pain of Deprivation is more than I can prove neither will I judg conscientious Nonconformists who meekly dissent 8. Again the Nonconforming Brethren scruple Subscription to the 35th Article of the Church of England touching Homilies which Article stands upon two Points First that the two Books of Homilies contain a godly and wholsom and necessary Doctrine Secondly that therefore they judg them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly The former Point I cannot think the Nonconforming Brethren who have read the Homilies will deny The Article doth not say that there is nothing in any of the Homilies savouring of humane Weakness and Imperfection for the main they may and do contain a godly wholsom and necessary Doctrine though there may perhaps be in them some tolerable Defects as is incident to most good Books not divinely inspired and even to the best Translation of the holy Scriptures Touching the latter Point the Nonconforming Brethren by their Subscription to the 6th Article must needs own and allow that the apocrypha-Apocrypha-Books as Hierom saith the Church doth read for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners but yet doth it not apply to stablish any Doctrine This plainly intimates that they are not against all reading of other Books than the Bible in the Church due distinction being put between the one and the other Neither will they condemn but rather approve the French Protestant Churches heretofore who in the want of daily Pastors did in many Places use to read both privately and publickly Mr. Calvin's Sermons upon Job as Mr. Beza in his Preface to them doth relate And we may well think that this and no other was the Intention of the Composers of this Article and of the Homilies as thinking it better in the want of Pastors qualified with ministerial Gifts and Ability to compose edifying Sermons-daily and continually of their own that the People have sound and godly Sermons of others composing read to them in publick than be without all publick Instruction This Sense will well stand with the Words of the Article and it is agreeable to the Opinion both of Conforming and Nonconforming Brethren And therefore as to this also I may well conclude that there is no difference between the two Parties 9. There is but one more Article unsubscribed by the Nonconforming Brethren and that is the 36th concerning the Book of Ordination Touching which if the Episcopal Brethren will own the Nonconforming Brethren ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be valid and will cordially embrace them as Brethren and Fellow-Ministers as in Conscience they are bound all other Matters will either be accorded or what cannot be fully accorded may be tolerated with mutual Brotherly Love to each other according to that Apostolical Canon Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same thing Phil. 3.15 16. But if the Episcopal Brethren shall judg the Nonconforming Ministers ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be null and their Baptism Preaching dispensing the Lord's Supper and all other their Ministerial Acts to be meer Nullities then there is no hope of Accord nor of Toleration with mutual Brotherly Love a Schism there is and like to be Concerning which I will set down a Passage which I find related by Mr. Clark in the Life of that eminent Nonconforming Minister Mr. Greenham On a time the Bishop of Eli sent for him to appear about his Nonconformity at which time the Bishop told him that there was a great Schism in the Church asking him where the Blame was to be laid whether upon the Conformists or Nonconformists To which he readily answered that it might lie on either side or on neither side For said he if they loved one another as they ought and would do all good Offices each for other thereby maintaining Love and Concord it lay on neither side otherwise which Party soever makes the Rent the Schism lies upon their score The Bishop was so pleased with this Answer that he dismissed him in peace 10. They who repute Men ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers and their Ministerial Acts to be Nullities are not regular Sons of God's Church in England but a Sect Combination and Party of Men in it who are tainted and defiled with an uncharitable Principle contrary to one Article of the Christian Faith The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints For God's Church in England doth own and embrace the Protestant Ministers in Holland France Helvetia and Geneva ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and the Churches guided by them to be true Churches This hath been the constant Doctrine of God's Church in England all along from the beginning of the Reformation to this day And unless we so hold we yield the Cause to the Papists and overthrow the Protestant Cause The Papists ask Where was our Church before Luther To which the Answer hath been often made That wheresoever upon Earth God had a People believing in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost retaining Baptism and the Lord's Supper for Substance sound and good and living righteously soberly and godly there was our Church We are sure from God's Word and the sound Belief of all Christian People that such a Church God had upon Earth before Luther and will have to the End of the World We do not derive our Church and our Ministry from Rome and the Roman Papacy but from Christ and the holy Scriptures and the Evangelical Covenant by the Tenour whereof upon our sincere Repentance and Incorporation into Christ by lively Faith all things become ours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 22. And consequently whatsoever is true just good any way useful to God and Christ Jesus and the Souls of Men among Papists Jews Turks and Heathens that becomes ours for spiritual Uses to our Souls In leaving the Papacy we have not left Christ and his Church but we have left Idolatry false Worship Superstition and the Way of Damnation and are become a found part of and joined to that holy Catholick Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ the blessed Company of all faithful People built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone Upon this Divine Foundation all the Protestant Churches stand and they who deny Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be valid must will they nill they fall in with the Principles of the Papists against the whole Reformation because the Cause is common 11. The Ministry of the Nonconforming
