of Latitudinarian Principles yet they having hitherto lived in a Conformity to the Church as established we hope they will not give up any thing that is substantial with the Circumstantials for Decency and Order or if they do so it will be as pardonable in us of the Country to forsake them as for some of those eminent Divines that were joyned in Commission with them And I am fully perswaded that on making such Alterations as are said to be prepared by the Commissioners the Church will run the hazard of offending a greater number of more considerable persons than they are likely to gratifie thereby Object But such Alterations being made such as shall thenceforward continue to be Dissenters will be more inexcusable Ans This is not very probable because they will still say you have only taken off the lesser Offences but have continued the weighter Matters on their Consciences still viz. such as in their Consciences they account to be Sinful and their Conformity to them to be Damnable And if after such Alterations be established by Law and any Penalty be annexed for the Sanction of that Law the Legislators will be reflected on as Persecutors and their Laws as so many tearing Engines though I must needs say there never yet were such severe Penalties enacted against any sort of Dissenters though known to be Men of Atheistical and Antimonarchical Principles as against some Reverend Fathers and Members of the Church who are known to be Men of Religious and Peaceable Principles yet they quietly submit with a Deus providebit I may well presume that no Man living in Communion with our Church is convinc'd that there is any thing Sinful in that Communion now these being the greater and the better part I say with Dr. Beveredge in his Sermon to the Convocation p. 25. Neque ratio neque perpetua Ecclesiae consuetudo patitur ut pars toti praeferatur Neither reason nor the perpetual Custom of the Church doth permit that a part should be preferred before the whole And then nothing can justify the Dissenters from Schism in their Separation from us for as to things that are by them judged Inexpedient it is fit that the greater and better Part should judge of Expediency for the rest and not they for themselves or their Betters And if such Opinionative and Ungovernable People were for a while by strict Discipline taught the Duty of Self-denial as to things in their nature indifferent and how necessary Obedience to Superiours is in such cases which even they themselves do practice and in which sort of things only our Governours have Authority we might hope for an Uniformity and not otherwise And to this end it is very observable what Dr. Beveredge says in his Sermon p. 26. Antiquas novis mutare Legibus To change old Laws for new is alway dangerous unless such a Necessity constrain as is otherwise insuperable There was never any Church which hath not inserted into her Laws many things not contrary but beside those things which are in the Holy Scripture and having made such Laws do establish them by the Sanctions of Ecclesiastical Punishments p. 23 When therefore that Learned Doctor says p. 27. Vtrum Ecclesiae noslra c. whether our Church be obliged by a Necessity to change any thing that is by her Laws established is not his part to determine but Prudentis est and immediately adds This only I dare to affirm That if it be necessary to reduce wandring Sheep into Christ's Flock if to take off Scruples from the minds of weak Brethren if to allay Hatred appease Anger and as much as may be to suppress all Dissentions concerning Religion if to recall Ecclesiastical Discipline to its Primitive Vigour if to Defend and Establish the best Church in the World against the Assaults of Men and Devils if these things says he seem necessary to any Man it will also seem necessary to that Man to admit such Changes as he is perswaded will conduce to such ends so as the Change be made in such things only which our Church hath constituted by her sole Authority not in such as the Vniversal Church by her common Laws hath Established Here then we say that to alter the Episcopal Government to take the Power of Ordination from Bishops and place it in the hands of Presbyters to take away a Well-ordered Liturgy and bring in Extemporary Prayers for Publick Worship to give every Minister a Jurisdiction and Power of Excommunication and many other things without which some grave Dissenters will not be comprehended is more than the Learned Doctor will grant for of such things he speaks his mind impartially Has sub quovis praetextu vel extremis digitis attingere c. To endeavour the removal of these under any pretence whatsoever or to touch them with one of our Fingers is contrary to the Religious Care of all the Churches of God and of our own And to Abrogate or Reject that which hath been every-where and at all times observed is not to change an Ecclesiastical Rite only but the Church itself and to make it differ from all other Churches of God But what then is the Doctor 's Judgment concerning such Constitutions as are in the Power of a particular Church Ans This the Doctor determined p. 23. ut supra and again p. 26. A Change hath neither been wont nor ought to be made by any Church at any time unless some great Necessity do constrain thereto But of a change of what fort of Laws doth the Doctor speak That he tells us in the same Page Neque enim quispiam c. There is not any Man so skilful as by any Art to foresee how many and great dangers are like to arise by the change of incommodious Laws wherefore to change old Laws for new is alway dangerous unless such a necessity urge it as cannot otherwise be overcome and such as is so manifest to all that whoever seeth the Change may also see Summam ejus rationem necessitatem the greatest Reason