which any one may find who please that no Body may take Exceptions thereupon in a certain bound Book call'd The Samaritan set forth in the Year 1682. being the result of much Agitation in the House of Commons for Ease and Mitigation to the Disenters so long ago and put together by consent of such that knew best their own Grievances in this manner to lie by and serve such an Occasion The Bill for Comprehension and Indulgence WHEREAS The Peace of the State is highly concern'd in the Peace of the Church therefore at all Times but especially in this Conjuncture it is most Necessary to be preserved In Order therefore to remove Differences and Dissatisfactions which may arise among Protestants BE IT ENACTED by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same THAT if any Person shall without making any Interpretation of his own unless it be such as shall be allowed by his Diocesan which if it be Orthodox he shall do Subscribe and Declare his Assent and Consent unto and Approbation of the Articles of Religion mention'd in the Statute made in the 13th Year of the Late Queen Elizabeth except only the 34th 35th and 36th Articles and also except these Words in the 20th Article viz. The Church hath Power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith in like manner as he is already obliged to Subscribe and Declare his Assent and Consent unto and Approbation of all the said 39. Articles Every such Person shall be as capable of Taking any Degree in either University or being ordained Priest or Deacon or of being collated admitted or put into and to hold and enjoy any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion as if the said Person had Subscribed and Declared his Assent and Consent unto and Approbation of all the said Articles of Religion AND be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That every Person Ordained between the Year of our Lord 1644. and the First of May in the Year 1660. according to the Form of Ordination used by laying on of Hands by the Presbytery shall be as capable of any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion as if he had been Ordained according to the Form of Making and Ordaining Priests and Deacons in the Church of England And that every Person Ordained only by Presbyters since the Year of our Lord 1660. shall not be admitted to any Benefice unless he receive a Second Imposition of Hands from some Bishop to recommend him to the Grace of God for the Work or Exercise of his Office in the Place or Charge unto which he is Called and the Bishop shall frame 〈◊〉 Words accordingly AND WHEREAS by a Statute made in the 13th and 14th Year of his Late Majesty's Reign Entituled An Act for the Uniformity of the Publick Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies and for Establishing the Form of Ordaining and Consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Church of England there are Two Declarations imposed upon several Persons and in such manner as is there Specified BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid That no Person that shall hereafter be presented or collated or put into any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion shall declare his unfeigned Assent and Consent to the Use of all things contained and prescribed in the Book of Common-Prayer nor make and subscribe the other Declaration or Acknowledgment viz. I. A. B. Do declare That it is not Lawful to take up Arms against the King c. according to the Forms in the said Act in the 13th and 14th Year of his Majesties Reign directed and appointed But that both the said Declarations shall be wholly omitted any thing in the aforesaid Statute to the contrary notwithstanding AND be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Person shall hereafter be capable of being collated admitted or put into any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion before such time as the said Person shall have taken the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance before the Bishop of the Diocess who is hereby impowred to administer the same and shall also make and subscribe the Declaration mentioned in an Act of Parliament made in the 30th Year of the Reign of King Charles the II. Entituled An Act to prevent Papists from Sitting in either House of Parliament And the Name of every Person so taking the Oath and making and subscribing the Declaration aforesaid shall be enrolled with the Day and Time of his taking the same in Rolls to be kept by the respective Bishops of each Diocess for that purpose AND be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Person shall hereafter be obliged to take the Oath of Canonical Obedience or to make the Subscription required by the Canons or to go to the Bishops for a License to Preach being already Lawfully Ordained any Statute or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding AND be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That from henceforth no Person wear a Surplice during the Time of Reading Common Prayer or Preaching or performing any Religious Worship in any Church or Chappel whatsoever except only in the Chappel of the Kings