A dispute against the English-popish ceremonies, obtruded upon the Church of Scotland Wherein not…A dispute against the English-popish ceremonies, obtruded vpon the Church of Scotland Wherein not…

Now as for the assumption of our present Argument, it can not Sect. 17 be but evident, to any who will not harden their minds against the light of the truth, that the Ceremonies in question, have been most notoriously abused to Idolatry and superstition, and withal, that they have no necessary use to make us retain them. I say, they have been notoriously abused to Idolatry. 1. Because they have been dedicated and consecrated to the service of Idols. 2. Because they have been deeply polluted, and commonly employed in Idolatrous worship. For both these reasons doth ⁱZanchius condemn the Surplice, and such like Popish Ceremonies, left in England, because the Whore of Rome hath abused, and doth yet abuse them, ad alliciendos homines ad scortandum. Sunt enim pompae istae omnes, & Ceremoniae Papisticae, nihil aliud quam fuci Meretricij, ad hoc excogitati, ut homines ad spiritualem scortationem alliciantur. O golden sentence, and worthy to be engraven with a pen of Iron, and the point of a Diamond! For most needful it is to consider, that those Ceremonies, are the very meretricious bravery, and inveigling trinkets, wherewith the Romish Whore doth fard and paint her self, whiles she propineth to the world the cup of her fornications. This makes ^kZanchius, to call those Ceremonies, the Relics & Symbols of Popish Idolatry and Superstition. When Queen Mary set up Popery in England, and restored all of it, which King Henry had overthrown, she considered, that Popery could not stand well favouredly, without the Ceremonies. Whereupon ^lshe ordained, ut dies omnes festi celebrentur, superioris aetatis Ceremoniae restituantur, pueri adultiores ante baptisati, ab Episcopis confirmentur. So that not in remote regions, but in his Majesties dominions, not in a time past memory, but about fourscore years ago, not by peoples practise only, but by the laws and edicts of the Supreme Magistrate; the Ceremonies have been abused, to the reinducing and upholding of Popery and Idolatry. Both far and near then, both long since and lately, it ⟨p. 32⟩is more then notorious, how grossly and grievously the Ceremonies have been polluted with Idolatry and Superstition.