly of that sin he which saith There could be no salvation for them according to the ordinary course which God doth use in saving men granteth plainly or at the least closely insinuateth that an extraordinary privilege of mercy might deliver their souls from Hell which is more than I required Secondly if the foundation be denied it is denied for fear of some Heresy which the Church of Rome maintaineth But how many were there amongst our Fathers who being seduced by the common Error of that Church never knew the meaning of her Heresies So that although all Popish Heretics did perish thousands of them which lived in Popish Superstitions might be saved Thirdly seeing all that held Popish Heresies did not hold all the Heresies of the Pope why might not thousands which were infected with other leaven live and die unsowred with this and so be saved Fourthly If they all held this Heresy many there were that held it no doubt but only in a general form of words For this is the only thing alleged to prove the impossibility of their salvation The Church of Rome joineth works with Christ which is a denial of the foundation and unless we hold the foundation we cannot be saved which a favourable Interpretation might expound in a sense differing far enough from the poisoned conceit of Heresy As for example Did they hold that we cannot be saved by Christ without good works We ourselves do I think all say as much with this Construction salvation being taken as in that sentence Cord creditur ad justitiam o'er fit confessio ad salutem except Infants and Men cut off upon the point of their conversion of the rest none shall see God but such as seek peace and holiness though not as a Cause of their salvation yet as a Way which they must walk which will be saved Did they hold that without works we are not justified Take justification so as it may also imply sanctification and St. james doth say as much For except there be an ambiguity in the same term St. Paul and St. james do contradict each the other which cannot be Now there is no ambiguity in the name either of Faith or of Works being meant by them both in one and the same sense Finding therefore that Justification is spoken of by St Paul without implying Sanctification when he proveth that a man is justified by faith without works finding likewise that justification doth sometime imply sanctification also with it I suppose nothing to be more sound then so to interpret St james speaking not in that sense but in this 21. We have already showed that there be two kinds of Christian righteousness the one without us which we have by imputation the other in us which consisteth of faith hope and charity and other Christian Virtues And S. james doth prove that Abraham had not only the one because the thing believed was imputed unto him for righteousness but also the other because he offered up his Son God giveth us both the one justice and the other the one by accepting us for righteous in Christ the other by working Christian righteousness in us The proper and most immediate efficient cause in us of this latter is the Spirit of adoption we have received into our hearts That whereof it consisteth whereof it is really and formally made are those infused virtues proper and peculiar unto Saints which the Spirit in the very moment when first it is given of God bringeth with it the effects whereof are such actions as the Apostle doth call the fruits of works the operation of the Spirit The difference of the which operations from the root whereof they spring maketh it needful to put two kinds likewise of sanctifying righteousness Habitual and Actual Habitual that holiness wherewith our souls are inwardly endued the same instant when first we begin to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost Actual that holiness which afterwards beautifieth all the parts and actions of our life the holiness for which Enoch job Zachary Elizabeth and other Saints are in the Scriptures so highly commended If here i● he demanded which of these we do first receive I answer that the Spirit the virtue of the spirit the habitual justice which is engrafted the external justice of Jesus Christ which is imputed these we receive all at one and the same time whensoever we have any of these we have all they go together Yet sith no man is justified except he believe and no man believeth except he hath Faith and no man except he hath received the spirit of Adoption hath Faith forasmuch as they do necessarily infer justification and justification doth of necessity presuppose them we must needs hold that imputed righteousness in dignity being the chiefest is notwithstanding in order to the last of all these but Actual righteousness which is the righteousness of good works succeedeth all followeth after all both in order and time Which being attentiuly marked showeth plainly how the faith of true Believers cannot be divorced from hope and love● how faith is a part of sanctification and yet unto justification necessary how faith is perfected by good works and not works of ours without faith Finally how our Fathers might hold that we are justified by Faith alone and yet hold truly that without works we are not justified Did they think that men do merit rewards in heaven by the works they perform on earth The Ancients use meriting for obtaining and in that sense they of Wittenberg have it in their Confession We teach that good works commanded of God are necessarily to be done and by the free kindness of God they merit their certain rewards Therefore speaking as our Fathers did and we taking their speech in a ●ound meaning as we may take our Fathers and might for as much as their meaning is doubtful and charity doth always interpret doubtful things favourably what should induce as to think that rather the damage of the worst construction did light upon them all then that the blessing of the better was granted unto thousands Fiftly if in the worst construction that may be made they had generally all embraced it living might not many of them dying utterly renounce it Howsoever men when they sit at ease do vainly tickle their hearts with the vain conceit of I know not what proportionable correspondence between their merits and their rewards which in the trance of their high speculations they dream that God hath measured weighed and laid up as it were in bundles for them notwithstanding we see by daily experience in a number even of them that when the hour of death approacheth when they secretly hear themselves summoned forthwith to appear and stand at the Bar of that Judge whose brightness causeth the eyes of the Angels themselves to dazzle all these idle imaginations do then begin to hide their faces to name merits then is to lay their souls upon the rack the memory of their own deeds is loathsome unto them they forsake all things wherein they have put any trust or confidence no staff to lean upon no ease no rest no comfort then but only in Jesus Christ. 22. Wherefore if this proposition were true To hold in such wise as the Church of Rome doth that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without works is directly to deny the foundation of Faith They may cease to put any confidence in works and yet never think living in Popish superstition they did amiss Pighius died Popish and yet denial Popery in the Article of Justification by works long before his death I say that if this proposition were true nevertheless so many ways I have showed whereby we may hope that thousands of our Fathers which lived in popish superstition might be saved But what if it be not true What if neither that of the Galathians concerning Circumcision nor this of the Church of Rome by Works be any direct denial of the foundation as it is affirmed that both are I need not wade so far as to discuss this Controversy the matter which first was brought into question being so clear as I hope it is Howbeit because I desire that the truth even in that also should receive light I will do mine endeavour to set down somewhat more plainly First the foundation of Faith what it is Secondly what is directly to deny the foundation Thirdly whether they whom God hath chosen to be heirs of life may fall so far as directly to deny it Fourthly whether the Galathians did so by admitting the error about Circumcision and the Law Last of all whether the Church of Rome for this one opinion of Works may be thought to do the like and thereupon to be no more a Christian Church than are the Assemblies of Turks and Jews 23. This word Foundation being figuratively used What the foundation of saith is V●caeto ad con●ionem multitudine quae coalesecre in populi unial corpus nu●a et pra●erquam I legibus poterat Liv. de Rom. lib. 1. Ephes. 1. 23. & 4. 1● Ephes. 2. 20. hath always reference to somewhat which resembleth a material building as both that Doctrine of Laws and the community of Christians do By the Masters of Civil Policy nothing is so much inculcated as that Commonweals are founded upon Laws for that a multitude cannot be compacted into one body otherwise then by a common acception of Laws whereby they are to be kept in order The ground of all civil Laws is this No man ought to be hurt or injured by another Take away this persuasion and yet take away all the Laws take away Laws and what shall become of Common-weals So it is in our spiritual Christian Community I do not mean that Body Mystical whereof Christ is only the head that Building undiscernible by mortal eyes wherein Christ is the chief corner stone but I speak of the visible Church the foundation whereof is the doctrine which the Prophets and the Apostles professed The mark whereunto their Doctrine tendeth is pointed at in these words of Peter unto Christ. Thou hast the words of eternal life John 6. 63. In those words of Paul to Timothy The holy Scriptures are able to wake thee wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. It is the demand of nature itself What shall we do to have eternal life The desire of immortality and the knowledge of that whereby it may be obtained is so natural unto all men that even they who are not persuaded that they shall do notwithstanding wish that they might know a way how to see no end of life And because natural means are not able still to resist the force of Death there is no people in the earth so savage which hath not devised some supernatural help or other to fly for aid and succour in extremities against the enemies of the Laws A longing therefore to be saved without understanding the true way how hath been the cause of all the Superstitions in the World O that the miserable state of others which wander in darkness and wot not whither they go could give us understanding hearts worthily to esteem the riches of the mercy of God towards us before whose eyes the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven are set wide opens should we offer violence unto it it offereth violence unto us and we gather strength to withstand it But I am besides my purpose when I fall to bewail the cold affection which we bear towards that whereby we should be saved my purpose being only to set down what the ground of salvation is The Doctrine of the Gospel proposeth salvation as the end And doth it not teach the way of attaining thereunto Yet the Damosel possessed with a spirit of divination spoke the truth Acts 16. 17. Heb. 10. 20. These men are the Servants of the most high God which show unto us the way of Salvation A new and living way which Christ hath prepared for us through the vail that is his flesh Salvation purchased by the death of Christ. By this foundation the children of God before the written Law were distinguished from the sons of men Gen. 49. Job 19 the reverend Patriarches both possessed it living and spoke expressly of it at the hour of their death It comforted job in the midst of grief as it was afterwards the anker-hold of all the righteous in Israel from the writing of the Law to the time of grace Every Prophet making mention of it It was famously spoken of about the time when the coming of Christ to accomplish the promises which were made long before it drew near that the sound thereof was heard even amongst the Gentiles When he was come as many as were his acknowledged that he was their Salvation he that long expected hope of Israel he that Seed in whom all the Nations of the earth shall be blessed So that now he is a name of ruin Acts 4.18 a name of death and condemnation unto such as dream of a new Messias to as many as look for salvation by any other but by him For amongst men there is given no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved Thus much S. Mark doth intimate by that which he doth put in the front of this book making his entrance with these words The beginning of the Gospel of jesus Christ the Son of God His Doctrine he termeth the Gospel because it teacheth Salvation the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God because it teacheth salvation by him This is then the foundation whereupon the frame of the Gospel is erected that very Jesus whom the Virgin conceived of the holy Ghost Luke 1. 11. 1 Cor. 3. whom Simeon embraced in his arms whom Pilate condemned whom the jews crucified whom the Apostles preached he is Christ the Lord the only Saviour of the World Other foundation can no man lay Thus I have briefly opened that principle in Christianity which we call the foundation of our faith It followeth now that I declare unto you what is directly to overthrow it This will be better opened if we understand what it is to hold the foundation of Faith 24. There are which defend that many of the Gentiles who never heard the Name of Christ held the foundation of Christianity and why they acknowledged many of them the Providence of God his infinite wisdom strength power his goodness and his mercy towards the Children of men that God hath judgement in store for the wicked but for the righteous which serve him rewards etc. In this which they confessed that lieth covered which we believe in the Rudiments of their knowledge concerning God the foundation of our Faith concerning Christ lieth secretly wrapped up and is virtually contained therefore they held the foundation of Faith though they never had it Might we not with as good a colour of Reason defend that every Ploughman hath all the Sciences wherein Philosophers have excelled For no man is ignorant of their first Principles which do virtually contain whatsoever by natural means is or can be known Yea might we not with as great reason affirm that a man may put three mighty Oaks wheresoever three Akoms may be put For virtually an Akom is an Oak To avoid such Paradoxes we teach plainly that To hold the foundation is in express terms to acknowledge it 25. Now because the foundation is an affirmative Proposition they all overthrow it who deny it they directly overthrow it who deny it directly and they overthrow it by consequent or indirectly which hold any one assertion whatsoever whereupon the direct denial thereof may be necessarily concluded What is the Question between the Gentiles and Us but this Whether salvation be by Christ What between the jews and Us but this Whether by this jesus whom we call Christ yea or no This is to be the main point whereupon Christianity standeth it is clear by that one sentence of Festus concerning Paul's accusers They brought no crime of such things as I supposed but had certain questions against him of their superstition and of one jesus which was dead whom Paul affirmed to be alive Where we see that Jesus dead and raised for the Salvation of the World is by jesus denied despised by a Gentile by a Christian Apostle maintained The Fathers therefore in the Primitive Church when they wrote Tertullian the book which he called Apologeticus Minutius Faelix the Book which he intitleth Octavius Arnobius the seventh books against the Gentiles Chrysostom his Orations against the Jews Eusebius his ten books of Evangelical demonstration they stand in defence of Christianity against them by whom the foundation thereof was directly denied But the writings of the Fathers against Novatians Pelagians and other Heretics of the like note refel Positions whereby the foundation of Christian Faith was overthrown by consequent only In the former sort of Writings the foundation is proved in the latter it is alleged as a proof which to men that had been known directly to deny must needs have seemed a very beggarly kind of disputing All Infidels therefore deny the foundation of Faith directly by consequent many a Christian man yea whole Christian Churches have denied it and do deny it at this present day Christian Churches the foundation of Christianity not directly for than they cease to be Christian Churches but by consequent in respect whereof we condemn them as erroneous although for holding the foundation we do and must hold them Christians 26. We see what it is to hold the foundation what directly and what by consequent to deny it The next thing which followeth is whether they whom God hath chosen to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ may once effectually called and through faith justified truly afterwards fall so far as directly to deny the foundation which their hearts have before embraced with joy and comfort in the Holy Ghost for such is the faith which indeed doth justify Devils know the same things which we believe and the minds of the most ungodly may be fully persuaded of the Truth which knowledge in the one and in the other is sometimes termed faith but equivocally being indeed no such faith as that whereby a Christian man is justified It is the Spirit of Adoption which worketh faith in us in them not the things which we believe are by us apprehended not only as true but also as good and that to us as good they are not by them apprehended as true they are Whereupon followeth the third difference the Christian man the more he increaseth in faith the more his joy and comfort aboundeth but they the more sure they are of the truth the more they quake and tremble at it This begetteth another effect where the hearts of the one sort have a different disposition from the other Non ignoro plerosque conscientia meritorum nihil se esse per mortem magis optare quam credere Malunt cuim extingui penitus quam ad supplicia reparari I am not ignorant saith Minutius that there be many who being conscious what they are to look for do rather wish that they might then think that they shall cease when they cease to live because they hold it better that death should consume them unto nothing than God revive them unto punishment So it is in other Articles of Faith whereof wicked men think no doubt many times they are too true On the contrary side to the other there is no grief or torment greater then to feel their persuasion weak in things● whereof when they are persuaded they reap such comfort and joy of spirit such is the faith whereby we are justified such I mean in respect of the quality For touching the principal object of Faith longer than it holdeth the foundation whereof we have spoken it neither justifieth nor is but ceaseth to be faith when it ceaseth to believe that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of the World The cause of life spiritual in us is Christ not carnally or corporally inhabiting but dwelling in the soul of man as a thing which when the mind apprehendeth it is said to inhabit or possess the mind The mind conceiveth Christ by hearing the Doctrine of Christianity as the light of Nature doth the mind to apprehend those truths which are merely rational so that saving truth which is far above the reach of Humane Reason cannot otherwise then by the Spirit of the Almighty be conceived All these are implied wheresoever any of them is mentioned as the cause of the spiritual life Wherefore if we have read that a Rom. 8. 10. the spirit is our life or b Phil. 2. 15. the Word our life or c Col. 3.4 Christ our life We are in very of these to understand that our life is Christ by the hearing of the Gospel apprehended as a Saviour and assented unto through the power of the Holy Ghost The first intellectual conceit and comprehension of Christ so embraced 1 Pet. 1. St. Peter calleth the seed whereof we be new born Ephes. 2. 9 our first embracing of Christ is our first reviving from the state of death and condemation John 5. 11. He that hath the Son hath life saith St. john and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life If therefore he which once hath the Son may cease to have the Son though it be for a moment he ceaseth for that moment to have life But the life of them which have the Son of God is everlasting in the world to come 1 John 5. 13. Perpetuity of saith Rom. 6. 10. John 14. 19 But because as Christ being raised from the dead died no more death hath no more power over him so justified man being allied to God in Jesus Christ our Lord doth as necessarily from that time forward always live as Christ by whom he hath life liyeth always I might if I had not otherwhere largely done it already show by many and sundry manifest and clear proofs how the motions and operations of life are sometime so indiscernible and so secret that they seem stone-dead who notwithstanding are still alive unto God in Christ. For as long as that abideth in us which animateth quickeneth and giveth life so long we live and we know that the cause of our Faith abideth in us for ever I. Christ the Fountain of Life may flit and leave the Habitation where once he dwelleth What shall become of his Promise I am with you to the World's end If the Seed of God which containeth Christ may be first conceived and then cast out how doth S. Peter term it immortal 1 Pet. 1. 1. How doth St. john affirm 2 John 3. 9 It abideth If the Spirit which is given to cherish and preserve the Seed of Life may be given and taken away how is it the earnest of our inheritance until Redemption Ephes. 1. 4. 5. John 4. 14. how doth it continue with us for ever If therefore the man which is once just by faith shall live by Faith and live for ever it followeth that he which once doth believe the foundation must needs believe the foundation forever If he believe it for ever how can he ever directly deny it Faith holding the direct affirmation the direct negation so long as Faith continueth is excluded Object But you will say That as he that is to day holy may to morrow forsake his holiness and become impure as a friend may change his mind and be made an enemy as hope may wither so saith may die in the heart of man the Spirit may be quenched Grace may be extinguished they which believe may be quite turned away from the Truth Sol. The case is clear long experience hath made this manifest it needs no proof I grant we are apt prone and ready to forsake God but is God as ready to forsake us Our minds are changeable is His so likewise Whom God hath justified hath not Christ assured that it is his Father's will to give them a Kingdom Notwithstanding it shall not be otherwise given them than if they continue grounded and established in the Faith and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel if they abide in love and holiness Coll. 1. 23. Our Saviour therefore when he spoke of the sheep effectually called 1 Tim. 2. 15. John 10. and truly gathered into his fold I give untothem eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hands in promising to save them he promised no doubt to preserve them in that without which there can be no salvation as also from that whereby it is irrecoverably lost Every error in things appertaining unto God is repugnant unto Faith every fearful cogitation unto hope unto love every straggling inordinate desire unto holiness every blemish wherewith either the inward thoughts of our minds or the outward actions of our lives are stained But heresy such as that of Ebion Gerinthus and others against whom the Apostles were forced to bend themselves both by word and also by writing that repining discouragement of heart which tempteth God whereof we have Israel in the Desert for a pattern coldness such as that in the Angels of Ephesus soul sins known to be expressly against the first or second table of the Law such as Noah Monasses David Solomon and Peter committed These are each in their kind so opposite to the former virtues that they leave no place for salvation without an actual repentance But Infidelity extreme despair hatred of God and all goodness obduration in Sin cannot stand where there is but the least spark of Faith hope love and sanctity even as cold in the lowest degree cannot be where heat in the highest degree is found Whereupon I conclude that although in the first kind no man liveth which sinneth not and in the second as perfect as any do live may sin yet sith the man which is born of God 1 John 3. ● hath a promise That in him the Seed of God shall abide which Seed is a sure Preservative against the sins that are of the third suit Greater and clearer assurance we cannot have of any thing than of this that from such sins God shall preserve the Righteous as the apple of his Eye for ever Directly to deny the foundation of Faith is plain Infidelity where Faith is entered there Infidelity is for ever excluded Therefore by him which hath once sincerely believed in Christ the foundation of Christian Faith can never be directly denied Did not Peter Did not Marcellinus Did not others both directly deny Christ after that they had believed and again believe after they had denied No doubt as they confess in words whose Condemnation is nevertheless their not believing for example we have judas So likewisewise they may believe in Heart whose Condemnation without Repentance is their not Confessing Although therefore Peter and the rest for whose Faith Christ hath prayed that it might not fail did not by denial sin the Sin of Infidelity which is an inward abnegation of Christ for if they had done this their Faith had clearly failed Yet because they sinned notoriously and grievously committing that which they knew to be expressly forbidden by the Law which saith Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve necessary it was that he which purposed to save their Souls should as he did touch their Hearts with true unfeigned repentance that his mercy might restore them again to life whom Sin had made the children of Death and Condemnation Touching the point therefore I hope I may safely set down that if the Justified err as he may and never come to understand his error God doth save him through general repentance But if he fall into Heresy he calleth him at one time or other by actual repentance but from Infidelity which is an inward direct denial of the foundation he preserveth him by special providence for ever Whereby we may easily know what to think of those Galatians whose hearts were so possessed with the love of the Truth that if it had been possible they would have plucked out their eyes to bestow upon their Teachers It is true that they were greatly * Howsoever men be changed for changed they may be even the best amongst men if they that have received as it seemeth some of the Galatians which fell into error not received the Gifts and Graces of God which are called such as Faith Hope and Charity are which God doth never take away from him to whom they are given as less repent him to have given them if such might be so far changed by error as that the very root of Faith should be quite extinguished in them and so their Salvation utterly lost It would shake the hearts of the strongest and stoutest of us all See this contrary in Beza his observations upon the harmony of Confessions changed both in persuasion and affection so that the Galatians when Saint Paul wrote unto them were not now the Galatians which they had been in former time for that through error they wandered although they were his sheep I do not deny but that I should deny that they were his sheep if I should grant that through error they perished It was a perilous opinion that they held perilous even in them that held it only as an Error because it overthroweth the foundation by consequent But in them which obstinately maintain it I cannot think it less than a damnable Heresy We must therefore put a difference between them which err of ignorance retaining nevertheless a mind desirous to be instructed in Truth and them which after the Truth is laid open persist in the stubborn defence of their blindness Heretical defenders froward and stiffnecked Teachers of Circumcision the blessed Apostle calls Dogs Silly men who were seduced to think they taught the Truth he pitieth he taketh up in his arms he lovingly embraceth he kisseth and with more than fatherly tenderness doth so temper qualify and correct the speech he useth towards them that a man cannot easily discern whether did most abound the love which he bore to to their godly Affection or the grief which the danger of their Opinion bred him Their Opinion was dangerous was not theirs also who thought the Kingdom of Christ should be Earthly was not theirs which thought the Gospel only should be preached to the Jews What more opposite to Prophetical Doctrine concerning the coming of Christ than the one concerning the Catholic Church than the other Yet they which had these Fancies even when they had them were not the worst men in the World The Heresy of  was a millstone about the Pelagians neck shall we therefore give Sentence of Death inevitable against all those Fathers in the Greek Church which being mispersuaded died in the Error of  Of these Galatians therefore which first were justified and then deceived as I can see no cause why as many as died before admonition might not by mercy be received even in error so I make no doubt but as many as lived till they were admonished found the mercy of God effectual in converting them from their a Error convicted and afterwards maintained ●● more than error for although opinion be the same it was in which respect I still call it error yet they are not now the same they were when they are taught what the Truth is and plainly reached error lest any one that is Christ's should perish Of this I take it there is no Controversy Only against the Salvation of them that died though before admonition yet in error it is objected that their opinion was a very plain direct denial of the foundation If Paul and Barnabas had been so persuaded they would haply have used the terms otherwise speaking of the Masters themselves who did first set that error abroach b Acts 15. 