Considerations ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION Considerations ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION Humbly Submitted to The Convocation ON BEHALF Of the Conformable Clergy With some Reflections on the late Subscription made by our Dissenting Brethren LONDON Printed in the Year 1690. Considerations about Subscription humbly submitted to the Convocation on behalf of the conformable Clergy c. ALthough our Learned Divines have different Apprehensions about the most convenient time for setling a Firm and Lasting Union amongst Protestants and about what Condescensions are to be made by us in Order thereunto whether the Dissenters must in the First place be consulted or whether without knowing their thoughts we give them Terms c. Yet as to the Union it self there is a general readiness on our Parts and notwithstanding the Warm Reflections of the Author of Vox Cleri it must be yielded that there are good Reasons why the Convocation should know whether any thing less than the subverting the Foundations of our Constitution will satisfie the Dissenters and what that is The Convocation is to Act the Part of a Wise as well as Compassionate Physitian to heal if possible the wounds which have been made in the Church by the Division and it is the Dissenting that is the Sick Party which must be discoursed with before the Physitian can safely Prescribe It 's well known what may be done by the Church towards a Union but whether what we offer will effectually reduce Dissenters we are not sure Tho we abound with choice Medicines yet wanting an Ovietan we can never know whether this or the other is most Proper till the Nature of the Disease be throughly understood and to that end the first thing necessary is an enquiry after the Dissenters thoughts about what it is they Judge a Grievance and what it is that will relieve them But however these things Issue what doth more nearly touch the Church it self must in all Debates in both Houses of Convocation have the Preference We must neither Hurt nor Neglect our own Constitution nor must the Church in hopes of a Prodigals Return lay aside those Motherly Compassions she hath for her Obedient Sons Whatever Bishop of Worcesters Unreas Sep. Pref. pag. 89. is offensive to any of them deserves the first Consideration For a Faction in the Church doth more endanger it than External Opposition Seeing then there have been some Unhappy Wranglings amongst our selve such Odd contests that we have had the Ill-Luck of being Represented as a Church divided into at least two opposite Parties into a more Moderate and Violent one say some a Melancthonian and Calvinian as Doctor Heylin and as others Phrase it True Sons of the Church and Grindalizers 't will be the chief care of the Convocation to Heal this Distemper And whereas there have been different Opinions about the Sense in which we must subscribe for which the Dissenters have oft boldly Upbraided us to Solve what is matter of Difficulty it is the proper Work of the Convocation to make the first step The thing in Controversie amongst our selves is Whether our Subscription be expressive of our Assent unto and Belief of the Truth of every one of the Subscribed Articles or only an Assurance that for the sake of Peace we will not contradict nor oppose them The Learned Chilling worth declares his Sentiments thus For the Church of England I am perswaded that the constant Doctrine of it is so Pure and Orthodox that whosoever believes it and lives according to it shall be undoubtedly Saved which is as much as to say He believes Salvation may be had in our Church and that there is no Error in it Preface to the Author of Charity maintained §. 40. which may necessitate or warrant any Man to Disturb the Peace or Renounce the Communion of it To which He adds this in my Opinion is all intended by Subscription A Subscription in this sense may be without an Assent to every Article as True yea with the Belief that some are False if not so false and Erroneous as to necessitate or warrant a Man to disturb the Peace of the Church and renounce it's Communion Nor doth the Excellent The part of a Letter of the Primates about Heylins History of the Sabbath Arch-Bishop Usher look on all the 39 Articles to be received as Articles of Faith He that would have every thing which is put into the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the Synod for the avoiding diversity of Opinions and for the maintainance of Peace and Uniformity in the Church to be held for an Article of the Faith should do well to tell us whether he has as yet admitted the Book of the Ordination of Bishops and the two Volumes of Homilies into his Creed for sure I am He shall find these received in the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the Synod held at London 1562. The Learned Primate doth in this place say enough to Establish that distinction Schism Guarded §. 