Christ can do that 2. The Office of a Bishop as the Office of an Apostle is common to a Peter and a Judas to godly and ungodly Men. But nothing common to godly and ungodly Men can be a ground of spiritual Lordship and Dominion because every ungodly Man while such is a spiritual Slave a Slave of Sin a Bondslave of Satan And as no Man can in the same instant be both alive and dead both godly and ungodly so can no Man in the same instant be both a spiritual Lord and a spiritual Slave because they are contradictorily opposite 3. Spiritual Lordship and Dominion is founded in heavenly Grace and in spiritual Worth and Merit And thus all godly Men and godly Women are spiritual Lords â—ev 1.5 6. â—al 3.28 in such sort as they are spiritual Kings and Priests unto God There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither Bond nor Free there is neither Male nor Female for they are all one in Christ Jesus All things are theirs 〈◊〉 Cor. 3. â—1 22 23. whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are theirs and they Christ's and Christ is God's So that if Bishops be godly Men then they are spiritual Lords not because they are Bishops but because they are godly in common with all other godly Men But if they be ungodly Men then they cannot be spiritual Lords 4. Bishop Bonner and Bishop Gardiner in the Reign of Queen Mary were Civil and Temporal Lords made and upheld by the State and so now are the Popish Bishops in France and Civil Honour is due to them as to any other Temporal Lord made and upheld by the State But spiritual Lords they are not but spiritual Slaves lorded over by base and impotent Lusts because they do like the Idolatrous Worshippers in Israel in the time of the Prophet Elijah who did halt between God and Baal so do the Popish Bishops they join Idolatry with the Worship of the true God and adhere to and confederate with the Antichristian Bishop of Rome against God's true Church and People and those Words of the Apostle may be truly applied to them Their Feet are swift to shed Blood Destruction and Misery are in their Ways and the Way of Peace have they not known There is no Fear of God before their Eyes 〈…〉 1 And if such Men be spiritual Lords then I confess I know not what spiritual Lordship and Dominion is 5. Christ at his Ascension gave some Apostles and some Prophets Eph. 4.11 12. and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers But none of these in respect of their Office and Calling were spiritual Lords but Ministers of the Gospel appointed and given by Christ for the Work of the Ministry which is a thing very different from lording over God's Heritage plainly forbidden by the Holy Ghost 1 Pet. 5.3 6. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets 1 Cor. 12 28 thirdly Teachers By which it is plain that the Apostles are the chiefest Ministers in the Church and so acknowledged by all Bishops cannot be superiour to them But the Apostles were not spiritual Lords in respect of their Office Let a Man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4 1 and Stewards of the Mysteries of God and not as of spiritual Lords And again Not for that we have Dominion over your Faith 2 Cor. 1.24 But if in respect of their Office and Function they were spiritual Lords then they must needs have Dominion over our Faith and be Lords and Masters of it no less than Christ One Lord one Faith one Baptism Eph. 4.5 To us Christians there is but one Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 8.6 who is the sole Lord and Master of our Faith as being the Author and Finisher thereof Heb. 12.2 7. Elijah being a Man of God an eminent Prophet and a Person of extraordinary Note and Renown with all God's People in Israel because of his extraordinary Worth therefore good Obadiah did well in performing to him extraordinary civil Reverence and Honour 1 King 18.7 for he fell on his Face and said to Elijah Art thou that my Lord Elijah This was more than ordinary Worship and Reverence and yet it was but Civil For if it had been more than Civil no doubt but Elijah would have refused it and checked him for it like as Peter did Cornelius and the Angel John 8. When Cornelius met the Apostle Peter and fell down at his Feet Acts 10.25 26. and worshipped him as though he had been a spiritual Lord and more than a Man Peter tacitely reproved him for it and refused such kind of Worship saying Stand up I my self also am a Man So when the Apostle John fell down to worship before the Feet of the Angel Rev. 22.8 9 he forbad him saying See thou do it not for I am thy fellow-Servant worship God Thereby plainly intimating that Religious and Spiritual Worship is due to none but God and that more than Civil Worship and Reverence may not be given to the highest Angel to the most noble Creature as being but our Fellow-Servant and not God But if Bishops were in respect of their Office Spiritual Lords then we should be bound to adore them as God and as the Lord Jesus Christ who is true God equal with the Father which would be Idolatry 9. Our Saviour perceiving this Sin of Papal Lording over God's Heritage to be creeping in among the Apostles presently called them unto him Mat. 20.25 26 27 28. and said Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them But it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his Life a Ransom for many 10. Dr. Gr. Williams in his Book of the True Church p. 899. holds that these Words of Christ do most plainly prove a Superiority and Inferiority among these Ecclesiastical Governours Indeed these Words do not hinder but that the Apostles were bound to strive with holy Emulation to excel one another in inward Heavenly Grace and Vertues in Faith in Hope in Love in Humility in Meekness and Lowliness of Mind and labouring in the Word and Doctrine for the Conversion of Souls and the Inlargement of God's Church by the Increase of Believers like as the Apostle Paul did exceed and go beyond all the other Apostles in Ministerial Labour and Diligence himself truly says I laboured more abundantly than they all 1 Cor. 15.10 But nothing can be more plain than that Christ in the forementioned Words doth absolutely forbid the Apostles all Lording and Domination over one another all Striving and Competition