Majesty and all Cathedral Churches of this Realm of England and Dominion of Wales AND be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That from henceforth no Minister or other Ecclesiastical Person shall be obliged or compelled to use the Sign of the Cross in Baptism or any Parent obliged to have his Child Christened by the Minister of the Parish if the said Minister will not use or omit the Sign of the Cross according to the desire of the Parents who in that Case may procure some other Minister to do it Nor shall the Child of any Person be refused Baptism for want of any God-fathers and God-mothers so long as the Parent is present to fill their place AND be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Minister or Ecclesiastical Person that shall officiate in the Administration of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper shall refuse it to any person that desires to be admitted to the same although such person shall not use the gesture of Kneeling in the Act of receiving nor come up to the Comunion-Table but shall go to such convenient place of the Church where such Person is and there give it him in some other decent gesture of Ordinary use in the Reformed Churches Nor shall any Minister be troubled for the with-holding his own Act in delivery of the Sacrament from any whom he judges Notoriously Unworthy or unfit for it Nor for Suspending his Reading the Sentence of Excommunication against any of his Parish untill he be satisfied in the Case that his Crime deserves it And to the intent that Uniformity may so far as it is needful and so far as it can be still Maintained be it Enacted
over all the Statutes that concern Religion for the finding out every thing that is hard and fit to be Repealed whether it be the whole Act or the Act at Oxford or part of it as the Uniformity Act to the end that those Parts and Clauses if over grievous but to the Papists themselves being duly considered and Matters thoroughly adjusted an Act may be drawn up that should be a Repealing Act to deliver us from such Burdens altogether and that were the most Effectual Indulgence or best way to it that is imaginable And as for Comprehension then which is a matter of more Curiosity Debate and Counsel It were well that this Bill here proposed might be brought in and past for a Staying Act or Interim of Pacification until a Tryal of the Comprehended some Consults of the Comprehended and Indulged a Convocation of the Conformists with part of the Comprehended chosen into that Convocation a Revisal of the Churches Liturgy their Book of Orders their Articles their Homilies their Canons with other such preliminary matters pre-ordered may Administer the Advantage to a more compleat Act and better Establishment than can be expected at this Season I will conclude with what is apt at present Comprehension without Indulgence destroys the Separatist that is both the Papists and Sectaries Indulgence without Comprehension depopulates the Church Comprehension with Indulgence Unites the Protestants secures the Church of England and gives Ease and Safety to all People ADVERTISEMENT ALthough there was so much Care taken of the Bill of Indulgence as I have said Page 10. when drawn up that nothing needful should be left out yet am I told very newly That there is one Clause in the Act of Uniformity making Dissenters lyable to pay 100 l. for administring the Sacrament escaped their Remembrance and that it is good therefore some general Words providing a Covering for them from all Danger by Common and Statute Law unknown as well as from the Penalties of the Law enumerated were added to the Bill THE POSTSCRIPT BEfore I sent the fore-going Sheets to the Press I understood that the Bill for Indulgence was brought into the House of Lords and knowing the Contexture long since it made me speak so much of the Subscription to the Articles as I have done Since then I have seen the Bill for Comprehension which is brought in There likewise And though I cannot but in Gratitude take notice of the Candour in it that the Subscription to the Articles is waved there yet do I find Two things in it which the Nonconformists will stick at so that if they be not mended the Bill is like to do no Good. One of these things like to stick is this Declaration I A. B. do approve of the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Church of England as by Law Established c. The Government here intended includes the Hierarchy with its Officers and Offices Lay-Chancellours Officials and I know not what more we must Subscribe to when we say we approve of this Government And when the 36th Article of the Church is excepted from our Subscription in the Bill of Indulgence as known to have been so grievous to the Nonconformists from Queen Elizabeth's days untill now in regard to the Arch-Bishops and Bishops though it says only that the Book for their Consecration hath in it nothing Superstitious and Vngodly which it may not have though in something otherwise we may not approve it I wonder it should not come to be thought that such words would not down with our Nonconformists I approve of this Government Especially