THAT men pretending a tender Conscience should have Estrich-stomachs, and digest Iron rather than Obedience, esteem a Surplice more criminal than Schism, and Sedition less culpable than Ceremonies; plead for compassion from the weakness of their Brains, when they have a stubbornness in their Necks, which will not bow to any Regular Constitutions: This is at once so ridiculous and mischievous an Impiety, as puts all Hyperboles to a nonplus. Who (but a Refractory Non-conformist) One who adheres to his own Conclusion in de­fiance [Page 2] to all Premisses, could ever declare (by his publique practice) That the Whore and the Beast are more nearly al­lied to the Order and Decorum of my Text, than Sacriledg to the late thorow godly Reformation, or Witchcraft to Disobedience? But these are not the on­ly persecutors of this best of Reformed Churches: We have a sort of men, who are neither for Liturgy nor Directory, Canon nor Covenant; part Churchmen, and part Schismatical; having one Leg for a Tub, and another for a Pulpit, one Hand subscribing to separate Worship, and the other to the Church of England; such who conform to the Benefice (not to the Canons) and (Pope-like) can­cel all their solemn Obligations to the Laws, and give themselves a pardon, and dispensation, for their barbarous Irregu­larity against the Ecclesiastical Constitu­tions: Ex animo (in their Subscription) signifies Lukewarmness, and Neutrality; an unfeigned Assent and Consent is a deep Hypocrisie; Decently, is a compli­ance with a faction, and [...] accord­ing [Page 3] to moderation, and (too frequently) according to contribution.—

Now we have not the Title of preci­ous Soul-searching Ministers, unless we sell Divine Worship to accommodate our Interests, and add a precious breach of all our promises and engagements, to the utmost height of all Sacriledg and Pro­phaneness: He is your only Man of Mo­derate Principles, whose Conscience is a Composition of Five precious Ingredi­ents; the Pride of Diotrephes, the In­terest of Demas, the Treachery of Judas, the Hypocrisie of the Pharisees, and the Disobedience of Devils: Such with whom to pray by the Purse is to pray by the Spirit, who expose to sale their Duty and the Laws, at the despicable pension of a few Ignorant Zealots, who call them­selves Saints before they are Christians, and are Heirs of Heaven without the Ci­vility of Heathens, or the Morals of In­fidels; These are your blessed Episcopal Covenanters, Canonical Comprehenders, Clergy Merchants, and Regular Renega­does, whose very Character is Nonsence [Page 4] and Contradictions: It is from their In­devotion, Irreverence and wilful Omissions (as if some offensive vapours did ascend from our excellent Devotions) that the people seldom enter some of our Ora­tories, till the Air be first purged, and cleansed, and made clear and free to breath in by the Ravishing Meeter of Sternhold and Hopkins. These are your powerful men of God, described by Tertullian of old, Tert. de­pi. script. cont. Hae­ret. Qui simplicitatem volunt esse prostrationem disciplinae, cujus apud alios curam lenocinium vocant— The Church hath a Custom to prescribe the Laws of Order, relating to Divine Wor­ship, and these have a Custom that they be not observed. Their Religion con­sists in the overthrow of Church-Disci­pline and Goverment, and their Mode­ration is a wilful Omission of the Rites and Offices of the Church of England: It is with these men (as with Servilius in Rome) Medium se gerendo nec plebis ve­tuit odium, nec apud patres gratiam iniit. Thus these please neither the Church nor the Schismatick;— not the Last (because [Page 5] not wholly Irregular) nor do they act ac­cording to the Canonical Precepts of their Mother, because all things are not done decently and in order. Calvin (who with some is of more Authority than all the Fa­thers) calls the Text the Canon of Ca­nons, giving life and efficacy to all our Ecclesiastical Constitutions.— Regula est ad quam omnia quae ad externam Ecclesiae Politiam spectant exigere convenit. The Learned Dr. Hammond observes, That upon these Two all Uniformity is built, rendring the first—according to Custom, (Custom being the Rule of Decency) and the other words according to Appoint­ment (viz.) of the Governours of the Church of God: The Learned Bp. Dave­nant (on Col. 2.5.) (where we have the same word for order as in the Text) tells us, It is a Military Term, implying the Church is a well Marshal'd Camp, where­in the strictest Discipline is observed and exercised; It is an Army with Banners (Cant. 6.9.) and so where this requisite Order of Offices, Distinctions, Ranks, and Files, and Postures are not observed [Page 6] (it's in an Army of Souldiers) non Ecclesi­astica Disciplina sed politia Cyclopica est, saith the Reverend Prelate, upon that Text. The Church then is not all Head, nor all Body; no Roman Monarchy, nor Disciplinarian party; no Familistical Com­munity, nor Anabaptistical Anarchy; but a well-compacted Army of Volun­tiers, who have listed themselves by their Baptismal Covenant to live and dye Christs faithful Souldiers, and under the Banner of the Cross, to follow the Cap­tain of their Salvation, the Eternal Je­sus. The Lord-Marshals under this vi­ctorious General, are the Sovereign Chri­stian Princes; and in the next degree of Eminence, the Reverend Fathers, and Pastors of the Church, who are especial­ly to provide that the God of the Armies of Israel, be solemnly worshipped in the beauty of holiness; and that the Rules of Order be observed by all the Inferiour Officers of the Church in their several stations— Hic Ergo quae conducant leges tantum abest ut damnemus, ut his ablatis, dissolvi suis nervis Ecclesias totasque de­formari, [Page 7] ac dissipari contendamus: So Cal­vin, in the Tenth Chapter of the Fourth Book of Institutions. Order and Decency are the hedges fencing the substance of Religion from all the Indignities of Sa­criledg and Prophaneness; as the glorious Laud spake quaintly and piously, who became formidable to the Roman Interest, by pursuing the External Decorum of my Text in the English Church.

The general Conclusion (according to most Expositors upon this Text) is briefly this.

