the Judaising Christians Crisost Ora. prima adv Judaeos that the most devout Severities if not commanded by God are no better then Debaucheries That only being pleasing and acceptable to God which is commanded by God And that which is most plausible and venerable according to Humane Opinion if not commanded by God is most vile and impious Lord Bishop of Hereford's Epist to a Friend concerning Popery Accordingly a Reverend Prelat Sums up all in this Conclusion I will in the worship of God do only that which his Will tells me is acceptable to his Divine goodness Therefore to say Though the Rites and Ceremonies be indifferent and insignificant yet when once commanded by Authority 't is hainous to disobey it is a real Conviction of Sacrilegious abuse of Authority to enforce Humane Constitutions Rival with the Divine Law in Matters of Religion which is to set Man's Post Ezok. 43.8 by God's Post against which Crime God denounces severe Judgment But from what Authority doth the Command proceed If from the the Church the Articles of our Religion teach that things ordained even by General Councels as necessary to Salvation Art 20.21 1572. have neither strength nor Authority unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture If it be replied these are not ordained as necessary to Salvation but to Uniformity The Answer is clear and certain because the Connexion between the means and the end is indissoluble therefore whatsoever is Ordained as necessary to Church-Communion the means of Salvation unless Salvation may be had out of the Church is Ordained as necessary to the End it self Salvation and the Command being not taken out of the Holy Scripture is no Law therefore there cannot be any Transgression But if urged as a Law Civil or Municipal it hath no more Obligation upon Conscience then the Statute forbiding to eat Flesh in Lent 5 Eliz. R. c. 5. which expresly provides whoever shall declare it to be the Service of God shall be punished as a spreader of False News that is as Guilty against the Law of Premunire The Civil Magistrate is Ordained of God and Invested with the high Prerogative to be Custos and vindex utriasque Tabule but not with any power to alter or abrogate any Command of God or any Ordinance of Divine Worship or to enjoy any other Condition of Church Communion then is expressed in the Gospel It is not in the power of any no not by the Universal consent of Mankind so to change the Nature and Signification of any Acts of Worship as either by applying to a Creature what is peculiar to God or by Instituting any Devotion to God not by him required Dr. Stillingfleet's def of discourse concerning Idolatry c. page 259. 260. It being as was before Observed a Principle of Natural Religion to Worship God only according to his own appointment for Worship not at all Commanded by God is not Worship but Fancy Aug. De Conson Evang. L. 1. cap. 18. and can have no Obligation upon Conscience which in performances of Religion is the grossest Contradiction We must be taught by God what is due Honour to God For as it is Crimen laesae Majestatis Hibar De Trini Lib. 5. p. 54. not only to perform Allegiance to another Person then the King but to Make or Constitute ex proprio Motu a Law for the Acts or Circumstances of Allegiance to be tendred to the King because thereby is directly Invaded the Supreme Athority So to apply Acts of Divine Worship to a Creature and to address to God in Worship by any Rite or Ceremony of Humane Invention both include Blasphemy because thereby is taken away from God the Peculiarity of his Dominion and Excellence whereby he is God alone For as the Sovereign Prerogative of making Laws of Civil Government is not Transferable to any Subject much less may any Creature usurp the incomunicable Attribute of Divine Auchority to make Laws of Religious Worship This happy Priviledge belongs to the Magistrate that what is already a Divine Law Dr. Stillingfleet's Irenic Page 44. he may Enact to be a Law of the Land and require the Observance of what was before in Conscience Obligatory and Animadvert upon the Offenders The Princes of the Hethen World might well be allowed to make and unmake their Religious Rites because Invented and Authorised only by themselves and thence many of them proceeded to receive even the Flattery of their own Apotheosis But every sober Mind judges all such Assentation to be as a great Offence to the Divine Majesty who will not allow the giving his Honour to another so a real Contumely and mock Honour to any Prince to Invest him with Divine Authority 'T is no less sinful now by a new Mode of Deification to place the Magistrate in the Throne of Christ who only hath Supreme Right to make the Laws by which Kings Reign It is therefore worthy the Consideration of all Christian Princes that the very making Laws for Religious matters not commanded by God shakes the greatest Prop of Thrones Conscience of Duty which in such a Case hath no Obligation Dan. 6.22 Therefore Daniel when cast inro the Lyons Den for breaking the irreversisible Law of Darius tells the King that God had delivered him from the Lyons forasmuch as he was Innocent before God and had committed no offence against the King which could not be true if