Against Idolatry and Superstition

SECT. 1.

General Argument against the Ceremontes.

FIrst for general Arguments. waving many other things, my Text ••• ds me to insist chi • fly upon this, that they are Idols against the Second Commandment: They are not directly and immediately against the First, for they are used as means whereby to honor and worship God, the Father, Son, and Spirit, but there may be a false worship offered up to the true God, and that the Ceremonyes are such, that they are Idols against the Second Commandment, these Reason do evince.

1. Because they are means of worship which the Lord never appointed, and which never came into his heart. There is no stamp of God upon them, no stamp of Institution, But God will say of them at the great day, who required these things at your Hands. They are means of wor • hip of an High Nature, for they have a great part of the nature of Sacraments in them, For the Patrons of them say, they are neither dead nor dumb, but mystical and significant, and appointed on purpose to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty towards God, by some special and notable signification, whereby He may be edified, they are the words of the preface to the Common Prayer Book. So that as the Sacraments have two parts, an outward sign, and the inward grace signified thereby, So have the Ceremonies. The Surplice signifies the whiteness of purity and Innocency that should be in Ministers: The Sign of the Cross signifieth that they must not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ, and so all the rest have some pretended spiritual signification annexed to them, yea they are not only pretended to be significative, but affective also, to edify, to stir up a dull and dead heart, &c. which brings to mind that strange Answer in the Catechism of the Common prayer, to that Question? How many Sacraments there be, They Answer, two only, as generally necessary to Salvation, viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper; Implying, that there be other Sacraments also, though not so necessary, which must either relate to the seven popish Sacraments, or else to these English Popish Ceremonies, but they are such Sacraments as Christ is not the Author of, • acraments of man's making, for the greatest Patrons and promoters of them, do not pretend a divine Institution for them, but only the Authority of the Church, but if the Second Commandment was given to the Church, as I hope they will not deny, thou shalt not make any graven Image, or form of worship to thyself, they are a manife • breach of that Commandment.

2. Because there is greater weight laid upon them then upon greater things, therefore they are Idols. As when the Pharisees did prefer Mint and Cumin before the great things of the Law: And the Traditions of the Elders, which is in the language of these Times, the Ceremonies and Canons of the Church, before the Commandments of God, Math. 23. 23 and Math. 15. did they not Nolize their own Traditions? And that the Ceremonies are Idols upon this account, is manifest; because the neglect of them is more severely punished then many great Sins against the Law of God, which as it hath been long since objected to them; So the Truth of it is so apparent, that some of their own Writers have the confidence to deny it. Dr. Burgess instead of denying it, confesses and bewails the violent urging and pressing of Conformity. And at a Metrapolitical Visitation in Lancashire in the time of the Bishops, when Complaint was made to Cousins the Visitor against a godly Minister, that he had never worn a Surplice in all his life; the Visitor swore, it had been better for Him to have got seven Bastards, and • o proceeded accordingly to silence him, which yet was an orderly and Canonical way of proceeding: and very just and moderate, for it is enacted in the Canons of 1603. that whosoever shall but declare his difference in judgment from the Prelates in these things, shall be excommunicated ipsa facto; but I need not Insist here, for these Nations have had plent ••• and woeful experience of it, and it is known to all the world, that these wretched Ceremonies have been the principal Engines and Instruments of Persecution in the Hand of Satan to stop the mouths of God's faithful Messengers, and to oppress the Witnesses, and obstruct the work of Christ.

3. They are Idols, because monuments of former Idolatry. As the brazen Serpent here, might not Hezekiah have prohibited the burning Incense to it, but retained the thing itself, and have pleaded, though it was an Idol, yet it is none now; as our Formalists use to plead for these old popish Ceremonies? no, for God will • ut off the R • mnants of Baal from this place, the very relics of Popery, Zeph. 1. 4. Although some of these things have formerly been of use in the worship of God by his own Appointment, as the brazen Serpent was, and lights, oil, musical Instruments, holy garments for the Priests under the Levitical Law, yet now the stamp of Institution being taken off, and having been the Idols of the Papists, they are Nebushtans, base things.

4. It is a Symbolizing with Idolaters, amongst whom these abominations are continued unto this day. But this is frequently and severely foridden in the Scripture: after the doings of the Land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do, and after the doings of the Land of Canaan w • ither I bring you, shall ye not do, neither neither shall ye walk in their Ordinances▪ Lev. 18. 3. Take heed to thyself, that thou be not snared by following them, s • ying, • ow did these Nations serve their God's? even so will I do like • ise Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God; where observe that he speaks of the manner of worship, presupposing the true Object, for every abomination to the Lord which he hateth h • ve they done unto their God's, Deut. 12. 30, 31. Ab • jah therefore justly reproves the ten Tribes for it, you have made you Priests after the manner of the Nations of other Lands, 2 Chron. 13. 9. And therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight, because they went after the Heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them, 2 King. 17. 15. And shall we then do like the Papists? there is the same Reason as to this matter of Popish Idolatries, as there is of Heathenish. The Lord will have his people to have no Communication with Rome at all, whatsoever our Popish Prelates may pretend for Union, and Reconciliation with her. The • ord hath said, If any man worship the Beast and his Image, an • • e • eive his mark in his Fore-head, or •• his Hand, that man shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, Rev. 14 9, 10.

The Argument doth not depend upon this Hypothesis, neither doth the Question turn upon this Hinge, whether Pop • ry be the worst or grossest kind of Idolatry, but whether it be Idolatry at all; For we must not communicate, nor Symbolize with any kind of Idolaters whatsoever. Neither is it fit to ex • use and extenu • te the Idolatry of the Papists, as the Bishops usually do in their pleadings for the Ceremonies. For though it may seem in some respects not so bad as the Heathenish, yet in other respects it is worse, and I find that our Divines generally do so judge of it; as Parker, and Ames have shown at la • ge, and amongst our Divines in this point▪ saith Ames we may reckon Dr Jackson himself, who hath a Chapter of the Identity, or Equivalency of Superstition in Rome, Heathen, and Rome Christians. And evident it is that the Scripture speaks of the Popish Idolatry as the very Qu •• tess • nce of all Paganism Hence Rome is still • d Sodom, Egypt, Bab • lon, as being indeed the very Sea that receiveth into her Channel all the filthiness of all the Paga •• that were before. Hence the Scrip • ure calleth the Papists Gentiles, Rev. 11. 4. the outward▪ C • urt, the visible Chu •• h is given to the Gentiles, that is to those Heathenish Id • laters the P • pists, who did t • ead d • wn the holy City forty and two Moneths. N • ither is the • e Canaa • ite, Moabite, Philistine,, or any other to whom the Papists are not • qual. And as they are in Equipage with former Pagans, so likewise with all modern Aliens. The Turk himself being not excepted, who is loosed from the East, to punish them, ( Rev. 9. 13, 14, 15.) and is not half so much aimed at in the Book of God's Counsels, which the Lamb hath unsealed to John, as they are aimed at. Thus the learned Parker, plus metuendus & cavendus es • inimi • us (saith Cyprian cum latenter • brepit, ea est Di • boli a •• utia ut sub ipso Christiani nominis Titulo fall • at in • autos. Therefore what though the Papists call themselves Christians, and what though they have some good things amongst them? So have the Turks too, It is not deny ed. that the Papists have some Truths and Ordinances amongst them, but the Argument is concerning their Idolatryes and Superstitions, not concerning the Ordinances of Christ usurped by them; but concerning the Idols and Superstitions invented and committed by them in the worship of God. We must not conform ourselves there • o, but say to their Idols, get ye hence. Judge in your Consciences, Is it fit for the Spouse of Christ to wear the Trinkets and Ornaments of the great Wh • re? It is a dishonor to Christ, and an hardening to the Papists in their Idolatrous and sinful ways, so to comply with them. But this may suffice for general grounds and Arguments against the Ceremonies, let us bring them now to a more particular Trial.

SECT, II.

A more part • cular Examination of Ten of the principal Ceremonies and Idols of the Church of England.

I Shall Instance only in these Ten particulars.

• 1. The Surplic • .
• 2. The Sign of the Cross in Baptism.
• 3. Kn • e • ing at the Lord's Supper.
• 4. B • wing to the Altar.
• 5. Bowing at the name of Jesus.
• 6. P •• ish holy days.
• 7. The holiness of places.
• 8. T • e Organs, or Cathedral Music.
• 9 The Bo • ks of Common Prayer.
• 10. Pr • l • cy, or Church Government by Bishops.

Which though they are condemned • s Idols, by all the former Arguments, yet I Conceive it will be • seful, and tend to the further Conviction and discovery of them, to speak to them severally.

I. The Surplice.

THe Surplice with all the rest of that Popish W • rdrope of Sup • rstitious garments, Hoods, Tippets, R • chets, &c For there is the same Reason of them all, they are all Popish Idols, and ancient ways of Superstition. For if you look into the stroy of Jehu, you will find that the Priests of Baal had their Superstitious ga • ments in those times, 2 Kin. 10. 22. and he said unto Him that was over the vestry, bring forth the vestments, for the worshippers of Baal. And amongst the Papists, the Surplice as some have well observed, hath been such a master Idol, that it sanctifieth as it were all their other Idols; So that without this it is unlawful for them to Officiate▪ The Lord indeed appointed holy garments for the Priests under the Law, but if the Lord had not appointed them, it had been a sinful and a foolish thing to use them, and therefore it is said of Gideon's Ephod, which as it seemeth, was made in imitation of the high Priests garments, that Israel went a whoring after it, and it b • came a snare to Gideon and to his House, Judge. 8. 27 An Ephod is nothing else but a garment m • de partly of Linnen, not unlike a Surplice, but more rich and costly. Those g • rments of Aaron, are said to be for glory, and for beauty, Exod. 28. 2. Because they typified and shadowed out the beauty of Christ, our true high P • jest, in all those glorious graces of the Spirit of holiness in him. But when the Sun ariseth, the shadows fly away, and therefore now that Christ the body is come, and that Sun of Righteousness arisen upon the World, those leg • l shadows are done away: and to retain them in these Ti • es of the New Testament, doth interpretatively deny that Christ is come in the flesh, and therefore there should be no difference between the garments of Ministers in their holy ministrations, and the garments of other persons, or of themselves at other times, but they shovld g • in their habit according to the grave and Comely manner of those among whom they live. All the hint the Scripture gives concerning Ministers apparel, is only in that word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 • Tim. 3. 2. which implies, that they should be comely, but not the least hint of any different Ceremonious garments to know them by, from other men. And therefore when this S • perstitio • beg • n to spring amongst the french Bishops, C • lest • nus writeth thus to them, discer • endi a plebe • elc • teris sumus doctr • na non v •• te, Co • ver • at •• ne non ha •• tu, mentis puritate non cultu, we are to be dist •• guished from the common sort by Doctrine, and not b • g •• me • t, by Conversation and not habit, by the purity of mind, and not Apparrel.