There is a Power in Ecclesiastical Go­vernours, to make Laws, and Canons, and to decree Rites of Order and Decorum, for the External Solemnization of Divine Service, to which all under their Autho­rity, Priests, and People are obliged to yield a regular and a conscientious Obe­dience. Which I shall briefly and very plainly demonstrate by Scripture, Reason and Experience, Fathers, Councils, Re­formed Churches, and the Confession of Adversaries, and so make Application to our selves.

[Page 9]As to the first, I humbly offer Six un­questionable Scripture-Principles, which this Reverend Audience is able to defend against the most Learned and Judicious Nonconformists.

First, The Apostles intended Unity (as in the known Chapter of Unity the Fourth to the Ephesians) and to preserve Unity, they recommend Order and Uni­formity to the Church of Christ, as ap­pears sufficiently from Rom. 15.6. compared with Colossians 2.5. and this Canon of the Text.

Secondly, The Apostles (at the first Preaching of the Gospel) did not esta­blish that Order, which the State of the Church did afterwards require. The rest will I set in order when I come, 1 Cor. 11.29. Upon which words the Assembly of Divines are as politiquely reserved and silent, as in the case of Sacriledg in their Annotations, ad [...] & [...] pertinet (so Grotius) ad ordinem pertinet Ecclesiasti­cum (so Pareus) Certum est Paulum non nisi de externo decoro loqui (saith Calvin) quod ut in Ecclesiae libertate positum est, [Page 8] ita pro temporum, locorum, hominum con­ditione, constitui debet— The Second Scripture-principle.

Thirdly. The Apostles expected such a Setlement to be made by those to whom they entrusted the Government of the Church: For this cause left I thee in Creet, to set in order the things that are wanting, or (as the Original) left un­done, Titus 1.5. Upon which Walo Mes­salinus, or Salmasius (he who called the blessed Dr. Hammond, Nebulo, for de­fending of Bishops) he himself does ac­knowledg, That Titus had an Episcopal Power, at least in the Judgment of all the Greek Fathers; particularly quoting St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophilact and others: (To set in Order the things that are wanting,) quae ego ob brevitatem tem­poris & impedimenta a Custodibus ordinare non potui: (So Calvin and Grotius.) Hence two things are very naturally and genuinely deducible.—

First, That St. Paul (as to External Order, for he omitted no Essentials) had left some things undone in the [Page 10] Church in his own Judgment fit to be af­terwards (at Creet) established: Second­ly, He committed the accomplishment of these Externals, relating to the Disci­pline and Decency of the Church to the (at least) Episcopal, some say Archie­piscopal, Titus, as having under him many Bishops; which is the Third Scripture-principle.

Fourthly, The Apostles gave certain Canons to direct Church-Governours in in such Ecclesiastical Establishments, to prescribe such things, which (according to the conditions of times and places) should seem most expedient to Order, Honesty, Edification, and Peace; accord­ing to 1 Cor. 10.31, 32. 1 Cor. 14.26. 1 Cor. 11.27, 29. and the precept of the Text. Hence Calvin soundly teacheth (his too credulous Proselytes in deeper Myste­ries) that such Ecclesiastical Laws, and Canons, are not to be esteemed as hu­mane Traditions, quia fundatae sunt in ge­nerali lege, Omnia decenter, &c. Whence in his Institutions lib. 4. Cap. 10. He de­termines concerning kneeling at publick [Page 11] Prayers in obedience to such Church-con­stitutions, to be a Divine as well as Hu­man Institution; Divine, as founded in the general Precept, Let all things be done decently and in order: And Human, as framed by Governours according to that general Injunction of the Apostl's: Hence Beza (in Confessione fidei; cap. 5.) all such Laws as to their end and foundation, sunt Divinae & Coelestes: Which is the fourth Principle of the holy Oracles.

Fifthly, The Apostles gave only gene­ral Rules, and so supposed a Power in the Governours to frame thence particu­lar Rites, consonant with their general Canons. Thence Calvin, non potest ha­beri quod Paulus hic exigit nisi additis ob­servationibus, tanquam vinculis quibus ordo servetur. But more plainly Pareus, facit Ecclesiae potestatem de ordine & deco­ro Ecclesiastico liberis disponendi & ferendi leges: The only question is, Where this Power was placed? (for at this time Kings were not nursing Fathers to the Church;) for this cause left I thee to set in order, as before exprest, it was lodged in [Page 12] the Bishops, and Governours of the Church by the blessed Apostles—which is the fifth Principle consonant with the ho­ly Oracles.

Lastly (the Five former Principles supposed) That we ought to obey such orderly Canons is included under obedite praepositis, Heb. 13.17. There are two words in that Text, [...], Obey and submit your selves; The one relating to active and the other to passive Obedi­ence. If Church-Governours do give out Precepts and Directions for the Policy of the Church, or the Decorum, or Order of Divine Service, here obedite praepositis takes place according to the former Prin­ciples, and there is a passive Subjection due (called Submission by the Casuists) where we cannot pay the other active O­bedience, but in doubtful Cases, praesumptio est pro Autoritate imponentis, say Divines. And so much briefly for Scripture-Evi­dence.

2. The Light of Nature and right Rea­son doth apologize for this Power in our Ecclesiastical Superiours: This Topique [Page 13] (to the great advantage of the cause) Dr. Stillingfleet in his Irenicum, Book the first, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Chapters) hath taken out of my hands: He there proves, that the Light of

1. Nature dictates that there be a Society for the worship of God.

2. That this Church-society be govern­ed in a decent and orderly manner.

3. That there be a Distinction of Per­sons, and a Superiority of Powers.

4. That the Governours be reverenced according to their Employments and Offi­ces, and Obedience paid to their solemn Constitutions.

5. Lastly, That every offender do give an account of his actions to such Gover­nours, and submit to their Censures: So far Nature goes, as that learned Man fully demonstrates which is sufficient as to the Second Particular, referring thither (be­cause I cannot add, and will not diminish) all that are curious of satisfaction in the Case before us.

