church-lands and utensils as Sacriledg and a very horrid sin shou'd see somthing equally hainous if not more so in mens alienating those excellent gifts God has endued them with for the Churches Edification when never justly forbidden the exercise of that Ministery to which they are devoted They who are justly call'd to that office by men are call'd by Christ and are bound to be true and faithful to him And where there is a true necessity of their labours they may answer their unjust silencers as Peter John did Acts 4.19 Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judg ye Timothy who was ordain'd by men yet has that solemn charge given him 2 Tim. 4.1 2. that is sufficient to deter Ministers from denying their Lord the service they have vow'd him to please the unjust will of men I know but one case that will excuse a Minister unjustly silenc'd in forbearing the exercise of his Ministry viz. when there is no necessity of his labours and the exercise of his Ministry would by violating pubâ—ick order do more hurt than good in his present circumstances But 't is too evident this was not the case of those 2000 Ministers siâ—enc'd by the Act of Vniformity To that purpose let the consequences of their continuing or forbearing their Ministry be compar'd What was the inconvenience of their Preaching more than this that a point of humane order was violated some needless impositions to speak the mildest not comply'd with which were design'd to promote an impracticable uniformity but were more likely to prove engines of corrupting and dividing the Church and the unjust will of the Silencers disobey'd What was the advantage of their continuing their Ministry It may be justly said to the honour of God that many thousands of ignorant souls have been instructed in the truths of the Gospel and by true conversion or repentance added to the number of Christ's mystical body the honour of Christianity has been promoted by the purity of their societies through the faithful exercise of Church-discipline the serious practice of Religion has been more effectually maintain'd in a profane and debauched age And what I would chiefly recommend to your consideration a vast number of souls have enjoy'd the sutable and succesful means of their Edification and Salvation who either through the irregularity of Parish-bounds or through their own scruples about the terms of Parish-communion must else have wanted them or through the ill provision of Parish-Ministers must have sat under such Pastors as no man concern'd for his own â—ternal happiness should be satisfied with where he may have better For the truth of these things the silenced Ministers may freely appeal to those that know them and have any serious sense of these matters But they will not much regard the judgment of those who think there is no need of any other conversion than from the external profession of a false Religion to the profession of a true And no Regeneration but external Baptism who account all sufficiently qualified to take a pastoral charge of souls who have got into holy Orders and think the people bound in complaisance to the Patron or the Bishop to acquiesce in their choice tho it deprive them of the most probable means of their salvation and oblige them to sit under those as their Pastors from whose labours little succeâ—s can be rationally expected But for such as understand the real necessities and value of souls and know how much the success of Ministers does ordinarily depend on their moral aptitude and abilities for that sacred Office and have learnt to prefer the Edification and Salvation of Souls before external order when inconsistent with it Let them judge whether the foresaid Ministers had not sinned had they in those circumstances deserted their Ministry and denied their help to those that needed and earâ—estly crav'd it i. e. Whether it were better that in our large Parish-Churches thousands should live without any publick worship of God or means of salvation Or thâ—t all who scruple the imposed conditions of lay-communion shou'd live without Pastors till they can change their judgment Or that the people in a vast number of Parishes should live under such as their Pastors as no serious Christian would commit the conduct of his soul to where he may have better Or that irreligion should prevail through the total neglect of Church-Discipline In a word whether it were better all the souls whom the Nonconformist's Ministry has been the Instrument within these 25 years to enlighten sanctify and prepare for Heaven had never enjoy'd their labours than the external order of Parish-bounds should be violated and the suspected impositions of things own'd by the Imposers for indifferent disobey'd Now if it were sinful for the silenc'd Ministers to desert their office in such circumstances because of an unjust prohibition then no law of God that concerns the Churches peace does oblige them to it And that they were unjustly prohibited the exercise of their office belongs to the next Head. 2. The foresaid Ministers do in the exercise of their Ministry violate no just law of man. The