I dare appeal to any sober man's Conscie • ce, do you think that ever Jesus Christ wore a Surplice, or that Paul or any of the twelve Apostles did preach in a Surplice? This Argument was alleged to one in this City, to which the man confessed, He thought they did not, but He said, the Reason was, because the Church had not then appointed them, to which the other replied, I will have as good an Answer as this from a Papist, to believe as the Church believs, the Church is bound to keep to the Word, and if she reject it, the Church plays the Harlot. John the Baptist had a several apparel, Math. 3. 4. As Elijah also had before Him, 2 King. 11. 8. but he had a special diet also, locusts and wild • ony, and therefore by this Argument Ministers must have a several diet also from other men, as well as a distinct Apparrel. But • ohn was an extraordinary person, and the Lord would have him and his Ministry differenced from others, and the extraordinariness of his Ministry set forth by th • se things, that the people might be the rather moved to inquire of his Office whom they saw vary so much from the Common Custom of other men; neither did he wear gorgeous and costly apparel, but course and mean, and therefore it doth no way suit the case in Hand, unless the Bishops will exchange their Surplices for raiment of Camels hair, and their Canonical girdles for a leathern girdle, &c. And it is of like weight to allege the Angels appearing in white, of which the Surplice, is but a ridiculous and as Dr. Ames fitly calls it an apish Imitation, for by the same Reason Ministers should wear •• athe •• , because the Angels are described with wings, to show their swiftness and read • ness in execution of their Office. The wearing of a white garment in old time was nothing else but a more comely apparel, such as black is now, with us: After times having betaken themselves to darker Colours, as more grave and modest, and therefore that Colour would be light, and Stage▪ like with us, which was grave and honorable with them.

Objection, better preach in a fools Coat, then not preach the Gospel;

Answ. If this saying be weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary, it will be found to be more pleasing then solid, more plausible then weighty. For the Rule is clear, we must not do evil, th • t good may come thereof, Rom. • . 8. but it is an evil thing, and a sin to preach in a fools Coat, th • ref •• e we ought not to do it, no not for that good end to enjoy the liberty • f u • Minis • ry. But how may that be proved that it is a 〈◊〉 why thus. To do anything in the worship of God that is not decent is a sin, for the Rule is express, 1 Cor. 14. ult. Let all things be d • ne decently • nd in ord • r, but to wear a fools Coat is not decent, but ridiculous; therefore it is a s •• to do it in the worship of God, and much more to wear a Surpl • ce, which is fitly called a fools Coat ind • ed, being as bad, yea, worse. For a fools Coat is only a breach of the rule of decency, but a Surplice is both ridiculous and Superstitious too, It is both a breach of the rule of decency and of the seco • d Commandment, and therefore it is worse then a fools Coat. But we are not to break the le • st Command for the great • st good. And such Ministers as are silenced upon this account, it is not they that do forsake their Ministry, as is most unchristianly and reproachfully said by some, but they are forced from it, and are driven into Corners by plain force and violence. For if men will not suffer us to preach but upon such hard Conditions, that we must break Rules, and Sin against our Consciences if we will preach, it is all one as if they should absolutely hinder, for we must not purchase the liberty of our Ministry at such a dear price, though it be such a precious Ordinance, and so great a mercy to enjoy it. A man had better never preach a Sermon all his days then part with a good Conscience for it.

And it is not only a few Puritans or Fanatics as they are now termed, that are so nice and so precise, as to dislike the wearing of a Surplice. For those good men who have been over-borne by this Objection, yet their undistressed judge • ments were against it. For they did conform to it with grief, and as their burden, and because their judgments were distressed by the persecutions of those times, between these two, either to conform, or not to pr • ach. And in the Book of Martyrs you will meet with many remarkcable T • stimonies of those faithful witnesses of Christ, who loved not their lives unto the death, you will there find a great cl • ud of Witnesses against these smaller things as some account them, Mr. Rogors the Proto-martyr of all that blessed Company that suffered in Queen Mary's time; He told th • m in an holy scorn, that he would not wear that f • olish attire, unless the • • ss • ng Pri • sts were made to wear upon their s •• e • s a Chalice with an H • st u •• n • t, that there might be a manifest difference between the popish Pr •• s •• and t • e Mini •• ers of the Gospel. B •• er also did refuse to wear a square cap, and g • ve this Reason for it, because • his • ad was round. P • tipot (f ) in Q • een Mary's time wou • d not come to the Con • ocation in a long Gown, and Tippet, as all the pop • sh Clergy did, for which they did three • ten to tu • n him ou • of the Convocation; Ho per in King • dwards days, did • arnestly testify against them, upon which occasion Mr. F • x co • plains that notwithstanding the Reformati • n begun, they us • d to wear such garments and apparel as the Popish B • shops were wont to do, which he calleth player-like A • parr • l. And Rialy who was at that ti • e a great st •• kler for it, God gave him repentance for it, when He was in prison, in so much that he wrote a letter to Ho • per about it, wherein he bewails the former ignorance and rigor of his Spirit, and confesseth it was his own weak • ess and simplicity t • at •• rred with H •• pers wisdom in that matter, And in another place there is mention made of one Blumfield a cruel Persecutor, who d • d threat • n a good m • n, one Simon Harlestone to put him to the Officers, because He did wear no Surplice, when he said Service; and hereupon Mr. Fox who wrote the Book of Martyrs, hath these words wherefore it is pity such baits of Popery are left to the enemies to take Christians in, God take th • m away, or else u • from them. For God knoweth they be the cause of mu • h blindness and st • ife amongst men. And Mr. Thomas Be • on in his works printed at Londo • , cum privilegio, 15 • 2. expresseth himsel • thus, whe • efore in my judgment it were meet and con • en • ent that all suc • disguises of apparr • l were utterly take • n away, for a • m • ch as it is but the vain •• ven • i • n of man, and hath b • en greatly abused of the massing Papists. For • hat hath the Temple of God to do with Idols, what Concord is there between Christ and Beiial, what have the vestments of a popish Altar to do with the Table of the Lord Christ? Moreover the Canons of 1571, forbid the gray Amice or any other garment defiled with the like Superstition, but this Reason reacheth the Surplice, and therefore the equity of that Canon excludes it, though the letter do not. Finally, the Bishops are bound to the use of a pastoral staff by King Edwards book, to which the statute of Elizabeth refer • eth, but in this they transgress themselves, and therefore with what Conscience, yea, with what fore-head can they smite their fellow Servants for a lesser matter?

II. The Sign of the Cross in Baptism.

THis is another popish Idol; for it is a thing which the Lord never commanded, and which never came into his heart. It is a manifest adding to the Institution, and the Arguments that are usually brought against other Popish Corruptions, against oil, cream, salt, spittie, &c. will hold as well against the Cr • ss. Nay more may be said against this▪ the • against so • e of those. For oil formerly was of some use in the worship of God, which the Cross never was; and oil was never instrumental to any crew • ty of man against the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Cross was. If a Child should •• ve and kiss the knife that cut his Fathers throat, or worship the Gallows on which his Father was hanged, you would • ay, he were an ungracious Child, or else a mere fool, for nature and Reason wou • d •• ch him rather to detest it. But then what shall we think of the Papists and others, who thus Idolize the Cross, upon which Christ was crucified, why is not as much honor due to the Spear that pierced him? and to wh • ps, and nails, and thorns? why may they not as well worship Judas who betrayed him? and why may we not by the same Reason take a thorn when we bapt • ze a Child, and give it two, or three pricks in the forehead, to show that it must suffer for Christ? for Christ's head was crowned with thorns, we may do this with as much Reason, and with as good devotion for ought I know, as Sign it with the Sign of the Cross. I have read of some who were wont to use bread and Cheese in the Lord's Supper, called Artotyritae, and there is as much Reason for this, for ought I know, as for the Cross in Baptism; If the Churches Authority be all that can be said for it, if there be no other Reason for it, as indeed some pretend that this is enough; The Church then may do things which she can give no Reason for, and we must yield blind obedience to her dictates, and so pin our faith as the Papists would have us, upon the Churches sleeves.