when some of the most Grave of them have took the Covenant for its Extirpation I shall therefore humbly beseech the House of Lords if it be not too late or if it be the House of Commons that if such a Declaration must be imposed some such words as these may be substituted in its room I A. B. do heartily approve of the Reformation made by the Church of England in her Doctrine and Worship I shall submit to her Government so far as I can with a good Conscience And I receive her Articles as conducive to Concord and containing in them all things necessary to Salvation The Other Thing like to stick is the Business of Re-ordination in regard to those that have been ordained only by Presbyters and it is to be noted that there is a Device offered in this Bill for Reconciling the Bishop and Presbyter by giving Satisfaction to Both The Bishop challenges a sole Right of giving Orders from the Canons of the Apostles as they are called and from Councils and Fathers even Jerom himself down to the Reformation And the Ministers ordained by Presbyters plead the Custom of the Reformed Churches and their Authority from Christ accounting that the Spiritual Power comes not by the Hands which are laid on him whether of Bishop or Presbyter and therefore says Hooker We breath not on the Ordained as Christ did but flows immediately the Conditions being put from Christ's Institution If the Bishop part with this Privilege he degrades himself of the Power the Church hath given him and if the Minister recedes from his former Orders he departs from the Authority Christ hath given him To reconcile both this is the Device The Bishop shall acknowledg the Person ordained by Presbyters to be a Minister already whose Ministerial Acts have been and are valid as the Acts of any other Minister and that he ordains him not therefore to the Office which he has already but admits him to the Exercise of his Ministry in the Church of England and consequently to the Emoluments that may arise to him upon that Account The Man was and is and must be a Minister of Christ before but he is no Legal Minister or not to be accounted reputed held to all Intents and Purposes a Minister of the Church of England till he hath received Imposition of Hands from a Bishop He is a Minister before in foro Dei but not till then a Minister in foro Ecclesiae Anglicanae As a Man who is a Graduate or made Doctor beyond Sea and comes to London he is and must be acknowledged a true Doctor but he shall not have Liberty to Practise till admitted into our College of Physitians I must confess my self partial in my respect to this Device for I suppose it deriv'd from Dr. Wilkins's credit into this Bill and I know from whence and upon what account he received it I will therefore say thus much for it That if this Device may be owned and acknowledged for what it is that is a New Thing or a New Institution in the Church for which an Office should be made and no trick put on the Nonconformists by it As I see no cause then why such an Ecclesiastical Institution being necessary for Peace-sake might not be Made so do I apprehend no unlawfulness in the submitting to it If any ill be in it it must lie on the part of
moreover by the Authority aforesaid That every Parson Vicar and Lecturer shall conform to the Liturgy of the Church in the Ordinary Lords-day Service Reading the same by himself or Assistant as by Law it is Established Reserving a Necessary and Just Liberty for his Conscience in any Matter or Words which himself esteems unlawful and so to him it is Sin and also for Prudence in the whole management to Act with respect to Time Place and Circumstances so as appears most conducive to Edification And as long as the main Body of the Service appointed is there Read and the substance of the Offices be there Performed he shall not be Punishable for any breach otherwise of the Acts of Uniformity any thing in the said Statutes to the contrary notwithstanding AND for as much as there are some Ministers ef a good Life that cannot according to their Judgments allow of our Parochial Churches nor the Book of Liturgy but do choose to Worship God and Jesus Christ in the way of their Gathered and Separate Congregations and crave the Protection and Clemency of the King upon their Allegiance as other Subjects BE it Enacted furthermore by the Authority aforesaid That for the Happiness and quiet of the Realm and the Reduction of these Men by other means than those that have hitherto proved Unsuccessful All Prosecution of the Penal Laws against the Nonconformists of every sort that profess the Protestant Religion be suspended untill by a further Act of Parliament those that are fit to be Tolerated and the Intolerable shall be distinguished and such Order be taken as is necessary to the Settling a firm and lasting Union in the Nation Thus much for the First and Second thing the Design and Bill now for the Third some little Animadversions upon it I must confess my self One that am concerned and that have been so still when Parliaments Sate both in my Mind and my Endeavours to the utmost for Peace and Union in the Church which is the cause that this Bill thus