Uniformity in Human Doctrinal Ceremonies, jeanes 14 – hammond 17
Jeanes.
1. Humane ceremonies have two acceptions. 1. They are taken largely for all circumſtances of order, decency; as alſo for all meere indicant ſigns of reverence, and theſe for diſtinction ſake may be called circumſtantial ceremonies: but theſe are not the ceremonies in queſtion; for the Non-conformiſts acknowledge theſe law full, and ſo alſo Uniformity in them; but yet of theſe ceremonies, cuſtome is neither the onelyonly or principal rule, as ſhall be manifeſted when I come unto the examination of your Anſwer unto my Objections againſt this your dictate.
In a ſecond place, humane ceremonies are taken ſtrictly, onelyonly for ſuch as are doctrinal▪ ſymbolical, and ſacramental, and unto ſuch neither decency nor reverence obligeth us.
Not, firſt, the Apoſtles decency; becauſe in the omiſſion of them there is no undecency.
Not, ſecondly, that reverence which is due unto God in his worſhip, becauſe in the omiſſion of them there is no irreverence committed; you may think my notion of reverence to be too narrow; but 'tis the utmoſt I can grant you; and indeed 'tis all that Scripture and Reaſon call for: reverence and irreverence are privatively oppoſed, and between privative oppoſites, in a capable ſubject, there is no medium, either of abnegation or participation, and therefore when there is no irreverence in the external worſhip of God, that worſhip is reverently adminiſtred: now that Baptiſme is unreverently adminiſtred when the Croſſe is omitted, or that publique Prayers and Preaching are unreverent, when the Surplice is left off, may perhaps be very affectionately averred by you and others, but I do not hope to live ſo long as to receive from you, or any man living, for it, ſo much as the ſhadow of an argument.
In the firſt place then you ſee that reverence bindeth not to humane, religious, myſtical ceremonies.
Nay, in a ſecond place, it bindeth to lay them quite aſide, becauſe Gods Ordinances are treated very irreverently, when mens inventions are joyned with them, when men ſet their threſholds by Gods threſholds, and their poſts by his posts, Ezek. 43.8. that is, when humane inventions are added unto Gods precepts.
Yea, but you may perhaps ſay our Ceremonies are joyned with Gods Ordinances onelyonly as adjuncts, or annexaries, not as parts of Gods worſhip.
But unto this I reply in the words of Ames unto Morton, all external ceremonies, whoſe proper uſe is the honouring of God, are external worſhip, as all divinity ſheweth. Reply unto gen. Def. pag 19.
Thirdly, the pretence of reverence in Gods worſhip, hath oftentimes been an inlet unto many ſuperſtitious practiſes; this Ames ſheweth in his Reply unto Mortons particular Defence, &c pag. 69. Out of ſuch conceits as this, ſaith he, all ſuperſtition hath crept into the Sacrament. For expreſſion of reverence, ſome would not touch the bread with their hands, or the cup either, but have both bread and wine put into their mouthes. Some more agreeably to Courtly faſhion (urged by the Defendant) where meat is taken with ſilver forks, inſtead of hands, deviſed a ſilver pipe to ſuck up the wine through. Some would not have bearded Lay-men taft of the wine at all: And many for m…ere reverence (as they ſay) will neither touch wine nor bread, abſtaining altogether from the Sacrament. All theſe uſages might have been, and may be cuſtomary, and yet cuſtome cannot legitimate them and make them decent. I ſhall conclude all that I have to ſay unto theſe two laſt Sections with a remarkable paſſage in Parker his Treatiſe of the …roſſe, part. 1. pag. 112. The ſecond office of the Croſſe is to procure reverence to aptiſme, nè putetur eſſe communis ablutio: Which is the office of the Salt, the Taper, and the reſt of Popiſh ſigns, which how cut we off, but with this Ax that beheadeth the Croſſe as wel. Non exiſtimandum, &c. We muſt not think but that the Baptiſm of Chriſt, and of the Apoſtles was performed with reverence enough, when theſe ſigns were wanting; neither muſt we take upon us to be wiſer than they. To procure right reverence to the Sacrament, is to lay open the inſtitution by the Preaching of the Word, and then to deliver it in that ſimplicity in which we have received it. To adde ſigns over and above is not to honour it, but to defile it. Indeed the A…k had been more honourably intreated, if it had been ſent home again as it came into the land and hand of the Philiſtines. They thought they could not honour it ſufficiently, unleſſe they ſet a budget by it of certain new deviſed ſigns to wait upon it, which did defile it. David emptyed this budget, and did wel: Howbeit, their Cart he thinketh cannot well be ſpared, for which the Lord made a breach in Iſrael, untill he drave him to confeſs that he was not ſought in due order, as long as one Ceremony of the Philiſtines did remain. The Lord ſhew mercy to our Church, otherwiſe he will ſhew, that our emptying of the Popiſh budget, in baniſhing the ſalt, the oyl, the ſpittle, with the reſt, will not be judged ſufficient, unleſs we ceaſe alſo with a Croſs of theirs to cart Baptiſme, which ſhould be born up to reverence no other way than by the ſhoulders of the Levites, I mean the labours of thoſe Preachers which now (alaſs) lye in the duſt, becauſe they wil not defile their hands by touching of this Philiſtim cart for to uphold it.