It is true, the Scripture speaks honourably of the Cross of Christ, God forbid, (saith Paul) that I should glory in anything save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the World: but by the Cross of Christ is meant the deat • of Christ, for it is by the death and Sufferings of Christ that our lusts are crucified, and not by the Cross of wood. As when the same Apostle saith, th • preaching of the Cross, it the power of God to save Souls, 1 Cor. 1 18. it is not meant of a wooden Cross, nor yet an aery, or watery Cross, but the preaching of Christ crucified, as he explains himself, ver. 23, 24. Is any man so blind as to think that the great Apostle made it the great work, and business of his preaching to ery up the Cross of wood, which was nothing else but the instrument of man's cruelty against our Lord Jesus Christ? And therefore as Mr. Parker shows it ought to be as odious to us as is the Gallow • to a child on which his Father was hanged. And in that learned Book of his, a Book which the Bishops durst never undertake to Answer, he hath proved that this by some so much applauded Sign of the Cross, i • a sin against all the Ten Commandments, and a breach of the very letter of the Second C • mmandment, being an Image in use religious of man's devising, and taken from the Brothel house of God's greatest enemy, yea, amongst all the Signs of Rome, there is not a more gross and dirty Harlot. He shows that▪ it is the greatest Devil amongst the Idols of Rome. For it is adored by the Papists as a distributer both of temporal blessings, and heavenly graces. It is supposed by them to bless, to convert sin • s, to wrok miracles, to save all that are marked with it, to sanctify and consecrate the water of Baptism, to make it effectual to procure reverence unto Baptism, to put us in mind of our vow therein, to fortify and strengthen us against temptations, to drive away the Devil, though as he saith well, this pretended use of it against the Devil is no better then a straw to run at Tilt with. But what higher and greater things then these can be said of any Ordinance of Christ? But instead of these glorious effects, it hath done a world of mischief, as much I do believe as ever any Idol did. For God hath accursed it to be a snare, and so it hath proved accordingly. It hath shed much precious blood, which the Earth will not Cover, And it is conceived by very learned men, that the Sign of the Cross is that special mark of the Beast, Rev. 13. 16. But all our Writers do consent, that the Ceremonics of the Romish Church, are a part of the mark of the Beast, of which Ceremonies, the Cross is chief. And shall such a principal badge of Popery? such an Ensign of Anti-Christ, such a Trophy of Anti-Christ, his Conquest and desolation of the worship, and Churches of Christ be retained and continued amongst Protestants? shall we suffer such a mark of the Beast to be set upon our Fore-heads, and upon the Foreheads of our Friends and Children? God forbid. They may be the Instruments of Christ to eat the Whores flesh, and to burn her with fire, and shall they wear the Whores mark? I say again, God forbid. The Idolatry of this Ceremony is so gross and palpable, th •• some, who have made a Shift to swallow down almost all the •• st, the very Orga • s and all, yet they have stuck at this, they have not been well able to digest the Cross in Baptism.

III. Kneeling at the Lord's Supper.

THis is an Idol too, for it is contrary to the Institution, & to the second Commandment: Christ and his Apostles did use a Table gesture, and therefore so should we. For it is said, whilst they did eat, edentibus illis, Math. 26. 28. Ma • k. 14. 22. But if whilst they did eat, then also while • st they did sit, for these two are conjoined, Mark 14. 18. whilst they sat and did eat, and though they did not sit upright, but with leaning, yet it was the Table gesture then used in Feasts and Ba • quets; and if we sit according to the Custom of the Country where we live, we imitate aright, and it were apish imitation to sit otherwise, as it is indiff •• ent to • se white wine, or r • d, the wine of Judea, or the wine of France.

Objection, But we may pray in the act of receiving, therefore we may kneel.

Answ. Kneeling is not the only prayer gesture, for the publican stood and prayed, Luk. 18. 13. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, Jer. 15. 1. The Prophet Elijah as it seemeth sat, 1 King. 18. 42. neither is prayer the principal exercise of the soul in the act of receiving, but rather meditation, the eye not only beholding, but the mind attending upon the Sacramental Elements and actions, making present use of them by meditation, upon the Analogy between the Signs, and the thing signified, in which, though the soul may send up short Ejaculations, and d • rts of prayer to Heaven, to strengthen her own weakness, yet this need not take her off from her principal work of meditation and application of the things represented in the Sacrament, neither doth Ejaculatory Prayer require any change of gesture.

Objection. But no gesture can be too reverend, great and reverend, dreadful mysteries, (saith one) must be received with great and dreadful humility of Soul, and humiliation of body.

Answ. Groveling upon the ground with their faces in the dust, is a more forlorn, dejected posture then kneeling. And therefore by this Argument they ought not to kneel, but rather to hide their faces in the dust. But the Apostle condemns voluntary humility, Col. 2. 18.▪ for it is no true humility, but hypocrisy and Superstition disguised with the name and vizard of humility. It is gross hypocrisy for us to pretend to more holiness, reverence, and devotion in the act of receiving then Christ himself, or then the Apostles did, when Christ himself was there bodily present with them, we must follow the Example of Christ and his Apostles, except where they had special Reasons, which do not concern us: for the Apostle allegeth the Institution against all abuses, 1 Cor. 11. 23. and he propounds to us for imitation the Example and Custom of the primitive Churches, for those Churches were intended by Christ as patterns to succeeding Ages, 1 Cor. 11. 16. and 1 Cor. 14. 33. and 1 Cor. 16. 1. 2 Tim. 3. 14. there is sometimes in Superstitious persons a legal bondage, and slavery of Spirit, and this they take to be dreadful humility. But a Spirit of Adoption is more suitable to the Sacrament, then such a legal Spirit, and obedience is the best humility. That which comes nearest to the Rule and to the Institution, is the best and humblest way, and most accepted of the Lord. Peter it is like, though himself very humble, when he said to Christ, thou shalt never wash my feet, but it was a foolish and proud humility, and Christ reprov • and checks him sharply for it: therefore let kneelers take heed of such deceitful, proud humility. It is the manner of all Feasts and Banquets, even when Subjects are invited to a Princes banquet, they do not use to kneel while they are eating, but they sit down with Him, as David and Jonathan did at King Saul's Table. The Sacrament of the Passover was an holy Supper, and yet they did not kneel in the act of Receiving, though the Paschal Lamb was slain in manner of a real Sacrifice, and the slaughter of Beasts, and the shedding of blood was more dreadful then the pouring out of wine, but yet they were not wont to kneel at the Sacraments, and Sacrifices of the old Law.

It is a dangerous Symbolizing with the papists, who kneel before their breaden God. It gratifies and hardens them, by giving Countenance to that Error, but grieves and offends many a precious Saint. And indeed it was the opinion of the bodily presence that brought in this Custom of kneeling, and to deny that, and yet to kneel, is such a piece of Idolatry and Contradiction that some of the Papists professed that they would be torn in pieces with wild Horses, rather then do it, if they did not believe that Christ is there bodily present. Costerus the Jesuit confesseth, that if the substance of bread remain, the Idolatry of the Papists is more intolerable then the Egyptians was, in worshipping of an Ox, or a Crocodile.

And it is a going backward in Religion, for the first Reformers in the very dawning of the day did reject this Popish practice. Mr. Knox one of the first and chief Instruments of the Reformation in Scotland, calls the Cross in Baptism, and kneeling at the Lord's Supper, diabolical Inventions, and being demanded by the Council of England, why he did not kneel? He answered, because Christ's action was perfect, and it was surest to follow his example, and when they said, they were sorry to find Him of a mind contra • y to the Common order, He replied, and I am sorry that the Common order is contrary to Christ's Institution. And in King Edwards time, in those first glimmerings and breakings forth of light, there is this Rule in the Book of Common Prayer, set forth in his Time, Anno 1549. as touching, kneeling, knocking the breast, and other gestures, they may be used, or left, as every man's devotion serveth, which was a very necessary Indulgence for tender Consciences. And shall we be more violent in these Times of greater light, when we should be more tender, more light should work more love.

IV.

Bowing to the Altar, and se • ting the Communion Table Altar-wise▪ &c.

THis gross Popish Idolatry, after the Prelates had Contended and striven for it several years, was at last enacted and established by them in their last Canons in the year 1640. And it was the Immediate forerunner of their deserved ruin, for by this pestilent Innovation they did bring back the work of Reformation, not only as the Sun in Ahaz his dial ten degrees, but almost an hundred years backward. For this gross piece of Popish Idolatry was put down by King Edward the sixth in the year 1550, even in the dawning of the day, in the very beginning of the Reformation, as you may see in the Book of Martyrs. But seeing the Prelates are so mad upon it, to Conjure it up again from the grave, and from the bottomless pit, we must therefore a little enqui • e into it. Their late Contentions and Persecutions for it, have occasioned large and learned disputes against it, but of all that hath been said, or might be said against it, I shall mind you only of these six things.

V. Bowing at the Name of I • sus.

A most vile piece of Syllabical Idolatry grounded upon a very gross and carnal mistaking, and wresting of that Text, Phil. 2. 9, 10. For,

1. It is but oddly and untowardly translated at, for in, for the word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ▪ and it is constantly in all other places rendered in the name, as when it is said, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it would mar both the Sence and English of the Text, and •• ke it non-sense to say, baptize them at the Name of the Father, S • n, and Holy Ghost, so to say, Our Father which art at Heaven, Mary kept all these sayings at her heart, so in the Creed to say, I believe at God the Father, and at Jesus Christ his Son, and at the Holy Ghost: you see how absurd such a phrase would be, There is no such phrase as at the Name, to be sound in any English Author, nor in any other Text of Scripture, beside this. And I have heard and read, that the Translators of the Bible did render it in the Name of Jesus, as the same phrase is constantly translated by them, in all other places throughout the whole Bible. But King James committing▪ the Translation to the Bishops, to be published and printed, besides other bold and wretched Alterations, they did corrupt the Translation in this place, blotting out the word in, and rendering it at the name of Jesus, to countenance their own Syllabical Idolatry and Superstition.

