XVI. SECT. III.

festivals or holidays that were celebrated in honour c EN T. of the saints, the use of the sign of the cross more especially in the sacrament of baptism, the nomi- PART II. nating godfathers and godmothers as sureties for the education of children whose parents were still living [9], and the doctrine relating to the validity of lay-baptism [r]. They disliked the read

ing

"sent of the clergy in convocation." Upon the authority of
this clause, the queen appointed a certain number of commis-
sioners for ecclesiastical causes, who, in many instances, a-
bused their power.
The court they composed, was called The
Court of High Commission, because it claimed a more extensive
jurisdiction, and higher powers, than the ordinary courts of the
bishops. Its jurisdiction reached over the whole kingdom, and
was much the same with that which had been lodged in the single
person of Lord Cromwell, vicar general of Henry VIII. These
Commissioners were empowered to make enquiry, not only by
the legal methods of juries, and witnesses, but by all other ways
and means which they could devise, that is, by rack, torture,
inquisition and imprisonment. They were vested with a right to
examine such persons as they suspected, by administering to
them an oath (not allowed of in their commission, and therefore
called ex officio), by which they were obliged to answer all
questions, and thereby might be obliged to accuse themselves or
their most intimate friends. The fines they imposed were mere.
ly discretionary; the imprisonment to which they condemned
was limited by no rule but their own pleasure; they imposed
when they thought proper, new articles of faith on the clergy,
and practised all the iniquities and cruelties of a real inquisition.
See Rapin's and Hume's Histories of England, under the reign.
of Elizabeth, and Neal's History of the Puritans, passim.

[9] Other rites and customs displeasing to the Puritans, and omitted by our author, were, kneeling at the sacrament of the Lord's supper, bowing at the name of Jesus, giving the ring in marriage, the prohibition of marriage during certain times of the year, and the licensing it for money, as also the confirmation of children by episcopal imposition of hands.

[r] The words of the original are, 66 nec sacris Christianis pueros recens natos ab aliis, quam sacerdotibus, initiari patiebantur." The Roman catholics, who look upon the external rite of baptism as absolutely necessary to salvation, allow conse quently, of its being performed by a lay-man, or a midwife, where a clergyman is not at hand, nay (if such a ridiculous thing may be mentioned) by a surgeon, where a still birth is

apprehended,

XVI

CEN Ting of the apocryphal books in the church; and, 8zCT. II. With respect to set forms of prayer, although they PART II. did not go so far as to insist upon their being en

The princi

their senti

ments con

tirely abolished, yet they pleaded for a right to every minister, of modifying, correcting, and using them in such a manner, as might tend most to the advancement of true piety, and of addressing the Deity in such terms as were suggested by their inward feelings, instead of those that were dictated by others. In a word, they were of opinion, that the government and discipline of the church of England ought to have been modelled after the ecclesiastical laws and institutions of Geneva, and that no indulgence was to be shewn to those ceremonies or practices, which bore the smallest resemblance of the discipline or worship of the church of Rome.

XX. These sentiments, considered in themples on selves, seemed neither susceptible of a satisfactory which the Puritans defence, nor of a complete refutation. Their maintained solidity or falsehood depended upon the principles from whence they were derived; and no recerning ec- gular controversy could be carried on upon these matters, until the contending parties adopted ment and some common and evident principles, by which divine wor- they might corroborate their respective systems.

clesiastical

govern

ship.

It is only by an examination of these, that it can be known on what side truth lies, and what degree of utility or importance can be attributed to a contest of this nature. The principles laid down by the queen's commissioners on the one hand, and

the

apprehended. The church of England though it teacheth in general, that none ought to baptize but men dedicated to the service of God, yet doth not esteem null baptism performed by laicks or women, because it makes a difference between what is essential to a sacrament, and what is requisite to the regular way of using it. The Puritans, that they might neither prescribe, nor even connive at a practice that seemed to be founded on the absolute necessity of infant baptism, would allow that sa cred rite to be performed by the clergy alone.

the Puritans on the other, were indeed very dif-CENT. ferent.