the Decree of the King had been Lawful Jer. 27.6.7.8 God gave to Nebuchadnezzar absolute Dominion over all the World threatning Destruction to whatsoever Nation would not Obey him Notwithstanding it was Holy and Pious not to Obey him when his Command was otherwise then the Command of God For pure and undefiled Religion which Obliges to Obey the Magistrate in all matters of Civil Policy forbids Obedience in Matters of Religion not warranted by God's Word and Commands to suffer rather then sin This from the Apostles days until now hath been the Epidemical Motive to persecute the Disciples of Christ because they do contrary to the Decrees of Caesar Acts 17.7 Gregi Nazi Ora Prima con Julian Upon which account Nasiansen objects against Julian the Apostate the Contrivance of this Pestilent Mischief against the Christians that whereas it was the general Custom and not refused by Christians to perform a Civil Reverence to the Statues and Images of the Emperors upon which also were usually Engraven Representations of some Triumph or Magnificence of the Emperor Julian instead thereof with his own Image caused to be Engraven the Idols he worshiped Thereby either to ensnare the Christians into Idolatry if they Reverenced his Image or if they refused to expose them for doing contrary to the Imperial Decrees generally observed by Christians The like Device hath been long Practised to enforce Humane Rites and Ceremonies and stablish Hierarchich Policy in the Church by procuring from Princes Laws
AN Humble Essay TOWARD The Settlement of Peace and Truth IN THE CHURCH As a Certain Foundation OF Lasting Union The Workman made it therefore it is not God Hos 8.6 Nec enim Fas est Cultorem Dei a Dei Cultore Violari Lactantius Lib. de Ira Dei cap. 14. LONDON Printed for N. Simmons at the West end of Pauls and T. Simmons in Ludgate-street 1681. AN Humble Essay Toward the settlement of Peace and Truth in the Church as a certain Foundation of lasting Union THE Dignity of Mankind above the sensual Brutes consists specially in the hope of Eternal Happiness the Direction and ground of which hope is Religion All Religions that ever were embraced pretended Authority from Divine Revelation and the Command of God the Truth and Certainty of Christian Religion hath alone this excellency to be a firm and evident ground of hope of Eternal Happiness For Christian Religion by undeniable proof is Authorized by the Command and Institution of God and in the Rules and Practice is both agreeable to the Simplicity Purity Righteousness of the Divine Majesty the Object and to the Rational Being of Man the Subject of Religion The universal Practice of all Ages and Countries acknowledgeth the necessity of Religion But Religion is not an Opinion Fansifully suggested or cunningly devised or powerfully Imposed all which can only erect a private or publick Superstition which is no more Religion then that Creature is a Man which in its odious resemblance is the reproach of Man and therefore the more contemptible Religion comes from a deeper root and higher cause It is connatural with every Rational Being upon which is indelibly Engraven the Fear Trust and Love of the Power Truth and Goodness of God The Blurring these Impressions cannot be attempted without essasing the Characters of Human Intelligence and sinking Man into the lowest form of Beasts Religion is the first born of Truth and as the Opposition to Truth is either from a downright Lie or a verisimilar Semblance so Religion is either affronted by Atheism or abused by Superstition An Atheist properly so called was hardly if ever found the sad Pretenders who have told their miserable Wishes that that there were no God have been the fewest in Number and the weakest in Argument of any sort of Fools ever appeared to disgrace Mankind There have been more Idiots and Franticks then ever there were Atheists and Bedlam it self without expecting a lucid Interval can afford as rational Discourses as Democritus and Epicurus with all their chance Medleys of Motes or Attems Atheistical Propositions are equally unworthy and destructive of Human Excellence The Glory of Man peculiar to him of all material Beings is that he is not only by unknown Instinct ledd to the end of his Being but he knows the reason of that End for which he was made and is capable to enjoy the felicity of that Knowledge We perceive by the Structure and Formation of those Beings with whom we converse what is their use and value The shape of the Laborious Ox and generous Horse prompt their service and end No less evident are the indications of Human composition That Man is made in the Image of God and that his ultimate End and Felicity is to glorifie and enjoy God for ever is no remote Notion or Speculation it is a truth touches every sence and when not clouded by malitious or stupid inadvertance draws conviction from every Member The profane contemners of Religion yet assert a use and proper End for everBeing and all its parts Permit then the Atheist the tryal by his beloved sence Let him tell for what End and Reason of all visible Beings Man only is formed to kneel upon his knees and support his Body erect to lift up his Hands to lift up his Eyes Was Nature wise in all other