2. By the Name of • esus is not meant • he Sound of the Letters and Syllables of▪ h • •• or • Jesus, •• t the Authority, the Power, and Majesty of the person of the Lord Jesus. To expound it of the word, letters, and Syllables, is to make it a kind of a Magical word, which hath all its efficacy included in the Sound, and so to abuse it unto Superstition, as the Jewish Rabbins have abused the word Jehovah with their Cabalis •• cal fooleries and vanities. Why should we not bow as well at the name of God all-Sufficient, El Shaddai, or at the name Jehovah, Elohim, God the Father, Son and Spirit, or at the name Emm • nuel, Messiah, Lord, and Savior, or any other name or Attribute of God and Christ, all those other names being no less precious and glorious then the name of Jesus: and seeing they do not bow, when they hear Christ described, doth not this plainly show, that this honor is not▪ done to the person of Christ, but merely to Letters and Syllables. And it seems to make a manifest disparity and Inequality between the three glorious persons of the Trinity, who are Coequal, Coessential, and Coeternal. If Jews, or Infidels should come into our Assemblies, and hear men say, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, without any incurvation at all, and then to pronounce the next words and, in Jesus Christ our Lord, with a Stentorean voice, bowing and scraping the ground, they could not but think, and conclude, that according to our principles, God the Father, and the Holy Ghost are not God, or not so much God, as the Son, and that Christ and Jesus were two several persons, the one being bowed too, and not the other. And some have well observed, that of the two, the name Christ seems to be more peculiar and distinguishing then the name Jesus. For the Jews never took offense at any for calling him Jesus, but they excommunicated such as confessed-him to be the Christ, Joh. 9▪ 22. neither did they ask him, art thou Jesus, Luk. 22. 67. but art thou the very Christ? and when he did own it, they rent their Cloaths. For if you respect the literal name, there were many others that were called Jesus, as well as He, at the hearing of whose names, the gro • sest Idolatry is oftentimes commi • ted, by Capping, and bowing, before they know what Jesus is intended and spoken of. For the Apocrypha mentions Jesus the Son of Sirach, and we read in the Scripture of Jesus the Son of Nun, called in the old▪ Testament Joshua, but the Greek renders it Jesus, for want of some Hebrew Letters, Act. 7. 47. Heb. 4. 8. and Jesus Sirnamed • ust • s, Col. 4. 1 • . and Barj • s • s the Sorcerer, Act. 13. 6. at whose name Cousins with many more at Durham did most devou • lie bow, no less then twic • in one day, one after another, such was their gross Superstitious dotage. And I require a Reason, if the word Jesus must be bowed to, why they should not bow to it, when they see it written, printed, carved, painted, or Ingraven, as well as when they hear i • ? why▪ not at the sight, as we • l as▪ at the Sound of it? and why not at home, as well as in the Church? and if bowing at the name of Jesus, be a means to keep men from swearing by it, as some would make us believe, how is it then that, the profanest Swearers are the devoutest Bowers? and drunkards, and blasphemers, and such doleful Creatures, who Swear, and curse, and damn themselves, and drink healths upon their knees to the confusion of Zion, and Zion's King, such is the raging, Hellish madness of profaneness in these Times, yet such incarnate Devils are the hottest Zealots for every false way, and the fiercest Persecutours of those they call Fanatics, who testify against them.

But the Apostle in the Text speaks of such a name as was given to Christ at his Resurrection, as the Fruit and reward of his death and humiliation. Which therefore can be no other, but that Supreme Authority, Lordship, and dominion over all things and Creatures, which was then committed to him by the Father. For the Name Jesus was given Him in the very beginning of his Humiliation, Math. 1. 21, 25. and 2. 1. and Luk. 2. 21. but when God did raise Him from the dead, then did he set Him at his own right hand, far above all Principality, and Power, and Might, and Dominion, and every Name that is named, not only in this World, but also in that which is to come, Eph. 1. 20, 21. then was all Power given unto Him is Heaven and Earth, Math. 28. 19. then did God make Him both Lord and Christ, Act. 2. 36. because then, and not till then, he did advance Him to the full and plenary exercise of his Kingly Power and Authority, so that, by the Name of Jesus is meant, Christ Exalted, Christ as Lord.

3. By bo • ing the knee, is meant, that universal Subjection of all Creatures to this Sovereign Lordship, Judicature, and Power of Christ, especially at the day of judgment. For bowing the knee, is a Sign of Subjection, as when it is said, I have left me seven Thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal, that is, have not submitted to that Idolatry, & toties Diabolo flectimus, qu • ties pe • camus. Men are said to bow to the Devil, as oft as they obey him, and commit sin. It cannot be meant literally, and carnally of bodily geniculation, because those in Heaven and Hell have no bodily knees to bow withal. Neither is it meant merely of voluntary heart submission, and obedience to Christ; For the bowing here spoken of, is performed not only by the Saints and Angels, but by those under the Earth, even by the Devils, and all the wicked and damned Spirits, though unwillingly, and to their confusion; whence Ambrose and others read it passively, that every knee should be bowed, for they are under the feet of Christ, and forced to Submit, and stoop to Him, will they, • nill they, as the passive Objects of his Power and Justice. Thus Jerome, non ad genua corporis, sed ad subjectionem mentis, & inclinationem spectat, sicut David dicit, adbasit pavimento anima mea. It doth not belong to the knees of the body, but to the Subjection and bowing of the mind, as when David saith, my Soul cleaveth to the Earth and dust, nothing his inward humiliation, not any outward gesture. And the whole stream of Expofitors goes this way. As Calvin, Cartwright, A • ry upon the place. And all our Divines against the Papists, Alley, Babington, Whitaker, and many others, who have fully vindicated this much abused Text, and con • uted this beggarly Popish Ceremony, showing, that we ought to look at the Person and Office of the Lord Jesus, and not to be like Children playing with Letters and Syllables.

VI. Popish Holy Days.

THese are another Idol of the Church of England. For nothing can be holy to the Lord, which is not made holy by the Lord. It was a part of the Pharisees Superstition to fast twice a week, Luk▪ 18. 12. and it was the brand set upon 〈◊〉 1 King. 12 33. that he ordained a Feast unto the Child on of Israel, upon the fifteenth day of the eighth Moneth, even the Moneth which he had devised of his own Heart. And though it was like unto the Feast that was in Judah, ver. 32. and though He pretended the glory and worship of that God that brought them up out of the Land of Egypt, as well as the case and accommodation of the people, ver. 28. yet all this would not excuse Him, And what is Christmas and Easther, and all the rest of them, but days, which the Jeroboam of Rome hath devised of his own Heart? And the people had them from the Pagans, for Christmas is nothing else but the old Heathe • ish Bathanalia, it is kept at the same time of the year, and after the same profane manner only the Pope hath Christened it with a new name.

The Apostle condems the observation of the Jewish Festivals, because they were a shaden of good things to come, Col. 2. 16. such weak and rudimentary Instructions were fit for those darket and weaker Times of the Churches nonage, when under the Tutorage and paedagogy of Moses, before the coming of Christ. But after that ye have known G • d, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly Elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage, ye observe days and Moneths, and Times, and Years. I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain, Gal. 4. 9, 10, 11. It is a Sign the preaching of the Gospel hath had but small success in such a place, and in the Hearts of such a people, and if the Apostle said it concerning Jewish days, surely it is much more true concerning Popish days, for there was more Reason to retain those which were appointed at first by God himself, then to observe those which were invented by the Pope, and which have done so much mischief to the Churches of Christ. For as Dr. Ames observs, they were from their first rise not only equalled unto, but also extolled above the Lord's day. Easther brought in a Superstitious Lent to attend upon it, made Baptism wait for Her Moon, and conformed our Lord's Supper unto the Jewish Passover in unleavened bread. It was the first apple of Contention amongst Christians, the Latin and Greek Churches striving and contending fiercely about the time of it, de lan • caprina, and Victor Bishop of Rome desperately excommunicating those that were not of his opinion in the thing, so that it was the first weapon wherewith the Bishop of Rome plaid his prizes against other Churches, and after slew so many persons with, by Augustine the Monk. Holy days devised by men in honor of Christ, invited and drew on Holy days to Saints. Though indeed it is but a vain pretence to say, they do it in honor of Christ, for it is not good Intentions that will excuse bad actions. Jeroboam pretended very good Intentions, The Israelites pretended an holy-day to Iehovab, Exod, 32. 5. though they kept it in a rude manner but what saith the Lord to them, even after all the prayers of Moses for them, ver. 34. in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.

These days are rather celebrated in dishonor, and as it were in despite of Christ, as if Christ were a God that delighted in Profaneness and Wickedness: for he is dishonored by letting the reins loose to all manner of Profaneness, as much in the Twelve days, and in some respects more, then in all the Twelve Moneths of the year beside. And it is a dishonor to his Sabbath, for men to set their Posts by his Posts, and their Altars by his Altars, as Jeroboam dev • sed a Feast of his own heart, like unto the Feast that was in Judah. Suppose the Church might sanctify a day where the Lord hath not done it, yet it is needless and superfluous, yea presumptuous to do it, where the Lord hath made other provision, for it is to charge God with folly. But Christ the Lord of Time, and the Lord of the Sabbath, hath sanctified and instituted the first day of the week, whereon he arose from the dead, for the Commemoration of the great work of our Redemption by him. And what can the man do that cometh after the King? and in those things which have been already done? Eccles. 2. 12. It is a bold and deep reflection upon the wisdom of Christ, to add thus to his Appointments, as if the Lord Jesus Christ himself were not wise enough, to appoint days and times sufficient to keep his own Nativity, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and all the great things he hath done for us, in everlasting remembrance in the hearts of his Saints, but the Devil and the Pope must help it out. Neither is the yea • lie time certainly known, but much disputed amongst Chronologers and D • vines, so that Holy-day keepers cannot say that they do commemorate opus dici in die suo, the Lord having hid it, as he did the body of Moses, to prevent Idolatry.