9 Certain of the Sect of the Pharisees which believed What difference was there between these Pharisees and other Pharisees from whom by a special description they are distinguished but this These which came to Antioch teaching the necessity of Circumcision were Christians the other enemies of Christianity Why then should these be tenned so distinctly Believers if they did directly deny the foundation of our Belief besides which there was no other thing that made the rest to be no Believers We need go no farther than Saint Paul's very reasoning against them for proof of this matter Seeing you know God or rather are known of God how turn you again to impotent Rudiments the c Gal. 4.14.15 Law engendereth Servants her Children are in bondage d Vers. 18. They which are begotten by the Gospel are free e Vers. 21. Brethren we are not Children of the Servant but of the Freewoman and will ye yet be under the Law That they thought it unto Salvation necessary for the Church of Christ to f Vers. 8. observe days and months and times and years to keep the Ceremonies and Sacraments of the Law this was their error Yet he which condemneth their error confesseth that notwithstanding they knew God and were known of him he taketh not the honour from them to be termed Sons begotten of the immortal seed of the Gospel Let the heaviest words which he useth be weighed consider the drift of those dreadful Conclusions If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing As many as are justified by the Law are fallen from Grace It had been to no purpose in the World so to urge them had not the Apostle been persuaded that at the hearing of such Sequels No benefit by Christ a defection from Grace their hearts would tremble and quake within them And why because that they knew that in Christ and in Grace their Salvation lay which is a plain direct acknowledgement of the Foundation Lest I should herein seem to hold that which no one learned or godly hath done let these words be considered which import as much as I affirm ●●er de Unit. Eccles. servants Surely those Brethren which in Saint Paul's time thought that God did lay a necessity upon them to make choice of days and meats spoke as they believed and could not but in words condemn the liberty which they supposed to be brought in against the Authority of Divine Scripture Otherwise it had been needless for Saint Paul to admonish them not to condemn such as eat without scrupulosity whatsoever was set before them This error if you weigh what it is of itself did at once overthrow all Scriptures whereby we are taught Salvation by Faith in Christ all that ever the Prophets did soretell all that ever the Apostles did preach of Christ it drew with it the denial of Christ utterly Insomuch that Saint Paul complaineth that his labour was lost upon the Galatians unto whom this error was obtruded affirming that Christ if so be they were circumcised should not profit them any thing at all Yet so far was Saint Paul from striking their names out of Christ's book that he commandeth others to entertain them to accept with singular humanity to use them like Brethren he knew man's imbecility he had a feeling of our blindness which are mortal men how great it is and being sure that they are the Sons of God whosoever be endued with his fear would not have them counted Enemies of that whereunto they could not as yet frame themselves to be Friends but did ever upon a very Religious affection to the Truth willingly reject the truth They acknowledged Christ to be their only and perfect Saviour but saw not how repugnant their believing the necessity of Mosaical Ceremonies was to their Faith in Jesus Christ. Hereupon a reply is made that if they had not directly denied the foundation they might have been saved but saved they could not be therefore their opinion was not only by consequent but directly a denial of the foundation When the question was about the possibility of their Salvation their denying of the foundation was brought to prove that they could not be saved now that the Question is about their denial of the foundation the impossibility of their Salvation is alleged to prove they denied the foundation Is there nothing which excludeth men from Salvation but only the foundation of Faith denied I should have thought that besides this many other things are death unto as many as understanding that to cleave thereunto was to fall from Christ did notwithstanding cleave unto them But of this enough Wherefore I come to the last Question Whether that the Doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning the necessity of Works unto Salvation be a direct denial of our Faith 27. I seek not to obtrude unto you any private Opinion of mine own the best learned in our profession are of this Judgement That all the corruptions of the Church of Rome do not prove her to deny the Foundation directly if they did they should grant her simply to be no Christian Church Calr Ey 108. But I supopose saith one that in the Papacy some Church remaineth a Church crazed or if you will broken quite in pieces forlorn mishapen yet some Church his reason is this Antichrist must sit in the Temple of God Lest any man should think such Sentences as these to be true only in regard of them whom that Church is supposed to have kept by the special providence of God as it were in the secret corners of his Bosom free from infection and as sound in the Faith as we trust by his mercy we ourselves are I permit it to your wise considerations whether it be more likely that as frenzy though it take away the use of reason doth notwithstanding prove them reasonable Creatures which have it because none can be frantic but they So Antichristianity being the bane and plain overthrow of Christianity may nevertheless argue the Church where Antichrist sitteth to be Christian Neither have I ever hitherto heard or read any one word alleged of force to warrant that God doth otherwise than so as in the two next Questions before hath been declared bind himself to keep his Elect from worshipping the Beast and from receiving his mark in their foreheads but he hath preserved and will preserve them from receiving any deadly wound at the hands of the Man of Sin whose deceit hath prevailed over none unto death but only unto such as never loved the Truth such as took pleasure in unrighteousness They in all ages whose hearts have delighted in the principal Truth and whose Souls have thirsted after righteousness if they received the mark of Error the mercy of God even erring and dangerously erring might save them if they received the mark of Heresy the same mercy did I doubt not convert them How far Romish Heresies may prevail over God's Elect how many God hath kept falling into them how many have been converted from them is not the question now in hand for if Heaven had not received any one of that coat for these thousand years it may still be true that the Doctrine which this day they do profess doth not directly deny the foundation and so prove them simply to be no Christian Church One I have alleged whose words in my ears sound that way shall I add another whose speech is plain I deny her not the name of a Church saith another no more than to a man the name of a man Morn de Eccles. as long as he liveth what sickness soever he hath His Reason is this Salvation is jesus Christ which is the mark which joineth the Head with the Body jesus Christ with the Church is so cut off by many merits by the merits of Saints by the Pope's Pardons and such other wickedness that the life of the Church boldeth by a very thread yet still the life of the Church holdeth A third hath these words Za●ch pra●●ar de Relig. I acknowledge the Church of Rome even at this present day for a Church of Christ such a Church as Israel did Jeroboam yet a Church His reason is this Every man seeth except he willingly hoodwink himself that as always so now the Church of Rome holdeth firmly and steadfastly the Doctrine of Truth concerning Christ and baptizeth in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost confesseth and avoucheth Christ for the only Redeemer of the World and the judge that shall sit upon quick and dead receiving true Believers into endless joy faithless and godless men being cast with Satan and his Angels into flames unquenchable 28. I may and will rein the question shorter than they do Let the Pope take down his top and captivate no more men's Souls by his Papal Jurisdiction let him no longer count himself Lord Paramount over the Princes of the World no longer hold Kings as his Servants paravaile Let his stately Senate submit their Necks to the yoke of Christ and cease to die their Garments like Edom in Blood Let them from the highest to the lowest hate and forsake their Idolatry abjure all their Errors and Heresies wherewith they have any way perverted the truth Let them strip their Churches till they leave no polluted rag but only this one about her By Christ alone without works we cannot be saved It is enough for me if I show that the holding of this one thing doth not prove the foundation of Faith directly denied in the Church of Rome 29. Works are an addition Be it so what then the foundation is not subverted by every kind of addition Simply to add unto those fundamental words is not to mingle Wine with Water Heaven and Earth things polluted with the sanctified blood of Christ Of which Crime indict them which attribute those operations in whole or in part to any Creature which in the work of our Salvation wholly are peculiar unto Christ and If I open my mouth to speak in their defence if I hold my peace and plead not against them as long as breath is within my Body let me be guilty of all the dishonour that ever hath been done to the Son of God But the more dreadful a thing it is to deny salvation by Christ alone the more slow and fearful I am except it be too manifest to lay a thing so grievous to any man's charge Let us beware lest if we make too many ways of denying Christ we scarce leave any way for ourselves truly and sound to confess him Salvation only by Christ is the true foundation whereupon indeed Christianity standeth But what if I say You cannot besaved only by Christ without this addition Christ believed in heart confessed with mouth obeyed in life and conversation Because I add do I therefore deny that which I did directly affirm There may be an additament of explication which overthroweth not but proveth and concludeth the Proposition whereunto it is annexed He which saith Peter was a Chief Apostle doth prove that Peter was an Apostle He which saith Our Salvation is of the Lord 1 Thess. 1. 13. through Sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the Truth proveth that our Savation is of the lord But if that which is added be such a privation as taketh away the very essence of that whereunto it is added then by the sequel it overthroweth it He which saith judas is a dead man though in word he granteth judas to be a man yet in effect he proveth him by that very speech no man because death depriveth him of being In like sort he that should say our Election is of Grace for our Works sake Rom. 11. 6. should grant in sound of words but indeed by consequent deny that our Election is of Grace for the Grace which electeth us is no Grace if it elect us for our Works sake 30. Now whereas the Church of Rome addeth Works we must note further that the adding of * I deny not but that the Church of Rome requireth some kind of works which she ought not to require at men's hands But our question in general about the adding of good works not whethere such or such Works be goed In this comparison it is enough to touch so much of the matter in question between St. Paul and the Galatians as inferreth those Conclusions Ye are fallen from grace Christ can profit you nothing which Conclusions will fo●low Circumcision and Rites of the Law Ceremonial if they be required as things necessary to Salvation This only was a ledged against me and need I touch more than was all edged Works is not like the adding of Circumcision unto Christ Christ came not to abrogate and put away good Works he did to change Circumcision for we see that in place thereof he hath substituted holy Baptism To say Ye cannot be saved by Christ except ye be circumcised is to add a thing excluded a thing not only not necessary to be kept but necessary not to be kept by them that will be saved On the other side to say Ye cannot be saved by Christ without Works is to add things not only not excluded but commanded as being in their place and in their kind necessary and therefore subordinated unto Christ by Christ himself by whom the web of Salvation is spun a Mat. 5. 20. Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Stribes and Pharisees ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven They were b Luke 11. 39 rigorous exacters of things not utterly to be neglected and left undone washing and tything etc. As they were in these so must we be in judgement and the love of God Christ in Works Ceremonial giveth more liberty in c Mat. 5. 21. moral much less than they did Works of Righteousness therefore are added in the one Proposition as in the other Circumcision is 31. But we say our Salvation is by Christ alone therefore howsoever or whatsoever we add unto Christ in the matter of Salvation we overthrew Christ. Our Case were very hard if this Argument so universally meant as it is proposed were sound and good We ourselves do not teach Christ alone excluding our own Faith unto Justification Christ alone excluding our own Works unto Sanctification Christ alone excluding the one or the other unnecessary unto Salvation It is a childish Cavil wherewith in the matter of Justification our Adversaries do so greatly please themselves exclaiming that we tread all Christian virtues under our feet and require nothing in Christians but Faith because we teach that Faith alone justifieth whereas by this speech we never meant to excluded either Hope or Charity from being always joined as inseparable Mates with Faith in the man that is justified or Works from being added as necessary Duties required at the hands of every justified man But to show that Faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ unto Justification and Christ the only Garment which being so put on covereth the shame of our defiled natures hideth the imperfection of our Works preserveth us blameless in the sight of God before whom otherwise the weakness of our Faith were cause sufficient to make us culpable yea to shut us from the Kingdom of Heaven where nothing that is not absolute can enter That our dealing with them he not as childish as theirs with us when we hear of Salvation by Christ alone considering that alone as an exclusive Particle we are to note what it doth exclude and where If I say Such a judge only ought to determine such a case all things incident to the determination thereof besides the Person of the Judge as Laws Depositions Evidences etc. are not hereby excluded Persons are not excluded from witnessing herein or assisting but only from determining and giving Sentence How then is our Salvation wrought by Christ alone Is it our meaning that nothing is requisite to man's Salvation but Christ to save and he to be saved quietly without any more ado No we acknowledge no such Foundation As we have received so we teach that besides the bare and naked work wherein Christ without any other Associate finished all the parts of our Redemption and purchased Salvation himself alone for conveyance of this eminent blessing unto us many things are of necessity required as to be known and chosen of God before the foundation of the World in the World to be called justified sanctified after we have lest the World to be received unto glory Christ in every of these hath somewhat which he worketh alone Through him according to the Eternal purpose of God Eph. 2. 7. 15. before the foundation of the World Born Crucified Buried Raised etc. we were in a gracious acceptation known unto God long before we were seen of men God knew us loved us was kind to us in Jesus Christ in him we were elected to be Heirs of Life Thus far God through Christ hath wrought in such sort alone that ourselves are mere Patients working no more than dead and senseless Matter Wood Stone or Iron doth in the Artificers hands no more than Clay when the Potter appointeth it to be framed for an honourable use nay not so much for the matter whereupon the Craftsman worketh he chooseth being moved by the fitness which is in it to serve his turn in us no such thing Touching the rest which is laid for the foundation of our Faith it importeth farther That a Gal 3. 8. by him we are called that we have b 1 Pet. 2. 9 and 5 3. Redemption c Ephes. 1. 7. Remission of sins through his d Isa. 53. 11. Jer. 23. 6. blood Health by his e Eph. 3. 25. stripes Justice by him that f Mat. 19 27. he doth sanctify his Church and make it glorius to himself that g 2 Thess. 2. 15. entrance into joy shall be given us by Him yea all things by him alone Howbeit not so by him alone as if in us to our h Gal. 2. 16. end 3. 3. 2 Thess. 2. 13. Vocation the hearing of the Gospel to our Justification Faith to our Sanctification the fruits of the Spirit to our entrance into rest perseverance in Hope in Faith in Holiness were not necessary 32. Then what is the fault of the Church of Rome Not that she requireth Works at their hands which will be saved but that she attributeth unto Works a power of satisfying God for Sin yea a virtue to merit both Grace here and in Heaven Glory That this overthroweth the foundation of Faith I grant willingly that it is a direct elenyal thereof jutterly deny What it is to hold and what directly to deny the foundation of Faith I have already opened Apply it particularly to this Cause and there needs no more ado The thing which is handled if the form under which it is handled be added thereunto it showeth the foundation of any Doctrine whatsoever Christ is the Matter whereof the Doctrine of the Gospel treateth and it treateth of Christ as of a Saviour Salvation therefore by Christ is the foundation of Christianity as for works they are a thing subordinate no otherwise than because our Sanctification cannot be accomplished without them The Doctrine concerning them is a thing builded upon the foundation therefore the Doctrine which addeth unto them the power of satisfying or of meriting addeth unto a thing sabordinated builded upon the foundation not to the very foundation itself yet is the foundation by this addition consequently overthrown forasmuch as out of this addition it may be negatively concluded He which maketh any work good and acceptable in the sight of God to proceed from the natural freedom of our will he which giveth unto any good works of ours the force of satisfying the wrath of God for sin the power of meriting either earthly or heavenly rewards he which holdeth Works going before our Vocation in congruity to merit our Vocation Works following our first to merit our second Justification and by condignity our last Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven pulleth up the Doctrine of Faith by the roots for out of every of these the plain direct denial thereof may be necessarily concluded Not this only but what other Heresy is there that doth not raze the very foundation of Faith by consequent Howbeit we make a difference of Heresies accounting them in the next degree to infidelity which directly deny any one thing to be which is expressly acknowledged in the Articles of our Belief for out of any one Article so denied the denial of the very foundation itself is straightway inferred As for Example if a man should say Hac ●a●io Ecclesiastici Sacramenti & Catholicae F●ici est ut qui par●em ●ivini Sacrimenti negar partem ●●●al●at cu●sir●● Iratuim sibi ●onn●●a & cuncorp●●ata sunc omnia ●t aliud ●●ae a●io sta●e non possie & quiunum ex omnibus denegaveri●● alia●● emnia tradid●ss non presir Cassian lib. 6. the Incarnate Dom. If he obst●a●cly stand in denial pag 193. There is no Catholic Church it followeth immediately thereupon that this jesus whom we call the Saviour is not the Saviour of the World because all the Prophets hear witness that the true Messias should show light unto the Gentiles that is to say gather such a Church as is Catholic not restrained any longer unto one circumcised Nation In the second rank we place them out of whose Positions the denial of any the foresaid Articles may be with like facility concluded such as are they which have denied with Hebion or with Maertion his Humanity an example whereof may be that of Cassianus defending the Incarnation of the Son of God against Nestorius' Bishop of Antioch which held That the Virgin when she brought forth Christ did not bring forth the Son of God but a sole and mere man out of which Heresy the denial of the Articles of the Christian saith he deduceth thus Acts 20. 23. Lib 2. ●e in car Dem. cap. 14. If thou dost deny our Lord jesus Christ in denying the Son thou canst not choose but deny the Father for according to the voice of the Father himself He that hath not the Son hath not the Father Wherefore denying him which is begotten thou deniest him which doth beget Again denying the Son of God to have been born in the Flesh how canst thou believe him to have suffered believing not his Passion what remaineth but that thou deny his Resurrection For we believe him not raised except we first believe him dead Neither can the reason of his rising from the dead stand without the faith of his death going before The denial of his Death and Passion inserreth the denial of his Rising from the Depth Whereupon it followeth that thou also deny his Ascension into Heaven The Apostle affirmeth That he which ascended did first descend so that as much as lieth in thee our Lord jesus Christ hath neither risen from the depth nor is ascended into Heaven nor sitteth on the right hand of God the Father neither shall be come at the day of the final account which is looked for nor shall judge the Quick and the Dead And darest thou yet set foot in the Church Canst thou think thyself a Bishop when thou hast denied all those things whereby thou dost obtain a Bishoply Calling Nestorius' confessed all the Articles of the Creed but his opinion did imply the denial of every part of his Confession Heresies there are of the third sort such as the Church of Rome maintaineth which be removed by a greater distance from the foundation although indeed they overthrew it Yet because of that weakness which the Philosopher noteth in men's capacities when he saith That the common sort cannot see things which follow in reason when they follow as it were afar of by many deductions therefore the repugnancy of such Heresy and the foundation is not so quickly or so easily found but that an Heretic of this sooner than of the former kind may directly grant and consequently nevertheless deny the foundation of Faith 33. If reason be suspected trial will show that the Church of Rome doth no otherwise by teaching the Doctrine she doth teach concerning good works Offer them the very fundamental words and what man is there that will refuse to subscribe unto them Can they directly grant and directly deny one and the very selfsame thing Our own proceedings in disputing against their works satisfactory and meritorious do show not only that they hold but that we acknowledge them to hold the foundation notwithstanding their opinion For are not these our Arguments against them Christ alone hath satisfied and appeased his Father's wrath Christ hath merited Salvation alone We should do fond to use such Disputes neither could we think to prevail by them if that whereupon we ground were a thing which we know they do not hold which we are assured they will not grant Their very Answers to all such Reasons as are in this Controversy brought against them will not permit us to doubt whether they hold the foundation or no. Can any man that hath read their Books concerning this matter be ignorant how they draw all their Answers unto these heads That the remission of all our sins the pardon of all whatsoever punishments thereby deserved the rewards which God hath laid up in Heaven are by the Blood of our Lord jesus Christ purchased and obtained sufficiently for all men but for no man effectually for his benefit in particular except the blood of Christ be applied particularly to him by such means as God hath appointed that to work by That those means of themselves being but dead things only the blood of Christ is that which putteth life force and efficacy in them to work and to be available each in his kind to our Salvation Finally that Grace being purchased for us by the blood of Christ and freely without any merit on desert at the first bestowed upon us the good things which we do after Grace received be thereby made satisfactory and meritorious Some of their Sentences to this effect I must allege for mine own warrant If we desire to hear foreign Judgements Levis of Orane● l. Merlit cap. last ● we find in one this Confession He that could reckon how many the virtues and merits of our Saviour jesus Christ hath been might likewise understand how many the benefits have been that are to come to us by him forsomuch as men are made Partakers of them all by means of his Passion by him it given unto us remission of our Sins Grace Glory Liberty Praise Salvation Redemption justification justice Satisfaction Sacraments Merits and all other things which we had and were behoveful for our Salvation In another we have these Oppositions and Answers made unto them Paulgarola let 11. All Grace is given by Christ jesus True but not except Christ jesus be applied He is the propitiation for our sin by his stripes we are healed he hath offered himself up for in all this is true but apply it We put all satisfaction in the blood of jesus Christ but we hold that the means which Christ hath appointed for us in the Case to apply it are our penal works Our Countrymen in Rheims make the like answer Anno● in 1 John 1. That they seek Salvation no other way than by the Blood of Christ and that humbly they do use Prayers Fast Alms Faith Charity Sacrifice Sacraments Priests only as the means appointed by Christ to apply the benefit of his holy Blood unto them touching our good Works that in their own natures they are not meritorious nor answerable to the joys of Heaven it cometh by the Grace of Christ and not of the Work itself that we have by well doing a right to Heaven and deserve it worthily If any man think that I seek to varnish their Opinions to set the better foot of a lame Cause foremost Let him know that since I began throughly to understand their meaning I have found their halting greater than perhaps it seemeth to them which know not the deepness of Satan as the blessed Divine speaketh For although this be proof sufficient that they do not directly deny the foundation of Faith yet if there were no other leaven in the lump of their Doctrine but this this were sufficient to prove that their Doctrine is not agreeable to the foundation of Christian Faith The Pelogians being overgreat friends unto Nature made themselves Enemies unto Grace for all their confessing that men have their Souls and all the faculties thereof their wills and all the ability of their wills from God And is not the Church of Rome still an Adversary unto Christ's Merits because of her acknowledging that we have received the power of meriting by the blood of Christ Sir Thomas Moor setteth down the odds between us and the Church of Rome in the matter of Works In his Book of Consolation thus Like as we grant them that no good work of man is rewardable in Heaven of its own nature but through the mere goodness of God that lists in set so high a price upon so poor a thing and that this price God setteth through Christ's Passion and for that also they be his own Works with us for good works to God-word worketh no man without God work in him and as we grant them also that no man may be proud of his works for his imperfect working and for that in all that man may do he can do God no good but is a Servant unprofitable and doth but his bare duty as we I say grant unto them these things so this one things or twain do they grant us again That men are bound to work good works if they have time and power and that whose worketh in true faith most shall be most rewarded but then set they thereto That all his Rewards shall be given him for his Faith alone and nothing for his Works at all because his Faith is the thing they say that forceth him to work well I see by this of Sir Thomas Moor how easy it is for men of the greatest capacity to mistake things written or spoken as well on the one side as on the other Their Doctrine as he thought maketh the work of man rewardable in the World to come through the goodness of God whom it pleased to set so high a price upon so poor a thing and ours that a man doth receive that eternal and high reward not for his Works but for his Faith's sake by which he worketh whereas in truth our Doctrine is no other than that we have learned at the feet of Christ namely That God doth justify the believing man yet not for the worthiness of his belief but for the worthiness of him which is believed God rewardeth abundantly every one which worketh yet not for any meritorious dignity which is or can be in the Work but through his mere mercy by whose Commandment he worketh chose their Doctrine is That as pure Water of itself hath no savour but if it pass through a sweet Pipe it taketh a pleasant smell of the Pipe through which it passeth so although before Grace received our Works do neither satisfy nor merit yet after they do both the one and the other Every virtuous Action hath then power in such to satisfy that if we ourselves commit no mortal sin no heinous crime whereupon to spend this treasure of satisfaction in our own behalf it turneth to the benefit of other men's release on whom it shall please