and foolish only in the construction of parts to these Postures without use No Nature which is nothing else then the will of the Almighty in the Order of the Creatures formed the Body to those Postures for that excellent End of Divine Worship The bended knees testifie humble Devotion to the great Creator from sence both of the Suplicants mean Original and infinite distance below the Heavenly Majesty The stretched out Hands evidence as the inability of the Petitioner to help himself so the earnest desires of Divine Assistance the up lifted Eyes signifie the hope and trust and engage the Love of Mind and Heart upon God Almighty who only can be our necessary and all-sufficent Good This is a truth so undeniable that should ten thousand Persons of so many different Nations and Languages fortuitously meet if any of that Assembly though every one a stranger to all the rest kneel stretch out his hands and lift up his eyes all present would conclude that Person by these Gestures performed Adoration to God There is not any in his right Wits can immagine those Characters of Devotion either the effect of vain Fear or the Infinuations of Politick contrivance for every Rational Mind must be conscious of the same awful Reverence and intire Dependance therefore with most freedom Addresseth to the performance of Religions Worship when Human help can least succour and Human Fear can least awe It is then most absurd that the Innumerable sober Inhabitants of the World should be fooled and scoffed out of their present and future felicity by a few profane Attoms bred in the shallow confines of Wit and folly Well matter it self the Epicurian Idol hath conviction enough to baffle an Atheist but passing through this House of Clay if we converse with what is within that which prompts the Tongue and acts the Eye Hand and Foot that which thinks and rules it will appear there is a Conscience of Good and Evil of Justice and Injustice always Witnessing there is a God This is no precarious conceit every Man sometime or other feels within himself the powerful accusation or acquital of Conscience This is the Verdict in every Mans brest which waits upon the Tribunal of God For it is silly as well as profane to pretend Reverence to God only for the Excellence of his Beeing without the fear of his Justice The Justice of God is the security of the World without it Human Society cannot safely subsist Only the fear of God can rule the Heart and oblige Conscience without which there cannot be either Order or Relation Commerce or Propriety The whole World being continually liable to the assaults of Fraud or Violence untill true Religion give Security and Peace Superstition is indeed the Apologie of Irreligion by which back Door Atheism sneaks into the World For Superstition having cankered the Mind with unworthy conceptions of God Atheism presumes to enrage it self against the Notion of the Supreme Beeing it misconceives and would not Obey and Worship Superstition devests the Deity of true Majesty and perfection dares to give it self Laws of good and Evil of Holy and Profane and so
'T is sadly a Lamentation and God in mercy grant it may not be so any more that the same signs are commanded by one Church as Symbolically significant and in testimony of Odoration and by another Church declared to be insignificant Mat. 2.24 and without any adorable respect yet in both Churches those Rites are Constituted Conditions of Communion though never made so by Christ But Servants that dare to turn their Ministry into Dominion Acts 17.31 and beat and kill their fellow servants must expect their doom designed them by the Lord when he comes to Judge the World in Righteousness The Authority of the Church is pretended for this That Name is highly venerable therefore to abuse it is the greater crime 'T is an Article of Faith to believe a Holy Catholick Church but heinous is the offence to subborn the Name of the Church to destroy the next Article The Communion of Saints without which the Notion of a Church is empty and unprofitable The Holy Catholick Church is the Body of Christ Col. 1.18 the Spouse of Christ Eph. 5.2 Gal. 4.26 't is the Heavenly Jerusalem which is free Heb. 12.22 which is the only Mother of us all Out of this Church there is no Salvation for whoever is a Member of Christs Body Eph. 5.23 to such and only to such Christ is a Saviour Of this Body every vissible Christian Church is an integral Part or Member Visible Church Act. 19. The Articles of Religion describe a visible Church to be a Congregation of faithful Men in which the pure Word of God is Preached and the Sacraments duely Ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisit to the same Wich such a Church Christ hath promised to be alway even to the end of the World Rom. 3.2 the Authority with which our Lord invested the Christian Church being the same as before to the Jewish that unto them are committed the Oracles of God Mat. 28.20 that is according to his express Commission the teaching to observe all things whatsoever our Lord commanded This is the great Charter of the Churches Liberties and Power Here is no pretence for any Jurisdiction to make other conditions of Communion then of constitution The conditions