produced was put and left upon Record on purpose in that Book mentioned for some future Parliament to use it self or to take Measure by for making another if they would fit the Nonconformists General Case and accomplish the End design'd And now am I afraid at my Heart lest when we have such an opportunity as we never had really before when King and Queen and Parliament and the whole People are for Uniting the Protestants as our Interest against the danger of the Papists from abroad and at home there should be some Obstruction yet put to this Accommodation which is so forward and hopeful either through the Machinations of some close Enemies by such Methods as we cannot discern and so cannot prevent or through the shortness of true Friends who for want of knowing perfectly what it is the Nonconformist must have may be over-seen or over-reacht and sit down with something less than will serve the turn and for that Reason have I gathered together and do put forth this Paper though not without much Reluctancy because I know well that some men will be ready to say Who are you and what have you to do with these Matters which belong to the Parliament But I say They do belong to me and are the Concern of every Body and if for lack of a little intimation at first the Nonconformist should come to have their Consciences choakt and be deprived of their Liberty at last those Men of all other that now would stave me back and reprove me for medling might more deservedly be the First to upbraid us all and say Why did you not look better to it when it was Time You may thank your selves it was through your own negligence that you had not what you would at such a Season Be it known therefore or remembred that there being two Bills in the House of Commons upon the Anvil in Charles the Second's time the One of them for Comprehension the Other for Indulgence the Titles were otherwise worded but the Intent such The Bill for Indulgence was so well attended by an industrious Member of the House that nothing was wanting to the Compleating of it but the Bill for Comprehension being drawn up by Gentlemen that did not and could not fully understand the Scruples of the Nonconformists was both imperfect and neglected Only one Person without door having procured a Copy and finding it so did by applying himself to several Members about it get something to be changed or put into it at the Committee and afterwards with Consent and Assistance of some of his Brethren improve and perfect it against the Sitting of the Parliament at Oxford but they sitting not it was thought good to put it as a Memorial into that Book and for that end as is mentioned When I say now this Bill was perfected as I mean it only in regard to the Contents leaving the Words to be formed better as a Parliament pleased so by this Perfection I mean not such a Measure as all those Condescentions or Allowances sit to to be made to the Dissenter may not Exceed for there is the Service-Book may be Revised and every thing in it that gives occasion of stumbling to any may be changed and there are other things may be expected at this time which could not rationally heretofore but such a Measure as they must not fall short of without rendring the Bill insignificant For if there be ten Thorns in the Nonconformists Foot and the Bishops pull out Nine of them and leave the Tenth he cannot go along with them for that One only There are some few Additions therefore inserted in this Bill which were not put into it by the Committee at that time the Reasons whereof will appear in their own Light Excepting Two of them which I will therefore speak something about the One being concerning the Subscription of the Articles the Other concerning Orders I will begin with that concerning Orders In the late Times when the Bishops were down many were Ordained by Presbyters and the Parliament was willing to allow those Orders as good in a Case of Necessity But there being Others ordained since the return of the Bishops there was no Provision made for such in the Bill As for these Persons therefore that â—e neglect of the Bishops may be countenanced here is the Proposal of such a Laying on of their Hands which may be lawfully received For there is Ordinatio ad Ossicium Reordinatio ad Exeritium particulare may consist together An Ordination to the Office or Ministry it self is not to be repeated He that is once ordained to That whether by Presbyters or Bishops cannot receive the Spiritual Power or Character or be made Ministers Again But there is a Laying on of Hands to the Work of that Office in regard to a new Charge as Paul and Barnabas who were Ministers before are yet separated to that peculiar Work unto which the Holy Ghost called