the Steward of the House of God to bestow it so that we may satisfy for ourselves and others but merit only for ourselves In meriting our Actions do work with two hands Works of Superetogation with one they get their morning stipend the increase of Grace with the other their evening hire the everlasting Crown of Glory Indeed they teach that our good Works do not these things as they come from us but as they come from Grace in us which Grace in us is another thing in their Divinity than is the mere goodness of God's mercy towards us in Christ Jesus 34. If it were not a long deluded Spirit which hath possession of their Hearts were it possible but that they should see how plainly they do herein gainsay the very ground of Apostolic Faith Is this that Salvation by Grace whereof so plentiful mention is made in the Scriptures of God Was this their meaning which first taught the World to look for Salvation only by Christ By Grace the Apostle saith and by Grace in such sort as a Gift a thing that cometh not of ourselves nor of our Works lest any man should boast and say I have wrought out my own Salvation By Grace they confess but by Grace in such sort that as many as wear the Diadem of Bliss they wear nothing but what they have won The Apostle as if he had foreseen how the Church of Rome would abuse the World in time by ambiguous terms to declare in what sense the name of Grace must be taken when we make it the cause of our Salvation saith He saved us according to his mercy which mercy although it exclude not the washing of our new birth the renewing of our Hearts by the Holy Ghost the Means the Virtues the Duties which God requireth of our hands which shall be saved yet it is so repugnant unto Merits that to say We are saved for the worthiness of any thing which is ours is to deny we are saved by Grace Grace bestoweth freely and therefore justly requireth the glory of that which is bestowed We deny the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we abuse disannul and annihilate the benefit of his bitter passion if we test in these proud imaginations that life is deservedly ours that we merit it and that we are worthy of it 35. Howbeit considering how many virtuous and just men how many Saints how many Martyrs how many of the Ancient Fathers of the Church have had their sundry perilous Opinions and amongst sundry of their Opinions this that they hoped to make God some part of amends for their sins by the voluntary punishment which they laid upon themselves because by a Consequent it may follow hereupon that they were injurious unto Christ shall we therefore make such deadly Epitaphs and set them upon their Graves They denied the foundation of Faith directly they are damned there is no Salvation for them Saint Austin saith of himself Errare passum Hareticus isse nolo And except we put a difference between them that err and them that obstinately persist in Error how is it possible that ever any man should hope to be saved Surely in this Case I have no respect of any Person either alive or dead Give me a man of what estate or condition soever yea a Cardinal or a Pope whom in the extreme point of his life affliction hath made to know himself whose heart God hath touched with true sorrow for all his sins and filled with love towards the Gospel of Christ whose eyes are opened to see the Truth and his mouth to renounce all Heresy and Error any wise opposite thereunto This one opinion of Merits excepted he thinketh God will require at his hands and because he wanteth therefore trembleth and is discouraged it may be I am forgetful and unskilful not furnished with things new and old as a wise and learned Scribe should be nor able to allege that whereunto if it were alleged he doth hear a mind most williing to yield and so to be recalled as well from this as from other Errors And shall I think because of this only Error that such a man toucheth not so much as the hem of Christ's garment If he do Wherefore should not I have hope that virtue may proceed from Christ to save him Because his Error doth by consequent overthrow his Faith shall I therefore cast him off as one that hath utterly cast off Christ one that holdeth not so much as by a slender thread No I will not be afraid to say unto a Pope or Cardinal in this plight Be of good comfort we have to do with a merciful God ready to make the best of a little which we hold well and not with a captious Sophister which gathereth the worst out of every thing wherein we err Is there any Reason that I should be suspected or you offended for this speech Is it a dangerous thing to imagine that such men may find mercy Let all Affection be laid aside● Let the Matter indifferently be considered The hour may come when we shall think it a blessed thing to hear that if our sins were the sins of the Pope and Cardinals the bowels of the mercy of God are larger I do propose unto you a Pope with the neck of an Emperor under his feet a Cardinal riding his horse to the bridle in the blood of Saints but a Pope or a Cardinal sorrowful penitent dis-robed stripped not only of usurpec ' power but also delivered and recalled from Error and Antichrist converted and lying prostrate at the foot of Christ and shall I think that Christ shall spurn at him and shall I cross and gainsay the merciful promises of God generally made unto penitent sinners by opposing the name of a Pope or Cardinal What difference is there in the world between a Pope and a Cardinal and john a Style in this Case If we think it impossible for them if they be once come within that rank to be afterwards touched with any such remorse let that he granted The Apostle saith If I or an Angel from heaven preach unto etc. Let it be as likely that S. Paul or an Angel from Heaven should preach Heresy as that a Pope or Cardinal should be brought so far forth to acknowledge the truth yet if a Pope or Cardinal should what find we in their Persons why they might not be saved It is not the Persons you will say but the Error wherein I suppose them to die which excludeth them from the hope of mercy the opinion of merits doth take away all possibility of Salvation from them What if they hold it only as an Error Although they hold the truth truly and sincerely in all other parts of Christian Faith Although they have in some measure all the Virtues and Graces of the Spirit all other tokens of God's Elect Children in them Although they be far from having any proud presumptuous opinion that they shall be saved by the worthiness of their deeds Although the only thing which troubleth and molested them be but a little too much dejection somewhat too great a fear rising from an erroneous conceit that God would require a worthiness in them which they are grieved to find wanting in themselves Although they be not obstinate in this persuasion Although they be willing and would be glad to forsake it if any one reason were brought sufficient to dispove it Although the only  why they do not forsake it ere they die be the ignorance of the means by which it might be disproved Although the cause why the ignorance in this point is not removed be the want of knowledge in such us should be able and are not to remove it Let me die if ever it be proved that simply an Error doth exclude a Pope or a Cardinal in such a case utterly from hope of life Surely I must confess unto you if it be an Error that God may be merciful to save men even when they err my greatest Comfort is my Error were it not for the love I bear unto this Error I would never wish to speak nor to live 36. Wherefore to resume that mother-Sentence whereof I little thought that so much trouble would have grown I doubt not but that God was merciful to save thousands of our Fathers living in Papish Superstitions inasmuch as they sinned ignorantly Alas what bloody matter is there contained in this Sentence that it should be an occasion of so many hard Censures Did I say that thousands of our Fathers might be saved I have showed which way it cannot be denied Did I say I doubt not but they were saved I see no impiety in this Persuasion though I had no reason for it Did I say Their ignorance did make me hope they did find mercy and so were saved What hindereth Salvation but Sin Sins are not equal and Ignorance though it doth not make Sin to be no Sin yet seeing it did make their sin the less why should it not make our hope concerning their life the greater We pity the most and doubt not but God hath most compassion over them that sin for want of understanding As much is confessed by sundry others almost in the selfsame words which I have used It is but only my evil hap that the same Sentences which savour Verity in other men's books should seem to bolster Heresy when they are once by me recited If I be deceived in this point not they but the blessed Apostle hath deceived me What I said of others the same he said of himself I obtained mercy for I did it ignorantly Construe his words and you cannot misconstrue mine I spoke no otherwise I meant no otherwise than he did 37. Thus have I brought the question concerning our Fathers at length unto an end Of whose estate upon so fit an occasion as was offered me handling the weighty causes of separation between the Church of Rome and us and the weak motives which are commonly brought to retain men in that Society amongst which motives the examples of our Fathers deceased is one although I saw it convenient to utter the Sentence which I did to the end that all men might thereby understand how untruly we are said to condemn as many as have been before us otherwise persuaded than we ourselves are yet more than that one Sentence I did not think it expedient to utter judging it a great deal meeter for us to have regard to our own estate than to sift over-curiously what is become of other men And fearing left that such questions as these if voluntarily they should be too far waded in might seem worthy of that rebuke which our Saviour thought needful in a case not unlike What is this unto thee When I was forced much beside my expectation to render a reason of my speech I could not but yield at the Call of others and proceed so far as Duty bound me for the fuller satisfying of minds Wherein I have walked as with Reverence so with Fear with Reverence inregard of our Fathers which lived in former times not without Fear considering them that are alive 38. I am not ignorant how ready men are to feed and soothe up themselves in evil Shall I will the man say that loveth the present World more than he loveth Christ shall I incur the high displeasure of the mightiest upon Earth Shall I hazard my Goods endanger my Estate put myself into jeopardy rather than to yield to that which so many of my Fathers embraced and yet found favour in the sight of God Curse ye Meroz saith the Lord curse bar Inhabitants because they helped not the Lord they helped him not against the Mighty If I should not only not help the Lord against the Mighty but help to strengthen them that are mighty against the Lord worthily might I fall under the burden of that Curse worthy I were to bear to bear my own Judgement But if the Doctrine which I reach be a flower gathered in the Garden of the Lord a part of the saying Truth of the Gospel from whence notwithstanding poisonous Creatures do suck-venom I can but wish it were otherwise and content myself with the lord that hath befallen me the rather because it hath not befallen me alone Saint Paul taught a Truth and a comfortable truth when he taught that the greater our misery is in respect of our Iniquities the readier is the mercy of God for our release If we seek unto him the more we have sinned the more praise and glory and honour unto him that pardoneth our sin But mark what sewd Collections were made hereupon by some Why then am I condemned for a Sinner And the Apostle as we are blamed and as some affirm that we say Why do we not evil that good may come of it he was accused to teach that which ill-disposed People did gather by his teaching though it were clean not only besides but against his meaning The Apostle addeth Their Condemnation which thus do is just I am not hasty to apply Sentences of Condemnation I wish from mine Heart their Conversion whosoever are thus perversely affected For I must needs say Their Case is fearful their Estate dangerous which harden themselves presuming on the mercy of God towards others It is true that God is merciful but let us beware of presumptuous sins God delivered jonah from the bottom of the Sea will you therefore cast yourselves headlong from the tops of Rocks and say in your Hearts God shall deliver us He pitieth the Blind that would gladly see but will he pity him that may see and hardeneth himself in blindness No Christ hath spoken too much unto you to claim the privilege of your Fathers 39 As for us that have handled this Cause concerning the condition of our Fathers whether it be this thing or any other which we bring unto you the Counsel is good which the Wise man giveth Stand thou fast in thy sure understanding in the way and knowledge of the Lord and have but one manner of word and follow the Word of peace and righteousness As a loose tooth is a grief to him that eateth so doth a wavering and unstable word in speech that tendeth to instruction offend Shall a wise man speak words of the wind saith Eliphaz leight unconstant unstable words Surely the wisest may speak words of the wind such is the untoward Constitution of our nature that we do neither so perfectly understand the way and knowledge of the Lord nor so steadfastly embrace it when it is understood nor so graciously utter it when it is embraced not so peaceably maintain it when it is uttered but that the best of us are over-taken sometime through blindness sometime through hastiness sometime through impatience sometimes through other passions us the mind whereunto God doth know we are too subject We must therefore be contented both to pardon others and to crave that others may pardon us for such things Let no man that speaketh as a man think himself while he liveth always freed from escapes and oversights in his speech The things themselves which I have spoken unto you are sound howsoever they have seemed otherwise unto some at whose hands I have in that respect received Injury I willingly forget it although indeed considering the benefit which I have reaped by this necessary speech of Truth I rather incline to that of the Apostle They have not injured me at all I have cause to wish them as many Blessings in the Kingdom of Heaven as they have forced me to utter words and syllables in this Cause wherein I could not be more sparing of speech than I have been It becometh no man saith Saint jerom to be patient in the crime of Heresy Patient as I take it we should be always though the crime of Heresy were intended but silent in a thing of so great Consequence I could not beloved I durst not be especially the love which I bear to the truth of Christ Jesus being hereby somewhat called in question Whereof I beseech them in the meekness of Christ that have been the first original cause to consider that a Watchman may cry an Enemy when indeed a Friend cometh In which Cause as I deem such a Watchman more worthy to be loved for his Care than mis-liked for his Error So I have judged it my own part in this as much as in me lieth to take away all suspicion of any unfriendly intent or meaning against the Truth from which God doth know my heart is free 40. Now to you Beloved which have heard these things I will use no other words of admonition than those that are offered me by St. james My Brethren have not the Faith of our glorious Lord jesus in respect of Persons Ye are not now to learn that as of itself it is not hurtful so neither should it be to any scandalous and offensive in doubtful cases to hear the different judgements of men Be it that Cephas hath hath one interpretation and Apollo's hath another that Paul is of this mind and Barnabas of that if this offend you the fault is yours Carry peaceable minds and you may have comfort by this variety Now the God of Peace give you peaceable minds and turn it to your everlasting comfort A LEARNED SERMON OF THE NATURE OF PRIDE HABAK. 2. 4. His mind swelleth and is not right in him But the Just by his Faith shall live THE nature of Man being much more delighted to be led than drawn doth many times stubbornly resist Authority when to Persuasion it easily yieldeth Whereupon the Wisest Lawmakers have endeavoured always that those Laws might seem most reasonable which they would have most inviolably kept A Law simply commanding or forbidding is but dead in comparison of that which expresseth the reason wherefore it doth the one or the other And surely even in the Laws of God although that he hath given Commandment be in itself a reason sufficient to exact all obedience at the hands of men yet a forcible inducement it is to obey with greater alacrity and chearfulnesse of mind when we see plainly that nothing is imposed more than we must needs yield unto except we will be unreasonable In a word whatsoever be taught be it Precept for direction of our Manners or Article for instruction of our Faith or document any way for information of our minds it than taketh root and abideth when we conceive not only what God doth speak but why Neither is it a small thing which we derogate as well from the honour of his Truth as from the comfort joy and delight which we ourselves should take by it when we loosely slide over his speech as though it were as our own is commonly vulgar and trivial Whereas he uttereth nothing but it hath besides the substance of Doctrine delivered a depth of wisdom in the very choice and frame of words to deliver it in The reason whereof being not perceived but by greater intention of brain than our nice minds for the most part can well away with fain we would bring the World if we might to think it but a needless curiosity to rip up any thing further than extemporal readness of wit doth serve to reach unto Which course if here we did list to follow we might tell you that in the first branch of this Sentence God doth condemn the Babylonian's pride and in the second teach what happiness of state shall grow to the righteous by the constancy of their Faith notwithstanding the troubles which now they suffer and after certain notes of wholesome instruction hereupon collected pass over without detaining your minds in any further removed speculation But as I take it there is a difference between the talk that beseemeth Nurses among Children and that which men of Capacity and Judgement do or should receive instruction by The mind of the Prophet being erected with that which hath been hitherto spoken receiveth here for full satisfaction a short abridgement of that which is afterwards more particularly unfolded Wherefore as the question before disputed of doth concern two sorts of men the Wicked flourishing as the Bay and the righteous like the withered Grass the one full of pride the other cast down with utter discouragement so the answer which God doth make for resolution of doubts hereupon arisen hath reference unto both sorts and this present sentence containing a brief Abstract thereof comprehendeth summarily as well the fearful estate of iniquity over-exalted as the hope laid up for righteousness oppressed In the former branch of which Sentence let us first examine what this rectitude or straitness importeth which God denieth to be in the mind of the Babylonian All things which God did create he made them at the first true good and right True in respect of correspondence unto that pattern of their Being which was eternally drawn in the Counsel of God's foreknowledge Good in regard of the use and benefit which each thing yieldeth unto other Right by an'apt conformity of all parts with that end which is outwardly proposed for each thing to tend unto Other things have ends proposed but have not the faculty to know judge and esteem of them and therefore as they tend thereunto unwittingly so likewise in the means whereby they acquire their appointed ends they are by necessity so held that they cannot divert from them The ends why the Heavens do move the Heavens themselves know not and their motions they cannot but continue Only men in all their actions know what it is which they seek for neither are they by any such necessity tied naturally unto any certain determinate mean to obtain their end by but that they may if they will forsake it And therefore in the whole World no Creature but only man which hath the last end of his actions proposed as a recompense and reward whereunto his mind directly bending itself is termed right or straight otherwise perverse To make this somewhat more plain we must note that as they which travel from City to City inquire ever for the straightest way because the straightest is that which soon bringeth them unto their journey's end So we having here as the Apostle speaketh no abiding City but being always in travel towards that place of joy immortality and rest cannot but in every of our deeds words and thoughts think that to be best which with most expedition leadeth us thereunto and is for that very cause termed right That Sovereign good which is the eternal fruition of all good being our last and chiefest felicity there is no desperate Despiser of God and godliness living which doth not wish for The difference between right and crooked minds is in the means which the one of the other eschew or follow Certain it is that all particular things which are naturally desired in the world as Food Raiment Honour Wealth Pleasure Knowledge they are subordinated in such wise unto that future Good which we look for in the World to come that even in them there lieth a direct way tending unto this Otherwise we must think that God making promises of good things in this life did seek to pervert men and to lead them from their right minds Where is then the obliquity of the mind of man his mind is perverse cam and crooked not when it bendeth itself unto any of these things but when it bendeth so that it swerveth either to the right hand or to the left by excess or defect from that exact rule whereby Human actions are measured The rule to measure and judge them by is the Law of God For this cause the Prophet doth make so often and so earnest suit O direct me in the way of thy Commandments As long as I have respect to thy Statules I am sure not to tread amiss Under the name of the Law we must comprehend not only that which God hath written in Tables and Leaves but that which Nature also hath engraven in the hearts of men Else how should those Heathens which never had Books but Heaven and Earth to look upon be convicted of Perverseness But the Gentiles which had not the Law in Books had saith the Apostle the effect of the Law written in their hearts Then seeing that the heart of man is not right exactly unless it be found in all parts such that God examining and calling it unto account with all severity of rigour be not able once to charge it with declining or swarving aside which absolute perfection when did God ever find in the Sons of mere mortal men Doth it not follow that all Flesh must of necessity fall down and confess We are not dust and ashes but worse our minds from the highest to the lowest are not right If not right then undoubtedly not capable of that blessedness which we naturally seek but subject unto that which we most abhor Anguish Tribulation Death Woe endless Misery For whatsoever misseth the way of Life the issue thereof cannot be but Perdition By which reason all being wrapped up in sin and made thereby the Children of Death the minds of all men being plainly convicted not to be right shall we think that God hath endued them with so many excellencies more not only than any but then all the Creatures in the World besides to leave them in such estate that they had been happier if they they had never been Here cometh necessarily in a new way unto Salvation so that they which were in the other perverse may in this be found straight and righteous That the way of Nature this the way of Grace The end of that way Salvation merited presupposing the righteousness of men's works their Righteousness a natural hability to do them that hability the goodness of God which created them in such perfection But the end of this way Salvation bestowed upon men as a Gift presupposing not their righteousness but the forgiveness of their unrighteousness Justification their Justification not their natural ability to do good but their hearty sorrow for their not doing and unfeigned belief in him for whose sake not-doers are accepted which is their Vocation their Vocation the Election of God taking them out from the number of lost Children their Election a Mediator in whom to be elect This Mediation inexplicable Mercy his Mercy their Misery for whom he vouchsafed to make himself a Mediator The want of exact distinguishing between these two ways and observing what they have common what peculiar hath been the cause of the greatest part of that confusion whereof Christianity at this day laboureth The lack of diligence in searching laying down and inuring men's minds with those hidden grounds of Reason whereupon the least particular in each of these are most firmly and strongly builded is the only reason of all those scruples and uncertainties wherewith we are in such sort entangled that a number despair of ever discerning what is right or wrong in any thing But we will let this matter rest whereinto we stepped to search out a way how some minds may be and are right truly even in the sight of God though they be simply in themselves not right Howbeit there is not only this difference between the just and impious that the mind of the one is right in the sight of God because his obliquity is not imputed the other perverse because his sin is unrepented of but even as lines that are drawn with a trembling hand but yet to the point which they should are thought ragged and uneven nevertheless direct in comparison of them which run clean another way so there is no incongruity in terming them right-minded men whom though God may charge with many things amiss yet they are not as those hideous and ugly Monsters in whom because there is nothing but wilful opposition of mind against God a more than tolerable deformity is noted in them by saying that their minds are not right The Angel of the Church of Thyatyra unto whom the Son of God sendeth this greeting I know thy works and thy love and service and faith notwithstanding I have a few things against thee was not as he unto whom Saint Peter Thou hast no fellowship in this business for thy heart is not right in the sight of God So that whereat the orderly disposition of the mind of man should be this Perturbation and sensual Appetites all kept in awe by a moderate and sober will in all things frained by Reason Reason directed by the Law of God and Nature this Babylonian had his mind as it were turned upside down In him unreasonable cecity and blindness trampled all Laws both of God and Nature under seet Wilfulness tyrannised over Reason and Brutish Sensuality over Will An evident token that his outrage would work his overthrow and procure his speedy ruin The Mother whereof was that which the Prophet in these words signified His mind doth swell Immoderate swelling a token of very eminent breach and of inevitable destruction Pride a vice which cleaveth so fast unto the hearts of men that if we were to strip ourselves of all faults one by one we should undoubtedly find it the very last and hardest to put off But I am not here to touch the secret itching humour of vanity wherewith men are generally touched It was a thing more than meanly inordinate wherewith the Babylonian did swell Which that we may both the better conceive and the more easily reap profit by the nature of this vice which setteth the whole World out of course and hath put so many even of the wisest besides themselves is first of all to be inquired into Secondly the dangers to be discovered which it draweth inevitably after it being not cured And last of all the ways to cure it Whether we look upon the gifts of Nature or of Grace or whatsoever is in the World admired as a part of man's excellency adorning his Body beautifying his Mind or externally any way commending him in the account and opinion of men there is in every kind somewhat possible which no man hath and somewhat had which few men can attain unto By occasion whereof there groweth disparagement necessarily and by occasion of disparagement Pride through men's ignorance First therefore although men be not proud of any thing which is not at lest in opinion good yet every good thing they are not proud of but only of that which neither is common unto many and being desired of all causeth them which have it to be honoured above the rest Now there is no man so void of brain as to suppose that Pride consisteth in the bare possession of such things for then to have Virtue were a Vice and they should be the happiest men who are most wretched because they have least of that which they would have And though in speech we do intimate a kind of vanity to be in them of whom we say They are Wise men and they know it yet this doth not prove That every Wiseman is proud which doth not think himself to be blockish What we may have and know that we have it without offence do we then make offensive when we take joy and delight in having it What difference between men enriched with all abundance of earthly and heavenly Blessings and Idols gorgeously attired but this The one takes pleasures in that which they have the other none If we may be possessed with Beauty Strength Riches Power Knowledge if we may be privy to what we are every way if glad and joyful for our own welfare and in all this remain unblameable nevertheless some there are who granting thus much doubt whether it may stand with humility to accept those testimonies of Praise and Commendation those Titles Rooms and other Honours which the World yieldeth as acknowledgements of some men's excellencies above others For inasmuch as Christ hath said unto those that are his The Kings of the Gentiles reign over them and they that bear rule over them are called