Against Idolatry and Superstition, Sermon 2 · Part 1
I. The Surplice.
THe Surplice with all the rest of that Popish W…rdrope of Sup…rstitious garments, Hoods, Tippets, R…chets, &c For there is the same Reason of them all, they are all Popish Idols, and ancient wayes of Superstition. For if you look into the stroy of Jehu, you will find that the Priests of Baal had their Superstitious ga…ments in those times, 2 Kin. 10. 22. and he said unto Him that was over the vestry, bring forth the vestments, Dwalphin … am pag 92for the worshippers of Baal. And amongst the Papists, the Surplice as some have well observed, hath been such a master Idol, that it sanctifieth as it were all their other Idols; So that without this it is unlawfulExod 28 for them to Officiate▪ The Lord indeed appointed holy garments for the Priests under the Law, but if the Lord had not appointed them, it had been a sinful and a foolish thing to use them, and therefore it is said of Gideons Ephod, which as it seemeth, was made in imitation of the high Priests garments, that Israel went a whoring after it, and it b…came a snare to Gideon and to his House, Judg. 8. 27 An Ephod is nothing else but a garment m…de partly of Linnen, not unlike a Surplice, but more rich and costly. Those g…rments of Aaron, are said to be for glory, and for beauty, Exod. 28. 2. aAi… worth on Exod 28 2Because they typified and shadowed out the beauty of Christ, our true high P…iest, in all those glorious graces of the Spirit of holiness in him. But when the Sun ariseth, the shadows fly away, and therefore now that Christ the body is come, and that Sun of Righteousness arisen upon the World, those leg…l shadows are done away: and to retain them in these Ti…es of the New Testament, doth interpretatively deny that Christ is come in the flesh, and therefore there should be no difference between the garments of Ministers in their holy ministrations, and the garments of other persons, or of themselves at other times, but they shovld g… in their habit according to the grave and Comely manner of those among whom they live. All the hint the Scripture gives concerning Ministers apparrel, is only in that word foreign … Tim. 3. 2. which implies, that they should be comely, but not the least hint of any different Ceremonious garments to know them by, from other men. And therefore when this S…perstitio… beg…n to spring amongst the french Bishops, C…lest…nus writeth thus to them, bMr b…ight ma…s d…scourse against▪ Ceremonious Appa…rel … Am…s his Fr… Suit part … pag 507▪discer…endi a plebe …elc…teris sumus doctr…na non v…te, Co…ver…at…ne non ha…tu, mentis puritate non cultu, we are to be dist…guished from the common sort by Doctrine, and not b… g…me…t, by Conversation and not habit, by the purity of mind, and not Apparrel.
I dare appeal to any sober mans Conscie…ce, do you think that ever Jesus Christ wore a Surplice, or that Paul or any of the twelve Apostles did preach in a Surplice? This Argument was alleadged to one in this City, to which the man confessed, He thought they did not, but He said, the Reason was, because the Church had not then appointed them, to which the other replyed, I will have as good an Answer as this from a Papist, to believe as the Church believs, the Church is bound to keep to the Word, and if she reject it, the Church plays the Harlot. John the Baptist had a several apparrel, Math. 3. 4. As Elijah also had before Him, 2 King. 11. 8. but he had a special diet also, locusts and wild …ony, and therefore by this Argument Ministers must have a several diet also from other men, as well as a distinct Apparrel. cMr …Cartwrights first reply p…g 7…But …ohn was an extraordinary person, and the Lord would have him and his Ministry differenced from others, and the extraordinariness of his Ministry set forth by th…se things, that the people might be the rather moved to enquire of his Office whom they saw vary so much from the Common Custome of other men; neither did he wear gorgeous and costly apparrel, but course and mean, and therefore it doth no way suit the case in Hand, unless the Bishops will exchange their Surplices for raiment of Camels hair, and their Canonical girdles for a leathern girdle, &c. And it is of like weight to alleadge the Angels appearing in white, of which the Surplice, is but a ridiculous and as Dr. Ames fitly calls it dAm…▪ … Suit part 2 P…g 2…an apish Imitation, for by the same Reason Ministers should wear …athe…, because the Angels are described with wings, to shew their swiftness and read…ness in execution of their Office. The wearing of a white garment in old time was nothing else but a more comely apparrel, such as black is now, with us: After times having betaken themselves to darker Colours, as more grave and modest, and therefore that Colour would be light, and Stage▪ like with us, which was grave and honourable with them.