And it is a great infringement of our Christian Liberty, when God hath given us six days wherein to serve him in our Callings, Six days shalt thou labor. As it is Profaneness to call that common which God hath sanctified and made holy; so it is Tyrannical Superstition and Presumption to make that holy which God hath made common. Occasional days of Humiliation and Thanksgiving, when God by his Providence calls thereunto, there is Scripture-ground and warrant for: for, Jo • oshaphat proclaimed a Fast, 2 Chron. 20. 3. and so did the King of Nineveh, Jonah 3. 7. see also Joel 1. 14. & 2. 15. From whence some have not unaptly said, That the Magistrate and the Church hath as it were a Warrant dormant for such days. Neither indeed could all the particular Causes, and Occasions, and Times thereof be particularly determined in the Scripture, because they are infinite, and Christ allows also private Fasts, Matth. 6. 17, 18. but here there is only an occasional designation of a time, upon a present emergency of Providence calling thereunto. But in those Anniversary Popish Festivals time is dedicated and sanctified to an holy use in a stated way, which is more then the Scripture impowers men to do. So for Week-day-Lectures, they are most impertinently objected, for these are not hours sanctified or consecrated to God's service, but only the most convenient times when most may resort to the hearing of Sermons. So that time is only designed occasionally, not dedicate or sanctified. Time is made to serve God's people, and not God's people made to serve the time, or to serve God because it is an holy time.

And whereas some have seemed to condemn the superstitious p • rt of Christmas, but plead hard for the Hospitable part, as they call it: The Answer is, That the Feasting and Sporting is an Appendix to the Worship, or rather to the Superstition, and therefore stands or falls together with it. The Apostle therefore calls them Idolaters, even for their Feasting and Sporting▪ 1 Cor. 10. 7. Neither be ye Idolaters, as were some of them: as it is written, The people sat down to eat, and drink, and rose up to play. And if you read the story of that Idolatry of the Calf, Exod. 32. you will find that it was Celebrated much after the same manner that Christmas is, or rather somewhat better; for they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings: So that it seems they went to Church, and said their Prayers most devoutly in the morning, and then they sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play, ver. 6. and there was shouting, and singing, and dancing amongst them, ver. 18, 19. Sober mirth, and the moderate use of the good Creatures of God, is lawful at any time of the year, and there never was any Minister that Pr • ached or spake against that; but to have better Cheer upon a Popish Holy-day, then at another time, merely upon this account, because forsooth it is an Holy-day, this is superstitious: and the Revelling, and Rioting, and Luxury which is usual at those times, is every way an hindrance to Hospitality, and not a furtherance to it, that which might and ought to be bestowed in a way of Liberality to the Poor, being mis spent and lavished away in vain Prodigality and Luxury.

The days of Purim, Esth. 9. were seven hundred years since obj • cted by Papists unto the Waldens • s, and since by all Papists that have written against Protestants about Ceremonies, as Gr • gonius de Valentia, Bellarmine, S • ar • z; and we need not seek for new Answers about it, for that which our Divines have answered to the Papists, is suffi • ient in two words. 1. That it cannot be evinced, that these day • s • f▪ Purim were Religious Feasts. Junius saith, Praeceptum fuit Politi • u • ▪ they were only days of Civil rejoicing, they are called only the days of Purim, not the holy days of Purim. They are not called Chaggim, no peculiar Sacrifice was appointed, nor any holy Convocation of the people enjoined. The Ordinance required but Feasting and Joy, and sending of portions to one another: the R • st mentioned Esth. 9. was only from their Enemies; so much work as might stand with a Feasting-day was not forbidden. 2. Upon supposition of a Religious F • ast instituted by Mordecai, he did it, saith Dr. Whitaker, God inspiring him, and p • radventure by order from some Prophet. As Zech. 8. they changed their Fasts into Feasts by the mouth of the Lord, by the Ministry of the Prophet. And though we do no • read expressly, that either God or any Prophet did require this Feast of Purim, yet forasmuch as it stands approved in Scripture, there is no doubt but it was done by warrant from God.

The Feast of Dedication, Joh. 10. 22, 23. hath also been objected from the time of the Waldenses, but it is not certainly known what Feast of Dedication this was, and whether merely of human Institution. Some take it for that which Solom • n appointed, others ascribe it to Ezra, others to the Maccabees; neither is there any evidence that Christ approved it. The Text only saith, that he walked then in Solomon's Porch, which he might do without observing or approving it: if it was nothing but a Tradition of the Elders, we may be sure that Christ who testified against other Inventions of men, did never observe this.

It was Luther's desire no less then Seven-score years ago, in his Book de Bonis Operibus, set forth Anno 1520, that there were no other Festival days amongst Christians, but only the Lord's-day: And right excellent was that Speech of King James to a National Assembly in Scotland, Anno 1590. He praised God that he was King in the sincerest Church in the world; sincerer then the Church of England, for their Service was an ill-said Mass in English; sincerer then Geneva itself, for they observed Pasche and Yoole, that is, Easter and Christmas, and what warrant (said he) have they for th •• ?

VII. Holiness of Places, or Consecrating of Churches▪

TO discover the vanity of this Superstition, consider, that inherent Holiness which is in Persons, is a thing which Places are no way c • p • ble of: but the only holiness that is or can be pretended for them, is a Relative Holiness, upon the account of something without them, in respect and relation whereto, they are denominated and reputed holy. Hence one that writes for it hath described it thus, A state of Relation of Peculiarity to Godwards. Now in the time of the Old Testament, we find two sorts of holy Places upon this account of Relation to the holy God.

1. Where God was pleased to afford the visible and extraordinary Appearances and Manifestations of his Glory to the very eyes of his Servants, such Places were Holy during the time of those Manifestations. As when the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning Bush, Exod. 3. 5. The place whereon thou standest is holy ground. So to Joshua, Chap. 5. 15. Hence Mount Sinai might not be touched, Exod. 19. And upon this accoun • the Mount where Christ was transfigured is called the Holy Mount, 2 Pet. 1. 18. but this Holiness continued only while that extraordinary Presenc • continued, there is no more Holiness in Mount Sinai, or in Mount Tab • r now, then there is in any other place, therefore the Apostle so calls it from what it was, not that it is so still; neither is any other place in these times privileged with such an extraordinary visible Presence and Appearance of God: and therefore this neither is nor can be pretended for our Meeting-places. But

2. There was a stated Holiness in the time of the Law in some Places. And thus some have observed, that we find but three Places that were holy in this respect, The Land of Canaan, called the holy Land, Zech. 2. 12. the City of Jerusalem, called the holy City, Mat. 5. 4. & 27. 53. and the Temple▪ frequently therefore called the holy Temple, Jonah 2. 4. And these places were perpetually holy, as long as the Old Testament dispensation continued. But if we inquire into the nature, and into the grounds and reasons of this Holiness, we shall find that it is wholly ceased in th • se Gospel-times, and that no place is holy now upon any such account. For

1. Th • se Places were holy, because in them were the standing Signs and Symbols of God's Presence, which is therefore called his Symbolical Presence, to distinguish it from his Extraordinary Presence beforementioned, and from his Spiritual Presence, which is not tied to any place. Hence he is said to choose Jerusalem, and Mount Zion, and the Temple, to dwell there, and to put his Name there, Psal. 76. 2. & 87 2. and to dwell between the Cherubims, Psal. 80. 1. The Temple itself was a Sign of his Presence, and the Altar, the Ark, the Mercy-seat, Cherubims, Sacrifices, and almost all the Ordinances of those times were affixed by God's appointment unto those places, to be observed and celebrated there, viz. in the Temple, and in Jerusalem: but there is no place that is now privileged with this Symbolical Presence. There are no such standing Signs and tokens of his Presence annexed unto any place. God hath given his Ordinances to his Church, but he hath not tied them to any place, He dwells not in Temples made with hands, Acts 17. 24.

2. These places under the Law were holy, by reason of their Typical respect to Christ, and the good things that were to come by him. Canaan the holy Land was a Type of the Church on Earth, and of the Kingdom of Heaven, the heavenly Canaan: They sought another Country, a better Country, that is, an heavenly, Heb. 11. 14, 16. Thine eyes shall se • the land that is very far off, Isa. 33. 17. Jerusalem also was a Type of the Church, and of Jerusalem above, Gal. 4. 26. Rev. 21. 2. and so the Temple, Psal. 15. 1. and it was a Type also of Christ's Body, Joh. 2. 21. Col. 2. 9. Hence some have well observed, That the more nearly and lively that any of these Places did typify Christ, so the difference and degree of holiness did arise; as the Temple was more holy, because it typified the Body of Christ, in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily, Coloss. 2. 9. as God did dwell Symbolically in the Temple. But Christ the Substance being come, and all the Types and Shadows therefore done away, there are not, there cannot be typical Places, or typical Holiness in Places in these times.

3. Those Places of old were holy by virtue of God's Institution, who did appoint and sanctify them to be parts of his Worship, and Ordinances of a very high nature; for the Lord appointed them to be the ways and means of Communion between himself and his people: There will I meet thee, and I will commune with thee from above the Mercyseat, from between the two Cherubims, which are upon the Ark of the Testimony, Exod. 25. 22. Numb. 7. 89. And they did sanctify both the Worshippers, and the Worship performed in them, the Altar sanctified the gift, the Temple sanctified the gold, Matth. 23. 18, 19. in so much that the Places were principal, and the Duties less princ • pal, as Divines observe. The Temple and the Altar being Types of Christ, were of an higher worth and excel • ncy then th • Services and Sacrifices offered in them, and did bring acceptance to them, and therefore they were to pray towards the Templ • , to offer upon the Alta • , &c. Deut 12. 5, 6. 1 Kings 8. 29. There will I accept them, Ezek 20. 40. And it was a profaning of the Temple to use it for Civil Employments, being consecra •• d and appropriate • d by God to holy uses: and therefore Christ would not suffer them to buy or sell, or to carry vessels through it, Mark 11. 15. 16.