Gracious Lords Be ye not so the Anabaptist hereupon urgeth equality amongst Christians as if all exercise of Authority were nothing else but Heathenish Pride Our Lord and Saviour had no such meaning But his Disciples feeding themselves with a vain imagination for the time that the Messias of the World should in jerusalem erect his Throne and exercise Dominion with great pomp and outward stateliness advanced in honour and Terrene Power above all the Princes of the Earth began to think how with their Lord's condition their own would also rise that having left and forsaken all to follow him their Place about him should not be mean and because they were many it troubled them much which of them should be the greatest man When suit was made for two by name that of them one might sit at his right hand and the other at his left the rest began to stomach each taking it grievously that any should have what all did affect their Lord and Master to correct this humour turneth aside their cogitations from these vain and fansieful conceits giving them plainly to understand that they did but deceive themselves His coming was not to purchase an earthly but to bestow on heavenly Kingdom wherein they if any shall be greatest whom unfeigned Humility maketh in this World lowest and least amongst others Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations therefore I leave unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed me that ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom and sit on Seats and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel But my Kingdom is no such Kingdom as ye dream of And therefore these hungry ambitious contentions are seemlier in Heathens than in you Wherefore from Christ's intent and purpose nothing is further removed than dislike of distinction in Titles and Callings annexed for Order sake unto Authority whether it be Ecclesiastical or Civil And when we have examined throughly what the nature of this Vice is no man knowing it can be so simple as not to see an ugly shape thereof apparent many times in rejecting Honours offered more than in the very exacting of them at the hands of men For as judas his care for the Poor was mere covetousness and that frank-hearted wastfulness spoken of in the Gospel thrift● so there is no doubt but that going in rags may be Pride and Thrones be clothed with unfeigned humility We must go further therefore and enter somewhat deeper before we can come to the Closet wherein this Poison lieth There is in the heart of every proud man first an error of understanding a vain opinion whereby he thinketh his own excellency and by reason thereof his worthiness of estimation regard and honour to be greater than in truth it is This maketh him in all his affections accordingly to raise up himself and by his inward affections his outward acts are fashioned Which if you list to have exemplified you may either by calling to mind things spoken of them whom God himself hath in Scripture specially noted with this fault or by presenting to your secret cogitations that which you daily behold in the odious lives and manners of highminded men It were too long to gather together so plentiful an harvest of examples in this kind as the sacred Scripture affordeth That which we drink in at our ears doth not so piercingly enter as that which the mind doth conceive by sight Is there any thing written concerning the Assyrian Monarch in the tenth of Esay of his swelling mind his haughty looks his great and presumptuous taunts By the power of mine own hand I have done all things and by mine own wisdom I have subdued the World Any thing concerning the Dames of Zion in the third of the Prophet Esay of their stretched-out Necks their immodest Eyes their Pageant-like stately and pompous Gate Any thing concerning the practices of Corah Dathan and Abiram of their impatience to live in subjection their mutinies repining at lawful Authority their grudging against their Superiors Ecclesiastical and Civil Any thing concerning Pride in any sort of Sect which the present face of the World doth not as in a glass represent to the view of all men's beholding So that if Books both profane and holy were all lost as long as the manners of men retain the estate they are in for him that observeth how that when men have once conceived an overweening of themselves it maketh them in all their affections to swell how deadly their hatred how heavy their displeasure how unappeasable their indignation and wrath is above other men's in what manner they compose themselves to be as Heteroclits without the compass of all such Rules as the common sort are measured by how the Oaths which religious hearts do tremble at they affect as principal graces of speech what felicity they take to see the enormity of their crimes above the reach of Laws and punishments how much it delighteth them when they are able to appall with the cloudiness of their looks how far they exceed the terms wherewith man 's nature should be limited how high they bear their heads over others how they browbeat all men which do not receive their Sentences as Oracles with marvellous applause and approbation how they look upon no man but with an indirect countenance nor hear any thing saving their own praise with patience nor speak without scornfulness and disdain how they use their Servants as if they were Beasts their Inferiors as Servants their Equals as Inferiors and as for Superiors they acknowledge none how they admire themselves as venerable puissant wise circumspect provident every way great taking all men besides themselves for cyphers poor inglorious silly creatures needless burdens of the earth off-scowrings nothing in a word for him which marketh how irregular and exorbitant they are in all things it can be no hard thing hereby to gather that Pride is nothing but an inordinate elation of the mind proceeding from a false conceit of men's excellency in things honoured which accordingly frameth also their deeds and behaviour unless they be cunning to conceal it For a foul scar may be covered with a fair cloth And as proud as Lucifer may be in outward appearance lowly No man expecteth Grapes of Thistles nor from a thing of so bad a nature can other than suitable fruits be looked for What harm soever in private Families there groweth by disobedience of Children stubbornness of Servants untractableness in them who although they otherwise may rule yet should in consideration of the imparity of their sex be also subject whatsoever by strife amongst men combined in the fellowship of greater Societies by tyranny of Potentates ambition of Nobles rebellion of Subjects in Civil States by Heresies Schisms Divisions in the Church naming Pride we name the Mother which brought them forth and the only Nurse that feedeth them Give me the hearts of all men humbled and what is there that can overthrow or disturb the peace of the World Wherein many things are the cause of much evil but Pride of all To declaim of the swarms of Evils issuing out of Pride is an easy labour I rather wish that I could exactly prescribe and persuade effectually the remedies whereby a sore so grievous might be cured and the means how the pride of swelling minds might be taken down Whereunto so much we have already gained that the evidence of the Cause which breedeth it pointeth directly unto the likeliest and fittest helps to take it away Diseases that come of fullness emptiness must remove Pride is not cured but by abating the Error which causeth the Mind to swell Then seeing that they swell by misconceit of their own excellency for this cause all which tend to the beating down of their Pride whether it be advertisement from men or from God himself chastisement it then maketh them cease to be proud when in causeth them to see their error in over-seeing the thing they were proud of At this mark job in his Apology unto his eloquent Friends aimeth For perceiving how much they delighted to hear themselves talk as if they had given their poor afflicted familiar a schooling of marvellous deep and rare instruction as if they had taught him more than all the World besides could acquaint him with his Answer was to this effect Ye swell as though ye had conceived some great matter but as for that which ye are delivered of who knoweth it not Is any man ignorant of these things At the same mark the blessed Apostle driveth Ye abound in all things ye are rich ye reign and would to Christ we did reign with you But boast not For what have ye or are ye of yourselves To this mark all those humble Confessions are referred which have been always frequent in the mouths of Saints truly wading in the trial of themselves as that of the Prophet's We are nothing but soreness and festered corruption our very light is darkness and our righteousness is self unrighteousness That of GREGORY Let no man ever put confidence in his own deserts Sordet in conspectu judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis In the sight of the dreadful Judge it is noisome which in the doer's judgement maketh a beautiful show That of ANSELM I adore thee I bless thee Lord God of Heaven and Redeemer of the World with all the power ability and strength of my heart and soul for thy goodness so unmeasurably extended not in regard of my merits whereunto only torments were due but of thy mere unprocured benignity If these Fathers should be raised again from the dust and have the Books laid open before them wherein such Sentences are found as this Works no other than the value desert price and worth of the joys of the kingdom of Heaven Heaven in relation to our works as the very stipend which the hired Labourer covenanteth to have of him whose work he doth as a thing equally and justly answering unto the time and weight of his travels rather than to a voluntary or bountiful gift If I say those reverend fore-rehearsed Fathers whose Books are so full of Sentences witnessing their Christian humility should be raised from the dead and behold with their eyes such things written would they not plainly pronounce of the Authors of such Writs that they were fuller of Lucifer than of Christ that they were proud-hearted men and carried more swelling minds than sincerely and feelingly known Christianity can tolerate But as unruly Children with whom wholesome admonition prevaileth little are notwithstanding brought to fear that everafter which they have once well smarted for so the Mind which falleth not with Instruction yet under the rod of Divine chastisement ceaseth to swell If therefore the Prophet David instructed by good experience have acknowledged Lord I was even at the point of clean forgetting myself and so straying from my right mind but thy Rod hath been my Reformer it hath been good for me even as much as my Soul is worth that I have been with sorrow troubled If the blessed Apostle did need the corrosive of sharp and bitter strokes left his Heart should swell with too great abundance of heavenly Revelations surely upon us whatsoever God in this World doth or shall inflict it cannot seem more than our Pride doth exact not only by way of revenge but of remedy So hard it is to cure a sore of such quality as Pride is in as much as that which rooteth out other Vices causeth this and which is even above all conceit if we were clean from all spot and blemish both of other faults of Pride the fall of Angels doth make it almost a question whether we might not need a Preservative still left we should haply wax proud that we are not proud What is Virtue but a medicine and Vice but a Wound Yet we have so often deeply wounded ourselves with Medicine that God hath been fain to make wounds medicinable to cure by Vice where Virtue hath strucken to suffer the just man to fall that being raised he may be taught what Power it was which upheld him standing I am not afraid to affirm it boldly with St. Augustin That men puffed up through a proud opinion of their own sanctity and holiness receive a benefit at the hands of God and are assisted with his Grace when with his Grace they are not assisted but permitted and that grievously to transgress whereby as they were in overgreat liking of themselves supplanted so the dislike of that which did supplant them may establish them afterwards the surer Ask the very Soul of Peter and it shall undoubtedly make you itself this Answer My eager Protestations made in the glory of my ghostly strength I am ashamed of● but those Crystal tears wherewith my sin and weakness was bewailed have procured my endless joy my Strength hath been my Ruin and my Fall my Stay A REMEDY AGAINST Sorrow and Fear DELIVERED IN A FUNERAL SERMON JOHN 14. 27. Let not your Hearts be troubled nor Fear THE Holy Apostles having gathered themselves together by the special appointment of Christ and being in expectation to receive from him such Instructions as they had been accustomed with were told that which they least looked for namely That the time of his departure out of the World was now come Whereupon they fell into consideration first of the manifold benefits which his absence should bereave them of and secondly of the sundry evils which themselves should be subject unto being once bereft of so gracious a Master and Patron The one consideration overwhelmed their Souls with heaviness the other with fear Their Lord and Saviour whose words had cast down their hearts raiseth them presently again with chosen sentences of sweet encouragement My dear it is for your own sakes I leave the World I know the affections of your hearts are tender but if your love were directed with that advised and stayed judgement which should be in you my speech of leaving the World and going unto my Father would not a little augment your joy Desolate and comfortless I will not leave you in Spirit I am with you to the World's end whether I be present or absent nothing shall ever take you out of these hands my going is to take possession of that in your names which is not only for me but also for you prepared where I am you shall be In the mean while my peace I give not as the World giveth give I unto you Let not your hearts be troubled nor fear The former part of which Sentence having otherwhere already been spoken of this unacceptable occasion to open the latter part thereof here I did not look for But so God disposeth the ways of men Him I heartily beseech that the thing which he hath thus ordered by his Providence may through his gracious goodness turn unto your comfort Our Nature for coveteth preservation from things hurtful Hurtful things being present do breed heaviness being future do cause fear Our Saviour to abate the one speaketh thus unto his Disciples Let not your Hearts be troubled and to moderate the other addeth Fear not Grief and heaviness in the presence of sensible Evils cannot but trouble the minds of men It may therefore seem that Christ required a thing impossible Be not troubled Why how could they choose But we must note this being natural and therefore simply not reprovable is in us good or bad according to the causes for which we are grieved or the measure of our grief It is not my meaning to speak so largely of this affection as to go over all particulars whereby men do one way or other offend in it but to teach it so far only as it may cause the very Apostles equal to swerve Our grief and heaviness therefore is reprovable sometime in respect of the cause from whence sometime in regard of the measure whereunto it groweth When Christ the life of the World was led unto cruel death there followed a number of People and Women which Women bewailed much his heavy case It was a natural compassion which caused them where they saw undeserved miseries there to pour forth unrestrained tears Nor was this reproved But in such readiness to lament where they less needed their blindness in not discerning that for which they ought much rather to have mourned this our Saviour a little toucheth putting them in mind that the tears which were wasted for him might better have been spent upon themselves Daughters of jerusalem weep not for me weep for yourselves and for your children It is not as the Stoics have imagined a thing unseemly for a Wise man to be touched with grief of mind but to be sorrowful when we least should and where we should lament there to laugh this argueth our small wisdom Again when the Prophet David confesseth thus of himself I grieved to see the great prosperity of godless men how they flourish and go untouched Psal. 73. Himself hereby openeth both our common and his peculiar imperfection whom this cause should not have made so pensive To grieve at this is to grieve where we should not because this grief doth rise from Error We err when we grieve at wicked men's impunity and prosperity because their Estate being rightly discerned they neither prosper nor go unpunished It may seem a Paradox it is truth That no wicked man's estate is prosperous fortunate or happy For what though they bless themselves and think their happiness great Have not frantic Persons many times a great opinion of their own wisdom It may be that such as they think themselves others also do account them But what others Surely such as themselves are Truth and Reason discerneth far● otherwise of them Unto whom the Jews wish all prosperity unto them the phrase of their speech is to wish Peace Seeing then the name of Peace containeth in it all parts of true happiness when the Prophet saith plainly That the Wicked have no peace how can we think them to have any part of other than vainly imagined Felicity What wise man did ever account Fools happy If Wicked men were wise they would cease to be wicked Their Iniquity therefore proving their Folly how can we stand in doubt of their misery They abound in those things which all men desire A poor happiness to have good things in possession Ecclus. 6. 2. A man to whom God hath given Riches and Treasures and Honour so that he wanteth nothing for his Soul of all that it desireth but yet God giveth him not the power to eat thereof such a felicity Solomon esteemeth but as a vanity a thing of nothing If such things add nothing to men's happiness where they are not used surely Wicked men that use them ill the more they have the more wretched Of their Prosperity therefore we see what we are to think Touching their Impunity the same is likewise but supposed They are oftener plagued than we are aware of The pangs they feel are not always written in their forehead Though Wickedness be Sugar in their mouths and Wantonness as Oil to make them look with cheerful Countenance nevertheless if their Hearts were disclosed perhaps their glittering state would not greatly be envied The voices that have broken out from some of them O that God had given me a heart senseless like the flints in the rocks of stone which as it can taste no pleasure so it feeleth no woe these and the like speeches are surely tokens of the curse which Zophar in the Book of job poureth upon the head of the impious man He shall suck the gall of Asps and the Viper's tongue shall slay him If this seem light because it is secret shall we think they go unpunished because no apparent Plague is presently seen upon them The Judgements of God do not always follow crimes as Thunder doth Lightning but sometimes the space of many Ages coming between When the Sun hath shined fair the space of six days upon their Tabernacle we know not what Clouds the seventh may bring And when their punishment doth come let them make their account in the greatness of their sufferings to pay the interest of that respite which hath been given them Or if they chance to escape clearly in this World which they seldom do in the Day when the Heavens shall shrivel as a scroll and the Mountains move as frighted men out of their places what Cave shall receive them What Mountain or Rock shall they get by entreaty to fall upon them What covert to hide them from that wrath which they shall neither be able to abide or avoid No man's misery therefore being greater than theirs whose impiety is most fortunate much more cause there is for them to bewail their own infelicity than for others to be troubled with their prosperous and happy estate as if the hand of the Almighty did not or would not touch them For these causes and the like unto these therefore Be not troubled Now though the cause of our heaviness be just yet may not our affections herein be yielded unto with too much indulgency and favour The grief of Compassion whereby we are touched with the feeling of other men's woes is of all other least dangerous Yet this is a le●● unto sundry duties by this we are apt to spare sometimes where we ought to strike The grief which our own sufferings do bring what temptations have not risen from it What great advantage Satan hath taken even by the godly grief of hearty contrition for sins committed against God the near approaching of so many afflicted Souls whom the conscience of sin hath brought unto the very brink of extreme despair doth but too abundantly show These things wheresoever they fall cannot but trouble and molest the mind Whether we be therefore moved vainly with that which seemeth hurtful and is not or have just cause of grief being pressed indeed with those things which are grievous our Saviour's Lesson is touching the one Be not troubled not over-troubled for the other For though to have no ●eeling of that which merely concerneth us were stupidity nevertheless seeing that as the Author of our Salvation was himself Consecrated by affliction so the way which we are to follow him by is not strewed with rushes but set with thorns be it never so hard to learn we must learn to suffer with patience even that which seemeth almost impossible to be suffered that in the hour when God shall call us unto our trial and turn this honey of peace and pleasure wherewith we swell into that gall and bitterness which Flesh doth shrink to taste of nothing may cause us in the troubles of our Souls to storm and grudge and repine at God but every Heart be enabled with divinely-inspired courage to inculcate unto itself Be not troubled and in those last and greatest Conflicts to remember that nothing may be so sharp and bitter to be suffered but that still we ourselves may give ourselves this encouragement Even learn also patience O my Soul Naming Patience I name that virtue which only hath power to stay our Souls from being over-excessively troubled A virtue wherein if ever any surely that Soul had good experience which extremity of pains having chased out of the Tabernacle of this Flesh Angels I nothing doubt have carried into the bosom of her Father Abraham The death of the Saints of God is precious in his sight And shall it seem unto us superfluous at such times as these are to hear in what manner they have ended their lives The Lord himself hath not disdained so exactly to register in the Book of Life after what sort his Servants have closed up their days on Earth that he descendeth even to their very meanest actions what meat they have longed for in their Sickness what they have spoken unto their Children Kinsfolks and Friends where they have willed their dead Carcases to be laid how they have framed their Wills and Testaments yea the very turning of their Faces to this side or that the setting of their Eyes the degrees whereby their natural Heat hath departed from them their Cries their Groans their Pant Breathe and Last-gaspings he hath most solemnly commended unto the memory of all Generations The care of the living both to live and die well must needs be somewhat increased when they know that their departure shall not be folded up in silence but the ears of many be made acquainted with it Again when they hear how mercifully God hath dealt with others in the hour of their last need besides the praise which they give to God and the joy which they have or should have by reason of their Fellowship and Communion of Saints is not their hope also much confirmed against the day of their own dissolution Finally the sound of these things doth not so pass the ears of them that are most loose and dissolute of life but it causeth them sometime or other to wish in their hearts Oh that we might die the death of the Righteous and that our end might be like his Howbeit because to spend herein many words would be to strike even as many wounds into their minds whom I rather wish to comfort Therefore concerning this virtuous Gentlewoman only this little I speak and that of knowledge She lived a Dove and died a Lamb And if amongst so many Virtues hearty Devotion towards God towards Poverty tender Compassion Motherly Affection toward Servants towards Friends even serviceable kindness mild behaviour and harmless meaning towards all if where so many Virtues were eminent any be worthy of special mention I wish her dearest Friends of that sex to be her nearest Followers in two things Silence saving only where duty did exact speech and Patience even then when extremity of pains did enforce grief Blessed are they that die in the lord And concerning the dead which are blessed let not the hearts of any living be overcharged with grief over-troubled Touching the latter affection of Fear which respecteth evil to come as the other which we have spoken of doth present evils first in the nature thereof it is plain that we are not of every future evil afraid Perceive we not how they whose tenderness shrinketh at the least race of a Needle 's Point do kiss the Sword that peirceth their Souls quite thorough If every Evil did cause Fear Sin because it is Sin would be feared whereas properly Sin is not feared as Sin but only as having some kind of harm annexed To teach men to avoid sin it had been sufficient for the Apostle to say Fly it But to make them afraid of committing sin because the naming of Sin sufficed not therefore he addeth further That it is as a Serpent which stingeth the Soul Again be it that some nocive or hurtful thing be towards us must fear of necessity follow hereupon Not except that hurtful thing do threaten us either with destruction or vexation and that such as we have neither a conceit of ability to resist nor of utter impossibility to avoid That which we know ourselves able to withstand we fear not and that which we know are unable to defer or diminish or any way avoid we cease to fear we give ourselves over to bear and sustain it The evil therefore which is feared must be in our persuasion unable to be resisted when it cometh yet not utterly impossible for a time in whole or in part to be shunned Neither do we much fear such evils except they be imminent and near at hand nor if they be near except we have an opinion that they be so When we have once conceived an opinion or apprehended an imagination of such evils pressed and ready to invade us because they are hurtful unto our nature we feel in ourselves a kind of abhorring because they are thought near yet not present our nature seeketh forthwith how to shift and provide for itself because they are evils which cannot be resisted therefore she doth not provide to withstand but to shun and avoid Hence it is that in extreme fear the Mother of Life contracting herself avoiding as much as may be the reach of evil and drawing the heat together with the spirits of the Body to her leaveth the outward parts cold pale weak feeble unapt to perform the functions of Life as we see in the fear of Balthasar King of Babel By this it appeareth that Fear is nothing else but a perturbation of the mind through an opinion of some imminent evil threatening the destruction or great annoyance of our Nature which to shun it doth contract and deject itself Now because not in this place only but otherwhere often we hear it repeated Fear not it is by some made a question Whether a man may fear destruction or vexation without sinning First the reproof wherewith Christ checketh his Disciples more than once O men of little Faith wherefore are ye afraid Secondly the punishment threatened in Revelat. 