An Apology for the Discipline of the Ancient Church, Part 3 · Section 6 · Excerpt 4 – Excerpt 8
The words of the Letter.
YEt the meer ſight of a Monarchical Pue to ſtand in the ſtead of a Miniſterial Pulpit, is a strong plea of a ſtrange Apoſtacy from the commendable practice of the primitive Chriſtians.
Your adverſative particle Yet made me ſtart; for I muſt tell you that I underſtand ſo much in act, that when it follows any long conceſſion, as it doth in this place, it intimates that all things were light that went before, in compariſon of that which followeth; he being but little verſed in the Art of Rhetorick, who will grant to his Adverſary any thing of which he cannot make his advantage. This then that you here mention muſt be a greater abomination than any one, or indeed all the particulars you before mentioned, or elſe your Yet was not conſiderately placed. What, the juſtling out a Pulpit, and placing a Pue inſtead of it, a greater offence, than admitting profane perſons to the Lords Table? what, this a ſtronger plea of Apoſtacy, than the Common ſervice book? what is it to tithe mint and anniſe, and cummin, and to let paſſe the great and weightier matters of the Law, if this be not it? doth God take care for Oxen? is he pleaſed or diſpleaſed with Pues, with Pulpits, with Elders ſeats? No queſtion, it is all one with him, in what part of the Church, or by whom they are ſet. 'Tis the inward man of the heart that he looks upon; as for theſe outward accoutrements of his ſervice, he hath entruſted to the hands and heads of diſcreet men. And methinks you of all others ſhould leaſt inſiſt upon them, who are ſo great enemies to all outward worſhip, or what may be ordained by men for the decency and order of that worſhip.
2. Farther, I think you have miſplaced your Epithites, and beſtowed them on wrong ſubjects; for it were far truer to ſay the Monarchical Pulpit, and the Miniſterial Pue: for whatſoever was done in the Pue, was but meerly Miniſterial; but ſince you have invaded and ingroſſed the Pulpit, you thence dictate and dogmatize like the violent Monarch you before named. Thence you damne whomſoever you pleaſe. I have heard this black ſentence thence pronounced, that all the old Clergy are frying in an iron grate in hell; that they that wil not come to hear you, do tread under foot the blood of the Son of God; and make a mock of him; and thence again you ſave whom you pleaſe, as if all the Legiſlative power were in your hands; what you deliver from thence, be it never ſo crude and indigeſted ſtuff, you call the Goſpel of the Kingdome, the very Word of God.News from Ipſwich. Apologiſta. c. 3. A man would think you were inclining very far to that opinion of the Apologiſt for the Jeſuites, who ſaith, jungantur in unum, dies cum nocte, tenebrae cum luce, calidum cum frigido, ſanitas cum morbo, vita cum morte, & erit tum ſpes aliqua poſſe in caput Jeſuitae haereſin cadere. I ever took Sermons and ſo do ſtill, to be moſt neceſſary expoſitions and applications of the holy Scripture, and a great ordinary means of ſaving knowledge, but I cannot think them or the Preachers of them out of a Pulpit divinely infallible; And it may be obſerved too, that no men are more apt to ſay then they, that all the Fathers were but men, and might erre; and if then they be not tranſcended the condition of men, when they are aſcended the Pulpit, poſſible it is that they may erre too.
But to proceed, what an Idol (pardon the word, it is from your own ſhop, when you call the Liturgy Idol-ſervice, and the ſureties in Baptiſme Idol Godfathers) have they made of the Pulpit, ever ſince from thence they diſpenſe all their Adminiſtrations. The child to be baptized by the Miniſter in the Pulpit; the Sacrament to be ſent by the hand of the Deacon to all the Congregation out of the Pulpit: The Word and all the prayer then uſed out of the Pulpit; and whether the cenſures be to be pronounced out of the Pulpit,Bayly pag. 121.122. I yet know not. So that if there were any ſenſe at all to be collected out of this word [Monarchical,] I ſhould rather attribute it to the Pulpit, than to the Pue, which I am ſure was never guilty of any Monarchy.