XVI. SECT. III.

For in the first place, The former maintained, PART II. that the right of reformation, that is, the privilege of removing the corruptions and of correcting the errors that may have been introduced into the doctrine, discipline, or worship of the church, is lodged in the sovereign, or civil magistrate alone; while the latter denied, that the power of the magistrate extended so far, and maintained, that it was rather the business of the clergy to restore religion to its native, dignity and lustre. This was the opinion of CALVIN, as has been already observed.

Secondly, The queen's commissioners maintained, that the rule of proceeding, in reforming the doctrine or discipline of the church, was not to be derived from the sacred writings alone, but also from the writings and decisions of the fathers in the primitive ages.. The Puritans, on the contrary, affirmed, that the inspired word of God being the pure and only fountain of wisdom and truth, it was from thence alone that the rules and directions were to be drawn, which were to guide the measures of those who undertook to purify the faith, or to rectify the discipline and worship, of the church; and that the ecclesiastical institutions of the early ages, as also the writings of the ancient doctors, were absolutely destitute of all sort of authority.

Thirdly, The queen's commissioners ventured to assert, that the church of Rone was a true church, though corrupt and erroneous in many points of doctrine and government; that the Roman pontif, though chargeable with temerity and arrogance in assuming to himself the title and jurisdiction of head of the whole church, was, nevertheless, to be esteemed a true and lawful bishop; and, consequently, that the ministers

ordained

CENT. ordained by him were qualified for performing SECT. III. the pastoral duties. This was a point which the PART II. English bishops thought it absolutely necessary

XVI.

to maintain, since they could not otherwise claim the honour of deriving their dignities, in an uninterrupted line of succession, from the apostles. But the Puritans entertained very different notions of this matter; they considered the Romish hierarchy as a system of political and spiritual tyranny, that had justly forfeited the title and privileges of a true church; they looked upon its pontif as Antichrist, and its discipline as vain, superstitious, idolatrous, and diametrically opposite to the injunctions of the gospel; and in consequence of this they renounced its communion, and regarded all approaches to its discipline and worship as highly dangerous to the cause of true religion.

Fourthly, The court commissioners considered as the best and most perfect form of ecclesiastical government, that which took place during the first four or five centuries; they even preferred it to that which had been instituted by the apostles, because, as they alleged, our Saviour and his apostles had accommodated the Form, mentioned in Scripture, to the feeble and infant state of the church, and left it to the wisdom and discretion of future ages to modify it in such a manner as might be suitable to the triumphant progress of Christianity, the grandeur of a national establishment, and also to the ends of civil policy. The Puritans asserted, in opposition to this, that the rules of church government were clearly laid down in the Holy Scriptures, the only standard of spiritual discipline []; and that the apostles, in establishing

[] By this they meant, at least, that nothing should be imposed as necessary, but what was expressly contained in the holy scriptures, or deduced from them by necessary conse

quence.

establishing the first Christian church on the Aris- c E N T. tocratical plan that was then observed in the Jew-scr.III. ish Sanhedrim, designed it as an unchangeable mo- PART II. del, to be followed in all times, and in all places.

Lastly, The court reformers were of opinion, that things indifferent, which are neither commanded nor forbidden by the authority of Scripture, such as the external rites of public worship, the kind of vestments that are to be used by the clergy, religious festivals, and the like, might be ordered, determined, and rendered a matter of obligation by the authority of the civil magistrate; and that, in such a case, the violation of his commands would be no less criminal than an act of rebellion against the laws of the state. The Puritans alleged, in answer to this assertion, that it was an indecent prostitution of power to impose, as necessary and indispensable, those things which CHRIST had left in the class of matters indifferent; since this was a manifest incroachment upon that liberty, with which the Divine Saviour had made us free. To this they added, that such rites and ceremonies as had been abused to idolatrous purposes, and had a manifest tendency to revive the impressions of superstition and popery in the minds of men, could by no means be considered as indifferent, but deserved to be rejected without hesitation as impious and profane. Such, in their estimation, were the religious ceremonies of ancient times, whose abrogation was refused by the queen and her council [t].

XXI. This

quence. They maintained still farther, that supposing it proved, that all things necessary to the good government of the church could not be deduced from Holy Scripture, yet that the discretionary power of supplying this defect was not vested in the civil magistrate, but in the spiritual officers of the church.

[] Dr Mosheim, in these five articles, has followed the account of this controversy given by Mr Neal, in his History

XVIJ

SECT.