1. c. 11. of subscribing to the Articles as Articles of Peace and not as Articles of Faith which by his most Learned Successor Arch-Bishop Bramhall is more fully explained We do not saith he suffer any Man to reject the 39 Articles of the Church of England at his pleasure yet neither do we look upon them as Essentials of Saving Faith or Legacies of Christ and of his Apostles But in a mean as Pious Opinions fitted for the Preservation of Unity NEITHER DO WE OBLIGE ANY MAN TO BELIEVE THEM BUT ONLY NOT TO CONTRADICT THEM If the Injunction of Subscription be only thus 't will afford great ease to the minds of many worthy Divines of our Church 't will remove the Bone of Contention that hath been amongst our selves and for ever prevent the Dissenters reproaching us for subscribing in a sence we do not believe to be good But that this is the sence of the Church doth not yet appear by any thing she hath declared and as there are many Learned Men for this sence so there are many as Learned of the contrary Opinion The Learned Doctor Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester in his Proposals for Union supposeth the Subscription to be Absolute and offereth as an Expedient to accommodate the Difference a Mitigation as to the manner Preface to the Unreason of Separ p. 91. of Subscription which he supposeth may be done by an Absolute Subscription to all those Articles which concern the Doctrine of the true Christian Faith and the Use of the Sacraments and a solemn Promise under their Hand or Subscription of Peaceable Submission as to the rest so as not to oppose or contradict them either in Preaching or Writing The Mitigation as to the manner of Subscription is by making the Subscription in the same sence Arch-Bishop Bramhall doth take our Subscription at this time to be but this great Person by offering it as an Expedient for the Dissenters relief must look on our Subscription as Absolute to all the Articles
as thorough a Protestant as any Dissenter in England tells us The end of Christs going down into the Hell of the Damned was only to fasten Condemnation to the Devils and his Angels to * Another Opinion hath obtained especially in our Church that the end for which Christ Descended into Hell was to Triumph over Satan and all the Powers below within their own Dominions Bishop Peirson ubi sup p. 247. See B. Bils p. 294. Triumph over the Principalities of Darkness to secure us from being surprized by them and to prevent our going thither not to fetch back any that were there already But that Christ Descended into the Hell of the Damned was generally received by Protestants is asserted by this Doctor And that others of our Church are of another Opinion I grant but then it doth the more strongly infer the necessity our Church lieth under of Declaring her sense of it and that until thus much be done the safest way of Subscription is as Chillingworth Usher and Bramhall affirm it to be However let the Subscription be after what manner soever it is manifest that this Reverend Nonconforming Brother can never Subscribe this one Article in his expounded sense more honestly than we subscribe all the rest And that notwithstanding his severity against us for subscribing the 4 Controverted Articles the Liturgy c. it 's not over difficult to run him and his Brethren to the same straits for subscribing 36 which he thinks he hath driven us unto by reason of our larger subscription We find as many Perplexities in those Articles they subscribe as they can shew us in any they refuse and even in this one Article I doubt not but the more Learned and thoughtful amongst that Party will see enough to Perplex them The Learned Arch-Bishop was of Opinion that it Usher ubi sup p. 417. was too Perplexing To speak the Truth saith he it is a matter above the reach of the common People to enter into the Discussion of the full meaning of this Point of the Descension into Hell He therefore leaves it to be considered by the Learned whether any such Controverted matter may fitly be brought in to expound the Rule of Faith by which being common both to the Great and Small Ones in the Church must contain such verities only as are generally agreed upon by the common consent of all True Christians Artic. 4. Christ took again his Body with Flesh and Bones and all things appertaining to the Perfection of Man's Nature wherewith He Ascended into Heaven and there sitteth c. The words of this Article are Plain and easie enough to be understood for what can Flesh Bones and all things Appertaining to the Perfection of Man's Nature import less than what to use the School term we call formally Flesh and Bones and it 's as clear that herewith Christ Ascended into Heaven and there he sitteth so that there is no need of an Exposition of this Article where the Sense is so evident we may immediately declare our Assent or Dissent And this Reverend Brother instead of Explicating it writes a confutation of it In your Preface you tell us that you Subscribe them and that you may not be Unconscionably Rash in subscribing you here tell all whom it may concern how you understand the words which you Subscribe And under this Article which speaks of formal Flesh and Bones you assure us that the Body of Christ now in Heaven is not the same thing which we call formally Flesh and Bones your subscription therefore must be in this sense by Flesh you mean not Flesh by Bones you mean not Bones and so Subscribe to this Part of the Article that Flesh and Bones are in Heaven Whether any of our Church ever did or can Subscribe in a larger sense let the World Judge Artic. 