constitutive of a Church are sufficient for Salvation the End and Perfection of every true Church therefore they are sufficient for the Title of every Member to admission and continuance in the Church This was all was required by Christ and his Apostles Acts 19.31 whereby the Churches were ed fied walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied The first trouble to the Church within it self was from the atempt to subvert the Foundation of Christianity by introducing other conditions of Church Communion then Christ appointed Acts 15.24 but that was remedied by the direction of the Holy Ghost in the first Council at Jerusalem The contrary Practice to which in after Ages hath been the great occasion of the confusion and ruine of most of the Christian Churches and still remains like the Womans bloody Issue that wasted all her substance an incurable disease So that it may be truely affirmed the impiety of the Nicolaitans and Gnosticks who reckoned and practised the grossest Immoralities as things indifferent proved less mischeivous to the Christian World then the rigorous exacting and imposing in different things as necessary Upon which account on one side sprang Separations and Schisms and on the other most bloody and inhumane Persecutions for it is convenient that commands not Authorised by right Reason should be enforced with rage and cruelty The conditions therefore and Articles of Peace as they are called in the Church ought not to be any other then such as as are necessary to Salvation Because the Belief and Practice of every Church most be as Homogeneal as are in all Beings Life and Operation According to this rule of Divine Truth the Church of England reformed it self from Popery and upon all occasions justifies the Reformation Because the Union of the Catholick Church depends upon the making the Foundaations of its Being and the grounds of its Communion adaequate So that only these things which ought to be owned by all Christian Societies as necessary to Salvation on which the Being of the Catholick Church depends ought to be the necessary conditions of Church Communion Consequently the proper cause of Schism lies in transgressing those Bounds which observed might through Divine goodness conciliat the universal Peace of Christendome That according to the same Evidence by which the Reformed Churches condemn the Romanists for imposing the Belief of things as necessary to Salvation which are not necessary to the Being of the Catholick Church There ought not be imposed conditions of Uniformity upon any Member of the Church which were not antecedently necessary for the Being and Unity of the Church the later Imposition being eventually Equivalent with the former because they exclude from the means of Salvation 'T is Murther to mix Poyson with the Diet of the Family and almost as cruel to constrain the Table to any Meat or Sauce against which there is Antipathy Must he starve that cannot Eat Champignons with his Capon Poyson and Famine determine alike How uncharitable then are they who abhor the Roman Poyson yet debar those of the same Houshold of Faith from the Bread of Life by the mixture of some unnecessary Rites their weakness suppose cannot digest They that like Champignons may Eat as they please but 't is inhospitable and barbarous to force them upon those that conceit them Toad-stools It is the Peace and Entertainment of every Civil Table to allow the indisputable Liberty of Tasts and Appetites and to require Uniformity in Eating and Drinking would be most slavish Imposition to disorder and confound Mankind How much worse may any presume to disturb the Table of the Lord the Freedom of which as well as the bounty is the Purchase of his own Blood Nor was there any such custome in the Church of God 1 Cor. 11.16 The Primitive Church continued stedfast in the Apostolical Doctrine and Practice according to which standing fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free only necessary things were commanded things indifferent in their Nature being as they ought left indifferent in use and Practice For it is only the Divine Prerogative and not in the power of any Creature to change the Nature of things to be practised in the Worship of God so as to require what is in it self indifferent to be used necessarily as condition of Church Communion The Divine Method to restore and preserve the Churches Peace is to command things necessary and to leave things indifferent to the Arbitrary description of every Christian to perform or not perform as shall seem conducible to present edification Thus Timothy was voluntarily Circumcised by St. Paul Acts 16.3