humane Law which they violate enjoyns such conditions of their office as these among others 1. A Declaration of unfeigned Assent and Consent to all things contained in and prescribed by the Book entituled the Book of common-Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies c. and in the form and manner of making Ordaining and Consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons 2. The Oxford Oath or swearing never to endeavour any alteration of the present Church-Government 3. Reordination as to those that had not Prelatical Ordination 4. The Oath of Canonical Obedience c. Now if these conditions of the Ministry be sinful I would gladly know whether any humane law be just that forbids the Ministâ—rs of our Lord Jesus to preach his Gospel unless they will comply with sinful terms or that makes sinning the condition of the exercise of their Ministry I hope none will presume to say that which sets up the authority of Man against God's I would therefore enquire further Ought all to forbear the exercise of their Ministry who are forbidden by an unjust humane Law If so why did not Christian Pastors forbear it under Pagan Emperors or the Orthodox under the Arrian or Reformed Pastors under Popish Princes where the law â—orâ—ids them Or will Mr. K. say all these ought to have forborn and deserted their office What! has God left it at the will of men whether he shall be publickly worshipt whether his Gospel shall be preach'd whether the Office he has call'd men to shall be discharg'd whether souls shall enjoy the sutable means of their Salvation or the number of Ministers shall be proportionable to the real necessity of souls Has he given men any power against his own interest or to promote the damnation of souls by imposing such
terms of the Ministry as Christ's own Laws forbid his Ministers to obey If all ought not to forbear their Ministry who are forbidden by an unjust Law What is there in the case of the silenc'd Ministers that shâ—uld oblige them to it I know nothing can be imagin'd but this That obedience to that Law tho unjust would in their circumstances tend more to the good of the Church and sou s than all their ministerial labours And if any can make this good I doubt not but they will forbear For proof of the contrary see p. 27 28. under the former Head. All the Quest therefore will be concerning the conditions of the Ministry that by the foresaid Law were impos'd upon them For the first mentioned the Declaration of Assent and Consent c. Are there not many thousands of sincere and upright Chrâ—stians in these Kingdoms who do really judge kneeling at the Sacrament unlawful because they account it a symbo izing with the Church of Rome in a ceremony abus'd to Idolatry who judge the Cross in Baptism unlawful because 't is a new Tessera or symbol of our Christian Profession of humâ—ne Institution to which those very duties and blessings of â—he Gospel are annext which our Lord has annext to Baptism â—specialâ—y when the words of the Canon are To dedicate them â—y that badge the sign of the Cross to the service of Christ whose benefits â—â—stow'd on th m in Baptism the name of the Cross does represent Or whâ— scruple the use of Sponsors in Baptism to undertake that work which â—s the Parents duty and not theirs unless the Parent be incapable and the more because the 29â—h Canon of the Church saâ—th No Parent shall be urged to be present nor be admitted to answer as Godfather for his â—wn child He that knows not there are many thousands who judge â—hese things unlawful and yet are persons as eminent for their piety as those that are otherwiâ—e minded is either a stranger to these Nations or has very little charity left Whether these persons be mistaken in these scrupâ—es or no I do not now dispute nor is it necessary to my Argument to suppose them in the right But I wou'd hope it will be granted me that their credible profession of Religion gives them a right to all the seals of the Covenant and that 't is not lawful to debar them from the Lords-Supper or their children from Baptism on the account of these scruples To say otherwise were to make it lawful for the Ministers of Christ to reject those whom they have all imaginable reason to beâ—ieve that their Lord receives nay whom he has commanded them to receive Rom. 14.1 Whereas to reject sâ—ch is a heinous degree of Schism and opposite to the great law of Charity and Christian forbearance which Pastors as well as people are concerned in 'T is the very sin Diotrephes is charg'd with 3 Ep. Joh. v. 10. Now if it be unâ—awful to deprive such of external Church-priviledges as in the judgment of rational Charity have a right to them then 't is unlawful to profess our Assent and Consent to a Book which obliges us to thâ—s Uncharitable and Schismatical practice For the Book obliges us to administer the Sacraments only in the manner there prescribed and by the Canons of the Church those Ministers incur the danger of Suspension that do otherwise So that we cannot be Ministers without approving thâ—se Schismatical Conditions of Church-Communion and perhaps excluding the most sober