21. viz. the Lake and Fire and Brimstone not only to Murderers unclean Persons Sorcerers Idolaters Liars but also to the fearful and faint-hearted this seemeth to argue That Fearfulness cannot but be fin On the contrary side we see that he which never felt motion unto sin had of this affection more than a slight feeling How clear is the evidence of the Spirit That in the days of his Flesh be offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong cries and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was also heard in that which he feared Heb. 5.7 Whereupon it followeth that Fear in itself is a thing not sinful For is not Fear a thing natural and for men's preservation necessary implanted in us by the provident and most gracious Giver of all good things to the end that we might not run headlong upon those mischiefs wherewith we are not able to encounter but use the remedy of shunning those Evils which we have not ability to withstand Let that People therefore which receive a benefit by the length of their Prince's days the Father or Mother which rejoiceth to see the Offspring of their Flesh grow like green and pleasant Plants let those Children that would have their Parents those men that would gladly have their Friends and brethren's days prolonged on earth as there is no natural-hearted man but gladly would let them bless the Father of Lights as in other things so even in this that he hath given man a fearful heart and settled naturally that affection in him which is a preservation against so many ways of death Fear then in itself being mere Nature cannot in itself be Sin which Sin is not Nature but thereof an accessary deprivation But in the matter of Fear we may sin and do two ways If any man's danger be great theirs is greatest that have put the fear of danger farthest from them Is there any estate more fearful than that Babylonian Strumpet's that sitteth upon the tops of seven Hills glorying and vaunting I am a Queen etc. Revel 18.7 How much better and happier are they whose estate hath been always as his who speaketh after this sort of himself Lord from my youth have I born thy yoke They which sit at continual ease and are settled in the lees of their security look upon them view their countenance their speech their gesture their deeds Put them in fear O God saith the Prophet that so they may know themselves to be but men Worms of earth dust and ashes frail corruptible feeble things To shake off security therefore and to breed fear in the hearts of mortal men so many admonitions are used concerning the power of Evils which beset them so many threatenings of calamities so many descriptions of things threatened and those so lively to the end they may leave behind them a deep impression of such as have force to keep the heart continually waking All which do show that we are to stand in fear of nothing more than the extremity of not fearing When fear hath delivered us from that pit wherein they are sunk that have put far from them the evil day that have made a league with death and have said Tush we shall feel no harm it standeth us upon to take heed it cast us not into that wherein Souls destitute of all hope are plunged For our direction to avoid as much as may be both extremities that we may know as a Shipmaster by his Card how far we are wide either on the one side or on the other we must note that in a Christian man there is First Nature Secondly Corruption perverting Nature Thirdly Grace correcting and amending Corruption In fear all these have their several operations Nature teacheth simply to wish preservation and avoidance of things dreadful for which cause our Saviour himself prayeth and that often Father if it be possible In which cases corrupt Nature's suggestions are For the safety of Temporal life not to stick at things excluding from eternal wherein how far even the best may be led the chiefest Apostle's frailty teacheth Were it not therefore for such cogitations as on the contrary side Grace and Faith minisheth such as that of job Though God kill me that of Paul Scio cui credidi I know him on whom I do rely small evils would soon be able to overthrow even the best of us A wise man saith Solomon doth see a plague coming and hideth himself It is Nature which teacheth a Wise man in fear to hide himself but Grace and Faith doth teach him where Fools care not to hide their heads but where shall a Wise man hide himself when he feareth a Plague coming Where should the frighted Child hide his head but in the bosom of his loving Father where a Christian but under the shadow of the Wings of Christ his Saviour Come my People saith God in the Prophet Enter into thy Chamber hide thyself etc. Isa. 26. But because we are in danger like chased Birds like Doves that seek and cannot see the resting holes that are right before them therefore our Saviour giveth his Disciples these encouragements beforehand that Fear might never so amaze them but that always they might remember that whatsoever Evils at any time did beset them to him they should still repair for comfort counsel and succour For their assurance whereof his Peace he gave them his Peace he left unto them not such Peace as the World offereth by whom his name is never so much pretended as when deepest treachery is meant but Peace which passeth all understanding Peace that bringeth with it all happiness Peace that continueth for ever and ever with them that have it This Peace God the Father grant `for his Son's sake unto whom with the Holy Ghost three Persons one Eternal and Everliving God be all Honour and Glory and Praise now and for ever Amen A Learned and Comfortable SERMON Of the certainty and perpetuity of FAITH in the ELECT Especially of the Prophet Habakkuk's FAITH HABAK. 1. 4. Whether the Prophet Habakkuk by admitting this cogitation into his mind The Law doth fail did thereby show himself an Unbeliever WE have seen in the opening of this clause which concerneth the weakness of the Prophet's Faith First what things they are whereunto the Faith of sound Believers doth assent Secondly wherefore all men assent not thereunto and Thirdly why they that do do it many times with small assurance Now because nothing can be so truly spoken but through misunderstanding it may be depraved therefore to prevent if it be possible all misconstruction in this cause where a small error cannot rise but with great danger it is perhaps needful ere we come to the fourth Point that something be added to that which hath been already spoken concerning the third That mere natural men do neither know nor acknowledge the things of God we do not marvel because they are spiritually to be discerned but they in whose hearts the light of Grace doth shine they that are taught of God why are they so weak in Faith why is their assenting to the Law so scrupulous so much mingled with fear and wavering It seemeth strange that ever they should imagine the Law to fail It cannot seem strange if we weigh the reason If the things which we believe be considered in themselves it may truly be said that Faith is more certain than any Science That which we know either by sense or by infallible demonstration is not so certain as the Principles Articles and Conclusions of Christian Faith Concerning which we must note that there is a certainty of evidence and a certainty of adherence Certainty of evidence we call that when the mind doth assent unto this or that not because it is true in itself but because the truth is clear because it is manifest unto us Of things in themselves most certain except they be also most evident our persuasion is not so assured as it is of things more evident although in themselves they be less certain It is as sure if not surer that there be spirits as that there he men but we be more assured of these than of them because these are more evident The truth of some things is so evident that no man which heareth them can doubt of them as when we hear that a part of any thing is less than the whole the mind is constrained to say This is true If it were so in matters of Faith then as all men have equal certainty of this so no Believer should be more scrupulous and doubtful than another But we find the contrary The Angels and Spirits of the Righteous in Heaven have certainty most evident of things spiritual but this they have by the light of glory That which we see by the light of Grace though it he indeed more certain yet it is not to us so evidently certain as that which sense or the light of Nature will not suffer a man to doubt of Proofs are vain and frivolous except they be more certain than is the thing proved and do we not see how the Spirit every where in the Scripture proving matters of Faith laboureth to confirm us in the things which we believe by things whereof we have sensible knowledge I conclude therefore that we have less certainty of evidence concerning things believed than concerning sensible or naturally perceived Of these who doth doubt at any time Of them at sometime who doubteth not I will not here allege the sundry confessions of the perfectest that have lived upon earth concerning their great imperfections this way which if I did I should dwell too long upon a matter sufficiently known by every faithful man that doth know himself The other which we call the certainty of adherence is when the heart doth cleave and stick unto that which it doth believe This certainty is greater in us than the other The reason is this The faith of a Christian doth apprehend the words of the Law the promises of God not only as true but also as good and therefore even then when the evidence which he hath of the Truth is so small that it grieveth him to feel his weakness in assenting thereto yet is there in him such a sure adherence unto that which he doth but faintly and fearfully believe that his Spirit having once truly tasted the heavenly sweetness thereof all the world is not able quite and clean to remove him from it but he striveth with himself to hope against all reason of believing being settled with job upon this unmoveable resolution Though God kill me I will not give ever trusting in him For why This lesson remaineth for ever imprinted in him It is good for me to cleave unto God Psal. 37. Now the minds of all men being so darkened as they are with the foggy damp of original corruption it cannot be that any man's heart living should be either so enlightened in the knowledge or so established in the love of that wherein his Salvation standeth as to be perfect neither doubting nor shrinking at all If any such were what doth let why that man should not be justified by his own inherent righteousness For Righteousness inherent being perfect will justify And perfect Faith is a part of perfect Righteousness inherent yea a principal part the root and the Mother of all the rest so that if the Fruit of every Tree be such as the Root is Faith being perfect as it is if it be not at all mingled with distrust and fear what is there to exclude other Christian virtues from the like perfections And then what need we the righteousness of Christ His Garment is superstuous we may be honourably clothed with our own Robes if it be thus But let them beware who challenge to themselves a strength which they have not left they lose the comfortable support of that weakness which indeed they have Some show although no soundness of ground there is which may be alleged for defence of this supposed-perfection in certainty touching matters of our Faith as first that Abraham did believe and doubted not secondly that the spirit which God hath given us to no other end but only to assure us that we are the Sons of God to embolden us to call upon him as our Father to open our eyes and to make the truth of things believed evident unto our minds is much mightier in operation than the common light of nature whereby we discern sensible things wherefore we must needs be more sure of that we believe than of that we see we must needs be more certain of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus than we are of the light of the Sun when it shineth upon our faces To that of Abraham He did not doubt I answer that this negation doth not exclude all fear all doubting but only that which cannot stand with true Faith It freeth Abraham from doubting through Infidelity not from doubting through Infirmity from the doubting of Unbelievers not of weak Believers from such a doubting as that whereof the Prince of Samaria is attainted who hearing the promise of sudden Plenty in the midst of Extreme Dearth answered Though the Lord would make windows in Heaven were it possible so to come to pass But that Abraham was not void of all doubting what need we any other proof than the plain evidence of his own words Gen. 17. 17. The reason which is taken from the power of the Spirit were effectual if God did work like a natural Agent as the fire doth inflame and the Sun enlighten according to the uttermost ability which they have to bring forth their effects But the incomprehensible wisdom of God doth limit the effects of his power to such a measure as seemeth best unto himself Wherefore he worketh that certainty in all which sufficeth abundantly to their Salvation in the life to come but in none so great as attaineth in this life unto perfection Even so O Lord it hath pleased thee even so it is best and fittest for us that feeling still our own Infirmities we may no longer breathe than pray Adjuva Domine Help Lord our incredulity Of the third Question this I hope will suffice being added unto that which hath been thereof already spoken The fourth Question resteth and so an end of this Point That which cometh last of all in this first branch to be considered concerning the weakness of the Prophet's Faith is Whether he did by this very thought The Law doth fail quench the Spirit fall from Faith and show himself an Unbeliever or no The Question is of moment the repose and tranquillity of infinite Souls doth depend upon it The Prophet's case is the case of many which way soever we cast for him the same way it passeth for all others If in him this cogitation did extinguish Grace why the like thoughts in us should not take the like effect there is no cause Forasmuch therefore as the matter is weighty dear and precious which we have in hand it behoveth us with so much the greater chariness to wade through it taking special heed both what we build and whereon we build that if our Building be Pearl our Foundation be not Stubble if the Doctrine we teach be full of comfort and consolation the ground whereupon we gather it be sure otherwise we shall not save but deceive both ourselves and others In this we know we are not deceived neither can we deceive you when we teach that the Faith whereby ye are sanctified cannot fail it did not in the Prophet it shall not in you If it be so let the difference be showed between the condition of Unbelievers and his in this or in the like imbecility and weakness There was in Habakkuk that which Saint john doth call the seed of God meaning thereby the first grace which God poureth into the hearts of them that are incorporated into Christ which having received if because it is an adversary to Sin we do therefore think we sin not both otherwise and also by distrustful and doubtful apprehending of that which we ought steadfastly to believe surely we do but deceive ourselves Yet they which are of God do not sin either in this or in any thing any such sin as doth quite extinguish Grace clean cut them off from Christ Jesus because the seed of God abideth in them and doth shield them from receiving any irremediable wound Their Faith when it is at strongest is but weak yet even then when it is at the weakest so strong that utterly it never faileth it never perisheth altogether no not in them who think it extinguished in themselves There are for whose sakes I dare not deal slightly in this Cause sparing that labour which must be bestowed to make it plain Men in like agonies unto this of the Prophet Habakkuk's are through the extremity of grief many times in judgement so confounded that they find not themselves in themselves For that which dwelleth in their hearts they seek they make diligent search and enquiry It abideth it worketh in them yet still they ask where Still they lament as for a thing which is past finding they mourn as Rachel and refuse to be comforted as if that were not which indeed is and as if that which is not were as if they did not believe when they do and as if they did despair when they do not Which in some I grant is but a melancholy passion proceeding only from that dejection of mind the cause whereof is in the Bod● and by bodily means can be taken away But where there is no such bodily cause the mind is not lightly in this mood but by some of these three occasions One that judging by comparison either with other men or with themselves at some other time more strong they think imperfection to be a plain deprivation weakness to be utter want of Faith Another cause is they often mistake one thing for another Saint Paul wishing well to the Church of Rome prayeth for them after this sort The God of Hope fill you with all joy of Believing Hence an error groweth when men in heaviness of Spirit suppose they lack Faith because they find not the sugared joy and delight which indeed doth accompany Faith but so as a separable accident as a thing that may be removed from it yea there is a cause why it should be removed The light would never be so acceptable were it not for that usual intercourse of darkness Too much honey doth turn to gall and too much joy even spiritual would make us Wantoness Happier a great deal is that man's case whose Soul by inward desolation is humbled than he whose heart is through abundance of Spiritual delight lifted up and exalted above measure Better it is sometimes to go down into the pit with him who beholding darkness and bewailing the loss of inward joy and consolation cryeth from the bottom of the lowest hell My God my God why hast thou forsaken me than continually to work arm in arm with Angels to fit as it were in Abraham's bosom and to have no thought no cogitation but I thank my God it is not with me as it is with other men No God will have them that shall walk in light to feel now and then what it is to sit in the shadow of death A grieved spirit therefore is no argument of a faithless mind A third occasion of men's misjudging themselves as if they were faithless when they are not is They fasten their cogitations upon the distrustful suggestions of the flesh whereof finding great abundance in themselves they gather thereby surely unbelief hath full dominion it hath taken plenary possession of me if I were faithful it could not be thus Not marking the motions of the Spirit and of Faith because they lie buried and overwhelmed with the contrary when notwithstanding as the blessed Apostle doth acknowledge that the Spirit groaneth and that God heareth when we do not so there is no doubt but that our Faith may have and hath her private operations secret to us yet known to him by whom they are Tell this to a man that hath a mind deceived by too hard an opinion of himself and it doth but augment his grief he hath his answer ready Will you make me think otherwise than I find than I feel in myself I have throughly considered and tightly sifted all the corners of my heart and I see what there is never seek to persuade me against my knowledge I do not I know I do not believe Well to favour them a little in their weakness let that be granted which they do imagine be it that they be faithless and without belief But are they not grieved for their unbelief They are Do they not wish it might and also strive that it may be otherwise We know they do Whence cometh this but from a secret love and liking which they have of those things that are believed No man can love things which in his own opinion are not And if they think those things to be which they show that they love when they desire to believe them then must it needs be that by desiring to believe they prove themselves true Believers For without Faith no man thinketh that things believed are Which argument all the subtlety of infernal powers will never be able to dissolve The Faith therefore of true Believers though it hath many and grievous down-falls yet doth it still continue invincible it conquereth and recovereth itself in the end The dangerous conflicts whereunto it is subject are not able to prevail against it The Prophet Habakkuk remained faithful in weakness though weak in Faith It is true such is our weak and wavering nature we have no sooner received Grace but we are ready to fall from it we have no sooner given our assent to the Law that it cannot fall but the next conceit which we are ready to embrace is that it may and that it doth fail Though we find in ourselves a most willing heart to cleave unseparably unto God even so far as to think unfeignedly with Peter Lord I am ready to go with thee into Prison and to death yet how soon and how easily upon how small occasions are we changed if we be but a while let alone and left unto ourselves The Galatians to day for their sakes which teach them the truth of Christ are content if need were to pluck out their own eyes and the next day ready to pluck out theirs which taught them The love of the Angel to the Church of Ephesus how greatly inflamed and how quickly slacked the higher we flow the nearer we are unto an ebb if men be respected as mere men according to the wont course of their alterable inclination without the heavenly support of the Spirit Again the desire of our ghostly enemy is so incredible and his means so forcible to overthrow our Faith that whom the blessed Apostle knew betrothed and made handfast unto Christ to them he could not write but with great trembling I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy for I have prepared you to one Husband to present you a pure Virgin unto Christ but I fear lest at the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ. The simplicity of Faith which is in Christ taketh the naked promise of God his bare Word and on that it resteth This simplicity the Serpent laboureth continually to pervert corrupting the mind with many imaginations of repugnancy and contrariety between the promise of God and those things which sense or experience or some other fore-conceived persuasion hath imprinted The word of the promise of God unto his People is I will not leave thee nor forsake thee upon this the simplicity of Faith resteth and is not afraid of famine But mark how the subtlety of Satan did corrupt the minds of that Rebellious generation whose Spirits were not faithful unto God They beheld the desolate state of the desert in which they were and by the wisdom of their sense concluded the promise of God to be but folly Can God prepare a Table in the Wilderness The word of the promise to Sarah was Thou shalt bear a Son Faith is simple and doubteth not of it but Satan to corrupt this simplicity of Faith entangleth the mind of the Woman with an argument drawn from common experience to the contrary A woman that is old Sarah now to be acquainted again with forgotten passions of youth The word of the promise of God by Moses and the Prophets made the Saviour of the World so apparent unto Philip that his simplicity could conceive no other Messias than jesus of Nazareth the Son of joseph But to stay Nathaniel left being invited to come and see he should also believe and so be saved the subtlety of Satan casteth a mist before his eyes putteth in his head against this the common conceived persuasion of all men concerning Nzaareth Is it possible that any good thing should come from thence this stratagem he doth use with so great dexterity that the minds of all men are so strangely bewitched with it that it bereaveth them for the time of all perceivance of that which should relieve them and be their comfort yea it taketh all remembrance from them even of things wherewith they are most familiarly acquainted The people of Israel could not be ignorant that he which led them through the Sea was able to feed them in the Des●rt but this was obliterated and put out by the sense of their present want Feeling the hand of God against them in their food they remember not his hand in the day that he delivered them from the hand of the Oppressor Sarah was not then to learn That with God all things were possible Had Nathaniel never noted how God doth choose the base things if this World to disgrace them that are most honourably esteemed The Prophet Habakkuk knew that the promises of Grace protection and favour which God in the Law doth make unto his People do not grant them any such immunity as can free and exempt them from all chastisements he knew that as God said I will continue for ever my mercy towards them so he likewise said Their transgressions I will punish with a rod he knew that it could not stand with any reason we should set the measure of our own punishments and prescribe unto God how great or how long our sufferings shall be he knew that we were blind and altogether ignorant what is best for us that we sue for many things very unwisely against ourselves thinking we ask Fish when indeed we crave a Serpent he knew that when the thing we ask is good and ye God seemeth slow to grant it he doth not deny but defer our Petitions to the end we might learn to desire great things greatly all this he knew But beholding the Land which God had severed for his own People and seeing it abandoned unto Heathen Nations viewing how reproachfully they did tread it down and wholly make havoc of it at their pleasure beholding the Lords own Royal Seat made an heap of Stones his Temple defiled the carkasles of his Servants cast out for the fowls of the air to devour and the flesh of his meek ones for the beasts of the fields to feed upon being conscious to himself how long and how earnestly he had cried Succou●●● O God of our welfare for the Glory of thine own Name and feeling that their sore was still increased the conceit of repugnancy between this which was objected to his eyes and that which Faith upon promise of the Law did look for made so deep an impression and so strong that he disputeth not the matter but without any further inquiry or search inferreth as we see The Law doth fail Of us who is here which cannot very soberly advice his Brother Sir you must learn to strengthen your Faith by that experience which heretofore you have had of God's great goodness towards you Per ea quae agnoscas praestita discas sperare promissa By those things which you have known performed learn to hope for those things which are promised Do you acknowledge to have received much Let that make you certain to receive more Habenti debitur To him that hath more shall be given When you doubt what you shall have search what you have had at God's hands Make this reckoning that the benefits which he hath bestowed are Bills obligatory and sufficient Sureties that he will bestow further His present Mercy is full a warrant of his future love because whom he loveth he loveth unto the end Is it not thus Yet if we could reckon up as many evident clear undoubted signs of God's reconciled love towards us as there are years yea days yea hours past over our heads all these set together have no such force to confirm our Faith as the loss and sometimes the only fear of losing a little transitory goods credit honour or favour of men a small calamity a matter of nothing to breed a conceit and such a conceit as is not easily again removed that we are clean crossed out of God's hook that he regards us not that he looketh upon others but passeth by us like a Stranger to whom we are not known Then we think looking upon others and comparing them with ourselves Their Tables are furnished day by day earth and ashes are our bread they sing to the Lute and they see their Children dance before them our hearts are heavy in our bodies as lead our sighs beat as thick as a swift Pulse our tears do wash the beds wherein we lie the Sun shineth fair upon their foreheads we are hanged up like Bottles in the smoke cast into corners like the sherds of a broken Pot tell not us of the promises of God's favour tell such as do reap the fruit of them they belong not to us they are made to others the Lord be merciful to our weakness but thus it is Well let the frailty of our Nature the subtlety of Satan the force of our deceivable imaginations be as we cannot deny but they are things that threaten every moment the utter subversion of our Faith Faith notwithstanding is not hazarded by these things That which one sometimes told the Senators of Rome Ego sic existimabam P. C. ●ntipatrem sape meum praedicantem eudiveram Qui vestram amicitia●s diligenter colerent cos multum laborem suscipere caeterùm ex omnibus maxim tutos esse As I have often heard my Father acknowledge so I myself did ever think that the friends and favourers of this State charged themselves with great labour but no man's condition so safe as theirs the same we may say a great deal more justly in this case Our Fathers and Prophets our Lord and Master hath full often spoken by long experience we have found it true as many as have entered their names in the mystical book of life cos maximum si laborem suscipere they have taken upon them a laboursome a toilsome a painful profession sed omnium maximè tutos esse but no man's security like to theirs Simon Simon Satan hath desired to win now thee as wheat Here is our toil but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not this is our safety No man's condition sure as ours the Prayer of Christ is more than sufficient both to strengthen us be we never so weak and to overthrow all adversary power be it never so strong and potent His Prayer must not exclude out labour their thoughts are vain who think that their watching can preserve the City which God himself is not willing to keep And are not theirs as vain who think that God will keep the City for which they themselves are not careful to watch The Husbandman may not therefore burn his Plough nor the Merchant forsake his Trade because God Hath promised I will not forsake thee And do the promises of God concerning our stability think you make it a matter indifferent for us to use or not to use the means whereby to attend or not to attend to reading to pray or not to pray that we fall not into temptations Surely if we look to stand in the faith of the Sons of God we must hourly continually be providing and setting ourselves to strive It was not the meaning of our Lord and Saviour in saying Father keep them in thy name that we should be careless to keep ourselves To our own safety our own sedulity is required And then blessed for ever and ever be that Mother's Child whose Faith hath made him the Child of God The Earth may shake the Pillars of the World may tremble under us the countenance of the Heaven may be appalled the Sun may lose his light the Moon her beauty the Stars their glory but concerning the man that trusteth in God if the fire have proclaimed itself unable as much as to sing a hair of his head if Lions Beasts ravenous by nature and keen with hunger being set to devour have as it were religiously adored the very flesh of the Faithful man what is there in the World that shall change his Heart overthrow his Faith alter his affection towards God or the affection of God to him If I be of this note who shall make a separation between me and my God shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword No I am persuaded that neither tribulation nor anguish nor persecution or famine nor nakedness nor peril nor sword nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall ever prevail so far over me I know in whom I have believed I am not ignorant whose precious blood hath been shed for me I have a Shepherd full of kindness full of care and full of power unto him I commit myself his own finger hath engraven this sentence in the Tables of my heart Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat but I have prayed that thy Faith fail not Therefore the assurance of my hope I will labour to keep as a Jewel unto the end and by labour through the gracious mediation of his Prayer I shall keep it To the Worshipful Mr. GEORGE SUMMASTER Principal of Broadgates Hall in Oxford Henry jackson wisheth all Happiness SIR YOur kind acceptance of a former testification of that respect I owe you hath made me venture to sh●w the World these godly Sermons under your name In which as every point is worth observation so some especially are to be noted The first that as the spirit of Prophecy is from God himself who doth inwardly heat and enlighten the hearts and minds of his holy Penmen which if some would diligently consider they would not puzzle themselves with the contentions of Scot and Thomas Whether God only or his Ministering Spirits do infuse into men's minds prophetical Revelations per species intelligibiles so God framed their words also Whence he holy Father St. Augustine religiously observeth Lib 4. cap. 6. the d●ct chr That all those who understand the Sacred Writers will also perceive that they ought not to use other words than they did in expressing those heavenly Mysteries which their hearts conceived as the Blessed Virgin did our Saviour By the Holy Ghost The greater is Castell-o his offence who hath laboured to teach the Prophets to speak otherwise than they have already Much like to that impious King of Spain Alphonsus the tenth who found fault with God's works Si inquit Creationi assuissiem Mundum melius ordinassem Rob. Tol●● lib. 4. cap. 5. If he had been with God at the Creation of the World the World had gone better than now it doth As this man found fault with God's works so did the other with God's words but because we have a most sure word of the Prophets to which we must take heed 2 Pet. 1. I will let his words pass with the wind having elsewhere spoken to you more largely of his errors P●i●● in Orit D. A●nold whom notwithstanding for his other excellent parts I much respect You shall moreover from hence understand how Christianity consists not in formal and seeming purity under which who knows not notorious Villainy to m●sk but in the heart root Whence the Author truly teacheth that Mockers which use Religious as a Cloak to put off and on as the Wether serveth are worse than Pagan's and Infidels Where I cannot omit to show how justly this kind of men hath been reproved by that renowned Martyr of Jesus Christ E. Latimer both because it will be opposite in this purpose and also free that Christian Worthy from the slanderous reproaches of him who was if ever any Parsons in 3. convers a Mocker of God Religion and all good men But first I must desire you and in you all Readers not to think lightly of that excellent man for using this and the like witty similitudes in his Sermons For whosoever will call to mind with what riff-raff God's people were fed in those days when their Priests whose lips should have preserved Knowledge Mal. 1. 