But there is no word of Institution in the New Testament to sanct • fie any one Place more then another, but on the contrary it lays all places level in regard of Holiness. When the woman of Sama • ia pleaded, Our fathers worshipped in this Mountain, but ye s • y that in Jerusal • m is the place where men ought to worship; Jesus said unto h • r, Woman, believe me, The hour cometh, and now i • , when ye shall neither in this Mountain, nor y • t at Jerusalem worship the Father, but the true worshippers shall worship him in spir • t and in t • uth, Joh. 4. 21, 23. He turns her eye • and thoughts away from the d • fferenc • of Places, to look a • the spirituality of the worship: for as God is no respecter of persons, so he is no resp • cter of places; but wheresoever for that indefinite [ where ] is equivalent to an universal, Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them, Matth. 18. 20. I wi • that men pray everywhere, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , in every pl • c • , 1 Tim. 2. 8. The Church of Troas met in an upp • r Chamber to b • ea • Bread. and for Preaching and other Ordinances, Acts 20. 8. therefore all places are alike.

Our publisk Meeting-places for Worship in these Gospel times, do not succeed in the stead of the Jewish Tabernacle or Temple, because they are not privileged with that extraordinary visible Presence of God in them, which was in the Temple at some • times, neither have they that Symbolical Presence, and residence of God in them, which was in the Temple at all times. n • ither have they that typical respect to Christ, neither hath God sanctified them, and set them apart to himself as his own peculiar: but they are of the same nature with the I wish Synag • gues, which were the places of the public Moral Worship of God in those times, and were withou • question every whit as holy as our Churches, but yet we find that the Synagogues were not appropriated to holy uses only, though the Temple was, bu • they kept Courts, and had Civil Assemblies in them about Civil ma • ters, Mat. 23. 34. Some of them shall you sc • urge in your Synago • u •• , which suppose it were not meant of the executing and infl • cting of the punishment upon them, but only as some would have it, of passing the Sentence, yet this will not help them, for still it was a Civil and Secular use of the place, where they met for the public Worship of God.

I may therefore here apply that of Isai. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin: when he maketh all the stones of the Altar as chalk-stones, that are beaten asunder, the Groves and Images shall not stand up. God will never purge away the iniquity of Ireland, nor take away the sins of England, till the stones of the Altar be as Chalk-stones, till people be convinced that there is no more holiness in a Church, I mean the Me • ting-place of Wood and Stones, then in a dwelling house, nor in an Altar more then in Chalk-stones. There have been some Episcopal men, Episcopal at least in some other things, who yet have been much above this gross superstitious Conceit of the difference of Places. Dr. Usher in his Body of Divinity, speaking against the private Administration of the Sacraments, he hath these words; In times of Pers • cution the godly did often meet in Barns, and such obscure places, which were indeed public, because of the Church of God there, the House or Place availing nothing to make it public or private, even as wheres • ev • r the Prince is, there is the Court, although it were in a poor Cottage.

It is true, there is a Spiritual Presence of God in our public Meeti • g-places, when his people are there assembled to Worship him in the B • auties of Holiness, but he doth not afford his Presence with respect to the place, but to the persons; he is not present with them for the places sake, but present in the place at that time for their sakes. And therefore this Spiritual Presence of God doth not mak • any place properly holy, for then all places should be holy, wheresoever holy persons meet to enjoy the Spiritual Presence of God in holy duties: as the Primitive Churches met in private Chambers, Acts 1. 13. & 20. 8. and by the same reason all the dwelling-houses where there are Fam • lie-duties, and daily worshipping of God in the Family, and in s • cret, are holy pl • ces also. Nay, the Fields, the Streets, and sometimes Prisons, and Dungeons, and Gibb • ts, and all places where the S • ints come, and enjoy Communion with God in their Spirits, are h • lie places. And so by their own Argument they lay all places level, 〈◊〉 Lord having many precious Saints that walk with him▪ who are d ••••• sed & scattered up and down almost in every corner of the Land.

Churches I confess are holy things, but the word Church is very improperly, and Catachrestically used concerning the Material Church of Wood and Stones, by a Metonymy; but the Scripture knows no other Church but the Church of Saints. That place, 1 Cor. 11. 22. is much abused, and misinterpreted, Have you not houses of your own to eat and drink in? or despise you the Church of God? It is not meant of those improper Metonymical Churches, neither doth the opposition enforce any such thing: for there be many other things which may be opposed to their own houses, besides the public Meetingplace. There are in Logic not only Contraria, quorum unum uni, but also Disparata quorum unum multis pariter opponitur: The Apostles Argument is this, that it is a contempt of the Church or Saints of God, to carry themselves so disorderly in their presence.

And yet it doth not follow, that the public Meeting-places must be pulled down, for the Consecrating of them is an abuse of things necessary, and not of things indifferent. The Script • r • mentions it as a good work to build them, He loveth our Nation, and hath built us a Synag • gue, Luke 7. 5. and as an act of great profaneness to pull them down, Psal. 74. 8. They have burnt up all the Synagogues of God in the Land, which yet had no more holiness in them then our Meeting-places. And the thing itself speaks, for if there ought to be public Assemblies for the Worship of God, if this be a duty, it is nec • ssary that there be pl • ces to meet in. It is true, the Lord commanded the Jews to demolish the Heathen Temples of the Canaanites, Deut. 12. 2, 3. but these were built for Idols, and therefore might justly be accounted mere Monuments of Idolatry; but our Meetingplaces were built for Christian Churches and Assemblies to Worship God in, amongst whom the Essentials of a Church-estate and Worship were preserved, even under the Apostasy of Antichrist, for the Woman was fed & nourished all the 1260 days, Rev. 12. 6, 14. therefore some • Fundamental Ordinances were preserved, though both the Worship and the Places have been much defiled with Superstition: but yet as we do not therefore reject the Worship of God, bec • use of those Abuses, so neither need we reject the Places, but should reform and retain both the one and the other, the Worship and Ordinances being necessary by virtue of God's Institution, and the Places needful for the performance of the Worship. And the Super • titio • s abuse of them hath been taken off by public Authority. • or the Great Parliament hath thus declared: As no Place is capable of any Holin •• s, under pretence of whatsoever Dedication or Consecration, so neither is it subject to such Pollution by any Superstition formerly used, and now laid aside, as may render it unlawful or inconvenient for Christians to meet together therein for the public Worship of God; and therefore we hold it requisite, that the places of public Assembling for Worship amongst us, should be continued, and employed to that use. Neither indeed can they be destroyed without great and manifest hindrance and prejudice to the public Worship of God, unless new ones be first built. And if they that plead for it will first erect new Meeting-places, that are every way better, and stronger, and more comely, and more capacious to contain large and numerous Assemblies, and more conveniently situated for the accommodation of all the people, I say, when this is done, they shall have my free consent to do what they please with the old ones. But if they will needs demolish them before new and better be built in their stead, the least that can be said to them in such a case, is that their Milk boils over: if they have any true Zeal against Superstition, they had need take heed lest they run out of one extreme into another, and lest they be acted by the spirit of the Mystery of Iniquity, and by the Subtilty and cunning Craft of Satan into gross Profaneness, upon pretence of avoiding Superstition.

VIII. Organs and Cathedral Music.

IT is true, they had Musical Instruments in the Worship of God under the Law; but

1. There was then a clear word of Institution for them. The Trumpets of Silver and Cornets of Horn, were instituted by the hand of Moses, Numb. 10. in the ten first Verses, and Levite. 23. 23, 24. and in David's time there were added Cymbals of Brass, and Harps and Psalteries of fine Wood, 1 Chron. 16. 4, 5. and that by Authority and direction from God, for so was the Commandment of the Lord by his Prophets, 2 Chron. 29. 25. and therefore they are called the Instruments of Music of the Lord, 2 Chron. 7. 6. and we read also of Timbrels, Organs, and Ten-stringed Instruments, Psal. 149. 3. & 150 4.

But there is not one word of Institution for them under the Gospel, but on the contrary they are cashiered and excluded out of Gospel-worship▪ by that general Rule which the Apostle lays down concerning all the p • rts of God's Worship, 1 Cor. 14. 26. Let all things be done unto edifying; and ver. 15. I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with understanding also; but the Chanters and Ch • risters are Barbarians to all the people, for they play and sing nobody knows what, so that the understanding cannot edify by it. If I know not the meaning of the voice, he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian into me, 1 Cor. 14. 11. It is therefore a strange Comparison which some have used, who have said they know no Argument to prove the Organs simply unlawful, but what would prove a Cup of Wine unlawful. For we must remember, that the Question is concerning the use of them in the Worship of God: and therefore the Answer is, That there is a vast disparity of Reason between a Cup of Wi • e and Organs, for the one is instituted, the other not. Christ hath appointed and commanded us to • se • read and Wine in his Worship in the Sacrament of the Supper, but he hath not appointed Cathedral Music.

2. I do not find in the Scripture, that th • se Musical Instruments were a part of their Synagogue-worship, which was Moral, but rather of their Temple-worship, which was Ceremonial. In their Synagogues they had the public Moral Worship of God, Reading and Expounding the Law, &c. Acts 13. 15. Some think they had Trumpets also in their Synagogues to call the people together, but this was a Moral use of them, for which we use the ringing of a Bell. But the Scripture is clear, that the Musical Instruments were appointed to be used continually before the Ark, 1 Chron. 16. 4, 5, 6. And the Singers and Trumpeters▪ stood at the East end of the Altar at the dedication of the Temple, 2 Chron. 5. 12. And in Hezekiah's time, when the burnt-offering began, the song of th • Lord began also, with the trumpets, and with the Instruments ordained by David King of Israel, 2 Chron. 29. 27 28. But seeing Christ is come, and hath caused the Sacrifice and the Oblation to cease, and the City and the Sanctuary being both destroyed, as Dan. 9. 26, 27. all the Worship that was affixed thereto is ceased with it.

3. There was a typical signification in them. The Silver Trumpet signified the sounding of the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel through all the world, the Preaching of the pure Word of God by his Messengers, who are said to lift up their voice as a trumpet, Isa. 58. 1. S • t the trumpet to thy mouth, Hos. 8. 1. The t • ngue of the just is as choice silver, Prov. 10. • 0. and •• th th • se, and all the rest of their Musical Instruments, were expressions and signs of joy, Psal. 98. 6. & 89 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They were therefore fit resemblances to shadow out that heavenly Music, and inward Melody of the joys and graces of God's Spirit in the hearts of his people. The Apostle therefore exhorts us to sing, but instead of Musical Instruments, he requires the melody of the heart, Eph. 5. 19. and grace in the heart, Coloss. 3. 16.