3. And ſince we are entred into a compariſon of the Pue and Pulpit; I ſhall adde one conſideration more, which I profeſſe to you I do very unwillingly, it having been known to you and others, that I have been as induſtrious in the Pulpit, as any other in the Pue. The Pue and Pulpit are in themſelves inanimate things, wood and ſtone; no prerogative can accrue to either from them; if there be any priority, it muſt be from the actions that were performed from thence. In the Pue we had the Liturgy of the Church celebrated, in the other the Word of God explained, and preſſed on the conſcience for practce by the tongues of men; if then I would contend for any priviledge of either, I ſhould give it to the Pue, becauſe in that was celebrated cultus ipſe, which is the prayers; in the other is held forth no more but doctrina cultus, a doctrine which teacheth us to worſhip God; in the one there is exerciſed only actus imperatus, a command is only laid upon us, do this; but in the other there is actus elicitus; for we chooſe to practice what we have been taught, which how far it is more acceptable than bare preaching, and teaching, and hearing, read our Saviours words, Mat. 7.22, 23.
As for Sermons, I hope men do not undertake to prove, that they are as eminent a part of Gods worſhip as prayer. If they do, I muſt leſſe blame the poor ignorant people, that think when they have heard a Sermon or two, that they have ſerved God for that day, or that week; nor the generality of thoſe ſeduced ones, who place ſo great piety in hearing, and think ſo much the more comfortably of themſelves for the number of hours ſpent in that exerciſe, which of late hath been made the main Church-buſineſſe, and yet is no more than may be done by a Heathen or profane perſon. I ſhall think him to ſerve God beſt, that devoutly prayes moſt, and comes oftneſt, and falls down and kneels, and worſhips before the Lord his Maker. It cannot be thought equal, that prayer and preaching ſhould be ſo unwarily placed in competition, as that prayer ſhould loſe by the compariſon. There may be alwayes need of preaching, but then moſt of all, when the Auditory is unchriſtian. This reaſon prevailed very much in the Primitive times, when it was but in vain and unprofitable to go about to convert the world no otherwiſe than by our prayers. Yet even in thoſe Primitive times, which had moſt cauſe to call for preaching, we ſhall finde that this duty was of rarer exerciſe, and leſſe ſolemnity than that of prayer, as it may abundantly be diſcovered by the Liturgies of both Churches yet extant.Maimonid. More Neboch. cap. 32. Antioch. Hom. 106. Maimenides that profound Doctor of the Jews, inſtituting a compariſon betwixt their ſacrifices, and the more ſubſtantial ſervices required, inſtead of all other, nameth prayer and Invocation; theſe, ſaith he, are nearer to Gods firſt intention, theſe neceſſary at all times, and for every man. With him agrees the Chriſtian Antiochus, who affirms of prayer, that foreign foreign, of a more ſublime condition than any other vertue. And how our Lord ſtood affected to this, we may acknowledge by that, where he calleth the Church his houſe of prayer, not preaching, which took ſo well in the Elder times, that all their Temples were called by the name foreign, Oratories.
Prov. 15.18, 29Nay, the Preacher himſelf, Solomon I mean, is ſo confident of a juſt mans prayer, that it is Gods delight; nay more, he heareth, or foreign, or foreign, he is obedient, if I may ſo ſay to it. And it well may ſeem to be ſo; for when all the preaching of Lot could prevaile no otherwiſe, than to bring vexation to his righteous ſoul; the prayers of Abraham might have ſaved Sodome, if among ſo many thouſands there might have been found but tenne juſt men.
By this I have ſaid it is not my purpoſe to detract any thing from preaching, but conſidering the age we live in, that we ſhould ſo far moderate our opinion of the Pulpit, that we diſdain not the Pue, that we beware leſt by magnifying preaching, we bring not diſcredit and diſadvantage upon neceſſary prayer.