7. preached nothing else but dreams and false miracles of counterfeit Saints Canus locur l. 11. c. 5. Vi● ver lib. 2. the corrupt art Hard. lib. 4. enrolled in that sottish Legend coined and amplified by a drowsy head between sleeping and waking He that will consider this and also how the People were delighted with such toys God sending them strong delusions that they should believe lies and how hard it would have been for any man wholly and upon the sudden to draw their minds to another bent will easily perceive both how necessary it was to use Symbolical Discourse and how wisely and moderately it was applied by the religious Father to the end he might lead their understanding so far till it were so convinced informed and settled that it might forget the means and way by which it was led and think only of that it had acquired Far in all such mystical speeches who knows not that the end for which they are used is only to be thought upon This then being first considered let us hear the story as it is related by Mr. Fox Pac. 1903. edit. 1570. Mr. Latuner saith he in his Sermon gave the People certain Cards out of the fifth sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew For the chief Triumph in the Cards be limited the Heart as the principal thing that they should serve God withal whereby he quite overthrew all hypocritical and external Ceremonies not tending to the necessary furtherance of God's holy Word and Sacraments By this he exhorted all men to serve the Lord with inward heart and true affection and not with outward Ceremonies adding moreover to the praise of that Triumph that though it were never so small yet it would take up the best Coat-card beside in the Bunch yea though it were the King of Clubs etc. meaning thereby how the Lord would be worshipped and served in simplicity of the heart and verity wherein consisteth true Christian Religion etc. Thus Master Fox By which it appears that the holy man's intention was to lift up the People's hearts to God and not that he made a Sermon of playing at Cards and taught them how to play at Triumph and played himself at Cards in the Pulpit as that base companion a In the third part of the 3. conversions of England in the Examination of Fox's Saints c. 14. sect 53.54 p. 215. Parsons reports the matter in his wont scurrilous vein of railing whence he calleth it a b Sect. 55. Christmas-Sermon Now he that will think ill of such Allusions may out of the abundance of his folly jest at Demosthenes for his story of the c Plut. in Demosthen Sheep Wolves and Dogs and d Liv. Dec. 1 l.2 an V.C. 60 Menenius for his fiction of the Belly But hinc illae lacrymae The good Bishop meant that the Romish Religion came not from the heart but consisted in outward Ceremonies Which sorely grieved Parsons who never had the least warmth or spark of honesty Whether B. Latimer compared the Bishops to the Knave of Clubs as the Fellow interprets him I know not I am sure Parsons of all others deserved those colours and so I leave him We see then what inward purity is required of all Christians which if they have then in Prayer and all other Christian duties they shall lift up pure hands as the e 1 Tim. 2.8 Apostle speaks not as f Annal. tom ● An. 59 n. 109,110 & tom 2. An. 132. num Baronius would have it washed from sins with holy water but pure that is holy free from the pollution of sin as the Greek word doth signify You may also see here refused those calumnies of the Papists that we abandon all religious Rites and godly duties as also the confirmation of our Doctrine touching certainty of Faith and so of Salvation which is so strongly denied by some of that Faction that they have told the world g S. Paulus de sua salute incertus Kicheom Jesuit 1.2 c. 12. Idolat Huguen p. 119. in marg edit. Lat. Mogunt 113. interpret Marcel Bomper Jesuita S. Paul himself was uncertain of his own salvation What then shall we say but pronounce a woe to the most strict observers of St. Francis rules and his Canonical Discipline though they make him even h Witness the verses of Horatius a Jesuit recited by Posse Biblioth Select part 2 l.17 c. 19 Exue Franciscum tunica laceroque cucul●o Qui Franciscus erat jam tibi Christus eri● Francisci exuri●s si quà licet endue Christium Jam Francisco erit qui modo Christus erat The like hath Bencius another Jesuit equal with Christ and the most meritorious Monk that ever was registered in their Calendar of Saints But we for our comfort are otherwise taught out of the holy Scripture and therefore exhorted to build ourselves in our most holy Faith that so when i 2 Cor. 3.1 our earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be destroyed we may have a Building given of God a house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens This is that which is most piously and feelingly taught in these few leaves so that you shall read nothing here but what I persuade myself you have long practi●ed in the constant course of your life It remaineth only that you accept of these Labours tendered to you by him who wisheth you the long joys of this world and the eternal of that which is to come Oxon. from Corp. Christi College this 13. of january 1613. TWO SERMONS Upon Part of Saint Judes' Epistle The First Sermon Epist. JUDAS Verse 17 18 19 20 21. But ye beloved remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord jesus Christ How that they told you that there should be Mockers in the last time which should walk after their own ungodly lusts These are makers of Sects fleshly having not the Spirit But ye beloved edify yourselves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost And keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord jesus Christ unto eternal life THE occasions whereupon together with the end wherefore this Epistle was written is opened in the front and entry of the same There were then as there are now many evil and wickedly disposed Persons not of the Mystical Body yet within the visible bounds of the Church men which were of old ordained to condemnation ungodly men which turned the grace of our God into wantonness and denied the Lord Jesus For this cause the Spirit of the Lord is in the hand of jude the Servant of jesus and Brother of james to exhort them that are called and sanctified of God the Father that they would earnestly contend to maintain the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Which Faith because we cannot maintain except we know perfectly first against whom secondly in what sort it must be maintained therefore in the former three verses of that parcel of Scripture which I have read the Enemies of the Cross of Christ are plainly described and in the latter two they that love the Lord Jesus have a sweet Lesson given them how to strengthen and establish themselves in the Faith Let us first therefore examine the description of these Reprobates concerning Faith and afterwards come to the words of the Exhortation wherein Christians are taught how to rest their hearts on God's eternal and everlasting Truth The description of these godless Persons is twofold general and special The general doth point them out and show what manner of men they should be The Particular pointeth at them and saith plainly These are they In the general description we have to consider of these things First when they were described They were told of before Secondly the men by whom they were described They were spoken of by the Apostles of our Lord jesus Christ. Thirdly the days when they should be manifest unto the World they told you They should be in the last time Fourthly their disposition and whole demeanour Mockers and Walkers after their own ungodly lusts 2. In the third to the Philippians the Apostle describeth certain They are men saith he of whom I have told you often and now with tears I tell you of them their God is their belly their glory and rejoicing is in their own shame they mind earthly things These were Enemies of the Cross of Christ Enemies whom he saw and his eyes gushed out with tears to behold them But we are taught in this place how the Apostles spoke also of Enemies whom as yet they had not seen described a family of men as yet unheard of a generation reserved for the end of the World and for the last time they had not only declared what they heard and saw in the days wherein they lived but they have prophesied also of men in time to come And you do well said St. Peter in that ye take heed to the words of Prophecy so that ye first know this that no Prophecy in the Scripture cometh of any man 's own resolution No Prophecy in Scripture cometh of any man 's own resolution For all Prophecy which is in Scripture came by the secret inspiration of God But there are Prophecies which are no Scripture yea there are Prophecies against the Scripture My Brethren beware of such Prophecies and take heed you heed them not Remember the things that were spoken of before but spoken of before by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Take heed to Prophecies but to Prophecies which are in Scripture for both the manner and matter of those Prophecies do show plainly that they are of God Of the spirit of Prophecy received from God himself 3. Touching the manner how men by the spirit of Prophecy in holy Scripture have spoken and written of things to come we must understand that as the knowledge of that they spoke so likewise the utterance of that they knew came not by these usual and ordinary means whereby we are brought to understand the mysteries of our Salvation and are wont to instruct others in the same For whatsoever we know we have it by the hands and Ministry of men which lead us along like Children from a letter to a syllable from a syllable to a word from a word to a line from a line a to a sentence from a sentence to a side and so turn over But God himself was their Instructor he himself taught them partly by Dreams and Visions in the Night partly by Revelations in the Day taking them aside from amongst their Brethren and talking with them as a man would talk with his Neighbour in the way This they became acquainted even with the secret and hidden Counsels of God they saw things which themselves were not able to utter they behold that whereat men and Angels are astonished They understood in the beginning what should come to pass in the last days Of the Prophers' manner of speech 4. God which lightened thus the eyes of their understanding giving them knowledge by unusual and extraordinary means did also miraculously himself frame and fashion their Words and Writings in so much that a greater difference there seemeth not to be between the manner of their knowledge than there is between the manner of their speech and ours When we have conceived a thing in our hearts and throughly understand it as we think within ourselves ●re we can utter in such sort that our Brethren may receive instruction or comfort at our mouths how great how long how earnest meditation are we forced to use And after much travail and much pains when we open our lips to speak of the wonderful works of God our tongues do falter within our mouths yea many times we disgrace the dreadful mysteries of our Faith and grieve the spirit of our Hearers by words unsavoury and unseemly speeches Job 15. 2 3. Shall a Wiseman fill his Belly with the Eastern wind saith Eliphaz shall a Wiseman dispute with words not comely or with talk that is not profitable Yet behold even they that are wisest amongst us living compared with the Prophets seem no otherwise to talk of God than as if the Children which are carried in arms should speak of the greatest matters of State They whose words do most show forth their wise understanding and whose lips do utter the purest knowledge so long as they understand and speak as men are they not fain sundry ways to excuse themselves Sometimes acknowledging with the Wiseman Wisd. 2. 15. Hardly can we discern the things that are on earth and with great labour find we out the things that are before us Who can then seek out the things that are in Heaven Sometimes confessing with job the righteous in treating of things too wonderful for us we have spoken we wist not what Sometimes ending their talk as doth the History of the Macchabees if we have done well and as the Cause required it is that we desire if we have spoken slenderly and barely we have done we could But God hath made my mouth like a sword saith Esay Esay 49. 5. And we have received saith the Apostle not the spirit of the World but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are given to us of God which things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost doth teach This is that which the Prophets mean by those Books written full within and without which Books were so often delivered them to eat not because God fed them with Ink and Paper but to teach us that so oft as he employed them in this heavenly Work they neither spoke nor wrote any word of their own but uttered syllable by syllable as the Spirit put it into their mouths no otherwise than the Harp or the Lute doth give a sound according to the discretion of his hands that holdeth and striketh it with skill The difference is only this An instrument whether it be a Pipe or Harp maketh a distinction in the times and sounds which distinction is well perceived of the Hearer the Instrument itself understanding not what is Piped or Harped The Prophets and holy men of God not so I opened my mouth saith Ezekiel and God reached me a scroul saying Son of man cause thy Belly to eat and fill thy Bowels with this I give thee I ate it Ezekiel 3. and it was sweet in my mouth as honey saith the Prophet Yea sweeter I am persuaded than either honey or the honey comb For herein they were not like Harps or Lutes but they felt they felt the power and strength of their own words When they spoke of our peace every corner of their hearts was filled with joy When they prophesied of mournings lamentations and woes to fall upon us they wept in the bitterness and indignation of Spirit the arm of the Lord being mighty and strong upon them 5. On this manner were all the Prophecy of holy Scripture Which Prophecies although they contain nothing which is not profitable for our instruction yet as one Star differeth from another in glory so every word of Prophecy hath a treasure of matter in it but all matters are not of like importance as all Treasures are not of equal price The chief and principal matter of Prophecy is the promise of Righteousness Peace Holiness Glory Victory Immortality unto every Soul which believeth that Jesus is Christ of the jew first and of the Gentile Now because the doctrine of Salvation to be looked for by Faith in him who was in outward appearance as it had been a man forsaken of God in him who was numbered judged and condemned with the wicked in him whom men did see busseted on the face scofft at by Soldiers scourged by Tormentors hanged on the Cross pierced to the Heart in him whom the eyes of many Witnesses did behold when the anguish of his Soul enforced him to roar as if his heart had rend in sunder O my God my God why hast thou forsaken me I say because the doctrine of Salvation by him is a thing improbable to a natural man that whether we preach to the Gentile or to the Jew the one condemneth our Faith as madness the other as Blasphemy therefore to establish and confirm the certainty of this saving Truth in the hearts of men the Lord together with their Preachings whom he sent immediately from himself to reveal these things unto the World mingled Prophecies of things both Civil and Ecclesiastical which were to come in every age from time to time till the very last of the latter days that by those things wherein we see daily their words fulfilled and done we might have strong consolation in the hope of things which are not seen because they have revealed as well the one as the other For when many things are spoken of before in Scripture whereof we see first one thing accomplished and then another and so a third perceive we not plainly that God doth nothing else but lead us along by the hand till he have settled us upon the rock of an assured hope that not one jot or tittle of his Word shall pass till all be fulfilled It is not therefore said in vain that these godless wicked ones were spoken of before 6. But by whom By them whose words if men or Angels from Heaven gainsay they are accursed by them whom whosoever despiseth despiseth not them but me saith Christ. If any man therefore doth love the Lord Jesus and woe worth him that loveth not the Lord Jesus hereby we may know that he loveth him indeed A natural perceiveth nor heavenly things if he despise not the things that are spoken of by his Apostles whom many have despised even for the baseness and simpleness of their Persons For it is the property of fleshly and carnal men to honour and dishonour credit and discredit the words and deeds of every man according to that he wanteth or hath without If a man with gorgeous apparel come amongst us James 2. although he be a Thief or a Murderer for there are Thiefs and Murderers in gorgeous apparel be his heart whatsoever if his Coat be of Purple or Velvet or Tissue every one riseth up and all the reverend Solemnities we can use are too little Acts 12. But the man that serveth God is contemned and despised amongst us for his Poverty Herod speaketh in judgement and the People cry out The voice of God and not of man Acts 17. Paul preacheth Christ they term him a Trifler Harken beloved Hath not God chosen the Poor of this World that they should be rich in Faith Hath he not chosen the Refuse of the World to be Heirs of his Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him Hath he not chosen the Off-scowrings of Men to be the Lights of the World and the Apostles of Jesus Christ Men unlearned yet how fully replenished with understanding Few in number yet how great in power Contemptible in show yet in Spirit how strong how wonderful I would fai●● learn the mystery of the eternal generation of the Son of God saith Hilary Whom shall I seek Shall I get me to the Schools of the Grecians Why I have read Ubi Sapiens ubi Scriba ubi Conquisitor hujus saculi These Wisemen in the World must needs be dumb in this because they have rejected the wisdom of God Shall I beseech the Scribes and Interpreters of the Law to become my Teachers how can they know this sith they are offended at the Cross of Christ It is death for me to be ignorant of the unsearchable mystery of the Son of God of which mystery notwithstanding I should have been ignorant but that a poor Fisherman unknown unlearned new come from his Boat with his  wringing-wet hath opened his mouth and taught me In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God These poor silly Creatures have made us rich in the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ. 7. Remember therefore that which is spoken of by the Apostles Whose words if the Children of this World do not regard is it any marvel They are the Apostles of our Lord Jesus not of their Lord but of ours It is true which one hath said in a certain place Apostolicam sidem seculi homo non capit A man sworn to the World is not capable of that Faith which the Apostles do teach What mean the Children of this World then to tread in the Courts of our God What should your Bodies do at Bethel whose Hearts are at Bethaven The god of this World whom ye serve hath provided Apostles and Teachers for you Chaldeans Wizzards soothsayers Astrologers and such like Hear them We must not halt between two opinion Tell not us that ye will sacrifice to the Lord our God if we will sacrifice to Ashtaroth or Melcom that ye will read our Scriptures if we will listen to your Traditions that if ye may have a Mass by permission we shall have a Communion with good leave and liking that ye will admit the things that are spoken of by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus if your Lord and Master may have his Ordinances observed and his Statutes kept Solomon took it as he well might for an evident proof that she did not bear a motherly affection to her Child which yielded to have it cut in divers parts He cannot love the Lord Jesus with his heart which dareth one ear to his Apostles and another to false Apostles which can brook to see a mingle-mangle of Religion and Superstition Ministers and Massing-Priests Light and Darkness Truth and Error Traditions and Scriptures No we have no Lord but Jesus no Doctrine but the Gospel no Teachers but his Apostles Were it reason to require at the hand of an English Subject obedience to the Laws and Edicts of the Spaniards I do marvel that any man bearing the name of a Servant of the Servants of Jesus Christ will go about to draw us from our Allegiance We are his sworn Subjects it is not lawful for us to hear the things that are not told us by his Apostles They have told us that in the last days there shall be Mockers therefore we believe it Credimus quia legimus We are so persuaded because we read it must be so If we did not read it we would not teach it Nam qua libro Legis non continentur ea nec nosse debemus saith Hilary Those things that are not written in the book of the Law we ought not so much as to be acquainted with them Remember the words which were spoken of before by the Apostles of our Lord jesus Christ. 8. The third thing to be considered in the description of these men of whom we speak is the time wherein we should be manifested to the World Nocker● in the last time They told you there should be mockers in the last time Noah at the commandment of God built an Ark and there were in it Beasts of all sorts clean and unclean A Husbandman planteth a Vineyard and looketh for Grapes but when they come to the gathering behold together with Grapes there are found also wild Grapes A rich man prepareth a great Supper and biddeth many but when he sitteth him down he findeth amongst his Friends here and there a man whom he knoweth not This hath been the state of the Church ●it hence the beginning God always hath mingled his Saints with faithless and godless Persons as it were the clean with the unclean Grapes with sour grapes his Friends and Children with Aliens and Strangers Marvel not then if in the last days also ye see the men with whom you live and walk arm in arm laugh at your Religion and blaspheme that glorious name whereof you are called Thus it was in the days of the Patriarches and Prophets and are we better than our Fathers Albeit we suppose that the blessed Apostles in foreshowing what manner of men were set out for the last days meant to note a calamity special and peculiar to the Ages and Generations which were to come As if he should have said As God hath appointed a time of Seed for the Sour and a time of Harvest for him that reapeth as he hath given unto every Herb and every Tree his own fruit and his own season not the season nor the fruit of another for no man looketh to gather Figgs in the Winter because the Summer is the season for them nor Grapes of Thistles because Grapes are the fruit of the Vine so the same God hath appointed sundry for every Generation of them other men for other times and for the last times the worst men as may appear by their properties which is the fourth point to be considered of in this description 9 They told you that there should be Mockers Mockers He meaneth men that shall use Religion as a Cloak to put off and on as the weather serveth such as shall with Herod hear the Preaching of john Baptist to day and to morrow condescend to have him beheaded or with the other Herod say they will worship Christ when they purpose a massacre in their hearts kiss Christ with judas and betray Christ with judas These are Mockers For Ishmael the Son of Hagar laughed at Isaac which was heir of the Promise so shall these men laugh at you as the maddest People under the Sun if ye be like Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season And why God hath not given them eyes to see nor hearts to conceive that exceeding recompense of your reward The promises of Salvation made to you are matters wherein they can take no pleasure even as Ishmael took no pleasure in that promise wherein God had said unto Abraham In Isaac shall thy seed be called because the Promise concerned not him but Isaac They are termed for their impiety towards God Mockers and for the impurity of their life and conversation Walkers after-their own ungodly lusts Saint Peter in his second Epistle and third Chapter soundeth the very depth of their impiety showing first how they shall not shame at the length to profess themselves profane and irreligious by flat denying the Gospel of Jesus Christ and deading the sweet and comfortable promises of his appearing Secondly that they shall not be only deriders of all Religion but also disputers against God using Truth to subvert the Truth yea Scriptures themselves to disprove Scriptures Being in this sort Mockers they must needs be also Followers of their own ungodly lusts Being Atheists in persuasion can they choose but be Beasts in conversation For why remove they quite from them the feat of God Why take they such pains to abandon and put out from their hearts all sense all taste all feeling of Religion but only to this end and purpose that they may without inward remorse and grudging of Conscience give over themselves to all uncleanness Surely the state of these men is more lamentable Mockers worse than Pagan's and Infidel's than is the condition of Pagans and Turks For at the bare beholding of Heaven and Earth the Infidel's heart by and by doth give him that there is an eternal infinite immortal and everliving God whose hands have fashioned and framed the World he knoweth that every House is builded of some man though he see not the man which built the House and he considereth that it must be God which hath built and created all things although because the number of his days be few he could not see when God disposed his Works of old when he caused the light of his Clouds first to shine when he laid the Cornerstone of the Earth and swaddled it with bands of Water and Darkness when he caused the Morningstar to know his place and made bars and doors to shut up the Sea within his House saying Hitherto shalt thou come but no further he hath no eyewitness of these things Yet the light of Natural reason hath put this wisdom in his reins and hath given his Heart thus much understanding Bring a Pagan to the Schools of the Prophets of God prophesy to an Infidel rebuke him lay the judgements of God before him make the secret sins of his heart manifest and he shall fall down and worship God They that crucified the Lord of Glory were not so far past recovery but that the preaching of the Apostles was able to move their hearts and to bring them to this Men and Brethren what shall we do Agrippa that sat in judgement against Paul for Preaching yielded notwithstanding thus far unto him Almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian. Although the Jews for want of knowledge have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God yet I bear them record saith the Apostle That they have a zeal The Athenians Rom. 10. a people having neither zeal nor knowledge yet of them also the same Apostle beareth witness Ye men of Athens I perceive ye are some way religious but Mockers walking after their own ungodly lusts they have smothered every spark of that heavenly light they have stifled even their very natural understanding O Lord thy Mercy is over all thy works thou savest Man and Beast yet a happy case it had been for these men if they had never been born and so I leave them 10. Saint jude having his mind exercised in the Doctrine of the Apostles of Jesus Christ concerning things to come in the last