AN ANSWER, In Defence of A MESS OF POTTAGE, Well Seasoned and Crumbed.  
Against M. T. S. T. R. A. I. S. P. H.  
Anagram, Strap Smith.  
Who falsely says, the COMMON PRAYERS are unlawful, and no better than the Pope's Porridge.  11. Job 2.3. 
Should not the multitude of Words be answered, and should a Man full of Talk be justified.  
Should thy lies make men hold their peace, and when thou mockest shall no Man make thee ashamed.  23. Exodus 1. 
Thou shalt not raise a false Report.  
In which Tract is answered his unanswerable Reasons: By the same Gyles Calfine.  
London, Printed Anno Domini, 1642.   

An Answer in Defence of a Mess of Pottage, well Seasoned and Crumbed.  
THat it is a very great part of indignity to call the Book of Common Prayer, the Pope's Porridge, is proved by three Reasons. First, In regard of the Matter in it. Secondly, In regard of the manner of it; And thirdly, In regard of the Laws that have been Acted for the maintaining of it. As for the Matter of it, if you look well upon it, you shall find grounded, first upon the Scriptures; yea, Scripture itself, in many places, and not upon any Popish Mass. 2. For the Manner of it, wherein is first, Reading and Meditating; Secondly, Heavenly Ejaculation, containing short pithy Prayers, and they be of three sort; first to be delivered from sin. Secondly, Petitions for Grace, and Thanksgivings for God's blessings towards Us: The third Reason, That it is an indignity to call it Porridge, because they have been established by Acts of Parliament; viz. in the days of King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth, King James, and now maintained by our gracious Sovereign King Charles; and therefore fourth Reason might be added, That it is an indignity to the State, to cast an aspersion upon them, as if they should maintain Laws against God's Word: for which cause there is penalties against those that did either deprave them, or use any other in stead of them: and to thi● purpose the Scripture says well, 13. Rom. 5. and 13. Heb. 17. and therefore it is not the Pope's Porridge, nor composed out of the Mass and if you will look back a little, you shall find, That Liturgies and Forms of Prayers have been long before the days of Edward the sixth, if not before there was any Pope in the World; Austea, Basil, Clement, chrysostom, and divers other, before their times who had forms of Prayers, and did answer after the Minister sometime, Lord have mercy one us, etc. and at other ●imes, We lift up our hearts to thee, O Lord, and sometimes, Amen: By all which it appears, That it is an indignity to call it so, and that it is not composed by the fat Cooks (as you term them) of the Pope's Kitchen, but by Learned Divines, and therefore not to be abolished.  
But grant it were Composed out of the Masse-Boo● (which I will never do, but defy it) is it therefore so corrupted that it must needs be abolished, and not rather corrected, amended: purcase you had a joint of meat (which I know you love well) and that it were in a place of two tainted, or as we usually say, Flyblown, will you because of this, cast your meat quite away, and never eat a bit of it no, I suppose you would not, but rather cut out that which is tainted; a d throw that away, as not fit to be eaten, and preserve the rest for your own eating. And yet the Common Prayers is not taken out of the Popish Mass, neither is it tainted, nor an Idolworship, and can be no abomination to offer them to God; and to this purpose, your proofs are but slender, that you prove that our prayers are abomination; indeed if they were directed to any Idols, Saints, or Angels, and not to the True and Ever living God, they then were Idolatrous Prayers: But being directed, intended, and God's Glory only aimed at 'tis a foul abuse, and deserves the lie, to say they are profane, and full of Popery: therefore raise no more Rabshakah like; but lay thy hand at thy mouth and be silent, for this kind of zeal is like a fire that will burn up all Godly discipline, and brings souls even to despair, if God's mercy did not exceed his Works. As for Baptism, Matrimony, Visitation of the sick, Consecration of the Lords Supper, Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, you say they are taken out of the Masse-Book, which is false, and that they are unlawful and inventions of men; then, I pr●y, show