them Acts 13. By the Laying on of the Hands of those at Antioch and such an Ordination as this being capable to be used more than once is the Remedy applyed therefore to these Persons in the Bill as the only medium for Resolution of this Difficulty For the Other matter concerning the Subscription to the Churches Articles I have something more than this to say about it Whosoever have read a Book called A part of Register wherein there is a relation of several things in reference to the Nonconformists in Q. Elizabeth's Days they will find that nothing was then so grievous to them as the Subscriptions of those Times and the Subscription to these Articles was one which gives me Affliction to consider how by the Contexture of both those Bills before named and like now to be revived and be two again the Nonconformist Ministers whole Freedom from Prosecution of the Law against him is made to depend upon his Subscribing the Articles of Religion A bottom I must say more narrow more servile and less ingenuous than might be wished For what man of a free Judgment can Subscribe to the 39. or 36. Articles which himself hath not drawn up without a Liberty of his own interpretation Indeed if that were a thing lawful upon the reading the Articles to frame a Sense of ones own and Subscribe it in that sense nothing would be more easie than such a Subscription But when the Impositions of our Superiours must conscientiously be taken in the Sense of the Imposers or else we do but prevaricate are false or perjurious in the sight of God there is nothing almost under Heaven that a Man should be more tender of than this business of Subscribing The doubtfulness of many about the Ceremonies is not to be compared to a Conviction of Conscience that a Man must not Subscribe to any point of Doctrine which he believes untrue and I must needs add that Except the Declaring and Swearing that it is not lawful to take Arms against those that are Commissionated by the King upon any cause there is no part of Conformity more hard to my Genius than this Subscription It is an unfortunate thing therefore that when Assent and Consent to the Liturgy is found a thing so truly grievous to all as to be judg'd necessary to be taken away this Assent and Consent yet and Approbation of the Articles should be thought no Grievance to any Body Especially when in One the Conformist hath a Shift or Salvo that he Subscribes but to the Use but in the Other there is no Shift no Salvo at all nothing but down-right Hypocrisie and False-hood when a Man comes and professes his Assent and Consent to and Approbation of those Articles in the Churches Sense but does understand them to be true only in his own I know indeed that in the Opinion of many some of our more eminent Divines the Subscribing the Articles is to be taken for nothing but a Respect to the Church and an Engagement that they will not Preach against them But these Men how worthy or how conscientious they be otherwise must be told that in this they shew no Conscience for I would know from any such Man in what Dictionary I shall find that Assent and Consent to an Article and Approbation of it is no more than I won't Preach against it And what Imposition after that shall hold him who can get leave of his Conscience to make such an Evasion Besides that to promise I will never Preach or Write against these Articles if I believe the Church mistaken in the Doctrine of any of them is really to me a harder Task than to Subscribe them in as much as to tell one Lye is not so grievous as to tell a great many which as often as I break my Promise I must be doing The Question therefore here arises upon this What the Parliament should do about this Subscription seeing it is a Grievance undoubtedly and ought to be Redressed Now there are Four ways may be proposed Either the removing it or changing it or providing a Salve against it or that which is least letting this little Addition stand and be allowed That which is put into the Bill for that end For the first Way I must needs say That that is the easiest and it is a common Saying The first is best And what does hinder but this Assent and Consent to the Articles may be taken away as well as Assent and Consent to the Book of Common Prayer Here are the same crookedâ—ss's to stick in our Throats and why should not both Declarations fare alike Why is it not enougâ— foâ— a Man to profess his Belief of the Scripture and of the Apostles Creed and to take the Test against Popery to qualify him for the benefit of any Bill of this kind For the Second Way which I suppose to be the most likely to take Effect is this Let these Declarations of our Assent and Consent to and Approbation of the Articles which we are required now to Subscribe be turned into a Declaration of That which the more ingenuous of our Conformists do say is all their meaning in their Subscribing of them and that Expedient may do the business We must not Subscribe to such Words as these with the Reservation of a less Meaning That is Equivocation but we may Subscribe to such Words as signifie only that Meaning instead of these which signifie more and be at ease in our Subscription I A. B. do declare That I do bear that due Respect to the Church of England and her Book of Articles as an Instrument of Concord That I will not Seditiously or Schismatically I will not directly or expresly Preach or Write against any of them to the Breach of Charity or making disturbance among Christians There are some such Words as these must be put in for consequentially and reductively or before we are aware