and necessity for the Change even of those incommodious Laws To this I shall need to add no more than that apt Allusion of this Learned Doctor concerning the Obligation of Ecclesiastical Laws p. 19. As in this Kingdom there are many Corporations and inferiour Societies which have a Power granted them of constituting Laws for themselves and their Members with this caution That nothing be done or constituted by them which is contrary to the Statutes of the Realm the Common Law or any ancient Custom which beyond the memory of Man hath been introduced and received by the whole Kingdom and thereby hath obtained the force of a Law Now though this be in p. 20. applied to the Universal Church yet in p. 21. the Doctor applies it to particular Churches In quacunque provincia sitae sunt In whatever Province a Church is planted the Bishops and Pastors of that Province may as oft as occasion requires
Jane had the Majority of Voices yet great endeavours were used to prefer the Dean whose Party having argued much for it but saw themselves overcome did at last yeild to the Election of Dr. Jane the Votes for him being double to the others The first thing that was done in the Convocation after the chusing the Prolocutor was Decemb. 4th when the Commission from the King was read there being present twelve Bishops the Commission was as follows WIlliam and Mary by the Grace of GOD King and Queen of England Scotland France and Ireland Defenders of the Faith c. To all to whom these Presents shall come Greeting Whereas in and by one Act of Parliament made at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 8th Reciting That whereas the King 's Humble and Obedient Subjects the Clergy of this Realm of England had not only acknowledged according to the Truth that the Convocation of the same Clergy were always had been and ought to be Assembled only by the King 's Writ but also submitting themselves to the King's Majesty had promised in Verbo Sacerdotis that they would never from thenceforth presume to Attempt Alledge Claim or put in Ure or Enact Promulge or Execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincial or others or by whatsoever other Name they should be called in the Convocation unless the said King's most Royal Assent and License might to them be had to Make Promulge and Execute the same and that the said King did give his Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf It was therefore Enacted by the Authority of the said Parliament according to the said Submission and Petition of the said Clergy among other things That they nor any of them from thenceforth should Enact Promulge or Execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever Name they might be called in their Convocations in time coming which always should be Assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ unless the same Clergy might have the King 's most Royal Assent and License to Make Promulge and Execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodal upon Pain of every one of the said Clergy doing contrary to the said Act and being thereof Convict to suffer Imprisonment and make Fines at the King 's Will. And further by the said Act it is Provided That no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances should be Made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocations of the Clergy which should be contrariant or repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in the said Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding And lastly It is also Provided by the said Act That such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial which then were already made and which then were not contrariant or repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the Damage or Hurt of the King's Prerogative Royal should then still be Used and Executed as they were before the making of the said Act until such time as they should be Viewed Searched or otherwise Ordered and Determin'd by the Persons mentioned in the said Act or the most part of them according to the Tenor Form and Effect of the said Act as by the said Act among divers other things more fully and at large it doth and may appear And whereas the particular Forms of Divine Worship and Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein being Things of their own Nature Indifferent and Alterable and so acknowledged it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various Exigency of Times and Occasions such Changes and Alterations should be made therein as to those that are in Place and Authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient And whereas the Book of Canons is fit to be Reviewed and made more suitable to the State of the Church And whereas there are divers Defects and Abuses in the Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdictions and particularly there is not sufficient Provision made for the removing of Scandalous Ministers and for the Reformation of Manners either in Ministers or People And whereas it is most fit that there should be a strict Method prescribed for the Examination of such Persons as desire to be admitted into Holy Orders both as to their Learning and Manners Know ye That We for divers urgent and weighty Causes and Considerations Us thereunto moving of Our especial Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion have by Vertue of Our Prerogative Royal and Supream Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical Given and Granted and by these Presents do give and grant full free and lawful Liberty License Power and Authority into the Right Reverend Father in GOD Henry Lord Bishop of London President of this Present Convocation for the Province of Canterbury upon the Suspension of the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury during this present Parliament now Assembled and in his Absence to such other Bishops as shall be appointed President thereof and to the rest of the Bishops of the same Province and to all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-Deacons Chapters and Colledges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province That they the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Convocation and the rest of the Bishops and other the said Clergy of this present Convocation within the said Province of Canterbury or the greatest number of them whereof the President of the said Convocation to be always one shall and may from time to time during this present Parliament Confer Treat Debate Consider Consult and Agree of and upon such Points Matters Causes and Things as We from time to time shall Propose or cause to be proposed by the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Convocation comercing Alterations and Amendments of the Liturgy and Canons and Orders Ordinances and Constitutions for the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Courts for the Removing of Scandalous Ministers for the Reformation of Manners either in Ministers or People and for the Examination of such Persons as desire to be admitted into Holy Orders and all such other Points Causes and Matters as We shall think Necessary and Expedient for advancing the Honour and Service of Almighty GOD the Good and Quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof And we do also by these Presents Give and Grant unto the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Covocation and to the rest of the Bishops of the said Province of Canterbury and unto all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-Deacons Chapters and Colledges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province full free and lawful Liberty License Power and Authority That they the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same
not only be despised but cast back as filth in our faces not only with a Quis requisivit but with a Pudet haec Opprobria vobis as if our manner of publick Worship were so corrupt that we were ashamed of it and were convinced of a necessity to purge it Whereas though it was declared in the Preface to the Liturgy as also in the King 's Ecclesiastical Commission as is repeated p. 13. of that Discourse That it is reasonable that on weighty and important Considerations according to the Exigency of times and occasions such Changes and Alterations may be made as to those that are in place of Authority should seem necessary or expedient Yet it is there said We are fully perswaded in our Judgments that the Book as it stood before established by Law doth not contain in it any thing contrary to the Word of God or to sound Doctrine or which a godly Man may not with a good Conscience use and submit unto or which is not fairly defensable against any that shall oppose the same Though the Book there spoken of hath been altered for the better in some Hundreds of places since that Declaration 2. They think it reasonable that the End should be considered before the Means be resolved on Now the End designed by the Alterations to be made is the Satisfaction of the Consciences of the Dissenters and reducing them to the Communion of the Church but what those Alterations are that will give them satisfaction hath not yet been proposed with any moderation nor what Concessions will reduce them to our Communion The Author of a Discourse concerning the late Ecclesiastical Commission p. 18. saith That in the Year 1661 the Alterations and Additions then made by the Convocation did amount to the number of about Six hundred Yet that Established Liturgy was rejected by some of the chiefest Dissenters not without very indecent Reflections on King Charles the Second who had promised to leave those things to the Parliament and Convocation with this reproach If these be all the Abatements and Amendments ye will admit ye sell your own Innocency and the Churches Peace for nothing In the Year 1681 when Dr. Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester made large Overtures to gratifie the Dissenters viz That the Cross in Baptism might be either taken off or consin'd to publick Baptism and left to the choice of the Parents That such as could not Kneel might be permitted to stand at the reception of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper That the Surplice should be taken away That at Baptism the Fathers should be permitted to joyn with the Sponsors in offering the Child to Baptism or desire them publickly to present their Child and the Charge be given to them both That they should be required to Subscribe only to thirty six of the Articles That there should be a new Translation of the Psalms for Parish-Churches That the Apocryphal Lessons should be exchanged for Scriptural That the Rubrick should be Corrected with many other Condescentions They were all thrown as it were with spite in his teeth by those that Answered his Sermon and Proposals with an Habeat sibi suis And in a Book of Mr. R. B's lately Re-printed being an Account of Non-conformity in the Reigns of Charles the Second and James the Second it is affirmed That there are Forty sinful Particulars in our Communion besides Thirty tremendous Principles and Circumstantials which affright the Dissenters from it and he reproacheth the Conformists as a company of lying and perjur'd Persons And the Author of a late Book called the Healing Attempt says they the Non-conformists are not satisfied with the Propension of our Governors to lay aside the Ceremonies and other more offensive Impositions unless their new Model for a Comprehension may be admitted which is such as would make every parish-Parish-Church