a better way or form, that they may be performed according to the Scripture. God did institute Marriage, but we never read how the manner of performing it was: we read of divers that were buried, but how it is not specified? so for the rest: therefore God hath left it to the Church to prescribe a form how to do them, provided, that they do them according to his Word as near as they can. Indeed in these days of divisions; there be many that Baptism, Bury, and Marry, etc. after another manner than the Common Prayer enjoins; but what is their manner? my thinks they come short of performing them so well as the Prayer Book Commands: for in Baptism ther●s scarce any Prayer made for the receiving of the Child into the Congregation, and for its growth in Grace; and to perform these duties, a Stable, B●rne, or Chamber, is more fit than a Church, and I think I should not lie, if I did say, a River: as for Marriage, th●r's little said wherefore it was ordained, for as soon as they come into the Church, they are Married, with a short Prayer of the Ministers, and so flightly shuffled up and away. So likewise at Burials, some there be that allow of no Prayers at the Grave, for (say they) 'tis Popery to read to the Dead, (all that's true) but they do allow of Sermons to be Preached over the Dead, and why that? they say it benefits the hearers, as if the Prayers of the Grave did not, and were only for the Dead: but if as much gai●e were to be had at the Reading of the Prayers, as there is at the Sermons, I question if any would stick to say them: Now let any indifferent Man Judge; whether the Old way, as the Church useth, or the New way that Separates and such like use be the best. I for my part will leave it to the wise consideration of the King and Parliament to order things, as They seem best, and that I will follow. But why is the Epistles and Gospels termed patches and shreds? 'tis but a gross Phrase: are you kin to any Butcher that useth patches and shreds to make up a Garment? And what foolish and vain repetitions are there (as you say;) Is Lord have mercy upon us, etc. The Lord's Prayer, and other short Ejaculations, battologies, tautologies, and foppish things? what kind of absurd speech is this: it seems you want none of God's mercy, and your Prayers are better than our Saviors, & that may be is the reason, that many will not conclude their Prayers with the Lords Prayer. Christ before his Passion, prayed to his Father one thing three times, Mat. 26.44. saying the same words: is it therefore unlawful for us to do the like? I suppose not: neither to read any small portion of Scripture by itself upon any occasion, by taking out here a little and there a little, as the Prophet hath it; so now it is neither frivolous nor ridiculous, but may be used in God's worship. Moreover, if a Woman make a courtesy to the Minister in the Church, at her coming in, or going out. What of that? (if you be a Minister) did you never put off your Hat to any in the Church (or were you always uncovered) nor did none to you; but being it is done, 'tis neither felony nor treason; 'tis no Popish Ceremony, nor any duty: common reason will tell you, that we own reverence one to another, especially to our superiors; perhaps you have done worse in a Church then that is, and we may lawfully reverence one another either in Church or field: but indeed nothing is ill spoken, but where it is ill taken, so says the Proverb; but what reverence will you allow to God in the Church, if Man must have none: surely all reverence to him must be excluded, if not God himself God, it seems by this Argument, made the body for no use at all in the Church (or any where else) but to come and squat down and never to stir, unless they sit uneasily, or to look upon another, fine : David thought it not sin to kneel to God, neither did Daniel; Christ is an example for us in this point, who fell upon his knees to his Father; He humbled himself, that we might learn of him; and therefore 'tis no Popish Porridge, or any unseemly thing. The Litany also (as you say) is ridiculous, full of Magic spells, and worse if worse can be, even Conjuring itself: What unreasonable madness and absurdity is this? perhaps your belief is not as an others is to believe you are saved by Christ Sufferings, but by your own Merits; and to believe thus, is indeed ridiculous.  
