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Show ----------------------~--~--~----~=-~~~~ Con.fideratiOJZJ, touching the Edification, mtd Pacification,1 ---- the Liturgy, if the Form thereof, be, i_n ~~~parts, agreeable, ~0' the Word of God; The Example of the Prmntzve CIJUrch) And that holy Decbzcy, which saint Paulcommendeth. _And ther~~orc? firft, r hJt there Le' a Set form ofPrtryer; And that_, 1t ben at lefr, etthe_F to an Extemporall Form, or to an Arbitrary Form.Secondiy, th~t It coofifr,as well of Laudes,H;,mner,and Thatzk.!gi1Jings, as of Petltw~s, Prayers, and supplications. Thirdly, tl."la:t th~ Form thereof be qui kned, with fome {hortneife, and D1verftues, ofrrayeN, and HJ'm1lcs, and with fame Interchanges, o~the r:'oY.ce o the P~ofle,~s wdlasoftheA1inift~r. Faurthly, that It adtO:It~ome DiJ!m&,- 011f of Times, and CommemoratiOns, of Gods prTnczpall_BemjJts, as well Generall, as parlicular. F.ifthly, that Prayers, hkew i ~e, ~e dppropri:ncd, to feverall Nccejjztias,_ -and Oe~,iflonJ, ofrh_e Cmtrc!J . Sixthly") tbat there be a Form, l 1ke~tfe, o~U ord.r, and L~tur:_~ ' . 111 the Admimflration of the Sacuments, and tn t~t e Denouncmg of the CcnjTtres jot theChHrch, ~nd other Holy AaJOnf, and.)o/omntzes: Thefe things, I think, will not be much controv_erted. . But for the Particnlar Exceptions , to the Ltmrgy, ~9 form, as it now frandeth; I think, divers, .of them, allow~ng thr.:y were Juft, .yet feem they not to be ~etgh:y; Otherfv lk , tl:e? that nothing ought to be accounted Ltght, tn Nl.1trers o_f Rel,gt · on and Piety; As the Heathen himfelf could fay; Et1am vultu fepe lceditur Pietas. Th~t the word, (rrieft,) fi1_o~ld not ?e con· tinued, efptcially with O!fence, the f!ord, (M:niJier,) bewg al_lready made famihar. Thts may b~ fatd, that 1~ 1s a go~d Uul~ m 7 rrmjlat10n,never to co_?fou_nd th~t tn one word., to the~ ~~ifla~zon ' .. I which is pr~cifely difhngulibed,m ~wo 'Words 111 th~ Or1gm_al :>for doubt_of Equivocation, and 7rad~cmg~ ~nd _there~ore, feemffi th~ word Ilr~cr~c.in~o~, & ltfwf, be alwates dtfhugmfl1ed,1n ~h~ OrT0 mal, . And the one ufed for a Sacrijice1·, the orhei for a Mmifler; The word, Priefl, being made common to borh, ( wha_t~oevt:r t!1e Derivation beJ yet, in ufe, it confoun~et~ the MtlJ_i_fter, wtth the sacr!ficer. And for an Examp!e, ~f thts kmd; I ?td ever ~llo,:V, the Difcretion, and Tendernefie, of the Rhemifb Tr~njla~IOJJ, 1n this Point; That finding, in the Original/, th word Aj.e-m?, and never iP'"'>, do ever tranflate charity, and never Love; B.ecau(e of of t~e Indifferency, and Equivocation, uf the wurd, with Impure Love. C fid · Touching the Ab{obttio1t, it is not unworthy on ' era ton, whether it may not. be thought, unproper,and unneceffary? F~r there are but two forts, of Abfolution; Both fu ppding' an O~lz.