Thirdly, When we exchanged a Charles for an Oliver, a Bishop for a Lay-elder, [Page 14] the Oaths of Allegiance and Ca­nonical Obedience for Covenants and En­gagements, and a Liturgy for a Directory, you know the Consequence, by a sad and dear-bought experience; no sooner were Order and Decency removed from the holy Oratories, no sooner were Priests and People indulged to their own fancies and conceptions in Preaching, Hearing, Administration and Reception of the Sa­craments and Publick Prayers, but immedi­ately we had Pulpit against Pulpit, Altar against Altar, Preaching and Prayer, pla­ced as Antipodes, Ordinance justling out Ordinance, (that to speak with Erasmus) ingeniosa res fuit esse Christianos. Such who never sate at the feet of Gamaliel, stept up into the Chair of St. Paul, the People were taught from the mouth of a Cannon, and the Church swept with the Besom of Destruction: The Weaver be­came inspired, and had new Lights and glorious Discoveries, the Mechanical De­metrius, a precious dispencer of the Words and Sacraments; and Alexander the Coppersmith could challeng the Re­verend [Page 15] Assemblies at Gifts and Experi­ences. The Souldier undertook to cut the Text, and could as powerfully Preach Swords, and Pray Granadoes, and as de­voutly curse Meroz, as any of our Soul-searching Ministers, who first pulled down King and Bishops by the form of Godliness, and the Vertue of Hocus po­cus: (That there might be no want of Labourers) The Common-Reaper thrust his Sickle into the Lords Harvest, and Common Shepherds qualified themselves for the oversight of the Flock of Christ, and the Cloak and Apron Preach'd down Gowns and Universities; and he whose occupation it was to mend the old Shoes of the Prophets, had the possession of Desk and Pulpits, Venting Treason, Nonsence and Blasphemy by the Hour-glass; we had a New-England Medley instead of Decorum and Reverence, and an Amster­dam hotch-potch (as many Religions as Babel had Languages:) instead of Uni­formity, and the Beauty of Holiness, we began to number Articles of Religion almost by the Million (as St. Austin [Page 16] said of the Donatists) The Charisma of boldness acted the part of the Gift given by Imposition of hands; and he that could neither Write nor Read (by vir­tue of Lungs and Impudence) was taught to pray Extempore in the Con­gregation of the Saints: A Phrenzy be­came desirable for its Lucid intervals, and it was thought a glorious attainment a­bove others to be besides our selves; our Churches were Garisons to keep out the Sacrifice of Obedience, and its Notaries, while by prophane boldness, pious Non­sence and tumultuary Effusions, men day­ly offered unto God the Sacrifice of Fools: We had Stones given us instead of Bread, and amidst perpetual holding forth, suffered a Famine of the Word, and by all men (not distracted) Divines and Preachers, Scholars and such as car­ried on the Work, were very carefully distinguished, some Oxford-Schismatick petitioned the pretended Parliament, to send down Ministers to teach the Colledg-Graduates (how to Preach down Learn­ing and Sciences, I suppose) under the [Page 17] pretence that they stood in need of more powerful Instructers: The progeny of Sects grew too Numerous for any other way of Arithmetick than the Stars of Heaven, or Sands by the Sea-shore for multitude; the Questions of our Creed almost as Numerous as the Letters of it; such who boasted Communion with Christ in the purest Ordinances of Worship, banished his Prayer from the Pulpit, and imputed Blasphemy and Atheism to the glorious Form of the Saviour of the World: The Ark of God was a kind of Noahs Ark with us, where the unclean Beasts were herded up together without order or distinction, and the Church (our Mother) once the joy of the whole Earth, equally overwhelmed with grief and con­fusion. We found her in the Wood (as the Psalmist speaks of the Ark of Divine service) stript of all her due Attendants and Solemnities, and the Cathedrals turn­ed to Stables: Where the Sacriledg had some ingenuity, To give so lively an in­stance of the vast difference between Laud, the Glorious, and the new Re­formers [Page 18] of this best of Reformed Church­es. Tell me now, ye prudential Clergy-men (whose Moderation is a constant omission of the holy Rites and Offices of the Church) does not the whole King­doms experience proclaim a Zeal for our Canons to be a Zeal according to know­ledg? Is it not the Policy and temporal Interest of a Priest (aswell as his indi­spencible Duty) to obey our orderly Constitutions? Thou (High and Mighty Master of the Politicks) When was thy Mother the Eye and Glory of all the Christian Churches? Was it not when the Ark was setled with a Decent Splendour amongst us? When the Ecclesiastical Hi­erarchy enjoyed its full Authority and En­couragements? When the venerable Courts of Justice dazled the eyes and brake the hearts of the most insolent of­fenders? And all the parts of Divine Ser­vice performed with that Decorum as is en­joyned by the Canon of the Text (with a solemn Reverence). Since these things are so by experience, lay then aside, (my moderate Brother) this Lukewarm kind [Page 19] of Temper; set a higher estimate on the Churches Peace and Honour, and contri­bute to her recovery (to some degrees at least) of the ancient Lustre, By doing all things decently and in order.