independent and in a short time turn our Bethel into a Babel of Confusion whereas therefore it is said in the Preface to the Liturgy It is reasonable that on weighty and important Considerations such Alterations may be made as to those that are in Authority should seem necessary and convenient Yet it is added in the same Preface We are fully perswaded in our Judgments and we here profess it to the World that the Book as it stood before established by Law and we may say the same of the Book now Established after the Six hundred Alterations doth not contain in it any thing contrary to the Word of God or to sound Doctrine or which a godly Man may not with a good Conscience use or submit unto or which is not fairly defensible against any that shall oppose the same Now I take it as granted that the Convocation neither can nor will alter all those Particulars which some leading Men among the Dissenters do account to be Sinful nor all those tremendous Circumstantials which will still afright them from our Communion and that if but a few if but one such thing which they account to be Sinful remain unaltered the Schism will still be continued and therefore if I should ask Cui bono To what end should any Alterations be made I doubt a satisfactory Answer could not be given by such as plead for them when they themselves have so plainly declared that they will not be satisfied Object But herein we may please the King the Parliament and a great part of the Dissenting Laity Ans First as to the King His Majesty hath devolved that Province on the Convocation and Parliament 2dly He hath declared his Satisfaction as to the present Constitution 3. He doth confirm his delared Judgment by his constant practice in Communicating with the Church as established and frequent Promises to favour and protect it 2. As to the Parliament they do generally live in the Communion of the Church and if any do otherwise it is contrary to several Acts of preceding Parliaments against which though a Toleration be their Security yet as that hath been formerly exploded so it may be again and if they see it fit abrogated And 4hly Nothing can be obligatory but what shall be enacted by them whose consent we are not assured of 3. As to the People though some few may desire Alterations yet they do not agree in what Alterations they will acquiesce And it is more probable that the insisting on a Consormity to the present Constitution will reduce all to an Uniformity rather than any intended Alterations for Experience shews that from the Year 1661 when Uniformity was enjoyned the People were generally reduced to it so as in some great Cities scarce three or four persons of any note kept off from our Communion until the Toleration procured by the Papists put all into Disorder again Lastly What the late Commissioners have prepared in order to an Alteration is to us a Non constat the Reasons are best known to themselves but though we have no very good opinion of such of them as are said to be
hold their Synods or Sacred Assemblies to deliberate and consult of things belonging to the Church constituted in that Province And p. 22. All such Churches by their Synods have power to make Laws as they shall judge expedient for the better Administration of the Publick Worship of God and of his Word and Sacraments within their Province otherwise it could not well be that any Provincial or National Church should long subsist or be at peace And p. 23. Moreover it belongs to all the Churches of God to establish by Ecclesiastical Penalties such Canons by them made lest any thing contrary to them should be without Impunity committed Object But our Divisions had almost betrayed us to Popery and Slavery for prevention of which danger for the future it is adviseable as much as may be to inlarge the Terms of our Communion Ans But who betrayed us to those Divisions were they not such as causelesly separated from us and were more ready to joyn with the common Enemy of the Protestant Religion though they call'd themselves true Protestants than with the Church of England Whereof he that wrote the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon of Separation gave an Account and even dared the Opponents to call him to the proof of it viz. That Dr. Owen c. were entertain'd as Pensioners to the late King and by him encouraged to continue our Divisions by which the Papists got great advantages against us And whereto tended the flattering and fulsom Addresses of the Sectaries to the late King to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes and to obey him without Reserve but to continue those Divisions and foment those Seeds of Discord which were grown up and ripen'd almost for the Harvest to cut us all down and utterly destroy us And what if some leading Presbyterians be by our Alterations let into the Church and advanced to such Preferments as they hope for to be Bishops Deans Arch-deacons c. what security have we that they will not promote Divisions in the Church more dangerous than the Schism they made by Separation from us as some Bishops and others that had been sour'd with that Leaven being preferred in the Reign of Charles the Second did attempt A secret Enemy within the Walls of a well Fortified City is more dangerous than an open Foe in the Field I have read in the Life of Judge Hales written by the present Bishop of Sarum p. 71. That there was a Bill for Comprehension contrived by Bishop Wilkins Sir Orlando Bridgman and that Judge which though it contained more reasonable Terms than what are now proposed as I have been informed for the Admission of some Dissenters into our Communion yet it was opposed by the Clergy because they thought a Faction within the Church would prove to be more hurtful than a Schism without it And when one