part of a Parish on the account of them Whereas Christian Love forbids us to Exclude such and much more forbids us to Assent and Consent to their Exclusion For the 2d Condâ—tion of the Ministry That Clause in the Oxford Oath wherein we must swear never to endeavour any Alteration of Government in the Church Do's Mr. K think there are no Corruptions in the Government of the Church which if alter'd and reform'd wou'd greatly conduce to the advancement of real Religion Is the exercise of Church-Government by a Lay-Chancellor and the manner of their process in the Spiritual Courts no corruption that needs amendment What when so solemn a thing as the Censures of the Church is manag'd more like a dâ—sign to correct mens purses then either the Errors of their Judgment or disorders of their Practâ—ce and as Dr. Burnet in the life of Bishop Bedel complains That Excommunication had lost all its force as a Spiritual Censuâ—e and was dreaded only on the account of the effects it produc't in Law. And these matters are not since chang'd for the better Is that Discipline by which every particular Church shou'd be as much as possible preserv'd from the infecti n and scandal of notoriously wicked members possible to be exercised by a Bishop or his Lay-Chancellor for a whole Diocess containing 3 or 4 hundred or perhaps as many more particular Churches For Instance Is the Bishop of Lincoln whose Diocess contains in it 1000 or 1100 Parish-Churches capable to calâ— all the scandalous sinners within that vast Precinct to Repentance to examine the crimes alledg'd against them use all the admonitions and reproofs that tend to reclaim them and after due evidence of their impenitency cast them out of Church Communion How many thousands must he have at once in his Court if he exercised Church Discipline as strictly as the H. Scriptures enjoyn or as the Common-Prayer-Book owns it was practised in the primitive Church See Pref to the Commination used in Lent. And does there need any plainer Argument of the impossibility of it then that this Discipline was never actualâ—y exe câ—sed by the Bâ—shops to any purpose nor one scandalous siâ—ner of a thousand in a Diocess ever call'd to Repentance for his notorious crimes or censured for his continuing in them unless it were some scrupulous Nonconformist And does Mr. K. think these things need no alteration If he doth so I would gladly know What Church-Government or Discipline signifies To what purpose then is all this stir about an Empty Name when there is no use to be made of the Thing to the great purposes it 's intended for when 't is not exercised to preserve the honour of Religion by a credible profession of it in particular Churches and to secure those Churches from the pernicious influence of such whom their Haeresies or their scandalous crimes render unfit for Christian Society If these things be gross abuses If the present Church-Government render Discipline impracticable and deprive Parish-Ministers of an essential part of their Office Is it lawful to swear We will never endeavour an alteration of this and that without any limitation signified as in an irregular manner or beyond our particular Sphoere Is it lawful for those who know these to be corruptions which have greatly depraved the Church and dishonoured Christianity to swear they will never eâ—deavour to amend them They might as well bind themselves by oath never to Repent nor Promote the
Repentance of others If any say the meaning of the Oath is only that they will never endeavour this by any sinful means or beyond their private sphere Why could not these necessary words be put in And that this dangerous sense was never intended by the Convocation is evident from the 7th Canon where they thus speak Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the Government of the Church of England under his Majesty by Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons and the rest that bear Office in the same is Antichristian or repugnant to the word of God let him be â—xcommunicate ipso facto and so continue till he repent and revoke such his wicked error They that thus suppos'd nothing in their Government repugnant to the word of God did without doubt intend to bind the inferiour Clergy from all attempts to alter it and so contriv'd this Oath that an Allegiance might be in these Nations sworn to the Bishops as well as the King. For the 3d. viz. Reordination The Divines of the Church of England generally own it unlawful and consequently the imposition of it supposes Ordination by Presbyters a Nullity For such therefore as were so ordain'd to consent to Reordination is to own the Nullity of their former Administrations and cast the basest slurr on a great part of the Reformed Ministry And this reminds me of a passage in the Preface to the Book of Ordination which acquaints us with the judgment of those that compos'd it Viz. And to this intent that these Orders be reverently esteem'd No man shall be accounted or taken for a lawful Priest in the Ch. of Engl. or be suffer'd to execute the Function except he be called according to this form or hath had formerly