Fourthly, The Ancient Fathers and Councils joyn with Scripture, Reason, and Experience, as to this Power (by me pleaded for from the Text) in our Ec­lesiastical Superiors. Thus St. Austin to Casulanus,— in things undetermined in the Word, Mos populi, Dei, & instituta majorum, pro lege Dei tenenda sunt: Hence St. Bernard (Epist. 7.) of things abso­lutely good or absolutely evil, the Case is Evident; the one must be not done when commanded, the other done though prohibited by Superiors; inter haec sunt media quaedam, in his fas non est sensum nostrum sententiae praescribere Magistrorum. To both assents the old Tertullian, in his Book De corona Militis, where speaking of kneeling, the sign of the Cross, of stand­ing at Prayers between Easter and Whitsun­tide, and many other Rites and Customs of the Primitive Church, Harum & alia­rum [Page 20] ejusmodi disciplinarum, si legem expo­stules Scripturarum, nullam invenies, &c. Hence thus much is clear from Antiquity, that the Ancient Christians of the purest Ages of the Church were not in bondage to a Scruple, nor startled at a Ceremony, nor ever said to their Governours, shew us a Text for such Rites and Orders; They too well understood Christian Liberty and themselves, to throw away their Time, Interest, Peace, and Safety, for the mere Fringes of the Garment of the body of Religion with our peevish, and (withal obstinate) Renegadoes: That condition­al Assent and cautionary (though not) absolute Obedience we do owe to our spi­ritual Pastors and Governors (albeit we have not express Commission out of Scrip­ture for the very particulars) cannot be denied by any Man in his senses; for to dispute in such a Case, instead of yield­ing Obedience, is to declare to the World, that when Christ ascended up on high, his Donation of spiritual Authority was a Donation of Titles without Reali­ties; whereas he that said, He that resist­eth [Page 21] Kings, resisteth God, Rom. 13. The same Wisdom of God (by whom Princes Reign) said also, He that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you, de­spiseth me and him that sent me. These are the Prerogatives of spiritual Guides, and were never esteemed words of course or formality in the Primitive Church: And the Epistles of Ignatius (an Aposto­lical Bishop, vindicated by Vossius, Dr. Hammond, and Doctor Pearson, are an admirable Comment in this Case, upon obedite praepositis—Be ye subject to the Bishop, as unto the Lord; Reverence your Bishops according unto the precepts of the Apostles; he that acts of his own head without the Bishop is polluted in his Conscience; attempt nothing in the Church against Episcopal Constitutions, are known expressions in the writings of old Ignatius— But I intend a more parti­cular vindication (under this Topick of Antiquity) of this best of Reformed Churches: First, As to her Imposition of a Liturgy; Secondly, as to the Imposi­tion of orderly Rites, and Thirdly, a [Page 22] Vindication of the Authority also (as Primitive) by which our Canons are esta­blished.— Briefly to each of these.

Thus the Fourteenth Canon of the Church of England is truely Primitive— The Minister shall use the prescribed Forms and Rites in the Common-Prayer-Book, without diminishing in regard of Preach­ing, or any other respect, or adding any thing in the matter or form thereof.—

1. The Minister shall use the prescribed Forms and Rites, &c. Thus, in Synodo Epnuensi, in the Order of the Celebration of Divine Offices, the Metropolitical Church was the Standard for the whole Province, to keep the better Decorum in all Sacred Administrations. And in the Fourth Council of Toledo, they declare it consonant with the ancient Canons of the Church, Ʋt unus ordo orandi & Psal­lendi conservetur, nec diversa sit a nobis Ecclesiastica consuetudo, quia una fide con­tinemur & Regno; the same Forms, and no other, as the Council of Africa, Ca­non. 103. The Third Council of Carthage, Canon 231. The Council of Laodicea, [Page 23] Canon 181. And above all the Council of Milevis (Canon 12.) for a sufficient Reason there rendred, Nec aliae preces nisi quae a Synodo Comprobatae dicerentur in Ec­clesia, ne aliquid contra fidem aut bonos mores per ignorantiam aut minus studium sit Compositum: So that hence our impo­sing of Forms upon Priests and People, is clearly justiflable from the Practice of the Primitive Churches of Christ—It is Recorded of Proclus the Patriarch of Constantinople in his Treatise, [...], That St. Basil first, and af­terwards St. Chrysostom, contracted the Liturgy of St. James, that upon the ac­count of mens slothfulness and prophane­ness, they might not Nauseate for the length, and so Apostatize from the Apo­stolical Tradition of Liturgies—The Li­turgy now ascribed to St. James may be denied on good Reasons, yet that St. James made a Liturgy, the Council of Trullo long since acknowledged, and is at this day by the Greek-Church openly own­ed and profest; and amongst them to que­stion it, were the ready way to be laugh­ed [Page 24] at as eminently ridiculous. The Mag­deburgenses have collected from some ex­pressions of Origen, on Jeremiah, That it is without dispute a doubt, that the Chri­stians had Forms of Prayer in the Third Century. Scal. lib. 6. 573. E­dit. Ge­nev. 1629. Scaliger, de Emendatione tem­porum, declares that he had himself seen an ancient Liturgy of Ignatius, who ex­horts (by the way) to one Common Prayer, and to one mind in his Epistle to the Magnesians. And what else means Justin Martyr by his [...], Apol. 2. or Tertullian, Tert. de oratione. by his Oratio Legitima & ordinaria; and by that Form of Praying for the Emperours, ut illis foret vita pro­lixa, imperium securum, senatus fidelis, Exercitus fortis, Apol. 30. domus tuta, populus pro­bus, orbis quietus, which some (not im­probably conjecture) to be grounded on St. Pauls Charge to Timothy, That Prayers be made for all, then especially Kings, &c. making it Timothy's cheif care (as Bishop of Ephesus) rightly to Frame and Order the Publick Prayers of the Church. And what else doth St. Cyprian intimate (de Oratione) publica nobis est & communis [Page 25] oratio— or the [...], which Constantine observed with the whole Assembly of Christians Recorded by Eusebius; Eusebius de vita Constanti. in lib. 4. cap. 17. 19 So that whether we consider the use of a Liturgy, we are justified by the Fathers; or the Imposition of it on the Clergy, particu­larly with exclusion of their own con­ceptions, the Church of England herein observes the prudence of the Ancient Councils and Synods (long before Popery was introduced) and so liable to such trifling exceptions from our Puritan Adversaries.