in order to a present Service but the same Apostle would not permit Titus to be compelled to be circumcised Gal. 2.3.4 because it would have brought the Liberty of the Church into Bondage After the Decease of the Apostles many Rites and Ceremonies not commanded by God crept into the Church but they were Arbitrarily practised Tertul. Lib. de Cor. Militis c. 2. Nam si idco dicetur Coronari Licere quia non prohibeat Scriptura aeque retorquebitur ideo Coronari non Licere quia Scriptura non jubeat not at all enjoyned as Tertullian manifests and particularly instances among many others the signing the Forehead with a Cross upon several occasions of Civil Conversation These and others by him mentioned saith That Learned Father were only Customary Practises not warranted by Scripture But for things imposed the Rule saith he is before I believe for whatsoever is not of saith is sin I must know what Scripture it is that commands me to obey For Sed quod non prohibetur ultro est permission Imo prohibetur quod non ultro est permissum saith he this or that is not Lawfull because the Scripture doeth not forbid it but that is unlawful which the Scripture doth not command The Discourse is directed against the Imposition of any humane Rite upon the Conscienceofany Christian And the reason isenforced by him C. 11. Ter. de Cor. mil. Credimus ne humanum sacramantum Divino superduci Licere in alium Dominum respondere post Christum because it is not Lawful to superinduce any Humane Sacrament or Ordinance upon a Divine What havock in the Church did the breach of this Rule make One instance concerning Easter may serve for all The Christian Churches all under the Dominion of one Imperial Crown varied among themselves concerning the Observation of Easter Socra Eccles Hist. Lib. 5. c. 21. Euseb Lib. 5. c. 3. Nevertheless communicated without discord That variety as saith Irenaeus commending the Unity of Faith Every Sect had sundry and divers Rites and Ceremonies yet therefore conceived they no worse Opinion of others then of themselves To be short faith the History among the Customs and Observations of all Sects we shall not find two which follow and retain one and the same order of Service Notwithstanding the Customary and Arbitrary practice of so many various and different Rites the Peace of the Church remained intire untill the Arrogance of Victor Bishop of Rome Imposed upon the Churches concerning Easter and broke the Unity of Communion Then as the same History Notes the Commandments of God were despised and Men established Canons of their own They made no account of the Law determined by the Apostles which only prescribed the Observation of things necessary and rashly urged the Practice of Decrees contrary to the Will of God contending about Festivals as it were for Life and Death It is too well known what blood and ruine this Usurpation in the Church occasioned in Brittain and other parts of Christendom In succeeding Ages the Latine Churches differed much in the practice of several Rites and Ceremonies Council Lat. 4. yet without breach of Communion So that when the Fourth Lateran Council made a New Cannon of Catholick Faith viz. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation another Cannon immediately Decreed That provided their Unity of Faith were professed If in the same Diocess or City several Persons Observed divers Rites The Bishop was enjoyned that the Offices of Divine Service should be Administred to every one according to their own various Rites In the English Church before the Reformation the Rites and Usages were various since the Reformation until the late Act of Uniformity the only condition of Communion enjoyned by Law was Subscription and Assent 13 Eliz. R. c. 12. not to a Uniformity in Rites and Ceremonies but to all the Articles of Religion which only concern the Confession of the True Christian Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments This was sufficient for any Minister though ordained in other Form then prescribed by the Rubrick The Ceremonies also retained in the Rubrick Dr. Stillingst Irenic P. 122. In composing our Liturgie those Holy Men who did seek by any means to draw in others at such a distance from their Principles as the Papists did never intend by what they did for that End to exclude any truly tender Consciences from their Communion seem not to be necessarily Commanded but rather Temporarily reserved and recommended for the Cross is not enjoyed in private Baptism the Reverence at the Name of Jesus is not determined how or when to be performed These and the like are declared in the Rubrick to be indifferent in their Nature and were so accounted in the first Practice after the Reformation during which time the Church of England flourished in great Peace The disturbance and breach of which being occasioned by the strict Imposition of Rites and Ceremonies in themselves indifferent the encrease of those severities still widening the breaches and heightning the disturbances How easie might the cure be accomplished if the Practice or Omission of all the Rites and Ceremonies in the Rubrick not commanded by the Word of God were left to that indifferent Freedom prescribed in the Seventh Cannon made 1640. Can. 7. 1640. concerning the Situation of the Communion Table and the approaches there unto and the doing Reverence and Obeysance coming in and going out of Churches c. viz. That the Rule of Charity prescribed by the Apostle be Observed which is that they which use this Rite despise not them who use it not and that they who use it not condemn not those that use it The Doctrine of the Church is owned and believed Art of Relig. 