Party was let in upon Terms not perhaps unreasonable another Party upon other Terms less reasonable would solicite their Admission And it was objected That as some might come in so others that were in our Communion might take Offence by the Alterations and desert it and seeing our frequent Changes in some things they might suppose that there is nothing certain among us and from the many Disputes about our Liturgy proceed to question our Articles and at last fall off to the Church of Rome which they saw more constant to their Principles For which and other reasons the Bill was cast out by the Votes of the House of Commons with whom the same Considerations may still prevail And now let the Men that are given to Change produce those weighty and important Reasons required in the Preface to the Common-Prayer or that great Necessity which Dr. Beveredge requires for the Alteration even of incommodious Laws Is it necessary that an honest Man should voluntarily resign his Freehold to a litigious Person who neither desires nor deserves it and perhaps would improve the possession of it to his ruine Is it necessary that a Parent should yeild to a disobedient Child upon his own unreasonable terms Is it necessary that a good Man should accuse bear false witness against and condemn and execute himself and be a Felo de se Is it necessary that the Citizens should suffer a breach to be made in their Wall to give advantage to an Enemy when they are ready to open their Gates to let in any that offers a reasonable assurance that he is a Friend Is there any necessity to Reform that Church which is conseft to be the best Reformed Church in the World that Church to whose Pattern all the rest do desire and only want power and opportunity to conform their own Is it necessary we should do more for those who wilfully departed from us and as our Saviour intimates Not being content to be with us were against us than we have done for those forreign Protestants Men of great Learning and tender Consciences who voluntarily offer themselves to our Communion without insisting on any Terms with us Is it necessary that a Church in which all things necessary to Salvation may be freely enjoyed should accuse herself of want of Christian Charity and of imposing such sinful Terms for admitting others into her Communion as were purposely designed to keep them out and afterward voluntarily cast off those things and thereby confess themselves guilty of so great Uncharitableness Is it necessary that a Church which hath Authority to judge for itself what is decent and orderly should subject herself to the Judgment of her Members to determine for her or themselves what is decent and expedient and what is not especially when the Exception from Obedience to the Church in such things ought to be as evident and unquestionable as the Command to obey them in such Matters is Is it necessary that we should give greater Offence to the Papists from coming into our Communion now in this juncture of time by our Variableness and Defect of the Solemnity of Publick Worship which hitherto they have objected against us Is it necessary we should part with any thing to them whom we have reason to suspect that they will not leave craving till they have all When all these things are proved to be necessary then shall we be ready to make Alterations in our Ceremonies and other Circumstances if the Dissenters will be content to let us injoy what is substantial and necessary to the well-being of our Church In the mean time we shall account our selves Happy in the number of those English-men that know when they are well REFLECTIONS ON A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Ecclesiastical Commission SIR I Have also conferred with my Brethren concerning a Book intituled A Discourse concerning the Ecclesiastical Commission 1689. Of which we shall not say so much as the Author doth of a former Commission for the like affair viz. That he never entertain'd a good Opinion of it We only remark that this Author hath laid the foundation which he
is inferiour to many of our Country-Ministers as will evidently appear by his handling the particulars which deserves any remark He begins with what he understands will be first offered to the Convocation to wit The Reformation of the Kalender where he would have the Apocryphal Lessons exchanged for as many taken out of the Canon of Scripture as by the Bishops and other Divines Assembled to consider of that matter 1641 He doth not say was agreed for I find in an Answer to a Petition presented to the King's Majesty by above a Thousand Ministers as it was there said that there was no such concession made for pag. 14. the Answer to the Objection says That they are grosly ignorant if they know it not or wilfully malicious and turbulent if knowing it to be lawful they yet oppugne the Reading of the Apocryphal Writings in the Church Non ad confirmationem fidei sed ad reformationem morum As the Ancient Fathers speak and approve for which they quote Hier. Preface in Pro. Cyprian in Symb. in whose days it seems they were so read And they add That the Articles of Convocation and the Preface before the Apocryphal Books in the English Bibles do directly shew adding that they give light to the Divine History And in the Account given of the Proceedings of the Commissioners Printed 1661 where the same Objection was made p. 55. and the reason given for it Because the Scriptures contain all things necessary either in Doctrine to be believed or in Duty to be practised They answer That such a Reason would exclude all Sermons as well as Apocrypha And why then so many Sermons if notwithstanding the sufficiency of Scripture Sermons be necessary There is no reason why these Apocryphal Lessons should not be useful most of them