Dr. Hammond. ſect. 20, 21.
In theſe it is certain, cuſtome is the rule and the onelyonly rule of decency: Neither nature nor Gods Law obliges all mankind to this, or that expreſſion freverence. Severall nations have their ſeveral manners of doing it; onelyonly nature tels us, that the moſt reverent manner of treating is beſt becomming God, and that it cannot be decent, to treat God in that manner as we would not doe any Superiour beſide, and Gods own expoſtulation about the offering of polluted bread upon his Altar, and of ſacrificing the lame and the ſick, Mal. 1.8. is a confirmation of that; Offer it now, ſaith God, unto thy Go…ernour, will he be pleaſed with thee?
21. Apply this to a particular caſe, to a Nation, where 'tis customary to addreſs to Kings kneeling, and there the Analogie will hold exactly (but not where that is not custome) Among ſuch I may ſay, Did ever any man that had his limbs and health offer a Petition to his Prince in the geſture of ſitting, or lying along upon a table? and if he did not, then I muſt, I ſuppoſe, regula…ly conclude from cuſtome, the only rule of decency in ſuch matters, that according to Gods arguing it cannot be decently done in his ſervice, which is the tendring our petitions or requeſts to that infinite Majeſty. And ſo proportionably in other things.
Jeanes.
Your exemplification of the indications and expreſſions of that reverence of which cuſtome is the only rule, by inſtancing in kneeling in prayer, when wee tender our petitions or requeſts to the infinite majeſty of God, is very impertinent; for it is very evident, that cuſtome is not the only rule of it, becauſe it is ſufficiently warranted both by Scripture and the light of Nature.
Unto all this I ſhall adde a diſtinction of reverence; it may be taken ſometimes largely, and ſo it comprehends adoration: ſometimes ſtrictly, & ſo it is diſtinguiſhed there from; for reverence, is due unto the Ordinances of God, adoration, and worſhip onelyonly unto God: cuſtome may be a partial and ſubordinate rule of the ſigns of reverence, taken ſtrictly, whereupon by cuſtome, uncovering of the head is a general or common geſture of reverence, to be uſed with diſcretion in all religious exerciſes; but now as for the indications and expreſsions of adoration, I do think the Scripture a ſufficient rule of them, where, I do not exclude the law and light of nature, for materially conſidered, it is a part of Scripture.
Dr. Hammond. ſect. 22.
This I did not apply to the Croſſe in Baptiſm, and the Miniſters uſing of the Surplice, as being not pertinent to that place. Another head was ſet apart for thoſe, and proceeded to ſect. 28. the Croſſe expreſly named, and the Surplice implyed under the title of other Ceremonies, of which it may there be ſeen, what my concluſion was, not what is here deem'd incumbent on me to prove, that the omiſſion of them infers indecen…y, but that ſtanding on th…ſe grounds, whereon they are known to ſtand, Conſcience duly inſtructed, cannot think it neceſsary▪ or tending to edification to caſt them ca…ſ…eſly out of this Church, or the whole Liturgie for their ſakes.
Jeanes.
What you ſaid, was applyable unto the Croſſe in Baptiſme, and the Miniſters uſing of the Surplice▪ for your concluſion was, the more then lawfulneſſe of preſcription of ceremonies in a Church, and of Ʋniformity therein; and here ſect. 19 you acknowledge that your concluſion, deſigned in that Section, was the juſtifying of Uniformity of Ceremonies in the ſervice of God: now I had reaſon to think that you ſpeak of humane, religious, myſtical ceremonies, becauſe ſuch onelyonly were oppoſed by the Non-conformiſts, and ſuch the Croſſe and Surplice were, eminently, though no… excluſively.
2. If your deſign be to juſtifie doctrinal ceremonies from the Apoſtles command of decency, then 'tis incumbent on you to prove that the omiſſion of ſuch ceremonies doth infer undecency; for if it doth not infer undecency, then therin there is no tranſgreſſion of the Apoſtles precept, and if the Apoſtles precept be not tranſgreſſed by the omiſſion of them, the Aſſembly had no cauſe, upon that account, to repent of their caſting ſuch ceremonies out of the Church of God.
Dr. Hammond. ſect. 23, 24.
And yet if Mr. J. ſhall now deſire to know what the grounds of theſe two Eccleſiaſtical rites are, which alone he is pleaſed to name, on perſwaſion, I ſuppoſe, that they were as fit, if not fitter than any others for the diſproving my poſition, of (cuſtome being the onelyonly rule of decency) I ſhall now render him a brief account of them, ſuch as may in ſome degree confirm the truth of it.
24. And firſt for the Croſse in Baptiſm. 1. 'Tis known to all, that our Chriſtian courſe is a ſpirituall Warfare under Chriſt our great Generall: Now it is, and alwaies hath been cuſtomary over the world, that in a militia there ſhould be ſome Banner, or Enſign, to which every one ſhould reſort, and fight under it. This hath cuſtome made decent among all; and ſuppoſing that cuſtome, the omiſſion of it in an Army is indecent, yet not ſo, as things diſhoneſt, or breaches of the Law of Nature are indecent.