The Churches count it good Sense and very Reasonable, That the Ministers of the Gospel who submit their Capacities and Abilities to a due Trial, should enjoy the Liberty, which was confessedly left us by our Saviour, and His Apostles; who never provided any Prayer Book but the Bible for us. They believe, that our Saviour and His Apostles knew the Necessities of His Churches; and they are afraid of any Inventions, that may carry in them the least Reproach upon His Infinite Wisdom. They believe, That our Enthroned JESUS, has promised unto ordinary Officers in His Churches, until the End of the World, a Continuance of sufficient Gifts, to discharge their Offices. They believe, That if there be found a Decay of Gifts in the Churches, the Remedy must be for Christians to return unto Him, who has chastised their Slothfulness, their Carnality, their Apostasy, with a withdraw of His Holy Spirit from them; and not by finding out an unhappy Expedient, that should rather confirm them in the lamentable Condition, into which they are fallen. Reader, This is the New English Puritanism! And as far as they can learn, they have the Practice of the Primitive Churches to countenance them in it. If a Service Book had not been a thing utterly unused in the Primitive ⟨p. 49⟩Churches, we may be sure Bellarmine would never have confessed*, That in old Times there was no Form of Prayer prescribed, but every one might make what Prayer he pleased, if it were but according to the Analogy of Faith. Chemnitius, and a whole Army of Protestants, have proved, That this Confession of Bellarmine is true, and, Apud veteres Ordinem celebrandi fuisse Arbitrarium. Indeed the Churches of New-England continue to this Day in such Ignorance (the Gentlemen of the Liturgy, will doubtless pity them!) that they know no footsteps of any Service Book, until the Liber Officialis (which also was rather a Directory than a Liturgy) mentioned in the fourth Toletane Council, more than Six Hundred Years after the first Coming of our Saviour. And the first Planters of these Churches hoped, That more than Six Hundred Years will pass, or, as we may rather say, that the Second Coming of our Saviour will arrive, before there will be universally received among them, any Liber Officialis, but the Sacred Scriptures:
The Churches count it good Sense and very Reasonable, That the Ministers of the Gospel who submit their Capacities and Abilities to a due Trial, should enjoy the Liberty, which was confessedly left us by our Saviour, and His Apostles; who never provided any Prayer Book but the Bible for us. They believe, that our Saviour and His Apostles knew the Necessities of His Churches; and they are afraid of any Inventions, that may carry in them the least Reproach upon His Infinite Wisdom. They believe, That our Enthroned JESUS, has promised unto ordinary Officers in His Churches, until the End of the World, a Continuance of sufficient Gifts, to discharge their Offices. They believe, That if there be found a Decay of Gifts in the Churches, the Remedy must be for Christians to return unto Him, who has chastised their Slothfulness, their Carnality, their Apostacy, with a withdraw of His Holy Spirit from them; and not by finding out an unhappy Expedient, that should rather confirm them in the lamentable Condition, into which they are fallen. Reader, This is the New English Puritanism! And as far as they can learn, they have the Practice of the Primitive Churches to countenance them in it. If a Servioe Book had not been a thing utterly unused in the Primitive ⟨p. 49⟩Churches, we may be sure Bellarmine would never have confessed*, That in old Times there was no Form of Prayer prescribed, but every one might make what Prayer he pleased, if it were but according to the Analogy of Faith. Chemnitius, and a whole Army of Protestants, have proved, That this Confession of Bellarmine is true, and, Apud veteres Ordinem celebrandi fuisse Arbitrarium. Indeed the Churches of New-England continue to this Day in such Ignorance (the Gentlemen of the Liturgy, will doubtless pity them!) that they know no footsteps of any Service Book, until the Liber Officialis (which also was rather a Directory than a Liturgy) mentioned in the fourth Toletane Council, more than Six Hundred Years after the first Coming of our Saviour. And the first Planters of these Churches hoped, That more than Six Hundred Years will pass, or, as we may rather say, that the Second Coming of our Saviour will arrive, before there will be universally received among them, any Liber Officialis, but the Sacred Scriptures:
- *Non fuisse Antiquo tempore, praescriptum certum Canonem Orationum, qui omnes obligaret, sed permissum fuisse, ut quisque componeret Preces, modo eae Analogae essent Fidei.