Again Secondly, not to diminish (in regard of Preaching) the Prayers of the Church (the Fourteenth Canon Com­mands us) and that the Pulpit should not swallow up the Desk, this Auditory is not to be taught, to be the high prudence and politick zeal of the Ancient Churches of Christ. You know that Justyn Martyr saith, when the Reader had done, then the Preacher exhorts (in his Apology) you know that in the primitive times (as now) there was a first and a second Service, the one preceeded, the other followed, [Page 26] the Sermons or Homilies; and so Preaching and Prayer did not shoulder out one another, but walked hand in hand as friends, and not as Antipodes in the holy Oratories. The Sermons anciently came in, post recitationem Evangelii, after the rehearsal of the Gospel, being usually a Discourse upon it; and hence it is an easie collection, that Preaching had its due esteem, yet never so magnified as that the Liturgy should be laid aside to make way for the Sermon. The most eminent Preachers (as Basil, Chrysostom and others) were Compilers of Liturgies, but could never endure (as is clear by many passages in their writings) that the people should throng more to their Discourses, than to the pure Word of God read in the Church in Divine Service, or to the common Devotions— That was no Musick to the old zealous Saints (the holy Bishops and Priests) which now affords such a mighty pleasure to men of moderate principles, the croud­ing of people to a Sermon, and leaving the Church empty and wast at the solemn Prayers.

[Page 27] Thirdly, (Not only not to diminish on the account of Preaching;) But also in no other respect, saith the Canon afore­said, nor to add any thing in the matter or form thereof (a Constitution truely Primitive;) for in Ancient times, ever since the ceasing of miraculous Gifts it was never permitted any Presbyters to add to, or detract from the publick prescribed Service, or to make any private Prayers of their own in the holy Oratories.

There is no footstep of Record or Monument in the Church of God, where­by our Moderate Clergy can make it probable, that in the solemn and set As­semblies of Christians constantly obser­ved, a Presbyter was ever allowed to utter any thing of his own or others composing, premeditated or extemporary, without the approbation of his Bishop first had in the matter of Prayer (which we now are discoursing of)—It is an impudent and un­true Assertion (I wonder it could ever enter into any Mans mind) that Mini­sters may of themselves, curtail or add to the Service prescribed, or modify the [Page 28] Worship of God. But on the contrary (as Baxter, in his Cure of Church-Divisi­ons, doth well note) no Man question­eth but some Form of Prayer was imposed on the Jewish Ministers of old, and a Form of Prayer taught the Priests, Joel 2.17. To which I add, since the Word of God hath given us Forms of Worship, of Praise and Prayer in the House of God; If we will allow the Composers of those Forms to be of Gods own appointment (which cannot be denyed), we have in Scripture too, in concurrence with the Ancient Church, found out some appoint­ed to make Prayers for other Pastors and Churches, to offer up unto God— And we find Titus for this purpose left in Creet to set in order what was wanting, ad [...] & [...], (So Grotius) Pertinet— and Timo­thy is charged with this Office as Bishop 1 Tim. 2.1. an Order is there given him touching the substance of Publick Prayer to be setled in the Assemblies of his Juris­diction, as Master Thorndyke notes and proves in his Treatise, The Service of God in publick Assemblies— in Timotheo [Page 29] mandata dat Episcopis, so Grotius— Again in the Imposition of orderly Rites at­tending on the publick Worship, it was the stile of old, Si quis praesums [...]rit, si quis contumaciter fecerit, Anathema sit; which is well Englished in our 34th. Article, by Laws established, Whosoever shall (through his private Judgment) openly and wilfully, and purposely break the Rites of Decency and Order enjoyned, shall be cen­sured, &c. Such therefore who are in profession Sons of the Church of England, (whose Imposition of a Liturgy and de­cent Rites, is thus prudentially primitive and moderate) and do wilfully, and stu­diously violate the Orders prescribed, by robbing God and the People of any parts of the publick Worship or Rites thereof, upon the account of Preaching, or the free Prayers of the Pulpit, they do very wickedly. I leave their own Consciences to condemn them till God himself doth; which he will certainly do without a more honest and zealous adhesion to the Regu­lar Constitutions. It would be Ridicu­lously arrogant in me to prove out of [Page 30] Antiquity, that the reading of the Litany, the observation of the Feasts and Fasts, Catechizing, visiting the Sick, and giving them their viaticum, the Cross in Baptism, the Rites of Decorum, and the Decent Habits of the Clergy-men, and many other Canons, which this present Audience suf­ficiently knows to be truely consonant to the ancient Canons and primitive usage: But you must give me leave to say, that these are so far omitted, not out of a prudential, but schismatical, Compliance— Pudet haec opprobria nobis, is too mild a reproof; (like that of Eli to his Sons, It is no good report, ye make the Lords People transgress) Too meek a reprehen­sion to such Sons of Corah or Diotrephes, who by a barbarous disobedience to the Laws, indeavour to bring into this Church, tot schismata, quot Sacerdotes.

Consider we again, under this head of the Fathers and Councils, the Authority confirming the present Canons of this Church, and we shall find That also, by undeniable evidence, equally primitive with the Constitutions themselves.

[Page 31]We have such Canons as are treated on by Bishops and Priests, but they do not (with the Westminster-Conventicle of Divines) meet without the Royal Call and Summons, nor sit and act when the King Commands their dissolution (with the Glascow-Assembly of spiritual Lay-elders) but we own the Kings Power, a parte ante, to convene the Prelates and the Clergy-Representatives, and a parte post, to oblige their Subjects, by their Confirmation, to a Regular Obedience. A clear primitive Practice, assoon as ever God gave Kings to be Nursing-fathers to the Church (as is admirably proved by Causabon, Grotius, Morney Duplessis, our own Jewel, Field, Whitaker and others, beyond all exceptions: Now where King and Bishops thus joyn in Ecclesiastical Laws (according to the constant Practice of Christs Church) where Moses and Aaron, the Oaths of Allegiance, and Canonical Obedience meet together to oblige us, there is not now the least pretence for a Man in Orders to despise such Rules as are truely Primitive in themselves; when [Page 32] the Canons are treated on by the Episco­pal Order, which hath filled our Calen­dars with Saints, our Histories with Fa­thers, and Church with Martyrs; and when this Order is subject to Kings, and supported by Moses, and both appointed of God for the Management of the Church under the blessed Jesus, he is neither a true Priest nor Christian that denies obedience.