6. In the name of the Holy Scriptures we understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority was NEVER any doubt in the Church These words are as Exclusive as the wit of Man can Invent What Books soever-therefore of whose Authority there hath been any doubt in the Church are by this Article shut out from the Number of Canonical Scriptures and yet to this Article this Reverend Brother doth thus subscribe Expos Not excluding the Epistle to the Hebrews James 2 Peter Jude 2 and 3 John Revelation which divers Churches long doubted of This Article excludes from the Canon all those Books of whose Authority there have been any doubt in the Church and you subscribe in a sense which excludes not every such Book so that by Never you mean not Never and in this sense subscribe If it be said that all our Clergy do the same I answer we do not by subscription Assent to every Article we only Promise not to contradict them waiting for the time in which the Church will Establish our sense or some other way give ease to the subscriber But this worthy Person doth expose our distinction and subscribes himself very strictly by putting this loose and contradictious sense on the Article I could give many other instances of this Nature but these are enough and yet I cannot forbear adding one more because this great Man hath said so much against it and yet unawares subscribed unto it without an Exposition The sixth Point of our Non-conformity saith he is a New The English Non-conformity c. 9. Article of Faith in these words in the Rubrick which we must profess Assent and Consent unto it is certain by the Word of God that Children which are Baptized and Dying before they Commit actual Sin are undoubtedly Saved This is a New Article never made for us before 1662. But wherein doth the New Article differ from this Assertion That Infants being Baptized and Dying in their Infancy are by Christs Sacrifice washed from their Sins brought to Gods Favour and made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven Both these Articles speak of Infants Baptized and that Indefinitely and of their Dying in their Infancy or which is the same before actual Sin is committed and being washed from their Sins by Christ's Blood brought to Gods Favour made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven signifie so much as that they shall be undoubtedly saved these several expressions are a full Description of Salvation I can see then no difference de re between these two Articles and how New soever the former may be the latter is as Old as the Homilies of our Church which our Clergy have subscribed above an Hundred Years And if we consider in what Homily this Article is and for what reason it is there inserted I am inclined to think that on an enquiry this Reverend Person and the Dissenting Ministers will be found to have really subscribed it It is in the Homily of Justification and it is there inserted as a special ground of the Comfortableness of that wholsom Doctrine we will therefore
which must therefore be received as True and the Title given these Articles declare the same in saying that they were Agreed upon for the avoiding of Diversities of Opinions which cannot be if notwithstanding the Subscription Men may consistently therewith continue to be of divers Opinions Besides King James the First in his Declaration set before the Articles is positive that no Man hereafter shall either Print or Preach to draw the Article aside any way but shall submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof and shall NOT PUT HIS OWN SENSE or COMMENT to be the meaning of the Article but shall take it in the Literal and Grammatical sense And my Lord Chief Justice Coke Reports that the Judges of the Kings-Bench would not admit of a Subscription with this Addition so far as agreeable to the Word of God and Law of the Land because it contradicted the end of the Injunction which was to prevent Diversities of Opinion Moreover according to the common usage of the word Subscribe it signifies Assent and Consent unto Allowance and Approbation of what is Subscribed Thus in the Ancient Councils the Fathers expressed their Assent Allowance or Confirmation by subscribing their Names and Affixing the Sign of the Cross In Charters of Donations of Lands and Grants of Priviledges unto Abbies or Convents our Kings Nobles and Bishops Subscribed and with them Subscripsi Consensi Favi Confirmavi c. were Terms Aequipollent and Anciently the Competentes to express their consenting to Baptism and Christian Religion Subscribed their Names and were therefore called Subscripti It is a generally received Opinion that whether the Subscriber doth expresly mention the words Assent Consent Allowance or Approbation or not their meaning is included in the Subscription which is but a Declaration thereof The great end of Subscriptions to Articles of Religion is to secure Truth as well as Peace amongst Christians and the Subscription imports Assent unto and Allowance of the Article as True Subscription saith our great Casuist the Learned Bishop Taylor Duct Dubit lib. 4. c. 4. r. 23. §. 