Concerning the English Liturgy, Discourse · Section 4
SECT. IV.
The Service-book ſerved, not for diſtinction of the Reformed Churches from the unreformed, as the Doctor ſaith: Too much conformity in it to the Romiſh Breviary, yet paſſed in the firſt Parliament of Q. Elizabeth, and why ſo.
FOr your third word,Sect. 4. diſtinction, that is as ill applied to the Service-book, as the two former, for how ſerves that for a diſtinction of the Reformed againſt the unreformed Churches? If you call thoſe unreformed Churches that have it not, you ſpeak a new Dialect of your own, and as naught as new; wherein all Orthodox Proteſtants will be againſt you: If you mean by unreformed, thoſe who are moſt unreformed, viz. the Roman Churches, the diſtinction was not ſo great, either in K Henry the 8th his time, or K. Edw. the 6th his time, or Q. Elizab. time, as it ſhould have been: Not in K. Henry the 8th his time, for thenoPraefat. ad Paul▪ tert. in Brev. Roman. Card. Quignonius at the requeſt of Pope Cl… 7. then made the Popiſh Miſſall liker the Engliſh for a great part, then it was to the Roman Breviary: Not in King p…ox Martyr. Vol. 2. p. 667. Col. 2. n. 20.Edw. the 6th his time, for when the Rebels were up in Devonſhire, for the reſtitution of the Maſs and other Popiſh matters compriſed in ſeverall Articles: To that of the Service-book, (which was one of them) the Kings anſwer was, As for the Service (in the Engliſh tongue) it hath manifeſt reaſons for it, and yet (perchance) it ſeemeth to you a new Service, and is indeed none other but the old, the ſelf ſame words in Engliſh, which were in Latine, ſaving a few things taken out, which were ſo fond, that it had been a ſhame to have heard them in Engliſh, as all can judge that do report the truth. Not in Q Elizab. time, for Pope qB… Andr. Tort. torti. p. 142. & B. Mort. in his Proteſt. Appeal. l. 5. c. 28. Sect. 4. p. 680.Paul the 4th would have allowed of the Service and Liturgy, ſet out by her, if ſhe would have received it by his authority: And for the Engliſh Service, as it firſt paſſed in Parliament, it was not ſuch as was deſired by the beſt, but ſuch as could be obtained of the worſt ſort of Proteſtants, who made the major part in the firſt Parliament of Q Elizab. and who were ſo ſuperſtitiouſly devoted to that form of Service, that the Book would not have paſſed, if it had been ſo Reformed as it ſhould have been: We have juſt ground for this conjecture out of therThe firſt daies conference at Hampton Court p. 14. Conference at Hampton Court; where (upon, the debate betwixt King James and others, about the womens Baptiſm by warrant thereof) the King urging and preſſing the words of the Book, ſaid, they could not but intend a permiſſion of women ſ… to do, the Biſhop of Worceſter ſaid, that (indeed) the words are doubtfull, becauſe otherwiſe, perhaps the Book would not have paſſed in the Parliament; and for this he cited the teſtimony of the Archbiſhop of York.
Why then ſhould thoſe who have power to Reform what is amiſs, be confined to ſuch a form of ſervice as this? which had i… been a perfect maſculine iſſue, they who ſhould (as Midwives) have holpen to bring it forth, would have been ready to ſtrangle it in its birth.
Yet ſuch as it was, with all its faults and defects, they gave their Vote unto it: but thoſe who were truly wiſe and godly, never meant to ſet up their reſt with ſuch a Reformation: For it was both irreligious and unreaſonable which ſome Prelates projected, viz. inſtead of proficiency towards perfection, to make us retrograde, to the ſtate and ſtature of our Churches minority, and they might as well put down preaching, and bring up Homiles, and meer reading Miniſters again, as make that form of prayer a ſtandard to our publique devotion.
Now for that you ſay in your Latine Letter, where you call the Service-book you lent me (before my Library was brought to Br.) the ſPatris mei quoadam glorioſiſſimam ſupellectilem quam prae occulis me charum habuiſſe ſemper & habiturum.moſt glorious houſehold-ſtuff of your father, which you ſay is pretious in your ſight, and ſo ſhall be for ever. Methinks you honour that Book ſo much, as you muſt imply no little diſhonour to your father, as if he had not a Bible in his houſe, and no leſs diſhonour to the Bible, if he had it, and yet that were not in your eye a more glorious piece of houſhold-ſtuff, then the Service-book was.
But though neither the Parliament, nor the Aſſembly did either admire or adore it, as you did▪ it ſhould not have been ſo contemptuouſly uſed as it was, to uſe your own words.