And here I do, with all duty and sub­mission, most humbly beseech your Lord­ship and all (under you) advanced to any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, to Coun­tenance the truely-regular Clergy in their cheerful submission to the truly ancient Laws and Canons of this best of Reform­ed Churches.

When the Schismatick keeps a Faction in pay, and allows Schism a Salary, and gives a pension to the hollow-hearted Judas of moderate Principles to break and di­vide us, 'tis pitty the Zealous Conformist should want a Benefice, whilest the Ene­my thus nourisheth Vipers to eat their way through our Mothers Bowels— (God [Page 33] knows my heart) I abhominate a private design when I thus speak, as much as a moderation against the Rules of the Church of England. I petition for a poorer sort of Brethren than my self, for the Priest unbeneficed, who is Ingenuous and Open-spirited, Generous and Devout, and a Lover of the Church of England: And would not the primitive Canons of this Church be rather more than less ob­served; If such an incarnate Seraphin had always the next Living of value in the Churches own gift. If Self-interest should ever creep into a Cathedral, it will first pull down the Honour, and then the Walls. It is not certainly for the peace or safety of our holy Mother, that any Re­gular, Conscientious, Learned Priest should spend his time in a discontented Contemplation of his misfortunes, whilest a barbarous Nonconformity without, and Moderation within are sustained with a full and free enjoyment of all Creature-comforts, in order to the ruining of the best of Churches. This is, I hope, a par­donable digression, as consonant with [Page 34] the Text, and not repugnant to Anti­quity in the Case before us, as tending to increase and support the very little flock, God knows, of the truely zealous for our (no less Ancient than Orderly) Constitutions.

Fifthly,—To this Power of Ecclesiast­ical Superiours we have the harmoni­ous assent also of all Reformed Churches. Thete are two Excellent Books of Mr. Durell entitled, Ecclesiae Anglicanae ad­versus schismaticorum criminationes vin­diciae, and The Church of England not condemned by any other Reformed Churches; both so well known to this Audience, as sufficiently satisfactory in this Particular to all intelligent and unbiast persons, that they spare me the Labour of any farther Discourse: And indeed our Mother, the Church of England, is so far Justified against all imaginable ration­al Opposers, from the publiquely-printed harmony of Confessions (in which book are inserted also the Thirty nine Articles) and by the publick open practice of our neighbour-nations (we not condemning [Page 35] them nor they us) that our enemies have recourse to Clamour and Noise, and want only an opportunity by Swords and Pistols to encounter our Reasons and Demonstrations; Club-Law must once again gain that advantage (when occasion offers) which they despair of by Arguments and Disputations.

They are not for treating like Men, but fighting like Beasts; Men neither to be broke nor to be softned, all Anvil and Adamant; and Nonconformists in all other Kingdoms, and over all the Christi­an World, as well as to the Church of England, (as is admirably proved by the Learned Author aforesaid). All the Reformed Churches maintain this Prin­ciple, That every National Church hath Power to make Laws for herself in out­ward things, not expresly commanded or forbidden in the Word, and that they may vary according to Times, Places and Persons, and other Circumstances; and not one of them but hath acted ac­cording to this Principle in making Laws [Page 36] different from their Neighbour Churches. I therefore pass to the last Particular (not only Scriptures, Reason, Experience, Fa­thers, Councils and Reformed Churches) but our Nonconformists and very Dissen­ters, by their Confessions and Practices, own this Power in Ecclesiastical Superiors, however refractory to our present Con­stitutions.

And first I cite Calamy, in his Con­venant-Sermon; who tells us, That the Covenant is to be taken standing, the head uncovered, and the right hand bare must be lift up, which are emphatical Cermonies (sayeth the Man of God,) and Significant that we call God to wit­ness, &c. Here I note that there are as many Cermonies in this unlawful Oath as the Church of England, hath in her whole Worship legally authorized, and the Ceremonies are significant too, as well as ours.

2. I cite the preface to the Directory, where the thorough-Reformers thus con­clude: We are resolved to lay aside the [Page 37] Common prayer-book and set up the Directo­ry instead thereof; where we hold forth what is of Divine Institution in every Ordinance, and other things (not of Divine Appoint­ment) we do hold forth according to the Rules of Christian prudence consonant with the general Canons of the Word of God? But now I demand, By what Law of God or Man have you the Sole Pri­viledg of thus holding forth? Why may not the Church of England use the same liberty of her Christian prudence, agree­able to the Rules of the Word? dic Quin­tiliane colorem. If this Priviledg be grant­ed to a Directory, without Law set up, why not to a Liturgy, legally establish­ed? and if granted, the Church of En­gland hath thus proceeded in the Liturgy prescribed viz. by Christian prudence, and the Canons of the Word.

3. I cite a (not unlearned-Treatise of the Presbyterian entitled, An Alarum by way of answer to the last warning-peice, where the Authors tell us, That no Man endued with right Reason, but will say [Page 38] there is a necessity of a Government; if of a Go­vernment, then of an Ʋniformity, else it will be confused: therefore there is a necessity that eve­ry man should observe such Orders, Time, Place, and Gestures, as the Parliament and Assem­bly (but why not as the King, Bishops and Clergy?) shall appoint; Very sound and good. (It follows) No man that hath any use of Conscience in any thing, but he will acknowledg that he is bound in Con­science to obey the Laws of the Land in things indifferent, and deserves Censure for being turbulent even in matters of Wor­ship: But now the Case is altered, the Nonconformists being not in Throne of Government, it is false Doctrine at present in the Church of England.

4. I cite Mr. Baxter, who (writing to his Brethren Brandon and Caryl) cleaves a hair, Let me be bold to tell my Brethren of the Ministry, That (though I deny them to have any Authority against the Word) yet so great is their Authority as Guides and Governors of the Church, in things agreeable to, and but generally de­termined [Page 39] in the Word, that the want of the knowledg of this Truth hath been the occasion of all the Schisms and Confusions in England; And till we have taught even our godly people, what Obedience is due to there spiritual Guides, the Church of England will never have any good or established Order: I say again, we are broken for want of the knowledg of this Truth, and till it be better known we shall never be bound up and healed.