Episcopal Ordination And this we must profess our Assent and Consent to which he that can do and makes conscience of declaring nothing but what he really believes has either a large stock of ignorance or very little charity as will appear by what is said on the Head about Mission The Authors of that Preface cou'd not but foresee that such Declarations would effâ—ctually choke a great part of the Ministers in England and Ireland and 't is hard to imagine what other design they could have in requiring their Assent and Consent to such passages as these For the Oath of Canonical obedience viz. That the Priests or Deacons will reverently obey their Ordinary and other chief Ministers to whom is committed the Charge and Government over them I suppose 'T is meant of obedience to their Ordinary in what he prescribes agreably to the Canons which are the known Rule he governs by And so we should be obliged to read the sentence of excommunication against all that the Bishop or his Chancellor may according to those Canons excommunicate now he may excommunicate all Nonconformists And we that know them to be men of holy and blameless lives must swear to obey the Bishop by publishing his schismatical sentence I might have added several things more on this Head were it necessary I know some have told the world â—reely that in their Declaration of Assent c. they intend no more than to receive those Books as an Instrument of peace so that they will not preach against any thing contain'd in them as some subscribe even the Articles themselves To which I need only answer 1. It us'd to be acknowledg'd by Prot. Casuists as 't is largely asserted by Bishop Sanderson de Juram That to stretch the words of Laws Oaths and Promisâ—s to meanings different from their common use is sinful and a practice fitter for those that own the Doctrine of Equivocations c. than sincere Christians or good subjects Now if to Assent and Consent to all things contain'd in and prescrib'd by a Book be not an Assent to them as true and Consent to them as good or lawful 't is impossible to understand the sense of those two words And what might not a man in this lax sense declare his Assent and Consent to tho never so much against his judgment provided he did not think himself oblig'd to speak publickly against it That the Parliament never intended that lax sense appears hence That when the House of Lords added a Proviso that the Declaration in the Act of Uniformity should be understood but as obliging men to the use of the Book the House of Commons refus'd it at a Conference about it and gave such reasons against that sense and Proviso to the Lords upon which they acquiesc'd and cast it out 2. Whatever meaning be put on the forementioned declarations and oaths None can exercise his Ministry in the Church of England without denying the priviledges of Christianity to those that have a right to them and without quiting an essential part of his office as Pastor of a particular Church or incurring the danger of suspension for doing otherwise And the Ministers of Christ must not put themselves under such a necâ—ssity of acting uncharitably and schismatically towards his true Members nor thus wiâ—fully maim and deprave their Pastoral office I appeal then to the Judgment of all Whether if these conditions of the Ministry be sinful That Law be just that shall enjoyn them and make mens forswearing themselves necessary to the preaching of the Gospel I am very sorry Mr. K. and some of his Coat should so often necessitate their Brethren to harp on this ungrateful string They pay too great a deference to the Laws of the Land to cast any needâ—ess Reflections on them But men ought not to bear silently the charge of Schism and Church Rebellion who are no way guilty of it Especially when their silence and neglect to vindicate themselves may tempt others who are not acquainted with their case to censure and hate them wrongfully as cloth'd with these odious characters I hope the precedent discourse has evidenc'd the charge to be undeserved and false And therefore whatever expressions seem to grate on the Laws must be imputed to the unhappy necessity put upon them to give a true representation of their case by the virulent accusations of their brethren from whom one wou'd think they might rather expect some pitty I doubt not but the moderate and charitable part of the Conforming Clergy have other apprehensions of their brethren and are asham'd of these passages in M. K's Answer But for those that approve the silencing Laws arraign their Brethren as Church-Rebels for not obeying them and condemn those societies that need and embrace their help meerly on that score as no parts of the Catholick Church even when they exclude not the Popish Churches It will appear I think from this Paper that their Arguments are not so strong as their Passion and a little more charity wou'd advance the reputation of their Intellectuals as well as Morals Such men may long exclaim against our divisions but their own principles and temper are the most insuperable obstacle to the healing of them Having considered the Questions