Objection, better preach in a fools Coat, then not preach the Gospel;
Answ. If this saying be weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary, it will be found to be more pleasing then solid, more plausible then weighty. For the Rule is clear, we must not do evil, th…t good may come thereof, Rom. …. 8. but it is an evil thing, and a sin to preach in a fools Coat, th…ref…e we ought not to do it, no not for that good end to enjoy the liberty …f u… Minis…ry. But how may that be proved that it is a … why thus. To do any thing in the worship of God that is not decent is a sin, for the Rule is express, 1 Cor. 14. ult. Let all things be d…ne decently …nd in ord…r, but to wear a fools Coat is not decent, but ridiculous; therefore it is a s… to do it in the worship of God, and much more to wear a Surpl…ce, which is fitly called a fools Coat ind…ed, being as bad, yea, worse. For a fools Coat is only a breach of the rule of decency, but a Surplice is both ridiculous and Superstitious too, It is both a breach of the rule of decency and of the seco…d Commandment, and therefore it is worse then a fools Coat. But we are not to break the le…st Command for the great…st good. And such Ministers as are silenced upon this account, it is not they that do forsake their Ministry, as is most unchristianly and reproachfully said by some, but they are forced from it, and are driven into Corners by plain force and violence. For if men will not suffer us to preach but upon such hard Conditions, that we must break Rules, and Sin against our Consciences if we will preach, it is all one as if they should absolutely hinder, for we must not purchase the liberty of our Ministry at such a dear price, though it be such a precious Ordinance, and so great a mercy to enjoy it. A man had better never preach a Sermon all his dayes then part with a good Conscience for it.
And it is not only a few Puritans or Fanaticks as they are now termed, that are so nice and so precise, as to dislike the wearing of a Surplice. For those good men who have been over-borne by this Objection, yet their undistressed judg…ments were against it. For they did conforme to it with grief, and as their burden, and because their judgements were distressed by the persecutions of those times, between these two, either to conforme, or not to pr…ach. And in the Book of Martyrs you will meet with many remarkcable T…stimonies of those saithful witnesses of Christ, who loved not their lives unto the death, you will there find a great cl…ud of Witnesses against these smaller things as some account them, Mr. Rogors the Proto-martyr of all that blessed Company that suffered in Queen Maryes time; He told th…m in an holy scorn, dFox. Acts and monum. vol. 3. pag. 131. edit. 1641.that he would not wear that f…olish attire, unless the… …ss…ng Pri…sts were made to wear upon their s…e…s a Chalice with an H…st u…n …t, that there might be a manifest difference between the popish Pr…s… and t…e Mini…ers of the Gospel. B…er also did refuse to wear a square cap, and g…ve this Reason for it, eDidoclav. Altar Damas…. pag. 891. Fox vol 3 pag 29 col 2becaus… his …ad was round. P…tipot (f) in Q…een Maryes time wou…d not come to the Con…ocation in a long Gown, and Tippet, as all the pop…sh Clergy did, for which they did thre…ten to tu…n him ou… of the Convocation; Ho per in King …dwards dayes, did …arnestly testifie against them, upon which occasion Mr. F…x co…plains gvol 3 pag 146 147that notwithstanding the Reformati…n begun, they us…d to wear such garments and apparrel as the Popish B…shops were wont to do, which he calleth player-like A…parr…l. And Rialy who was at that ti…e a great st…kler for it, God gave him repentance for it, when He was in prison, in so much that he wrote a letter to Ho…per about it, wherein he bewails the former ignorance and rigor of his Spirit, and confesseth it was his own weak…ess and simplicity t…at …rred with H…pers wisdom in that matter, And in another place there is mention made of one Blumfield a cruel Persecutor, who d…d threat…n a good m…n, one Symon Harlestone to put him to the Officers, because He did wear no Surplice, when he said Service; and hereupon Mr. Fox who wrote the Book of Martyrs, hath these words hvol 3 pag 909 col 2 line …0wherefore it is pity such baits of Popery are left to the enemies to take Christians in, God take th…m away, or else u… from them. For God knoweth they be the cause of mu…h blindness and st…ife amongst men. And Mr. Thomas Be…on in his works printed at Londo…, cum privilegio, 15…2. expresseth himsel… thus, iBecon Cate… pag 484 …pud …4 q… …olt pag 110whe…efore in my judgement it were meet and con…en…ent that all suc… disguises of apparr…l were utterly tak…n away, for a… m…ch as it is but the vain …ven…i…n of man, and hath b…en greatly abused of the massing Papists. For …hat hath the Temple of God to do with Idols, what Concord is there between Christ and Beiial, what have the vestments of a popish Altar to do with the Table of the Lord Christ? Moreover the Canons of 1571, forbid the gray Amice or any other garment defiled with the like Superstition, kVide Did…cla… pag 897but this Reason reacheth the Surplice, and therefore the equity of that Canon excludes it, though the letter do not. Finally, the Bishops are bound to the use of a pastoral staff by King Edwards book, to which the statute of Elizabeth refer…eth, but in this they transgress themselves, and therefore with what Conscience, yea, with what fore-head can they smite their fellow Servants for a lesser matter?