more largely expressed must needs be sound and consonant to the Principles and Practice of the Nonconformist Brethren and may safely be subscribed by them The Words of the 34th Article are these It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all Places one or utterly like for at all times they have been divers and changed according to the diversity of Countries Times and Mens Manners so that nothing be ordained against God's Word Whosoever through his private Judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and approved by Common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that other may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common Order of the Church and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Every Particular or National Church hath Authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by Man's Authority so that all things be done to edifying 5. If we desire a publick Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England touching this matter there is that of Mr. Thomas Rogers perused and by the lawful Authority of the Church of England allowed to be publick He in that Exposition declareth that the Church hath no Power to appoint what Rites or Ceremonies she will for she must decree none which be either for their own Nature impious or for Use superstitious or for their Weight over-heavy and grievous to be born or for their Worthiness in the Eyes of the Ordainers either of equal Price or of more account than the very Ordinances of God or against the Liberty of Christians and to the entangling of them again with the Yoke of Bondage or last of all any way contrary to the Commandments Word and Will of God But the Rites Ceremonies and Constitutions of the Church they must make altogether and tend both to the nourishing and increase of Love Friendship and Quietness among Christians and also to the retaining of God's People in the holy Service Worship and Fear of God according to the Rule of the Apostle Let all things be done honestly and by Order All Churches Reformed consent hereunto So Mr. Thomas Rogers pag. 105 106. No Nonconforming Brother will gainsay this 6. The Articles do not say that the Church hath Power to decree the Cross in Baptism nor is any Man obliged by his Subscription to them to declare that she hath but only such humane Rites or Ceremonies circa Sacra as be decent useful and no way contrary to God's Word Whether the Cross in Baptism and the Surplice in particular be decent useful and no way contrary to God's Word is a Question of another nature and doth not come into the present Debate For if it should be supposed that the Church hath no Power to decree the Cross in Baptism and the Surplice as being inconvenient and no way necessary yet will it not thence follow that she hath no Power to decree such other Rites and Ceremonies circa Sacra as are confessedly expedient and useful as to swear with the right Hand lift up to Heaven or laid upon the Bible and to give notice to the People at what time to assemble for publick Worship by ringing or tolling of a Bell. Even Dr. Ames himself whom no one acquainted with Church-Affairs can suspect to have been partial in this matter and too favourable to humane Ceremonies circa Sacra doth acknowledg that if there be no Error in humane Appointment touching the Place and Hour of God's publick Worship and the like things Constitutio illa habenda sit quasi simpliciter divina Medull Theol. l. 2. c. 14. num 28. that Constitution is to be held as it were simply Divine For that the Church do assemble for God's publick Worship at that Hour which all things considered is most convenient he grants is God's Will Now the ringing or tolling of a Bell is in the Judgment of Nonconformists themselves and all other sober Persons an apt Mean a prudential Ceremony Rite or Token of Man's Appointment For notifying to the Congregation at what Hour to assemble like the use of the Silver Trumpets under the Law Numb 10. And therefore the Hour so appointed being meet and convenient for God's publick Worship according to Dr. Ames's Concession in the foresaid Place Agnosci debet quasi à Deo constituta it ought to be acknowledged as it were appointed by God and consequently the foresaid humane Ceremony whereby the Hour is notified Which is sufficient for my present Purpose that there is nothing at all in the 20th and 34th Articles of the Church of England repugnant to the Principles of the Nonconformists but a full Agreement between both Sides as to this part of Subscription 7. For my part I think that the Church hath no power to decree the Cross in Baptism or any the like humane Ceremony therein My Reason is because Baptism it self is a Divine Ceremony and the Cross is a humane Ceremony and the Church hath no power to decree and annex a humane Ceremony to a Divine it being plainly superfluous and unnecessary there is neither Precept nor Example in all the Book of God to warrant such a Decree The Church hath no Power but for Edification 2 Cor. 10.8 and 2 Cor. 13.10 She may impose none but necessary things Acts 15.28 such as be some way necessary to Order Unity or Decency in God's Service which the Cross in Baptism antecedently to humane Imposition is not It is necessary that Baptism be done in a fit Place at a meet Hour by one authorized in a decent Garment in a sit Posture with fit Words and decent external Reverence and Solemnity but there is no necessity at all of the Cross or any the like humane Ceremony in Baptism Neither the Light of Nature nor the Institution of Christ nor the Practice of the Apostles and first Churches planted by their Ministry and recorded in Scripture for a Rule and Pattern to all succeeding Churches to the end of the World do warrant any such Decree and Imposition All needful Circumstances all that is any way requisite to the orderly decent laudable holy just and exemplary dispensing and partaking of Baptism may be observed without the Cross or any the like humane Ceremony To say the contrary is to reproach the Institution of Christ and his Apostles and the Churches planted by their Ministry and to set the Wisdom of Man above the Wisdom of God and bring in Arbitrary Government into the Church and lay a Foundation for numberless unnecessary humane Ceremonies in God's Worship as in the Papacy and great Evils and Desolations in the Church by inflicting doleful Penalties upon worthy and good Men who out of Conscience refuse Conformity to such unnecessary Decrees as the Event doth sadly manifest But that it is unlawful to use the Cross in Baptism while imposed by the Supream Authority of the Nation under