( I ) never meddle with. And yet I know that many think it CO Teafonable, and more venerable then any of the refl. Yet dare I not peremptorilyfay that it is unlawful' nor will I condemn, either Antients or .Moderns that fife it : nor will I make any 4iifimrbance in the Churchabout it more then my own forbear- ance will make : onlymy own praftice I was forced to fufpend, and mutt do if it were again impofed on me, till f werebetter fatisfied. The Reafons that moll move me, I fhall give you in the end, but Come of them take at the prefent, S. 53. 1. This is not the meer ciiiicumgancei ofa Duty, but a frabflantial humane ordinance of worfhip : nor is it necefrary in genere that man ordain any fuch fimbolicalM)flicalfigna for Gods worfhip : And therefore it is a matter totally exempt from humane Power. There muff be _Tome Time, fonte place., feme geflure, form vefirare, firme utenfils, &c. But you cannot fay that, There mull be/orne teaching fymbols, or myftical figns, fleeted by humane inflitution in Gods worlbip : There is no command to man in Scripture de genere to inflitute any fuch thing. And therefore in the cafe of Circomflantiab I (hall ofu- ally (ofwhich more anon) obey the Magiltrate, even where hedoth miftake !meanie it is his own work, though he mifdoe it : But here his aetion is like that of a judge in alieno foro, in another court, where he bath no power, and therefore his judgement is null. It is not an a& of Authority to make and flue new myftical figns (that are fuch in their primary ufe,) in Gods worfhip : For there is no Power but of God : And God bath given no fuch power : They that fay, he bath, let them prove it if they can. Natural and Artificial helps we difallow not But Infiituted lips, that have what they have by Infiltration, and that as afoletmaflated ordinance, E know not that ever God required or accepted from the invention of man. I doubt this will prove a meer ufurpation , and nullity, and worfe. . 54. 2. Yea I fufpeet it will prove ahumane Sacrament : titherfullya Sacrament, or fo seer a k?n to Sacraments, as that man bath nothing to do to inflitute ir. The common prayer faith, that [a Sacrament is anoutwardvifible figs of an inward grace,given tous, ordainedby ChrijI himfelf, as a means whereby we receive theAnte, andapledge to afore us thereof ] (in the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=