~ ation, ;recedent: The one, upon an Fxcomm1u:ication, whtch is Religiou.r, and rrimitive; The other,upon Confeffion, an_d :~na~c~, which is superflitious or at Ieafi, Pojtive; And both PattlCU •aJ, neither Generall. Th~refore, Gnce the one is taken away? a_nd the other hath his proper cafe, what doth agenerall Abjomtzon, wherein there is neither Penance, nor Excommunication, precedent? F~ the church never luefeth, but where the church hatdh ' bou~ . oj'the Cb1trcb ofEngbnd. ~4) ho1md. And (-iu-rel_y_, -1-mJy thin k, -T his, ~t the 6;-fr, Wa!! ;Jlowc:d, in a kinde of [ piritnall Difcretion; Becanfc the Ghnrcb th:Jught,- rhe pe~ple, could not be fu idainly wean~d, f rom their Con-ceit ofAfinyling; To which they ha(~ been, ioJong accuftome~. For Conftrmttti01t; to my undcribndwg. the State of the Q~1_efbon is whether it be nor a matter mlfr..tkcn, and altred by Tunej And 'whether, that he ~ot now nude, a Sztbjfq~tcnt to JJaptifiJJe, which wa , iudeed,:u1 .lnd;tcemeltt,to the Comnmnrou.For whereas in the Primitive CIJH rch, Chzldren wc:re ex:unined of their Faith before they were admitted to the Communion,. Time may fcem to have turned ir, to r~fer, as if it h.:1d been , to receive, a Coll-firmatlon of their EtTp t ij'nte~ For f'rivatc Baptiflne. by U'ome;J.,or Lay- Perfom,the b .::l1: Divines, do utterly condemne its and I he_ar it not generally ~efen Jed:, And I have ,,fteu marvailed, that where the Boo4f, In th~ Preface, toP ub!zc~ Baptt(me, doth ack_nowledgc, that Baptijntc, in the Praftife, of the Pnmiti·ve Church, was A n :ti verfary, and but at -:ertain Times; which fheweth, that the Primitive Cburch) did not attribute, fo much, to the Ceremon)', as tht_-y \fould break Jn outward, and .generall, Order for it; The Boo/ze, il1ould a f te r~ waTds, <-Jlow ofPrivateBaptifme:, As ifth\:Ceremony, wercof thar Nece-fiitv, as tLe very Inflitu.'tiou, which committed Baptifme oacly ro h ~ Mmijlcrs, fhould be brol,en, in re~prd, of the fuppof~ d N:.:ceflity. And th'erefore this Point, of all or h~rs, I think, w:1s, bnt a Co~tcejfttm proper Duritiant CordiJ. For the Form, of Cele/Jrating ll1,1.trimony) the Ring fcemeth to many, even of vulgar Sen!e, and ll;dcrfia nding, a Ceremony not Grave; Efpechll}', to be m.1de, (as tht rr;ords make ir,) the eiieroltia ;l Part, of the .Atlio11.? Bcfides, fome other of the words, are noted, in Sp ~·ech, to be, no:: fo Decent, and Fit • For lldufick in Ch~trche1; That there fhou ld he Sin~~i11g ofPJalmes, and Spiritutrll Songs~ is not denyed: So the Qudl:i rn is, de Afodo; Wherein) if a Man, will look attentivel}r, into the 0 :der, and Obfe1 vat ion, of it, it is cafie to difce1 n, between the 1Vifedomt', of the' h1}iitution, and the Exerr.ife of the late 'limes. For fi.: fr, there are ho Songs, or Verfes, fung, hy the J2!!ir·e, which are not fuppofed, by continual1 u(e, ·to be fc fam1liar with the People, as they have them without Booke; Whereby, the Sonnd, hurtcth not the Underftonding; And thofe, which cannot read, upon the Booke,are yet Pertakers of the Senfe, and may follow it with their mind. So agJin, after the Ret~ding of the Word, it was thought fit, there fhould be, fome p~mfe, for Holy Meditation, before ·they proceeded) to the Rdl:, of the Service: W fuich Paufe, was t~ought fit, to be filled, rather with fome grave fomzd, then with a jiilljlence; Which was the Reafon, of the Playing upon the Organs, after the ScriptHre.r read. All which was De· cent, and tending to Ed~ficatirn. But then, the C1triojity of Devi-fton, and Reports, and other Figures of Mujic/z, have no Affini.ty, with |