containing excellent Discourses and Rules of Morality It is heartily to be wished that Sermons were as good and to leave them out were to cross the Practice of the Church in former Ages And the Reply of the Dissenters at that time is observable We asked not say they that no Apocryphal Chapter may be read in the Church but that none may be read as Lessons If you cite the Apocrypha as you do other Humane Writings or read them as Homilies we speak not against it and of this neither those Dissenters nor any ordinary Country-Minister could be ignorant the Church having declared That they are not of equal Authority with the Scriptures which is known to their own People who therefore will not have them bound with their Bibles besides no part of the Apocrypha is read on Sundays but on the Week-days when there are too few to hear them and those few better instructed than to think them Canonical But though this may satisfie all sober persons yet I do here protest That were it not that the Dissenters have given us an assurance that tho' these and many other Alterations should be made it would give them no satisfaction nor bring them into our Communion I would use all the Interest I have for such Alterations and for that end also part with many of the Ceremonies but of this there is a deep silence or rather a loud dissent The Letter adds If those Apocryphal Chapters were anciently read so were Hermes Pastor and Clemens Rom. and the Argument holds for reading these Answ The Church have anciently disused them but if they were now read or the Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp or some select Chapters out of King Charles the Martyr's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of the Sermons on the Week-days Lectures in which many greater Absurdities tending to Schism and Sedition are injected into the minds of the People I believe it would be much more for the Edification of them Object If they i. e. the Apocryphal Lectures were read then we know what Mischief ensued from it c. Answ We know too what Mischief accidentally arose from Reading the Scriptures must they therefore be laid aside But the Church of Rome hath made them Canonical Answ The People do believe that many of those false Doctrines many Falshoods and dangerous Opinions which are held forth to them in their Conventicles are as true as the Gospel and why are not they laid aside when we know what Mischiefs some Sermons Preached in 41 and 42 produced Bell and the Dragon with Tobit and his Dog could not have done such dismal feats The next thing insisted on p. 6. is The Revising of the Psalter added to the Liturgy which seems not so defensible there being a more Correct Copy in our Hands and an inconsistancy between the two Translations being observed by the Vulgar Answ Though there be Variations in the two Translations yet they do not contradict one the other but rather explain and give light to each other as the divers Commentaries of Learned Men do 2. The Translation of the Liturgy-Psalter is taken mostly from the Septuagint or Greek Copies which that Church still observes and it is observable that our Saviour and the Apostles when they quote the Scripture of the Old Testament to confirm their Doctrine do frequently make use of this Translation though the Hebrew was as well known to them as the Greek 3. There are Variae Lectiones even in the Hebrew Copies which the want of Points hath occasioned concerning which there are yet great Disputes among the Learned Criticks 4. The best Translations have many Defects and Inconsistancies occasioned by the various Significations of the Hebrew words as the word Barach signifies both to Bless and to Curse So that though the one should be granted to be more correct than the other yet because the one serves as a short Paraphrase to explain the other and the People have the Use of both this Exception is a meer Cavil And there is some weight in what the Letter observes That the People have many of them learnt the Psalms as they are daily read Memoritur which if disused they would soon forget And for this cause our Saviour made use of the Septuagint Translation because it was best known to that Generation And if the Septuagint Translation needs a Review so doth the other which is not so Correct but it may be amended in many places and so will the best to the end of the World That the Author of the Letter may let nothing pass he omits not the Use of the Ring in Marriage tho' he says It is agreed to be but a Civil Right And therefore I leave him to be civilly treated by the Women Page 8. The Letter comes to treat of our Ceremonies concerning which he says There is a difficulty to proceed in our Dissentions for without quitting or altering the Dissenting Party is not to be brought into the Church and without retaining them many of our own will hardly be kept in it And he considers That the one may occasion a Schism from the Church the other a Schism in it Now a Schism in the Church will