To which if you add the formal Co­venant of the Brethren of New England for admission of Members, even these precious Saints will condemn themselves, or must justify this best of Reformed Churches. Thus I have by Scripture, Reason, Experience, Fathers Councils, Reformed Churches, and the Confessions and Practi­ces of the Nonconformists themselves, plainly proved a Power in Church-gover­nors to make Canons, and decree Rites for the external Solemnity and Decorum, and Order of Divine Service; to which all Priests and People are to yeild Obedience [Page 40] under their Government and Jurisdiction— quod erat demonstrandum. From the pre­ceeding Discourse I do (as a zealous Bro­ther) reprove my Brethren of moderate Principles, as Commentators, as Casuists and as pretenders to the Politicks; And so with a brief Exhortation to all my reverend Brethren, shall conclude the Discourse.

1. They are abominable Commentators. They shall always sign the Infant bap­tized with the Cross, (that is to say) the Children of Conformists; but the Canon says not it must be done to the Seed of the righteous: Not marry with­out Banes or Licence at uncanonical Hours or prohibited times, or without the con­sent of their Parents or Governors (that is); The Minister shall not do it gratis, but if soundly payd it is no Disobedience against the Canon of the Church. He shall not diminish the Prayers of the Church on the account of Preaching or any other respect (that is to say) unless it be to increase the Salary, or to lengthen the Sermon, for to make way for the [Page 41] freely conceived, Directory-way of canting in the Pulpit. He shall read the Letany on Wednesdays and Fridays every week; Antiphrasis voces tibi per contraria signat.- Canonical Obedience, in omnibus licitis et honestis, that is, as far as the new Saints will permit, upon whom they de­pend for a Maintenance: The confirming their Doctrins by Scripture according to Exposition of the Fathers, and their Mothers own Articles; Populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas: Whensoever they officiate, to wear the Surplice (that is) if their precious Benefactors do not account the Garment Popish, and take occasion hence to withdraw the Creature-comforts: Not give the Sacrament to any men but such as kneel (that is) if the posture be approved by such as have Communion with the Lord Jesus in the purest Ordi­nances. To bid Prayer before Sermon is to pray by the Spirit; and as breisly as conveniently we may, is more or less, half an hour or a full glass, according to the Judgment or contribution of the [Page 42] Saints. The Sick shall be prayed for by the Form at the Visitation prescribed (that is) the Parish-clark shall keep the Tick­et till the Soul-searcher is in the Pulpit: The same Form to be used in private, unless the Schismatick puts his hand in his pocket and makes a Present, and then the case is altered, and the Law not violated. No Man vows Poverty when he swears to obey the Bishop: But the Man of God can sometimes supererogate; He shall preach one Sermon every Lords day (that is to say) two at the least; He shall use Catechizing in the afternoon (that is) if the people (et vox populi, vox Dei) had not much rather have a Sermon: And the Desk is unhallowed; It is no Sermon neither, unless it come from the holy Mount: After all, we must have a strain of Sternhold and Hopkins after Sermons for our godly solace, while precious the Man cons over the Heads of the foregoing Discourse; a way of singing and canting which hath neither Law of the Land nor Canon of a Synod to justify its use, [Page 43] nor any Approbation (upon Record, either of Civil or Ecclesiastical Superiors; but the people love to have it so: By this craft these Men of God have their wealth, and this shall be observed (not required) above all the Churches ancient and lauda­ble Constitutions; thus precious Man Di­vines for Money, and the small Levite for handfuls of Barley, and pieces of Bread; and turns Spiritual Pedlar to avoid the Statutes of Vagrants, and both sells the Church for a Subsistence, and re­bels against the orderly Laws and Consti­tutions.

Secondly, We will consider him as a Casuist likewise, and then the Commenta­tor will appear to be less ridiculous. With our Brother-Conformists of moderate O­pinions, to comply with a Faction against the Church and the Laws, for a benevo­lence, is to be a Jew with Jews, and a Gentile with Gentiles, and being crafty to take their Money; then they catch the People with guile (as the Apostle did in [Page 44] the conversition of Souls (admirable Casuists) who cannot (or will not) reconcile St. Pauls two Sentences; Be­coming all things to all men, and if I yet please men, I should not be the Servant of Jesus Christ; the best Salvo they have is a late Act of Parliament (which being duely executed) It did appear there was no difference between the Purses and the Consciences of Nonconformists; rather than lose an Office of profit, the Con­science was satisfied, that he could com­municate with the Church, and kneel at the Eucharist, and was not defiled with the company of Sinners at the holy Ordinance: So that he that gains the Purse gains the Soul of our precious Dis­senters; (a use of Consolation to our moderate Casuists). But if this doth not help them, they are certainly lost to all intents and purposes. It must not be, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ (but some­thing else): If such imitate that zealous Apostle who (by omission of known Ministerial Duties) have forfeited the [Page 45] Faith of a Priest, and the Feast of a good Conscience, who subscribe with their hands and something besides (which ex animo signifies in some approved Dictionaries) and yet Pope Interest is supream over Kings and Bishops, and can dispence with all imaginable engagements to Ecclesiastical Superiors and Constitu­tions. For Sixty years and upwards our present Canons have been obligatory upon us, but these Casuists can tell you that a Custom of Five or Six years (If it let in the Evangelical Graces of profit and ease) can prescribe against the Cu­stom aforesaid, and every offender against this New Law, must be called a Hyper­bolical Conformist to the Church of Eng­land. But I humbly conceive (with submission to better Judgments) that for a Priest (after Subscription) neither to obey the Churches Laws, nor to re­quire it of others, to serve upon his holy Mother all his sordid and degenerous ends, and keep open her bleeding Wounds for his own advantage, and to [Page 46] turn Renegadoe (as a Souldier for pay flies to the Tents of Enemies) is a Crime that doubles its malignity from the Quality of the Actor, and (if possi­ble) we want a number above the plu­ral, to express so complicated a wicked­ness.

