deep Sense how scandalously the Christian Religion was injured hereby she not only severely censures such Offenders but also clogs their Restoration with great Difficulties and makes it a reserved Case I am not ignorant that the Bishop of Rome who grasps at and claims no less than all has made Reservations till he has reserved away in a manner the whole Authority of all the Bishops in his Communion but the best things may be abused or usurped upon For in the first Ages of the Church we find Cases reserved but then it was by Canons made in Council where it was thought necessary for the benefit of the Church to restrain the exercise of Jurisdiction of single Bishops in some special Case hence it was decreed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing of moment should be done without the Bishop of the Prime See whom we now call a Metropolitan or Arch-bishop and herein our Church hath trod in the Steps of the Primitive Fathers For she leaves the Bishops their just Authority and yet reserves some matters of more universal Influence and concern to the Metropolitan and that she hath done it in this and some other cases perhaps there are weighty Reasons As 1st To preserve and secure the Discipline of the Church in matters of great importance and publick concern Favour Affection Interest or Importunity of Friends might perhaps be apt to sway sometimes with the particular Bishop either to overlook the thing or too easily to reconcile the Persons whereas the Metropolitan is less obnoxious to such Motives Besides if he should neglect to do his part the Suffragan Bishop would have just cause to complain and desire the exercise of his Jurisdiction in that particular to be restored if the other answer not the end of the Reservation and thus they are made a mutual Spur to and Watch upon each other 2dly For more publick Satisfaction the Crime may be notorious and the Offence given to a whole Nation or more and if the Person should be reconciled by his Ordinary it might be known to few and consequently the Scandal remain but being done by the Metropolitan it must necessarily be more notorious the Party's Repentance will be more publick and a more ample Satisfaction made for the Dishonour done to the Laws of God and his Church 3dly For a particular Brand upon the Crime and to testifie the Judgment of the Church as to her high detestation of it For every one must think that she hath a singular Abhorrence of that Crime which she declares she will not forgive but upon such severe conditions 4thly For the more effectual punishing and reclaiming the Offender he is by this means more surely held and his Trouble and Pains much greater to get out of the Snare he hath run into He must be more thoroughly mortified before he will submit to such open Penance and Recantation and when it is over it s very being so well known will in all probability be a means to prevent his relapsing Lastly The more powerfully to deter others that they may not dare to run in that Wickedness which intangles Men with such great Difficulties and brings them to such open Shame Now as big and scornfully as our Adversaries look upon us I think I have proved that these are the Circumstances they are under and having done my endeavour to convince them of their Sin and Danger I know not what I can now do more or better for them than to pray to God to give them Repentance they have not only brought a Flourishing Church into a most miserable condition but have razed the very Foundations and set her on no Bottom she is not only lest at the discretion of the Secular Power but prostituted to the frantick Will and Humour of every Usurper which is little better than putting God's Church under the Devil's Protection The Breach of Promises and Oaths the renouncing our natural Allegiance and Canonical Obedience are made no Sins if the adhering to them should chance to bring us under any Inconvenience And thus the Doctrine of the Cross so particularly entailed on Christianity is huff'd and scoff'd out of Doors Men may join with the Devil to delude themselves and others but certainly God will visit for such Sins as these and sooner or later make such Sinners know themselves May God in Mercy give them a sight and sense of their Sins that they may repent and return and God's Judgments averted and our Breaches healed tho' I abominate the Crimes yet I have no ill-will to their Persons and wish them reconciled but as for the methodus reconciliandi I leave it to my Superiors the proper Judges who doubtless will faithfully assist and advise their Metropolitan how the Canon may be satisfied And provided that some sort of Reparation were made for the Dishonour done to God and his Church and the Wrongs done to the Lawful King I should very readily acquiesce in almost any Terms and rejoice to see an end oâ— the sad Thoughts of Heart caused by the Divisions of Reuben I had here concluded but that as I was penning these few Considerations News was brought me that after so long consulting and