innocently and sometime necessarily in regard to some point of Doctrine which we think in their Sense contrary to Scripture we must and shall Preach against them and yet our Promise must not be broken I will to avoid Scruple quite as to my self and for the fuller satisfaction to my Conformist Brethren and to acquit my Conscience before all sorts of Men make this Declaration of my own Accord That I do from my Heart give my Consent to the Reformation of Religion which was made by the Church of England in her Doctrine and her Worship I do esteem those Persons that are made Ministers by her Book of Orders to be lawful Ministers and our Parochial Congregations to be true Christian Churches consisting of Pasture and People who have a Fundamental Authority from Christ of Teaching and Ruling them according to his Institution I do submit to her Government as under the King And I do receive her Articles and Homilies as Books full of wholesom Truth and good Instructions Instrumental to Concord and that They contain in them
the Bishop who brings in a Thing into the English Church which I confess I never read of in Antiquity and which I believe is not to be found in Christendom For a Minister of England is not Re-ordained by the French or by the Dutch to make him a Minister of the French or Dutch Church though it might be otherwise here because the Reason for it before mentioned is not there as here But as to the part of the Submitter the evil of Re-ordination lying only in the Vacating our first Ministry which is Sacriledge and here being no such matter so long as our former Ministry is publickly professed by the man himself and Bishop and whole Church there can be no Evil I say in a second Imposition of Hands as thus used only unless you will say it is a breach of the Third Commandment a taking an Ordinance of God in Vain when there is here no Ordinance of God at all but an Humane Institution for so good an end as Peace in the Church which being made the Qualification of a person for the use of his Ministry in publick and the enjoyment of a Living Who is the man that will say it is done in vain Nevertheless if this Device should happily pass Both Houses which being a New Thing and presented bare faced will rather be called a Monster and turn'd out of Doors two things must be advised One is That in the administring such an Institution Instead of these words the Bishop is appointed to use Take thou Authority to Exercise thy Ministry in the Church of England whereat the Nonconformist Minister having his Ministerial Authority already will Scruple it is better these be used Receive thou Admittance by the Imposition of my Hands to the Exercise of thy Ministry in the Church of England and in any Church in my Diocess where thou shall be called The Other is That the administrating such an humane Ordinance as this in order to Union may not be called Re-ordination which is a Name so odious in the Church in all Ages but as it is a New Thing and ought to have a New Office appointed for it so it should have a New Name also Let a Constitution or Canon be made for it and an Office or Form to administer it and let it be called Cannonical Admission And now I have said thus much This is not the thing wherein I am concern'd in my Bill To be ordained to the Office of a Minister does make a Man in common account a Minister of the Universal Church and a Minister of the Church Universal must be a Minister in her Church of England and of France and of Holland and of every Country and the Imposition of Hands to make a Man a Minister in the Church of England who was a Minister in every one before is a New Thing I have said and perhaps will be thought an Odd Thing too But to make a Man who is a Minister already of the Universal Church â—o be the Minister of such a particular place that was not their particular Minister before is no New Thing nor Odd Thing And if every Person not Episcopally ordained already shall be bound to go to his Bishop when he has such a Call for his Blessing with Imposition of Hands in reference to such a Place that is to pray for God's Blessing or Assistance of him to fulfill that Work there can be nothing of Scruple or doubt about the Lawfulness of his so doing Only I will suppose an Office here to be made as I have said before and in a Prayer fitted to the Case the Person being on his knees and the Bishop reading over him I would instead of those words before prescribed have these only brought in Whom by this Imposition of my Hands we recommend to the Grace of God for the Work unto which he is called One thing yet I must take notice of That in the Bill for Comprehension in Charles's time it came to be allowed at the Committee that the Ordination of those that were ordained only by Presbyters from 1644. to 1660. should be held good though Others were left to be Re-ordained and I cannot but be Sorry that a thing so small so equitable as that when there was no Bishops to go to for Orders should be with drawn Seeing the Testimony of an English Parliament to the Validity of Presbyterian Orders in honour to the Reformed Churches abroad were some considerable Attainment FINIS