8.21 because it is taken out of Holy Scriptures for what is not so hath neither strength nor Authority though Constituted by any General Council whatsoever Accordingly in Divine Worship Human understanding ought not to Contrive or Impose but intirely Observe the absolute and simple perfection of the Gospel The departure from which Religionem Christianam absolutam simplice Arinesti superstitione confundens Am. Mar. as was long since Observed even by Amianus Marcellinus proved the Confusion of Christian Religion by vain Superstition It is the Command of Christ Joh. 10.4.5.8 therefore no Crime in Christians not to obey nor know the voice of any but Christ in matters of Religion Est in Vniversis servientibus non Dominium sed Ministerium Opt at Milevi Lib. 5. to whose Scepter only it belongs For all in the Church by what Names or Titles soever dignified are yet but Servants now the Universal Property of Servants is Ministry not Dominion They cannot make Laws they can only obey and require Obedience to the Laws of Christ our King and Lord Isa 25.9 for whose Salvation the Church waits The Divine Will is the only Rule and Measure of things Therefore Chrisostom declares to
under the Specious pretence of Uniformity to enforce their Religious sigments By which Julian subtilty the Christian Churches must be either entangled in the Yoke of Bondage to Humane Rites and Ceremonies from which Christ hath made them free 〈◊〉 5.1 or if they refuse the Snare must be exposed to severities as if the most heinous Malefactors This is one of the Impious Policies proposed to the French King to extirpate the Reformed Religion in France 〈◊〉 de la 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 p. 84 Dan. 8.25 Such crafty Policy the Prophet Daniel foretold would be used to destroy the Holy People that is the Church of God And whether managed by an Ecclesiastical or Lay Papacy the difference is little How sad a Prospect do's Christendom present when most of the Princes and Magistrates must either execute or be exposed unto the rage and cruelty of Priests who have indeed that Title to the Tribe of Levi Gen. 49.5 for Instruments of Cruelty are in their Habitations 'T is a dismal truth that all the Persecutions of the Heathen Emperors cannot equal the Inhumane Barbarities innumerable Slaughters commited by those that call themselves Christians upon Christians because they dare not perform any Act of Worship to God not Commanded by God For upon this Point depends the real difference between Religion and Superstition There springs the Corruption what ever followes is but the inlarging and deepning the stream of endless Error So that as it was justly charged upon Epicurus Cicero de Orat P. 212. that while his profession owned a Deity his Practice and Discourse effectually overthrew Religion because he denied the rewarding and judging power of God It may be as justly charged upon those that enjoyn Humane Rites and Ceremonies that they open the Flood-gate of all Schism and expose to contempt Divine Worship while they talk Zealously for Religious Order and Uniformity For whatsoever obtains Authority in the Conscience must be received from God before it be delivered to the Church as the Apostle Paul professeth disclaiming on his own behalf 1 Cor. 11.23 and all the Apostles all that Spiritual Dominion and Authority over the Church which belongs only to God There is not therefore any thing to be done in the Worship of God which God hath not Commanded Because to every thing in every part of God's Worship a Word of Command is necessary to be a warrant of Practice and a Word of Promise for hope of acceptance without which nothing can be expected but rejection as of vain Oblations Isa 1.12 13. For whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 Every part of Worship is an Act of Obedience to the Sovereign Lord of all Beings but if not Commanded is presumption according to the warning Prov. 30.6 Add thou not unto his Word least he reprove thee and thou be found a Liar Such performances have only a shew of Wisdom in Will Worship Col. 2.23 but are real Usurpations upon the Authority of Christ the only Lawgiver in Religion 'T is Sacriledge which in the proper Notion is to RobGod of his Honour in matters of Worship Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols Doest thou commit Sacriledge 1 Cor. 2.6 Heb. 3.6 Every Act of Uncommanded Worship derogates from the Perfection of Christianity and the faithfulness of our Lord Christ and consequently prefers the Shadows of the Law which were compleatly Instituted before the Substance of the Gospel Every Rite or Ceremony not Commanded by God is contrary to the simplicity of the Gospel and the Liberty of Christianity wherein we are Commanded to stand fast Gal. 5.1 Minia Falix and as Minucius Faelix expresses to erect it a Trophy to God above the Commands of all Wordly Dominion For not only what is forbiden expresly in the Gospel but what is beside the Gospel is unlawful Gal. 1.8 9. It prefers Humane Opinion before the Wisdom of God it is called a Tempting of God Acts 15.10 And consequently is a sin of presumption A breach of the First and great Commandment Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve which is not performed by any uncommanded Worship for the Precept is plain and Peremptory Ye shall not add unto the Word Dent. 4 2. which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God