caballing Stillingfleet-Hody was come abroad laying about him like Goliah knocking down no less than 6 or 7 at once and making bolder Challenges than ever did that mighty Philistine I did think my self as to my present Subject out of his reach but not knowing what a Mad-man who lays about him at all Adventures might hit upon I procured the Book Now tho' his Principles well improved will vindicate any Villany or destroy any thing honest or true yet not finding my present Subject particularly affected I shall dismiss him and his Book with only some few Observations which may serve a little to stay honest Men's Stomachs till they can have a full Meal The Jackdaw in the Fable set out with the Peacock's Plumes did never strut and bristle at half the rate as doth this Vain-glorious Fellow and if every Bird should seize his own Feather he might be left as naked and ridiculous as was his Emblem The very Title is insolent and amazing For what honest or modest Man would discourse and set up for Sâ—es Vacant by an unjust or uncanonical Deprivation For if the Deprivation be uncanonical the Persons are not by Canon deprived if it be unjust the Law and I hope there may be some Law left tho' we have so little benefit of it affords every Man a Remedy against Injustice and will help him to recover his right against it and the very Plea which the Law assigns in this case is Ecclesia plena just opposite to his Vacancy But right or wrong if it be done by a Power irresistible there must be a Submission Now I would know what he means by irresistible for properly speaking perhaps only God is so but if by it he means a Power by any wicked means and in any wicked courses become Superior to us
excommunicated ipso facto by the Canon by consequence they cannot be the Church of England they have incurred her Censures are cut off from her Communion her sound Members ought not to communicate with them And the Anti-Revolutionists how few soever are the only Church of England I have stated this Reasoning but very briefly you may easily examine it more fully and if it holds I have my purpose For when it is enquired into and found solid it may deserve its proper place in some Book or other that may after this be written on the Controversie Besides it may be useful for obviaâ—ing that popular Plea against the Separation That the Original Question is only of Civil Coâ—cern and ought not to affect the Interests of the Church For from these Grounds it appears that in the Opinion of the Church of England which made the Canons it was of such concern as to have the highest Censures of the Church interested in it and to be made a fundamental term of her Communion If after it is examined by Men of better Judgment and better skill'd in the concerns of the Church of England it shall c. The Canon to which the Author of the Letter resers WHosoever shall hereafter affirm that the King's Majesty hath not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical that the Godly Kings had amongst the Jews and Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church or impeach in any part his Regal Supremacy in the said Causes restored to the Crown and by the Laws of the Realm therein established Let him be excommunicated ipso facto and not restored but only by the Arch-Bishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of those his wicked Errors Before I come to explain the intent and force of this Canon I think it convenient to set down a Position in the first Canon which all Persons having â—ure of Souls and all other Preachers and Readers of Divinity are obliged to the uttermost of their Wit Knowledg and Learning purely and sincerely without any Colour or Dissimulation to teach manifest open and declare four times every Year at the least And whether this hath been done or if done with what Sincerity by the greatest part let the World judge by their present and late Actings And it may be farther observed that this Position is levelled as well against all Civil as Ecclesiastical Foreign Powers as may appear not only from the Words in it but from our Laws and Statutes which shall hereafter be produced which this was designed to strengthen and confirm That the Spiritual Sword might afford what assistance it could to the Secular and both Powers concur to secure the Lawful Supream Governour upon whose Safety and Welfare the Well-being of both so much depended The Position in the first Canon That all Usurped and Foreign Power forasmuch as the same hath no establishment nor ground by the Law of God is for most just Causes taken away and abolished and that therefore no manner of Obedience or Subjâ—ction within his Majesty's Realms and Dominions is due unto any such Foreign Power But that the King's Power within his Realms of England Scotland and Ireland and all other his Dominions and Countries is the highest Power under God to whom all Men as well Inhabitants as born within the same do by God's Laws owe most Loyalty and Obedience afore and above all other Powers and Potentates