time judas vit sapient & certi usic● became a man of wise and stayed judgement Grieved he was to see the departure of many and their falling away from the Faith which before they did profess grieved but not dismayed With the simpler and weaker sort it was otherwise Their countenance began by and by to change they were half in doubt they had deceived themselves in giving credit to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saint jude to comfort and refresh these silly Babes taketh them up in his arms and showeth them the men at whom they were offended Look upon them that forsake this blessed Profession wherein you stand they are now before your eyes view them mark them are they not carnal are they not like to noisome carrion cast out upon the Earth is there that Spirit in them which cryeth Abba Father in your bosoms Why should any man be discomforted Have you not heard that there should be Mockers in the last time These verily are they that now do separate themselves 11. For your better understanding what this severing and separating of themselves doth mean we must know that the multitude of them which truly believe howsoever they be dispersed far and wide each from other is all one Body whereof the Head is Christ one building whereof he is the Cornerstone to whom they as the Members of the Body being knit and as the stones of the Building being coupled grow up to a man of perfect stature and rise to an holy Temple in the lord That which linketh Christ to us is his mere mercy and love towards us That which tieth us to him is our faith in the promised Salvation revealed in the Word of Truth That which uniteth and joineth us amongst ourselves in such sort that we are now as if we had but one Heart and one Soul is our love Who be inwardly in Heart the lively Members of this Body and the polished stones of this Building coupled and joined to Christ as flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones by the mutual bond of his unspeakable love towards them and their unseig●ed faith in him thus linked and fastened each to other by a spiritual sincere and hearty affection of love without any manner of simulation who be Jew's within and what their names be none can tell save he whose eyes do behold the secret disposition of all men's hearts We whose eyes are too dim to behold the inward man must leave the secret judgement of every Servant to his own Lord accounting and using all men as Brethren both near and dear unto us supposing Christ to love them tenderly so as they keep the profession of the Gospel and join in the outward communion of Saints Whereof the one doth-warrantize unto us their Faith the other their love till they fall away and forsake either the one or the other or both and than it is no injury to term them as they are When they separate themselves they are not judged by us but by their own doings Men do separate themselves either by Heresy Schism or Apostasy If they lose the bond of Faith which then they are justly supposed to do when they frowardly oppugn any principal point of Christian Doctrine Three fold Separation 1. Heresy this is to separate themselves by Heresy If they break the bond of Unity whereby the Body of the Church is coupled and knit in one as they do which wilfully forsake all external Communion with Saints in holy Exercises purely and orderly established in the Church this is to separate themselves by Schism 2. Scism If they willingly cast off and utterly forsake both profession of Christ and communion with Christians taking their leave of all Religion this is to separate themselves by plain Apostasy And Saint jude to express the manner of their departure 3. Apostasy which by Apostasy fell away from the Faith of Christ saith They separated themselves noting thereby that it was not constraint of others which forced them to depart it was not infirmity and weakness in themselves it was not fear of Persecution to come upon them whereat their hearts did fail it was not grief of torment whereof they had tasted and were not able any longer to endure them No they voluntarily did separate themselves with a fully settled and altogether determined purpose never to name the Lord Jesus any more nor to have any fellowship with his Saints but to bend all their counsel and all their strength to raze out their memorial from amongst them 12. Now because that by such examples not only the hearts of Infidels were hardened against the Truth but the minds of weak Brethren also much troubled the Holy Ghost hath given sentence of these Backsliders that they were carnal men and had not the Spirit of Christ Jesus lest any man having an overweening of their Persons should be overmuch amazed and offended at their fall For simple men not able to discern their Spirits were brought by their Apostasy thus to reason with themselves If Christ be the Son of the Living God if he have the words of Eternal life if he be able to bring Salvation to all men that come unto him what meaneth this Apostasy and unconstrained departure Why do his Servants so willingly forsake him Babes be not deceived his Servants forsake him not They that separate themselves were amongst his Servants but if they had been of his Servants they had not separated themselves Infallible evidence in the Faithful that they are Gods Children They were amongst us not of us saith john and Saint jude proveth it because they were carnal and had not the Spirit Will you judge of Wheat by Chaff which the wind hath scattered from amongst it Have the Children no Bread because the dogs have not tasted it Are Christians deceived of that Salvation they look for because they were denied the joys of the life to come which were no Christians What if they seemed to be Pillars and principal Upholders of our Faith What is that to us which know that Angels have fallen from Heaven Although if these men had been of us indeed O the blessedness of a Christian man's estate they had stood surer than the Angels that had never departed from their place Wherein now we marvel not at their departure at all neither are we prejudiced by their falling away because they were not of us sith they are fleshly and have not the Spirit Children abide in the House for ever they are Bondmen and Bondwomen which are cast out 13. It behoveth you therefore greatly every man to examine his own estate and to try whether you be bond or free children or no children I have told you already that we must beware we presume not to sit as Gods in judgement upon others and rashly as our conceit and fancy doth lead us so to determine of this man he is sincere or of that man he is an Hypocrite except by their falling away they make it manifest and known that they are For who art thou that takest upon thee to judge another before the time Judge thyself God hath left us infallible evidence whereby we may at any time give true and righteous sentence upon ourselves We cannot examine the hearts of other men we may our own That we have passed from death to life we know it saith St. john because we love the Brethren And know ye not your own selves how that jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates I trust Beloved we know that we are not Reprobates because our Spirit doth bear us record that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is in us 14. It is as easy a matter for the Spirit within you to tell whose ye are as for the eyes of your Body to judge where you sit or in what place you stand For what saith the Scripture Ye which were in times past Strangers and Enemies because your minds were set an evil works Christ hath now reconciled in the body of his Flesh through death to make you holy and umblameable and without fault in his sight If you continue grounded and established in the Faith and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Collos. 1. And in the third to the Colossians Ye know that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of that Inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. If we can make this account with ourselves I was in times past dead in Trespasses and Sins I walked after the Prince that ruleth in the Air and after the Spirit that worketh in the Children of Disobedience but God who is rich in mercy through his great love wherewith he loved me even when I was dead hath quickened me in Christ. I was fierce heady proud highminded but God hath made me like the Child that is newly weaned I loved pleasures more than God I followed greedily the joys of this present World I esteemed him that erected a Stage or Theatre more than Solomon which built a Temple to the Lord the Ha●p Viol. Timbrel and Pipe Men-singers and Women-singers were at my Feast it was my felicity to see my Children dance before me I said of every kind of vanity O how sweet art thou in my Soul All which things now are crucified to me and I to them Now I hate the pride of life and pomp of this world now I take as great delight in the way of thy Testimonies O Lord as in all Riches now I find more joy of heart in my Lord and Saviour than the Worldly-minded-man when his Wheat and Oil do much abound Now I taste nothing sweet but the Bread which came down from Heaven to give life unto the World Now mine eyes see nothing but Jesus rising from the dead Now my ears refuse all kind of melody to hear the Song of them that hath gotten victory of the Beast and of his Image and of his Mark and of the number of his Name that stand on the Sea of Glass having the Harps of God and singing the Song of Moses the Servant of God and the Song of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways O King of Saints Surely if the Spirit have been thus effectual in the secret work of our Regeneration unto newness of life if we endeavour thus to frame ourselves anew than we may say boldly with the blessed Apostle in the tenth to the Hebrews We are not of them which withdraw ourselves to perdition but which follow Faith to the conservation of the Soul For they which fall away from the grace of God and separate themselves unto perdition they are fleshly and carnal they have not God's holy Spirit But unto you because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts to the end ye might know that Christ hath built you upon a Rock unmoveable that he hath registered your names in the Book of life that he hath bound himself in a sure and everlasting Covenant to be your God and the God of your Children after you that he hath suffered as much groaned as oft prayed as heartily for you as for Peter O Father keep them in thy Name O Righteous Father the World hath not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me I have declared thy name unto them and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them The Lord of his infinite mercy give us hearts plentifully fraught with the treasure of this blessed assurance of Faith unto the end 15. Here I must advertise all men The Papists falsely accuse● us of Heresy and Apostasy that have the testimony of God's holy fear within their Breasts to consider how unkindly and injuriously our own Countrymen and Brethren have dealt with us by the space of four and twenty years from time to time as if we were the men of whom St. jude here speaketh never ceasing to charge us some with Scism some with Heresy some with plain and manifest Apostasy as if we had clean separated ourselves from Christ utterly forsaken God quite abjured Heaven and trampled all Truth and Religion under our feet Against this third sort God himself shall plead our Cause in that day when they shall answer us for these words nor we them To others by whom we are accused for Schism and Heresy we have often made our reasonable and in the sight of God I trust allowable Answers For in the way which they call Heresy Acts 2● we worship the God of our Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets That which they call Schism we know to be our reasonable service unto God and obedience to his voice which cryeth shrill in our ears Go out of Babylon my People that you be not Partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues Apoc. 18. And therefore when they rise up against us having no quarrel but this we need not seek any farther for our Apology than the words of Abiah to jereboam and his Army 2 Chron. 13. O jeroboam and Israel hear you me Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel hath given the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever even to him and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt that is to say an everlasting Covenant Jesuits and Papists hear ye me ought you not to know that the Father hath given all power unto the Son and hath made him the only Head over his Church wherein he dwelleth as an Husbandman in the midst of his Vineyard manuring it with the sweat of his own brows not letting it forth to others For as it is in the Canticles Ca●t 8. 11. Solomon had a Vineyard in Baalhamon he gave the Vineyard unto Keepers every one bringing forth the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of Silver but my Vineyard which is mine is before me saith Christ. It is true this is meant of the Mystical Head set over the Body which is not seen But as he hath reserved the Mystical Administration of the Church invisible unto himself so he hath committed the Mystical Government of Congregations visible to the Sons of David by the same Covenant whose Sons they are in the governing of the Flock of Christ whomsoever the Holy Ghost hath set over them to go before them and to lead them in several Pastures one in this Congregation another in that as it is written Acts ●● Take heed unto yourselves and to all the Flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Neither will ever any Pope or Papist under the Cope of Heaven The Pope's usurped Supremacy be able to prove the Romish Bishop's usurped Supremacy over all Churches by any one word of the Covenant of Salt which is the Scripture For the Children in our streets do now laugh them to scorn when they force Thou art Peter to this purpose The Pope hath no more reason to draw the Charter of his universal Authority from hence than the Brethren had to gather by the words of Christ in the last of St. john that the Disciple whom Jesus loved should not die If I will that he ●arry till I come what is that to thee saith Christ. Straghtways a report was raised amongst the Brethren that this Disciple should not die Yet Jesus said not to him He shall not die but If I will that he ●arry till I come what is that to thee Christ hath said in the sixteenth of St. Matthew's Gospel to Simon the Son of jonas I say to thee Thou art Peter Hence an opinion is held in the World That the Pope is universal Head of all Churches Yet Jesus said not The Pope is universal Head of all Churches but Ta es Petrus Thou art Peter Howbeit as jeroboam the son of Nebat the servant of Solomon rose up and rebelled against his Lord and there were gathered unto him vain men and wicked which made themselves strong against Roboam the son of Solomon because Roboam was but a Child and tenderhearted and could not resist them So the Son of Perdition and Man of Sin being not able to brook the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which forbade his Disciples to be like Princes of Nations They bear rule that are called Gracious it shall not be so with you hath risen up and rebelled against his Lord and to strengthen his arm he hath crept into the Houses almost of all the Noblest Families round about him and taken their Children from the Cradle to be his Cardinals He hath fawned upon the Kings and Princes of the Earth and by Spiritual Cozenage hath made them sell their lawful Authority and Jurisdiction Council delector Cardin. Laurent Soriu● Count de reb gest 1 Pio ● Urancise Sans●vi● de guherm Rerum ●●h l. ● Cap. de Jud. are scal & ●oldap for Titles of Catholicus Christianissimus Defensor Fidei and such like he hath proclaimed sale of Pardons to inveigle the ignorant built Seminaries to allure young men desirous of Learning erected Stews to gather the dissolute unto him This is the Rock whereupon his Church is built Hereby the man is grown huge and strong like the Cedars which are not shaken with the wind because Princes have been as Children overtender hearted and could not resist Hereby it is come to pass as you see this day that the Man of Sin doth war against us not by men of a Language which we cannot understand but he cometh as jereboam against judah and bringeth the fruit of our own Bodies to eat us up that the bowels of the Child may be made the Mother's grave and hath caused no small number of our Brethren to forsake their Native Country and with all disloyalty to cast off the yoke of their Allegiance to our dread Sovereign whom God in mercy hath set over them for whose safeguard if they carried not the hearts of Tigers in the bosoms of men they would think the dearest blood in their Bodies well spent But now saith Abiah to jeroboam Ye think ye be able to resist the Kingdom of the Lord which is in the hands of the Sons of David Ye be a great multitude the golden Calves are with you which jeroboam made you for gods Have ye not driven away the Priests of the Lord the Sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you Priests like the People of Nations Whosoever cometh with a young Bullock and seven Rams the same may be a Priest of them that are no gods If I should follow the Comparison and here uncover the Cup of those deadly and ugly Abominations wherewith this jeroboam of whom we speak hath made the Earth so drunk that it hath retled under us I know your godly Hearts would loathe to see them For my own part I delight not to take in such filth I had rather take a Garment upon my Shoulders and go with my face from them to cover them The Lord open their Eyes and cause them if it be possible at the length to see how they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Put it O Lord in their hearts to seek white Raiment and to cover themselves that their filthy nakedness may no longer appear For beloved in Christ we bow our Knees and lift up our hands to Heaven in our Chambers secretly and openly in our Churches we pray heartily and hourly even for them also though the Pope hath given out as a Judge in a solemn Declaratory Sentence of Excommunication against this Land That our gracious Lady hath quite abolished Prayers within her Realm and his Scholars whom he hath taken from the midst of us have in their published Writings charged us nor only nor to have any holy Assemblies unto the Lord for Prayer but to hold a Common School of Sin and Flattery to hold Sacrilege to be God's Service Unfaithfulnesse and breach of Promise to God to give it to a Strumpet to be a Virtue to abandon Fasting to abhor Confession to mislike with Penance to like well of Usury to charge none with restitution to find no good before God in single life not in no well-working that all men as they fall to us are much worse and more than afore corrupted I do not add one word or syllable unto that which Mr. Bristol a man both born and sworn amongst us hath taught his hand to deliver to the view of all I appeal to the Conscience of every Soul that hath been truly converted by us Whether his heart were never raised up to God by our Preaching Whether the words of our Exhortation never w●●●g any tear of a penitent heart from his eyes Whether his Soul never reaped any joy and comfort any consolation in Christ Jesus by our Sacraments and Prayers and Psalms and Thanksgiving Whether he were never bettered but always worsed by us O merciful God If Heaven and Earth in this case do not witness with us and against them let us be razed out from the Land of the Living Let the Earth on which we stand swallow us quick as it hath done Corah Dathan and Abiram But if we belong unto the Lord our God and have not forsaken him if our Priests the Sons of Aaron minister unto the Lord and the Levites in their Office if we offer unto the Lord every morning and every evening the Burnt-offerings and sweet Incense of Prayers and Thanksgiving 1 Chron. 13. if the Bread be set in order upon the pure Table and the Candlestick of Gold with the Lamps thereof burn every morning that is to say if amongst us God's blessed Sacraments be duly administered his holy Word sincerely and daily preached if we keep the Watch of the Lord our God and if ye have forsaken him then doubt ye not this God is with us as a Captain his Priests with sounding Trumpets must cry alarm against you O ye Children of Israel fight not against the Lord God of your Fathers for ye shall not prosper Verse 12. THE SECOND SERMON Epist. JUDAS Verse 17 18 19 20 21. But ye beloved remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord jesus Christ How that they told you that there should be Mockers in the last time which should walk after their own ungodly lusts These are makers of Sects fleshly having not the Spirit But ye beloved edify yourselves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost And keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord jesus Christ unto eternal life HAving otherwhere spoken of the words of Saint jude going next before concerning Mockers which should come in the last time and Backsliders which even then should fall away from the Faith of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I am now by the aid of Almighty God and through the assistance of his good Spirit to lay before you the words of Exhortation which I have read 2. Wherein first of all whosoever hath an eye to see let him open it and he shall well perceive how careful the Lord is for his Children how desirous to see them profit and grow up to a manly stature in Christ how loath to have them any way misled either by examples of the wicked or by enticements of the world and by provocation of the flesh or by any other means forcible to deceive them and likely to estrange their hearts from God For God is not at that point with us that he careth not whether we sink or swim No he hath written our names in the Palm of his Hand in the Signet upon his Finger are we graven in Sentences not only of Mercy but of Judgement also we are remembered He never denounceth Judgements against the Wicked but he maketh some Proviso for his Children as it were for some certain privileged Persons Touch not mine Anointed do my Prophets no harm Hurt not the Earth nor the Sea nor the Trees till we have sealed the Servants of God in their Foreheads He never speaketh of godless men but he adjoineth words of comfort or admonition or exhortation whereby we are moved to rest and settle our hearts on him In the second to Timothy the third Chapter Evil men saith the Apostle and deceivers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and bring deceived But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned And in the first ●● Timothy the sixth Chapter Some ●●●● lusting after man ●● have erred drown he Faith and pierced themselves thorgh with many ●●rrowss ●●●● thou O man of God ●●y these ●●● things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness In the second to the Thessalonians the second Chapter They have not deceived the love of the Truth that they might be saved God shall send them strong delusions that they may believe lies But we ought to give thanks always to God for you Brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctifications of the Spirit and faith in the Truth And in this Epistle of St. jude There shall come Mockers in the last time walking after their own ungodly lusts But believed edify ye yourselves in your most holy Faith 3. These sweet Exhortations which God putteth every where in the mouths of the Prophets and Apostles of Jesus Christ are evident tokens that God sitteth nor in Heaven careless and unmindful of our estate Can a Mother forget her Child Surely a Mother will hardly forget her Child But if a Mother be haply found unnatural and do forget the fruit of her own Womb yet God's judgements show plainly that he cannot forget the man whose heart he hath framed and fashioned a new in simplicity and truth to serve and fear him For when the wickedness of man was so great and the Earth so filled with cruelties that it could not stand with the righteousness of God any longer to forbear wrathful sentences broke out from him like Wine from a Vessel that hath no vent Gen. 6.3 & 13. My Spirit saith he can struggle and strive no longer an end of all flesh is come before me Yet then did Noah find grace in ● of the Lord I will establish my Covenant with thee saith God thou shots go into the Ark Gen. 6. ● & 1● thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons wives with thee 4. Do we not see what shift God doth make for Lot and for his Family in the ●● of Genesis lest the fiery destruction of the wicked should overtake him Overnight the Angels make enquiry what Sons and Daughters or Sons in law what weal●● and substance he had They charge him to carry out all Gen. 19 12. Whatsoever thou hast in the City bring it out God seemeth to stand in a kind of fear lest some thing or other would be left behind And his will was that nothing of that which he had nor an hoof of any Beast not a thread of any Garment should be findged with that fire I● the morning the Angels fail not to call him up and to hasten him forward Gen. 19 15. Arise take thy Wife and thy Daughters which are here that they be no● destroyed in the punishment of the City The Angels having spoken again and again Let for all this lingereth out the time still till at the length they were forced to take both him and his wife and his daughters by the arms the Lord being merciful unto him and to carry them forth and set them without the City Verse 1● 5. Was there ever any Father thus careful to save his Child from the ●lame A man would think that now being spoken unto to escape for his life and not to look behind him nor to ●arry in the Plain but to hasten to the Mountain and there to save himself he should do it gladly Yet behold now he is so far off from a cheerful and willing heart to do whatsoever is commanded him for his own weal that he beginneth to reason the matter as if God had mistaken one place for another sending him to the ●● when salvation was in the City Not so my Lord I beseech thee Behold thy Servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life I cannot escape in the Mountain lest some evil take me and I die Here is a City hard by a small thing O let me escape thither is it not a small thing and my Soul shall live Well God is contended to yield to any conditions Behold I have received thy request concerning this thing also I will spare this City for which thou hast spoken haste thee save thee there For I can do nothing till thou come thither 6. He could do nothing Not because of the weakness of his strength for who is like unto the Lord in power but because of the greatness of his Mercy which would not suffer him to lift up his arm against that City nor to pour out his wrath upon that place where his righteous Servant had a fancy to remain and a desire to dwell O the depth of the riches of the mercy and love of God God is afraid to offend us which are not afraid to displease him God can do nothing till he have saved us which can find in our hearts rather to do any thing than to serve him It contenteth him not to exempt us when the Pit is digged for the Wicked to comfort us at every mention which is made of Reprobates and godless men to save us as the apple of his own eye when fire cometh down from Heaven to consume the Inhabitants of the Earth except every Prophet and every Apostle and every Servant whom he sendeth forth do come loaden with these or the like exhortations O beloved edify yourselves in your most holy Faith Give yourselves to Prayer in the Spirit keep yourselves in the love of God Look for the mercy of our Lord jesus Christ unto eternal life 7. Edify yourselves The speech is borrowed from material Builders and must be spiritually understood It appeareth in the sixth of Saint John's Gospel by the Jews that their mouths did water too much for bodily food Our Fathers say they did eat Manna in the Desert as it is written He gave them Bread from Heaven to eat Lord evermore give us of this Bread Our Saviour to turn their appetite another way maketh them this answer I am the Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall not hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst 8. An usual practice it is of Satan to cast heaps of worldly baggage in our way that whilst we desire to heap up gold as dust we may be brought at the length to esteem vilely that Spiritual Bliss Christ in Matth. 