Offerings of the Lord yet honoured his Sons more than God Yet notwithstanding this he chargeth the Church as being too obstinate and obstructing the Peace of the Church and the Salvation of so many Souls as if the Peace of the Church and the Salvation of Souls were not more probably to be promoted in the Church than out of it and the Peace of the Church more likely to be procured by a restraining of those that separate from it rather than by complying with them as he adviseth He tells us indeed That we are Physitians sent to heal those that are sick and infirm and when they refuse a wholesome Medicine ought to think of something agreeable to his humor and palate but if the sick Man become pievish as he says and nothing will please him but what the Physitian knows will endanger his life the Physitian ought not in compliance with his humor to hazard his life A gentle restraint is more absolutely necessary in such cases than a foolish pity nor can it be called unreasonable severity for in such cases Non persequitur medicus aegrum sed aeger Medicum saith St. Augustine Object 7. If we make those Alterations how shall we answer the Papists who will upbraid us with it To this he answers As well as we did in the first of Q. Elizabeth Reply Not so well for she altred some things that were superstitious and yet kept up such a decency as drew in many Papists to the Communion of the Church as my Lord Cooke observed 2. He says We may alter now as well as in 1662. And likely no better for then notwithstanding the six hundred Alterations the Dissenters were Dissenters still 3. We may answer the Papists he says by pleading their Alterations at the Council of Trent Whereas that Council were so far from complying with the then Dissenters that they made more severe Canons and enjoyned them under their Anathemas when we onely desire to preserve our own Constitutions which our Author says Are both Reasonable and Religious Object 8. We shall by these Alterations dissatisfie our own People Answ I believe there is more Noise than Truth or Reason in this Objection There may be saith he some few ignorant or weak People that are zealously affected to these matters But the Apostle accounted them to be the stronger and better instructed Christians who understood their Christian Liberty as to things indifferent and were ready to submit to their Governours in such things for the Peace of the Church and condemned those that were contentious against the use of them the People ought not to prescribe to the Church in such things but the Church to them Nor is it a sinful supposition in them that do obey for they do not obey as to Divine Institutions but as to the Constitutions of the Church and therefore we do not fear that they will desert us if we keep our ground Thus far saith our Author I have shewn what necessity is upon us to consent to the Alterations that will be proposed in this present Convocation A strange kind of necessity to consent to what we never knew be it right or wrong A great Noise was made of consenting to certain Homilies that should be set forth by Authority of Church and State but here we must necessarily consent to what will be proposed by some few Men who by this Man's Authority may impose what they will upon us but of this he seems to be ashamed and therefore proceeds to another reason for this necessity From the Promise made by the Bishop to K. James which if not performed we must expect the general clamour of the People against us as a base and false sort of Men who can promise in times of Adversity and forget all when that is over and so become the Reproach of every Man Answ We are little obliged to this Author for his Misrepresentation of us and of our Promises which were conditional if the Parliament and Convocation should agree And are the Bishops in more prosperity now than when they made those Promises Are they in a condition to perform them now if they were never so willing This is the same as if one man should extort a promise from another in duris and then so bind him up that it shall be impossible for him to perform what he promised The reproach of non-performance will lay on some other and not on him Let the Bishops be put in statu quo and then see what they will do but this Objection our Author sufficiently Answers when he says There is no assurance that any one of the Dissenters will come over to us on our Concessions and therefore it is in vain to proceed on this project for as for his confidence that many would come in he must know the minds of those many better than they themselves do if he be assured of it for the leaders of that multitude who are guided by them have declared the contrary And it being the interest of their Ministers who have a more plentiful income by their conventicles as well as greater respects and a larger power than they 〈◊〉 hope for in a Church Benefice will never be such self-denying persons as to renounce all these Interests and be brought into the Church to the loss of them But the people saith our Author will forsake them and come into us if these Alterations be made Ans On the contrary it s more probable that when we make Alterations without their desire the Ministers will tell them we were ashamed of our corrupt Worship and have altered it in some lesser but have retained the greater matters to which they cannot yeild there being yet many sinful conditions in our conformity and as the people are already in this belief so they will from our voluntary Alterations confirm them in it and gain more on their credulity And from hence the Ministers will not be left without excuse as long as they pretend any one sinful term for a Communion with us is retained and that pretence is like to hold as long as it is their interest to suggest it and so long after all that we can grant we shall still be vexed with their Clamors But 2ly it is said We shall by our Alterations give satisfaction to the Nation who expects it the main Body whereof he says stand indifferently affected to them and us and think the things stood upon to be but trifling matters How the Nation will brook such an accusation as if like Gallio they cared not for the solemnity of Divine Worship and were Laodiceans neither hot nor cold for that which is Established by Law and hath been so long approved by their practice let them shew and it were a shame if they should not be as zealous for the Established Worship as the Dissenters are for that which hath been so often condemned though now it be Tolerated But there is yet another necessity for Alterations because if we do it