in Earth I do not deny but that the Usurpations of the Court of Rome were the â—ccasion of laying down this Position but then though the occasions of Laws or Canons are particular yet the Law or Canon it self is general â—gainst all Mischiefs whatsoever of the like kind If the occasion of the first Law against Murder had been the cutting a Man's Throat no State whatâ—oeâ—â—â— would be so weak as to make a Law only against cutting of Throats â—nd leave bloudy Men free to use all other ways but their Law would be â—ade general to prevent the killing any Man either with Knife Sword Pistol 〈◊〉 or any other way or means whatsoever otherwise at this rate we must have a particular Law for every particular Fact It were a ridiculous â—hing to make a Fence against the Encroachments and Usurpations of the â—oman Court and to leave open a wide Gap for all others to enter in at pleasure For though we may justly have particular Apprehensions of the Alâ—-assuming Man at Rome yet we have the same reason against all Usurpatâ—â—ns as being equally pernicious to us from what Quarter soever they â—â—me But that we may come nearer to the Business both this Position and 〈◊〉 fore-cited Canon are equally acknowledged by both Parties engaged in 〈◊〉 present Controversie both Non-Jurors and Jurors assert themselves to 〈◊〉 the Church of England and lay claim to the Canon as a Canon of theiâ— Church if therefore the Canon be violated there can be no Cotroversie betwixt either Party but that the Penalty mentioned in the Canon belongs to the Violators so that if either Party appear guilty the Penalty must be fixed by consent Now for both Parties to get quit of it is impossible this Thunderbolt must unavoidably fall upon the one or the other For iâ— King James be our true and lawful Sovereign then the Regal Authority is his and consequently the Supremacy which is the choicest and top Branch of that Authority and if so then the Jurors who not only deny King James's Supremacy but have to their Power divested him of all Authority must inevitably stand excommunicated ipso facto by vertue of this Canon the force of which themselves acknowledg On the other hand it is not to be doubted but the Jurors will not be wanting to themselves in charging the Non-Jurors with the same Guilt for not worshipping the Idol which they have set up and which hath been more chargeable than ever was Nebuchadnezzar's Golden Image Now the Mighty Dr. Sherlock tells us That we cannot have two Kings at once and though I am not satisfied that the Doctor 's Proposition is universally true for David caused Solomon to be anointed and proclaimed King in his Life-time without divesting himself and the like did our King Henry II. to his no small Trouble yet in this Case where the two Titles clash and mutually destroy each other so that if the former be Rightful King the latter must be an Usurper if the latter have acquired a Right the former must have lost his there it is most certain that we cannot have two Kings at once Now for their New-fashion'd King they may take the best care of him they can that which lies on us is to prove the Right in King James which even Dr. Sherlock acknowledgeth and that very thing makes his de facto King to be but another Name for an Usurper For a bare de facto King is no more a King than a Possessor malae sidei is the true Proprietor of an Estate which he hath unlawfully and unjustly thrust himself into
a one cannot be accepted or if it be his Institution is void They may chew the Cud upon this who have accepted any Preferments under these Schismatical Bishops for the obtaining of which they have taken Oaths whereby they denied their lawful King and consequently then incurred an Excommunication ipso facto 3. It makes the whole Administration of his Ministerial Office ineffectual You can expect no Return of Prayers made with him with whom you ought not to communicate the B. Sacrament consers no Benesit received from his Hands he cannot authoritatively bless the People of God who is himself under a Curse and excluded from being a part of them And here I think all those who have joined themselves to such Persons to be highly concerned to lay their Hands on their Hearts and consider well what they have done in communicating with them hitherto and whether they can think it safe to continue therein for in communicating with them as they are Schismaticks they make themselves Schismaticks and in communicating with them as they are Excommunicates not only all their Labour is lost but they get a Curse instead of a Blessing The matter were not altogether so bad if this Censure extended only to Clergy-men but that a thorough Provision might be made to secure the Subject in Obedience it spares none and therefore I shall consider how Excommunication affects Persons in general whether Lay-men or Clergy-men 1st Then no excommunicated Person ought to be sussered to be present at the Service of the Church and if the Minister who officiates can no other ways get rid of him