3. I do as little understand the Poli­ticks of these men, as their Casuistical Divinity, or barbarous Commentaries; what they call a prudential Compliance, is only the want of Courage and Resolu­tion; their Moderation is an open defi­ance to that Heroical integrity which should speak the Priest a Saint and a Gen­tleman. It is with these men (as Taci­tus said of Fabius Valens Captain to Vel­leius) utrum (que) consilium aspernatus est, & quod inter ancipitia deterrimum est, nec providit; It is so with these partial Conformists, they have not Courage enough to embark heartily on one side, nor Providence enough to escape the hatred of both. It were more politick to take the [Page 47] advice of Suetonius, Quando non efficias quin alterum habiturus sis inimicum aut socium, Jacienda tunc est alea alterutri adhaerendum est: Let them be either tho­row Conformists or Non-conformists, the middle moderate practice is attended on with an Episcopal Rod executing the Ca­non against Revolters, and an angry God, who (as he hateth robbery for burnt-of­ferings) so he abhors the Priest that curtails the Sacrifice of Obedience: Nay to add more torment to their lives, there is a Sacrilegious Layman, who believes in his Conscience he may as well di­minish the Titles, as the Priest the Ser­vice: Wilt thou sue him in the Court of the Bishop, whose Orders thou dost de­spise? Wilt thou fly to that Law in thy necessity, to which in point of Duty thou hast denyed thy homage? When the same Law puts thy Bread into thy mouth, and the Common-prayer-book into thy hand, Wilt thou Read the Lit­turgy in the way of Moderation, and take the Lay-man by the Throat for the [Page 48] uttermost farthing? Hast thou Confidence enough to accuse him of Sacriledg before the Right Reverend Diocesan, when Clodius accusat maechos, Catilina Cethe­gum.

These things duly considered, suffer I beseech you my reverend Brethren, The Word of Exhortation.

1. It is taken for granted, that the reading of Divine Service as [...]; If first beseech you therefore to read this Worship with all imaginable Devo­tion and Reverence; let us be a sort of incarnate Seraphins when we offici­ate by the Liturgy in the holy Orato­ries: thus we shall silence the calumny (equally uncharitable and ridiculous) of the Presbyterian Divines, who (in their grand debates) briskly tell us, that an able and holy Ministry flows immedi­ately from Pulpit-conceptions, according to the variety of Subjects and occasions, and that Men are apt to lose a great [Page 49] deal of affection by the constant use of the same Forms; let us (with the blessed Jesus) pray earnestly, using the same Words; be truly zealous at the Prayers of our Church, and demonstrate that inward fervour by the Text [...], and we shall silence these insipid vain­glorious Canters, who place all their Religion in their rude impremeditated and tumultuary effusions. The reverend Doctor Fell in his life of Doctor Ham­mond observes of that Divine (the late glory of the Church of England) that his transport at his Prayer threw him sometimes prostrate on the earth, that his tears would interrupt his Words in the Common Service of the Church; let these men know that revile Liturgy, by our following this eminent Priest in holy fervors, that the Votary (not the Prayer) is in fault, when ever zeal is wanting at the publick Devotions.

2. With Submission to better Judg­ments, the Canons relating to Divine [Page 50] Service would be more carefully observed amongst us, if in Cities, Corporations and the most Populous places, the Ten-pound-Man did not read the Ser­vice.

I therefore request that the Searcher, Melter and Establisher of Souls, may read the Prayers of the Church, and that he may not be permitted in the least to curtail the solemn Worship for his own private conceptions; and then the People will begin to consider, with themselves, whether God do not require something else besides Ears and Elbows in the Congregation of the Saints.

3. I do humbly Request that all that Preach Twice every Sunday and forget Catechising, that they would once more Read the Fourty sive Canon, and Fifty ninth Constitution: I must and do open­ly profess that I understand not the Eng­lish Tongue, if two Sermons every Lords [Page 51] Day be equally Canonical with this Duty of Instructing the younger sort in the Churches Catechism, in order to Con­firmation.

4. That I may not be misconstrued as Enemy to Preaching, I do freely consent from my heart that every Mi­nister with Cure of Souls do herein consult his own prudence: I shall not contend whether once or twice, but I presume the former to be more con­sonant to the Ecclesiastical Constitu­tions; but let the Clergy Preach e­very day of the week provided the old Canon be observed, That every— Preacher in this Province take a special care that they Teach or Deliver no other Doctrines than what is conso­nant with the Word of God, and Collected thence by the Ancient Fa­thers and godly Bishops. Unless this ancient good wholesom Rule be care­fully put in practice, the Church will be more edified by our Silence than our Sermons.

[Page 52]5. What if the Feasts and Fasts and Letany-days of the Church were Ca­nonically, and Conscientiously observed, amongst us, It would infinitely pro­mote true Piety, the Churches Peace; and I know no pretence against it, but Pride and Interest, Applause and Benevolence, which too frequently can­cel all our Vows and Obligations.

6. Let us think the Nation and Church wiser than a particular Priest, and the Liturgy more weighty than our own Pulpit effusions; and confine our selves to the Canonical way of bidding Prayers with that brevity that the Ca­non-prayer mentions (God is not ta­ken with the Novelty of our expres­sions) but possibly the People is the Idol to which we sacrifice, and from whom we expect an answer to our petitions; and then there is some Rea­son for a long-winded Cant before the Pulpit-Discourse, because the rabble do admire what is equally ridiculous with themselves.

[Page 53]Lastly, The Seventy fifth Canon must never be forgotten, enjoyning a Regular Life and Conversation; and this joyned, with a publick Spirit that abominates a compliance against the Rules of Conscience and Honour, is absolutely requisite to the doing all things decently and in order.