Concerning our Orders in the Church, no man need admire at it; for what is a Church without Order; S. Paul commands it, Let all things be done in Order, saith he; but it is a disorder when Ministers shall kneel, and other men shall sit, when one shall stand; and another in a manner lie all along. I confess, the Church at this time is out of Order, for in some places I have seen unmannerly Boys turn Clerks, and begin a Psalm, because they would have no Service read yea, they have held on in Singing, till the Minister came that should reach, in which time was Sung, the first four parts of the 119 Psalm, and part of the fifth part: I am sure these have been unlawful Orders, neither hath the Prayers been so tedious and wearisome, as you say, nor driven out at length, to hinder Preaching; no, all those Prayers put together, have not been so long as I have heard: some to my knowledge have been an hour and a quarter long: wherein I have heard one and the same thing reiterated (I speak within my bounds) a dozen times; neither could I find them so profitable as those in the Common Prayer: Besides all this, if there hath been Sermons wanting in many places, it was not long of tedious Service (as you call it) but the fault was rather in negligent Ministers: never were Sermons debarred for the Service sake, but they have been as plentiful as ever; and if any have not read those Prayers with that devotion as they ought, the fault lies still in them, that prayed without a sense and feeling of their own wants, and not in the Prayers, for they are found, and not to be termed Porridge or Popish dregs. I could wish, that the Pope in all his Dominions had no worse Porridge than these Prayers, for than we might be assured he would at length turn Protestant. And what quarter is there about Holidays, days of Feasting, as if they were kept in honour of Saints. Though God said, six days shalt thou labour, and keep the seventh day holy, doth it argue, that we may not go to Church on a Holiday: the performing of this Service on that day, is to give God thanks that he hath given us such good Examples, as they were for us to imitate, and that we may praise God in the remembrance of them, that they lived a godly life, and died in the Faith of Jesus Christ. If you had 〈◊〉 Child or Friend, that did live a Christian life, and died in the state of Grace, would not you (though many years after) thank God that you had such a Child or Friend, that was God's servant, and pray further, that you may follow his steps: would you be thus uncharitable to yourself, I suppose not: for proof, The Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance; but the memory of the wicked shall rot, as the Scripture speaks, the keeping of Holy days is therefore, that we may spend some time in the Church in praises and prayers: and to exercise ourselves in some lawful recreation: and that therefore cannot be Popery: there is yet another thing that is much stumbled at, and that is kneeling at the Sacrament, now to say this is Idolatry, you must first prove that we kneel to the Creatures, Bread and Wine; to the Minister or to the rails; but to neither of these did ever any Christian Protestant kneel, or ever had that thought; which is the fittest, to kneel, stand, or sit? we read of neither of these, but that many will conjecture that Christ and the Disciples sat: which is not altogether so apparent: If the Church hath power to charge the time of receiving the Sacraments from night to noon, surely it hath some power to order a wholesome and seemly gesture, being there is none prescribed. Many are sore crossed at the Cross in Baptism, and say 'tis the Mark of the Beast, Revel. 13.16.17. but it is not there understood, a material Cross, but the open profession and Religion that the beast useth, and all those that profess his Religion, they are said to be marked with the Beasts mark; that is, the receiving of the m●rk in the forehead or hand one signifies the profession, and the other signifies the action, both which argue no Cross, but I desire no more crosses; but cross fellows take them if they will, and then one cross may lie upon another. If the Surplice be a Rag, 'tis sooner put off then on, there is no holiness in it, 'tis but a signification of purity, either in the Minister, or the worship. So that in sum of all that hath been said, there's no reasonable Man (I believe) will censure the Common Prayer to be so vile, so unlawful, and so full of Popish shreds and patches (as you say tis) and therefore to be abolished; but rather if any thing be in it that is unsound, to be corrected and amended: for it was not Composed of fat Cooks of the Pope's Kitchen (as you term them) but of godly Divines, of which function you are, I suppose, if not, would you were as good, for I scarce like you, especially when men steal their works out of other Authors, or some other of their own, and are ashamed of their names, and in stead write unknown Letters, as M.T.S.T.R.A.I.S.P.H. which being Annagramd is STRAP SMITH; and that I may give you one strap more, and play the Smith's part, in striking the iron whilst 'tis hot, I will leave you in the midst of the River, swimming after a Duck, but caught a Goose (the meat I should say) with your Doublet off, and your Breeches on, which is an unproper swimming (for a muffled Cat can never catch Mice) no more can you attain to the flesh you so desire, being so trussed; and if I have not made a good exposition of your Doublet, then take it another way; One there wes, being hungry, went to an Ordinary, and calls for a three penny Ordinary, and presently was brought him a great bowl of Pottage, with a little meat in the midst; the hungry party at the sight of it, straight pulls off his Doublet; the party which brought it, asked the reason why he did so? answer was made, that he seeing so much Pottage, which he did not love, and so little meat, which he loved best, there was a necessity that he must put off his Doublet to swim to it: of which opinion you are, if not that party, who hold Pottage is only for Children, and meat for Men but my opinion is, that Pottage and Meat, Prayers and Preaching, is food convenient for Children and Men, and such are the Common Prayers, term them as you list. Now, if I have done well, I am not sorry; but if ill, I wish it were better, it is as well as a lame Man could do; notwithstanding, it is far better to be Lame, then Lecherous. And no more of this.  
FINIS.