he ought rather to break off and desist than to susser such a Person to join in Communion with his Flock 'T is indeed true that he may be allowed to be present when the Sermon is made as supposed to make for his Information or Conviction but even then he ought not to be intermingled with others but to stand alone and plainly distinguished from the rest of the Congregation But to the Prayers such Persons never were nor ought to be admitted 2dly Every excommunicated Person is especially debarred from being a Partaker of the Lord's Supper and antiently if any Priest did administer the Sacrament to such an one bâ—â—ore he was Canonically reconciled to the Church which originally was done by the Bishop or by Authority deputed from him he himself became liable to be deposed and no longer intrusted in the Ministry 3dly Whosoâ—ver stands excommunicated non â—rrante clave he is dismembred and cut off from the Church and consequently deprived of those Supplies and Succours which the Mâ—â—bers receive by being united together in one Body and by means thereof to Christ their Head they are like Branches cut off from the Vine there is no way or means left whereby any gratious Succours can be conveyed unto them unless there be a Reinsition and they be received and grafted in again 4ly Every excommunicate Person is under a heavy Curse the Devil has a peculiar Power over him so that his Condition is very deplorable and desperate whilsâ— he remains under that Sentence Hence the Scripture styles it a delivering unto Satan 1 Cor. 5. 5. and 1 Tim. 1. 20. and Tertullian calls it summum futuri Judicii Praejudicium the highest Presumption of what shall be his Sentence in the day of Judgment God will ratiâ—ie in Heaven the Sentence of his Church on Earth when she proceeds against Offenders in vindication of his Laws and Ordinances That Saying of our Saviour to his Apostles is enough to strike any Man with Horrour who justly incurrs the Censure of the Officers of the Church Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Mat. 18. 18. 5ly An excommunicated Person is or ought to be debarred from most of the Benesits and Comforts of civil Conversation he is like a blown Dear every one in the Herd even for his own Safety will push him from him or like a Man that has the Plague every one that would escape the Infection avoids him But of this more presently in its due place The State and Condition of a Person under the Sentence of Excommunication being thus briefly explain'd I think it may be sufficiently dreadful to any who have any sense of Christianity or apprehensions of the Wrath of God and if this be the state of the Revolutionists they have no great cause to brag of their Bargain and if others did carry themselves towards them as they ought to do towards Men in such a State I am apt to think they would quickly hang their Heads and if their Hearts were not as hardened as Pharaoh's very Shame would work in them remorse and bring them to Repentance But tho' I have little hopes of this both Priests and People being so generally infected yet to discharge my own part I shall proceed in my Method before propounded and shall now examine what ought to be the Behaviour and Carriage of other persons towards a person that is under Excommunication and 1. All persons ought to stand upon their Guard against him and not onely keep him from the publick Service and drive him out of their Churches as a Profaner of their Communion and one who has no Right to it and as one who is infectious and injurious to them and makes their Communion ineffectual but farther they ought to take care that they join not in any private Devotions with him nor admit him to Prayers with them tho' in their own Houses I do not say but they may pray for instruct admonish and endeavour what they can to reclaim such a one but they must not pray with him nor join in any other Act of Christian Communion with him Procul ite profani was proclaimed at the Celebration of the Heathen Mysteries and do not the Christian Mysteries deserve much more Reverence and Awâ— Ought we not as nigh as we can to have a care that we admit none of his Enemies none that have notoriously provoked him and not attoned their Crime when we perform those Acts and Offices wherein we have Access to and Communion with the great God of Heaven and Earth I confess that particular Persons ought not to take upon them by their own Authority to exclude any from Communion but iâ— they know any person to be guilty of a notorious Crime or live in a scandalous Way they ought to complain to proper Judges but when the Church has pass'd her Consure upon them they have a kind of Cain's Brand and are marked out for all Men to avoid it is our B. Saviour's own Direction to us concerning every such person that he be unto us as a Heathen Man and a Publican Mat. 18. 17. and such tho' they had been Emperours the primitive Christians were so far from admitting to their Communion that they would not so much as allow them to be bare Spectators not