But 4. Suppose the signification of the Jewish Music could not •• found out, (as indeed it is an hard thing to find out the meaning of all their Ceremonies) we are delivered not only from their Types and Ceremonies, but also from all their Yokes and Burthens. These things were a part of the burthensome P • dagogie, which the Church was under in the time of its Non-age and Childhood, but now the time of Gospel-freedom is come, Gal. 4. 1. And therefore Aquinas, though a Popish Schoolman, yet he rejects and pleads against these Instruments of Music, as being then used amongst the Jews quia populus erat magis durus & carnalis, for which reason also they were so much encouraged with promises of temporal things. And this Superstition was not brought into the Church of Rome itself in his time, who lived about 400 years ago, and he saith the reason was n • videatur Judaizart, lest they should seem to Judaize. And he doth also well observe, that Musical Instruments do more stir up the mind to delight, then frame it to a right disposition, they raise natural, rather then true Spiritual joy: which they that commend them as an help partly natural and partly artificial, to the exhilarating of the spirits for the praise of God, may do well to consider. They are such an help as God hath not appointed, and what God doth not appoint, h • is not wont to bless. But why should we not have Trump • s in the Worship of God as well as Organs? for the Jews had Trumpets also. And why must we have them only in Cathedral Churches? If Organs be too dear for every poor Parish, yet they might get Citherns or Bagpipes. And why should there not be Dancing in the Worship of God as well as Piping? For those old Idolaters in Exod. 32. did not only shout, but also danc • d and played before their Idol. Eras • us, though in many things a Papist, yet he saw the evil of this, that whole flocks of Boys should be maintained at a great charge, wasting also their own precious time in perdiscendis hujus •• o • i gannitibus, which Dr. A • es • enders thus, in learning this gibble gabble. And all the first Reformers condemn it with one mouth, Zwingli, Calvin, Peter Martyr, and others, as a part of the Legel P • dagogis; so that we might as well recall the Incense, Tapers, Circumcision, and all the other Shadows of the Law into use again.

IX. The Book of Common-Prayer.

WHich is not, neither are you to look upon it under the Notion of a Directory, to inform and instruct men concerning the Worship of God, for doubtless it is as lawful to write Books of Prayer and public Worship, as of Faith, or Love, or any other duty. But you must consider it as a Pr • script Form, as a set and stinted Liturgy devised and appointed by men, to be read as a part of the public Worship of God, and to be kept to, both for matter and words. This is the true state of the Case, and upon this account we look upon the Book of Common-Prayer as a Grand Idol of the Church of England, for it is a breach of the second Commandment more ways then one.

1. The Arguments of our Divines against the Books commonly called Apocrypha, may serve against the Book of Common-Prayer, for it i • an Apocryphal Book, introduced into the public Worship of God as a standing part thereof, and imposed by force and violence. But thus to introduce another Book, besides the Book of God, into his Church, is a dishonor, and an affront to the Scripture. If it be a sin for men to set their posts by his posts, their thresholds by his thresholds▪ as Ezek. 43. 8. and their Altars by his Altars, 2 Kings 16. 15. is it no sin to set their Books by his Book?

2. We do not find any Precept for it in the Scripture, nor any Promise that God will accept it, nor any hint of Example that ever any ordinary Officers took upon them to impose stinted Liturgies upon the Church. If ever there had been need of such an help, surely it had been most seasonable amongst the Jews, in those weak and childish times: but we find no such thing throughout the Scripture. It is true, God by the hand of his extraordinary Messengers did appoint some Forms, but neither were they tied up to them, neither will this warrant ordinary Officers to do the like. God hath forbidden his people to make to themselves Images. or Forms, or ways of Worship, but he hath not restrained himself to set up what Images or Forms himself seeth good.

3. It is fetched from Rome. King James said, it was nothing else but an ill-said Mass in English. King Edward VI. in his Declaration • o the Popish Rebels in D • vonshire, which is in the Book of Martyrs, saith, It seemeth unto you a new Service, but is indeed no other but the old, the self-same words in English that were in Latin, saving a few things taken out, which were so fond that it had been a shame to have heard them in English. If the Service of the Church was good in Latin, it remaineth good in English, for nothing is altered, but to speak with knowledge what was spoken with ignorance, and to let you understand what is said for you. It was all taken out of the Mass-book, if we understand the word Mass-book in a large sense, as it is commonly taken: but to speak more narrowly, it was Collected out of three Popish Books. The first part of public Prayers, Ex Breviario. The second part, viz. the Order of administering Sacraments, Matrimony, Visiting the Sick, and Burials, e Rituali. 3. The Order of Consecration in the Supper, the Epistles, and Gospels, and Collects, e Missali, as the Form of Consecration of Bishops and Priests, was taken • Pontificali, as you may see more at large in Didoclavius, and in Mr. Shepherd. Who also shows, that as the Common-Prayer was taken out of the Mass, so the principal parts of the Mass were borrowed from the Idolatrous Pagans, and had their Original from Numa Pompilius, that Conjurer, who lived 700 years before Christ, to adorn and deck, as the Bishops of Rome thought, the Religion of Christ Jesus, to the which, when thus corrupted with Paganish and Popish mixtures, the Romans were with much ado at last Converted, who till then were obstinate in their old Heathenish Religion. Insomuch that when Theodosius sent to the Senate to renounce their Pagan Religion, and receive the Law of Christ, they returned Answer that they would not, but would observe the Ancient Law Pompilian to avoid the ruin of the Common-wealth, which they feared would come by the Change of Religion. And to those principal parts of the Mass taken from the Pagans, viz. Vestments, Holy Water, the Confiteor, Organs, Incense, Offertory, &c. other deckings were also added, as divers Litanies, and the Kurie-ele • son, Lord have mercy upon us, to be su • g nine times, invented by Gregory a Monk at first, well studied in the Laws of Numa, and Tullus Hostilius. Damasus, as Platina and Sabellius show, enriched it with Gloria Patri; Sergius, with an Agnus Dei, to be sung three times. Alexander and other Bishops added the Canon of the Mass, others the Epistles and Gospels. The Gradual, and Collects were added by Gelasius, Anno 493. the Gloria in Excels • s, by Symmachus, 508. At last came the Host in, about 106 • . Thus Mr. Shepherd concerning the Original of the Mass and Common-Prayer. Yea, such a Popish piece is this Book of Common-Prayer, that is some of the Bishops have reported, Pope Paul IV. did offer Queen Elizabeth to confirm and ratify it by his Authority, Ut sacra hic omnia, hoc ipso quo nunc sunt apud nos m • do procurari fas esset. And in King Henry VIII. his time, Cardinal Quignonius, at the request of Pope Clement VII. made the Popish Missal liker the English for a great part, then it was to the Roman Breviary.

But let all true Protestants judge, whether it be fit for us to fetch our Worship from that Mother of Harlots, the Church of Rome, and to go to the Pope to indite our Prayers; as if the Pope could tell how to pray better then the people of God, who have his Spirit dwelling in them. Some indeed have said, it is no matter whence it comes; but when Whitgift said so concerning Deans, Canons, Preb • ndaries, &c. that it is not material though they come from the Pope, Mr. Cartwright replies, It is as if he should say, It skills not though they come out of the bottomless Pit: for whatsoever cometh from the Pope, which is Antichrist, cometh first from the Devil. The second Commandment for bids taking up Ways and Forms of Worship from Idolaters, and it must needs be a great encouragement and hardening to the Papists, that their Mass is the Foundation of our Worship.

4. It undermines that great Ordinance of the Ministry, the principal duties of which Office are Pr • aching and Prayer, Acts 6. 4. in the one whereof they are the mouth of God to the people, in the other they are the mouth of the people unto God. But if we presc • ibe to one another set • orms of Prayer, why not by the same reason set Forms of Homilies? and then, as Mr. Cotton Observes, neither the Apos • les nor their Successors needed to have left off the Deacons employment, to attend upon the Ministry of the Word and Prayer, for both are prepared to their hands by the Prescriptions of others. Hence also Ministers shall little need to edify the Church by their own gifts received of Christ to that end, but may edify then by the gifts of others. Yea Ministers, though desti • ute of Ministerial gifts, yet may be fit for the public discharge of their duties by the help of other men's gifts, both in Prayer and Preaching. And so indeed a Pr • s • ripped Lit • rgie is properly a m • inten • nce for an Idol dumb Ministry. What difference is there between the carrying of the Ark upon a Cart, and our Prayers upon a Book? whereas both should be carried, the one upon the shoulders of the Levites, the other upon the gifts of the Ministers.

5. It is a grievous sin against the Spirit of Prayer. It was set up at first in opposition to the Latin Worship of the Mass, and so indeed it was a good step of Reformation, to get the Worship of God into a known Tongue: but now it is set up, and pleaded for in opposition to the Spirit of Prayer, and therefore it deserves now to be called by no b • tter name but Nehushtan, an ill said Mass. Some conceive the first Reformers are not to be looked upon altogether as ordinary Ministers, as being stirred up and acted by a more then ordinary Spirit in the Work of Reformation, and doing some things some what out of ordinary course, whereof this hath been not unfi • lie reckoned to be one, the making Formula's of Divine Service, which might better be done in those dark and disinall times, when the • e was scarce one to be found for every Coun • y, that was able to Pray and Preach without a Book; for so it was in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's time.