Laſtly, whereas you ſay that this Pue juſtled out the Pulpit that was erected by the Primitive Chriſtians; I beleeve you would be very hard put to it to prove, that then there was either Pue or Pulpit in any common uſe among them, for how could it be, when Temples and Churches were thinly erected? the greateſt part of Chriſtians under the tenne bloody perſecutions, meeting where they could, and ſometimes in Caves and Grots to ſerve God. The firſt Teſtimony that looks this way, I read in Cyprian, and yet that will make more for the Pue than the Pulpit;Cypr. Ep. 34. Pamm. edit. ſince to the place of a Reader Cyprian had admitted Celerinus, as he in that Epiſtle gives notice to the Clergy and people of Carthage; Hunc illuſtrem, quid aliud quam ſuper Pulpitum, id eſt, ſuper Tribunal Eccleſiae oportebat imponi, ut loci altioris celſitate ſubnixus, & plebi univerſae pro honoris claritate conſpicuus legat praecepta & Evangelium Domini, &c. The Pulpit in this place he calls the Tribunal of the Church, being a word borrowed from the Romane cuſtome, who were wont from ſome higher ſeat or raiſed place, jus dicere Tribubus. To this ſeat Celerinus was advanced, and yet he was no more but to read the tenne Commandments for ought I know, and the Goſpel; for Cyprians words are reſtrained, Ut legat praecepta & Evangelium Domini: which office, if he well performed, then indeed he might be promoted higher; for ſo it follows: Viderit, an ſit ulterior gradus, ad quem profici in Eccleſia poſſit. Nihil eſt in quo confeſſor magis fratribus-proſit, quam ut dum Evangelica lectio de ore ejus auditur, quam ut lectoris fidem quiſquis audierit, invitetur; jungendus in lectione Aurelio fuerat, &c. where you meet with another Reader, that you have in the leſſe contempt theſe taile of Readers, as you have blaſted them; nor the Pue out of which they read, for that may be the Pulpit as you ſee in Cyprian, and yet the name nere the more profaned.
When theſe two became diſtinct you had beſt enquire, for to me it appears not. Late I beleeve both were brought into the Greek Church,Walfridus Strabo de Rev. Eccl. cap. 6. Germanus in Hiſt Eccl. becauſe they have no other word for a Pulpit, but foreign, which is pure Latine, derived ab ambiendo, quia intrantem ambit, & cingit. And it was firſt of ſtone, as are many of our old Pulpits in the Ancienteſt of our Churches at this day. But that's not material; You muſt ſhew that among the Primitive Chriſtians the Miniſterial Pulpit was before the Pue, which for ought I ſee might be all one; again, that this Pue after it was brought in, juſtled out the Pulpit, which you know among us it did not, for we were contented both ſhould ſtand together, and have their ſeveral uſes. Or ſay, that all you charge us withal had been done, the Pue ſet up in the Pulpits place, will this prove that this had been a ſtrong plea of a ſtrange Apoſtaſie from the practice of the Primitive Chriſtians? I have alwayes thought that Apoſtacy had lyen in doctrine or in manners; in either of theſe, when men degenerate, they may in ſome ſenſe be called Apoſtates; but if they ſhall change a Pue into a Pulpit, or a Pulpit into a Pue, to lay to their charge Apoſtacy for this, is what I never heard before, and am confident I ſhall never hear again. But you go on.
The words of the Letter.
SEeing that ſuch Coope is not of a ſufficient capacity to contain at once any more perſons than one.
The Reply.
And this exception lyes as ſtrong againſt your Miniſterial Pulpit, where your Preacher the Cock that crows there, is as much cooped up, as is the Reader in our Pue; at once I know, you will allow but one Cock in it, and pity it is it ſhould be of greater capacity to contain more,Apolog. de cato & gallo. one being ſufficient to diſturb a houſe.
The words of the Letter.