In the Will of God to which nothing can be antecedently good is the only Eternal Reason of Good and Evil and the Declaration thereof his Word is the only Rule to direct the Rational mind how to serve and worship God and how to perform the Duties of Righteousness and Charity to all other Beings The Obligation and Rule of Distributive and Commutative Justice is plainly expressed in the Word of God so that every Common understanding knows the meaning of Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal no less plainly and fully doth the Scripture teach all Religion which is Justice toward God Pictas est Justitia adversis Dâ—â—m Cicero whose sole Prerogative it is to teach how he will be Worshiped 'T is Sacrilegious Detraction from the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God to imagine the Rule of Faith and Life needs any Infallible Interpreter or Additional Legislation Psal 19.7 Therefore David saith The Law of the Lord is perfect Psal 119.96 and I have seen an end of all Perfection but thy Law is exceeding Broad It is not scanty in any directions to blessedness or the means thereof in the Word of God and only there may be found the sure Rule to avoid both the confusion of Libertism and the Tyranny of pretended Ecclesiastical Infallibility and Authority If the Golden Rule of our Lord Mat. 7.12 Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you Do ye even the same to them were Written as the Emperor Severus caused it in his Pallace in the Courts of Princes it might be a happy Memorial that as they justly vindicate the Invasion of their own Royal Prerogatives and Legislature their duty is to preserve inviolate the Majesty and Authority of God Almighty by whom Kings Reign who is a Jealous God and will not give his Honour to any other The Lord Chancellor in his Speech to both Houses of Parliament Apr. 13. 1675. Printed by his Majesties special Command saith That Religion as it works upon the Conscience as it is an inward Principle of Divine Life by which good Men do govern all their actions the State hath nothing to do with it which doubtless ought to be understood agreeable to St. Paul speaking of the Apostolical Power can do nothing against the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 but for the truth that is there is not any power under Heaven Civil or Ecclesiastical can lay any Obligation upon Conscience in Matters of Religion and a Religion without Conscience is no Religion The Jesuites indeed and it well becomes their Morals teach that their
Church hath no power over Internal Actions Jesuites Morals Page 387. the evident Consequence of which Position overthrows the Foundations of Religion and Christian Piety but other Doctrine cannot be expected where Religion is only an Artificial Worship and the Church only a Politick Guild or Corporation As there is but one God from whom and to whom is derived and directed all true Worship though as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 8.5.6 There be many called gods whether in Heaven or in Earth 2 Cor. 4.4 and there is the God of this World Gal. 4.26 so there is but one Church the Mother of us all â— Tim. 3.16 the Heavenly Jerusalem Which is the Piller and Ground of truth Joh. 17.17 the Word of God which only Sanctifies Religious Commands to Oblige Conscience Yet there be many Churches some Heavenly some Earthly For beside the Idolatrous Pollutions of some Churches which render them Synagogues of Satan There is also in some Churches a mixture of Civil Policy by which the Word Church becomes a Law Term and signifies a Body Politick endowed with certain Honours Priviledges and Revenues by the Munificence of Kings Such is the Gallican Church and such is Ecclesia Anglicana according to the Purport of several Statutes 26 H. 8. c. 1. in which respect it is a part of the Estates of the Realm 24 H. 8. c. 12. Lord Ch. Justice But all the Priviledges and Dignities given by the Crown to the Church Cook 5. report as it is a Political State in the Realm is in order to and for the sake of those Administrations necessary to its Being as a Member of the Catholick Church Article â—9 that is a Congregation of Believers in which the Word of God is purely Preached and the Sacraments in things necessarily required according to the Institution of Christ rightly Administred It must be therefore altogether Irrational and Unchristian to suborn an Authority in a Political Church to subvert the Essential Liberty of any Member of the Catholick Church If the Reverend Prelates of Christendom would govern their power according to this undeniable Rule of Christianity it would notably conduce even to their own security For if the Ceremonial Accidents in the Church were not necessarily imposed the dignified Accidents therein would be rendred more agreeable to all Christians and Mankind If Religion were cleared from Additional Superfluities which can no otherwise secure and adorn it then Clouds and Mists do the Sun the World might enjoy the desired felicity of our Lords Kingdom the Empire of Light and Love Prisons Fagots Gibbets would be no longer the miserable Propagators of Faith the Benign Influence of Princes would not be Intercepted from their Subjects the