A Just Defense of Hearing the Sermons, Chapter 7 · Section 16
Sect. 16. The Crimination of the Ministers, as Idolaters, is not excusable.
Object. To what hath been hitherto offered in this matter, if it be said, That the charging the present Ministers of England with Idolatry, is exceeding harsh, and that which is an argument of a very unchristian and censorious spirit: Though this makes nothing to the enervating of what hath been offered, yet we answer,
1. That many words of Christ himself were accounted hard sayings, and not to be born; and that by such hearers, as were once his admirers, and did with seeming great affection attend upon his ministry. That such poor worms as we should be recharged herewith, it is no great marvel, it is enough for the Disciple to be as his Master.
2ly. We have in this matter said nothing, but what is in Thesi over and over asserted by most or all Protestant Writers upon the second Commandement: who assert fully, That the worshipping God in a way not prescribed by him, is Idolatry, such as do so, are Idolaters: With our application hereof unto the present Ministers of England, if they are guilty (as that they are, hath been abundantly demonstrated) why should any be offended? To speak truth, when our silence would be prejudicial to the souls of our Brethren, me-thinks should not be accounted unchristian or censorious. In the margin are these words, Calvin, Perkins, Ames, Macc…vius, Altingius, Wendeline, Paraeus, Explicat. Cate. p. 3. Q. 96. p. 528. saith, Quid postulat secundum praeceptum? Res. Ne Deum ullâ imagine, aut figurâ exprimamus, neve nullâ ratione eum colamus, quàm qua se in suo verbo coli praecepit, 1 Sam. 15.23. Deut. 12.30 Mat. 15 9. And afterwards he addeth, Huic secundo praecepto contraria sunt ea, quae vero cultui divino adversantur. 1. Idololatria, quae est culius numinis fictitius, aut superstitiosus. Sunt autem Idololatriae du… species, praecipuae: una crassior, cum fictitium numen colitur— haec species prohibetur in primo praecepto, & aliquâ ex parte, in tertio: altera est subtilior, cum verus Deus coli fingitur, sed erratur in genere culius, hoc est, cum vero Deo culius fingitur praestari, aliquo opere, quod ipse non praecepit: haec species Idololatriae, hoc praecepto propriè damnatur, & nominatur foreign, sive superstitio. And pag 529. Qui peccant contra secundum praeceptum, peccant & contra primum, quia qui Deum aliter colunt, atque vult coli, illi fingunt Deum aliter affectum, atque est, hoc est, alium Deum: Ita non Deum, sed cerebri sui commentum, quod sic affectum esse sibi persuadent, colunt — Fingere alium Dei cul…um, est aliam Dei voluntatem, proinde & alium Deum fingere, &c.
But, 3ly. What would these Objectors have said to Tertullian (that renowned servant, and witness of the Lord J…sus in his day) who is, by farr, more nice in this print of Idolat…y, than we have declared our selves to be: He, in his Bo…k de Idololatria, chargeth such as make Statues or Images, build or adorn Temples (though it were their Trade) Astrologers, Schoolmasters, (that name the names …f Idols, making honourable mention of them in their orations) such as keep holydayes, d…dicated to Idolatrous service, as their Satu…nalia (in the stead of which, is the time with us called Christmass) &c. such as adorned their gates, posts, houses, after the Pagan manner, at Festivals, with Lawrel, Ivy, &c. as symbolizing with Idolaters: yet sure we are, he could not justly be charged with an unchristian or censorious spirit.
Answ. The charge is rightly laid, and your plea insufficient to take it off. Christs sayings were unjustly counted hard, because they were true; yours justly, because not so: his sayings tolerable, yea precious, because they tended to direct them in the way to life eternal; yours, judged to be from an unchristian and censorious spirit, because uncharitable, and tending to division. That, which by the Protestant Writers is said, is not all true: I think all Will-worship is not …dolatry: Our Lord, who accused the Pharisees of Will-worship, did not accuse them of Idolatry. How farr from Demonstrations your Arguments are, may appear by this Answer. Were it fit to recriminate, I could prove you guilty of as great Idolatry, as you impute to the Conformists. Your zeal for truth, and love to your Brethrens souls, were good, if it were in a good thing: if without knowledge, and it tend to errour and schism, it may be pernicious in its consequents. As for Tertullian, omitting what may be excepted against him, and the spirit by which he was acted in the close of his life, which shewed him to be (as Dr. Casaubon observes, in his Treatise of Enthusiasm, ch. 3.) a man, though otherwise learned, that ascribed too much to private Revelations, out of an excess of zeal, which he shewed in all his works, (in which, I wish it were true, that this Author, who here so extolls him, were not too like him) I conceive Tertullian might have such reasons for his niceness in the point of Idolatry in his time,See Dr. Hammond of Scandal, § 21. when the Christians lived among Pagan Idolaters, who bore sway in the Empire of Rome, which only maintained such Idolatry as the publick received Worship, and persecuted Christians for not conforming to their Idol-service, as this Author hath not, for his accusing Ministers of Idolatry, for using a Service-book in the main right, in respect of the Worship; and a gesture, avowed to be only to the true God; in a Church, holding in the main, the …ight Faith; under a Prince, that professes the same Faith and Worship, and to be a Defender of it. As for such reliques of Pagan customes, or Popish, as yet remain, though it were to be wished, they were quite left, … sith they are not used in any honour to the Pagan Idols, but the original and reason of them at first, being almost, if not quite forgotten by those that use them, and are become but as civil customes, that have no state in religious worship, experience shews, that they are more easily reformed by neglect, than by earnest declamations against them Nor do I think, the course this Author takes, of seeking Reformation by Invectives and Separations, likely …o promote it; but to exasperate Rulers, and make opposites more violent in their way. It is added,