1. 2. 4. is undoubtedly an Attestation or signification of Assent Allowance and Approbation Whoever subscribes He doth actually approve of the Articles over-written that he does at that time believe them to be such as it is said they are TRUE if they only say they are True Usefull if they pretend also to Usefulness Necessary if it be affirmed that they are Necessary If the Subscriber believes not this he by Hypocrisie serves the ends of Publick Peace and his own Preferment To the enquiry whether it can be Lawful for any Man to Subscribe what he doth not believe to be True giving his Hand to Publick Peace and keeping his Conscience for God The Bishop tells us The Answer is easie if Subscription signifie Approbation for in that case it is Hypocrisie and a denying to confess with the Mouth what we believe with the Heart In Subscription to Articles of Confession or Censure of Propositions as Heretical every Ecclesiastick doth it for himself and if he Assents not nor Consents he must by subscribing Declare he doth Let the Articles be made with as great Latitude of sense as they can and so that Subscriptions be made to Forms of Words let the subscribers understand them in what sense they please which the Truth of God will suffer and the words can be capable This is the last Remedy but the worst it hath in it something of Craft but very little of Ingenuity and if it can serve the ends of Peace or of External Charity it cannot serve the ends of Truth Holiness and Christian Simplicity If the Words admit of various Senses some True some False the Question made by the Subscriber must be what is the Imposers sense for to that by subscribing we Assent If the Intention of the SUPERIOR be to require our Assent to be testified by Subscription he that subscribes doth Profess his Assent and whatever he thinks himself it is the intention of the Imposer that qualifies the Subscription He that Subscribes must do it to those purposes and in that sense and signification of things which the Supream Power intends in his Commanding it These Reasonings appear to many Wise and Good Men of our Church very convincing who comparing their subscriptions with the common sense of the Imposers are startled and at a loss what to think or say of it on which occasion some Men whose Zeal hath by far exceeded their Judgments have been too intemperate in Reflecting on one another all which Reflections for the sake of the Churches Peace we wish may be Eternally Buried in Oblivion We will therefore only mention what is matter of GRIEF to some judicious and good Men of our Communion for on this account several when they fixedly consider that their subscription is the attestation of Assent unto every thing they subscribe are greatly afflicted in their thoughts about it There are some who by their Subscription to the 4 Controverted Articles intend no more than a solemn Promise of Peaceable Submission not determining one way or other about the Difference there is between a Bishop and a Presbyter Though they subscribed the Articles yet they never took the Book of Ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons as Arch-Bishop Usher observes in their Creed nor did they think themselves by their Subscription obliged to a strict Rigorous and constant observation of every Ceremony c. There are others no way Inferiour to these for Learning or Integrity who tho they have no scruple about matters of Church Government or Ceremony have as many concerning Points of another Nature to which they subscribe in Chillingworths and Bramhals sense These Persons by Preaching Printing or otherwise will never contradict or oppose the scrupled Articles but cannot bear the thoughts that their Subscription signifie their Assent unto them as True I will only Instance in one or two Art 8. The three Creeds Nice Creed Athanasius's Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be received and believed These words THROUGHLY to be received and believed seem to signifie nothing less than that every Part Branch Article and Clause of every one of these three Creeds must be received and believed so that although the Word Believe is not set before every Article in any one Creed yet as the Learned Bishop Pearson Observes This Word I Believe is not to be On the Creed p. 1. imagined to stand only where it is expressed but to be carried through the whole Body of the Confession for tho it be but twice actually Rehearsed in the Apostles Creed yet must we conceive it virtually prefixed to the Head of every Article Neither is it to be joyned with every compleat Article only but where any Article is not a single Verity but comprehensive there it is to be looked upon as affixed to every Part or single Truth contained in that Article so that this