WHereas it is of moral equity, and conſequently of perpetual obſervation, that a rightly, &c.
The Reply.
What's this I read here? moral equity, and the conſequent upon it, perpetual obſervation? If you would have ſtudied for an Axiome to undo your own cauſe, you could not have found out ſuch another. I wonder why we contend all this while about Rites, Ceremonies, indifferent things inſtituted for decency and order in the Church, where the governours of the Church, as is proved before out of your New-Englands conſtitutions, might ordain them to thoſe ends. Now it is but moral equity that in all lawful things we obey our Superiours, and conſequently of perpetual obſervation. Talk no more then hereafter of a Surplice, of Banes, of a Ring, of a Pue, of a Pulpit, and ſuch trifles; for equity and morality require that they be obſerved: Arraign us for obſervation of Rites and Ceremonies; moral equity is our Tutour, and hath taught us to embrace them. This I have ſeen to happen to all men that ſtruggle againſt the truth, to let fall at unawares ſome ſuch words which will wound, if not deſtroy that cauſe they ſeek moſt to defend. Magna eſt veritas, & praevalebit.
Mr. Matthews.THat a rightly Reformed Presbyterial Church ſhould have all her Elders, who are engaged by vertue of their Office to begin and end all the publick Ordinances, and to tranſact all the open concernments of the City of God.
The Reply.
Theſe words I underſtand not well, becauſe I know not your practice; but if it be conſonant to the ſound of theſe lines, I finde a very deep engagement lyes upon the Elders; for what, are they ex officio bound to begin and end all the publick Ordinances, to tranſact all the open concernments of the City of God? This is a very high charge and a large power; for the Ordinances of the City of God are the diſpenſations of the Word, the Adminiſtration of the Sacraments, Impoſition of hands, the application of the Power of the Keys, with all the other acceſſories and circumſtantials to theſe. Were your words true, then no Sermon muſt be begun or ended, no prayer begun or ended, and the like is to be ſaid of all the reſt, nothing of them or about them, begun, tranſacted or ended, but by their advice and deciſion. Of which there is not one ſyllable that I beleeve, and therefore for ſuch a claim, it behoved you to produce a very fair and clear Charter; for elſe all thoſe that bear no good will to your Diſcipline and Combination, will endite you for incroachment and uſurpation of anothers right. Which aſperſion you will never be able to get off, by telling us barely on your word, this is the Elders power. Nor by affirming.
The words of the Letter.
THat the Reformed Church ſhould have all her Elders for to ſtand and ſit together, in the face and full view of the whole Aſſembly.
The Reply.
I cannot think what you aime at here, except at that place which in the Ancient Church was appointed for the Presbytery to ſit together in. For they had a place encloſed from all the Laity, where the Lords Table was ſet, the Biſhops Chair and Presbyters ſeats being round about it. This place Sozomen calls foreign, the Sacrary, with us the Chancel, which divided the Biſhops and Presbyters from the people. Cyprian would have this granted to Numidicus, Sozomen lib. 7. cap. 24. Cypr. Ep. 35. Pammel. editionis. Concil. Laod. Ca…. 56. Theod. l. 5. c. 18.Numidicus Presbyter aſcribatur Presbyterorum Carthaginenſium numero, & nobiſcum ſedeat in Cl…ro. The Councel of Laodicea calls it foreign, by reaſon it was ſomewhat higher than the reſt of the Church, the Canon Law Presbyterium. Into this place when Theodoſius the Emperour would have entred to have received the Communion, Saint Ambroſe then buſied at divine ſervice, ſent him word, foreign. Theſe places were in the Sacraries of the Church, to be entred by thoſe who were in orders only, where they ſate together with the Biſhop, there was not any place then for Lay-Elders. And therefore ſi quid tale forſan veſtras pervenerat aures, you ſee it makes nothing at all for you, till you will admit your Lay-Elders to be of the Clergy, which I know you abhor. I proceed to your proofs.