Obedience of Subjects would be Conscientious Religion no longer supposed an Awful trick would be embraced and obeyed in the absolute perfection and simplicity of Divine truth and Goodness For therein only may we find a certain Foundation for lasting Union among Christians Force and Violence may under pretence of extirpating Heresie or exacting Uniform Decency and Order determine in a Common Calamity and Destruction by such Course Princes may be deprived of their People and People forced from their Dwellings into Graves or Goals or Wildernesses But that is Desolation not Peace 'T is not Union but Depopulation No Tacit. vâ—t Agrie Vbi solitudinem faciunt Pacem Apellant the way to find and stablish Peace is only in the way of Gospel Truth which gives Glory to God in the Highest Peace on Earth Good Will toward Men and among Men From which only can be hoped a certain Foundation of lasting Union among our selves For suppose a present Submisson and Compliance unto the Humane Rites and Ceremonies enjoyned as Conditions of Church Communion yet there can be no Certainty such Union shall be lasting because the Terms are Arbitrarily alterable and may with one breath vanish and disappear to make make room possible for shaddows of another Mode but no less troublesome Hath not this been within fresh Memorie misery and almost our ruine But if we consider what is our Defence against the Common Enemie we may find what may be our Cement among our selves Dr. Stillingfleet's Rat. Acct. Page 53. Learned Dr. Stillingfleet in his Rational Account of the Grounds of the Protesant Religion hath excellently demonstrated That the Union of the Catholick Church depends upon the Agreement of it in making the Foundation of its Being to be the Grounds of its Communion For the Unity being intended to preserve the Being there can be no reason given why the Bonds of Union should extend beyond the Foundation of its Being which is the Owning things necessary to the Salvation of All. From whence it necessarily follows that whatsoever Church imposeth the belief of other things as necessary to Salvation which were not so Antecedently necessary to the Being of the Catholick Church doth as much as in it lies break the Unity of it And those Churches who do desire to preserve its Unity are bound thereby not to have Communion with it so long as it doth so These things premised saith he we shall thereby find what the necessary Conditions of Ecclesiastical Communion are and consequently where the proper cause of Schism Lies in transgressing those Bounds and what Foundations may be laid for the Peace of the Christian World Upon these Grounds was the Church of England Reformed from the Idolatrous Superstition of Popery defends it self against their assaults and thereby can only be preserved For the Church which is the House of the Living God can receive no Edification but what is Homogeneal with the Foundation Eph. 2.20 the Doctrine of the Apostles 1 Cor. 3.10 11. Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner Stone The Sum of all is briefly comprised in the Words of a late Learned and Pious Divine in the Church of England Mr. George Lawson's Coment upon the Hebr. c. 9. N. 5. Printed 1662. viz. He that will not serve a God is a profane Atheist He that serves any but the true God is an Idolater he that serves the true God after his own Fansies and the Inventions of Man is a Superstitious Fool. He that Inventeth Rites and Ceremonies and Modes of serving God and imposeth them on others is a presumptuous Wretch for as God alone doth know what kind of Worship and Service is fittest to be performed unto Him so He only hath Power to Impose it These two Books are lately Printed for Nevil Simmons at the Three Cocks at the West end of S. Paul's and Thomas Simmons at the Princes Arms in Ludgate-street 1681. CHurch-History of the Government of Bishops and their Councils Abbreviated Including the chief part of the Government of Christian Princes and Popes and a true Account of the most troubling Controversies and Heresies till the Reformation Written for the Use especially of them I. Who are ignorant or misinformed of the state of the Antient Churches II. Who can not read many and great Volumes III. Who think that the Universal Church must have one visible Soveraign Personal or Collective Pope or General Councils IV. Who would know whether Patriarchs Diocesans and their Councils have been or must be the cure of Heresies and Schisms V. Who would know the truth about the great Heresies which have divided the Christian World especially the Donatists Novatians Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Eutychians Monethelites c. By Richard Baxter a hater of false History in 4o. A Treatise of Episcopacy confuting by Scripture Reason and the Churches Testimony that sort of Diocesan Churches Prelacy and Government which casteth out the Primitive Church-Species Episcopacy Ministry and Discipline and confoundeth the Christian World by Corruption Usurpation Schism and Persecution Meditated in the Year 1640. when the Et coetera Oath was imposed Written 1671. and cast by Published 1681 by the importunity of our Superiours who demand the Reasons of our Nonconformity By Richard Baxter in 4o. FINIS