A reply to Dr. Mortons general Defence of three nocent [sic] ceremonies viz. the…A reply to Dr. Mortons generall Defence of three nocent [sic] ceremonies viz. the…

SECT. X.

Here comes in a straggling objection, as it is here alleged without any dependence, omitted in the place whereto it belongeth. I vvill not therefore press it in this place. Only it would be marked how little the Defendant careth what he saith, so that he say something to every thing: 1 he answereth that ⟨p. 44⟩Papist• do commonly teach by their ceremonies some new doctrine, not warranted by Scriptures. For confutation of which, the Papists may well appeal to Durandus his Rationale, where he showeth the signification of almost all the Popish rites. Now if the Defendant can there find one signification of a hundred, which teacheth any strange doctrine not warranted by the Scriptures, I have taken my numbers amiss. 2 He saith the Papists ceremonies differ from ours in application, by their opinion of necessity and holiness. But 1 the question here is only of signification: and therefore it is out of time to talk of application: 2 the Papists do not hold their ceremonies absolutely necessary to salvation. For this Bellarmin• de verbo non scripto l 4 c. 11 denieth of all unwritten traditions, as also Aquinas 12. qu. 147 a 4 ad 1. Neither do th•y hold them essentially necessary to the being of a Sacrament: This Aquinas with all his followers deny, p 4 qu. 66 a 10. where he saith expressly, that all signs invented•ly man are only for stirring up of devotion, and procuring of reverence to the Sacraments: which is, word for word, our English plea. 3 It doth not appear that the learned Papists have any opinion of all their significant ceremonies, which this Def. doth not maintain. For Suarez a principal Jesuit in Thom. p. 3 q. 65 a 4 propoundeth only three errors as he calleth them, wherein Protestants differ from Papists concerning ceremonies in general: whereof the first is, that only those things which are written ought to be retained and used in the Church: The second is, that no outward worship of God is lawful, but only that which is appointed by God. The third and last is, that the Church hath not power of commanding and ordaining those things (he meaneth mystical ceremonies) which are necessary for the convenient celebration of the Sacraments. Now there is none of these three points wherein Swarz and the Def doth not jump.