6. to correct this evil affection putteth us in mind to lay up treasure for ourselves in Heaven The Apostle ● Tim. Chapter 3. misliking the vanity of those Women which attired themselves more costly than beseemed the Heavenly Calling of such as professed the fear of God willeth them to  themselves with Shamefastness and Modesty and to put on the Apparel of Good works Taliter pigmentata Deum habehitis amatorem saith Tertullian Put on Righteousness as a Garment instead of Civit have Faith which may cause a savour of life to issue from you and God shall be enamoured he shall be ravished with your beauty These are the Ornaments and Bracelets and Jewels which inflame the love of Christ and set his heart on fire upon his Spouse We see how he breaketh out in the Canticles at the beholding of this attire How fair art thou and how pleasant art thou O my Love in these pleasures 9 And perhaps St. jude exhorteth us here not to build our Houses but ourselves foreseeing by the Spirit of the Almighty which was with him that there should be men in the last days like to those in the first which should encourage and stir up each other to make Brick and to burn it in the fire to build Houses huge as Cities and Towers as high as Heaven thereby to get them a name upon Earth men that should turn out the poor and the Fatherless and the Widow to build places of rest for Dogs and Swine in their rooms men that should lay Houses of Prayer even with the ground and make them Stables where God's people have worshipped before the lord Surely this is a vanity of all vanities and it is much amongst men a special sickness of this age What it should mean I know not except God have set them on work to provide fuel against that day when the Lord Jesus shall show himself from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire What good cometh unto the owners of these things saith Solomon but only the beholding thereof with their eyes Martha Martha thou busiest thyself about many things One thing is necessary Ye are too busy my Brethren with Timber and Brick they have chosen the better part they have taken a better course that build themselves Ye are the Temples of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and will walk in them and they shall be my People and I will be their God 10. Which of you will gladly remain or abide in a mishapen a ruinous or a broken House And shall we suffer sin and vanity to drop in at our eyes and at our ears and at every corner of our Bodies and of our Souls knowing that we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which of you receiveth a Guest whom he honoureth or whom he loveth and doth not sweep his Chamber against his coming And shall we suffer the Chambers of our Hearts and Consciences to lie full of vomiting full of filth full of garbage knowing that Christ hath said I and my Father will come and dwell with you Is it meet for your Oxen to lie in Parlours and yourselves to lodge in Cribs Or is it seemly for yourselves to dwell in your seiled houses and the House of the Almighty to lie waste whose House ye are yourselves Do not our eyes behold how God every day overtaketh the wicked in their Journeys how suddenly they pop down into the Pit how God's judgements for their Crimes come so swiftly upon them that they have not the leisure to cry Alas how their life is cut off like a thread in a moment how they pass like a shadow how they open their mouths to speak and God taketh them even in the midst of a vain or an idle Word And dare we for all this lie down take our rest The Sacrament of the Lords Supper eat our meat securely and carelessly in the midst of so great and so many ruins Blessed and praised for ever and ever be his Name who perceiving of how senseless and heavy metal we are made hath instituted in his CHURCH a Spiritual Supper and an Holy Communion to be Celebrated often That we might thereby be occasioned often to examine these Buildings of ours in what case they stand For sith God doth not dwell in Temples which are unclean sith a Shrine cannot be a Sanctuary unto him and this Supper is received as a Seal unto us that we are his House and his Sanctuary that his Christ is as truly united to me and I to him as my arm is united and knit unto my shoulder that he dwelleth in me as verily as the elements of Bread and Wine abide within me which persuasion by receiving these dreadful mysteries we profess ourselves to have a due comfort if truly and if in hypocrisy then woe worth us Therefore ere we put forth our hands to take this blessed Sacrament we are charged to examine and to try our hearts whether God be in us of a truth or no and if by Faith and love unfeigned we be found the Temples of the Holy Ghost then to judge whether we have had such regard every one to our building that the Spirit which dwelleth in us hath no way been vexed molested and grieved or if it have as no doubt sometimes it hath by incredulity sometimes by breach of charity sometimes by want of zeal sometimes by spots of life even in the best and most perfect amongst us for who can say his heart is clean O then to fly unto God by unfeigned repentance to fall down before him in the humility of our Souls begging of him whatsoever is needful to repair our decays before we fall into that desolation whereof the Prophet speaketh saying Lam. 2. 13. Thy breach is great like the Sea who can heal thee 11. Receiving the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord after this sort you that are Spiritual judge what I speak is not all other Wine like the Water of Merah being compared to the Cup which we bless Is not Manna like to gall and our bread like to Manna Is there not a taste a taste of Christ Jesus in the heart of him that eateth Doth not he which drinketh behold plainly in this Cup that his Soul is bathed in the blood of the Lamb O beloved in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ if ye will taste how sweet the Lord is if ye will receive the King of Glory Build yourselves 12. Young men I speak this to you for ye are his House because by Faith ye are Conquerors over Satan and have overcome that evil Fathers I speak it also to you ye are his House because ye have known him who is from the beginning Sweet Babes I speak it even to you also ye are his House because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake Matrons and Sisters I may not hold it from you ye are also the Lord's building and as Saint Peter speaketh Heirs of the grace of life as well as we Though it be forbidden you to open your mouths in Public Assemblies yet ye must be inquisitive in things concerning this Building which is of God with your Husbands and Friends at home not as Delilah with Samson but as Sarah with Abraham whose Daughters ye are whilst ye do well and build yourselves 13. Having spoken thus far of the Exhortation as whereby we are called upon to edify and build ourselves it remaineth now that we consider the things prescribed namely wherein we must be built This prescription standeth also upon two points the thing prescribed and the adjuncts of the thing And that is our most pure and holy Faith 14. The thing prescribed is Faith For as in a chain which is made of many links if you pull the first you draw the rest and as in a Ladder of many staves if you take away the lowest all hope of ascending unto the highest will be removed So because all the Precepts and Promises in the Law and in the Gospel do hang upon this Believe and because the last of the graces of God doth so follow the first that he glorifieth none but whom he hath justified nor justifieth any but whom he hath called to a true effectual and lively Faith in Christ Jesus therefore St. jude exhorting us to build ourselves mentioneth here expressly only Faith as the thing wherein we must be edified for that Faith is the ground and the glory of all the welfare of this Building Ephes. 4. 15. Ye are not Strangers and Foreigners but Citizens with the Saints and of the Household of God saith the Apostle and are built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles jesus Christ himself being the chief Cornerstone in whom all the Building being coupled together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord in whom ye also are built together to be the habitation of God by the Spirit And we are the habitation of God by the Spirit if we believe for it is written Whosoever confesseth that jesus is the Son of God in him God dwelleth and he in God The strength of this habitation is great it prevaileth against Satan it conquereth Sin it hath Death in cerision neither Principalities nor Powers can throw it down it leadeth the World captive and bringeth every enemy that riseth up against it to confusion and shame and all by Faith for this is the Victory that overcommeth the World even our Faith Who is it that overcommeth the World but he which believeth that Jesus is the Son of God 1 John 4. 16. The strength of every Building which is of God standeth not in any man's arms or legs it is only in our Faith as the valour of Samson lay only in his hair 1 John 5. This is the reason why we are so earnestly called upon to edify ourselves in Faith Not as if this bare action of our minds whereby we believe the Gospel of Christ were able in itself as of itself to make us unconquerable and invincible like stones which abide in the Building for ever and fall not out No it is not the worthiness of our believing it is the virtue of him in whom we believe by which we stand sure as houses that are builded upon a Rock He is a Wiseman which hath builded his house upon a Rock for he hath chosen a good foundation and no doubt his house will stand but how shall it stand Verily by the strength of the Rock which beareth it and by nothing else Our Fathers whom God delivered out of the Land of Egypt Mat. 9 were a People that had no Peers amongst the Nations of the Earth because they were built by Faith upon the Rock which Rock is Christ. And the Rock saith the Apostle in the first to the Corinthians the tenth Chapter did follow them Whereby we learn not only this that being built by Faith on Christ as on a Rock and grafted into him as into an Olive we receive all our strength and fatness from him but also that this strength and fatness of ours ought to be no cause why we should be highminded and not work out our salvation with a reverend trembling and holy fear For if thou boasteth thyself of thy Faith know this That Christ chose his Apostles his Apostles chose not him that Israel followed not the Rock but the Rock followed Israel and that thou bearest not the Root Rom. 11. but the Root thee So that every Heart must thus think and every Tongue must thus speak Not unto us O Lord not unto us nor unto any thing which is within us but unto thy name only only to thy Name belongeth all the praise of all the Treasures and Riches of every Temple which is of God This excludeth all boasting and vaunting of our Faith 1 John 2. 17. But this must not make us careless to edify ourselves in Faith It is the Lord that delivereth men's souls from death but not except they put their trust in his mercy It is God that hath given us eternal life but no otherwise than thus If we believe in the name of the Son of God for he that hath not the Son of God hath not life It was the Spirit of the Lord which came upon Samson and made him strong to tear a Lion as a man would rend a Kid but his strength forsook him and he became like other men when the Razor had touched his Head It is the power of God whereby the Faithful have subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtained the Promises stopped the mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire escaped the edge of the Sword but take away their Faith and doth not their strength forsake them are they not like unto other men 18. If ye desire yet farther to know how necessary and needful it is that we edify and build up ourselves in Faith mark the words of the blessed Apostle Without Faith it is impossible to please God If I offer unto God all the Sheep ●●d Oxen that are in the World if all the Temples that were builded since the days of Adam till this hour were of my foundation if I break my very heart with calling upon God and wear out my tongue with preaching if I sacrifice my body and my soul unto him and have no Faith all this availeth nothing Without Faith it is impossible to please God Our Lord and Saviour therefore being asked in the sixth of St. John's Gospel No pleasure of God without Faith What shall we do that we might work the works of God maketh answer This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent 19 That no work of ours no building of ourselves in any thing can be available or profitable unto us except we be edified and built in Faith What need we to seek about for long proof Look upon Israel once the very chosen and peculiar of God to whom the adoption of the Faithful and the glory of Cherubims and the Covenants of Mercy and the Law of Moses and the service of God and the promises of Christ were made impropriate who not only were the Offspring of Abraham Father unto all them which do believe but Christ their Offspring which is God to be blessed for evermore 20. Consider this People and learn what it is to build yourselves in Faith They were the Lord's Vine He brought it out of Egypt he threw out the Heathen from their places that it might be planted he made room for it and caused it to take root till it had filled the earth the Mountains were covered with the shadow of it and the boughs thereof were as the goodly Cedars she stretched out her branches unto the Sea and her boughs unto the River But when God having sent both his Servants and his Son to u●si●ss this Vine they neither spared the one nor received the other but stoned the 〈…〉 s and crucified the Lord of glory which came unto them then began the curse ●● God to come upon them even the curse whereof the Prophet David hath spoken saying Psal. 69. Let their table be made a snare and a net and a stumbling block even for a recompense unto them Let their eyes be darkened Rom. 11. that they do not see how down their backs for ever keep them down And sithence the hour that the measure of their infidelity was first made up they have been spoiled with Wars eaten up with Piagues spent with Hunger and Famine they wander from place to place and are become the most ●ase and contemptible people that are under the Sun Ephraim which before was a terror unto Nations and they trembled at his voice is now by infidelity so vile that he seems as a thing cast out to be trampled under men's feet In the midst of these desolations they cry Return Psal. 10. 1● we beseech thee O God of hosts look down from heaven behold and visit their Vine but their very Prayers are turned into sin and their cries are no better than the lowing of ●eastss before him Well saith the Apostle by their anbelief they are broken off and thou dost standby thy Faith Behold therefore the bountifulness and severity of God towards them severity because they have fallen bountifulness towards thee if thou continue in his bountifulness Verse ●2 or else thou shalt be cut off If they forsake their unbelief and be grafted in again and we at any time for the hardness of our hearts be broken off it will be such a judgement as will amaze all the Powers and Principalities which are above Who hath searched the counsel of God concerning this secret And who doth not see Hosea 1. 2. nor my people Verse 6. not obtaining mercy that Infidelity doth threaten Lo-ammi unto the Gentiles as it hath brought Lo-ruchama upon the Jews It may be that these words seem dark unto you But the words of the Apostle in the eleventh to the Romans are plain enough If God have not spared the natural branches take heed take heed lest he spare not thee Build thyself in Faith Thus much of the thing which is prescribed and wherein we are exhorted to edify ourselves Now consider the Condition and Properties which are in this place annexed unto Faith The former of them for there are but two is this Edify yourselves in your Faith 21. A strange and a strong delusion it is wherewith the man of Sin hath bewitched the World a forcible spirit of Error it must needs be which hath brought men to such a senseless and unreasonable persuasion as this is not only that men clothed with mortality and sin as we ourselves are can do God so much service as shall be able to make a full and perfect satisfaction before the Tribunal seat of God for their own sins yea a great deal more than is sufficient for themselves but also that a man at the hands of a Bishop or a Pope for such or such a price may buy the overplus of other men's merits purchase the fruits of other men's labours and build his Soul by another man's faith Is not this man drowned in the gall of bitterness Is his heart right in the sight of God Can he have any part or fellowship with Peter and with the Successors of Peter which thinketh so vilely of building the precious Temples of the Holy Ghost Let his money perish with him and he with it because he judgeth that the Gift of God may be sold for money 22. But beloved in the Lord deceive not yourselves neither suffer ye yourselves to be deceived Ye can receive no more ease nor comfort for your Souls by another man's faith than warmth for your Bodies by another man's  or sustenance by the bread which another man doth eat The just shall live by his own Faith Let a Saint yea a Martyr content himself that he hath cleansed himself of his own sins saith Tertullian No Saint or Martyr can cleanse himself of his own sins But if so be a Saint or a Martyr can cleanse himself of his own sins it is sufficient that he can do it for himself Did ever any man by his death deliver another man from death except only the Son of God He indeed was able to Safe-conduct a Thief from the Cross to Paradise for to this end he came that being himself pure from sin he might obey for Sinners Thou which thinkest to do the like and supposest that thou canst justify another by thy Righteousness if thou be without sin then lay down thy life for thy Brother die for me But if thou be a Sinner even as I am a Sinner how can the Oil of thy Lamp be sufficient both for thee and for me Virgins that are wise get ye Oil while ye have day into your own Lamps For out of all peradventure others though they would can neither give nor sell. Edify yourselves in your own most holy faith And let this be observed for the first property of that wherein we ought to edify ourselves 23. Our Faith being such is that indeed which St. jude doth here term Faith namely a thing most holy The reason is this We are justified by Faith For Abraham believed and this was imputed unto him for Righteousness Being justified all our iniquities are covered God beholdeth us in the Righteousness which is imputed and not in the Sins which we have committed 24. It is true we are full of sin both original and actual whosoever denieth it is a double Sinner for he is both a Sinner and a Lyar. To deny sin is most plainly and clearly to prove it because he that saith he hath no sin lieth and by lying proveth that he hath sin 25. But imputation of Righteousness hath covered the sins of every Soul which believeth God by pardoning our sin hath taken it away So that now although our transgressions be multiplied above the hairs of our head yet being justified we are as free and as clear as if there were no one spot or slain of any uncleanness in us For it is God that justifieth And who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's chosen saith the Apostle in Rom. 8. 26. Now sin being taken away we are made the righteousness of God in Christ for David speaking of this Righteousness saith Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven No man is blessed but in the righteousness of God Every man whose sin is taken away is blessed Therefore every man whose sin is covered is made the Righteousness of God in Christ. This Righteousness doth make us to appear most holy most pure most unblameable before him 27. This then is the sum of that which I say Faith doth justify Justification washeth away sin sin removed we are clothed with the righteousness which is of God the righteousness of God maketh us most holy Every of these I have proved by the testimony of God's own mouth Therefore I conclude That Faith is that which maketh us most holy in consideration whereof it is called in this place Our most holy saith 28. To make a wicked and a sinful man most holy through his believing is more than to create a World of nothing Our faith most holy Surely Solomon could not show the Queen of Sheba so much treasure in all his Kingdom as is leapt up in these words O that our hearts were stretched out like tennis and that the eyes of our understanding were as bright as the Sun that we might thoroughly know the riches of the glorious inheritance of the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us whom he accepteth for pure and most holy through our believing O that the Spirit of the Lord would give this Doctrine entrance into the slony and brazen heart of the Jew which followeth the Law of Righteousness but cannot attain unto the righteousness of the Law Wherefore saith the Apostle they seek righteousness and not by faith wherefore they stumble at Christ they are bruised shivered to pieces as a ship that hath run herself upon a Rock O that God would cast down the eyes of the proud and humble the souls of the highminded that they might at the length abhor the garments of their own flesh which cannot hide their nakedness and put on the faith of Christ Jesus as he did put it on which hath said Doubtless I think all thing but loss for the excellent knowledge-sake of Christ jesus my Lord for whom I have counted all things loss and do judge them to be dung that I might win Christ and might be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the saith of Christ even the righteousness which is of God through faith O that God would open the Ark of Mercy wherein this Doctrine lieth and set it wide before the eyes of poor afflicted Consciences which fly up and down upon the water of their afflictions and can see nothing but only the gulf and deluge of their sins wherein there is no place for them to rest their feet The God of pity and compassion give you all strength and courage every day and every hour and every moment to build and edify yourselves in this most pure and holy faith And thus much both of the thing prescribed in this Exhortation and also of the properties of the thing Build yourselves in your most holy faith I would come to the next branch which is of Prayer but I cannot lay this matter out of my hands till I have added somewhat for the applying of it both to others and to ourselves 29. For your better understanding of matters contained in this Exhortation Build yourselves you must note that every Church and Congregation doth consist of a multitude of Believers as every House is built of many Stones And although the nature of the Mystical body of the Church be such that it suffereth no distinction in the invisible members but whether it be Paul or Apollo's Prince or Prophet he that is taught or he that teacheth all are equally Christ's and Christ is equally theirs yet in the external administration of the Church of God because God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace it is necessary that in every Congregation there be a distinction if not of inward dignity yet of outward degree so that all are Saints or seem to be Saints and should be as they seem But are all Apostles If the whole Body were an eye where were then the hearing God therefore hath given some to be Apostles and some to be Pastors etc. for the edification of the body of Christ. In which work we are God's labourers saith the Apostle and ye are God's husbandry and God's building 30. The Church respected with reference unto administration Ecclesiastical doth generally consist but of two sorts of men the Labourers and the Building they which are ministered unto and they to whom the work of the Ministry is committed Pastors and the Flock over whom the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers If the Guide of a Congregation be his name or his degree whatsoever be diligent in his Vocation feed the flock of God which dependeth upon him caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind not as though he would tyrannize over God's heritage but as a pattern unto the Flock wisely guiding them If the People in their degree do yield themselves frameable to the truth not like rough stone or flint refusing to be smoothed and squared for the building if the Magistrate do carefully and diligently survey the whole order of the work providing by Statutes and Laws and bodily punishments if need require that all things may be done according to the rule which cannot deceive even as Moses provided that all things might be done according to the pattern which he saw in the Mount there the words of this Exhortation are truly and effectually heard Of such a Congregation every man will say Behold a people that are wise a people that walk in the Statutes and Ordinances of their God a people full of knowledge and understanding a people that have skill in building themselves Where it is otherwise there at by sloathfulness the roof doth decay and as by idleness of bands the House droppeth thorough as it is in Eccles. 10. 18. so first one piece and then another of their building shall fall away till there be not a stone left upon a stone 31. We see how fruitless this Exhortation hath been to such as bend all their travel only to build and manage a Papacy upon earth without any care in the Worl● of building themselves in their most holy faith God's people have enquired at their mouths What shall we do to have Eternal life Wherein shall we build and edify ourselves And they have departed home from their Prophets and from their Priests laden with Doctrines which are Precepts of men they have been taught to tyre out themselves with bodily exercise those things are enjoined them which God did never require at their hands and the things he doth require are kept from them their eyes are fed with pictures and their ears are filled with melody but their souls do wither and starve and pine away they cry for bread and behold stones are offered them they ask for fish and see they have Scorpions in their hands Thou seest O Lord that they build themselves but not in faith they feed their Children but not with food their Rulers say with shame Bring and not build But God is Righteous their drunkenness stinketh their abominations are known their madness is manifest the wince hath bound them up in her wings and they shall be ashamed of their doings Ephraim saith the Prophet is joined to Idols let him alone I will turn me therefore from the Priests which do minister unto Idols and apply this Exhortation to them whom God hath appointed to feed his Chosen in Israel 32. If there be any feeling of Christ any drop of heavenly dew or any spark of God's good spirit within you stir it up be careful to build and edify first yourselves and then your flocks in this most holy Faith 33. I say first yourselves For h● which will set the hearts of other men on fire with the love of Christ must himself burn with love It is want of faith in ourselves my Brethren which makes us * Careless wretchless in building others We forsake the Lords inheritance and feed it not What is the reason of this Our own desires are settled where they should not be We ourselves are like those women which have a longing to eat coals and lime and filth we are fed some with honour some with ease some with wealth the Gospel waxeth loathsome and unpleasant in our taste how should we then have a care to feed others with that which we cannot fancy ourselves If Faith wax cold and slender in the heart of the Prophet it will soon perish from the ears of the People Amos ● 11,12 The Prophet Amos speaketh of a famine saying I will send a famine in the Land not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the Word of the lord Men shall wander from sea to sea and from the North unto the East shall they ran to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it judgement must begin at the House of God saith Peter Yea I say at the Sanctuary of God 1 Pet. 4. 17. this judgement must begin This famine must begin at the heart of the Prophet He must have darkness for a vision he must stumble at noon day as at the twilight and then truth shall fall in the midst of the streets then shall the people wander from sea to sea and from the North unto the East shall they run to and fro to seek the Word of the lord 34. In the second of Haggai Speak now saith God to his Prophet Speak now to Zerubbabel the Son of Shealtiel Prince of judah and to jehoshua the Son of jehosadak the Highpriest and to the residue of the people saying Who is left among you that saw this House in her first glory and how do you see it now Is not this House in your eyes in comparison of it is nothing The Prophet would have all men's eyes turned to the view of themselves every sort brought to the consideration of their present state This is no place to show what duty Zerubbabel or jehoshuah doth owe unto God in this respect They have I doubt not such as put them hereof in remembrance I ask of you which are a part of the residue of God's Elect and chosen people Who is there amongst you that hath taken a survey of the House of God as it was in the days of the blessed Apostles of Jesus Christ Who is there amongst you that hath seen and considered this Holy Temple in her first glory And how do you see it now Is it not in comparison of the other almost as nothing when ye look upon them which have undertaken the charge of your Souls and know how far these are for the most part grown out of kind how few there be that tread the steps of their ancient Predecessors ye are easily filled with indignation easily drawn unto these complaints wherein the difference of present from former times is bewailed easily persuaded to think of them that lived to enjoy the days which now are gone that surely they were happy in comparison of us that have succeeded them Were not their Bishop's men unreprovable wise righteous holy temperate well-reported of even of those which were without Were not their Pastors Guides and Teachers able and willing to exhort with wholesome Doctrine and to reprove those which gainsaid the Truth had they Priests made of the refuse of the people were men like to the children which were in Niniveh unable to discern between the right hand and the left presented to the charge of their Congregations did their Teachers leave their flocks over which the Holy Ghost had made them Overseers did their Prophets enter upon holy things as spoils without a reverend calling were their Leaders so unkindly affected towards them that they could find in their hearts to sell them as sheep or oxen not caring how they made them away But Beloved deceive not yourselves Do the faults of your Guides and Pastors offend you it is your fault if they be thus faulty Nullus quimalum Rectorem patitur cum accuset quia sai fuit meriti perversi Pastoris subjacere ditioni saith St. Gregory whosoever thou art whom the inconvenience of an evil Governor doth press accuse thyself and not him his being such is thy deserving O ye disobedient Children turn again saith the Lord Jer. 3. 14 15. and then will I give you Pastors according to mine own heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding So that the only way to repair all ruins breaches and offensive decays in others is to begin reformation at yourselves Which that we may all sincerely seriously and speedily do God the Father grant for his Son our Saviour Jesus sake unto whom with the Holy Ghost three Persons one Eternal and Everlasting God be honour and glory and praise for ever Amen FINIS