But now God hath poured out his Spirit upon all flesh, so that p • ivate Christians are able to pray to the public edification of a whole Church: and therefore suppose it were lawful to use such a C • utch for those that could not pray without it, yet it is unreasonable and absurd to force a man to go with Crutches when he is not lame. It is a vain and needless thing, to tie Bladders under the wings of Sea-sowls to keep them from sinking, or to help them to sw • m. Tertussian saith, the Christians in the Primitive times were wont to pray sine n •• nitore, quia de pectore, without a prompter, beca • s • they prayed from the heart; which Mr. Shepherd observes is spoken in opposition to the prompted Forms then in use amongst the Pagans. It is but an h • artless way of praying, to say a Prayer out of a Book. The Apostle saith, We know not what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helpeth our infi • mities, Rom. 8. 26. It is the Spirits office to intercede in us, as Christ intercedes for us. But what great need is there of the Spirit, to read a Prayer out of a Book? Other use therefore of the Common-prayer at this day I know not, then the quenc • ing of the Spirit, and putting him as it were out of office, or at least limiting and stinting the Spirit, what and how many words he must manifest himself by, without all • eration, addition, or diminution, and the furn • shing of dumb Minist • rs with the Instrument of a foolish Shepherd, without which they would be dumb indeed, and unable to say anything. To which may be also added, the a • ming of Persecu • ors with a bloody Weapon and Instrument of Violence, whereby to oppress the Consciences of God's faithful Ministers and people, which some Ep •• copall men, who have been more ingenuous then the rest of their fellows, have been so convinced of, that they have confessed it. Dr. Maynwaring Chancellor of Chester, upon a D • bate with Mr. L • y about the Service-book, he confessed at last, and said, We shall never have Peace and true Charity in the Church, until it be taken away.

6. It would fill a Volume to enumerate and reckon up all the Corruptions of the matter of it. The false Doctrine, That it is certain by God's Word, that Children that be Baptized are undoubt • dly saved. The intolerable dishonor done to the Scripture, setting up Hagar equal with her Mistress, by appointing Apocrypha, to the number of 104 Chapters, yea the very • ales in Tobit, to be read in the public Worship of God, but a great part of Canonical Scripture quite omitted, and left out of the Calendar. The Superstitious Observations of Holy days, the Sign of the Cross, Churching of Women, Those absurd broken responds, and shreds of Prayer, whereby they toss their Prayers, like Tennis-balls, between the Priest and People, Tautologies, O Lord deliver us, eight times; We beseech thee to hear us good Lord, twenty times. Complementing with God in their Prayers, We beseech thee give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not presume to ask; a most weak and legal passage, as if a Believer that prays in Christ's Name, might not freely ask of God anything he needs, yea the greatest things, the Spirit, and the Glory to come. Yea, there is Nonsense in it, as when they call the Lessons out of Isaiah, Joel, and the Prophets, Epistles. And when that Collect, where they say, Thou hast sent thy Son to be born as on this day, is appointed to be said six days together one after another, as if Christ were born six times over. Yea, it appoints a most corrupt, and false Translation of the Scripture to be read, and which in some places no reasonable sense can be made of; as when they read thus in Psal. 58. 4. Or ever your p • ts be made hot with thorns, so let indignation vex them, as a thing that is raw: and in many other places.

7. Neither is the Parish Book of Common-prayer established by Law. For the Law of Eliz. 1. restores and re-establisheth the Book used in King Edw. time, and no other or otherwise, excepting only one or two Alterations there specified. But the Parish Book is not the same with King Edwards, but differs greatly from it: for there was a Prayer in that against the Bishop of Rome, with all his detestable Enormities, which is omitted in the Parish Book. And there be twenty six Lessons of Canonical Scripture in King Edwards Calendar, which are profanely and sacrilegiously expunged, and blotted out of the Parish Book.

USE. Let it be a word of Exhorta •••• to the Bishops, and to the Episcopal Party, not to revive the Superstitions and Idolatries of former times, or at least not to impose them. For you s • e what the Text saith, the Lord will have them to be rooted out: and therefore he will he angry with you, if you practice them, but his wrath will burn like fire, if you impose them. I might here speak many things, to show the unreasonableness of such Impositions; for I do not now speak merely against the things themselves, but against that violent, that bloody, that imposing Spirit, the Spirit of Persecution. I think it were easy to offer such Considerations to you concerning it, as might not only convince your Consciences, but also move and melt your bowels. Make it your own case. If your Consciences were against such things, you would be loath to be imposed upon. You may fight for them with the Sword of the Spirit, and maintain them by the Word of God, if you can, but take heed of flying to Carnal Weapons, to oppress those Truths of Christ, which by dint of Spiritual Reason you cannot subdue. If any of these men be present before the Lord this day, suppose you had been compelled in former times to turn Independents, or to let your Children die unbaptized, or to do it without the Sign of the Cross, I suppose you would have filled Heaven and Earth with your c • ies. And give me leave to tell you, that if you will be persecuting, the people of God will cry, and never cease crying in the ears of the Lord against you, till he hath brought upon you the Judgment written. Consider therefore how you would be dealt with, if it were your own case, and remember how you have been dealt with. I have been in Ireland these five years, and I do not know any Episcopal man, if of a good life and Conversation, that hath been deprived of the Liberty of his Ministry, but they have been tolerated and suffered as well as others to Preach the Gospel, which is all that I desire this day: and will the men of that Perswasion be so disingenuous, as to requite evil for good? will you be worse then the Scribes and Pharisees? who though they had not the grace to forgive their enemies, yet they had so much good nature as to love their friends: will you give us cause to say, that there is not so much as common Ingenuity to be found amongst you?

If you will be content with your own Liberty, and suffer your Neighbors that differ from you, to live peaceably and quietly with you, you may go to Gilgal, and pass over to beth-aven, make haste towards Rome, be as Idolatrous and Superstitious as you please, I know no Minister, nor private Christian, that will hinder you, or give any the least impediment or obstruction to you, further then this, that we will fight against you with▪ 〈◊〉 of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; but for any external impediment, we leave that to the Magistrate to whom it belongs, to remo • e the high places, and break the Images, and • ut down the Groves. But if you will not be content to sin alone, but will needs persecute and compel us to sin and perish with you, you will engage the Prayers of all the people of God against you as one man. When you have stopped our mouths from Preaching, yet we shall Pray, and not only we, but all the Souls that have been converted, or comforted and edified by our Ministry, of whom you know there be, through the grace of Christ, many in this City and Nation, they will all cry to the Lord against you for want of Bread, because you deprive them of those that should break the bread of life to them. And how dreadful this will be unto you, I think I need not tell you. For when Saints pray, God will hear, especially if they unite their forces, and join together in the same requests. I had rather be environed with Armies of armed men, & compassed round about with drawn Swords, and Instruments of death, then that the least praying Saint should bend the edge of his Prayers against me, for there is no standing before the Prayers of the Saints. You may see throughout the whole Scripture, and especially in the Book of the Revelation, what a powerful influence they have into all the Revolutions of Providence: before the opening of the Seven Seals, we read of golden Vials full of od • urs, which are the Prayers of the Saints, Rev. 5. 8. and before the sounding of the Seven Trumpets, that great and dreadful dispensation of Providence, consisting of four lesser Woes, which made way for the three great Woes; for the Pope, who appears openly under the fifth Trumpet, and for the Turk, who breaks loose in the sixth, and for the final destruction of all Enemies, by the seventh Trumpet. The introduct • on to all these astonishing Judgments was this, Christ appears as the Angel of the Covenant, with a golden Censer in his hand, and with much Incense of his own merits and mediation, and offers it up with the prayers of all Saints, upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne; and the smoke of th • Incense, with the prayers of the Saints, ascended up before God out of the Angels hand, and after this there followed Thunderings and Lightnings, and dreadful dispensations, Rev. 8. 3, 4. Lastly, before the pouring out of the seven Vials, which is thought by many to be the dispensation that these Times are under, the Saints are brought in praying and praising God, Rev. 15. and the seven Angels, the Instruments of Christ in the execution of these Plagues, are said to come out of the Temple, that is, out of Reformed Churches, ver. 6. and one of the four living Creatures, which some of the b •• Interpreters understand to be Church-Officers, and Ministers of the Gospel, gave unto the seven Angels, seven golden Vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever, ver. 7. It is their Faith and Prayers, and the light of Christ in their Ministry, that sets all the wheels a▪ going for the ruin of Enemies, for God puts all the Prayers and Tears of his Saints into his bottle, Psal. 56. 8. and pours them down again in Plagues, and in streams of fire, and blood, and brimstone, upon a malignant wicked world. If it be so dangerous to offend the least Saint, that Christ himself professeth, it were better for that man that a millstone were tied about his neck, and to be thrown with it into the bottom of the sea, then to offend one of these little ones, how dreadful will it then be to offend and grieve the Spirit of God in the hearts of all his people, and so to rouse that Lion, the Spirit of Prayer against you. For I testify unto you, that as the Saints will pray, so the Lord himself will fight against you, and take you into his own revenging hand. I speak it conditionally, in case you persecute, and I wish all the Bishops in Ireland heard me; for in the Name, and in the love of Christ I speak it to you, and I beseech you so to take it. I say, if once you fall to the old trade of Persecution, the Lord Jesus will never bear it at your hands, but he will bring upon you swift destruction. And your second Fall will be worse then the first: for, Dagon the first time did only fall before the Ark of God. But when the men of Ashdod had set him up in his place again the second time, then he brake himself all to pieces by his second fall, insomuch that there was nothing but the stump of Dagon left. Persecution is a very ripening sin, and therefore if once you super-add the sin of Persecution to the sin of Superstition, you will be quickly ripe for final ruin, and for the vengeance of eternal fire. And in the day when God shall visit you, the guilt of all the righteous blood that hath been shed upon the face of the earth, from the blood of Abel, to the blood of Udall, and unto this day, it will come down the hill upon your heads, even upon the Persecutors of this generation. The Lord Jesus, when the day of Vengeance is in his heart, and when the year of his Redeemed is come, which is not far off, he will then require all that blood, and revenge it all upon your heads, if you justify the ways of former Persecutors, by walking in the same steps of Blood and Violence.