Chapter 32

THAT THE CEREMONIES TAKE AWAY CHRISTIAN LIBERTY PROVED BY A FOURTH REASON, VIZ., BECAUSE THEY ARE PRESSED UPON US BY NAKED WILL AND AUTHORITY, WITHOUT GIVING ANY REASON TO SATISFY OUR CONSCIENCES.

_Sect._ 1. When the Apostle forbiddeth us to be the servants of men, 1 Cor. vii. 23, is it not his meaning that we should do nothing upon the mere will and pleasure of men, or _propter hominem et non propter Deum_, as Becane the Jesuit expoundeth it,(141) illustrating what he saith by another place, Eph. vi. 6, 7. Christian servants thought it an unworthy thing to serve wicked men,(142) neither yet took they well with the serving of godly men, for that they were all brethren in Christ. The Apostle answereth them, that they did not the will of man, because it was the will of man, but because it was the will of God, and so they served God rather than man, importing that it were indeed a grievous yoke for any Christian to do the will of man, if he were not sure that it is according to the will of God. Should any synod of the church take more upon them than the synod of the apostles did, who enjoined nothing at their own pleasure, but only what they show to be necessary, because of the law of charity? Acts xv. 28. Or should Christians, who ought not to be children, carried about with every wind, Eph. iv. 14; who should be able to discern both good and evil, Heb. v. 14; in whom the word of God ought to dwell plentifully, Col. iii. 16; who are commanded to beware of men, Matt. x. 17; not to believe every spirit, to prove all things, 1 John iv. 1; and to judge of all that is said to them, 1 Thes. v. 21; should they, I say, be used as stocks and stones, not capable of reason, and therefore to be borne down by naked will and authority? 1 Cor. x. 15. Yet thus it fareth with us. Bishop Lindsey will have the will of the law to rule our consciences,(143) which is by interpretation, _Sic volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas._ He gives us not the reason or equity of the law, but only the will of it, to be our role. Bishop Spotswood(144) will have us to be so directed by the sentence of our superiors, that we take their sentence as a sufficient ground to our consciences for obeying. Which is so much as to say, you should not examine the reason and utility of the law, the sentence of it is enough for you: try no more when you hear the sentence of superiors, rest your consciences upon this as a sufficient ground: seek no other, for their sentence must be obeyed. And who among us knoweth not how, in the Assembly of Perth, free reasoning was shut to the door, and all ears were filled with the dreadful pale of authority? There is this much chronicled(145) in two relations of the proceedings of the same, howbeit otherwise very different. They who did sue for a reformation of church discipline in England, complained that they received no other answer but this:(146) “There is a law, it must be obeyed;” and after the same manner are we used. Yet is this too hard dealing, in the judgment of a Formalist, who saith,(147) that the church doth not so deal with them whom Christ hath redeemed: _Ac si non possint capere quid sit religiosum, quid minus, itaque quae ab ecclesia proficiscuntur, admonitiones potius et hortationes dici debent, quam leges._ And after, he says of ecclesiastical authority, _tenetur reddere paerscripti rationem._ “I grant (saith Paybody(148)) it is unlawful to do, in God’s worship, anything upon the mere pleasure of man.” Chemnitius(149) taketh the Tridentine fathers for not expounding _rationes decreti._ Junius observeth,(150) that in the council of the apostles, mention was made of the reason of their decree. And a learned historian observeth(151) of the ancient councils, that there were in them, reasonings, colloquies, discussions, disputes, yea, that whatsoever was done or spoken, was called the acts of the council, and all was given unto all. _Caeterum_ (saith Danaeus(152)) _quoniam ut ait Tertullianus in Apologetico, iniqua lex est quae se examinari non patitur; non tam vi cogere homines ad obsequium quam ratione persuadere debent cae leges, quae scribuntur à pio nomotheta. Ergo fere sunt duae cujusvis legis partes, quemadmodum etiam Plato,_ lib. 4, _de legibus scribit, nimirum praefacio __ et lex ipsa,_ _i.e._ _jussio lege comprehensa. Praefatio causam affert, cur hominum negotiis sic prospiciatur._ Ecclesiastical authority should prescribe what it thinks fit, _Magis docendo, quam jubendo; magis monendo, quam minando,_ as Augustine speaketh.(153) _Non oportet vi vel necessitate constringere, sed ratione et vitae exemplis suadere,_ saith Gregory Nazianzen,(154) speaking of ecclesiastical regiment. They, therefore, who give their will for a law, and their authority for a reason, and answer all the arguments of opponents, by bearing them down with the force of a public constitution and the judgment of superiors, to which theirs must be conformed, do rule the Lord’s flock “with force and with cruelty,” Ezek. xxxiv. 4; “as lords over God’s heritage,” 1 Pet. v. 3.

_Sect._ 2. Always, since men give us no leave to try their decrees and constitutions, that we may hold fast no more than is good, God be thanked that we have a warrant to do it (without their leave) from his own word, 1 Thess. v. 25. _Non numeranda suffragia, sed appendenda_, saith Augustine in Psal. xxxix. Our divines hold,(155) that all things which are proposed by the ministers of the church, yea, by aecumenical councils,(156) should be proved and examined; and that, when the guides of the church do institute any ceremonies as necessary for edification, yet _ecclesia liberum habet judicium approbandi aut reprobandi eas._(157) Nay, the canon law,(158) prohibiting to depart or swerve from the rules and discipline of the Roman church, yet excepteth _discretionem justitiae_ and so permitteth to do otherwise than the church prescribeth, if it be done _cum discretione justitiae_. The schoolmen also give liberty to a private man, of proving the statutes of the church, and neglecting the same, if he see cause for doing so, _Si causa fit evidens, per se ipsum licite potest homo statuti observantiam praeterire._(159) If any be not able to examine and try all such things, _debebant omnes posse, Dei jussu: Deficiunt ergo sua culpa_, saith Parcus.(160) _Si recte probandi facultate destitui nos sentimus, ab eodem spiritu qui per prophetas suos __ loquitur portenda est_, saith Calvin.(161) We will not then call any man rabbi, nor _jurare in verba magistri_, nor yet be Pythagorean disciples to the church herself, but we will believe her and obey her in so far only as she is the pillar and ground of truth.